THE SPIRITUAL POSSIBILITIES 
 
 OF THE HEATHEN. 
 
•• 
 
THE SPIRITUAL POSSIBILITIES 
 
 OF THE HEATHEN, 
 
 _A_ SERMON 
 
 Preached before the North India Conference oj the 
 
 Method i 
 
 st Episcopal Churchy 
 
 
 BY 
 
 THE REV. B. H. BADLEY, D. D. 
 
 At Bare ill;/, India, January 13th, 1889. 
 
 [PUBLISHED BY BEQUEST.] 
 

 _• /: . : ,ii;i12 .1 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 t 
 
 
 
THE SPIRITUAL POSSIBILITIES OF 
 THE HEATHEN, 
 
 [A SERMON PREACHED BY REV. B. H. BaDLEY, D.D. 
 BEFORE THE NORTH INDIA CONFERENCE IN SES- 
 SION at Bareilly, January 13th, 1889. Pub- 
 lished BY REQUEST OF THE CONFERENCE.] 
 
 “ The heathen for thine inheritance ." — Psalm ii. 8. 
 
 This phrase contains an apparent contradiction. 
 An inheritance is supposed to signify some great 
 possession, something worthy of being owned. Here 
 an inheritance is spoken of ; God the Father, in- 
 tinitely rich, owner of the worlds seen and unseeD, is 
 the speaker ; he addresses his only begotten Son, the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, whom he sets as King upon his 
 holy hill Zion, willing and glad to declare the decree 
 as to his Sonship. We listen, all intent, to hear 
 what this kingly inheritance is to be, and we hear 
 the Father say, “ I shall give thee the heathen for 
 thine inheritance.” We hear the announcement with 
 wonder, for as we think of the heathen we call to 
 mind people rude, uncivilized, savage, cruel, inhuman, 
 and therefore, in the very nature of things, worth- 
 less. We remember what we have read concerning 
 heathen nations, their idolatry, superstition, fetich- 
 ism, and we say to ourselves, “ Such an inheritance is 
 worthless, absolutely worthless ; surely the Father 
 mocks the Son ; He gives him the dregs of humanity !” 
 But God makes no mistakes. He speaks no idle, un- 
 meaning words. He sets a proper estimate upon this 
 and every world ; and a larger faith coupled with 
 a keener insight and a more generous appreciation 
 of God’s gracious purposes will show us that this is 
 indeed a glorious inheritance. 
 
( 2 ) 
 
 The subject presented in the text is “ The spi- 
 ritual POSSIBILITIES OP THE HEATHES.” Such a 
 theme should certainly command our prayerful 
 thought, and especially, those of us whose lives are 
 cast in a land where 200,000,000 heathen people 
 dwell. As foreigners our presence in this country — 
 which most of us look upon as our adopted home- 
 shows that we read aright the hidden meaning of 
 the text : possibly a re-examination of the words, 
 and a fresh meditation upon the gracious promise, may 
 quicken our faith and increase our zeal as we go 
 forth from this city to another year’s labor for our 
 King and Master. 
 
 The Jewish people in a certain sense were God’s 
 inheritance. He took them as a possession : to them 
 He gave the law, the Tabernacle, the Shekinah, the 
 Temple — countless manifestations of His majesty and 
 glory. Moses realized this as he stood upon the 
 shaking crest of Mount Sinai, holding in his hands 
 the tables of stone, waiting for Jehovah to re-write 
 the commandments. The Lord descended in the 
 cloud and stood with Moses there. He proclaimed 
 His name — “ the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and 
 gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness 
 and truth.” Moses made haste to bow his head in 
 reverent worship, and even with the remembrance of 
 the recent idolatry fresh in his mind he thus prays 
 God in behalf of the stiff-necked Israelites, “ O 
 Lord, go among us, and pardon our iniquity and 
 our sin, and take us for thine inheritance." God 
 heard the prayer and made a covenant with the 
 children of Israel, promising to do marvels before 
 them : and thus as the centuries rolled on, the Jew- 
 ish nation, with prophet, priest and king, grew and 
 prospered. 
 
 When the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth on 
 his royal mission he found two worlds, the narrow 
 Jewish world, exclusive and unsympathetic, and the 
 great Gentile world with its vast population for the 
 most part groping its way in the dark, unillumined by 
 word of promise or whisper of prophecy. He came 
 to save both worlds — to open up a way of escape 
 
( 3 ) 
 
 from 9 in, to point out the way to heaven. During 
 the Old Testament dispensation God had not passed 
 the Gentile world entirely by. That strange my- 
 sterious man, at once king and priest, who went 
 forth to meet the victorious Abram returning from the 
 war, king of righteousness and king of peace, Mel- 
 chizedek, who stands a9 the personal type of Christ, 
 was probably a Canaanite. Job, the apostle of 
 patience, who, in the tents of Uz, struggled with 
 the great problems of life, and in the midst of the 
 fiercest flames that Satan could kindle remained true 
 to God — Job was not a Jew but an Arabian Amir. 
 Naaman, the Syrian, and Nebuchadnezzar the Baby- 
 lonian, were under “ the providential and loving dis- 
 cipline of God.” Elijah, the Tishbite, is considered 
 by many eminent scholars to have been not a 
 Hebrew but a Gentile- — 
 
 “ From Jacob's seed, or Jokshan’s stock, 
 
 Unknown, he stands God’s seer ; 
 
 The Highlander of prophecy, 
 
 God's glorious mountaineer.” 
 
