' 3wi * i s ^ - HISTORICAL SKETCH * OF THE • # FOREIGN MISSIONS jjxcc (Ejmrdj “ All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations. . . . And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”—Matthew xxviii. 18 - 20 . EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY JOHN GREIG & SON. 1871 . THE of Sfoilairtr. PREFATORY NOTE. - o - The following brief sketch is little else than a compilation of facts. It lately appeared in The Olive Branch; and it is now, through the kindness of a warm friend of our Missions, and with the cordial concurrence of the Convener of the Foreign Missions Committee, published in this separate and somewhat extended form, for the information of those who may wish to become acquainted with the successive steps by which the Missions have reached their present position. R. Y. Edinburgh, October 1871 . t ) I FOREIGN MISSIONS* » OF THE jfree €\mt\ of jMlatttr. I. India. The time was when not only those who made no pretensions to piety were wont to speak and write of “ the madness of men who could dream of converting Indian pagans by means of sermons, and Bibles, and paltry tracts, but when even the Church of Scotland, in its General Assembly (1796), formally repudiated its obligation to send the Gospel to the heathen world. The views of even the good men of those days are well expressed in the emphatic reply of old John Ryland to a proposal made by the celebrated Carey, at a conference of Baptist ministers held at North¬ ampton some eighty or ninety years ago. The proposal was, that they should discuss the question of the Church’s duty to seek the conversion of * These Missions operate upon the heathen proper—the Jewish, Colonial, and Continental Missions being distinct departments of the Missionary work of the Church. « India. 4 Initial Measures. heathen nations. “ Sit down,” thundered out the good old man, “ Sit down, young man ; when God intends to convert the heathen world, He will do it without your aid or mine !” But the indifference to a world’s necessities which prevailed previous to and during the early part of the present century was at length broken up. This was the natural and happy result of a revived interest in evangelical, religion in Scotland. Although the subject of a mission to the heathen had been mooted previously, it was not until the year 1824 that the proposal was formally sub¬ mitted. In the following year the General As¬ sembly took action by authorising the raising of the funds needful to launch the undertaking. Four years later (1829), the first missionary, in the person of Alexander Duff, was appointed ; a sum of between ,£4000 and £5000 having been raised during the intervening period. It was truly the day of small things. But to those whose hearts were set upon the realisation of the object, the result of this first effort of an outgoing Christianity was regarded as a great achievement. And no man was less disposed to think lightly of it than Dr John Inglis, whose later years may be said to have been consecrated to this great cause, and to whose powerful advocacy and indefatigable exertions the success of the movement, in its earlier stage at home, was, under God, mainly due. As very much depended upon the agent to whom 5 the initiation of the proposed missionary opera¬ tions was to be entrusted, it was a singularly happy circumstance that the committee were guided in their selection to a man distinguished for his high mental and theological attainments, his fervent piety, his lofty aspirations, his rare enthusiasm, and his practical good sense. And it was well that, while he went forth cherishing the fullest confidence in the committee, they, on their part, encumbered him with the minimum of instructions, preferring rather that he should be left free to adopt whatever plans might, after a survey of the field, appear likely to accomplish most effectively the grand object in view. For it is somewhat remarkable that the plan of opera¬ tions which Dr Duff matured, and which differed in some important respects from the mode of pro¬ cedure adopted by other missionary bodies, exists, after the lapse of forty years, in all its essential features, at the present hour. Into the details of that plan we cannot here enter. Suffice it to say, that while the ordinary methods were to have their place in it, Dr Duff’s chief aim was to give to the youth of Bengal a superior Christian education through the medium of the English language , with a view specially to the conversion of the scholars , and to the raising up of a thoroughly qualified staff of preachers and teachers , through whom the blessings of the Gospel might be more generally diffused. This was the The Institu¬ tional System. 6 distinguishing characteristic of the Calcutta Insti¬ tution, and it has served as a model to all the other Free Church Mission institutions in India. Nor to them alone : for it is a significant fact, that while for many years the agents of other churches and societies were disposed to regard such institutions with suspicion, and seemed almost unwilling to recognise those who conducted them as mission¬ aries, in the proper sense of the term, the more important of these societies have seen reason to acknowledge their vast importance as a missionary agency , and have, in point of fact, established similar institutions in some of the great centres of population and influence. The term, “ Educational Missions,” if used to describe the feature by which the missions of the Free Church have been distinguished from the missions of other churches, is natural enough. But it would be quite a mistake to suppose that they are less evangelistic .than those other mis¬ sions. In their conception, they were educa¬ tionally evangelistic ; and year by year, as the original idea is being more fully developed, this feature becomes more marked. We repeat it: the institutions, when conducted according to their original design, are great evangelistic agencies. And it is not difficult to understand why they should be a power for good in the highest sense. For they secure, instead of the fluctuating audi¬ ences which gather to hear the ordinary preach- 7 ing, that thousands of susceptible youth shall be for years brought daily under the influence of Christian truth. It might be shewn that the pro¬ portion of those who have by this means been added to the Church of Christ is at least not less, if, indeed, it is not actually greater, than can be reckoned as the result of other modes of missionary labour among the Brahmanical races of India, while it will hardly be disputed that the converts from the institutions have a more intelligent, acquaintance with gospel truth than those who are otherwise brought in. The shock, too, which in former years the insti¬ tutions frequently sustained on the occasion of any of the pupils making a public profession of their faith in Christ, is also strong evidence of their evangelistic character. Such convulsions, as from time to time they occurred, have done much to shake to its very foundations the entire fabric of Hinduism, and so to prepare the way for a general reception of Christianity. And if the course of the institutions runs more smoothly now, this is owing to the fact that the prejudices of the people, in their more inveterate forms, have been thereby, to a large extent, overcome. Thousands of well educated youth have gone forth, and are year by year going forth, from these mission institutions to occupy with credit important positions in different parts of the coun¬ try—some in the judicial and fiscal service of 8 Other Modes of Operation. Government—some in the law and at the bar— some in