yyiis^' THREE PERTINENT QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY ROBERT E. SPEER. •-• -- FORM No. 630 BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS, 156 Fifth Ave., New York City. THREE PERTINENT QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY FACTS AND FIGURES FROM DISTINGUISHED WITNESSES. I. IS THERE ANY REAL NEED? 1. A simple arithmetical statement : Population. Area. Ordained Miss. Approx. Pop. to each Ord. Miss. Approx. Square Miles to each Ord. Miss. Approx. China, 400,000.000 5,500,000 600 700,000 9,000 India, 270,000,000 1,383.504 900 300,000 1,540 Japan, 40,000,000 148,456 270 200,000 740 Siam, 8,000,oOu 280 564 25 300,000 11,000 S. Amer. 35,000,000 6, 854,100 80 440,000 859,000 Mexico, 10,0l>0,000 743,948 140 70,000 5,300 Africa, 175,000,000 11,514,770 700 250,000 16,500 U. S. 70,000,000 3,611,849 100,000 700 35 2. Competent evidence. Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop , traveler : “Just one or two remarks as to what these false faiths do. They degrade women with an infinite degradation. I have lived in zenanas and harems and have seen the daily life of the secluded women, and I can speak from bitter ex¬ perience of what their lives are—the intellect dwarfed, — while all the worst passions of human nature are stimu¬ lated and developed to a fearful degree — jealousy, envy, murderous hate, intrigue, running to such an extent that in some countries I have hardly ever been in a woman’s house or near a woman’s tent without being asked for 4 drugs with which to, disfigure the favorite wife, to take away her life, or to take away the life of the favorite wife’s infant son. This request has been made of me nearly two hundred times ! ” Raj Ram Mohun Roy , founder of the Brahmo Somaj : “I have observed that both in their writings and conversation, many Europeans feel a wish to palli¬ ate and soften the features of Hindu idolatry, and are inclined to indicate that all objects of worship are con¬ sidered by their votaries as emblematical represen¬ tations of the supreme Divinity. If this were indeed the case, I might perhaps be led into some examination of the subject; but the truth is, the Hindus of the pre¬ sent day have no such views of the subject, but firmly believe in the real existence of the innumerable gods and goddesses , w r ho possess, in their own departments, full and independent power ; and to propitiate them, and not the true God, are temples erected and ceremonies per¬ formed.” “The rigid observance of caste is considered in so high a light as to compensate for every moral defect. Even the most atrocious crimes weigh little or nothing in the balance against the supposed guilt of its violation. Murder, theft, perjury, though brought home to the party by a judicial sentence, so far from inducing a loss of caste, is visited with no peculiar mark of infamy or disgrace. ” “ Other religions may be seated in the mind and soul, but the stronghold of Hinduism is the stomach. A Hindu may retain his faith against all arguments and against all violence, but mix a bit of beef in his food, 5 and his religion is gone! Not that he renounces it, but that it repudiates him. Let half a dozen Hindus seize one of their own caste and forcibly thrust forbidden food down his throat, and that man has ceased to have any rights in this world or the next.” “The chief part of the theory and practice of Hindu¬ ism, I am sorry to say, is made to consist in the adoption of a peculiar mode of diet, the least aberration from which (even though the conduct of the offender may in other respects be pure and blameless) is not only visited with the severest censure, but actually punished by ex¬ clusion from the society of his family and friends. In a word, he is doomed to undergo what is commonly called loss of caste.” P. C. Mozoomdar , Hindu reformer : “ The idea of brotherhood and equality of all mankind before God, I am sorry to say, is not to be found, because it is never recognized in any of our ancient writings. The idea is decidedly foreign, western, and I think I might say Christian. ” Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar , C. I. E.: “An ade¬ quate idea of the intolerable hardships of early widow¬ hood can be formed by those only whose daughters, sisters, daughters-in-law and other female relations have been deprived of their husbands during infancy.” * 1 When men are void of pity and compassion, of a perception of right and wrong, of good and evil, and when men cojisider the observance of mere forms as the highest of duties and the greatest of virtues, in such a country would that women were never born. Woman L in India thy lot is cast in misery! ” c Dr. Mohendra Lai Sircar: “You must have observed a retrograde