THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE IN MEMORY OF HORACE YEH 1922-1991 From "The (' plift of China' The Call of China and the Islands Report of the Foreign Deputation, 191 1 — 1912, for every Member of the United Brethren Church by G. M. MATHEWS, D. D., Bishop of the Central District S. S. HOUGH, D. D., Secretary Foreign Missionary Society Foreword by Bishop W. M. BELL, D. D. <=2J>7o ft* r FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST Dayton, Ohio THE expansion of the kingdom of God throughout the whole earth is now the most urgent project appealing to the human mind. By direct and indirect effort this su- premely constructive factor in human progress is being set forward. Diplomacy, travel, com- merce, science, invention — all are making indirect contributions. The direct contribution is coming from those who have caught a vision of the aims of Christ for the world, and have accepted their responsibility under the great commission. Investment of life and money in carrying out the comprehensive program of Christ for the whole human race is the highest wisdom. No note of regret has ever come from those who have acted upon this principle. Invariably it has been found that such investment has yielded dividends ample and rich. Other investments of life and energy have been found deeply and bit- terly disappointing. Not so with those who put themselves into comradeship with Christ and consecrate life to his aims. They find the content of Christ and his gospel rich beyond all anticipation. They find service with him glorious and compensating. They know in absolute certainty that either within their own life time or in the days that follow their going hence, their seed-sowing will not fail of fruitage and increase. No human life can be perfected save in service in the kingdom of God. Jesus, the Lord of all life, stands for the dedication of all life to him, as also of all wealth to him. This is not any- arbitrary law, but because it is the way to our own and the world's enrichment and salvation. Christ points and leads ever to the great problem of spiritual regeneration and stewardship. Wealth is either a trust to be administered, or a peril to be escaped. The love of money is a most insidious danger. There is really no such thing as human ownership. Instead of owning his wealth the rich man owes it. It requires great character to enable one to make of wealth a friend to lead him to heaven and heavenly reward. The Church of the United Brethren in Christ has made commendable progress in all its invit- ing foreign missions. Great leaders are at work in every one of them. We have offered a list of noble martyrs and paid the price of blood. A half century of work abroad has brought us to definite demands and graciously enlarging re- quirements. The primary work of evangelism has brought its fruits and problems. The native church is accepting a larger responsibility and reaching a capacity for initiative and administra- tion. Institutions for the training of the native leadership and for the relief of human suffering are called for, and the siege work of the kingdom 4 is at hand. All the agencies of Christian civili- zation are to be inaugurated. Occasional visits to the foreign fields by the officials of the home Church have always been fruitful of good. The rapidly growing native church presents new and complex problems which call for closer supervision on the part of those who administer foreign missions so as to put to the best possible use the lives and the money invested in the work. The past year was set apart by the Church for a visit and thorough study of four of our foreign fields. Bishop G. M. Mathews, D.D., made a visit to Porto Rico during January and February, and S. S. Hough, D.D., General Secretary of our Foreign Missionary Society, visited Japan, China, and the Philippines from October to April. The present volume is the report of these visits for the membership of the Church at large. The remarkable transformations that are taking place in our foreign fields are here vividly set forth. Every member of our denomination will be greatly enriched by reading this report. A large opportunity is here set before us. The plans and policies recommended were carefully con- sidered in detail at the recent Board meeting, and with absolute unanimity approved. There is no mistake but that we face an opportunity which will not find a parallel in the life of the present generation of United Brethren. Our supreme hour is upon us and we dare not, must not fail. A copy of this book in every home of the Church will go far toward guaranteeing a suit- 5 able and adequate response to our opportunity. Let earnest, continuous prayer rise to God for this work. We must do heroic giving, though nothing unreasonable is asked. An income to the Foreign Board of $150,000 annually for the next five years, plus the equipment called for, will execute the schedule and set forward greatly the Christianizing of the world. Let us not dis- appoint Christ in this gracious hour. (Bishop) Wm. M. Bell, President Board of Foreign Missions, United Brethren in Christ. Olmttrnta Chapter Page Foreword. I. New China By S. S. Hough, D.D. 11 II. Progressive Japan. ..By S. S. Hough, D.D. 47 III. The Advancing Philippines By S. S. Hough, D.D. 68 IV. Beautiful Porto Rico By Bishop G. M. Mathews, D.D. 92 V. What Shall Be Our Response? 107 Appendix — Books for Further Investigation 120 ILLUSTRATIONS China's Republican Leaders, Sun Yat Sen and Yuan Sliih Kai Frontispiece Ward, Howard, and Oldt Locating on the Map Our Responsibility in South China 16 Parade Celebrating the Closing of the Gambling Dens, Canton 16 Calisthenics Class, Miller Seminary, Canton 17 One of China's Idols 32 The Ancient Wall of Canton Disappearing 32 Bed Time at the Foundling Home] Beth Eden Compound, Canton J- 33 Doctor Oldt Removing a Polypus J The New Emperor of Japan 48 Our Japanese Pastors at Breakfast 49 Intermediate Boys and Girls, Honjo U. B. Sun- day School, Tokyo 64 Bird's- Eye View of the Doshisha 64 Harajuku U. B. Church. Tokyo 65 On the Way to Annual Conference, Philippines. 80 San Fernando U. B. Church 80 Professor Camilo Osias 81 Missionaries in the Making, Philippines 88 Filipino Boys and Girls 88 Quarterly Conference and Business Meeting at Balaoan 89 Lay Delegates. Philippine Conference 89 Public School, Juana Diaz 96 Coming Porto Rican Citizens 96 Lay Delegates, Pastors, and Missionaries, Porto Rico U. B. Mission Conference 97 El Pino U. B. Chapel 112 Mt. Hermon Rest Cottage, Porto Rico 112 United Brethren Headquarters, Ponce 113 uJlj? (Hall of (Etjuta ana ti\t Salanns I. Nrro (Hlfuta When I left America in October, 1911, to inspect the mission work in China, the Philip- pines, and Japan, the daily papers announced in striking headlines that China was in the throes of a mighty civil war. On arrival at Honolulu the reports from China indicated that the revo- lution had gained alarming proportions. Eleven days later, when our steamship Manchuria an- chored at Yokohama, Japan, we learned that millions of Chinese had cut off their queues. The queue was the sign of allegiance to the Manchus. It then took just two nights for the queues of the one hundred and seventy-five Chinese stew- ards and waiters on our ship to disappear to the hearty applause of the passengers. When we arrived in the midst of China, it be- came clear that the revolution could no more be put down than the tides of the sea could be pushed back. The outside world did not realize that China had been prepared thoroughly for a sweeping revolution, that she was like a great dry forest which needed but a match applied any- where to start a general conflagration. The un- expected took place. Like a prairie fire, the revolution swept from city to city, and from province to province, and in less than two months the revolutionary forces had taken fifteen of the 11 The Call of China and the Islands eighteen provinces. A new republic was organ- ized, and China, with one-fourth of the world's population, thus suddenly passed through the most colossal transformation known in history. Truly, the hour had come for God to fulfill prophecy, "a nation born in a day." One hundred and five years ago, when Robert Morrison started for China as its first Protestant missionary, a man of prominence in New York City sneeringly said to him, "And so, Mr. Mor- rison, you really expect to make an impression on the idolatry of China?" "No, sir," he replied, "I expect God will." Since that day there has been a century of con- flict between light and darkness, and Lowell's significant lines have been fulfilled again : "Careless seems the great Avenger; History's pages but record One death grapple in the darkness 'Twixt old systems and the Word; Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne, Yet that scaffold sways the future, And behind the dim unknown Standeth God within the shadow, Keeping watch above his own." At the time of the crisis in the revolution, the emperor at Peking, in perplexity, went forth to worship his ancestors, and to call upon their 12 New China spirits for help, while General Li, at the head of the revolutionary army, made his appeal to the living God ; and our Lord heard and wrought mightily for those who fought for righteousness and liberty, fulfilling in a wonderful way before our own eyes the second Psalm : "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh : the Lord shall have them in derision. * * * Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron ; thou shalt clash them in pieces like a .potter's vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings : be instructed, ye judges of the earth." Causes of the Revolution. After studying the situation on the field in the midst of changing conditions, I regard the follow- ing as some of the chief causes of the revolution : 1. China, by her geographical position, has been shut off from the rest of the world, and so has been a nation unto herself. Two hundred and seventy years ago the Manchus came down from the north and assisted China to win a mili- tary victory. They then took possession of the throne themselves, and so China has, since that time, been ruled by an alien race. The Manchus adopted the fatal policy of sternly opposing Christianity and Western education. Every- 13 The Call of China and the Islands where they prevented talented, capable Chinese from doing the work they by special training were fitted to do. The emperor and his associates accumulated vast wealth. The sense of security led them to indolence, luxury, and vice. Two rival clans sprang up among the Manchus, the red girdle clan and the yellow girdle clan. They opposed each other in carrying out national policies and thus presented the weakness of a divided house. 2. On the other hand, Christian missions had entered China and established schools and churches. Many of the young men and young women had caught the spirit of Jesus Christ and were being trained in the principles of Western education. The gospel was silently but power- fully permeating the lives of the leaders of new China. Many of these, in addition to the train- ing received in China, took post-graduate courses at Yale, Harvard, Columbia, and other universi- ties in America and England. 3. The anti-opium crusade, led by the mis- sionaries and the awakened Chinese, revealed to China for the first time the power of the plat- form. Public speaking was a new and mighty advance for China. Many who have intimate knowledge of the situation say that the revolu- tion could not have been won as it was if it had not been for the training that thousands of Chi- nese received during the anti-opium crusade. The wonderful success of this movement filled these 14 to New China Chinese leaders with confidence in their ability to do things. They then formed a crusade against legalized gambling, which has been a curse in China for ages. In Canton and vicinity, where two thou- sand gambling shops had been paying an annual license of a million and a half dollars, they com- pelled them all to close at midnight, March 29, 1911, and on the day following the gamblers themselves joined in the celebration of the vic- tory. Through these anti-gambling and anti- opium movements, young Chinese began to find themselves, and they felt that still greater achieve- ments were possible. 4. The humiliation of China in the war with Japan, in 1894 and 1895, and the Boxer uprising in 1900, revealed the weakness of China, not only to the outside world, but to the Chinese leaders themselves. The victory of Japan over Russia, in 1905, strengthened the conviction that China must change. Some fifteen thousand of China's most progressive young men, who had seen a vision of their country's possibilities, left China for Japan to study the secret of the greatness and power of the "Sunrise Kingdom." Other stu- dents went to America and to England for special studies. 5. Simultaneous with these significant move- ments and events, God had been preparing a young man, Sun Yat Sen, to become a construc- tive leader and organizer for a new epoch in 15 The Call of China and the Islands China. He was converted to Christianity when but a boy, caught the spirit of reform, and began to propagate his views among the Chinese stu- dents who were in Japan, America, and England. His new ideas were received with enthusiasm everywhere, and these students were ready on returning to China to identify themselves with the revolutionary forces when the hour came for action. In an important sense the students changed China to a republic. Washington and American Revolution The Chinese have been studying earnestly the life of George Washington and the history of the American Revolution. It was a constant sur- prise to me to see the great influence of Wash- ington in China. Years ago, in the public schools of Pennsylvania, we used to read the following from Edward Everett of the far- reaching influence of Washington: "Beyond Ohio, beyond the Mississippi, along that stupen- dous trail of emigration from East to West, which, bursting into States as it moves westward, the name and memory of Washington will travel with the silver queen of heaven through sixty degrees of longitude, nor part company with her till she walks in her brightness through the Golden Gate. And in barbarous archipelagoes, as yet untrodden by civilized man, there, and there only, the name of Washington is unknown ; and there, too, when they swarm with enlightened 16 Ward, Howard, and Oldt Locating on the Map Our Responsibility in South China. Parade Celebrating the Closing of the Gambling Dens, Canton. New China millions, new honors with ours shall be paid to his memory." I saw this prophecy fulfilled in the Hawaiian Islands, in Japan, and in the Philippines, and in a most unexpected manner in China. As the revolution swept the Manchus from South China, prominent Chinese remarked, "George Washing- ton did it." Many say that no one in new China should vote who is not acquainted with the life of George Washington. I was informed that four characters were recently presented in a reader for the public schools in central China, and these were Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Confucius. The Chinese newspapers backed up strongly the fight for liberty and made good use of the American revolution, as the following paragraph from a Shanghai paper, printed after a tempor- ary defeat, will illustrate: "If we have successes, we must also have de- feats. Now, unfortunately, we have the news of defeat at Hanyang. What we have lost is only a corner. The New World fought seven years of bloody warfare before it won its inde- pendence. The Colonists were often defeated and often victorious before they cast off the yoke of Britain and set up the imposing republic which has become one of the great powers in the world. Now their people enjoy the blessing of equality and breathe the air of liberty. This was won for them by the blood and iron of their 17 The Call of China and the Islands ancestors. Had the Americans lost heart be- cause of repeated defeats during their bloody seven years' struggle, and gone about hanging down their heads and begging for peace, or had they held back and refused to advance, would they to-day be in the glorious position in which they find themselves? The heroic quality of their stubborn strength leads us to honor and bow down to them. Now, we are fighting for liberty, for a republic. We wish to be reckoned among the great powers of the earth. We refuse to be cattle or slaves." Christian Counselors Save China. The integrity of China was in the balances for several weeks, as the conflict between Peking and the South became more and more acute. A dis- tressing famine and reports of robber bands, plundering, and stealing, made the situation more complex and difficult. Then Russia be- came aggressive and took steps to get control of Mongolia under the pretext of maintaining order. At the same time Japan increased her force of soldiers in Manchuria. The Christian statesmen saw the situation was of such a character as would certainly lead to the intervention of the powers and the partition of China unless vigorous and prompt action were taken at Peking. It was very fortunate for China that she had in her midst such men as Bishop Bash ford, Mr. E. W. Thwing, General 18 New China Secretary of the International Reform Bureau of China, and Dr. Gilbert Reid, Director of the International Institute, which has been recog- nized by the Chinese government. These men and others were consulted by the leaders on both sides. Bishop Bashford assured the authorities that the uprising was from God and could not be put down. He urged the leaders on both sides to get together and prevent the powers from dividing up China. Mr. Thwing sent the following telegram to the Empress Dowager and the princes at Peking: "I have resided in China for many years and have hoped for China to reform and become rich and powerful. I have gone down south and am acquainted with the desires of the people of the southern provinces, who wish to accord favor- able treatment to the imperial house and change to a republic. I am on good terms with both the Chinese and the Manchus, and cannot bear to sit as I watch them destroy themselves, so that, as in the struggle between the shellfish and the eagle down in tradition, the fisherman was able to capture both. I hope that China will soon confer the blessing of a republic on the people, so that not only destruction of lives may be obviated, but that no opportunity be given to other countries to take advantage of the situa- tion." Dr. Gilbert Reid visited in person the officials at Peking and presented strong reasons for the 19 The Call of China and the Islands throne to abdicate speedily. No one who knows the inner situation can doubt the power of these Christian statesmen in that hour of crisis. From Old to New. Our Chinese Annual Conference was just com- ing to a close in Canton when telegrams an- nounced the fact that the emperor of China was about to abdicate the throne. I took out the Stars and Stripes and placed the flag of the United States alongside the flag of the new Republic of China. You ought to have seen the faces of our Chinese Christians sparkle with en- thusiasm as I waved these two flags together and