The Progress of 
 a Generaction 
 
 Rev. F. F. ELLIN WOO D, D.D., LL.D., 
 
 Senior Secretary of Board of Foreign Missions of the 
 Presbyterian Church in the JJ.S.A. He was elected 
 Secretary March 31 , 1871 . 
 

 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 
 
The Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian 
 Church in the U.S.A., 156 Fifth Ave., New York. 
 
 The Progress of a Generation** 
 
 By Rev. F. F. Ellinwood, D.D. 
 
 In measuring distances it is well to set 
 stakes and establish points of departure; so 
 in considering the progress of the world,— 
 religious, educational, social, governmental 
 or commercial,—one is enabled to obtain a 
 clearer view by marking off periods of time 
 and comparing the conditions of different 
 dates. In looking back over something more 
 than thirty years of experience in the work 
 of missions and the general advancement of 
 mankind an impressive conception is gained 
 of the rate of the world’s progress. 
 
 Thirty years ago there was published a 
 tabular exhibit of missionary work which 
 placed the number of communicants in the 
 Protestant missions of the world at about 
 500,000, the number of pupils in schools of all 
 grades at 450,000, the number of missionaries 
 at 2,300, and the native helpers of all classes 
 at 18,500. A total of 85,725,000 was raised by 
 all boards and societies. 
 
 According to the most recent statistics we 
 find that the present totals show 1,550,729 
 communicants in mission churches, 1,051 466 
 pupils in schools, total number of missionaries 
 
 * Address delivered before Conference with Newly Ap¬ 
 pointed Missionaries, June, 1902, Board Rooms, 156 Fifth 
 Ave. 
 
18,682, native helpers of all classes 79,396, 
 while the income from home and foreign 
 sources, is $20,079,698 per annum. 
 
 The number of communicants connected 
 with the Missions of the Presbyterian Board 
 thirty-two years ago was 2,047, the number 
 of missionaries 84, pupils in schools 7,465. 
 This one Board is now raising about a million 
 of dollars each year, and its total member¬ 
 ship in mission fields is nearly 45.000. But 
 these figures give only a faint conception of 
 the general advance of Christianity in the 
 world. For while missionary effort is limited, 
 the providence of God controls many agen¬ 
 cies, direct and indirect, and the influence of 
 these is so blended that it would be difficult, 
 even if it were necessary or desirable, to trace 
 their separate action and accord to each its 
 proper results. 
 
 If we go back thirty years or more for a 
 survey of conditions, what was the general 
 outlook thirty years ago ? In our own coun¬ 
 try the Civil War had but recently closed, 
 and the work of reconstruction had only be¬ 
 gun. That conflict had not only brought ter¬ 
 rible devastations upon the land, and dotted 
 it over with graves of young and vigorous fel¬ 
 low citizens, but it had left different sections 
 of the country still alienated. Our missionary 
 organizations, Home and Foreign, were 
 greatly crippled. Many of the new States 
 were still undeveloped and ungoverned terri¬ 
 tories which seemed to need the undivided 
 effort of the Church. Instead of all this we 
 now behold a land at peace from ocean to 
 ocean, with sectional divisions and jealousies 
 removed, with a degree of commercial and 
 agricultural prosperity never before known 
 in any land, with the mission treasuries of all 
 boards and societies free from debt, and all 
 
 4 
 
denominations ready to enter with new zeal 
 upon the conquest of the world for Christ. 
 
 Our national domain has by recent events 
 been greatly extended in both hemispheres, 
 and our country, which was almost despised 
 as a factor in world problems, is now recog¬ 
 nized as one of the leading forces among the 
 nations. Especially is this true in the direc¬ 
 tion of international comity and an enlarged 
 philanthropy. 
 
 Japan at the period named has indeed been 
 opened to foreign influence, but the work of 
 regeneration had only begun. When I visited 
 Japan, in 1874, the total Protestant Church 
 membership in that country could have been 
 seated in this room, leaving space for as many 
 more. I attended the first Christian funeral 
 ever known in that empire, and heard two of 
 the halt' dozen native preachers who had then 
 entered the service. The national energies 
 which were aroused by the Japano-Chinese 
 War had not yet been dreamed of. Japan 
 had not received a constitution. Her treaties 
 with other nations had not been placed upon 
 a high and prosperous basis. 
 
