te 
 i 
 ™M 
 om 
 <3 
 la) 
 Ee 
 £2) 
 Z 
 Z, 
 © 
 H 
 <3) 
 oO 
 Z 
 Lael 
 on 
 Pe 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 
 
 LeFevre 
 
 
 
Linen ceaeel iieeeeiinened 1) Lerman fi omens ff (, omni 5) lemecone 9) ompamee |) |} 'commewat §')Jemenne Dt hemmer fp ermamme |} eam fi ppememee Pi Fecteome ff} eames 5 Pj cememan || [-oomesee f} |) examen fi femme ff comcemecs {3 {emma $ Prose (j 5 camcemmf] {8 anmounae 7 ffencamus jf Renemmor ff tt cence ft Rhema eomcnee femmes fi Pewee |} }esamens> Pi Lersamene fi thaneme> ty 
 
 | 
 { 
 aa | 
 commas 
 
 Recmee f fee f femme Bfteamnn Fj Haram f Momma f] accern f ff cece 7 ff eomane $} fhecaae PY ante t} thease Meese fH} 
 
 
 
 
 
 A STORY OF PROGRESS AND 
 ) 
 MARION R. DRURY, D. D. 
 
 ACHIEVEMENT IN THE WEST INDIES 
 
 * Ce ee tet 
 
 
 

 
MISSION 
 
 
 
 Porto Rico and Santo Domingo 
 
 A Story of Progress and Achievement 
 in the West Indies 
 
 By 
 Marion R. Drury, D. D., 
 
 Associate Missionary, Ponce, Porto Rico 
 
 “Puerto Rico Evangélico’’ Press, 
 Ponce, Porto Rico 
 
 1924 
 
 >, 06 
 
ré 7 wei of v J 
 Re pte f 
 ae 
 NOR ua A | 
 Peet 
 hn 
 ' y 
 
 
 
 
 
 | in 2022 with rund fr "ei 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Jeary 
 
 bie J 
 
 ¥ 
 ing 
 
 i Q 
 : i] 
 I 
 
 q w a as 
 } 
 
 ; me iiki® 
 
 rut Pa 
 
 Rahat, 
 
 hl a 
 
 \ Bi +i 14 
 
 flees Dy 
 
 “ { 4 
 iy 
 
 Tat ae at baie 
 
 ‘ee 
 reps! Me 
 
 
 
 
 
 Je qe Sore a 
 
 
 
FOREWORD. 
 
 Two years ago after my plans had been announc- 
 ed for going to Porto Rico, some friends, solicitous 
 about my welfare, inquired as to when I would be 
 leaving for the “Philippines.” Others desired to know 
 whether I would sail from Seattle or San Francisco. 
 All these seemed not to be very clear in their geo- 
 graphy of the location of this island belonging to the 
 group known as the West Indies. It is in the Atlantic 
 Ocean, about fourteen hundred miles directly south- 
 
 
 
 The Strategic Location of Porto Rico. 
 
 east from New York City and one thousand miles a 
 little south of east of the southernmost point of Flo- 
 rida, within the tropics, and is a part of the Territory 
 of the United States. 
 
 A few pictures will be found in succeeding pages 
 some of which are historically illustrative and others 
 that are typical of interesting physical features that 
 are among the much prized assets of the island. 
 Scenic beauty and charm, desirability and comfort of 
 climate, density of population, and the diversity and 
 
 3 
 
greatness of the needs of the people of the island are 
 among its distinguishing characteristics. But here 
 as elsewhere that which contributes most to the value 
 and prosperity of a country is the quality of the human 
 element entering into it. I have been here long 
 enough as an associate missionary, under the appoint- 
 ment of the Foreign Mission Board, to have very 
 definite impressions of the spiritual destitution of 
 the island, as well as of the splendid results that have 
 attended the efforts for its evangelization during the 
 past twenty-five years. 
 
 It is of these Mission Triumphs, both in Porto 
 Rico and its neighboring island of Santo Domingo, 
 that the following pages are dedicated, that the 
 friends and supporters of the work in these fields may 
 know and have joy in what has been achieved. Some 
 suggestions are also made as to a new challenge which 
 is very real and manifest at this time. It is for the 
 continued zeal and consecration of money and life to 
 the further development and strengthening of the 
 work so well begun that this challenge at the present 
 time is so urgent. The triumphs of the past justify 
 rejoicing, but not the laying off of the armor of 
 spiritual conquest. The field is still white unto a yet 
 more glorious harvest than that already gathered. 
 The appreciative beneficiaries of the gifts and prayers 
 of the churches in the home land join in the earnest 
 appeal for the gospel to be given to their fellow is- 
 landers who have not yet heard the good news. The 
 tasks are great and the problems are hard, but the 
 resources, human and divine, are adequate and avail- 
 able. Shall they be utilized? That is the challenge. 
 
 “Lift high the Cross of Christ! ~ 
 Tread where His feet have trod; 
 As brothers of the Son of Man, 
 Rise up, O men of God.” 
 
MISSION TRIUMPHS 
 
 I. PORTO RICO, THE GATEWAY TO ALL 
 LATIN AMERICA. 
 
 A history that reaches back into the very begin- 
 nings of Evangelical missionary work in Porto Rico 
 records the progress attained during a quarter of a 
 -century by the United Brethren and other churches 
 operating in this field. While the time is short, less 
 than a generation, it is long enough for worthy 
 achievement. It embraces not only a record of pioneer 
 days in mission effort in this tropical land, but distinct 
 pioneer experiences in planting the Gospel of Christ 
 among a people unacquainted with the spiritual real- 
 ities of essential Christianity. It was in this virgin 
 soil, with the difficult problems incident to a change of 
 goverment from the Spanish type, largely medieval, 
 to the American, democratic and progressive, prob- 
 lems of language, social customs hoary with age, 
 unsanitary conditions, low moral and industrial stand- 
 ards, and above all an effete church without vital 
 religion, that the remaking processes for a new and 
 free Porto Rico had their beginning. This beginning 
 was of necessity small, and was met with the bitter 
 opposition of a crafty and materialistic priesthood, 
 making the getting of a foothold difficult and progress 
 thereafter slow. But the mere smallness of beginnings 
 was not to be despised. The advance representatives 
 of a new day of hope for a people long bound with 
 chains of spiritual darkness, ignorance and supersti- 
 tion, came here with faith, vision and courage, and 
 were not dismayed by the difficulties they encounter- 
 
 5 
 
ed. It was theirs to do and to dare, and the results 
 achieved mutely testify to the progress made in 
 twenty-five years. 
 
 It was therefore fitting that the year 1923 should 
 have special recognition as a landmark of mission 
 progress. For it was on August 12, 1898, at the close 
 of the Spanish-American war, that the protocol with 
 Spain was signed at Washington and Porto Rico be- 
 came a real part of the United States. A little later 
 in the year the initial steps were taken to make this 
 newly acquired territory a field of aggressive mis- 
 sionary occupation. So that the year 1898 became 
 the date of the advent of American Protestant Chris- 
 tianity into the island, the Cross immediately follow- 
 ing the Flag. Missionary secretaries and mission 
 boards became the true pathfinders, the explorers 
 and leaders, in this spiritual and altruistic occupation. 
 Bishop Wm. M. Bell, then the general secretary of the 
 Mission Board of the United Brethren Church, was 
 the first representative of his denomination to visit 
 this field. He came with official representatives of 
 other churches to Porto Rico to make personal inquiry 
 regarding the religious condition and needs of its 
 people. After visiting all parts of the island, and 
 finding everywhere an open door and an urgent call 
 for mission work, a distribution of territory among 
 the denominations represented was agreed upon. The 
 area in the southern part of the island, of which the 
 city of Ponce is the center, was assigned to the United 
 Brethren Church. This was the beginning of our 
 work in Porto Rico. 
 
