A TRAIL OF LIGHT 
 AROUND THE GLOBE 
 
 AMERICAN BAPTIST 
 FOREIGN MISSION SOCIETY 
 
 FORD BUILDING --BOSTON MASS. 
 
 £ 
 
 JSfveon Hill Jro</'oj. 
 
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J\ trail of Eight around the Globe 
 
 T HAT man is crazy,” said America one hundred 
 years ago, when young Adoniram Judson turned 
 from a comfortable living and a brilliant career in his 
 native land, and, with his bride, set his face toward 
 distant, darkened Burma, there to give his life to a people 
 who neither invited him to come nor wanted him to stay. 
 
 T HAT man is a hero,” says America today as 
 it looks back over the century and realizes that 
 the little spark, kindled in the heart of that young 
 
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minister, has become a veritable trail of light around 
 the globe. Let us now, in this centennial year, take a 
 little journey in the wake of this light and see where it 
 leads, and what it will disclose. 
 
 T HE natural starting point for such a pilgrimage must 
 be Burma, the oldest and, in point of results, larg¬ 
 est of our mission fields. Here, in this richest province 
 of all India, are gathered forty different races, and twelve 
 millions of people, with ten millions of Buddhists. Into 
 this stronghold of heathenism, into the midst of this 
 people, intolerant of all other religions, came, first Jud- 
 son and then a long line of worthy successors bearing 
 the light. It would take far too long to recount the 
 discouragements they met, the obstacles they overcame 
 and the patience with which they pursued their chosen 
 labors. Let the results speak for them. Exclusive 
 of the Burmans, among whom the work was begun, the 
 efforts of the missionaries have been centered among 
 eight races of which the Talains, Kachins, Karens, Shans 
 and Chins are most important. Especially noteworthy 
 has been the work among the Karens, a people unusually 
 susceptible to the gospel, through their traditions of the 
 flood, and of a God about whom they would some time 
 learn from the white man. A mighty change has been 
 brought about among these peoples within a century, —- 
 a revolution that has overturned things socially, politi¬ 
 cally and religiously. Heathenism is being undermined, 
 idols are being deserted, and Buddha totters on his 
 throne. The priests can no longer hold the people, who 
 turn from them to the new leader as if drawn by a magnet. 
 
 W E find religious work in Burma carried on in thirty- 
 two stations, by 191 missionaries and 2,483 
 native workers, whose efforts have resulted in 1,009 
 
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churches with a membership of nearly 66,000 and 614 
 Sunday schools with 25,000 pupils. Equally notable 
 have been the results along educational lines. As a monu¬ 
 ment to the untiring efforts of our teachers, there are in 
 Burma today 743 schools, including Rangoon Baptist 
 College, two theological seminaries and forty-four board¬ 
 ing and high schools, enrolling a total of 28,626 pupils. 
 Strong emphasis has been laid upon medical work and 
 last year nine medical missionaries, in four good hospitals, 
 made the bodies of over three thousand natives fit 
 temples for the spirit to dwell in. 
 
 A VERY important work is being most acceptably 
 done by the American Baptist Mission Press at 
 Rangoon, which, under the efficient direction of Mr. F. D. 
 Phinney, puts much inspiring literature into the hands 
 of the natives. 
 
 T ODAY the great problem in Burma is to reach 
 the Chinese, who are coming to the country in 
 vast numbers and are taking the industrial activities 
 from the Burmans. It is evident that the future des¬ 
 tiny of Burma depends upon reaching these Chinese 
 immigrants. 
 
 B UT the trail of light leads us on to the northeast 
 corner of India to Assam, the melting pot of the 
 East, where six millions of people make known their 
 thoughts in eighty different languages. Here, in the 
 valleys, we find Hinduism with its rank idolatry, shock¬ 
 ing immorality and hearty contempt for any new re¬ 
 ligion; while among the hills dwell the Animists, — the 
 Garos, Rabhas, Nagas and others, who, with cruel 
 rites and sacrifices, pay homage to malignant spirits 
 of the air. 
 
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TT is here, among these hill tribes, that we see the great- 
 est manifestations of the triumph of the gospel. 
 Wonderful tales reach our ears of conversions from spirit- 
 worship to the worship of the one true Spirit — tales of 
 children transformed from filth and nakedness to clean¬ 
 liness and respectability, their faces aglow with the glory 
 of the new-found Saviour. Many are the instances 
 that we see of shrines deserted, of altars broken down, 
 and of prejudice and superstition vanishing like mist 
 before the rising sun. 
 
