, t Foreign Missi Protestantism. PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS THEIR PRESENT STATE. DAM.ANTYNi;, HANSON AND CO. EDINBUROIC AND LONDON Protestant Foreign Missions THEIR PRESENT STATE. A UNIVERSAL SURVEY. ' / THEODORE CHRISTLIEB, D.D., Ph.D., Professor- of Theology^ and Uniz'ersiiy Preacher^ Bonn, Prussia. AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION FROM THE GERMAN DAVID B. CROOM, M.A. New York: anson d. f. randolph & company 90C BROADWAY, COR. 20th STREET. PREFACE. An extract from the following pages, in the form of a Eeport, drawn up at the request of the Committee of the Evangelical Alliance, was read at the General Conference at Basel, September 5, 1879. The whole appeared first in the second volume of the " Be- richte liber die Yersammlungen der evang. Allianz im September 1879," pp. 665-828 (the English edition will give but a very short abstract of some twenty pages), and afterwards in the "AUgemeine Missions- Zeitschrift " (Glitersloh, Bertelsmann), No- vember and December 1879. The present separate edition, which is being translated into French and Dutch, w^as undertaken at the request of many friends from abroad interested in the cause of mis- sions, and is now presented in a form revised and, in some places, supplemented and enlarged. THEODORE CHRISTLIEB. Bonn, Easter 1880. TABLE OF"75T)fTENTS J'he vast extent and manifold nature of modern Protes- tant missions — The great difficulty experienced by those who M'-ould draw up the statistics or the theory of missions — Divisions of the subject, . . . .1-4 I.— PAST AND PRESENT. The outward extent of Protestant missions — A proof that the age of universal missions has begun — Retrospect of the modest results of missions in the eighteenth century — Survey of the rapid extension of mission territory; present oecumenical character, and the growth of the success, of missions in our century — Progress during the last thirty years, . . . . .5-10 Growth of the missionary spirit at home — Disappearance of former prejudices in England, Scotland, America, and Germany — Increase in the number of missionary societies ; their distribution over the various Christian countries ; their branch societies in heathen lands — The present compared with the former number of mis- sionaries and assistant labourers — The present total of Protestant heathen Christians, and their distribution over the principal missionary territories — Growth of some of the larger missionary societies, the number of their agents, and their annual revenue— Increase in the total amount contributed towards Protestant mis- sion schools — Protestant mission schools, . . . 11-20 vlli Table of Contents. PAO R Circulation of the Holy Scriptures eighty years ago and now ; new translations into at least 226 languages in the present century — Diversity of missionary labour and its results in particular fields during the last thirty years — The growing moral influence of the Gospel, shown in the regeneration of heathen races — Proof that the most degraded races can be Christianised, . 21-24 The obverse side of the picture, in spite of all the pro- mising commencements made, more especially among somewhat cultivated heathen peoples — Increasing diffi- culties of missionary ivork — Growth of Islam — Jealousy of Home — Decrease in the zeal of the Church at home — Drficits becoming chronic, ...... 25-30 II.— THE MISSIONARY AGENCIES OF THE MOTHER CHURCH. THE CHURCH AT HOME AND ITS MISSIONARY EFFORTS. I)ivi.sions of Protestantism again an advantage — England stands before all other lands in missionary efibrt — The National Churches, comparatively, surpassed by the Free Churches, particularly in Scotland — The inward reason of this — Missionary activity in the United States — General missionary interest in the principal Churches there— Missionary eilbrt in Holland; the number of its missionary societies compared with France ai\d Norway, 31 40 Germany and Switzerland — The missionary efibrts of the German and Norwegian Lutheran Churches compared witli those of the Reformed and United Clmrclies — All the German societies together do not contri])ute so much as one of tlie three great English societies — Tlu; cause of this — *'A tlireefold conversion" necessary for a German — Unequal division of missionary interest in (iermany — Stubborn prejndires among the educated— Table of Contefits, PAGE Influence of the "liberal" press and of the Beform Jews — Cheering signs of the growing recognition of missionary work — A general survey gives cause for shame — Diflerence in the position taken up by the clergy, 41-51 Necessity of promoting an interest in missions by the Church, and not by the societies only — Is there really a lack of money ? 52-54 Practical hints : missionary interest in the congregation, the University, the ^jw^j-jzY, and the Bible-class — A greater concentration of interest — The duty of the richer congregations and individual rich members — Piety alone not sufficient to make a missionary, . 55-59 The missionary societies and their forms of activity— Noav societies founded since 1865 — Internal organisation — Differences in the training for missionary service — The stiperintendence of missionaries — The Board of Direc- tion and the salaries of missionaries — Economy prac- tised among the German societies — No lack of agents, but a careful selection necessary, .... 59-65 Missionary methods — Conversion of individuals, and the Christianising of whole countries — New jproposals of other methods— A return to apostolic practices not practicable — Proposal for improvement from the libe- ral camp — Buss. : New missionary plans in the light of old missionary history — The imperial Biblical law for the preaching of the cross — The need of capable and educated missionaries for the civilised nations of heathendom — The necessity for the latter continuing their studies, 66-76 "Why are there neither medical missionary societies nor medical missionaries in Germany ? — Origin and Avork of the former in Scotland, England, and America — Their growing importance for missionary work — Female missionary societies in England and Scotland for the education of heathen women, and the Berlin Ladies' Association — The result : the present position of missionary societies, 76-83 Table of Contents. III._WORK AMONG THE HEATHEN. A R R A N G E .^I E N T OF MATERIALS. AMONG UNCIVILISED PEOPLES. PA OR Commencements in Australia— Vx(t%(i\\i state of Englisli missions in New Zealand, of the London and Dutch mission in New Guinea, of tlie last-named society in Celebes (Minahassa) and Java, of the Rhenish mission in Borneo and Sumatra 83-88 Success of Protestant missions in the South Seas — Poly- nesia now almost wholly Christianised — Labours of the London Society, Wesleyans, and American Board there — The Sandwich Islands a Protestant land — Missions of the Hawaii Association, and of the London Society in Mikronesia—Ylair\c^i work of several English mis- sionary societies in 3Tela)icsia— Success of the Wes- leyans in Fiji — Christianising of tlie Loyaltrj Islands — Difliculties on the New Hebrides— The new jdan adopted by the English Episcopal mission — Total number of tliose converted, 88-93 Protestant mission work among the uncivilised pcojiles of America — The Danes and Moravians in Greenland and Labrador — Wesleyan and Anglican missions in Canada and the Hudson's Bay Territory— The work of the CJjurch Missionary Society — Columbia: Metlakalithi a civilised Christian town in the v^'UdcrncHs- A lashka — American missions among the remnant Indian tribes f>f tJic United States — A new turn for the better — Progress of civilisation and the Gospel among them — Evangelisation of the Negroes in the United States, 93-101 'J'he present state of Protestant missions in the West Indies and Central America — Tlie Moravians on the Mosquito Coast— The Propagation Society in British Guiana — Growth and decrease of the Moravian mis- sion in Surinam; in the Danish and English West Table of Contents. xi PAGE Indies; training of the congregations to self-support — The English missions there ; strength of the AVes- leyan and Anglican missions — Jamaica substan- tially a Protestant country — English missions on. the southern extremity of South America — Results, . 101-106 State of missions in Africa — Pressing forward from "with- out to within — Three Protestant missionary territories — West Africa — Several small commencements — Larger territories ; English missions in Sierra Leone ; — American missions in Liberia — Wesleyan, Basel, and North German missions on the Gold and Slave Coasts — English missions on Yoruha Land and on the Niger, 106-111 South Africa — A Finnish mission in Ovampoland ; a Rhenish mission in Hereroland, Namaqualand, and Cape Colony — The Cape the basis of missionary operations — The Loudon missions among the Betjuans — The Berlin, Paris, Hermannsburger, and Swedish in the Cape, among the Caffres in Orange State, in Basutoland, the Transvaal, Natcd, and Zululand — The Moravians and Wesleyans among the CafFres, &c. — The Lovedale Institute of the Free Church of Scot- land — The United Presbyterian, American, and Nor- wegian missions — Total number of converts, . .11 i-i 18 East and East-Central Africa — Madagascar the crown of the London mission — Other missions there — Mauritius — English missions on the coast of Zanzibar — Advance to the Interior Lakes of East Africa, the Scotch on Nyassa, the London Society on Tanganyika, the Church Missionary Society at Victoria Nyanza — Com- mencements, Abyssinia, ..... 1 18-126 Severed 7'esidts of experience taken from labour among un- civilised peoples — The duty of the missionary — Danger of pride of education — Method of instruction — Neces- sity of a lengthened course of instruction previous to baptism — Study of the language and literary labour — Instruction in schools, and employment of native talent — Care to be taken in insisting upon outward xli Table of Contents, PAGE culture — Mission'iudustrics — Christianisation not dena- tionalisation — Europeanising a mistake ! — Thoroughly capable men necessarj^ — Relief to the funds at home by more attention being paid to the training up of native congregations to self-sujiport, self-government, and self-extension, 126-142 AMO^'G CIVILISED TEOPLES. Greater difficulty of mission work — Protestant missions in the lands of Islam — American missions in the TurJcish empire — Legal hindrances to full religious freedom among the INIohammedans — Evangelisation of the Oriental Churches — INIissions of the United Presbyterian Church of America in E(jyj)t — Mission of the American Board in the West-Central and East Turkish provinces ; establishment of a Protestant Oriental Church among the Arinenians — Scottish Free and American schools and missions in Syria — INIission work of the Church Missionary Society in Palestine, 142-151 American missions among the Ncstorians — Commence- ments in Persia, among the Moslems in the Punjauh, and the Afghans — Translations of the Bible ; circula- tion of the Arabic Bible — The growing repute of Pro- testant (without pictures) Christianity — Moral influ- ence of Protestant Churches — Importance of medical missions in the East — Hopeful prospects, . . 151-158 State of Protestant missions in India — Their present ex- tent — Progress of their success ; its distribution among the several societies — Sudden development of par- ticular provinces — Unexampled growth within the last tiro years of English and American missions in Southern India — Total increase, .... 158-164 TIce several lands of India according to th(;ir productive- ness — English, American, (ierman, and Scottish mis- sions in Southern India — State of missions in Ceylon — The American Baptist Missionary Society, and the Propagation Society in Biirmah (Knrcncs) — Bcnrjal Table of Contents, xlii PAGE and the North-West Provinces ; the Gossner mission among the Kohls ; English and Norwegio-Danish Santal missions — The Church Missionary Society in the Punjanb and Sindh the American Presbyterians, &c. — The West Coast: Scottish missions in Bajpoo- tana ; work in Bombay and the Central Provinces, by English, Scottish, American, and the Basel Missionary Societies, 164-172 Character of those who are converted as regards social position, religion, language, and culture ; distinction between the Aborigines and the Aryan Hindoos — Slow undermining of Hindooism — The bond which holds it together — Caste — Removal of this social fetter by means of missions and the introduction of Christian morality — Becent opinions — Success commencing, . . 172-179 The schools of India — Irreligious government schools — Im- possibility of neutrality — Want of religious decision in the eyes of the people — More Christian elementary schools and not academies ! — Necessity for continuing mission schools— Their great success and their limits, 179-184 More evangelisation — Zenana missions — 3Iissionary press and advancing unbelief — Mission industries — Inward organisation of a community ; necessity of considering national peculiarities before adopting denominational forms — Growing moral influence of missions — Decay of Brahmanism — Presentiment of its fall — Confession of a Brahmin 184-195 Mission commencements in Malacca, Siam and Laos, . 195-196 Position of Protestant missions in China — Its recent origin — Rapid increase of workers — Their unequal division into English, American, and German — Pre- sent results — Survey of success hitherto gained in the various provinces: Germans, English, and Americans in Kwang-tung and Fuh-kien — Presbyterian mission in Formosa — English and American missions in the remaining Eastern provinces — The Gospel in Peking — Missions commencing in the interior provinces and in Manchuria, 196-206 xlv Table of Contents, PAGE VxQ?,(ixvi freedom to travel in Cliina — Advance of the Gos- pel by means of the China Inland Mission to the West, and of the Irish Presbyterians to the North — Greater respect entertained by the people for Protes- tant missionaries — Latter s literary efforts — Wide- hearted Catholicity of the various Protestant missions — The native Chinese Christians — DifTerence in the fields of labour— The last famine — Effects of Christian charity — Tlie opium curse — Protest of the Evangelical Alliance — Brigliter prospects, .... 206-215 State of Protestant missions in Japan — Its commencement by American missionaries — Formation of congregations since 1S72 — Missions of the Presbyterian Union, the American Board, and the other English and American societies — Present fruits — The land only partially opened up — Advancing scepticism — Tlie sun still rising, 215-224 IV.-ONE OR TWO HINTS AND WISHES WITH RE- GARD TO THE DUTIES AND AIMS OF THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE. A word for the friends of missions at home — Well-meant suggestions, and dear experiments of impatience — The formation of a missionary scioice — Collection of mate- rials for a theory of missionary methods — Necessity for theological students extending their views, . . 224-227 With rrgard to the mutual relation of the different societies — They should seek to learn more from each other — Examples — Little notice taken of the labours of other societies, and of the general progress of missions — The necessity of extending one's views beyond that of a jmr- ticular CJiurch to the progress of the kingdom of God — Let general missionary conferences be continued — Wishes for missioyiary periodicals and magazines — A more uniform treatment of missionary statistics — A sharper distinction should be dra^vn between foreign missions and the work of evangelisation in Christian lands, in the reports of the Methodists and Baptists, 227-233 Table of Contents. XV Uniformity of practice in general questions should be aimed at — Division of labour should he made in a brotherly spirit — Many mistakes made at the commencement of a mission ; also with reference to fields already occu- pied—Denominational interests should disappear in presence of the common duty — Recognition of our own powers, and the limitations of them, in presence of the national peculiarities of heathen peoples — Union of all in one imperial army — Quality necessary more than quantity in the selection of representatives — In German missions, self-support should be more insisted upon — The former means and duty of an universal mission — A Christianity which overcomes the world its own best apology — The full harvest approaches, . . . 233-244 r.^% P H X S G ia» A 'ii'i^' ERRATA. Page 59, line 3 from foot, for ** Brecklun " read " Brecklum. ,, di, note I, /or " 1S69 " read " 1867." propertF PKIITCETOII '>tc;. SEP lijou THSOLOGIC&L PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS THEIR PRESENT STATE. Since the commencement of tlie nineteenth century Protestant missions have been spreading among peoples of every race and in every possible state of civilisation ; they have been growing ever vaster in extent and in plan of operation, while they are always becoming more difficult to estimate in their effects and fruits, in their leavening influence on the faith and life of the heathen, as well as in their reflex action on the Church at home. There is, at the present day, perhaps no one who is equally familiar with all the operations of the nume- rous societies of the Old and JSTew Worlds, and, it may now be added, of Australia, Africa, and the South Seas. Many have a thorough acquaintance with particular schemes, not a few have been able to take a survey of much, but there is hardly any one who is, so to speak, sure that he has all the cords in hand, Protestant Foj'eiPii Missions i> — such 13 tlie variety of material presented by the different missionary magazines, and so quickly do exact statistics change with the arrival of every mail. The cjreat creneral conferences, like those of Liver- pool in i860 and Mildmay (London) in 1878, and of the special centres of labour, Allahabad, for India, in 1872, and Shanghai, for China, in 1877, have doubtless rendered comparatively easy a survey of the chief fields of missionary enterprise and what has been accomplished in them. But the great outstand- incj features divert attention from what seems to be of less importance, and the labours of the large societies throw into the shade those of the smaller; so that, whatever may be known of particular spheres, a complete acquaintance with all the different fields of missionary labour is not obtained. No account is here taken of private missionaries, now not un- common, who labour independently^ unconnected with any society, and of whose work reports can be liad only accidentally. But many though the difTiculties be for the his- torian or the compiler of statistics, they are much greater for him who attempts to form a theory of missions. His endeavour it must be to obtain a complete survey, f:0 that by comparing the principles and methods according to which each society is c(m- ducted, and having regard to tliem in their effects Their Present State. 3 and fruits, he may deduce the results of experi- ence as guides for future action. But here printed material, generally accessible, is totally wanting; the majority of societies contenting themselves with givincr their accents oral or written instructions for each special province of labour. The reader, then, will kindly take into considera- tion the enormous difficulties, and in fairness not expect in the figures given more than approximation to correctness (except in the official figures, which I have taken much trouble to collect), nor in the hints on the present methods of operation more than one or two characteristic features, imperfect and incom- plete "apergus" with regard to the chief burning questions. Especially not from one who himself has never laboured directly in the foreign field, but has only succeeded, from time to time, in ascending, as in a ''ballon captif," above the church spires and gaining somewhat of a general survey, and who would now invite the reader to accompany him on a journey round the world swifter than on wing of bird. Our theme. The Present State of Protestant Mis- sions to the Heathen, naturally embraces — (i.) The missionary efforts at horne, that lever force which from her own midst the mother Church has brought into play, in order to the accomplishment of the gigantic work ; and (2.) The labours of missionaries Protcsta}it Foreio^n Missiofis abroad; both of these accordmg to the different branches of method and result. In order then to accomplish, at least in outline, the task imposed upon me, I shall, after rapidly contrasting the past and the present of missions, exhibit in their most prominent features the missionary agencies of the mother Churehes, showing their strength and their plan of operation. Then, conducting the reader into tlie heathen world, I shall show him what has been accomplished there, taking it according to certain groups, — from time to time letting fall hi7its and makiiiiT ohservations for guidance in the labours and ai?ns of the immediate future, as these are suggested by the experience of the methods hitherto employed. And I think I shall serve my purpose best, if, in the consideration of particular fields of labour, I enter less into statistical detail, and lay more stress on tliose practical and technical points, on the right treatment of which a further increase of prosperity seems chiefly to depend, and with regard to which, therefore, ■ a jjeneral understandincj is much to be desired. Theii^ Present State. I. — Past and Peesent. The very announcement of onr subject invites to a comparison of the past with the present. And truly the present, as compared with the former state of Protestant foreign missions, affords just ground for thankfulness and hope. We live in an age of mis- sions, such — the mere outward extent of them shows it — as the Christian Church has never seen. After the evangelisation by the primitive Church of the regions — for the most part civilised — on the shores of the Mediterranean, the Christianising of the rude, barbarous peoples and tribes of Europe by the mediaeval mission, — and the advance of Christianity into some of the colonies and kingdoms of Eastern Asia in the sixteenth century, — the age of luiivcrsal missions has been dawning ever more generally and ever with increasing clearness. The cross of Christ is being lifted up no longer in a few non-Christian lands, but in every one, among all races of men, — the comparatively civilised as well as the morally most degraded ; in colonies, as in independent heathen lands ; in hundreds of languages and dialects. Those provinces of the Church, too, once lost to her and crushed beneath the bloody heel of Islam, by the light of the Gospel are now being awakened to newness of life. The following was, on the whole the modest ProicsUiiit Foreioii missions : > 1S39 86 ,, ,, ,, * According to the Rev. T. G. Carlyle, " South Africa and its Mission Fields," London, 1879. t Reichel, " das Missionswerk der Briiderkirche," Allgemeine Miss.-Zeitschrift, 1874, p. 457. X Missionsblatt der Briidergemeinde, July 1879, " Ueberblic'c iiber da3 Missionswerk," p. 48. B 1 8 Protestant Foreign Missio7is : In the year 1859... 177 ordained European missionaries. 1879. ..207 iSi9...no native preachers. 1839... 2 1859. ..45 1879. ,.200 ,, ,, 2740 European and native teachers and evangelists, 185 stations, w'ith 124,794 native Christians. Her income amounted — After 20 years' existence, to £2 hopefully commenced ; there remains, on the coasts and iu the interior, a large harvest to be secured, yes, an hundredfold greater than has yet been gathered in. In addition to this, missionary labour seems to be becoming, in many districts, more difficult than for- merly. True, all commencements are difficult. But more than a commencement has been made. For, if once there be a beginning, a foundation is thus laid of incalculable range and strength. Much is won, no doubt, if only the key to a heathen people, its language, be safe and sure, at the command of the individual messengers of the Gospel. But the chief difficulties are often encountered in the course of after-develop- ment. In how many missions, which years ago began wilh much promise, is there left now only the liope of rescuing a small remnant of the race among whom Christian work was at first commenced ! The sudden and oftentimes brutal advance of white settlers, of gold-diggers, of brandy merchants, and others, with all tlieir demoralising influences, splits up and scat- ters tlie Church as yet hardly formed, and increases existing native prejudices to an almost unconquer- able liatred of every white face. I need refer only to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and many of tlie Indian territories of North America. To undermine a liuge stronghold of darkness, like Ilindooism, was, and is in itself, a sufficiently heavy Their Present State, 2 7 undertaking. What must it be then, when, as now, the Hindoos confront the missionary with quotations from Hegel, Steauss, and Eenan ? When, in addi- tion to the ancient superstitions, modern infidelity has to be combated ? When the youth of heathendom, thirsting for knowledge, are instructed — as in Japan they are — by materialistic professors ; and when, as often happens, students in the colleges of India abandon superstition, only to adopt complete reli- gious indifference or nihilism ? So far from the battlements of Islam being stormed in concentrated attack, they have not as yet been encompassed. But what shall we say if the false prophet himself — though it be but the convulsive twitching of one whose death-struggle has begun — prosecute missions w4th remarkable success ? Wit- ness the interior of Africa in all its breadth, and the Malays in the Indian Archipelago 1 How, if the Gospel knock at doors formerly open, but now closed by Islam against it ? In many heathen lands the missionaries often have the impression, that they would have gained access more easily had they come centuries earlier. And God's plan, according to which He brings His kingdom within reach of indi- vidual nations, does not relieve human neglect from responsibility. Where, in the present day, can Pro- testant missions make any great stride in advance, without Eome immediately following close at their 28 Protestant Foreioii Missions : lieels ? lu Madagascar and Central Africa, in the South Seas and in British North America, wherever Itome can, she seeks by her influence to paralyse the advance of the Gospel. Still, the growing opposition of the darkness is perhaps a sign of the progress of the light, — a proof that the line of attack is beincj extended. But what if the darkest clouds in the missionaries' sky are to be found, not so much in the various phenomena presented by the hostile country, as in the atmosphere of the Churches at home ? Where is there now that deep enthusiasm, such as existed at the founding of the most of our missionary societies ? When, in September 1795, aged and venerable Churchmen and Dissenters embraced with tears in the cliapel of Lady Huntingdon,* and, reaching each other llie hand, across the barriers of denominationalism formed the London Missionary Society. Or when, again, at tlie ordination of the hrst four Barmen missionaries, the offering plates were filled, not with money only, but with gohlen chains, watches, rings, and ornaments of all kinds. -[- AVliere is all that now ? Abroad, among the lieathen, there bursts forth, * See Ostertag, *' Uebersichtlicbe Gescbichte der protest. Mid- Kioiien," 1858, p. 44. t V. RolidfMi, " (iepcliiclite dcr rlieiuischcn Miss.-GesclIscLaft," bccoud ed., 1 87 1, p. 21. Their Present State. 29 from time to time, the flame of a first love into similar zeal for the work of the Lord. But at home ? Who does not feel the deep, stinging truth in the complaint lately made : — " The chief danger for missions lies, I see, in this, that missionary enterprise will glide into routine, missionary zeal become so much rhetoric, and participation in missionary work degenerate into a matter of hahit, not to say of eccle- siastical husiness. The chief hindrance among ns to an earnest prosecution of missions lies not in the spiteful attacks of an hostile world ; it lies in those circles which appear friendly to missions, but which deny their power." * Till recently, as the considerable increase in the revenues of the various societies showed, the interest at home kept pace, from decennium to decennium, with the growing extent of missionary enter- prise. Tor a few years back, however, deficits in many of the great societies — in Germany more especially — have hecome chronic. Is this a con- sequence only of the widespread commercial and agricultural depression, and temporary ? Or will the funds permit no greater drain on them for some time to come ? Many seem actually to think, that * Warneck, "Die Belebungdes Missionssinnes in derHeimath," 1878, p. 26, sqq. ; cf. also Alden (American Board), " Shall we have a Missionary Revival ? " p. 4. 30 Protestant Foreign Missions : any further demand on the material resources of the friends of missions would be a very questionable policy. Already some of the Boards of Direction, in spite of the many earnest appeals from heathen lands, have felt themselves compelled to take up the question of limited and diminished supplies. Even in England and America, here and there, the neces- sity for retrenchments casts a heavy cloud on the prospects of the future. Will all the societies — like the American Board in Boston,* a short time ago — soon again return to the happy condition of being able to free their missionaries from the fear of retrenchments in the several stations ? However strong our faith and hope with regard to the answer of this question, I am convinced that, on a mere comparison of past and present, the balance is not altogether in favour of the present, and that w^e owe the more thanks to God that He has, not so much hij us, as in spite of us, in spite of the luke- warmness and w^orldliness of our Christianity, per- mitted such rapid advances to be made towards the completion of His own work ! But this brings us to the second topic of con- sideration, tlie — * " What the Missionaries tliink of Relief from Retrenchmeut, ' Miasionary Herald," July 1S79, p. 244, sqq. Their Present State. 