/ 
 
 tihvaxy of Che theological ^eminarjp 
 
 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 
 FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 ROBERT ELLIOTT SPEER 
 
 3V 2595 .U55 1919 
 Niebel, Benjamin H. 
 Evangelical missions 
 
\ 
 
 \ 
 
Rev. S. L. Wiest 
 President l^)oarcl of Missions, i8gi-igo6 
 
JAN 15 1959 
 
 Evangelical Misiiofe 
 
 PART I 
 
 The Missionary Principles and Practice 
 
 of the 
 
 United EvangeUcal Church 
 
 PART II 
 
 A Venture of Faith 
 
 A History of China Mission of the 
 
 United Evangelical Church 
 
 Published by the 
 HOME AND FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNITED EVANGELICAL CHURCH 
 
 1919 
 
PART I 
 
 The Missionary Principles and Practice 
 
 of the 
 
 United Evangehcal Church 
 
 Benjamin H. Niebel 
 
To My Family 
 
 Whose unfailing sympathy and constancy 
 have ever been to me a source of comifort 
 and strength in all my endeavors, Part I 
 of this volume is affectionately dedicated. 
 
 B. H. N. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 "Of making books there is no end," thus wrote a 
 certain wise man. This saying is not against book 
 making, it simply states a fact. Books are an essential 
 in every department of activity. Knowledge is power, 
 and a very large portion of our knowledge is obtained 
 by reading books. A leading question is, has the book 
 a place in literature and will it accomplish an end that 
 is worth while ? 
 
 The teacher, be he a religious teacher or any other 
 kind of a teacher, is poorly qualified unless he be a 
 reader of books. They are a part of his equipment. 
 He will be strong or weak in his line of activity in 
 proportion as he gathers information regarding the 
 subject with which he has to do. Of course, the matter 
 of selection is all-important. 
 
 The volume herewith presented was born in a deep- 
 seated conviction that such a book is needed and will 
 be of service to our United Evangelical people. Such is 
 the conviction of the authors and this is one reason 
 for offering it to our people. The work was not un- 
 dertaken unadvisedly. It was suggested by others. 
 Church leaders were consulted. The matter was 
 brought to the attention of the Board of Missions and 
 General Conference, and both bodies took favorable 
 action so that we not only felt justified in completing 
 the work, but were impelled by a sense of obligation. 
 
 7 
 
8 PREFACE 
 
 Part I is not a missionary history, neither is it a 
 missionary biography ; it is an attempt to set forth the 
 thought contained in the title — that is all. The author 
 believes that every Christian should have a clear con- 
 ception of the meaning of missions and what the prac- 
 tice of missions involves, and especially our own 
 people as relates to the practice of our denomination. 
 We believe that we as a Church have a mission and 
 that this mission is evangelistic and therefore of neces- 
 sity missionary. We have aimed at clearness of state- 
 ment and conciseness of form in the presentation of 
 the matter. 
 
 We have kept in mind the thought of a missionary 
 text book that would be especially helpful to preachers, 
 teachers and missionary leaders, and at the same time 
 make the book helpful to all who will read it. 
 
 Part II is a well prepared, but brief history of our 
 China Mission. The work of this mission has been so 
 interesting and successful that its history has a right- 
 ful place in the literature of the Church. Like the 
 larger part of foreign mission work, our China Mis- 
 sion has had connected with its development an 
 abundance of toil and self-sacrifice, combined with a 
 courage and heroism upon the part of the missionaries 
 that assure those who have been back of the undertak- 
 ing by their faith and works that their confidence has 
 not been misplaced. 
 
 It is fitting that Homer H. Dubs, the son of Rev. 
 and Mrs. C. Newton Dubs, our pioneer missionaries 
 in that country, and grandson of Bishop R. Dubs, is 
 the author of Part II. He spent the later years of his 
 
PREFACE 9 
 
 childhood on the field and has recollections of the situ- 
 ation ; he was in close touch with his parents while in 
 America completing his studies, he has made the sub- 
 ject of missions a study while in preparation for mis- 
 sionary service, and his painstaking research of data 
 relating to the Mission have served to qualify him for 
 the task he has performed so admirably. 
 
 B. H. N. 
 Harrisburg, Pa., July lo, 1919. 
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENT 
 
 Grateful acknowledgment is made for the help re- 
 ceived from various authorities, especially from Rob- 
 ert E. Speer's splendid book on "Missionary Principles 
 and Practice," "Evangelical Annals," by Dr. A. Staple- 
 ton, "Short History of Christian Missions," by George 
 Smith, LL.D. We are also especially grateful to Dr. 
 H. B. Hartzler, Dr. L. Clarence Hunt, Dr. C. A. Mock, 
 Mrs. Sarah Ernest Snyder and Rev. S. L. Wiest for 
 their reviews of the manuscript. 
 
 10 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The United Evangelical Church is a missionary 
 body. It is at once the fruit and the seed of mission- 
 ary activities. It owes its existence, by the grace of 
 God, to the evangelistic ministry of home mission- 
 aries. It has been perpetuated by the missionary 
 labors of its own members. Its continued existence 
 as a church body has been justified by its ready re- 
 sponse to the call of the great commission of our 
 Lord. And its missionary work has been certified and 
 approved by unmistakable evidences of Divine favor. 
 
 The Church having thus begun and continued, its 
 members must still and always make it an object of 
 desire and endeavor to more effectively organize and 
 direct its missionary interest. These activities must 
 be along the line of intelligent cooperation, inspired by 
 the highest motives in harmony with the unchanging 
 principles of the Divine administration. 
 
 To this end the home should teach the fundamental 
 principles of missions. The pulpit should elucidate 
 and proclaim them. The Sunday school and the 
 Young People's Societies should reiterate them. The 
 Church in her plans and activities should illustrate 
 them. 
 
 It was with such considerations as these, and with 
 this end in view, that this work on "Evangelicai, 
 Missions" has been written, to serve as a text book 
 
 II 
 
12 INTRODUCTION 
 
 and inspirational manual for preachers, teachers, mis- 
 sionary leaders, study classes and Christian homes. 
 
 It was in every way most fitting that the task of 
 planning and preparing the book was committed to the 
 Rev. Dr. B. H. Niebel, the very efficient Corresponding 
 Secretary of the United Evangelical Board of Mis- 
 sions, who wrote all the chapters of Part I of the 
 volume, while Part II, which chronicles so satisfac- 
 torily the history of the mission in Hunan, China, was 
 written by Missionary Homer H. Dubs, the gifted, cul- 
 tured, consecrated son of the Rev. Dr. C. Newton 
 Dubs, the Organizer and Superintendent of the Mis- 
 sion, and the grandson of the lamented Bishop Ru- 
 dolph Dubs. Appreciative mention of this part of the 
 volume is made in the Preface of the work. 
 
 In Part I of the volume Dr. Niebel sets forth in 
 plain, simple, forceful terms the fundamental princi- 
 ples of the missionary enterprise, its obligations, mo- 
 tives and incentives, and the Divine provision and 
 warrant for its success. Following this, he proceeds in 
 a most interesting way to tell how the Church applied 
 these principles in its missionary practice and with 
 what results. 
 
 For this task of authorship no one was better fitted 
 than the man to whom the work was assigned. Born 
 and nurtured in an Evangelical itinerant missionary 
 home, the son of the Rev. Abraham Niebel, and the 
 grandson of Rev. Henry Niebel, both prominent, in- 
 fluential pioneer missionaries, and the father of an 
 only son who is a medical missionary of first rank in 
 
INTRODUCTION 13 
 
 China, and himself a western itinerant home mission- 
 ary for a number of years and for the last thirteen 
 years the able, indefatigable Corresponding Secretary 
 of the Board of Missions, familiar with all the mis- 
 sionary operations of the Church and with the litera- 
 ture and history of missions, as well as an experienced 
 writer of proved ability. Dr. Niebel's record may well 
 stand as the sufficient guarantee for the excellence of 
 the work he has produced. Knowing as we do that 
 the book was written under the most trying conditions 
 of constant overwork in the exacting duties of his 
 office, we are the more impressed with its high quality 
 and complete adaptation for the service it is designed 
 to render. J| 
 
 In reading the manuscript of the book, we were 
 especially impressed and deeply moved by that flaming, 
 thrilling chapter on "The Principles of Self-Sacrifice 
 in Missions" and the passing in review some of God's 
 chosen men and women whose glorious lives exempli- 
 fied the highest, holiest heroism and devotion in serv- 
 ice, and whose names shine in mission history "as the 
 brightness of the firmament and as the stars forever 
 and ever." 
 
 To be brought into such sympathetic contact with 
 God's heroic coworkers is to feel the impact of the 
 most powerful missionary appeal that the printed page 
 can bring to its readers. Very instructive and very 
 helpful also are the chapters in which the author traces 
 the missionary activities of the Church, especially in 
 the early pioneer days — days of "romance and reality" 
 
14 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 '^when "the fathers" gave their lives in the sacrificial 
 service of missionary evangelism. 
 
 We know that the book was prepared in an atmos- 
 phere of prayer and that it will go forth on its mission 
 winged with prayer, and that so it will add to the 
 blessed results of the revolutionary work already ac- 
 complished by its author, during the strenous years 
 of his service in field and office as Corresponding Sec- 
 retary. That this may be so is the sincere wish and 
 prayer of the writer of these introductory words. 
 
 H. B. Hartzler. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE MISSIONARY IDEA 
 
 Meaning of the word mission — God the originator — Jesus in 
 the order of God's purpose — The Teachings of Jesus — The 
 Holy Spirit a factor — The expression of the missionary idea 
 — Other incentives Page 19 
 
 CHAPTER n 
 
 THE OLD TESTAMENT FORECAST OE CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 
 
 The call and sending of Abraham — Abraham a type of Christ 
 — A precursor of Paul — A missionary intercessor — The King- 
 dom of Israel — Old Testament prophecies — ^Jonah a mission- 
 ary Page 27 
 
 CHAPTER HI 
 
 THE MISSIONARY PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OE JESUS 
 AND THE APOSTLES 
 
 The Spirit of God a dominating force — Teaching, preaching, 
 and healing — The missionary message unique — The gospel of 
 the Kingdom — The apostles preach Jesus — Others associated 
 in the work — Unceasing aggressiveness — The Church founded. 
 
 Page 33 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE AND MISSIONS 
 Love the constraining motive — Authors quoted Page 41 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-SACRIFICE IN MISSIONS 
 
 A leading principle of Christian missions — The real mission- 
 ary pays this price — A list of notable witnesses — Missionary 
 pioneers that endured — Our own missionaries' noble examples. 
 
 Page 45 
 IS 
 
 ( 
 
i6 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Evange;ucal missionary beginnings in the days 
 
 of jacob albright 
 
 Our Church fathers imbued with a missionary spirit — Al- 
 bright's testimony — Aggressive and extensive evangeHsm. 
 
 Page 62 
 
 CHAPTER Vn 
 
 THIRTY YEARS OF PIONEER WORK, 1808-1838 
 
 Meager ministerial support — Dreisbach and Niebel in leader- 
 ship — The work extended into other states — Bishop Seybert a 
 pioneer missionary — Pressing westward — The significance of 
 a name Page 70 
 
 CHAPTER VHI 
 
 ORGANIZATION AND FURTHER EXTENSION 
 
 The first missionary society — The dawn of a new era — Look- 
 ing across the seas — Work begun in Japan — Work on the Pa- 
 cific coast Page 80 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 UNITED EVANGELICAL MISSIONARY BEGINNINGS 
 
 Intervening events — Philadelphia General Conference — Or- 
 ganization of the United Evangelical Church — Missions a 
 prominent feature — The Foreign Mission Fund — Missionary 
 sentiment increasing — A period of reconstruction — Foreign 
 Missions — ^Contributions forthcoming Page 88 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE woman's MISSIONARY SOCIETY A LEADING FACTOR 
 
 "Chief women not a few" — Under the new name — The first 
 annual meeting — A decisive step in advance — The value of 
 the Woman's Missionary Society — Departmental Work and 
 Progress — Financial Progress Page 100 
 
CONTENTS 17 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 METHODS OF ADMINISTRATION 
 
 The corporate name — Officers — Powers of the Board of Mis- 
 sions — The Executive Committee — Annual meetings — Appro- 
 priations — Young People's Societies — Mission Bands — Cradle 
 Rolls — Home Department — Foreign Mission administration — 
 Official Register Page 113 
 
 CHAPTER XH 
 
 OTHER MISSIONARY AGENCIES OE THE CHURCH 
 
 Our Church periodicals — The Sunday school — The Keystone 
 League of Christian Endeavor — Our colleges — The prayer- 
 meetings — Cooperation essential Page 123 
 
 CHAPTER Xni 
 
 LATER ERUlTFUIvNESS AND PRESENT STATUS 
 
 Later statistics — The last twelve years — The support of Home 
 Missions — The voice of missionary leaders — Foreign mission 
 progress — In Africa Page 127 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 WHERE FIGURES AND STATISTICS FAIL 
 
 Results not to be measured by figures — Concrete illustrations 
 — United Evangelical fruitfulness — Concrete illustrations. 
 
 Page 142 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 The pioneer missionary — The home missionary — The foreign 
 missionary Page 150 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE MISSIONARY IDEA 
 
 The Word Mission is derived from the Latin word 
 mitto, which means to send. There are several Eng- 
 Hsh words which originate from the same Latin root. 
 The word missive refers to a written message sent to 
 some one. A missile is a weapon sent or to be sent to 
 do a work of destruction. The use of the word com- 
 mission, which has the same derivation, may include 
 not only the idea of sending; but of sending with au- 
 thority. A missionary is one sent to propagate a reli- 
 gion. A Christian missionary is one sent to make 
 known the gospel of Jesus Christ, "That whosoever 
 believeth in Him should not perish, but have ever- 
 lasting hfe." 
 
 The High Character of the Missionary Idea, as 
 applies to the spread of the gospel, appears in the fact 
 that all three persons of the Holy Trinity are asso- 
 ciated in the origin and carrying forward of the work 
 of Christian missions. 
 
 I. God the Father is the Originator of the mis- 
 sionary idea for the propagation of the gospel. It is 
 He who sent His Son into the world, and it is He who 
 gave the Holy Spirit to be the administrator of mis- 
 sionary activity. Jesus made this fact known in the 
 following announcement at the beginning of His 
 ministry : 
 
 19 
 
20 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath 
 anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor ; he hath sent 
 me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the 
 captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty 
 them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the 
 Lord." Lu. 4: 18, 19. 
 
 "And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God 
 unto other cities also: for therefore am I sent." Lu. 4- 43- 
 
 Peter gives this truth prominence in his sermon at 
 
 the house of Cornelius. 
 
 "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth w^ith the Holy Ghost and 
 with power ; who went about doing good, and healing all that 
 were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him." Ac. 
 10: 38. 
 
 2. The Relation of Jesus to the beginning of 
 Christian missions is shown in the fact that He Him- 
 self was a missionary, and that He appointed and 
 trained others for missionary service, 
 
 "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their syna- 
 gogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing 
 all manner of sickness and disease among the people." Mat. 
 
 4: ^3- 
 
 "And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, 
 Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net 
 into the sea : for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, 
 Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." Mat. 4: 
 18, 19. 
 
 Jesus Foeeowed the Order op God's Purpose by 
 sending the first missionaries "To the lost sheep of the 
 house of Israel." The chosen race of Israel was to be 
 given first opportunity to return to God. God had 
 spoken by the Psalmist : "For the Lord will not cast 
 away His people, neither will He forsake His inherit- 
 ance." The children, though backslidden and dis- 
 obedient, were to have the first ofifer of the bread of 
 
THE MISSIONARY IDEA 21 
 
 life. However, before leaving the world, Jesus gave 
 the commission to "Preach the gospel to every crea- 
 ture." 
 
 "These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, say- 
 ing, Go not in the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of 
 the Samaritans enter ye not ; but go rather to the lost sheep 
 of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying. The 
 kingdom of heaven is at hand." Mat. lo: 5-7. 
 
 "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power 
 (authority, R. V.) is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 
 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the 
 name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : 
 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have com- 
 manded you ; and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end 
 of the world." Mat. 28: 18-20. 
 
 The Teachings oe Jesus Further Indicate that 
 missionary work also includes the nurture of such as 
 are being saved and the training of other workers. 
 The care and training of converts and the establishing 
 of churches were prominent features in the mission- 
 ary labors of the apostles. We remember one of the 
 last interviews of Jesus with His disciples when He 
 solemnly gave Peter charge saying: "Feed My 
 lambs," then "Feed My sheep," and again, "Feed My 
 sheep." It was evidently the purpose of Jesus that 
 men should not only be won to Him by the preaching 
 of the gospel ; but that they should also be properly 
 instructed in spiritual things, and that they should be- 
 come efficient in service. 
 
 Notice how the apostles continue the same kind of 
 
 work : 
 
 "And when they had preached the gospel to that city 
 (Derbe), and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, 
 and to Iconium, and Antioch, confirming the souls of the 
 
22 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and 
 that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom 
 of God. And when they had ordained them elders in every 
 church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them 
 to the Lord, on whom they believed." Ac. 14: 21-23. 
 
 3. The Holy Spirit is an Indispensable Factor 
 in the progagation of Christian missions. Without 
 Him and His vi^ork the Divine idea of missions cannot 
 be attained. After Jesus had made known, both by 
 example and teaching, the purpose and method of 
 propagating the gospel, and before turning the matter 
 over to His disciples. He said to them : "And, be- 
 hold, I send the promise of My Father upon you : but 
 tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued 
 with power from on high." 
 
 The work of turning men from darkness to light, 
 from sin unto righteousness and from Satan unto God 
 was too great for the disciples of Jesus to attempt by 
 their own wisdom and might. The opposition, espe- 
 cially as it would come from "Powers," from "Princi- 
 palities," from the "Spiritual hosts of wickedness in 
 the heavenly places," would be too formidable to com- 
 bat without the unseen working of a spiritual force 
 greater than these. Besides, what could a few preach- 
 ers with a simple message hope to do in the face of 
 multitudes steeped in sin, in false doctrines of various 
 kinds, in gross unbelief or in the superstitions of 
 heathenism ? 
 
 Furthermore, the evident intention was that mis- 
 sionary work should be worldwide and continue until 
 the "End of the (gospel) age." It is therefore not 
 
THE MISSIONARY IDEA 23 
 
 strange that the Holy Spirit was sent to be the indis- 
 pensable factor in missionary adminstration. 
 
 "The; Acts of the Holy Spirit" is a term applied 
 by Arthur T. Pierson to the book of Acts. This book 
 gives us the missionary history of apostolic times and 
 the Holy Spirit appears as the dominant factor 
 throughout. He appears : 
 
 (a) As the Qualifying Agent. 
 
 "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is 
 come upon you ; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in 
 Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the 
 uttermost part of the earth." Ac. i: 8. 
 
 "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel ; and 
 it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour 
 out my Spirit upon all flesh : and your sons and your daugh- 
 ters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions and 
 your old men shall dream dreams." Ac. 2: 16, 17. 
 
 "And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where 
 they were assembled together ; and they were all filled with 
 the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with bold- 
 ness." Ac. 4: 31. 
 
 (b) As a Supervising Personality. 
 
 In the following Scripture we observe that there is 
 
 twofold sending, — by the Church and by the Holy 
 
 Spirit. However, it is important to remember that 
 
 the Holy Spirit took the initiative in the selection and 
 
 sending of these missionaries. 
 
 "As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy 
 Ghost said : Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work 
 whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted 
 and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them 
 away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed 
 unto Seleucia ; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus." Ac. 
 13: 2-4. 
 
24 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 As We Study the Missionary Idea and Its Ex- 
 pression in the New Testament, we are profoundly 
 impressed by the clearness of statement and mass of 
 material showing the Divine authority of missions and 
 •missionary activity. In Acts 14 : 26 to 15 : 30, we find 
 a brief report of the early missionary labors of Paul 
 and Barnabas, also statements by Peter and James, 
 and the decision of the council at Jerusalem regard- 
 ing the question involving the conversion of the Gen- 
 tiles. The remarkable thing about this is the emphasis 
 placed upon the fact that God was the chief operator, 
 working by these men to will and to do of His good 
 pleasure. This fact is referred to no less than ten 
 times in the brief narrative of thirty-two verses : 
 
 "They rehearsed all that God had done with them and how 
 he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles." 
 
 "They declared all things that God had done with them." 
 
 "Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago 
 God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth 
 should hear the word of the gospel and believe." 
 
 "God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving 
 them the Holy Ghost, even as he did to us." 
 
 "Barnabas and Paul declaring what miracles and wonders 
 God had wrought among the Gentiles by them." 
 
 "Simeon hath declared how God at first did visit the Gen^ 
 tiles, to take out of them a people for his name." 
 
 James quoting the prophecy of Amos, God speak- 
 ing: 
 
 "After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle 
 of David, which is fallen down ; and I will build again the 
 ruins thereof, and I will set it up." 
 
 "That the residue of men might seek the Lord, and all the 
 Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who 
 doeth all these things." 
 
THE MISSIONARY IDEA 25 
 
 "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of 
 the world." 
 
 "For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us, to lay 
 upon you no greater burden than these necessary things." 
 
 Were there no other reason for being active in the 
 study and support of Christian missions, a knowledge 
 of the Divine character of the missionary idea as set 
 forth in the Bible would in itself be a convincing in- 
 centive. 
 
 There are however other incentives that urge us to 
 active interest in missions. We make bare mention of 
 seven others : 
 
 1. A desire to honor Jesus Christ. He said: "If 
 ye love Me, keep My commandments." His last mes- 
 sage to His people is this one : "Ye shall be witnesses 
 unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in 
 Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." 
 How can we love Him without giving heed to this 
 command ? 
 
 2. A desire for the salvation of men is another in- 
 centive. "The Son of man came not to be ministered 
 unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom 
 for many." His greatest concern for others was their 
 salvation, and it is He who said : "Follow Me and I 
 will make you fishers of men." 
 
 3. What missions have done for us, directly or in- 
 directly, as individuals, for our homes, for the com- 
 munities where we live, serves as an incentive to pass 
 on to others of the good that came to us. There is a 
 point in the history of every man where his own his- 
 tory and missionary history meet. 
 
26 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 4. The fruitfulness of missions as shown by mis- 
 sionary history is in itself sufficient to impress one 
 profoundly with the more than human potency of 
 missionary efifort. Lack of information regarding 
 this matter is the leading cause of indifference among 
 many good people. 
 
 5. A study of the world's great need of the gospel 
 impresses us with the largeness of the field and the 
 immediateness of the need, and brings a call for us to 
 do our best for the spread of the gospel. Wicked men, 
 the false religions, and Satan himself are doing their 
 worst to propagate evil, shall not Christian people do 
 their best to sow the good seed of the kingdom of God 
 in all lands ? 
 
 6. The prospect of ultimate reward brings its stir- 
 ring appeal for greater activity. Here is one promise : 
 "He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious 
 seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bring- 
 ing his sheaves with him." 
 
 7. The prospect of the final triumph of Jesus Christ, 
 who has committed to us the work of this gospel age, 
 brings us inspiration and hope. Whatever may be 
 our conception of future events in the program of 
 God, and of the relative time of the coming of Christ, 
 we are assured that voices in heaven will say : "The 
 kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of 
 our Lord, and of His Christ ; and He shall reign for 
 ever and ever." 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE OLD TESTAMENT FORECAST OF 
 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 
 
 The Old Testament has considerable material that 
 points to what became more clearly identified in the 
 New Testament as bearing upon the subject of Chris- 
 tian missions. 
 
 The Call and Sending op Abraham gives us the 
 first view of God's missionary plan. As we study 
 God's dealings with Abraham and New Testament 
 references to them, we find a forecast of what fol- 
 lowed for world evangelization when Christ came and 
 established the missionary plan for the dissemination 
 of the Word of God. God said : "Get thee out of thy 
 country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's 
 house, unto a land that I will show thee ; and I will 
 make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and 
 make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing." 
 Gen. 12: I, 2. In the fourth chapter of Romans we 
 find the spiritual significance of God's promise to 
 Abraham. 
 
 Abraham was a Type of Christ by becoming the 
 progenitor of a people, which God called, "My peo- 
 ple," and to whom God said: "If ye will obey my 
 voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a 
 peculiar people ; for all the earth is mine : and ye shall 
 be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." 
 
 27 
 
28 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 Ex. 19: 3, 6. Likewise Jesus Christ, the one sent of 
 God to a world lost in sin, drew to Himself a people : 
 "A chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy na- 
 tion, a peculiar people; that (they) should show forth 
 the praises of him who called (them) out of darkness 
 into light. J Pet. 2: p. 
 
 Abraham was Ai,so the Precursor op Paul. 
 Faith and righteousness were the key words of the 
 doctrine of both. Theirs was not a self-constructed 
 theory of righteousness — not self-righteousness ; but 
 righteousness by faith in the promises of God. 
 
 "He (Abraham) staggered not at the promises of God 
 through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to 
 God ; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised 
 he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed 
 to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his 
 sake alone, that it was imputed to him ; but for us also, to 
 whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised 
 up Jesus our Lord from the dead ; who was delivered for 
 our offences, and was raised again for our justification." 
 Rom. 4: 20-25. For further comparison see Gal. 3: 8-29. 
 
 Abraham was a Missionary Intercessor and em- 
 ployed prayer, the greatest channel of power, in be- 
 half of a heathen people (the Sodomites) steeped in 
 the most degrading form of sin. His sixfold plea for 
 the vilest and most hopeless sinners was a marvelous 
 thing, and our consideration of Abrahain as God's 
 missionary would be incomplete without reference to 
 it. "And the Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham 
 that which I do, seeing that Abraham shall surely be- 
 come a great nation, and all the nations of the earth 
 shall be blessed in him?" {Gen. 18: ij, 18), are the 
 introductory words of this outstanding incident. 
 
THE OLD TESTAMENT FORECAST 
 
 29 
 
 We quote from "Short History of Christian Mis- 
 sions," by George Smith, LL.D. : 
 
 "The time had come for the destruction of the impenitent 
 heathen of the vale of Siddim. Not because the nephew Lot 
 was there, a merely passive protestor against the very griev- 
 ous sin of Sodom, not from purely human pity; but as di- 
 vinely-called missionary, as divinely-invited intercessor, as 
 divinely-encouraged mediator, as covenantor of all of every 
 race who should believe, and specially charged with the land 
 of which Siddim was the fairest portion. Abraham appealed 
 personally to the covenant God for mercy that the worst of 
 heathen might repent, if only fifty, or forty-five, or forty, or 
 thirty, or twenty or ten righteous were found in Sodom. 
 Failing ten, even yet Abraham did not abandon hope, for he 
 'gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood be- 
 fore the Lord, and he looked, * * * and lo, the smoke 
 of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace; and God re- 
 membered Abraham by sparing only Lot." 
 
 The Extension of' the Kingdom oe Israel under 
 Solomon had in it a missionary significance. It 
 showed that the Jewish religion was primarily a mis- 
 sionary religion. Solomon's prayer at the dedication 
 of the temple had this significance. We quote from it : 
 
 "Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of thy people 
 Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name's sake; 
 (For they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong 
 hand, and of thy stretched out arm;) when he shall come and 
 pray toward this house; hear thou in heaven thy dwelling 
 place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to 
 thee for : that all people of the earth may know thy name, 
 to fear thee, as do thy people Israel ; and that they may 
 know that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy 
 name." i Ki. 8: 41-43. 
 
 The seventy-second Psalm presents to us in beauti- 
 ful and striking language the kingdom of Solomon as 
 a type of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. We quote 
 verses 17 to 19 of this Psalm: 
 
30 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 "His name shall endure forever : his name shall be con- 
 tinued as long as the sun : and men shall be blessed in him : 
 all nations shall call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, 
 the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And 
 blessed be his glorious name forever : and let the whole earth 
 be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen." 
 
 Prophecies of Tur; Old Testament that relate 
 directly to the ministry of Jesus, or to the spread of 
 the gospel, or to the enlargement of the kingdom of 
 Jesus Christ point to the missionary work of the gos- 
 pel age. There are many of these prophecies, espe- 
 cially in Isaiah. We quote some of these: 
 
 "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me ; because the Lord 
 hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; he 
 hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim lib- 
 erty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them 
 that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, 
 and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that 
 mourn ; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give 
 them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the 
 garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness ; that they might 
 be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord 
 that he might be glorified. Isa. 6i: 1-3. 
 
 "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness. Prepare 
 ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a high- 
 way for our God." * * * "Q thou that tellest good tidings 
 to Zion (margin), get thee up into the high mountain; O 
 thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem (margin), lift 
 up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say 
 unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God." * * * "He 
 shall feed his flock like a shepherd ; he shall gather the lambs 
 with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently 
 lead those that are with young." Isa. 40: 3, p, //. 
 
 "Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken ye people, from 
 far; The Lord hath called me from the womb; from the 
 bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name." 
 * * * "Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I 
 heard thee : and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a 
 
THE OLD TESTAMENT FORECAST 31 
 
 covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to 
 inherit the desolate heritages." * * * "And I will make 
 all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. 
 Behold, these shall come from far; and, lo, these from the 
 north and from the west ; and these from the land of Sinim." 
 Isa. 49: I, 8, II, 12. 
 
 "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that 
 bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth 
 good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith 
 unto Zion, Thy God reigneth." Isa. 52: 7. 
 
 This brief list of missionary texts would be incom- 
 plete without quoting the text used by William Carey, 
 pioneer missionary to India, when he preached at a 
 meeting of the Ministers' Association at Nottingham, 
 England, May 31, 1792. 
 
 "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth 
 the curtains of thine habitations : spare not, lengthen thy 
 cord, and strengthen thy stakes ; for thou shalt break forth 
 on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit 
 the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited." 
 Isa. 54: 2, 3. 
 
 Jonah, God's Speciai, Missionary to Nineveh. 
 God sometimes specializes ; that is, He sometimes se- 
 lects a man and thrusts him out alone on a particular 
 mission. Jonah was one of these men. His was a 
 special mission to a very wicked city. God had trouble 
 to get Jonah rightly started, just as He often has 
 trouble with people He would use to accomplish a 
 purpose. This brought on the fish experience. 
 
 The most remarkable thing about the story of Jonah 
 however, is not his fish experience. That was only 
 incidental and brief. Yet Jesus found a mention of 
 even this experience worthwhile as a type foreshadow- 
 
32 
 
 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 ing His own burial. Jesus no doubt knew what He 
 was talking about. 
 
 There are several remarkable things about the story 
 of Jonah ; first, Jehovah sent him to a very wicked 
 city to deliver a special message ; second, it was a mes- 
 sage with a tremendous meaning — "Yet forty days 
 and Nineveh shall be overthrown" ; third, the mission 
 of Jonah was a success; fourth, God's mercy upon 
 Nineveh was a disappointment to Jonah, and he 
 needed a special revelation from God to set him right. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE MISSIONARY PRINCIPLES AND PRAC- 
 TICE OF JESUS AND THE APOSTLES 
 
 The missionary principles and practice of Jesus and 
 the apostles will be considered together because Jesus 
 chose them to be associated with Him and they were 
 under His training and direction. He was supreme 
 in authority over them and they were expected to fol- 
 low His instructions. Whatever principles they prac- 
 ticed were set forth by Him. They received their 
 commission from Him. There was this difference: 
 the disciples had faults and were liable to commit er- 
 rors, while Jesus was faultless in both principles and 
 practice. Jesus' call of the first disciples indicated 
 what He expected to do with them — "Follow Me, and 
 I will make you fishers of men." 
 
