ARE FOREIGN MISSIONS DOING ANY GOOD? IWWtWHIUflHUUIHril M BV 2067 .A7 1887 Are foreign missions doing any good? ARE FOREIGN MISSIONS DOING ANY GOOD? AN ENQUIRY INTO THE SOCIAL EFFECTS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS SIXTH THOUSAND LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO., i, PATERNOSTER SQUARE 1887 TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE A. W. PEEL, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, WHOSE SOUND JUDGMENT AND ACCURATE DISCRIMINATION HAS SO JUSTLY WON THE ESTEEM AND CONFIDENCE OF THE WHOLE NATION, THIS LITTLE BOOK IS (WITH HIS KIND PERMISSION) MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. ARE FOREIGN MISSIONS DOING ANY GOOD? ARE Christian Missions to heathen nations really doing any good ? This is a practical question, which is frequently asked in one form or another, and at the present time appears to attract much attention. The writer proposes to answer it by an appeal, not to the writings of missionaries, but to the testimony of zvell-knozvn public men, to Govern- ment records, and to documents printed by order of the House of Commons. It may be well to state at the outset, that in the following pages Mission work will be viewed, not in its spiritual aspect as regards what are usually termed "conversions;" but simply and solely in its general aspect, as regards the social effects which it produces upon heathen nations brought under its influence. It is impossible to deny that Mission work has gradually gained a position in the public mind very different from that which it occupied at the begin- ning of the century : and that it has been steadily winning the approval of many men of considerable thought and experience. Nothing, perhaps, will illustrate this better than a reference to the change of feeling as regards Missions in India. Up to 1813 missionaries were excluded from 4 Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? British India on the ground that their work would endanger British rule. It is on the journals of the House of Commons for that year, that William Wiibsrforce proposed the following resolution, and that his motion zvas resisted — " That it is the duty of this country to promote the interest and happiness of the native inhabitants of the British Dominions in India, and such measures ought to be adopted, as may lead to the introduction among them of useful knowledge, and of religious and moral improvements." It is a matter of history how bitterly this motion was opposed — how many prophesied that it would lead to the loss of our Indian possessions, — and how it was carried only by the undaunted perse- verance and indefatigable exertions of Wilberforce and his coadjutors. Thus it was only after a long and hard-fought battle, that there was secured for India the first educational grant, and the opening of the door to voluntary efforts for spreading a knowledge of Christianity. It is interesting to compare with the above, the following quotation from the reply of Lord Palmer- ston, Premier of England, and Sir Charles Wood, the Secretary of State for India, in 1862, to a deputation from the Church Missionary Society on the subject of education in India. It shows a very decided advance in public opinion. "Independently of Christian considerations, we be- lieve that every additional Christian in India is an additional bond of union with this country, and an ad- ditional source of strength to the empire. ... It is not only our duty, but it is our interest to promote the diffu- sion of Christianity as far as possible, through the whole length and breadth of India." Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? 5 That similar views have been, and are at the present day held by many distinguished men peculiarly qualified to form a correct judgment on the subject, and that public opinion as to the value of Missions in India has been steadily advancing, is abundantly evident from the public statements of such men as Lord Laivrence, Sir Henry Lawrence, Sir Herbert Edwardes, the Earl of Northbrook, the Duke of Buckingham, Sir Bar tie Frere, Lord Napier and Ettrick, Sir William Muir, Sir Richard Temple, and many others well acquainted with that country. As we shall have occasion to quote several of these statements when dealing with India in particular, it will not be necessary to anti- cipate them here. It will be sufficient to give one quotation only from the Report of the Secretary of State and Council of India, upon the moral and material progress of India for 1871-72, ordered to be printed by the House of Commons, April 28, 1873.* " The Government of India cannot but acknowledge the great obligation under which it is laid by the benevo- lent exertions made by missionaries, whose blameless example and self-denying labours are infusing new vigour into the stereotyped life of the great populations placed under English rule, and are preparing them to be in every way better men and better citizens of the great empire in which they dwell." One significant proof of advancing interest in Foreign Missions may be seen in the way in which missionary literature has increased of late years. Not only have a large number of works been * Blue Book No. 172, p. 129. The passages referring to Mission work are again inserted in the Report for 1872-73, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, July 6, 1874. Blue Book No. 150. 6 Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? written on the subject, but the periodicals of the various missionary societies have had a consider- able circulation. Three monthly periodicals of one Missionary Society alone had a circulation last year of over 900,000 copies ; and though many thousands were given to subscribers, those actually sold to the public brought in over ^"2600. It is still more im- portant to notice the way in which the subject is now alluded to, or treated of in secular periodicals and newspapers. We will give a few instances. The Saturday Review of December 4, 1886, gives three columns to a review of the memoir of the Missionary Bishop, James Hannington. It says — "A tale of thrilling interest, of trial, hardship, sick- ness, peril bravely borne ; and ending in a cruel death. A story in the best sense of the words, full of edification. Our readers must be left to study it for themselves, and they will be amply repaid for so doing. Such lives and deaths are never wasted ; for the old proverb is abundantly justified by experience — The seed of the Church is sown in martyr-blood. " Murray's Magazine for August, 1887, nas an article on " The Church of the British Empire" which deals largely with the subject of Foreign Mission work. The Quarterly Review, in the July number for 1886, devotes no less than thirty-six pages to an article on ''Modern Christian Missions." The National Review for June, 1887, gives its readers a lengthy article on " The Foreign Missions of the Church of England." The Asiatic Quarterly con- cludes an interesting article on " The Welleslcys in India" in the January number of 1887 with the following words — " Yet one more victory awaits us, the conquest of Infidelity ; — the diffusion of the blessings of Christianity through a population be- nighted by ignorance, and enthralled in the tram- Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? 