3 1 II. — Mission Agencies of the Churches at Home. I shall confine myself here to one or two com- parisons with an essentially practical bearing, using the almost unlimited statistical resources at com- mand only here and there, by way of illustration. First, then, I shall consider the centre of missionary life at home, tlu Churches and their missionary efforts ; then, secondly, the technical instrumentality of this power — the missionary Societies and their mode of operation. The foreign operations of the Protestant Church — in contrast to those of Eome, which are uniformly conducted and strongly centralised — present them- selves to us broken up into many divisions of mis- sionary labour. That this may not be wholly a drawback and a danger, but, on the contrary, an advantage and a blessing, is shown nowhere so clearly as in the mission field itself. " The variety we exhibit in our Churches, our societies, our modes of worship," says the excellent Dr. Mullens,* " is not an evil to be mourned over ; it is a positive blessing to our cause." Each of the almost innumerable fields of labour demands a separate plan of opera- tion, indeed a separate form of worship and of con- stitution. (See IV., end.) The diversity in our * Conference on Foreign Missions, Mildmay, 1878, p, 26. 3 2 Protestant Foreign Missions : methods of training for the foreign field is, beyond question, more calculated to form a missionary of strongly individual character, than is Eome's prin- ciple of subjecting all alike to a uniform, compulsory system of blind obedience. Doubtless divergencies in point of doctrine have their serious drawbacks in the mission field as elsewhere, but, in the presence of heathenism, these divergencies are not, as a rule, brought prominently forward. In a land, as Mac- AULAY said on his return from India, where cattle are worshipped, much notice is not taken of the dif- ferences which separate Christians from one another. There " unitas in necessariis " must regulate the conduct of all our missionaries. Not long ago Lord NoimiBROOK, formerly Governor-General of India, publicly expressed his astonishment at the disap- pearance of doctrinal differences, and the substantial unity which prevailed among the missionaries and Christians of the various denominations in India.* And it seems to me the late general conferences in India and Cliina are the best proof that missionary labourers have, as but few others, formed themselves into an alliance for practical co-operation. If, now, we compare the different countries in the * At the May meeting of the London Baptist Missionary Society. See "Evangelical Cbristendom," June 1879, p, 175; AVaniock, " Bcziehungen zwischen der modernen Missiou nnd Cultur," see above, p. 446. Their Present State. ^iZ matter of missionary effort, we find that England stands first ; that land, which from her national wealth, her many and great colonies, the inborn apti- tude of her sons for transmaritime affairs and their practical treatment, has a special call to missionary enterprise. The larger part of all that is done in the foreign field by Protestant agencies, is carried on by Britain, and this both with regard to contributions (often over ;^ 700,000 per annum) and to stations and agents (1300 ordained European missionaries), while she possesses more than the half of the total number of baptized converts. If we compare the Churches according to the indi- vidual efforts of each, the fact — which I, precisely as a member of a National Church, must mention — becomes apparent, that, in liberality, the great National Chnrclics are considerahly oidstripped by the smaller Free Churches. Noticeably is this the case in Scotland. The Scottish Established Church, though still the largest in point of ministers and congrega- tions,* is conspicuously surpassed by the two leading Eree Churches, notwithstanding that the latter must supply their home needs from their own resources. The contributions of the former Church (she has \ 500,000 members) amounted recently to little more 1 * In Scotland, of 3000 ministers, 1 380 belong to the Established I!hurch, 1060 to the Free Church, 560 to the United Presbj'terian Jhurch. See the " Catholic Presbyterian," August 1879, p. 148. C 34 Protestant Foreign Missions : than ^25,000 for foreign missions, whilst those of the United Tresbyterian Church, with rather over 170,000 members, for a like purpose, amounted to nearly ^40,000. In this way the State Church raises about one shilling per member for missionary purposes, and the United Presbyterian from four to five shillings.* Nor is the average in the, doubt- less wealthier. Free Church much less, the number of her members being 220,000, and the annual sum she raises for foreign missions ;^ 45, 000 — a dispro- portion which is becoming every day more keenly felt in the National Church. The State Church of England, too — although with her Propagation and Church Missionary Societies (including those of the Universities and other smaller ones), in contributions and workers, she represents nearly the half of all English missionary enterprise — can yet, nevertheless, barely stand comparisonf with the Nonconformists. It must be remembered that the State Church of I'^ngland is tlie richest ecclesiastical body in the world, and over against her efforts we must place * "The Tilissionary Record of the United PresVjyterian Churcli," April 1879, pp. 457 and 430; "Life and Work," August 1879, p. 126, iq^ri. ; Warneck, " Belebung des Mi.ssions.sinnes," p. 94, sqq. + According to Cauon Scott Robertson, the sum raised by the Church of England for missions in 1878 amounts to $2,330,365 ; by English Nonconformist Missionary Societies to $1,621,155 ; and by the Scotch and Irish Tresbytcrian Societies to $695,055. See "Missionary Herald," Boston, Februaiy 1879, p. 69. Their Present State. oo those of tlie Wesleyan, the London, the Baptist, the English Presbyterian Missionary Societies, with those of the Primitive Methodist Church, the United Methodist Free Church, the China Inland ]\Iission, and other smaller societies. Much more marked is the contrast in the case of the small community of Moravian Brethren, of whom there are in Europe and America only about 20,000 grown-up members. From the beginning, indeed, this body has been unrivalled as a missionary Church, and it is the only one, of all the continental Churches, that is able to dispute the first place with the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland. She raises for missionary purposes about 4s. 6d. per adult,* whilst the large national Churches of Crcr- many contribute in some places, per head (old and young, however, included), at the rate of something considerably less than one farthing ! Whence this difference ? Not merely from the circumstance alone, that the Free Church congregations, as Churclics, carry on missionary operations under the immediate control of their Board of Direction, and that from each Church, even the smallest, an annual contribu- tion is expected, and is, as a matter of course, looked upon as a necessary part of ecclesiastical life ; whilst * Twenty thousand foiii- hundred and twenty-nuie adults in the three provinces of that Church (in Germany, England, and America) raised recently the sum of about ;^45oo for missions. 2,6 Protestant Foreign Missions: the State and National Cliurclies, not having ex- tended, and sometimes not being able to extend, this Avork over their wliole area, leave the fulfilment of the duty to the various societies and circles friendly to missions ^vithin their pale. ISTot from this circum- stance alone, but — because the National Church is in general the Church partly of the rich, who, with a few noble exceptions, have seldom a warm heart and an open hand for the cause of missions, — partly, of the poor, who can send only a small part of their hard-earned gains across the sea, — partly of the lukewarm, the indifferent, the worldly, who (as recently a professor of the Established Church in Edinburgh complained), if there were not a State Church, would belong to no Church at all, and wlio are but in a small degree interested in the cause of Christ ; whilst, the very fact of belonging to a Free Church demands from the individual a deeper interest in matters pertaining to religion and the Church. Among Dissenters there is to be found a systematic giving for Church purposes, and consequently for Church extension and the cause of missions, — the education of each individual to contril)ute regularly, as his means allow (in the case of the Wesleyans), to which the members of the State Cliurch are in no way accustomed. Every Church must grow and increase, if she would live and truly he, a CJmrch. lUit more especially should it be so with those, which, Thei}^ Present State. 2>7 unlike the National Clmrches, succeed to no patri- mony of millions, possess no fixed domains, and have no assured place in the life of a people, but must, by a hard struggle, win all these gradually for themselves — with the Free Churches. Hence the greater predisposition of the latter, if the term may be used, to self-extension and missionary activity ! In this way is to be explained, in a great measure, the lively and general interest taken in the cause of missions by the evangelical denominations through- out the United States, which have long since learned to be independent and to do without State support. It may have been due, no doubt, to other causes, in a great measure to the growth of a more evangelical Protestant Christianity, but certainly it was no mere accidental circumstance, that a livelier interest in missionary enterprise began after the privileges of the State Church had been abolished in New England, and that stubborn remnant of former rationalism, the Unitarians, had separated itself from the other conOTes^^ationalists. Delivered without from the encumbrance of State aid, and within from the paralysing influence of unbelief, the Church was, and could not but have been, the better able to develop, and bring without hindrance into opera- tion, the resources she contained within herself. And of how great these were, we have a standing proof in her foreign missionary societies, with their 8 Proicstcnit Foreio-ji missions e> §1,750,000 income, and their 500 or 600 ordained missionaries, most of whom have been drawn from the universities. In no land in the world do missions, with the other institutions wliich serve to promote the cause of education, receive so many donations and legacies from rich private individuals as in America. The average contributions, too, prove that there is here a general interest in missions, such as is to be found only in Free Churches. Many years ago the vener- able historian of missions, Dr. Anderson of Boston, calculated that there was only from one-fourth to one-third of all the members of the Congregationalist Churches wliich did not contribute anything towards missions,* and the fraction may since then have become smaller. The Congregationalists, with about 375,000 communicants,-}- contributed last year for foreign missic^ns §511,000,^ or at the rate of 5s. 6d. per head ; and the two Presbyterian Churches, North and South, § with about 682,000 communicants, — * Anderson, *' Foreign Missions, their Relations and Claims," third ed., 1870, p. 26. t See paper road at the Basel Alliance hy Dr. SchalT, " Chris- tianity in the United States," pp. 14 and 30, sqq. X According to Annual lleport for 1879, see " Mis.sionary Herald," November 1879, p. 414; the great legacy of Asa Otis, of about $i,cx)0,ooo (p. 415), is not included. § According to Dr. Schaff (see above) the number of communi- cants in the Presbyterian Church of the North in 1878 amounted to more than 567,000 ; in that of the South, to above 114,000, The 17^ Pi'csent State. 39 1562,000, or 3s. 6d. * per head. The fact that the second largest of all the Churches in the United States, the Episcopal Methodist in the North (with about 1,700,000 communicants, or 6,900,000 nominal members f) spends considerably less on foreign missions J (1878, |285,ooo), arises from this cir- cumstance, that she devotes most of her energy to the extension of her denomination among the negroes and colonists of the West. The case is similar with the most numerous body of all, the Baptists, wiih 2,102,000 communica.nts, wdiich, including her returns from Europe, raised last year 1252,677 for foreign missions. § The efforts, too, of the Protestant Epis- copal Church, of whose 2900 parishes (with 4200 congregations) only 1 1 70 contributed at all last year — (total income, $139.971) — are relatively smaller, but, compared with former efforts, show a decided * The sum raised for missions in the Presbyterian Church of the North, amounted, according to Annual Report of May 1S79, p. 81, to ^425,000; last year, to $461,000. Cf. also " Der Christliche Apologete" (Cincinnati), July 7th, 1879. f According to statistics for 1878, 1,709,000 communicants ; for 1879, 1,688,000. See Schaff, pp. 14 and 30. X "Missionary Herald," Boston, June 1879, p. 229 ; for foreign missions, $272,114; besides, for missions to the Indians, $13,500; besides, for native missions, $221,800. In 1877 altogether, $628,000, See Annual Eeport of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1879, p. 30. § See "Missionary Herald," August 1879, p. 308; "Der Christlich.e Apologete," July 14th, 1S79. 40 Protesta7it Foi-eign missions : increase. So, too, the Lutheran Church ; whilst many smaller Churches, like the 510 Dutch Eeformed congregations, raise such considerable sums, that, comparatively, they are not far behind those first- mentioned. If we turn now to Europe, our attention is first attracted by Holland, which, with her 50 missionaries and about 320,000 florins of annual income {e.g., 1877, 317,000 florins), will compare favourably with any country on the continent. Whether, however, the sum she raises is propor- tionate to the great riches of the land, and the obvious duty to prosecute missions which a large colonial connection entails, I leave to the serious consideration of my esteemed Dutch brethren. The numler of Dutch inissionary societies calls for espe- cial remark ; no I^rotestant land has, in comparison, so many. Holland possesses as many as Germany, which is ten times larger, viz., nine, and two auxi- liaries of the Moravian and the llhenish missions. It can easily be understood, therefore, that, thus broken up, the missionary agencies, in tliemselves so considerable, even, indeed, tlie greatest and strongest of tlicm, — the Necderlandsch Zendcling Gcnoot- schap (Rotterdam), tlie Utrechtsche Zendingsve- reeniging, the Neederlandscli Zendingsvcreeniging (Rotterdam), — liave only 16, 11, and 8 missionaries respectively in the field, and the other societies still Their Present State. 4 1 fewer.* How united, compared with this, do France and Norway appear, with their missionary energies concentrated into single societies ! That one mission- ary society in Paris, with a revenue of about 230,000 francs, evidences in France an interest in missions at least equal to that of Holland (about ijd. or 2d. per head of the Protestant population f), while in Norway, with its considerably younger society, the interest has not yet become so general. Advancing now inland to Germany and Switzer- land, we find that here the Churches, in point of material contributions, fall, as a whole, considerably behind Holland, with her somewhat moderate attain- ments, not to speak of England and America. The German Lutheran Church, including the Moravian (which did not in any essential doctrinal point differ from her), in the last century surpassed all other * According to Dutch statistics (1877) the N'eederlandsch Zende- liug Genootschap (Rotterdam), had 16 missionaries and an income of 88,000 fl. ; the Utrechtsche, ii missionaries and 72,000 fl. ; the Neederlandsch Zendingsvereenigiug (Rotterdam), 8 missionaries and 3500 fl. ; Ermelo's Zendinggenootschap, 5 missionaries and 16,000 fl. ; Java Comity (Amsterdam), 4 missionaries and 10,000 fl, ; Zendiugsvereeniging of the Mennonites (Amsterdam), 3 mission- aries and 16,000 fl. ; Neederlandsch Gereformeerde Zendingsve- reeniging (Amsterdam), 2 missionaries and 14,000 fl. ; Christ. Gere- formeerde Kerk, I missionary and 10,000 fl. ; Zeister Hiilfsgesell- schaft fiir Herrnhut, 16,000 fl. ; Rheinische Hiilfsmiss.-Gesellsch. (Amsterdam), 12,000 fl, ; Batavia Comitd, 28,000 fl. Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift, 1879, p, 302. 42 Protestant Foreign Jllissions: rrotestant Cliurches in missionary work among the lieatlien and Jews, and, herself without colonial connections, was the standard bearer of the Gospel in Eastern and AYestern India. Now, as is well known, she has for some eighty years Lack been far outstripped in zeal for Church extension by her sisters of the Eeform, and, althougli she has, within recent times, sought to awaken anew her former missionary interests, she has in this but followed, in part, other lands — England and Holland — to which she used to be an example. If now, from among the German societies we take those which are strictly Lutheran (the Berlin South African, that of Gossner, of Leipzig, of Hermanns- burg, with the Society of Brethren in Schleswig- Holstein, possessing as yet no special field of labour), adding to these the five northern missionary societies (one in Denmark, one in Norway, two in Sweden, and one in Einland, of wliich the Norwegian society is nearly equal in size to the other four),* and the Mission Society of tlie Lutheran Synod of the United States, the remarkable fact will appear that, at the present day, there are only eleven Lutheran mission- ary societies (of which the half are small, and not one of which is among the largest), with only about 200 * See Statistics, c.f/., in the AUgeraeine Missions- Zeitschrift-, Kovember 1875, p. 511. Their Present State. 43 ordained missionaries, as against fifty-jive Reformed Church societies (including the Church of England), with their 2000 ordained missionaries. Whilst hold- ing a middle position between the two, stand the four societies of the United Evangelical Church, viz., the Moravian (which, on account of her auxi- liaries in Holland, England, and the United States, must be counted to the evangelical confederation), the Basel, the Barmen, and the Bremen, with their 350 missionaries. All the Lutheran societies in the world do not, then, reach the Church Missionary Society, in number of her agents (207), and in income not by nearly one-third (^^ 60,000 against ;^ 190,000) ! In- deed, if we take all the German missionary societies together, Lutheran and United, including that of Basel, and not forgetting the youngest of the Swiss mission- ary societies, that of the Free Church of the Canton de Vaud, they will make a respectable show in point of numbers (about 530 male agents), but their united incomes do not reach that of one of the great English societies, the Church Missionary Society, the Pro- pagation Society, or the AVesleyan. Each of the latter receives from ;^ 125,000 to ^2CO,ooo annually ; whilst the former raised, in 1876, ;;^ 115,000, which in 1879, owing to the de^^ression of trade, decreased by ;^2000.* I refrain from doing more than simply * See Allgemeiue Missions-Zeitscbrift, April 1S79, p. 55, sqq. 44 Pivtcstaiit Foreigji missions : noticing the causes of this backwardness on the part of the Lutheran Church in missions. It seems to be connected with her contemplative character as a Church, which demands a subjective treatment of both science and theology. She has been too apt to pride lierself on the possession of " pure doctrine," and to make it the sulject of discussion, while she has neglected the more independent organisation of parishes.* Nor do I forget, in thus preaching from figures, that Germany is not so rich a land as Holland, or England, or America. But I always remember what was once said to me with respect to tlie Germans, in their ecclesiastical and missionary enterprises : " A German needs a threefold conversion — (i) a conver- sion of the heart, like everybody else ; (2) a con- version of the head, for his is particularly full of all sorts of doubts ; (3) a conversion of the purse ! " Not that, by nature, Germans are less liberal than otliers, or that their money-bags are provided with particularly strong strings. The contributions for the relief of any special need flow as freely among them as elsewhere. Yet in most districts and pro- vinces of the State Church the members have been too little trained to give for purely Church purposes. * See Chrifltlieb, "Misaionsbcruf des evangelischcn Deutschlands, 1876, p. 55. Wl- Their Present State, ' 45 The regular systematic collection of money, it may be small sums, from the poorer classes, which else- where has been carried on with such wonderful suc- cess, has not taken root in Germany, with its w^ide- spread fear of Methodism and a Christianity that works by fixed rules. Nor is there there the self- discipline of spontaneous and regular laying past of a definite proportion of income, at the very time of its reception, for Christian purposes, in which, as I have reason to believe, consists, technically, the secret of the greater liberality of the English- speaking peoples.* There is, indeed, no Protestant land in loliich the interest in missions is so unequally localised to parti- cular districts as in Geriyiany. Farthest down in the scale are to be found those districts (particularly in Central Germany) where the effects of rational- ism are most distinctly felt. The missionary spirit advances somewhat more boldly in several of the decidedly Lutheran districts, as in Hanover, in Schleswig-Holstein ; more slowly again in Meck- lenburg, East Prussia, and Saxony. Far ahead of these are the Churches which are either mildly Lutheran or " United," as in Wurtemberg, Ehine- land, Westphalia (particularly in the Siegen and * See Chi-istlieb, "Missionsberuf," pp. 78, 79; aud Warueck, BelebuDg des Missionssinues," p. 75, sq^q. 46 Protestant Foreign Missions : Eavensberg districts); hence the following curious gradation : — in Wurtemberg the missionary contribu- tions of the Protestant population amount, per head, to from 2d. to 2 Jd. ; in Ehineland and Westphalia, to nearly sd. ; in Bremen, from 4d. to 5d. ; Hamburg, Hanover, Oldenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, and Baden, to id.; in the six eastern provinces of Prussia and in Bavaria, to Jd. ; in Mecklenburg and the king- dom of Saxony, to only about a fifth part of a penny ! * Even in one and the same province this curious variety is observable; e.g., in Hanover, the old principality of Osnabriick, with an income for missions of ;6'56oo per annum, the average per head is about id., whilst in Gottingen it amounts only to about the seventh part of a penny; in Pthine- landf (i 877-1 878), in the synod of Gladbach, from 2d. to 2|d. ; in Elberf eld- Barmen, to almost 2d., while in Aix-la-Chapelle it is only a fourth or a third of a penny ; in Braunfels only one-tenth of a penny ; in some others even less ! Altogether, the average over the whole of the Protestant popula- tion of Germany and Switzerland is about Jl., and is not so large even as the amount contributed by the Lutheran Church in Norway — about id. per member. * See Warneck, as above, p. 21 sqq. t See " AUgeni. ev. luth. Kirclieiizeituiig," June I3tli, 1^79, p. 544, sqq., and the tables in the treatise, " Die rbeiuische Mission iiu Sommer," 1879, p. 14. Their Present State, 47 But ^ylle^e, beyond Germany, is there a land in which missionary effort has still to struggle with so many stubborn prejudices in public, especially in educated public opinion, with so much slander from a powerful press, with so much ignorance, and, consequently, with so much disdain on the part of influential men of letters ? Not Ion 2: ac^o a member of the Eeichstag, a Jew, remarked, during the debate on the Treaty with the Samoa Islands, amidst the laughter of the honourable House, that there was " a great deal of humour in the treatment the subject of missions received in the Government memorial ! " * I myself have spoken to several highly-esteemed professors, in various universities, who knew as good as nothing about missions, and who were much astonished to hear from me that Christianity was spreading, and had even yet its martyrs ! I have actually heard, too, in a theological society, a learned Catholic professor repeat, as an incontrovertible fact, the old story — now fortunately become a myth — of the want of success of Protestant missions ! What, then, may we expect from ignorant and unchristian news- paper writers ? Within the last few years the many * ** AUgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift," August 1879, p. 384. The question is often put. Why has Germany as yet no colonies ? One providential reason, doubtless, is this, that in influential circles great prejudices still exist against missions, and that the Germans have so few Christian officials for the administration of colonies. 48 rrotestant Foreign Missions : and deeply-rooted obstacles to a warmer missionary spirit have been often exposed.* I shall not repeat them here. I Avould only lay great stress on the shameful fact, that the ''liberal" press, which is still the greatest power in forming public opinion, is, for the most part, in Germany in the hands of the reform Jews, the bitterest of all the opponents of missions. Is it, then, to be expected that the educated classes of Germany will give a juster treatment to the sub- ject of missions, will take more largely into con- sideration this great factor in the Christian eccle- siastical history of our time, or acknowledge to a greater degree the purely civilising inlhience which Protestant missions have had, so long as they do not seek to free themselves from the Jewish spirit of the age, and have not the courage to endeavour to per- suade friends and acquaintances to read those papers and magazines which treat Christian endeavours with respect, or at least with decency ? On the other hand, there are not wanting in Ger- many cheerinfj signs of a growing recognition of the subject of missions. The attitude which the Cliurch assumes towards missions becomes, on the whole, always more friendly. Among the people, especially in country districts, the cause of missions has, in * Christlieb, "Mitsionsleruf," p. 54, .sr^^/.; Waiiicck, "Bclebujig des MissioneniDneB," p. 37, sqq. Their Present State. 49 thousands of places, become more and more popular. The simple instinct of a Christian rural population can look deeper than the self-satisfied culture of the inhabitants of the town. In the East the interest in missions seems to be rather increasing, whilst in the West it is hardly equal to that of former times. Ener- getic endeavours are now being made for the revival of the Berlin China mission, which a few years ago w^as merged into that of Barmen. Not entirely without effect, too, are the praises of missionary labour, publicly expressed by several colonial govern- ments and by one or two eminent men of science, such as Max Mtiller, and even Mr. Darwin.* In some quarters, daily political papers, otherwise totally in- different {e.g., the Cologne and Magdeburg journals), open their columns to the competent opinions of friends of missions. Lectures on missions are here and there, though slowly, being introduced into the universities. Above all, the importance of missions with regard to commerce is being more and more recognised by merchants ; and political economists in their writings are beginning to speak of the value of them.-f It has been calculated, that each missionary in the South Seas causes a return, in * See Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift, 1875, P- 9^ ; 1876, p, 146, zqq., 326, sqq.; 1877, p. 52, sqq. + See Warneck, " Die gegenseitigen Beziehungen zwischen der mudernen Mission und der Cultur," 1879, p. 42, zqq. 50 Protestant Foreign Missions : commerce, of about ^10,000 annually,* and it is to be hoped that the objection founded on the unpro- ductiveness of the money expended on missions will thus soon be practically refuted. Many dis- tricts in which missionary interest, even among the clergy, was very feeble are waking up to greater activity. In March 1 879 there was held in Halle — the cradle of all missionary effort in Germany — a conference of ministers, professors, and laymen, for the purpose of reviving the missionary spirit in the province of Saxony ; whilst the synod set down on its programme, as subject for discussion, " The Church's Duty with regard to Foreign Missions " — examples which are both of them worthy of being followed. And yet, much has been neglected here, and much cause there is for shame. IIow few profes- sors, even theological professors, have the courage to expose themselves to the contempt which, in the cold heights of science, attaches to missions, — simply for the sake of Christ and His holy Word, and though it should be in tlie face of an unbelieving world ! How many, in their haughty pride, fancy it beneath their notice, little dreaming what inihience this work, this self-justification of faith, may have, and is even now having, on many departments of * According to the Kcv. Mr. Whituier, formerly uii.ssionary to Samoa. Their Present State, 5 1 theology ! Little wonder that a candidate for the mission field hardly ever comes from the German universities, whilst America has always been accus- tomed to draw her best missionaries from an " Alma Mater." Little wonder that those tender plants, the small German university missionary societies, are not to be mentioned in comparison with the great academical associations in Scotland, in Oxford, in Cambridge, and the United States ! And how inac- tive is a large part of the German clergy ! Whence that great difference in missionary zeal, of Churches often in the same province ? I answer : — Cliiefly from i^^v. the difference in the position taken up hy the clergy. Aslt^"^^ they are in the exercise of Christian charity, so does their Church soon become. If the pastor himself be not interested in following the progress of modern missions, he deprives himself of that strength to faith and refreshment of soul which comes from pausing on his lonely watch, and catchiDg as he listens the far-off sound of the building of the city of God. If he give but a cursory glance at the report, to see if it contain anything that may be directly useful for a missionary meeting — if such meetings be to him an additional burden, rather than a matter near his heart, and of this difference the congregation has a very keen perception — if he speak only on the labours of the home missions, these being more likely to please the lukewarm members 52 Protestant Foreign Alissions: of his congregation — if lie preach on the suLject of missions only in Epiphany perhaps, without ever referring to it in his other regular Sunday minis- trations, forgetting that the missionary idea runs through the whole New Testament, indeed is the very basis of it — if he think that the interest of his parish in missions will be kept up by an official report, which few read, or from the missionary fes- tival wliich may, from time to time, be held in his church, — he will find it increasingly difficult to main- tain the missionary spirit at its present height, not to speak of enabling its development to keep pace with the needs of the society to which his congre- gation belongs. Then comes the state of matters which is but too common ; the work abroad spreads, the needs and claims of societies increase, but their income remains the same, here and there diminishes even, and the deficits are permanent ! Without doubt, the prosperous development of the missionary spirit depends most of all on the position taken up personally by the minister of the Word. He can make up for much that has been omitted at the university. Bat it is not right that tJic congrc- fjation should depend chiefly on the societies for the awakening and niaintcnancc of interest in the king- dom of the Lord. This is, and ever must remain, essen- tially the duty of the Church at home and of her mvaistcrs. We should endeavour, as far as possible, Their Present State. 