 The dawn of progress in China had scarcely 
 
 yet appeared. The great movement in Africa 
 
 toward the discovery and development of the 
 
 inferior and unknown regions had not begun. 
 
 Stanley had not made his trans continental 
 
 explorations. The story of the Congo and the 
 
 true sources of the Nile were yet unknown. 
 
 Uganda had not uttered that stirring appeal 
 
 to the churches of Christendom which has 
 
 wrought such changes in our day, and which 
 
 out of much tribulation struck the kevnote of 
 
 «/ 
 
 one of the most wonderful developments of 
 Christian faith and Christian living which the 
 world has seen. Korea was still the Hermit 
 Nat ion. Roman Catholic Christianity, which 
 
 5 
 
at one time had taken root there, had been 
 well nigh extirpated. Brazil was still an em¬ 
 pire, dominated to a large extent by Papal 
 supremacy and intolerance. Mexico had 
 overthrown the Franco-Austrian dominion 
 which had threatened her liberties and her 
 religious welfare, but was yet in an experi¬ 
 mental stage, and only the smallest beginnings 
 of progress in free thought and in emanci¬ 
 pated faith had been made. No railroads had 
 crossed the American border, and the tide of 
 American immigration and commercial influ¬ 
 ence had not begun. Spanish tyranny and 
 the death like paralysis of all progressive 
 movements and influences rested upon the 
 Spanish West Indies, and the corrupt domin¬ 
 ion of the Spanish friars held the Philippines 
 tightly in its grasp. 
 
 Compared with all this we see to-day in 
 Japan a youthful though a historically an¬ 
 cient nation, stepping to the front rank as a 
 civilized power, with constitutional govern¬ 
 ment, and with military and naval resources 
 of the very first order. Her university edu¬ 
 cation and common school system, her con 
 cessions to popular liberty, her skill in states¬ 
 manship, her treatment of prisoners taken in 
 battle, the example of her noble Empress in 
 ministering sanitary relief, her hospitals and 
 orphanages and other eleemosynary institu¬ 
 tions, have won for her a high place in the 
 respect of all mankind. 
 
 Of China, considering its commercial, edu¬ 
 cational and social conditions and opportuni¬ 
 ties, Dr. W. A. P. Martin said to me not 
 many days since that in forty years he had 
 never seen that great empire in so favorable 
 an attitude toward the development of Chris¬ 
 tianity and all civilizing and elevating influ¬ 
 ences as at the present day. The war with 
 
 6 
 
Japan, and still more the awful tragedies and 
 humiliations of the Celestial nation in the 
 last two years, have been overruled for this 
 result. The bigoted illusions of the Dowager 
 Empress and her court have lost their fatal 
 spell. The great empire has learned a lesson 
 and has already begun to move. Dr. Martin, 
 on his homeward journey, received two tele¬ 
 grams asking him to accept the presidency 
 of Chinese universities, one in Shansi and 
 another in Hupeh. He has accepted the lat¬ 
 ter, for which he finds special guarantees in 
 the fact that his patron is the well known 
 Chang Chi Tung, author of that remarkable 
 book, “ China’s Only Hope.” The University 
 of Shansi is to be established under the presi¬ 
 dency of another former missionary, Rev. 
 Timothy Richard. A great educational move¬ 
 ment has also been started in Southern China. 
 
 Korea is now wide open and presents in 
 some respects perhaps the most promising 
 mission field in the world. The brief cable¬ 
 gram which said to Dr. H. N. Allen “Go to 
 Korea,” is so fresh in memory after a lapse of 
 eighteen years that it seems only a matter of 
 yesterday. 
 
