WHY BELIEVE IN 
 FOREIGN MISSIONS? 
 
 BY MATTHEW D. MANN, A.M., M.D. 
 
 ** The light that shines farthest 
 Shines brightest nearest home.” 
 
 THE BOARD OF MISSIONS 
 281 Fourth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 
 
^jJlilS pamphlet may be obtained 
 
 from the Secretary, 281 Fourth 
 Avenue, New York, by calling- for 
 Leaflet No. 1301. Price, 2 cents each; 
 $1.00 per hundred. 
 
 All offerings for Missions should 
 be sent to George Gordon King, 
 Treasurer, Church Missions House, 
 281 Fourth Avenue, New York. 
 
WHY BELIEVE IN FOREIGN MISSIONS? 
 
 By Mattheiv D. Mann, A. M., M.D . 
 
 “For the love of Christ constraineth us 
 
 A LARGE number of people, many of them professing Christians, do not be¬ 
 lieve in foreign missions. One reason which they give for their opinion 
 is that while there are so many unconverted heathen at home needing 
 our attention we should not waste time, money and energy on those who 
 are so far away, and who have so little claim on us. Those who hold this view 
 have doubtless never considered that many of the heathen at home are so from 
 choice; having heard the Gospel preached, they have rejected it; while the unbe¬ 
 lievers in heathen lands are so from necessity, never having heard of God or of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 What reasons are there for believing in foreign missions ? In the first place, 
 
 because our Lord, just before His ascension, gave us this com- 
 Our Lord’s mand: “Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, 
 
 Command baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
 
 and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things 
 whatsoever I commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end 
 of the world. (St. Matt. xxix. 19, 20. Rev. Ver.) 
 
 Make disciples—baptize—teach—all the nations ! Where can we find a more 
 positive and definite command ? He also puts into the prayer which is called by 
 His name, among the very first petitions: “Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom 
 come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”—not alone in America, or 
 Canada, or England, but “on earth,” that is everywhere. If His will is to be done 
 it must be known, and how can it be known unless it is told by those to whom it • 
 has been revealed ? Every time we say the Lord’s Prayer, we pray for the success 
 of missions everywhere. Shall not our acts and beliefs be in accordance with our 
 prayers? For the angel on the first Christmas morning declared, “I bring you 
 good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all peoplef implying very clearly that 
 those few who heard the good news should spread it. And what could be more im¬ 
 perative than the command, which covers both home and foreign missions, given 
 in Acts i. 8: “Ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, 
 and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.” 
 
 But you may ask, granting that foreign missions are right, why is such an 
 
 effort being made to evangelize the world now ? Why did not 
 Why now ? previous generations do it ? The command was certainly 
 
 given as much to them as to us. 
 
 The answer is, simply because they could not—conditions were not favorable. 
 Never until now in the history of the world has there been such an opportunity. 
 The nations which heretofore have been absolutely closed, and which have rejected 
 
 all attempts to convert them, have opened their doors and are 
 Heathen now ready to hear. Africa, China, Korea, Japan, India, and 
 
 nations open even some Moslem countries are open as never before and the 
 
 people willing to hear our message. It took many years to 
 make the first Christian convert in China. Now there are more than 2,000,000. 
 At the rate converts are being made, in thirty-five years there will be in China over 
 100,000,000 followers of Jesus Christ—a quarter of the population. (Dr. Pott.) 
 
4 
 
 Why Believe in Foreign Missions? 
 
 Twenty-five years ago there was not a Christian in Korea; now there are more than 
 200,000, and the number increasing at the rate of 30 per cent, each year. 
 
 Never have Christian nations been so prosperous, or had so much money to 
 
 give as now. Never has it been so cheap and easy to travel, or 
 
 The world rich. have we ever had so many persons, men and women, ready to 
 
 Travel easy go if only they can be provided with the means. 
 
 Again, we hear this question asked: Why disturb these 
 people in the faith of their ancestors? Their religions are older than ours; let 
 them alone; they will do well enough, and God in His mercy will accept those who 
 do right according to their light. 
 