congratulated every Chinaman present on the privilege of living at such a time as this, when God is doing wonders in China for the bringing in of his kingdom. On February 12, the edicts announcing the imperial abdication were signed, and Dr. Sun Yat Sen, to unite the whole country, resigned as Provisional President in favor of Premier Yuan Shih Kai, an act that will forever enshrine him not only in the hearts of the millions of China, but of the whole civilized world. After numerous conferences, the National Assembly accepted Doctor Sun's resignation and elected Yuan Shih Kai president of the Republic of China, and adopted a provisional constitution which contains fifty-six articles, the fifth and sixth of which state : "The people of the Repub- 20 New China lie of China will be treated equally, without any distinction of race, class, or religion. The people have liberty of religion." On March 10, President Yuan Shih Kai took the following oath: "I shall endeavor faithfully to develop the Republic, to sweep away the dis- advantages attached to absolute monarchy, to observe the laws of the constitution, to increase the welfare of the country, to cement together a strong nation which shall embrace all five races. When the National Assembly elects a permanent president, I shall retire. This I swear before the Chinese Republic." President Yuan Shih Kai, while not a profes- sing Christian, has made it known that, so far as he understands the principles of Christianity, they are what he is striving for in the new govern- ment. He has requested the Protestant Chris- tians to pass on the word of religious liberty everywhere. The Washington of China The one supremely interesting and great char- acter the revolution of China has brought to the attention of the world is that of Dr. Sun Yat Sen. He has become widely known as the "George Washington of the Republic of China." Mr. Sun was born near Canton, China, the son of a farmer. While young in years he imbibed the revolutionary spirit from the example and teaching of an uncle who had taken part in the 21 The Call of China and the Islands Taiping rebellion, which sought to free China from the Manchus some fifty years ago. When about fourteen years of age he accepted Christ as his Savior. By embracing Christianity, Mr. Sun brought on himself the disfavor of his brother, who did everything possible to get him to renounce the Christian faith. But no perse- cution or persuasion on the part of his friends could turn him aside. He told his brother, "I have an inner confidence in this faith, and I can- not give it up." He studied local and provincial politics, and early became a recognized leader in his village council, and there he worked out num- erous reforms for his own community. He stud- ied in the mission schools at Hongkong and Can- ton and became a graduate in medicine. Called to Deliver China About twenty years ago Dr. Sun Yat Sen be- came deeply convinced that God had called him to work out for China a great transformation. The discovery of a plan of his to capture Canton compelled him to leave China, and for years he was a wanderer in Europe and in the United States, with a high price on his head. His faith, his perseverance, and his far-sighted planning during these years seem marvelous. Of his darkest hour, while a prisoner in the Chinese legation in London, he says: "My despair was complete, and only by prayer to God could I gain any comfort. I shall never forget the feel- ing that seemed to take possession of me as I 22 New China rose from my knees on tlie morning of Friday, October 16, 1897, a feeling of calmness, hopeful- ness, and confidence that assured me my prayer was beard, and filled me with hope that all would yet be well." in the midst of the conflict for liberty in China, Doctor Sun returned to his native land, and he was elected at once the first president of the new Republic of China. A few months later, the sterling greatness of this man was shown in his self-denying act of retiring from the presidency in order to bring the North and the South to- gether. Dr. Sun Yat Sen made a remarkable speech at a farewell banquet given him after his resig- nation as president. He said : "The republic is established in China and, though I am laying down the office of provisional president, this does not mean that I am going to cease to work for the cause. China has been under the domination of the Manchns for two hundred and seventy years. During that time many attempts have been made to regain independence. Fifty years ago the Taiping rebellion was such an attempt, but that was merely a revolution of the race, the Chinese against the Manchus. Had that uprising been successful, the country would still have been under an autocratic government. This would not count success. Some years ago a few of us in Japan founded the Revolutionary Society. We decided on three great principles: 1. The 23 The Call of China and the Islands Chinese people to be supreme as a race, and not to be under the domination of an alien race. 2. The people to be supreme in government. 3. The people to be supreme in the wealth produc- tion." Since he resigned the presidency, Doctor Sun has been going to the provinces that have been unsettled and explaining the meaning and signifi- cance of the new republic. No one else in all the world could do this important work as effec- tively as he is doing it. Reconstruction a Colossal Task Without living in the midst of the changing conditions in China, it is impossible to conceive the magnitude of the task that now confronts the leaders and Christian workers of the new repub- lic. Five races, namely, the Chinese, the Man- chus, the Mongolians, the Mohammedans, and the Tibetans, are to be combined into one republic. The superstition and corruption of the officials have been appalling. Local and provincial jeal- ousies abound. Lawless bands are everywhere robbing and kidnaping. Only about ten per cent. of the population can read and write. The gov- ernment is wholly without the necessary money to conduct its own affair?, to sav nothing of the nev needed to start a school system that will be ■ dequate. Tie ^criers of new China now face the serious fact that "popular government is not in itself a 24 New China panacea, that it is no better than any other form, except as the virtue and wisdom of the people make it so." It will take much time and great patience and wisdom for the new republic to become estab- lished. Following the American Revolution it required six years to frame our Constitution. Under most favorable conditions it will take China, with her hundreds of millions of people and her complex problems, a much longer period to work out her new system of government. One who is intimately acquainted with the whole situation, writes: "We are amazed at the unique opportunities of the new epoch ; we are bewildered by the unparalleled responsibilities and dangers. If ever there was a call to help a nation turn a corner in human history, America is called to help China in the present crisis." What an unspeakable opportunity is before the Christian church to give China at this time the truth and light of God, which must be incorpor- ated in the very heart of the republic to insure for it the stability and wisdom necessary to make the experiment of self-government a blessing rather than a curse. Power of Christian Missions The revolution in China is a declaration of the power of Christian missions and of Christian ideals. The go^nel of Tesus Christ has been slowly but surely transforming the nation. 25 The Call of China and the Islands Chinese leaders are now beginning to see the power of the gospel. The Governor-General of the Fukien Province said recently, "The present great upheaval is due to the missionaries who faced the perils of the sea and the pains of separation from home and homeland to bring to us the teachings of Christ." Against stubborn opposition and martyrdom the gospel has been getting a deepening grip on China. In 1842, after the missionaries had been at work for thirty-five years, there were but six communicant members in the Protestant Church in China. Some of the workers on the field at that time expressed the conviction that if the work could be carried forward faith f ally there would be a thousand converts at the end of the century. But, thank God, history has recorded the fact that there were one hundred thousand converts in China in 1900, and at present there are 278,628 communicant members and a Chris- tian constituency of 750,000. Faithful Unto Death The persecutions through which the Chinese Christians passed during the Boxer uprising re- vealed their faith in God and their loyalty to the truth when once they accept the gospel. "I recall," says Bishop Bashford, who has spent the last eight years in China, "the case of a pastor, wife, son, and daughter, whose lives the Chinese offered them if they would simply step upon a 26 New China piece of paper with the name of Jesus written upon it; they refused and died as martyrs. At Chien An one hundred and twelve school boys were cut to pieces or burned and the local preacher was bound to a temple pillar. As he continued preaching, a Boxer cried, 'You still preach, do you?' and slit his mouth from ear to ear. Another church member was buried alive. Ten thousand Protestant Christians are said to have suffered martyrdom. A nation which fur- nishes such specimens has in it the material out of which republics are formed." A New Program. It is felt on all sides that mission work in China must be unified, intensified, and greatly enlarged to meet the new situation. Important interdenominational councils will be held during this fall and winter with such leaders as John R. Molt and Sherwood Eddy. A new program for the evangelization of the great republic will be agreed upon. Without any question, educated men will be the leaders in every walk of life. The question of first importance is, Shall that leadership have Christian or pagan training? That question ivill be settled largely by what the Christian church does or fails to do the next ten years. China cannot have colleges which give Western education until she has high schools, and the grammar and primary grades must come before 27 The Call of China and the Islands the high school. Hence, China must begin at the beginning, and there will be an unprecedented call for teachers. Think of the task of develop- ing an adequate school system out of the chaotic conditions existing among the four hundred mil- lions in China ! The opportunity of ages is right now upon the Christian church to establish in China an adequate number of Christian middle or high schools, colleges, universities, and theo- logical seminaries, and thus provide Christian teachers and Christian pastors for new China. The situation is so extraordinary as to make one restless. It is to the Christian schools al- ready established that the government is now looking for her leading educators. Professor Chung, of the Canton Christian College, was ap- pointed recently as Commissioner of Education for the entire Province of Kwantung, where there are thirtv-one million people, in the center of which is the city of Canton with a population of two millions. This is but an illustration of the opportunity before the Christian church and the Christian schools in China. United Brethren Work and Workers In order to make thorough investigations of mission work in China and the Philippines, I requested Dr. A. T. Howard, who has had many years of experience in Japan, to accompany me to these fields. Though China was in the midst of a mighty war, we found our missionaries 38 New China calm and busy at work right through the transi- tion period. In all the port cities missionaries from up country were assembled in council and prayer, planning for the work ahead. It was a most favorable time to have interdenominational councils. Everybody seemed to be conscious that a new era was at hand. It was a never- to-be-forgotten experience to meet for the first time our beloved missionaries in China during a national crisis. Rev. and Mrs. C. E. Spore had made thorough preparations for our visit. They looked after every detail to make the councils and tours of investigation yield the best possible results. We first visited and inspected our work at the Beth Eden Compound, including the Miller Seminary, which had been in session right through the revo- lution, with the exception of a few days. We heard from many sources of the power and initiative of Miss Belle Myers, who has done such splendid work in developing the Miller Sem- inary. Miss Mabel Drury has made marked progress in the mastery of the Chinese language, and already has become a strong factor in mis- sion work in Canton. We visited our excellent mission church and Sunday school on Honam, and heard the Chinese pastor preach an able sermon on the text: "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away." 29 The Call of China and the Islands The preacher began his sermon by saying: "My text is appropriate for this time. China has just become a new republic. We are turning from many old things to things that are new. Moreover, a new calendar has just been adopted in which China reckons the new year to begin with January first, and this is the first Sunday in the new year." Then, sweeping his hand back over his queueless head, he declared, "And now we are all citizens of this new country." Then he urged his audience to find new life in Jesus Christ that they might become "new creatures." The sermon was most appropriate and powerful. We visited our splendid Foundling Home in Canton, the first of its kind in all South China, and formally dedicated the new building January 13. The power of this orphanage cannot be reck- oned by the number of outcasts it can now take care of and transform, but rather by its standing as an example of what must and will be done on a vastly larger scale by the awakened Chinese themselves. In that better day, which is now dawning, this Foundling Home, started by the women of the United Brethren Church in Amer- ica, will be remembered as the first work of its kind in South China for the "survival of the unfittest." In the construction of this orphanage and the missionary residence near by, Mr. B. F. Bean has shown himself to be a master builder, whose services will be greatly in demand in the 30 New China years to come. Mrs. Bean is recognized as an expert and pioneer in orphanage work. Our medical work in Canton, directed by Dr. Regina M. Bigler, has had a powerful influence. We found Doctor Bigler going about at all hours of the day and night, ministering to the sick and dying right through the revolution. The regular dispensary work was carried forward notwith- standing the unsettled condition of affairs. I attended the dispensary one day when Doctor Bigler said she had a light day — only one hun- dred and thirty-five persons were waiting to be examined and treated! Nineteen thousand per- sons are ministered to annually by our doctors in China. So widely and favorably known is the work of Doctor Bigler that messengers come frequently for her services through three miles of tortu- ous, narrow streets, and they come at all hours of the day and night. The doctor responds will- ingly at all times, and she frequently crosses the entire city during the night when the only light to guide her is the little wax candles in the paper lanterns suspended from her sedan chair. Visit to Country Places Though country districts were much disturbed by robber bands and clan fights, we made a hasty visit to FCwai Chau, Lak Lau, and Siu Lam, and found that Dr. and Mrs. Frank Oldt had been at their post of duty at Siu Lam when the revo- 31 The Call of China and the Islands lutionary forces, led by a robber chief, captured the city, the first place taken in South China. No one can know, without a similar experience, the test and strain that came to these missionaries when the rumors of war were heard on all sides, and then when the actual conflict came and the city was taken by the revolutionary forces; but God wonderfully protected them. While in Siu Lam we witnessed a most inter- esting Christmas exercise in our mission chapel, which seats comfortably about one hundred and fifty persons; but fully four hundred packed the building that day, and as many more stood about the doors and windows. This was one of the first public meetings held after the revolutionary forces were in control. An hour before the time for the meeting all seats were filled ; then they began to pack the place. They stood between the benches, on the seats, then on the backs of seats, and in the aisles — a solid mass right up to the pulpit. In the midst of this throng were revolutionary soldiers carrying their guns ; from the pulpit the whole assemblage seemed a sea of faces, and such wild, superstitious, sad faces! I wanted to take a photograph of the meeting, but the missionaries informed me that to turn a kodak on that assemblage would produce forth- with a panic and the loss of life. I shall carry the impression of that audience as long as I live. The contrast was most striking between our Christian workers and that vast crowd, many of 32 One of China's Idols. From a temple mar the Canton Christian College this idol was taken to be burnt later. The Ancient Wall of Canton Disappearing. Beth Eden Compound, Canton. Bed Time at the Foundling Home. Doctor Oldt Removing a Polypus. New China whom, doubtless, heard that day for the first time the story of Christ's coming into the world. The city of Siu Lam and vicinity has a popula- tion of five hundred thousand, and it affords a most excellent opportunity for Christian work. Here Rev. and Mrs. E. B. Ward wrought might- ily for God through a number of years, and the influence of Dr. and Mrs. Shumaker's early work still lives. We should have had two missionary families instead of one at this place ever since the work was opened. The leading citizens are favorable to Christianity. Many of the people are talented, and will make splendid leaders in Christian work in South China when won to Christ and trained for service. While in Siu Lam we visited three different sites with a view to securing the best available location for our new hospital. This will be erected as soon as the unsettled condition caused by the revolution permits the business men of the town to secure legal papers for the ground. It is evident that Siu Lam is destined to be a center of mighty power in our mission work in South China. On the return visit to China from the Philip- pines, we took an extended tour up the West River to see new territory as yet unoccupied by Christian workers. The center of the new dis- trict that falls to us is Kum Chuk. I shall never forget the impression that came to me as we climbed the hill back of this city and took a bird's- 33 The Call of China and the Islands eye view of the immense population up the river and in territory adjacent on the east. With my eye, unaided by a glass, I counted eighteen towns in not one of which is the gospel preached. Here in this territory are a million people without medical assistance, without the Word of God, and without a messenger of Christ to point them to the Lamb of God. This ripe field falls to our Church to evangelize. Councils of War During the month's visit in China we had many interviews with mission workers of other com- munions, visiting and inspecting their several departments of work, and conferring about the cooperation which is needed to make the church in China strong enough and sufficiently equipped to meet the extraordinary situation before it. Fourteen days were given to counseling with our missionaries and mapping out the work that our Church should undertake as its reasonable share in the evangelization of China. The China Annual Conference was held from January 12 to 16. As a result of the new aims adopted at the Annual Conference and the inspi- ration received for enlarged work, the mission- aries declared that they never before had known the Chinese pastors a in d laymen to be as ready - s at this time to dedicate their lives and their property to make the church of Christ powerful in China. 