 Cuba, emancipated from the thralldom of 
 Spain, cleansed from unsanitary defilement 
 and the constant development of disease, 
 trained for three years in civil government, 
 schooled in the best methods of education, 
 inspired with true patriotic pride and ambi¬ 
 tion, thrown wide open to Protestant relig¬ 
 ious influence, has recently been invested 
 with the independence of a republic. 
 
 Porto Rico, Hawaii and the Philippines 
 have come under the aegis of our American 
 flag, and are making rapid progress in all di¬ 
 rections. 
 
 Of the Philippines, Gov. Taft has recently 
 
given an interesting account of the distribu¬ 
 tion of a thousand American teachers, scat¬ 
 tered through five hundred different towns of 
 the archipelago, and given emphasis to his 
 prediction that the rising generation will 
 speak the English tongue. And, although he 
 believes that a long time will be necessary to 
 prepare these islands for self-government, so 
 gigantic and difficult is the task, yet nowhere 
 in the world have steps toward that result 
 been more rapid. 
 
 In Africa, the problem of the Congo is 
 solved, and not only Western civilization but 
 Christianity is advancing to the very heart of 
 the continent from the West, while in Uganda 
 and Eastern Soudan, England has conquered 
 a peace, and good government with freedom 
 of religion has been established. Egypt, on 
 the North, and last of all a unified British 
 dominion in the South, have given new as¬ 
 surances of peace in all Eastern Africa, and 
 of the opening up of railroad communication 
 at no distant day from Cairo to Cape Town. 
 
 In our Western Hemisphere, Brazil has now 
 joined the array of republics which compass 
 the shores of South America along both 
 oceans. 
 
 Mexico seems thoroughly established with 
 good government and a fair measure of re¬ 
 ligious freedom. A wonderful contrast to 
 the Mexico which some of us still remember! 
 
 In the present generation Alaska has been 
 added to our national domain and, in spite of 
 unpromising beginnings and many dark 
 prophecies of failure, has astonished the 
 world. Mission stations now dot the coast 
 even in the extreme north, penetrating far 
 within the frozen gates of the Arctic Ocean. 
 As a proof of the rapidity with which our 
 American Church life in all its manifold de- 
 
 8 
 
velopments spreads over our new possessions, 
 the small cities of Sitka and Juneau are oc¬ 
 cupied by churches of from five to seven de¬ 
 nominations. 
 
 Conditions in Europe have wonderfully im¬ 
 proved in our generation. Napoleonism has 
 perished from the face of the earth. Prot¬ 
 estant Germany has gained a power and pres¬ 
 tige never before known on the Continent, 
 and, although the world has Russia yet to 
 reckon with in Europe and the Far East, the 
 progress of international arbitration and 
 other results of the recent Peace compact, 
 proposed by the Czar himself, give fair prom¬ 
 ise that wars of national jealousy and ambi 
 tion are to be discredited from this time 
 forth. 
 
 But while these geographical and political 
 movements have shown changes for the better, 
 there has been marked advancement in much 
 more important matters. The new forces 
 added to Christian propagandism have greatly 
 advanced in power and influence. Woman's 
 work for woman as a missionary agency had 
 only sprung up within our time, but is now 
 recognized as one of the most spiritual and 
 effective of all the forces which Christianity 
 has developed. In the same period, Young 
 Men’s Christian Association work has widened 
 out into a foreign missionary force and is ex¬ 
 erting a harmonizing and unifying influence 
 over all the religious interests of the world. 
 It is a special movement of Christianity and 
 good morals among the young men of all 
 creeds and lands, and all races. The Student 
 Volunteer Movement has proved to be not a 
 transient impulse, but a steady and wonder¬ 
 ful force. The development of Christian En¬ 
 deavor Societies, now extending into all lands, 
 has enlisted the young of both sexes in a cru- 
 
 9 
 
sade more sublime and far more truly Chris¬ 
 tian than those of the Middle Ages. 
 
 It is another auspicious fact that our gen¬ 
 eration has developed, as no other age of the 
 Church has done, the co operation of the 
 laity. 
 