 When our Lord entered upon his public ministry 
 he was not slow in telling his disciples and the multi- 
 tudes that thronged about him that he had come to 
 save the race— to comfort earth’s weary ones, as had 
 been predicted, “ to heal the broken-hearted, to preach 
 deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to 
 the blind, to set at liberty the biuised, to preach the 
 acceptable year of the Lord.” So bitter was the 
 enmity between the Jews and their neighbours in 
 Samaria that it bad passed into a proverb — “ The 
 Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans,” and 
 yet Christ, at Jacob’s well in the land of Samaria, 
 preached his first Messianic sermon, and that to a 
 woman. When the Syrophenician woman, wrapped 
 up in her darling child as only a mother can be, came 
 beseeching Christ to heal the precious invalid, she 
 was obliged to submit to the ignominy of having her 
 people called “ dogs ” as they were in the Jewish 
 phraseology of the day, but her faith triumphed, and 
 she went home rejoicing, though only a Greek, or 
 Gentile. The Capernaum centurion, even though 
 
( 4 ) 
 
 outside the pale of the Jewish race, recognized Christ 
 as divine as he besought him to speak the word— 
 only a word, which should heal his servant ; and he 
 won from Christ that rare compliment, “ I have not 
 found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” And then, 
 as if to give still greater comfort to this believing 
 Gentile, our Lord, turning to his disciples, said, “ I 
 say unto you that many shall come from the East and 
 the West, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac 
 and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” 
 
 In the last year of our Lord’s ministry, just after 
 He had healed “ the man blind from his birth,” He 
 proclaimed himself as the Door — the entrance into the 
 Kingdom of bliss, and the Good Shepherd, giving 
 his life for the sheep, freely and gladly. Looking 
 ont beyond the little circle of the disciples about him, 
 and beyond the larger circle of Jews who should yet 
 believe in him, He spake the gracious words, which 
 have brought unspeakable comfort to millions of souls 
 “ And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, 
 them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice j 
 and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” 
 
 Language could not be stronger. Christ foresees in 
 confident anticipation the ingathering of the Gentiles, 
 the conversion of the heathen. He thinks of hie 
 promised inheritance, and with glad heart, He ex- 
 claims, “ I have other sheep,” and hastens to add, “ I 
 must bring them, I must lead them as a shepherd.” 
 It is the decree of his Father’s love and of His own : 
 “ They shall hear my voice,” they shall submit to 
 the divine shepherding and follow the good shepherd . 
 “and there shall be one shepherd, one flock:” Jews 
 and Gentiles, all classes being united to Christ, unite 
 in Him. The happy result will crowd heaven with 
 jubilant souls. 
 
 As the risen Lord stands amid His wondering 
 disciples immediately prior to His ascension, He as- 
 sures them of his appreciation of the rich inheritance 
 which should be His : He promised them power 
 
 along with the descent of the Holy Ghost : they 
 wore to preach the Gospel, to testify among all men, 
 to disciple the nations, to baptize iu His name, and 
 
( 5 ) 
 
 to be witnesses unto him “in Jerusalem and in a'l 
 Judea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part 
 of the Earth,” in remote continents, in the scattered 
 islands of the sea, in all the world. Having thus com- 
 missioned them and given them an insight into the 
 vast spiritual possibilities connected with the extension 
 of his Kingdom, He left them and mounted up on high 
 to sit down at the right hand of God the Father, anil 
 await with sublimest patience the development of the 
 plans of the Godhead, to see of the travail of His soul 
 and be satisfied ! 
 
 The day of Pentecost followed with its great sur- 
 prises to the disciples as well as to the multitudes 
 who were added to the Church at Jerusalem. Then 
 came persecution and the dispersion of the believers, 
 not to be lost sight of, but to preach the word wherever 
 they should go : prosperity followed : the Gentiles 
 heard the Gospel message and “ were glad.” Saul of 
 Tarsus, a Pharisee of the straightest sect, was con- 
 verted, and in the very hour of his conversion, as he 
 beheld the heavenly vision, he was told by the Lori 
 Jesus Christ, — “ Behold I will send thee far hence 
 unto the Gentiles,” a glorious commission which Saint 
 Paul, in spite of his early training and religious pre- 
 judices, most loyally obeyed. Saint Peter, who was as 
 bigoted to begin with as Saint Paul, and whose vehe- 
 ment utterance, “ Not so, Lord,” when first the vision 
 signifying the salvability of the Gentile world presen- 
 ted itself, was indicative of the man — Saint Peter 
 was led of God to see that not even were proselytes to 
 be admitted into the Church, but out-and-out Gentiles, 
 devout Corneliuses were also to be welcomed ; and 
 thus the doors were thrown wide open, and men of all 
 ranks and classes and nationalities were bidden to the 
 Gospel feast. 
 
 The history of the Church fruin the first century to 
 the present time has been largely connected with the 
 conversion of heathen tribes and heathen peoples here 
 and there in various parts of the world, a work which 
 is being conducted more enthusiastically and credita- 
 bly in the c’osing decades of this century than ever 
 before. The experience of these centuries is eloquent 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 as touching the religious capabilities of the heatheD, 
 aud showing the matchless power of Him who, lifted 
 up, is to draw all men unto himself. “ The Gospel,” 
 sajs one, “ is indigenous in no country, and yet be- 
 longs to all. Every sea is not paved with pearl shell; 
 nor does every soil grow vines and stately palms ; nor 
 does every mine sparkle with precious gems ; nor do 
 the streams of every land roll their waters over gold- 
 glittering sands, — these symbols of grace have a 
 narrow range ; not grace herself. She owns no lines of 
 latitude or longitude ; all climates are one to her. 
 She wears no party badge, and belongs neither to caste 
 nor class, nor colour. She finds no fault with the 
 darkness of a Negro’s skin. He whom his white op- 
 pressor shrunk from worshipping with, eating with, 
 sailing with, or dwelling with on earth, shall feast at 
 a banquet and worship in a temple and reign in a 
 Kingdom, where his haughty master may never enter; 
 and when, as may often happen, the paleskin is shut 
 out, and the bondsman, now and forever free, passes 
 in at the celestial gate, it shall furnish but another 
 illustration of the truth that salvation is not of blood, 
 nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, 
 but of God.” 
 
 Taking up the history of Missions as proving most 
 conclusively the vitality aud adaptability of the Gospel 
 we remark — 
 
 I. The Gospel message has been carried to the 
 
 LOWEST AND MEANEST OF EARTH’S PEOPLES, AND HAS 
 BROUGHT ABOUT WONDERFUL TRANSFORMATIONS OF LIFE 
 
 and character. When the Portuguese discovered 
 theHottentots they reported them a race of apes, unfit 
 material for Church Missions. On many a door of 
 the Cape Colony Chanels was subsequently nailed the 
 sign, “ Hogs aud Hottentots not admitted.” The 
 French Governor of Bourbon said to the first Pro- 
 testant Missionaries on their way to Madagascar : 
 “ You will make the Malagasy Christians ! Impos- 
 sible, they are mere brutes, irrational cattle !” 
 