34 New China Team Work Planned It was an unexpected privilege to be in China during her transition from the old to the new, and witness the stirring scenes in connection with the new epoch that is dawning. After wide consul- tation it became clear that all the missionary societies at work in China should closely coor- dinate their work. A system of primary, gram- mar, and middle schools leading up to college and seminary work should be speedily established. Only in this way can a sufficient supply of min- isterial and lay leaders be raised up to meet the requirements of both church and state at this crucial time. After thorough investigation, the missionaries on the field in connection with the secretary voted unanimously the following: 1. That we strengthen the number of our clay schools for boys and girls of the primary grade. 2. That the present boys' grammar school be enlarged and enriched in its course of study, and that to pro- vide for its needs a suitable lot and building be secured as soon as possible. 3. That we co- operate with the Canton Christian College in the middle school, of high-school grade, and with the Fati Theological Seminary at Canton in the train- ing of young men for the Christian ministry, placing a suitable representative on the faculty of each of these institutions as soon as possible. The Canadian Presbyterian and the New Zealand Presbyterian Missions are already cooperating 35 The Call of China and the Islands with the Fati Theological Seminary. Tne Can- ton Christian College is interdenominatirnal and has a recognized standard of efficiency in all parts of Chii Jt will be able to carry the students not i h-ough the midd'e school, but also through the college courses as the work develops. A Medical University The need for medical missionaries in China is extremely great. In no other field on eartn can a Christian physician do a greater work for God and humanity Through the work of medical missionaries there is now a large demand in China for doctors trained in Western medicine. Unless medical schools of first-class standing are established on a Christian basis, this work will be undertaken soon by private corporations or by the government, and will be done on a much lower and non-Christian basis, if not anti-Chris- tian. The character of the doctors of China for many years to come will be determined within the next few years. The revolution has made the situation more urgent. To provide for this great need the medical school, in connection with the Canton Christian College, is asking the various missions in South China I perate with it in establishing a Uni- versity Union Medical School. The object is to give thorough instruction in medicine and sur- gery to the Chinese in the English and Cantonese 36 New China languages, and thereby provide mission hospitals with well-trained physicians ; train Chinese for positions as teachers in this and other medical schools ; assist in providing the Chinese Republic with a Christian medical profession ; take an ac- tive share in the investigation of the causes, pre- vention, and treatment of diseases peculiar to China ; and extend the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ninety millions of people of South China coming within the sphere of influence of this school. Our missionaries heartily recommend that we cooperate with this proposed medical university by assigning a man to teach in this school, as soon as our medical work is sufficiently strength- ened to enable us to release him for it. A Greater Miller Seminary That the women of China should receive Chris- tian education as well as the men, is now begin- ning to be recognized. The ignorance among the women is appalling. It is said that ninety per cent, of the enrolled members of the Chris- tian church in China are men. The women have been utterly neglected and overlooked. While it is important that much greater emphasis be laid on the education of young men for leadership, a vcrv decided movement must be inaugurated for the education and Christianization of the women of China. 37 The Call of China and the Islands Since the revolution, our Miller Seminary has been crowded to its utmost capacity, and many applicants have been turned away. The present enrollment is sixty-six, the largest in its history. Because of unsanitary conditions and the want of sufficient land adjacent, it is absolutely necessary to relocate this school. A year ago our board recommended that our entire compound at Beth Eden be sold and that we secure suitable locations elsewhere for the Miller Seminary and the nec- essary missionary residences. During our visit to Canton, business men from Hongkong, on their own initiative, interviewed us with a view to purchasing this valuable property. Owing to unsettled conditions, it may be some months, or even years, before a satisfactory sale can be made ; but steps should be taken at once for the relocation of the Miller Seminary and the erection of modern buildings, in which a vastly greater work must be done for the educa- tion of the young women of China. New Buildings and Grounds We sought to secure, while in China, a definite statement of the absolute needs of our mission for chapels, school buildings, missionary resi- dences, and dispensaries. For two years our missionaries had been investigating this subject. After the approval of the program on education, just stated, the missionaries voted unanimously the following: 38 New China 1. A new chapel and dispensary building com- bined for our First Church, Canton. Present communicant membership, 151. The present building is dilapidated, and is in danger of col- lapsing. This church is in a center of 200,000 population. The dispensary facilities connected with the present building are utterly inadequate. 2. Ground and residences for evangelistic and medical workers in Canton, 'when the Beth Eden compound is sold. 3. Ground and building for our grammar school in Canton. The school is but two years old. Since the revolution it has entirely out- grown its rented quarters. This school will be- come a powerful factor in our China mission. 4. At Siu Lam we have a church membership of ninety-eight, with a constituency of five hun- dred thousand. The city authorities are seeking for a site for our new hospital. We need at once a residence for the physician who will have charge of the hospital. 5. A new mission station is to be opened at Kum Chuk in the Lak Lau District, where a mil- lion people are without any gospel privileges. Two missionary families, a medical man and wife, and an evangelistic missionary and wife are to start this work. Missionary residences should be provided before these missionaries are on the ground, for it will be impossible for American missionaries to find suitable quarters in that district. 39 The Call of China and the Islands 6. Grounds and buildings for the greater Mil- ler Seminary. This is an urgent and pressing need. 7. A residence for the middle school represen- tative on the faculty of the Canton Christian College. 8. A residence for our representative on the faculty of the proposed union medical university. The total amount needed for the grounds, buildings, and equipment here named will be $81,000. We already have on hand for the relo- cation of the Miller Seminary five thousand dol- lars. The amount needed for buildings and equipment aggregates $76,000. Missionaries Needed After a careful survey of the entire field, the following are the missionaries necessary to direct the work: For Evangelistic Work — Three men and wives, one single woman for country work, and one single woman for work in Canton. Total, eight. For Educational Work — A man and wife to teach in the Middle School and direct the work of the boys' school, a man and wife for the Fati Union Seminary, two women for the Miller Sem- inary. Total, six. For Medical Work — A man and wife in charge of the hospital at Siu Lam, two women for Can- ton, a man and wife for the Lak Lau district, a 40 New China man and wife for the proposed medical univer- sity at Canton. Total, eight. For Philanthropic Work — A man and wife to have charge of the Foundling Home. Total missionary force needed, twenty-four. Of the above number, eleven are on the field and four others have been appointed and will sail in October. We need, therefore, nine new missionaries for South China, as follows : Two medical missionaries and their wives, two single women for evangelistic work, a missionary fam- ily to teach in the middle school of the Canton Christian College, and a single medical mission- ary. Three of these, namely, a physician and his wife and a single woman for evangelistic work should be sent out immediately. Outstanding Impressions The following are the outstanding impressions of my contact with China: 1. The Vast Multitudes of People. Every- where, on the rivers, in the country districts, and in cities, great throngs of people are seen. It is said that there are over four million persons in Canton and in the vicinity less than ten miles away. China contains more inhabitants than are found in the United States, South America, Can- ada, and Africa combined. Every fourth person born on earth looks into the face of a Chinese mother. The population of China aggregates fr.nr hundred and thirty millions. But these 41 The Call of China and the Islands numbers are meaningless. Imagine half the population of the United States packed into the single State of Missouri, and you will have an idea of the situation in China. Let ten thousand Chinese pass by every day, then you must hear the tramp, tramp, tramp of the weary throng for one hundred years, and still there will be sixty- five millions yet to pass in the procession. 2. Their Extreme Poverty. The average wage for the laboring man in China is but eight cents a day. Millions have not one meal ahead. Hence, great famines always follow floods. Mul- titudes never eat meat, save possibly the head or tail of a fish, or part of a dog, cat, or rat. The struggle for existence is most intense. Professor E. A. Ross, of the University of Wisconsin, who recently toured through the in- terior of China, thus describes the poverty and hardships of the Chinese laborers : "Our chair and baggage carriers had no wraps or change of clothing. Eight successive days of rain brought them to a state of utter misery. After twelve hours of splashing and slipping up and down the mountain roads, fording swollen tor- rents in a cold drizzle, under a weight of from seventy to ninety pounds, they would come at evening utterly exhausted to a cheerless, com- fortless Chinese inn — no fire, no clothing, save two soaked cotton garments, no bed and no blan- kets, and for supper nothing but rice and bean curd." 42 New China 3. Ignorance and Superstition. Not one man in ten in China, nor more than one woman in a thousand, can read; and those who have been educated according to the Chinese standard have their faces to the past and their backs to the future. Hence, the stagnant condition of the country. The Chinese are a very superstitious people. Multitudes live in constant terror of evil spirits. The people appear to be wanting in religious conceptions and they seem spiritually dead. The day I entered Kum Chuk, the center of a district of a million, to which territory we hope to carry the gospel soon, I saw a man dying on a narrow, filthy street of the city. Hundreds of Chinese were passing by, buying and selling, but the crowd did not so much as look at this wretched man in his last agony. It was neces- sary for us to pass on quickly or our presence might have incited a mob. Two hours later when we returned along the same street the man was dead. I asked why he had been carried to that cold, filthy place to die, and was told it would be considered a calamity in China for a man to die in a house not his own. Dead bodies are put into coffins and sometimes are kept for months and even for years until a geomancer discovers a lucky day and a lucky place for the interment. A missionary who has been in China for thirty years informed me that 43 The Call of China and the Islands he was called recently to bury a man who had been dead sixty years. He asked the people of the town how many inhabitants were living in the place, and was told there were twenty-five thousand. Then he asked, "How many unburied dead bodies are here?" They told him eighteen thousand. It will take years of gospel work to break the power of superstition in China. 4. The Strength and Initiative of the Chinese. When freed from the bondage of superstition the Chinese have shown themselves to be progressive and trustworthy to a remarkable degree. They have graded society, as follows: "First, the scholar, because mind is superior to wealth. Second, the farmer, because the mind cannot act without body and body cannot exist without food. Third, the mechanic, because next to food, shel- ter is a necessity. Fourth, the tradesman, be- cause as society increases, men to carry on ex- change and barter are a necessity. Fifth, the soldier stands last and lowest in the list, because his business is to destroy and not to build up society." The Chinese who have been trained in the mis- sion schools and have caught the inspiration of civilization are proving themselves to be capable of managing business affairs. While in Shang- hai, I had the privilege of visiting the Commer- cial Press, Limited. Fourteen years ago this company was started by Christian Chinese who harl learned the printing trade while employed in 44 New China the Presbyterian mission. They enlarged their plant from time to time until at present they have a capital of one million dollars and employ eight hundred men. They have branch offices in each of the eighteen provinces. Their business is managed on the cooperative plan, profits being shared with their employees. This printing es- tablishment, started under the inspiration and direction of Christian missions, is now the largest in all Asia. It illustrates the progressive spirit of the Christian young men of China. Rapid Reconstruction Within three months after the revolution had swept over South China, the ancient walls about the city of Canton began to disappear to make way for a modern trolley line. Steamboats will take the place of tread boats on the rivers and the wheel barrows will soon be relics of the past. A recent message from a missionary says : "The soldiers joined by the common people vis- ited every temple and nunnery they could find. Idols were taken down and stored in a building to be destroyed later. The priests and nuns have had no support from the people since the revolu- tion broke out." The situation in China reminds one of the man out of whom the unclean spirit had gone, de- scribed in Matt. 12:43-45. China is being swept and garnished, but unless filled and controlled by the Word and Spirit of God there will be a 45 The Call of China and the Islands pagan reaction, and seven other spirits more wicked may enter, and the last state be worse than the first. Christianity has not faced such a challenge and opportunity since Pentecost. To have a share in the work of presenting Jesus Christ, the world's Redeemer, to China at this time, and of laying the foundations of the kingdom of God for the new republic, is an unspeakable privilege. 46 II. {IragrrBmu? Japan When our ship cast anchor at Yokohama, Japan, November 3, at three a.m., the stars and moon were shining with unusual brilliancy. It was an ideal morning. The passengers were soon astir, anxious to catch their first glimpse of Japan and be ready to go ashore early. Excitement and expectancy ran high. The view just before daybreak was magnificent. The world-famous Mount Fuji, covered on all sides with a heavy cap of snow, stood out in majesty before us, just back of the city of Yokohama. This solitary extinct volcanic peak rises 12,000 feet above sea level and was thirty miles west of us, but seemed to be only five miles away. The rays of the morning sun are first seen on the top of the snow-clad mountain, and give it a most beautiful red tinge. Breakfast was called early, and after a hasty examination by Japanese custom officers and a physician, we saw steam launches and all kinds of Japanese row-boats coming out to our ship. We were soon taken ashore and found ourselves in the midst of the old and new of this land of wonderful beauty and variety. We saw the jinrikisha and the ox- cart on the same street and at the same time with the modern street car and automobile. 