 Applied Christianity has ceased to be a 
 function merely of the priestly class; the old 
 pulpits of our fathers have descended in more 
 senses than one much nearer to the level of 
 the pew. The body of the Church has ceased 
 to be a flock and has become an army. The 
 idea now prevails that everybody, old and 
 young, has a work to do. This is true not 
 merely of the multiplied forms of Sabbath- 
 school work, Church work, settlement work, 
 rescue work, etc., but the change pervades 
 all society. It has become fashionable with 
 our great universities to elect lay presidents. 
 Our Board of Missions has chosen a lay Secre¬ 
 tary, and he does as much preaching as any 
 of us, and does it as well. Even the General 
 Assembly has now a lay Vice Moderator, and 
 the time may be near when it will lay aside 
 the “Vice.” It is certainly necessary that 
 all classes of believers shall be subsidized and 
 mobilized if the world is to be won to Christ, 
 and the trend is now in that direction. 
 
 There have been wonderful changes in all 
 the humanitarian elements of our Christian 
 civilization. In Foreign Missions the medical 
 work has been almost entirely developed 
 within the memory of some who still live. 
 All missionary organizations are now pro¬ 
 ceeding on that rational principle taught by 
 the word and example of Christ, namely: 
 bearing bodily relief in one hand and the sal¬ 
 vation of the soul in the other. In the num¬ 
 ber of medical missionaries it is a matter of 
 just pride that our own Board is thus far in 
 
 10 
 
the lean. The establishment of permanent 
 hospitals and dispensaries has advanced in all 
 the great mission fields, and coupled with this 
 advance there has been a corresponding prog¬ 
 ress in the training of native physicians. 
 
 Added to the missionary efforts made along 
 these lines many accessory influences have 
 sprung up. In some countries, as in Japan, 
 the Government has established hospitals, 
 while the efforts of Lady Dufferin in India 
 have initiated a widespread system of medi¬ 
 cal education for women, who shall go forth 
 by the hundreds, and we hope ere long by the 
 thousands, to relieve the sufferings of their 
 sex. If nothing else had been accomplished 
 in the last thirty years, the awakening of the 
 Christian world to a noble philanthropy for 
 the relief of the sick and the maimed would 
 repay for all the outlay that has been made. 
 
 In connection with the relief afforded by 
 medical mission work, mention may be made 
 of the ameliorations of modern warfare. In 
 some respects wars are more decisive and 
 perhaps more bloody than ever before, but 
 wanton cruelty toward the conquered, or cold 
 indifference and neglect toward the wounded 
 and dying, are no longer factors. The Red 
 Cross movement, which has enlisted the noble 
 philanthropy of so many American and Euro 
 pean women, the concessions of all armies 
 made in favor of the angels of mercy who 
 visit the battlefields between the hostile lines 
 for the relief of the wounded and dying— 
 these present a grand and inspiring spectacle 
 —these, too, are the results of Christian sym¬ 
 pathy and the increase of a helpful spirit the 
 world over. 
 
 Again this generation has been distin¬ 
 guished by frequent and widespread systems 
 of famine relief. In the last thirty years 
 
 11 
 
Christian churches of America and of Europe 
 have again and again been called upon for 
 the relief of starving ones in China, Armenia 
 and other parts of Turkey, and especially of 
 late in India. The hearts of all humane peo¬ 
 ple, Christian or otherwise, have been touched 
 by the appalling revelations of want and the 
 slow, wasting death of the famished in India 
 and other lands less favored than ours; and 
 inadequate as the relief may have been, a 
 spontaneous movement of kindliness and 
 charity has been witnessed. Coupled with 
 this relief of the starving, orphanages have 
 been established everywhere in the track of 
 this wholesale devastation. The sentiment of 
 sympathy on the part of the prosperous and 
 well-to-do for their destitute and suffering 
 fellow-men has everywhere been developed 
 and strengthened. None need to be reminded 
 of the fact that the impelling force in all 
 these manifold developments of philanthropy 
 has sprung from the enterprise of Christian 
 missions. Missionaries have brought the 
 world together by their appeals, by the 
 masses of facts which have been gathered, 
 for example, by such writers as Dr. Dennis. 
 The recent General Assembly illustrated the 
 interest created by the revelations made by 
 eloquent missionaries before great convoca¬ 
 tions of Christian people. 
 