 I. The Spirit oe God was the Dominating Force 
 of their operations. The relation of the Holy Spirit 
 to missions has already been mentioned in Chapter I. 
 This relation existed in the work of Jesus and the 
 apostles. 
 
 "And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Gali- 
 lee : and there went out a fame of him through all the region 
 round about." "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because 
 he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor." Lu. 
 4: 14, 18. "But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then 
 the kingdom of God is come unto you." Mat. 12: 28. 
 
 "For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father 
 which speaketh in you." Mat. 10: 20. "For the Holy Ghost 
 
 33 
 
34 
 
 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say." Lu. 
 12: 12. 
 
 The last two quoted passages had reference to times 
 when the disciples would be brought before "magis- 
 trates and powers" to answer whatever charges might 
 be brought against them. 
 
 After Jesus had gone away from earth and the 
 apostles were to continue their work without Him, the 
 supervision of the Holy Spirit was still more directly 
 and clearly manifest as already indicated in Chapter 
 I. This is not only proof of the Divine authority of 
 missionary work, but also indicates its importance. 
 
 2. Teaching, Preaching and Heaung were Com- 
 bined in the work of Jesus and the apostles. They 
 taught the people and preached the gospel wherever 
 and whenever opportunity afforded. They relieved 
 physical need and suffering in multiplied instances. 
 Missionaries of our time do these three classes of 
 work. A fourth class, industrial work, is often added. 
 
 "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their syna- 
 gogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing 
 all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the 
 people." Mat. 4: 23. 
 
 "Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and 
 preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also." Ac. 
 15'- 35- "There came also a multitude out of the cities round 
 about Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were 
 vexed with unclean spirits : and they were healed every one." 
 Ac. 5: 16. 
 
 That the apostles had power to work miracles is 
 
 evident. This not only brought relief to the suffering, 
 
 but it also helped to give them prestige in their efforts 
 
 in behalf of the spiritual needs of the people. Chris- 
 
MISSIONARY PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES 35 
 
 tian experience has shown however, that with our 
 present knowledge of the prevention and cure of dis- 
 eases; the working of miracles, apart from the use 
 of means within our knowledge and reach, is not 
 usually a necessity. Neither is Christianity in need of 
 this kind of proof as in the days of the apostles. 
 
 Upon the other hand ; miracles are still a possibility, 
 and occur when their working is in accordance with 
 the will of God. There is also very frequent healing 
 of the sick in answer to prayer. The casting out of 
 demons in modern times has also occurred. See 
 "Demon Possession and Allied Themes/' by Rev. John 
 L. Nevius, D.D. Doctor Nevius was for forty years 
 a missionary to China. 
 
 3. The Message oe Jesus and the Apostles was 
 Unique and Powereul. It was new and startling. 
 The world had never heard its like. Of Jesus it is 
 written : "The people were astonished at His doc- 
 trine; for He taught them as one having authority 
 and not as the scribes." To some hearers His words 
 had a joyful sound, and we read that "the common peo- 
 ple heard Him gladly." Others were maddened be- 
 cause His message to them was a rebuke to selfishness, 
 hypocrisy, pride and unbelief. Still others were per- 
 plexed, as in the case of the officers who failed to ar- 
 rest Him, giving as their reason : "Never man spake 
 like this man." 
 
 The preaching and teaching of the apostles had a 
 similar effect. Wherever they went the people were 
 stirred. Their preaching produced commotion and 
 wonder. The effect produced depended upon how the 
 
36 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 hearers received the word. Of one place we read : 
 "And there was great joy in that city"; of another 
 place, "Having stoned Paul, (they) drew him out of 
 the city, supposing he had been dead." 
 
 Let it be remembered that it was not agitation upon 
 the part of Jesus or the apostles that caused the un- 
 usual excitement among the people, for they (the 
 preachers) were always calm, serious and deliberate, 
 though intensely in earnest. There was no attempt 
 at the spectacular, nor did they indulge in oratorical 
 display. The message of these men, delivered in sim- 
 ple and terse style, and the power of the Spirit back 
 of the message deeply stirred the people. See Peter's 
 discourse in Acts 2 and 10, and Paul's in Acts zj. 
 
 The "GospEIv of* the Kingdom" was the keynote 
 
 of their preaching. It was the good news that the Son 
 
 of man came to "Seek and to save that which was 
 
 lost." Jesus gave the gist of this good news to Nico- 
 
 demus in John j.' 14-16. 
 
 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even 
 so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever be- 
 lieveth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For 
 God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, 
 that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have 
 everlasting life." 
 
 Jesus Invites the People to Himsele. He Him- 
 self is the embodiment of His own message of love, 
 and is its expression. 
 
 "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I 
 will give you rest." 
 
 "I am the door : by me if any man enter in, he §ha.U 
 be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture," 
 
MISSIONARY PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES 37 
 
 "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd giveth his life 
 for the sheep." 
 
 "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." 
 
 "He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that 
 bread of life." 
 
 "I am the way the truth and the life; no man cometh unto 
 the Father but by me." 
 
 "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth on 
 me, though he were dead, yet shall be live." 
 
 The: Aposti.es Preached Jesus crucified and risen 
 
 from the dead, and that salvation is by Him alone. 
 
 "Neither is there salvation in any other : for there is none 
 other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must 
 be saved." Ac. 4: 12. 
 
 They went forth in the twofold capacity as minis- 
 ters of the gospel and witnesses to its power. They 
 obeyed the last command of Jesus when He said : "Ye 
 shall be witnesses unto Me." 
 
 "Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said. We 
 ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers 
 raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him 
 hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a 
 Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of 
 sins. And we are witnesses of these things ; and so is also the 
 Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him." 
 Ac. 5: 29-32. 
 
 4. Both Jesus and the Apostles Associated 
 Others with Them in the work of making known 
 the good news of the kingdom. A prominent instance 
 is the sending out of the seventy as described in Luke 
 10. We remember also that the healed demoniac was 
 sent to his friends to tell what great things the Lord 
 had done for him. We also notice that women co- 
 operated with Jesus and the apostles. See Luke 8: i-s, 
 and the names found in Romans 16. 
 
38 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 After Pentecost and the organization of the Church, 
 the spirit of missions soon became universal among 
 beHevers. 
 
 "And at that time there was a great persecution against the 
 church which was at Jerusalem ; and they were all scattered 
 abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except 
 the apostles. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went 
 everywhere preaching the word." Ac. 8: i, 4. 
 
 Previous to the preaching of Peter at the house of 
 CorneHus, the preaching of the gospel by the apostles 
 was limited to Jewish auditors. (See Acts 11: ip) ; 
 but from that time there came a change (See Acts 11: 
 20, 21). A little later the Council at Jerusalem took 
 definite action in regard to the matter (See Acts 75), 
 and both Jews and Gentiles received attention. 
 
 5. Unceasing Aggressiveness characterized the 
 missionary activities of Jesus and the apostles. All 
 through the brief history given us we observe intense 
 earnestness and activity. They evidently felt the great 
 weight of responsibility resting upon them and had a 
 broad view of the whitened harvest. 
 
 What a busy ministry was that of Jesus, until He 
 could say to the Father: "I have finished the work 
 which Thou gavest Me to do." While about His work, 
 we hear Him say at one time: 'T must preach the 
 kingdom of God to other cities also : for therefore 
 am I sent." At another time He exclaimed : "I must 
 work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day, 
 for the night cometh when no man can work." 
 
 And Paul, the greatest missionary of apostolic times, 
 sums up his effort at Ephesus as follows : 
 
MISSIONARY PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES 39 
 
 "I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, and have 
 taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both 
 to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God 
 and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. ♦ * * Where- 
 fore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the 
 blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto 
 you all the counsel of God * * * Therefore watch and 
 remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to 
 warn every one night and day with tears." 
 
 6. The Opposition of Satan and Wicked Per- 
 sons did not deter Jesus at any time, nor the apostles 
 after the enduement of power at Pentecost. In the 
 face of every opposing power, and despite all obstacles 
 and difficulties, these leaders continued to press their 
 work with vigor until God called them to Himself. 
 That the opposition was fierce and relentless was al- 
 most constantly manifest. 
 
 The foes of Jesus were busy and bitter against Him 
 from the time of His temptation in the wilderness un- 
 til the last hours of His earth life. The good He did 
 for others did not allay the opposition against Him 
 and the work He was doing, yet He pursued His min- 
 istry, scattering blessings wherever He went. 
 
 Such was also the experience of the apostles: 
 "Troubled on every side, yet not distressed ; per- 
 plexed, but not in despair ; persecuted, but not for- 
 saken ; cast down, but not destroyed ; always bearing 
 about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus." With 
 fixed purpose Paul expressed himself : "None of these 
 things move me, neither count I my life dear unto my- 
 self, so that I might finish my course with joy, and 
 
40 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, 
 to testify the gospel of the grace of God." 
 
 7. The Church Founded by Jesus Christ is the 
 institution intended to conserve the results of mis- 
 sionary endeavor and to continue to propagate the 
 gospel by various means until Jesus comes. Jesus 
 said : "I will build My church ; and the gates of hell 
 shall not prevail against it." 
 
 "And the Lord added unto the church daily such 
 as should be saved (Those who were being saved 
 R. V.)" Acts 2: 47. 
 
 "Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of 
 the church which was in Jerusalem : and they sent 
 forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch." 
 Acts 11: 22. 
 
 "Now there were in the church that was at Antioch 
 certain prophets and teachers ; * * * ^s they ministered 
 unto the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, 'Sepa- 
 rate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I 
 have called them.' " Acts /?; /, 2. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE AND MISSIONS 
 
 Reference is here made to that aspect of Christian 
 experience which is the result of a heart knowledge of 
 Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour. The "fruit of 
 the Spirit" is begotten in us, the first and chief mani- 
 festation of which is love. Paul explains his intensity 
 of interest for the Corinthians, among whom he had 
 labored so successfully as missionary, by writing to 
 them: "For whether we be beside ourselves it is to 
 God or whether we be sober it is for your cause ; for 
 the love of Christ constraineth us." 
 
 Love; is rut Constraining Motive in behalf of our 
 salvation. It was love that moved God to give His 
 Son for the redemption of the world : "God com- 
 mendeth His love toward us in that, while we were 
 yet sinners, Christ died for us." Jesus gave expres- 
 sion to the motive that prompted Him to give His life 
 for us when He said: "Greater love hath no man 
 than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" ; 
 then He added : "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatso^ 
 ever I command you." 
 
 When We are Attracted to Christ so that we 
 look upon Him as our Saviour, we want others to be 
 attracted to Him also. When Andrew received the 
 gospel message and followed Christ, it is written of 
 him that "He first findeth his own brother Simon, and 
 
 41 
 
42 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, 
 being interpreted, the Christ." An intelHgent under- 
 standing of the meaning of missions and the world's 
 need of the gospel, coupled with a genuine Christian 
 experience will surely prompt one to become an active 
 supporter of missions. 
 
 May it not be said of one who, although, professing 
 to be a Christian, yet failing to do something for the 
 salvation of others, "He that loveth not knoweth not 
 God, for God is love." Did not Jesus say : "If ye love 
 Me keep My commandments"? 
 
 We Quote Herewith from Robert E. Speer, 
 THAT Eminent Authority on the subject of mis- 
 sions, and a man whose influence is felt throughout 
 Christendom as a leader in Christian thought and 
 action : 
 
 "If in our conviction and experience we are sure that in 
 Christ we possess a great good, then we will give Him to 
 the world — not otherwise, no matter how much we may talk 
 about last commands and 'great commissions.' " 
 
 "If Christ means nothing to us, we shall surely not go to 
 the trouble of taking Him to the world. Christianity, of 
 course, asserts that Christ means everything to the believer, 
 and surely if he does, the believer will be driven by an over- 
 mastering desire to make known to all the glad tidings of so 
 great a salvation. The missionary enterprise is the surest evi- 
 dence of the esteem in which Christ is held. The Church that 
 is doing nothing to extend His knowledge to the heathen world 
 is furnishing such proof that Christ means little to it as no 
 amount of verbal worship or protestation of devotion can 
 annul." 
 
 "What shall be said of any Christians who do not share in 
 the missionary enterprise? This, that they are either culpably 
 ignorant and thoughtless, culpable in that either they or their 
 teachers are to blame, or else that their Christianity is a fic- 
 
CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE AND MISSIONS 43 
 
 titious thing, a sham, a travesty. And in either case consider 
 the moral horror of it. Here are men who profess to possess 
 a divine salvation, pure and perfect, and to believe that all 
 men need this salvation and that it is adequate for all and 
 intended for all, and yet do nothing to give it to those who 
 have an equal right to it." 
 
 "Missions, accordingly, are not only the expression of the 
 Church's interest in the world ; they are the evidence of her 
 love of her Lord and the proof of the honor and integrity of 
 her own life." "Missionary Principles," pages li, 14, 15. 
 
 Arthur J. Brown, one of the secretaries of the 
 Presbyterian Board of Missions, in his book, "The 
 Foreign Missionary," gives this point special emphasis : 
 
 "The Souls Experience in Christ. — In proportion as this 
 is genuine and deep, will we desire to communicate it to 
 others. Propagation is a law of the spiritual life. The genius 
 of Christianity is expansive. Its inherent tendency is to 
 propagate itself. A living organism must grow or die. The 
 church that is not missionary will become atrophied. All 
 virile faith prompts its possessor to seek others. Ruskin re- 
 minds us of Southey's statement that no man was ever yet 
 convinced of any momentous truth without feeling in himself 
 the power as well as the desire of communicating it. 
 
 "No external authority, however commanding, can take the 
 place of this internal motive. It led Paul to exclaim, 'Woe 
 is me if I preach not the gospel!' It made him plead 'with 
 tears' that men would turn to God ; and become 'all things to 
 all men, that "he" might by all means save some.' 
 
 "People who say that they do not believe in foreign mis- 
 sions, are usually quite unconscious of the indictment that 
 they bring against their own spiritual experience. The man 
 who has no religion of his own that he values of course is 
 not interested in the effort to make it known to others. It is 
 true, one may be simply ignorant of the content of his faith 
 or the real character of the missionary movement, but as a 
 rule those who know the real meaning of the Christian ex- 
 perience are conscious of an over-mastering impulse to com- 
 municate it to others. 
 
44 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 "Foreign missionary interest presupposes breadth of soul. 
 Any one can love his own family, but it takes a high-souled 
 man to love all men. He who has that which the world needs 
 is debtor to the world. The true disciple would feel this even 
 if Christ had spoken no command. The missionary impulse 
 would have stirred him to spontaneous action. Christ simply 
 voiced the highest and holiest dictates of the human heart 
 when He summoned His followers to missionary activity and 
 zeal. The question whether the heathen really need Christ 
 may be answered by the counter question: Do we need Him? 
 and the intensity of our desire to tell them of Christ will be in 
 exact proportion to the intensity of our own sense of need." 
 
 Dr. Murray Mitchell, in "Report of the Second 
 Decennial Missionary Conferece," held in Calcutta, 
 1882-1883, expresses in the following prayer the long- 
 ing of the soul for that quality which moved Christ 
 to pity for those who are in darkness : 
 
 "C.ive me Thy heart, O Christ! Thy love untold 
 That I like Thee may pity, like Thee may preach. 
 For round me spreads on every side a waste 
 Drearer than that which moved Thy soul to sadness; 
 No ray hath pierced this immemorial gloom; 
 And scarce these darkened toiling myriads taste 
 Even a few drops of fleeting earthly gladness, 
 As they move on, slow, silent, to the tomb." 
 
Rev. B. J. Smoyer 
 
 Corresponding Secretary, 1891-1895 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE PRINCIPLE OF SELF-SACRIFICE IN 
 MISSIONS 
 
 "Whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the 
 Gospel's, the same shall save it." Mark 8: S5- This 
 Scripture expresses a leading principle of Christian 
 missions which must not be overlooked. Missions are 
 on a higher plane than any mere human propaganda. 
 There is nothing mean or cheap about the principles 
 upon which Christian missions are founded. They are 
 worth everything that any one can put into them, for 
 they have to do with the gospel of the kingdom of our 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
 
 The principles upon which missions are founded 
 cost the life of the Son of God. Jesus Himself de- 
 clared : "The Son of man came not to be ministered 
 unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for 
 many." This reveals two aspects under which Jesus 
 gave His life for the propagation of the gospel : First, 
 He gave His earth life as the Son of man to minister 
 to others ; second. He yielded His life by dying upon 
 the cross to make the gospel of the kingdom available 
 for every creature. 
 
 The words of Jesus quoted above have their counter- 
 part in Rev. 12: 11, where we read : "They loved not 
 their life even unto death" (R. V.). The former is a 
 statement going before the act of giving one's life for 
 
 45 
 
46 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 Jesus and the gospel's sake; while the latter after- 
 zvard indicates the motive that enabled the overcomers 
 in the conflict with Satan to gain the victory "By the 
 blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony." 
 The overcomers had acted upon the principle as set 
 forth by Jesus ; that is, they had faith in His atoning 
 blood and had been witnesses for Him at whatever 
 cost, even the sacrifice of life. 
 
 Before Jesus went to the cross He had declared that, 
 "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all 
 the world as a witness to all nations"; and, after He 
 had given His own life to make the gospel available 
 for all, He said, "Ye shall be witnesses unto Me both 
 in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and 
 unto the uttermost part of the earth." 
 
 Missionary work is witnessing for Jesus "Unto the 
 uttermost part of the earth." It calls for the yielding 
 of life unto His service for the spread of the gospel, 
 and in frequent instances it means the sacrifice of life, 
 "even unto death." And he who would be a sustainer 
 of missionary work by prayer or by the contribution 
 of money should do it in a spirit of unselfishness and 
 self-sacrifice, for by so doing he becomes a partaker 
 of the real spirit of missions and a sharer of the mis- 
 sionary's reward. 
 
 "He That Loseth His Life for My Sake and 
 THE Gospel's." The real missionary pays this price, 
 even though he may never be called upon to sacrifice 
 life by martyrdom. Missionaries have in thousands 
 of instances, especially pioneers in heathen lands, 
 labored for many years under conditions which fre- 
 
THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-SACRIFICE 47 
 
 quently brought their Hves into jeopardy. But the list 
 of martyrs is also a very long one, and it has been 
 truly said that "The blood of the martyrs is the seed 
 of the Church." 
 
 The prophecy of Jesus to Peter : "When thou shalt 
 be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another 
 shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest 
 not," could since that time have been applied in thou- 
 sands of instances. It is said of the apostles that all 
 of them suffered martyrdom except John. Hebrews 
 eleven tells of martyrs of Old Testament times, and 
 the list has been indefinitely extended in this gospel 
 age. The blood of martyrdom has flowed freely, and 
 the end is not yet. 
 
 If We Could See the List of those who yielded 
 their lives for the gospel's sake in the ten persecu- 
 tions, A. D. 64 to 303, when paganism attempted the 
 overthrow of the power of the gospel, we would be 
 amazed at the price paid that the world should not be 
 without witness that the "Gospel is the power of God 
 unto salvation to every one that believeth." 
 
 But when these persecutions were ended and finally 
 Constantine professed Christianity about the year 325, 
 the great battle between the forces of light and the 
 forces of darkness was not over. The early Church 
 added to her list of missionary martyrs from time to 
 time as the years went by, for the gospel message will 
 not and cannot be silenced. A notable example was 
 that of Boniface, who, after having preached the gos- 
 pel to hundreds of thousands of pagans and baptized 
 many thousands, when attempting again to carry the 
 
48 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 gospel into Holland, at the age of 75 years, "Pil- 
 lowed his head on a volume of the gospels and calmly- 
 received the sword-stroke that gave him a martyr's 
 crown." 
 
 So Also the Period oe Mediaeval Missions, from 
 the year 800 A. D. to the period of the Reformation, 
 produced its illustrious examples of self-sacrifice. The 
 name of Raymond Lull (1235-1315), who was the 
 first missionary to the Mohammedans, shines with a 
 peculiar luster in missionary history. Lull was per- 
 haps the greatest of missionaries to the Mohamme- 
 dans. He sealed his witness to Christ with his blood, 
 being siezed while preaching, dragged out of town and 
 stoned to death. 
 
 The Spirit of the Title of This Chapter was 
 no less manifest in the Reformation, though that was 
 only indirectly missionary. At that time God needed 
 men to set the Church right, so that she could again 
 bear living testimony to the power of Christ. To this 
 end He raised up men from Wyclif and Huss to Lu- 
 ther and Knox, not as missionaries to paganism, but 
 as home missionaries to Christendom. With what 
 self-sacrifice and devotion they fulfilled their calling 
 is a matter of history. They belong to that immortal 
 class who "Loved not their lives even unto death." 
 
 As we think of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth 
 Centuries, we call to mind such awakenings as Pietism 
 in Germany, and Wesleyanism in England and Amer- 
 ica ; we think of the Moravians and the Puritans, we 
 think of prayer bands formed in Europe. Great Britain 
 and America ; we think of such men as Eliot, Franke, 
 Spener, Gossner, Zinzendorf, the Wesleys, White- 
 
THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-SACRIFICE 49 
 
 field, Jonathan Edwards, David Brainerd and others. 
 God used these awakenings and men to prepare the 
 soil from which sprang modern missions material. 
 The self-forgetfulness and privations of these men 
 showed that "They loved not their lives." 
 
 We Now Come to the Period of Modern Mis- 
 sions, beginning in 1793 when William Carey went to 
 India. This period of missionary history has produced 
 thousands of missionary heroes and heroines, who 
 manifested the same spirit of devotion and self-sacri- 
 fice as did the apostles. Many, many hundreds of 
 them suffered martyrdom. Thousands who were 
 spared from a violent death at the hands of enemies 
 of the cross were in jeopardy day after day, month 
 after month, year after year, not knowing what would 
 befall them at any time. They endured afflictions, suf- 
 fered hardships of every conceivable kind, lived a life 
 of isolation from the common enjoyments, comforts 
 and advantages of Christian civilization ; often hungry 
 and thirsty, weary unto prostration, suffering from 
 cold in a frigid climate or burning under a tropical 
 sun, racked with bodily pains or sick with fevers, 
 often disappointed and friendless; weak or dying; 
 they endured "As seeing Him who is invisible." 
 Through all their trying experiences they "Loved not 
 their lives even unto death." 
 
 Limited space forbids everything but a brief refer- 
 ence to a few prominent missionaries of modern times, 
 and this reference only with the view to illustrate the 
 principle introduced by this chapter. 
 
 Beginning with Our Own Country: few of us 
 appreciate what we owe to the sacrificial lives of our 
 4 
 
50 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 pioneer home missionaries. What good there is in 
 this country — morally, educationally, socially, politi- 
 cally, as well as religiously, is due primarily to the 
 work and influence of the pioneer missionary. In 
 labors abundant, with unstinted sacrifices and heroic 
 devotion to God and country he has stood for the pure 
 gospel of the Son of God, and for the highest ideals of 
 citizenship and community life. 
 
 Marcus Whitman, M.D., was a Notable Ex- 
 ample. It was in 1836 when he and his bride accom- 
 panied by Rev. H. H. Spaulding and wife made the 
 first wagon tracks across the Rocky Mountains, go- 
 ing from New York State to be missionaries in the 
 Territory of Oregon. The heroic ladies were the first 
 women to cross the Rockies. So perilous and ex- 
 hausting was the four months' journey of 3,500 miles 
 that it almost cost the life of Mrs. Spaulding. 
 
 It was the opening up of a new era for that great 
 stretch of empire beyond the Rockies. After six years 
 of successful labor among the Indians, Doctor Whit- 
 man accidentally discovered a plot to deprive the 
 United States of the rich northwestern section now 
 covered by the States of Oregon and Washington. 
 Prompted by loyalty to country Doctor Whitman sad- 
 dled a horse (or mule) for a journey to Washington, 
 D. C., to notify President Tyler and Secretary of 
 State Daniel Webster. No man ever undertook a 
 more perilious trip. From St. Louis the journey to 
 Washington was by stage. 
 
 That trip resulted in saving that section of our coun- 
 try. Whitman began a white settlement by taking back 
 with him 871 persons, iii wagons and 2,000 head of 
 
THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-SACRIFICE 51 
 
 cattle and horses. About four years later, while min- 
 istering to the Indians, he and his wife, and twelve 
 others were murdered by those for whose benefit they 
 had given their lives. "They loved not their lives even 
 unto death." 
 
 It was William Carey, Pionelr Missionary to 
 India, who took for his watchword : "Expect great 
 things from God; attempt great things for God." 
 For forty-three years he pressed onward ; no obstacle, 
 however formidable, swerved him from his purpose 
 "To be useful in laying the foundation of the Church 
 of Christ in India." 
 
 Robert Morrison, Pioneer Missionary to China, 
 was accosted by the ship's captain : "And so, Mr, 
 Morrison, you really expect that you will make an im- 
 pression on the idolatry of the great Chinese Empire?" 
 "No, sir, I expect God will" ; was Mr, Morrison's re- 
 ply. Aside from the tremendous opposition and the 
 enormous difficulties he encountered, single-handed 
 and alone, he was soon handicapped by failing health 
 because of incessant study and prodigious labors in 
 the construction of a Chinese grammar and a Chinese 
 dictionary, until utterly exhausted, after twenty-seven 
 years of self-sacrificing toil, he fell a victim to fever. 
 He had given all of himself, and had laid a solid foun- 
 dation for others to build upon. 
 
 Robert and Mary Moffat were a Noble Pair. 
 For fifty-three years they were God's host in Africa. 
 Undaunted courage, unflagging perseverance and al- 
 most superhuman endurance characterized their labors. 
 Theirs was a life of privations, hardships and unceas- 
 ing toil. That they held out so long was a miracle of 
 
52 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 the sustaining care of Him who said : "Lo, I am with 
 you alway." "They loved not their Hfe" that they 
 might win other Hves. 
 
 David Livingstone in Africa. Who has not read 
 or heard about him ? He ranks among the greatest of 
 the world's explorers, but he was always and above 
 all, in his own purpose, a missionary. No more re- 
 markable example of one who belongs to the class who 
 "Loved not their life even unto death" can be found. 
 Traveling in an unknown continent, among uncivilized 
 tribes; in perils of jugles, in perils of waters, in 
 perils in the wilderness, in perils of fevers, in perils of 
 wild beasts (once bitten by a lion), in perils by hostile 
 natives, "in weariness and painfulness, in watchings 
 often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often, in cold 
 and nakedness" ; care-worn and foot-sore, emaciated 
 by dysenteries, exhausted by multiplied toils in behalf 
 of those for whom he was giving his life : after thirty- 
 three years of marvelous endurance, his redeemed 
 spirit took its flight while upon his knees in prayer. 
 What a song the angels must have sung when that re- 
 deemed spirit came "Sweeping through the gates, 
 washed by the blood of the Lamb." 
 
 She Hath Done What She Could was the en- 
 comium pronounced by Jesus upon the woman that 
 brought the alabaster box of precious ointment with 
 which she anointed her Lord. Since that time a great 
 multitude of women have brought a fully consecrated 
 life to Him which has been as precious ointment for 
 the honor of His name, bringing its fragrance to many 
 lives. 
 
THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-SACRIFICE 53 
 
 The; Missionary Roll Has Many Names of 
 Honorable Women who "Loved not their lives even 
 unto death." Reference has already been made to 
 Mary, the wife of Robert Moffat. There was another 
 Mary Moffat, a daughter of Mrs. Moffat, who became 
 the wife of the immortal David Livingstone. Mrs. 
 Hannah Marshman, wife of Rev. Joshua Marshman, 
 the first missionary to the women of India is said to 
 have been "A Martha and Mary in one, always listen- 
 ing to the voice of the Master, yet always doing the 
 many things He entrusted to her without feeling cum- 
 bered or irritable or envious." Eliza Agnew went to 
 Ceylon at the age of thirty years and became the head 
 of a Boarding School. She labored on for forty- 
 three years, without going home once for a rest or 
 change. When asked : "Are you going to America 
 for a vacation ?" she would reply, "No ; I have no 
 time to do so. I am too busy." The people called her, 
 "The mother of a thousand daughters." 
 
 Luke, "The Beloved Physician," has had many 
 successors in missionary consecration and labors. 
 David Livingstone was not only an ordained minister, 
 but he also had a medical diploma. His was a min- 
 istry of healing as well as teaching. Among the promi- 
 nent medical missionaries to China were Dr. Peter 
 Parker and John Kenneth MacKenzie. The latter was 
 stricken with smallpox in the midst of his labors and 
 died. To forego the hope of a large medical practice 
 with its emoluments in the home land, and throw one's 
 self into the midst of heathendom with its unsanitary 
 conditions and its utter lack of medical knowledge, re- 
 quires no small degree of self-denial and faith in God. 
 
54 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 John Scudder, M.D., Pioneer Medical Mission- 
 ary TO Ceylon, afterward transferred to India, was 
 another one who put in a strenuous life praying, 
 preaching, healing, writing for publication ; that he 
 might bring relief to the distressed and interest others 
 in bringing the gospel to millions. John Scudder and 
 wife gave to India eight sons, two grandsons and two 
 granddaughters who became missionaries. 
 
 The Pen Can Scarcely be Restrained from mak- 
 ing special mention of many others, but lack of space 
 forbids, since this is not a history nor a biographical 
 sketch book. We add yet a few more names of other 
 prominent men and women who "Loved not their 
 lives even unto death." Bishop William Taylor, the 
 man with a world vision ; home missionary in the hills 
 of Virginia and Maryland, in the city of Baltimore, 
 the first Methodist missionary in San Francisco, then 
 to South America, then to India, and finally Bishop of 
 Africa for the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 Henry Martyn, pioneer missionary to India and 
 Persia, was overcome by fever and died of utter pros- 
 tration at the early age of thirty-two years. 
 
 James Calvert, pioneer missionary to the Fiji Is- 
 land, "Many times in imminent peril, when natives sur- 
 prised him, gathered about hini; brandished clubs, lev- 
 eled guns and threatened to kill him as they sang their 
 hideous death song." Finally through his efforts can- 
 nibalism, widow strangling and infanticide gave way 
 to the power of the gospel. 
 
 Hudson Taylor : A name that stands for overcom- 
 ing faith in God! The China Inland Mission, with its 
 1,062 foreign missionaries and 2,762 native workers, 
 
THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-SACRIFICE 55 
 
 distributed in sixteen of the eighteen provinces of 
 China, with the marvelous results accomplished, is 
 Hudson Taylor's monument. What an investment of 
 a life! 
 
 Cyrus Hamlin, missionary to Turkey and founder 
 of Robert College, met cruel and merciless opposition 
 on every hand, but he despaired not. When ready to 
 fix upon a site for a college, it required seven years of 
 painful, persevering effort to secure a place. 
 
 Bishop James Hannington, the martyr of Eastern 
 Africa, labored in the wilds of darkest Africa, in 
 jungles filled with wild beasts, amid hostile tribes, fac- 
 ing treachery with indomitable courage until finally 
 captured by a hostile band, and after seven days of 
 torture, was murdered at the age of thirty-eight years. 
 
 Bishop John C. Patteson, the martyr of Mala- 
 nesia; Griffith John and John Livingstone Nevius, 
 missionaries to China ; James Chalmers, the martyr 
 of New Guinea; Alexander DufT, pioneer missionary 
 to India ; Adoniram Judson and his "Ann of Ava," 
 missionaries to Burma ; John G. Paton, missionary to 
 the New Hebrides ; John Williams, martyr mission- 
 ary of Polynesia, and hundreds of others belong to the 
 same class of those who "Loved not their life." 
 