the medical service—some in the educa¬ tional department—some in the engineering ser¬ vice—all of whom leave with no faith in the ancestral beliefs,—with their minds largely im¬ pregnated with Christian truth, and in instances not a few, giving proof that they have not for¬ gotten their alma mater , nor the lessons therein so lovingly conveyed. To the instructions received there, many can trace those deep religious impres¬ sions which issued in their conversion. Within their walls have been trained a goodly band of preachers, catechists, and Christian teachers, who are now engaged in making known to their fellow- countrymen the unsearchable riches of Christ, not a few of them being agents of the Church of Eng¬ land and other missions. It will not, we trust, be supposed from the fore¬ going remarks, which have extended further than at the outset we contemplated, that the im¬ portance of other modes of operation are not fully appreciated. There is, in point of fact, no de¬ partment of missionary labour which has not its due share of attention in connection with the Missions of the Free Church. It is to be feared that, notwithstanding all that has been said and written on the subject, very few are aware of the amount of purely evangelistic work that is sys¬ tematically carried on at the different stations, alike by Europeans and natives. Preaching in 9 chapels, in streets, and in bazaars of the large cities ; preaching in the villages ; itineracies ; household visitation ; lectures and discussions; translation work ; Bible and tract distribution all are resorted to. It ought to be mentioned that the whole thirteen missionaries labouring in India at the time of the Disruption, gave in their cordial adherence to the Free Church of Scotland. For their support, it was reported to the General Assembly, which met in Glasgow in October 1843, that the funds in the treasurer’s hands at that date amounted only to £372 ! By the end of the first financial year, how¬ ever, in addition to large sums subscribed for buildings and educational apparatus, there had been contributed ^6402, 17s., for the maintenance of this noble band and their native assistants, who had been led to cast in their lot with the Free Church. In October 1844, the mission in Kaffraria, in connection with the Glasgow Missionary Society was, with the cordial approval of the four ordained and two unordained missionaries labouring there, who, along with the directors and contributors, all adhered to the principles of the Free Church, for¬ mally transferred to the Church’s Foreign Missions Scheme, of which it is still an integral part. The entire number of missionaries in these two fields who came out at the Disruption was thus nine¬ teen. Such an emphatic testimony to the vital The Disrup¬ tion Crisis. Calcutta. 10 importance of the principles contended for could not fail to prove a great strength and encourage¬ ment to the Church in the trying circumstances in which she was placed. Let us now refer in detail, though briefly, to the different stations. Beginning with Calcutta, the metropolis of British India, with its upwards of half a million inhabitants, it may be enough to add to what has been already advanced, that the Institution there continues to maintain the high position which it has all along held. The late Rajah Ramohan Roy, an enlightened Brahmin, secured the five first pupils of good caste, to whom, at the outset, the merest rudiments of knowledge were imparted.* Such was the beginning of an Institution which for many years has numbered from twelve to four¬ teen hundred on its roll, “ with scores of them engaged in the very highest departments of literature, science, philosophy, and Christian theo¬ logy.” The average attendance last year was close upon 1000—nearly 900 in the school, and above 100 in the college departments—the latter rising in the latter half of the year to 130. The fees realised no less than £1300. Here, also, there is a Native Female Boarding School , numbering 60 pupils ; Dr Duff’s Hindu Girls’ School , in which * The circumstances connected with the founding of the Institu¬ tion are fully narrated in the volume published by Dr Duff, en¬ titled, “ India and India Missions.” 11 a similar number belonging to the high caste mem¬ bers of the native community receive a superior education ; and a Zenana agency, which visits and instructs Hindu females in their own families, and from which precious fruit has already been reaped. The Native Church, with a membership of 134, after a somewhat lengthened vacancy, has secured the services of the Rev. Guru Das Maitra, a con¬ vert of the Mission. “ Both minister and people have entered with earnestness and vigour upon the discharge of their respective duties, the latter having raised during the first year of his ministry, nearly ^100 of salary.” There are 18 branch stations, of which the prin¬ cipal are Chinsurah, a beautifully situated city, containing 50,000 souls, twenty-six miles up the Hughly from Calcutta, and having an institution with about 500 pupils ; BANSBERIA, eight miles above Chinsurah ; CULNA, still further up, sixty miles north of Calcutta, and the oldest of all the Mofussil stations; Mahanad, the centre of a large number of populous rural villages, nearly equi-distant from Culna and Chinsurah, and hav¬ ing 30 schools containing upwards of 1100 scholars; and Pachamba, lying considerably to the north¬ west of Calcutta, and the principal station of the Mission recently established among the Santals, an interesting aboriginal tribe, to superintend which the Rev. Dr Archibald Templeton has just been appointed, with the prospect of his being 12 Dr Duff’s return to Scotland. joined by a native doctor who was quite recently baptised in Calcutta. The schools, male and female, at the various out-stations are, on the whole, in a highly satis¬ factory state. The Government deputy inspector, for example, in closing his last Report of the one at Culna, testifies to the intelligence and pains¬ taking character of the teachers, and to the admir- I able manner in which the school is conducted. The worthy catechist at the same station also writes that “ Christian education has succeeded in no small degree in dispelling the thick darkness of ignorance and superstitionwhile, with special reference to the evangelistic work, the excellent native missionary at Mahanad remarks that “ it is impossible to estimate the amount of good seed sown by Christian teachers and evangelists.” Before leaving this presidency, it may be noted that Dr Duff, after a lengthened period of ser¬ vice in the cause of India’s regeneration,—by which his health was fairly, and, for labour in tro¬ pical climes, irrecoverably shattered,—returned to this country in 1864, on the invitation of the Church, to occupy the important position of Con¬ vener of the Foreign Missions Committee, and that he was subsequently appointed to the Chair of Evangelistic Theology, for which an endow¬ ment had been provided by a few noble-minded and liberal friends, who desired thereby to testify their sense of the importance of having the minds 13 of the students of the Church specially turned to those subjects which have a direct bearing upon the missionary work of the Church at home and abroad. In both positions, he has, it need hardly be said, fully realised the expectations of the Church. Turning now to WESTERN INDIA, the principal stations are Bombay, Puna, and Indapur and Jalna. The Mission at the first-named place was started in 1823, in connection with the Scottish Missionary Society, and was in 1835 transferred to the General Assembly’s Committee. Bombay, with its 600,000 of a population, is in some respects hardly even second in importance to Calcutta itself. Its unequalled harbour and the enterprising spirit of its merchants, especially those belonging to the Parsi portion of the community, have given the city a high place among the com¬ mercial capitals of the world. Dr John Wilson, who went out in 1828, is still the honoured head of the mission. His valuable services have been recognised alike by Europeans and natives abroad, and by the Church at home, over whose General Assembly he last year pre¬ sided with so much ability, dignity, and suavity. It is matter of unspeakable thankfulness that he is still able to serve God in the Foreign Mission field —all the more that he is now almost the only veteran left of a once goodly band. The plan of operation pursued by the mission is Bombay. 