 It is a proof of the influence of missionary 
 example in these respects that governments 
 are now taking an interest in philanthropic 
 relief which was not witnessed in past gen¬ 
 erations. How inspiring were the references 
 made in a recent address in Carnegie Hall by 
 the President of the United States of our dis 
 interested emancipation of Cuba and the 
 prompt action of our national Congress for 
 the relief of the sufferers in Martinique and 
 
 12 
 
St. Vincent! In the centuries past the West 
 Indies have slumbered on in neglect, often 
 visited by pestilences, often devastated by 
 bloody massacres and constantly oppressed 
 by Spanish misgovernment, yet it was scarce¬ 
 ly thought that our people should do any¬ 
 thing to afford relief. But a point has now 
 been reached on which the sufferings of man 
 kind in any quarter of the globe cannot pass 
 unheeded. A new era in diplomacy has been 
 opened. 
 
 We have not yet reached the millenium. 
 There are still great evils to be hunted down 
 and extirpated. The sale of intoxicants to 
 the ignorant and helpless islanders of the Pa¬ 
 cific and the equally helpless tribes of West 
 Africa; the lurking remnants of the coolie 
 trade, which it seems almost impossible to 
 overcome; the continued barbarities of slave¬ 
 hunting in East Africa; the oppressions vis¬ 
 ited everywhere by stronger nations upon the 
 weaker—these are yet to be overcome. But 
 when we consider what has been done in a 
 third of a century it is impossible not to 
 cherish strong faith in the providence of God 
 and in new altruistic movements of the na¬ 
 tions. 
 
 There is an old prophecy which perhaps the 
 Church has been too ready to regard as a mere 
 rhetorical expression, which reads, “And a 
 highway shall be there, and a way, and it 
 shall be called The way of holiness.” This 
 prediction has been finding wonderful fulfill 
 ment in our generation. This has been the 
 period of steam navigation of the oceans, 
 which are now all covered with invisible 
 paths over which, in defiance of wind and 
 wave, great steamers go forth bearing the 
 fruits of civilization, which we are glad to be¬ 
 lieve contain the tidings of great joy. Let 
 
 13 
 
us claim the promise that all these shall be 
 the ways of holiness. It is remarkable how 
 the prophecies subsidize all agencies and 
 channels of traffic—the ships of Tarshish and 
 the dromedaries of Midian—to the service of 
 the Redeemer. The electric cable, thrilling 
 the depths of the sea and enabling the nations 
 to speak as it were ear to ear and in a mo¬ 
 ment, belongs in the same category. As a 
 means of preparation, railroad lines have 
 been opened in four or five different latitudes 
 across this continent, all within the memory 
 of most of those who read these words. Other 
 lines stretch from north to south, connecting 
 the British Dominions, the United States and 
 Mexico. We have already alluded to the 
 completion of a railroad in the Congo Valley, 
 and the partial completion of a line from 
 Egypt to Cape Colony. Perhaps the most 
 stupendous scheme of all is that which con¬ 
 nects Russia with Eastern Siberia, with 
 branches extending southward to Constanti¬ 
 nople, again to Odessa, again to Afghanistan, 
 still again to Port Arthur, with prospects at 
 an early day of a connection with Peking. 
 Should a railroad connection in the coming 
 generation connect Peking with Constanti¬ 
 nople and Jerusalem, Cairo and Cape Town, 
 and another extend from the British posses¬ 
 sions to Mexico, Central America, and thence 
 branching to Rio and Valparaiso, it would 
 not be more wonderful than what we have 
 witnessed in our own day. 
 
