(Ebe tet of tl )t past 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Board of Foreign Missions 
 Reformed Church in the U. S. 
 
 1838—1913 
 
 BY 
 
 ALLEN R. BARTHOLOMEW 
 
 SECRETARY 
 
 “The spirit of missionary endeavor is essential 
 to any large work done by the local church.” 
 
 “The foreign missionary zeal would seem to be 
 the thermometer by which to test the benefactions 
 of the Church.” 
 
 “No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any 
 mortal wrought out these great things. They are 
 from the Most High God.” 
 
 “The people who do most for foreign missions 
 are the people who do most for everything else, for 
 home missions and for home charities.” 
 
 “God gives us tasks not according to our 
 strength; He summons us to tasks infinitely beyond 
 our power. He summons us to tasks according to 
 our strength reinforced by the Holy Spirit.” 
 
 “Foreign missions are broad enough, hard enough, 
 rewarding enough, to satisfy the soul that aspires 
 to hardship and heroism. Here we find the moral 
 safeguard of the Church—the true conserver of the 
 test God has given to men.” 
 
 \ i 
 
 REFORMED CHURCH BUILDING 
 
 FIFTEENTH AND RACE STREETS :: PHILADELPHIA 
 
THE GIST OF THE PAST OF THE 
 BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS, REFORMED 
 CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
 Helpful Data for Sermon on the 
 
 Seventy-fifth Ann iversary 
 
 BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 
 SEPTEMBER 29-30, 1913 
 
 Suitable Texts: —Psalm 90:16-17. 
 
 Isaiah 49:6. 
 
 Romans 15:21. 
 
 WHAT THE WORK OF THE BOARD IS 
 
 The work of Foreign Missions presents the wid¬ 
 est scope for the exercise of faith in God and love 
 for humanity. It is the fruit of faith and the flower 
 of love. It is the expulsive power of the life of 
 Christ in the soul. It is the outward expression of 
 the spiritual zeal of the Church. The best history 
 of a denomination is its missionary record. A Church 
 with a world-vision and a passion for souls will live, 
 grow and prosper. 
 
 World evangelization is the supreme task of the 
 Christian Church. To accomplish it there must be 
 proper organization. The work is too great—the field 
 too extensive—the demands too numerous—to he left 
 to an individual or a congregation. Problems arise 
 at home and on the mission fields that require ex¬ 
 pert knowledge for their wise solution. For this 
 purpose the Church has set apart men, whose duty 
 it is to devote their time to a study of these 
 problems. 
 
 THE BOARD A SERVANT 
 
 The Board of Foreign Missions is the responsible 
 agency through whom the Church carries on, in a 
 united, wise and aggressive manner, its work in behalf 
 of humanity and God. In a word, it is doing the 
 work of the Church. 
 
 The General Synod elects the members of the 
 Board, and it aims to select men of faith and devo¬ 
 tion, of ability and prudenceV-With the exception of 
 the Secretary and the Treasurer, the members do 
 not receive any salary, but freely give their time and 
 experience. A member of a certain Foreign Board 
 said: “I could not be hired to do this work for 
 $5,000 a year, but I will do it gratuitously for the 
 sake of Christ and my brethren.” 
 
 *®The Church owes much to the Board. Though 
 the members occasionally err in judgment, and fail 
 in their efforts, yet we should trust them and believe 
 that the cause they serve is fully as dear to them as 
 to us. Dr. William N. Clarke, the eminent theologian, 
 in “A Study of Christian Missions” expresses the fol¬ 
 lowing opinion: 
 
 “The fact ought to be taken more closely home 
 to the popular Christian heart that a missionary 
 society is conducting a work of exceptional magni¬ 
 tude and difficulty, under conditions that render mis- 
 judgment of its doings extremely easy; and that its 
 officers deserve sympathetic and respectful judgment 
 from all their brethren.” 
 
 2 
 
THE GIST OF THE PAST OF THE 
 BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS, REFORMED 
 CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
 THE BOARD AN ADMINISTRATOR 
 
 In discussing the personnel of the Boards ^ of 
 Missions, the Editor of The Interior says that, “So 
 far from a ministerial life unfitting a man for prac¬ 
 tical affairs, the Church has command of the best 
 brains in the country for the least money, and makes 
 fewer business mistakes than the great corporations 
 of which we hear so much.” 
 