14 similar to that already described. There are about 250 pupils in the institution. The number of stu¬ dents in the college division has, for two or three years, decreased in consequence of the Jesuits having succeeded in establishing a college on a very large scale in a most suitable locality, and having obtained the liberal assistance of the Government, and the support of natives, by pro¬ mising not to make it compulsory for native stu¬ dents to attend classes for religious instruction. The Female Boarding School, with its 65 girls, still enjoys its wonted measure of prosperity. Re¬ garding the Ambrolie Central School, it is stated, that although many of the more advanced girls and several of the teachers were allured away to Miss Carpenter’s school in the same neighbour¬ hood, “the number of the girls is rather increasing day by day.” The other day schools in Bombay and along the coast, some of which are for the children of the Bene-Israel, or descendants of Abraham, are also favourably reported on. The Native Church, whose membership num¬ bers 75, is at present under the charge of the Rev. Dhanjibhai Nauroji, whom some of our readers will remember as a student at the New College shortly after the Disruption, and whose consistent Christian walk and devoted labours have gained for him a deservedly high place in the affections both of Europeans and natives in Bombay. Be¬ sides the ordinary English and Marathi services. i5 and the weekly and monthly prayer meetings, various new elements have recently been intro¬ duced in connection with the Church organisation. These area weekly meeting at the houses of the members by rotation for reading and commenting upon A portion of Scripture ; a mothers’ meeting; a Sabbath School; a catechetical service on the Monday mornings for the children of the congre¬ gation ; a weekly class for young men for instruc¬ tion in the evidences of Christianity ; reunion or social gatherings ; and the adoption of a regular system of weekly and monthly collections for the Lord’s cause. There is an outpost of the Mission at Maha- BALESHWAR, the favourite Sanitarium in the Bom¬ bay Presidency. “The Station, containing about 80 European residences, lies between 4000 and 4500 feet above the sea, and in the hot season the tem¬ perature is comparatively cool and pleasant.” “ A Catechist has been stationed here for a good many years, who, in addition to other duties, superin¬ tends a small Vernacular School.” The mission to the Waralis, a wild tribe in¬ habiting a jungly region considerably to the north of Bombay, is an interesting offshoot from the mission at this Presidency seat. “ Since its estab¬ lishment in 1866, it has been conducted exclusively by native catechists, who have been most inde¬ fatigable in their efforts to diffuse the blessings of the gospel among these children of the forest ” Puna. 16 The progress of the work among such a people is necessarily slow. But there is now the nucleus of a church, and the head catechist reports that the people are paying greater attention than before to the preaching of the gospel. Distant from Bombay about ioo miles by rail¬ way in a south-easterly direction, and situated on the eastern flanks of the Ghat range of moun¬ tains, is the city of Puna, containing not fewer than 120,000 inhabitants. Its rich historical asso¬ ciations ; the Marathi and Brahminical influence of which it is the chief centre; the extent of its military cantonments ; its elevated situation and consequent salubrity—all combine to make it a place of great and growing importance. The mission was started in 1831 in connection with the Scottish Missionary Society, but, along with the one at Bombay, was afterwards trans¬ ferred to the Church of Scotland. Its first mis¬ sionaries—the late Dr Stevenson and Mr Nesbit— devoted almost their entire energy to the direct pro¬ clamation of the gospel among the adult population. In this work the late Mr James Mitchell, who, along with Dr Stevenson and the Rev. John Cooper, reached India in 1823, and who was so long iden¬ tified with Puna, also took a prominent part. An Institiitio7i was in due time added to the existing machinery of the mission. One pecu¬ liarity distinguishing it from other institutions is i7 the very large proportion of Brahman pupils who attend it. Of the entire number (about 250), two- thirds at least belong to that class. But as no caste distinctions are recognised, the preponderat¬ ing element referred to does not affect its manage¬ ment. The other schools of the Mission are less numerously attended than in former years, owing chiefly to the opening of rival schools by non- Christian teachers. The three Marathi girls’ day schools have lately been amalgamated, one result of which is a considerable reduction in numbers. 0 This, however, is compensated for by increased efficiency. The Boarding School , amid much to try the faith of those in charge, is at present in excellent condition. As regards the Native Church , we refer with satisfaction to the devoted, labours of Mr Baba Padmanji, its accomplished pastor. These are carried on amid much bodily weakness, and, besides the ordinary services, consist of Sabbath and week-day evening classes, discussions with Jews, Mohammedans, and Hindus, and a large amount of literary and translation work, in which he has earned a high reputation. Proceeding still further in a south-easterly direc¬ tion, at a distance of about 80 miles from Puna, is the rural mission station of Indapur. It was established in 1861, and is under the superintend¬ ence of the Rev. Narayan Sheshadri. In addition Indapur. 18 to the schools and other agencies, there is a Medical Mission under the charge of a qualified native doctor, who is now the recognised medical mission¬ ary of the place and numerous villages in the neighbourhood, his name, as such, being gazetted in government records. The conversions, at this station, have not been numerous, but the agents are not without encouragement. Thus Mr Sheshadri, contrasting the treatment which they experienced at the commencement of their labours ten years ago with what they now receive at the hands of the heathen, writes :—“No barber would come to shave us. No dhobi would wash our clothes. No bunya would have dealings with us. No parents liked to send their children to our school. No masons would build even common huts for us. And when we passed through the streets, though possessing the same complexion, nay bone of their bone, flesh of their flesh, they stared and looked upon us as if we belonged to the race of tigers and lions! . . . Now the bitter opposition above mentioned has entirely vanished away. Instead of being looked upon with distrust and suspicion, we have been assured again and again that we are regarded as their truest and most disinterested friends. It was literally