53 to free tlie different societies from this burden, in order that they may be the better able to devote all their time and strenc^th to work amono^ the heathen ! The state of matters at home is, with regard to morality, crying enough; and all respect is due to home missions, and all zeal to the accomplishment of their ever-growing task. But is it not a weaken- ing of the Church to consult only her own wants?* Has not the renouncing of all outward interests, like the mildew, a reflex action within ? Is it not the very nature of the Word of Life to run and spread ? You cannot gather water together into heaps, — un- less you allow it to freeze ! The more we spend our religion, the more will we have over, and the more richly will it return to us again. And this applies, likewise, to financial efforts. jSTo one has, we are sure, been reduced to beggary by too large donations to missions. And if any one believes that the " missionary contribution screw " — that un- pleasant instrument to so many — cannot bear one turn more, let him be so good as to remember that in Ehineland, e.g., more is spent within a few days, during the Carnival, on pieces of foolery, than is given during the wdiole year for the cause of mis- sions, Protestant or Catholic, and that England lays * See the excellent remarks on this subject by Dr. Thomson at the Mildmay Missionary Conference, Proceedings, p. 103. 54 Protestant Foreign Missions : out ;^ 70,000,000 annually for intoxicating drinks, and not so much as ^1,000,000 for foreign missions!* No, it is not money we need ; it is a heartfelt under- standing and heartfelt love for the work. "Were all our people of education and means friendly to missions, our contributions would increase tenfold ! Let it still, therefore, be our endeavour to awaken interest among the rich and the educated on all sides, and to show to scholars, philologists, geo- graphers, historians, and naturalists that, even from a scientific point of view, the world cannot be con- quered without the aid of Christian missions ; to 'pvove to them that their own scientific interests — if their faith as Christians do not — their desire for new objects of investigation,-)- should preach to them the infinite worth of missions, and to impress upon them that some share in the work is due, on their part, from reasons of simple gratitude. Something will, no doubt, be accomplished among these circles in the way of extending their interest * According to Dr. Angus ("New York Alliance," p. 585) /■75,ooo,ooo annually. t Of course, we do not thus mean to "beg for indemnity for missions among men of letters;" see Warneck, "Mission undCultur," p. II, sqq. The one aim of missions is and ever will remain the siving of the lost, and giving happiness to man, not the promotion of culture as such. But as the latter is the natural consequence of the former, every friend of culture should likewise be a friend of missions. Their Present State. 55 in missions, although, to judge by past experience, not very much. Therefore, in order to conclude this glance at the home Church with a few practical hints, I would say, first — I. Missions should, as a matter of course, be a work in which the whole congregation is interested ; as is the case, e.g., in the different Churches of the United States,* and other lands where Free Churches exist. Let it not be expected, however, especially in a National Church, that all, including mere nominal Christians, will show any deep interest in the work, or understanding of it. These depend entirely on a personal faith in the Gospel to overcome the world, on a belief of the promises of Scripture, on a love to the Saviour of sinners, and on gratitude for grace already vouchsafed. Whoever cannot take his stand here, is the ohject of missions, and not the suhject of them. The true, generous possessor of the mission- ary spirit is not the Church, "talis qualis," mixed and of the world as she is, but the " communio Sanctorum et vere credentium." It is not the ivorld, hid the true believers in the Church, ivho must carry * " Missions are carried on in America by the Churches themselves as a regular Church work, mstead of being left to voluntary socie- ties, as in the National Churches of Europe. Each pastor and each congregation are supposed to be interested in the spread of the Gospel at home and abroad, and to contribute towards it according to their ability." — Br. Schaff, " Christianity in the United States," p. 49. 56 Pro test ant Forcigii JMissioiis : on missions; and lie ^vlio would aid tliem in their labour of love, and assist in furthering it, must, by an inward life of faith, become one of themselves. If that be omitted, we are without the never- failimj spring, the fundamental condition of all really suc- cessful missionary effort. II. In the tiJiircrsifij the missionary spirit should he encoiiraged to a much greater e^rtent than at present. More especially should this be attempted among theoloojical students, althouport giveti should he concentrated more on one particidar mission. In some places there is no living missionary energy perceptible, just because, while efforts are made in many directions, nothing of consequence is accomplished. The frittering away of strength is adverse to the growth of missionary interest. Wideness of heart may be commended to those who are wrapped up in exclusive selfishness ; but it is a fact, that the Churches which are most zealous in the cause of missions, are those which devote their chief interest to one particular society. V. Along with an increased circulation of mis- sionary periodicals (in Germany the subscribers number thousands, in America tens of thousands), it contributes much to the promotion of a mission- * At the first reguUir General Syuod at Berlin (for the old Pruhsiau provinces), a motion referring to this sul ject was all but unanimously adopted, October 1879. 58 Protestant Foreign Missions: ary spirit, iclicn some of tlie richer Churches undertake to s^qiport a missionanj or even a station, which occasionally is done. The United Presbyterian Cliurch of Scotland, ^Yhich, in spite of the compara- tive poverty of many of her members, takes such a prominent place in missionary zeal, has for fifty years laid the support of her West Indian missionaries on the special funds * of particular congregations. Its, generally speaking, so warm missionary spirit is, no doubt, in a cjreat measure connected with this practice. It is also much to be commended when rich individuals, who have the missionary cause at heart, talce on themselves the whole cost of training a missionary, as lately a Dutchman did for the Barmen mission. This would soon do away with deficits and fears of retrenchment ; although, the societies which depend on numerous small contributions rest on a more secure foundation than those which derive the greater part of their revenue from the large contributions of wealthy individuals. VI. Lastly — and here we make the transition to the technical means of conducting home missionary agencies — it is high time that in many missionary circles the idea, which has now become almost traditional, should be given \\\), that any j^ious, * See M'Kerrow, "History of the Foreign Missions of tlie Secession and United Presbyterian Churcli," Edinburgh, 1867, pp. 246, 265, 271, 274, &c. Their Present State. 59 really converted young man, lioiuever feiv his gifts, may he employed in the mission field. This error, against which I would recommend a perusal of Living- stone's " Missionary Sacrifices," * lately published, as a powerful eyesalve, has often proved a misfortune and a loss for missions, which stand in need of the very best which our Christian youth can offer ! If now we turn from Churches at home to the missionary societies, we find that the time for found- ing new societies has not ceased. In England there have arisen : in 1 865 the China Inland Mission of Mr. Hudson Taylor, which now employs 49 male European missionaries ; f within the last ten years, the East London Institute for Home and Foreign Missions of Mr. Grattan Guiness — similar to the St. Chrishona's Institute,^ which a short time ago began a Congo mission in South Africa ; — and one or two new missionary enterprises in Oxford and Cambridge § since 1877; in America, the Missions of the Evan- gelical Society; in Switzerland, that of the Free Church of Yaud ; in Germany, the Breckluj^'s Mis- sion. However encouraging this may in one sense be, it is to be hoped that the missionary forces * See Catholic Presbyterian, No. i., 1879. t See China's Millioos, August 1879. Added to this 20 females, 48 native pastors and evangelists, 37 teachers, colporteurs, &c. X Seminary for evangelists, &c., near Basel. § See further particulars, Evangel. Mission. Mngazir, July 1878, p. 257, sqq. 6o Protestant Foreioji Missions ^> will not be further subdivided (a remark Avliich is specially applicable to the present critical condition of Hanoverian missions). The smaller the society, the more costly are its undertakings. Wliy found new societies, Avhen those already in existence have enough to do to keep their work in its present state of efficiency ? New societies should be formed, not in Christendom, but in heathen lands already Chris- tianised. If we now take a glance at the great missionary societies of the Old and the New World, we find the greatest diversity in their inivard organisation, according to the cliaracter of the Church and the land to which they belong. How different is even the training for missionarg service ! The great American societies, i.e., the American Board in Boston (with 144 ordained missionaries);* the Baptist Missionary Union, also in Boston (with 141 missionaries in Asia) ; t the Presbyterian Society in New York (with 122 missionaries);! and, as far as I know, the l^piscopal IMcthodist Society (with 194 missionaries), § draw all their agents froin * See Annual Report of 1878, p. 1 1 2. t See the Missionary Herald, August 1S79, p. 308. X See Annual Report, 1879, p. 83. § This includes the niiseiionaiies atiiong otlicr denominations in Christian countries (Europe and South America), altogether 114, but not the 42 assistanta of the niissionaricH, leaving 80 mis- Their Present State, 6 1 the universities and the theological faculties of their respective denominations. The same is the case in Scotland. In Germany, on the other hand, mission- aries are trained in iparticidar seminaries. And so it must be, for hardly ever does a candidate enter the foreign mission field from the university, especially now, when their numbers hardly suffice for the Churches at home ; whilst the Angjlican Church, in addition to those drawn from her institutions, re- ceives a considerable number from the university. A characteristic difference this, and one easily com- prehended. In the Free Churches the theological faculties form a distinct unity. Faithful Christian men labour together in them, to build up their Church, and not to extend any particular branch of science. Thus the students, even while at the univer- sity, grow up in the spirit and faith of their Church, and can be, without difficulty, employed in her service, even in partihus infidelium. And in Ger- many ? There the difference in the composition of the various faculties, made up as they are of theo- logians of all schools, renders difficult any satis- sionariea among the heathen. See "Missionary Herald," June 1879, p. 229. The " Christliche Apologete" (2d June 1879) gives the number of missionaries as 256 ; the Annual Report of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church for 1877, p. 185, mentions 278 (of these 98 missionaries to the heathen), besides 173 assistants. 62 Protestant Foreign Missions: faction in the service of the Church even at home. Distracted between the opposing opinions of his teachers, the unfortunate student is often hard enough put to it to preserve the last foundation of belief. Hardly can he ever rise to the enthusiasm of a faith which overcomes the world, ready to make any sacrifice — the first condition of a true missionary spirit ! Whether a system of supervision leave the mis- sionary in comparative independence, or hind him to act only in accordance with given orders, depends largely on whether the directorate of the society be purely an administrative body, or one which also imparts theological instruction. Those who have trained a missionary will, not unnaturally, claim tlie right of closely watching his career. The societies which present the most marked contrasts in this respect are, on the one hand, the American Board in Boston and the London Missionary Society, with their large-hearted liberality ; and, on the other, the Basel Society, with its exact regulations, even to the smallest details for each station. In the one case it is self-government, in the other strict centralisation, that is aimed at. ^Many American missionaries could not long put up with the discipline of the Basel Training Institute, whilst some Suabiau missionaries would certainly feel themselves somewhat at a loss in the midst of American freedom. We should, Their Present State. 63 however, beware of all one-sided criticisms. National peculiarities and ecclesiastical views and habits are too diverse to allow of our here setting up any prin- ciples for universal application. But this much experience ought to tell us, that where the aim is not merely the conversion of the individual, but also the formation of churches and the extension of the influence of a mission, too much should not be left to the missionary himself.* On the other hand, if the Church at home be over-careful to prescribe everything, even the smallest details, this is not only a testimony to the incapacity of the missionary, but an impediment to the work abroad, as well as an oppressive burden to those who are at the head of affairs at home, — in either case, therefore, a draw- back. Actincj on the old maxim, " medio tutissimus ibis," the most of the societies seek to pursue a safe middle course between unfettered liberty and com- plete restriction.-f- If I were to say a word here on the cost of mis- sions and the difference in the salaries of missionaries, * Cf. the strict principles of Dr. Graul, * ' Nachrichten der Ostiud. Missions- Anstalt zu Halle," i86q| p. 133, t It is worthy of notice, that some societies place their mis- sionaries directly and entirely under the supervision of the com- mittee at home {e.g., the Baptist Society of Boston), whilst the most of the others appoint the missionaries of one particular district, to exercise an intermediate authority over each missionary ; a system which has proved to be a very good one. 64 Protestant Foreign Jllissions : I could witli a good conscience hold up German economy as a pattern to many societies. Comparing the expenses of the Basel Gold Coast mission with those of its neighbours, the Wesley ans ; or the outlay of the Berlin and Barmen South African agencies with those of the English societies, we find that tlce Germans work more clica'phj than the English or Americans, and — because their agents receive less pay — witli the same amount of money employ double the number of men. The Koman Catholic missionaries alone, who of course are unmarried, are content with allowances equally small* I would only here warn against the danger of carrying eco- nomy so far as to deprive the missionary of what he should not be without, and of thereby ruining his health and destroying all comfort in his work.-|- Taking into consideration the state of the heathen lands,! care should be had to preserve the right measure between too great liberality and overmuch economy ! Though the German missions present but few * Monier "Williams ('"' Modern India and the Indians," 1S79), Bays of them, " They are content with wonderfully small pay." + Cf. e.g., the remarks of Dr. Wangcmann at the I\Iil(hnay Conference, Proceedings, 1 878, p. 50. X All absolute equalisation of the salaries, as, c.^., introduced by the American Baptist Missionary Union (.*!iooo), can only be recommended where there is complete similarity in all outwaid circumstances. Their Present State. 65 outward attractions, it is a fact worthy of attention, that the applications for admission into the seminaries continue sufficiently numerous to allow of a careful selection being made. Within the last twenty years even (not to speak of a time further back), while complaints have been heard in England of the scarcity of labourers for the missionary field, Ger- many has often been able to come to the aid of others. In the one country there is a lack of troops for the holy war, in the other there is a want of money only to despatch the forces already to hand. Still, a selection cannot be too carefully made, for in a number of missions it is unquestionably the result of experience, which the present deficiency in funds makes every day more plain, that it is better to send out a feio thoroughly capable missionaries than many mediocre ones ! This the zenana female missions to-day confirm. In noticing the training for the missionary service itself, the principles inculcated on the individual for guidance in conduct and the whole conception of his work, I shall not enter more particularly into the consideration of the many opinions, old and new, which have been held on the subject of our methods. Amons^ those wdio are themselves ens^asjed in the work, w^ho know the real state of matters in heathen lands, and who do not sit in their studies drawing up new plans and methods, there fortunately is. 66 Protestant Foreign Missions: both at homo and abroad, a gratifying agreement on all essential points. I may, e.g., mention the fact, that tlie great question as to whether the aim and end of a mission should be the conversion of indivi- duals, or the Christianising of whole nations* will be, indeed has been, decided by the practice and experience of nearly all modern societies, and by the missionary history of the first Christian centuries. It is not a question here of selecting the one thing or the other, but of taking the one thing after the other. According to tlie example of the apostles, by the conversion of individuals the whole spirit and character of a people must be brought under Christian discipline, purified, rendered fertile and renewed, if the leavening influence of the Gospel is to permeate public and social life. But for this purpose, the only sure and solid basis lies in the formation of individual Cliurches, as centres of new light and life from God — as fountain-heads, as "well-rooms," as Bengel says, of regenerating power for the wliole people.f There is, moreover, on all hands, no want of * Cf. Graul, p. 129. t Cf. the principles of the Church Missionary Society, "A Brief view of the Principles and Proceedings of the Church Missionary Society," 1877, p. 19. "All its evangelistic eHurts are to aim, firsl, at the conversicjn of individual soah, and sccondhj, though contemporaneously, at the organisation of the permanent native Christian Church, sd/sujiportiufj, sd/-governin(j, sc/f-cdcndinr/" Their Present State. 67 new proposals for the achption of different metliocls. For some, those at present in operation are not biblical nor apostolic enough in their simplicity; for others, they are too biblical and too orthodox. The former class of objections emanate chiefly from Enoland and America.* Missionaries should, it is said, earn their own livelihood, or look for it from those among whom they labour. All very good and heroic, no doubt, where it is practi- cable. But he who w^ould establish such action as a general rule, must not forget that apostolic methods presuppose — (i) Apostolic men, and (2) Apostolic circumstances. If a Paul preached in a civilised empire, of wdiich he was a native and a citizen, to a people with whose language he had been from childhood familiar, and whose social habits made it possible for him, in every large town, to gain by liis own hand a livelihood, without thereby hav- ing his whole time occupied, he was surely in a position quite different from that of the missionary. The latter, to begin with, apostle neither in strength nor in gifts, goes to distant peoples perhaps quite * Thus lately William Taylor (American Methodist preacher in California, then in Bombay, &c.) in his paper, " Pauline Methods of Missionary Work," 1879. Cf. "der Christliche Apologete," 30th June and 28th July 1879. Cf. also "Die Apo.-tolische und die Moderne Mission" in the "Allgemeine Zeitschrift," 1876, p. 97, sqq. Cf. there also, 1879, p. 382, other extreme views of missionary enterprise, taken from the lives of remarkable evangelists earning their own livelihood, &c. 68 Protestant Foreizn Missions: c3 savage, perhaps only half civilised, a complete stranger, with every avenne of speech and custom shut to liim, and thus, for a considerable time, necessarily compelled to he without any sufficient means of sustenance, — is it to he wondered at, if, in his care for his own daily bread, he shall forget to be anxious about the souls of others ? ]\Iany societies which at first sent out missionaries on this principle, have, after bitter experiences, and taught by the stern reality of facts, been compelled to aban- don it, or to apply it only in very special cases. On the other hand, different suggestions come from Switzerland and Holland. Those who brinof o them forward take their stand on the principles of a modern critical theology. They maintain that missionary training and the method of missionary preaching hitherto pursued, with its old-fashioned biblical and evangelical doctrine of salvation, is incapable of ever gaining over to Christianity the more educated classes of the heathen world, more especially those of Eastern Asia. JMethods such as these might, they say, very well have assigned to them, as spheres of operation, the less cultivated of heathen peoples ; but, for tlie Christianizing of the highly-educated, Ave must have a ncio missionary society, lased on principles of free thovaht* The * Cf. as to \vLat follows Bu88, " iJie Cliristliche Mission ibre priucipielle Btreclitigung uiid praktiscbe Durcbfulirung/' Leiden, Their Present State. 69 missionary agents, equipped with a many-sided Christian, intellectual culture, would thus at once turn to the leading minds of the civilised heathen nations, to circles of learninir and influence, and so " from above downwards " make themselves masters of the whole spirit of the nation ; " if the head were once won, the body of the nation would submit itself the more quickly to Christian culture." Sug- gestions like these awaken somewhat mixed feelings. Who will not rejoice that at last the significance, the justice, yes, the necessity, of missionary work is beginning to be increasingly recognised in circles of " liberal " theologians ? Who would shut his ears to a criticism so incisive, yet still so earnest, so zealous, and, therefore, so well-meant, and not will- ingly submit existing systems to a renewed exami- nation ? It is a different matter, however, when, as biblical theologians, and as Christiaus acquainted with the history of missions, we feel bound to characterise these proposals — at least, as far as they apply to the founding of missions — as in principle wrong, as without any promise of certain result, as, in fact, wholly impracticable. We do not discuss the funda- mental difference with regard to our conception of 1876, as also the incisive criticism of Lis paper in the " Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift," 1876, p. 371 sqq^., 4.16 sqq., and the " Evang. Mis3. Magazin," 1876, p. 258, sqq. 70 P^^oiestant Foreign Missions: the cardinal points of Christianity. But, if it be proposed to come to the assistance of tliis our old faith with a modern science, which would seek to volatilise the facts of ' redemption, in order that, thus aided, it may be able to cope with heathen culture, we must, without in any way undervaluing an intellectual Christian training, take leave to maintain that, to give up the historical basis for the biblical doctrine of salvation, is to lessen and to weaken the ability of the Gospel to produce moral and spiritual results, and to dry up the inmost spring of its regenerating power. All belief in the omnipotence of education and culture is but tlie superstition and the glaring error of the present day. What pleases the spirit of the age ivill not, on that account, overcome the world ; only that will which heals her deepest wounds, by imparting a new power of life and soul — no device of man, l)ut tlie aift of God. And when such proposals are brought forward, I may, from an historians point of view, be permitted to ask — Is it not a remarkable fact, that precisely since the last of tliese sentiments, the weiglitiest of tliem too, and the best intended, was uttered (that of Ikiss), tlie ground for the assertion, that our mis- sionary methods have been failures in China, Japan, and India, is being removed in a manner ever more striking? In 1878 from 50,000 to 60,000 persons in India submitted themselves to Chriistian instruc- Their Present State, 7 1 tion, a fact wliicli should considerably modify repre- sentations as to the fruitlessness of missions there. These are, no doubt, mostly people of the humbler classes ; but has not the history of all missions, ancient and modern, shown that the instinct of the people, in accepting the Gospel, has ever anticipated the self-complacent ignorance of the wise and the learned ? How many Churches of Christian people were there aforetime in Greece, whilst the professors in Athens were still offering for acceptance the withered leaves of a heathen philosophy and rhe- toric ! It was precisely in that university of the ancients that heathenism managed to preserve itself longest.* And if, in the early Church, in spite of the spiritual power of her ministers, it took centuries to convince the more educated classes, in any great numbers, of the necessity for a new faith, surely missionary w^ork in Eastern Asia has not been car- ried on for a length of time sufficient to allow of any question being raised as to its inability to win over the educated classes ! We do not here speak of the attempts made in India by the Jesuits, who hoped, by themselves gaining admission into the Brahmin caste, to gain over more quickly the rest of the popu- lation ; nor of the sad compromise with heatlienism, * Cf. Wurm, "die Eintheilung der Religiouen iu ihrer Bedeu- tung fur den Erfolg der Mission ; " " Allgemeine Missions-Zeit- sclirift," 1876, p. 535, sqq^. 72 Pr ok slant Foreign Missions: a.iid accommodation to its practices which fol- lowed.* But have we not, in the German Church itself, an example, which may well serve as a warn- ing, of how, some years ago, a missionary sent out by the Unitarians, instead of making converts, him- self went over to a heathen sect, the well-known Jjrahma Samadsh ? f How even the whole Danish- Halle mission in India, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, was crippled by the influence of its leaders, who over-estimated the value of a purely humanitarian culture, and depreciated more and more the preaching of the Gospel ? Whether the Dutch mission, which has gone over into the hands of " modern theologians," will fare mucli better, may well be doubted. No ! the path of missions to which the future belongs, although it be longer than we, in our im- patience, could wish, is clearly laid down to us in Scripture, and as clearly confirmed by history. " To the poor the Gospel is preached;" "not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called;" "we are made the offscouring of all peoples ;" " accounted as sheep for the slaughter," — this is and will remain the imperial law fur the * Cf. tlie excellent treatise, "Arbeiter in der Tamil-Mission," •'Evangel. Miss.