 The executive officer of the Board is the secre¬ 
 tary,—the larger Boards having several secretaries. 
 That the position of secretary should not be imagined 
 to be one of the soft seats in Zion, Dr. Clarke says 
 that “In respect of responsibility and laboriousness, 
 there is scarcely any other Christian service that is 
 comparable to that of the officers of such societies. 
 Missionary secretaries have to conduct a work of 
 which the delicacy and difficulty are very largely un- 
 appreciated.” 
 
 The Board meets regularly on the first Tuesday 
 in March and, in special session, whenever necessary. 
 The Executive Committee meets every month, except 
 in July and August. The business of the Foreign 
 Board is more varied than that of any other Board 
 in the Church. It pertains not only to office duties 
 and field work, but to a multitude of details affecting 
 the financial, industrial, political, educational, medi¬ 
 cal and diplomatic problems of Japan and China. 
 
 The members of the Board exercise great care m 
 the handling of the funds. They know that the money 
 comes from the poor and the rich; that it includes 
 the widow’s mite and the toiler’s wage, and that it is 
 sent on its mission of blessing by the prayers of 
 loving hearts. 
 
 THE TASK 
 
 The Foreign Board deals with a world task. 
 Until the Church realizes this fact, the Board will 
 not receive the recognition, and support, and sym¬ 
 pathy that it deserves. Foreign Missions is not one 
 of many interests in the Church, but the chief en¬ 
 terprise of the Church. The Board of Foreign Mis- 
 sions in its work represents the entire Reformed 
 Church. It is a unifying center for all the activities 
 in our denomination. It is the aggressive force in 
 unfolding to the mind of the Church the heart of 
 God in the work of Missions. It is waging a constant 
 campaign in behalf of a more systematic study of 
 Missions, and the introduction of the best methods 
 to accomplish the work of the Church. 
 
 Dr. F. F. Ellinwood, the late Secretary of the 
 Presbyterian Foreign Board, said: “A Board of For¬ 
 eign Missions is really a university of Christian 
 beneficence.” 
 
 I. A Board is a great Commissioning Society. 
 
 It appoints men and women to go and preach and 
 teach the Gospel to the people in the non-Christian 
 world These leave home and country, to live and 
 labor in strange lands, and among stranger people. 
 In time the missionaries gather and train native 
 preachers, teachers and helpers, who become valiant 
 soldiers in the army of Christian conciuest. All this 
 involves a sacred obligation on the part of the 
 Church. The Church will prove her faith by her 
 works among the people who know not the God of 
 our Salvation. 
 
 3 
 
THE GIST OF THE PAST OF THE 
 BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS, REFORMED 
 CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
 II. A Board is a vast Church Erection Society. 
 
 It builds churches, schools, hospitals and resi¬ 
 dences for the missionaries. The latter are an ab¬ 
 solute necessity. To compel a missionary family to 
 live in a native house in the cold, damp climate of 
 North Japan, or on the malarious mud floor in inland 
 China, is poor economy and trifling with precious life. 
 
 III. A Board is a great Bureau of Education in 
 the work of world evangelization. 
 
 Sufficient missionaries can never be sent from 
 Christian lands to convert the world. A native 
 ministry is necessary to a native Church. “India must 
 convert India, and China must convert China.” To 
 train men and women in the schools for this work 
 will require, later on, support in their work. There 
 must also be a Christian literature. Many mission¬ 
 aries are spending years of hard labor in translating 
 all manner of books into the language of the people. 
 How few know of the difficulties in the study of the 
 language before real Christian work can be under¬ 
 taken. 
 
 RELATION OF THE BOARD TO THE 
 CHURCH 
 
 The Foreign Board as the servant of the Church 
 is not alone responsible for the success or failure 
 of the work abroad. The Church must provide the 
 workers and the funds for their support. If the 
 work languishes, the blame rests with the Church. 
 The Board directs, it cannot do the work. 
 
 The duty of the Board is to keep the Church 
 in touch with the work, and to inspire the people 
 with the spirit of larger giving. The officers view 
 the fields as from a watch-tower. What they see 
 and feel, they must impart to their constituency. It 
 is their privilege and opportunity to arouse and in¬ 
 spire the Church to greater zeal and more liberal 
 support. The Church has a right to look to the offi¬ 
 cers of the Board for a new vision of duty and op¬ 
 portunity. 
 