 Missionaries then were appointed and soon were 
 on the field facing the conditions mentioned above. 
 The first of these to arrive were the Rev. N. H. Huff- 
 man and wife, both graduates of Lane University, 
 Kansas, and also of Bonebrake Theological Seminary, 
 the date of their arrival being July 27th, 1899. Soon 
 
 6 
 
after Dr. W. E. Clymer and wife and the Rev. E. L. 
 Ortt and wife from Ohio were added to the mission 
 staff, who, however, only remained a short time when 
 they returned to the States. Mr. and Mrs Huffman 
 continued with the mission until 1912, when they 
 returned to the homeland because of health consider- 
 tions in their family, after thirteen years of earnest 
 and fruitful service. 
 
 Early in 1901 the Rev. Philo W. Drury and wife, 
 both graduates of Leander Clark College, were assign- 
 ed to this field, Mr. Drury also being a graduate of 
 Yale University and Bonebrake Theological Seminary. 
 In 1907 the Rev. I. E. Caldwell and wife, and in 1908, 
 the Rev. C. I. Mohler and wife, all graduates of York 
 College, Nebraska, were appointed to reinforce the 
 workers in this now rapidly expanding field. Miss 
 Elizabeth Reed, who had been a successful teacher in 
 the public schools of the island for six years, was 
 added to the mission force as a deaconess and parish 
 visitor in 1907. All of this group are still in the 
 employ of the mission. Their collegiate and other 
 training, their mastery and use of the Spanish lan- 
 guage, their continued connection with the work 
 through so many years, their personal consecration 
 and liberality of spiritual vision—all these things have 
 contributed immeasurably to their influence in leader- 
 ship, in preaching and teaching and in social and 
 religious life. Their long connection with the work 
 has also had much to do with the unity and continuity 
 of plans for steady advances through the years. 
 
 Mr. Huffman who was the first superintendent of 
 the Mission, serving until 1907, eight years, is now the 
 superintendent of the cooperative missionary enter- 
 prise in the Republic of Santo Domingo, work most 
 promising in a needy field, a position for which he is 
 well equipped in training and varied experience in 
 Christian work. He was succeeded in the superin- 
 
 if 
 
tendency in Porto Rico by Philo W. Drury, who served 
 in that capacity till 1919, twelve years, when I. E. 
 Caldwell, the present incumbent, assumed the respon- 
 sibilities of that office. Thus it will be seen that the 
 leadership here has remained with the three men 
 longest in the service of the mission, and embracing 
 the entire period of its history. Their long connection 
 with this work has no doubt had much to do with its 
 signal prosperity and growth. 
 
 From the first the aim has been to raise up a 
 native ministry as speedily as possible capable of 
 pastoral leadership. From the early days of the mis- 
 sion to the present time this aim has been in process 
 of gradual realization. In the beginning, of course, 
 it was necessary that the American missionaries 
 devote themselves to evangelism, pastoral and other 
 work essential to the building up of congregations and 
 the organization of churches, Sunday schools, and 
 other forms of Christian activity. But now that all 
 the churches have native pastors, the product of the 
 mission itself, trained and equipped for the full 
 discharge of their duties, the Americans are released 
 wholly for responsible leadership in administrative 
 and other work. Mr. Caldwell will continue to give 
 his entire time and consecrated energies to the over- 
 sight and direction in superintendency and extension 
 work. Mr. Drury is the Executive Secretary of the 
 Porto Rico Evangelical Union, publisher of the “Evan- 
 gelico,’ and manager of the Evangelical Bookstore, 
 while Mr. Mohler will serve as a general evangelist. 
 These goals and special spheres of activity are but 
 the results of wise and well planned endeavors of the 
 preceding years in this field. They are the clear 
 evidences of past vision and fruitful efforts, and a 
 prophecy of future enlargement and of increased 
 power in the continued evangelization and uplift of the 
 people of this goodly land. 
 
 8 
 
How much in contrast are these new plans and the 
 strengthened organization of the work, with the early 
 days of seed sowing and the first gathering of the 
 fruitage of this new harvest field! Note a few of the 
 most significant early dates: The first missionaries 
 arrived in Porto Rico July 27th, 1899; first Sunday 
 school held in a rented building September 17, follow- 
 ing, with sixteen pupils; first church organized in 
 Ponce December 16, 1900; first church building 
 erected in 1902; first Annual Conference of workers 
 held in December 1903, in a chapel just completed, in 
 Coto Laurel. This hardly deserved to be called a 
 conference, so small was it, but it marks the beginning 
 of organized effort permanently to establish evangel- 
 ical Christianity in this newly entered mission field. 
 There were but two American missionaries present, 
 and two young men who were only licentiate preach- 
 ers, called native pastors, without training and exper- 
 ience. There were a few others present at this initial 
 conference who had identified themselves with the 
 mission as new converts. The proceedings were con- 
 fined to one day, and were very meager, including 
 the dedication of the chapel. But it was the begin- 
 ning of conferences that have been annually held 
 through the years since. 
 
 Beginning of a New Era. 
 
 The twenty-first annual conference, dating from 
 the one just referred to, was held in Juana Diaz, 
 Juanary 11-13, 1924, just following the rounding out 
 of the period of twenty-five years. What do the 
 records show as to the progress made from the begin- 
 ning with nothing, to the opening of the present year? 
 What is the answer of our latest statistics? It is this: 
 
 Number of organized churches, 25; other preach- 
 ing places, 28; native pastors, 13; missionaries, pastors 
 and other trained workers, 25; present church member- 
 
 9 
 
ship, 1,730, a gain of 235 the past year; number of 
 Sunday schools, 25; enrollment, 2,322; Christian 
 Endeavor societies, 12; members, 413; one Otterbein 
 Guild with 55 members. Church houses and chapels, 
 18; parsonages, 11. Offerings: For Sunday schools, 
 $788.89; for missions, $469.74; for pastors’ salaries, 
 $2383.95; for church expenses, $486.95; for other 
 purposes, $850.00. Total, $4979.62, an increase of 
 nearly $300 over the previous year. Present value 
 of church property, $81,000. 
 
 These financial exhibits show a growing response 
 on the part of our Porto Rican churches in self-support 
 and in giving the gospel to others, two conditions 
 essential to fruitful and prosperous churches. While 
 poor, having little money, with their spirit of giving, 
 they must increase in numbers, strength and the ful- 
 filling of a worthy mission. 
 
 These are indeed informing and gratifying fig- 
 ures. Back of them is a great unwritten story of 
 heroic endeavor, earnest devotion, and the generous 
 giving of thousands of people in the home land, whose 
 prayers and gifts have made strong the hands and 
 hearts here. The figures, however, only have value 
 as they represent spiritual achievement. They tell 
 truly of numbers, buildings, material gifts and prop- 
 erty values, but these are not the essential assets of 
 missions. They are found in transformed lives through 
 the power of the gospel, in experiences of right living, 
 self-control, of comfort and support in sorrow, of 
 faith and hope when facing eternity, and in simple 
 and radiant resignation to the divine will. But more, 
 such results relate also to the character education and 
 guidance of the young in their thinking, choices, 
 habits, ambitions and purposes when they have reach- 
 ed adult years, through the cooperating agencies of 
 the church, the home and community with which the 
 school life must combine. Thus it is seen that the 
 
 10 
 
missionary’s work is many-sided and its fruitage 
 manifold. It is not easily visualized because its results 
 are essentially spiritual. Its greatest value is realized 
 when weighed in the balances which show the supe- 
 riority of the spiritual over the material. 
 
 Typical Practical Results. 
 