7 mels of superstition." The Contemporary Review, in an article entitled " India revisited" in the July number of 1886, thus alludes to Mission work — "I cannot forbear expressing my ac'm'ration for the splendid missionary schools in all the great centres of Indian life. One of them which I visited had 1500 youths in attendance. It may be hoped that the higher conceptions of life and duty given in the Christian schools will affect largely the whole future of Indian education. There is ground for believing that it will." The Nineteenth Century for November, 1887, in a long article on "British Missions in Africa" says — "If the immediate success of British Missions in spreading their religion over barbarous Africa be doubt- ful, it is consoling to reflect on the immense services which Missionary enterprise has rendered to Africa, to the world at large, and to Great Britain in paiiicular. ... It is a force which has effected greater changes for the better in the condition of savage Africa, than armies and navies, conferences and treaties, have yet done." The Standard of October 26, 1 ^7, pictures the very salutary effects of Missions in the Society Islands ; while The Daily Telegraph of November 3, 1887, has a leading article in support of Mission work. In The Times of October 29, 1886, a missionary's jour- nal is reproduced, while its next issue contains a whole article on Mission work. The Times also of August 24, 1887, gives a column to the subject. But it is not only by references to the subject in current literature, that we are left to gather the importance of the position to which missionary effort has now attained. Other indications of a similar character abound on every hand. A former Lord Chancellor of England rises in the House of Lords indignantly to repel an attack on 8 Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? a missionary society,* and, as the last act of his public life, presides at the greatest missionary meeting ever held in the Metropolis.f The Speaker of the House of Commons finds time to take the chair at the meeting of a missionary society, and speaks of the " enormous importance of the work," and of " the divine injunction to spread the gospel." % Such men as the late Lord Lawrence, the late Sir Herbert Edwardes, the late Sir Bartle Frere, Sir William Muir, Sir Richard Temple, etc., etc., have frequently stood upon public platforms as the earnest advocates of Foreign Missions, from their own personal acquaintance with them in foreign lands. Quite recently, Lord Northbrook, formerly Governor-General of India, Sir Charles Warren, G.C.M.G., Chief Commissioner of Police, and Sir Robert Phayre, K.C.B., have taken the chair at the anniversary meetings of three of the great English missionary societies, and spoken in warm sympathy with the work ; while at another meeting one of the principal speakers was Sir Charles Turner, late Chief Justice of Madras. Amongst the active supporters of Foreign Missions, and on the Committees and amongst the Vice- Presidents of the various missionary societies, may be seen the names not only of well-known business men, and members of Parliament, but also of many military officers, and civilians, some of whom have spent the best part of their lives in the very countries where Mission work has been carried on.§ * See the Morning Post of April 13, 18S3. t Lord Cairns, March 24, 1885. X The Right Honourable A. W. Peel, at a meeting of the S.P.G. at Leamington, November 29, 1886. § It may be interesting to give, just as an illustration, the names of those laymen only, who are Vice-Presidents, or on the Coin- Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? 9 The University of Cambridge alone has during the last two years sent forth more than a score of her graduates into the Mission field, including such well-known names as Stanley Smith, the stroke of the University boat, C. T. Studd,the great cricketer, and last, though not least, the Honourable I. Keith- Falconer, the Lord Almoner's Professor of Arabic, whose early death in the Mission field has just added one more to the long list of those who have laid down their life in the work. The current year has witnessed in our great Metropolis a movement in the interest of Missions, which but a few years ago would have been deemed impossible. During the second week in February, a whole week of sermons and meetings was organ- ized by one of the Missionary Societies, commenc- ing with four sermons in Westminster Abbey, and closing with a thronged service in St. Paul's Cathe- mittee of one of the large societies. We will take the largest, namely, the Church Missionary Society, Salisbury Square, London. Vice-Presidents (see Report, 1885-6). The Duke of Devonshire. The Earl of Aberdeen. The Earl of Belmore. The Earl of Courtown. The Earl of Darnley. The Earl of Ducie. The Earl of Effingham. The Earl of Enniskillen. The Earl of Harrowby. The Earl of Lichfield. The Earl of Northbrook. Viscount Midleton. Lord Cottesloe. Lord Kinnaird. SirT. F. Buxton, Bart. General Beynon. Colonel Channer. C. E. Chapman, Esq., I. CSer. (retired). Colonel VV. T. Chitty. General Crofton. Robert N. Cust, Esq., I.CSer. (retired). J. H. Fergusspn, Esq. Sir C. Douglas Fox. Sir R. N. Fowler, Bart., M.P. Sir John H. Kennaway, Bart., M.P. Sir Charles Lowther, Bart Sir Harry Verney, Bart. Sir Robert Montgomery, K.C.B. Gen, Sir Arthur Cotton, K.CS.I. Major-Gen. Sir William Hill, K.CS.I. SirWilliamMuir, K.CS.I Sir M. Monier Williams, K.C.I.E., D.CL. Committee* H. Gibson, Esq. W. J. Grane, Esq. General Haig, R.E. General Lawder. General Maclagan, R.E. P. S. Melvill, Esq., C.S.I. Colonel C E. Stewart. Henry Morris, Esq., James Stuart, Esq. I.CSer. (retired). General Touch. Hon. T. H. W. Pelham. F. Peterson Ward, Esq. A 2 Admiral J. C Prevost. J. D. Allcroft, Esq. George Arbuthnot, Esq. Alexander Beattie, Esq. T. Fowell Buxton, Esq., M.P. Sydney Gedge, Esq., M.P. Samuel Hoare, Esq., M.P. James Maden Holt, Esq. Miles Mclnnes, Esq., M.P. Arthur Mills, Esq. Abel Smith, Esq., M.P. Rowland Smith, Esq. Robert Williams, Esq. Clarence A. Roberts, Esq. I.CSer. (retired). General Robinson. P. Vernon Smith, Esq. James A. Strachan, Esq. io Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? dral ; whilst during the intervening days nearly two thousand sermons or addresses were delivered. The great bulk of these were well attended, and some of the gatherings were quite overcrowded. In an article on Foreign Missions in the Quar- terly Review * we read that (speaking of Protestant Missions only) there are now over a hundred dis- tinct societies at work in heathen lands, with more than 3000 ordained clergy, 2400 ordained native pastors, and congregations of converts numbering over two and a half millions. Surely, with such facts as these before us, it can- not be denied that Mission work is strengthening its hold upon public opinion ; nor can it be a matter of surprise that thoughtful persons should turn their attention to the subject, and ask with a sin- cerity which they never before put into the question — "What is the effect that Christian Missions are producing ? " In dealing with our subject there are a few pre- liminary remarks that require attention. In the present day it is no longer a question whether heathen nations shall be brought into contact with. Christians or not. This has been already decided: nothing can prevent it. So multiform are the foreign relationships, so extensive the maritime and com- mercial operations of Christian nations, that the inhabitants of heathen countries are daily being brought into closer and closer contact with those who are at any rate nominally Christians. The urgent question of the present day is not — Shall Christianity be presented to heathen countries ? — ■ but, — 111 what way shall it be presented ? Is it to be merely through contact with soldiers, and sailors, * Quarterly RevirM for July, 1886. This article is well worth perusing. Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? n and traders, and officials, who, although there are many bright exceptions, yet, in too many cases, cannot be called faithful representatives of Chris- tian life, or earnest exponents of the Christian faith ? Are such to be the sources from which heathen nations are to get their notions of Christianity? Ought it not rather to be from those whose special calling it is to teach the Christian faith, and whose training has been well calculated to fit them for their difficult and important work ? It must never be forgotten, when dealing with this subject, that the influence exerted by those who are only nominally Christians is only too often very far from being identical with true Christian influence. The former is sometimes diametrically opposed to the latter. Not unfrequently the greatest hindrance to the working of true Christian influence has been the lives and examples of those who were Christians only in name. On the other hand true Christian influence may flow through other channels than that of direct Mission work. Where such is the case, the general results of both naturally com- bine, and cannot easily be separated. Another remark may here be made. The mis- takes of any particular missionary body must not be saddled upon all the rest, and paraded to the detri- ment of Mission work generally. As an instance in point, which has recently been attracting some attention, may be mentioned the unhappy manner in which certain French Roman Catholic Missions have interfered with national institutions, and dabbled in political intrigues in China. On this subject the reader cannot do better than study the remarks made in The Times of January 10, 1887. A few extracts only will here be given, which are of importance as exculpating the rest of the mis- 12 Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? sionary bodies, and also as showing — what is of considerable importance — that China has marvel- lously changed its attitude towards Christian Missions, and has already learnt — or at any rate professes to have learnt — that Christianity in the abstract is a good thing. " During the past few months the Chinese authorities in various parts of the empire have issued proclamations to the people, calling on them to live at peace with Christian missionaries and converts, and explaining that the Christian religion teaches men to do right, and should therefore be respected" . . . " Such a dreadful persecution as that which ravaged Southern Annam last year is due wholly to political, and not at all to religious causes." . . . "The French missionaries claimed exemption for their flocks from all local jurisdiction and taxation, etc. . . . The present activity of the Government is due to its in- flexible determination to get rid of the political connection between the French authorities, and the Roman Catholic missionaries and converts. " Protestant missionaries, as a rule, whether members of the various English, Scotch, and American societies, or of the Canadian, Rhenish, and Basle Missions, do not arrogate to themselves rights to which they are not entitled ; and their conduct has, on the whole, been charac- terised by moderation and sound judgment? While thus happening to speak of China, it may be of interest to add the following passage from Mr. Margary's * account of his journey in that country. He says — " People are apt to scoff at modern missionaries, with their comforts of house and home ; but I have had an opportunity here of seeing that they really do a vast deal of work. If they do not succeed in making many real * See the "Journal of A. R. Margary, with concluding chapter by Sir Rutherford Alcock, K.C.T3.," p. 71. Macmillan and Co. Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? 13 converts, they certainly diffuse a great deal of knowledge. Their little schools are full of children : and their chapels crowded with devout worshippers. I have made the acquaintance of some of the missionaries, who are very- charming men, of great culture, education, and socia- bility." I. With these prefatory remarks, we will pass on to the main subject under consideration : and will first glance for a few moments at the PROB- ABILITIES of the case. The nations of the zvorld, which at the present time stand at the head of all others, and are most advanced in civilization, are nations whose inhabi- tants, speaking generally, prof ess the Christian faith. Is not this simple fact sufficient of itself to show that Christianity is, to say the least, far from being detrimental to national progress ? But history plainly shows that, amid the various forces which combined to build up modern civiliza- tion, Christianity has been one of the most power- ful : * and it has been under Christianity as the national religion, that nations such as England have risen from the lowest to the highest position in the scale of national greatness. It is, there- fore, only an acknowledged truism to assert that Christianity has proved itself to be wonderfidly calculated to promote social progress, and national development. This being the case, is it not a highly probable inference, that to introduce Christianity into any heathen country in our own day, is even- tually to confer upon it a great national blessing, although the time of its actual introduction may be, as it usually has been, a period of considerable trial and social upheaving ? * See this well worked out in Schlegel's " Philosophy of History." 14 Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? There can be no doubt that the probability of this last-mentioned contingency, and a very natural dislike to causing family and social troubles, has in some instances deterred people from joining in the effort to carry Christianity to heathen countries. But surely this is a mistaken notion ! an unsound principle ! Is not ultimate good usually obtained at some sacrifice in the present? The benefit, for instance, of a surgical operation is usually purchased at the expense of some pain at the time. Success is usually the result of hard and continuous labour. How many thousands have died upon the battlefield to secure to their country the ultimate blessings of peace and freedom ! Who would admire the wisdom of the man who would wish the people of England to be still the degraded followers of Druidism, or the grovelling worshippers of Wodin and Thor, because a St. Alban had to be led to the stake, and for a time many a family was rent with sore division ? II. We now pass on to consider how far in modern times the introduction into heathen lands of Christian influence in general, and missionary influence in particular, has, as a matter of fact, been producing beneficial results. In making this enquiry, it is of the highest im- portance to bear in mind that the state of any heathen country brought under Christian influence must be compared with its own previous state as purely heathen, not with that of an old Christian country like England. Forgetfulness of this is often the secret of disparaging accounts of Mission work, given by superficial observers. They most unphilosophically compare those just emerging from centuries of degrading heathenism, with those who, in a country like England, have been basking Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? 