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MICROCOPY RESOLUTION TESTXCHART (ANSI and ISO JEST CHART No. 2) .r: ^•: 1.0 1.1 1.25 1^ M Xi •A. u 3.2 13^ r4.o 1.4 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.8 'f- 1.6 ..*• \M: V^PPLIED IIS/MGE Inc ; 1653 East Main street : Rochester, New Yprk 14609 ° USA' ; (716) 482 -0300- Phorte ;■ (716) .288 -5989 -Fax •^ /■ ■ ^^'■^r.'.;;; V,-/iw»"-* \; INITED GHURCh , , . AHCHIVFF — - 1% ——OF i , , ■ ■ — BY — ' , ROBERT WALLACE, ■ ■ I ■ i ■ ■ ■ ' ■ '(■... MARCH MONT' HOME. ■ I I ' ■ ■ JJKLT.EVITiLE. [^J!&tMk:^Jk^^M^ ^!4^?4^!4aife^M£J^^!fe ^ Printed at the I ntell i gencer Orticc y Bt-llcvill e , Orit I facts' and figures of mBdern ' / missions. BY KOBBRT WALtACB; ■.'•t \ A papi't rciui before tlic\Minis(crhit A s soda- Hon of Belleville and pruHed at their request, ■ ^ . ■ • . ■ ', ■ ■ • ' ■ The day has long since passed awky, never more to telurn, when it was necessary to vindi- cate or apologize ftir foreign missions.. We smile when we think of Dr. Kylami rebuking William Carey, the immortal shdemaker of Paiilerspury;^Snd saying "s^Jdown, young nian, when God wants to convert Ihe heathen He'll .doit without your agency, "^^r, as we think of the General Assembly df Scotland a' little later, pronouncing the idea of imiverSal missions •'tanatical and absurd, dangeraus ind revolu- tionary. " Or, later still, and cottiing nearer home, when one of the Senators of the State of Massachussetts objected to the proposed charter of the American Board of Foreign Missions on the ground that it would /'export religion, whereas, there is none to spare among our- selves," Forgetting the word which declares, * 'there is that scattereth and yet ihcreaseth. " But while it is tfiie that few would now cavil ^ -at foi^ign missions, the»e^ is a lamentable amount of ignorance on the subject among the" majority of Christians, and, although knowledge i « * j; , dae* not always kindle zeal» yd /t'al in general- ly' **acc«>r(lin|» to knowledf^e " rtmd carinut exist without it. One Of tlie cryin},': needs -of tlie church of (.'hr(sl to-day i«C)it seenVs to ipe, m<)re dc'hnile and inteUiijent fnfornfafi»»n about f»)r- eign mission work : - first, as to what has l»een accomjilished, second, as to what is now hein^ dpne l)y the holde men and women who are. bearing; the heat , and burden ^pf the day, and third, the tremendous* amount of real hard, < heavy work tlvat yet remains to.be done. . _ The Rev. A. T. I'ierson, in his thrilling book, "The CriVis of Missions, "(a l)ook which should „ be'in the hands of every christian) well „ says^ that "farts are the fingers of God," and a knowledge of the grand facts ofthe march of modein missions is the necessary condition of an intelligent interest therein. >ii|e are all apt to have the horizon of our syn^ilHiies bounded hy the narrow limits of our immefiiate envirori- menlj phrscizfi's, otir families, our church, our city, &c., forgetting our Lord's exhortation to "lift up our eyes ami look on the fields, for they are white aboady to harvest."' "Look not • every man on his owri things, but. every man also on the things of others."^ ■'-'■. »■■•■• * I ■■■ ^ . '■ ■ . If there were no other grounds for engaging in foreign missions, the one great command, well ^lled "the church's marching orders," "Go ye " into all the world and preach the gospel to ^ every creature," is sufficient, for obedience should be one of the distinguishing traits in every christian character'. "Whatsoever, he saith unto you, do it !' is still incumbent on every true disciple, and "obedience is better than ,: sacrifice." In the face of these things, it surely /becomes not only the dtlty, bulfhe happy pi ivij* lege of every child of God to do his utmost to I i- 7 Wm A carry out this command, Ami by prayer, effort, and influence, if not permitted hnnself to go to heathen lands, to help and strengthen those who do go. I'm afraid there is a lingering dread in the minds of many, l>oth ministers and members, that if the missionary fire hums too brightly all the fuel will be consumed, that is to say, people will give so much for foreign missi{ms they will have nothing left for home work. There never was a greater, delusion ; in every case the man who is most interested and gives and does^most for mission work abroad islhe man whogives and does most for the same workat home— in fact weshould not put home and foreign work in contrast, the great, generous Husbandman looks upon both as parts of one field, "the field is the world,'* and what is foreign to us is liome to someone else. 