 These are evidenced in many ways, in what the 
 gospel can do for those who accept it and experience 
 its power in their lives, in home and social life, in new 
 ideals and the spirit of service to fellow men. Our 
 Porto Rican churches are making annual contribu- 
 tions for the building of chapels in rural communities 
 destitute of places of religious worship and instruc- 
 tion. They now have eleven such chapels to their 
 credit, and will build another one this year. These 
 same churches are also cheerful givers for the support 
 of the new mission work in Santo Domingo, and have 
 released one of their own young ministers to be a 
 pastor in that needy field, thus showing in a practical 
 way their interest in the spiritual welfare of those in 
 their own land and abroad who are without a know- 
 ledge of the word and love of God. This is their 
 way of telling to others what the grace of God has 
 done for them. 
 
 A Porto Rican, father of 14 children, living in 
 one of the cities where we have an influential and 
 growing church, in speaking of the beneficial influence 
 of the Protestant Church in the island, said: “It is 
 the only institution in Porto Rico that is doing 
 effective work to raise up a young manhood and a 
 young womanhood sound in moral principles.” There 
 are many others not identified with the evangelical 
 cause who are outspoken in the same conviction. 
 
 In the early days of Dr. Huffman’s work here 
 there was a little boy who lived in his home. He 
 was among the first converts of the mission. He 
 
 ut 
 
really grew up in the mission Sunday school and 
 church in Ponce. He was fed and nourished on their 
 teachings which prompted to a life of purity, truth- 
 fulness and strict integrity. He early yielded him- 
 self whole heartedly to godly living, and like the boy 
 Jesus, he increased in stature and wisdom, and gained 
 the favor of God and men. 
 
 In due time this lad grew to manhood and became 
 a teacher in the public schools. Later he married a 
 noble Christian young lady, who was also identified 
 with our mission from her early childhood. She, too, 
 had been a successful school teacher. They at once 
 established a Christian home, where intelligent piety 
 and a steadfast devotion to worthy living marked 
 their happy companionship, both of them much prized 
 products of United Brethren missionary teaching and 
 example. They are not wealthy, and yet they are 
 rich in character. As learners in the school of Christ, 
 they learned the joy of living from Him. They now 
 have five bright and beautiful children, and they 
 are all regularly found in the Sunday school and in 
 the worship of God’s house. Such a family is both 
 a credit and an ornament to any community. The 
 father is the superintendent of a large Sunday school 
 and the mother is a faithful and capable teacher in 
 the school. Such examples of the rich fruitage of 
 our mission in Porto Rico could easily be multiplied. 
 
 Among the converts won through the agency of 
 our mission have been many men of bad habits and 
 degenerate life. Some were drunkards much feared 
 in the communities where they lived because of their 
 vicious conduct when intoxicated. They were at 
 least of ordinary intelligence, and when sober were 
 industrious wage earners, but they were without the 
 power of self-control. Through the influence of 
 friends they were led to come where the gospel was 
 preached by our missionaries. They became interest- 
 
 12 
 
ed but they were so bound by the chains of appetite 
 that they seemed helpless in the face of the tempta- 
 tions to self-indulgence all about them. This was 
 years before the people of Porto Rico voted dry at 
 a popular election by a two-to-one majority. At last 
 these men were persuaded to take the gospel cure 
 for the drink habit. They had a great struggle be- 
 fore victory complete and lasting was achieved. Even 
 after these men had confessed Christ as their Savior 
 some of them fell repeatedly. They lamented and 
 confessed their lapses. The missionaries recognized 
 their weaknesses and that there was only hope in 
 the mighty grace of God. They were sympathetic, 
 charitable, and patient. While their faith was greatly 
 tried, it remained strong. 
 
 After the repeated failures and broken vows of 
 these victims of appetite, long indulged, they were - 
 happily saved from the love and power of sin, includ- 
 ing the love and power of strong drink, their acknow- 
 ledged besetting sin, through a personal faith in an 
 indwelling Christ. This was the secret of their 
 victory and the new life that followed. Such are 
 the trophies of grace, grace abounding to the chief of 
 sinners here in Porto Rico, as of old. 
 
 Efforts Toward Union. 
 
 The history of Evangelical mission work in Porto 
 Rico is by no means confined to the work of .any one 
 religious denomination, and this sketch would not 
 be complete, or true to the facts involved, without 
 due recognition and acknowledgment of the coopera- 
 tive efforts of a number of churches that have been 
 attended with good results. A brief statement, there- 
 fore, of how the uniting of the forces here was brought 
 about may have interest and value to the friends of 
 ‘ this hopeful island work. 
 
 The several churches joining in this union move- 
 
 13 
 
ment all began missionary operations here about the 
 same time, soon after the American occupation. At 
 the first each carried on its work independent of 
 the others, but with a common understanding which 
 provided for a distribution of territory and Christian 
 effort throughout the island. In this way the un- 
 necessary duplication of churches in any section was 
 avoided. This plan to prevent the overlapping of the 
 fields of the different churches has been abundantly 
 justified by the results that have followed. 
 
 This understanding among the leaders in the 
 several missions was the first step toward practical 
 unity and good fellowship among the Evangelical 
 forces working here. The second step taken was in 
 1905, when these churches formed a federation under 
 which they worked with harmony and advantage for 
 several years. 
 
 The Evangelical Union of Porto Rico. 
 
 Gradually, however, the need of a still closer 
 organization in carrying on their common task was 
 recognized, and in 1916, a third step was taken for 
 a more distinct cooperation of the churches and mis- 
 sion workers of the island in the formation of the 
 Evangelical Union of Porto Rico, through which the 
 general work of the churches has since been directed 
 as by one body. This Union is not a church, strictly 
 speaking, nevertheless, because of the very width of 
 its basis it forms a real fellowship of Christian 
 believers and workers. It is a simple cooperative 
 organization of the following American churches 
 engaged in mission work in Porto Rico: Methodist 
 Episcopal, Congregational, Presbyterian, Baptist, Dis- 
 ciples of Christ, Christian Connection and United 
 Brethren in Christ. 
 
 Thus the union of the leading Protestant forces 
 here was brought about through a series of evolu- 
 
 14 
 
tionary steps whereby they join hands in a common 
 program to make Porto Rico Christian. This form 
 of organization has now been in working operation 
 for over seven years. Considering the smallness of 
 the island, and the need for a united Protestantism, 
 the wisdom of this entire plan has steadily grown in 
 public favor. In the united approach to the work in 
 hand results have been secured that the churches 
 working independently could never have attained. This 
 combined movement has given the several missions of 
 the island a prestige and recognition they could not 
 otherwise have had. Among its good fruits are the 
 development of an effective type of pastoral evan- 
 gelism, a general stimulus to family religion, system- 
 atic Bible reading and study, and the creation of a 
 consciousness of the Christian solidarity of the entire 
 island. This Union, too, has visibly quickened the 
 moral and social forces, enabling them to concentrate 
 their energies to the accomplishment of practical 
 results in education, in the circulation of wholesome 
 literature, in promoting social purity, temperance and 
 other reforms, in raising a fund for the building of a 
 cottage for tubercular patients on the grounds of the 
 insular Tubercular Hospital, and finally in giving 
 substantial aid in sending missionaries to Santo Do- 
 mingo, the churches of Porto Rico ‘unitedly contribut- 
 ing at one time three thousand dollars to the union 
 work in that neighboring island. All these are results 
 more or less directly traceable to the concerted endeav- 
 ors made possible by the Evangelical Union with 
 its fine spirit and unified program. 
 
 Statistical Summaries. 
 
