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The field of the Shwegyin Karen Mission is indicated by a heavy dashed line, History of the Shwegyin Raren Mission THE KAREN PEOPLE. One of the most interesting races of the world, religiously consid- ered, is that of the Karens of Burma, southeastern Asia. Tucked away in an obscure corner of the earth, they were nevertheless marvellously kept of God through many generations for the reception of the gospel, and not only so, but as inseriptions on rocks and on brick tablets were in the providence of God hidden away for thousands of years to be un- earthed in these recent days for the confirmation of the Scripture, so it would seem these people were hidden away from the observation of men to be brought forth within comparatively recent times as a blessed confirmation of the faith of God’s children. Whence the Karens came, it is impossible to say with certainty, but it is inferred from their traditions that they must have left the early cradle of the human race many centuries ago, and, following along the northern slopes of the Himalaya Mountains, or crossing the plains of Thibet, have reached their present habitat by way of west- ern China. These traditions are very vague, but they tell of passing over ‘‘rivers of sand,’’ which may refer to the desert of Gobi. Cer- tain it is that at the present time, or more especially at the time when they were first brought to the knowledge of the missionaries, they occupied for the most part the lower ranges in Burma and Siam of those spurs or off-shoots of the Himalayas which find their ultimate termini in the partly submerged mountain islands of the Malayan Archipelago. The Muhsoes, Kwes, Kaws and Lahus are closely allied races which extend up into the mountainous regions of western China. These peoples have a curious tradition to the effect that when they were on their migrations from the northern country there were ninety- nine families or tribes in all, but that they stopped to make their dinner of snails, which it is said can never be cooked soft. Thirty-three famil- ies, including the Karens, boiled their snails for a time, and finding that they were not soft, ate them as they were and hurried on, while the sixty-six other families waiting to cook their snails soft were left behind to this day. That which particularly distinguishes the Karens and gives them their peculiar interest is their possession of traditions regarding the creation and fall which very closely resemble the account given in the Seripture. A translation of the prose form ‘of these traditions as it was reduced to writing and published in the Karen language soon after the Karens were brought to the knowledge of civilized people, follows: KAREN TRADITION OF THE CREATION AND FALL. ‘‘God ereated heaven and earth.’’ ‘¢ Having created heaven and earth, He created the sun, He cre- ated the moon, He created the stars.”’ ‘¢ Having created the sun, the moon and the stars, He created man. And of what did He create man? He created man from the earth.”’ ‘* Having created man, He created woman. How did He create woman? He took a rib out of the man, and created a woman.’’ ‘‘ Having created woman, He created life. How did He create life? Father God said, ‘IT love my son and daughter; I will give them my great life.’ He took a little piece of His life, breathed into the nostrils of the two persons, and they came to life, and were real human beings.’’ ‘‘Having created man, He created food and drink. He created rice, He created water, He created fire, He created cows, He created elephants, He created birds.’’ ‘‘Having created animals, Father God said, ‘My son and daughter, your father will make and give you a garden. In the garden are seven different kinds of trees, bearing seven different kinds of fruit. Among the seven one tree is not good to eat. Eat not of its fruit. Tf vou eat, you will become old, you will die. Hat it not. All I have created I give to you. Hat and drink to the full. Once in seven days IT will visit you. All I have commanded you observe and do. For- get me not. Pray to me every morning and night.’ ”’ ‘‘Afterwards Satan came and said, ‘Why are you here?’ ‘Our Father God put us here,’ they said. ‘What do you eat here,’ Satan inquired. ‘Our Father God created food and drink for us; food with- out end.’ Satan said, ‘Show me your food.’ And they went with Satan following behind them, to show him. On arriving at the garden, they showed him the fruits, saying, ‘This is sweet, this is sour, this is bitter, this is astringent, this is savory, this is fiery; but this tree, we know not whether it be sour or sweet. Our Father God said to us, ‘‘Eat not the fruit of this tree; if you eat it, vou will die.”? We eat it not, and do not know whether it be sour or sweet.’ ‘Not so, my children,’ Satan replied, ‘The heart of your Father God is not with you. This is the richest and sweetest. It is richer than the others, sweeter than the others, and not merely richer and sweeter, but if you eat it you will possess miraculous powers. You will be able to ascend into heaven, and descend into the earth. You will be able to fly. The heart of your God is not with you. This desirable thing He has not given you. My heart is not like the heart of your God. He is not honest. He is envious. I am honest. I am not envious. I love you and tell you the whole. Your Father God does not love you. He did not tell you the whole. However, if you do not believe me, do not eat it. But if each one will taste a single fruit, then you will know.’ The man replied, ‘Our Father God said to us, ‘‘Eat not the fruit of this tree,’ and we will not eat it.” Thus saying, he rose up and went away.’’ ‘‘But the woman listened to Satan, and being rather pleased with what he said, remained. After Satan had continued coaxing her for a long time, she wavered and asked him, ‘If we eat, shall we indeed be able to fly?’ ‘My daughter,’ Satan replied, ‘I seek to persuade you because I love you.’ The woman took one of the fruits and ate. And Satan laughing said, ‘My daughter listens to me very well. Now go, give the fruit to your husband, and say to him, ‘‘I have eaten the fruit. It is exceedingly rich.’’ If he does not eat, deceive him, that he may eat. Otherwise, if you die, you will die alone, or, if you become deified, you will be deified alone.’ The woman doing as Satan told her, went and coaxed her husband, till she won him over to her own mind, and he took the fruit from the hand of his wife and ate. When he had eaten, she went to Satan and said, ‘My husband has eaten the fruit.’ On hearing that he laughed exceedingly and said, ‘Now you have lis- tened to me very well indeed, my son and daughter.’ ”’ ‘‘On the morning of the day after they had eaten, God visited them. But they did not follow Him singing praises, as they had been wont to do. He approached them and said, ‘Why have you eaten the fruit of the tree I commanded you not to eat?’ They did not dare to reply. And God cursed them. ‘Now you have not observed what I com- manded you,’ He said; ‘The fruit that is not good to eat, I told you not to eat, but you have not listened and have eaten. Therefore you shall become old, you shall get sick, and you shall die.’ ”’ How did the Karens come by such traditions? No one can say. It is of course possible that they derived them from the Nestorian Christians at the same time that the gospel was carried by them into China. But a serious objection to this theory is that the Karens have no knowledge whatever of Christ. A favorite view entertained by many of the early missionaries was that the Karens belonged to the lost tribes of Israel. This opinion seems to be not so commonly enter- tained at the present day, and yet there is much to favor it. The Karen name for God, Y’wah, is very hke Yahweh which scholars sup- pose to have been the ancient Hebrew pronunciation of Jehovah. The Karen language has several sounds which were common to the Semitic languages, but do not appear to be in use except in a limited degree among the other races of eastern and southeastern Asia. The Karens know nothing of circumcision, but they have certain customs which remind one of certain of the Mosaic institutions, notably the passover. On the other hand, though some of the early missionaries thought they could discern a Jewish caste in the Karen physiognomy, their physical features seem distinctly Mongolian, and their language, al- though it possesses the Semitic sounds mentioned above, is yet of the Mongolian tonal order. A very singular circumstance in connection with the Karen tradi- tions is that they seem to contain no distinct and clear reference to the flood, accounts of which are so common among most primitive races of the earth. On account of this peculiarity of Karen tradition the theory has sometimes been broached that the Karens may have forsaken the cradle of the human race even before the flood. This position would perhaps be tenable if, as some affirm, the Scriptures do not assert the entire universality of the flood, but only that it was co- extensive with the then known world. But whatever view may be entertained of the origin of the Karen traditions of the creation and fall, they certainly seem to have been derived originally from the same source as the account given in the Seripture, if not from the Scripture itself, and they are no doubt of great antiquity. Their preservation in so great purity, by mere word of mouth—for the Karens had no literature when the missionaries found them—is certainly most extraordinary, and if future investiga- tion should ever prove their pre-Christian origin, they would afford a most interesting and unexpected confirmation of the word of Seripture. What makes these traditions especially valuable and interesting in view of the present theme, however, is the knowledge of the true God which they have kept alive among the people. It will be perceived at once what an immense