true that ten years ago there was not a single individual who could understand our views, appreciate our motives, and sympathise with us in our objects. Now there are scores of young men who can do all this, at all events in sentiment; and 19 I am sure this of itself is high vantage ground gained. We have among us young men who abominate idolatry, superstition, and even that monster evil caste.” About 165 miles to the north-east of Bombay, within the territory of the Hyderabad Native State, is the small town and British Cantonment of Jalna. A mission was established here in 1864 by Mr Narayan Sheshadri, under whose super¬ intendence it still continues. For the amount and variety of work carried on, and the success that has attended it, it is second in interest to no mission in India. During the seven years of its existence, some 200 souls have been gathered into the Church of Christ. This most gratifying result is, under God, mainly due to Mr Sheshadri’s inde¬ fatigable efforts—efforts that have secured for him the respect not only of Europeans, but of all classes of natives, not in Jalna alone, but throughout the extensive district to which his labours have ex¬ tended. Some idea of the extent of his work may be formed from the fact that educational and evan¬ gelistic operations are carried on at about twelve out-stations, in addition to the central one, and that Mr Sheshadri employs not fewer than twenty- five Christian agents of various grades. His object is to establish, if possible, a chain of mission stations extending in the direction of Jalna. Madras. 20 Nagpore. He has also projected a model Christian village in the neighbourhood of Jalna, to aid which important undertaking, Sir Salar Jung, the en¬ lightened Dewan, or Prime Minister of His High¬ ness the Nizam of Hyderabad, has given a grant of land, with the promise of pecuniary support. The young people of the Free Church at home have also shewn their interest in it by contributing ^440 for the erection of two schools—one for boys and one for girls—and the sinking of one of the wells, which are such an indispensable requisite for Indian villages. In his multifarious labours Mr Sheshadri re¬ ceives much encouragement and most valuable assistance from influential European friends, among whom Colonel Hoseason, the Command¬ ant of Jalna, deserves honourable mention. Crossing the Continent of India in a S. E. direction, on the Coromandel coast, we come to the Southern Presidency Seat— Madras, with its 700,000 inhabitants. There the memory of J ohn Anderson, who founded the mission in 1837, is still fragrant. Nobly and successfully did he contend against the adverse influences with which the heathen sought to hinder the work. Hindu Society was deeply convulsed, as baptism after baptism occurred from arpong the youths attending the institution. Such convulsions but seemed to nerve him and his like-minded colleagues for more 21 vigorous and sustained assaults upon the kingdom of darkness.* The Institution never was in a state of such thorough efficiency as it is at present. There are some 800 pupils on the roll, and this number, it is expected, will be still further increased when the extensive alterations now in progress, and to which the Committee and the Madras Government have each contributed the sum of £ 1500, are completed. Without referring particularly to the other schools of the mission, we may note that most gratifying progress has been made in the department of female education. The Boarding School contains 64 girls, while the Girls ’ Day School , the Balica Patasala. and the Black Town Branch School bring up the entire number under instruction to 550. The Native Church , with a membership of 105, is under the pastoral charge of Mr P. Rajahgopal, whose eloquent and heart-stirring addresses and discourses, when in Scotland twenty years ago, must be still fresh in the memory of many. In direct evangelistic work, in which all the mission¬ aries, European and native, take part, he has a large share—one special field being the Medical Mission Dispensary and Training Institution , which was founded and most ably superintended * The details of the early history of the Mission will he found in Mr Braidwood’s interesting volume, published by Messrs Nisbet & Co., entitled “ True Yoke Fellows.” 22 by Mr David Paterson, whose lamented death the Church and mission still sadly feel. “In the last Occasional Paper which Mr Paterson issued, he told his friends and supporters that in one year he had registered in the two dispensaries well-nigh twelve thousand new admissions, and that not fewer than forty-three thousand and eight hundred persons had had the opportunity of hearing (many of them gladly) of the Great Physician of souls.” Before quitting the field, Mr Paterson had the high satisfaction of sending forth from the Training Institution more than a dozen young men to labour as medical missionaries in connection with the various missions in Southern India. In future, the mission will be under the exclusive control of the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society, the Free Church Foreign Missions Committee mani¬ festing their continued interest in it by an annual grant towards the support of the superintendent. The branch stations of the mission are NELLORE, an important town of 20,000 inhabitants, situated on the right bank of the northern Pennaar river, 100 miles to the north of Madras ; Chingleput, the chief town of a collectorate, some 35 miles to the south west; Conjeveram, 42 miles in a north-westerly direction, interesting from its vast but decaying pagodas, which were once highly famed and greatly frequented ; WALLAJAHBAD, distant 38 miles westward; Tri VELLORE, 25 miles to the north; and Rajampettah and Iyempettah, 23 lying between the two last-named places. At all these places, the work of preaching and teaching goes steadily on. The Mission as a whole is in a highly satisfactory state; and if it has not been granted to the mission¬ aries, of late years, to see that amount of actual spiritual fruit which they long and pray for, they yet, to use their own words, “do not lose faith in the ultimate issue.” One other mission yet remains to be noticed— that, namely, in the Central Provinces. The principal station is NAGPORE, the capital of the province of the same name, and situated in the midst of an immense plain. It has a population of about 120,000. The mission was founded in 1844, in peculiarly interesting circumstances, through the munificent liberality of Major (now Sir William) Hill, an Indian officer, who still sur¬ vives, and whose deep sympathies with the mission cause find an outlet in Britain’s great metropolis. Its first missionary was the Rev. Stephen Hislop, a man of superior gifts, and of uncommon mental and physical energy. It needed such a man, for the difficulties at the outset were of no ordinary description. The entire province, which was at that time a semi-independent Hindu kingdom, em¬ bracing upwards of four millions of people, had, until then, been unoccupied by any church or society, and the ignorance that prevailed was, as might be Nagpore. 