movement going on in our midst, which I fear is calculated to retard the progress of the Hindu race. I mean a return to superstition and idolatries which lie as the blackest blot upon this part of the world. The crude words and hazy conceptions of the sages are looked upon as absolute truth. No man is allowed to differ from them, however much they differ from one another, or however much they differ from modern science. Indeed, if we are to believe these reactionaries, it is so much the worse for the modern science if she will not confirm her doctrines to the transcendental nonsense of the sages.” Babu Keshub Chunder Sen, founder of the Progress¬ ive Somaj: “Look at yourselves, enchained to customs, deprived of freedom, lorded over by an ignorant and crafty priesthood, your better sense and better feelings all smothered under the crushing weight of custom. Look at your homes, scenes of indescribable misery; your wives and sisters, your mothers and daughters, immured within the dungeon of the zenana; ignorant of the outside world, little better than slaves, whose charter of liberty of thought and action has been ignor¬ ed. Look at your social constitution and customs, the mass of enervating, demoralizing and degrading curses they are working. “There can be no doubt that the root of all evils which afflict Hindu society, that which constitutes the chief cause of its degradation, is idolatry. Idolatry is the curse of Hindustan, the deadly canker that has eaten into the vitals of native society.” Rudyard Kipling: “What’s the matter with this country (India) is not in the least political, but an all- around entanglement of physical, social, and moral evils and corruptions, all more or less due to the unnatural treatment of women. It is right here where the trouble is, and not in any political consideration whatever. The foundations of their life are rotten—utterly rotten. The men talk of their rights and privileges! I have seen the women that bear these very men, and again, may God forgive the men.” Sukumar Haidar, department magistrate, Jogardal: “What is forced upon the notice of Englishmen (in In¬ dia) by daily experience gives them the idea that Hin¬ duism is about the worst religion that ever claimed a following. Esoteric Hinduism to-day has scarcely a single element of unmixed good to boast of.” Henry S. Lunn , of the Grindewald conference: “ The Hindu religion is but the deification of lust and other evil passions. Krishna, the great Hindu God, is shown in its scriptures to be a perjurer, a thief, and a murderer. ” “ Such is the obscene character of the pictures and carvings in the temples and on the idol cars, that an act of the Indian legislature in 1856 against obscene pictures had especially to exempt from its operation, all pictures, drawings, or carvings in the temples, or on the idol cars. ” Bishop Parker , Church of England: “I found the state of the people of Africa distinctly worse than that of the people of India. They are more degraded, more brutish. The people are so superstitious and so car- 8 nally-minded and ignorant, it is difficult to find any ele¬ ments of truth already held by them whereon to build higher truths.” Dr. Irnad-ud din: “I found nothing in Moham¬ medanism from which an unprejudiced man might in his heart derive true hope and real comfort, though I searched for it earnestly in the Koran, the Traditions, and also in Sufiism. Rites, ceremonies and theories I found in abundance, but not the slightest spiritual bene¬ fit does a man get by acting on them. He remains fast held in the grip of darkness and death.” Paul: “ All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”.. .. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” II. HAS ANYTHING EFFECTIVE BEEN ACCOMPLISHED? 1. A simple arithmetical statement: The census of India, for example, states that in 1801, there were 198,087 Protestant Christians 1871, “ “ 286,987 “ “ 1881 , “ “ 492,883 1891, “ “ 592,612 “ “ Modern missions were born with William Carey one hundred years ago. To-day 1,300,000 communicants are reported with perhaps 5,000,000 adherents. 2. Unprejudiced testimony. Mr. V. Nay an Aiyar, a Brahman of Travancore: “By the unceasing efforts and self-denying earnestness of the learned body of the Christian missionaries in the country, the large community of native Christians are 9 rapidly advancing in their moral, intellectual and mater¬ ial conditions... Those who have come directly under their influence, such as native Christians, have nearly doubled the number of their literates since 1875.” Sir William Muir: “And they are not shams or paper converts, as some would have us believe, but good, honest Christians, and many of them of a high standard. ” Sir Charles Elliot , Lt.