 We Cannot Forget Clara A, Swain, M.D., "the 
 first medical woman in Asia," and the first fully 
 equipped and qualified woman ever sent into any part of 
 the non-Christian world with a physician's certificate, 
 and who gave twenty-six years of self-forgetful toil for 
 the alleviation of suffering and distress. Neither can 
 we forget the heroism of Miss Annie Taylor in Tibet, in 
 what she underwent by way of suffering and dangers ; 
 
56 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 often writing in her diary : "God will take care of 
 me." Neither can we forget Fidelia Fiske in Persia, 
 nor Doctor Martha Sheldon, who labored in the Hima- 
 laya Mountains for twenty-four years that she might 
 reach the Tibetans as they passed through with their 
 flocks. As we think of these and many other women 
 "Who ministered unto Him of their substance," and 
 of the men who, having renounced worldly pleasures 
 and emoluments, gave their all for others, there comes 
 to mind what the author of the book of Hebrews wrote 
 regarding the heroes and heroines of faith : "Of whom 
 the world was not worthy." 
 
 This Chapter Must Not Close Without a Brief 
 Reference to missionaries of our own Church who 
 "Loved not their lives," but gave them cheerfully for 
 the cause of missions. If we could see the record of 
 self-denial, privations, suffering, hard problems and 
 toil of many of our pioneer home missionaries, we 
 would be amazed at what they endured and did that 
 others might have the gospel and Christian privileges, 
 and the advantages of a Christian community, and that 
 they might leave a godly heritage for their children 
 and grandchildren. There were long trips away from 
 home, often leaving wife and children battling to 
 "keep the wolf from the door"; trips of lOO, 200, 300 
 or more miles in sparsely settled communities, looking 
 up the pioneers of those early days, bringing them the 
 message of hope for time and eternity. 
 
 In many sections wagon roads were few and they 
 must follow a narrow path for miles through a dense 
 forest, or a dimly-outlined track over the broad 
 prairies, which had no fences but the horizon in the 
 
THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-SACRIFICE 57 
 
 far-away distance. Bridges across streams were not 
 yet, so the faithful horse is persuaded to wade through, 
 the missionary sometimes not knowing whether he 
 would land safely on the other side or not. No 
 churches to preach in, so cabins, sod houses or dugouts 
 were turned into places of worship. When at last the 
 country school house was built, missionary and people 
 were glad. The writer need only go back to the gen- 
 eration preceding him when such conditions as here 
 named were common. 
 
 Sometimes the pioneer missionary was drenched to 
 the skin with rain that poured upon him in torrents, 
 or perhaps caught in a western blizzard and almost 
 froze before finding shelter. Indeed, only one genera- 
 tion ago, the missionary sometimes slept out on the 
 prairie or shared the scant rations and the simple ac- 
 commodations of the early settler. Salary? There 
 wasn't much, only barely enough to keep the body 
 covered, and of luxuries these missionaries knew 
 nothing. 
 
 And in the earlier days, when there were no phones, 
 when railroads were few, and when the missionary 
 was far out of reach of communication with his fam- 
 ily, he sometimes returned from an extended itinerary 
 to find the newly-made grave of a dear child. Oh, it 
 cost something to scatter the gospel seed and to plant 
 churches in this land where Christian institutions now 
 abound. Could the history of it all be written it 
 would reveal heroism and courage, faith and perse- 
 verance, sacrifice and labor of the highest class. 
 
 "They Loved Not Their Lives Even Unto 
 Death" can also be said of our foreign missionaries. 
 
58 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 We think of Doctor and Mrs. Frederick Krecker, and 
 Rev. Jacob Hartzler and wife, missionaries to Japan. 
 Many of us yet living knew them. We think of our 
 pioneers in Hunan, China. We think of our Brother 
 and Sister Guinter in Northern Nigeria, Africa. 
 These left their all that they might be witnesses unto 
 Him among the millions that know not Christ. Can 
 we enter into fellowship with their sacrifices? Can we 
 realize what they are doing and why they are doing it ? 
 Can we count the cost of what it costs them to will- 
 ingly undertake the tasks they are attempting ? 
 
 Superintendent C. Newton Dubs and Mrs. Dubs 
 opened up the way by entering the city of Changsha, 
 Mrs. Dubs being the first to undertake work among 
 women in that city. What it meant of sacrifice and 
 toil for this first pair, in a country dense with heathen- 
 ism and desperately opposed to everything foreign, it 
 would be impossible to relate, for we do not know ; 
 only they knew this and God knows. We remember 
 that Mrs. Dubs lay in a hospital at Shanghai, a thou- 
 sand miles from the mission field and thousands of 
 miles away from friends in the home land, the first 
 place that could be found where her weary, sick body 
 could be laid ; and that there she suffered for months, 
 slowly dying; and that her final request was to be 
 buried among those for whom she had given her life. 
 She had toiled for others, "Even unto death." 
 
 Neither Do We Forget Rev. A. C. Lindenmeyer, 
 who spared not himself, and how he finally yielded up 
 his life on a boat, many miles away from every medi- 
 cal aid. 
 
THE PRINCIPLES OF SELF-SACRIFICE 59 
 
 Mrs. Lilla (Snyder) Voss next comes to mind. 
 She too "Loved not her life even unto death." With 
 what devotion she labored for the women whom she 
 had gathered about her, as long as any strength re- 
 mained. Superintendent Dubs offered to bring her 
 home, where she might have the ministry of friends at 
 home and where life might have been prolonged, but 
 she asked to remain at her chosen work until the end. 
 
 And the Other Missionaries have willingly en- 
 dured every hardship they have met, and have per- 
 formed their duties at any cost of inconvenience to 
 themselves. They have been opposed in almost every 
 conceivable way, they have been robbed and deceived 
 by those whose good they sought. They have suffered 
 in body, mind, and spirit. They have been sick, with- 
 out friends to minister to them, they have been worn 
 and weary, and disheartened by obstacles well-nigh in- 
 surmountable. They have been in perils seen and un- 
 seen. They have gone through flood and war and fire. 
 Some of them have had their homes destroyed, losing 
 everything. One of them, Rev. C. A. Fuessle, after 
 being overcome with a fatal illness, came home to die. 
 In three cases, parents laid away the bodies of dear 
 children in the far away land to await the morning of 
 the resurrection. They have stood every test that has 
 come to them. 
 
 In the midst of never-to-be-forgotten experiences in 
 the war between Northern and Southern forces in 
 1918, our missionaries displayed a heroism, in defense 
 of our people, especially women and children, and in 
 defense of our properties, such as has never been sur- 
 passed by its courage and devotion to the welfare of 
 
6o EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 humanity. In the lower end of the city of LiHng, 
 where our church, chapel and schools were located, 
 Missionaries T. S. Knecht and A. E. Lehman, were 
 fearless in their efforts to stem the tide of riot and to 
 protect the helpless, and care for their own families. 
 In the upper end of the city, where the hospital, dis- 
 pensary and Albright Preparatory School are located. 
 Doctor Niebel, although the only foreign man in that 
 section of the city during the fateful seventh day of 
 May, succeeded in preventing the murder of the sick 
 and wounded soldiers under his care and protecting 
 his own household. At Siangtan, Yuhsien and Chal- 
 ing, our missionaries were also in peril, and manifested 
 similar heroism and courage. Rev. and Mrs. Guinter 
 in Africa, who passed through three dangerous epi- 
 demics last year are no less heroic and self-sacrificing. 
 
 In Addition to Those Whose Names Have Al- 
 BEADY Been Mentioned we think of the Shambaughs, 
 the Ritzmans, the Vosses, the Dunlaps, the Talbotts, 
 the Suhrs, the Kauffmans, the Shorts, the Sanders, 
 Doctor Welch ; and the Misses Hasenpflug, Gohn, 
 Hobein, Wolf and Magness. These are now going 
 forward in their well-chosen work, and will continue 
 to go forward until God orders otherwise. 
 
 The following are later recruits, who gladly re- 
 nounce all, to do service with those who entered be- 
 fore: Rev. Homer H. Dubs and wife, Mrs. Dr. 
 Welch, Miss Elvira Strunk, Miss Maude Leyda, and 
 Rev. H. C. Anderson. These are not dismayed be- 
 cause of the perils through which the others have 
 passed ; but gladly take up the blessed service, not 
 knowing the things that shall befall them. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 EVANGELICAL MISSIONARY- BEGINNINGS 
 IN THE DAYS OF JACOB ALBRIGHT 
 
 By Way of Elucidation : We keep in mind the fact that 
 prior to the year 1894 there was no organized body bearing 
 the name "United Evangelical Church." The ministers and 
 people that took organized form under this name in that 
 year were a part of "The Evangelical Association of North 
 America," of which Rev. Jacob Albright was the founder. In 
 the years 1891-94 an unfortunate Church division occurred 
 which resulted in two bodies : "The Evangelical Association 
 of North America" and "The United Evangelical Church," 
 both of which are the spiritual descendants of Jacob Albright. 
 It was quite fitting, satisfactory and enjoyable when, in 
 September, 1916, they joined together in a Centennial Celebra- 
 tion, commemorating the following contemporary events : 
 (i) The building of the first church and the establishment of 
 the Evangelical Printing House; (2) The call and holding 
 of the first General Conference; (3) The adoption of the 
 name "The Evangelical Association of North America"; (4) 
 The sending of the first missionaries to the State of Ohio. 
 
 Jacob Albright and His Colaborers were mis- 
 sionaries in spirit and in method, and the Church they 
 founded has continued to manifest a missionary spirit. 
 With us, real church loyalty includes a missionary 
 spirit. The founders of our Church confined their 
 labors to the Pennsylvania Germans "Whose forefa- 
 thers had fled from the European Fatherland on ac- 
 count of war, religious persecution and civil oppres- 
 sion." (See Chapter I of Rev. A. Stapleton's "Old 
 Time Evangelical Evangelism"). 
 
 61 
 
62 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 The following testimony indicates Albright's in- 
 tense passion for the religious welfare of his kindred 
 and for all mankind. 
 
 Albright's Testimony reads: "1 was pervaded 
 with a burning love toward God and His children and 
 all mankind. It was this love which the grace of God 
 shed in my heart that led me to see the great decline 
 of experimental religion among the German people. 
 I felt for them. I saw in them my brethren and sin- 
 cerely wished them the happiness that was mine. With 
 such feelings I often fell upon my knees and with 
 burning tears besought God that He would lead them 
 into the way of truth, and that they might have pure 
 and exemplary teachers, who would preach the gospel 
 in its power, that the dead and sleeping professors of 
 religion might be aroused from their sleep of sin and 
 brought to a true life of godliness, so that they might 
 be also partakers of the blessed peace with God and 
 the fellowship of the Holy Ghost." 
 
 Albright's Distinctive Mission was of the Jonah 
 type. That is, he was one of the class of persons that 
 God selects and thrusts out to do a special work. 
 Church history shows us that at times the visible 
 Church has been too narrow in her view, or too slow 
 or unspiritual to fulfill her mission as an evangelizing 
 agency. In such times as these God finds a Philip, or 
 a Paul, or a Raymond Lull, or a John Huss, or a Mar- 
 tin Luther, or a Melanchthon, or a John Knox, or a 
 John Wesley, or a Jacob Albright, or a Dwight L. 
 Moody ; and thrusts him out alone, as it were, to do 
 some special work He wants done. The results of such 
 
EVANGELICAL MISSIONARY BEGINNINGS 63 
 
 a man's efforts usually take a wider range than he had 
 anticipated, and in some cases has led to the organiza- 
 tion of a separate church body.* 
 
 Aggressive and Extensive Evangelism was the 
 chief characteristic of the labors of the men of the 
 time of Albright, and by this they manifested a mis- 
 sionary spirit. They did not call their fields of labor 
 missions, they called them circuits. They did not 
 draw any missionary money for there was no place to 
 draw any from. They had no missionary society, for 
 everything remained yet to be organized. They were 
 often in need of pecuniary help and entirely worthy 
 of it, but did the best they could without it. We can 
 hardly appreciate the self-sacrifice under which they 
 toiled and suffered. Their supreme passion was to 
 save souls and to "Feed the flock of God." 
 
 Albright Himself Began by Doing Extensive 
 Missionary Work. He began about the year 1 796 as an 
 
 *The author, while deprecating every kind of narrow sec- 
 tarianism and church bigotry that prevents cooperation in the 
 things of the kingdom of God, beheves, nevertheless, that 
 denominationalism in itself is not an evil, and that certain 
 organized bodies of believers have been brought into being 
 by force of circumstances that gave them a distinctive place 
 within the Church of Jesus Christ. And further, while it is 
 evident that there are far too many separate denominations 
 and especially denominational divisions that might have been 
 avoided, and that ought to unite organically ; yet, upon the 
 other hand, the author believes that Christian people will be 
 one body only when Jesus Christ Himself shall be in full and 
 complete control, and when He shall "Present it (the Church) 
 to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or 
 any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blem- 
 ish." 
 
64 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 independent evangelist. "The first tangible evidence we 
 have of his ministry was at the dedication of a Re- 
 formed church at Schaefferstown, Lebanon County, 
 Pa., October 8, 1797, where he began to preach to an 
 overflow assembly in the open market shed near the 
 church, but was attacked by a mob and the meeting 
 broken up." In his brief career as a preacher he es- 
 tablished many preaching places. In Pennsylvania 
 his tours extended over the counties of Lebanon, 
 Berks, Bucks, Montgomery, Schuylkill, Lehigh, North- 
 ampton, Lancaster, York, Dauphin, Perry, Juniata, 
 Snyder, Union and Centre. His labors also extended 
 south and west in the Cumberland Valley of Pennsyl- 
 vania, going down into Maryland and Virginia, and 
 westward from the Cumberland Valley across the 
 counties of Franklin and Bedford ; and finally he and 
 his colaborers crossed the mountains into Cambria 
 County, in the vicinity of where the city of Johnstown 
 now stands and which has become such an Evangelical 
 center. It is worthy of special notice that nearly all 
 the sections visited by Jacob Albright have become 
 Evangelical strongholds. 
 
 It is well to remember that the preaching tours of 
 Albright and his colaborers were not a visitation of 
 churches, but that they did pioneer work, visiting the 
 people in their homes ; preaching in dwelling houses, 
 in barns, in market places, and wherever people would 
 listen to the gospel message. The first church edifice 
 was not built until 1816, seven years after Albright's 
 death. Jacob Albright kept on with his missionary 
 itineraries until overcome by exhaustion from strenu- 
 
EVANGELICAL MISSIONARY BEGINNINGS 65 
 
 ous labors and disease. He died May 18, 1808, aged 
 forty-nine years. 
 
 "Soon after his conversion, Jacob Albright became a mem- 
 ber of the Methodist Church, though the services of these 
 people were almost exclusively English. He became an ex- 
 horter in the class to which he belonged and was given an 
 exhorter's license, which gave him authority as a lay minister. 
 From what occurred about ten years after Albright had or- 
 ganized his first class, we think it probable that had the Meth- 
 odist leaders of that time been willing to allow distinctive 
 work among the Pennsylvania Germans, a union would have 
 been effected with that body ; but Bishop Asbury considered 
 such distinctive work 'impractical.' 
 
 "From Rev. A. Stapleton's 'Old Time Evangelical Evangel- 
 ism' we learn that an assembly which convened at the home 
 of Samuel Leeser in Berks County, Pa., Jacob Albright and 
 his two assistants, John Walter and Abraham Leeser, and 
 fourteen laymen representing the various classes that had 
 been organized were present. At this assembly the follow- 
 ing business was transacted : 
 
 "(i) They declared themselves an ecclesiastical organiza- 
 tion and adopted the Holy Scriptures as their guide and rule 
 of faith. 
 
 "(2) They declared Jacob Albright a minister of the 
 gospel, in the full sense of the word, and recognized him as 
 their teacher and overseer. 
 
 "(3) He was solemnly ordained as such by his assistants, 
 John Walter and Abraham Leeser. 
 
 "(4) He was then given a certificate signed by all present 
 as follows : 
 
 "From the Elders and Brethren of His Society of Evangelical 
 Friends: 
 
 "We the undersigned Evangelical and Christian friends, 
 declare and recognize Jacob Albright as a genuine Evangelical 
 preacher in word and deed, and a believer in the Universal 
 Christian Church and the communion of saints. 
 
 "Given in the State of Pennsylvania, Nov. 5, 1803. 
 
 "This was a simple transaction, but had a far-reaching 
 meaning. It appears that soon after this, these missionary 
 evangelists called themselves 'Evangelical' preachers." 
 5 
 
66 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 John Walter and Abraham Leeser were Jacob 
 Albright's first assistants, the former beginning in 
 1802 and the latter in 1803. John Walter was a mem- 
 ber of the first class Albright organized. This was in 
 Bucks County, Pa. Walter was but twenty years of 
 age when he began his ministry as the first assistant of 
 Jacob Albright. He is said to have been a man of 
 "untiring zeal and powerful eloquence." His incessant 
 labors broke his health as early as 1813 and he died in 
 1818. Abraham Leeser was of "mild and quiet dispo- 
 sition," but not strong constitutionally, so that he was 
 necessitated to retire from the active ministry after 
 only two years of labor and died soon after. These 
 two men are of special note from the fact that they 
 ordained Jacob Albright, as previously stated. 
 
 The next person to become associated with Albright 
 in ministerial labors was Alexander Jamison in 1804, 
 but he did not continue in this relation long. 
 
 George Miller entered the active ministry under 
 the direction of Jacob Albright in 1805. He had been 
 confirmed in the Lutheran doctrine in 1790, when six- 
 teen years of age ; but did not realize a consciousness 
 of salvation until led into the light in 1802 through the 
 visitations and sermons of Jacob Albright. He was 
 soon made the leader of the class to which he be- 
 longed, and in due time was given a charge as above 
 stated. His first field of labor included Lebanon, Lan- 
 caster and Dauphin Counties. It will be remembered 
 that the first point at which Albright is known to have 
 preached was in Lebanon County. 
 
EVANGELICAL MISSIONARY BEGINNINGS 67 
 
 It will be of special interest to know that in 1918 
 the United Evangelical Church had thirty-one fields 
 of labor in the three counties which constituted George 
 Miller's first field of labor. These thirty-one fields of 
 labor had fifty-seven appointments, with a church 
 membership of 7,493 and a Sunday school enrollment 
 of 12,444. 
 
 Miller manifested that same intense missionary 
 spirit that was characteristic of Albright. Following 
 his first year's labors on the field just mentioned he 
 was given the new field, which constituted all the work 
 west of the Susquehanna River. His territory in- 
 cluded what is now embraced by ten counties. The 
 third year of his ministry he was again back on the old 
 field on the east side of the river, and the fourth year 
 was given to the new field on the west side. He was 
 then permanently disabled by illness and necessitated 
 to quit the active ministry. His labors had been 
 greatly blessed and were very fruitful. He had the 
 elements of leadership and served the Church well 
 after he was necessitated to cease traveling. It was he 
 who prepared the first Discipline, publishing it at his 
 own expense. Miller also published a book on "Prac- 
 tical Christianity" and a biography of Jacob Albright. 
 He died when only forty-two years of age. 
 
 John Dreisbach and Henry Niebee became asso- 
 ciated with the followers of Jacob Albright at about 
 the same time, in the year 1806; the former at the 
 home of his father in Buffalo Valley, Union County, 
 and the latter at the home of Abraham Eyer, in the 
 same county, where the town of Winfield now stands. 
 
68 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 Both of them married daughters of Abraham Eyer, 
 who was one of the most influential laymen of those 
 early days. In the spring of 1808, John Dreisbach 
 was stationed by Jacob Albright on the new circuit 
 west of the Susquehanna with John Walter and later 
 with George Miller. It was an immense field covering 
 what now embraces twelve counties and had about 
 fifty preaching places. When George Miller's health 
 broke this year, Henry Niebel took his place on this 
 field with John Dreisbach. We shall refer again to 
 these two men and their part in the further develop- 
 ment of the work later on. 
 
 Jacob Fry and John Erb are two other men that 
 connect with the days of Jacob Albright. Fry began 
 his work as a minister with George Miller and in 
 1807 he was assigned as a colleague of John Walter. 
 The thing of chief interest about the beginnings of 
 Fry's ministry is the fact that in 1808 Jacob Albright 
 assigned him to a new field which included the ter- 
 ritory of York, Adams, Cumberland and Franklin 
 Counties. He afterwards became one of the pio- 
 neers of missionary labors in the State of Ohio. John 
 Erb became an assistant to John Dreisbach in 1808. 
 He also labored with success. 
 
 We have given this brief review of the days of Ja- 
 cob Albright and his colaborers chiefly from a mis- 
 sionary viewpoint, so that we shall be reminded who 
 the first laborers of the Church of our fathers were, 
 where the beginnings were made and how they were 
 made, all of which indicates that they were pioneer 
 missionaries in deed. We are impressed with their 
 
EVANGELICAL MISSIONARY BEGINNINGS 69 
 
 passion for the salvation of others, with their spirit 
 of self-crucifixion for the work's sake ; how they 
 toiled and suffered, nearly all of them being unable to 
 endure for any considerable time, breaking in health 
 early. We notice that four of those mentioned in this 
 chapter : Albright, Walter, Miller and Leeser died of 
 consumption, brought on by excessive labors, hard- 
 ships and exposure. 
 
 The extensiveness of their work, especially when we 
 remember the inconveniences of travel, the bitter op- 
 position and frequent persecution they had to meet, 
 and the further fact that they had no organized body 
 back of them to support them in their labors, impresses 
 us deeply. Church history shows us that the work of 
 these men of God was not superficial in character, but 
 that they laid the foundations deep and strong. They 
 rest from their labors, and to us the memory of what 
 they did is sacred. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THIRTY YEARS OF PIONEER WORK 
 1808 to 1838 
 
 The previous chapter carried us through the mis- 
 sionary activities of the days of Rev. Jacob Albright. 
 The same kind of strenuous and extensive missionary 
 work was continued by the successors of Albright. 
 But there was no organized missionary society until 
 the year 1838. This chapter will carry us through the 
 period intervening between the death of Albright and 
 this organization. 
 
 Meager Ministerial Support. It is apparent that 
 the preachers of this period were much handicapped 
 because of a lack of proper support, and it seems cer- 
 tain that if better provision had been made for minis- 
 terial support, our preachers could have labored with 
 greater satisfaction to themselves and much less dis- 
 comfort and fewer hardships to their families, and 
 that the work would have made better and more sub- 
 stantial progress. There was no fixed salary or allow- 
 ance. In the days of Albright it had become the cus- 
 tom for the preachers to divide the receipts of the 
 year among them. 
 
 We find that for the year 181 1 the highest salary re- 
 ceived was $45.56, and that the average was $29.33. 
 There was also a subsidiary collection taken each year, 
 which totaled $51.97 for this year, and which was di- 
 
 70 
 
THIRTY YEARS OF PIONEER WORK 71 
 
 vided among J. Walter, J. Erb, H. Niebel, M. Becker, 
 and a poor man named Samuel Kupper. In 1809 $42 
 of the subsidiary collection was given John Walter 
 for the purchase of a horse. The Annual Conference 
 of 1816 decided that "Hereafter ministers shall re- 
 ceive $56 and expenses, if the state of the treasury will 
 allow it." In 1827 the total receipts, including the sub- 
 sidiary collection amounted to $922.55. This was di- 
 vided among twenty preachers. How these preachers 
 got along and what the families of some of them en- 
 dured is unknown to us. 
 
 A New Leadership. This does not mean a nezv 
 kind of leadership, but it simply means that after the 
 death of Albright, God had raised up other men to 
 continue the work which Albright had begun. God 
 calls the workman home, but His work continues to go 
 forward. Thus it is ever. Reference has already 
 been made to Rev. George Miller and his qualities for 
 leadership, but that because of broken health he could 
 not serve a charge after 1808. He continued however 
 to preach as his strength would permit, and presided 
 at five succeeding annual conference sessions. 
 
 John Dreisbach and Henry Niebee were promi- 
 nent leaders for a number of years, the former being 
 the first and the latter the second presiding elder of 
 the Church. John Dreisbach presided at four annual 
 conferences, and was secretary at five. He was also 
 president of two general conferences. Henry Niebel 
 presided at eight annual conferences, and was secre- 
 tary of four. He was also president of two general 
 
72 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 conferences and secretary of two general conferences. 
 This was before we had bishops. 
 
 Both these men had literary ability which proved a 
 blessing to the Church. Both were imbued with the 
 same kind of missionary spirit that characterized Jacob 
 Albright. Rev. A. Stapleton writes of John Dreis- 
 bach : "Dreisbach was a man of progress. He lived 
 to see the Church grow from a handful of seventy-five 
 members, to almost one hundred thousand, and during 
 all this long period of almost three-quarters of a cen- 
 tury he was the advocate of progressive methods and 
 measures." Ohio Conference paid the following 
 tribute to Henry Niebel : "He was a man of strong 
 will, sound judgment and an unswerving defender of 
 that which he believed to be right. In the pulpit he 
 was possessed of almost irresistible power; so much 
 so that hardened sinners trembled and fell prostrate 
 under his preaching." Both these men continued ex- 
 tensive evangelistic work with untiring vigor, so much 
 so that their strength gave way many years before 
 their life on earth came to an end. 
 
 John Dreisbach was the first missionary of our 
 Church to enter the State of New York, accompanied 
 by Robert McCray as colleague. They did not labor 
 there long, but the seed they planted took root and the 
 work went on. Jacob Kleinfelter was sent in 1816. 
 After returning from New York, in the same year, 
 John Dreisbach and Adam Hennig were sent to open 
 up work west of the Allegheny Mountains, where they 
 labored with great success. 
 
THIRTY YEARS OF PIONEER WORK 73 
 
 A NoTABi^E Event in the missionary history of our 
 Church occurred in 1816, when the Annual Conference 
 held in the barn of Abraham Eyer, still standing at 
 Winfield, Pa., established two missions in the State of 
 Ohio, which was then a wilderness, and sent Adam 
 Hennig and Fred Shower to labor there. The former 
 soon formed a circuit, 400 miles around, beginning at 
 New Philadelphia and extending westward, including 
 such points as Canton, New Lisbon, Wooster and 
 Mansfield. Hennig's labors were of the heroic pio- 
 neer type, and his life was frequently in danger. 
 
 The field taken by Fred Shower was farther south, 
 in the Sciota Valley, including Fairfield, Ross, Frank- 
 lin and Pickaway Counties. This constituted Lancas- 
 ter Circuit. Fred Shower labored with acceptance 
 through a part of the year, but abandoned the work 
 before the year closed. The next spring John and 
 Adam Kleinfelter were sent to develop this promising 
 field. Rev. A. Swartz informed the author in 1916 
 that in this section the Evangelical Association and 
 the United Evangelical Church now each have eight 
 fields of labor, and that from our Church in this sec- 
 tion have come sixty-eight preachers, fifty of them 
 from Fairfield County alone. Ten years later the work 
 extended toward the northwestern part of Ohio. John 
 Dreisbach also visited Canada as early as 1816. 
 
 A Remarkable Pioneer Home Missionary. Such 
 was Rev. John Seybert, who became the first bishop 
 of the Evangelical Association in 1839. The "Life 
 and Labors of Rev. John Seybert," by Rev. S. P. 
 Spreng, now one of the bishops of the Evangelical 
 
74 
 
 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 Association, is an interesting missionary biography. 
 This remarkable man was converted at Manheim, Pa., 
 in 1810 under the preaching of Rev. M. Betz, served 
 as class leader of the Manheim and Mt. Joy classes a 
 number of years, and received license to preach in 
 1819. After serving various charges in Pennsylvania 
 and Ohio, he was elected presiding elder in 1819, but 
 refused a reelection in 1833, preferring rather to labor 
 as a pioneer missionary. He was then appointed to 
 an undeveloped section in northwestern Pennsylvania. 
 In this new region he endured hardships and priva- 
 tions, but his labors were very successful. We quote 
 from a biographical sketch by Rev. A. Stapleton : 
 
 "Bishop Seybert stands unique in the history of the 
 Evangelical Association, and it is questionable whether 
 the Protestant Church has ever produced a more con- 
 secrated, earnest, tireless worker than he. He re- 
 peatedly expressed a desire to 'die in the harness,' and 
 literally wore himself out in the service of his Lord 
 and Master. His zeal for God burned with an ever- 
 increasing fervor upon the altar of his heart. In 1837 
 he records in his journal the pleasing fact that an in- 
 creasing missionary spirit was observable in the 
 Church and adds : 'According to all appearance I must 
 now bestir myself lest I be set in the background. I 
 herewith serve notice that I am not to be looked for 
 in the rear end of the race, but must be sought for 
 pretty well in the front, where the ice is being broken.' 
 This sentiment well expresses his true character. He 
 was a famous spiritual ice-breaker and pathfinder. 
 
A Pioneer Home Missionary 
 
THIRTY YEARS OF PIONEER WORK 75 
 
 "During the period of his ministry this indomitable 
 servant of God traveled about one hundred and sev- 
 enty-five thousand miles (not on trains), made about 
 forty-six thousand pastoral visits, attended about eight 
 thousand prayer and class meetings, visited about ten 
 thousand sick, and preached almost ten thousand 
 times." 
 
 Pressing Westward. If we look at a map of the 
 United States, and draw a dividing line from north 
 to south between the States of Pennsylvania and Ohio, 
 we have sixteen states to the east of this line including 
 also the southern States of Virginia, North Carolina, 
 South Carolina and Florida. The immense territory 
 west of this line was the pioneer missionary territory 
 of one hundred years ago. West of this line is 86 per 
 cent, and east of it is 14 per cent, of the area of the 
 United States. 
 
 In 1830 the western portion indicated above had a 
 population of only 3,500,000, or about the same as the 
 present population of Massachusetts. This vast west- 
 ern area was then only in the beginning of its material 
 development, and people had begun to press into it. 
 The pioneer missionary endeavored to keep pace with 
 the immigration into this immense area, which now 
 contains a population of more than 60,000,000. 
 
 Our Church fathers determined to do their part for 
 the spiritual needs of the mass of people moving west- 
 ward. Work was begun in Indiana in 1835, the first 
 general meeting held at that time, at which Rev. J. G. 
 Zinzer was present. 
 
76 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 In 1 834- 1 837 some families of our Pennsylvania 
 people moved to what was then far-away Illinois, set- 
 tling in three colonies ; one in the vicinity of Des 
 Plaines, another party at Naperville and the other 
 farther west, in Henry County. Henry Niebel pre- 
 sided at the Western Conference in 1837, ^"d was 
 presiding elder of Ohio District. Seeing the need of a 
 missionary in Illinois, he sent Jacob Boas, one of the 
 ministers who had been appointed to Miami charge, 
 to Illinois to open up work there. This is the year 
 in which the city of Chicago was founded, which is 
 now the second largest city of the western continent. 
 It was a long and difficult journey for the young mis- 
 sionary, but he was received with joy and his mission 
 was a success. 
 
 Joseph Long and W. W. Orwig, who afterward 
 attained a foremost prominence, both being elected to 
 the office of bishop, were spiritually born and devel- 
 oped in usefulness in this period of our Church his- 
 tory. Joseph Long was the product of missionary 
 labors in Ohio, beginning his ministry in 1822. He 
 was a remarkable man, a profound thinker, a strong 
 preacher, and a shrewd, far-seeing administrator. He 
 gave especial attention to learning, and the cause of 
 education found in him a friend. He did all in his 
 power to promote a missionary spirit throughout the 
 Church. 
 