 On the human side we cannot claim these 
 as direct highways for the chariot of redemp¬ 
 tion. The progress of Russia seems to be 
 characterized by quite another spirit, and the 
 greed of commerce or political aggrandize¬ 
 ment seems to outrun the progress of the 
 Christian motive, yet I believe that these paths 
 
 14 
 
are to be the highways of Gospel progress, 
 because it is promised, and because we know 
 that the King of kings is greater and of more 
 prevailing power than Emperor, or Czar, or 
 Sultan. The providence of God has so often 
 triumphed over human diplomacy, good has 
 so uniformly come forth from evil, the wrath 
 of man has in so many signal ways promoted 
 the praise of God, and the remainder thereof 
 has so many times been restrained, that we 
 are confident in claiming all national and 
 commercial advance as elements in the com¬ 
 plete conquest of the world. 
 
 It is among the bright auspices of our time 
 that a more charitable and truly catholic 
 spirit has asserted itself between Christian 
 denominations. Comity and co-operation, 
 though they have not completed their work, 
 have made great advance. Christian churches 
 of different names are living in more peace¬ 
 able relations toward each other. Quite re¬ 
 cently we have struck out of our Presbyterian 
 Creed the long standing but gratuitous con¬ 
 demnation of the Papal hierarchy. Perhaps 
 many present have read a recent article in 
 the “ Outlook/' entitled “The War of the 
 Saints,” in which the bitterness of religious 
 controversy and dissension of a pqst genera¬ 
 tion were set forth, with quotations of the 
 stinging vituperations and wholesale denun¬ 
 ciation of even such men as Wesley and Top- 
 lady. I can myself recall to mind the time 
 when language was used in religious contro 
 versy which would now be frowned upon even 
 in political discussion. An age of courtesy 
 and tempered speech has come. Religious 
 bodies are being drawn more closely to each 
 other and are recognizing the fact that the 
 cohorts of redemption must close up their 
 ranks for a united conquest of the great and 
 
 15 
 
intrenched strongholds of heathen error. 
 
 A significant proof of the change in this 
 respect is seen in a notable appeal made two 
 years since by nine Anglican Bishops in In¬ 
 dia. They say: “We heartily invite our fel¬ 
 low Christians of all denominations to join 
 with us for Christ’s sake in the fellowship of 
 good works and the cultivation of a cheerful 
 and sympathetic spirit throughout the Chris¬ 
 tian world, and in united prayer for these 
 certain ends.” With regard to our relations 
 to the millions of non Christians in India, 
 they add, “We do not forget that we are wit¬ 
 nesses to the faith of Christ in the midst of a 
 non Christian population, and while we can¬ 
 not afford to compromise the absolute suprem 
 acy of Christ, we yet disclaim for ourselves 
 and we deprecate in others the intention or 
 the right to say any word than can cause just 
 offense in the minds of Hindus, Mohamme¬ 
 dans or Buddhists.” 
 
 Another element in the progress of our gen¬ 
 eration is seen in what we may call the con¬ 
 vincing demonstrations of missionary success. 
 The statistics of church membership, or edu : 
 cation, her hospital service, though interest¬ 
 ing and cheering, come far short of some 
 other factors which cannot be tabulated. 
 There are victories and achievements which 
 no intellectual man will gainsay, such as the 
 transformation of the entire prevailing senti¬ 
 ment of a nation. For example, the fact that 
 in India the Arya Somaj, notwithstanding all 
 its bitterness, has thrown aside many of the 
 enormities of the old Hindu cult and has 
 adopted the ethics of the New Testament 
 bodily. As another example, Mr. Seder, a 
 missionary in Japan, in speaking of the prog¬ 
 ress there made, says most truthfully that 
 the introduction of Christianity has changed 
 
 16 
 
the whole attitude of Japan from a pessimistic 
 to an optimistic spirit; that whereas the old 
 Buddhist religion taught men that the great 
 thing was to get out of the world and enter' 
 into Nirvana, the religion of Christ has taught 
 that it is better to stay in the world and help 
 reform it. 
 