-Magazin," 1868, January p. 31, s^^. ; February, p. 49, tqq^. ; March, p. 97, sqq. t "Calwer Misaionsblatt," June 1879, p. 41. Their Present State, "ji preacliing of the Cross, and more especially so when a Church is being founded. The offence of that cross of Christ will always be but the outward mantle of its inward power. Whoever will dispense with the former, will soon find himself without the latter. Xot, if one may so put it, to move about in evening dress among the higher classes, but to become " all things to all men " — to the simple, as simple, to the learned, as wise, "if by any means to save some " — this was Paul's manner of conducting missions, and it must ever be our model. If those so-called missionary reformers would but leave words and take to deeds, and put their plans to the test of practical use, this were the easiest way of refuting us — or else themselves ! For it seems to me that every such endeavour would but serve anew to confirm the essential rightness of the methods hitherto pur- sued; indeed, the very attempt itself — the casting about for men and means — would show, wdiat the experience of all time has taught, that only in a full faith in the Gospel is to be found that self- denying love and devotion which, with the help of God, is in some measure equal to the difficulties of missionary work. And this does not mean that our method of training stands in no need of improvement. In the evangelical camp the voices are ever increasing in number, which call to us : ice need not only more, tut, 74 Protestant Foreign Missions ; above all, more capable and better educated missionaries, especially for civilised heathen peoples, men more self-denying, who will preach Christ more powerfully in walk than in word ! What an earnest appeal was that, made last autumn at the Mildmay Conference in London ! * A Livingstone, too, demands more universally gifted men, even for Africa, and asks, with reference to the popular delusion, that the Church's accents at home must be better educated than those abroad, whether an army requires to be better led in peace than in war ? f Indeed, we who are to be the spiritual conquerors of the world, should send, not our mediocre, but our very best men, those who, not only in faith and self-denial, in courage and meekness, but also in linguistic attainments, in capa- city for organisation, in many-sided practical resource, far surpass the clergy at home. Such, however, but seldom present themselves, and societies must be content with a selection from those who come before them. On this very ground, however, and because the universities supply such an uncertain contin- gent, is a careful selection the more indispensable. * By Dr. Legge, Mr. Turner, and others; cf. Proceedings of the Conference, pp. 178, 259, &c. t Livingstone's " Missionary Sacrifices ;" cf. Graul also, in the paper above mentioned, pp. 134-147, "The Church must send her ablest, most highly-educated, and best men to the heathen, for the work in the foreign field is more difficult than at home." Their Present State, 75 although even this in itself will never secure the qualities necessary. And since the subject is a cognate one, let me, in passing, remind the missionary of the duty incum- bent on him of continuing his education, more espe- cially in respect of moral and religious self-training. " If," an African missionary once wrote to me, " the minister who does not study, stagnate, much more is this true of the missionary. If he rest satisfied with what he has attained, he will, in a land where the tendency of everything is to drag liim doivnwards, become mentally impoverished and lose the power of production." How many must confess, with the noble Henry Martyn, that he has " devoted too much time to public work, and too little to private communion with God"?* If, e.g., on Sunday after- noons, surrounded by the wild din of the hardened heathen, the missionary should feel himself lonely in his hut, and a deep sorrow come over his soul, oh ! that then, by prayer and meditation on the * Sargent's "Life of Henry Martyn," 1855. See also the extracts from his diary in Spurgeon's "Lectures to my Students," p. 65, 1875. "The determination with which I went to bed last night, of devoting this day to prayer and fasting, I was enabled to put into execution. In my first prayer for deliverance from worldly thoughts, depending on the power and promises of God for fixing my soul while I prayed, I was helped to enjoy much abstinence from the world for nearly an hour. . . . Afterwards, in prayer for my own sanctification, my soul breathed freely and ardently after the holiness of God, and this was the best season of the day." 76 Protestant Foreign Missions : Scriptures, he would learn to put on more and more the armour of \vA\t, and realise how a man who is himself holy and is becoming ever more so, can, by his example, do more good than in any other way. The Chinese, to the present day, speak oftener of AYiLUAM Burns than of any other man, because he was, in his own person, a living proof of Chris- tianity.* But I cannot close this survey of the missionary ae^encies of the Church at home without askiiiGj an important question : Why are there, in German mis- sions, as yet no medical missionaries, and no medical missionary societies, as among the English and Ame- ricans ? For twenty or thirty years these have proved themselves to the English, in their mis- sionary work, a strength of incalculable importance ; for by them the confidence of the natives — precisely in somewhat cultivated lieathen lands, as in those of Islam, in India, China, Formosa, Japan — has been most speedily and easily won. As early as the year 1841 tliere was founded in Edinburgh a medical missionary society for tlie training of faith- ful evanf)clist-i')]njsicians, whose duty it shoukl be to minister spiritually and temj^orally to the poor at home, especially in the large towns, as well as to the heathen abroad, according to the oLl maxim, * Cf. MiMmay Conference on Foreign Missionf, 1878, p. 259, Their Present State. 77 '' Preaching the Gospel, and healing everywhere " (Luke ix. 6). After finishing their course, they are partly handed over to other societies, partly placed in stations by the Society itself. The Edinburgli Society, e.g., supports medical missionaries in Naza- reth, Madras, and Japan. London, Liverpool, Glas- gow, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, and other tow^ns, and in particular the practical Americans, have follow^ed the example set by Edinburgh. Of the several quarterly magazines of these associations, I shall name only " The Quarterly Papers of tlie Edin- burgh Medical Missionary Society," and "The Medi- cal Missions at Home and Abroad " of the London Medical Missionary Association. There are several Prayer Unions of Christian Doctors, e.g., the Medical Prayer Union, which has been in existence since 1874, and now numbers as members 220 physicians and medical students ; it meets every week for prayer and the study of the Scriptures, thus awaken- ing and extending ever more widely an interest in mission work.* Already, in most of the Scottish, English, and American societies a considerable pro- * These notes are taken from the magazine, "Medical Missions at Home and Abroad," the quarterly magazine of the Medical Missionary Association (London) 1878, No. i, p. 2, &ciq. ; No. 2, October 1S78, p. 17, sqq. Here fourteen British missionary societies are mentioned, of which all the Scottish (particularly those of the United Presbyterian) and all the larger English societies, employ medical missionaries. Protestant Foreizn Missions American mission,* lliey will follow in everything except in liis sympathy with missions. From licen- tiates theses are received similar to that lately pre- sented in Bonn, entitled, " Belief in the Miraculous an Epidemic Insanity ! " 'Wliat hope is there there ? And I say that Germany must soon he compelled to develop her missions on this side, not only on account of the work among the heathen, but for the sake of the missionaries themselves, whose lives — humanly speaking — may thus he prolonged.f Were the necessity for this but once recognised, the ways and means for putting it into execution would soon be found. Meanwhile, I ask the friends of missions seriously to reflect on the matter. And now, that the ladies interested in missions may be able to see themselves in this mirror, I would remind them how great assistance their sisters in England and America have rendered to missionary work, not only by Dorcas meetings, which exist everywhere, but by the estaljlisliment, years ago, of their own independent missionary soeieties for the training/ of heathen women and girls. I name here only the Society for Promoting Female Education in the East (1834), with several hundred girls' schools in India, Cliina, and Africa, and a periodical of its * AUgemeine Missions-Zeitscbrift, August 1879. t See, e.g., the remarks in the Medical Mis.sions, 1S7S, p. 27, hqq.f ou the death of the Basel uiiBaiouary Mr. Weigle iu ludia. Their Present State, 8 1 own ; the Indian Female !N"ormal School and Instruc- tion Society (1852) with 39 European zenana-lady missionaries, ZZ native female assistants, 94 schools, 1232 zenanas, to whom they have access for instruc- tion,* an excellently conducted quarterly magazine (the '' Indian Female Evangelist "), branch societies throughout England, and an income of ;^ 18,594; the Ladies' Association (i860) for the Social and Eeligious Elevation of the Syrian Women ; the Ladies' Society for the Education of Women in India and South Africa, in connection with the Scottish Free Church, and the Society of the English Presbyte- rians for China and India ; to which must be added similar ladies' associations in America with indepen- dent agencies. Without failimr to make allowance for the difference between the English and the German character, may we not ask ; — might not those societies, in which there are, as far as I know, but one or two German ladies, and side by side with which we can place only perhaps the " Ladies' Society for the Training of Females in the East " (1842) — which has, up till now, sent out 14 female teachers to the East Indian mission,+ and has an * See Annual Report, April 1879, p. 7. t See their monthly magazine, " Missionsblatt des Frauen- Vereins fiir christlicbe Bildung des weiblichen Geschlecbts im Morgenlande," January 1879, p. 18, &qq. Besides, in their school at Secundra, the female teachers are employed by Englisb, American, and German missionary societies. F 82 Protestant Foreio;n JMissions orphan school too at Secundra — the " Berlin Ladies' Society for China," which has established a found- ling house in Hong-Kong, — and the work of education carried on in the different towns of the East by the deaconesses from Kaiserswerth, — mii'ht these not be assisted more than they yet have been by competent teachers from Germany ? Yes, whole groups of mis- sionary agencies have, within recent times, started into being. These have, in many essential points, supplemented those already existing, and should have the effect of stirring up Christians in Germany to zealous emulation. It is becoming ever more varied and diverse, that line of forces which is en- gaged in drawing in the great Gospel net. Even the very smallest denomination, as soon as it has a name and a habitation, steps into the arena, feeling that just in tliis matter of foreign missions must it prove the strength and health of its inner life. If a Church can no longer send reinforcements to her Lord and Master, as He goes forth to conquer the world, she will soon be found to be near extinction at home. If Christianity, as even a ]\Iax Muller confesses,* be a missionary religion, in its nature "converting, advancing, aggressive, encompassing the world," a non-missionary Churcli sliows tliat she has * On Missions ; a lecturo delivered iu WLstuiinster Abbiy, 1873- Their Present State, %'^ departed from the idea and the duty of Christianity, — that the hand of death is upon her. And, notwithstanding this general participation of all the Churches, great and small, the further the work advances, the louder comes from all sides tlie call for more workers, clergy and laity, medical men and teachers male and female. So that it may be said in a word, with respect to the present position of the missionary societies : at home there is, on many sides, a growing interest in missions, whilst on others there is a stubhorn depreciation of them. In the heathen world the doors are wide ope^i, a pressing necessity for spreading the Gospel exists ; and in many respects, too, there is no lack of agents, hut not means enough to send them out in sufficient numhers.'^ That is, on the whole, an accurate description of the pre- sent state of our missions. We shall understand it more clearly by a survey of — III. — The Work among the Heathen. And here I shall not notice in detail all the fields of mission labour, but call attention to those only which are characteristic of the present state of missions, facilitate for us an insight into the working of the whole system, and enable us to pronounce, in * Cf. the reports of the Rheiuische Missions-Gesellschaft, 1879, No. vi., p. 186. 84 Protestant Foreign JMissions : some cases, a judgment on the riglitness of the ways followed and the methods hitherto adopted. As our object is to gain suggestive points of view, rather than entire completeness, the division according to great groups, which seems to recommend itself, is — I. Work among non-civilised nations, and — 11. Work amoncj civilised nations. And I shall then, keeping separate, fur tlie sake of clearness, the different quarters of the globe, con- sider, first, missions among the, as yet, uncivilised peoples of the South Seas, America, and Africa, and, second, those among the civilised races of Asia Minor, India, China, and Japan, not dividing the countries where tlie two classes exist together. I. Among Uncivilised Peoples. In Australia missionary work, beginning under difficulties almost inconceivable, among the few re- maining Aborigines — those most degraded of the human race — has been able only to brighten some- what, with the light of the Gospel, the darkness of death which lias already set in. The complete extinction of these tribes, although it cannot be prevented, may yet for a time be delayed by mis- sionary effort.* Small in extent, this work among * See Ueberblick iiber daa Missumswerk der Briidergemeinde,. 1879, p. 40, sqq., and Grundemann, " Orientirende Uebersicht," Allgeineiiie Mih-sions-Zeitschrift, 1S76, p. 401, sriq. Their Present State. 85 the Aborigines nevertheless affords the most conclu- sive proof, that unbelief triumphed too soon when it asserted that there were peoples to whom in their degradation, the inviting voice of the Good Shepherd would call, but without response. As proof of what the Gospel can do among the Papuans, we have the Moravian stations of Ebenezer in the Wimmera district, and Eamahyuk in Gippsland, with their kindly little villages of 125 native Christian inhabi- tants, their pretty churches, cleanly houses, and arrowroot produce, which gained a prize at the Vienna exhibition. The Scotch Presbyterian mis- sion in Point Macleay (south of Adelaide) has been attended with similar success, not to speak of the Anglican educational institutes for the children of natives, and the other missionary enterprises which have gradually been transformed into colonial mis- sions. It is further a cheering circumstance, that in these stations the children of Christian parents are healthier and better built than those of the wander- ing heathen. The same remarks apply to New Zealand, where, however, the mission is more extended, particularly in the northern part of the island. The Maoris (of whom there are now only 30,000) no longer possess the flourishing mission they once had. They have been crushed by cruel wars, are gradually retiring before the whites, ten times more numerous than 86 Protestant Foreign JMissioiis: themselves, and are fast becoming extinct. The principal work here is carried on by tlie Church Missionary Society, and the number of the native Christians, 10,315 (in 1874,9439), under 16 Euro- pean missionaries, 27 native pastors, and 220 native teachers,* has recently been increased. The future has thus assumed a more hopeful aspect for the missionaries. The Wcslcyan mission, wliich suf- fered mucli during the war, although several thou- sand Maoris are still connected with it, works chiefly among the colonists,! as does also the Fro- ixigation Society. The remaining station, that of the North German Missionctry Society (Bremen)^ passed into the hands of a mixed Christian com- munity. On the other hand, the nermannshurg mission (at present consisting of three stations) is always in existence. I glance only at the large islands north and north- west of Australia : New Guinea, which in the north- west has been appropriated by the Dutch missionaries, while in the south-east tlie London Missionary * Abstract of the Report of the Church Missionary Society, May 1879, p. 19. t The Annual Report of the Wesleyjin Methodi.st Missionary Society for 1879, p. 195 (giving 3615 comniuuicaiitR, and more than 32,ocx3 attending divine service), includes the colonists as well as the natives, persinis of tnixed races ; so also the Report of the Propagation Society, p. "JT,. Their Present State, 87 Society has carried on operations since 1871, chiefly by native evangelists drawn from the surrounding neighbourhood. But here, owing to the degraded condition of the inhabitants, who are yet in their *' age of stone/' and to the diversities of races and speech (on the south coast, on a strip of land 300 miles long, as many as 25 !)* we see no fields white unto harvest, but only a soil hardened for the sow- ing, on which, however, some few first-fruits have come to maturity. Celebes, with the crown of all Dutch missions. Minahassa, which has now become a Christian peninsula, of whose 114,000 inhabitants more than 80,000 have been converted — these are divided into 199 communities with 125 schools.-|- Now, that they should be able to sustain themselves, the great error, that the Christians were never suffi- ciently trained to self-support, is, however, causing serious difficulties. The recently-formed Dutch mis- sions in Java and the neidibourinQ^ islands, where the lately completed seminary for evangelists in Depok shows that Holland is at last trying to make amends for loner neodect. Yet the larc^e Christian com- munities in Amboyna, Ki, and the Aru Islands, and the other fruits of missionary effort in Timor and * According to the missiouary, Lawes, at the Mildmay Confer- ence, 1878, p. 282, and sqq. t According to the Dutch missionary, Saratarg, Neurdeuburg, at the Mildmay Conference, p. 156, s^'i. S8 Protestant Forcio-ii ]\Iissiojis ay College for cohnircd preachers * Missionary Record of the United Presbj'terian Church, June 1879, P- 527. t The American Preshyterian-g have here about 300 niomher.s and 474 BchularH in f(jnr stations ; see lie})ort, 1879, p. 30, 577. X There are now fully three Ktatiou.s, with 950 Christians ; see Ab.stract of Report, 1 879, p. 4. § Report, 1S79, p. 151. Their Present State. 109 is increasing in numbers. In tlie repuLlic of Lilcria, once hailed with too great hopes, we find several American societies at work; the Methodist Episcopal (43 churches, with 2200 members) ; * the Protestant Episcopal, the Presbyterian. -|- the Ame- rican Missionary Association, and, latest of all, the agents from the Eisk University (Tennessee). How far these negroes re-imported from America will show ability of themselves to extend Christian culture, remains for time to determine, j On the Gold and Slave Coasts the Eno-lish Wes- o leyans, tlie Basel and the Xorth German Missionary Societies, labour beside each other. The attempts of the first-named of these societies to advance as far as Ashanti, seem for the time being to have been abandoned. On the Gold Coast, however, the number of its stations (14) and members is increas- ing (now 6630, with 37,000 adherents). § The Basel Society, wliich. last December celebrated its jubilee of hard work on the Gold Coast, has now extended its sphere of activity to the lands of Accara, Adangme, * Report of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church for 1879, p. 4. t With eight stations and 254 communicants ; see Report of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, 1879, p. 28, sqq. X !^ee Grundemann, " Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift," 1S74, p. 16. § The Report for 1878 gives 8 station?, that of 1S79, 14 (p. 152), with 87 schools and 2647 scholars. I lo Protestant Foveio-ji Missions : ^> Akuapem, and Akem, and has recently founded a station composed of its first-fruits in Aslianti. Alto- gether, it has 9 principal and 13 outlying stations, 4000 negroes forming the Christian communities, ^vith 41 primary and secondary schools, and 11 30 scholars.* The Sciiptures have been translated into the Ga and Otshi languages, all manner of handi- ciafts introduced, many bright-looking Christian villages estabhshed, so that in some places tlie primeval marshes, with their pestilential vapours, are beginning to disappear. Smaller by far, but richer in martyrs to the storms of war and the ravages of pestilence, has been the labour of the North German Missionary Society on the Slave Coast, with four stations and several hundred converts. By no means unimportant, though progressing slowly, under all manner of vicissitudes (cf. the missions in Abeokuta) is the mission in the Yoruha- lands, where, beside the South American Baptists, we again find the Church Missionary Society (with now II stations, 5994 native Christians, and 1567 scho- lars),f and the Wesleyans (now in the districts of Yoruba and Popo, six stations, with 1082 members and 3500 adherents). J Through tlie latter Brotes- * Evaiigelischer Heidenbote, August 1879, p. 61. t Abstract of the I{e{ioit, 1 879, p. 5. X Report, 1879. p. 152. Their Present State. 1 1 1 tant missions come into contact with the bloody Dahomey. It is encouraging, too, that the impor- tant missionary work in Abeokuta is again gradually reviving. On the Niger we have the interesting spectacle of negro preachers and teachers under the coloured Bishop Crowther, in connection witli the Church Missionary Society, carrying on the work which, within the last few years, was consecrated by the blood of martyrs.* These are succeeding in over- coming their early difficulties, and now possess ten stations with 1500 Christians,"!- — an earnest that Africa will be won chiefly by Africans. Passing now, as at one great stride, over Congo- Livingstone — where, since February 1878, the TAviiig- stone (Congo) Inland Mission of the East London Institute for Home and Foreign Missions has been seeking to gain a firm footing and to advance from the west into the interior,! — and, over the Portuguese territory of Angola and Benguela — that great ceme- tery of Catholic missions, where (as in the east like- wise, on the coast of Sofala and Mozambique), of the once flourishing Portuguese stations, there is not one * See, e.g., Proceediuirs of the Church Missionary Society, 1877- 78, p. 38. + Cf. the sudden revulsion of feeling in Bonny after violent persecutions of the Christians (Abstract of the Report, 1879, p. X It has five missionaries, October 1S79. 1 1 2 P 1^0 test ant Foreio-n Missions : trace remaining* — we reacli South Africa. Ad- vancing do\yn the coast we come in Ocampoland, the most northerly outpost here of I^rotestant mis- sions, on the work of the Finnish Lutherans (among the Ovahereros), which, originating in the Ehenish mission, advanced north; — now four stations have been founded.-]- Then comes the Ehenish mission in Hereroland, which, after the long storm of war, is beginning again to flourish. It now^ numbers 13 stations, with 2500 converts, J and has been the means of giving to the dusky, giant race of shep- herds, seven feet high, the New Testament and the Psalms in Otgiherero. In the contiguous district o'f Great-Xamaqualand — and here we pass from the black negroes to the yellow^-brow^n Hottentots — the Ehenish mission labours alone (now six stations wiili about 3300 converts), § the Wesleyans having retired from the field. In Small-Namaqualand the soil, naturally hard, has been further impoverished by famine, drought, and the immigration of European miners, so that many stations have had to be given * Mildmay Conference, p. 48. t Lately the Finnish Missionary Society Las also begun the work of evangelisation anjong the Finns and Laplanders on the Esthland Lslands in Gulf of Bothnia. X Annual llepoit of the Rhenish Missionary Society, 1877-78, p. 19, sqq. § Annual llepoit of the Illu'nii-h Mii-sitaiary Sociely, p. 14, .177., and Gedenkbucli der rheiiiischen Missions-Cjiesellschaft, 1878, i'. 168, S27. Their Preseiit State, 1 1 3 up in consequence of the departure of the starving inhabitants. Both the last - mentioned societies are here engaged in trying to save the yet existing remnant of a race rapidly becoming extinct. On the other hand, the Ehenish mission in Cape Colony (10 stations and about 8000 converts) has several congregations, strong enough to be self - support- in o'.* o It is no more than what was to be ex|)ected, when we find in the Ca^e and its dependencies a centre, of Protestant missionary activity, such as, in point of numbers, exists nowdiere else in Africa. This colony has become, as a whole, a Protestant laud. In it branches of the English State Church and several Dissenting Churches have attained to a certain amount of independence, and the work among the wdiite colonists goes hand in hand with that among the native and mixed races ; — as in the Anglican Church, by the extended labours of the Propagation Society, and in the Dutch Eeformed Church (the oldest Church of the land, which for so long had taken no part in the w^ork of evangelisa- tion), just recently, at the instance of the " Synodal Zendingscommissie in Zuid-Africa." We shall not follow in detail the thirteen British and Continental associations at work here, but note shortly that some Annual Report, 1877-78, p. 7, sfj^q. H 1 1 4 Protestant Foreign Missions : societies, making a few stations in South Africa the base of tlieir operations, are directing tlieir attention to the North, with the design of advancing, through the interior of South Africa, out beyond the limits of British territory. Thus the London Missionary Society ; and, as we saw before, in the Cape, so now, in British Caffraria, it endeavours to make its stations self-supporting.* Special strength is expended on the Betjuan mission, which, in spite of outward difficulties, is becoming ever more and more a source of light and blessing, especially in Kuruman. The ]\Iohat institute, in honour of the founder of the mission and translator of its Bible, was removed thither in i876.t Then, there is the Berlin South African mission, whose labours, notwithstanding very limited means, extend over all South Africa, and which, at the Cape, in British Caff'raria, in the Orange Free States, in Natal, and more especially in the recently annexed Transvaal, has under its care 8000 baptized converts, 6 district superinten- dents, 42 stations, 53 ordained missionaries, and some few colonists.J Further, the Pai^is Protestant mission among the Basutos, recovering from the serious damage it sustained from the Dutch Boers of tlic * LoJidou Mi88ionary Society, Report for 1S79, p. 37. t IJ'i'l., p. 39- X Cf. Dr. W;iiigenianii's Survey at the Mildni.iy Confcrencp, [878, p. 50. Their Prese?it State. 1 1 5 Orange States, has, under the superintendence of 15 missionaries and 122 native workers, increased to such an extent that it now possesses 14 chief stations and 6Z outlying stations, with altogether 3974 full members, 1788 candidates for baptism, and 3130 scholars.* Lastly, the Hermannsburg mission, among the Betjuans, in and beyond Transvaal, as also among the Caffres in Natal and Zululand, has founded 49 stations, w^ith about 5000 baptized converts. It has suffered more severely than the Berlin society from the recent war, so that, with the burning Church question at home, the position is doubly critical. Its missionaries, like those of Sweden, seem to have quitted Zululand. Not less than thirteen of the Hermannsburg mission stations have been destroyed by the late war.f Other societies again, in the Cape, have extended their sphere of labour chiefly to the east and north- east, so as to evangelise the Caffres, both British and independent. Thus the Moravians have acted. They have now, in their western province, seven principal stations with ^S^6 converts ; in their eastern, in a<^ain * See Appia's Report at the Mildmay Conference, p. 87, and Ee ports of the Rhenish Missionary Society, 1 879, p. 184, sqq. t See Calw., Miss. Blatt., 1879, p. 72. Last year about 700 heathens in Africa were baptized in the Hermannsburg mission. 1 1 6 Protestant Foreign Missions : seven stations, 2000 baptized converts."* On this side of South Africa their mission has recently been pushing forward witli more strengtli and increasing success into heathen territory. The centre of gravity for the Wesleyan mission, which, however, embraces the Betjuans in the Orange States and tlie white and coloured peoples who are engaged in the diamond fields at the Vaal, is tending ever more and more to the east into the Caffre district and up to the Natal territory. The 17,000 Church members which they possess in 69 stations -f- consist partly of colonists and partly of natives. Whether the field of mis- sionary labour among the Caffres will prove itself still more intractable in consequence of the war, we must patiently wait to see. The " Tribe-system," by which the ground and territory of a settlement do not belong to individuals, but are the property of the whole tribe, has ever shown itself a par- ticularly great hindrance to social progress, and conducive to the continuance of barbarian customs * MissionsbUtt, July 1879 ; Survey, p. 47, S77. Lately tlie Swedisli Cliurcli Missionary Society began a mission among the Zulus, which, however, owing to the present uncertain condi- tion of the country, could n(^t get beyond a "mere sounding t>f the territory." t Cf. the Wesleyan lle[)ort, 1879, p. 133 597., 9 stations in the district of the Cape (with 1502 members), 18 stations in the dis- trict of Graham's Town (5595 membi'rs and 21,000 attendants', Their Present State. 1 1 7 and laws.