 Of all earth’s scattered millions, where are the 
 most degraded to he found? Not in India — notin 
 China — not in the wilds of America. The consensus 
 
( * ) 
 
 of opinion as indicated by the testimony of travellers 
 and scientists gives this unenviable position to the 
 people inhabiting the extreme southern part of 
 South America — Patagonia and Terra-del-Fuego — 
 formerly separate countries, at present forming a part 
 of the Argentine Republic. Mr. Darwin, who visited 
 these people in 1SS4, wrote of them as follows : — 
 
 “ I believe in this extreme part of South America, 
 man exists in a lower state of improvement than 
 in any other part of the world. The 8outh Sea 
 Islanders, of the two races inhabiting the Pacifio, are 
 comparatively civilized. The Esquimaux, in his sub- 
 terranean hut, enjoys some of the comforts of life, 
 and in his canoe, when fully equipped, manifests 
 much skill. Some of the tribes of Southern Africa, 
 prowling about in search of roots, and living concealed 
 on the wild and arid plains are sufficiently wretched. 
 The Australian, in the simplicity of the arts of life, 
 comes nearest the Fuegian : he can, however, boast of 
 his boomerang, his spear and throwing stick, his method 
 of climbing trees, of tracking animals, and of hunting.'’ 
 Other travellers have written in a similar strain 
 regarding these degraded Patagonians, who are thus 
 confessedly the lowest and least hopeful of all earth’s 
 inhabitants. The question arises, Have these people 
 proven themselves so low and bestial as to be beyond 
 the helpful reach of the Christian religion ? Has 
 the Church passed them by as worthless ? Has 
 Christ been unnamed and unloved in that remote part 
 of the universe ? Let history answer. What does the 
 record say ? The Gospel has found its way and wpn 
 marked victories even in Patagonia. Ten years after 
 Mr. Darwin’s visit, the heroic Captain Allan Gardiner 
 determined to carry the Word of God to the Pata- 
 gonians. He visited the country, but could do nothing} 
 he returned to England and besought help ; he went 
 again to the Falkland Islands, and, after having 
 made half a dozen voyages to and from England, this 
 impulsive man, in 1850, landed at Picton Island with 
 six European assistants. It was his last effort. 
 Exposure, scurvy and starvation swept away the whole 
 of the expeiition ; and when, ten months later, a 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 Vessel seat oat by the Governor of the Falkland islands 
 arrived at Picton Islands, those who landed found the 
 unburied skeletons of the seven brave men, and near 
 by, the Journal of Captain Gardiner, giving the 
 pathetic story of their sufferings. 
 
 Captain Gardiner’s efforts were not in vain. “ The 
 South American Missionary Society” was organized, 
 and has continued ever since. In 1857 a fresh 
 attempt was made in behalf of Patagonia and Terra- 
 del-Fuego. The head- quarters of the Society were 
 located at Stanley in the Falkland Islands, from which 
 point the various mission fields were easily accessible. 
 Schools have been opened, churches built, converts 
 gathered in. On one of the Falkland Islands, called 
 Keppel, recently uninhabited, there is now a Mission- 
 station, Church, schools and industrial farm. At 
 Ushuwia in Terra-del-Fuego, in the midst of many 
 difficulties, a station has existed since 1869. The mis- 
 sionary lives in an iron house sent out from England, sur- 
 rounded by about 150 natives, dwelling in improved wig- 
 wams and cultivating plots of land. A mission schooner, 
 named after Captain Gardiner, sails between Stanley 
 and the other stations, carrying the missionaries to 
 and fro in their work of love. There are now sixteen 
 stations and at least a score of missionaries m connec- 
 tion with this Society. 
 
 In 1870, the Rev. Mr. Stirling, who for some years 
 had been engaged in these Missions, was consecrated 
 Bishop of the Falkland Islands, having as a part of his 
 diocese, the adjacent mainland. In 1876, when the 
 Challenger on her interesting voyage reached the 
 Falkland Islands, Bishop Stilling was found at his 
 post. Sir Wyville Thomson, the scientific savant 
 of the Challenger, wrote as follows of this earnest 
 worker : — 
 
 “ On our second visit to the town our eyes were re- 
 freshed by the vision of a Bishop : not a Bishop blunt 
 of speech and careless of externals, as so hard-working 
 a missionary among the Fuegiaus and Patagonians 
 might well afford to be, but a Bishop gracious in 
 manner and perfect in attire, who would have seemed 
 more in harmouy with his surroundings in the atrnos- 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 phere of Windsor or St. James'. We bad great plea 
 sure in the society of Bishop Stirling during ou: 
 stay at Stanley. Although he takes his title from 
 the Falklands, his diocese is so large — extending round 
 the whole of the Southern Coast of South America — 
 that his visits to Stanley are somewhat rare ; and we 
 owed the pleasure of making his acquaintance to an 
 accident, which had befallen his little missionary 
 schooner, the repair of which he was superintend- 
 ing. He is a most active and zealous pastor, and 
 greatly beloved by his scattered flock. A greater part 
 of his time is spent in Fuegia, where he has succeed- 
 ed in establishing a half-civilized missionary station, 
 and it was most interesting to hear him talk of hie 
 strange experiences among perhaps the most primitive 
 race in the world.” 
 