24 expected, intense. Not only were the people wholly uneducated : the very desire for education had to be created. Nobly did Mr Hislop face these initial difficulties, and ere his valuable life was so suddenly and mysteriously cut short, he was privi¬ leged to see them in no small measure overcome. It is a somewhat singular circumstance, that although Mr Hislop was not left without tokens of the Divine presence with him in his work, the additions to the church have been much more numerous since his lamented death. And herein is that saying true, “ One soweth and another reapeth.” The total number admitted on a pro¬ fession of their faith in Christ since the commence¬ ment of the mission is about 170. Some of the converts are located at the out-stations of SlTA- BALDI, built on a narrow ridge rising abruptly from the plain, a short distance to the west of the city, and Kampti, distant about ten miles to the north, and the seat of the British Cantonment. Educationally, too, the Mission has accom¬ plished much during the last quarter of a century. The Central Institution, especially, has attained to a high position, the Inspector-General of Edu¬ cation and other Government officials testifying in the strongest terms to its thorough efficiency. There are in all the schools nearly 500 male scholars. Of the progress in the department of female education, not much can be said. It is confessedly very slow. None, however, who know \ 25 anything of the almost overwhelming difficulties which still exist in the Central Provinces, will feel any surprise that it should be so. It is no small matter that a hopeful beginning has been made. From the first, also, the Gospel has been pro¬ claimed in the streets and bazaars of the several stations, and in the neighbouring villages, while extended tours to a distance sometimes of one or two hundred miles are periodically undertaken. With the journals giving an account of some of these tours many of our readers must be familiar. The Mission to the Gonds, a wild tribe, num¬ bering nearly one and a half millions, and inhabit¬ ing a hill and jungle region some seventy miles north of Nagpore, is an offshoot of the Mission at which we have just glanced. It was commenced by Mr Dawson five years ago. The difficulties he has had to encounter are certainly not less than those experienced by Mr Hislop a quarter of a century ago. He is still struggling with them. “ The feelings of the people in regard to education amount to positive aversion. They say, ‘We are jungly people : neither we nor our fathers, nor our grandfathers, learned to read, why should we send our children to school ?’ ” But he is not without tokens of encouragement. Last year the first- fruits from among this uncivilised, unsophisticated people were gathered unto Christ, no fewer than eleven adults (besides a young Tamil man) having The Gonds. 2 6 Statistics of Indian Missions. been baptised in villages near Chindwara, the central station. The collecting and arranging a vocabulary of words, commenced by the late Mr Hislop, has been diligently prosecuted by Mr Dawson, and a small vocabulary and an elementary grammar in Gondi has been prepared by him, and published by the Bengal Asiatic Society in Calcutta. He is at present engaged in the translation of the Word of God into Gondi, and has already com¬ pleted the Book of Genesis and Gospel by John. This of itself is no small achievement.* Summarising the statistics of this great mis¬ sion field—we have 50 principal and branch stations—177 Christian agents, of whom 20 are European and 10 are native missionaries—the rest being catechists, Scripture readers, teachers, &c. ; an aggregate membership of 656, besides a con¬ siderable body of baptised adherents; 1114 ad¬ mitted on profession since the commencement of the missions ; and upwards of 8000 pupils under Christian instruction, of whom i860 are girls. There are, of course, most important results which cannot be tabulated, but which ought certainly to * The Original Secession Church has just entered upon the Indian Mission field, and has selected the town of Seoni, in the Nagpore province, as the place in which its first Missionary is to commence operations. It has a population of 8,608, or, including the outskirts, of nearly 11,000 souls, and is distant from Nagpore 80 miles to the north, and from Chindwara 40 miles nearly due east. 27 be taken into account if we would rightly estimate the work which God has enabled the Free Church to accomplish in India. Before passing on to Africa, we may refer in a single sentence to one or two points as shewing the estimation in which the work is held by those who have the best opportunities of judging of its real character, i. As to the education imparted in the institutions and other schools of the Missions, there is the fact that, in 1870, school fees realised close upon ^4000, while Government grants-in-aid were received to the extent of ^4507. 2. European friends in India belonging to different denomina¬ tions, testified their appreciation of the general work of the Missions, by contributions amounting to £ 35 °°’ II. South Africa. Kaffrarian Missions. Africa is the least known of the four Continents; and less, it is to be feared, is known of its Missions than of those in India. The Free Church has three mission fields there, of which the principal one is Kaffraria. Before proceeding, however, to speak of the missions, it may be as well to make a few general remarks regarding the people who inhabit that field. The region embraced by the Kaffrarian missions 4 Kaffraria. The People. 28 of the Free Church is situated at the south-east corner of Africa. Although of very considerable extent, it is yet but a comparatively small portion of the great African Continent. The population of the territory known as “ British Kaffraria ” be¬ fore it was annexed to the Cape Colony, together with the natives in Victoria and the Tambukies still in the Queenstown division, may amount to 100,000—perhaps even to 120,000. The great proportion of this number are Kaffirs and Fin- goes. The Free Church Missions are now almost wholly confined to the latter, who are in all re¬ spects Kaffirs, having the same general appear¬ ance, the same language, laws, and customs. The chief points of difference are that the Fingoes are more industrious and persevering—are more given to engage in trade—and have been, generally speaking, more friendly to the Colonial Govern¬ ment, and less disposed to go to war, than the Kaffirs, distinctively so called.* The Kaffirs, as a people, are a superior race, men¬ tally and physically. One writer has described them as “magnificent savages.” They are bold, warlike, intelligent, and remarkably shrewd. They are also great sticklers for law, although law with the Kaffirs, it has been truly said, is not always * It is deserving: of notice that the Kaffrarian Missions have been severely tried, having on several occasions been broken up in consequence of the wars that were waged in former years be¬ tween the Kaffirs and the British. The more serious of them occurred in 1846-47 and 1850-53. 29 justice. But, with much in their mental and physi¬ cal constitution to admire, they exhibit, like all other heathens, some very bad traits of character. Among these are their selfishness, their untruth¬ fulness, their thieving propensities, their sensuality, their laziness, and the absence of any desire for the improvement of their social condition. The Kaffirs have no religion in the ordinary sense of the term. In vain you look for temples, or idols, or forms of worship. There are none. Superstitious they are, and one of the most peculiar of their superstitions is their belief in witchcraft; and that, in many instances, has led to the perpe¬ tration of fearful atrocities. They have vague ideas, indeed, of an unseen power, and on various occasions offer sacrifices, frequently to the manes of their deceased ancestors. In such cases, the sacrificial rites are performed by a particular func¬ tionary, bearing an official name, which some have used, in translation of Scripture, to denote “ priest.” It is worthy of remark, also, that the fat and the bones of the victims offered in sacrifice are burned while the flesh is eaten -by those who make the sacrifice. They have besides some faint idea of a state of existence after death, which is very strik¬ ingly expressed in what may be called the funeral address to a deceased chief, when his body has been just laid in the grave. Still they have nothing that can, strictly speaking, be called religious wor¬ ship. Religious ideas, in the proper sense of the Commence¬ ment of Mission. Lovedale. 