* Its abolition, wliich is at present under the consideration of the government, would remove a great bulwark of darkness, and pave the way for the entrance of the Gospel. Of how much cultivation all the South African races — Hottentots, Caffres, Fingus, Betjuans, Basu- tos, and Zulus — are capable, is shown most clearly by the Lovedale Institute in British Caffraria, of the Free Church of Scotland, wdiich is flourishing and full of promise. It is intended for the training of ministers and teachers, as also for instruction in handicrafts, agriculture, &c. Here youths from all the above-mentioned tribes are taught along w^ith Europeans ; three magazines appear, one in the Caffre language ; and every Sunday sixty students proclaim the Gospel in the neighbouring villages.-j- There is now a branch of this institute in Blyths- wood, on the other side of the Eei. Nothing will, in the future, be more effectual in preventing Caffre 14 stations in the Queenstown district (with 4288 and 20,oco members respectively^, 14 in the Bloemfontein district (3805 and 17,400), and 14 in the Natal district (2469 and 26,ooo\ * See the remarks of Sir Bartle Frere and the Rev. Mr. Blen- cowe, at the Mildmay Conference, p. 279, sqq. It is worthy of observation that the fidelity of the Christian CafFres to the English colours is repeatedly mentioned in this war, cf. Report of the Propagation Society, 1 879, p. 54. t See for further details Dr. Stewart's address at the Mildmay Conference, p. 68, sqq. Already it has sent forth four ordained CafiFre ministers. See G. Smith, "Fifty Years of Foreign Mis- sions," 1879, p. 58. 1 1 8 Protestant Foreign Missions : Avars, than tlie multiplication of institutions sucli as this.* Connected with the Free Church of Scotland in its seven principal stations in British Caffraria and three in Xatal, there are 2000 communicants; while the war has, alas ! swept away five of the six stations, with a membership of 941, possessed by the United Presbyterian Church.-f The ten stations of the American Board, with 626 members, in Natal and Zululand, are increasing but slowly, chiefly on account of tlie late war; and the same remark applies to the Norwegian mission, with its eleven stations, whose missionaries have now, in all pro- bability, been driven out of Zululand.| The total number of converts to Protestantism among the uncivilised peoples of South Africa, may be estimated at 35,000 communicants and about 1 80,000 adherents. § East and East-Central Africa, once long neglected, seem now to liave been taken up, comparatively speaking, rapidly, by Protestant missions. Here we find Madarjascar, that crown of the London Society, which may one day, as regards missions, hold an * See Sir Bartle Frcre, as above, p. 76. + Missionary Record of the United Presbj'teriau Cliurcli, June 1879; Mildniay Conference, p. 340. X Report of the American Board, 1878, p. 22. § By J. E. Carlylc, "South Africa an can be too inucli impressed on the missionary, that personal life can least of all he separated from the preaching of the Word of Life, if that Word is to be living and fruitful. Everywhere, but more especially among uncivilised peoples, the life attracts the souls far more to Christ than preaching. " It is an easy matter for a young, vigorous missionary, fresh from the schools, and strong in his own convictions of truth, to go rapidly from village to village ' bearing witness,' and then to come home feeling that he has fulfilled his mission ; but real missionary work needs far more than that, — it needs constant exhibitions of tenderness and love. " * Nor was it in vain that Livingstone -f- reminded the missionary, that even when he has to do with the most savage races, politeness and good manners are of much worth. His very surerior cidture, this " specificum " of modern missions, may often te7npt him to treat the natives too much en has, or even with haughtiness and rude- ness, instead of with the pity that shone in the Great Shepherd's eye, when He was moved with compassion over the famishing, scattered, shepherd- less sheep, and with that love which alone can combine the firmness and delicacy of feeling neces- sary to a wisely-directed, educaliunal training. In * The missionary Mr. Hughes, Mildmay Conference, p. 332, t Missionary Sacrifices ; see the Catholic Picsbyterian, January 1879. Their Present State. 129 some places the missionaries — some of the Germans also in Africa — have been found wanting in this respect. But what shall we say to the recent con- duct of an English missionary — a Wesleyan — in the South Seas, who, either in self-defence, or for the purpose of making a stern example, in company with other colonists, avenged with blood the murder of several native teachers by the canni- bals of Duke of York Island ? An unheard - of mistake on the part of a Protestant missionary, and one not sufficiently censured by the mild ex- pressions of regret from the Australian-AYesleyan Conference. Against it other missionaries should have entered a protest, inasmuch as such a proceed- ing was likely to compromise and render difficult all missionary work in these districts.* As regards instruction, the method employed by the Master proves itself, with ever-increasing clear- ness, to be the true one, especially among peoples still un civilised. -f- Christ did not expound any * The Illustrated Missionary News, February i, 1879, and Allge- meine Mission s-Zeitschrift, 1879, p. 186, sqq.; Calw. Mission. Magazin., i879,' p. 48. A missionary has no right to exercise justice by means of the sword, even towards cannibals, for which reason many friends of missions were of opinion that the missionary (Mr. Brown) should at once have been dismissed. This — fortu- nately solitary — scandal was doubtless tua res agitur for other missionaries as well. That which harms the common cause ought also in common to be rejected. t Cf. Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift, 1S74, p. 42. Private letters of an African Basel missionary to myself confirm this. I Protestant Foreio-ii Missions an institute for training native agents, before the Christian community is in a position to support it, and to keep it supplied with capable scholars, ex- perience has often shown, as among Indians and negroes, that the preachers thus produced are, for the most part, intellectually weak and dwarfed. First of all, then, by means of preaching and ele- mentary instruction, a basis of living, active Church members must be formed; — that once there, the higher education necessary for the native pastor or teacher can be more easily continued in the spirit of Christianity. A missionary recently wrote to me : " For the first few years of a mission a thoroughly converted young man, taken out of the congregation, of but imperfect culture, but with a decidedly Christian spirit and a good understanding, is of more value to the school than one who is well trained but not thoroughly converted." And wdien really fundamental work has to be done in a mission, only permanently disastrous results will ensue, when those wlio are called npon to do it are themselves mechanical and lifeless in si)iritual matters.* Ko one, should have more imparled to him than is propor^ tionate to his cajmciti/, otherivisc the result u'ill he that he becomes rain'jlorioiis ! I'articular care must be taken, that the enliglitenment of the conscience, tlie * Cf. Allgcmcine Missions-Zcitsclirift, 1876, p. 459. T/iei?' Present State, 135 moral and religious discipline of the heart and ^vill, keep pace with the acquisition of knowledge. Connected with this stands the general question, as to the " civilising training " of barbarian peoples in general. We must not he precipitate in insisting upon the mere externals of civilisation, so as physically to ruin both heathen and heathen concerts ; nor must we be led astray by those fanatics — in this age of ours, with its " culture-war " — out of sympathy w4th all Biblical teaching, so as to dispense with that fundamental principle of missions, confirmed by the experience of all nations, that externals are to be made im- perative only in so far as they are in some way connected with spiritual life. It is one thing to encourage habits of industry and legitimate gain, of cleanliness, decent clothing, and healthy dwellings, — social progress which everywhere of itself accom- panies the Gospel ; but it is quite different with the luxuries and necessities of civilisation, which are not, as with us, the result of a long process of social development, and, therefore, a possession we are capable of using, but are suddenly introduced among a people totally unprepared for them and whom they morally, spiritually, and physically com- pletely enervate.* * Cf. Warneck, "Die gegenseitigen Beziehungen zwischen der niodernen Mission und Cultur," pp. 281-296. As also the missionary- Mr. Lawes (New Guinea) on the want of success of all merely exter- nal means of culture, Mildmay Conference, p. 2S3. 1 36 Protestant Foreign lilissions : That this hist result is due, not to missions only, but to contact 'witli the outer world of any kind, we have proof in those repulsive caricatures of civilisation, the "dandies" and "belles" of Africa and the South Seas, and in part, too, in the rapid extinction of so many native tribes. I do not speak here of the desolation wrought by brandy, which simply paralyses any deeper influence of missions among the Indians ; I would ratlier call attention to the fact, that when the Esquimaux acquire the liabit of drinking coffee instead of their wonted oil, they become, as has often been observed, incapable of withstanding the force of their trying climate. Mr. Murray, the experienced missionary to the South Seas, gives us here the clearest and most reliable opinion when he says, "All external pro- gress, meant to be lasting, must not be forced un- timely upon a nation. The people must, in the first place, be spiritually, morally, and religiously so far raised, as really to fed those wants which create a de- sire for the comforts and requirements of civilised life. Inward and outward things must go hand in hand." It follows, then, that everything of the nature of an industry introduced into a mission station must also be made subservient to great S2)iritual ends. However healthy and necessary the erection of workshops may be, the direction of these should never be a matter so complicated as to engross the Their Present State, 137 whole time of the 'personnel in the station. And if the staff be composed for the most part of pastors, schoolmasters, and overseers of workshops, the spirit and healthy develojDment of the mission will soon disappear. But, along with the judicious introduction of outward culture, there is the duty of never making Christianity the means of denationalising any people, even the most barbarous, otherwise the strength of the nation will lose in substance what cannot again be made good. All that is capable of being turned to account in the character of a people, and stands merely in need of purification, must be carefully distinguished from what is to be condemned. That only is to be changed, " which," as Bishop Patteson aptly puts it, " is incompatible with the simplest form of Christian teaching and life." * In this respect English missionaries among the Indians have come far short. They have not entered suffi- ciently into the character of the Indian mind, and they have too little accommodated themselves to a strange people, with the view of respecting and retaining what in its way is justifiable enough. Even Englishmen like Bishop Patteson have ac- knowledged this. The missionary must study thep)ecu- liaritics of a people, believing that even to a weak, * Baur, J. C. Patteson, p. 189. See also Christlieb, " Missions- beruf des evangel. Deutschlands, " p. 20, sqq^. 1 3 8 Protestant Foreiqii Alissions : frivolous, fickle cliaracter the Gospel is capable of oiviniT streiiiitli — strenc^tli to the feeble limbs, and courage to the timorous soul. The living water of the Divine Word contains an admixture of iron ! The mistaken system of Europcanising native agents may be but the beginning of tlie denationa- lising process. Not only are unnecessary demands thus made on the funds at home, but the native missionary is placed in a false position among his own people. As far as a Christian education will permit of it, he should ever remain even in manner of life one of themselves, for only thus will his Church be able to support him. In this particular many errors have been committed, and how far tliese may have been due to the inferior quality of the European agents, is a matter we commend to the consideration of the directors of the various societies. The same remark applies, it may be said in passing, to the widely prevalent, though wrong and unjustifiable, custom M'hich native Christians have adopted in India, of wearing European clothing when employed as clerks, secretaries, &c., in order to obtain higher wages.* It requires really no ordinary men — men pre-emi- nent in enlightenment, intelligence, and strength of character — to have any formative influence on the * I liave heard tliis connrinctl ami e(jiii]>laiiic(l of l)y several Indian missionaries. Their Present State. 139 minds and hearts of a barbarous people. A whole host of mediocre Europeans, so far from ever by degrees conquering a heathen land, will only render that task more difficult for men better than they. It is the natives themselves who must perform the chief part. Men are required, the clear and conscious purpose of whose work will be to raise the native Church gradually to the full indcjpcncUnce of self- support, self-government, and self-extension. From every worker in the mission, down to the very artisan, must then be demanded the broad view, the self-denial, the humility of working with the sole purpose of rendering himself unnecessary^ and of seeing the natives enter into this labour. In America the old notion, that missionaries should become the pastors of native congregations, has been entirely abandoned.* AVith us, too, it must be discarded more and more, both in theory and practice. The industrial establishments also must, through time, be severed from the mission, so as likewise to become the private undertakings of the natives. The whole "personnel of the station must ever seek to impress the heathen with the idea, that they do not intend * In a private letter of Dr. A. C. Thompson, of the American Board, to myself, he says, "We urge upon all missionaries the importance of bringing forward, as early and fast as is consistent, native preachers and pastors, with a view to have tliis work of foreigners pass over into a home, missionary work at the earliest date that it can be safely done." 1 40 Protestant Foreign Missions to settle down among them, but ever to strive onwards to extended missionary enterprise. Only thus will a missionary spirit be breathed into the Church and maintained there. Such aims, steadily and continually kept in view, will hring to the missionary funds at home the neces- sary relief. The salaries of tlie missionaries, and sums necessary for building purposes, constitute the cliief items in the expenses of individual stations. If the agents be mostly Europeans, buildings are raised for Europeans ; — on account of their health, more solid and costly than they would have been for natives. The whole expense falls thus on the Church at home, whicli supports the European mis- sionary. If, on the other hand, the training of native labourers and the formation of a nucleus congregation be the aim which the missionary has set* before him from the first, then the erecting of buildings, which in time are to be inliabited by natives, will be the duty of the members of the mission Church themselves.* This is tlie case in English and ximerican missions to a mucli greater extent than in German ; but with the latter, too, the system must be adopted. It is wrong — I am * An opinion may be formed of how dilferent are the requirements for native and European Cliristians, liy tlic fact that, in South Afrira, a cliapel ■\vliich holds only 60 Europeans, is large enough to contain 2cx) natives ; see Wesleyan Missionary Notices, Septem- ber 1879, p. 216. Their Present Si ate. 1 4 r here but expressing the opinions of competent judges — it is too much to expect of the Church at home that she should, unaided, or rery nearly so, build chajMls for negro congregations and houses for negro pastors and teachers. As these coloured communities build their own dwellings, so they must be taught to build their places of worship and their pastors' houses — with their own hand and simply; and the less those that labour among them have been Euro- peanised, the more easily wdll this be accomplished. We conclude then : the principal work must be done by the natives themselves, although it may have to be under the superintendence and direction of missionaries. The question of how the training of native agents is to be conducted, is one all im- portant. As already they have done in the South Seas,* so in Africa, under suitable direction, will native agents prove themselves more successful pioneers than Europeans. No doubt, coloured con- gregations may he prematurely declared to he inde- pendent Mistakes may be made in this particular point, as perhaps they have been by the mother Church, in throwing on the native Churches the burden of collections wdiich are wont to be made at home.-j- But the Churches in Germany and * See London Missionary Society's Report, 1879, p. 60. t Cf. Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift, 1S78, p. 386 ; 1879, p. [86. 142 P 7^0 tcs taut Foreig)i Missions : Holland advance too slowly, too timorously; their stations are, in the mcdter of independence^ too far behind. The missionaries of the State Churches, for the reason above specified, set it too little before them as an end; they must, therefore, be reminded that the aim of a heathen Cliristian Church is, to attain that which the xVmericans and English* sum up in the three words, self-support, self-government, self-extension. In passing now to Protestant missions II. Among Civilised Peoples We shall consider, in order, the lands of Islam, India, China, and Japan. Here, where Christian- ity encounters fully-developed religious systems, precepts, and doctrines, which influence all life, political and social, making it the more or less in- accessible citadel of all non-Christian tenets and manners ; wdiere a foreign civilisation, or partial civilisation, with its own religious, philosophical, and general literature, sways, as by a spiritual force, the lives of peoples, to the exclusion of the sub- stance and power of Christianity, the dijicidties of mission ivork are imquestionahly at their greatest; and therefore, if we except times quite recent, the success of tlie Gospel has been comparatively small. * Soo, too, the Church Missionary Society, "A IJricf View of tlie Principles, " &,c., 1877, p. 19. Their Present State. 143 But here, also, when once, by the influence of Chris- tian enlightenment, popular misconceptions have been dispelled, as is now the case in many circles, we may hope that results will be proportionately greater. In the LANDS OF Islam, as far as the Turkish Empire is concerned, the largest part of Protestant mission work is carried on by the American Board and by the American Presbyterians. After years of difficulties experienced in gaining access to this country, and of preliminary work, a more hopeful era has been entered upon since i860.* Endea- vours have been directed, for the most part, to the revival of the Oriental Church. And this partly for the sake of that Church itself, partly because its, up till now, almost petrified condition has so lowered Christianity in the estimation of Mohammedans, that only by her regeneration can access ever be gained to their hearts; and partly, and more especially, because Turkish law rendered, and still does render, all attempts to exercise a direct influ- ence on the followers of Islam as good as impossible. After the Crimean war, it is said, the Sultan was compelled to proclaim religious liberty in all his dominions, and wonder is often expressed at the * Cf. for what follows, the treatise of Dr. Clark (American Board), ''The Gospel in the Ottoman Empire," 1878, p. 7, sqq^. Printed also in the Mildmay Conference, p. 107, sqq. 144 Protestant Foreign Missions : want of success attendincf Christian missions among: tlie Mohammedans. It is a pity, only, that our con- ceptions of religious freedom are so different from those entertained by the Turks. Eeligious freedom in this sense, that every man is at liberty to worship God according to the religion in which he was born, they have granted, and that since the time of their prophet. But liberty as we understand it — the equal enjoyment of legal rights by both Christians and Mohammedans, and the power of secession from Islam to Christianity — that, the Sultan has no power to grant, for it is in direct contradiction to the in- junctions of the Koran.* Liberty to make prose- lytes from the Turkish State religion has never been, and never was intended to be granted, as the recent diplomatic negotiations have made abundantly evi- dent,-]- Nor is it ever to be expected as long as the Sultan remains the spiritual head, the Calif of Islam. And it need excite no surprise if in the Turkish em- pire, where conversion to Christianity is attended with danger to life, the number of native Christians is limited to three in Constantinople, three in Cairo, and three in Jerusalem. J * See the clear rendering of the case in the speech of missionary Hughes, Mildinay Conference, p. 325, sqq. t See the letter of Sir Henry Eliot in the Jilue Book, 1S75, re- ferred to by Hughes. X Hughes (see above), p. 327. Probulily lliis refers to the heads of families. Their Present State. 145 The impossibility of introducing reforms into the Oriental Church soon led to the founding of inde- pendent Protestant congregations. The number of these is now not inconsiderable, and their moral and religious influence is sensibly extending in all direc- tions. Thus in Egyi:)t, The principal field of labour here is among the Kopts, among whom, as also among the Syrian Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans, the Ame- rican United Presbyterian mission has for twenty- five years been labouring with ever-growing success. From Alexandria and Cairo, and up along the banks of the Nile to Nubia, this body now has 6 organised churches, with elders and deacons, 28 out- lying stations, where regular service is held, 850 communicants, and about 1800 adherents.* It lias 8 missionaries and 6 American female teachers, who are assisted by 4 native pastors, 7 licensed preachers, and 70 native evangelists. These as yet young congregations contribute ;^iooo yearly for missionary purposes. They have 30 day-schools, with 1424 scholars; among these are (as in Cairo) 50 Mohammedan boys and 70 Mohammedan girls. In the theological seminary in Osiut 1 1 young men are being trained as preachers. The English mission, which here has only one agent and several native teachers, * According to the account of Dr. AVatson, Mildmay Conference, March 1878, p. 341, sq(i. K 46 ProtestcDLt Foreign Mi ssio/is limits its operations to the carrying on of schools for boys and girls in Cairo (300 boys and 200 girls) and in Damietta. It is aided by the Church Missionary Society, the Bible colportage, and regular divine service in Cairo.* In 1877 the Americans had the joy of making in Cairo three converts from Islamism (see above). In the lands of Turkey prpocr, we find no less than 17 Protestant missionary societies and associa- tions at work. Of these by far the most extensive — although it handed over, in 1 870, the greater part of Syria to tlie care of the American Presbyterians — is the American Board, which conducts operations among the Armenians and Greeks, &c. It embraces, within the area of its labours — divided into west, east, and central districts — all Asia Minor, from Bulgaria at the Balkans, Eski-Sagra, Simakou, &c., to the Tigris in Babylonia. Here has been founded, in the midst of the lifeless ancient Churches, a new Pro- testant Oriental CJiurcli, which now ministers to 92 congregations, witli about 6000 communicants, 300 day-schools, with upwards of 1 1 ,000 scholars, 20 colleges, seminaries, and Iligli Schools, witli about 800 scliolars and 285 preaching stations. In these are employed 132 Americans, professors, mission- * Sec the missioiiaiy Mr. Wliatdy's Ucj)or(. Mildinny Conference, Their Present State. 147 aries, female teachers, with more than 500 native preachers and teachers.* In the western province (Constantinople with its Eobert College, a university with about 230 students of twelve different nationalities — accordingly instruc- tion is given in the English language — Brusa, Marsi- wan, with a theological seminary, C8esarea,&c.) we find 30 churches (not including those in Bulgaria), with upwards of 1500 adult members ; in Central Turkey (Marash, with a theological seminary, Ain-tab, &c.), 26 churches, with 2600 members ; in the east (Harput, with a theological seminary, Erzeroom, Van, &c.), 33 churches, with upwards of 1 800 full members. These churches have a half-Congregational, half -Presby- terian constitution, based on the Westminster Confes- sion of Faith, and divided into Protestant provincial synods. Many of the congregations have for a long time been self-supporting. As regards the abilities of the native preachers, this circumstance only need be mentioned, that one of them has been called " the Spurgeon of the Church." -f- In Syria, Protestant missionaries are devoting their energies chiefly to school work, although there are here also one or two small churches. We have — the British * According to the treatise of Dr. Jessup (Beyroiit) at the meeting of ARiance in New York, p. 641, sqq.; cf. Report of American Board, 1878, p. 40, sqq., Chirk (see above). + According to Dr. Bliss (Constantinople), Mildmay Conference, !'• 363- 148 Protestant Foreign Jllissions: Syrian Schools and Bible Mission, the Lebanon School Committee (in connection with the Free Church of Scotland, which is studding that mountain range ever more thickly witli schools), the Church Missionary Society, the Irish I'resbyterian, the Quaker Mission, the American United Presbyterians, and particularly the Board of Foreign IMissions of the Presbyterian Church of America, — all at work. The terrible events of i860 on Mount Lebanon brouMit the mis- sionary work there into special prominence. The labours of the first-mentioned society w^ere begun by ]\Irs. Thompson, who, after only nine years' labour, left behind her 23 schools attended by 1700 chil- dren. In these schools the children of murderers and murdered are to be found, receiving instruction side by side — a state of matters which contributes greatly to the maintenance of a peaceful spirit. " ]\Lidam," said an enlightened Mohammedan pasha, at the sight of these children, " such schools as yours, where you admit all sects, will make another mas- sacre impossible." * The number of the British- Syrian schools now amounts to 30, attended by 3000 children ; ^vhile the total of all Protestant schools in Syria proper (between Antioch and Nazareth, exclusive of the rest of Palestine) is 184, with 341 teachers and 10,585 scholars; 4782 are girls, of * Report by Mrs. Tlioinpson's sister, Mildiiiay Conference, p. 355= •"77- Their Present State. 149 whom 1000 are Mohammedans.* About 300 or 400 Turkish women, too, receive Bible instruction every Sunday in the British- Syrian schools. In Beyrout — ■ where the American Presbyterians in the Syrian Pro- testant College have a High School — with Arabic as the language employed for instruction (now, however, chiefly English f) — for the study of medicine as well — there are nearly 9000 children in the different schools ; of these 3000 belonging to the Protestant Institute. Twenty years ago, hardly 300 children attended school here. Of the 12 printing presses in the town, 5 are in the hands of the Protestants ; and of the 9 newspapers, 6. Besides Beyrout, the Ameri- can Presbyterians have taken up Abeih, Sidon, Tripoli, and Zahle, where they have founded 5 stations with 66 preaching stations, under 12 missionaries, 3 native pastors, 127 native teachers and evangelists, 12 congregations with 716 communicants, and 45 Sunday-schools with 1895 scholars.| And Palestine ? Alas, that this land also must be included among the fields of missionary labour ! This land, beloved * According to Dr. Jessup's account, Mildmay Conference, jx 366, and the Missionary Herald, February 1879, p. 52, sqri. t With regard to the ever- increasing influence of England, see Report of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, 1879, p. 36. X Ibid., p. 33, S22., " The Work of the English Press at BejTOUt," see p. 38. 1 50 Protestant Foreign Missions : as no other, wept for as none, longed, hoped for as none ; the land of promise, the apple of the eye of God and man, the cradle of truth and freedom ! Fain would we think of her as a garden of G^od, with angels ascending and descending, as of old ! But on that day when she pressed the crown of thorns on the head of Him who alone was innocent, the crown fell from the head of her who once sat a queen among lands. Here there is read aloud the lesson, for the stones cry out, and the ruins bear witness, of what God has done in mercy and judg- ment. But the inhabitants, Turks and Jews, and alas ! Christians too, will not understand it. The messengers of the Gospel must come from afar to interpret the language of these ruins, and proclaim alike to Jewish unbelief and Christian idolatry, that God must be worshipped in spirit and in truth, that the despised, long-rejected Lord may again be made possessor of His inheritance. Yes, a land of missions, but a barren one, amidst the marvellous divisions of its many Christian and non-Christian parties and sects; tilled by many missionary societies but yielding little fruit. Here we find the Church Missionary Society, now increasing its forces, with six stations ; Jerusalem, with a small Arabian Pro- testant congregation, besides the English and Ger- man ones; Xazareth, with a Protestant church Their Present State, 1 5 1 of 420 members, composed chiefly of Greeks ; * Jaffa, ISTablous, now too Gaza, Es Salt, on the other side of Jordan, &c., with 1108 native Christians and 21 schools with 751 scholars ;-[- the London Jewish mission, and the mission schools of the late Bishop Gobat, which have been handed over almost entirely to the Church Missionary Society. German societies, too, are here at work, as the Jeru- salem Association of Berlin, the Crischona mission, the deaconesses from Kaiserswerth (in Asia Minor and Egypt), engaged more specially in educational and philanthropic institutions. In the ancient Ramoth Gilead (Es Salt) there has been formed recently a church of Bedouins, and many of the villages around are begging that schoolmasters may be sent them. Casting now a glance at Persia, we see there, on both the hither and the farther sides of the frontier, a cheering fruit of Protestant missionary w^ork in the lands of Islam, in the Nestorian Church, which has been resuscitated by the American Board and (since 1871) by the American Presbyterians. Connected with this Church there are now from 12,000 to 15,000 persons, all under the influence of evangelical preaching, while 1152 of these are * Report of the Church Missionary Society, 1878, p. 63. t Abstract of the Church Missionary Society's Report, 1879, p. 9; Calw. Mission. Magazin., 1879, p. 48. 