 The Board must keep before the Church the 
 need of a continual advance until the Foreign Mis¬ 
 sion Policy of the Church can be fully carried out. 
 This is not the time to stand still in the work of 
 Missions. To do so will bring disaster. The stand¬ 
 ard must ever be kept to the front of the marching 
 forces, so far ahead as to encourage, but never so 
 far in advance as to dishearten. If the nine-tenths 
 of the members could be led to give as liberally as 
 the one-tenth, the work of the Board would advance 
 with leaps and bounds. 
 
 A heavy debt is a proof that the Church has not 
 kept pace with the Forward Movement. Although “a 
 debt is no more a disgrace to a Mission Board than 
 to a business house, or to a hospital, or to a nation,” 
 yet it greatly retards the work of the Church. The 
 great duty of a Board is to keep before the Church 
 the needs and opportunities of the fields abroad. 
 What we all need, as pastors and people, is to pos¬ 
 sess such faith in the God of Missions, and so live 
 our faith in the presence of all the people, that a 
 new faith may be begotten in the Church that will 
 sweep away every obstacle and lead the Hosts of 
 God on to victory. 
 
 4 
 
THE GIST OF THE PAST OF THE 
 BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS, REFORMED 
 CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
 EARLY FACTS ABOUT THE WORK 
 
 In the year 1834, the Classis of Susquehanna 
 submitted to the Synod the question, “Whether the 
 time is not at hand, when the Reformed Church, 
 instead of giving its contributions as heretofore 
 to other churches for the spread of the Gospel among 
 the heathen, should think of establishing an institu¬ 
 tion of its own for this purpose.” 
 
 In the year 1835, the Classis of West Pennsyl¬ 
 vania stated that it was “of the opinion that the 
 German Reformed Church is not prepared to do 
 much for the heathen, whilst so many of our own 
 destitute brethren are crying, ‘Come and help! Send 
 us pastors and teachers! ’ ” 
 
 In the same year, the Classis of Zion expressed 
 “its willingness to co-operate with Synod in relation 
 to Foreign Missions, upon any practicable plan.” 
 
 In the year 1837, the Synod appointed a Com¬ 
 mittee to collect, during the ensuing year, all use¬ 
 ful facts concerning the formation of a Foreign Mis¬ 
 sionary Society. The Committee reported in 1838, 
 and its recommendations were adopted. 
 
 ORIGINAL MEMBERS 
 
 The Board was organized in the First Reformed 
 Church, Lancaster, Pa., during the Meeting of Synod 
 in 1838. The title of the Board was, “The Foreign 
 Missionary Board of the German Reformed Church, 
 in the United States of North America.” 
 
 Twelve members were appointed, as follows: 
 
 Ministers 
 
 Elders 
 
 Dietrich Willers 
 Bernard C. Wolff 
 Samuel Gutelius 
 Samuel R. Fisher 
 Elias Heiner 
 John Cares 
 Joseph F. Berg 
 
 Matthew Shaw 
 John Seidenstricker 
 John J. Mayer 
 Daniel Buckey 
 Burchert Mayer 
 
 The Board was instructed to co-operate with the 
 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis¬ 
 sions in a manner similar to that in which the 
 Dutch Reformed, Congregational and Presbyterian 
 Churches were then co-operating. 
 
 The first officers of the Board were: President, 
 Rev. Dietrich Willers; Vice-President, Rev. Elias 
 Heiner; Corresponding Secretary, Rev. Bernard C. 
 Wolff; Recording Secretary, Rev. John Cares; Treas¬ 
 urer, Mr. John J. Mayer. 
 
 A NOBLE OFFER 
 
 Immeditely upon the organization of the Board 
 of Foreign Missions, five ministers arose and signi¬ 
 fied their willingness to support a missionary of the 
 cross in heathen lands. The names of these ser¬ 
 vants of God and the amount given are as follows: 
 
 Rev. Elias Heiner, Baltimore, Md....$120.00 
 
 Rev. Joseph F. Berg, Phila., Pa. 120.00 
 
 Rev. Bernard C. Wolff, Easton, Pa.... 120.00 
 Rev. Dan’l Zacharias, Frederick, Md.. 120.00 
 Rev. Daniel Ziegler, York, Pa. 120.00 
 
 These fathers have all fallen asleep in Jesus, 
 but their works do follow them. “The Lord our God 
 
 5 
 
THE GIST OF THE PAST OF THE 
 BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS, REFORMED 
 CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
 be with us as He was with our fathers,” and help us 
 to carry on the great work, so that it may not be 
 said to our shame, “They began to build but were not 
 able to finish.” 
 