30 expression, have to be created rather than corrected among them. Such, briefly, are the people among whom mis¬ sionary operations are carried on. The great bulk of them are still degraded heathens. But a brighter day is beginning to dawn. Dr Vanderkemp, of the London Missionary Society, was the first Missionary to the Kaffirs. He commenced his labours about the close of last century, but soon removed to the colony. The mission of the Free (as also of the United Presby¬ terian) Church in Kaffirland, was started in 1821 in connection with the Glasgow Missionary Society, which, like the London Missionary Society, was undenominational in its constituency—the stations formed from time to time being named after the Founders and Directors of the Society. The Free Church Mission embraces five principal stations —viz., Lovedale, Pirie, Burnshill, Macfarlan, and Cunningham in the Transkei territory. A few particulars in regard to each may now be given. The central station is Lovedale, and derives its name from the late Dr Love of Glasgow. It is on the west bank of the Chumie, in the division of Victoria East, and is 650 miles distant from Cape Town, and 40 miles from King Williams’ Town, the capital of Kaffraria. For the last thirty years, the Institution founded, and, until recently, ably superintended by the Rev. Wm. Govan, has done 3i much in promoting the cause of South African enlightenment. It is at present in a state of high efficiency, and no effort is spared to develop as speedily as possible “ its leading design as a Missionary Institution, from which a body of highly qualified native preachers and teachers shall go forth to make known the Word of Life.” A distinguishing feature in the working of the Institution this year, is the successful intro¬ duction of the fee system. This is justly reckoned a great step in advance. A department for training female teachers has recently been added, with the most hopeful prospects of future usefulness. The admissions to both departments for the present year are 75, a number considerably beyond what has been known in the past history of the Institution. Most of these are boarders, and certain measures are in contemplation for considerably increasing the number. Connected with the Institution is an Industrial department for the training of native youths in various mechanical arts, as waggon-making, black- smithing, and printing. The extensive buildings, in connection with this and the other department, were erected mainly at the expense of the Cape Government, through the enlightened policy of Sir George Grey, the former Governor. Grants of land were made from time to time as a partial endowment. Considerable grants of money have also been made by the Government. These, for 32 Pirie. / some years, have been fixed at ,£440 annually, be¬ sides a yearly grant of ^150 to the Female Train¬ ing Institution. There are six out-stations within a radius of ten or twelve miles, at all of which, as well as at the central one, churches and schools exist, the latter containing an aggregate of 565 scholars. The membership of the native churches in the Lovedale district is about 420. In addition to the regular agents of the mission, some of the elders, and some also of the theological students of the Institution, go out regularly to the neighbouring villages and kraals to preach the gospel. In this way, as well as through the private efforts of the members of the church, much good is done. Pirie, 30 miles to the east of Lovedale, and situated “about the centre of the northern slope of a low ridge, amid beautiful park-like scenery, and in front of the southern range of the Amatole mountains, is one of the loveliest (stations), not in South Africa only, but in the world.” It was named after another of the Directors of the Glasgow Missionary Society, a minister of the Secession Church in that city. Dr Vanderkemp pitched his tent here towards the close of last century, and it has long been the scene of the indefatigable labours of the venerable John Ross, whose missionary life extends over the lengthened period of well-nigh fifty years. The schools at Pirie and the four out- 33 stations contain in all about 240 scholars. The membership of the native church is 158. Mr Ross is assisted by his eldest son, Mr Bryce Ross, who is one of the best Kaffir scholars, has done much in translation work, and is now engaged as one of seven missionaries, represent¬ ing as many missionary bodies, in the important work of producing a thoroughly trustworthy trans¬ lation of the Scriptures in the Kaffir language. Lying half way between Pirie and Lovedale, “ conspicuous on a height, at the base of which rolls the rapid and turbulent Keiskamma, and well- nigh surrounded by the magnificent, picturesque, and beautifully-wooded ranges of the Amatole mountains,” is the station of BURNSHILL, under the charge of Rev. James Laing, formed in 1830, and named after the late Dr Burns, minister of the Barony Church, Glasgow. It is in the neigh¬ bourhood of an old battle ground ; was the resi¬ dence of the old chief, Sandili ; and is the last resting-place of Gaika, another well-known chief. The superintendence of eight branch stations, along with the central one, affords abundant scope for the energies of the missionary in charge, all the more that considerable difficulty is felt in obtaining the services of a sufficient number of qualified native agents. This want, as in the case of Lovedale, is so far compensated for by the assistance voluntarily rendered by some of the Bumshill. Macfarlan. Transkei Territory— Cunning¬ ham. 34 elders and members of the church, who have been in the habit, for the last sixteen years, of going out on Sabbaths to visit and address their heathen fellow- countrymen. The membership of the church is about 340, with 350 baptised adherents ; and the scholars attending the various schools number 270. Macfarlan station, under Mr M‘Diarmid, was formed in 1853 among a tribe of Fingoes. It is named after the late Dr Macfarlan of Renfrew, who took the deepest interest in these Kaffrarian Mis¬ sions, and was, indeed, officially connected with them. It lies about six miles to the north-east of Lovedale, and has three out-stations, with a church membership of 84, and a similar number in at¬ tendance at the schools. The most recently formed station is that of Cunningham, in the territory across the great Kei river. The circumstances of its foundation were peculiar. With the view, it was generally believed, of driving them by stress of hunger into acts of rapine which should provoke another war, Kreli’s Kaffirs, along with those on the west of the Kei, at the instigation of a false prophet, named Umhla- kaza, had, in 1857, destroyed the whole of their corn and cattle— everything, in short, that could yield sustenance, under the delusion that all their relatives who had fallen in war would rise again to help them, and that there would also be a resur- 35 rection of both cattle and com for their subsist¬ ence. The result was that the country was almost entirely depopulated. It was then seized upon by the Colonial Government, by whom it was retained in military