15 for centuries in the sunshine of the Christian faith, and in an atmosphere of advanced civilization. Such forget fulness, whilst excusable in the Ignorant, is very reprehensible in the educated. (a.) It will be well to pursue our enquiry at first in reference to uncivilized and savage races. In this field few perhaps would deny the beneficial results of Christian Missions. It is only too true that in the irresistible tide of commerce and colonization, contact with Christian nations has in some instances proved sadly detrimental to savage races, and even led to their gradual extinction. But this has been no result of genuine Christian influence. To some extent it has been the result of circumstances ; but still more frequently of the vices and the greed of mere nominal professors. Pure Christian influence has always had the tendency to civilize savage races ; and to mitigate, where it could not prevent, the inevitable result of circumstances over which it had no control. In ancient times it did not prevent the decay of the great Roman empire : and in modern days we must not expect it to effect impossibilities. In many a Mission field the old horrors and barbarities of heathendom have been giving way before Christian influence. "Gradually," writes Professor Christlieb of Bonn University, " the Bible ideas of self-respect and of reverence for humanity, the foundations of all true culture, are dispelling the long night of heathen degradation." * On the subject generally, the following words of the late Sir Bartle Frere are of special value, as he was a man of large experience, having held high * See "Foreign Missions of Protestantism," p. 21. A book well worth readme. l6 Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? Government appointments both in India and Africa. He says — " Christianity has now been preached to Fetish-wor- shipping tribes in every stage of civilization, and the invariable result has been to show that Christianity has power to prevail against Fetish worship, and that the results of the acceptance of Christianity by the Fetish- worshipper are invariably to raise him in the moral and social scale, and to make him a civilized being." * In illustration of this part of our subject, it will be well to select a few instances from various parts of the Mission field. The great naturalist, Mr. Charles Darwin, gives in his " Journal of Researches " interesting testi- mony to the work of Missions in Tahiti and New Zealand. His remarks on the subject are most valuable, as coming from a man so well known, and of such great mental power. Of Tahiti he writes as follows — " It appears to me that the morality and religion of the inhabitants are highly creditable. There are many who attack both the missionaries, their system, and the effect produced by it. Such reasoners never compare the present state with that of the island only twenty years ago ; nor even with that -of Europe at the present day ; but they compare it with the high standard of gospel perfection. Inasmuch as the condition of the people falls short of this high standard, blame is attached to the missionary, instead of credit for that which he has effected. They forget, or will not remember, that human sacrifices, and the power of an idolatrous priesthood — a system of profligacy unparalleled in any other part of the world — infanticide, a consequence of that system — bloody wars, * In a lecture delivered July 9, 1872 : see p. 7 of a pamphlet published by the S.P.G., "Laymen's Opinions of the Value of Missions in India." Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? 17 where the conquerors spared neither women nor children —that all these have been abolished ; and that dishonesty, intemperance, and licentiousness have been greatly re- duced, by the introdttction of Christianity." * In speaking of New Zealand, formerly "the land of cannibalism," Mr. Darwin writes as follows — " The lesson of the missionary is the enchanter's wand. The house had been built, the windows framed, the fields ploughed, and even the trees grafted by the New Zealander. When I looked at the whole scene, I thought it admirable. ... I took leave of the missionaries with feelings of high respect for their useful and upright cha- racters. / think it woidd be difficult to find a body of men better adapted for the high office which they fill." * " The march of improvement consequent on the in- troduction of Christianity, throughout the South Sea, probably stands by itself in the records of history." * Mr. Stonehewer Cooper, a recent traveller in the South vSea Islands, writes — "I cannot agree with perhaps the majority of the missionaries in the Southern Seas ; but despite all dif- ferences of creed, I raise my hat in respectful homage, when I think what these men have done. . . . There can be no doubt of the enormous benefits which have folloiued the labours of Christian missionaries in the Pacific." f The Standard (October 26, 1887) writes, regarding the once savage inhabitants of the Society Islands — " Up to 1820 they resisted vigorously any attempts to impose upon them the new faith. Even the lives of the missionaries were in danger. Now all this is changed. With few exceptions the natives have abandoned their idolatry, and even send missionaries to other islands. Churches and schools have been erected, and in other respects they might set an example to the world nearer home." * "Journal of Researches," 2nd Edit., pp. 414, 425, 428, 505. t " Coral Lands," by H. Stonehewer Cooper. Bentley and Son. A 3 i8 Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? Of all triumphs of Christianity in modern times, there is not perhaps a greater than the work of the Wesleyan Missions in Fiji. u It is only forty years," writes Miss Gordon Cumming, " since the missionaries landed, and already they have won over to the new religion of peace and love, upwards of a hundred thousand ferocious cannibals." * Apart from all spiritual results, let it be remembered what an amount of civilization and education this, and the following statement imply. Sir A. Gordon, the Governor of Fiji, made the following public statement in 1879 — "Out of a population of about 120,000, more than 100,000 are now regular worshippers in the churches, which number about 800, all well built and completed. In every family there is morning and evening worship. Over 42,000 children are in attendance in the 1500 Christian schools."! Mr. Walter Coote, F.R.G.S., in his "Wanderings South and East," says of Fiji — "To Wesleyan missionaries one must in a great measure give the credit of this great change : and it would not be just to close without a word in praise of their great work. No one can deny them the highest admiration." % The same writer, speaking of the Loyalty Islands, says — " The people seem more benefited by missionary work than any I have seen. Their enthusiasm in religious matters is most remarkable. They give five or six hundred a year to their missionary society, and are in a great many respects models of generosity and religious zeal. ... I spent five very pleasant days with Mr. Jones, * See Miss Cumming's interesting book, "At Home in Fiji." t vSee Wesleyan Mission Report for 1878, p. 193. X " Wanderings South and East," p. 85. Sampson Low and Co. Arc Foreign Missions doing any Good,? 