 The first offerings received by the Board after its 
 organization were on October 23, 1838, from the Ger¬ 
 man Reformed Church, Trenton, N. J., per pastor 
 Rev. John H. Schmaltz, $4.00, and the Ephrata Re¬ 
 formed Church, Lancaster County, Pa., per pastor 
 Rev. D. Hertz, $7.31£. 
 
 OUR FIRST MISSIONARY 
 
 The first foreign missionary of the Reformed 
 Church was the Rev. Benjamin Schneider, D.D., who 
 was born in Montgomery County, Pa., and labored 
 under the American Board from 1833 to 1875—a pe¬ 
 riod of 42 years. 
 
 From 1840 to 1865, the Board paid the contribu¬ 
 tions of our Church to the American Board, amount¬ 
 ing to $27,986.99, and the money was devoted towards 
 the support of Missionary Schneider and his work. 
 
 Rev. Cornelius H. Patton, D.D., Secretary of the 
 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis¬ 
 sions, recently paid this tribute to Dr. Schneider: 
 “Our records show that he was a mighty force in 
 the early days of the work in Turkey, both at Broosa 
 and at Aintab, he being the founder of the latter 
 station, which has become one of our greatest cen¬ 
 ters of educational, medical, relief and evangelistic 
 work. Dr. Strong, our historian, assures me that 
 Dr. Schneider was one of the really great mission¬ 
 aries of that pioneer period.” 
 
 About 1860, a feeling of dissatisfaction began to 
 manifest itself with the mode of carrying on our 
 foreign work; we being merely contributors to 
 another organization, without any mission properly 
 our own. At the Synod held at Lebanon, Pa., ar¬ 
 rangements were made to effect a transfer of the 
 Mission at Aintab to our Board. A lengthy corres¬ 
 pondence was carried on between Elder Rudolph F. 
 Kelker, the Treasurer of our Board, and the Rev. 
 Rufus Anderson, D.D., Secretary of the American 
 Board. Both the American Board and Missionary 
 Schneider thought such a transfer inexpedient. The 
 American Board declined to surrender Missionary 
 Schneider, but he continued a member of the Mary¬ 
 land Classis until the day of his death in 1877. The 
 last money to the American Board was paid October 
 9, 1865. 
 
 NEAR THE DEAD LINE 
 
 The period from 1865 to 1878 is the Sahara in 
 our Foreign Missionary work. No special interest 
 was manifested in, and very little money given for, 
 the spread of the Gospel abroad. The Church found 
 itself in the midst of an intense theological con¬ 
 troversy. Verily, the work of the Lord languishes 
 in times of war! 
 
 From the reports of the Board to the General 
 Synod, we find that the few remittances and the 
 interest accrued from invested funds were not left 
 lying idle in the treasury. To the German Evan¬ 
 gelical Foreign Missionary Society, from 1872 to 1875, 
 was paid $979.81, which was applied towards the 
 
 6 
 
THE GIST OF THE PAST OF THE 
 BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS, REFORMED 
 CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
 support of Rev. Oscar Lohr and his associate, Rev. 
 Jacob Hauser, both missionaries of the Reformed 
 Church, who were laboring in India, through whose 
 ministry the Mission at Bisrampore was founded. 
 
 In addition to this, from December, 1878, to 
 March, 1886, the Board of Foreign Missions paid for 
 the work among the Winnebago Indians in Wisconsin, 
 established under Sheboygan Classis of the Synod 
 of the Northwest, about $1,500. 
 
 THE NEW ERA IN THE WORK 
 
 In the year 1878 the spirit of peace began a most 
 gracious work in our General Synod at Lancaster, 
 Pa., which, among other precious results, gave a new 
 impetus to the Board of Foreign Missions. It was a 
 happy coincidence that in the same church where 
 the Foreign Board was originally organized, it should 
 receive new life from the God of Missions. 
 
 The officers of the Board in 1878 were: 
 
 Rev. David Van Horn, D.D., President, 
 
 Rev. Charles H. Leinbach, D.D., Vice-President, 
 Rev. Thomas S. Johnston, D.D., Secretary, 
 
 Hon. Rudolph F. Kelker, Treasurer. 
 