 Thus in less than half a century we have seen Christian 
 ity planted in the uncongenial soil of the rocky islands 
 near Cape Horn, where the waters of the Atlantic and 
 Pacific meet in angry tides : we have seen how, in the 
 midstof the greatest difficulties and discouragements, the 
 Gospel has won to itself these degraded savages, and 
 how the Church of England has created a special dio- 
 cese and set apart a Bishop to supervise its work in 
 those remote regions. It is not strange that Mr. 
 Darwin should say (as he did in 1870) of this success 
 “It is most wonderful, and shames me, as I always pro- 
 phesied utter failure ; it is a grand success.” One of 
 the most eloquent missionary volumes that could 
 posssibly be written might be written in two words — 
 “ Patagonia, Dabwin.”* 
 
 * Concerning this most interesting subject Admiral Sir 
 James Sulivan published the following letter in the Daily 
 News of April 24th, 1885 : — “ I have been closely connect- 
 ed with the ‘ South American Missionary Society’ from 
 the time of Captain Allen 3ardiner’s death, and Mr, Dar- 
 win had often expressed to me his conviction that it was 
 utterly useless to send missionaries to such a set of sav- 
 ages as the Fuegians, probably the very lowest of the 
 human race. I had always replied that I did not believe 
 any human beings existed too low to comprehend ths 
 simple message of the Gospel of Christ. After many years, 
 I think about 1869 [1867] but I cannot find the letter, 
 
( 10 ) 
 
 For another illustration of the matchless power of 
 the Gospel in reaching earth’s meanest people, passing 
 by Greenland, Labrador, Madagascar, the Sandwich 
 Islands and many others, let us turn for a moment to 
 the Islands of the South Pacific, more especially to 
 Australasia. It is recorded of John Wesley that 
 when surveying the whole of the heathen world, he de- 
 clared that its evangelisation was not only possible but 
 probable, except in the case of these islands. There 
 were many difficulties, especially in the fact that each 
 island had its own language or languages. The 
 mutua uninteliigibility of the Melanesian languages 
 has led travellers to call that portion of the South 
 Pacific, “ Babel Polynesia.” The character of the 
 islanders was of the most impracticable kind. “ In- 
 fanticide, suicide, cannibalism and burying alive were 
 established customs ; girls jumped from the cliffs with 
 their children, young men hanged themselves, women 
 would swim out to sea to be devoured by sharks 
 simply to escape a few minutes’ anxiety, pain or grief : 
 wars were perpetual and feuds hereditary.” 
 
 he wrote to me that the recent accounts of the Mission 
 proved to him that he had been wrong, and I right in our 
 estimates of the native character, and the possibility of 
 doing them good through missionaries ; and he requested 
 me to forward to the Society an enclosed cheque for £5, 
 as a testimony of the interest he took in their good work. 
 On June 6th, 1874, he wrote: ‘I am very glad to hear 
 so good an account of the Fuegians, and it is wonderful.’ 
 On June 10th, 1879: ‘The progress of the Fuegians is 
 wonderful, and had it not occurred, would have been to me 
 quite incredible.’ On January 3rd, 1880: ‘ Your extracts 
 [from a Journal] about the Fuegians are extremely curious, 
 and have interested me much. I have often said that the 
 progress of Japan was the greatest wonder in the world, 
 but I declare that the progress of Fuegia is almost equally 
 wonderful.’ On March 20th, 1881 : ‘ The account of the 
 
 Fuegians interested not only me, but all my family. It is 
 truly wonderful what you have heard from Mr. Bridges 
 about their honesty and their language. I certainly should 
 have predicted that not all the missionaries in the world 
 could have done what has been done.’ On December 1st, 
 1881, sending me bis annual subscription to the Orphanage 
 at the Mission Station, he wrote: ' Judging from the Mis- 
 
 sionary Journal, the Mission in Terra-del- Fuego seems going 
 on quite wonderfully well,’ ” 
 
( 11 ) 
 
 The missionaries who went to labor among these 
 savage people— sent out by the Wesleyans, the 
 Londou Missionary Society and the Churoh of Eng- 
 land — were heroic men, showing forth the bravery of 
 the crusaders and the patience of the Saints : in 
 laboring among these cruel islanders they required 
 strength of body as well as of soul, tact and skill as 
 well as consecration. Bishop Selwyn’s method was 
 a bold and simple one : he would approach an island 
 in the ship’s boat, wade or swim ashore leaving the 
 boat as a means of escape, if necessary, and on the 
 coral beach would meet the armed natives. “ No 
 litanies were sung, no banners were carried aloft, 
 still less was there a Christian Queen Bertha on shore 
 to prepare the way for the Bishop. It was essentially 
 a work of faith and of patience.” 
 
 A quarter of a century ago an Englishman who 
 had been around the world remarked in the hearing 
 of Prof. Christlieb that “ the aborigines of Australia 
 were quite beyond the reaoh of the Gospel, and that 
 before they could even understand it they must first 
 go through a preliminary course of general instruc- 
 tion.” History has shown that the traveller was 
 mistaken. The Gospel has been carried even to the de- 
 graded Papuans and not in vain. Cannibals have been 
 reclaimed ; precious souls have been won for Christ, 
 Schools and Sunday-schools have been organized, 
 churches have been built. More than one “ Southern 
 Cross,” as the famous Mission-ship was named, has made 
 its way from island to island in the South seas, carrying 
 Missionaries and Bibles. Fiji, with its lovely Islands, 
 has been added to the possessions of the British Govern- 
 ment ; and to-day in those distant regions the name of 
 Christ is mentioned lovingly in song and prayer and 
 word of testimony. The Gospel has triumphed. 
 
 II. In the second place let us call attention to the 
 encouraging fact that Heathen people in every part 
 
 OF THE WORLB HAVE RESPONDED PRAISEWORTHILY TO 
 
 the claims of the Gospel : they have shown their 
 appreciation of the revelation which has reached them 
 from God. Africa is popularly called “ the Dark Contin- 
 ent” ; yet Bishop Hannington has testified that the most 
 
( 12 ) 
 
 savage and degraded people were amenable to Chris- 
 tian influence. He writes : “As for the Africans, though 
 they were ofttimes haceful and hating, yet there is 
 much in them both to admire and to love. With all 
 their depravity and darkness, I fully endorse Livings- 
 ton’s words that there are excellent traits in their 
 character ; that they compare favorably with the 
 early history of now civilized nations and are capable 
 of a high degree of culture.” 
 