 Another very hopeful element in our pres¬ 
 ent outlook is the widespread movement to¬ 
 wards self support of the native churches. It 
 has been apparent for many years that the 
 conversion of the heathen world by the pres¬ 
 ent effort of foreign missionaries is an impos¬ 
 sibility. In the main, India must convert 
 India, and China must convert China. A 
 Christianity worth propagating must have 
 enough of sinew and self impelling force to 
 carry forward the w r ork begun by men of 
 other lands. Yet most missions have been 
 handicapped by their early mistakes. In the 
 generation immediately preceding ours it had 
 been common even to pay for the privilege of 
 instructing children, and I can well remember 
 when in our missions it was customary to 
 bear nearly all expense for the employment 
 of helpers, for the building of chapels and 
 school buildings, and even for fuel and lights 
 and janitor’s service. It is a herculean task 
 to escape from the bondage of old mistakes, 
 or to arouse people from wrong habits of de¬ 
 pendence. Nevertheless, beginnings have 
 been made even where old errors were to be 
 corrected, while in new missions surprising 
 results have attended the development of 
 self-support. In our Korea Mission marked 
 success has been gained from the first. Thus, 
 according to the last report of the Pyeng 
 Yang Station, it has “ one central church 
 with 18 associated places of meeting; 179 rec¬ 
 ognized out-stations, each having from 1 to 6 
 
 17 
 
meeting places, and 16 or more additional 
 groups. The total adult membership numbers 
 2,944. Seven hundred and eighty-four adults 
 were baptized on profession during the year; 
 there are 3,837 catechumens, making a total of 
 11,905 adherents who are more or less regular 
 church attendants. Of the native assistants 
 there are 73 unsalaried local leaders and 19 
 helpers who travel on circuits. All but 6 
 helpers are supported by the people. There 
 are 152 churches and chapel buildings, nearly 
 all provided by the people. Forty-six have 
 been built this year. There are 41 school¬ 
 teachers, 30 of whom are supported by the 
 people.” This is characteristic of the whole 
 Korean Mission. 
 
 At the Ecumenical Conference of 1900, Rev. 
 Sumner R. Vinton, American Baptist mis¬ 
 sionary in Burma, reported that “ in Burma 
 there were 112 distinct Baptist churches with 
 6,600 members. These had been self support¬ 
 ing from the start. Twenty-five of the 
 churches have ordained pastors. The bulk of 
 the other preachers are seminary trained 
 men, supported by the churches. Nearly all 
 of the American money that goes to this mis¬ 
 sion is for the salary of the missionaries. Not 
 one cent goes to the support of pastor or 
 church. This work is so organized that the 
 stronger churches help the weaker ones to 
 pay their expenses. More than this, they 
 support their own primary schools, almost 
 every church having its school.” 
 
 But perhaps the most notable development 
 of an independent native church is to be 
 found in Uganda. At a church congress held 
 some months ago in England, Bishop Tucker, 
 speaking for Uganda, said: 
 
 “Ten years ago the number of baptized 
 Christians was something like 300. To-day it 
 
 18 
 
is 30,000, an increase of exactly a hundred¬ 
 fold. 
 
 “Ten years ago there was but one church 
 —one place of Christian worship—in the 
 whole of Uganda. To-day there are 700. 
 
 “Ten years ago there were but some 
 twenty native evangelists at work. To-day 
 there are some 2,000 Baganda men and women 
 definitely engaged in the work of the church 
 —again an increase of exactly a hundred fold. 
 
 “Ten years ago Uganda was the only coun¬ 
 try in those regions in which the name of 
 Christ had been proclaimed. To-day Busoga 
 in the east, where Bishop Hannington was so 
 cruelly done to death, has received the Gospel 
 message, and only recently more than a 
 thousand men and women were gathered to¬ 
 gether in our central station for the worship 
 of the One True and Living God. Bunyoro, 
 in the north, has in like manner been entered, 
 and that old-time center of slave raiding and 
 trading is fast yielding to the claims of all- 
 conquering Christ. Toro, too, in the west, 
 where on the borders of the Congo Free State 
 the snow clad mountain range of Ruwenzori 
 rears its giant crest to heaven, has also ac¬ 
 cepted the truth as it is in Jesus. And even 
 now that infant church is sending forth her 
 missionaries into the regions beyond. 
 