'One has said "when the church ceases to ■'be ^angelistic, it soon ceases to be evangeli- cal,", and it is so, for it then loses the spirit of Christ, which is the spirit of missions, - "as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. " iWhei^ we think of foreign missions we must n6t forget that, strictly speaking, they are the oateome of the preseat century. It was in 1792 that twdve Baptist ministers met in the little Cottage of Widow Wallis, at Kettering, arid formed the first English society for *'propaeat- ji»g the gospel among the heathen." Since then w'ljat marvellous miracles have been wrought ! What gigantic strides taken by this magnificent movement ! Xf these twelve men could come back to-day juid ^e how the little "mustard, seed" his*- developed till it has become a mighty tree "Whose branches cover the earth," they would exclaimj **what hath God wrought ?" In taking a rapid review of foreign missions, it m ay b e weH to divide it into ay retrospective v> may \. and a prospuctive glance, lbokin||[ back at what has been attunipled ahtl acGoinplishctl, and far- ward at what is k'fl for us to do* for there is yet. "very in uc li land t<^ 1 )e possessed , "; ^ M t^ *" \, ■ , . ■■ Let us Ijej^in with the s«n in the east and look at India -a name that awakens many tender recollections of our earliest impressions of the need of the poor black people, as we then calleoing out in an ever in- creasing stream, carrying the glad tidings throughout the length an«l breadth of the land. As a result, christian homes and households are nntUiplying rapidly ond these will elevate and mould more and more the coming generation. It is impossible to forget the wonderful work that has been df the car and being crushed (o deatli. Now ''nrtne are found so poor as do him reverence," and laboring men are^ hired to draw the deserted idol.' .. theless art^enornious country, comprising as it does one-tenth of the habitable globe, equal to one and a half times the size of Europe and its islands, or forty- four times that of England, ' Ireland and Scotl:ind. The population is cora- ^mensurate with the country, ranging from 350 to 400 millions, one-third the population of the globe, a fact which is grasped in some m'easure, when wie rememblir this rfleans that every third man, wonian, and chikV in the world is a Chi- nese./ ;■ ,- ■ ■•' '■'■^^■■: .. -■■ . / What i3 to become of this wonderful nation, which boasts a ciyilization nearly 3,000 years older than our own, ^hich has seen Egypt, Per- sia, Greece and Rdme rise to the zenith of their glory and fad^e away: a **hrewd, clever^ capable people, nicknamed ** Oriental Yankees"? If in the gracious providence of God they had not been restrained within their walled kingdom until now, when we are able to cope.\yith them, we might to-day have been under Chinese rule, learning and practising Confucianism at the sword's point. Confucius flourished 5C0 years before Christ, and his system 01 morality is, a marveL Filial piety and obedience are exalted as chief viritues, so that a man in China, no mat- ter howTbld he is^ remains under the authority of his parents as long as they iive. But while morality is thus inculcated, they lack the power to give it life. Confucius cannot say to his dis- ciples as Jesus Chdst does to His, '* to as many as received Hi m'to them gave He power to be- come the sons ot God." Buddhism, Tauism, . Mohammedanism, and ancestral worship are * tKe*other forms of religion that obtait), the last perhaps the niost prevalent and powerful, as it ]nake.s peacf and happiness in the other world largely dep/endent on the gratitude land gifts of friends Idrt.beliindi: especially the sons of the. jf , family ; in fact .only the sons can supply the wants of departed parents, and a man without a son has little hope of, any comfort or consola- tion in the worl4 of spirits, ^ * ' The condition of women, while hot so bad perhaps as that of India, is deplorable and dc graded beyond degree. They are not shut up in zenanas, but etiquette forbids them ^especially those of the uppei and middle classes) attending mixed meetings,. or having any intercourse with male Missiona^. A medical Missionary be- ing called jn trfPescribe for the wife of a Man- darin of, high rank who was dangerously ill, found he was expected to do so without seeing his illustrious patient, and when he insisted that this was impossible, the only concession allowed was, that her hand should be held through a screeii, and he could diagnose the case from, that. • Protestant Missions in China only date Irom the beginning of this century, when, in l8c|, Robert