1 5 2 Protestant Foreign Missions : full members of the Eeformed Nestorian CLurch. The chief stations are Orumiah aud Seir. It em- ploys 1 8 ordained native pastors, 45 preachers, 99 teachers and other assistants, \vho are enG^acjed in I ublishing the Gospel in 96 preaching stations. Of the old cliurches as many as 23 are used by Pro- testant congregations, which now have a constitu- tion with presbyteries and synods. There are Z'j day-schools with 1643 scholars; whilst 33 young mm are in training for the work of the ministry.* Among the Persians themselves Protestant missions seem to be gaining a firmer hold, and to find access more easily among the Mohammedans, under the more tolerant form of Islamism here prevalent. In Tabreez, Teheran, and Plamadan the American Presbyterians have stations and small churches, with from 20 to 30 members, besides several schools. In Ispahan the Church Missionary Society has a missionary (soon it will have a medical missionary), along with 9 native teachers, 170 members, 2 schools, and 181 scholars. No doubt the great proportion of these are native Christians, but many Moham- medans, too, are beginning to intpiire after tlie way of salvation. f * See Evangel. Mission. M.agazin., 1872, p. 31, .'?'?7.; Report of the American Presbyterian Missions, 1879, p. 42, sqq. t Abstract of tlie Cliurcli Missionary Society's Report, 1879, p. 9 ; Report of American Presbyterian Mission, 1S79, p. 47, sqq. Their Present State. 153 But the most fruitful — it may here be added — of all, has been the Moslem mission in some of the districts of India, as, for instance, in the central provinces of the Punjaub. Many of the very best native Christians in the mission stations are con- verts from Islamism. In Northern India these may number about 300,* among whom there are not only several personages of distinction — magistrates • — but many well-known and able evangelists and ordained preachers. Elsewhere, as in Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, the conversion of a Moham- medan is still looked upon as a miracle. Into Afghanistan, that country which, in recent times has been brought so prominently into the light of modern history, the Gospel has advanced, not with- out success, chiefly through the agency of the Church Missionary Society. In Peshawur, the basis of operations, there is a Church of some ninety con- verted Mohammedans in connection with the Church Missionary Society.-|- Even before the war several stations had been founded and a medical missionary summoned thither. | The Afghans possess a good translation of the New Testament, and now a Chris- tian Pushtu literature is growing up. As far as Cash- * According to the missionary Mr. Hughes of Peshawur, ]\Iildmay Conference, p. 328, sqq. t See Miklmay Conference, p. 385. + Hughes (see above), p. 345. 154 Protestant Foreign Missions : mere, in the persons of several medical missionaries, some rays of the Gospel have already penetrated. On account of the growing decay of its political influence — as the missionaries testify — many cul- tivated Mohammedans are beginning to lose con fidence in the future of Islamism, although from prudential considerations they do not openly express their convictions.* Mohammedanism is essentially a political system. Only when its ad- herents cease to form a political body can the struggle between Bible and Koran be conducted on equal terms. And for the combat the weapons are ready. The translcttion of the Bible into Arabic (com- pleted in 1865), the sacred language common to all Mohammedans, is understood everywhere, and has been widely circulated by the British and American Bible Societies, from Tunis and Morocco, throughout all Xorth Africa, and far up tlie Nile; from Constantinople, Asia Minor, and Syria, into the north-west provinces of Cliina, where there are several millions of Mohammedans. Even the Sheiks, on tlie coast of Arabia nnd East Africa, accept it willi the utmost readiness.f * According to accounts by the mission secretary, Mr. Jenkins, Mildinay Conference, p. 164, sqq. Many English missionaries in the Punjaub, as lately one of them tohl me, consider Ilindooisni as a "far greater and more serious masterpiece of Satan" than Islam. t According to Dr. Jessup, Milduiay Conference, p. 364, sqq. Their Present State, 1 5 5 . In the other principal languages of the Turkish empire, Turkish, Armenian, Bulgarian, Syrian, modern Greek, Kurd, Persian, &c.,* the Bible has been tran- slated partly in whole, partly the New Testament only. Though the Gospel has never as yet been preached in open assemblies to the Turks en masse still the latter come everywhere in small groups to hear it proclaimed.-|- Hence it has become a rule, e.g., in the American mission, to hold one service every Sunday in the Turkish language. And the leaven is w^orking. There is hardly a district, town, or village of any size in Asiatic Turkey, where at least one copy of the Bible is not to be found.| The publications of the Protestant missionary press are more numerous than those of any other in Turkish Asia. And, what is most encouraging, the siq^icriority of the Protestant religion over that of those Churches which worship pictures, is being ever more universally acknowledged ly the Mohammedans, In presence of Protestantism, the Turkish contempt for Christianity is beginning to give way. By the self-sacrificing labours of love of * See Dr. Jessup, Meeting of the New York Alliance, p. 640, sqq. t Cf. e.g., the account of the consecration of the beautiful new church in Csesarea ; Missionary Herald, Boston, February 1879, p. 60. X According to accounts of Dr. Bliss, Mildmay Conference, p. 631, sqq. 156 Protestant Foreign Alissions : the American missionaries, male and female, during the lUisso-Turkish war in Europe and Asia Minor, the confidence of the natives in many places in the Protestant missions has been won. The lies and slanders of bigoted priests and monks have been shown to be unfounded, and nuiny doors, formerly shut, have been flung open. Expressions in the mouth of the people like, " Protestants do not tell lies," " Protestants may be trusted," heard, as they may be, np among tlie mountains of the uncivilised Kurds — where, not long ago, a robber, on learning that his victim was a Protestant, immediately re- stored his booty, saying, " You I can believe ; you are a Protestant ! " * — these testify, more clearly than all else, to tlic groiviwj moral injlucnce of the Protestant missionary Church. Especially is this to be seen with respect to the enslaved female popu- lation. The moral and social liberation of women, which is making gradual progress by means of Christian teaching in schools and Lible classes, and indeed in a whole array of higher institutions, -f is a fruit of missions, of importance enough to justify all the efforts hitherto expended. Besides, we have * Accordin;:^ to Clark, "The Gospel in the Ottomaii iMiipire," p. 9. t In Constantinople, Siniakou, IJrnsa, JManisa, ]\Iarsiwan, Ain-tab, Marash, Ilarput, Mardin, the American Board has such institutions. See Clark, p. 8, sqq. Their Present State. 1 5 7 in medical missions, as is becoinini:^ always clearer, one of the principal keys to tlie houses of the Mohammedans, who at least recognise Jesus as the great Helper and Healer. This branch of the work has proved itself of particular value in the lands of Islam.* Protestant missions are in a better position now than ever they were for extending the area of their work, not simply among Oriental Christians, but among Mohammedans. The collapse of the political power of the Ottoman empire, the palpable state of bankruptcy to which an indolent inward adminis- tration has reduced it, the decrease of prejudice entertained ai^ainst Protestantism, and the OTOwinf]^ influence of the Gospel leaven, all warrant us in look- ing upon Moslem missions as no longer a hopeless task — and this in spite of all restrictions and hindrances, and w^ith full recognition of the truth openly acknowledged by missionaries,-|- that hitherto they have underrated this opponent, who even now is making considerable propaganda.^ It cannot yet be predicted what influence the contact, not * See Medical Missions, October 1878, p. 29 ; Hughes (see above), p. 332. t See Hugbes, p. 330. X E.g., the AVahabis in Arabia, and the disciples of the fanatical Saiyid Ahmed in India, and specially the Mohammedan propa- ganda in the western pro\ances of China. See Evangel. Mission. Magazin., 1874, p. 77, sqq. 158 Protcsta7it Foreign Missions: of small liandfuls of scattered Protes bants, but of whole Protestant territories, will have on the neigh- bouring Mohammedans, as in Armenia, and Persia, in India, Sumatra (Sinkel district), &c. With India we enter on the chief field of mis- sionary labour, where from all sides a concentra- tion of forces, the most numerous and the best, is taking place, for a general attack on that great strong- hold of darkness — Hindooism. Now that whole races of people and systems of territory have passed out of the hands of a Company hostile to missions, into the power of the British Crown, there is scope for greater freedom of action. In India earnest work is being carried on by 28 Protestant missionary socie- ties, including all the greatest of them nearly without exception. There are about 600 ordained European and American missionaries, occuj^ying at least 430 central stations. A goodly number, and yet how small when it is considered that for every million inhabitants there are only two missionaries ! The f(jllowing figures will give a definite idea of what tlie progress of Indian missions has been witliin tlie last twenty or thirty years : — There were in Pritish India (including Purmali and Ceylon), in — 1S52: 22,400 coimmiiiicants, 128,000 native Chri.stiaiis, y(»iiiig and old ; 1S62: 49,681 coinniunicants. or 213,182 Christians; Their Present State, 159 1872 : 78,494 commimicants, or 318,363 Christians. Ill 1878 the latter figures rose to 460,000.* If we take now only India proper, the increase of native Protestant Christians was — 1851-61 .... 53 per cent. 1861-71 . . . .61 per cent. (from 138,731 to 224,258 Chris tians),-(- and during the last ten years it will have been much greater. \ Examining the share which each of the societies has had in this increase, we find that the five Luth- eran societies at work in India — that of Leipzig, the Gossner,the Danish, Hermannsburg, and the American Lutheran — have since 1850 risen in membership from 3316 to about 42,000 Christians; the Baptist Mis- sionary Societies, two American and one English, from 30,000 to 90,000 (including Burmah) ; the Basel mission in India, from 1000 to 6805 ;§ the ten Pres- byterian missions of Scotland, England, Ireland, and America, from 800 to 10,000 ; and similarly the two societies of the Wesleyan Methodists from America * See Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift, 1874, p. 85, Church Miss. Intell., 1878, jx 537, and Mildmay Conference, 1878, p. 120, sf^?. t Cf. Evang. Miss.-Mag., 1873, p. 255 ; Chronicle of the London Missionary Society, 1874, p. 46, 599. The difference between the numbers given above arises from the omission of Further India. X It has been calculated that, at this rate of progression, there should be, about the year 1901, upwards of a million, and in the year 2000, about 1 38 millions, of Protestant Christians in India. § Heidenbote, August 1879, p. 59. 1 60 Protestant Foreio;n Missions : i> and England, which liave been employed in India for a short time ; the London IMissionaiy Society, from 20,000 to npwards of 48,000 ; the Church Mission- ary Society and the Propagation Society together, from 61,442 to upwards of 164,000.* To these must be added several smaller and many private missions, which in India are specially numerous. In some places progress has been exceptionally rapid, and at the same time intermittent ; first very little, then suddenly very abundant fruit. ISTowhere has development taken place so much ly louncls as in many of the Indian missions. In Cuddapah, e.g. (Telugu territory), the London and the Propagation Society laboured side by side for thirty years without making more than 200 converts. Then, all of a sudden, there came a revival among the non-caste population, and the 200 became nearly 1 1,000. What a hard soil has, during twenty-seven years, South Mahratta been for the Basel missionaries — so fruitless, that many thought seriously on retirement from this territory. Now, of a sudden, fat years of harvest have followed on the lean, and the number of Christians in the Basel stations has risen to up- wards of 1000. How diri'crent has Ijeen the history of the Gossner mission among the Kolhs ! After five years' waiting, * According to Sherriiig, Mildinay Conference, p. 121, tqq. Their Present State, 1 6 1 its missionaries baptized the first converts in 1850, and since then the number has steadily increased from year to year : — i860 .... 1400 Christians ; 1870 . . , over 12,000 ; and now, in the German and English stations together, there are about 40,000 baptized converts. The, increase of new converts which has taken place within the last tivo years has been unparalleled in the history of Indian missions. And this forms the most prominent feature in the present condition of mission work in India. The previous famine, to which the inhabitants of Southern India were sub- jected* — the practical experience multitudes then made of the helplessness of their gods — the actual proof of the absolute superiority of Christian pity to heathen selfishness, which they had daily before their eyes in the relief afforded by the government, the Christians in England, and the various missionary societies — the glaring contrast between heartless hea- then priests and the missionaries who spent them- selves in ministering to the hungry, united with the effect produced by much missionary labour, which in Southern India had been more actively prosecuted than * According to the " Times," there perished in the presidency of Madras 3,000,000 of persons; in Mysore, 1,250,000 ; in Bombay, 1,000,000. ;£"8,ooo,ooo were sent from England to give relief to the sufferers. L 1 62 Protestant Foi'eio-n Missions : elsewhere by preachers and teachers, — these were the visible means in the Divine Hand of enabling thousands and thousands of heathen, for the first time, to perceive the divineness of Christianity,* and of causing them to long for light and salva- tion. The Basel Society reaped a harvest such as it never had done before, increasing in 1 877 by 1076, and in I %yZ by 'j6'^ souls.-t* So also the Leipzic Society (1878, 1639 heathen baptized, i.e., nearly double as many as in 1877) ; and, indeed, the same was the case with almost all the societies at work in Southern India. But the following cases are quite unex- ampled : — The American Baptists in IN'ellore, within six weeks J (June 16 to July 31, 1878) baptized 8691 heathen. In the Tinnevelly district, where the Church Missionary Society carries on operations, 1 1,000 heathen 'applied, in 1878, to Bishop Saegent and the native clergy § for instruction, with a view to baptism. In the same district, but in connection with the Propagation Society, from July 1877 to * Heathens have been heard to say, writes a native preacher from ;Madras, *'"VVe can understand Christians giving sympathy and help to tlieir fellow-Christians in time of need, hut it is indeed wonderful that they should show such great and noble compassion to the heathen ! Tlicre must, indeed, be a mvjiity i^oiccr in their religion/" — Allgemeine evangelische Lutherischc Kirchcn-Zcitung, supplement, 1879. t See Annual Report, 1S7S, p. 31 ; lleidcnbote, 1S79, p. 59. X Sherring, ibid., p. 123, § Abstract of the Church Missionary Society's Report, 1S79, p. 13. Their Present State. 163 the end of June 1878, 23,564 persons betook them- selves to Bishop Caldwell and his fellow-labourers for Christian teaching. Thus the English Church 7nission in Tinnevelly and Eamanath (southern point), in hardly a year and a half, received an increase of 35,000 souls;* whilst, previous to that, the average growth of the Church Missionary and the Propaga- tion societies, in Tinnevelly and Travancore, had only been at the rate of 2000 to 3000 per annum. The Propagation Society is now proclaiming the Gospel in some 62^ i villages in the Tinnevelly district. Though this number is made up, doubtless, of those who are receiving instruction previous to baptism, and not entirely of converts pure and real, still it is just as certainly not composed of mere food- seeking "rice Christians," but of those who have been awakened, and who, by joining the Christian Church, have exposed themselves to many a persecution.f The movement — and this shows how deep it is — is spread- ing, not only among the heathen, but among the native Christians, many of whom, filled with a lively zeal, are now — in most cases without remuneration — devoting their energies to the instruction of inquirers^ If we add to this progress in the south that made in other parts of India, more especially among the * Report of tlie Propagation Society, 1879, p. 31, sqq. + Ibid., p. 32. X Abstract of the Church Missionary Society's Report, 1879, p. 13. 1 64 Protestant Foreign Missions : KoUis (about 3000 converts annually) the Santals, the Karcncs in Burmah, and Pegu, &c., the total increase in 1878 amounts to from 50^000 to 60,000 souls, whilst it at other times averaQ;ecl from 6000 to 10,000. When we consider for a moment how the above total of the native converts in India (from 400,000 to 500,000) is distributed over the different territories, a striking diversity is presented. The largest propor- tion is in the south, in the presidency of Madras, the number amounting to over 200,000 Christians. Here the Propagation Society has 20,746 catechu- mens, 32,398 baptized Christians, 300 day-schools, 13,000 to 14,000 children under instruction, with 48 missionaries, 195 catechists, 394 native teachers and Bible readers.* The Church Missionary Society pos- sesses 75,592 native Christians, 14,443 communi- cants, 730 seminaries and schools, with 22,361 scholars, 32 European missionaries, 81 native ordained pastors, 1058 native catechists and teachers.-f- To these two societies belong about the half of the Christians in Madras. The rest are divided among : — the London Missionary Society (which has many self-supporting con^fre^ations in Telu^u, Salem, Travancore, and other districts) ; the American Board (which lias * Propar,'.'ition Society's Report, 1879, pp. 16, 17, t Abstract of the Church Missionary Society's Kei)ort, p. 14. Theh^ Present State. 165 ^'^'JJ persons in the 32 cliurclies of its Madura mission*); the American Baptists (with 12,000 bap- tized converts in Nellore); the Leipzic Society (with now 10,872 Christians in 18 principal stations, and 105 schools with 2196 scholars f); the Basel Society, with 6805 niembers, 20 principal stations, including four in South Mahratta, belonging to the presidency of Bombay, her largest field of labour, with 6'^^ missionaries, 72 native deacons, catechists, and evangelists, 55 teachers, 62 primary and secondary schools with 2654 scholars, of whom 19 are in the seminary for pastors ; J the London Wesleyans (Madras and Mysore district); the (Dutch) Eeformed and the Episcopal Methodist Church of America; the Scotch Established and Eree Churches, the Danish and Hermannsburg Societies, &c. In Ceylon, where Buddhism spreads its deadly shadow over the greater part of the island, we find a Protestant Church slowly rising from the ruins of the old Dutch mission, with its hundreds of thousands of "political Christians," who quickly again returned to Buddhism. To-day the number of native Chris- tians there may be somewhat over 32,000. The much-to-be-deplored quarrel between the ritualistic * Report of tlie American Board, 1878, p. 72, + Allgemeine evangelisclie Lutherisclie Kirchen-Zeitung, June 13, 1879, P- 554, sg?. + See the tables in the Annual Report, 1878, p. 28, sqq. 1 66 Protesta7it Foreion Missions: - 527- Their Present State, 1 7 1 for the Scriptures in Bombay * Not much smaller is the Mahratta mission of the American Board, which has 5 principal and many outlying stations, 10 14 adult members, 23 congregations, 10 missionaries, and 14 native pastors, and 50 schools with 801 scholars.-)* The stations, four in number, of the Propagation Society seem to embrace not more than 600 or 700 Church members, J and the four of the Scotch Free Church probably not more than 900, with upwards of 2200 scholars. § The others are considerably less — e.g., the American Episcopal Methodist Church with some 400 or 500 Christians — though the Basel mission in South Mahratta has increased its membership to 1057. I^ ^^® central provinces in Nagpore, and among the Ghonds, the Scotch Free Church has some small missions still in their in- fancy, as have also the German Protestant Missionary Society of America and the Swedish Fosterland Institute. The latter has lately begun work in Narsingpore and Sagar with four missionaries, || and maintains two missionaries among the Ghonds. Be- sides these, there only remains to be mentioned the mission of the General Baptists in Orissa (on the east * Abstract of the Church Missionary Society's Report. 1879, p. 9. t Report of the American Board, 1878, p. 64. X Report, 1879, p. 17. § Report on Foreign Missions, 1877, p. 64, sqq. II Missions- Tidning, May 1879. 172 Protestant Foi^eio-n Missions : o coast), with six stations and about looo communi- cants,* and that outpost of Protestantism at the gates of Thibet, the Moravian mission in the Western Himalaya (two stations and thirty-four native Christians). A classification of the total number of converts, not according to provinces, but according to caste and state of education, will brines to iiG:ht several facts characteristic of the results of Indian missions. Five-sixths of the converts in all Indian missions belong to the loiver grades of society, and are either of low caste or are without any at all.f Converted Brahmins are nowhere absolutely wanting, but their number is as yet small. Accordingly it is clearly shown that the black aboriginal races, with their pre- Brahminical demon worship and the scmi-Brahmi- nism of Southern India — a mixture of Brahminism with low caste — are much more accessible to the Gospel tlian the Brahmins proper of the north. And, remarkably enough, these two most fruitful branches of the great missionary tree possess cognate languages. The races which are to be found extending from the Malayalim, Tamil, Telugu, &c., up as [far as Kola and Santal,| are in language Dravidian, and to * On an average. t Sherring, see above, p, ii8. X See the map of Indian languages in Clrundcmnnirs (Jonor.il Atlas of Missions, Asia, Ko. vi., and Monier Williams' niaj) of Hindooism, London, 1877. Their Present State. 1 73 them Brahmin Hindooism, with its Aryan languages, is opposed. Thus then we see that, in this ancient land of civilisation, it is precisely those races and classes of people which, in religion and social position, ham relatively come least under the influence of heathen culture, that are most accessiUe to Christianity ; whilst the real strongholds of the Hindoo religion and civilisation — the north with its Benares, one may say all the higher, better educated castes and more enlightened tribes generally of India — still stand out defiant, like a mighty fortress, which, though be- sieged indeed, is far yet from having been taken. But the tmdermi7ii7iy process is going on, which, through time, must lead to the downfall, though when this wdll take place we cannot even guess. The tree of Hindooism will be brought down by the axe of the Gospel, for whose handle itself has pro- vided the wood, i.e., through the preaching of the Word by native agents. And this the more thought- ful of the Hindoos now see and openly admit. " After all, what did the Mohammedans do ? " said a Hindoo to Mr. Leupolt.* " They broke down a few bricks from the top of the house ; these men (the missionaries) undermine its foundation by preach- ing and teaching, and, when once a great rain * Leupolt, ' ' Recollections of an Indian Missionary in the Church Mission. -Intell.," 1878-79. 1/4 Protestant Foreign Missions : comes, tlie whole building ^yill come down with a crash." The power which holds these still together is no longer the religious system itself, with its many- internal varieties ; not the literature as such, ancient or modern, at present a so heterogeneous compilation from ancient and devout prayers, phantastic specu- lations, and absurd, oftentimes terribly oppressive, injunctions, and coloured by pantheism, polytheism, and even theism ; not the influence of heathen faith and thought, but — caste. As a system, Hindooism is becoming more and more a relic * It is daily losing its power over the popular mind. Strong though its roots yet are, among the people the influence of polytheistic superstition has already lost its hold on the educated, while the young of India are becoming less and less subject to its power. But caste clamps the old building firmly together. Even freethinkers have not the courage to break with it. " You know," said an accom- jjlished Hindoo to Mr. Leupolt, "that, properly speaking, we have now no religious belief; any one can believe what he likes, so long as he retains caste ! " In fact, Hindooism only still clings to caste, because caste in its turn supports Hindooism. All the more reason, then, that it be energetically * Cf., too, Jenkins, Mildmay Conference, p. 165. Their Prese7it State. 175 attacked ; for, once a breach be made here, the whole building will fall to pieces. Among Protestant mis- sionary societies there is no question as to ivhdlur or not the great social fetter of Hindooism must be removed. But it is still a matter of dispute whether, in the case of converts, caste may be merely restricted, and its complete extinction left to the working of the spirit of the Gospel ; or whether it must, from the very first, be attacked, and a complete renuncia- tion of it demanded. In this respect the practice of some societies, particularly of the Leipzic Society, differs from that of the great majority. Without in the very least seeking to settle this complicated and much-discussed question by one or two authoritative statements, I must confess that, to my mind, the first-mentioned practice seems dangerous, inasmuch as it is incompatible with a clear and pure carrying out of Christian principle. And in my opinion I have lately been much strengthened by an impartial witness, Professor MoNiER Williams, of Oxford, in his work entitled, "Modern India and the Indians" (1879). He says : — " It is difficult for us Europeans to under- stand how the pride of caste, as a divine ordinance, interpenetrates the whole being of a Hindoo. He looks upon his caste as his veritable god ; and those caste rules which we believe to be a hindrance to his adoption of the true religion, are to him the 176 Protestant Foreign Missions: very essence of all religion, for they influence his whole life and conduct." It is perfectly possible, no doubt, to point to some good service which the laws of caste in India have rendered, as the protection they give against com- plete lawlessness; but these are completely out- weighed — as Professor Williams goes on to observe — by the irreparahU harm they are inflicting on the Hindoo population, physically, mentally, and morally; by insisting on marriage in early youth as a religious duty ; by bonds of endogamy (marriage within caste only, sometimes within a particular lower section of caste) ; by surrounding family and home life with a wall of secrecy. Let any one go to the upper classes of the High Schools of India, and he wiU find that half of the boys there are already fathers ! ISTow, I ask, have we not here the cause of the sickliness of so many millions in India ? Will the children of mere children not remain children all their life? What is the reason of the childish character of the Indian women ? Is it not their terrible seclusion by the caste laws ? Nothing can be done here, except by a new ideal of womanhood, a complete renovation of family life, the liberation of the female population from their prisons at home, in a word, by a radical renovation of the whole social structure ! * * It is a matter for tliaukl'ulncss that the question of children's Their Present State. 