 This is a mistake. The heathen religions have not done well for the people, 
 
 nor do they lead the people to do right. It is Christianity 
 
 Heathen relig- alone which has given us our civilization and placed us so 
 ions not enough much in advance. China has stot, d still for thousands of years, 
 
 bound by the old systems, but is now losing faith in its re¬ 
 ligions. The contact with western civilizations, aided by the missionaries, has 
 taught the people that they have missed something, and they are beginning to see 
 that the fault has been largely with their religious and ethical systems. Many of 
 them are throwing away their idols, abandoning the temples and seeking the true 
 light. 
 
 Dr. Kato, one of Japan’s foremost philosophers and students, says (Literary 
 Digest, November 19th, 1910) : “In recent times Buddhism has done nothing but 
 go from bad to worse, and it is to-day in a pitiable condition. Speaking of the re¬ 
 ligion generally, we may say that it has descended to the level of a sale of prayers 
 and ceremonies for such payment as people can be induced to make.” The picture 
 which the Japanese themselves draw is of dire need of a true religion. Their re¬ 
 ligions have no message for the ignorant, the old, the weary, the sick and the 
 dying. 
 
 You will find abundant evidence, if you will read, that this is true not only in 
 . Japan but in China, and in other heathen countries. None of these religions give 
 
 any adequate idea of God, especially of God as a loving Father. 
 No idea of God How could we expect them to ? “Canst thou by searching find 
 
 out God?” (Job xi. 7.) We get our clearest knowledge of 
 God by direct revelation in the Bible. They have had no such revelation, and are 
 largely atheists, except the Mohammedans. Hinduism has 330,000,000 gods. 
 Buddhism deliberately denies the existence of God. Max Muller says: “Buddha 
 denies the existence not only of the Creator, but of any absolute being.” While the 
 Indian Buddhists are atheists, the Buddhists of Japan worship Buddha himself. 
 
 The Chinese worship Confucius and their own ancestors and a multitude of 
 idols. They are simply stumbling blindly, seeking the light and seeing it not, be¬ 
 cause it has not been kindled within the line of their vision. 
 
 Another great trouble is that none of these religions have any knowledge of a 
 
 Saviour. There is but one Saviour, and they have never heard 
 No knowledge of Him. For “there is none other name under heaven given 
 of a Saviour among men whereby we must be saved.” (Acts iv. 12.) Be¬ 
 cause there is no other, we read: “And in His name shall the 
 Gentiles trust.” (St. Matt. xii. 21.) “For whosoever shall call'upon the name 
 of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have 
 not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? 
 and how shall they hear without a preacher ? and how shall they preach except they 
 be sent?” (Rom. x. 13, 14.) Without Jesus Christ and His love, all religions are 
 utterly inadequate and nearly worthless. 
 
Why Believe in Foreign Missions? 
 
 5 
 
 These heathen religions have no true system of morality. A great Japanese 
 
 statesman declared that “he had come to realize that morality 
 No true system was absolutely indispensable to civilization, and that religion 
 of morality was absolutely indispensable to morality.” There is only one 
 
 religion which can furnish an adequate moral ideal, and that 
 is the religion of Jesus Christ. Among the heathen nations lying, stealing, un¬ 
 chastity, murder, and many other of what we call crimes, are not only not for¬ 
 bidden but are even taught as sometimes proper. Mohammed says: “Verily, a lie 
 
 is allowable in three cases—to a woman, to reconcile friends, 
 Lying and in war.” The god Krishna himself, in one of the Hindu 
 
 sacred books, declares that there are five different situations 
 in which falsehood may be used—“in marriage, for the gratification of lust, to 
 save life, to secure one’s property, and for the sake of a Brahman.” These five 
 kinds of falsehood have been declared sinless. The Japanese religion has failed 
 to perceive and enforce the inviolability of truth. “God cannot lie, and what God 
 cannot do, no religion dare pronounce to be allowable to the sons of God.” 1 
 
 As to chastity Hinduism is particularly guilty. “Some of the most revered 
 
 and popular writings of this religion are so full of obscenity 
 Unchastity and impure suggestion that to publish them in a Christian 
 
 land in the English tongue would make the publisher liable 
 to imprisonment. When, years ago, Lord Dalhousie, the viceroy of India, enacted 
 a law punishing obscenity, the leaders of the Hindu religion were so exercised by 
 it that the Government had to exempt religious writings of Hinduism and em¬ 
 blems of that faith from the action of the law. 2 The dancing girls of the temples, 
 dedicated by their mothers in infancy, are in effect professional prostitutes. There 
 are 12,000 of them in South India alone, corrupting the youth of the land, and 
 yet they are a part of the religious system. Nor is India the only country sinning 
 in this way. 
 