-Governor of Bengal, “I make bold to say that if missions did not exist it would be our duty to invent them.” Pittsburg Times , May 23, 1895: “The missionary is more than a preacher merely: he is the agent of advanced civilization, and therefore worthy of the support of every friend of humanity, no matter what his creed or theory as to creeds.” Sabor, Social Democrat, in the German Parliament: “ We acknowledge that there has been a healthful activ¬ ity developed by the missionaries in Africa. They have shown how much everywhere in the world is to be ac¬ complished by patience and love; they have proved that even with uncivilized tribes hearts which have a fund of goodness can accomplish much without the lash of compulsion.” London Quarterly Review , Jan., 1894: “Blessings inevitably follow in the track of missions; and it would seem, therefore, to be the height of folly to sneer at missionary effort, and the mark of culpable ignorance not to know what is doing in this noble field of human enterprise. It is too late to speak of efforts as futile or fanatic which have literally girdled the globe with a chain of missionary stations; and those who now speak 10 scornfully of missions are simply men behind their age.” Charles Denby , formerly United States Minister to China: “ I can only say that converts to Christianity are numerous. There are supposed to be 40,000 Protestant converts in China, and at least 500,000 Catholic converts. There are many native Christian churches. The con¬ verts seem to be as devout as people of any other race. “As far as my knowledge extends, I can and do say that the missionaries in China are self-sacrificing; that their lives are pure; that they are devoted to their work; that their influence is beneficial to the native; that the arts and sciences and civilization are greatly spread by their efforts; that many useful western books are trans¬ lated by them into Chinese; that they are the leaders in all charitable work, giving largely themselves, and per¬ sonally disbursing the funds with which they are en¬ trusted; that they do make converts, and such converts are mentally benefited by conversion. Boston Daily Advertiser , October, 1894: “ They who do not know what they are talking about, still say that missionaries have made no impression in heathendom except upon a relatively small fraction of the lower or¬ ders of mankind. They who speak from knowledge say that in Japan, to take that one case, Christian ideas have already permeated the institutions and populations of the country to such an extent that, from the mikado to the humblest laborer at four cents a day, there is no man in the island empire who does not directly or in¬ directly feel the influence of the new religion, if not as a spiritual force, at least as a creative energy in politics, industry and learning.” The Rev. Francis Tiffany , Unitarian minister: “It seems, however, to be the correct thing for the ordinary tourist to speak with unutterable contempt of mission¬ aries, and then, to avoid being prejudiced in any way, carefully to refrain from ever going within ten miles of them and their work. The thing to take for granted is, that they are narrow-minded bigots, with nothing they care to import into India but hell-fire. To all this I want to enter my emphatic and indignant protest. Such of them as I have fallen in with I have found the most earnest and broad-minded men and women anywhere to be encountered—the men and women best acquainted with Indian thought, customs and inward life, and who are doing the most toward the elevation of the rational and moral character of the nation.” Leaflets of the Hindu Tract Society: “They have cast their net over our children by teaching them in our schools, and they have already made thousands of Christ¬ ians, and are continuing to do so. They have penetrated the most out-of-the-way villiages and built churches there. If we continue to sleep as we have done in the past, not one will be found worshiping in the temples in a very short time; nay, the temples themselves will be converted into Christian churches. Do you not know that the number of Christians is increasing, and the number of Hindu religionists is decreasing every day? “Patriots of India! Be warned in time! Do your duty! The Christian belief is slowly making way. It has in Europe a strong and powerful organization, Hinduism is daily being robbed of its votaries. We have slept long enough; shall we now at last, with a great 12 and grave danger looming before us in all its huge and hideous proportions, shake off our lethargy?” Rear Admiral George £. Belknap , United States Navy: “Scoffer and sceptics and other flippant and thoughtless people will tell you that the missions are failures, that