1 7 7 Therefore away with caste, that root of all India's social misery; and — I must say it — the more thoroughly it is extirpated the better, not only that the chief hindrance to the progress of the Gospel may be taken out of the way, -but for the sake of the 170,000,000 souls in India ! An evil, two thousand years old, may easily continue to spread, if, as soon as it is attacked, it be not completely extirpated. Lately, the question of caste was like to have cropped up again among the Christians in Krishnagur, had not the Church Missionary Society adopted measures of strict discipline and at once choked the weed. And without doubt that was the right course to adopt. To deal too leniently with caste, which at any time is liable to become a source of disastrous strife — as it was under Schwartz,* and in more recent times — may have the effect of temporarily raising the number of professing Chris- tians ; but this increase, it is feared by many — who point to the case of the Eomish Church — will be followed by the complete stagnation of all congre- gational life.f marriages is in India becoming the subject of public controversy. Already a distinguished native Christian lawyer has declared that he will devote his life and strength to their abolishment ; see Mrs. Weitbreeht, "The Women of India," p. ii. May God bless his endeavours ! * The famous German missionary in Tranquebar, 179S. t See the valuable article "On Caste and Christian Missions," Church Missionary Intelligencer, March 1879, p. 129, sqq. M I 78 Protestant Foixio^n Missions : «b It is to be hoped that all Protestant missions will show a united front in dealing with caste, leaving its preservation, even in a restricted form, entirely to the Eoman Catholic Church ! And here it is above all things to be desired, that, in an eminently practical question like this, advice should be sought, not from mere theoretical scholars, who judge the question afar off, chiefly from an historical point of view, but from those who have formed their opinion from a personal inspection and experience of the circumstances as we have to deal with them in tlu -present dcty. There would thus be a better hope of attaining unanimity, at least in the practical treatment of the matter. Still this mighty power in the social life of India has begun here and there, however slowly, to yield. Contact with Christian culture and manners, " the general extension of even a mere superficial know- ledge of Christianity, is," as Sir Bartle Frere says, " the decdli-hnell of caste. Generations may pass till the result be attained, but finally there can be no doubt of it." There are now widows wdiose remarriage meets with the entire approval of the rising generation of India. The very railway becomes an ally in the struggle against caste. Hindooism is unsuited to the whole progress of modern social life, and therefore all things are contributing to cause it, as a system, Their Present State. 179 to crumble to pieces. Enlightened social ideas and customs are making their influence felt, wherever the Hindoo has gained any idea of Christian family life ; and caste, with its dreadful and unnatural con- straints, seems an anachronism, and, felt to be a burden, it is not now so strictly observed. Wlien caste has once been lost, the priests, in order to retain something at least, must do all in their power to facilitate a return to it. The enlightening influence of the schools, bringing as they do idol worship into general disrepute, helps naturally to undermine the system of caste. And this applies not only to mission, but also to govern- ment schools!^ Though these latter, it is to be regretted, exclude the Bible and all religious in- struction, as a matter of principle, it would be going too far to regard them as directly hostile to missions. By rooting out a mass of heathen prejudice, they, too, must prepare the way for Christianity. But it is a circumstance in the highest degree to be deplored that, by the influence of rationalistic teachers, a spirit decidedly anti- Christian is now prevalent, and scepti- cism towards every form of positive religion directly promoted. No doubt the man of letters will soon give up his faith in the Hindoo cosmogony; but * Cf. here specially the paper by Dr. Murray Mitchell on ' ' The Systems of Education Pursued in India," Mildmay Conference, p. 124, sqq., and the discussion which followed. t8o Protestant Forei'oji Missions : ]>. 220, 221. t Kcv. F. T. Turner, iMililniay Conrerence, p. 258. Their Present State. 2 1 1 grave men said to Mr. Fleming Stevenson, *'but they cannot behead Christ." Even recently the old hatred of foreigners has been in many places shown, which — as against a Basel station the other day — breaks out always in the form of partial persecu- tion. Of course it can be easily understood that, in a territory of so wide an extent, the various fields will not be equally productive. In the great sea-ports the preaching of the Word finds a hard soil. But still it is of great value here, for, the country people coming and going,* carry the good seed with them and help to scatter it abroad. In the mterior of the land, the mass of the people, as a rule, listen to the Gospel with much less prejudice. During the last few years, however, by means of the dreadful famine in North-East China (there perished by it about twelve millions of human beings f), God has been furrowing the ground more deeply and breaking more effectually a defiant national pride. Numbers of children offered for sale at a few dollars per head, exhumed corpses eagerly devoured as food, showed, of a sudden, to this ancient people of boasted civili- sation — whose common peasantry can trace back their ancestry further than any of our princes or * According to the Rev. F. Stevenson, Mildraay Conference, pp. 217, 218. t See Rev. F. Stevenson, "Our Mission to the East," 1878, P-3I. 2 1 2 Protestant Forcioii Missions : nobility — that they could sink back again to the lowest grade of morality, to cannibalism.* There, as shortly before in India, the Christians had a splendid opportunity of showing the supe- riority of a culture, true, ennobling, renovating to their very depths mind and heart, to the outward, superficial, half civilisation of China — the grandeur of Christian love, divinely born and self- forgetting, compared with heathen selfishness unconcealed by the gloss of mere outward education. And the Christians seized the opportunity. Thousands of pounds, collected in Asia and especially in Eng- land, were, through the missions, distributed to the perishing, with such self-sacrifice, that five missionaries fell victims to their own too great exertions.-I- And the aid thus rendered by the hand of Christian charity, in glaring contrast to the heartless, oftentimes dishonest, conduct of the mandarins, has opened the eyes of thousands to the inward majesty of Cliristianity ; so that their belia- * See Christlieb, " The Indo-British Opium Trade and its KtTect," p. 43, 577. t Tlie "Sliangliai Courier" said, witli reference to this, *'If wc contrast the lal)ours of tliese men with the selfish life of the great masses of the people, we arc constrained to express our liighest admiration and gratitude to the former, and be thankful to liavc such examples given us. These men are the pioneers of civilisation and of Christianity, and have fallen, sword in hand, on the field of battle. And it is encouraging to see that fresh volunteers at once hasten to fill up the gap." Their Present State. 2 1 3 viour towards the strangers, whom they had been taught from their youth to despise, has completely changed. When the starving Chinese asked tlie Christian Samaritans, who journeyed from place to place, giving them assistance, " Whence do you come, and why ? Who sends us this ? We are quite a different people," and received the answer, " We come from Christian lands ; the Christians wish to help you in your great need ; whether you are a different race or not, we are all the children of the One Great Father," — completely overcome, they were heard to exclaim, " This is new ; we have never experienced the like of this ! " * " The distribution of gifts of Christian charity through the missionaries," writes Mr. Forrest, the British Consul in Tientsin, " will do actually more to promote the opening up of China than a dozen wars." As a matter of fact, some of the northern provinces, like Shang-tung, seem to be becoming more accessible to the Gospel, hundreds of indi- viduals there being eager for Christian instruction.-j- * See further particulars in the Annual Report of the London Missionary Society, 1878, p. 57, s^r?. ; 1879, p. 8, 555. t In the town of Chan-hua (province of Shan-tung) these at present number 300 to 400. See Chronicle of the London Mis- sionary Society, March 1879, p. 57. According to the periodical, " Spirit of Missions," a large and splendid temple of the gods was, in a district of the north, placed at the disposal of the missionaries, as a token of gratitude. They at once turned it into a Christian church. For Mr. Forrest's report, see "China's Millions," Novem- ber 1879, p. 134, s^2. 2 1 4 Protestant Foreign Missions : And the moral effect of tins practical proof of Christian charity is the more cheering, that in per- haps no other land of heathendom has belief in the unselfishness of Christian love — the Christians are to blame for it — been made so difficult as in China, which groans under the withering curse of opium. Let it never be forgotten that, in addition to all the other hindrances which the work of evangelisation has to encounter, there was added here, more than a quarter of a century ago, that of the opium trade. An offence, resulting as it does in the physical, moral, and spiritual ruin of China, great enough to make a heathen disbelieve for ever in the possi- bility of any good intent on the part of Christians. This traffic a Christian power has forced upon China, only to pay the cost of the administration of India. China hates it, and has begged often enough for its discontinuance ; fur hundreds of thousands of Chinese, by the curse of the oj^ium plague, sink into an early grave ! * Now at last the Christian conscience of England is raising a protest, ever louder and more general, against this crying injus- tice.-f How far it will be attended with success * See Christlieb, "The Indo-Biitisli Opium Trade and its Effect," ]>p. 12, sqq., 37, «77., 63, »77. t At the close of the addrcssfs on missions at Basel (September 5. 1879), at the Seventh General Conference of the Evangelical Alliance, the follovNing resolution, proposed by myself, su2)portcd Their Pi'esent State. 2 i 5 cannot be predicted, considering the critical state in which Indian finance is at present placed. The prejudice of the Chinese against all that comes from England, and against missions in general, fostered though it be by the opium trade, is beginning to give way since Britain came to the help of the famine-stricken districts. The Chinese Government instructed their ambassador in London to return thanks publicly to those who had so philanthro- pically rendered assistance. " The preliminary quar- rying of stones," as it was often called, is now being transformed into the work of building. And with a glance at Japan we close this survey by the Rev. W. Arthur (London), and Herr Th. Necker (Geneva), and signed also by the Secretaries of the English Branch of the Evangelical Alliance, was passed unanimously : — "That this Conference, prompted by the reports laid before it as to the present state of Evangelical Missions in China and India, expresses its full sympathy with the efforts for the suppression of the opium traific which have been made during many years past, and desires to support the protests against this trade which from time to time have been raised by various evangelical and missionary Churches, and by many distinguished friends of Christian missions. ' ' The Conference unites with their English brethren in declaring this long-established trade to be a crying injustice against China, a cause of offence which deeply injures the honour of the Christian name, both in Christian and heathen countries, and especially an immense obstacle to the spread of Christian missionary work. "The Conference feels constrained to place on record its convic- tion that a change in the policy of England as regards this traffic is urgently necessary, and it instructs its President to bring this Resolution to the knowledge of Her Majesty's Secretary of State for India." 2 1 6 Protestant Foreign Alissions : of the fields of Protestant missionary work. On this " Land of the Eising Sun," thrown open by the commercial treaties of 1854 and 1858 with America and England, the dawn is at length break- ing. In 1859 and i860 Japan was first entered by Protestant missionaries from America, — an ordained missionary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, three of the Presbyterian Board, and three of the Ptcformed Church of America. The work began with instruc- tion in government and private schools, where, how- ever, permission to give systematic religious teaching was not at that time granted.* Nor from 1859 ^^ 1 872 was the preaching of the Gospel permitted in public, but only privately in houses. Still from the schools the Christian leaven began to work. Then the Scottish and American r)ible Societies becran to o send out agents. Chinese Testaments and tracts speedily found a wide circulation, large chests of them being often sold within a few days.-f* Soon after- wards other societies — American (the Boston Ame- rican Board in 1 869, the Episcopal Methodists, and, more recently, the " Evangelical Union," Cleveland, Ohio), Scottish and English — found their way into Japan, which, with its unprecedentedly quick adoj)- * According to the report of tlic Rev. Dr. Fcrri.s (of the Refonin-d Church of America) at the Mildniay Conference, p. 238, sqq. t According to Mr. W. Slowan, of tlie National l>ib]e Society of Scotland ; Ibid., p. 260 ; Ferris, p. 243. Their Present State, 2 i 7 tion of Western civilisation (agreed to in 1869), was being involuntarily made accessible for the propaga- tion of the Gospel, and ever less able to enforce the laws formerly enacted against Christianity. But the baptism of the first convert,* in 1865, although undisputed, remained for some time the solitary instance of the kind. It happened in January 1872, during the week of prayer, that one or two Japanese students, who had received instruction in the private classes of the missionaries, took part in the English meeting in Yokohama. " After portions of the Acts of the Apostles had been read and explained, they fell on their knees, and were heard to beseech God with tears that He would pour out His Spirit on Japan, as once He did on the first assembly of Apostles. These prayers were characterised by intense earnest- ness. Captains of men-of-war, English and Ame- rican, who witnessed the scene, remarked, ' The prayers of these Japanese take the heart out of us.' f Thus the first Protestant Church in Japan was founded. A turning-point had been reached." One or two who were decided came forward with the confession of their faith, and in March 1872 the first Japanese congregation of 1 1 converts * See Missionary Magazine of Basel, 1866, p. 352. ■\ Rev. Dr. Ferris, Mildmay Conference, p. 243. 2 1 8 Protestant Foreiorn Missions : i> Avas constituted in Yokohama. Within barely six years the 1 1 have increased to 1 200 communi- cants, forming some 30 or 40 congregations. Six stations fall to the American Presbyterians, and are under the care of 8 missionaries, who in 1878 reported an increase of 220 members, making the total in this connection now 632 full members* How much quicker has success been here than in China ! The missionaries of the Preformed and Presby- terian Churches of America, with the United Pres- hyterians of Scotland, formed their congregations into a Presbyte7nan Union, with a common General Synod, which at the end of 1878 included 17 congregations, with 700 adult members. In the service of the Union there are — under the over- sight of the missionaries — 5 or 6 Japanese pastors, while the joint theological seminary possesses 25 students.-f This is the largest and strongest Pro- testant body in Japan, and it is increasing, especially in the capital, Yedo (or now Tokio), and in Yoko- hama, and contemplates extending the work as far as Corea. Of the remaining Protestants in Japan, the greater proportion is in connection with the American Board in and around Osaka (south-west * See Annual Report of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Prosbytcrian Churcli, 1879, p. 71. t Kev. Dr. Ferris, Mildiiiay Conference, pp. 243 244. Their Present State. 2 1 9 from Yeclo), Kioto (where there is a seminary, pre- sided over by the missionaries), and Kole. Already 3 principal and 5 outlying stations have been founded with 10 congregations, in which 10 mis- sionaries, 4 medical missionaries, and 24 female teachers are engaged in work. These last not only teach in the schools, but take part in the work of evangelisation with great success. To this is due the fact — a remarkable one in a mission so young — that already there is a comparatively large number of native women in full Church membership. Dele- gates of this society formed (in January 1878) a native Missionary Association for the promotion of the work of evangelisation.* The rest of the Protestant Christians are divided between the missionaries belonging to the Protestant Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal (with 7 stations ; Yokohama, Tokio, Nagasaki, Hakodate, &c. ; 7 missionaries, 12 native assistants, and a total of about 200 members -|-), and the Baptist Church, all of America ; as also the Propagation (4 missionaries) and Church Missionary Society, in connection with which last there are in five stations (especially Nagasaki, their oldest station, Tokio, Osaka, &c.). * See Annual Report of American Board, 1878, pp. 85-92. t According to Annual Report of the Methodist Episcopal Church, January 1878, p. 160, there were 114 full members and no proba- tioners. 2 20 Protestant Forci'o^n missions : 8 missionaries, 128 native Christians, and 4 schools.* The English Baptist Missionary Society, too, is about to commence a mission of its own in Japan. Connected with these missions, there are about 30 Christian schools for girls and boys, with upwards of 800 scholars. Nearly every mission has what may be called a High School for girls, and these institutions are popular. The Gospels have been translated into Japanese, and thousands of copies distributed ; the translation of the whole of the New Testament is approaching completion. The committee on translation is composed of representa- tives of nearly all the missions.-|- A Christian magazine is published monthly by the American Board, and circulated in all parts of the land. Since 1878, the number of Protestant ordained missionaries in Japan, in connection with 10 Ame- rican and British societies, has increased to 66,% of the unmarried female teachers to 38. The re- gularly-organised Protestant churches now amount * Abstract of the Report, 1879, p. 18. + See Rev. Dr. Ferris, MilJrnay Conference, p. 244. Clnm-li Missionary Intelligencer, January 1879, p. 58. In May 1878, a general Missionary Conference took place in Tokio, cliiclly with a view to introduce a uniform translation of the liil)le. t Inclusive of the missionaries' wives, the medical missionaries, and the independent female teachers, the total number of Amc;- rican and European workers is already over 160. See Missionary Herald, November 1879, p. 441. Theij^ Present Slate. 221 to 44, 12 of these being self-supporting and 26 partly so. There are 1761 adult communicants and about 5000 Christians, all of whom are everywhere being trained to self-support and personal activity. Along with 9 ordained pastors, there are 150 cate- chists and other native assistants at w^ork in the thirty-five chief stations and the fifty-nine out- lying ones, while in the three theological seminaries there are 173 young men being educated for the ministry.* And all this, be it remembered, in a country the government of which, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, after it had driven out the Portuguese and massacred the native (Catholic) converts, prohibited all Christians, under pain of death, from ever setting foot on its soil, and in open proclamation declared, that even if the King of Portugal, " or the God of the Christians Him- self should transgress this law, he would pay the penalty with his head." Now ruined Buddhist temples supply the wood for the erection of Chris- tian churches.-f- Even in the state prisons Chris- * According to the statistics of the General Missionary Con- ference in Tokio, in 1878. See Church Missionary Intelligencer, January 1879, p. 58; Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift, 1879, p. 236. Rev. Dr. Ferris, Mildmay Conference, p. 243, estimates the aggregate number of Japanese Protestant Christians, in 1878, at about 5000, The rapid increase of church members is proved by the following figures : — In 1872, 20 ; 1875, 538; 1876, 1004. t Der Christliche Apologete, May 5, 1879; Der Christliche Botschafter, October 15, 1879. 2 2 2 Protestant Foreign Missions : tianity has found an entrance, as tlie recognised means of reformation.* But the land is still far from being all open. Missionaries and foreigners of every kind are per- mitted to reside only in the towns mentioned in the treaties. Special permission must be sought — and is often granted — to dwell elsewhere. The old laws against Christianity have not yet been repealed, and the distrust of strangers is ever plainly discernible among the governing classes.-f The Buddhist clergy, provoked by the missionary zeal of the young Christian communities, are — as a counter-move — about to send missionaries to Europe and America, for the purpose of propa- gating their own religion, | and some of our modern philosophers are doing their utmost to prepare the way for them. A Eusso-Greek mission, too, is advancing steadily in the north, having already made about 3000 converts. But among the edu- cated classes here, as in India, it is scepticism, with all its irreligious influences, imported by American and European teachers into the state schools and universities of Japan, where it now predominates. * Annual Ke])ort of American Board, 1878,]). 87; Evangelistic Missionary Magazine, September 1879, p. 388, sqq. t Annual Report of Board of Foreign Missions of the Presby- terian Church, 1879, p. 72, sqq. X Cf. Allgemeine cvangelischc Luthcrischc Kirchcn-Zeitung, April II, 1879, p. 359; May 11, p. 10. Their Present State. 223 that is making most alarming progress.* Though the priests of the old religious systems are openly scoffed at, yet there is here a new and serious hindrance to the reception of the Gospel. The old battle at home, between faith and unbelief, must be fought over again afresh here, at the ex- tremest frontier of the Church, on the ground of heathen civilisation. Yet the general impression left by this mission, young though it be, is a very hopeful one. After the suppression of a somewhat serious rebellion, reform -|- and missionary enterprise are proceeding quietly on their way. When, then, in a land on the throne of which the family of Mikado has — in spite of one or two storms — sat for twenty-five centuries (a circumstance unexampled in history and unparalleled even in China ! ), a country there- fore not much given to change, J we see there, * Cf. the remarkable address by a Japanese candidate on "Scientific Education in Japan;" Missionary Herald, October 1879, PP- 365-370. t According to the most recent proclamation of the Prime Minister, "the religion of Japan is no longer to be looked upon as a particular and large partition of the state, but merely as a branch of the ministry of the interior " (Allg. ev. luth. Kirchen- Zeitung, November 1879, p. 1077), which very probably signifies the gradual withdrawal of government support, and accordingly the ruin of the old religions of the land. + Cf. specially the treatise by the Rev. Dr. Clark, ' ' Ten Years in Japan," Missionary Herald, November 1879, p. 435, sqq , and p. 442. The present emperor of Japan is the 121st of his line ! See H. Stevenson, "Our Mission to the East," 1878, p. 8. 2 24 Protest ant Foreign Missions: before our very eyes, in a few years so many new influences making way, and among tliem the Gospel taking such deep root, we may then, looking at Japan, as over the whole field of Protestant mis- sionary labour, exclaim, with thanks to God, " Yes, the day is breaking ! " And now, lastlv, — IV. — One or two Hints and Wishes with re- gard TO the Duties and Aims of the Immediate Future. These we shall mention, in so far as they have been gathered during our long wandering through the many forms of Protestant missionary work, and pressed upon us by a consideration of the relations in which tlie different societies stand to one another. The present condition of missionary labour shows that those who prosecute it, though they have learned much, have much still to learn. First of all, the friends of missions at home, in pronouncing judgment on the missionary operations of the present day, must remember that the work is the greatest and most diffi- cult in tlie world. If on a question of missionary enterprise a I*aul and a Barnabas could part "in sharp contention " (Acts xv. 39), we must not wonder when, at the present day among Christians, opinions as Their Pj^esent State, 225 to the means and instruments, the ways and methods of work, should often be widely different. Nor must it be forgotten, that every missionary field demands its own particular kind of treatment. Eules universally applicable may be established theoretically, no doubt, but not easily put into practice. Many a good friend of missions has, as directors have more than once complained, only introduced confusion by his well-meant suggestions. Whoever has had any deep insight into the nature of the difficulties here, or any practical experience of them, will be slow to make new proposals, and certainly will avoid all those which would depart from methods now become historical. In missions, as in education, nev/ experiments are, for the most part, dearly bought. And how often do these arise from an iv^mtience which forgets that Dcus hahet suas horas et moras, and does not enough keep to the true path for sup- port: ''In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength" ? Whoever seeks to promote an interest in the kingdom of God at home, will much aid its growth abroad. On the local press, for example, the friends of missions might, and should, exercise a much greater influence than heretofore, by sending in interesting details written in a Christian spirit.* * This, too, is the opinion of Warneck, ''Belebung des Mis- sionssinnes," p. 70. 2 26 Protestant Fordo n IMissii ^» ons "With regard to the relation of theology, more par- ticularly of practical theology, to missions, I shall omit he]:e all reference to the great duty of develop- ing a science of missions ; for, as far as any theory of ptrinciples and methods is concerned, it is still in a preparatory state. The stones with which to build are, as yet, only being collected. A systematic com- parison of missionary methods is at present not practicable, inasmuch as the great proportion of the necessary material has not been gathered ; and it is much to be desired, that all the great missionary societies would publish and make accessible the principles of their methods of labour, and the general rules which tliey, after lengthened expe- rience, have thought proper to put into the hands of their agents. This, e.g., the Church Missionary Society,* the American Board,-]- and the American Baptist Missionary UnionJ have begun to do. Only thus can the science of practical theology obtain reliable data to go upon, and so exercise an entirely different influence on the development of preaching and evangelistic work than it has heretofore done. Young theologians — in Germany, at least — are apt * See a Brief View of the Principles and Proceedings of the Church Missionary Society, new edition. May 1877. t See Missionary Tracts, No. i : " 'J'lic 'J'licory of Missions to the Heathen," and No. 15 : " Outline of Missionary Policy," &c. X See, e.g., the Reports of a Special Committee of the Executive Committee of the Missionary Union, March and November 1878. Their Present State. 227 to concentrate their attention on j)articular historical and critical questions of detail of quite secondary importance ; indeed, they are often accustomed to judge of the entire progress of theology by the newest little discovery or hypothesis of scholars, without ever having had their attention called to the advance of the Church of Christ as a whole. They should, more than has yet been done, have the true and broad idea of the kingdom of God set before them, in order that in their ministry they may take a w^armer interest in the progress of the Gospel, and no longer regard the assistance derived from the congregation (in missionary meetings, &c.) as an oipus siL^ererogationis. The command of the Lord goes beyond even what is laid down by the forms of the Church as indispensable ! In the relations of the different societies to each other, many things which have come under my own observation compel me to express a wish — which I would fain put in the form of an entreaty — that tlu various associations luoulcl seek more than they yet have clone to learn from each other ! As it is, none sets an high enough value on the experience of others. Many look for precedents nowhere but in the pages of their own history. Thus the disincli- nation which exists on the part of the Episcopal Church of England, to take any special recognition of the missionary literature and practices of jSTon- 2 2 8 Protestant Foreign Missions : conformists, lias led to many a failure and to the repetition of not a few mistakes — mistakes which might have taught valuable lessons. And doubtless the same thing has happened vice versa. Living- stone says of a High Church missionary bishop in South Africa, "At home his sectarian prejudices seem to have prevented him acquiring any know- ledge of missionary work, and he begins with a poor savage, as pitiably ignorant of native character, as if no one had ever penned his experience in such matters." * A bishop of the Propagation Society some years ago made a journey into Swaziland (South-East Africa), under the impression that he was the first who had ever attempted to bring the Gospel within the reach of the stalwart natives. He seemed never to have heard of the successful labours of Allison there, or of the travels of Meeenskys and HARDELANDS.f And since the different societies neither know nor care to know much of each other, can we be sur- prised that — ^here and there at least — their repre- sentatives do not always work very cordially with each other ? In particular, the societies of different lands take remarkahly little notice of each other, especially when * ''Missionary Sacrifices," the Catholic Presbyterian, No. i., January 1879. t Sec Allgemeine Missions-Zcitschrift, 1874, p. 202. Their Present State. 