 As to murder, we all know how cheaply life is held in heathen lands. Mr. 
 
 Roosevelt, 3 in speaking of the Mahdists (a sect of Moham- 
 Murder medans) in the Sudan, says: “Theirs was a cruelty of which 
 
 we in our lives can form no realization. . . . All children 
 
 were killed except as the Government took possession. . . . The figures will 
 
 show this, that out of about 10,000,000 of people, 7,000,000 were killed during the 
 years of the Mahdi uprising.” Remember the wholesale murder of female chil¬ 
 dren in China and in India. In none of these countries have they the Christian 
 idea of the sacredness of human life. 
 
 Heathen religions all cut off some portion of the race from benefits in their 
 
 profession. Women and children in particular are generally 
 . Whole race not included as beneficiaries. Hindu, Mohammedan and Chi- 
 
 not included nese women are never treated as equals by men. They are 
 
 either kept for the gratification of man’s lust, or in bondage 
 as laborers for his service. The Hindu woman, for example—and the principle 
 obtains in all heathen countries—is held in ignorance. Only six Hindu women 
 in a thousand can read or write. In China only one woman in ten thousand can 
 read. “The Hindu woman has never been esteemed worthy to know the sacred 
 books of her own faith. Her mind is not a fit receptacle for such truths.” 4 In 
 
 1 "The Non-Christian Religion Inadequate,” by R. E. Speer. 
 
 2 “Modern Hinduism,” by the Rev. J. P. Jones. 
 
 3 Literary Digest , December 3d, 1910. 
 
 4 Jones, loc. cit. 
 
6 
 
 Why Believe in Foreign Missions? 
 
 No idea of the 
 brotherhood of 
 man 
 
 India there are 26,000,000 widows, most of whom are kept in servitnde, treated 
 with hardship and contempt, and very many are the prey of lustful men. The 
 representatives of Hinduism stand in the way of all helpful legislation for their 
 relief. Not only are women debarred, but in India there are probably 50,000,000 
 pariahs (outcasts), men and women. They are not only socially ostracized, but 
 are under the definite ban of the Hindu faith. They are not even permitted to 
 enter its temples. “They are condemned by Hinduism to grovel eternally at the 
 foot of the social, intellectual and moral ladder.” Many of these pariahs are be¬ 
 coming Christians. 
 
 They have no idea of the brotherhood of man or of man’s 
 responsibility for others. They know nothing of love as it is 
 taught in our religion. A Chinaman or a Hindu will stand by 
 and see another drown, starve or burn, without its ever oc¬ 
 curring to him that it is his duty to try to save him. There is no rational or sat¬ 
 isfactory provision for hospitals, orphanages or other charitable institutions in 
 these lands. In China recently, during a famine, a rich Chinaman made a comer 
 in rice to get still richer out of the calamities of his fellow-countrymen. A woman 
 in the pangs of childbirth was recently, at night, put off a canal boat near St. 
 John’s College, Shanghai, because she might die, and that would bring bad luck 
 to the others on the boat. A man was allowed to drown because two dollars was not 
 immediately forthcoming to pay in advance for the services of a possible rescuer. 
 
 The absence of a knowledge of modern science, particularly of medicine and 
 
 sanitation, causes frightful suffering and needless mortality 
 Suffering in all heathen lands. Witchcraft and superstition take the 
 
 from ignorance place of legitimate medicine. The greatest benefits conferred 
 
 by missionaries are those of the medical men and women. Not 
 only do they help the sick and afflicted, but in so doing they gain the confidence of 
 the people and open the way for evangelistic work. 
 