 What are some of the outstanding results of all 
 the missionary agencies thus employed in Porto Rico 
 during this twenty-five year period of their activity? 
 According to the statistics presented to the Annual 
 
 15 
 
Conference of the Evangelical Union, held in Ponce, 
 in November, 1923, when the Twenty-fifth Anniver- 
 sary of the Missionary Occupation of Porto Rico was 
 celebrated, the following data was presented: 
 
 Organized churches, 199; members in full com- 
 munion, 12,377, a gain of 630 the past year; ministers 
 and other workers, 282; churches and other preaching 
 places, 486; Sunday schools, 373, enrolled members, 
 24,717, a gain the past year of 3,523; Young People’s 
 societies, 129; membership, 6,150; church buildings 
 and chapels, 179, other buildings, 74; church offerings 
 the past year, $55,221; value of church property, 
 including schools, hospitals, orphanages, neighborhood 
 houses, etc., $1,798,600. 
 
 There are three other Protestant religious bodies 
 working in the island that are not connected with 
 the Evangelical Union, the Christian Alliance, Luther- 
 an and Episcopal, doing mission work, whose statistics 
 would add somewhat to these figures, increasing the 
 number of evangelical communicants in the churches 
 of the island to about 14,000, the contributions of 
 churches the past year to above $66,000, and the total 
 value of all church property to more than $2,000,000. 
 
 Well may we exclaim, Behold what God hath 
 wrought here in twenty-five years! Let it be 
 remembered that the churches working in this field 
 began with nothing, and that the invoice now made 
 furnishes only some of the more apparent results 
 achieved during this period, so largely devoted to 
 seedsowing and the laying of foundations. The 
 spiritual results evidenced in transformed lives, in 
 beautiful homes, and in noble and useful citizens, do 
 not admit of mathematical enumeration. Though 
 they are chiefly unseen, they are none the less real 
 and priceless in value. 
 
 If so much has been accomplished in evangeliza- 
 tion, in building and equipping general educational 
 
 16 
 
institutions, with special schools for the training of 
 native Christian workers, the building of hospitals, 
 homes for orphan children, and other kindred agencies, 
 social and industrial, for the welfare of the young 
 especially, together with what has been done to 
 encourage public school education, and in promoting 
 the social welfare of the people, etc., during the 
 quarter of a century just closed, what of the next 
 twenty-five years, and the next, and the next, under 
 our militant and progressive American Christian 
 civilization ? 
 
 The Protestant Missionary movement in Porto 
 Rico, so auspiciously begun, has great possibilities, 
 notwithstanding the fact that many of the people of 
 the generation now passing, with the example before 
 them of what religion had been before the days of 
 the American occupation, have no interest in, or 
 scarcely any patience with the religious appeal. This 
 will not be the attitude of the oncoming generations 
 that will have had no direct contact with the condi- 
 tions preceding the missionary occupation of the 
 island. The young people of today and tomorrow 
 will be different from their fathers and mothers. In 
 the cities and communities where evangelical churches 
 have been established great changes have already 
 taken place in departures from the former life of the 
 people, especially in the eagerness of the younger 
 generation to gain knowledge and leadership and to 
 step out from the seclusion of their fathers and to 
 take an intelligent part in the newer world. Through 
 the missionary awakening there has come a desire 
 for better things not only in civil government and 
 material comforts, but in education and social advan- 
 tages, so that there has steadily grown a widening 
 opportunity and increasing hopefulness for effective 
 mission work. Thus Christian missions as they have 
 been conducted by the several churches have been 
 
 17 
 
plainly influential in the recasting of the whole edu- 
 cational and social program of ‘the life of the island. 
 
 This is seen in the steady advance toward self- 
 support in the island churches, in bridging the gulf 
 that has separated the wealthy from the so called 
 peon classes, by creating an intelligent and trust- 
 worthy middle class, from which will come the future 
 leaders in public affairs. The men and women of 
 tomorrow who are to hold places of responsibility in 
 business, in offices of government, teachers in schools, 
 ministers and other Christian leaders, are now being 
 educated in public and other schools, and are being 
 taught, or must be, under the moral and religious 
 sanctions supported and vouched for by the Protestant 
 churches. How much there is, therefore, to hope for 
 in the future life and prosperity of the Porto Rican 
 people through these agencies of education and a vital 
 spiritual religion! The future is as bright and assur- 
 ing as the promises and grace of God. The twenty- 
 fifth anniversary year of the beginning of aggressive 
 missionary activities here, and that was widely and 
 enthusiastically observed, was the crowing year thus 
 far in the entire history of the processes to rejuvenate 
 Porto Rico through the evangelizing power of a pure 
 gospel. 
 
 A Testimony. 
 
 The Rev. S. G. Inman, executive secretary of the 
 Committee on Cooperation in Latin America, with a 
 deputation going to Santo Domingo, stopped off in 
 Porto Rico. Speaking of this visit and tour of the 
 island by his party, for a study of the work and 
 institutions of the Evangelical Union, Mr. Inman 
 writes under date of Jan. 29: “We have come away 
 from the few days’ visit to Porto Rico feeling that 
 twenty-five years of missionary work in the island 
 have been among the most remarkable victories 
 
 18 
 
accomplished in the history of the Christian Church 
 from the days of Pentecost. If any one is doubtful 
 or pessimistic or disturbed in his faith concerning the 
 power of the gospel, let him come to Porto Rico and 
 see what it has done in this quarter of a century.” 
 This certainly is a very strong testimony, and by a man 
 who has had many years of observation in many mis- 
 sion lands. 
 
 What Twenty-five Years have Wrought in Porto Rico. 
 
 Twenty-five years ago there was not a single 
 Protestant evangelical church in the island except one 
 in Ponce for English-speaking negros from the Virgin 
 Islands, and that was an English Episcopal, which 
 was given permission to come in by special act of 
 Spanish law. Until the American occupation in 1898, 
 no other non-Roman church was permitted. For over 
 four hundred years the Roman Catholic church had 
 been the State church of Porto Rico, and not only 
 dominated the religious life of the people but the civil 
 government as well. 
 
 Twenty-five years ago the first Protestant church 
 was organized for Spanish-speaking people, and now 
 there are 229 churches with a membership of 14,000, 
 with a Sunday school enrollment of 28,624, and church 
 property valued at more than $2,000,000. 
 
 Twenty-five years ago there was no system of 
 public school education, and no public school property 
 in Porto Rico. Today the American school system 
 covers the island and there are 2,322 buildings of all 
 kinds dedicated to educational work, 637 of which are ° 
 public property, the other 1,685 are rented buildings, 
 chiefly in rural communities. Twenty-five years ago 
 there were only 21,873 children in the prevailing 
 schools, chiefly supervised by parish priests, now 
 there are 225,600 pupils in all grades, and an American 
 flag floats over every school house. 
 
 19 
 
Twenty-five years ago modern medical science 
 was practically unknown in Porto Rico. Today the 
 best hospitals and dispensaries of the Island are 
 carried on under the auspicies of the American Pro- 
 testant churches as a distinct part of their missionary 
 ministry. 
 
 Twenty-five years ago there was no welfare work 
 of note carried on for the benefit of the poor, the 
 unfortunate and orphan children. Now there are 
 homes for the aged, a hospital and home for lepers, 
 an insular hospital for tubercular patients and orphan- 
 ages for homeless children and other agencies born 
 of the spirit of the new Porto Rico. 
 
 A New Challenge. 
 
 The closing of the first quarter of a century of 
 missionary work in Porto Rico brings to the support- 
 ing boards, and to the native churches, all of which 
 have come into existence during this period, a new 
 and distinct challenge to increased activity and giving 
 for the complete evangelization of the island at the 
 earliest possible time. Why this challenge, and what 
 does it mean? 
 
 Has not a good beginning been made in the 
 thousands that have already been brought under the 
 transforming power of the gospel? Yes indeed, that 
 is true, and yet there are many more thousands and 
 hundreds of thousands that have not as yet been 
 reached. Great victories have been won, but the bat- 
 tle is not over. The greatest triumphs are yet to 
 come. The hardest fighting, that requiring the most 
 farseeing leadership and the most heroic support in 
 men and money is undoubtedly in the future. This 
 challenge is to a union of effort such as has not as 
 yet been fully realized. The foes to any further 
 advance are united or are indifferent to it. 
 