 1. They have accepted the Gospel in its entirety: j 
 they have not sought to lower the standard of morality 
 taught in the New Testament. The* Native Churches 
 raised up in India, China, Japan and the South 
 Sea Islands are one in doctrine, one in the interpreta- 
 tion of the Word of God, and they have as high a 
 standard of moral excellence as is possessed by the 
 older Churches of the West. It were lamentable 
 indeed if we were to find one standard of morals in 
 the East and another in the West ; if the heathen, 
 pressing into the kingdom of God, were to insist on 
 bringing along with them the paraphernalia of heathen- 
 dom, the observance of caste distinctions and the 
 many smaller evils connected with heathenism. 
 
 2. They have developed a laudable desire to make 
 the most and the best of themselves — a desire for self- 
 improvement The natives of Patagonia, when the 
 opportunity was offered, soon learned to read, to write, 
 and to work. The Australian aborigines have been 
 proved over and over again not to be the hopeless 
 savages they were once imagined : in five months’ 
 time they have been known to learn to read fairly well, 
 to explain in English the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten 
 Commandments, and to cut and lay stone, so as to 
 build a house unaided. In India, as in other heathen 
 lands, when a company of villagers accept Christianity, 
 their first request of the missionary is for a school- 
 master to teach their children. These new converts 
 have an instinctive desire to better their condition, a 
 desire directly traceable to the elevating and ennobling 
 character of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 “ No civilization,” says a recent writer, “ qualified the 
 Papuans of Australia to see the way, the truth, and the 
 
( 13 ) 
 
 life, and to hear the still, small voice bidding them enter. 
 But their Christianity prompted them to s Christian 
 rivilizatior. Their new life from above taught thorn 
 in every way to live a better life on earth. Jn part 
 they followed the example of the Missionaries, and 
 in part they gathered the fresh fruit of their own 
 purified ideas of social life and habitation and business 
 intercourse. They have now clean house 0 , pretty 
 chapels, and their arrowroot produce gained a prize at 
 the late Vienna Exposition. Each of the stations has 
 its school ; and they are quite up to the standard of the 
 ordinary village schools of Europe and America. The 
 Moravian Mission school at Ramahyuk received a few 
 years ago the highest prize offered by the Government 
 over all the 1,200 Colonial schools. These converted 
 Papuan ‘dogs,’ these ‘offscourings’ of the human race, 
 not waiting for any culture before they heard and be- 
 lieved in the Gospel, have now nearly 300 schools with 
 15,000 scholars, and besides, seven Normal schools, 
 with 100 pupils.” 
 
 In the Sandwich Islands the chiefs and people 
 when they became Christians saw the necessity' of 
 building Churches, and spared neither labor nor ex- 
 pense in this work. At Ivailua they erected a 
 Church 180 feet by 78, at Honolulu, 106 by 63. At 
 Lahana the Church was of stone 08 feet by 62, with 
 galleries, — “ the most substantial and noble struc- 
 ture in Polynesia.” 
 
 3. They have helped others. Let a. single illustra- 
 tion suffice. In the Bassein district (Burma) there 
 are 8,000 or more Karen Christians : these ont of 
 their extreme poverty have accomplished marvels for 
 the sake of the thorough education of their children. 
 They have spent $30,000 upon their High School 
 buildings, and in addition have invested $15,000 in 
 America as the beginning of an Endowment fund. 
 They have done this independently of the Missionary 
 Society. How could they do it ? “ There is no 
 
 human explanation,” says a Christian traveller, who 
 recently visited them : “The giving has been out of 
 range of all natural prompt" Bv <d’s Spirit 
 has hxeathe n these eon from -e lowest 
 
( H ) 
 
 heathenism, and through them He has taught a rich 
 lesson upon benevolence to the Universal Church.” 
 
 A few years ago Dr. Bainbridge and Mr. Carpenter 
 paid a visit to the villages of these liberal Karens. 
 At one place they found a village where the houses 
 appeared unusually dilapidated, and they were told 
 that it was soon to be abandoned on account of the 
 multiplication of rats in the surrounding jungle for 
 the previous seven years. On account of these pests 
 the people had only reaped a third-harvest and were 
 thus brought to destitution, to such an extent that 
 they had taken to eating the rats, instead of extermin- 
 ating them by poison as before. 
 
 The people of the village gathered in the Chapel 
 with the visitors. Says Dr. Bainbridge : “Sorrow and 
 sympathy and prayer are mingled, and then we sepa- 
 late. But the deacon draws from his tattered garment 
 a handful of silver, — ten rupees. ‘ This is our con- 
 tribution for foreign missions among the wild tribes 
 in the mountains.’ The tears gather in the eyes of 
 both the missionary and his guests. Money from 
 starving people to send the Gospel to heathens seven 
 hundred miles away. ‘ No, we cannot take it : 
 God does not ask this at your hands.’ The mission- 
 ary entreated them to place this contribution, at least 
 temporarily, in their Church poor fund, to save some 
 of their number it might be from death in a few days. 
 ‘ Impossible,’ said the minister, and he added these 
 words as he thrust the silver coins into Mr. Carpen- 
 ter’s hands : ‘ We can live on rats, but the Ka- 
 
 Khyens canuot live without the Gospel.’ ” 
 
 4. They have bravely undergone all manner of per- 
 secution. The question is not — In what heathen 
 country has there been persecution ? but, Where has 
 there not been persecution for Christ’s sake ? Verily, 
 Christ came “to bring a sword.” In the far North, 
 in the distant South, in the Eastern world and in the 
 Western, in the scattered islands and on the great con- 
 tinents, among high-castes and low-castes and out-casts; 
 among Mohammedans and Parsees, and a score of other 
 peoples, new converts have been bitterly persecuted. 
 Uuder the promptings of Satan, human nature has 
 
( 15 ) 
 
 exhibited a strange malevolence in this respect. Father 
 indeed has been set against son, son against father, 
 and so on through all the various degrees of kinship 
 and affection. 
 
 In the midst of these sore trials, which are about the 
 same in intensity the wide world over, whatever the 
 colour of skin, or cut of garment, or pattern of house 
 may be, heathen converts have remained true to Christ 
 and have manifested a marvelous degree of courage. 
 