47 The Call of China and the Islands The Japanese people are no less interesting than their country. They are most active and aggressive and have wonderful power of initia- tive. They are indeed leading the Orient. Fifty years ago they cut loose from the policy of isolation and launched into the world's work with other nations, and they have since been reckoned with as a strong factor in commerce, in education, and in military strength. The population of Japan fifty years ago was thirty millions. It is now fifty-one millions, and is still increasing rapidly. Her people cannot gain a livelihood by opening up new agricultural dis- tricts, for only from twelve to fourteen per cent, of the entire area of Japan is susceptible of cul- tivation. So the Japanese have been forced to enter upon a period of industrial and commercial activity. New industries are being fostered in many places, and a most aggressive commercial policy has been adopted. Already Japanese freight and passenger steamships dominate the Orient, and their lines run out to Australia, South Africa, and South America, as well as to India, Great Britain, and the United States. Japan has caught a vision of her possibilities in commerce; she has discovered her intellectual ability, as her splendid schools testify; she has become proud and ambitious on account of her military achievements ; but the great discovery, namely, that Jesus Christ and his kingdom should 48 The New Emperor of Japan. Emperor Yoshihito has officially announced "Taisho" or ''Great Righteousness" as the motto of his reign. ffl to a, c c. CO 3 o Progressive Japan be over all, and first of all, has not yet enriched the millions in Japan. Remarkable Changes It seems incredible that but fifty years ago notice boards were standing on the highways of Japan announcing that Christianity is a forbidden religion. Through the fatal blunder on the part of Roman Catholic missionaries three centuries ago, the Japanese government was led to believe that they were seeking to get control of the state. Accordingly, in 1614, an edict was issued that all members of religious orders, whether Europeans or Japanese, should be sent out of the country. The persecutions of Christians that followed were most horrible. Some were hurled from the top of precipices, others buried alive, some were torn asunder by oxen, others tied up in rice bags and heaped together and the pile thus formed set on fire, others were tortured be- fore death by the insertion of sharp spikes under the nails of their hands and feet, and thus by this cruel and unrelenting persecution, within a few years all visible traces of Christianity were stamped out. The rank and file in Japan even to-day hold secret misgivings concerning the real purpose of Christianity. But a wonderful change is coming. Religious liberty has been written in the constitution of the nation, and the Bible, which fifty years ago was an unknown book, is now printed by two strong 49 The Call of China and the Islands Bible societies and scattered far and wide by all the missionary agencies. During my visit in Japan, the fiftieth anniver- sary of Dr. John H. Ballagh's work as a mission- ary was celebrated in a most impressive manner. The occasion brought out the oldest men in mis- sionary work and the strongest leaders in the Protestant churches in Japan, both Japanese and foreign missionaries. Doctor Ballagh is the first missionary to pass fifty years of service in Japan. This unique occasion took us across almost the entire period of missionary activity, and im- pressed one strongly with the growth and present strength of Protestant Christianity in the country. Fifty years ago there was not a Protestant Chris- tian in Japan, while to-day they are found in every walk of life, — members of parliament, judges, professors in universities, editors, and officers in the army. Doctor Ballagh had been in Japan ten years before the first Protestant Church was organized, March 10, 1872, with eleven members. There are now over six hundred organized churches and nearly a thousand other churches not yet fully organized. There are sixteen hundred Sunday schools with ninety-five thousand teachers and pupils, and the native churches contributed last year for their own support about one hundred and forty thousand dollars. The growth in the church membership has been as follows : In 1872, 11; 1882, 4,361; 1900, 42,461; and at the SO Progressive Japan present time, 80,000 are enrolled in Japanese Protestant churches. But the power of Christianity is far greater than these figures would indicate. There are no mass movements in Japan such as are found in India. Because of the solidarity of the Japanese nation and the handicap put on Christian educa- tion by the government in the past, every inch of advance had to be made by winning individ- uals one at a time away from prejudice and su- perstition. Hence, the victories achieved repre- sent vastly more in the way of sacrifice and power on the part of the Christian church than the same figures would show in some other field. Christianity Recognized Not only Christian statesmen, but other think- ing men are convinced that Japan must have a different basis for her spiritual and moral life. The prevalence of immorality has become alarm- ing to the leaders. Baron Makino, their Min- ister of Education, says, "We are greatly dis- tressed about the moral condition of the students and the low character of the ordinary lodging houses in Japan." Recently many of the leaders in Japan came together in council about this matter, and decided to call together representatives of the various religious sects and counsel with them on this sub- ject. This conference was held on February 25, 1912, and was composed of representatives from 51 The Call of China and the Islands the Christians, the Buddhists, and the Shintoists. This was the first time in the history of Japan when she actually recognized Protestant Chris- tianity by inviting its representatives to confer with the government on moral questions. This conference has produced a profound and opti- mistic impression in favor of Christianity. In certain cities in Japan, government officials have, since this conference, attended Protestant churches in a body, because they now regard the action of the government as a public recognition of the power of Christianity. In harmony with this search for a solid basis of morality, the new emperor of Japan, Yoshi- hito, has recently issued a decree of great signifi- cance. It is customary in Japan for each reign to have a special designation. The reign which closed on July 30, 1912, with the death of Em- peror Mutsuhito, was very appropriately known as the period of "Meiji" or "Enlightenment," for it was during his reign of forty-four years that Japan has made such wonderful progress. The new Emperor Yoshihito has taken an important step forward by officially designating the present reign as an era of "Taisho" or "Great Righteous- ness." The emperor himself is an intelligent man of high moral character and the first Japan- ese ruler to be a monogamist. Christians every- where will pray for the Japanese people and their emperor in their search for righteousness that they may stand not on their own righteousness, 52 Progressive Japan but discover and abide in the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus as the only sure foundation for individual purity and national greatness. Our Own Workers I found the work of our missionaries and Jap- anese pastors of such a splendid character as to commend it most favorably to the other Christian forces in the Empire. Doctor Howard has been a member of the Executive Committee of the National Sunday-School Association. He has acted also as chairman of the Conference of Federated Missions for the Empire, and recently served as a member of the committee to investi- gate and report on unoccupied fields in Japan. Rev. Joseph Cosand, who is now acting as treasurer of the mission, has the confidence and (.•-teem of all the Christian workers, and has had charge of the building of the new churches erected the past year at Harajukn and Shimo Shibuya. Rev. B. F. Shively has won a large place in the confidence and esteem of the professors and students of the Doshisha University. He is now in America in preparation for larger service. The wives of our missionaries in Japan bear their share of responsibility for the work. Through personal interviews, through Bible classes and cooking classes, as well as through the power of their Christian homes, they are ex- erting a great influence for the kingdom of God. 53 The Call of China and the Islands Our Japanese pastors take a prominent part in the national and city conventions among the Japanese churches, and they have proved them- selves to be most efficient, loyal leaders of their local churches. They receive on an average a salary of nineteen dollars per month. The spirit that is taking hold of the Japanese pastors is shown by the remarks of Rev. Mr. Ishiguro. I asked him for a message from the Bible that would express his supreme purpose. He replied, "Watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry." Then he went on to say: "My ambition is not for a high position as bishop, or president of some school. My one desire is to be like Paul, to preach the gospel, to establish Christian churches in many places, and to build up strong self-supporting churches soon. That is my purpose. Now, won't you pray for me, and please ask my friends in America to pray also that Christ may give me power to do this?" Earnest Christian Laymen I had the privilege of meeting and counseling with many earnest Christian laymen while in Japan — men who have been won to Christ through the labors of our missionaries and Jap- anese pastors. These are working with their pastors and the missionaries with conviction and loyalty. The story of the work of one of them, Mr. Toda, will illustrate what others are doing. 54 Progressive Japan About ten years ago Mr. Toda was a guard in the Kyoto prison. He was anxious to get a better position and thought that by learning Eng- lish he might become a school-teacher. lie heard of an English Bible class conducted by our United Brethren Church, and he came to it for the pur- pose of learning English, but in the course of a few months the gospel message gripped his heart and he became a Christian. Soon after uniting with the church he was anxious that his family and neighbors also might become Christians. So he requested Brother Ishiguro to conduct gospel meetings in his own home. Largely through the efforts of this layman and the testimony of his earnest Christian life our Second United Breth- ren Church in Kyoto was organized. About two years ago Mr. Toda and family moved from Kyoto to Osaka, the largest commer- cial center of all Japan, and in which city we had no mission at that time. Mr. Toda at once requested that our Church begin missionary work in a district of one hundred thousand people in that great city. Rev. Mr. Ishiguro became inter- ested and visited the place. Ninety dollars were spent in fixing up a private house for public wor- ship, and when I visited this thriving mission I found these earnest workers had won seventy-five wide-awake persons to Jesus Christ and had a splendid church organized. The spirit of evan- gelism and aggressive work was manifestly pres- ent. 55 The Call of China and the Islands They urged that our Foreign Mission Board secure for them a lot and said that they them- selves would build the church house. Such rapid progress as this does not seem remarkable in America, but in Japan where heathen shrines, temples, and images abound, and the very atmos- phere is saturated with pagan ideas, the growth of this mission church in Osaka is clear evidence of the wonder-working power of God. It illus- trates also what one earnest Christian layman like Mr. Toda can accomplish for God in a great city. Encouraging Growth The last year in our mission in Japan there were added, on an average, seventeen members for each Japanese pastor. The growth in the Methodist and Presbyterian churches shows an average increase of but six members for each Japanese pastor, while for the Congregational churches the average for each one was nineteen. Our membership increased from five hundred and eighty-nine to seven hundred and thirty- three, or a gain of twenty-four per cent, during the last twelve months. Of our seventeen Jap- anese workers, eleven are ordained men. We have seventeen organized churches and eight other regular preaching places, six chapels and church buildings, seven Christian Endeavor socie- ties, and nineteen Sunday schools with an enroll- ment of one thousand one hundred and thirteen, Progressive Japan The total value of our property is $47,634, and the amount contributed on the field last year toward self-support was $1,472. A Tour of Inspection We visited personally our mission work at Xihombashi, Honjo, Harajuku, Shimo Shibuya, Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya, and Shizuoka ; held preaching services at each place and had the joy of seeing a number of decisions for Christ. These visitations revealed the fact that our seven- teen preaching places are supplying the only priv- ileges of the gospel to districts, as follows : I. Places already equipped with buildings. 1. Kyoto, a city of 400.000. First U. B. Church; field to be evangelized, 20,000; a splen- did church building and parsonage for Japanese pastor, valued at $8,000 ; church aggressive ; out- look for a strong church and self-support most hopeful. 2. Shizuoka, a splendid city. Our district, 10,000; we have a suitable church lot, building, and parsonage provided; value of same, $1,750. 3. Harajuku, where we have a most up-to- date new church building and parsonage, valued at $9,500; a great open door for a mighty work in evangelism and the training of students for the ministry. 4. Shimo Shibuya, adjacent to our missionary residences; district, 10,000; a neat church build- ing has been erected on our own lot ; value of 57 The Call of China and the Islands lot and building, $3,800 ; an excellent opportunity for kindergarten and evangelistic work. II. Places greatly needing equipment. 1. Kyoto, Second Church. District, 18,000; church in a rented house ; present need, $4,000 for a lot ; $2,500 for a church building. 2. Osaka, a city of 1,200,000; our district, 100,000; church in rented house; present urgent need, a church lot, $5,000. The aggressive con- gregation and pastor declare they will erect the church building themselves if the mission pro- vides the lot. 3. Nagoya, a large city; our district, 20,000; greatly need a church lot, $5,000, and a church building, $2,500. 4. Numazu. Our district. 5,000; the present needs, $750 for a lot and $1,500 for a church building. 5. Odawara. Our district, 6,000;- present needs, $750 for a lot, $1,500 for a church build- ing. 6. Hon jo, a section of Tokyo, 30,000 popula- tion ; a live church at work; needs a lot, $1,000, and church building, $3,500. 7. Okubo. Our field, 15,000; present need, $1,500 for a lot and $2,500 for a church building. 8. Otsu, in the center of a district of 100,000, all of which should be assumed by our Church at this time ; present need for a lot, $1,500, for a church building, $1,500. 58 Progressive Japan 9. In Funabashi, Matsudo, and Noda we have a good start in missionary work ; population of districts, respectively, 20,000, 10,000, and 15,000; new church buildings and lots should be provided soon. Total cost for these, $6,750. 10. Nihombashi, a district of Tokyo, which has a population of 151,873, and in this district there are but three chapels with a total seating capacity of about 400. Our distinct field has a population of 40,000. Being in the very heart of the capital of the Empire, the lot and church building will cost $12,500. This is a most press- ing and important need. An Unreaped Harvest During the last two years the missionary lead- ers in Japan have made thorough-going investi- gations to find out the exact religious condition of the Empire. The results announced are the greatest challenge that has ever come from Japan. Of the fifty-one million people in the Empire it is found that thirty-five millions are living in towns of twentv thousand and less, and in coun- try places. These towns and country places have been practically untouched as yet with gospel messengers. In other words, there are now in Japan more people without gospel privileges than are found in the entire population of the United States west of the Mississippi River. This re- ligious census revealed also the fact that even in 59 The Call of China and the Islands great cities where missionary work has been started the need is appalling. In the six provinces around Tokyo there is but one Christian to every 620 non-Christians ; one Japanese pastor to every 38,310 persons, and one evangelistic missionary to 88,263 persons. In the district of Tokyo there is but one evan- gelistic missionary for every 123,000, and one Japanese pastor to 50,000 of the people. The facilities in the way of chapels and churches are wholly inadequate. As the result of this inves- tigation a call has been sent to America for a greatly increased number of evangelistic mission- aries who shall take charge of these neglected districts. An interdenominational committee, which has charge of the distribution of Christian forces, has asked the United Brethren Mission to evan- gelize Chiba Ken, a district just northwest of Tokyo, in which there are fourteen towns and thirty-eight villages with a total population of 210,115. We already have preaching services in three of the largest towns, Funabashi, Mat- sudo, and Noda. Here is a large, compact field, immediately adjacent to our present work, which will afford a first-class opportunity for a strong evangelistic missionary to do telling work for God during the next twenty-five years. Another district assigned us is Shiga Ken, of which Otsu is the capital. In this province, which is situated just east of Kyoto, there is a 60 Progressive Japan population of 691,000. At least 100,000 people of this neglected field should be taken by us. In this district there are 150 unoccupied towns, each with a population of from two thousand to four thousand. In the center of this place, Rev. Monroe Crecelius laid down his life some years ago. What is needed is a missionary who will take up the work of this fallen hero, and go among the towns and villages organizing and developing mission circuits. At our Harrisburg Board meeting it was unan- imously voted that our denomination accept the foregoing named districts as ours to evangelize, and that two missionary families be secured as soon as possible to occupy these fields. A Mighty Task When one considers the fact that in Japan there is practically no Sabbath, that the chief currents of social and political life are anti- Christian, that there has been a distinct revival of Buddhism and ancestral worship, and that five-sevenths of the entire population are in dis- tricts destitute of gospel privileges, the magni- tude of the task that is before the Christian forces appears stupendous. It is at once apparent that unity of forces is absolutely essential in order that the best possi- ble results may be secured from the lives and money invested for the evangelization of this Empire. Accordingly, four strong groups of 61 The Call of China and the Islands churches have already been formed. These in- clude the Kumiai, with which the Congregational Mission is cooperating; the Church of Christ, with which the Presbyterians, the German Re- formed, and the Dutch Reformed Missions are cooperating; the United Methodist Japanese Church, with which the Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Church of Canada, and Methodist Church South are cooperating; and the Japanese Episcopal Church, with which six societies in Great Britain and Canada and the United States are cooperating. These four Japanese communions or churches have enrolled at least eighty per cent, of the entire Protestant church membership in Japan. Their general plan of organization and work is as follows: The self-supporting churches of each of these groups of missions were united into a Japanese Church, the chief responsibility being put into the hands of the Japanese pastors and laymen. A home missionary society has been organized by each Japanese communion thus con- stituted, for extending its work in Japan, but as only a small part of the task already begun in the several missions could be supported by these Japanese churches, the several missions have agreed among themselves to be responsible for a certain amount of the home missionary work already begun, and for the starting of work in some of the new places to be entered. Thus each mission is taking hold of many weak churches 62 Progressive Japan and new places, and developing them into self- supporting local churches, and then turning them over to the Japanese communion with which it is cooperating. In working out this plan there has been much thought and energy given to it by both the mis- sionaries and the Japanese pastors. The results achieved will be a great contribution toward a satisfactory solution of the problem of an aggres- sive, united native church in all the mission fields of the world. After carefully studying the problem of co- operation on the field, it was the combined judg- ment of the missionaries and the secretary that in order to give the Japanese pastors the largest fellowship, inspiration, and responsibility for the evangelization of their own country, our mission with others not yet cooperating with one of the four mentioned groups of Japanese churches, should seek to do so ; or by committee or other- wise join with others in an effort to bring these four groups of Japanese churches together with all other Christian churches, into one well-organ- ized, aggressive Japanese church, so as to bring the combined impact of Christianity to bear upon the superhuman problems before the Christian church in Japan. CO-OPERATION IN EDUCATIONAL WORK In addition to the closer federation of the Jap- anese churches, the outstanding need in Japan is 63 The Call of China and the Islands for a Christian university. Dr. D. B. Schneder, the president of the Conference of Federated Missions in Japan, recently voiced this need, as follows: "If Christianity is to fulfill its mission in Japan, it needs, first of all, preachers of the gospel who are thoroughly educated in first-class, vigorous Christian institutions of learning. A university is the great need of the hour in Chris- tian education in Japan, and to bring this widely- cherished dream into reality, one strong, united, undaunted effort should by all means be made at this point in the history of Christian work in Japan." While I was in Japan, definite steps were taken by the trustees of the Doshisha College to meet this expressed need, by extending its courses so as to become a Christian university. The gov- ernment has already approved this action and the Doshisha now enters upon a career of marvelous opportunity. The alumni and friends of the in- stitution in Japan are rallying to its support. Our Church has been cooperating with this school for more than ten years, first by sending Rev. J. Edgar Knipp and later Rev. B. F. Shively to teach in it. The authorities have recently asked that Rev. B. F. Shively take the chair of Religious Pedagogy in the Theological Depart- ment, and that our Church support a Japanese professor also, who shall be a specialist in the Old Testament. 