 It is here that a field of virgin possibilities was 
 
 20 
 

 
 BISHOP W. M. BELL, D. D. REV. N. H. HUFFMAN, D. D. 
 
 Founder of the United Brethren First Superintendent and Present 
 Mission Work in Porto Rico. Superintendent in Santo Domingo. 
 
 
 
 RUE Ws 2, We, IDIRUIRNE. 1) 1D) Bi 
 Second Superintendent, now Exe- REV. I. E. CALDWELL, D. D. 
 
 cutive Secretary of the Evangelical Third and Present Superintendent 
 Union of Porto Rico. 
 
"S261 ‘ddUaLaJUOD) UsIYJOIG Pau sAIVyIO AM 
 
 ony 
 
 5S hieadpeeasROU DS IER a eS 
 
 
 
‘tq ‘uUMOJSIOAT, JO ‘NRE “Gg ‘I ‘SA pue ayy Aq OOO'S$ FO 4TH 943 Aq o[QIssod ope] 
 oonV UL YOINYD VUolyJoIg poyU, MON 
 
 
 

 
 A Typical Porto Rico River. 
 
 
 
 A Porto Rico Cocoanut Palm Grove. 
 “Symbols of the Sun.” 
 
discovered, whose diligent cultivation for twenty-five 
 years has yielded a bountiful harvest. But who is 
 there that will not say that its continued development 
 will require a patience, a skill, and a consecration 
 greater than that which characterized the first plow- 
 ing, seedsowing and harvesting. The work yet to be 
 done is greater far than that already realized, much 
 as that may be prized. The discovery of a new coun- 
 try is a great thing, accompanied with its permanent 
 settlement and organization of society, but to build 
 it up and to make it strong in structural righteousness, 
 intelligence and good government will require a vision 
 of the future, statesmanlike wisdom and courage, and 
 a devotion to human welfare exceeding that of its 
 pioneer history. Porto Rico has passed its pioneer 
 stage, though it has yet much undeveloped territory, 
 much of primeval forest, but even this has been 
 prospected and attached to occupied territory, and 
 thus exposed to the light and institutions of progress, 
 so that its state is no longer that of the primitive 
 type. To hold and to cultivate the ground already 
 possessed by occupancy, and to reach with the gospel 
 those who have not hitherto yielded to its impact, will 
 be a larger task, with more complex problems, than 
 any that to this time has been undertaken. 
 
 To recognize these facts and conditions at the 
 opening of a new epoch is important. To assume now 
 that the Gospel has been given to the people of Porto 
 Rico, and that the cause of the evangelical churches 
 and missions will have clear sailing under bright skies, 
 and no storms of opposition, is to be lulled to sleep 
 by false hopes. It is true that the majority of the 
 people have deserted the priests and the churches 
 that long held imperial sway over them, and that the 
 old regime is waning in its influence, but it is not 
 true that this majority, or even a major fraction of it, 
 have responded to the appeal of a vital spiritual 
 
 21 
 
religion. Such is not the case. Those who have 
 abandoned Rome have only in small numbers com- 
 paratively embraced Protestant Christianity. What 
 of the others? In large measure they stand unrelated 
 to the evangelical movement. The task of giving 
 them the gospel in its purity and power is yet 
 tremendous and difficult, which by no means is impos- 
 sible. The day of opportunity for the accomplishment 
 of this great task is here, and those who do not return 
 to Rome, under its increasing zeal to control their 
 action, are likely to drift into benumbing irreligion 
 and worldliness. This opportunity is present, what 
 if it is not embraced? What if it is permitted to 
 pass unimproved? 
 
 The present state of Porto Rico from the stand- 
 point of Protestant experimental Christianity is critic- 
 al and urgent. This is the basis for the new challenge 
 of the hour. In recognizing this situation there is 
 however, no disparagement of the notable work that 
 has been done to make Porto Rico Christian, but it 
 does emphasize its need to be more Christian, and 
 that to make it so calls for a larger consecration of 
 the Christian forces interested in the island’s complete 
 deliverance from the regime of 400 years whose 
 appalling fruitage is poverty, illiteracy, illegitimacy, 
 and spiritual insensibility and darkness. 
 
 New workers cannot take up the tasks now to 
 be met as they did in the beginning. Among all the 
 virtues they should have is that one of being able 
 so to speak the Spanish language as to command re- 
 spect. At the first that was not so. Then when 
 new recruits entered the field unfamiliar with the 
 Spanish they were patiently borne with until they 
 could learn it. But the years of educational advance 
 since have changed all this, so that a change of leaders 
 or the initiation of new missionaries will be attended 
 with uncertainty if not serious peril without ability 
 
 22 
 
to meet the language requirement. This ability there- 
 fore, is implied in the new challenge adequately to 
 meet the demands of the campaign of evangelism 
 now happily launched. This applies preeminently to 
 Porto Rico, as it stands at the gateway to all Latin 
 America. It is in a position of influence and leader- 
 ship in view of the opportunities it has had and the 
 achievements it has made under the benign tutilage 
 of the American government, its churches and schools. 
 If it is further to develop its work, increase its re- 
 sources, spiritual and otherwise, to meet its new 
 responsibilities at home, in adjacent islands and to 
 other countries of Latin America’s ninety millions of 
 people whose language is Spanish, it must have a 
 leadership in its missionaries and preachers of superior 
 ability. How else can it meet the demands of this 
 new day? Good impulses, and even a deep and 
 fervent Christian experience, valuable as they may 
 be, are not enough. Neither is a collegiate and a 
 seminary education all sufficient, necessary as it is. 
 In addition to the language acquired there will need 
 to be technical training including a knowledge of the 
 field to be entered, methods of approach, racial 
 characteristics, temperament, etc. Are these require- 
 ments high? They are, but none too high, consider- 
 ing the age in which we are living, and what is expect- 
 ed if not absolutely demanded, of the moral, religious 
 and social leadership that is to shape and direct the 
 policies and destinies of future generations. 
 
 There is today a wide open door for the preaching 
 of the simple Gospel in all Latin America. How long 
 that door will be open will depend on the faith, 
 vigilance and aggressiveness of the Christian forces 
 that have entered these lands, and who are really 
 awake to their unfinished tasks. Their opportunities 
 are very real and supremely challenging, but they 
 are passing, and it may be never to return.. Let not 
 
 23 
 
the glory of the past, brilliant and significant as it 
 is, blind our eyes and weaken our sense of future 
 mission, in view of the lure of the greater tasks and 
 achievements that are yet possible. 
 
 We are assured by those who are in the forefront 
 of the battle line in evangelistic endeavor in these 
 and other lands that the fields are now white unto 
 the harvest; that the people will throng to hear the 
 gospel in places unrelated to the usual houses of 
 religious worship, such as theaters, public halls, tents, 
 mission cars, parks or other out of door places suited 
 to public assemblies. They are hungry for the word 
 of life, and in such places it may be given them free 
 from religious misconceptions and prejudices. The 
 opportunity is here for such preaching where it has 
 hardly yet been heard, but it is passing. What will 
 be the answer to this appealing challenge to our Amer- 
 ican churches and boards as we look forward to other 
 quarters of centuries to come in this spiritual conquest 
 of the world in the name of Christ, the mighty and 
 victorious Captain of all our militant forces? Is He 
 not plainly saying to his people today: “Ask of me, 
 and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, 
 and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy posses- 
 sion?” Now is the day of salvation for Porto Rico, 
 Santo Domingo and other lands. 
 
 puUERTO RICO 
 J 
 
 yet 
 
 
 
 Slogan of the Evangelical Union. 
 