 As a nation we owe to other less fortunate nations a knowledge of what has 
 
 made us civilized. We are ourselves the product of foreign 
 Duty as a nation missions. Our forefathers were uneducated barbarians until 
 
 the Christian missionaries converted and civilized them. “If 
 Christian life is in us, having come to us through those generous souls that have 
 brought it down to us, we are in honor bound to prove our birthright by passing it 
 on to those who have it not.” 
 
 Putting it on a much lower plane, we should not forget that missionaries have 
 
 done much good in a material way. 1 Africa, Korea, Man¬ 
 churia, China, Burma, Siam and Arabia, nearly the whole of 
 Asia and Africa have been opened up by the work of the mis¬ 
 sionaries. Not only have they opened up the countries, but 
 by securing the confidence of the natives they have often paved 
 the way for trade, advantageous alike to East and West. 
 
 It is, again, as a measure of self-protection, that we should seek to Christianize 
 
 foreign nations. “In all history there has not been a period 
 Necessity for when such vast multitudes of people were in the midst of such 
 self-protection stupendous changes, economic, social, educational and re¬ 
 ligious.” 2 There has been a wonderful awakening both in Asia 
 and Africa. The Near East and the Ear East are both rousing from a long sleep. 
 
 Commercial ben¬ 
 efits of mission¬ 
 ary work 
 
 1 “The World’s Debt to the Missionary,” by R. E. Speer. 
 
 2 “The Decisive Hour of Christian Missions,” by J. R. Mott, p. 3. 
 
Why Believe in Foreign Missions? 
 
 They are looking toward the West, and are eagerly adopting our knowledge and our 
 methods, in a word, our civilization. Whether this civilization shall he Christian, 
 whether they shall adopt our religion with our civilization, is of the utmost im¬ 
 portance, not only to them hut to us as well. China with its countless millions, 
 civilized and supplied with all the power which modern civilization gives, but with¬ 
 out the guiding spirit of Christianity, without a conscience, will be a distinct threat 
 to the rest of the world. Dr. Pott, of St. John’s College, Shanghai, said, before the 
 Laymen’s Missionary Congress at Chicago: “The real ‘yellow peril’ is that China 
 may be a godless giant, and that the awakening of the Par East may mean the birth 
 of a new civilization—a civilization materialistic in spirit, one that will not make 
 for the progress of the Kingdom of God; but will be opposed to the spiritual de¬ 
 velopment of the race.” We shall then “be face to face with what will be a menace 
 to the best interests of humanity.” 
 
 The Pandita Ramabai says of India: “The majority of the higher classes are 
 getting Western secular education, which is undermining their faith in their an¬ 
 cestral religion. They are not getting anything better to take the place of the old 
 religion in their hearts, and are therefore without God, without hope, without 
 Christ, going down socially and morally, and becoming very irreligious.” 
 
 This is true, though in a less degree, of Turkey, Persia, Egypt and other Ori¬ 
 ental lands. There is little time to lose; we must push this matter now, while the 
 seething mass is in a plastic state. Later it will be too late, and both we and they 
 may suffer as a consequence. 
 
 Not only does work for missions help others, but through it we get in return a 
 
 distinct gain. The cases are numerous where church congrega- 
 Reflex effect on tions in our own land, which were dead or dying, have been 
 Church at home brought to life by taking up missionary work. Canon Liddon 
 
 says, “Churches are generally living churches in the exact ratio 
 of their missionary activity.” 
 
 The individual is also quickened in his religious life—as has proved to be the 
 case over and over again—by an active interest in missions. “The deepening of the 
 personal consecration to our Blessed Lord on the part of those who are helping the 
 missionary work is the most blessed result of doing it.” 
 
 We should believe in missionaries because they have already done a vast deal 
 
 for heathen lands, and they should be supported and encour¬ 
 aged on that account. Even in Africa, which at first seemed 
 an almost hopeless field, owing to the low condition of the na¬ 
 tives, an immense deal has been accomplished. In Uganda 
 the missions of the English Church have perhaps the largest 
 congregation worshipping under one roof in the world. Mr. 
 Roosevelt, after seeing what has been done, says, “I do wish that the well-meaning 
 people who laugh at or decry missionary work could realize what the missionaries 
 have done right there in middle Africa.” 
 