 W. W. Orwig was the product of missionary labors 
 in Buffalo Valley, Union County, Pa. He was licensed 
 to preach when but eighteen years of age. His un- 
 usual abilities soon brought him into prominence, 
 
THIRTY YEARS OF PIONEER WORK 'jy 
 
 especially in literary work and missionary labors, as 
 we shall find in the next chapter. 
 
 In addition to the names already mentioned as be- 
 longing to this period, the names of others prominent 
 in missionary labors may be given : such as James 
 Barber, Thomas Buck, Adam Ettinger, Francis Hoff- 
 man, Jacob Kleinfelter, John Kleinfelter, Adam 
 Kleinfelter, Joseph Harlacher and others. The last 
 mentioned established our work in Buffalo, N. Y., 
 in 1835. 
 
 The Significance oe a Name. Before closing this 
 chapter we feel to invite attention to the meaning of 
 the word "Evangelical" which occurs in the names 
 "The Evangelical Association," and the "United Evan- 
 gelical Church." The name "Evangelical Association" 
 was adopted in 1816, and our part of the divided body 
 adopted the name "United Evangelical Church" in 
 1894. 
 
 We quote from The Standard Dictionary : 
 
 Evangelical: "Holding or conformed to what the majority 
 of Protestants regard as the fundamental doctrines of the 
 gospel, such as the trinity, the fallen condition of man, 
 Christ's atonement for sin, salvation by faith, not by works, 
 and regeneration by the Holy Spirit; spiritually minded; as, 
 an evangelical church or denomination ; evangelical religion." 
 
 "The evangelical believer holds that every individual must 
 be spiritually united to Christ, and through union with Christ 
 united to the Church." — A. A. Hodge, Theol. 
 
 "Seeking the conversion of sinners ; pertaining to the work 
 of an evangelist; evangelistic; as evangelical labors or 
 preaching." 
 
 Evangelize: "To instruct in the gospel; convert to Chris- 
 tianity. To pervade with the spirit and harmonize with the ' 
 
78 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 doctrines of the gospel. To announce as good tidings. To 
 proclaim the gospel." 
 
 The intimate relation of missionary work and evan- 
 gelism appears in the fact that missionary work is 
 evangelism extended, and this accords with the prac- 
 tice and teachings of Jesus as they relate to the spread 
 of the gospel throughout the world. This is what our 
 Church fathers practiced, and what the United Evan- 
 gelical Church endeavors to carry forward. 
 
 The Circuit Rider 
 
 "In the backwoods of Ohio, in the days of long ago, 
 When religion was religion, not a dressy fashion show, 
 When the Spirit of the Master fell as flames of living fire 
 And the people did the singing, not a trained, artistic choir, 
 There was scarcely seen a ripple in life's gently flowing tide. 
 No events to draw the people from their daily toil aside, 
 Naught to set the pious spirit of the pioneers aflame. 
 Save upon the rare occasions when the circuit rider came, 
 
 "Usually he was mounted on the sprightliest of nags. 
 All his outfit for the journey packed in leather saddlebags, 
 And he'd travel with the Bible or the hymn book in his 
 
 hand, 
 Reading sacred word or singing of the happy promised land. 
 How the toiling wives would glory in the dinners they would 
 
 spread. 
 And many a hapless chicken or turkey lost its head 
 By the gleaming chopper wielded by the hand of sturdy 
 
 dame, 
 For it wasn't very often that the circuit rider came. 
 
 "All the settlement around us would be ringing with the news, 
 That there'd be a meeting Sunday, and we'd 'taller' up our 
 
 shoes. 
 And we'd brush our homespun dress suits, pride of every 
 
 country youth. 
 And we'd grease our hair with marrow till it shone like 
 
 golden truth, 
 
THIRTY YEARS OF PIONEER WORK 
 
 79 
 
 And the frocks of linsey-woolsey would be donned by all the 
 girls, 
 
 And with heated fire pokers they would make their cork- 
 screw curls; 
 
 They were scarcely queens of fashion, but were lovely just 
 the same, 
 
 And they always looked their sweetest when the circuit rider 
 came, 
 
 "We have sat in grand cathedrals, triumphs of the builder's 
 
 skill. 
 And in great palatial churches, 'neath the organ's mellow 
 
 thrill. 
 But they never roused within us such a reverential flame 
 As would burn in that old school house when the circuit 
 
 rider came." — James Burton Adams. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 ORGANIZATION AND FURTHER EXTENSION 
 
 The; First Missionary Society of the Evangelical 
 Association (to which we belonged at that time) was 
 organized by what was then known as the Eastern 
 Conference in 1838. Rev. W. W. Orwig was its presi- 
 dent, J. P. Leib vice-president, J. Vogelbach secretary, 
 and T. Buck treasurer. Quite an interest was awak- 
 ened and about $500 collected during the year. It was 
 felt however that a general organization should be 
 effected. 
 
 We can do no better than to quote from Evangeli- 
 cal Annals which gives an account of this general 
 organization. 
 
 "Notwithstanding the prospective efficiency and usefulness 
 of the Conference organization, it was felt that a general or 
 parent society, to which conference organizations should be 
 auxiliary, was a necessity. At a general meeting held at 
 New Berlin, Pa., over Christmas, 1838, a number of ministers 
 and laymen met at the house of W. W. Orwig for the purpose 
 of discussing the advisability of organizing such a society. 
 At this meeting a committee, composed of Revs. John Sey- 
 bert, George Brickley and W. W. Orwig, was appointed to 
 prepare a constitution for adoption at a subsequent meeting. 
 On March i, 1839, another meeting was held at the house of 
 John S. Dunkel, in the Buffalo Valley, near New Berlin. 
 At this meeting the Missionary Society of the Evangelical 
 Association was organized, and the constitution prepared by 
 the committee submitted and adopted. The officers of the 
 society were the following: President, John Seybert; first 
 
 80 
 
ORGANIZATION AND FURTHER EXTENSION 8i 
 
 vice-president, James Barber ; second vice-president, Daniel 
 Berger; third vice-president, George Brickley; secretary, 
 Solomon G. Miller; corresponding secretary, W. W. Orwig; 
 treasurer, John S. Dunkel ; directors (ministers), Charles 
 Hammer, Henry Thomas, Sebastian Mosser, Philip Wagoner, 
 Michael Maize and Philip Smith (local) ; laymen. Dr. I. 
 Brugger, Hon. Martin Dreisbach, Martin D. Reed, John 
 Roland, Isaac Eyer, John Maize, Leonard Gebhart and John 
 Kauflfman. At the General Conference held a few weeks 
 later, the constitution of the society was submitted for in- 
 spection, with the result that it was approved and the society 
 recognized as a general church organization, at which time its 
 official history properly begins. The previously organized 
 society of the Eastern Conference became an auxiliary to the 
 Parent Society soon after its organization. The first meeting 
 of the board of directors of the general society was held at 
 New Berlin, June 17, 1839, at which time by-laws were 
 adopted. 
 
 "The first annual meeting of the society was held at New 
 Berlin, April 21, 1840. At this meeting it was resolved to 
 have 500 copies of the constitution printed for distribution. 
 A committee, consisting of Charles Hammer, George Brickley 
 and S. G. Miller, was appointed to have the society incor- 
 porated. The corresponding secretary, W. W. Orwig, read 
 the first annual report, which indicates a prosperous condition 
 of the society, and all the missionaries receiving support from 
 the society reported success on their respective fields. The 
 receipts of the society for the year, inclusive of the $500 
 gathered by the conference society of the previous year, was 
 $1,434.31. The officers elected at this meeting were: Presi- 
 dent, Rev. Charles Hammer ; vice-presidents, J. Barber, G. 
 Brickley and P. Wagoner ; secretary, S. G. Miller ; corre- 
 sponding secretary, W. W. Orwig; treasurer, J. S. Dunkel. 
 This is in brief a history of the beginning of the Parent Mis- 
 sionary Society of the Evangelical Association. All the Ah- 
 nual Conferences are auxiliaries, while the Woman's Mission- 
 ary Society may also be regarded in that relation. It has sent 
 hundreds of missionaries, not only to the western frontiers 
 and the Pacific and Gulf Coast, but also to Europe and the 
 heathen world, and many thousand souls have been saved 
 through its instrumentality." 
 6 
 
82 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 Missionary Organization Provided a Means oi^ 
 Income for more extensive operations, served as a 
 stimulus for further advances and gave method to mis- 
 sionary administration. The election of John Seybert 
 to the office of bishop in 1839 gave missionary ad- 
 vancement splendid leadership. Illinois was then fron- 
 tier territory and he soon visited that extensive terri- 
 tory, not simply on a tour of inspection, but to still 
 further exercise his Pauline missionary spirit by 
 pressing into "regions beyond." In the forties mis- 
 sionary operations developed in Canada, in Wiscon- 
 sin, in Indiana, in Cleveland, and other parts of Ohio, 
 as well as in the States of Pennsylvania and New 
 York. 
 
 The Dawn of a New Era for Missions in our 
 Church began in the year 1850, which was for the 
 young denomination a year of jubilee. Editorials ap- 
 peared in the Church periodicals, recognizing: first, 
 the hand of the Lord in leading and blessing the ef- 
 forts made hitherto, and second, making favorable 
 mention of foreign missions. Rev. A. Stapleton 
 quotes from an editorial in the Evangelical Messenger, 
 under date of January 8, 1850: 
 
 "Have we not abundant cause to rejoice, and in the depth of 
 humility to praise the Lord for His great mercy and faithful- 
 ness toward us, and His fatherly protection and guidance to 
 the present day? What shall we render unto the Lord for all 
 His benefits toward us? Let us take the cup of salvation, and 
 proclaim the glory, and the name of the Lord, and pay our 
 vows to Him in the presence of all His people! 
 
 "The present period of the Evangelical Association appears 
 to us particularly suitable for commencing foreign missions, 
 and other important enterprises, calculated to promote the 
 
ORGANIZATION AND FURTHER EXTENSION 83 
 
 honor and cause of God. No doubt, all faithful and, in the 
 welfare of the Church, interested members, would take an 
 active part in the celebration of such a jubilee, and appear 
 with liberal hearts, and with hands richly filled before the 
 Lord, and bring Him an acceptable and well-pleasing thank- 
 oflFering. What a glorious and advantageous result might we 
 not expect from such a jubilee!" 
 
 All the Annual Conferences Took Favorable 
 action this year, following the initiative of the East 
 Pa. Conference for the establishment of a mission in 
 Germany, and Rev. J. C. Link was the first missionary 
 sent. The work was successful though bitterly op- 
 posed by the State Church. 
 
 In 1859 General Conference provided for the begin- 
 ning of a mission in Switzerland. The work in 
 Europe was very successful, so that a Germany Con- 
 ference was organized in 1865 and a Switzerland Con- 
 ference in 1879. The work in Switzerland was re- 
 markably successful, and appointments were also 
 taken up in Alsace. 
 
 Action Looking Toward Missionary Operations 
 
 IN Some Heathen Country was first taken at the 
 
 General Conference of 185 1, when Rev. W. W. Orwig 
 
 off^ered a resolution to that effect, which was adopted. 
 
 No work was begun during the ensuing quadrennium, 
 
 and at the General Conference of 1855 the matter was 
 
 again taken up and the following action taken : 
 
 "The Board of Foreign Missions shall, without delay, look 
 out for promising young men, in order to have them properly 
 trained and prepared for missionary services in the heathen 
 world." 
 
 Funds were wanting however, so the matter was 
 
 again deferred, there being but $864 on hand. At the 
 
84 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 General Conference held in 1859 a General Missionary 
 Board was created, consisting of one delegate from 
 each annual conference, with a corresponding secre- 
 tary to devote his entire time to the work and collect 
 funds throughout the Church. Action favoring a mis- 
 sion among the heathen was again taken. 
 
 In i860 the Board of Missions resolved to begin 
 work with $4,835 in the treasury. India was selected 
 as the field, and Revs. F. W. Heidner and F. C. Hoff- 
 man were appointed as missionaries. Their departure, 
 however, was deferred, and the General Conference 
 of 1863 again postponed the matter, thinking that 
 $9,234 was insufficient to begin with. 
 
 It seems strange that among people imbued with 
 such an evangelistic spirit as characterized our fathers, 
 sentiment in behalf of foreign missions should be so 
 slow in ripening. The General Conference of 1867 
 again passed resolutions, and still the board hesitated, 
 although there was a fund of $15,896 on hand. It ap- 
 pears that there were some far-visioned men, who 
 kept the question alive ; but that the rank and file of 
 the ministry were slow to rally for foreign missions. 
 The thought of opening work in India was finally 
 abandoned. 
 
 Conclusive Action for a Foreign Mission was 
 taken by the General Conference of 1875, just twenty- 
 five years after the matter was first officially men- 
 tioned. Things in general did not move so rapidly as 
 they do now. At this time the Foreign Mission Fund 
 amounted to $25,650. 
 
 General Conference passed the following: 
 
ORGANIZATION AND FURTHER EXTENSION 85 
 
 "(i) Resolved, That a mission among the heathen be estab- 
 lished forthwith. 
 
 "(2) Resolved, That we consider Japan as the most favor- 
 able field for such a mission, and that it be established in that 
 country. 
 
 "(3) Resolved, That the Board of Missions be instructed 
 to take necessary steps, that this mission be supplied with at 
 least two suitable men as soon as possible." 
 
 The Board of Missions appointed the following per- 
 sons as missionaries : Dr. Frederick Krecker, of the 
 East Pa. Conference, and Miss Rachael Hudson, an 
 accomplished teacher, also from Pennsylvania, and 
 Rev. A. Halmhuber, of the Swiss Conference. This 
 party sailed from San Francisco, October 18, 1876. 
 In the spring of 1880 the Board of Missions selected 
 Rev. Jacob Hartzler, formerly editor of The Evan- 
 gelical Messenger, as missionary, who was also to have 
 the oversight of the mission as superintendent. In 
 the month of April, 1883, Dr. Krecker contracted 
 typhus fever while in discharge of his duties and died, 
 the first missionary of our Church to end his earth 
 life in a non-Christian land. The mission prospered 
 and the Evangelical Association organized a Japan 
 Conference. 
 
 Work on the Pacific Coast Begun. The General 
 Conference of 1863 received a petition from some of 
 our people who had moved to the Pacific Coast to 
 establish work there. The conference took favorable 
 action, and C. F. Deininger, of the Central Pa. Con- 
 ference ; James Croasman, of the Pittsburgh Confer- 
 ence, and M. Guhl, of the East Pa. Conference, were 
 appointed. They went to the field in the spring of 
 
86 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 1864, and began their labors; Deininger in San Fran- 
 cisco, Guhl at San Jose, California, while Croasman 
 went to Salem, Oregon. 
 
 A Cursory Outline of Our Missionary Begin- 
 nings prior to the division of our Church and the 
 consequent organization of the United Evangelical 
 Church has been given because that part of the origi- 
 nal bodv of Evangelicals which finally adopted the 
 name "United Evangelical" in 1894 were just as really 
 identified with all the missionary operations that pre- 
 ceded the division as were those who retained the name 
 Evangelical Association. For ninety years all labored 
 together as one body. It mill he forever utterly im- 
 possible to divide us on the first ninety years of our 
 Church history. Our interest in earlier missionary 
 history, by which the foundations of our efforts to 
 spread the gospel were laid, is one interest. Thou- 
 sands of those identified with both denominations wish 
 that the Church division had never come, and thou- 
 sands sincerely hope that there will be a reunion of 
 the sons of Jacob Albright in the near future. 
 
 At the time of the Church division our missionary 
 operations had extended from the Atlantic Coast 
 across the northern half of our country, covered the 
 larger portion of the middle west, gone into the far 
 southwest reaching Texas, leaped across the Rocky 
 Mountains into the most fertile parts of the Pacific 
 States, spread northward into Canada, crossed the At- 
 lantic Ocean into Europe, and the Pacific Ocean into 
 Japan. Many tens of thousands of souls had been 
 
ORGANIZATION AND FURTHER EXTENSION 87 
 
 converted, and thousands of new forces generated for 
 the further extension of the Kingdom of Christ. 
 
 The Church division brought about a division of 
 forces within th^ United States boundaries, while 
 operations in Canada, Germany, Switzerland and 
 Japan remained wholly identified with the Evangelical 
 Association. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 UNITED EVANGELICAL MISSIONARY 
 BEGINNINGS 
 
 Intervening Events. In the month of October, 
 1891, two separate General Conferences under the 
 name of Evangelical Association were held, one at 
 Philadelphia and the other at Indianapolis. During 
 the three years intervening this time and the organiza- 
 tion of the United Evangelical church at Naperville, 
 Illinois, in 1894, the missionary societies of the adher- 
 ents of both bodies operated under the same Consti- 
 tution, except a few minor changes. At this time it 
 was customary to hold meetings of both the Mission- 
 ary Society and the Board of Missions. 
 
 The General Conference at Philadelphia elected suc- 
 cessively as corresponding secretary of the Missionary 
 Society, W. F. Heil, H. D. Shultz, and D. B. Byers; 
 but each of these resigned and B. J. Smoyer was 
 finally elected. M. Kunkel, a layman from Illinois 
 was elected treasurer. The Board of Missions elected 
 S. L. Wiest president, and R. Dubs, C. S. Haman and 
 W. M. Stanford vice-presidents. D. B. Byers served 
 in the meetings of this year as secretary pro tem. At 
 an Executive Committee meeting held April 13, 1892, 
 M. Kunkel resigned his office as treasurer. On April 
 17th, James D. Woodring was elected recording sec- 
 retary and J. R. Miller, of Reading, Pa., was elected 
 
 88 
 
Jeremiah G. Mohn 
 
 Missionary Treasurer, 1802-1919 
 
UNITED EVANGELICAL BEGINNINGS 89 
 
 treasurer. On May 11, 1892, J. R. Miller resigned as 
 treasurer to take efifect May i6th. The same meeting 
 elected Jeremiah C. Mohn, of Reading, Pa., treas- 
 urer, which office he held with general satisfaction to 
 the Church until the time of his death. May 3, 1919. 
 By authority of the Board of Missions the Executive 
 Committee fixed the appropriations of the year for 
 the various conferences at $38,300 of which $7,200 
 was to be paid out of the general treasury. The Exec- 
 utive Committee also ordered that the Children's Day 
 collection should flow into the general treasury, the 
 amount of this collection was $1,488.92. The board 
 at its annual meeting of this year also instituted the 
 Christmas collection for missions. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the board in 1893, W. F. 
 Heil, J. T. Thomas, and Aaron Bussard were ap- 
 pointed a committee on foreign work. The treasurer 
 reported the total receipts for the general treasury to 
 have been $6,585.01, of which $1,384.61 was Christ- 
 mas and $1,683.58 Children's Day collection. At the 
 same meeting of this year it was resolved to establish 
 a foreign missionary fund. 
 
 Missions a Prominent Feature. When the 
 United Evangelical Church was organized at its first 
 General Conference in October, 1894, at Naperville, 
 Illinois, the subject of missions was given due promi- 
 nence. A special advance step was taken by the adop- 
 tion of a new Article of Faith for our Discipline, set- 
 ting forth our doctrine regarding the spread of the 
 gospel, as follows : 
 
90 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 "Of the Evangelization of the World. The gospel is de- 
 signed for all nations, its field of operation is the whole 
 world, and the Church and the people of God are under 
 solemn obligation to make known its saving truth and power 
 among the heathen. To this great work we are impelled and 
 encouraged by the command of the Lord and the promises 
 and prophecies of the Holy Scriptures." 
 
 The following officers of the Missionary Society 
 were elected by this General Conference : Rev. S. L. 
 Wiest, president; Rev. U. F. Swengel, recording sec- 
 retary; Rev. B. J. Smoyer, corresponding secretary. 
 General Conference also took the following action re- 
 specting foreign missions : 
 
 "Whereas, The Constitution of the Missionary Society 
 prohibits the Board of Missions from establishing a work in 
 the heathen field, without authorization by this Conference ; 
 and 
 
 "Whereas, There is a strong demand on the part of our 
 people for an opporunity to send some of their missionary 
 money into the foreign field ; and 
 
 "Whereas, Our present circumstances do not justify us in 
 establishing a foreign mission at this time ; therefore, 
 
 "Resolved, That we regret that we cannot immediately 
 enter the foreign mission field as a denomination. 
 
 ''Resolved, In case the Foreign Mission Fund should reach 
 $20,000, the Board of Missions be hereby authorized to estab- 
 lish a foreign mission. 
 
 "Resolved, That we authorize the Board of Missions to 
 appropriate money for the support of two Bible women in 
 some foreign field during the next quadrennium." 
 
 A Revised Constitution was adopted at the an- 
 nual meeting of the society held on December 5, 1894. 
 (The Constitution of our Missionary Society, also the 
 Constitution of the Woman's Missionary Society can 
 always be found in our Book of Discipline.) The 
 name adopted in 1894 was, "The Missionary Society 
 
UNITED EVANGELICAL BEGINNINGS 91 
 
 of the United Bvangelical Church" ; a few years later 
 the name was changed to "The Home and Foreign 
 Missionary Society of the United Bvangelical 
 Church." 
 
 Forward Movement oe the Board of Missions. 
 The Board of Missions at its first annual meeting un- 
 der the name United Evangelical took some advance 
 steps. The most prominent of these was the recogni- 
 tion of a representative of the Woman's Missionary 
 Society as a member of the board. Mrs. C. F. Rass- 
 weiler, of Naperville, Illinois, had this honor. Mrs. 
 Rassweiler had served as president of the Woman's 
 Missionary Society in the years 1890, 1891 and 1892. 
 
 The board also provided that Passion Week should 
 be observed by all our people as Self-denial Week and 
 reiterated the observance of Christmas and Children's 
 Day with a collection for missions as a feature of the 
 occasion. It took cognizance of the action of General 
 Conference respecting foreign missions, and, "Corre- 
 sponding Secretary Smoyer was appointed a commit- 
 tee to act in conjunction with the president of the 
 Woman's Missionary Society to consider the practica- 
 bility of employing Bible women in some foreign mis- 
 sion field, to report to the Executive Committee of 
 this board." 
 
 At a meeting of the Executive Committee held on 
 February 28, 1895, B. J. Smoyer resigned as corre- 
 sponding secretary by advice of the committee which 
 gave as its reason the "Present strained financial con- 
 dition of the Church, in consequence of the many new 
 churches that have been and will be erected in the 
 
92 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 near future, that it will not be possible for the corre- 
 sponding secretary to find work as a collector of funds 
 for the general missionary treasury during the coming 
 year." The Board of Missions at its next annual meet- 
 ing refused to ratify the above action of the committee 
 and expressed regret for the resignation of Brother 
 Smoyer. The General Conference of 1898 expressed 
 itself regarding this matter as follows : 
 
 "Resolved, That while this Conference is of the opinion 
 that the Executive Committee exceeded its authority in ad- 
 vising the resignation of the corresponding secretary, but 
 in view of the extraordinary conditions which surrounded the 
 Executive Committee at the time and which were not fully 
 recognized by the General Conference, the action of the Ex- 
 ecutive Committee was excused and no blame is to attach 
 either to it or to the corresponding secretary." 
 
 The Foreign Mission Fund. When the Board of 
 Missions met in 1895, the foreign fund amounted to 
 $3,572.08, This board took the following action in 
 relation to foreign missions : 
 
 "Whereas, We have received through Mrs. Krecker the 
 report of the committee appointed by General Conference to 
 secure information regarding the support of two Bible women 
 in a foreign field ; and 
 
 "Whereas, This report informs us that two women, one in 
 Ceylon at the expense of $20.90, and the other in Mardin, 
 Turkey, at an expense of $26.40 a year can be secured; there- 
 fore, 
 
 "Resolved, That we authorize the Executive Committee 
 of the Woman's Missionary Society to support these two 
 women for one year, or in case these two cannot be obtained, 
 they be authorized to employ two others provided that the 
 cost be not more than the amount specified. 
 
 "Whereas, The Woman's Society presented us a request 
 to establish a Hospital Fund in foreign mission work; and 
 
UNITED EVANGELICAL BEGINNINGS 93 
 
 "Whereas, Two individuals have agreed to pay five dollars 
 per month for an indefinite time as a nucleus to this fund. 
 
 "Resolved, That we accede to this request and authorize the 
 treasurer of the Woman's Missionary Society to receive con- 
 tributions for this purpose. Such hospital fund shall be in- 
 cluded in the $20,000 Foreign Fund." 
 
 Missionary Sentiment Increasing. The time of 
 the next General Conference (1898 at Johnstown, 
 Pa.) found an increased interest in behalf of both 
 hoine and foreign missions. The growing desire for 
 missionary operations in foreign lands was very largely 
 due to untiring efforts of the Woman's Missionary 
 Society by disseminating missionary intelligence and 
 raising funds. By this time the Woman's Missionary 
 Society funds for foreign missions showed a total of 
 $10,244.80 in the treasury. Besides this, there was 
 in the foreign fund of the general treasury the sum of 
 $1,107.02, making a grand total of $11,351.82 for for- 
 eign missions. 
 
 The increasing interest for beginning foreign mis- 
 sions did not lessen the interest in home missions, but 
 appears rather to have served as a stimulus. A com- 
 parison of the three general home mission collections 
 indicates the following growth in amount : 
 
 1894 1898 
 
 Christmas collection $1,490 56 $3,074 12 
 
 Children's Day 1,832 80 2,772 66 
 
 Seld-denial, 2,050 10 4,449 79 
 
 Total $5,373 46 $10,296 57 
 
 Generai. Conference Action in 1898. At this 
 General Conference S. L. Wiest was reelected presi- 
 dent of the Board of Missions, U. F. Swengel record- 
 
94 
 
 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 ing secretary, and Jeremiah G. Mohn treasurer. W. 
 F. Heil was newly-elected corresponding secretary, un- 
 der the following resolution : 
 
 "Resolved, That a corresponding secretary be elected 
 without salary, excepting that if the collections above 
 referred to should not be sufficient, the Board of 
 Missions is authorized to employ the corresponding 
 secretary at such compensation as it may see proper." 
 
 The General Conference adopted the following by 
 a unanimous vote : 
 
 "Whereas, There is a growing conviction among many of 
 our people that we as a Church ought to render prompt obedi- 
 ence to the command of the Master, 'Go teach all nations,' 
 and an equally strong and increasing conviction, stimulated 
 by the promise which fell from the lips of our risen Lord, 
 'Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world,' 
 that a ready, trustful obedience is better than sacrifice ; and 
 believing that definite steps in the direction of the Master's 
 expressed wish will meet with His approval and elicit the 
 hearty cooperation of our loyal people and secure financial 
 responses from many undeveloped sources; therefore, 
 
 "Resolved, That the Board of Missions be and is hereby 
 instructed at once to inaugurate the necessary preliminary ar- 
 rangements for the establishment of a mission in some for- 
 eign field, recognizing the principle of the comity of missions, 
 the location to be left with the said Board ; and the actual 
 establishment of the mission shall take place as soon as the 
 Board, in its judgment, has sufficient funds in hand, and the 
 'income is adequate to warrant financial support and mainte- 
 nance of the mission. 
 
 "Resolved, That no more missionaries be sent out at the 
 beginning than the income insures support for, and additional 
 helpers shall only be supplied as the finances warrant. 
 
 "Resolved, That we hereby appeal to our loyal self-sacri- 
 ficing people to contribute largely, liberally, cheerfully, and 
 promptly to the Lord's treasury, that this design may be 
 speedily carried into eflfect, that our beloved Church may take 
 
UNITED EVANGELICAL BEGINNINGS 95 
 
 her stand among the Master's laborers in that part of His 
 vineyard which most needs her help. 
 
 "Resolved, That we recommend to the Board of Missions 
 that when the mission is established the support of some defi- 
 nite part of the work be given to the Woman's Missionary 
 Society." 
 
 A Period of Reconstruction. The various de- 
 partments of activity in the newly-organized United 
 EvangeHcal Church (including our missionary opera- 
 tions), had a peculiar situation to face and there were 
 many difficult problems to solve because of the un- 
 fortunate Church troubles and the final division that 
 occurred, which brought about the organization of the 
 United Evangelical Church in 1894. The missionary 
 beginnings already referred to in part cannot be rightly 
 understood without some reference to the situation 
 and the problems involved. The first twelve years of 
 the history of the United Evangelical Church may 
 well be called a Period of Reconstruction. We shall 
 refer only to that phase of the situation which had a 
 bearing upon our missionary activities. 
 
 The Home Mission Situation. Our home mis- 
 sions were seriously afifected, especially in the entire 
 middle west, on the Pacific Coast and in the State 
 of Ohio. 
 
 I. Our Denominational Constituency was Compara- 
 tive Small to Begin With. Our membership was about 
 55,055, of which 39,956 belonged to the three Pennsyl- 
 vania conferences, leaving 15,099 for the remaining 
 portion of the Church, scattered over the middle west, 
 the Pacific Coast and the State of Ohio. It is easy to 
 understand that in this great country with its wonder- 
 
96 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 ful material development, we were a small religious 
 working force to begin with. We were necessitated to 
 supply faith, devotion, courage, energy, resourceful- 
 ness and perseverance in a very full measure in order 
 to cope with the situation. 
 
 2. JVe Had Been Deprived Almost Entirely of Our 
 Church Properties, Churches and parsonages were 
 nearly all gone. We had no publishing house and no 
 institutions of learning. This meant the building of 
 hundreds of churches and parsonages. It meant new 
 beginnings with publishing interests and institutions 
 of learning. We were necessitated to do pioneer work 
 throughout and lay new foundations over our entire 
 territory. 
 
 3. Not Every One Could Endure the Strain of the 
 Situation. A number of our preachers, including por- 
 tions of our home mission force, left our Church ; 
 some of them taking work with the other denomina- 
 tions, while others became discouraged and drifted out 
 of the ministry. We were too often necessitated to 
 supply missions with untrained men, not a few of 
 whom proved disloyal. The western portion of the 
 Church was more seriously affected than the eastern 
 portion, because the work was so widely scattered and 
 ministerial support inadequate. 
 
 4. Industrial Unsettledness in the Entire Middle 
 West During and Follozving this Period of Recon- 
 struction, added to what has already been mentioned, 
 made it very, very difficult for our missionaries in the 
 middle west to develop strong congregations that 
 would themselves become self-sustaining. The work 
 
UNITED EVANGELICAL BEGINNINGS 
 
 97 
 
 of our western missionaries was measurably fruitful 
 in the way of conversions and accessions to the 
 Church ; but the people kept moving, moving, moving, 
 over that vast expanse, into other states, into the terri- 
 tories of Western Canada ; the larger portion of them 
 — thousands — into communities where we as a Church 
 are not represented. Only the missionaries that had 
 this situation to face can fully understand what it 
 meant. 
 
 / venture the assertion that for heroic devotion and 
 self-sacrificing loyalty to Christ and the Church the 
 efforts of our missionaries in the middle west, where 
 real pioneer work had to he done, have not been ex- 
 celled in this country in the last fifty years. 
 
 Foreign Missions. It has already been told that 
 when the United Evangelical Church was organized, 
 to begin with, she had no missions in foreign lands. 
 She had, however, the spirit of missions and was only 
 delayed in beginning work in foreign lands because 
 of the demands made upon her in the heroic effort to 
 build upon foundations that would insure permanence. 
 