 TTERE in Assam the light reveals to us sixty-six 
 -L J- missionaries and 404 native workers, laboring 
 together in thirteen stations, while 13,000 Christians 
 are worshiping in the 137 churches, and in 193 Sunday 
 schools 7,200 scholars are learning the lessons from the 
 lips of the teacher. Here, also, standing like beacons in 
 the midst of ignorance and poverty are 234 schools, 
 including seven boarding and high schools, and one 
 training school, which for over 5,500 eager youths point 
 the way to higher things. And industrial work among 
 such a people as this is doing wonders. Medical missions 
 are represented here by two hospitals in which nearly 
 13,000 diseased were treated last year. Truly a wonder¬ 
 ful heritage is Assam, perhaps the most promising of all 
 our mission fields. 
 
 t)UT from South India gleams the light and to that 
 ' point we go. In this region Hinduism with its 
 rigid caste system, with its naked immorality, with its 
 330,000,000 gods, with its girl widows — has long reigned 
 supreme. In the two neighboring fields, South India, 
 embracing the work among the Telugus, and in Bengal- 
 Orissa, conditions are very similar. Though caste has 
 been a terrible obstacle, it shows signs of weakening and 
 
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many examples can be cited of ostracism for the sake of 
 Christianity. 
 
 F ROM the seed sown in this ground we are shown a 
 sturdy growth. In twenty-nine South India sta¬ 
 tions, with a working force of 113 missionaries and 1,671 
 natives, the church has in twenty years increased ten 
 times as fast as the population, the 147 churches today 
 numbering a membership of nearly 67,000, while 16,000 
 receive instruction in the 59 2 Sunday schools. Many 
 notable types of Christianity have been developed and 
 a spirit of sacrifice is noticeable in the missionary work 
 which many are conducting among their brothers in 
 Africa. By friendly words and open attendance at 
 the churches, many of the Brahmans are showing 
 that Christ means more than caste. 
 
 T HE great problem in South India has been that of 
 self-support and this problem the 707 schools, 
 high, industrial and secondary, with their enrolled mem¬ 
 bership of nearly 19,000 are helping to solve. To a 
 people long afflicted with tropical diseases, medical aid 
 is a great relief and last year 21,000 patients were treated 
 in the five hospitals. 
 
 I N the Bengal-Orissa field with nine stations twenty- 
 five missionaries and 396 native workers have estab¬ 
 lished twenty-three churches with 1,621 members, and 
 sixty-three Sunday schools with over 2,200 scholars. 
 Two large institutions, a Bible school and a Boys’ High 
 School, and 162 smaller schools comprise the educational 
 equipment. Although there are but three doctors and 
 one hospital, over seven thousand patients were given 
 relief last year. 
 
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T)UT the trail now leads us across the border from 
 India, to where the empire of the dragon lies in 
 all its vastness, teeming with people, embracing within 
 its confines one fourth the population of the globe. 
 China is a nation proud of her traditions, fondly cling¬ 
 ing to the iron-bound customs of a bygone age. Here, 
 missionaries have come in contact with three great 
 religions — Confucianism with its system of morals and 
 ancestor worship; Buddhism, with its idolatrous prac¬ 
 tices, and Taoism, with its moral philosophy and spirit 
 worship. To meet the contemptuous pride of the learned 
 class; to overcome the falsehood and superstition of 
 these three great religions, has been no easy task. In 
 addition to this our missionaries were confronted with a 
 rotten social system — a system where women were 
 degraded, where child murder was not a crime and where 
 opium had set its blight upon the home. Yet, the heart 
 of the people was not at rest; they were searching for 
 the peace which their religion did not give. 
 
 TNTO such a field, then, came our missionaries, and, 
 undaunted by the obstacles, they have never swerved 
 from their purpose until today in twenty-one stations 
 throughout the empire, 172 missionaries and 544 native 
 workers are upholding the banner of the cross; while in 
 155 churches more than 6,300 members are enrolled and 
 nearly 7,000 scholars gather weekly in the 159 Sunday 
 schools. A thorough educational system is represented 
 by three colleges, three academies, two girls’ schools and 
 a woman’s Bible school, besides 170 lesser institutions, 
 enrolling about 5,000 pupils. The China Baptist Pub¬ 
 lication Society at Shanghai gives valuable aid by its 
 distribution of books and pamphlets. Last year the 
 twenty-four medical missionaries on the field treated 
 23,000 patients in the ten hospitals. 
 
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\ 1 JHAT missions has done for China, recent his- 
 * * tory tells; what missions will do for China, the 
 Christians of the world must say. More doors are open 
 than ever before; there is a chance for “ the most momen¬ 
 tous advance of Christianity since Paul crossed over 
 into Macedonia.” China is awake! She calls for 
 workers. She listens for the message. 
 