 24 
 
II. SANTO DOMINGO, A VIRGIN MISSION FIELD OF 
 GREAT PROMISE. 
 
 The history of organized missionary activities in 
 the Republic of Santo Domingo under cooperative 
 agencies representing several different religious de- 
 nominations is so related to the mission history of 
 Porto Rico that the two cannot well be separated. It 
 was the writer’s privilege recently to make a three 
 weeks’ visit in Santo Domingo in company with a 
 a deputation from New York, making a survey of the 
 work being done there, and of the further opportuni- 
 ties and needs for the extension of mission plans as 
 might be deemed wise and timely. This is the first 
 country discovered by Columbus in the New World, 
 in 1492. The capital is Santo Domingo City which 
 abounds in evidences of its age, as seen in the ruins 
 of buildings and walls constructed more than four 
 centuries ago, and which are typical of medieval 
 architecture and customs. In the central plaza of 
 the city is the monument to Columbus, before the 
 Cathedral where rest the bones of the intrepid Dis- 
 coverer. The city has a population of about 40,000 
 and is growing rapidly, yet without many of the 
 ordinary modern conveniences, such as a municipal 
 water supply, sewers, etc. The city has fourteen 
 Roman Catholic churches including the old Cathedral, 
 and great poverty and illiteracy are common especially 
 in the villages and rural districts. Like other islands 
 of the West Indies group this one has had a checkered 
 and comparatively uneventful history, suffering fre- 
 quently from internal revolutions and _ financial 
 and other troubles through the centuries, so that to- 
 day it ranks with the most backward of the small 
 nations of the Western Hemisphere. In area it is 
 
 25 
 
six times the size of Porto Rico and has a population 
 of 896,000. It has large resources in agricultural 
 lands, in timber, sugar, etc., chiefly undeveloped. In 
 1916 came the American occupation of the island, 
 when a provisional government was formed with an 
 admiral of the United States navy as Governor, 
 charged with the responsibility of managing the 
 finances of the island, establishing a national school 
 system, directing public improvements, and initiating 
 reforms looking to the good order, welfare and safety 
 of the people, etc. Under the American officers great 
 changes were brought about, sanitary conditions were 
 much improved, good roads were constructed, foreign 
 debts paid, and more money turned over to the Domi- 
 nican treasury for domestic uses than in many years 
 before. So the American occupation, while very dis- 
 pleasing to the Dominicans, causing much friction 
 and discontent, was not without its compensations. 
 The marines, however, are soon to be withdrawn, new 
 officers having been recently chosen at a popular 
 election, who have already assumed control of govern- 
 mental affairs. With improved conditions and self- 
 government restored it is believed a new day of hope 
 for the Republic has dawned. | 
 
 However that may be, this is the country that is 
 now being invaded for the first time by missionary 
 forces with any thing like a comprehensive plan of 
 evangelization and social uplift. This work is proceed- 
 ing hopefully under the auspices of an interdenomina- 
 tional Board for Christian Work in Santo Domingo, 
 which was formally organized December 17, 1920, the 
 Board being made up of members representing the 
 Board of Home Missions and Church Extension of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Woman’s Home 
 Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian 
 Church, the Woman’s Board of Home Missions of. the 
 
 26 
 
Presbyterian Church, and the Foreign Missionary 
 Society of the Church of the United Brethren in 
 Christ. This Board at the beginning had only its call 
 to this field, with no detailed program, neither work- 
 ers, buildings nor equipment. But with the spirit of 
 service it was soon able to launch a definite plan of 
 work in virgin territory. 
 
 Of this beginning an official representive of this 
 Board says: “The Board will always be under debt to 
 the Foreign Missionary Society of the United Brethren 
 in Christ that in this emergency it released from his 
 work in Porto Rico the Rev. Philo W. Drury that he 
 might go to Santo Domingo and initiate the work. 
 Under his guidance the work at once took shape and 
 so rapidly did it develop that at the end of two years 
 it is not easy accurately to place a chronology of the 
 growth. | 
 
 “The capital city, Santo Domingo, was chosen as 
 the first station. No building for work or residence 
 could be rented, so one of the first formal acts of the 
 Board was authorization of the purchase of a build- 
 ing on the corner of Mercedes ond Nineteenth of 
 March streets. Gathering into the building some 
 temporary equipment Dr. Drury began a Sunday 
 school and held evangelistic services. Immediate 
 interest was shown by the people and it became appar- 
 ent that the way was open for a sympathetic 
 hearing. Three denominations at once made arrange- 
 ments by which each released one Porto Rican pastor 
 for work in Santo Domingo. Because they are also 
 Spanish-speaking these men were instantly helpful 
 and they were at once located one at the capital, one 
 at San Pedro de Macoris, a town about thirty miles 
 east of Santo Domingo City, and one at La Romana, 
 twenty miles farther east. A member of the Board 
 who visited Santo Domingo wrote of these workers, 
 It looked as though the Porto Rican church had given 
 
 27 
 
of her very choicest young men for this great cause!’ 
 These pastors are meeting with great success in their 
 church work.” 
 
 This is a brief record of beginnings. The prop- 
 erty purchased was centrally located and cost $50,000. 
 The large building was well suited to be the mis- 
 sionary headquarters, and at the same time well adapt- 
 ed for immediate mission purposes. Three years 
 have now elapsed since this work began. What are 
 some of the tangible results? 
 
 There are now four well organized churches, three 
 of them in cities named above, and the fourth at San 
 Cristobal, twenty miles from the capital, that is being 
 served by a Dominican pastor, one of the early con- 
 verts in the Santo Domingo church. These 
 churches have well organized Sunday schools, young 
 people’s societies, boys’ and girls’ clubs, women’s 
 organizations, etc., with large classes of converts who 
 are in training for church membership. The number 
 of communicant members is now about five hundred, 
 with nearly six hundred enrolled in the Sunday schools. 
 Pastors and others are also giving the gospel to the 
 people of adjacent villages and in rural places where 
 it is eagerly received, and calls are steadily coming 
 from many other places for the same good message. 
 Work, however, at the present time cannot be very 
 much extended for the lack of workers. Five young 
 men who are expected to join the forces there are 
 now in schools in Porto Rico in training for the minis- 
 try. Almost unlimited expansion would be possible 
 if money were available for the support of trained 
 workers and for the building of churches and chapels. 
 
 On the first Sunday in February, 1924, a new 
 church of modern design and of concrete construction, 
 the first to be built under the auspices of this mission, 
 was dedicated. The impressive service was in charge 
 of the Rev. S. G. Inman, the executive secretary of 
 
 28 
 
the Board for Christian Work in Santo Domingo, who 
 also made an address giving an appreciation of the 
 building and its uses. The dedicatory sermon was 
 preached by Bishop Francis J. McConnell, of the Meth- 
 odist church. Both speakers were members of 
 the deputation inspecting and reviewing the achieve- 
 ments of this cooperative undertaking and in planning 
 for its future development. This building is within 
 the mission compound in Santo Domingo City and 
 cost $15,000, increasing the value of the entire plant 
 to above $65,000. 
 
 A bookstore has been established in the mission 
 building and is having a good patronage. This, and 
 the building itself, so prominently located in the city, 
 are making a very favorable impression for the impor- 
 tant work for which they are set apart. 
 
 Soon after evangelistic work there was inaugurat- 
 ed the Evangelical Hospital was opened. This has 
 twice outgrown the temporary buildings first occupied, 
 rendering necessary larger accommodations. Recently 
 a large business house, centrally located, was secured 
 at a rental of $300 a month. While lacking some 
 appointments necessary for a modern hospital it is 
 nevertheless fairly well adapted to up-to-date hospital 
 purposes. In it are wards for both men and women, 
 private rooms for individuals desiring them, rooms 
 for daily clinics, a baby clinic room, dispensary, nurses’ 
 quarters, etc. Dr. Horace R. Taylor is the superin- 
 tending physician and surgeon, and is thoroughly 
 consecrated to the holy ministry of giving healing 
 and comfort to the sick and suffering. The institution 
 has a farmacist, three American graduate nurses, and 
 eight native nurses in training. 
 