64 Bird's-Eye View of the Doshisha, Kyoto. Intermediate Boys and Girls. Honjo U. B. Sunday School, Tokyo. o >> o H 3 J3 o 3 3 m <" c "e - o JS u O 2.2 ^ 5 4J >> D .5 o .•£ en ?'S ■S'> 3 u S •; : ; J te.2 - - O i- V _. O «. 3 u . > cc '3 C 3 "oa j- o w Progressive Japan Some of the most able Japanese pastors, like .Mr. Ishiguro, have received their training in the Doshisha. We now have three students there in preparation for the ministry. Our superintend- ent, Doctor Howard, says: "If we had no con- nection with a school of this sort, it would cost us far more to run a training school of our own, and even at the greater expense our men could not get the inspiration and preparation they re- ceive in this great university." While non- Christians may contribute to the support of the secular department of the Doshisha, they cannot be counted on to support the theological depart- ment. Christian men and churches and missions must bear this responsibility. The Present Challenge The urgency of helping Japan to-day was summed up at the World's Missionary Confer- ence in Edinburgh, as follows : "What is done for Japan is done for the whole Orient. What we do for her we must do quickly, or too late mourn our short-sightedness. We would not be alarm- ists, but the facts are disquieting. The educated portion of the population is already largelv nat- uralistic and agnostic. Few educators have am- use for religion at all. Hence there is a process going on, which, if unchecked, will make it very difficult for the gospel to find entrance. Mean- while also the transition stage will pass, and the country will settle down to more fixed modes of 65 The Call of China and the Islands thought. It is, therefore, necessary to act quickly and give Japan, without delay, all she needs in the way of missionaries and educational institu- tions." God's present call to our own Church is to take the following advance steps : 1. Send out two additional missionaries to occupy the two needy districts, Chiba Ken and Shiga Ken, with their 300,000 people, which we have accepted as ours to evangelize. 2. Support a Japanese professor in the theo- logical department of the Doshisha. These two advance steps will require an annual increase in the current expenses of the mission of $3,100. 3. Provide $54,250 within five years for lots, new buildings, and equipment already mentioned in detail in this report. 4. Purchase at once a lot and erect a church building in the central district of Tokyo, for our Nihombashi Church, where forty thousand people look to us for the gospel. This lot and church will cost $12,500. At the recent meeting of the Foreign Mission- ary Society, at Harrisburg, Pa., the foregoing needs for Japan were thoroughly considered and the Board, by unanimous vote, approved the same, and recommended that our denomination make these advances at the earliest possible moment. In conclusion, I may say that one cannot but admire the Japanese people because of their cour- 66 Progressive Japan tesy, their ambition, and their aggressiveness. What a contribution will come to the Church of Christ when the millions of Japan see him as their life and their Lord, and yield their splendid talents to make his kingdom universal ! It is well worth while to win such a people to Jesus Christ, and turn their activities into channels for the uplift of the world. 67 III. We witnessed a most striking contrast in going from China to the Philippines. In Canton, with its population of two million, there were no street cars, no automobiles, and no horses on her eight- foot-wide congested streets, and no stable gov- ernment to insure protection of life and prop- erty. We found Manila changed from an anti- quated, mosquito-infested, mediaeval town to a modern city, with beautiful parks and boulevards and hundreds of automobiles, buggies, and street cars, and over all, Old Glory pledging liberty, opportunity, and protection. A Strategic Stroke Not by mere chance were the Stars and Stripes placed over the Philippine Islands fourteen years ago. That was one of God's orderly movements. When the children of Israel were greatly op- pressed in Egypt, God saw it and sent Moses to deliver them. So, in 1898, the hour had arrived for God to deliver eight million oppressed Fili- pinos, and he called the United States to do it. One hundred years hence the world will have a better idea of the great purpose God had for the entire Orient when he called the United States to take hold of the Philippines. The Strait Settlements, China, and Japan are finding in the Philippines a powerful object lesson. President 68 The Advancing Philippines McKinley's own statement reads like a paragraph from the Bible. He said : "When I discovered that the Philippines had fallen into our lap, I confess I did not know what to do with them. I sought counsel from all sides, but got little help. I walked the floor of the White House night after night till after mid- night, and I am not ashamed to tell that I went down on my knees and prayed God for light and guidance more than one night. Well, it came to me this way. (1) That we could not give these islands back to Spain ; that would be cowardly and dishonorable. (2) We could not leave them to themselves, or they would soon have misrule and anarchy. (3) There was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, to educate and up- lift them, to civilize and Christianize them, and by God's grace do the very best we could for them as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died. And then I went to bed and to sleep, and slept soundly ; and the next morning I sent for the chief engineer of the War Department, who is our map-maker, and said, 'Put the Philippine Islands on the map of the United States.' " And, pointing to a large wall map, he said, "And there they are and shall remain as long as I am President." Lifting the Philippines Godward The work accomplished by the American mis- sionary and the American Government for the The Call of China and the Islands uplift of the Philippines fills the heart with en- thusiastic praises. On the one side, the Govern- ment has been building roads, introducing sani- tary conditions, developing a stable, representa- tive government, and establishing one of the best school systems on earth, which gives special emphasis to manual and industrial training. On the other hand, the American missionary has been helping by translating the Bible into the lan- guages of the people, by organizing Sunday schools, winning converts to Jesus Christ, and by establishing churches and Christian educational institutions. Things are moving at a rapid pace in the Phil- ippines. Think of it! Fourteen years ago, only five thousand boys and girls were given any sort of school privileges in the Philippines. To-day there are six hundred and ten thousand in the public schools. During the last ten years the missionaries have mastered the various languages, adapted them- selves to primitive conditions and great hardships in opening up the country, and have won to Christ fifty-two thousand four hundred converts, who are now being trained to do all kinds of Christian work. One of the missionary assets now found in the Philippines is a band of true and tried mission- ary statesmen — men and women who have sur- vived the change in climate and the test of mas- tering a new language and of adapting themselves 70 The Advancing Philippines to strange conditions. These missionaries are now able leaders who will direct wisely the ad- vances of the next decade. United Brethren Activities We found our own mission work in first-class condition. Missionaries of other communions congratulated us on having what they considered the best type of intensive organization and work among the native local churches found anywhere. All the missionaries in the Philippines are full of enthusiasm similar to that found in Korea. Each one of our own workers has a definite task to do, but each is ready to supplement or take up the work of another when necessary. Rev. S. B. Kurtz who, with his wife and family is now in this country on furlough, was the ex- pert treasurer of our Philippine Mission. Dur- ing the year before his return to the States, he represented our Church as a professor on the faculty of the Union Bible Seminary in Manila, in which institution the Presbyterians, Metho- dists, and United Brethren are cooperating to give the young men of these missions the best possible preparation for the ministry. This seminary holds its session each year from June to December, which is the rainy season, when both the missionary professors and the students can best be spared from the work at their stations. From December to June the weather is ideal for evangelistic work and district 71 The Call of China and the Islands institutes, and during these months the students and professors, fresh from the seminary, go forth to put into practice what they have been acquiring during the six months in school. Last year our mission had six students in this Union Seminary, and they took two or three prizes offered for high-grade work. This year our Church has eight students in attendance. Rev. E. J. Pace, who during his recent fur- lough in the States took some special training for a professorship in this Union School, is now back in the Philippines enthusiastically at work. In addition to his teaching, he is devoting much thought and time to reaching the Ilocanos in Manila, among whom we recently organized a church. Miss Matilda Weber has been busy starting and developing the Deaconess Training School at San Fernando, and assisting in district insti- tutes. Her work has been highly satisfactory. Eighteen students pursued the first year's course of the deaconess school the past twelve months, and the demand for and importance of this kind of work call for a larger building and another lady missionary. Rev. M. W. Mumma has charge of the station at San Fernando, and is editor and publisher of our excellent weekly mission paper, the "Nairn- bag a Damag" (Good News). This paper, which was enlarged from six to twelve pages last year, has increased its circulation the last twelve 72 The Advancing Philippines months from two thousand three hundred and fifty to over four thousand. It is conceded by missionaries of other churches that this paper has the largest circulation of any religious period- ical in the vernacular, not only in the Philippines, but in the Orient. Through this paper, Rev. Mr. Mumma reaches every week at least ten thousand interested readers, the great majority of whom have no other Christian reading matter whatso- ever. Many have been led to Christ through the reading of this paper. The subscription price is fifty cents per year. It is now almost self- supporting. In addition to the excellent mission paper, our press at San Fernando is sending forth many religious tracts, various forms of Sunday-school helps, and small booklets, literature of the very greatest importance for the Sunday schools and the native church membership. When one sees the great open door in the coast and mountain provinces for the preaching of the gospel by means of the printed page, he can understand why Mr. Mumma is bubbling over with enthu- siasm concerning his work. Mrs. Mumma also has such intimate knowl- edge of the mission press work as to be able to carry it along in addition to her other duties when her husband is called away on work out of town. Rev. H. W. YViddoes has done high-grade work as superintendent. He puts himself right 73 The Call of China and the Islands into the midst of the fight at the front and creates unbounded enthusiasm on the part of his co- workers. Seeing Actual Work Dr. A. T. Howard and the writer accompanied the superintendent and Rev. John Abellera on an extensive tour of quarterly meetings, visiting our chief mission stations. These tours were a reve- lation of the great extent of our mission fields and the hardships our workers have to endure. We journeyed ninety-two miles during one tour, on ox-carts, carromatas, and then putting aside our vehicles, we saddled the horses and rode them up the mountain streams. We crossed rivers on bamboo rafts nine times. During the rainy season, when as much as seventy-eight inches of water falls in four days, these rivers become torrents from a mile to three miles wide. Having held three meetings one day, we came to the last "river for to cross" after eleven o'clock at night, just as the moon was disappearing in the west and darkness prevented us from seeing any- thing across the river. Contrary to arrangement, the raftsman had gone to bed, on the side of the river opposite from us, and we had to wake him or stay all night on the south bank. One after another began to call, but no response. After fifteen minutes of vain endeavor, all came close together like a group of students giving their college yell, and we focalized and greatly inten- 74 The Advancing Philippines sified our call: "Bal-cero! Bal-cero! Hoy Bal- ce-ro — Raftsman! Ho! Raftsman!" Soon the dogs in the darkness across the river began to bark, and later the raftsman signaled that he was on the way; but when the raft finally arrived, it was so small our party had to be taken across on the installment plan, each trip requiring about half an hour. We arrived at our destination just one hour after midnight and found sleep most refreshing. When not stopping with the missionaries on this trip, the boards on the floor were the beds for the entire party save one, for whom an army stretcher had been secured. Boiled water for drinking purposes had to be taken along in bottles from day to day. To reach the goal fixed for certain days, it was necessary to be on the march before the rising sun had put out the stars, and so we had the great inspiration of see- ing the Southern Cross in the tropical heavens, and just where seen to the best advantage when one is in the midst of the mountains. The preaching services and evangelistic meet- ings held on this tour were largely attended. Of chief interest to the writer, however, were the quarterly business meetings. Work Well Organized Our superintendent showed marked ability in the way these quarterly meetings were conducted. Written reports were submitted by each pastor, 75 The Call of China and the Islands Sunday-school superintendent, steward, class leader, and lay preacher. These often called out helpful discussions. I was especially interested in the reports of the lay preachers, who do their work without remuneration. One reported twenty-five Bible classes, twenty addresses, and one hundred and sixty-eight personal interviews with men during the quarter, seeking to lead them to Christ. Five young men were examined and licensed to do similar work. Thus the good news is spreading from the coast towns into the immense mountain province, just east and north of our work, where five hundred thousand persons are still without the gospel. While Rev. Mr. Widdoes has been making such extensive tours as here described, Mrs. Widdoes and their five enthusiastic children have had to live alone in their home in Tagudin, sepa- rated some twenty-five miles from other mission- aries. Their interest in the work is so intense that they do not think this is a hardship. Professor Camilo Osias The first day out on this tour of inspection, just described, our party took dinner with Professor Osias, at Bacnotan, a town nine miles north of San Fernando. While attending the high school at San Fernando he became a member of the first Bible class conducted by our missionaries at that place. Through the study of the Word of God he was led to Jesus Christ, and he united with 76 The Advancing Philippines our Church in San Fernando on Christmas, 1904. He was thus one of the first fruits of our mis- sion in the Philippines. Mr. Osias made rapid progress in school, and in the spring of 1905 he won, in a competitive examination, a United States scholarship offered by the government. On coming to the States he attended the McComb Normal School in Illi- nois, spending his summers at Chicago Univer- sity. While at McComb he won the interstate oratorical contest. He then went to Columbia University, from which he graduated in 1910. On returning to the Philippines, Professor Osias was appointed superintendent of schools of the district of Bacontan, where there are forty teach- ers and one thousand eight hundred pupils. I learned from other leading educators that Pro- fessor Osias is regarded as one of the most pro- gressive teachers in the Islands. Since returning to the Philippines, he has iden- tified himself actively with our mission work, and is sought after in many places to make important religious addresses. In addition to his other work. Professor Osias has been contributing strong articles for the religious press. If the United Brethren Mission had accom- plished nothing more in the Philippines than the conversion of this noble Christian leader all the lives and money we have put into this work would be well spent. 