 The Hon. Mr. T. V. Seshagiri Aiyet, a Hindu, offers this testimony: “The 
 work of the foreign missions is waking up the educated classes of India. It has 
 made them realize that they would be losing ground if they neglect to raise the de¬ 
 pressed classes.” 1 Similar testimony of the strongest kind comes from Japan and 
 Korea. The wonderful awakening in China is largely due to missionary effort. 
 “Taking the world as a whole, victory is assured if the present campaign be ade¬ 
 quately supported and pressed.” (Mott.) 
 
 Missionaries 
 should be sup¬ 
 ported for what 
 they have done 
 
 l Literary Digest, loc. cit. 
 
 Sixth Edition, October, 1914. (10M.—29M.) S.P. 
 
s 
 
 Why Believe in Foreign Missions? 
 
 Most important of all in this connection is the conclusive proof that God’s 
 
 Holy Spirit is working with the missionaries. Numerous 
 The work of instances might be cited where the most depraved and debased 
 
 the Holy Spirit heathen have been converted by reading or hearing the Gospel. 
 
 (See Mott’s book, “The Decisive Hour.”) 
 
 Where so much has already been accomplished, can we afford to neglect the 
 workers in the field ? It is certainly our duty to hold up their hands and give them 
 adequate support. 
 
 Christian unity 1 , which some of us so eagerly long for, is certainly promoted by 
 
 missionary work. Nothing has been more strikingly proved 
 Christian Unity by the Laymen’s Missionary Movement. At a meeting of mis- 
 promoted sionaries at the Centenary Conference in Shanghai, those as¬ 
 
 sembled, representing almost every Protestant communion, 
 spoke in the strongest terms. They declared that they acknowledged that the 
 Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed substantially express the fundamental doc¬ 
 trines of the Christian faith; further, they said, “We gladly recognize ourselves as 
 already one body in Christ, teaching one way of eternal life, and calling men into 
 one holy fellowship”—and more in the same strain. 
 
 As Churchmen we have certain things to teach which the other Christian 
 
 bodies in part omit. We have a system inherited from the 
 Duty as earliest times, which we believe is according to the teaching of 
 
 Churchmen Christ. We can intelligently bring to the people of heathen 
 
 lands a true knowledge of the sacraments of the Church, which 
 we believe are the best, and a necessary means, of spiritual development. It is quite 
 likely that in time there will be a great Church of China, a great Church of Japan 
 and a great Church of India, including all the Christians in those countries. 
 Surety we do not want to see these national churches so organized that we cannot 
 recognize them as parts of the Holy Catholic Church. Unless we make our influ¬ 
 ence strongly felt in these lands, this unfortunate event is likely to occur. It is our 
 duty then, as Churchmen, to use every endeavor to prevent what we believe would 
 be a great calamity, by presenting our views strongly and by gaining as many ad¬ 
 herents as we can, so as to bring as much influence as possible to bear in the organ¬ 
 ization of these national churches. 
 
 Lastly, the rapid evangelizing of the world will hasten the second coming of 
 
 our Lord. Has He not Himself declared: 2 “And this gospel 
 The of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a wit- 
 
 second coming ness to all nations; and then shall the end come.” (St. 
 
 Matt. xxiv. 14.) 
 
 Prom what is here written, it seems very clear that the duty of working for 
 the spread of His Gospel is one which devolves upon every follower of Jesus Christ. 
 We may well ask. How can a man call himself a Christian and not believe in mis¬ 
 sions ? The preaching of the Gospel is the greatest duty of the Church, and there¬ 
 fore of each of its members. 
 
 Of late there has grown up a wonderful literature on missions. Let him who 
 still doubts read, and he will surety be convinced, that as Christians and as Church¬ 
 men we must use every effort; give, give, and give again; pray without ceasing and 
 work unremittingly, that our Lord’s command may be obeyed, and the Gospel 
 preached to every creature—not sometime, but now. 
 
 1 See “Foreign Missions and Christian Unity,” by R. E. Spee.' • 
 
 2 Most commentators agree that this verse refers to the second coming of our Lord, and not 
 to the destruction of Jerusalem.