 Our Strong, Faithful and Responsive Eastern 
 Home Base. When the United Evangelical Church 
 was founded, seventy-two per cent, of her member- 
 ship was included in the three Pennsylvania confer- 
 ences. Here were compact bodies of ministers and 
 laymen. They too had to meet the difficulties and 
 problems of the Period of Reconstruction. They too 
 had been deprived of churches and parsonages, which 
 called for many sacrifices in rebuilding. But they had 
 the advantage of compactness, of larger congregations 
 7 
 
gS EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 and of an older constituency that means much in the 
 development of church life and prestige in any com- 
 munity. 
 
 The unceasingly loyal and liberal attitude of the 
 three conferences in Pennsylvania and of the Illinois 
 conference toward the smaller western conferences, 
 supplemented by the splendid spirit of self-help in the 
 smaller conferences made it possible to succeed as we 
 did in the development of our work. In other words, 
 the spirit of cooperation throughout the Church which 
 has always been manifest among us has brought us, 
 under the blessing of God, to what we are. 
 
 The DeveIvOpment of Publishing Interests 
 which are essential to the progress of every church 
 also depended mostly upon this larger eastern section 
 and Illinois Conference. How well our good people 
 met the situation and with what whole-hearted re- 
 sponsiveness they performed their part is a matter of 
 history. The dissemination of missionary intelligence 
 through our Church periodicals must mean much for 
 our missionary interests and the development of a 
 strong home base for more extensive work. Our peo- 
 ple knew that they were helping themselves to a better 
 spiritual life and greater efficiency in service, and at 
 the same time helping others when they so vigorously 
 pushed our publishing interests. 
 
 Missionary Contributions Forthcoming. The 
 unusual demands of this reconstruction period did not 
 prevent our people from responding to calls for mis- 
 sionary contributions. In 1894 the appropriations for 
 home missions amounted to $38,475. Twelve years 
 
UNITED EVANGELICAL BEGINNINGS 99 
 
 later, in 1906, they amounted to $101,351.50. In addi- 
 tion to this, the treasurer was authorized to pay 
 $15,000 for China Mission, if so much be needed, mak- 
 ing a grand total of $115,351.50, or about three times 
 the amount available in the beginning. 
 
 The Stability and Liberality oe Our Larger 
 Congregations, together with the willing cooperation 
 of the smaller ones, made such a splendid result pos- 
 sible. 
 
 The Corresponding Secretaries of the Recon- 
 struction Period must not be forgotten. B. J. Smoyer 
 served through the intervening period and until 1895. 
 In 1898 William F. Heil was elected, serving four 
 years; and in 1902 A. M. Sampsel (deceased) was 
 elected, serving four years. Because of the exigencies 
 of the Reconstruction Period the brethren, Heil and 
 Sampsel, served without salary, serving their annual 
 conference at the same time. The gratitude of the 
 Church due them was well earned. They opened the 
 way for still more extensive missionary operations and 
 results in the future. 
 
 If all the details of the first twelve years of mission- 
 ary endeavors of the United Evangelical Church could 
 be written, there would be very many interesting inci- 
 dents to record, and we would be ready to exclaim, 
 "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." Not only had 
 our home mission work been developed to a creditable 
 degree, but the foundations of a hopeful foreign mis- 
 sion had been well laid. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE WOMAN'S MISSIONARY SOCIETY A 
 LEADING FACTOR 
 
 Christian womanhood has always shown with 
 brightest lustre and given its best service when in ac- 
 tive devotion to Jesus Christ and the things pertaining 
 to His kingdom on earth. The woman who came to 
 Jesus having an alabaster box of ointment very pre- 
 cious, and poured it on His head has had numberless 
 imitators in acts of devotion, not counting the cost, 
 desiring only to express loyalty to Him. 
 
 When Jesus did missionary work, "throughout every 
 city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings 
 of the Kingdom of God," we are told (Luke 8: 2) that, 
 "Certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits 
 and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom 
 seven demons went, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, 
 Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, min- 
 istered unto Him of their substance." Associated with 
 Paul and Silas in the missionary labors in Macedonia, 
 were, among others, "Devout Greeks a great multi- 
 tude and chief women not a few." 
 
 So on down through the history of Christianity, 
 wherever the standard of the cross needed to be up- 
 held. Christian women were there to lift it up ; wher- 
 ever there were battles against evil (as the liquor traf- 
 fic), women were there to present a heroic front; 
 
 100 
 
Mrs. M. M. T. Fouke 
 
 President First Woman's Missionary Society, 1880 
 
WOMAN'S SOCIETY A LEADING FACTOR loi 
 
 wherever self-sacrificing service was needed, as in the 
 case of Red Cross work or foreign missionary service ; 
 Christian women were there with a faith, courage and 
 devotion that was often marvelous. 
 
 The United EvangelicaIv Church Has Chief 
 Women Not a Few. Very many of these women 
 were with us when the United Evangelical Church was 
 organized, having done excellent service as leaders in 
 the Evangelical Association, prior to the Church di- 
 vision. It is therefore expedient that we go back to 
 predivision times, showing the activities of our women 
 in those times. 
 
 In 1 877- 1 878 a movement took shape which finally 
 resulted in the formation of the Woman's Missionary 
 Society. After several appeals to the Board of Mis- 
 sions and the efiforts of the editors of the Evangelical 
 Messenger, the board finally made provision for the 
 organization of woman's missionary societies. 
 
 The First Society was organized on the afternoon 
 of October 27, 1880, in South Chicago, in the church 
 of which Rev. W. H. Fouke was pastor at that time. 
 Mrs. W. H. Fouke was elected president of this first 
 society. On the evening of the same day another so- 
 ciety was organized at Lindsey, Ohio, and in the fol- 
 lowing year a General Society was formed at Cleve- 
 land, Ohio. 
 
 We now quote from "Reminiscences," edited by 
 Estella Hartzler Steinmetz : 
 
 "As early as April, 1876, the editor of the Evangelical Mes- 
 senger, Rev. H. B. Hartzler, said in an editorial : 'The mis- 
 sionary spirit in the Church should be stimulated in every way 
 
102 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 possible. The more this blessed work is prosecuted, the 
 greater will be the direct results of precious harvesting.' 
 Also in the Messenger of October 3, 1878, the editor calls 
 attention of the Board of Missions to the desire of the women 
 to organize a Woman's Missionary Society, and in later edi- 
 torials kept this subject continually before the Church. Fi- 
 nally, Mrs. Jacob Hartzler, Mrs. Sarah A. O. Herlacher, Miss 
 Ella J. Yost, and Mrs. H. B. Hartzler, after a council at the 
 home of the first named, requested their pastor to announce a 
 meeting for the discussion of the subject. All joined freely 
 in plans, suggestions and earnest prayer. During the discus- 
 sion a prominent official of the Church remarked, 'It will be 
 useless to appeal to the Board ; they will not grant permis- 
 sion for such an organization,' whereupon Mrs. Herlacher 
 remarked, 'Well, they cannot prevent our gathering funds 
 and praying for such an organization,' which the women did 
 until their desire was granted by the Board." 
 
 Following this history a little further, we now quote 
 from Evangelical Annals: 
 
 "The first general convention of the society in its new rela- 
 tion was held in the Calvary Evangelical church, Cleveland, 
 O., October 10-14, 1884. At this meeting the new constitution 
 was adopted and the following officers were elected for the en- 
 suing year : President, Mrs. E. J. Y. Preyer ; vice-presidents, 
 Mrs. H. C. Smith, Mrs. J. Bowman, Miss Minerva Strawman ; 
 recording secretary, Miss Emma Yost ; treasurer, Mrs. U. F. 
 Swengel ; corresponding secretary, Mrs. W. H. Hammer. In 
 1885 the convention was held in Lindsey, O., Sept. 25-27. 
 The progress of the society was gratifying; forty-six local 
 societies rendered reports. The treasurer reported the amount 
 of $1,532.84 contributed for the past year. The following 
 officers were elected : President, Mrs. H. B. Hartzler ; vice- 
 president, Mrs. E. J. Y. Preyer; corresponding secretary, 
 Mrs. W. H. Hammer; recording secretary, Mrs. S. S. Condo; 
 treasurer, Mrs. U. F. Swengel. In the autumn of 1886 a 
 number of the brethren at the book establishment formed 
 themselves into a company for the purpose of publishing a 
 paper for the society. Rev. H. B. Hartzler was the managing 
 editor and Rev. U. F. Swengel publisher of the paper. It 
 made its appearance in October of this year, and bore the title 
 
WOMAN'S SOCIETY A LEADING FACTOR 103 
 
 of Missionary Messenger. The Woman's Missionary Con- 
 vention of this month adopted the periodical as the organ of 
 the society, and Mrs. E. J. Y. Preyer was elected editress on 
 behalf of the society." 
 
 Under the New Name. When the time came for 
 the organization of the United EvangeHcal Church, 
 our sisters were ready to do their part ; and, as per- 
 tains to readiness to at once begin foreign mission 
 work, they manifested a more far-reaching vision as 
 to possibilities than the men did. Two of them, Mrs. 
 T. L. Haines and Mrs. C. F. Rassweiler, came as rep- 
 resentatives to the annual meeting of the General So- 
 ciety, at Naperville. Illinois, to make their plea for 
 foreign missions. They were cordially received and 
 the following action was taken : 
 
 "Resolved, That we have heard with pleasure the addresses 
 of Sisters Mrs. T. L. Haines and Mrs. C. F. Rassweiler, the 
 representatives of our noble Woman's Missionary Society. 
 
 "Resolved, That we appreciate the earnest efforts made by 
 the Woman's Missionary Society, both in the lines of mis- 
 sionary education and in the gathering of funds for both 
 home and foreign work. 
 
 "Resolved, That we refer the matter of appointing a com- 
 mittee to act in conjunction with the president of the Wom- 
 an's Missionary Society to the Board of Missions, and that 
 we request the Board to inquire into the feasibility of estab- 
 lishing a foreign mission on the plan suggested by the 
 Woman's Missionary Society." 
 
 The subsequent action of the board has been men- 
 tioned in Chapter IX. 
 
 The First Annual Meeting Under the New 
 Name convened at Lewisburg, Pa., September 12, 
 1895, with Mrs. Elizabeth Krecker presiding. The 
 previous year, under the old name, the following offi- 
 
I04 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 cers had been elected : President, Mrs. Elizabeth 
 Krecker; vice-president, Mrs. W. M. Stanford; re- 
 cording secretary, Mrs. S. P. Remer; corresponding 
 secretary, Mrs. B. F. Bowman; treasurer, Mrs. W. E. 
 Detwiler ; superintendent of Mission Bands, Mrs. T. 
 L. Haines; superintendent of Junior Societies, Mrs. 
 E. E. Adams ; editor of Missionary Tidings, Mrs. 
 Emma Divan ; assistant editors. Miss Blanche Stan- 
 ford and Mrs. Ida Haefele; superintendent of Bureau 
 of Literature, Mrs. H. H. Rassweiler; assistant su- 
 perintendent, Mrs. A. B. Collings; editor of Mission 
 Band paper. Miss Marguerite Krecker. It is inter- 
 esting to observe how completely these women organ- 
 ized for business. They meant business. These offices 
 were no sinecure, they meant hard work which was 
 often little appreciated. Aside from the officers pres- 
 ent, Miss Carrie Bordlemay, Mrs. M. I. Jamison, Mrs. 
 J. A. Hollenbaugh, Miss Emma Ditmar, and Miss 
 Virgie Thomas were also present as duly elected dele- 
 gates at this first annual meeting. 
 
 It was very fitting that Rev. H. B. Hartzler, D.D., 
 then editor of The Evangelical, should preach the an- 
 nual sermon at this first gathering of United Evan- 
 gelical women missionary leaders, because of the fact 
 that by voice and pen he had done much to encourage 
 and help the women of the Woman's Missionary So- 
 ciety in their noble undertaking. 
 
 A Decisive Step in Advance. Prior to the year 
 1896 there had been no Woman's Board of Missions. 
 In the beginnings, back in the eighties, the annual gath- 
 erings were in the form of a Woman's Missionary 
 
WOMAN'S SOCIETY A LEADING FACTOR 105 
 
 Convention; later it became a Woman's Missionary 
 Society, but without a Woman's Board as an adminis- 
 trative head. The second annual m.eeting, held at 
 Glen Rock, Pa., was called an Annual Convention 
 of the Woman's Missionary Society. 
 
 The annual meeting of the previous year had formu- 
 lated a Constitution and the Glen Rock meeting again 
 took the matter up for further consideration. 
 
 The ministerial brother who had been invited to 
 preach the annual sermon this year was also by cour- 
 tesy (along with others) made an advisory member, 
 so he ventured to put the question, "Why don't you 
 organize a Woman's Board of Missions? This will 
 give you an administrative head and will help give dig- 
 nity to your honorable body." The ladies said, "It 
 did not occur to us that we dare do such a thing." 
 The brother replied, "I do believe that no one in the 
 United Evangelical Church will object and that the 
 Board of Missions will approve it ; I advise you to 
 go ahead." The following article was then inserted 
 as Article VIII of the Constitution : 
 
 "The affairs of this society shall be administered by a 
 Woman's Board, which shall consist of the officers of the 
 society, one additional representative for every fifteen aux- 
 iliaries in the Branch Society; provided, however, that there 
 shall not be more than three representatives for any one 
 Branch Society on the Board. The expense of the repre- 
 sentative delegates shall be met by the Branch Society send- 
 ing them. This Board shall be under the supervision of the 
 Board of Missions of the United Evangelical Church, and 
 its proceedings shall be submitted to the Board of Missions 
 for examination and approval." 
 
lo6 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 This is now Article IV of the present Constitution 
 with only a slight variation. 
 
 The Vai.ue of the Woman's Missionary Society 
 AS A Factor in the Life of the Church. The 
 Woman's Missionary Society is worthy of all the rec- 
 ognition that has been given it and has proven its 
 worth by its deeds. Its usefulness as a factor in the 
 life of the Church has taken a wider range than the 
 object stated in its Constitution. We shall attempt to 
 state in brief outline in what respect its value ap- 
 pears : 
 
 1. The W. M. S. Has Value as a Spiritual Force. 
 The first thing a certain pastor does when receiving a 
 new appointment at conference is to look up the Con- 
 ference Journal to find whether there is a Woman's 
 Missionary Society on the charge. He feels quite sure 
 that this will be a helpful factor. The kind of work 
 these women do is a stimulus to spiritual fervor and 
 calls forth a degree of faith that tells in the life of the 
 congregation. The W. M. S. supplies the morale of 
 many a congregation. The pastor that fails to favor 
 and uphold a W. M. S. on his charge is either inex- 
 cusably ignorant of its value or else culpable to that 
 extent as a spiritual leader of his flock. 
 
 2. The W. M. S. Has Value as an Agency for the 
 training of Christian forces, especially among the 
 women and children. Every society becomes a means 
 of self-culture in Christian activity, and when it has a 
 Mission Band under its care, this itself is a training 
 school for the kind of service that brings to the world 
 
WOMAN'S SOCIETY A LEADING FACTOR 
 
 107 
 
 the highest good. How important that the spirit of 
 missions should be impressed in the adolescent age. 
 
 3. The W. M. S. Has Value as a Disseminator of 
 Missionary Intelligence. One hundred thousand or 
 more copies each of the Missionary Tidings and Mis- 
 sionary Gem are sent out each year to bring informa- 
 tion and inspiration to eager and interested readers. 
 Tens of thousands of pamphlets and leaflets are sent 
 broadcast from the Bureau of Literature headquar- 
 ters. Thank-offering meetings, missionary contests, 
 and special meetings of various kinds help to increase 
 interest. Our sisters are keenly alive to the fact that 
 an intelligent understanding of missions increases in- 
 terest. 
 
 4. The W. M. S. Has Great Value as a Gatherer of 
 Funds for both home and foreign missions. What 
 would our foreign mission have done had it not been 
 for this noble band of women? For the year ending 
 October i, 1918, nearly fifty-four per cent, of all con- 
 tributions received for foreign work was gathered by 
 the Woman's Missionary Society. Our China Mis- 
 sion could not be one-half what it is were it not for 
 the funds of the Woman's Missionary Society. Then 
 they also help home missions liberally. Every Annual 
 Conference Missionary Society is aided by it. They 
 have also helped solve difficult financial problems in 
 local congregational crises. Beside this, they also sup- 
 port Rev. and Mrs. C. W. Guinter in Northern Ni- 
 geria, Africa. 
 
lo8 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 Departmental Work and Progress 
 
 The Woman's Missionary Society is well-organized 
 and carries forward its work in a systematic and busi- 
 nesslike manner. With the board as its administrative 
 head, the various annual conference branches develop- 
 ing the work within their respective conference terri- 
 tories, and each local organization of the respective 
 departments developing its field, the work continues to 
 make progress from year to year. The work is ac- 
 complished under the following departmental units : 
 
 Women's Societies. Listing these by conferences 
 branches and at the same time noting the last year's 
 progress, we observe the following : 
 
 Auxiliaries Membership 
 
 Name of Branch 1917 1918 1917 1918 Gain 
 
 East Pa., 81 84 4,050 4,102 52 
 
 Central Pa., 93 95 2,765 2,882 117 
 
 Illinois, 57 57 1,210 1,283 yz 
 
 Pittsburgh, 34 36 901 1,027 126 
 
 Ohio 30 33 717 826 109 
 
 Des Moines, 30 30 456 514 58 
 
 Northwestern, 18 20 339 402 63 
 
 Platte River, 29 29 469 495 26 
 
 Kansas, 19 17 218 230 12 
 
 Oregon, 16 16 201 213 12 
 
 Total 407 417 11,326 11,974 648 
 
 Young People's Societies. These are under the su- 
 pervision of a general superintendent, at present Mrs. 
 Josie McLain. There are (1918) 136 societies with a 
 membership of 3,834. The net gain for the last year 
 was: in number of societies 11, in membership in. 
 The amount of money raised during the year was 
 
WOMAN'S SOCIETY A LEADING FACTOR 
 
 109 
 
 $7,713.20, an increase of $1,025.96 over the previous 
 year. Reviewing the last quadrennium we find that 
 there was an increase of 34 societies and 750 members. 
 The amount of money raised in the four years was 
 $24,882.76. 
 
 Mission Bands. These are also under the super- 
 vision of a general superintendent, the present incum- 
 bent being Mrs. H. D. Shultz. The importance of this 
 department can not be estimated, since its members 
 are in that period of life when lasting impressions and 
 training for future Christian service mean so much. 
 Immediate fruitfulness also speaks much. 
 
 For the year 1918 there were reported 270 bands, 
 with a membership of 8,471 and contributions amount- 
 ing to $7,924.55, an increase of $802.53 over the for- 
 mer year. 
 
 Cradle Roll and Home Department. This depart- 
 ment is now under the supervision of Mrs. J. W. 
 Thompson. The last annual report shows 133 Cradle 
 Rolls with a membership of 2,775, ^^^ $821.62 con- 
 tributed for missions. But why enroll the babies? 
 Let the following incident illustrate : 
 
 A baby was born in the home of a saloonkeeper in 
 the middle west. A neighbor lady, a member of the 
 W. M. S. called to see the new arrival and to bring her 
 congratulations to its mother. Incidentally the W. M. 
 S. lady asked the privilege of enrolling the dear baby's 
 name on the W. M. S. Cradle Roll. The mother gladly 
 consented. Some time afterward the baby died. The 
 father of the child was asked, "Who shall have charge 
 of the funeral of your child?" "Our preacher," was 
 
no EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 the answer. "Who is your preacher?" was the in- 
 quiry. The father said, "That EvangeHcal preacher 
 where our baby's name is enrolled." The parents were 
 won by the simple act of a W. M. S. lady looking 
 up a baby. 
 
 The Home Department has a membership of 89, and 
 last year the contributions amounted to $41.16. 
 
 Publishing Department. The Woman's Missionary 
 Society has ever recognized the great value of good 
 missionary literature and its extensive circulation, and 
 has therefore given special attention to the circulation 
 of its periodicals, and other printed matter relating to 
 missions. The headquarters of this department are 
 at rooms 209, 210, and 211, Evangelical Building, 
 Third and Reily Streeets, Harrisburg, Pa. Here you 
 will find a busy place in charge of two accomplished, 
 painstaking and self-sacrificing ladies. 
 
 Miss Lillian C. Graefif, is Secretary and Publisher 
 of Literature. Hers is a varied and onerous task. She 
 has charge of the subscription lists of Missionary 
 Tidings and Missionary Gem, involving the keeping in 
 correct and up-to-date form the names and addresses 
 of thousands of subscribers, as well as the accounts of 
 subscriptions. Her store room has a multiplicity of 
 books, charts, pamphlets and other supplies of 
 various kinds awaiting orders to be filled, so as 
 to keep the entire W. M. S. machinery of the Church 
 supplied with literature. The circulating library also 
 requires due attention. Stacks of letters come to her 
 office — subscription lists, orders for supplies, in- 
 quiries, complaints, etc. — and every letter must have 
 
WOMAN'S SOCIETY A LEADING FACTOR m 
 
 attention. Packages of all sizes must be wrapped and 
 mailed or expressed. How this lady gathers strength 
 to fill speaking dates can not be stated here. Ask her. 
 
 Miss Emma D. Messinger is responsible for all the 
 matter that appears in Missionary Tidings and Mis- 
 sionary Gem. With dignity, grace, ability and rare 
 good judgment, she fills her place of great responsi- 
 bility as editor of these well-prepared and useful 
 periodicals. No one is more devoted to her work nor 
 more deeply interested in the cause of missions. By 
 her own pen and the selection of choice matter she 
 reaches thousands every month. Readers there are, 
 that have passed their fourscore years, down to the 
 four or five-year-old boys and girls that must depend 
 upon mother or sister or some one else to read The 
 Gem to them. 
 
 Missionary Tidings now has a circulation of 7,900 
 and Missionary Gem of 8,000 copies. We hope that 
 the number of each will soon be doubled. 
 
 Oratorical Contest Work. Mrs. Karl Kaupp is sec- 
 retary of Efficiency, Oratorical Contest Work and Li- 
 brary. Much interest has been aroused in oratorical 
 contests and this interest is increasing. These contests 
 not only stimulate interest in the societies, but they are 
 also a splendid means of edification to the hearers and 
 advertise the work of the societies. Last year (1918) 
 46 contests with 206 contestants were reported. 
 There were 49 silver medals, 9 gold medals and two 
 pearl medals awarded. The Memorial Circulating Li- 
 brary reported 595 readings of 215 books. Other 
 branches reported 1,448 readers of the library. 
 
112 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 Financial Progress 
 
 The following table is self-explanatory and is 
 worthy of careful study: 
 
 Woman's Missionary Society Receipts 
 
 1917 1918 
 
 For the General Treasury $2,934 3^ $3,207 66 
 
 Foreign Mission Fund, 10,83061 11,54594 
 
 Boarding School, 3,177 15 2,898 02 
 
 Hospital Fund, 5,223 27 5,048 31 
 
 African Fund, 1,75109 1,72097 
 
 Our Missionaries 2,541 24 2,782 69 
 
 Emma Dubs Memorial, 4,301 92 8,973 50 
 
 Western Missions, 1,31805 1,49045 
 
 Bureau of Literature, 940 08 1,030 32 
 
 Home conferences, 4,814 21 5,251 75 
 
 Sundries, 218 03 374 92 
 
 Total actual receipts, $38,049 96 $44,324 53 
 
 Actual receipts last year, 31,320 88 38,049 96 
 
 Increase, $6,729 08 $6,274 57 
 
 Summary. 
 
 Actual receipts, $38,049 96 $44,324 53 
 
 Branch and home contingent, 12,412 62 11,072 40 
 
 Total, $50,46258 $55,39693 
 
Mrs. S. P. Remer 
 
 President Woman's Missionary Society, 1904-1913 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 METHODS OF ADMINISTRATION 
 
 "The Home and Foreign Missionary Society o^ 
 THE United Evangelical Church" is the corporate 
 name. In the making of all legal documents such as 
 wills and deeds the name should be precisely used in 
 this form, thus avoiding legal difficulties. The mem- 
 bers of this society are such persons who contribute 
 a stated sum annually as a membership fee. This sum 
 varies according to the rules under which an auxiliary 
 society operates. There are also life memberships and 
 honorary memberships. 
 
 The Annual Conference Auxiliaries and the Wom- 
 an's Missionary Society issue life memberships at ten 
 dollars each, granting a certificate to this eflfect. Any 
 person paying at one time the sum of fifty dollars into 
 the general treasury is constituted an honorary mem- 
 ber, and has the privilege of being present at board 
 meetings and taking part in the discussions, but has 
 no vote. 
 
 The Oeeicers oe the Society are a president, re- 
 cording secretary, corresponding secretary and treas- 
 urer, all of whom are elected quadrennially by the 
 General Conference, except the vice-president, who is 
 elected annually by the Board of Missions. 
 
 The Temporal Affairs of the Society in general 
 are administered by a board, which consists of the 
 officers of the society, one delegate from each annual 
 8 113 
 
114 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 conference auxiliary and one delegate from the Wom- 
 an's Missionary Society. These are elected at the an- 
 nual meeting of the various auxiliaries. The bishops 
 are advisory members of the board, with the privilege 
 of serving on committees and taking part in discus- 
 sions. 
 
 The Constitution Prescribes the Power oe the 
 
 Board as Follows : 
 
 The General Board of Missions shall meet annually at such 
 time and place as it may determine, in order to consult con- 
 cerning the missionary affairs of the United Evangelical 
 Church, and make the necessary arrangements for prosecut- 
 ing our missionary labors in the most effectual manner, in our 
 own and foreign countries. For this purpose, it shall 
 
 1. Make strict inquiries concerning the conditions and pros- 
 pects of the various missions under its care, and shall make 
 appropriations for their support accordingly. 
 
 2. Have power to establish missions in our own land, be- 
 yond the territory of the various conference districts, and 
 supply them with preachers from the various annual confer- 
 ences, such preachers consenting, and to see that they are 
 supported by the funds of the society. Such missions as are 
 within the limits of the several conferences are to be sup- 
 plied by the respective conferences themselves. 
 
 3. Carefully consider the instructions, recommendations and 
 estimates presented by the delegates of the different confer- 
 ence auxiliaries, and, in view of these, it shall determine the 
 amount which each conference missionary auxiliary shall ex- 
 pend during the ensuing year. 
 
 4. Have power, if necessary, to borrow money for the 
 prosecution of our missionary work ; but must make proper 
 arrangements to discharge such obligations as soon as pos- 
 sible. For its official proceedings the Board is amenable to 
 the General Conference, to which it must submit its record 
 for approval. 
 
 5. Have power to make by-laws for the regulation of its 
 business ; to examine incidental expenses and see that they 
 
METHODS OF ADMINISTRATION 115 
 
 are paid ; to determine the support of sick and superannuated 
 missionaries under its supervision, also that of the widows 
 and orphans of deceased missionaries. At each annual meet- 
 ing of the Board it shall submit a plan of all its proceedings, 
 and the state of the society's funds. 
 
 The Executive Committee. The Board of Mis- 
 sions has an Executive Committee consisting of the 
 president of the board, the secretaries, the treasurer, 
 the bishops of the Church, a representative of the 
 Woman's Board and three laymen elected annually by 
 the Board of Missions. 
 
 The duty of this committee shall be to see that the decisions 
 and measures of the Board are carried into effect, during the 
 intervals between its regular sessions. For this purpose it 
 shall hold meetings whenever necessary to examine the 
 finances of the society, receive and deliberate on the reports 
 obtained from the various missions. It shall be empowered 
 to fill vacancies, both in its own body or in missions outside 
 the annual conference limits, whether caused by death, resig- 
 nations, or otherwise, as also in cases of necessity to appoint 
 missionaries, recall or transfer such as are appointed, and 
 upon the whole take measures to meet every pressing emer- 
 gency that may arise during the year. For its official conduct 
 it shall be responsible to the General Board, to which it must 
 submit the records of its proceedings for ratification. 
 
 Every Annual Conference has its own mission- 
 ary society, operating w^ithin the conference bounds 
 and is an auxiliary to the General Society. The 
 Woman's Missionary Society is also an auxiliary of the 
 General Society. The Woman's Missionary Society has 
 a branch society within the bounds of every annual con- 
 ference. This branch society consists of two delegates 
 from each auxiliary of the Woman's Missionary So- 
 ciety, one delegate from each Young People's Mis- 
 sionary Society, and one adult representative from 
 
ii6 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 each Mission Band. Young People's Missionary 
 Societies, Mission Band, Cradle Rolls and Home De- 
 partment Work are all departments of the Woman's 
 Missionary Society and belong to it. 
 
 Annuai. Meeting. The General Board of Mis- 
 sions and the Woman's Board of Missions each meet 
 annually at such times and places as they shall de- 
 termine upon. The annual meeting of the Woman's 
 Board is usually held the week preceding the annual 
 meeting of the General Board. The Annual Confer- 
 ence Missionary Societies meet annually at the place 
 and on the same week of the annual conference meet- 
 ing. The W. M. S. Branch Societies meet annually at 
 such time and place as each shall specify. The various 
 local congregational auxiliaries usually meet once a 
 month. 
 
 Appropriations for Home Missions within the 
 bounds of the respective annual conference territories 
 are made by the conferences themselves, the board 
 designating the bulk amount each annual conference 
 may use. Every Annual Conference Missionary Society 
 puts forth efforts within its bounds to secure funds 
 for its own use. If it is believed that in any case the 
 constituency of an annual conference is not sufficiently 
 strong to raise a sufficient amount to carry on its own 
 missionary operations, the fact is brought to the at- 
 tention of the board, which, after due consideration, 
 supplements the funds of the Conference Societies 
 that need it. As at present constituted, the East Pa., 
 Central Pa., and Illinois Conferences receive no aid 
 from the board. All the other conferences receive aid. 
 
METHODS OF ADMINISTRATION 117 
 
 The Self-denial, Children's Day and Christmas col- 
 lections are used for this purpose. 
 
 Woman's Executive Committee. The Executive 
 Committee of the Woman's Board consists of five 
 persons, elected annually by the Woman's Board. "It 
 shall be the duty of the committee to see that the 
 measures of the board are carried into effect and to 
 transact all necessary business during the intervals of 
 its regular sessions. It shall provide for any official 
 vacancies during the year." The Executive Committee 
 also arranges for the time and program of the annual 
 meeting of the Woman's Board. This committee also 
 appoints committees to audit the accounts of the 
 treasurer and the secretary and publisher of litera- 
 ture. 
 
 Young Peopee's Missionary Society. Every local 
 Y. P. M. S. is auxiHary to the Conference Branch of 
 the Woman's Missionary Society within its territorial 
 bounds, and is entitled to a delegate to the branch 
 meeting. Each auxiliary is self-governing and is or- 
 ganized in the same manner as other missionary so- 
 cieties. The object is "The cultivation of a true mis- 
 sionary spirit among its members, and the collection 
 of extra funds for missionary purposes," 
 
 Mission Bands. Each Mission Band is auxiliary 
 to the local Woman's Missionary Auxiliary, and re- 
 mits its funds to the treasurer of the branch. The 
 chief officer of the Mission Band is an adult leader 
 who is appointed annually by the W. M. S. or by the 
 pastor. Each band has its other officers, as other so- 
 cieties, who may be appointed by the leader or elected 
 
Il8 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 by the children. Each band is entitled to an adult 
 delegate to the annual meeting of the Conference 
 Branch. 
 
 Missionary Cradi^e R01.L. This is also a depart- 
 ment of the W. M. S. Any baby of the church, of 
 the congregation, or of the community may be a mem- 
 ber and remain a member until five years of age. The 
 local W. M. S. has the oversight of its Cradle Roll and 
 elects a superintendent. Where there is no W. M. S. 
 the pastor may appoint a superintendent, and even 
 where this is not done, any woman may take up the 
 work, reporting the same to the branch superintendent. 
 