Morrison, the last-maker of Morpeth, went to Canton under the auspices of the I^QP-. don Missionary Societj^ and began the study of that hardest of all languages amid apparently insuperable difficulties. Adopting the native dress he lived and labored among them, becom- ing a Chinaman to the Chinese that '; thereby he might gain some,*' and after seven years baptised his first convert and completed a trans- lation of the New Testament. Although thus begun the work went on slowly, owing to their prejudice against foreigners, and their self satw- faction, regarding all outside the "flowery land as barbarians, who needed to be taught rather than come to teach. It was not till the famous, or rather infamous treaty of Tientsin, wrung from the Chinese after the opium war, that the country in 1858 was really open to the Gospel. The opium thus introduced at the point of the bayonet has been an unmitigated curse to China —worse even, if possible, than the dreadful drink traffic of our own land. It is the real Chinese wall thtit bars the spread of the truth, and it is a broad, black blotch on the fair es- cutcheon of England, that Vhe tra(^e has not long since been abolished. : 4- Between 30 and 40 Societies are now at work in China, and perhaps the most aggressive and successful of all is the > China Inland Mission,'* founded in 1865 by J. Hudson Taylor, with the holy ambition of placing Missionaries in every oneof the 18 vast provinces,!! of which at that time were without a single witness for Christ. The "members of this Mission (which tlie writer at one time hoped to join, but was prevented , through ill health,) follow Morrison and Wm. Burns in adopting the native dress, living right among the Chinese, and as far as possible adapt- ing themselves to their manners and customs. By these means they have been permitted to itinerate freely all over the land moving from place to place, till the people and officials be- coming accustomed to their presence, rind see- ing that theif only object was to do good, per- mitted them to /ent houses in different cities and towns, and settle down to permanent work. In this way they have not only acted as pioneers fofflhe other Sxxjieties, but in each of these 11 provinces, they have established stations with two or more missionaries, and God is signally, owning and blessing their labors. If they were only brought to embrace the truth as it is in Je- sus, these "Oriental Yankees," swarming as they do over every land, would be the premier Mis- sionary nation of the East, and will be so if we (enter the open dootsGod sets before us and give them the Gospel. If we fail to realise and rise to this grand opportunity of the centuries, they may crowd into Chrstian lands in such hordes as almost to swamp Christianity itself, x ' r It N From the 'Mand of tea" to >pan, tlie "land ^ of the rising sun." seems only a step, and so remarkably rapid have be^n the strides of west- ern civilization/and so weU4cnown, that a pass- ing elance is all that is necessary. Work was begun by Roman Catholic missionaries as early as its6o, and then as now the Japanese seemed eager to accept a new religion and culture from the West, and their success was phenomenal. Grasping, however, as usual at political powei^; they alanned the authorities. Prompt measure* were taken to stamp out the doctrine,^and hor- rible massacres were the result. ^ So bmer was the feeling/that about 1630 an Imperial' bdict " was pufiShed, the exact text of which was as follows: '♦Solongas the sun shall warm the earth, let no'Christian be so bold as to come to Japan, and let all know, that if th^^^^ • ' Spain, the Christian's God, or the great God o all, Mplates this commancf, he shall.pay for it with his head." It was left to the AmencJ^ns in 1853, by a treaty of commerce, peaceably to open this interesting country to theGospe. Since then the progress of Japan towards yest- ern civilization and christianily has been with- out precedent or parallel." The estimated pop- ^ ulation is about 40 millions— an intdHgent, m- K dustrious, and intellectual people, rhere isno : i ♦•purdah," no zenana restrictions,— the women ( are almost as free as among ourselves, a^d take : advantage of educational facilities as well as the men. The' translation of the New Testament was completed in 1880, and the whole »»bl?