19 the missionary, and found his people models of kindness and good manners." The same writer's testimony in reference to the Sandwich Islands, and Bishop Sclwyiis work in connection with the Melanesian Mission, is most interesting, but space and time forbid more than a passing reference to it. To take another instance ; when Protestant missionaries first went to Madagascar the French Governor of the Island of Bourbon exclaimed — " You make the Malagasy Christians ! Impossible ! They are mere brutes, and have no more sense than irrational cattle ! " * In that island there are now hundreds of Protestant churches ; and in con- nection with the London Missionary Society alone, there are over 800 native pastors, and nearly 100,000 children in the schools. The native Chris- tians, during the deadly persecutions that raged in the island, produced some of the noblest martyrs of modern times ; while the conduct of the Hovas, during their recent troubles with France, has won for them universal sympathy and admiration. Turning for a few moments to Africa, it is almost needless to remark how much we owe to such missionaries as Krapf and Rebmann, and Moffat and Livingstone, for our first introduction to, and knowledge of vast territories in that great continent. Who can estimate the mighty results that may flow from their discoveries !f Capt. Speke, when writing of the Victoria Nyanza, remarks — "The missionaries are the prime and first promoters of this discovery. They have for years been doing their * Eppler, " Madagascar," 1784, pp. 69 and 85. t The benefit that Missions have conferred on commerce, etc., are ■well shown in Warneck's "Mission and Culture;" a book well worth reading. 20 Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? utmost, with simple sincerity, to Christianize this Negro land." * When speaking of Africa, it is almost impossible to pass over in silence the cruel murder of Bishop Hannington, which has recently been at- tracting so much public attention, and has added one more proof, if proof were needed, of the dangers and trials which ofttimes beset the missionary's path, and of the fortitude with which they are borne. The following quotation from an article in The Times,! bears high testimony both to Bishop Hannington, and to the missionary effort with which he was connected. ''Whatever the object of his journey, the dignity with which the captive endured the whole must have com- pelled admiration. But the intention, which cannot be gainsaid, encircles the history and its author with a halo of purity and grandeur. The men whose official leader Bishop Hannington was, accept, by volunteering for the Equatorial Mission, exile from all the charms of civilized society. They expect and can win no human glory such as the scientific explorer may anticipate, though they undergo more than his amount of hardships. They are not animated by the thought of extending the empire of their country. Religious zeal by itself is not their sole incentive. They go to Central Africa for the befiefit of Africans alone, and for their benefit altogether. Their aim is simply to humanize the people of Africa on earth, and to give them a sense of the Divinity here and beyond. When King Mwanga and his tributary Sultan combined to torture and slay Bishop Hannington, they were conspir- ing against a life wholly dedicated to the service of Africans and to the amelioration of their existence. . . . His murder is a disaster first and principally to the natives of Africa, except so far as the evil is neutralized * "Nile Sources," p. 364. t See Times of October 30, 18S6. Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? 21 by the law that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. There is no fear but that the experience of the Mission to Equatorial Africa will corroborate that generous maxim. Already Bishop Hannington has a successor who may reckon on support from home, as steady and sympathetic. "The head-quarters at Uganda are exposed at the pre- sent moment to the fiery ordeal of persecution. King Mtesa's son is a tyrant and a profligate. He is alarmed and incensed at the higher moral standard and the prin- ciples of liberty which the doctrines of Christianity necessarily instil, and has been massacring converts. Nothing, it is tolerably clear, could have averted for long the storm which is now bursting over the Uganda Mission. Such calamities are natural to an enterprise of the sort. They will be unable to prevail for its dis- comfiture while the supply of men of the temper of Bishop Hannington and Mr. Mackay does not fail. On the success of the Uganda experiment, with its alternation of favourable and adverse circumstances, depends the happiness cf the interior of the vast continent for generations." In order however to form a correct opinion of the effect of Christian Missions upon African races, it will be necessary to turn to some Mission field where the work has been going on for some con- siderable time. It would be difficult to select a better illustration than Sierra Leone in West Africa. During the early part of this century there scarcely existed a scene of grosser degrada- tion. From time to time ship-loads of rescued slaves, all savages, were brought to the harbour, and thrown in among the people. More than a hundred tribes were represented in that mingled mass of idolatry, ignorance, superstition, and bar- barism. Who but men actuated by the highest desires of doing good to their fellow-men would have selected such a sphere for their labours — one 22 Are Foreign Missions doing any Good f. that has truly been called "The white man's grave " ! * Those labours and those lives have not been in vain. We now find at this very place a well-ordered community, an industrious people, some accumu- lation of wealth, education flourishing, and almost every profession represented. Pure Africans from Sierra Leone have studied law in England, and have been called to the bar. The Fourah Bay College is affiliated to Durham University : and several African students have taken the B.A. degree, and the theological license with credit. Other young Africans, sons of Sierra Leone clergy- men and merchants, are graduates of Oxford and Cambridge. Others have successfully competed for prizes at King's College Hospital, and at Edin- burgh. Others again are filling important offices under the British Crown. Only a short time ago the writer was listening to the address of a Negro clergyman f from Sierra Leone, who for more than an hour kept in wrapt attention a large and cultivated audience at Cambridge, and upon whom the University has recently conferred an honorary degree. Upon another African % from Sierra Leone the University of Oxford has conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. There are now at Sierra Leone several excellent educational establishments, while the fourteen parochial organizations connected with the Church Missionary Society, well provided with churches and native clergy, and the well-filled Wesleyan chapels with their native ministers, testify with all the eloquence of facts to the source from * Fifty-three C.M.S. missionaries and missionaries' wives died between 1804 and 1824. t Arehdeacon Johnson. % Bishop Crowther. Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? 