possession for some years as the Trans- kei territory. But circumstances occurred which led to its abandonment by the British Government. In giving it up, His Excellency the High Commis¬ sioner divided it into three parts. The portion lying along the sea-coast was restored to Kreli. The one immediately to the north of that was offered to the Gaikas, on condition that they gave up the land they now occupy. The third, or most northerly section, was offered to the Tambukies, on condition that that part of the tribe located west of the Kei should remove to it. Kreli thank¬ fully accepted what was offered to him. The Tambukies at first refused the offer of Govern¬ ment. The portion allotted to them, however, the Government retained; and part of the Colo¬ nial Tambukies have since been induced to re¬ move to it. The Gaikas peremptorily refused to leave their present abode ; and the section declined by them was then offered to the Colonial and British Kaffrarian Fingoes, thousands of whom, including many of those located around Lovedale, Burnshill, and Pirie, migrated thither. It is esti¬ mated that the Fingoes who occupy this middle section of the Transkei territory amount to not less than 30,000 or 40,000. 36 The Rev. Tyo Soga * a talented native missionary in connection with the mission of the United Pres¬ byterian Church, formed a station in Ivreli s country about five years ago ; and the Rev. Richard Ross, whose knowledge of the people and the language, and whose successful labours in the Lovedale district marked him out as a suitable person to aid in what was intended to be a joint mission of the Free and United Presbyterian Churches, was shortly after¬ wards sent to form the station which he now occupies among the Fingoes in the middle section of the territoty, many of whom, heathens as well as Christians, who had previously known him, having expressed an earnest desire that he should be settled amoung them. At the present time, there is a church with 165 communicants, and a school attended by 60 scholars. Besides the Central Station, there are four localities occupied by Scripture readers, and regularly visited by the missionary, who contem¬ plates establishing schools at each of the places referred to, Government having agreed to give grants-in-aid, even although the territory is not embraced in the colony. King William’s Town. It may be added that the recently-appointed and highly-esteemed minister of the English- speaking congregation at King William’s Town * Since this was in type, intimation has been received of Mr Soga’s lamented death. 37 has commenced a Mission for the resident native Kaffirs, and that he has met with much encourage¬ ment in his efforts to promote their spiritual wel¬ fare. This movement may be regarded as an extension of the Free Church Missions in Kaf- fraria. We cannot take leave of this interesting Mission field without referring to the starting, last year, of a semi-religious Kaffir newspaper. Originated, and edited with much ability, by Dr James Stewart, the Principal of the Lovedale Institution, it bids fair to prove an important vehicle for enlightening this African race.* * For the support of the missions in India and Africa, there were contributed in this country , during the year ending with March last, £21,817. Of this sum, nearly £3000 were raised by the Ladies’ Society for the Promotion of Female Education. That Society, as regards India, was originated in 1838, mainly through the efforts of the late Captain Jameson, brother of the late Sheriff Jameson. Like other organisations, it had to pass through the crisis of the Disruption ; hut it very soon found in connection with the Free Church an enlarged field for its operations. A similar remark may he made respecting the Glasgow Ladies Society for Female Education in Kaffraria. The two societies were, in 1865, merged in one, which is now recognised as an integral part of the Church’s Foreign Missions, and has specially assigned to its management and support the department of native female education. No part of the funds of the Foreign Missions Committee is applied to that object. The aggregate raised by the Church at home since the Disruption (exclusive of nearly £100,000 for mission buildings, and large sums contributed abroad), is not less than £437,000. Kaffir Newspaper. 38 Natal. Pieter¬ maritzburg. Natal Missions. The second principal mission field in South Africa in connection with the Free Church is Natal, the country of the Zulu-Kaffir, and a British colony, embracing a very wide region to the north of Kaffirland. Pietermaritzburg, the capital, with a popula¬ tion of about 4000, forms the centre of operations. The Mission there was commenced several years ago, by the now venerable James Allison, and was adopted in 1868 by the Free Church. It has been wrought with great vigour, and with no small amount of success. The zeal and tact displayed by him in laying hold of young men who come to the capital from Barampulana in interior Africa in search of work is quite remarkable. Numbers of such have been got to attend church and school. Many of them have been brought to the saving knowledge of the truth; and a goodly proportion of these, fired with the desire to carry the good news to their benighted fellow-countrymen, after undergoing a regular course of training, have, with this object in view, returned as Evangelists to their far remote homes. Most gratifying in¬ telligence has been received of the doings of the first band who thus went forth, carrying with them, not , as they had at one time intended, fire¬ arms and gunpowder wherewith to war with neighbouring tribes, but “ the sword of the Spirit, 39 which is the Word of God.” Fourteen young men are at present under training, having the same object at heart. More, indeed, are desirous of admission to the Training School than the Mission has the means of maintaining. There is an out-station, with a church and school, at IMPOLWENI, twelve miles distant. And the Amaswaze chief, Sikwetshi, with ioo of his followers, having last year granted to the Free Church twenty-five acres of land for mission build¬ ings, &c., on the estate purchased by them, on the northern boundary of the Natal colony, Mr Allison is at present engaged, at the Chiefs earnest desire, in initiating missionary operations by settling a Zulu catechist among the people of the location. This is the outcome of an acquaintance formed by Mr Allison with Sikwetshi and his people in 1845, since which time he has had many opportunities of serving them. Since the commencement of the Mission, 415 have been received into the Church of Christ— there being upwards of 100 in full communion at the present time. The scholars number 170. The two African Mission fields at which we have glanced, embrace 28 principal and branch stations ; about 50 Christian agents, of whom 8 are ordained missionaries; 1250 communicants, besides a considerable body of baptised ad¬ herents ; about 2350, admitted on profession since the commencement of the Missions; and 1500 Statistics of African Missions. 