 TN Japan, whence now shines the light, we learn that 
 the planting of the cross has been attended with 
 many difficulties as well as many encouragements. 
 Here, in an area but little larger than that of California, 
 are crowded fifty-one millions of people. The Japanese 
 as a people are intelligent, but a very important trait 
 is their apparent lack of any moral principle. Here, as 
 in China, three great religions have long defied Christian¬ 
 ity: Confucianism, Buddhism and Shintoism, the 
 worship of heroes and departed emperors. 
 
 T^ROM the moment that Commodore Perry knocked 
 a t the barred gates of this island empire and de¬ 
 manded admittance in the name of a waiting world, 
 until now, when 4,000 Baptist Christians are serving 
 the Lord in thirty-three churches, our missionaries have 
 been helping shape the ideals of this little nation. The 
 work done here by the fifty-eight missionaries and 201 
 native workers shows true progress, for in addition to the 
 churches, 196 Sunday schools have enrolled nearly 
 12,000 pupils. We learn of the change in the lives and 
 character of the natives from a Japanese contractor 
 who says, “ The only men I can trust without watching 
 are the men who have accepted the Jesus teaching.” 
 
 J APAN is the paradise of children, and kindergarten 
 work is of great importance. Twenty-five schools 
 of all grades, including the theological seminary, woman’s 
 
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Bible school, home schools, academy and training schools 
 are giving to 1,450 keen oriental minds the best of the 
 learning of the Occident. 
 
 I N and out among the islands that make up the Japan¬ 
 ese empire flits the little gospel ship, the “ Fukuin 
 Maru,” with its consecrated captain, Luke W. Bickel, 
 and its crew of native Christians, bearing the message 
 to isolated ports that otherwise could never be reached. 
 Thus on land and sea is the cross being lifted up. 
 
 D OWN deep in the heart of Africa, where we find 
 humanity at its lowest stage, even there do we 
 catch a gleam of the trail of the light. In the Congo, 
 we find a people long crushed under the tyranny of a 
 cruel king, a people almost without religion, delighting 
 in every form of evil. Here fetishism holds sway, fetish¬ 
 ism with its superstitious worship of an unknown power; 
 with its cruel rites and bloody tortures of witch doctors. 
 
 Y ET today, a people who but a few years ago were 
 brandishing bows and spears and shrieking war- 
 whoops are carrying hymn books and singing the songs 
 of the church. Today, where a few years ago were 
 cannibalism, paganism and savagery, are twenty 
 churches, with 4,500 members, forty-seven missionaries 
 and 294 native workers. Where a few years ago were 
 naked, savage children are today 104 Sunday schools 
 with 6,000 pupils. Where were recently only dense 
 ignorance and poverty are 175 schools,— boarding, 
 high, industrial, and others, with 6,675 pupils, lifting 
 a people used only to primitive methods of agriculture, 
 out of degradation into lives of service. In a country 
 where sleeping sickness and other tropical diseases claim 
 their victims by the hundreds, and where the cruel 
 
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tortures of the witch doctor only aggravate the difficul¬ 
 ties, the seven doctors and three hospitals are an inesti¬ 
 mable boon. 
 
 DUT now a new gleam appears and we see, lying just 
 J—' at the door of Asia a little group of islands, the 
 latest and one of the most promising of our mission fields. 
 Here we find eight millions of little people who fifteen 
 years ago had not a church, a decent school, or a doctor 
 on their islands; in whose midst misery and dirt were ap¬ 
 palling ; where hookworm slew its thousands and malaria 
 its tens of thousands annually. To these Philippines, 
 following the Stars and Stripes, we see coming our mis¬ 
 sionaries. And what a welcome is theirs! Never 
 before in the history of missions had there been found a 
 people so eager to hear the gospel, so ready to receive 
 its messengers. We see them coming from the east 
 and from the west, crowding into the little chapel built 
 to hold them, until the walls burst outward with the 
 multitude. 
 
 /\ ND notable results meet our eyes. The upper classes, 
 at first disdainful, are becoming more and more 
 friendly to the work, and as for the natives, searching 
 the Scriptures is proving more fascinating to them than 
 head-hunting, and the battlecry is succeeded by the 
 Christian hymn. In two years the churches have in¬ 
 creased in number sixty-seven per cent., now numbering 
 fifty-one, while the membership of 3,800 is an increase of 
 twenty-nine per cent. There are also forty-nine Sunday 
 schools with 4,600 pupils, twenty-nine missionaries and 
 113 native workers. Mental development is provided 
 for by eight schools of all kinds, with 1,700 enrolled. 
 The Philippine Baptist Mission Press at Iloilo is doing 
 much to get the printed page before the eyes of the native 
 reader. 
 