 Among the members of the Peace Commission 
 belonging to the Foreign Board were the following: 
 Rev. David Van Horne, D.D., Rev. Clement S. 
 Weiser, D.D., Elder Rudolph F. Kelker and Elder 
 William H. Seibert. 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF WORK IN JAPAN 
 
 At the same meeting of General Synod, instruc¬ 
 tions were given to the Board of Foreign Missions to 
 move forward :n its work. Japan was determined 
 upon as the field. On September 30, 1878, Rev. Am¬ 
 brose D. Gring, the first missionary to Japan, was 
 appointed. Mr. and Mrs. Gring arrived at Yokohama, 
 June 1, 1879. Since that time the Board has sent out 
 31 missionaries, not including wives, of whom 19 
 are still in active service on the field. 
 
 OUR CHINA MISSION 
 
 By action of the General Synod, held at Tiffin, 
 Ohio, in May, 1899, the Board was authorized to 
 establish the China Mission. In the year 1900, Rev. 
 W T illiam E. Hoy, D.D., organized the Mission at 
 Yochow City, Hunan, China. Since then the Board 
 has sent out 25 missionaries, not including wives, of 
 whom 17 are still in active service. 
 
 Thousands of souls have been won for Christ 
 since the organization of the Board. The property 
 valuation of the Japan Mission is $188,850, and of 
 our China Mission, $93,897. Total, $282,747. 
 
 BEQUESTS 
 
 The first bequest to the Board, on record, is that 
 of George B. Cook, of $265, on August 18, 1861. The 
 largest individual bequest is that of Elder N. B. 
 Schmitt, of Woodstock, Virginia, $9,806.04. The 
 smallest bequest is that of Isaac Bruce, $1.03. The 
 smallest gift of record is one cent, given by Isaac 
 Bruce, an inmate in the Montgomery County Alms- 
 
 7 
 
THE GIST OF THE PAST OF THE 
 BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS, REFORMED 
 CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
 house. This became a seed-coin, to which were added 
 contributions from members of the Church until the 
 sum of $1,200 was secured. This is a permanent 
 investment and is known as the “One Cent Alms¬ 
 house Fund.” The total amount of bequests to the 
 Board up to September 1, 1913, is $73,252.90. 
 
 THE EXPENSES OF A YEAR 
 
 The Japan Mission and the China Mission submit 
 at the beginning of each year estimates of their needs 
 for the year. For the year 1912, the expenses of the 
 Japan Mission were $72,893.21, and of the China Mis¬ 
 sion, $36,348.09. The Home Administration expenses 
 were $29,108.18. 
 
 RECEIPTS 
 
 From 1838 to 1878—approximately $40,000,—an 
 average of $1,000 per year. From 1878, the beginning 
 of the Japan Mission, until 1900, $353,880.49. From 
 1900, the beginning of the China Mission, until 1912, 
 $1,103,456.09. From 1838 to 1912, $1,497,336.58. From 
 June 1, 1912, to June 1, 1913, $146,019.95. 
 
 SOME FRUITS OF THE WORK 
 
 I. There has come to the Church a wider out¬ 
 look and a greater vision of the world. The available 
 literature has been, and is, of immense educational 
 value. What a knowledge we have acquired of the 
 regions beyond—the people who inhabit them, their 
 customs, religions, characteristics, languages, history. 
 
 II. There exists a nobler conception of, and a 
 broader sympathy for, the human brotherhood. “ Am 
 I my brother’s keeper?” presses for an answer in the 
 20th century as at no other time since the words fell 
 from the lips of Cain. Foreign Missions will make 
 it easier for the Church to answer this tremendous 
 problem. 
 
 III. There is a spirit of unity abroad in the 
 Church, directly traceable to the influence of the work 
 abroad. Foreign Missions leads the way in the matter 
 of unity. The Christian forces are united in Japan 
 as they are not in America. The consciousness of the 
 task to establish the Kingdom has drawn the Christ¬ 
 ians in foreign lands together in this laudable effort. 
 This same consciousness, will, in the end, heal the 
 divisions and restore the broken unity of the Church 
 in the Home Land. 
 
 THE OUTLOOK HOPEFUL 
 
 Surely the work done by the Church should be 
 an earnest of the work that can he done, and that 
 will be done. 
 
 The steady increase in the receipts for the three 
 periods, 1838 to 1878, 1878 to 1900, 1900 to 1912, should 
 encourage all hearts that the Church is on the high 
 road to greater things. 
 
 The promises of God are all sufficient, if we but 
 avail ourselves of them, to evangelize the 10,000,000 
 souls in Japan, China, and the Moslem World, the 
 assumed responsibility of OUR SHARE OF THE 
 WORLD. 
 
 8