77 The Call of China and the Islands A Trip to Annual Conference The Philippine Annual Conference was held at Tubao, February 15-18. We had a varied experience journeying from San Fernando to the place of the annual conference, a distance of twenty-seven miles. At eight o'clock, on Thurs- day morning, February 15, a large covered wagon, drawn by three mules and a horse, stopped at the mission house at San Fernando for its cargo, which consisted of Rev. and Mrs. Widdoes, their five children, Miss Weber, and a good supply of bread, canned butter, cut beef, and culinary articles. Mr. Mumma and the writer followed a half hour later, caught up with the first division at Bawang, seven miles south of San Fernando, where a preaching service was held at 9 : 30 a.m. Then we drove seven miles farther south to Cava, and at 1 1 : 00 a.m. laid the corner-stone of the new Otterbein Memorial Church. This church is named in honor of the Otterbein charge in East Ohio Conference, whose good people are giving one thousand dollars for its erection. The members of the Cava church were out in large numbers. They themselves are doing much to erect this cement block church. After appetiz- ing refreshments in the hospitable home of Rev. and Mrs. Abellera, we were off again for a three- mile drive to the northern terminus of the rail- road at Aringay. From there we journeyed by train to Agoo, five miles south, hoping at this 78 The Advancing Philippines place to find horses and carts ready to take us into the mountains to the place of the annual conference, but every horse had been engaged by the government officials for other purposes, and so we all had to put up for the night in the home of an American school-teacher, and get ready for a start by daylight the next morning. The five miles from Agoo to Tubao cannot be made by wagon or carriage, there being no cer- tain roadway, and so, some on foot, some on ox- cart, and others on horse-back, we crossed a river seventeen times and arrived at Tubao in time for the first business session of the conference. Remarkable Progress The sessions of the annual conference were held in a bamboo tabernacle covered with cocoa- nut leaves for a roof. The attendance was large and the reports uplifting. After deducting all losses for the year the communicant membership increased from one thousand five hundred and seventeen to one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, or a net gain of eighteen per cent. The Sunday-school enrollment advanced from eight hundred and twenty-one to one thousand four hundred and eight, or a gain of seventy per cent., and the increase in self-support on the part of the native church was from $333.37 to $686.68. Wonderful changes have taken place the last six years. The congregations have increased in that time from three to twenty-five, and the mem- 79 The Call of China and the Islands bership from one hundred and twenty-five to nearly two thousand at the present time. Three new churches were organized in import- ant places the past year, namely, in Manila, where there are ten thousand Ilocanos who look to us for the privileges of the gospel. This church, which started with nineteen members, will develop rapidly into what I believe will be one of the strongest local churches in the Philippines, for there are a great many wide-awake Ilocanos in Manila, as government clerks, stewards in hotels, and merchants. This church will furnish a field for active service on the part of our seminary students during the rainy season. A new church was organized at Baguio also this year. This is the summer capital. A new railroad is being constructed to this point and the population is destined to multiply rapidly. The third church organized was in Concepcion, a point far up in the Mountain Province — the farthest advance we have made in giving the gospel to the five hundred thousand of this ter- ritory, many of whom are half -savage and are destitute of gospel privileges. A Striking Conversion While attending the annual conference at Tubao, we were dined in a home in which a striking conversion had taken place some years ago. A public school teacher who had been led to Christ by our missionaries informed Mr. Wid- 80 On the Way to Annual Conference, Philippines. San Fernando U. B. Church. Professor Camilo Osias. A Filipino layman whose influence for Christ is far-reaching. The Advancing Philippines does that there was a man in this town by the name of Ambrosio Oribillo who would like to have a Bible. Two New Testaments were sent him at once. Some months later this man in- vited the missionary to visit him, and after a ride of thirty miles under the tropical sun, Mr. Wid- does came to this home for the first time. The man greeted him most cordially, saying: "I am so glad you have come. I received the book you sent me and as soon as I received it I read it through without stopping." Mr. Widdoes was greatly surprised, and said, "How long did it take you?" "Two days and one night," was the reply. "Oh, it is a wonderful book," he continued, "but I found some difficulties which I cannot under- stand." And he presented the New Testament with the leaves turned down where there were difficul- ties and it seemed that one-half of the leaves were turned over. Then began a most earnest searching for the truth, which lasted until eleven o'clock at night, when Mr. Widdoes, from sheer fatigue on account of the day's journey and the taxing labor of explaining the Bible in a new tongue, fell asleep on the hard board floor. But the Ilocano school teacher, who was with them, took up the conversation with this earnest in- quirer, and there by the little smoky kerosene torch, they worked together during the rest of the night. In the morning, when Mr. Widdoes 81 The Call of China and the Islands awoke, they were still eagerly discussing the wonderful promises in the Bible. In a very short time this man was led to Christ. A church was soon organized in the town and this man be- came a pioneer in starting other churches farther up in the mountains. He secured seventy-five subscribers for our weekly religious paper and continued to be one of the most successful work- ers in our entire Filipino mission. After four years the dreaded Asiatic cholera made its appearance in Tubao and Ambrosio was one of the five who finished his course through this malady. He died triumphant in the faith, admonishing his wife to bring up their large family in the way of the gospel. The Next Forward Steps It was a real joy to talk over with the mission- aries their past achievements and to discuss their present problems and future needs. Most thor- ough investigations were made which led up to definite recommendations regarding new chapels and churches. Our Filipino workers are making advances along two lines: First, by organizing and devel- oping their local churches and seeking to build permanent church buildings ; second, by cultivat- ing the spirit of missionary extension in their conference so as to occupy the adjacent Moun- tain Province. 82 The Advancing Philippines Suitable chapels have already been erected in San Fernando, Balaoan, Tagudin, and Cava, and chapels are in progress of erection at Bawang and Tubao. The Mission Council in the Philippines most earnestly requests that our Foreign Mission Board grant them at least two thousand dollars each year for the next five years, to aid our Filipino brethren in the erection of chapels in the following towns in which ours is the only Pro- testant church, and in which at present we have but mere temporary shacks or dwelling houses in which to hold religious services : Agoo, with a population of 13,000; church membership, 111. San Juan, with a population of 12,000; church membership, 161. Bacnotan, with a population of 10,000 ; church membership. 106. Xaguilian, with a population of 11,000; church membership, 92. Aringay, with a popu- lation of 8,000; church membership, 11. Sto. Tomas, with a population of 4,000 ; church mem- bership, 40. Bangar, with a population of 9,000 ; church membership. 55. Cervantes, with a pop- ulation of 2,500, not yet organized. Luna, with a population of 11,000, not yet organized. This aid in every instance is to be granted only after the local church has done its best in pro- viding materials and labor. We cannot state in advance for which towns this help will first be needed, for that depends upon the action of the 83 The Call of China and the Islands local church. The total amount needed for these chapels is $10,000. In addition to the above, we should provide, as soon as possible, $10,000 for suitable lots and church buildings in the city of Manila and in Baguio. The total needed for new churches and chapels is $20,000. Other Equipment Needed 1. An immediate need is ground to be added to the mission compound in San Fernando in order to provide a suitable site for the Dea- coness Training School, the hospital, the Evangel Press, and the dormitories. A very satisfactory property is under consideration, which lies adja- cent to our present mission property, and which could probably be purchased for $2,500. 2. The Deaconess Training School has already outgrown its present quarters. Because of the very important relation it bears to the extension of the work among the women and children, a larger and more satisfactory building should be erected as soon as possible. It is estimated that this building will cost $5,000. 3. Within a year after the arrival of the phy- sician, whom we so urgently need, it will be necessary to build a hospital. The people for the most part are too ignorant to obey the instructions of a physician, and accordingly all serious cases should necessarily be treated in a hospital in order 84 The Advancing Philippines to secure the best result. The estimated cost of this building with equipment is $5,000. 4. Since our printing plant will soon need larger and more satisfactory quarters, it is recom- mended that within two years from this time a concrete building should be erected for this pur- pose at a probable cost of $2,500, and a cylinder press costing about $1,500 should be secured. In all probability this plant will be able to provide a portion of the funds needed for this latter pur- pose from its own income. 5. Because we believe that dormitories or hostels for high-school students are very essen- tial, we expect to continue the work among the students on an increasingly large scale. If this work continues to develop as in the past, we shall need, within three years, one and possibly two dormitories for high-school students, the cost of which is estimated at $2,500 each. The estimated cost for all the above-mentioned buildings and equipment, other than chapels and churches, which should be provided just as soon as possible, is $19,000. Extension of Our Territory To the north and east of Union Province, in which we began our mission work, is the great territory known at present as Mountain Province, containing a population of five hundred thousand people, mostly pagans. This territory is divided into seven sub-provinces — Benguet, Amburayan. 85 The Call of China and the Islands Lepanto, Ifugao, Kalinga, Apayao, and Bontoc. We have two organized churches in Benguet and seven churches in Amburayan, the capital of which is Tagudin. Last September we began work in Lepanto, and we now have one church there besides several other interested congrega- tions. A worker will soon be stationed at Cer- vantes, the capital of Lepanto, to carry the gospel farther back into the mountains. Aside from a little work being done by the Protestant Episcopal Church in Baguio, Benguet, and the sub-province of Bontoc, there is no evangelical work being done in the rest of this great Mountain Province. Ifugao, a sub-province containing one hundred and twenty-seven thousand pagan Igorots, lies adjacent to our work in Amburayan and Lepanto. This territory has never been assigned to any mission by the Evangelical Union. It would naturally fall to the Methodists or the United Brethren, inasmuch as it joins the territory of both these missions. Bishop Oldham, represent- ing the Methodist Episcopal Mission, has urged us to take the responsibility of this Ifugao country. Our Mission Council recommends that we im- mediately push our operations farther inland, thus adding a field of one hundred and twenty- seven pagan population to our present field. To occupy our entire field in any adequate way our Philippine Mission needs the following rein- forcements: A deaconess to assist Miss Weber 86 The Advancing Philippines to carry on the work in the Deaconess Training School ; a physician and later a nurse to minister to over three hundred thousand people who are now practically without the benefit of such work ; a man and wife, or a single man and a single woman to reinforce the general missionary work- ers. With the expansion of our work there is danger of being crippled by the temporary break- down of some of our missionaries. It is difficult even now for any of them to take a few days' vacation on account of the pressure work already begun. Union Christian College The need of a Christian college in the Philip- pines to provide higher education under Christian influence has become so pressing that all of the missions laboring in the islands have united in expressing their desire to establish such an insti- tution. A committee was appointed by the Evangelical Union fa union of the evangelical missions in the islands) for the purpose of draw- ing up a constitution and articles of incorporation. This constitution and the accompanying articles have been presented to all the missions for their consideration, and have been approved by the Protestant Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal, Bap- tist, Presbyterian, Christian, and United Brethren missions. This constitution provides that the $130,000 needed to properly equip and establish this col- 87 The Call of China and the Islands lege shall be contributed by the different missions, as follows: The Methodist Episcopal and the Presbyterian, each $33,000; the Baptist, Congre- gational, Christian, Protestant Episcopal, and United Brethren, each $15,000. Each mission shall pay two-fifths of its share at the time of the signing of the Articles of Incorporation, and the remainder in three annual payments. For the United Brethren Mission this would be $6,000, to be contributed in the beginning, and $3,000 each year for three years. The committee of the Evangelical Union is now seeking to secure a satisfactory site for this Union Christian College. Union Bible Seminary This institution has been in operation in Ma- nila for several years. Our mission has officially united with the Presbyterian and Methodist Episcopal missions in this inspiring work. The only additional expense to our mission at present will be the rental of quarters for the students. When the Christian College is established it is hoped that the Bible Seminary will be perma- nently located in the vicinity of the said college, in order to permit the students of either institu- tion to take courses in the other, and also that certain instructors may be available for both. Other Union Projects Since Baguio, the summer capital of the Phil- ippines, is to be made an important center, it is 88 Missionaries in the Making, Philippines. Filipino Boys and Girls. Quarterly Conference and Business Meeting at Balaoan. Lay Delegates, U. B. Philippine Conference The Advancing Philippines recommended that a union church be established in Baguio as soon as possible. The probable outlay from our mission for this church building will be $1,500. Our mission recommends that we cooperate with other missions in the erection and equipment of a hostel at Baguio for missionaries' children, inasmuch as the government has offered to fur- nish a school building and provide a teacher as soon as twenty children are secured for the school. This is a matter of great importance. .Missionaries in the Philippines favor as an ultimate goal, a United Evangelical Filipino Church, and they believe that the presentation of this ideal will greatly stimulate the progress of the gospel and the establishment of self-sup- porting churches. When the time is ripe for the organization of such a church, all the missions should cooperate with this Filipino Church, until it becomes sufficiently strong to support, direct, and extend its own work, thus giving to these islands a pure, aggressive, evangelical church. The door is wide open for the extension of our work in the Philippines. No mission field on earth presents a more encouraging outlook than does this one. If our churches in America provide at once the reasonable equipment and reinforcements called for in this report, and which our Mission Board has unanimously voted, then before the next twenty-five years shall havp • 89 The Call of China and the Islands passed by we shall see the kingdom of God well established in our territory in the Philippines. A Closing Word I am deeply grateful to God and to the Church for having had the privilege of this visit to the mission fields of the Orient. More than can be expressed in words do I appreciate the devotion, the ability, and the unbounded hospitality of our missionaries in China, Japan, and the Philippines. At great personal sacrifice they cooperated most heartily to make the visit and the investigations produce permanent fruitage. I wish to record also the great assistance ren- dered by Dr. A. T. Howard, who accompanied me to China and the Philippines. His wide study of the ever-changing missionary problems of the Orient enabled him to enrich greatly our councils and platform meetings. It is my opinion that if we, as a Church, put into execution at once the policies and advance steps recommended, we shall exert an influence for the unity and efficiency of the entire mission- ary work in the Orient, far beyond our numeri- cal and financial strength. As I witnessed the remarkable changes taking place, there came to mind again and again these lines: "God is working his purpose out As year succeeds to year; 90 The Advancing Philippines God is working his purpose out. And the time is drawing near — Nearer and nearer draws the time, The time that shall surely be When the earth shall he [died with the glory of God t Is the waters cover the sea." 91 IV. Imtttful Porto &tro Porto Rico, the most charming of the islands of the western tropics, is unique in being our nearest foreign mission. It is practically a for- eign field in the homeland. All the leaders in that island with whom I conferred agreed that the customs, traditional beliefs, and degradation of the Porto Ricans put them in a position of the greatest need of the gospel. The proximity of the island and the close relationship to the States through commercial intercourse and religious in- terest, bring to us at home corresponding oppor- tunities and responsibility. There are 1,200,000 inhabitants in Porto Rico, the large majority of whom live in rural districts and know little or nothing of Christ's real re- demptive work. The Door Wide Open Until fourteen years ago, Spain, in conjunction with the Roman Catholic Church, had kept the door closed against other nations and religions. Her exclusiveness was almost equal to that of ancient Judaism ; no independence or religious liberty was