23 which all this has sprung, the labours of missionary societies. It was in 18 16 that the Mission work really commenced at Sierra Leone. In 1820, Sir G. Collier, commodore of the West African squadron, wrote as follows to the Admiralty — " More improvement under all circumstances of climate and infancy of colony is scarcely to be supposed. . . . I have attended places of worship in every quarter of the globe, and never did I witness the services of religion more piously performed or more devoutly attended to than in Sierra Leone." In 1822, the Chief Justice, the Hon. E. Fitzgerald, stated that while in 10 years the population had increased from 4000 to 16,000, the number of criminal cases for trial at the quarter sessions had fallen from 40 to 6, and that of the 6 not one was from any of the villages under a missionary or schoolmaster. In 1842 a Parliamentary Committee gave the following testimony — " To the invaluable exertions of the Church Missionary Society more especially — as also to a considerable extent, as in all our African settlements, to the Wesleyan body — the highest praise is due. By their efforts, nearly one-fifth of the whole population are at school j and the effects are visible in considerable intellectual, moral, and religious improvement." In 1 88 1 Mr. T. Risely Griffith, Colonial Secretary to the Government of Sierra Leone, in a paper read before the Royal Colonial Institute in London, said — " To those who are supporters of missionary work Sierra Leone is an interesting spectacle. Seventy years ago it was a heathen land : to-day it is filled with places of worship." 24 Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? Such have been the results of Christian Missions at Sierra Leone. Purely philanthropic efforts, such as " The African Institute" and later on " The St. Georges Bay Company" were tried, and tried near the very same spot, but utterly failed. Distinctly Christian efforts proved eminently successful : and have shown, by the incontrovertible argument of facts, that Mission work can succeed amidst the most disadvantageous circumstances, and triumph over almost overwhelming difficulties. (/;.) We will now pursue our enquiry with regard to sucJi JieatJien countries as have attained to a cer- tain degree of civilization, and in which the people display considerable intellectual capacity. We will select India, because it stands at the head of such nations ; and because, being under British rule, it is naturally the country with which we are best acquainted, and in which we are most interested. As the writer has travelled through the country from Delhi to Cape Comorin, he can to some extent speak from personal observation. Attention has already been drawn to the fact that Christian influence may flow through other channels than that of direct Mission work. This is specially the case in India, where Christian in- fluences from several sources are exerting them- selves, and their results are so closely connected, that it is impossible entirely to separate them. Of these other channels of influence, particular mention must be made of the general justice and righteous- ness of the British rule. Most beneficial have been the general effects produced by it, as well as by the high Christian principle displayed by many civilians and military officers, and in not a few instances by their earnest Christian lives. Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? 25 Of all influences, none is more powerful than that of a consistent Christian example ; and India, parti- cularly of late years, has been specially favoured in this respect. Allusion is not made merely to the truly Christian lives of such distinguished men as Lord Lawrence, Sir Henry Lawrence, Sir Herbert Edzvardes, Sir Bartle Frere, and several other great men well known to the public ; but also to many others, whose names are not so widely known, but who, as civilians or officers in India, have set noble examples of Christian life, and have done much for the spread of true Christian influence. (1) We believe that we shall not be wrong, if we attribute to Christian influence, — or at any rate to Christian feeling underlying European civilization, — the abolition of some of the most cruel customs of India, several of which were connected with the religion of the country. Of these we may specially mention human sacrifices, the burning of widows alive upon the funeral pile of their deceased husbands, infanticide, the swinging festival, Jugga- nath's car, and the exposure of the sick and the aged to die on the banks of the Ganges. Those who wish to know the fearful extent to which such practices were carried should read Mr. Hutton's interesting article in the January number (1887) of the Asiatic Quarterly. Amongst other things, Mr. Hutton tells us that previous to 1837 about 150 human sacrifices were annually offered in Goomsur alone — that in Kattiawar and Kutch alone about 3000 female infants were annually murdered — that in four months in 1824 no fewer than 115 widows were burnt alive in the neighbourhood of Calcutta. It is true that the great Mahomedan Emperor Akbar forbade suttee, against the will of the widow ; but he was not entirely ignorant of Chris- 26 Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? tian sentiments, and his Christian wife may possibly have influenced him in reference to this subject. The duty of abolishing these cruel customs was frequently and strongly urged by the missionaries. Lord Wellesley, who was favourable to Christian Missions,* suppressed human sacrifices; and in 1829 Lord William Bentinck — himself a truly Christian man — passed a law declaring widow-burning to be illegal. Not only have all these great social cruelties been long abolished, but now the great bulk of the Hindoos themselves, who formerly regarded them as lawful and in some cases highly commend- able, thoroughly approve of their abolition. (2) In nothing perhaps is the effect of Christian influence in general, and missionary influence in particular, more apparent in India, than in the great changes which have been gradually taking place with regard to educatiou^s'mce the country came under British rule. Not only may the present educa- tional operations of Government be justly regarded as proceeding from a Christian sense of duty and responsibility, but it must be remembered that the whole introduction of Government education into India was the zvork of some of the most earnest promoters of Christian Missions. Conspicuous amongst the founders of the Church Missionary Society in 1799 were William Wiiberforce, Samuel Thornton, and Charles Grani.\ These truly phi- lanthropic men (who achieved the emancipation of the slaves in the West Indies) in 181 3 secured for India, together with several other benefits, the first grant for education, as well as liberty for the * See Asiatic Quarterly for January, 18S7, p. 1S6. f Their friend Henry Thornton sent out Claudius Buchanan to India, whose writings did so much to stir up in England a desire for India's welfare. Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? 27 teaching of the Christian religion. Thus the first educational grant of £10,000 secured from the East India Company for India's welfare, was notoriously the result of the earnest efforts of William Wilber- force * and Charles Grant, the very men who only a few years before had been the leading laymen amongst the founders of the Church Missionary Society. The same high sense of duty and respon- sibility which actuated them in promoting the one, actuated them in promoting the other. The impelling motive was the same ; the individual workers identical. Few measures have been more beneficial to the natives of India than the introduction of an English education; and here again it must be remembered, that not only was the first school that introduced it the Mission school at Serampore, but it was the eminent Scotch missionary, Dr. Luff,t who reduced it to such a well-organized and complete system, that his school soon became the largest and most popular in the great Indian metropolis. When in 1833 the question arose as to English education in Government schools, the practical work and sound arguments of Dr. Duff exercised no small influence in settling the dispute : and when at length decision was given in favour of English, it was mainly brought about by the able minute of Thomas Babington Macaulay, the son of Zachary Macaulay, who was the bosom friend and constant companion of William Wilherforce. Thus from the very commencement, both directly and indirectly, the influence of the missionary * See p. 4. t The Missions of the Free Church of Scotland 'have always held an important position with regard to education in India. Their college in Madras is unequalled. 