nothing substantial has been accomplished in the efforts to Christainize the peoples of the Orient and of other countries. To such unbelievers the cease¬ less progression of change in the conditions and aspects of the material universe goes on under their very eyes without note of heed or instruction. Benton their own aims and pleasures, all else in life is a blank to them. “ The chances are, indeed, that at the very moment they are decrying the work of the missions they are reap¬ ing benefit and advantage in their business affairs from the work done by the missionaries, and the varied infor¬ mation gained by them in their close contact with the peoples among whom they have labored. I assert it to be a fact beyond contradiction that there is not a ruler, official, merchant, or any other person, from emperors, viceroys, governors, judges, counselors, generals, min¬ isters, admirals, merchants and others, down to the low¬ est coolies in China and Japan, Siam and Korea, who, in their association or dealings with their fellowmen in that quarter of the globe, are not indebted every day of their lives to the work and achievements of the American }} missionaries. 13 III. WHAT IS OUR PRESENT DUTY? 1. Our home churches need blessing. This is the way to get it. “There was a time during my ministry when I tried to comfort my serious congregation, but they still com¬ plained of doubt and darkness, and I knew not what to do, for I had tried my best to bring peace to the mourn¬ ers in Zion. Just at this time it pleased God to direct my mind in a very special manner to the perishing heath¬ en in India. I felt we had been living too much for our selves. I spoke as I felt. My people w r ondered and wept. They began to talk about supporting a mission. We met and prayed specially for it; met and considered what could be done for it; met and did what we could. And while all this was going on, the lamentations ceased. The sad became cheerful; the despairing calm; no one complained of a want of comfort. And I, instead of having to study how to comfort my flock, was comforted by them.”— Rev. Andrew Fuller. 2. We have a world-wide duty. (1.) “This Assembly regards the whole Church as a missionary society, whose main work is to spread the knowledge of salvation .”—General Assembly , i 86 y. (2.) “The Presbyterian Church is amissionary society, the object of which is to aid in the conversion of the world and every member of the church is a mem¬ ber for life of said society, and bound to do all in his power for the accomplishment of this object .”—Words spoken in the General Assembly 0 / 1831 , and repeated in that of 1843 . 14 “We would here express our solemn conviction that the time has now come when no church, and scarcely any church member, can refrain from giving something systematically to this object without incurring fearful guilt .” — Minutes of Board, Eighth Annual Meeti?ig, 1846 . 3. We dare not shirk. “If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death. ' And those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold we knew it not; Doth not He that pondereth thy heart consider it? And He that keepeth thy soul, doth not He know it? And shall not He render to every man according to his works?” “May God forgive all those who desert us in our extremity. May he save them all. But surely, if any sin will lie with crushing weight on the trembling, shrink¬ ing soul, when grim death draws near; if any sin will clothe the face of the final Judge with an angry frown, withering up the last hope of the condemned, in irre¬ mediable, everlasting despair, it is the sin of turning a deaf ear to the plaintive cry of ten millions of immortal beings, who, by their darkness and misery, cry day and night, ‘Come to our rescue, ye bright sons and daught¬ ers of America, come and save us, for we are sinking into hell .”’— Adoniram Judso?i. 4. More than one million dollars annually is need¬ ed for the work, even on the reduced basis to which the work has been brought. This is an average gift of about $1.10 from each member of the Presbyterian Church. Who can dare to decline to do his share? 15 5. This is the world’s one certainly triumphant movement. It cannot fail. Emerson declared, forty years ago, that what hold the popular faith had upon the people was “gone, or going.” He asked why we should drag the dead weight of the Sunday school over the globe, and lived to see his own daughter holding a Sunday school for little Arab children on the Nile. “For from the rising of the sun even unto -the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.” —Malachi i: n. “The kingdoms of this world are become the King¬ doms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever .”—Revelation xi Jfj.