^>^ ^ February 1888. The American l^ible Society has distributed over 100,000 copies of the com- plete Bible, and more than twice t^t number of the various parts. As when th6 Revised Bi- ble was issued in our own landj so »»J J*Ff"' there is such an eagerness to have the Word of :4:' '^■"' ;^ 12 y :\- \ God, that if will be some time before enough copies can be printed to supply the demand. The statistics of the work for 1887 have just been published and show the most encouraging progress; Sipecially in the nuntiber of self-sup- porting native churches, there being now 73 out of a total of 221 churches. The increase in the entire number of churches for the year is 28 and the increase of members 5,000, the total Church membership being now about ^0,000. In the short space of thirty- five' years, the average lifetime of a generation, Japan has changed .in almost everything, intellectually, social- ly, politically, religiously ; in Government, education, family life, manners and customs** they are practically a new nation. Christianity "has so permeated all classes of society and is recognized by leading Japanese as such a power . for good, both on economical and pelitical ■grounds, that it onl^^s^^eapanother royal edict, which may be proniu%ated at any moment, to triaka Japah a nominally Christian nation, "a nation bOHi in a day*" '.■ ».■ . Fro5Ei Japan to Africa is a transition from com pjpirative light to almost midnight gloom, and /Yet, thank God, eVen on the "dark conti- N^nent" the "Sun of Righteousness" is surely Hsing "with healing on His wings," Since jRobert Moffat went to South Africa in the first yyearsbf this century, what wonderful progress / has been-made ! Then, a map ot Africa showed an outline <5f\sea coast and a few mountains and . rivers, but the vast interior was marked either "unexplored" or "sandy desert." - The work of the heroic Livingfston opened the eyes of Europe to the grand natural resources and capabilities of the country^ and since his death in 1873, the work j^nd writings of Stanley have done much ■~ l' *- ' V 13 ■X, to make us partially farrtiliar with Africa and its 250 millions of heathen. The work hitherto has been difficult, dangerous, and discouraging ; • so many have died in the *• white man's grave, that some people have, been inclined to prd-..^ nounce African Missions hopeless ; but through ^ these lamented losses valuable experience has- ^ been gained, and the death of these noble mar- tyrs shall yet prove the seed of a gre9t African Chttfch.. We owe much to the early Church of this iland for preserving and publishing the Gos- pel, iaiid now as we have freely received, it is our^ freely to give. SuGressful pioneer work is being done by the Presbyterian and Church of England Missions on the west using Zanzibar as their base, and by the Baptist and Congo In- land Missions on the east, with Banana and Stanley Pool as their centres. At the meeting 6f the famous Berlin Conference in 1884, the Congo Free State was established, in\yhich all / the partidpating powers undertook tb suppress ' slavery and all other existing evils, and protect Christianity in all its forms. Kmg Leopold, of Belgium, losing his own son about this time, adopted the sons of Africa, as represented by the Congo Free State, as his own, and annually gives a princely sum toiorward the work. En- tering at Zanzibar in 1874, Stanley travelled continuously 999 days across the "Dark Conti- nent," tjH be reached the mouth of the Congo in 1877. a journey of 7,000 miles, and in the whole of that time neither met a Missionary nor a mgn who had ever heard the Missionaries' message. Much has been accomplislied since then, the great waterway of the Congo and chain of lakes has been opened tipi, and now the shrill steam whistle is heard in the' haunts pf the hippopota- mus, and a railway is mooted from the coast to the Pool. A line of stations has been establish- ed along this route and are now centres of light A. and blessing* and only last week the writer had a letter dated Stanley Tool, from an old College companion, the Rev'd A. Billington, stjcaking ^\ most hopefully of the work. > \ Much might be written of the spread of the Gospel in the lands of the Crescent and Koran, and also in Catholic countries, apparently hard; barren soil, dried up with religions having the form but lacking the power of the true, (where nevertheless the Lord is gathering but a people for himself,) but we must pass on to the second p^rt of our subject, and sgeak of t he Pr ospect. A glance over the world tb^day, reveals open doors in every direction,, andj- noble men and consecrated women pressing iforward to enter, and take possession in the name of Goct.. In the and Canada alone, a glorious army of . ov^r\2,5do young students, male aind fem^d^ have volunteered for the work, and their offer,^ "here arfe^\ve, send