allowed. Behind that closed door were Spanish tyranny and ecclesiastical oppres- sion, which kept the people in abject poverty, dense ignorance, and social degradation; but God, 92 Beautiful Porto Rico in his providence, opened that closed door in 1898, when the island passed into the hands of the United States Government. The people, weary of Spanish injustice and priesthood degen- eracy, were ready and waiting for Protestant Christianity, so that now the leading citizens, as a rule, actually hate the Catholic Church, and the mass of the people are hungry for the gospel and the Christ. This is the day of opportunity for the evan- gelization of Porto Rico and for the educational, social, moral, and religious transformation of the people of that interesting island. Even Catholi- cism has been deeply stirred by the aggressiveness and success of the missionaries, and is now trying to reform herself. The sooner we evangelize Porto Rico with the gospel and win the people to Christ, the more surely will Porto Rico be free from the tightening grasp of Catholicism and be able to propagate the Christian religion to the islands that sit by her side. Inspection of the Field During my visit it was both my pleasure and profit to see much of the island. Railroads, auto- mobiles, and coaches transport one over the great roadways, along which are towns, villages, and playas ; but it requires much walking and riding on Porto Rican horses to witness the phases of life in the mountain barrios. A visitor may travel only over the magnificent thoroughfares of the 93 The Call of China and the Islands island and stop at the cities as some have done, and get no idea of the real situation of the mul- titudes. I rode with our mission workers for days up into the mountains and down to the playas, where I preached in chapels and got an impression of the Christians in worship, as well as the needs and degradation of the lower classes. A like condition of physical and social degra- dation appeared in the back streets of the cities. One night I accompanied Mr. Drury to one of the densely populated portions of the city of Ponce, where his men's Bible class held a reli- gious service in the presence of poor, ignorant people, who pressed to the door and strained their necks to hear the gospel in sermon and song. To appreciate fully the needs and appealing condition of the people, one must visit the island in person. The Splendid Work of Our Government The United States Government is doing much to develop the natural resources of the island and to uplift and educate the people in the elements of American citizenship. Her splendid public- school system, including the University of Porto Rico, besides schools of domestic science, agricul- ture, manual training, in addition to the all-im- portant and excellent work of the Christian mis- sionaries, are tending to prepare the people for independence and self-government. Porto Ricans are not fully ready for such government now, but they will be ready in the not distant future. 94 Beautiful Porto Rico Seeing a Porto Rican one day away up in the mountains studying American history and read- ing the lives of such American heroes and leaders as Franklin, Webster, Washington, Lincoln, Grant, and McKinley in English, I was convinced that in the future Porto Rico will be so developed, improved, enlightened, and Christianized that it will become a self-governing colony, and add another star to the States. The General Religious Situation While the evangelization of Porto Rico can, of course, never be accomplished without the direct preaching of Christ and his gospel, yet the Chris- tian teacher, the Christian doctor, and the Chris- tian business man are very helpful in reenforcing the missionaries and in laying foundations for permanent success. One of the shameful influences that operates to the detriment and difficulty of the Christian worker in Porto Rico now is the fact that so many godless Americans, who are on the island for mercenary purposes only, represent in their lives low moral and social ideals. But the successes achieved during the years of missionary operation far outweigh the discour- agements. The religious statistics of the evan- gelical missions of the island show one hundred and seventy-nine pastors, one hundred and fifty assistants, one hundred and eighty-six church organizations, two hundred and eighty Bible 95 The Call of China and the Islands schools with fifteen thousand one hundred and forty-nine scholars, one hundred and thirty-two church houses and chapels with eleven thousand three hundred and fifty-nine members in full communion, the value of church property being $682,987. Our United Brethren Mission The location of our mission in the southern part of the island, with its headquarters at Ponce, is most excellent. It is probably the most com- pact mission field on the island. Besides Ponce, a city of 30,000 inhabitants, our mission territory includes the towns of Yauco, Juana Diaz, Pen- uelas, and Guayanilla. These constitute the five districts under the superintendency of Rev. P. W. Drury, including contiguous rural territory, in which are many chapels and other places where our American and native workers hold services. Thirteen years ago, Rev. N. H. Huffman and his wife were our only missionaries on the island. We had no property, no buildings, no- organiza- tions, no annual conference. Now we have nine American missionaries, eighteen Porto Rican preachers and deaconesses, fifteen organized churches, thirty-two other preaching places, thir- teen chapels and church buildings, thirty Sunday schools with an enrollment of one thousand five hundred and thirty-eight, and one thousand and sixty-six members in full communion, besides about five hundred who are candidates being 96 Public School, Juana Diaz. Coming Porto Rican Citizens. The band of the Yauco Public School. m K o ft, O u 3 "a ■Si a. re IS ■J Beautiful Porto Rico trained for full membership. The value of our church property is $40,000. The total contribu- tions for the past year from our churches in Porto Rico was $2,197.81. Early in the past year a site for our mission headquarters at Ponce was purchased at a cost of three thousand dollars. It is situated near our church, on the same street. Then, with the two thousand five hundred dollars granted by the Board, a neat, commodious residence was erected on that site. It has nine rooms, with modern conveniences. Our printing office also is on the new premises. The plant is ideal, and with our church in Ponce gives us permanent and conven- ient headquarters. We have a charming rest home, the Mt. Her- mon Cottage, situated two thousand feet above the Caribbean Sea, in the mountains, twelve miles from Ponce, on the fine roadway to Arecibo. It was erected with the contributions from the Wom- an's Missionary Association of our Church. It is the best and most delightful investment I ever saw for the sum of $1,000. It was our privilege to spend a few days in that health-restoring mountain home, with its exhilarating atmosphere and beautiful scenery. There are two medical dispensaries carried on under the auspices of our mission. The one is at Yauco, in connection with Rev. N. H. Huff- man's pastorate ; the other at Coto Laurel, under the direction of Superintendent Drury. Hun- 97 The Call of China and the Islands dreds of afflicted men, women, and children come to those dispensaries for physical help and relief. Christian physicians from the States give their services free, and special funds are provided on the island without any expense to the mission. The method of medical missionary work, in which the hearts of the people are won to Christ and the Church through the power of practical Christianity, greatly commends itself to all broad Christian workers. An Aggressive Annual Conference It was my privilege to preside over our Porto Rico Annual Conference, January 12-14, at Ponce. I received a royal welcome from all the workers. The attendance was large and the interest high to the end. The report of the superintendent showed an advance along all lines in accessions, Sunday-school enrollment, finances, new preaching places, and developed strength in the local churches. The spirit of enthusiasm, fellowship, and ag- gressive action prevailed throughout the sessions. The addresses of Superintendent Drury and all the American and native workers were of high order, and were worthy of an annual conference of our Church in the States. Though spoken in Spanish, the addresses were all translated to me in English. Our American missionaries, Mr. and Mrs. P. W. Drury, Mr. and Mrs. N. H. Huffman, Mr. 98 Beautiful Porto Rico and Mrs. I. E. Caldwell, Mr. and Mrs. C. I. Mohler, and Miss Elizabeth Reed, are all persons of fine character and excellent ability ; well trained and thoroughly consecrated to the cause of Christ in their field, they have no superiors on the island. They profoundly impressed me as men and women of God, rich in experience, mighty in the Word, and heroic in their passion to win the people to Christ. The native workers also are consecrated, loyal Christians. They are intelligent, efficient preach- ers and deaconesses. Many of them have been trained in the high schools of Porto Rico, and therefore command the respect of the public. Our church houses and chapels are well con- structed and kept clean and attractive. Both the American and native missionaries are hard, self-sacrificing workers. Every day in the week they visit in the cities and ride over the rough mountain sides to preach in chapels and carry the gospel into private homes. Our Porto Rican Christians are being taught the principles of Christian stewardship, and are being trained to honor the Lord with a weekly offering for the support and extension of the gospel. Considering the poverty of the people, excellent progress is being made. During the past year a new chapel was erected at Rubias in the Yauco municipal district, with offerings from the native Christians, and at the annual confer- ence this year a special subscription of $225 was 99 The Call of China and the Islands taken. This, with church extension money on hand, assured the erection of another chapel, which will be the fifth built with funds contrib- uted by the churches of our mission. The total contributions towards self-support during 1911 amounted to $2,197.81, an increase for the year of over twenty-five per cent. A great evangelistic campaign was planned for by the annual conference, and the goal of "1,000 souls for Christ" was adopted for this year. Within three months after the conference, the superintendent reported that three hundred and fifty persons had publicly professed their faith in Jesus Christ. The pastors have organized these persons into classes for the purpose of giv- ing them the instruction necessary before they enter into full membership. Missionary Co-operation Missionary comity on the island is a feature of great practical interest. It needs to be rigidly and conscientiously adhered to. The needs are so great and the degraded condition of the thou- sands in the mountain barrios and back streets of the towns is so appalling and even shocking that there must be no duplication of agencies or waste of religious energy or money. I found a general agreement and cooperation upon the part of the evangelical denominations operating on the island. All the cities are open to any denomination, but the general division of 100 Beautiful Porto Rico territory is as follows : The Presbyterians occupy the west portion ; the United Brethren in Christ the adjoining territory in the southern part of the island, with Ponce as headquarters; the Meth- odists and Baptists the central portion; the Con- gregationalists the east; and the Lutherans the north. There is also an interdenominational council, which encourages general fraternization and cooperation. It is clear in Porto Rico that a united Catholi- cism has the advantage over a divided Protestant- ism, and the sectarian divisions are an element of weakness in all missionary enterprises. Dr. Howard B. Grose, who made a careful survey of the missionary outlook of Porto Rico, expresses it in a nutshell : "A united Porto Rico Protest- antism is the only force that can successfully op- pose the Catholic Church and redeem the island." Two Union Projects I was charged by our Foreign Board to nego- tiate with the Presbyterians and Congregational- ists respecting a closer federation with our de- nomination in regard to a union printing plant and a union theological seminary. I am happy to report favorable results from these confer- ences. The first issue of the union paper, "Puerto Rico Evangelico," was published July 10, 1912. It is a semi-monthly publication of sixteen pages, issued on the tenth and twenty-fifth of each 101 The Call of China and the Islands month. It is printed on our United Brethren press at Ponce, with Rev. Philo W. Drury as general editor and manager and with associate editors from the other two denominations. The subscription price is fifty cents a year. The aim is to secure 3,000 subscribers and thus make the paper self-supporting by the end of the year. This consummation of the plans for this union printing plant is a cause for much thanksgiving. The circulation of this common organ will bind the hearts of the Porto Rican Christians together and help to hasten the establishment of the king- dom in the island. The plan for the proposed Union Theological Seminary, to be located at Mayaguez, has been agreed upon by the representatives of the Pres- byterian and United Brethren missions, and is being considered by the members of the Congre- gational Mission. The school property will be held jointly. Our share of responsibility will be no more than $4,000 in cash and the furnishing of one of our missionaries as a member of the faculty, giving half of his time to that work. In the meantime the Presbyterians have generously agreed to receive our native workers into their school for training until this union enterprise shall be consummated. Such a union training school as is proposed is a great necessity for the thorough training of all native workers on the island, and it will be both 102 Beautiful Porto Rico in the interest of eeuiiumy and broad missionary federation. Another Open Door Superintendent Drury and Rev. N. H. Huff- man, last September, visited Santo Domingo, and found there a door which God has evidently opened to the Christian missionary. The island is only fifty-five miles from Porto Rico, a few hours' ride from Mayaguez. It has a population of 600,000. Its territory is eight times the size of Porto Rico. The people are as needy of the gospel as the Porto Ricans, and wholly unevan- gelized. The urgency for entering that open door at once rests upon the following arguments : 1. Its close proximity to Porto Rico, being but fifty-five miles away. 2. Its need of the gospel. 3. Fifteen thousand Porto Ricans are living on that island now. In ten or fifteen years, ac- cording to the present rate of increase, the popu- lation of Porto Rico will reach two millions, which will be beyond its supporting resources and opportunities. Emigration will become a neces- sity, and the outflow will naturally be to Santo Domingo, where their kindred have settled. It is easy even now to interest Christian Porto Ricans in the evangelization of that island. Some are already offering their services as missionaries. 4. This open door can be more economically entered from Porto Rico rather than directly 103 The Call of China and the Islands from the States. It can easily be under the administration of our superintendent in Porto Rico. It would simply widen our field in the Antilles, with the addition at present of one more missionary and probably a trained consecrated Porto Rican. 5. Last, but not least, is the argument of an objective. Everything is favorable for the evan- gelization of Porto Rico within the present gen- eration, if the proper equipment and the neces- sary workers are secured. For self-preservation and the maintenance of the spiritual results of the investment of personality, sacrifice, and money put into Porto Rico, there must be a com- manding objective. The outflow of Christian life in that land must be as unselfish as it is in any Christian country under the law of divine love. Our Porto Rico Annual Conference last Jan- uary requested our Church to take action toward the starting of missionary operations in Santo Domingo, pledging itself to pay five hundred dol- lars during the year, beginning with January, 1913, "provided the board deems it possible and wise to open up work there next year." This call to advance comes as a great challenge to our denomination. Pressing Needs There is imperative need for a church building in Yauco, the center of the Yauco municipal dis- 104 Beautiful Porto Rico trict. Our growing congregation in that thriving town is struggling with wholly inadequate mate- rial means for the carrying on of its important work. This should take precedence of all other building enterprises. Seven thousand dollars should be made available for this church house just as soon as possible. Other needs now pressing include our share in the Union Training School at Mayaguez, $4,000; the enlargement of present church buildings and the erection of small chapels. $2,000; missionary residence atjuana Diaz,$2,100;ground and mis- sionary residence at Penuelas, $2,500; total needs for new buildings and grounds, $23,100. A Closing Word In closing this report of my visit to Porto Rico, I wish to express my profound appreciation of the prayers and sympathy of our Church, both in Porto Rico and in the States. I am grateful to God for the marvelous preservation of our lives on the sea, and for whatever helpful service we were enabled to perform for our noble heroic workers of that interesting island. My heart goes out for the redemption of that "Garden Spot" of the West Indies. Our denom- ination has done nobly in the past, but the present opportunities call for larger financial support of the work and for more earnest prayer for spirit- ual victories. The fields are ripe to harvest. There is no doubt about the outcome, if the work 105 The Call of China and the Islands is pushed vigorously now. Our missionaries are battling nobly against the mighty forces of ignor- ance, superstition, and evil, but God has prom- ised that the isles shall wait for him and on his arm shall they trust, so victory is assured. Let us all stir ourselves to come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty and thus win Porto Rico for our Christ. G. M. Mathews, Bishop Central District. 