 Home; De;partme;nt. The object of the Home De- 
 partment is to reach the shut-ins of our congregations 
 and others who do not attend the meetings. 
 
 The Home Department is just as much a part and auxiliary 
 of our Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society as 
 the Y. P. M. S. The W. M. S., Y. P. M. S. and Mission 
 Band include all who attend the missionary meetings. The 
 Cradle Roll and Home Department include those who do not 
 attend, but unite with the other auxiliaries in the regular 
 study of the current missionary topics in their homes. 
 
 The superintendent of the Cradle Roll also looks 
 after the Home Department. 
 
 Foreign Mission Administration. This is a 
 printed "Manual of Rules and Regulations" which sets 
 forth what pertains to foreign missionaries, their work 
 and the administration of the mission. We shall men- 
 tion only the leading paragraphs that relate to ad- 
 ministration. 
 
METHODS OF ADMINISTRATION ng 
 
 Mission. In general a mission consists of all foreign mis- 
 sionaries under appointment by the Board within specified 
 territorial limits. For the transaction of business the men are 
 regarded as constituting the administrative force of the mis- 
 sion. The women of the mission, however, who are actively 
 engaged in mission work (the mission to determine when this 
 condition is met) are entitled to vote on what is known as 
 woman's work. A missionary shall be entitled to vote after 
 he has successfully passed the first three semiannual language 
 examinations prescribed in the course of study. 
 
 Powers of the Mission. The mission has the general care 
 and supervision of all work within its limits. All questions of 
 policy, method and expenditure are subject to its judgment, 
 and all requests requiring the action of the Board should be 
 accompanied by the action of the mission upon them. Tours 
 of exploration or any unusual work should be undertaken 
 only with the advice of the mission. 
 
 The mission assigns and in general supervises the work of 
 individual missionaries, to the end that all forms of labor may 
 have the benefit of united counsel and may promote the in- 
 terests of the work as a whole. It is proper, of course, that 
 the views of all missionaries regarding their location and 
 work should be heard and fully considered, and if any mis- 
 sionary shall be dissatisfied with the action of the mission, an 
 appeal to the Board for final decision can be made; provided, 
 that due notice thereof has been given the executive commit- 
 tee of the mission. A full statement of the case, together 
 with the judgment of the mission, must accompany the appeal. 
 
 When the missions are sufficiently numerous and prosper- 
 ous to warrant the formation of an annual conference, such 
 a conference shall be formed, and the missions shall be gov- 
 erned according to the Discipline of our Church. 
 
 Executive Committee. The superintendent appointed by 
 the Board, and the secretary and treasurer chosen by the 
 mission, shall constitute an executive committee, ad interim, 
 to have authority to endorse as approved any request to the 
 Board. All actions submitted to this committee must have the 
 approval of the proper station or stations. 
 
 Mission Meetings. The mission shall meet at least once a 
 year ; it shall keep regular minutes of its proceedings, copies 
 of which are to be sent to the Board soon after each meeting, 
 
120 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 for approval. On questions involving requests for appropria- 
 tions the expenditures of funds and the location, transfer or 
 retirement of missionaries, a two-thirds vote shall be re- 
 quired. In all other cases a majority shall decide. 
 
 Oi'i'iciAL Register 
 The Home and Foreign Missionary Society 
 
 Presidents — S. L. Wiest, 1891-1906; R. Dubs, 
 1906-1914; H. B. Hartzler, 1914-1918; U. F. Swen- 
 gel, 191S— . 
 
 Vice-President — At various times: R. Dubs, C. S. 
 Haman, W. M. Stanford, J. H. Thomas, J. K. Knerr, 
 W. E. Detwiler, I. Bower, D. Z. Herr, F. B. Niesz, 
 S. L. Wiest. 
 
 Recording Secretary — D. B. Byers, 1891 ; J. D. 
 Woodring, 1892-1894; U. F. Swengel, 1894-1910; J. 
 Q. A. Curry, 1910 — . 
 
 Corresponding Secretary — W. F. Heil, H. D. Shultz 
 and D. B. Byers, successively in 1891, but resigned. 
 B. J. Smoyer, 1891-1895; W. F. Heil, 1898-1902; A. 
 M. Sampsel, 1902-1906; B, H, Niebel, 1906 — . 
 
 Treasurer — M. Kunkel, 1891 ; J. R. Miller, 1892; 
 Jeremiah G. Mohn elected May 11, 1892, and con- 
 tinued until death, May 3, 1919. William H. Hendel 
 elected May 21, 1919 — . 
 
 Woman's Missionary Society 
 
 President — Mrs. C. F. Rassweiler, 1890-1892; Mrs. 
 Elizabeth Krecker, 1892-1904; Mrs. S. P. Remer, 
 1904-1913; Mrs. W. J. Gruhler, 1913 — . 
 
 Vice-President — At various time : Mrs. Elizabeth 
 Krecker, Mrs. C. F. Rassweiler, Mrs. U. F. Swengel, 
 
METHODS OF ADMINISTRATION 121 
 
 Mrs. W. M. Stanford, Mrs. T. L. Haines, Mrs. I. R. 
 Rehm, Mrs. Josie McLain, Mrs. J. W. Thompson, 
 Mrs. Karl Kaupp, and Miss Emma Messinger. 
 
 Recording Secretary — Mrs. A. M. Baltz, 1890-1892; 
 Mrs. S. P. Remer, 1892-1904; Mrs. Ida M. Haefele, 
 1904-1911; Mrs. Emma Divan, 191 1 — . 
 
 Corresponding Secretary — ^^rs. Ada Collins, 1890- 
 1892; Mrs. W. M. Stanford, 1892-1894; Mrs. B. F. 
 Bowman, 1894-1896; Miss Carrie Bordlemay, 1896, 
 (office discontinued). 
 
 Treasurer — Mrs. N. G. Schneider, 1890-1892; 
 Mrs. S. L. Wiest, 1 892-1 893 ; Mrs. W. E. Detwiler, 
 1893-1918; Mrs. J. G. Finkbeiner, 1918 — . 
 
 Superintendent of Literature — Mrs. F. G. Stauflfer, 
 1890-1893; Mrs. Ada Collins, 1893-1896; Mrs. C. N. 
 Dubs, 1896-1900; Mrs. W. J. Gruhler, 1900-1905; 
 Secretary and Publisher of Literature, Miss Lillian 
 C. Graeff, 1905 — . 
 
 Editor Missionary Tidings — Mrs. F. G. Stauffer, 
 1893-1894; Mrs. Emma Divan, 1894-1898; Mrs. M. 
 M. T. Fouke, 1898-1899; Mrs. Ida M. Haefele, 1899- 
 1902; Miss Estella K. Hartzler, 1902-1904; Mrs. Es- 
 tella K. Steinmetz, 1904-1909; Miss Anna Crowell, 
 1909-1914; Miss Emma D. Messinger, 1914 — . 
 (Missionary Gem included beginning 1910.) 
 
 Editor Missionary Gem — Mrs. M. M. T. Fouke, 
 1904-1910. 
 
 Superintendent of Mission Bands — Mrs. T. L. 
 Haines, 1890-1908; Mrs. I. R. Rehm, 1908-1917; 
 Mrs. H. D. Shultz, 1917— . 
 
122 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 Superintendent Juniors or Y. P. M. S. — Mrs. E. E. 1 
 
 Adams, 1894-1895; Mrs. H. B. Hartzler, 1895-1896; i 
 
 Mrs. A. H. Irvine, 1896-1898; Mrs. Josie McLaiii, j 
 
 1898^. j 
 
 Superintendent Cradle Roll and Home Department \ 
 
 — Mrs. I. R. Rehm, 1903-1908; Mrs. J. W. Thomp- j 
 
 son, 1908 — . ] 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 OTHER MISSIONARY AGENCIES OF THE 
 CHURCH 
 
 Our Church Periodicals do not fail to give the 
 subject of missions due prominence. The editors 
 themselves, Revs. H. B. Hartzler, D.D., W. H. Fouke, 
 D.D., W. M. Stanford, D.D., and W. E. Peffley, B.D., 
 are all imbued with the spirit of missions, and do not 
 hesitate, but gladly promote the cause of missions by 
 their own pens and by the admission of articles from 
 other pens, to the periodicals under their charge. 
 
 These men and the periodicals they edit have always 
 wielded a powerful influence throughout the Church 
 by dispensing missionary intelligence, bringing inspira- 
 tion to our people, and promoting the various offer- 
 ings at stated times. Without the help of this power- 
 ful agency we could hardly succeed. 
 
 The Sunday School is a leading and valuable 
 agency for the development of the spirit of missions 
 and the gathering of missionary funds. However it is 
 altogether important that there be missionary leader- 
 ship upon the part of officers and teachers. Such 
 leadership will easily develop a missionary Sunday 
 school. Many Sunday schools show an increasing in- 
 terest from year to year, as indicated by contributions 
 received. We have some Sunday school classes that 
 123 
 
124 
 
 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 support a Chinese worker or a pupil in the schools of 
 our mission in China. 
 
 The Children's Day offering and the larger portion 
 of the Christmas offering come from our Sunday 
 schools. The schools also assist in swelling all the 
 other offerings for both home and foreign fields. In 
 the year 1918 the Children's Day offering was $13,- 
 799.15, and the Christmas offering was $11,81948, 
 making a total of $25,618.63 for the two offerings. 
 
 The Keystone League oe Christian Endeavor 
 also places especial emphasis upon the subject of mis- 
 sions. Not only does The Bndeavorer give the subject 
 a special place, but one C. E. meeting topic each 
 month is a missionary topic, on which occasion the 
 subject is given exclusive consideration. One cannot 
 be a good endeavorer without being actively interested 
 in missions. We have Leagues that are now support- 
 ing some native worker on the field. In our China 
 Mission the K. L. C. E. is practically the gateway into 
 the Church. 
 
 Our Colleges are more than mental training 
 schools, they grip the inner life of students, they ap- 
 peal to their spiritual natures. Religious student or- 
 ganizations, as the Y. M. C. A., the Y. W. C. A. and 
 the Student Volunteer Bands are means for the de- 
 velopment of Christian activities. Uninterested ones 
 are reached and led to become interested in religious 
 matters. Moral power is generated and forces are set 
 at work that become of great service for Christ and 
 the Church. The fact is that the Church must look to 
 a large extent upon the students trained in her own 
 
OTHER MISSIONARY AGENCIES 125 
 
 colleges for future leadership. How necessary it is 
 that the Church nurture her colleges. 
 
 The Church has special need of well-qualified Chris- 
 tian men and women for missionary service. Where 
 shall they come from? As a rule, we must look to our 
 colleges for the best trained missionaries for both 
 home and foreign fields. We will be strong or weak 
 in our missionary operations in proportion to our abil- 
 ity to rally trained young men and women for service. 
 Persons are needed more than money. 
 
 We also note the fact that right now the Christian 
 student organizations of our United Evangelical col- 
 leges are supporting our missionary interests morally 
 and financially, and it is true that the interest in mis- 
 sions upon the part of our student bodies has lately 
 increased very materially. They have asked for defi- 
 nite objectives, and not only asked, but are doing 
 things that will bring forth fruit on our mission fields. 
 
 The Prayer-Meetings. It has been said that 
 prayer is the greatest channel of power. Weightier 
 than all human agencies is this one that links itself to 
 omnipotence. One person can accomplish much, but 
 when "Two or three are gathered together" and 
 "Agree," results are multiplied. We are safe in stat- 
 ing that more is being accomplished in the spiritual 
 realm of the Church's activities by means of Prayer 
 Bands here and there than by any one force in opera- 
 tion. We have authority from the Word of God to 
 give special emphasis to prayer. 
 
 For ten years there has gone forth a special effort 
 to have all our people become regular and definite in 
 
126 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 prayer for missions. General Conference and the 
 Board of Missions authorized the preparation and dis- 
 tribution of monthly prayer topics for missions. The 
 first regular weekly prayer-meeting in every congre- 
 gation is asked to be a missionary prayer-meeting. 
 The pastors and congregations that have fallen in line 
 with this matter have not only realized a reflex bene- 
 fit, but have increased the f ruitfulness of our mission- 
 ary operations thereby. The publication of missionary 
 prayer-meeting topics in pamphlet form will be con- 
 tinued, and we expect increased interest and larger re- 
 sults in answer to our prayers. 
 
 Coopi;ration Essentia:, 
 
 Reference has been made to the various missionary 
 agencies. We do not forget that cooperation of forces 
 is essential to the success and continued prosperity of 
 any undertaking. There needs to be a mutual under- 
 standing of every situation and opportunity and a 
 united effort to accomplish good results. The highest 
 ideals of f ruitfulness can only be attained when every 
 department of the Church is actively interested and 
 when all work together to attain good results. An in- 
 telligent understanding of missionary needs, oppor- 
 tunities and possibilities coupled with faith in God and 
 a purpose to do the will of God will serve to draw to- 
 gether the various agencies into a phalanx of power 
 for service. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 LATER FRUITFULNESS AND PRESENT 
 STATUS 
 
 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth 
 on me the works that I do shall he do also and greater 
 works than these shall he do; because I go unto my 
 Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, 
 that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the 
 Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name I will do it." 
 John 14: 12-14. 
 
 The declaration of Jesus quoted above is astonish- 
 ing in the scope of its application. There it stands 
 with its vast fulness of meaning, and we would not at- 
 tempt to detract from either its fulness or its richness. 
 We only note that it has to do with the "works" of 
 him that believeth in Jesus, and that there is an inti- 
 mate relationship between works and prayer. 
 
 There is no sphere of activity into which we may 
 enter with greater expectancy and more confidence 
 than direct missionary effort. William Carey had a safe 
 Scriptural foundation when in an address at a minis- 
 ters' association in 1792, he laid down his two propo- 
 sitions : "Expect great things from God" and "At- 
 tempt great things for God." Surely Jesus gave us 
 the above statement as an asset for our undertakings, 
 and not as an alarm to frighten us away. 
 127 
 
128 
 
 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 Those who had a part in the founding of our Church 
 had faith in God ; they beheved in fundamentals ; they 
 undertook the missionary enterprise, not in a spirit of 
 self-reHance but expecting God to do things with them 
 for the glory of His name. Thus the work begun has 
 continued and we rejoice over its fruitfulness, yet we 
 wish that there had been more fruit. 
 
 Our Home Missions 
 
 Some Later Statistics. The following are tabulated 
 statements for the year ending October i, 1918: 
 
 Conference 
 
 Num- 
 ber of 
 Missions 
 
 Church 
 Mem- 
 bership 
 
 Con- 
 versions 
 
 Acces- 
 sions 
 
 Sunday 
 School 
 Enroll- 
 ment 
 
 Central Pa., . 
 Des Moines, 
 East Pa., ... 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Kansas, 
 
 Northwestern, 
 
 Ohio 
 
 Oregon, 
 
 Pittsburgh, .. 
 Platte River, 
 
 Total, 
 
 63 
 
 8,933 
 
 775 
 
 809 
 
 13,244 
 
 25 
 
 2,219 
 
 194 
 
 181 
 
 2,847 
 
 60 
 
 7,864 
 
 548 
 
 699 
 
 15,731 
 
 29 
 
 2,735 
 
 295 
 
 307 
 
 5,280 
 
 13 
 
 799 
 
 60 
 
 55 
 
 1,620 
 
 27 
 
 1,294 
 
 197 
 
 198 
 
 2,062 
 
 17 
 
 2,230 
 
 363 
 
 354 
 
 3,632 
 
 20 
 
 1,461 
 
 85 
 
 190 
 
 2,946 
 
 25 
 
 4,205 
 
 511 
 
 342 
 
 5,799 
 
 33 
 
 2,047 
 
 194 
 
 288 
 
 3,608 
 
 312 
 
 33,789 
 
 3,233 
 
 3,423 
 
 56,769 
 
 The following table shows a summary of Home 
 Mission results for the quadrennium ending October 
 I, 1918: 
 
LATER FRUITFULNESS AND PRESENT STATUS 129 
 Four Years' Results on Home Missions 
 
 Conference 
 
 Con- 
 versions 
 
 Acces- 
 sions 
 
 Net 
 gain 
 
 Received 
 for 
 Confer- 
 ence 
 Treasury 
 
 Received 
 
 for 
 General 
 Treasury 
 
 Central Pa 4,909 5,023 1,302 $23,375 $22,212 
 
 Des Moines 1,062 991 146 4,529 5,534 
 
 East Pa 4,479 4,290 1,430 19,900 25,487 
 
 Illinois, 1,342 1,297 249 12,649 10,193 
 
 Kansas 626 569 91 2,551 2,078 
 
 Northwestern, 689 664 146 6,051 3,251 
 
 Ohio, 1,773 1.321 431 5,421 7,131 
 
 Oregon, 844 1,080 123 4,049 3,686 
 
 Pittsburgh, 1,963 1,527 4,685 5,686 
 
 Platte River, 1,267 i,47i 329 7,38i 10,055 
 
 Total 19,224 18,233 2,247 $90,597 $95,313 
 
 The Last Ttvelve Years. There have been 49,770 
 conversions and 50,131 accessions to the Church on 
 the home mission fields during the last twelve years. 
 The number of conversions for the entire Church dur- 
 ing the same time was 114,064 and the number of 
 accessions was 111,304. The percentage of our mem- 
 bership belonging to missions has averaged about 36 
 per cent, of the entire Church membership. About 43 
 per cent, of the number of conversions were upon the 
 missions. It will be observed therefore that the work 
 of our home missions is proportionately more fruitful 
 as statistics appear than the results upon self-support- 
 ing charges. 
 
 The Support of Our Home Missions. The preced- 
 ing chapter indicates how our Home Missions are sup- 
 9 
 
20,5o6 
 
 79 
 
 10,201 
 
 31 
 
 4,182 
 
 32 
 
 4,161 
 
 70 
 
 2,615 91 
 
 2,233 
 
 23 
 
 4,767 
 
 47 
 
 1,402 
 
 00 
 
 38985 
 
 130 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 ported. In the fiscal year ending October i, 1918, the 
 
 various annual conference missionary societies raised 
 
 the following for their own work : 
 
 East Pa $18,817 96 
 
 Central Pa., 
 
 Illinois 
 
 Pittsburgh, 
 
 Northwestern, 
 
 Platte River, 
 
 Des Moines, 
 
 Ohio, 
 
 Oregon 
 
 Kansas, 
 
 Total $69,278 34 
 
 The above total amount is $18,969.70 in excess of 
 what was raised in 1906. This is an increase of thirty- 
 seven per cent. 
 
 The following table shows the appropriations made 
 for home missions for the year 1918-1919. The first 
 column shows the entire appropriation, and the sec- 
 ond column shows what portion of the appropriation 
 is paid out of the general treasury : 
 
 Appropriations for Home Missions 
 
 Central Pa. Conference, $19,000 00 
 
 East Pa. Conference, , 
 
 Illinois Conference, , 
 
 Pittsburgh Conference, 
 
 Ohio Conference, 
 
 Des Moines Conference , 
 
 Northwestern Conference - 
 
 Platte River Conference, , 
 
 Kansas Conference, , 
 
 Oregon Conference 
 
 Total, $108,715 00 $37,650 00 
 
 19,000 00 
 
 
 12,000 00 
 
 
 8,380 00 
 
 $3,000 00 
 
 7,500 00 
 
 3,000 00 
 
 6,675 00 
 
 4,500 00 
 
 12,960 00 
 
 9,500 00 
 
 9,600 00 
 
 6,800 00 
 
 5,600 00 
 
 4,700 00 
 
 8,000 00 
 
 6,150 00 
 
LATER FRUITFULNESS AND PRESENT STATUS 
 
 131 
 
 Provisional for Herrick, 350 00 350 00 
 
 Provisional for Wyoming, 600 00 600 00 
 
 Miscellaneous expenses, including 
 
 printing, corresponding secretary, 
 
 clerical v^^ork, interest, etc., 5,05r 00 5,051 00 
 
 Total $114,716 00 $43,651 GO 
 
 The Board of Missions depends chiefly upon the 
 proceeds of the Self-denial, Children's Day and Christ- 
 mas offerings for the funds to support home mission 
 work. The following shows what was realized in the 
 years of 1906 and 19 18 respectively by way of com- 
 parison : 
 
 1906 igi8 
 
 Self-denial, $9,400 80 $13,526 25 
 
 Children's Day, 8,034 96 13,799 IS 
 
 Christmas 8,342 00 1 1,819 48 
 
 Total $25,777 76 $39,144 88 
 
 The total amount above indicated for the fiscal year 
 ending October i, 1918, was about fifty-two per cent, 
 in excess of 1906. 
 
 The following comparison of the appropriations for 
 home missions at three different times with twelve- 
 year intervals indicates the progress of our ability and 
 willingness to support home missions since our or- 
 ganization as a Church: Amount 
 Year Appropriated 
 
 1894, $38,475 00 
 
 1906, 75,125 00 
 
 1918, 114,71600 
 
 The Voice oe Missionary Leaders. The question 
 of the present missions outlook was put to missionary 
 
132 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 leaders in the various annual conferences for the An- 
 nual Report of 1918. We append herewith the an- 
 swers : 
 
 Central Pa. Conference, Rev. W. B. Peffley, Corre- 
 sponding Secretary: 
 
 In the building of mission churches much improvement has 
 been made during the past four years. Some of the finest 
 structures have been reared on mission fields, and the at- 
 tractiveness of these churches has generally appealed more 
 successfully to the communities. God has honored the faith 
 of our people who have built with anticipation of success. 
 None of the mission fields have been seriously affected by the 
 war conditions, except, of course, by the requirements for 
 military service. The present fields of the cities and towns 
 offer the same opportunities for aggressive service. 
 
 The Conference Missionary Society has had under con- 
 sideration the extension of its work by locating missions in 
 the following places : Chambersburg, New Cumberland, Mt. 
 Union, Tyrone, all in Pennsylvania, into which towns many 
 United Evangelicals have entered. 
 
 The present outlook is encouraging from the standpoint of 
 the present strength and the present challenge of war condi- 
 tions. Our Church has always stood the tests and we believe 
 the conference will meet the increasing needs for devotion 
 and diligence. Some of the missions will be ready to erect 
 new church buildings at the close of the war, and are accumu- 
 lating funds for this purpose. 
 
 The greatest needs of our missions now may be summed up 
 in this challenge : Every mission shall recognize its true 
 mission — to preach and practice the gospel which puts spir- 
 itual realities first; to meet the needs of the heart-hungry 
 to-day; and to be prepared to "stand fast" in the post bellum 
 period of reconstruction. 
 
 Des Moines Conference, Rev. A. A. Couser, President 
 
 Missionary Society: 
 
 Our Greatest Immediate Need. The cry of men and 
 
 money has the smell of ages upon it, but although sounded 
 
 long ago, this is the loudest call that we hear in all the world 
 
LATER FRUITFULNESS AND PRESENT STATUS 133 
 
 to-day. Men are needed as never before on the far-flung lines 
 of the Master's work. In our conference as never before the 
 call to-day is for men who are specially trained for work 
 of the kingdom. Leaders are needed : men of vision and a 
 corresponding capacity to impart that vision unto others. 
 Our people will respond to leadership of that kind. With 
 the educational advantages enjoyed by all our young people, 
 it more than ever demands that the minister be a well-quali- 
 fied man for his task. Then, too, the leaders of the future 
 will need to be men who are somewhat above the average 
 when it comes to ability to organize the working forces of the 
 Church. 
 
 Money, too, is needed as never before. Securing the neces- 
 sities of life is an increasing struggle. Ministers are in crucial 
 need of more liberal salaries ; they are, after all, God's serv- 
 ants, and deserve to be given stipends that will put them 
 beyond the temptation to turn into other and more lucrative 
 employments. But for the minister's support money is not 
 only needed : money to make missions self-supporting, money 
 to send the gospel around the world. 
 
 East Pa. Conference, Rev. A. E. Hang en, Correspond- 
 ing Secretary: 
 
 The following towns and cities in the bounds of the East 
 Pa. Conference have been under consideration as offering op- 
 portunities for new missions : Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton 
 (Easton, First, field), Harrisburg (Harrisburg, Park Street, 
 field), Shamokin, Wilkes-Barre and Wyomissing (Reading). 
 Several of these points ought to be taken up in the compara- 
 tively near future, and others ought to be carefully watched 
 with reference to their occupancy in due time. 
 
 East Pa. Conference territory is, of course, not virgin soil, 
 so that the prospect of extensive occupation of new fields is 
 not very large, yet do the prospective fields named above offer 
 an opportunity for extension that may not be despised and 
 ought not to be ignored. The outlook for intensive mission- 
 ary growth is very promising. With a growing knowledge of 
 the world-need on the part of the ministry and their indis- 
 pensable "allies" the women and the young people and the 
 boys and girls of our local missionary auxiliaries, the 
 
134 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 churches of our conference will give an increasing share of 
 their worldly goods as well as that of an increasing number 
 of her best sons and daughters for pastors and missionaries. 
 This conference will continue to "hold the ropes" for those 
 of our brethren and sisters who go down into the "mines of 
 heathendom" and will constantly add to the strength of the 
 rope. 
 
 The more immediate needs are the visualizing of the "land 
 yet to be possessed" as belonging to Christ, the will to say, 
 "Let us go up and possess the land," the confidence that "we 
 are well able to overcome them," and the contribution of 
 men and means for its possession and conquest. That all 
 these objects may be attained there is necessary, first of all, 
 a ministry that will in holy, loving boldness, make known to 
 its people what is the Divine program for world-evangeliza-. 
 tion. 
 
 Illinois Conference, Rev. J. G. Finkbeiner, President 
 
 Church Extension Society: 
 
 Orangeville Mission was, by action of the quarterly confer- 
 ence, changed to a self-supporting field. It will, please God, 
 not be long until Kimball Avenue, Aurora, Polo, Brookville, 
 Ottawa, Terre Haute, Weston, Stockton, and Sterling will 
 follow the example of Orangeville. 
 
 This fact indicates that the "present missionary conditions" 
 are quite encouraging. The mission fields have taken an in- 
 creased interest in their own development along spiritual and 
 financial lines. They realize that a spiritual quickening also 
 means a financial gain. Of course, the progress of the work 
 has been interfered with by this great war which has taken 
 some of the most faithful and consecrated workers, not to 
 mention the financial demands made for war activities. Some 
 of the mission fields are well organized with large Sunday 
 schools, good Keystone Leagues and Woman's Missionary 
 Societies ; and all these work together for the development 
 of the missions. 
 
 We have good reasons to thank God and take courage. 
 While, of course, we would be glad if some mission fields 
 could be transferred from "good" to "excellent," we must not 
 become weary in well-doing, and with patient, persistent, pur- 
 
LATER FRUITFULNESS AND PRESENT STATUS 
 
 135 
 
 poseful and prayerful efforts, He whose we are and whom we 
 serve, will not withhold His blessing; and so we will con- 
 tinue to plant and zvater and depend upon Him for the in- 
 crease. But for the planting and the watering we need men 
 filled with the Holy Spirit, men born and reared in the 
 United Evangelical Church, or at least men in harmony with 
 our doctrine, method and spirit, and whose loyalty does not 
 depend on promotion or the largest salary. "Lord, give us 
 men, etc." 
 
 Kansas Conference, Rev. B. F. Ludy, Presiding Elder: 
 
 New Missions, Men and Means. There are abundant op- 
 portunities for the extension of missionary operations, espe- 
 cially in our rapidly growing cities. Of course, in some of 
 these cities there may be plenty of churches just at present, 
 yet as the population increases other denominations enter the 
 work while we wait. H we only had more men and means. 
 We need men who will stand foursquare for God and the 
 Church. Men who will not apologize for our existence. We 
 need men of vision. Men who will earn the salary they re- 
 ceive. 
 
 The Present Outlook. The outlook is promising, as much 
 so as in any conference of our Church. I would again em- 
 phasize the need of men, men, men. 
 
 Northwestern Conference, Rev. D. C. Hauk, Presid- 
 ing Elder: 
 
 The Present Missionary Outlook has never been any 
 better. Setting aside some of the contesting barriers on the 
 pathway of progress, as much as we can, even a splendid 
 outlook. The present method of the missionary operations 
 shall largely determine the future of the outcome and the 
 character of work in the Northwest. The method of work 
 carried on by other churches to-day, successful in its results, 
 would certainly call for a change in our ways. Others employ 
 Sunday school missionary workers ; these organize Sunday 
 schools, hold revival meetings in connection with the work, 
 resulting either in an organization of a class or else, if the 
 response is not desirable, move on and go elsewhere. This 
 method seems rather satisfactory to other churches, and is a 
 
136 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 splendid way of becoming established. I proposed this to the 
 Board of Missions some time ago, and strongly advocate it 
 even now. To try it out would be worth the while, surely. 
 
 Ohio Conference, Rev. L. R. Herhst, Corresponding 
 Secretary: 
 
 The present missionary outlook is better than at any time in 
 the history of this conference. The pastors are more enthu- 
 siastic along missionary lines ; there is more being done to 
 inform the people of the present missionary needs and oppor- 
 tunities. 
 
 The people have a larger vision of our possibilities, require- 
 ments and opportunities. They are giving more liberally to 
 support the work at home and abroad. They are inquiring 
 more as to the work and its progress and seem to feel the 
 responsibility for missions more than at any time. We have 
 more well-equipped, modern church buildings on our missions 
 than ever before. Our newer missions are well located and 
 growing nicely, spiritually, numerically and financially. 
 
 We need more missionaries who have a genuine missionary 
 spirit. Men who have a passion for souls and who are willing 
 to be "made all things to all men, that they might by all 
 means save some ;" men who are capable, properly equipped, 
 intellectually, spiritually, and who are very careful in their 
 administration, men sound in doctrine, and who are loyal to 
 our Church. 
 
 Oregon Conference, Rev. S. S. Mumey, Presiding 
 Elder: 
 
 When conditions permit we would like to see two more 
 churches placed in Portland, one on the east side and the 
 other in the south end. We would also like to have our Church 
 go into Coos County, Oregon, and into southwestern Wash- 
 ington. In our opinion, however, our policy should be in- 
 tensive cultivation of what we have for a few years rather 
 than an extensive development of new fields. 
 
 We are exceedingly optimistic as we look into the future. 
 Once the war is over the Panama Canal will likely open 
 the real trunk line to the West and a stream of settlers will 
 pour into the great Northwest and make the population more 
 
LATER FRUITFULNESS AND PRESENT STATUS 137 
 
 stable. When that time comes, if we hold on during these 
 times of stress, we will find our Church located in strategic 
 positions for rendering the maximum Christian service to our 
 country. 
 
 Pittsburgh Conference, Rev. M. B. Borger, Corre- 
 sponding Secretary: 
 
 The present missionary outlook is as "Bright as the prom- 
 ises of God." Our most immediate need is a richer, fuller 
 outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon ministers and people 
 alike. We believe that our problems would all be solved by 
 such an effusion. Our specific needs are a firmer loyalty to 
 the Church, a deeper consecration and a willingness to make 
 greater sacrifices for the Church. We have noble examples 
 of loyalty and devotion but the spirit is not general. 
 
 We need a more educated, consecrated ministry, better 
 equipped young men who have a clear vision of the possibili- 
 ties of our Church, who are not afraid of hard work; young 
 men of -push and energy who do not rely wholly upon the 
 efforts of the flesh but who will fast and pray for the spirit 
 that possesses the people of to-day as of old, is that kind 
 which does not yield to a sandwich or plate of ice cream but 
 which goes out only by prayer and fasting. 
 