 Our experience as missionaries in India confirms 
 this. As we tarn to the pages of our Annual Reports, 
 year by year, we find touching illu-trations of this 
 fact. In one we read of a new convert at Pithora- 
 garh in the mountains, who was obliged to leave his 
 house on becoming a Christian, and to live under 
 an adjoining tree month after month, even though 
 he was the sole bread-earner in the family ; in 
 another, we read of youths only sixteen years old, 
 who have been cast out of house and home for 
 accepting Christ ; women and girls also have shown 
 their bravery in enduring persecution for Christ. In 
 no country, perhaps, has there been more bitter or 
 marked persecution than in Madagascar. After 
 
 sixteen years of planting and training (dating from 
 1820) came twenty years of bloody persecution, 
 under the direction the maddened heathen Queen. 
 The story has been often told. The Native converts were 
 apprehended and severely dealt with ; many hundreds 
 were degraded and impoverished ; hundreds more 
 doomed to slavery ; hundreds were put to death, 
 and multitudes exiled. The Queen at one time 
 issued orders to her soldiers to put the Christians 
 to death at once wherever found, by digging a 
 pit, tying them by the hands and feet, thrusting them 
 into the pit and pouring boiling water on them till 
 they perished. In 1850, 2,000 converts were sum- 
 moned to the capital to answer for the offence of 
 worshipping the only true God and believing in his 
 Son. Three of the most distinguished for rank and 
 devotedness were sentenced to be burnt to death ; 
 and three times while their bodies were consuming 
 the rain descended in torrents and extinguished the 
 
( 16 ) 
 
 fires. Many others were thrown from a precipice 
 near the city and dashed in pieces. 
 
 In the midst of all this tribulation the converts 
 remained firm. They were often obliged to flee to 
 the forests for safety, and as the Queen's spies were 
 everywhere present they were in constant daDger of 
 their lives. Sometimes the converts were enabled 
 to recognise each other by a reference to Jeremiah 
 xxxviii, 15, (“ If I declare it unto thee, wilt thou 
 not surely put me to death '?”) which was answered 
 by the following verse (“ As the Lord liveth that made 
 us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will 
 I give thee into the hand of these men that seek 
 thy life.’’) The number of converts steadily in- 
 cieased, and it is stated on good authority that not 
 a single case of apostasy occuired. The heroic 
 Malagasy were indeed “ more than oonquerors.’l 
 
 5. They have won the a own oj martyrdom. It is 
 one of the strongest pi oofs of the power of the Gospel in 
 the hearts of men, that men and women have been found 
 in every age and in every clime, ready to give up 
 even life itself for Christ's sake. New converts, fiesh 
 from the daikness of heathendom, with the baptismal 
 vows still sounding in their heaits, and the baptismal 
 water scarcely dry upon their brows, have chterfully 
 gone to death lather than deny Christ. Foxe's “ Book 
 of Martyrs” is but an impel feet record. Many a name- 
 less convert in Japan, in Korea, in the Fiji Islands, 
 has sealed his confession of Christ with his heart's best 
 blood, w ith no consciousness that he was doing a heroic 
 deed. 
 
 Martyrs have not been wanting in India. In the 
 dark days of 1857, when the sepoys were thirsting for 
 the blood of Christians, not far from where we are met 
 in happy Conference to-day. a young Naiive Christian 
 girl (the Maria, of whom Dr. Butler so graphically 
 writes) was cruelly put to death : no tall monument 
 marks the spot where this pious conveit fell, hut her 
 Udine is written on h gh, and her faithfulness is an 
 incentive to us all to be tiue to our divine Master. 
 
 On the lith of Alay, I&57, Wilayat Ali, a Native 
 preacher, connected with the Baptist Mission at Delhi, 
 
( 17 ) 
 
 fell at his post, testifying for Christ with extraordinary 
 bravery to the very last. He was seized by the sepoys, 
 dragged through the streets and beaten with shoes 
 as he was hurried along, his persecutors tauntingly 
 said, “ Now, preach Christ to us ! Now, where is the 
 Christ in whom you boast ?” Others asked him to 
 forsake Christianity aud repeat the Kalima, but he 
 steadily refused and continued to speak of Jesus 
 to those around him. At last a mounted sepoy came 
 up, aud on being told that the captive was a Native 
 Christian, he drew his sword and with a blow severed 
 the head of the preacher from his body, and Wilayat 
 Ali went to join the noble army of martyrs ; his last 
 words were, “ 0 Jesus, receive my soul.” 
 
 And there are those before me to-day-those who them- 
 selves were heathen, others whose parents were heathen 
 — who would be as ready to go to the stake for Christ’s 
 sake to-morrow, as our beloved Bishop himself. These 
 Native brethren of ours, should the occasion arise, 
 would show their loyalty to Christ as readily as their 
 Western associates ; they love the Lord Jesus Christ 
 with a love that neither fire nor flood nor naked sword 
 could destroy. 
 
 But we need not go back even thirty years to find 
 martyrs in the lands of heathendom. The story o 
 Uganda in Eastern Africa is fresh in our minds, 
 where, at the bidding of the cruel young king, Mwanga, 
 the heroic Bishop Bannington was put to death. 
 We have rejoiced in the heroism of the English Bishop; 
 we should not forget the Native converts in that 
 distant field, who. with a steadfastness and courage 
 not a whit behind that of their English brother, won 
 the crown of martyrdom. Even Native boys, newiy 
 converted, have shown their devotedness to Christ and 
 their willingness to die for Him. In Uganda, early in 
 1885, several pages in the royal service, who had 
 recently embraced Christianity, were arrested. Among 
 these were three, “ Mr. Ashe’s boy,” Kakumba, and 
 Serwanga, who perished as martyrs. They were tor- 
 tured by having their arms cut off, and were then 
 bound alive to a scaffolding, under which a fire was 
 made, and they were slowly burnt to death, Mujasi 
 
( 18 ) 
 
 ; the king’s officer) and his men mocked them and 
 bade them pray now if Isa Masiya (Jesus Christ — the 
 same expression that we have in Hindustani) would 
 rescue them from his hands. “The dear lads 
 clung to their faith, and in the fire they sang 
 killa siku tunsifu ( the hymn, “ Daily, daily, sing the 
 praises.” ) Thus they passed out of this weary, 
 wicked world into the land of light and glory ; thus 
 was administered unto them an abundant entrance 
 unto heaven. Tell me not that these were Negroes ; 
 that their complexion was of the blackest ; that they 
 had curly hair and thick lips ; they stand side by side 
 with the proto-martyr Saint Stephen, encircled with 
 a radiancy and glory in comparison with which the 
 sun’s brightest beams are as darkness ; they have gone 
 up out of great tribulation ; they have made their 
 garments white in the blood of the Lamb : and by and 
 by we shall see them — with our own brave Hanumant 
 Singh of Shahjehanpore, and a mighty host of other 
 martyrs, hailing from many a scattered clime. 
 