 “And who has been the instrument in all 
 this widespread evangelistic and missionary 
 effort ? It has been the Muganda himself. 
 The Church of Uganda is a self-extending 
 Church, because from the very beginning, 
 the plan which has been adopted has been 
 that of laying upon each individual convert 
 the responsibility of handing on that truth 
 which he himself has received, and which has 
 made him ‘wise unto salvation.’ Nor is this 
 all. The churches and schools of the coun- 
 
 i9 
 
try, some 700 in number, are built, repaired 
 and maintained by the natives themselves. 
 In one word, the whole work of the Native 
 Church—its educational, pastoral and mis¬ 
 sionary work—is maintained entirely from 
 native sources. Not one single halfpenny of 
 English money is employed in its mainte¬ 
 nance.” 
 
 These are incontestable testimonies which 
 no advocate of the old methods can gainsay, 
 and they are full of promise of what the 
 churches of heathen lands everywhere may 
 yet do for the millions of their own races. 
 
 One more sign of promise I may add before 
 closing, and that is an awakened attention on 
 all hands to a widespread, more earnest and 
 more hopeful effort to gather in the masses 
 of the unsaved, and to do it now. There has 
 been a great change in this respect. There is 
 an advance among our home churches; evan¬ 
 gelistic movements for the ingathering of the 
 impenitent have come to occupy a larger place 
 than ever before, and in some mission fields 
 the same movement has begun. There are 
 not as many missionaries as there were for¬ 
 merly who say, “We have nothing to do with 
 results; we are simply to preach the Gospel, 
 whether men hear or whether they forbear.” 
 There is a feeling abroad that we are probably 
 on the eve of a great Pentecostal ingathering 
 in our mission fields. In Japan foretastes of 
 such a blessing have already been experienced, 
 and the missionaries in Japan are asking for 
 a special evangelist to preach directly and 
 searchingly to educated Japanese students 
 and other educated men in the hope that mul¬ 
 titudes of them will be led to accept Christ at 
 once. Such indeed was the case not many 
 months ago during the visit and the labors of 
 Mr. John R. Mott. There have been repeated 
 
 20 
 
instances which show that great success may 
 be near. 
 
 In closing this paper I cannot overlook one 
 fact which casts its shadow upon all that has 
 been said, and that is, the inadequacy of the 
 work of the past generation in comparison 
 with what should have been done. We have 
 had much to be thankful for, but why has not 
 the Gospel been given to all men according to 
 the means which God has given to His Church ? 
 Surely to each generation of Christian men 
 and women is assigned the duty of evangeliz 
 ing those who live while they live, and will 
 die when they die. Christian ambassadors of 
 the past cannot do this, they of the future 
 cannot do it. We must remember that man¬ 
 kind are a passing throng. The other day I 
 saw a regiment of soldiers march down Broad¬ 
 way separated and spaced by companies. 
 Even so God is marching the unblessed mil¬ 
 lions across this earth in battalions of a gen¬ 
 eration each, and to the believers of each 
 period the Great Commission is given afresh. 
 
 We easily fall into the idea that the world 
 has been the same all the time. It is not the 
 same. You who now go forth in youth to do 
 your part are confronted by a different world 
 from that to which missionaries went forth 
 forty years ago. These solemn facts add 
 their emphasis to what has been said of the 
 duty of urging the masses of men to accept 
 the Gospel now. 
 
 I have spoken of the generation in which 
 my lifework has been spent. What shall be 
 said years hence of that in which you now be¬ 
 gin your labors ? Has not the time come in¬ 
 deed, after so slow a pace and so many delays, 
 for a general movement all along the line, at 
 home and abroad ? God grant that this may 
 be so, and may He bestow upon each of you 
 
 21 
 
the divine equipment of which Paul speaks as 
 “ the armor of God.” 
 
 I am impressed with the fact that when I 
 bid you good bye it is for the last time. My 
 colleagues, I trust, will meet you as you re¬ 
 turn from your furloughs. I shall not. But 
 I can assure you of my earnest prayers that 
 He who ever liveth may be with you to the 
 end, and that His grace may be sufficient for 
 you. 
 
 Form 111.