 Platte River Conference, Rev. H. S. Tool, Presiding 
 Elder: 
 
 As to the missionary outlook in this conference it is, as 
 in every place as great, perhaps greater than our capability. 
 Western Nebraska, with its new methods of dry farming and 
 its more extensive irrigation schemes would make a prolific 
 field and could be easily operated from the Kearney District. 
 Eastern Nebraska, with its larger cities and flourishing county 
 seats, contains some openings (as, for instance, Beatrice) 
 which could be very profitably occupied could real men be 
 secured and money be provided for their support. 
 
 In connection with the work of this conference is the new- 
 est and most attractive of all our western work and a field 
 which is prolific in opportunity, our work in Montana. In the 
 very midst of the Rockies in one of the great basins, the Big 
 Horn Range far to the south, the Big Snowies to the north, 
 
138 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 the Crazies to the west, located between the Yellowstone and 
 the Musselshell Rivers is our smallest isolated mission. 
 
 This new work of our Church so different from the great 
 conferences of Pennsylvania, so small in its beginnings, so 
 vast in its opportunities, has come to attract the interest of 
 the entire Church. This interest has not to any appreciable 
 extent materialized into action, but it will, and we believe this 
 will constitute a center of interest equal to any in our denomi- 
 nation. 
 
 Foreign Mission Progress 
 
 Our China Mission. We shall not anticipate the 
 contents of Part II of this volume, that will tell the 
 story of the development of the mission. We here 
 make only brief reference, by comparison, to progress 
 on the field and the increasing interest at the home 
 base. The progress of our China Mission has been 
 quite remarkable, notwithstanding the obstacles, the 
 many difficult problems to be solved and the serious 
 reverses caused by the riots at Changsha in 1910, and 
 the war in 1918 between the Northern and Southern 
 forces in which our mission field was one of the storm 
 centers. 
 
 The real progress of missionary work, especially in 
 non-Christian lands, can not however be fully esti- 
 mated, much less indicated by figures. Yet we call 
 figures to our aid as indications of certain phases of 
 results, and in attempting to indicate progress, a com- 
 parison will be of value. The table herewith given in- 
 dicates, as far as figures go, the progress of the four 
 years ending December 31, 1918: 
 
LATER FRUITFULNESS AND PRESENT STATUS 139 
 
 Membership: 
 
 Foreign force, 
 
 Chinese workers, 
 
 Church members, 
 
 Christian community, 
 
 Sunday schools, 
 
 Average attendance, 
 
 K. L. C. E.'s, 
 
 Actire members, 
 
 Associate members, 
 
 Educational work: 
 
 Schools 
 
 Pupils enrolled, 
 
 Medical luork (only Liling re- 
 ported) : 
 
 Hospitals, 
 
 Dispensaries, 
 
 Out patients, 
 
 In patients, 
 
 Out calls 
 
 Operations, 
 
 Value of property, $54,898 $123,078 
 
 The Annual Report of 1906 indicates that at that 
 time the membership was, at Changsha 18, Siangtan 
 21, Chucheo 3, and LiHng 8; total 50. Twelve years 
 afterward we had more than thirteen times that many- 
 members. Now we have a strong, well-organized mis- 
 sion with every department of activity in full working 
 order. 
 
 All Increasing Interest by Our People. This has 
 been steady and substantial from year to year. As one 
 of the indicators we note the increased contributions 
 giving the annual totals at intervals of four years : 
 
 1906, $11,81048 
 
 1910, 25,16328 
 
 1914 32,81269 
 
 1918 61,96241 
 
 
 
 Percentage 
 
 I9I4 
 
 I918 
 
 of gain 
 
 25 
 
 36 
 
 44 
 
 27 
 
 75 
 
 177 
 
 248 
 
 678 
 1,680 
 
 172 
 
 II 
 
 28 
 
 154 
 
 523 
 
 1,633 
 
 212 
 
 12 
 
 23 
 
 97 
 
 223 
 
 683 
 
 206 
 
 189 
 
 734 
 
 288 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 100 
 
 238 
 
 773 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 8,186 
 
 247 
 190 
 500 
 
 224 
 
 124 
 
140 
 
 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 It will be observed that the receipts of 1910 were 
 more than double the receipts of 1906, and that the 
 receipts of 1918 are nearly double the receipts of 1914. 
 
 Not only do statistics point to an increasing interest, 
 but we further note the following points : 
 
 1. People pray more and pray with clearer definite- 
 ness for missions and missionaries than ever before. 
 Such prayers are heard in the pulpit, at the prayer- 
 meeting, at the family altar, and in private circles. 
 
 2. Greater prominence is given to the subject of 
 missions than ever before. The subject is given prom- 
 inence at annual conferences, at conventions, at mis- 
 sionary institutes and congregational rallies. Mission 
 study classes are formed and people are beginning to 
 understand the importance of the subject. 
 
 3. People are more willing to listen to missionary 
 sermons and addresses, and to read missionary litera- 
 ture than in all history previous to the last ten or fif- 
 teen years. 
 
 Our Missionary Interest in Africa. Rev. and Mrs. 
 C. W. Guinter, who are members of our Church 
 within the bounds of the Central Pa. Conference, 
 are missionaries under the auspices of the Sudan 
 United Mission, an undenominational missionary 
 agency. Their field is in the southern part of North- 
 ern Nigeria, West Africa. Our people support this 
 devoted pair of missionaries, whose labors have been 
 decidedly fruitful, not only by securing converts ; but 
 also by establishing an institute for the training of 
 native workers. 
 
LATER FRUITFULNESS AND PRESENT STATUS 141 
 
 During the eight years ending October i, 1918, the 
 funds for the support of Rev. and Mrs. Guinter were 
 administered by the corresponding secretary of our 
 Missionary Society ; but now, by request of the 
 Woman's Missionary Society, they are administered 
 by that body. For the quadrennium ending October 
 I, 1918, the receipts for this purpose were $6,280.50. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 WHERE FIGURES AND STATISTICS FAIL 
 
 "The kingdom of heaven is Hke to a grain of mus- 
 tard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 
 which indeed is the least of all seeds ; but when it is 
 grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh 
 a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in 
 the branches thereof." Mat. /j; ji, J2. 
 
 We often attempt to measure results of things per- 
 taining to the Kingdom of God by the use of statistics, 
 but we can only indicate approximately, and in part 
 the relative visible strength of an individual or an or- 
 ganized body by the use of figures, and to this extent 
 they have value. The work of the Christian Church 
 has to do principally with spiritual things, and there- 
 fore reaches into a realm and accomplishes results 
 that are beyond mathematical demonstration. This is 
 especially true in the work of Christian missions. 
 
 The value of individual effort, or of congregational 
 results, or of the fruitfulness of a denomination can 
 not be rightly measured by statistics. Sometimes sta- 
 tistics make a good outward show of work accom- 
 plished, and yet the apparent results lack in stability. 
 Upon the other hand, it often occurs that statistics do 
 not indicate great results, and yet the character of the 
 effort has been such that what Jesus calls "greater 
 works" are accomplished after all. 
 
 14^ 
 
WHERE FIGURES AND STATISTICS FAIL 143 
 
 It is therefore true that when a given number of 
 preaching places, a certain number of schools, a vary- 
 ing number of conversions and accessions, or how 
 many patients were treated in the medical department, 
 or what was done in any other department of a mis- 
 sion, are reported as the result of a year's activities ; 
 we have only the visible indications of some things 
 done; and furthermore, as pertains to conversions 
 and accessions particularly, only the beginnings of the 
 results of forces set in operation are manifest. 
 
 Furthermore, when we studiously observe the by- 
 products of missions as they may be seen in the edu- 
 cational, social, industrial and political world, we enter 
 a realm that is full of interesting and sui"prising inci- 
 dents that prove the great value and substantial results 
 of missionary effort as they follow the winning of 
 souls for the kingdom. Here, too, statistics utterly 
 fail to measure beneficial results. 
 
 A Christian mother in the middle west had four sons 
 that she had brought up "In the nurture and admo- 
 nition of the Lord," and trained them for Christian 
 service. They went out from the home nest and es- 
 tablished homes of their own in new communities. 
 Each one of them became the beginner of a new con- 
 gregation, the founder of a Christian church. Where 
 are the statistics that will bring to view the full meas- 
 ure of that mother's careful training which resulted 
 in the establishing of four missionary appointments? 
 
 The author can name a mission of our own Church 
 that has been a mission for many years, the peculiar 
 industrial conditions of that part of the city making a 
 
144 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 transitory population. Nevertheless, the labors of our 
 missionaries have been fruitful in the conversion of 
 hundreds of people. From this mission there went out 
 a man who himself won hundreds for the kingdom. 
 The wavelets of power that have gone out from that 
 humble Evangelical mission have been felt in certain 
 industrial centers in cities such as Chicago, Kansas 
 City and others. Not only has the little mission had 
 an extensive influence, but the home influence has 
 counted for much, so that a mayor of the city, though 
 not a Christian man, said: "That Evangelical mission 
 on the south side is the best police force in that part 
 of the city," referring, of course, to the citizenship of 
 the community. Who will question the wisdom of in- 
 vesting money and service in a work like this? 
 
 Some years ago one of our Evangelical missionaries 
 conducted a revival effort in a small country school 
 house in the State of Iowa. There was only one con- 
 vert as the immediate result of that effort : a boy in 
 his 'teens. Some people thought that the effort was 
 hardly worth while; but in later years it was found 
 out that that boy became a very able minister of the 
 gospel. What will be the end of the stream of influ- 
 ence started by that Evangelical missionary? 
 
 The name of a strong, self-supporting and fruitful 
 Evangelical congregation located in the western part 
 of Pennsylvania could be given here ; a congregation 
 that is not only a force in the city, but that is liberally 
 supporting mission work in home and foreign fields. 
 It has a membership of nearly five hundred and a 
 property valued at fifty thousand dollars. For many 
 
WHERE FIGURES AND STATISTICS FAIL 145 
 
 years this was a struggling mission, and sometimes 
 people wondered whether it paid to keep it up, but 
 there appeared sufficient fruit from year to year to en- 
 courage the conference to keep it up. After a num- 
 ber of years of patient perseverance, there came more 
 fruit, and now there is much fruit. Suppose it were 
 possible to summarize the results of all the by-gone 
 years, and who can foretell what is yet to come. 
 
 A well-known preacher of one of our strong eastern 
 conferences was at one time pastor of a certain city 
 congregation. In an appeal for home missions, it at 
 first seemed that he failed to grip his hearers, because 
 many of them thought, "Why give money for the old 
 country charges that are now missions?" The pastor 
 finally named three or four nearby missions and asked 
 all those present to arise to their feet who had them- 
 selves or with their ancestry come from those fields. 
 A very large portion of his congregation stood. Then 
 he asked all except the official members and Sunday 
 school teachers to be seated and it was discovered that 
 the larger portion of his officials were the offspring of 
 the adjacent missions. The people saw the point in 
 his appeal for home missions. That congregation is 
 now a liberal supporter of both home and foreign 
 missions. 
 
 The author had charge of a mission in the West 
 where he found a community that was almost com- 
 pletely under the thraldom of infidelity, where it was 
 said that there was but one person that prayed. A 
 preaching plant was established in a country school 
 house and finally a protracted meeting was held, a 
 
146 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 number of persons were converted and a class organ- 
 ized. These were not the only results, for the power 
 of infidelity was broken and prestige established for 
 Christianity. Twelve years afterwards, one who had 
 been a hearer in those by-gone efforts came to the 
 author as a seeker for salvation and was led to receive 
 Christ as a personal Saviour. 
 
 Since the time of organization of the United Evan- 
 gelical Church in 1894 there have been reported 214,- 
 940 conversions and 209,889 accessions to the Church. 
 During this time 20,269 of our people died and 105,362 
 were reported "moved away." From a close study of 
 statistics and conditions we are led to conclude that 
 the majority of those who moved away went into com- 
 munities where our Church is not represented. Why 
 is attention invited to this matter in this book on mis- 
 sions? Because it is one of the trying features of our 
 missionary operations, especially in the six western 
 conferences, since out there our fields are more widely 
 scattered and the people have been more inclined to 
 move to other sections of the great and rapidly develop- 
 ing West and even into the large and new territories 
 of Canada. In this way we have lost thousands of 
 members, not because they became dissatisfied with 
 our Church, but because of their desire to better them- 
 selves materially in newer communities. Other de- 
 nominations have had the same experience, but the 
 larger ones have perhaps not felt this as keenly as the 
 smaller ones. Could we have conserved all our forces 
 as we gathered them by our missionary efforts, we 
 
WHERE FIGURES AND STATISTICS FAIL 147 
 
 would be numerically much larger as a Church ; still 
 we have been doing proportionately as well as others. 
 
 The fact is that the United Evangelical Church 
 has not only increased her own number and laid a 
 strong foundation for a still larger service, but she 
 has been the generator of spiritual forces through her 
 aggressive missionary activities, that are now being 
 used in many ways and through various other agencies 
 for the glory of God, outside her own denominational 
 activities. Her spiritual descendants may be found in 
 almost every state in the Union and in many foreign 
 countries, and the lambs and sheep she has gathered 
 might be counted by thousands outside of her immedi- 
 ate boundaries. 
 
 Aside from this, the moral influence of our mission- 
 ary operations in every conference has a bearing upon 
 the social life of the communities where we operate, 
 upon industrial activities with which we come in con'- 
 tact, upon the educational activities and even in the 
 political life of the people among whom we operate. 
 Usually our ministers and people have been quite 
 ready to "lend a hand" in all activities that speak for 
 right living and the principles of righteousness, as for 
 example the fight against the liquor traffic. 
 
 The author may be permitted to cite concrete illus- 
 trations out of his own experience and knowledge: 
 
 A former minister of our Church could be named 
 who, by circumstances over which he had no control, 
 became a city mission specialist in another denomina- 
 tion and was instrumental as such in founding four- 
 teen new charges. This man was not one of those 
 
148 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 who go away without good cause. He received his 
 "start" in Christian activity with us. 
 
 In Montana we were introduced to the State Secre- 
 tary of the Y. M. C. A., who told us that he had been 
 reared in an EvangeHcal home and converted at an 
 EvangeHcal altar. A few years ago, in Los Angeles, 
 we found what was then the largest Y. M. C. A. in 
 the world with a membership of more than six thou- 
 sand. At the head of the educational department was 
 a former Evangelical boy who knew what a family 
 altar is, for its fires had always been kept burning at 
 his parental home. 
 
 By invitation the author preached to a large Method- 
 ist congregation in a city of about 14,000 people where 
 our Church was not represented. At the close of the 
 service the pastor invited all former United Evan- 
 gelicals to come forward and shake hands with the 
 visitor. The representatives of ten families came and 
 it was said that five other families were not present. 
 Nearly all these had come from the same county in 
 western Iowa. The fact is that former United Evan- 
 gelical people have become the spiritual nucleus of 
 many a congregation of another denomination in new 
 communities where we had not entered. 
 
 We have just been informed that while we as a 
 Church are not represented in the State of Wyoming 
 by a mission or congregation, yet a former Evan- 
 gelical has, under another board dotted that state with 
 missions. Referring to the standing of our young 
 people when working with others, did you know that 
 at The Bible Teachers Training School in New York 
 
WHERE FIGURES AND STATISTICS FAIL 149 
 
 City the places of leadership in the various student 
 organizations have been occcupied in later years by 
 United Evangelical students? 
 
 Referring to Christian activities in foreign lands ; 
 circumstances, in some cases providential, in other 
 cases because of our lack of enlarged facilities, have 
 caused a number of our own to take work under other 
 agencies ; so that former Evangelicals may be found 
 in South America, in Africa, in Korea, in the Philip- 
 pines and in India ; for example, the wife of Bishop 
 Robinson, of the Methodist Episcopal Church in India, 
 is the daughter of a United Evangelical preacher, 
 lately deceased. 
 
 Many more pages might be written illustrating in 
 concrete form how our fruitfulness reaches way be- 
 yond figures and statistics, but these will suffice. Is 
 it not well that we bear in mind that our work is not 
 primarily or chiefly a matter of rolling up statistics, 
 encouraging though they be ; but that we seek to do 
 the will of our Father which is in heaven, so that "The 
 Father may be glorified in the Son" ? 
 
 To lay up a "Good foundation against the time to 
 come," appears to be the thing of prime importance in 
 our missionary activities; remembering that "Every 
 man's work shall be made manifest : for the day shall 
 declare it because it shall be revealed by fire, and the 
 fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is." 
 / Cor. J." /J. Jesus will finally say: "Well done good 
 and faithful servant," 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 THE VALUE OF THE MISSIONARY'S WORK 
 A Tribute to Pioneer Home Missionaries 
 
 Prom "Heroes of the Cross in America" 
 
 Among the true builders of our nation a foremost place 
 must be given to the noble company of pioneer home mission- 
 aries and their no less noble successors. They toiled for the 
 regeneration of the individual citizen. They sought with their 
 whole strength, as the tide of humanity moved westward, to 
 lift men steadily upward in moral and spiritual aspiration and 
 achievement. They labored, with scant praise of men, to the 
 end that moral and spiritual progress might keep pace with 
 material advancement. 
 
 They set forth the loftiest ideals for character building and 
 the profoundest principles for the guidance of men in their 
 relation to each other and to their divine Master. Their 
 teaching was enforced by their personal adherence to the 
 highest moral standards — by their zeal, their self-sacrifice, 
 and their devotion to the will of God. They had that love 
 of God, that love of their fellows, and that love of the word 
 of God which enabled them to build wisely and masterfully. 
 
 Many of the resident home mission pastors, in their efforts 
 to meet their widening opportunities, traveled from thirty to 
 forty miles on the Sabbath and ministered regularly to three 
 congregations. Notable self-sacrifice marked their work. In 
 a happy, hopeful, enthusiastic spirit they toiled. They fought 
 fierce battles within and without. They met and conquered 
 the temptations that come from obscurity, from isolation, and 
 from trials incident to the day of small things. Many of them 
 scarcely saw the beginning of the harvest that sprang from 
 the seed they sowed. But their Master made them equal to 
 their hard day. In spite of all adverse conditions they stead- 
 ily scattered the seed of the Kingdom of Christ, and from it 
 has sprung the Christian civilization of America. 
 
 ISO 
 
APPENDI}^ 151 
 
 The Home; Missionary 
 
 By Rev. Robert Forbes, Secretary of "The Board of Home 
 Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church," in The 
 Home Missionary. 
 
 The home missionary does not receive the praise and com- 
 mendation of pulpit and press that are accorded the foreign 
 missionary. Yet, it often happens that his field has greater 
 difficulties and requires as much heroism and sacrifice as are 
 required in the foreign field. Sometimes he is on a frontier 
 circuit where the drives are long, frequently over bad roads, 
 vi'here the congregations are small and his income meagre. 
 His family is often poorly housed, and his exposure in all 
 kinds of weather is an element in the problem which might 
 cause even a brave heart to sink. I have known a home mis- 
 sionary to ride seventy miles by stage to reach a new field 
 when the thermometer indicated twenty degrees below zero. 
 
 Sometimes he is in a city, struggling with the difficulties of 
 a new parish. A missionary in the city has other difficulties 
 than those of a missionary in the country, but they are quite 
 as real. 
 
 The home missionary is the best police force. Life and 
 property are secure, not so much because the policeman walks 
 the street as because of the other great fact that the preach- 
 er's voice is heard on Sunday. The preaching of the gospel 
 develops conscience and intensifies and quickens the moral 
 sense of the community. As the preacher tries to find a 
 definition of the great words in life's large dictionary — God, 
 life, death, duty, destiny, judgment, heaven, hell — he brings a 
 moral and intellectual quickening to the people that could come 
 from no other source. He organizes the Sunday school, gathers 
 a congregation and preaches the pure word of God, and the 
 influence of his work tends to prevent crime and to raise 
 the moral standard of the community. 
 
 He is a patriot. His life and work are making contribu- 
 tions to the nation's welfare. He is a reformer. He is on 
 the right side of every great moral question. He is a leader 
 in the temperance reform, and always the foe of the saloon. 
 He is worthy of a better support than he usually receives. 
 He is making a large missionary contribution himself, in 
 cheerfully serving on a difficult field on a small salary. 
 
i3^ Evangelical missions 
 
 The wives of home missionaries are heroines. We have 
 seen them in their humble homes and know well how fully 
 they share their husbands' trials and how bravely they con- 
 tribute to the success of the work. And, in the day when the 
 light of eternity shall shine upon the doings of earth, it will 
 be seen that the queenly women who shared the toil and sac- 
 rifice with noble men in obscure places, were important fac- 
 tors in the problem of the world's redemption. 
 
 Support the home missionary. "Home" is a large word in 
 this connection. "America for Christ" is the watchword — 
 the battle cry. America is the land of refuge for all man- 
 kind. America must be saved if the gospel is to be preached 
 "to every creature." The country is important. The city is 
 important. We are trying to evangelize both. We ask the 
 reader's assistance in this glorious work by contribution and 
 prayer. 
 
 Thk Work of the Foreign Missionary 
 
 From "The Foreign Missionary," by Arthur J. Brozvn 
 
 The variety and scope of the foreign missionary's work are 
 in sharp contrast with the work of the minister at home. The 
 latter hardly realizes to what an extent the effort of the 
 Church is reinforced by the social results of centuries of re- 
 ligious teaching. These helps do not exist in most non- 
 Christian lands and, therefore, the missionary must create 
 them. He must found not only churches, but schools, hos- 
 pitals, printing presses, kindergartens, orphanages, and the 
 various other kinds of Christian and benevolent work car- 
 ried on in this country. He must train up a native min- 
 istry, erect buildings, translate and print books and tracts 
 and catechisms. The gospel must be so presented as to touch 
 the lives of men at many points and they must be helped in 
 making the adaptation to new conditions. 
 
 In some lands, the missionary must even teach the men 
 how to make clothing, to build houses and to cultivate the 
 soil; while his wife must show the women how to sew and to 
 cook, to care for children and to make a decent home. The 
 phrase "missionary at work" is therefore not a misnomer. 
 Those who imagine that "missionaries have an easy time" 
 little realize the heavy and persistent toil that is involved in 
 
APPENDIX 153 
 
 missionary effort. The fact is that foreign missionaries are 
 among the hardest worked men in the world. 
 
 Much of this work, too, is done in unfavorable climates and 
 amid conditions that tell heavily upon the strength and nerves. 
 The typical hospital, with work enough for two or three 
 physicians, has but one medical missionary and he must per- 
 form every operation and attend every sick patient, save for 
 such native assistants as he may be able to snatch a little time 
 to train. Schools, which at home would have a half dozen 
 or more teachers, have but one or two. The ordained mis- 
 sionary often finds himself obliged to unite the adaptability 
 of a jack-of-all-trades to the functions of an archbishop. 
 
 One missionary in China, for example, in addition to the 
 care of a large native church and the teaching of a class of 
 inquirers, had to supervise eleven day schools and thirteen 
 out stations, draw the plans for and superintend the erection 
 of a brick residence, a school house and several small houses 
 for native helpers. His masons had never seen a foreign 
 house or built a chimney and his carpenters had never made 
 a stairway, so that he had to direct personally every detail 
 from the sawing of the logs and the burning of the brick to 
 the laying of the last roof tile and the painting and papering. 
 Another missionary has the oversight of six organized 
 churches, forty out stations scattered over a wide territory 
 and including 1,000 communicants and 200 inquirers. He 
 superintends forty-six day schools with 460 pupils, a single 
 circuit of these schools involving a journey by cart or litter 
 of 500 miles. 
 
PART II 
 A Venture of Faith 
 
 The History of the China Mission of the 
 
 United Evangelical Church 
 
 1918 
 
 Homer H. Dubs 
 
Rev. C. Newton Dubs, D.D. 
 
 Founder and Superintendent of China Mission 
 
Dedicated to the Memory of 
 
 My Sainted Mother 
 
 EMMA MATILDA DUBS 
 
 And to the 
 
 Women of the United Evangelical Church 
 
 Who helped to make the China 
 
 Mission a Reality 
 
PREFACE 
 
 To write the history of any mission without experi- 
 ence as a missionary is difficult ; I crave your pardon 
 for any mistakes that may have come in thus. I have 
 tried to be as accurate as possible ; if I have made any 
 mistakes, I shall be glad to be corrected. 
 
 This account is intended to be more than a mere 
 recounting of events ; I have tried, above all, to pre- 
 sent a picture of the conditions on the field, of the 
 kind of work done, and of the kind of people the mis- 
 sionaries deal with ; for that reason I have endeav- 
 ored to put the foreign missionaries into the back- 
 ground whenever possible, and the Chinese Christians 
 into the foreground. 
 
 I owe much to the assistance of my colleague, Rev. 
 B. H. Niebel, D.D., and to his pubHshed reports ; also 
 to the clippings loaned me by Rev. J. Q. A. Curry, 
 which lightened my labors considerably ; to the editor 
 of The Evangelical, Rev. H. B. Hartzler, for allowing 
 me to quote so freely from that paper, and to Mr. 
 Eoiang, of our mission, for his help. Above all I ac- 
 knowledge my indebtedness to my father, Rev. C. 
 Newton Dubs, D.D., who has gone over this manu- 
 script twice and has made many valuable suggestions, 
 and to the other missionaries of the mission, who have 
 written for the pages of The Evangelical, from which 
 I have drawn most of my information, and who have 
 
 159 
 
l6o PREFACE 
 
 furnished me with statistics, and without whose aid 
 this book could not have been written. 
 
 This book is sent forth in the hope that it may in- 
 terest others in missions and stimulate the interest 
 of those who are working for that purpose, that the 
 time may be hastened when every knee in heaven and 
 on earth shall bow to the one Father God, and to Jesus 
 Christ, His Son. 
 
 Homer H. Dubs. 
 
 Nanking, China, Jan. ^i, 1919. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter I Beginnings 163 
 
 Chapter II Entry Into Hunan 167 
 
 Chapter III First Years in Hunan 180 
 
 Chapter IV Changsha 196 
 
 Chapter V Siangtan 217 
 
 Chapter VI LiHng 225 
 
 Chapter VII Yuhsien 239 
 
 Chapter VIII ChaHng 248 
 
 Chapter IX KuHng 255 
 
 Chapter X Women's Work 258 
 
 Chapter XI Medical Work 267 
 
 Chapter XII The Educational System 273 
 
 Illustrations 
 
 Statistical Appendix 287 
 
 Pronunciation of Geographical Terms 288 
 
 Map of the Mission Field 
 
 II i6i 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 BEGINNINGS 
 
 The foreign mission of the United EvangeHcal 
 Church was begun in faith ; it was nurtured in faith, 
 and it is being continued in faith. Begun at a time 
 when a foreign mission seemed unwise, continued 
 through discouragement after discouragement, en- 
 larged when the opportunity presented itself, even 
 though the finances at home did not seem to warrant 
 it, this mission has throughout its history been an ex- 
 ample of faith in God. If God is for us, who can be 
 against us? If we are doing God's work, how can 
 there be any failure? 
 
 The true Christian is never content to think only of 
 himself, he must go and carry his good news to others. 
 There had been woman's missionary societies in the 
 old church, prior to the organization of the United 
 Evangelical Church ; they now organized themselves 
 more closely, and continued to meet after the Church 
 division, to study and pray about foreign missions. 
 The Church had supported a mission in Japan (started 
 in 1876) ; when the churches separated, that was 
 taken away from them. People upon whose hearts 
 the cause of missions has once been impressed can 
 never forget it, and so it was with these women. They 
 were not many ; they had no funds in their treasury, 
 but they were endued with the Spirit of the Lord, and 
 
 163 
 
l64 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 with enthusiasm for their cause, and that always pre- 
 vails. They wanted a mission of their own ; they 
 prayed and worked for it. 
 
 The women were not the only influences working to- 
 wards the establishment of a foreign mission. At the 
 first General Conference in 1894, the Church adopted 
 the twenty-fifth article of faith. This was the first 
 article of faith of the kind to be adopted by any 
 church. From the very beginning the United Evan- 
 gelical Church has been a missionary church. 
 
 But there is a difference between adopting such an 
 article and starting a foreign mission. When the 
 women of the Church asked that this article be put into 
 action, that a mission be started, there were objections. 
 The Church was barely organized ; it had no finances ; 
 it seemed to many that any attempt to do mission 
 work would result in disaster. But God does not trust 
 in numbers nor in organization, though He often uses 
 these human pieces of machinery as His tools. The 
 advocates of a foreign mission would not be discour- 
 aged, but pressed their proposal. So a plan was pro- 
 posed and accepted by the conference. The General 
 Board of Missions was authorized to establish a for- 
 eign mission as soon as the sum of $20,000 should be 
 collected. In those days, when the Church and its 
 people were financially pressed, such a sum seemed to 
 put off the mission indefinitely, especially as there was 
 no actual mission for which to gather funds, nor re- 
 turning missionaries to arouse interest. 
 
 But the women of the Church were not to be dis- 
 couraged. They had faith in God ; they believed that 
 
BEGINNINGS 165 
 
 if God wanted them to have a foreign mission, He 
 would provide the money. So they collected money ; 
 in their societies, in their Mission Bands, they gath- 
 ered all that they could. Thus they made possible the 
 establishing of the foreign mission for which they 
 were working. At the end of four years, when the 
 next General Conference met in 1898, the Woman's 
 Missionary Society reported that it had gathered $10,- 
 244.80, about half of the necessary sum. Such faith 
 could not be withstood. If the women of the Church 
 could raise $10,244.80 in four years, when the Church 
 was in financial straits and when there was no mis- 
 sion to arouse interest, how much more could the 
 whole Church do when it had a mission ? So the Gen- 
 eral Conference yielded, and directed the Board of 
 Missions to take steps towards the location of a for- 
 eign mission. A committee was appointed to decide 
 upon the location of a mission, composed of Bishop 
 H. B. Hartzler (the brother of one of our first mis- 
 sionaries to Japan), Bishop W. F. Heil and Rev. C. N. 
 Dubs (who afterwards became the founder and super- 
 intendent of the mission). Faith had triumphed. 
 
 The committee deliberated on the location of the 
 mission from October, 1898, until June, 1899. Calls 
 from Brazil, Africa, the Islands of the Pacific and 
 other places were considered. At last they settled 
 upon virgin territory : the province of Hunan, China, 
 which had never yet been occupied by any Protestant 
 mission. The next thing was to find missionaries. 
 The Board of Missions searched the Church for some- 
 one who would make a suitable missionary. They 
 
i66 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 could find none. Then they turned to a man who had 
 been a zealous advocate of missions, who at the age of 
 eighteen had devoted himself to the foreign mission- 
 ary work (though later the Church strife prevented 
 him from carrying out this purpose), whose wife was 
 very active in the Woman's Missionary Society, Rev. 
 C. Newton Dubs. Already he was a little above the 
 age limit for missionaries, which is usually thirty-five ; 
 he had many interests in this country, prospects of ad- 
 vancement, and a boy to educate; but the call came 
 so loud and clear that he accepted, and on January lo, 
 1900, Rev. and Mrs. Dubs were appointed as mission- 
 aries. Mr. Dubs was appointed as mission superin- 
 tendent, with plenary power, to locate and found the 
 mission. They expected to sail early in 1900, but the 
 Boxer outbreak caused them to delay their sailing un- 
 til after the troubles were over, and then they, with 
 their son, Homer, arrived in Shanghai, China, on De- 
 cember 19, 1900. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 ENTRY INTO HUNAN 
 
 The situation in China at the time when the super- 
 intendent arrived, was quite discouraging. The 
 "Boxer Year," with its seeming annihilation of Chris- 
 tian missions, was just over, and things were not yet 
 settled. It looked anything but a favorable time for 
 starting a foreign mission. But Christ can never be 
 conquered, and so the missionaries went on with their 
 preparations. 
 