 The report of the superintendent shows the 
 number of hospital patients increasing and the minis- 
 try of the institution extending to other cities largely 
 destitute of medical help and care. 
 
 29 
 
The general superintendent of all this varied up- 
 lift work is the Rev. N. H. Huffman, D. D. Heis a 
 missionary with a tried and noble record. His 
 experience as a worker in mission fields, beginning 
 with his valuable service in connection with mission 
 work in Porto Rico, embraces a period of twenty-five 
 fruitful years. He knows the Spanish language and 
 uses it with the readiness and skill of one to the 
 manor born. He knows the Latin American people, 
 with their racial temperament and customs, and has a 
 spiritual endowment in sincerity and consecration 
 which gives him ready access to their confidence and 
 esteem. He represents the United Brethren in the 
 Dominican Evangelical Church, and is supported by 
 our Foreign Mission Board. 
 
 After visiting all the stations in this field two 
 or more times, and having come into close contact 
 with both pastors and people I can but record my 
 favorable impressions of what I witnessed with my 
 eyes and what I felt in my heart. The results of 
 three years of aggressive missionary activity, with 
 a clearly outlined program, in this long neglected field, 
 are most stimulating to faith in the power of the 
 gospel to transform and uplift human life, and thus 
 to make it a priceless asset in instead of a menacing 
 lability. 
 
 santo Domingo is the next door neighbor of Porto 
 Rico and for its new spiritual opportunities and 
 awakening it is essentially indebted to the influence of 
 our Porto Rican leaders and churches. Porto Rico is 
 preeminently the foster mother of the new evangelism 
 born in the Island Republic. Or, changing the figure, 
 by its Torch a fire has been kindled, the light of 
 which, please God, shall never go out. 
 
 “Jehovah reigneth; let the earth rejoice; 
 Let the multitudes of isles be glad.” 
 The brief summary of facts connected with the 
 
 30 
 
beginning and progress of cooperative mission work 
 in Santo Domingo, something quite new in modern 
 church history, should not be closed without the tes- 
 timony and endorsement of Bishop McConnell, to 
 whom a previous reference has been made. Ina letter 
 to the Christian Advocate, entitled, “A Glimpse at 
 Santo Domingo,” among other things he says: 
 
 “The brightest light in the picture comes from 
 the work of the missionaries, and the responsiveness 
 of the people. About the time the United States 
 seized Santo Domingo the various Home Mission 
 boards in this country got together in a plan for 
 cooperation in the island. No one board could put 
 in enough money to carry on a separate denomination- 
 al enterprise. The Methodist boards give as much as 
 any, I think, and our share is not over $20,000 a year. 
 By throwing our resources together and by laying 
 stress on self-support, we are doing an excellent hos- 
 pital and dispensary service in Santo Domingo City, 
 and are carrying forward effective evangelistic effort 
 in four of the chief cities of the island. I have never 
 seen so much done with so little money. The success is 
 due to the fine spirit of the cooperating boards and to 
 the type of leaders we have secured, both Americans 
 and Dominicans. I cannot express too strongly my 
 admiration and gratitude to Dr. W. L. McDowell, of 
 our Home Board, for the way he has stood for the 
 
 Dominican enterprise........ When the Dominican 
 joins our church he joins the Evangelical Church of 
 PANLOmUOUINGD Hela aL. As far as I can see, the 
 
 Dominican Christians are praying and testifying 
 without having discovered our denominational dif- 
 HELENCES.)4,'s\ 2 54 /)'e It was a joy to me to think of 
 belonging to a Methodism which can so put the merely 
 denominational in the secondary place as our workers 
 have done in Santo Domingo. I was proud of the 
 way our Home Board has stood for the plans of the 
 
 dl 
 
Committee on Christian Work in Santo Domingo.” 
 
 Others present and representing the several mis- 
 sion boards at the conference in Santo Domingo freely 
 shared in the same joy and pride of Bishop McConnell 
 when they saw the fine fruitage of this newly begun 
 cooperative work without the introduction of denomi- 
 national names and peculiarities, which are wholly 
 non-essential to Christian life and character. When 
 they saw these things, like the great Apostle to the 
 Gentiles, who, on his way to Rome was met by accredit- 
 ed “‘brethren,” they “thanked God and took courage.” 
 
 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE WEST INDIES. 
 
 As has been previously stated the mission 
 work in Porto Rico and Santo Domingo is so inter- 
 related that the history of one must in some measure 
 include the other. A review of the progress and 
 achievements in one island must also include the 
 others. It is for this obvious reason that an article 
 written by Dr. Philo W. Drury, who has spent twenty- 
 three years as a missionary in Porto Rico including 
 the few months spent in Santo Domingo initiating 
 and organizing the Union work there, is included in 
 this publication. While some facts mentioned by him, 
 which have previously been given, may cause some 
 duplication of certain features, they appear here with- 
 out change in his own setting, in the light of his wide 
 knowledge and varied missionary experience, covering 
 almost the entire period of which he writes. 
 
 In the article referred to above, which appeared 
 in “The Religious Telescope” under date of January 
 26, 1924, Dr. Drury says: 
 
 Twenty-five years is a comparatively short 
 period, yet it embraces the larger part of a generation, — 
 and when during that period the forces that make for 
 greatness and goodness are brought to bear upon indi- 
 
 32 
 
vidual and social life a quarter of a century is replete 
 with deep significance. Twenty-five years have 
 passed since the Spanish-American war occurred which 
 brought about the liberation of Cuba from Spanish 
 cruelty and the annexation of Porto Rico. The change 
 of sovereignty opened up to these islands new op- 
 portunities, and these in turn have brought a new life 
 to the people. 
 
 The introduction of American institutions into 
 these islands has wrought a wonderful transformation. 
 Monarchy has been replaced by a republican form of 
 government. Illiteracy is yielding gradually to the 
 advancing forces of education. The oppressive and 
 superstitious rule of the Roman Catholic church is 
 being shattered as the evangelical forces continue to 
 fulfill their glorious mission. Progress is noted every- 
 where—materially, intellectually, morally, and spirit- 
 ually, socially as well as individually. Strong opposing 
 forces are met at every turn, but they vainly attempt 
 to stem the tide. 
 
 For more than twenty-two years the writer has 
 resided in Porto Rico and it has been his rare privilege 
 to observe at close hand some of the changes that 
 have take place, and it is chiefly to this Island that 
 reference will be made. 
 