us," jningling with that ap- petaling Macedonian prayer that has been sound- ing down the c^nUiries, should rouse the Church of Christ to the greatness of the opportunity. The question used t^^. Where are the men? Now it is. Where are the; means? and the. re- sponsibility lies heavily upoAkCvery Christian to aid in seinding these men, A^eater mission- ary spirit in all our Churches anoxColleges is a burning necessity, and this wouidK.best be brought about by every principal College and Chuirch being bound by the living link af^ne of their own memV>ers out in the regions ' When will the Church give a tithe both of men and means towards fulfilling hqr Lord's last great comnriarid ? V Perhaps a fevir striking statistics/ in closing, yyould help us to gi^p the present positibn of affairs^ and understaiia How little is really being '...■1 -t 15 ■v, •' s- done compared wilh ^^flat might be actomplffSh- ed. First? as to mciii. It has beeia estimated that there is but ont ordained Missionary Ato every 400, OCX) heathen, while in the United States there is one ordained Minister t\) eveW 800 of the populatioh. These 800 live in a nor^i- inaily Christian courjtry, where churches abour- arid the Bible may ^)e in every man's hatid,- while the 400,000 are surrounded by all th deadening and debasing influences of heathen ism, idol tepiples instead of chifrches, and bu few accessible bibles, and, these limited to thos( who can read, an unknoWn accomplishmentin Central Affica. As the most needy should hive' the strongest claim, sureljjr these figures ouj^U to be reversed, and the 7P.ooo Ministers sent abi-oad, while the 3,OQO Missionaries returned home to superintend ,the 1 1 1 ,500, 000 Church members, and set them toj work spreading thi^ Gospel imong the 48, 506,600 adherents an* careless souls in the land ; land if each membe did his share of the work ^ he would only hav to lead four people to Christ, and the whol ^ 60,000,000 would.be Christians in truth as well as in name. In China alone there are said to be 1,500 counties without a single Missionary, and \vhat about India and Africfi? Truly *' the la-l borers are^few," and yet these unevangelised millions are^ dying at the ratte of 30 miUions a ear ; a million a month in China dying with- diHX5od This means 33.000 in 24 hours, 1 375 every hour, 22 every miiiute, and every thre0 seconds a Chinese passes) into eternity ; and each one i^a never dying/soul. j f Second, as to money. In the States aboUt $5,000,000 are contributed annually for foreign missions, less than 50 cents per member per ^*i- num, or the 7th part of a cent per day for the conversion of looa millions of heatheti, while in the same country $ i , 500, 000,000 are scient -♦ •» s ■I . M ■y .... ■ • - .- _•. -. .' ^' - 'If IB'' ■■" ■ every year for drink and tohacco, art average of ^ $25 a year, or 7 cents a day, for every man, woman, and child ; just 100 times as much voK untarilv given to pr^nder to the^e two vices, as ' ^ to send the Gospel of the grace of- God to the perishing heathen. Of the total contrihutions ' of christians for the cause of Clirist, 98 cents of every dollar are spent at home, while Only 2. cents are spent abroad, where the need is about 600 times greater. If these facts and figures were prayerfully pondered by every true child of God who reads them, much more might be _ done. Let us each pray earnestly, give cheer- fully and seek to stir others up to the satpezeal, and the result will be increased self-denial and earnestness in every department of church work. As we appreciate the benefits and blessings of the Gospel ourselves, let us do all in our power to make it known to others> knowing it is the only lever that can elevate and ennoble human- ity ; as Lord Lawrence so well said, "where it does not convert it checks, whtre it does not .renew it refines, where it does not sanctify it subdues. Everywhere it imparts dignity to la- bor, sanctity to marriage, and brotherhood to , man." The work is great but so is our God. the time is short but opportunities abound ; " knowledge is increased and many run to and fro," and with steam and electricity, time and space are almost annihilated. Let us then in God's name, do with our might what our hands find to do; let us till with diligence our own corner of the great field, yet not forgetting to look abroad on the whitening harvest. Let us cry continually to the Lord of the harvest that He would thrust forth more laborers, and hasten the time when both sower and reaper shall re- joice together in bringing in the sheaves, and '• heaven cry harvest home." : >>'■ .:•