advantage is given to the missionary in preach- ing to these Karens. Let him go among the Burmans or any other of the races of eastern and southeastern Asia and he will have no little difficulty in selecting from their vocabulary a word which will ade- quately convey to them the idea of God. But let him go among these Karens and use their word K’sah Y’wah, and at once they understand the very same God whom he worships, the God who created the hea- vens and the earth, the God who is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. But let it not be supposed that the Karens, having this knowledge of God, had no need of the gospel. Although they knew of God, they did not worship Him. The tradition translated above goes on to state that after the fall one of the children of that first pair was taken ill, and the parents said to themselves, ‘‘What shall we do? God has forsaken us. We must betake ourselves to Satan again.’’ So they went to Satan, and asked him what they should do. ‘‘ Well,’’ he said, “‘you must get a pig.’’ So they got a pig, and Satan taught them certain ceremonies that they must go through with. And they went through with these ceremonies, and surely enough the child re- covered. But after a few days another child was taken ill, and so they went to Satan again, and asked him what they should do. ‘“Well,’’ said he, ‘‘did you get a pig and go through with the cere- monies I taught you?’’ ‘‘Oh, yes,’’ they said, ‘‘we have done all that and still our child is not getting any better, but is rather growing worse.’’ ‘‘Well, then,’’ said Satan, ‘‘you must get a fowl.’’ So they eaught a fowl, and Satan taught them how to proceed in order to divine the omens from the bones of the fowl. And they did just as Satan told them to do, but instead of getting better their child con- tinued to grow worse and finally died. So they went to Satan again, and said, ‘‘Here, what do you mean? Our child was taken ill, and we got a pig, and went through with the ceremonies you taught us, and when that did not suffice, we got a fowl, and did just as you told us to do; but instead of getting any better our child continued to grow worse. In fact it died.’’ ‘‘Oh, well,’’ said Satan, ‘‘whenever any- one of you is taken ill, you must get a pig and go through with the ceremonies I taught you, and if that does not suffice, you must get a fowl, and do just as I told you to do, and *’ here Satan used a play upon words which made it possible to understand his meaning in either one of two ways; that if the omens proved favorable, the per- son would live, and if unfavorable the person would die, or, what was an absolutely true, but also an utterly heartless thing to say, that ‘‘if ‘he is to live, he will live, and if he is to die, he will die.’’ And, by a strange perversity of human nature, yet not more strange than is to be seen every day among more favored peoples, the Karens keep up these practices which were taught them by Satan, to this day. But not only were the Karens marvellously kept of God through many generations for the reception of the gospel, but they were also marvellously prepared of God for the reception of the gospel. For not only did they have these traditions of the creation and fall handed down to them by word of mouth through many generations, but proph- ets arose among them from time to time. And so remarkable were the messages which these prophets brought to their people that it seems not irreverent to suppose that they may have been truly inspired of God. For even in the Old Testament times those who were God’s spokesmen and truly represented Him to the world were not confined to Abraham and his descendants, but outside this chosen people there were those, like Melchisedek and Jethro, who were truly moved of the divine spirit. And as these prophets arose from time to time they sought to encourage their people—for it should be borne in mind that the Karens were an exceedingly oppressed and down-trodden race— and they said, ‘‘Children and grandchildren, God will yet save the Karen nation. He will yet bring deliverance to the Karen people.’’ And then some of them went on to say how this deliverance was to come. ‘‘Our younger brother, the white foreigner, will come to us from beyond the setting sun, and will bring us a golden book, which will teach us the way to happiness and heaven.’’ And some of them went on to describe the appearance of the white foreigner—and that before they had ever seen a white man—and they said, ‘‘Our younger brother, the white foreigner, when he comes to us, will be clothed in garments of shining black and shining white.’’ And when it is re- membered that the Karens never wear black in their garments and that although they do wear white it could never by any possibility be described as being a shining white, but is always a very dingy white, the appropriateness of the language becomes evident. And some of them went on to say that this younger brother, the white foreigner, would come wearing a hat like a snail’s shell, and to this day the Karen will occasionally call the attention of the missionary to the shape of the hats which are worn by white people in that country, made of pith and cork, exceedingly hght and affording an admirable protection against the sun, and with their inverted-chopping-bowl ap- pearance bearing indeed a certain resemblance to a snail’s shell. And thus it came about that when the missionaries found these people, they found them a people standing on the tip-toe of expecta- tion, as it were, watching eagerly for their coming. BEGINNINGS AT SHWEGYIN. Straight across the northern part of Asia stretch the vast plains of Siberia. Across the central portion rise the lofty ranges of the Himalaya Mountains. In the south central portion jutting into the Indian Ocean les the peninsula of Hindustan. To the east of the Peninsula of Hindustan lies the Bay of Bengal, and to the east of that again lies Burma, a country about as large as the New England states with the addition of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Mary- land, having a population of about 12,000,000. It would perhaps be difficult to find anywhere on the face of the earth a more polyglot people than are the inhabitants of this country, for the Government census recognizes no fewer than sixty-six races, each having its own peculiar language or dialect. Chief among these races in point of numerical importance are the Burmans themselves, next the Talaings, and after them the Shans. The Karens come fourth, numbering with their various tribes about 750,000 in Burma. How many there are altogether it is impossible to say even approximately, but if the Karens of Burma and of Northern Siam, and the allied races in both of these countries and in China be included, the aggregate would certainly amount to several millions. Southern Burma, in which the missions to the Karens are located, is divided by three parallel ranges of mountains running north and south. Between the first and second of these, counting from the west, flows the Irrawaddy River, and between the second and third the Sit- tang River. To the east of the third range runs the Salween River, which along part of its course forms the boundary between Burma and Siam. On the Sittang River about seventy-five miles from its mouth at a point where a little mountain stream joins it on the east hes the town of Shwegyin (pronounced Shway-jin’). It contains five or six thousand inhabitants, mostly Burmans. The most conspicuous build- ings are idol temples, monasteries, and pagodas—for the Burmans are Buddhists. The houses of the natives are for the most part very simple structures made chiefly of bamboo and covered with thatch. A few comfortable buildings are occupied by the Government officers, English and native. The scenery about the town is varied and pleas- ing. Indeed, it is one of the beauty spots of Burma. On the west the plain stretches far away into the distance, while on the east rises a semi-circle of high and broken mountain ranges. The country in distinction from the town is commonly called the jungle, and here it is that the Karens for the most part live, in scattered villages, gaining their livelihood by the cultivation of the soil. The nearest mission stations are Toungoo, about seventy-five miles to the north, and Rangoon, about one hundred miles to the southwest. Previous to the last half of the nineteenth century Shwegyin and Toungoo, with all the country lying north in what was known as Burma Proper, was in a state of deep moral and spiritual darkness. Searcely a ray of gospel light had penetrated that region. No knee had bowed except in hom- age to false gods, and the people were held in the terrors of gross superstition. But the time had come for deliverance. For after the Anglo-Burmese war of 1852 Shwegyin and Toungoo were included in the territory ceded to the English, and the country was then opened to the ‘‘feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace.’’ In 1853 Rev. Norman Harris was appointed by the American Bap- tist Missionary Union to open a new mission station at Shwegyin. He had already labored seven years among the Karens of Maulmein, had acquired their language, and from his knowledge of native character and experience in the work, was prepared to enter upon his duties in this new field with high hopes of success. As he was the first and, for over thirty years, almost the only laborer in this mission, it is proper to give here some account of his early life, in order that the character and moulding of a mind destined in the future to so great and inter- esting a work may be the better understood. Mr. Harris was born in Becket, Berkshire County, Mass., Febru- ary 19, 1813. His father was a farmer of moderate means. Neither of his parents was a professor of religion, and they seldom went to chureh. At the age of seventeen his attention was directed to the subject of his soul’s salvation.