 III. These considerations have prepared the way 
 for the discussion of a subject of deepest and abiding 
 interest to us all — The Spiritual Susceptibilities and 
 Religious Capabilities of the People of India, 
 especially those classified as heathen. These people 
 are essentially and primarily religious. This is shown 
 in many ways. 
 
 .1. In their worship , — They are a nation of worship- 
 pers. Temples abound throughout India, from those 
 on the far-away peaks of the Himalaya mountains to 
 the iemotest point of the Madras Presidency: it is only 
 when one has seen the temples of Muttra, Brindabun 
 and Benares in the North, and the immense structures 
 at Madura, Triohinopoly and Taujore in the South, 
 that he is qualified to speak on this subject ; in com- 
 parison with some of these great edifices the ordinary 
 village temple of the North-West Provinces seems but 
 a toy. In moie than one Kumaon valley nestle a 
 score or more of stone temples, small it is true and 
 rudely built, but still temples, proof positive that in 
 some by-gone age the valley was the home of those 
 who feared the gods and sought to please them. 
 
( 19 ) 
 
 Besides, there is constant daily worship in the houses 
 of the Hindus to an extent which we probably do not) 
 dream of ; the rude clay image is quickly fashioned ; 
 grains of rice, sweetmeats, a lota of water are always 
 at hand, and flowers of some kind are nearly always 
 available — for no purpose so available as to deck the 
 household idol. Herein largely lies the strength of 
 Hinduism : if every Hindu mother would to-morrow 
 abandon all worship at home the system would soon fall 
 and be a thing of the past. The heathen father may 
 not call together his family for daily prayers as the 
 Christian does, but the wife and mother sees to it 
 that the idols are not neglected ; and her zeal makes 
 idolators of her children. The mothers must be 
 reached before the nation can become Christianized. 
 It is a cause of devout thankfulness, that so many 
 consecrated women are eoming to India year by year 
 to labor among their heathen sisters. There are 
 Marys and Marthas, Phebes and Priscillas, Tryphenas 
 and Tryphosas, Lydias, Julias and Persises in these 
 cities about us as well as in the scattered towns and 
 villages, and a waiting wealth of fervour and devotion 
 now lavished upon gods of stone and brass that shall 
 yet be turned toward the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 2. In their pilgrimages — often long, weary and 
 painful ; often ending in death. It is something more 
 than a passing whim or idle notion that causes a man 
 to leave his home in Bengal or Bombay and make his 
 way to Hardwar (where the Ganges emerges from tue 
 Himalayas) and then on up the roadless mountain 
 sides to the sacred shrines of Kidarnath and Badri- 
 nath where he may make his promised offering and 
 prefer his darling request. Year by year scores of 
 these enthusiasts, men, women, and children, sicken 
 and die along the road, and yet the tide flows on. A 
 steamer full of pilgrims for Pooree may go down in 
 the Bay of Bengal with the loss of all on board, but 
 other pilgrims, undeterred by the fear of a repetition 
 of the ship-wreck, set out upon the same voyage to pay 
 their vows at the shrine of Jaggarnath. 
 
 3. In fasting . — This is a well-known custom 
 among the Hindus, and is observed in many part3 of 
 
( 20 ) 
 
 India with a carefulness, strictness and zeal which 
 are worthy a better cause. On certain days of the 
 year millions of Hindus abstain from food from 
 sunrise to sunset. 
 
 4. In keeping vows. — Illustrations of this abound 
 on every hand and need hardly be cited. On many 
 a mountain summit, where the road cuts the ridge, 
 pieces of cloth are to be seen tied to the branches of 
 a tree, each pieoe telling of a vow fulfilled. The 
 devotee who holds up an arm until the limb is stiffen- 
 ed, never more to be restored to its natural place ; 
 the man who measures his length along the dusty 
 road to a certain temple ; the recluse in the jungle — 
 these and others show that these heathen people have 
 not only a willingness to make vows to their deities 
 but a strength of purpose to keep them. 
 
 5. In large gifts of money offered gladly at the 
 shrines of gods and goddesses . — Who can estimate 
 the value of the offerings made to-day in the many 
 temples at Benares? Who can tell the value of all 
 the offerings thus presented to-day in the various 
 temples throughout India ? The Hindus are good 
 givers. The fact that so many thousands of priests 
 are supported year by year proves this. The people 
 repair to the shrines faithfully and do not go empty- 
 handed. In the midst of many a tray of sweetmeats 
 presented to the idol lies a piece of silver. Millions 
 of pice are daily offered in the name of some favorite 
 god by those who can ill-afford to give even so small 
 a sum. Such giving shows as nothing else could, 
 the capacity for self-denial which the ordinary Hindu 
 lias. Mr. Sumant Vishnu, of Bombay, gives it as 
 his opinion that the Hindus spend from Its. 5 to 
 Its. 15 eacli per annum on religious rites. 
 
 6. In spiritual-mindedness . — Who among us docs 
 not recall some devout Hindu, with whom he has come 
 in contact in the course of-his missionary experience — 
 with face full of eager questioning, with a mind accus 
 corned to thinking on spiritual subjects, and a heart 
 yearning to find rest ? There are many such all over 
 India, some on the threshold of the Kingdom of Christ, 
 others, alas ! still groping in the darkness, never having 
 
( 21 ) 
 
 had the Gospel message explained to them. The' 
 people about us have a capacity for soul culture. 
 