40 Gordon Mission. pupils under instruction, of whom nearly one-half are girls. The Gordon Mission, now in course of being founded in an unoccupied region of the same colony, remains to be noticed. It owes its origin to the munificence of Lady Aberdeen and the other members of the Aberdeen family, who desire in this way to perpetuate the memory of their beloved relative, the late Hon. James Gordon, who had manifested an interest in the temporal and eternal welfare of one or other of the numerous races of Africa, but whose noble aspirations were, in the mysterious providence of God, suddenly extin¬ guished by an accident while pursuing his studies at Cambridge. The founding and superintendence of this interesting Mission has been entrusted to Dr James Dalzell, ordained Missionary of the Free Church, and Medical Graduate of the University of Glasgow. Dr Dalzell has carefully surveyed the Kaffrarian and Natal territories, with the view of enabling the representatives of the Aberdeen family and the Free Church Foreign Missions Committee to fix on a suitable site. When, many years ago, the late Rev. Henry Calderwood commenced his missionary life in Kaffraria, the chief, Maquomo, said to him, with characteristic Kaffir shrewdness, “ You must have patience. You must not expect to do the work all 4i in one day. The rock is hard. You may not be able to break it all in pieces, but you must hammer away, and you will get bits off.” The rock has indeed been hard. It has not been possible to break it all in a day—no, nor in two generations. But many precious “ bits” have been dislodged from the mass of heathenism. This is the work accomplished in South Africa, so far as the ingathering of souls to Christ is con¬ cerned. Let us thank God for it, and continue our efforts until the entire mass has yielded to the influences brought to bear upon it. III. Syria. The Mission in this field, better known under the name of “The Lebanon Schools,” was, by last General Assembly, after a very exhaustive and satisfactory report by Dr Duff and Principal Lumsden, who visited the Schools in 1870, affiliated with the Foreign Missions of the Free Church, the Committee being at the same time authorised to appoint a minister as clerical superintendent for the work of Christ in connection therewith. Such affiliation, however, will be no burden on the mis¬ sion funds, provision having been made for the maintenance of the existing and future Schools from the same source, and by means of the same agency, as hitherto. That agency—the Lebanon Syria—The Lebanon Schools. Their Origin. 42 Schools Committee—embraces ministers and lay¬ men representing various evangelical denomi¬ nations. It was in response to their earnestly expressed desire, and with the view of securing, to a still greater degree, the thorough efficiency and usefulness of the schools, that the ecclesiastical connection has been formed. Unlike the fields at which we have already glanced, the work here is of native origin. The circumstances were providential in a remarkable de¬ gree. As is well known, the founder of the schools is Mr Elijah Saleebey. When a boy, he was taught the Arabic alphabet by a Mahommedan, who, when fleeing from the heavy conscription levied by Ibrahim Pasha, consequent upon his invasion of Syria in 1840, had found shelter under the hospi¬ table roof of the Saleebey’s house at B’Howarah, on the western slopes of Lebanon. Being desirous of further instruction, the boy entered as a scholar the American Seminary at Abeih, where he made rapid progress. Some time afterwards, a Mr Lothian, from the neighbourhood of Carlisle, be¬ came a sojourner in the dwelling of the Saleebey family. From him he learned a little English. Through him also, he became acquainted with the story of Redeeming love. Having been permitted to accompany Mr Lothian to England, Elijah soon “began to hold meetings, and to create an interest in Lebanon. He suc¬ ceeded in collecting ^80, with part of which, on 43 his return, after offering it first to the American missionaries, he built a small school-house at B’Howarah. In subsequent visits, the interest was extended, and the funds increased. Such was the origin of the Lebanon Schools. “Duringsuccessive visits to this country, Elijah laboured with untiring zeal, and with remarkable success. The result has been, that within ten or twelve years he had organised, single-handed, nearly a hundred associations in all parts of the land, producing some seven or eight hundred pounds a year.” “The grain of ‘mustard seed’ planted in that cottage at B’Howarah has already grown and multiplied into twenty-one Bible schools , each of these, as described by a party of the Society of Friends who recently visited them, being a ‘centre of light’ in the village where it exists.” They con¬ tain between 700 and 800 children, of whom about 120 are girls. The village of Sook-el-Ghurb, at an elevation of upwards of 2000 feet south-east from Beirut, has been, since 1855, the headquarters of Mr Saleebey’s operations. “ There are now at that place training schools for both male and female teachers ; and meetings for divine worship are regularly held. The results have been deeply interesting. There is now in the village a considerable Protestant com¬ munity, where, a few years ago, the whole people were sitting in darkness ! ” Sook-el- Ghurb. Closing W ords. 44 The Committee hope soon to appoint a suitable minister to co-operate with Mr Saleebey in carry¬ ing forward this highly-important work. Their earnest desire is to aid in a brotherly way the American missionaries in their noble efforts to evangelise that land of sacred and historic interest. Some there are who are disposed to complain of the small amount of visible success of the higher spiritual kind that has attended the mis¬ sionary operations of our Church in the heathen fields now under review. Without inquiring into the justness of such a complaint, we would rather suggest for consideration, whether devout thanks¬ giving for the higher spiritual results, which, by God’s blessing, have been achieved, is not the more becoming spirit to cherish. If the results have not been greater than actually appear, may it not be owing in great measure to the indiffer¬ ence, and worldliness, and prayerlessness, and faithlessness which characterise so many of the members of the Church. This is a matter in connection with which responsibility attaches, not only to the missionaries abroad, and to the Com¬ mittee by whom they are sent forth, but to all be¬ longing to our communion. It has already been stated that all the mission¬ aries in the field at the time of the Disruption cast in their lot with the Free Church. Not a few of them were men of renown. Surely God intended 45 by such a gift that the Free Church should be pre-eminently a Missionary Church. Let us realise our high calling. Let us throw aside the apathy which to so great an extent prevails in our midst, and rise to the grandeur of the enterprise. Let us manifest, in a more practical way, our prayer¬ ful sympathy with it. Then may we expect the blessing to come down in copious measure upon all our operations in the foreign field. There is need for such practical sympathy, for the work yet to be accomplished is truly vast. Its vastness, however, instead of discouraging, ought only to nerve us to put forth greater and more combined effort. And if at any time the mind is like to be overpowered by the almost overwhelming mass of unreclaimed heathenism—if it rises up before us as a great mountain, let the encouraging words be recalled, “ Who art thou, O great moun¬ tain ? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain.” The obstacles in the way of its removal may be many and mighty. But what of that ? With God’s help they can be removed. Nay, many of the most formidable of them have already been re¬ moved, constraining those who can look at the present in the light of the past, in adoring grati¬ tude, to exclaim, “ What hath God wrought !” 46 T. STATIONS AND CHRISTIAN AGENCY, (18 71 .) -- BENGAL, or EASTERN INDIA. CALCUTTA.— Ordained Missionaries— J. Murray Mitchell, LL.D.; William C. Fyfe ; K. S. Macdonald, M.A. ; James Bobertson, M.A.; Guru Das Maitra. Professor of Mathematics,