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T HE importance of medical missions cannot be over¬ 
 estimated, for oftentimes the conquest of the soul 
 can be made only after the body has been healed. There 
 are in the islands today two medical missionaries and 
 in the two hospitals last year over 7,500 patients received 
 the healing touch. 
 
 B UT there remains yet another field, a little different 
 in the character of its work. In Europe, where 
 Baptists are a weak and struggling body, often perse¬ 
 cuted, money is appropriated and workers are sent to 
 strengthen the weak. In Germany, Spain, Denmark, 
 Sweden, Norway, Russia and Finland good work is 
 being done. Theological seminaries at Hamburg and 
 in Sweden, and the Cassel Publishing House are im¬ 
 portant agencies in propagating Baptist principles in 
 these countries. There are throughout Europe 1,182 
 churches, 2,483 preachers and over 139,000 church mem¬ 
 bers. 
 
 T HUS the trail of light has led around the globe, and a 
 glorious trail it is. Our missions, eleven in num¬ 
 ber, comprise a total of 127 mission stations, with 701 
 missionaries and 6,106 native workers. We have forty- 
 four lay missionaries, consisting of twenty doctors, 
 thirteen teachers, four evangelists, six business men and 
 a sea captain. As the result of a century of evangeliza¬ 
 tion there are today in non-Christian lands 1 ,575 
 churches; in all foreign lands counting Europe, 2,75/1 
 with 305,600 church members enrolled, and a total 
 number of over 585,000 baptisms. The Bible is being 
 taught in 1,970 Sunday schools to over 80,000 pupils 
 exclusive of Europe. Our educational work is conducted 
 in three colleges, twenty-three theological seminaries and 
 training schools, and over 2,200 other schools, with a 
 
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total enrolment of over 73,000 pupils. The ministry of 
 healing is rendered by fifty-eight medical missionaries, 
 in twenty-seven hospitals and fifty-seven dispensaries. 
 Last year 100,000 patients received medical treatment. 
 
 TOURING the century our missionaries have trans- 
 ^ lated the Bible, wholly or in part, into more than 
 thirty dialects and languages. Three publication plants 
 on foreign fields help to scatter the good seed, by print¬ 
 ing and distributing Bibles, periodicals, hymn books, 
 text-books and other literature. 
 
 T)UT with all our rejoicing over a century of Baptist 
 progress, we do not forget the noble work of the 
 other denominations, who often in cooperation have 
 helped make possible the accomplishment of much that 
 might otherwise have remained undone. Cooperation 
 is becoming more and more an essential of success on 
 the foreign field. In this connection mention should 
 be made of the great interdenominational University 
 of Nanking; of the educational system at Chengtu, 
 which includes a university, an academy, and several 
 secondary schools, and of the West China Union 
 University in which the Baptists, Friends and Metho¬ 
 dists unite; also of the union work with the Presbyte¬ 
 rians in Japan. In healing as well, we are working side 
 by side with the Presbyterians in China and in the 
 Philippines, and with the Methodists at Huchow. 
 
 A GLORIOUS record we say, and well; but what of 
 ‘L*- the future? What of the unreached millions? How 
 can we enter the open doors? The Foreign Mission 
 Society estimates that fifty new missionary families 
 are needed to keep up the work properly where it has 
 already been established. In Burma several stations 
 
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are without resident missionaries. In China and Japan 
 are marvelous opportunities not only for preachers, but 
 for teachers, doctors, men skilled in industrial work, 
 who are capable of blazing new trails in the wilderness. 
 
 N OT only men, but equipment and buildings are 
 needed as well. Fifteen churches and chapels, 
 homes for missionaries, teachers’ residences for Burma, a 
 dining hall for Rangoon Baptist College, five hospitals, 
 twenty-one other buildings from boys’ dormitories to col¬ 
 lege halls, — these are some of the things that must be 
 forthcoming if the Kingdom is to be advanced. And 
 added to this are other buildings to the number of 
 seventy, — land, sewage systems and electric lighting 
 plants, all totalling about $325,000. 
 
 O provide these things and to advance the light 
 
 still farther is the work, not of the Society but of 
 the churches, and of the individual members of the 
 churches, who, although they cannot go to the foreign 
 fields themselves, can, by their contributions, reach out 
 hands across the sea to lift the heathen up into the trail 
 of light that leads, like Bethlehem’s star, to the feet of 
 the King. 
 
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TfOR additional literature or any other 
 •* information regarding the work of 
 the American Baptist Foreign Mission 
 Society, write to any of the following: — 
 
 1. The nearest District Secretary. 
 
 2. Department of Missionary Edu¬ 
 cation, 23 East 26th Street, New York 
 City. 
 
 3. Literature Department, Box 41, 
 Boston, Mass. 
 
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 1060-10M-6-15-14. 
 
 SAMUEL USHER 
 BOSTON