229 diversity of language forms the barrier, the over- coming of which is attended with no little difficulty for our good friends in England^ in spite of their annual tours on the Ehine and in Switzerland. It may, with nearly perfect truth, be said that what is not translated into their language, has for them no existence. Every society has, doubtless, enough and more than enough to do with itself ; they must all of them have their own periodicals, promoting their own cause and reporting their own work. But, surely, there is a common interest for all. And it is therefore not unreasonable to ask that, at least, the larger and more scientifically conducted magazines of the great missionary societies should endeavour, in addition to chronicling the labours of their own society or denomination, to pay more attention to Protestant mission work in general, in order to open the eyes of the better-educated Christian public to its extent, and to transform their sectarian interest into an interest for the kingdom of God ; as in Germany is done by the " Evangehsches Missions- Magazin," and the " Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift." But how astonishingly little attention have the large English missionary magazines paid to the labours of Germans ! I wish to expose no one to ridicule, but what exhibitions of ignorance of all non- English missionary history are often to be found in the mis- sionarv literature both of England and America ! 230 Protestant Foreign JMissions : AVhat is to be said when, in tlie cataloo'ue of literature given in the English General Missionary Encyclo- paedia, all mention of German works is nearly com- pletely wanting ? How seldom — doubtless through too great press of work — do the secretaries and directors of societies * endeavour to acquire a general knowledge of Protestant missionary labours at the present day, — which just in their position is so desirable ! The great General Missionary Con- ferences, in Xew York, 1854, then more particularly in Liverpool, London, Allahabad, Shanghai, and on the European continent in Bremen, have been the means of effecting some improvement in this direction. They have all given cheering con- firmation of the fact, that increase of brotherliness among the representatives of the different societies is for all of them increase of strength.-)- Let such conferences be kept up at suitable intervals, for they are a source of blessing and encouragement to labourers both at home and among the heathen. I am glad here to be al)le to speak in commendation of a practice prevalent among the directors of nearly all the London missionary societies, that of assem- bling together once a month for prayer and exchange * Those of the American Board, of Boston, form a praisewortliy exception. It is to be hoped that there are others still. + Cf. the address delivered by the late Dr. Mullens, "On the Increased Co-operation of Missionary Agencies," Mildmay Con- ference, pp. 22-27 ; Allgenieine Missions-Zeitschrift, 1879, 1'- ^So. Their P^^esent State. 231 of tliouglit on questions connected with missionary work. In this way much controversy is either avoided or nipped in the bud, and the giving of undue and offensive prominence to denominational pecu- liarities and interests prevented. Similar monthly reunions of missionaries take place in Madras, Calcutta, and Bombay. With regard to missionary literature and maga- zines I shall say but little, omitting many wishes to which expression might have been given. For a long time such publications were — and even in some places now are — behind the times in outward form and style, — a serious hindrance to their circulation among the educated classes. Their compilers have been often enough warned against all indulgence in over-colouring, and " the serving-up of sweet- meats, which are enticing and delicate, but apt to spoil the stomach,"* and requested to confine them- selves to the strictest moderation and ohjectiveness. More especially in England and America, it would seem as if such requests were not superfluous. All endeavour to present only what is full of interest and excitement, besides lowering the taste of many friends of missions (cf. the reading public of America, so greedy of sensational news), leads to the addition of entirely uncritical and unwarrantable embel- * See e.g., Graul, " Nachrichten der Ostindischen Missions- Anstalt," 1867, rP- 168-170. 232 Protestant Foreign Missions: lishments, which put a dangerous weapon into the hand of the enemies of missions. In the more recent missionary narratives it is pleasing to observe, that a decided advance has been made on the former unthinkinsj enthusiasm towards crreater moderation and calmness.* It is particularly to be desired, that there should be more, itniformity in the method of dealing with the tabular statisties of missions. In the compiling of these very diverse principles prevail among the various societies,f both as regards the quantity of statistics given and the manner of calculation and classification. Many annual reports give, as a matter of principle, no figures, while others deal in them too much. In the first case the labourers are, under certain circumstances, too little incited to effort ; in the latter they are strongly tempted to use every exertion, for no other purpose tlian to increase their numbers by a particular time of every year. Would it not be better if each society were to draw up, say every five years, the exact statistics, with detailed reports of their present condition ; whilst in the interval only the more important events of the * Cf. Dr. Kalkar's observations in his "Gcscliiclite der Christ- lichen Mission unter den Heiden," recently published, Preface i., pp. iv.-vi. t See also Grundemann's remarks in the collected documents of the Evangelical Alliance in New York, 1873, j). 592. Their Present State. 233 preceding year should be clironicled along with the budget ? Now, I have a request to make of several Methodist and Baptist societies, with respect to their annual reports ; and in making it I know I am speaking the mind of many besides myself. I shall subjoin it to one made on a former occasion,* which, however, has yet to be granted. In their reports there surely should be a sharper distinction draivn between mis- sions in heathen lands and the work of evangelisation in Christian countries ! It cannot fail to give offence or cause pain, when, e.g., one page contains the reports of missions in New Zealand and Polynesia, and the next of those in France and Germany ; or when missions in Norway and Italy are put between those carried on in Southern India and Japan; or when A. B., on the list of agents, figures as a missionary among the Zulus or Papuans, and B. C, beside him, as engaged in mission work in Wlirtemberg or Switzerland ! It is abundantly evident, too, how important and desirable, in the interest of missions, indeed for the * At the meeting of Alliance in New York, I requested that they should at least appoint " the preachers and evangelists, whom they send to Protestant countries, to such places where the pure Gospel is not preached, where the Church of the country either does not do her duty, or else has not as yet been able to do so for want of labourers. Cf. my letter to the ' Christlicher Botschafter ' (Cleve- land), dated January 21, 1874." 2 34 Protestant Fo7'cign Missions: whole character of the Protestant Churches, that there should be more uniformity of 'practice in questions which are neither confessional nor con- nected with any denominational peculiarity. For example, in the treatment of caste (see above), of polygamy, slavery, and, as far as possible, in the matter of baptism, especially in the case of societies whose work lies adjacent to each other in the same territory. As, however, this, with existing diffe- rences in doG:matic and ecclesiastical views, is not always possible, an attempt should be made ami- cctbly to divide the field of lahoicr, and to come to a friendly understanding on that fundamental prin- ciple of missionary courtesy, never to encroach on another society's sphere of labour, except when called to aid in drawing the Gospel net. The importance of this principle, too, should be im- pressed on private missionaries, so that, by friendly help and support, they may lend at least moral assist- ance to the labours of the neighbouring societies. Complaints concerning the violation of this prin- ciple, chiefly by the missionaries of the Propagation Society, are, unfortunately, constantly to be heard. A very frequent source of distrust and misunder- standing between the representatives of the diffe- rent societies is the ivrong position ivhich a society takes lip at the commencement of its work in a new territory ; and this remark is equally applicable Their Present State. 235 to the work of evangelisation in Christian lands. In a mission newly started, too little attention is often paid to character in the reception of Church members and the ordination of native agents, in order that progress may be as rapid as possible, and that there be some tangible results to show to the impatient friends at home. Individuals who have been excluded from other stations, or in some way been subjected to Church discipline, flock around the newly-arrived missionary, and in a short time a whole congregation of such persons is formed. Sometimes, indeed, those whose services have been dispensed with in other places, are found here occupying important positions to which large salaries are attached. How necessary is it, that here there should be, first of all, a brotherly un- derstanding with the representatives of the older societies ! How much to be desired here, as in other cases, the disappearance of special denomina- tional interests heliind the one common task of hring- ing, in peace and without offence, salvation to the heathe7i ! In other words, apart from the gain to any particular Church, without rivalry or spite, and simply for the sake of Christ's kingdom, to rejoice in the successful progress of our neighbour. Is not the injunction given specially to the mes- sengers of Christ: "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of 236 Protestant Foreign Missions: otliers " ? And whoever himself, honestly and un- selfishly cares for the good of others, best provides for his own interest. Of course each denomina- tion — as the history of missions only too clearly shows — believes itself, in confession, worship, and constitution, to be relatively the most perfect. But let none put prominently forw^ard its ow^n special cliarisma, its peculiar gifts and mission, without, in Christian humility and modesty, ac- knowdedging, as a Church, the limits of its powders and capabilities, wdiich may often commence just where those of another denomination end. Thus it will best learn what are its needs, and what its capacities for improvement.* As in a par- liament, the deputies are concerned not only with the particular interests of one district, but with those of the whole country, so " Christ's repre- sentatives," the missionaries, must attend to the affairs, not of their own Church merely, but of the whole kingdom of God. Ilow^ever many the divi- sions, it is all one army, under one Leader, and against one enemy. Let, then, the directors of the different Protestant societies, while retaining, and wdth perfect justice, the peculiar advantages of their own particular Church, seek to impress upon the missionaries this idea, in order that, with the neces- * Sec Christlieb, " Dor Mi.ssionsbcruf dcs cvangclisclicn Deutsch- lands," pp. 15-32. Their Present State. 237 sary self-assertion they may unite true self-denial and careful consideration for others ! But true Protestant liberality towards our fellow- soldiers * stands intimately connected — as has for- merly been hinted — with wisdom in teaching and respect for the national character and customs of the heathen, so far as these are justifiable. Missionaries must learn, more than they yet have done, to accom- modate the worship and constitution of their own denomination to the peculiar genius and ivants of the people among whom they lahour. These they must endeavour to satisfy first, and not the sectarian fanatics at home, who would at any price make all, even the smallest detail, incumbent on the converts. It may, after a time, become abundantly evident that, from its natural disposition, history, customs, and habits of life, one heathen people may be inwardly predisposed to this kind of Protestant worship, another to that, whilst for a third a special ecclesiastical form or combination of forms must be introduced.f And here it is that the divisions of * It is very cheering to hear that the Lutheran mission, too, ex- horts to this, e.g., " N'achrichten der Ostindischen Miss.-Anstalt zu Halle," 1877, p. 13: "Teach Lutheran friends of missions to rejoice in the extension of the kingdom of God on the wide earth, whoever it be that preaches Christ ; that is true liberality and manysidedness." t Cf. e.g., the peculiar combination of a Congregationalistic and Presbyterian constitution in the numerous mission congregations of the American Board in Turkey. See above. 238 Protestant Foreign Missions: the Protestant CkiLrclu and its missions again turn out to he a blessing. The manifold variety of our Clmrcli forms enables us to meet the most diverse Iteculiarilies and wants of lieathen peoples, if we possess wisdom and self-denial enough to give to each the Gospel in the form which best suits it, with the liberty necessary for its development. Let every section, then, of the Protestant Churcli seek (nit the field of labour to wliich it is best adapted, and to which, therefore, it has a special vocation ! The different denominations, with their manifold gifts and graces, and without renouncing any of their distinctive principles, will tlien, in Irotherly co-operation, form one great imperial army, able to conduct a mission truly oecumenical and wide as the uiuverse. For the promise of extension throughout the world and eternal duration was not given to this Church or to that, but to the one pure Gospel. But what we require is more quality, than quan- tity, in the missionaries sent out. And this, even as regards the (pieslion of funds, remains the chief requisite for the future. A few self-sacrificing missionaries, full of tlie Spirit of God, with a keen penetration and a firm will, coming amongst a people wliom, in spile of tlioir errors, they bear on their liearts in love, — such are of more value, and obtain more enduring results, tlian a great many less cajjable ! And, as men somewhat after the stamp Tlici)' Present S/i^/r. 239 of i\\(\ ;ij){)Sl1('s, llu'V will i)()ssoss Nvisddiii and (act enough to respect the ixH-iiliurities ol" Uu! natives, iiiul, from the very lirst, to insist only on Avluit is ahsohitely necessary; k.avint^-, among a ])eo])le with its entiri'ly justiliaMe pi-ejudiccs, in non-csscnl iais room for the development of a, ( 'liiist iaii ('liiircli, wliieh will contribute; to {\\v. glory of the one lilessed Lord. lint i'uither, and this remains our other cdcTitm comco, more i^specially in llu! case ol' (German missions, inasnnich as tlie liealhen-(Mii'is- tiau communities form a s])ecial liid< in the chain of parent and lilial ehurehes for all tinu; (doming, the juissionaries will inc(!ssaiitly nrge the necessity of ainiiiKj at sc/J'-sK/rpor/, hoth as regards mciaiis and native tah-nt. Thus the work of evangelisation, introduced fi'oni without, will heeonie indigenous, and s(df-suppoi't gradually ])a,ve tin; wa,y for scdf- extension by juissionary operations conducted with- out any exti'aneous aid. Yes, th(; present is, tJiank (Jod! (t cciiliiri/ of missions, such as never lias Ixmhi. In it the age of 'world-inidc missions luis begun. More than all generations on whose dust we ti'cad, can W(i to-day take up the psalm, " All the ends oi' the eaiih have seen the; salvation of our (Jod !" " I have," said the licv. ]\lr. I'MiKlluiiST, after lie had made a, journey round the world, " nowhere seen a /tr//' heathen teni[)le ; they have; been all old and 240 Protestant Foreign Missions : dilapidated." Wliat cheering news tins for the friends of missions! But how great the responsi- hility resting at such a time on tlie Churches at home which God has so highly lionoured, that He has thrown wide open the gates to them, trusting that the present generation of Christians would hear Ilis voice, understand His meaning, and follow ! And however ample may seem the forces, and the whole present staff of workers, which Pro- testant Christendom employs for the accomplish- ment of her work, it stands to the onagnitude of the task* to the tliousand millions of unconverted heathens and Mohammedans in an eveT-vanishing proportion ! As lately Mr. Fleming Stevenson, the missionary secretary of the Irish Presbyterian Church, after his return from a circumnavigation of the globe, and an inspection of all the principal mission fields, ex- claimed, with deep emotion, at a great meeting, " If only people would think of the tremendous magnitude of the mission work to these people, — the Brahmins, the Buddhists, the Mohammedans, — with all their power of culture, with all their literary attainments, and with their ingenuity and subtlety, tlioy would never liave dreamed of fighting them with those slight forces which all the Churches * Sec, too, tlie treatise, " The Wide Work iiiid Great Claims of Modem Protestant Missions," Mildmay Conference, p. 407, sqq. Their Present State. 241 together sent out." * Let us carry away from our wide survey tliis rebuke for our lukewarmness and neglectfulness in the cause of missions ! One more incentive, in view of the condition of matters at home. The preaching of the kingdom throughout the heathen world is accompanied with the decline of faith in Christendom. That word of the Lord, "This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations ; and then shall the end come " (Matt, xxiv.), follows directly on the mention of the false pro- phets who shall deceive many, the abounding ini- quity and the love of many that shall wax cold. If these two things, — the spread of belief without and the declension of faith and love in many places witliin, — be becoming increasingly characteristic of our age, then ive need missions more than ever, as the justification of Christianity in the times ijreceding the end. The weapon of attack is at the same time the shield that defends. Missions, that is to say, the embodied courage of the Church, the touchstone of her faith, of her unchanging hope, — missions, the ivorlcl-sulduing Christianity of deed, of witness- bearing, of self-sacrificing love, — are their own hest apology. And therefore we need them ever more * See the Transactions of tlie United Presbj'terian Synod in Scotland, 1879 ; e.g., Daily Review, May 8, 1879, p. 6. Q 242 Pj'otestant Foreign Missions : and more, to confirm the truth of the promises of Scripture and tlms repel the attacks on the Divine AVord. All mere earthly wisdom, wisdom according to the flesh, be it that which makes a God of this world and of life, or that which despairs of both ; all speculation of the mere present, of pride and selfishness, — of all this, missions must help to dis- cover the foolishness, as they must aid in unanswer- ably proving the superiority of the Gospel and a true Christian culture to all human means of edu- cation. Yes, missions are, under the guidance of God, destined to solve many problems which have puzzled politicians. What contributes most to the solution of the dark Indian question in America? — The Gospel and missions. What will most completely clear up the Oriental question' and those relating to East India and China, be- ginning to appear behind it? — The Gospel and missions, the spirit of Christ, that is, tlie spirit of serving, saving, life-giving love ! And it is high time that Christendom should more generally be aware of this, and that all colonial governments at last come to see how their former — in some places still existing — indifference, or even hostility towards missions, has brought npon them the heavy loss of influence and respect, yes, of men and money, which a decidedly Christian and sym- pathetic bearing towards missions would have saved Their Present State. 243 them. If we believe in the destroying power of sin, we will not deny that the heathen, the longer they are left to themselves, must only sink the deeper. Many tribes are dying out, not a few are already extinct, and their death is a heavy charge against a missionless Christianity. But along with those rebukes and incentives to zeal in the cause of the kingdom, let us take to ourselves the great consolation also, tliat to-day, as never before, the work is advancing ; that the Lord, in many places, is opening up more plainly than ever a way for His cause, and is even using our errors for its promotion. The nearer the end comes, the more rapid the advance. And when missions shall have embraced the world, then will be "the last days." If in the history of missions there have been times when the consummation, long pre- pared for, was seen to hasten, as if in mockery of its former slowness, — in our age of universal missions it wdll be seen, ever more widely, that the long and laborious process of undermining the chief strong- holds of heathenism, tuill one day be followed by « great crash. It is not for us to speak of seasons but may we not say, in view not only of the South Seas and America, but also of Africa, India, China, and Japan, that, in spite of our many faults and weaknesses, we are approaching a time when a liar vest ivill be gathered, which ivill be infinitely 244 Protestant Foreign Missions. greater iJian cinythinrj hitherto secured ! Yet a little while and the day will break ; already the shadows flee and the sky reddens to the dawn ! And, for our own encouragement, in prayer and in confidence we wonld call aloud to the heathen world : — " Arise, shine ; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee ! " Yea, " the Spirit and the Bride say, Come ! And let him that heareth say, Come ! Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus ; " I X D E X. A BETH, 149 Abeokuta, no, in Accara, 109 Adangme, 109 Agra, 78 Ain-tab, 147 Akem, no Akuapem, no Allahabad, 2 Allison, Mr., 228 Amazon, 106 Amboyna, Sy Amoy, 202 Anderson, Dr., ;^S Angola, in Anka, 102 Antigua, 103 Aru, 87 Earth, Dr., 24 Bedouins, 151 Bengel, 60 Benguela, in Betjuaus, 115 Beyrout, 147, 149 Blantyre, 123 Blythswood, 117 Bonn, 80 Brahmo-Samadsli, 194 Brecklum, 59 Brown, Mr., 129 Brunot, Hon. F. R,, 96, 97 Bulgaria, 146 Burns, William, 76 Buss, 6S, 70 Caffres, 115 Cairo, 144, 145, 146 Calabar, 107 Caldwell, Bishop, 163 Cape Colony, 1 1 3 Carey, Dr., II Carolina, loi Cashmere, 169 Ceylon, 158 Clark, Dr., 143 Cologne Gazette Comorin, Cape Corsico, 108 Crowther, Bishop, 1 1 1 Cuddapah, 160 Dahomey, King, in Damietta Danish Wf sfc Indies, 103 Darwin, Mr., 49, 79, 88 246 Indi ex. Demerara, 102 Depok, 87 DaflF, Dr., 12 Duflferin, Lord, 95 Duke of York Island, 129 Duncan, W., 94 Dutch Reformed Church, 40 Ebenezer Station, 85 Edinburgh Med. Mission, 76 Erskine, Dr. Erzeroom, 147 Established Church (Scottish) 33 Faber, Dr., 209 Fairfield (Jamaica), 103 Falkland Islands, 105 Fish University, 100, 109 Fourah Bay College, 108 Free Church of Scotland, 34 French M ssionary Societies, 6 Frere, Sir Bartle, 117, 178 Frere Town, 122 Gaboon, ioS Gambia, 107 Gaza, 151 Garland, 88 Ghonds, 171 Gilbert Island, 90 Gippsland, 85 Gobat, Bishop, 151 Goeking, Dr., 79 Gold Coast, 64 Gordon, Sir A., 91 Grant, President, 97 Greenland, 6 Guiness, Mr. Grattau, 59 Hakkas, 201 Halle, 50 Hamadan, 152 Harput, 147 Hereroland, 112 Honduras, 103 Hong-Kong Foundling House, 82 India, 158, &c. Jaffa, 151, 155 Jenkins, Mr,, 149 Jessup, Dr., 149 Jesuits, loi Johnstone, Mr., 180 Journals of Med. Miss. Society, 77 Jubilee Singers, 100 Judson, Dr., 112 Kaiserswertii, 151 Kalkar, 232 Karenes, 164 Kemp, Dr. Van der, 22 Keshub Chunder Sen, 194 Ki, 87 Kolhs, 164, 167, 169 Koran, The, 144 Ko-Tha-Byu, 166 Kurds, 156 Ladies' Missionary Society, 80, 8r Lady Huntingdon Connection, 28 Laos, 195 Lebanon, Mount, 148 Legge, Dr., 197, 198, 200, 208 Leupolt, 10, 173. 174 Livingstone, 12,-74, '-3. 128, 22S Livingstonia, 12 Lovedale Institute, 117 Lytton, Lord, i8i Index. 247 Macleay Point, 85 Magdeburg Journal, 49 Maharatta, 160 Malacca, 195 Man delay, 167 Mangalore, 183 Maoris, the, 85, '?i6 Marash, 147 Marquesas, 90 Marshall Island, 90 Martyn, Henry, 75 Mayer, Dr., 126 M'Carthy, Mr., 207 M'Leod, Dr. Norman, 195 Meinicke, 88 Menelek, King, 126 Menzaleh, 125 Milne, 209 Mitchell, Dr. M., 179, 1S3 Mombas, 122 Morrison, 209 Mozambique, in Mullens, Dr., 31, 124, 230 Miiller, Max, 49, 82, 195 Murdoch, Dr., 167 Mysore, 163 Nagpore, 167 Namaqualand, 112 Nanking, 196 Nellore, 162, 164 Nez Perces, 98 Kias, 88 Niger, in Ningpo, 203 Northbrook, Lord, 32 Norway, 41 Oberlander, Dr., 88 Orumiah, 152 Ovampoland, 112 Parkhurst, Mr., 239 Patteson, Bishop, 92, 137 Pegu, 164 Fongas, 107 Popo, no Punjaub, 7, 152 Puutis, the, 201 Quakers, the, 148 Ramahyuk, 85 Ramauath, 163 Rangoon, 167 " Reservations," 97, sqq. Russo-Turkish War, 156 Santals, 173 Saramacca, 102 Sargent, Bishop, 162, 183 Schwartz, Dr., 177 Schwaziland, 22 8 Secundra, 82 Senegambia, 107 Siam, 195 Sidon, 149 Sier, 152 Sindh, 169 Slave Coast, 109, no Sofala, ni Spurgeon, Mr., 75 Stanley, Mr., 123, 124 Stevenson, Mr. F., 210, 240 Sumatra, 88 Syrian Schools, 147 Swatow, 201 48 Index. Tabreez, 152 Tahiti, 89 Taylor, Hudson, 198 Teheran, 152 Temple, Sir R., 181 Thibet, 172 Thompson, Dr., 139 Thompson, Mrs., 148 Tientsin, 196 Tierra del Fuego, 105 Tinnevelly, 162, 183 Tonga, 89 Travancore, 163 Tripoh, 149] Unitarians, 37 United Presbyterians, 59 University Mission, 51, 59 Vaal, 116 Van, 147 Vaud Free Church, 59 Vincent, St., 103 Wanika, 122 Waitz, 88 Weitbrecht, Mrs., 186, 187 Wetter, 88 Williams, Pfr., 175, 176, 183, 184 AVimmera, 85 Wurm, Dr., 71 Yedo, 218 Yokohama, 216, 218 Yoruba, no Zahle, 149 IKINTEI) BY HALLANTVNE, H,\NS('N AND CO. EUINHURGH AND LONDON EECENT WORK BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 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" In its pretty binding . . . this must be a very acceptable gift book of the season ; the picturesque and animated designs of Sir John Gilbert render it both attractive and impressive." — Times. Crown Svo, 5s. cloth, STORIES OF THE CATHEDRAL CITIES OF ENG- LAND, By Emma IMarshall, Author of "Matthew Frost," '"Stellafont Abbey," &c. With Illustrations. "These ' stories ' are told with great freshness and descriptive i^ower, and will be read with interest by iiW.."— Nonconformist. Crown Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth, OLD COMRADES; or, Sketches from Life in the British Army. With Thoughts on Military Service. By Major C. H. Malan, Author of "A Soldier's Ex^ierience of God's Love." " We sincerely hope that this attractive volume will find its way into all our Barrack-rooms. "—Record. " I have much pleasui-e in stating that eighty-six copies of your book, ' Old Comrades,' will be obtained for the Police Libraries."— i^/-o/;t Colonel Sir E. Y. W Hknderson. 7 Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth, GATES INTO THE PSALM COUNTRY. By Marvin R. Vincent, D.D., Tastor of "The Church of the Covenaut," New York. " The title of this vohime wins the reader before the book is opened, and the expectation of pleasure is not disapi)oiuted." — Christian. Small crown 8vo, Is. cloth limp, POSITION AND PROGRESS. A New Series of Addresses. By Stevenson A. Blackwood, Author of "Triumph of Faith," "Heavenly Places," kc. &c. "Addresses which, we feel sure, will meet with a warm wel- come, on account of their really practical bearing on the Cbristian experience and spiritual life." — Word and Work. " These discourses are well worthy of being widely circulated, and cannot fail to exercise a beneficial influence." — Rock. ' ' A docile and prayerful spirit will find here much that is profitable for ' instruc- tion in righteousness."— C/tristia7i. Now Eeady, crown 4to, 5s. cloth, THE WORDS OF CHRIST. With the Parallel Passages, Discrepancies, and Omissions, collated from the Four Gospels. By T. B. Dedicated, by permission, to the Very Rev. the Dean of Westminster. " A most admirable selection from the Four Gospels of the actual words of Christ, calculated to .save an infinity of trouble to all student.s of Christian doc- trine, whether clerical or lay. . . . The service which the collator has ren- dered to the student anxious to examine the Gospel records can scarcely be overrated. He de>^erves the thanks of Christendom. . . . Every one there- fore who desires to inquire for himself, and to satisfy his own yearnings after the truth, should lose no time in obtaining a copy of this veiy useful work." — Social notes, Jan. 3, 1880. Small Crown 8vo, 3s. Gd. cloth, Illustrated, BIBLE CHILDREN : Studies for the Young. By the Rev. James Wells, M.A. , Author of "Bible Echoes." The Rev. C. H. Spurgeon speaks of this book as follows :— "The mere mention of a second book of Addresses for the Young, by the author of ' Bible Echoes,' will be sufficient to secure for it a ho!\rty welcome frf)m all who have read Mr. Wells's former volume. These ' Studies ' are full of the wisdom that cometh from above, told out in a most winsome style, aud running over with anecdote and illustration. Godly parents will prize it; Sabbath School teachers will be sure to buy it wliolesale, and retail it to their classes, and the author will have his heart's desire — the l)iessing of the Good Shepherd upon the lambs of the fold. Happy the children who listen to such sweet sermons from tlicir friend and pastor."— From the tiword and Tronxl for February 1880. Small crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth, TIMES BEFORE THE REFORMATION, with an Account of Fra Girolamo Savonarola, the Friar of Florence. By the llev. William Dinwiddie, LL.B. " The story is told by Mr. Dinwiddie in a way wliich cannot fail to stir the sympathy of every Englishman." — Staiei^wan. " The style is clear, picturesque, attractive, and tlic book cannot be laid down if once begun." — JJaiHist.