106 V. Wtyat £l?aU fBp GDur firapmta?? The United Brethren Church has heard the call of God for laborers in lands across the seas. Sixty-six of our noblest sons and daughters are now witnessing for Christ in West Africa, Japan, China, the Philippines, and Porto Rico. No other denomination has better missionaries. Seven of our workers have yielded their lives as martyrs for the gospel. All of them have so wrought for the transformation of our foreign fields as to call forth the admiration of the whole Church. Though much of the labor of the past, of ne- cessity, has been preparatory — such as the mas- tery of new languages, the adaptation of the work- ers to new conditions, and the development of a native ministry — there has appeared already a large fruitage, as the following table shows : Seven Years' Growth Abroad 1905 1912 Incr. Foreign missionaries 31 66 113% Communicant members 1,429 4.868 240% Sunday-school enrollment 2,243 6,026 170% Native gifts for self-support... $4,338 $13,239 200% The growth of our work abroad has produced a new challenge. It is now necessary for us to plan for the complete occupancy of our territory by Christian workers, and for the equipment of 107 The Call of China and the Islands the various departments of the work in order to insure the training and efficiency needed. Searching investigations were made and nu- merous councils were held with the missionaries in Porto Rico, Japan, China, and the Philippines, by Bishop Mathews and the General Secretary of the Foreign Board in their recent visits to these fields. As a result, the missionaries make two urgent requests of the home churches. First, that we send out soon eighteen additional mis- sionaries to assist in training a larger force of native leaders, and to open gospel work in pagan districts which range in population from one hundred thousand to five hundred thousand. The second request is for the equipment of the excellent work already begun. The call is for twenty-seven chapels, eight missionary residences, one hospital, one dispen- sary, and five school buildings, namely, a build- ing for the new grammer school for boys in China, a building for the larger Miller Seminary for girls in China, our share of the union train- ing school building in Porto Rico, a deaconess training school building in the Philippines, and our share of a union Christian college for the Philippines — the erection of these buildings to cover a period of from three to five years. The total cost for the new buildings and equipment will be $207,350. It is highly important that $60,000 of this building fund should be forth- 108 What Shall Be Our Response coming immediately, that the buildings urgently needed may be started at once. It is the conviction of the missionaries on the field and those who made these visits that the program recommended is the will of God for our work abroad at this time. After the visitation in Africa, soon to be made, a statement will be given of the needs of that field. The deputations brought the call of the mis- sionaries for this enlargement of work to the recent Board meeting at Harrisburg, Pa., and after carefully considering it, the bishops and directors of the Foreign Missionary Society unanimously approved the report and expressed their conviction in these words: "This program calling for new missionaries and equipment abroad should call out the most heroic efforts ever put forth by any of our local churches for this work. In our oivn strength it will be utterly impossible to accomplish it; but our God is able. We call upon every pastor, as he presents these needs to his people, that he challenge them to give themselves as never before to the mighty ministry of intercession, as well as to the complete consecration of themselves and their gifts to this end." What Will the Pastors and Churches Do The missionaries on the field have acted. The Board of P'oreign Missions has acted. The call now comes to the conference superintendents, the pastors, local churches, and individual men and 109 The Call of China and the Islands women in our churches. What will you do with it? Dr. A. T. Howard has been appointed super- intendent of the Orient to cooperate with the missionaries in Japan. China, and the Philippines to carry out the immense work outlined for these fields. They are now at work securing building sites. The Roard members are at work doing their part to reach the goal. If the pastors and all the local churches act promptly and adequately, we shall have a united, powerful movement to evangelize our share of the non-Christian world. This generation of United Brethren never before faced such an opportunity. Let us go up at once and possess the land for Christ, for we are well able to do it. The Cost 1. // will cost earnest thought and hard work. To inform the ignorant in our home churches, to awaken the indifferent, to enlist the prejudiced, and to get every member to read this call and act upon it will be no easy task. Pastors and laymen whose hearts are gripped by the facts presented in this book have hard work to do. We must constantly remember that the foreign missionary enterprise is no child's play. Our missionaries are hazarding their very lives for Jesus' sake and some of them are breaking under the strain of their work. One who has been fight- ing malaria while carrying the work of two men, 110 What Shall Be Our Response writes: "I cannot see any prospects of relief. We cannot let go anywhere without endangering results. You know we are now in the hot season when travel and toil produce severe strain. I do not know how long I shall be able to stand this." Heroic labor for this cause must not be con- fined to those at the front. To create an atmos- phere in our home churches for world evangeli- zation, and to achieve increasing success for this work right through a series of years, requires courage, wisdom, and perseverance. A high grade of pastoral leadership and first-class lay cooperation are absolutely essential. 2. It will cost fervent, continuous praying. Not by unaided human effort, but by the power of God is this work promoted. Prayer is the agency that couples Christ's power to the work. Our missionaries recognize this need and are calling us to prayer. A letter from Africa just received voices this call : "The devil is marshal- ling all his strong forces against Africa. Danger signals are sounding. I hear the tread of the feet of Satan's advancing army and we must get ready for the battle. If it were in my power to do so, I would have the whole Church on her knees for Africa." Similar appeals come from the other fields. Therefore, let us pray as never before for the missionaries and the work abroad. Pray also for the bishops, conference super- intendents, and your own pastor that these HI The Call of China and the Islands leaders may discern God's will in this unprece- dented call, and stand for such a program of work as shall enable every local church and every member in our denomination to do a great work for God. Pray ! for God will hear and answer prayer. Prayer alone will transmute informa- tion into inspiration, and coin interest into pur- pose, plan, money, and lives ready to obey God. 3. It will cost money. It is more difficult and costly to pray aright for the work and work- ers than to give money to this cause, but every Christian should do both. Money can work where the giver cannot. It can speak the gospel through every language where missionaries are at work. It can build chapels and hospitals. Money is a mighty factor in prompting the king- dom of God. To meet the extraordinary situation which now confronts our Church abroad, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars annually for the regular work of the various departments of foreign mis- sions will be required, or an increase of fifty per cent, in our gifts to this cause. In addition to this there is the call for $207,350 for grounds, buildings, and equipment. This may seem a large sum, but it should be remem- bered that these new buildings will supply the need in four of our foreign fields where there are four million people to be reached. The total amount asked for is less than the cost of three United Brethren churches in this country dedi- 112 El Pino U. B. Chapel. Iiuilt with funds contributed by the Porto Rican United 1'rethren Churches. Mt. Hermon Rest Cottage, Porto Rico. The Rift of our loyal women in the States. 1F*'**W ^ What Shall Be Our Response cated this year. We are not asking one local church to supply this need, but the entire denom- ination, and that within a period of five year>. Nothing could bring a greater blessing to the three hundred thousand members of the United Brethren Church in America than the whole- hearted acceptance of this call as the least we dare attempt in this day of golden opportunity. It is said that two-thirds of the human race live in the darkness of non-Christian lands. But a serious fact nearer home is this, that two-thirds of the members of our churches in America are without a vision of the world's need, and have no serious regard or recognition of God's right- ful claim upon their money and their talents, and hence they give but little or nothing for the ex- tension of the kingdom of Cod at home or abroad. Has not God himself brought us face to face with this mighty task abroad to drive us to our knees, to a confession of our sins and indifference, to restored fellowship with himself, and to the discovery of our mighty resources in Jesus Christ? This call from abroad coupled with the larger aim for our colleges, seminary, and home mis- sionary work in America will constitute the out- let, the very draft necessary to cause the Chris- tian stewardship fires that are now smouldered in our churches to blaze forth into a white heat. Thousands of our people, where now only hun- dreds are doing it, will bring their tithes and 113 The Call of China and the Islands free-will offerings to the altars of our churches, and we shall have sufficient money not only for these needs abroad, but for the adequate equip- ment and endowment of our schools and for the enlargement of all the work in America. The leaders of the Church are responsible for putting before the whole membership such tasks as will admit of no excuse for withholding from the Lord the tithes and free-will offerings. Every member of the Church should have a share in gifts for the regular work abroad. Some can give one hundred dollars, others fifty, twenty-five, ten, and five dollars annually, and the goal will be reached. To provide the new buildings and equipment called for, there are individual men and women in many of the congregations who will be glad to give a thousand dollars, or two thousand five hundred dollars to erect a memorial church in the midst of ten thousand or twenty-five thousand people abroad where ours is the only Christian church. The layman from Iowa who sent us last year a check for four thousand five hundred dollars to build a hospital in Siu Lam, China, has done a work that will witness for God from genera- tion to generation. Surely God will stir the heart of some one to send us five thousand dol- lars for the new hospital now needed in the Philippine Islands to provide medical treatment 114 What Shall Be Our Response for three hundred thousand destitute people in our district. 4. It will cost lives. We need eighteen new missionaries. When these are sent abroad we shall have eighty-four foreign missionaries in the midst of five million people, or one missionary to every sixty thousand to be evangelized. This will mean the sending out of but one missionary for every three thousand five hundred of our Church membership in United States. Can we not spare one out of three thousand five hundred for this important work? And will not those who remain at home be enriched in faith and good works by the obedience of those who go to the front? John R. Mott says: "No better thing could happen on behalf of our city and rural evangeli- zation schemes than to have a great uprising such as we have never known on behalf of the foreign fields ; for the history of the cliurch teaches clearly that the missionary epochs have been the ones which have most stimulated and purified the church on the home field." We shall need not only the eighteen new mis- sionaries, but recruits to take the place of those who from time to time fall in battle. With vast multitudes coming out of centuries of darkness, calling for Christian leaders, when did young men and women face such an opportunity as we now bring to them for service abroad? May scores of our young people enter into the joy 115 The Call of China and the Islands and fellowship of Jesus Christ as Mrs. Howard Taylor did, when she went as a missionary to China. She said: "There came a summer day to me when, all alone, reading the second and third chapters of Philippians, Jesus Christ lifted upon my soul a vision and showed me this, that life offered me now an opportunity that heaven itself could never give. Christ seemed to say, 'Will you ever in those bright, endless ages to come, be able to weep for me, to be lonely for my sake, to give up anything for me? Will you ever again have the opportunity of entering a little bit into my suffering — all that Calvary meant to me?' "I looked into his face and said: 'O Lord, I want that, I want it now, and cost what it may, I want to follow thee.' The Lord led me and I followed him, and went to China, and looking up into his face could say, 'O Christ, all is clear now between my heart and thee, all is clear now.' Oh, the flood of joy that came to my heart as he seemed to draw nearer than he had ever been before!" It is for joy like that in all our local churches throughout America that we plead. This call is not for foreign missionaries alone, but for every layman in the Church at home to consecrate his life, his business ability, as well as his money for the extension of the kingdom of Christ. There is but one thing that will bring this supreme fel- lowship. It is to form a partnership with Jesus 116 What Shall Be Our Response Christ to work with him through life — on the fir- ing line at the front if prepared for it; but if you remain at home, then be equally devoted to Jesus Christ to make the Church a dynamo for the evangelization of America and of the world. Christian laymen are discovering that there is no substitute for the joy of Christian service. One thoroughly enlisted writes: "We have found God's service a keen delight, and some of us never knew before what exhilaration there is in cutting expenses for the sake of defeating the de\il. There has been real excitement of soul in taking hold of God's plans and watching the answers to our prayers." Let Us Now Act As I journeyed through Japan, China, and the Philippines, I saw at close range souls being led out of darkness into the light of God, and new churches being organized out of raw pa- gans who were recently converted to Jesus Christ. A sense of awe came over me as I realized that right before my eyes was taking place in China, and in the entire Orient, that great transforma- tion which took place thirteen centuries ago in England and Germany, when Christian mission- aries entered those countries' and preached for the first time the gospel of Christ to our pagan ancestors, some of whom they found eating human flesh. 117 The Call of China and the Islands The mighty change and uplift that came to England, Germany, and later to the United States through the gospel is now coming to one-third of the human race who live on the western rim of the Pacific. As I witnessed the mighty works of God and saw the vast unoccupied fields, and noted the paucity of the laborers and the changes that are sweeping with cyclonic power and rapid- ity over the far East, the conviction fastened itself upon me with giant grip that this is the time of all times to plant Christianity as a per- manent controlling power in the Orient. "O Zion, haste thy mission high fulfilling, To tell to all the world that God is light; That he who made all nations is not willing One soul should perish lost in shades of night. "Give of thy sons to bear the message glorious; Give of thy wealth to speed them on their way, Pour out thy soul for them in prayer victorious; And all thou spend est Jesus will repay." S. S. Hough, Secretary. 118 App?nfoix Books for Further Investigation General — "Open Doors," the annual report of the Foreign Missionary Society for 1911-1912. 10 cents. "Our Foreign Missionary Enterprise," by Mills, Funk, Hough. Cloth, 50 cents; paper, 35 cents. Report of the Edinburgh World Missionary Con- ference, 10 volumes. $5.00, express extra. ''The Decisive Hour of Christian Missions," by John R. Mott. Cloth, 58 cents; paper, 43 cents. China — "The Uplift of China," Revised Edition, 1912, by Arthur H. Smith. Cloth, 58 cents; paper, 43 cents. "The Changing Chinese," by E. A. Ross. Perhaps the most readable of the recent books. $2.50. "The Education of Women in China," by Margaret E. Burton. $1.25. Japan — "Sunrise in the Sunrise Kingdom," by John H. De Forest. Cloth, 58 cents; paper, 43 cents. "Japan and Its Regeneration," by Otis Cory. Cloth, 58 cents; paper, 43 cents. Philippines — "A New Era in the Philippines," by Arthur J. Brown. $1.25. Porto Rico — "Advance in the Antilles," by H. B. Grose. Cloth. 58 cents; paper, 43 cents. Africa — "Daybreak in the Dark Continent," revised edition, 1912. By W. S. Naylor. Cloth, 58 cents; paper, 43 cents. "Fetichism in West Africa," by R. H. Nassau. $2.50. 120 For Pastors and Missionary Committees — "The Church Missionary Committee." 5 cents. "A World Cycle of Prayer." 10 cents. "Foreign Mission Study Circular." Free. The New Share Plan Pamphlet. Free. Missionary Map of the World, 9 feet x 5 feet. $3.00. "Manual of Missionary Methods for Sunday School Workers," by G. H. Trull. 50 cents. Chart: "Our Task Abroad." 25 cents. Set of six Missionary Charts, 36 x 44 inches, printed in two colors. On Map Bond Paper, $1.00; on cloth-backed paper, $2.00. Leaflets for careful distribution. For samples and any of the above books, address, FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 1003 U. B. Building, Dayton, Ohio. 121 FORM OF WILL OR BEQUEST For those who desire the correct form for a be- quest to the Foreign Missionary Society, we suggest the following: "I do give and bequeath the sum of dollars to the Foreign Missionary Society of the United Brethren in Christ, a corporation existing under the laws of the State of Ohio." Or, if the bequest be of real estate, as follows: "I do give, devise, and bequeath all that (here describe the property) to the Foreign Missionary Society of the United Brethren in Christ, a corpor- ation existing under the laws of the State of Ohio." ANNUITY PLAN Those who wish their money to go finally to the foreign missionary cause, and who cannot afford as yet to be deprived of the income, are asked to con- sider the annuity plan of the Foreign Missionary Society. Wills are sometimes broken and bequests to missionary societies are lost. By giving your money to the Board while you live, you become your own executor and avoid the risk of subsequent diver- sion of the funds. The annuity plan allows you a reasonable rate of interest for your money every six months as lon?j as you live. Correspondence concerning the above plan should be addressed to S. S. Hough, General Secretary of the Foreign Missionary Society, 1003 U. B. Building, Dayton, Ohio. 122 "LIVINGSTONE the PATHFINDER" by BASIL MATHEWS For Boys and Girls The book tells of this hero's adventures among the wild beasts and savage men, his perilous journeys by canoe and on ox- back, along the rivers and through the tangled forests of Africa, where no white man had ever been before. Twenty-Four Pages of Pictures READY IN JANUARY Cloth 50c, paper 35c, postage 8c. FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY 1003 U. B. Building DAYTON, OHIO JUL 1 2 199*1 UC IRVINE LIBRARY 3 1970 00969 5518 DATE DUE "$" 000 643 539 »