 In almost any season of the year, if you will walk 
 carefully across your compound, even where at a 
 cursory glance you see nothing but grass growing out 
 of the kankar- fil’ed soil, you will find on a closer 
 examination that the tiniest flowers of most pleasing 
 hue and of delicate pattern abound on every side. It 
 takes stooping to find them, but when found, their de- 
 licate beauty is beyond comparison. Even so I have 
 thought in the midst of the bloody sacrifices, the wide- 
 spread idolatry, the gross ignorance, the heathen rites 
 and ceremonies of India, we find conjugal fidelity, love 
 of childien, obedience to parents and other sweet 
 and gentle virtues developed often to a surprising 
 degree, giving us an earnest of what we may expect 
 when the genial dews of the Holy Spirit's precious 
 influence shall fall upon these hearts. It teems 
 almost a miracle — a yearly miracle — that these plains 
 about us do not lose their productiveness, that the 
 fields should continue to be ploughed and reaped 
 century after century, millenium after millenium. In 
 many western lands we see the soil wearing out and 
 refusing to bring forth seed to the sower : here in 
 India, our kind heavenly Father, night after night, 
 touches with loving hands the dews as they fall upon 
 thirsty fields, and year by year he miraculously en- 
 r.ches the clouds that descend with copious showers : 
 the millions ate fed. How easy will it be for Him 
 who so wondrously loves this people to send showers 
 of blessing upon waiting souls, rivei3 of grace 
 that shall flow through countless heaits, showing 
 forth his thoughtful love and his Almighty power 
 and bringing foith spiritual harvests of unspeakab*e 
 beauty and value. 
 
 In view of these and various other considera- 
 tions, which no doubt have suggested themselves 
 to your minds, while I have been speaking ] it is 
 not strange that Bishop Thomson, eloquent, sym- 
 pathetic, far-sighted, in his address at the organi- 
 zation of our Conference, years ago, should have- 
 spoken in such glowing terms of the bright prospects- 
 
( 22 ) 
 
 of Christianity in India. Speaking of India’s song, 
 the eloquent Bishop said: “ Hyprocritical, false, un- 
 grateful, from the oppression of ages, they may be ; 
 but in their breasts is gentleness and patience and 
 love, while religion enters largely into their national 
 life. They have characteristics, which, if sanctiBed, 
 would enable them to enjoy the plerophory of grace. 
 Europe is too proud, America too worldly, and both 
 too materialistic. India, brought to Jesus, may lie, 
 like John, in the Master’s bosom. Is not Indian 
 mind too peculiarly adapted to our form of faith ? It 
 needs something to arouse it from its fatalism, to 
 teach it the immutability of moral distinctions, the 
 moral quality of intention, and to inspire it with a 
 sense of human responsibility. It is adapted also 
 to our type of piety — the emotional, the hopeful. It 
 demands too our form cf propagandism; we employ 
 lay agency, we teach men to preach Christ crucified so 
 soon as the divine coals t urn within them. We have 
 a system of itinerancy just fitted to set fire to these 
 plains.” 
 
 It is for the salvation of such a people that you and 
 I are labouring. Could we find a better field, one more 
 attractive, or inspiriting ? We are in good company 
 here in India in the midst of our Aryan brothers and 
 sisters. I know of no better place than India for delevop- 
 ing moral character, the graces by which we may “ adorn 
 the doctrine of God our Saviour.” I deny the charge, 
 often carelessly made, that missionaries in India, on ac^ 
 count of their heathen surroundings are apt to back- 
 slide and lose spiritual power. Helping these little 
 ones about us is the best and greatest and safest thing 
 you and I can do, as we shall see in the great day of 
 eternity. 
 
 God is with us : let us be of good cheer. Our suc- 
 cesses — let them be spoken of with humility on our 
 part — tell that the Divine Leader is in our midst. Let 
 us go on, strengthening the stakes and lengthening 
 the cords, expecting great things from God, attemp- 
 ting great things for Him. Let the joy of the Lord be 
 our strength. The future has wonderful surprises in 
 store for us as Christian workers. Times of refreshing 
 
( 23 ) 
 
 
 shall surely come. .Revivals will break out in o«r 
 midst as never before, and multitudes will press their 
 way into the Kingdom. Let us appreciate our rich 
 heritage and know of a truth that God has “ much 
 people ” in this mighty empire. And let us not be 
 discouraged : let us cot say in fretful impatience, 
 Why is it that our Lord delays his coming; why 
 does He not stretch forth His mighty hand, and 
 by a word win these millions of India to Himself 
 and enter upon His rich inheritance here ? The 
 fact that He does delay most plainly indicates the 
 duty of the Church ; something remains for us to 
 do, and it behooves us to do it with our might. We 
 may say with one of India’s greatest missionaries, the 
 immortal Duff, who still lives in the lives of many 
 worthy workers in various parts of the land: “ If India 
 has been allowed to continue for ages the theatre 
 of one of Satan’s mightiest triumphs, it is only 
 that in these latter days it may become the theatre of 
 one of his disastrous defeats. If, in the pride of sinful 
 lust, India has long refused to yield allegiance to 
 Him, who on Zion’s holy hill has been anointed King 
 and Governor of the nations, it is only that — when 
 made captive and willing in the day of His power and 
 merciful visitation — she may enrich and adorn, with 
 more than the spoils of orient magnificence, the tri- 
 umphal car of the conquering Immanuel.” 
 
 Let us go forth then, “ strong in the Lord and in 
 the power of his might,” our hearts aflame with holy 
 zeal, our souls purified by the precious blood of Christ, 
 our minds enlightened from on high, in fullest sym- 
 pathy with the purpose of Christ to save the world 
 and enter upon his inheritance. It may not be ours to 
 unbar and lift up the everlasting gates to allow the 
 King of Glory to enter the shining courts above : but 
 we may take some little one by the hand and lead him 
 or her into the Redeemer’s Kingdom, and win thereby 
 the Master’s approval and the eternal gratitude of a 
 ransomed soul. May God bless us for Jesus’ sake 
 
 Printed at the Methodist Publishing House, 10, Dacre’s Lane. 
 

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