28 Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? element upon education in India has been of the highest importance. But in addition to mere general influence, the actual operations of missionary societies in India form no inconsiderable item in the intellectual advance of the country. Not only are numerous schools and colleges for higher education conducted and maintained by missionary societies, but a very large number of the lower orders also are now- receiving the benefits of a good education in the numberless village schools connected with Mission work. Indeed, as regards the lowest orders of the population, the only successful work has been that carried on by missionary societies. A mere glance at the Government educational reports, ever since they have been issued, show the great energy and power that missionary bodies have put forth in promoting education in India. Lord Napier and Ettrick (formerly Governor of Madras) gives the following testimony : * — " In the matter of education the co-operation of the religious societies is, of course, inestimable to the Government, and to the people. Missionary agency is, in my judgment, the only agency that can at present bring the benefits of teaching home to the humblest orders of the population." Of all testimonies to the work, and especially the educational work, of missionaries in India, none is more important or more conclusive than that of the Report of the Secretary of State and Council of India for 1871-72, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, April 28, 1873. In this Government Blue Book f several pages are devoted to the subject of Missions, from which we shall have * See The Homeward Mail, November 27, 1871. t See note, p. 5. Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? 29 occasion to make several quotations. The follow- ing passage is of special value in reference to education. " The numerous excellent missionary schools have already been referred to ; but the whole subject of mis- sionary enterprise in India, has such an important bearing on the hitellectual advancemoit of the people, that any notice of Indian education would be incomplete without giving some details respecting the work of missionaries. A recent enquiry into the statistical details of Missions in India, combined with the ordinary sources of infor- mation, furnish materials for estimating their progress which are authoritative and complete. The Protestant Missions of India, Burmah, and Ceylon are carried on by 35 missionary societies, in addition to local agencies, and now employ the services of 606 foreign missionaries, of whom 551 are ordained. In 1872 the native converts numbered 318,363, and the communicants 78,494. 11 Apart from their special duties as public preachers and pastors, the missionaries constitute a valuable body of educators. They contribute greatly to the cultivation of the native languages and literature. No body of men pays greater attention to the study of the native lan- guages. They have prepared hundreds of works, suited both for schools and for general circulation, in the fifteen most prominent languages of India, and in several other dialects. They are the compilers of several dictionaries and grammars; they have written important works on the native classics and the systems of philosophy ; and they have largely stimulated the great increase of the native literature, prepared in recent years by educated native gentlemen. The Mission presses in India are 25 in number. During the 10 years between 1862 and 1872 „*,*.*& have been brought over, and, in an ever-increasing ratio, converts are being brought over to Christianity. And they are not shams nor paper converts, as some would have us believe, but good and honest Christians, and many of them of a high standard? Sir Bartle Frere (formerly Governor of Bombay), in a lecture on " Christianity suited to all Forms of Civilization," delivered in connection with the Christian Evidence Society, July 9, 1872, said : — " Whatever you may be told to the contrary, the teach- ing of Christianity among 160 millions of civilized, industrious Hindoos and Mohamedans in India is effect- ing changes, moral, social, and political, which for extent and rapidity of effect are far more extraordinary than anything yon or your fathers have witnessed in modern Europe? The Earl of Northbrook, on his return to England, after resigning the Viceroyalty of India, became a Vice-President of the Church Missionary Society, and a subscriber of £100 a year. In 1877 and 1886 he spoke at its anniversary meetings. Pre- siding at the annual C.M.S. meeting at Michel- dever, on January 21, 1883, he said : — " We are old friends and admirers of this society. We have great confidence in it, and believe its work to be for the advantage of the world, and for the real spread of Christianity through the world? The late ^ord Lawrence (formerly Governor- General of India), who from his long experience of the country probably knew India better than any other living man, was to the day of his death a very earnest supporter of Missionary Societies, a liberal contributor to their funds, and a fre- quent attendant at their committee meetings. He says — and they are very remarkable words from 44 Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? a man of such mature judgment, who was not accustomed to say things without consideration — "Notwithstanding all that the English people have done to benefit India, the missionaries have done more than all other agencies combined? * III. We have now completed our review of some of the general social results that are being pro- duced in heathen lands, through the instrumen- tality of Christian influence in general, and of Mission influence in particular. Whether we con- sider these results as exhibited amongst uncivilized races, such as are found in the South Sea Islands, New Zealand, and Africa, or whether we take the case of countries possessing an ancient civilization, such as India, is it not evident that the introduc- tion of Christianity into any heathen country in Our own day is an inestimable benefit, that it must in the end be productive of the highest blessings ? The evidence brought forward in support of the reality of these results appears to be simply in- controvertible. It is the testimony of disinterested and impartial eye-witnesses. It is the testimony of distinguished men well known to the public — men of the highest integrity — men who have been in a position to form a correct opinion on the subject from personal knowledge — men who have enquired carefully into the matter, and given the result of their investigations in a clear and decided manner. It is testimony moreover that in the case of India is backed by the high official authority of the Re- port of the Secretary of State and Council of India, and endorsed by the House of Commons. Is it possible that such men are all mistaken ? Is it reasonable to reject such a mass of evidence, * See p. 5 of " Independent Testimonies " (Church Missionary Society House, Salisbury Square, E.C.). Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? 45 because perhaps some friend or relation who has been in foreign lands, and who perhaps had no very great interest in Missions, or whose sphere of observation may have been somewhat limited, makes the assertion (however honestly so far as his own personal knowledge goes) that Christian Missions are doing little or nothing ? The writer has purposely abstained from going into the question of the spiritual results of Christian Missions as regards "conversions ;" because he desired to confine himself to social results only. Suffice it here to remark that those spiritual results are no less real, and are attested by equally in- fluential witnesses. While, however, the two classes of results may on paper be considered separately, it must not be supposed that they can be so sepa- rated in actual fact. The two naturally act and react upon each other, and are too closely con- nected, and too intricately interwoven, to render real separation possible. On the one hand, as the spiritual results increase, and men embrace Chris- tianity, the social results become more and more diffused abroad, and intensified in their action. On the other hand, as the social results of Christian influence spread, the way is prepared for the actual reception of the Christian religion : obstacles are removed ; prejudices are softened down ; sympa- thies are awakened ; and the excellences and benefits of Christianity become more and more apparent. When considering the question of a whole nation ultimately embracing the Christian faith, the GENERAL results of Christian influence are at least as important as the direct spiritual results, possibly even more so. It is most necessary to remember this ; for many are inclined to judge of the success of Mission work, almost entirely from the number of 46 Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? converts given in Reports ; and then, by comparing them with the natural increase of population, to draw a somewhat gloomy and discouraging picture. When once the general influence of Christianity begins to make itself really felt upon a nation's life, it is nothing unreasonable to conclude that as that general influence extends, the acceptance of the Christian religion will become far more rapid, and that gradually men will join it in considerable bodies, rather than as individuals or in small de- tachments. As regards India, this is the opinion of many men of mature judgment, amongst whom we may specially mention Lord Lawrence, whose long acquaintance with India gives special weight to his opinion. In a letter to the editor of the Times, inserted in the issue of January 4, 1873, Lord Lawrence says — " There are thousands of persons scattered over India who, from the knowledge which they have acquired, either directly or indirectly, of Christian principles, have lost all belief in Hindooism and Mahomedanism, and are in their conduct influenced by higher motives, who yet fear to make an open profession of the change in them, lest they should be looked on as outcasts by their own people. Such social circumstances must go on in- fluencing converts, until the time comes when their numbers are sufficiently large to enable them to stand forth and show their faith without ruin to their position in life? In the Report of the Census of British India, pub- lished in 1883, the writer says (p. 34) — " The lapse of a few years will, I believe, show a very large accession to the numbers of the various Christian Churches. The closest observers are almost unanimous in the opinion that the ground has already been cleared for such a movement." It is hardly necessary to add that Christian Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? 47 influence, both spiritual and general, might be infinitely increased in heathen lands, and spread with far greater rapidity, if Christians generally took greater interest in the work of Missions, and helped more heartily to promote it. The amount at present expended on it is small compared with the sums spent upon other things, and considering the enormous multitudes to be reached. India alone, not to mention other countries, is about fifteen times larger than England, and has a population of two hundred and fifty millions. And yet the whole amount from every source given in the United Kingdom for Foreign Missions all over the world, is little more than one-half of the amount expended last year by the London School Board, which educates under four hundred thousand children, and those the children of the lower classes.* Still the amount expended on Foreign Missions is gradually increasing, and the interest taken in them is decidedly on the advance. This promises well for the future ; and if only Christians wake up to their great duty and responsibility in the matter, it is impossible to say what mighty strides may be made even before the end of the present century. It is not uncommon to hear " home calls " pleaded as an excuse for neglecting Foreign Missions : but in reality they are the strongest possible argument in their favour. For whence have these home calls arisen ; and whence come the feelings which prompt us to consider them ? What is it which has given birth to all the hospitals and infirmaries, the homes and asylums, the countless philanthropic institutions, and charitable schemes, and religious efforts, which are one of the chief glories of our aid? What is it which has taught us to think of others ? * See Whi laker's Almanack . 48 Are Foreign Missions doing any Good? What is it which has fostered within us unselfish sympathy, and the desire to reclaim the vicious, to relieve the sick and suffering, and to ameliorate the condition of the less-favoured classes ? Is it not Christianity ? Is it not the great principles incul- cated by Christ, which have permeated our land, which rule the hearts of millions, and which exercise an incalculable influence even over those who remain insensible to His higher spiritual teaching ? What right have we to keep these great principles to ourselves ? Were they designed for our hap- piness alone ? Were they not intended for the benefit of the whole world ? Does not the great Teacher of them command 'us to communicate them to all mankind ? Does not the very fact that we have received them before many others, only make it all the more culpable if we do not faithfully hand them on ? We ourselves are infinitely indebted to others for having sent missionaries in old days to our own shores. The names of the days of our week, Wednes- day and Thursday^ tell us of the time when our forefathers bowed down to Wodin and T/wr, and were sunk in the grossest superstition and ignorance. If others brought Christianity to us, and we have reaped the greatest benefits from it, surely we ought to exert ourselves in making it known to the many millions who still remain in ignorance of it, and of all its accompanying blessings. Apart from all higher religious feelings, does not mere philanthropy require this of us — does it not demand from each individual the recognition of the duty, and the exercise in its favour of that influence with which all are endowed, and for which all are so deeply responsible ? PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES. Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries 1 1012 01234 9868 Date Due 'i^SSSSSfff^ $ ■tittftl