 When the occupation forces of the United States 
 landed here, Porto Rico was necessarily a Roman 
 Catholic country, for here that church ruled to the 
 exclusion of all other churches and religions. The 
 Bible then was a closed book. There was but one 
 Protestant church in the Island, which had the distinc- 
 tion of being the only one in Spanish territory, and it 
 was here as a special favor to English subjects granted 
 during the short-lived Spanish republic. Services 
 were to be conducted only in English, and the use of 
 the church bell was prohibited. The public schools 
 at that time were largely under the control of the 
 
 33 
 
Catholic clergy, the enrollment being about 20,000. 
 Certianly, the conditions were such as to invite the 
 entrance of Christian forces under a constructive pro- 
 gram. They were prompt to respond, and consequent- 
 ly very real transformations have been effected. More 
 than 200,000 children are now in the public schools, 
 which furnish standard courses of study through the 
 high school, and limited opportunities to normal, 
 college, and professional students. Churches with 
 good material equipment are to be found in most of 
 the towns of the Island, while in many country dis- 
 tricts chapels are to be found, sometimes crowning 
 the very summits of the mountains. Who can calcu- 
 late the beneficient results of the intensive work of 
 these two institutions for twenty-five years! 
 Oftentimes the church and the day school under 
 its care were fore-runners of the public schools in 
 the country districts. Day schools and kindergartens 
 have been directed by the missions in the towns, and 
 in some cases this work is being carried on at the 
 present time. Schools for the care of orphans and 
 the preparation of young people for service have been 
 established by the missions. The Polytechnic Insti- 
 tute of Porto Rico and the Blanche Kellogg Insti- 
 tute are large contributing factors to the formation 
 of Christian character among the young people. In 
 addition, there is the Evangelical Seminary of Porto 
 Rico, an institution for the preparation of ministers 
 in which seven denominations cooperate, located im- 
 mediately in front of the University of Porto Rico. 
 It is one of the large factors in the development of 
 the work. The aim is to afford the very best prepara- 
 tion to the prospective ministers. A high school 
 course is required of all students who are candidates 
 for graduation and we are gradually working toward 
 an A. B. degree requirement. At the present time, 
 there are young men from Venezuela and Santo Do- 
 
 34 
 
mingo being prepared in the seminary, there being a 
 total of thirty-eight in preparation. The fact that 
 the seminary students take courses in the University 
 of Porto Rico, where they must measure up to other 
 young people who are preparing themselves for other 
 callings, gives a new prestige to the Christian ministry 
 in Porto Rico. 
 
 Three of the best hospitals on the Island were 
 founded early in the history of the work under the 
 direction of Protestant missions, and through them 
 and their dispensaries their healing ministry has 
 been rendered to multiplied thousands. 
 
 A union paper is maintained by seven of the 
 Protestant denominations, the same which cooperate 
 in the Evangelical Seminary. It represents the united 
 forces of Protestantism, and speaks with authority 
 in their name. This is published at the union printing 
 plant, which has in connection with it the union book- 
 store. 
 
 In the activities of the Protestant churches in the 
 island, it is impossible to divide the work into denomi- 
 national sections and at the same time do justice to 
 the work. In matters of social and moral reform, the 
 churches act as one body, as was clearly evidenced in 
 the prohibition campaign and the social purity move- 
 ment, their influence being far in excess of their 
 numerical strength. The churches are so closely 
 united in cooperative work that oftentimes enterprises 
 sustained by denominational agencies are considered 
 as interdenominational. Thus one denomination will 
 meet one need, another one a second need, and so on, 
 so that, with the contribution made by each, a well- 
 correlated plan of activity is pushed forward with 
 vigor. 
 
 The medium of cooperation is the Evangelical 
 Union of Porto Rico, which was organized in 1916, 
 supplanting a somewhat looser form of cooperation 
 
 35 
 
such as obtained through the Federation of the Evan- 
 gelical Churches of Porto Rico. Whenever this 
 organization asserts itself, it does so in the name of 
 the Protestant churches of the Island. 
 
 One of the agencies that operate under the direc- 
 tion of the Evangelical Union of Porto Rico is 
 the summer conference held annually on the grounds 
 of the Polytechnic Institute. Last year, 200 workers 
 from all denominations came together for a week, 
 leaving aside all differences that exist among them, 
 fellowshiping in a most fraternal spirit and studying 
 the problems common to all in the work. There can 
 be no more delightful occasion than the summer con- 
 ference, which has been so successful for the past 
 four summers. ; 
 
 The latest statistics of the churches which 
 compose the Evangelical Union give the following 
 interesting information: Number of ministers and 
 preachers, 282; number of preaching places, 488; 
 number of organized churches, 199; number of 
 members, 12,377; number of Sunday schools, 373; 
 enrollment in the Sunday schools, 24,717; number of 
 young people’s societies, 129; number of members in 
 these societies, 6,150; number of church edifices, 179; 
 other buildings, 74; contributed by the churches for 
 all purposes in 1922, $55,221; total valuation of prop- 
 erty, $1,798,600. 
 
 In addition to the churches included in the Evan- 
 gelical Union are three denominations which have 
 work in the Island. Taking into consideration their 
 statistics, there are about 14,000 communicants in 
 the Island, the total valuation of all properties is 
 in excess of $2,000,000, and the total amount contribut- 
 ed for all purposes in 1922 was $66,474. 
 
 The churches have likewise been active in the 
 promotion of missionary enterprises. About fifty 
 chapels have been built in the Island with funds 
 
 36 
 
contributed by the churches, and also some workers 
 have been supported. But the outreach of the work 
 has been greater. The neighboring island of Santo 
 Domingo, lying in the midst of deep spiritual dark- 
 ness, has constituted for the Porto Rican churches a 
 Macedonian call which has not been unheeded. Its 
 claim was presented boldly and persistently. For some 
 time the churches maintained a small work there and 
 met all of the expenses incident to its work. The 
 presentation of the claims of this field, together with 
 the work that actually was being carried on, constitut- 
 ed a call to the missionary agencies of the United 
 States, and later on an interdenominational board, 
 known as “The Board for Christian Work in Santo 
 Domingo,” was organized and assumed all respons- 
 ibility for that field; but the Porto Rican churches 
 gladly continue to contribute to the support of 
 the work. In addition, the churches of Porto Rico 
 have released three of their best workers, ordained 
 ministers, for service in Santo Domingo. Thus Porto 
 Rico, although receiving help from mission boards, 
 has imbibed the same spirit that prompted the mis- 
 sionary activities in Porto Rico twenty-five years ago, 
 and has become a factor in the great missionary enter- 
 prise of the Church of Christ. Does not this 
 recognition and assumption of responsibility yield 
 encouragement to those who have invested their en- 
 ergies and their money in this field? 
 
 The Porto Rican churches now are observing the 
 twenty-fifth anniversary of the beginning of the evan- 
 gelical work in the Island. As a part of this 
 celebration, a special number of “Puerto Rico Evange- 
 lico” was issued on November 10. In its 52 pages 
 was presented a history of the work, as well as the 
 different phases of present-day activities. Then, in 
 connection with the annual meeting of the Evangelical 
 Union, which was held in Ponce in November, a 
 
 37 
 
pageant was given with a view to presenting graph- 
 ically to the public the development of the work 
 with its many-sided activities. It was a revelation 
 as to what is being accomplished throughout the is- 
 land, and furthermore a prophecy as to the results 
 that rightly may be expected. 
 
 Who can place a just estimate upon the blessings 
 broadcasted by the Protestant churches in this Island 
 for twenty-five years? Statistics fail to register the 
 benediction received by the heart, the joy carried into 
 the home, the life-giving impulses transmitted to 
 society; but the blessing is there, and eternity alone 
 will reveal the results of Porto Rico’s first twenty-five 
 years under the influence of Jesus Christ. 
 
 
 
 Porto Rico, where two Civilizations meet, the Saxon 
 and the Latin. 
 
 “And a highway shall be there, and a way........ and the 
 ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and come with singing unto 
 Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shail 
 obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee 
 away.” 
 
 38 
 
IMA, 
 As ky 
 ee 
 rk Ss 
 
 sd 
 av 
 
 aS. 
 ee 
 
 ct 
 
 al 
 
 Ui, 
 
 ART AL | in mht Aa 
 Pauineey uh en he hone homie 
 ee oA mathe hi 1 
 ean TaN Ke ee Vi 
 ey Pile fy AI \ 
 
 rif 
 a 
 
 Peat 
 
 hae 
 
 [yi ah HH ‘ i 
 
 HOGER Hg 
 
 Data a (| R 
 WDC IAD AN 
 
 yy 
 uy 
 (at 
 
 t 
 
 
 
BX9878.76 .D79 
 Mission triumph 
 
 4 1012 00046 9892 
 
 s in Porto Rico and Santo 
 
 Princeton ical Seminary—Speer Library