 There had always been opposition to the foreigners 
 in China. For centuries the Chinese had been pro- 
 tected by the deserts and uninhabited wastes of 
 Siberia on the north, the almost impassable mountains 
 of Tibet and Central Asia on the west and southwest, 
 and the sea on the south and east, which, until the ad- 
 vent of the steamship, was also impassable. So they 
 had remained in proud isolation, never coming into 
 contact with any civilization at all comparable with 
 their own. When, about a century previous, foreign- 
 ers from Europe began to arrive at their shores, they 
 considered them, as all foreigners whom they had 
 known before, as barbarians, who were not worth con- 
 sidering. They did not want these "yang ren" (ocean 
 men) as they called them contemptuously; they did 
 not want their trade, nor the opium that they brought. 
 Dr. Morrison, the first missionary to China, who ar- 
 
 167 
 
l68 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 rived in 1807, was classed by the Chinese with these 
 obnoxious traders. It took two wars before China 
 realized that things had changed, and that she could no 
 longer keep out of the brotherhood of nations. Even 
 then she opened her doors grudgingly. The spirit of 
 conservatism, backed by twenty-five centuries of look- 
 ing back at Confucius, was very strong, and every- 
 where in the empire there was the demand that the 
 nation rise and kill or drive out these interloping for- 
 eigners. This sentiment was especially fed by a series 
 of pamphlets, most inflammatory in character, describ- 
 ing the foreigners, and the foreigners' religion in the 
 vilest of terms. Dr. Griffith John finally traced them 
 to Hunan, to a "scholar" (a man who had received the 
 equivalent of a B.A. degree in America) by the name 
 of Cheo Han. This man was living in Changsha, the 
 capital city, and issuing these pamphlets, the vileness 
 and hatred of which is almost beyond description. 
 Other writers, throughout the empire, followed his 
 lead, but none approached him in virulence. When, 
 at last, the Chinese government was persuaded to stop 
 and imprison him, it was too late. The anti-foreign 
 sentiment increased. The people felt that the govern- 
 ment was either powerless or under the domination of 
 the foreigners, so they must rise to rid the land from 
 these men who were turning things upside down, as 
 well as from the foreign religion. In the last years of 
 the century, things came to a crisis. Bands began 
 drilling to fight these foreigners. The authorities, to 
 prevent this movement from turning against the Man- 
 chu dynasty (which was also foreign), turned it 
 
ENTRY INTO HUNAN 169 
 
 against the Europeans and Americans in China. The 
 slogan of these "Boxers" (as these patriotic societies 
 were called, from a mistranslation of their Chinese 
 name) was to kill the foreigners or drive them out, 
 as well as all Chinese who sympathized with them. 
 Naturally, the missionaries, who were widely scattered 
 through the empire, suffered the most. In many cases 
 they were cruelly murdered, the mission stations looted 
 and burned, and the Chinese Christians likewise mar- 
 tyred. Some escaped after undergoing terrible hard- 
 ships. Our missionaries had planned to start for 
 China in July, 1900, but the news of these massacres 
 compelled them to delay until the end of that year be- 
 fore sailing. 
 
 The situation, when they arrived, was most dis- 
 couraging. In North China, Christianity seemed to 
 have been swept away. The Yangtse Valley (in 
 which Hunan is located) had not suffered so much, 
 but the missionaries had been compelled to leave their 
 stations and flee to the coast. The Allied Powers had 
 relieved the beleaguered foreigners at Peking, and had 
 compelled the Chinese court to flee, but the govern- 
 ment kept delaying the establishment of peaceable re- 
 lations with the Allied Powers, and anti-foreign senti- 
 ment was still strong. 
 
 Up to this time, the province of Hunan had not been 
 occupied permanently by any Protestant missionaries. 
 Before the Seventeenth Century, the Roman Catholics 
 had worked in the southern part of the province, but 
 the persecutions of that century had practically de- 
 stroyed their work. Before 1880 it is doubtful if a 
 
170 
 
 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 dozen foreigners had crossed the border of the prov- 
 ince. Protestant missions began in 1875 with itiner- 
 ating work. Although every other province in China 
 had been entered and occupied by Christian missions, 
 the Hunanese, with a characteristic proud independ- 
 ence, had kept them out. Changsha, the capital, is 
 only two hundred miles from Hankow, the great cen- 
 ter of trade and missionary activity in central China ; 
 many missions had attempted to enter this proud 
 province, but all had failed. The history of missions 
 in Hunan prior to 1900 is that of swift journeys 
 through the country, or of temporary location in cities 
 along the border. In 1897, a successful attempt was 
 made to open work at Chaling on the eastern border 
 (now one of our stations) and in 1898 Dr. F. A. Kel- 
 ler located there, but he was rioted out and barely 
 escaped with his life. The Boxer uprising destroyed 
 even the vestiges of missionary work in the province. 
 Hunan is located almost in the center of China 
 proper, and Changsha, the capital, is a little to the east 
 of the center of the province. Hunan is drained by 
 three rivers, all of them tributaries of the great 
 Yangtse River. The most important of these, the 
 Siang River, flows through the east central part of the 
 province, and forms the principal highway for traffic 
 with Hankow and thence with the outside world. This 
 river flows past Changsha and Siangtan, two of our 
 important stations. At present there is steamer serv- 
 ice from Changsha to Hankow, except for a few 
 months in the winter, when the river is so low that 
 steamers cannot come up so far. In 1897 a railroad 
 
ENTRY INTO HUNAN 171 
 
 was built from the large coal mines at Pingsiang, just 
 across the eastern border of the province, through 
 Liling to the Siang River at Chucheo, which is a sta- 
 tion on the proposed Peking-Hankow-Changsha-Can- 
 ton line. In 191 1 the line was continued to Changsha, 
 and in 1918 to Hankow, so that now it forms a very- 
 easy means of communication between our chief sta- 
 tions. This is a great improvement over the old means 
 of travel, which were by sailboat on the tortuous rivers 
 or by sedan chair or on foot along the roads. 
 
 The country is hilly. The mountains in the south 
 are spurs of the Central Asian Mountains. The chief 
 occcupations of the people are agriculture and hand 
 trades. Rice is the principal product ; it is said that a 
 full harvest can supply the whole kingdom. The most 
 prized rice comes from near Siangtan. Changsha has 
 several factories. Minerals are very abundant. The 
 coal fields of the province are believed to be more ex- 
 tensive than those of Europe, including England. Iron 
 is freely mined. Zinc, lead, antimony, sulphur, tin, 
 copper and silver are plentiful. From Pingsiang 
 comes the coal for the greatest iron works in China — 
 at Hanyang, across the river from Hankow. A large 
 share of the world's antimony (indispensable in type 
 metal) comes from Hunan. When these mines are 
 opened, Hunan will become one of the leading prov- 
 inces in the country. 
 
 The people of Hunan are full of character. They 
 are noted for their pride, opulence, and especially for 
 their strength of mind, tenacity of purpose, and ad- 
 ministrative ability. They are intelligent, possessing a 
 
172 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 manly, independent bearing. Hunan has furnished far 
 more than its share of the leaders of China. The 
 energy, independence and pertinacity of its people fits 
 them to be leaders in the new China. 
 
 The difficulties of our missionaries were accentu- 
 ated by the fact that they had to learn the Chinese 
 language. To illustrate what these pioneers had to 
 face I shall quote an experience of Superintendent 
 Dubs. When he arrived at Shanghai, owing to a mis- 
 understanding, there was no one to meet him. All his 
 baggage, trunks, handbags, etc., were piled up on the 
 launch which had brought him from the steamer. 
 
 "Here we stood in a strange country whose language we 
 could not understand, with no one to assist us. * * * At 
 first we despaired, for there seemed to be none who could 
 help us. I accosted a policeman, but he could not understand 
 me. Then I decided to help myself. Having come to this de- 
 cision, I at once selected a number of stout coolies and took 
 my place on the great pile of trunks. Not a word did I need 
 to utter ; I simply pointed out my trunks, etc., and these 
 coolies turned the pile of luggage upside down so as to get 
 one or two of the trunks that were at the bottom. It was 
 marvellous how dexterously they extricated my baggage and 
 piled it up on the dock, where Mrs. Dubs and Homer stood 
 guard over it. After checking it all off so as to be sure that 
 none was lost, it was loaded on Chinese wheelbarrows, while 
 Mrs. Dubs and Homer got into jinrickshaws. 
 
 "Up to this point I had not spoken a loud word to the 
 coolies, except to thank the one who saved me from a cold 
 bath, for in jumping from the dock to the tender (launch) 
 my foot slipped, and I had a very narrow escape. Had it not 
 been for the coolie, I should have met with a very bad acci- 
 dent. I'm afraid he did not understand my 'Thank you,' but 
 he appreciated the accompanying gesture, I'm sure, for it 
 pleased him immensely as I patted him on the shoulder and 
 smiled approvingly as he looked at me. The baggage was 
 loaded, all was ready, and yet no one moved, for I could 
 
ENTRY INTO HUNAN 
 
 173 
 
 not make these coolies understand where I wanted them to 
 take me. The leader stood patiently at my side listening in- 
 tently as I said slowly, 'Missionary Home,' 'Mr. Evans,' 'Mis- 
 sionary Home,' 'Mr. Evans,' trying in vain to catch one single 
 sound that would give him a clue as to the whereabouts of my 
 hotel. I showed him the address written in Chinese; of 
 course he could not read, but he soon found someone who 
 could. With beaming face our caravan started. Mrs. Dubs 
 headed the line, followed by Homer, then came the wheel- 
 barrows and carriers with the luggage, while I brought up the 
 rear. I was thus able to keep my eye on the whole caravan 
 and prevent any straggling or loitering. How could I know 
 but what one of the coolies might slip off down one of the 
 side streets and make off with all that he had. To prevent 
 this I gave all to understand that I was watching them, and 
 as soon as one of them would walk instead of keeping in 
 that peculiar pace, something like a dog trot, I'd utter a sign 
 of disapproval and look fierce. This always had its desired 
 effect, for he would at once begin to trot again. 
 
 "We must have presented quite an interesting sight, for 
 many a native stopped and gazed at us as we wound in and 
 out the many streets, crowded with Celestials. * * * At 
 last we stood on the threshold of 'The Missionary Home.' 
 Mr. Evans kindly paid the coolies for me, thus relieving me 
 of a great burden, for I had no idea of what was a just com- 
 pensation for their work." 
 
 Four days after arriving in Shanghai, the mission- 
 aries were studying the language. But they could not 
 find any one who could teach the Hunan dialect. Be- 
 sides, the Chinese teacher knows nothing of pedagogy ; 
 he contents himself with pronouncing the Chinese 
 words, the students repeating after him. Any direct- 
 ing of the lesson or assignment of study must be done 
 by the foreign student. A month after arriving, Mr. 
 Dubs went to Hankow, 600 miles up the river, to lo- 
 cate nearer Hunan. A month later they moved to 
 Hankow, where they secured a house in spite of the 
 
174 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 crowded conditions, almost by a special providence. 
 There they continued to study the language. Of their 
 teacher Mr. Dubs writes : 
 
 "Suffice it to say that the only word in the English language 
 that I have heard him speak is 'y^s,' and this he only used in 
 a case of absolute necessity." 
 
 When we consider the efficient language schools that 
 are now in existence, we see that there were many 
 arduous steps that the pioneers took, which the mis- 
 sionary of to-day can avoid. 
 
 At last, Hunan, the last closed of the provinces, was 
 open. The Boxer uprising, which was intended to 
 drive away the foreigners, itself paved the way for 
 missionaries to go to formerly inaccessible regions. 
 In Hunan there had been considerable disturbance ; a 
 Catholic bishop and some priests were murdered in a 
 most atrocious manner, and many Roman Catholic 
 Christians plundered. Protestant missions fared 
 somewhat better, but even their chapels were demol- 
 ished and plundered. The governor of Hunan was 
 called to account for what he had allowed to happen 
 in his territory. Thereafter foreigners could enter the 
 province. The missionary societies who had been try- 
 ing to enter Hunan thereupon cautiously moved in. It 
 is difficult to say to whom the credit belongs of effect- 
 ing the first permanent entrance. Some penetrated 
 from Hankow in the north, some from Kuangtung 
 province in the south, and some from the western part 
 of Kiangsi province, in the neighborhood of Chaling. 
 Dr. Dubs pushed his work at the language hard, that 
 
ENTRY INTO HUNAN 175 
 
 he too might enter this newly-opened land. On May 
 
 21, 1901, he started on his first trip to Hunan. 
 
 Because this trip is so typical of itinerating trips in 
 
 any newly-opened territory, I shall quote at length 
 
 from a letter of Mr. Dubs to The Evangelical. He 
 
 secured the only first class cabin on a launch running 
 
 to Changsha. 
 
 "It was only a small room, six feet long, seven feet wide 
 
 and barely six feet high, on the upper deck, immediately back 
 
 of the pilot house. I could not stand up without touching 
 
 the ceiling and I could not stretch myself comfortably on the 
 
 bunk, but it was much better than anything else, and I gladly 
 
 took it. Furnished, was it? Yes, it was furnished with a 
 
 bare bunk across one end, that served as my bed at night 
 
 and sofa by day, a 'rickety' old table about two feet square 
 
 and a few stools without backs. I had to furnish my own 
 
 bedding, toilet articles, and any other comfort I might wish, 
 * * * 
 
 "On the launch I ran the gauntlet. Some received me with 
 scorn, others with contempt, others with evident curiosity, and 
 a few in sullen silence. On the part of the crew I was treated 
 with utmost respect. This had a decidedly good influence 
 upon the passengers, and our little launch had not gone more 
 than a mile or two before the vanguard of the throng of 
 visitors began to arrive in my room. I had congratulated 
 myself that there were two windows (opposite each other) in 
 my cabin, for I surely would enjoy the fresh air as we 
 steamed up the Yangtse. But, alas, in one way they were 
 a disadvantage, for they afforded the curious Chinese an ex- 
 cellent opportunity to observe the foreigner from every side. 
 I never was alone. In every direction I saw eyes, piercing, 
 curious eyes, watching every movement. Even the expres- 
 sion of my face did not escape their notice. My limited vo- 
 cabulary was taxed to the utmost. It was all the more difficult 
 for me to understand them, because they spoke the Mandarin 
 dialect differently from what I had been taught ; and, secondly, 
 because they spoke so rapidly, shortening the words and pro- 
 nouncing them indistinctly. There were a few whom I could 
 understand, provided they clothed their ideas in short sen- 
 
176 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 tences, composed of words I had already mastered. These 
 soon formed a kind of body-guard, and acted as interpreters 
 between me and the crowds. One or two young men who had 
 traveled somewhat and seen foreigners, took especial delight 
 in talking with me. How I did regret it, that my knowledge 
 of the language was so limited and that I knew only a few 
 hundred words and could use them so imperfectly. Such 
 curious crowds I have never before seen. Everything I had 
 was of unfailing interest to them. They never seemed to tire 
 of gazing at me. Once and again my cabin was packed with 
 curious Celestials, whose presence was noticeable by odors 
 that were not celestial. One time especially the atmosphere in 
 my cabin was so stifling that I crowded them back out of the 
 door so as to get fresh air. The leader took advantage of 
 the situation to inquire about my coat. Of what was it 
 made? Where did I get it? How much did it cost? They 
 evidently had never seen a foreigner at close range before, 
 and, taking advantage of my good nature, they quizzed me 
 on every side. I threw back my coat so that they might see 
 my vest, shirt sleeves, etc. They gazed and gazed at my 
 vest. They asked to see what was under my vest, and so, 
 unbuttoning my vest, expressions of surprise and wonder 
 escaped their lips as they saw my white bosom shirt, stiff 
 collar, suspenders, trousers, etc. My fifteen pockets were a 
 great curiosity, and when I showed them that I even had two 
 pockets in the 'fly' of my coat they just roared with laughter. 
 My shoes always attract attention wherever I go. They de- 
 sired to examine that part of my wardrobe which I had as yet 
 not taken off, and were evidently quite disappointed when I 
 peremptorily refused to divest myself of any more clothing. 
 The leader was not, however, to be put off so easily. He 
 watched his chance and came around later to satisfy his burn- 
 ing curiosity. I took off a shoe and permitted him to examine 
 it carefully. 
 
 "To see me eat was especially interesting to them. My 
 servant was quizzed as to what we foreigners ate, and he was 
 equal to the occasion ; his imagination supplied the answer 
 when his knowledge failed him. Some few of his answers I 
 could understand, and I had a good laugh at their absurdity. 
 At meal time there was a general stampede for the best po- 
 sition at the window nearest the table where I ate my food. 
 
ENTRY INTO HUNAN 
 
 177 
 
 Many heard about foreigners eating with small iron spears 
 and short swords, but in this case they did not see this, for I 
 had learned to eat with chopsticks ; in fact, for several weeks 
 my cook had prepared one Chinese meal a day for me, and 
 so I can use the chopsticks tolerably well, although I am 
 very awkward. It was embarrassing at first to be watched 
 at meal time, but there was nothing else to do but to make 
 the best of it. A few good-natured words served to ward 
 off any unpleasant remarks at my awkwardness and I was 
 very thankful that the majority stood by me. Yes, I ate 
 Chinese food. I'm quite sure I had rice, pork, chicken, chunks 
 of fat pork, leeks and onions, but should anyone ask me what 
 was in the soup or what other kinds of food were served, I'd 
 be compelled to say, I do not know. I did not eat one 
 single hearty meal, for I had the misfortune to see the cook 
 at work in his kitchen as I boarded the launch. The first 
 meal was served at 10 a. m., the second at 4 p. m. * * * 
 After each meal I had a basin of hot water brought and took 
 a good wash. * * * That I should use soap, a wash- 
 cloth, and a towel was the subject of much comment. The 
 situation was so ludicrous that I frequently buried my face in 
 my towel and took a good laugh. My position and experi- 
 ence can best be imagined if the reader will recall his visit 
 to some zoological garden or menagerie to see the great white 
 elephant or African lion or the curly-headed natives of some 
 tropical country. I can well remember how parents held up 
 their children, and called their attention to the paws, beard, 
 mane, jaws, eyes and ears of the great lion; every movement 
 was watched with untiring interest and was the subject of 
 much comment. Crowd after crowd passed the lion's den, all 
 laughing, jeering, and joking about the lion, which was pacing 
 to and fro in the narrow cage. Such was my lot. Parents 
 brought their children, held them up, pointing at my clothing, 
 beard, shoes, trunk, books, etc. Over and over again I had 
 to answer the following questions: Your honorable surname? 
 Your honorable age? Your honorable country? And to what 
 place are you going? What is your honorable business? 
 * * * The first day it was indeed a novel experience, the 
 second day I tolerated their curiosity, and the third day it 
 was positively annoying. How I did long for a few moments 
 12 
 
178 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 of quiet rest, but from early dawn to late at night I was 
 continually watched, never alone." 
 
 Every missionary who has itinerated in a part of 
 the country where foreigners are new has had similar 
 experiences to this one. The curiosity excited by a 
 foreigner is an advantage, in that it draws the crowds 
 to him, but it is also a disadvantage, in that it deprives 
 him of privacy. 
 
 At Changsha, Mr. Dubs found one foreign mission- 
 ary living outside the city proper, and daily going into 
 the city to preach and sell tracts. He went on to 
 Siangtan, and there tried an innovation — going to a 
 newly-opened Chinese city in foreign garb instead of 
 wearing Chinese clothes. Immense crowds followed 
 him continually to see the strangely clothed man. At 
 times they were very noisy and at all times it would 
 have taken only a very little to excite the people to mob 
 violence. As he was walking with another tall mission- 
 ary, a Chinese was overheard to say, "It would take 
 ten of us to whip one of them. How big and tall ! 
 Very tall !" His friend turned to the crowd and said, 
 good-naturedly, "Yes, we are men, you are only chil- 
 dren compared to us !" "Haiya !" was the reply, "No 
 no, we are men, you are devils!" That was the idea 
 the people had of foreigners, then and everywhere 
 since, until they came to know them better. 
 
 But the time was not ripe for a permanent location 
 in Hunan. There was too much opposition on the part 
 of the people, and our missionaries did not yet have 
 sufficient command of the language for active work. 
 
ENTRY INTO HUNAN 179 
 
 So the language study was resumed at Hankow, and 
 at Ruling during the summer. 
 
 At this time the superintendent laid down a prin- 
 ciple for the work which has been a fundamental part 
 of the mission's policy ever since : 
 
 "We as foreigners can never reach the masses as such. 
 But among those we do reach will be those whom God had 
 chosen to be the spiritual leaders of this people. It is our 
 purpose to educate and train these men and women, then send 
 them out. By their lives and influence they will win their 
 fellow natives who will at a glance recognize their superiority 
 in every respect. Thus will Christianity commend itself in 
 the lives of these chosen ones of God, and the Chinese will 
 see that there is something more than human in our blessed 
 religion, when they come into contact with its fruits. Of the 
 times and seasons we have no definite knowledge, but God will 
 watch and care for the harvest ; all we have to do is to sow 
 the seed. He who giveth the rain will make it prosper, for 
 it is His work. * * * The enthronement of Christ in the 
 hearts and lives of the Chinese among whom it will be our 
 privilege to labor, and nothing less, is the aim and purpose of 
 our coming to China. Towards this end we will labor and 
 work, and our whole missionary organization with all its 
 ramifications must be in harmony with this aim and purpose." 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 FIRST YEARS IN HUNAN 
 
 It was not until November, 1901, that Dr. Dubs 
 took a second trip to Hunan. By this time he had 
 gained greater fluency in the language, and was better 
 able to deal with the Chinese. Up to this time, for- 
 eigners, even though they were tolerated on the out- 
 skirts of the city, had not been able to rent property in 
 the city itself. The London mission property was out- 
 side the city wall which surrounded this as every other 
 large Chinese city. The only missionary who ventured 
 to stay at Changsha (a man who was "independent" 
 or unconnected with any mission board) had to stay 
 on a boat just outside the city; he had a very hard 
 time of it ; the governor ordered him to be guarded, 
 every movement watched. He was compelled to go 
 out of the city at night, even though he could walk 
 through it in day time. In June of that year (1901) 
 Dr. Frank A. Keller, of the China Inland Mission, 
 rented a place in the face of great difficulty. Then he 
 wrote to Dr. Dubs, who had previously made his 
 friendship, and told him to come to Changsha, and 
 live with him temporarily. 
 
 The landlords of the city had banded themselves to- 
 gether in an agreement not to rent or sell to a for- 
 eigner, so great was their hatred of foreigners. Man 
 proposes, but God disposes, and His cause is not to be 
 
 180 
 
FIRST YEARS IN HUNAN i8i 
 
 checked by any human scheme. As soon as Dr. Dubs 
 got to Changsha the location of the first station of the 
 mission was made a matter of careful consideration. 
 The question was as to whether it should be located in 
 anti-foreign Changsha, or in Siangtan, where the 
 American Presbyterians had located and where there 
 was less opposition to foreigners. After much prayer 
 for God's guidance, faith triumphed, and it was de- 
 cided to locate at Changsha. Dr. Keller set his Chi- 
 nese helpers to looking for a suitable house. God's 
 providence works in many ways. It happened that 
 nearby there was a good house vacant. It had the 
 reputation of being haunted, for several deaths had 
 happened in it in succession, and so it had been vacant 
 for almost a year. The landlord was overjoyed at the 
 proposal made (through intermediaries, as is always 
 the custom) that it be rented to a certain Mr. "Du" 
 (which is Dr. Dubs' Chinese name), and hastened to 
 conclude the contract. But when Dr. Dubs entered 
 the house, and the landlord found that in his haste he 
 had rented to a foreigner, great was his consternation. 
 The officials came to Dr. Dubs and begged him to 
 leave, telling how unsafe it was to stay ; the landlord 
 begged him to leave, saying that he would be boy- 
 cotted. Everything possible was done to get Dr. Dubs 
 to leave. But he refused to budge ; the contract had 
 been signed, the rental paid, and he stood upon his 
 legal right to the house. So the United Evangelical 
 Mission was the third to establish itself in Changsha, 
 the capital city of Hunan province. 
 
i82 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 In a month Dr. Dubs went to Hankow and brought 
 to this house his wife and boy. Hardships were not 
 lacking. They had trouble in establishing themselves 
 in this Chinese house. In wet weather the walls were 
 damp for ten feet from the floor. They found it diffi- 
 cult to get lump coal to burn in their American stove ; 
 they could not get potatoes nor yeast ; in summer it 
 was intensely hot in their cramped quarters ; they 
 were lacking many of the things that make comfort 
 for an American family. Harder to bear than any- 
 thing else was the fact that they could not go outdoors. 
 Dr. Dubs, indeed, would walk a block or two on a 
 neighboring street daily, to accustom the people to his 
 presence ; but Mrs. Dubs and their boy could not leave 
 the house for fear of the people until the next spring, 
 when the popular prejudice abated somewhat, and 
 they dared to steal, by back streets, to the broad top of 
 the city wall, out of which the soldiers could keep the 
 people, and there they could take walks in the fresh 
 air. 
 
 As yet no missionary work could be done. Dr. 
 Dubs found that the Chinese which he had learned to 
 speak at Hankow was somewhat different from that 
 spoken in Changsha ; although he could converse with 
 an educated, traveled man, yet it was necessary to re- 
 learn much before he could work with the Hunanese. 
 For a long time the only service in Chinese that he 
 held was morning prayers for the household — the 
 servants, and any Chinese who cared to drop in. Fur- 
 thermore he did not have any experienced Christian 
 
FIRST YEARS IN HUNAN 183 
 
 Chinese helpers ; for most of the work in preaching to 
 the Chinese has to be done by Chinese themselves. 
 
 It was not until June 15, 1902, that a chapel was 
 opened. Dr. Keller loaned Dr. Dubs Mr. Liu, a bright 
 Chinese convert of five years' experience, who could 
 act as evangelist. Dr. Dubs felt that now he knew 
 enough of the language to understand what the evan- 
 gelist was saying, so as to be able to guard against any 
 false teaching that might inadvertently have crept into 
 the preacher's mind. It was impracticable to buy. 
 property to build a chapel, so a room was fitted up in 
 their house for services. It was felt that even though 
 it meant staying in Changsha during the intense sum- 
 mer heat, it would be worth while to get started at 
 least, in the early summer, that there might be so much 
 of a foundation for active work in the fall. 
 
 The opening was a success. A baby organ, the only 
 one in the city, helped in the music. It meant much 
 for the few Christians to have another chapel ; for 
 it is very hard to be a Christian in heathen surround- 
 ings, and the Chinese Christians need, even more than 
 those in America, the stimulus that comes from weekly 
 attendance at Christian services. 
 
 At the same time, the outer court of the house, a 
 space some fifty feet square, with a roof covering part 
 of it, was fitted up as a street-chapel. This was opened 
 the next day. Here was held daily preaching for the 
 Chinese. Benches were brought in, the big front doors 
 opened, giving a free entrance from the street, the 
 sound of the baby organ or the presence of the for- 
 eigner drew a crowd, and the evangelist or some 
 
l84 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 church member would begin preaching. This preach- 
 ing, interrupted by tract-selhng, would last all morn- 
 ing. A typical street-chapel is described by Rev. M. 
 E. Ritzman in a letter : 
 
 "The presentation of the gospel in the street chapel must be 
 leveled to the understanding of the hearers. The men who 
 crowd into the chapel know nothing of our God, or our 
 Saviour, or our Bible. They must be taught that there is a 
 God ; that there is a Saviour ; that we are all sinners. So 
 one day the preacher will talk to them on the foolishness of 
 worshipping idols. The next day he may show to those who 
 gather to hear him preach that we are all sinners. 
 
 "The things preached in the street chapel are such as the 
 great majority of us learned on our mothers' knees. All 
 classes are seen in the chapel, the coolie with his load, the 
 merchant and his clerks, the rich man, the beggar, and even 
 the proud Confucian scholar, who hardly deigns to look at 
 the foreigners. But the great majority of those who come 
 consist of the coolie and the laboring class. 
 
 "The order is such as would not for a minute be tolerated 
 in a church at home. But these men do not know how to be 
 quiet and reverent. Some of them seem to have a kind of 
 fear that the seat might charm them and cause them to believe 
 something of the doctrines preached. The preacher may be in 
 the midst of the most solemn part of his discourse when the 
 audience will burst out in laughter. Or he may say something 
 that contradicts their ancient beliefs, and a man in the audi- 
 ence will rise up to challege his statements. Several men 
 may begin to talk to each other. Some man, perhaps the one 
 in the front seat, will look back to the door, see his friend 
 entering, and immediately call to him to come and share 
 his seat with him. Another man has his pipe with him, and 
 very quietly (?) begins taking a smoke. Or one of the street 
 peddlers will enter with his long-stemmed pipe and begin to 
 work up a trade, charging a cash or two for several puffs. 
 Another has a pocketful of peanuts, or a handful of water- 
 melon seeds, and begins to satisfy his hunger. The coolie 
 enters with his load — it may be water buckets, or grain baskets, 
 or a basket of chickens, or even a load of squealing pigs. 
 
FIRST YEARS IN HUNAN 185 
 
 I have even seen them with a crying baby in one basket and 
 one or two little piggies in the other. 
 
 "And one must not only reckon with the disturbances in- 
 side of the chapel. Those on the outside are often just as 
 formidable. The noise of the screechy wheelbarrows, the 
 curses of chair coolies, the yelling of children, the barking of 
 dogs, the gongs of the blind and peddlers, all come from the 
 street. It is nothing unusual for the clerks of a store to come 
 to the street chapel ; then when a customer comes to buy, the 
 shopkeeper comes to the chapel door and calls his clerks. At 
 once three or four or half a dozen men jump up in different 
 parts of the chapel and rush out to attend to their business. 
 A fight in the street, the opening of a nearby theater, a 
 passing procession may transfer the whole audience to the 
 street with the exception of about half a dozen sleepy looking 
 men, who do not seem to care even about what the preacher 
 is saying. But others from the street are constantly coming 
 in, usually filling the chapel very quickly again. 
 
 "The joys of street chapel work are vastly greater than the 
 discouragements. To see only one man drop in out of curi- 
 osity, become interested, and come day after day, until he 
 finally comes to the regular prayer-meetings, and then de- 
 velops into a faithful Christian, is a joy, than which there is 
 none sweeter this side of heaven. And the very knowledge 
 that you are sowing seed every day that sometime, some- 
 where, must bring forth fruit, is such as I believe only the 
 worker in heathen lands can ever fully realize. Discourage- 
 ments and weariness? Yes, sometimes; but who would not 
 gladly endure these for the sake of the greater joy set before 
 him?" 
 
 When a man becomes interested, he is invited around 
 to the daily vesper service. The Sunday service is not 
 for those who know nothing of Christianity, but rather 
 for Christians, and non-Christians who already know 
 something and can understand a discourse which deals 
 of such terms as "sin," "Christ," "salvation," etc. Be- 
 sides these services, there is the Guest Hall work — two 
 rooms are fitted up to receive guests in Chinese style, 
 
l86 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 one for men and one for women, and after the services 
 the people who wish to learn more, come to these guest 
 halls, where the foreigner or an evanglist talks with 
 them, and endeavors to interest them in Christianity. 
 These services are still the foundational services in 
 mission work ; they are graded so as to teach the peo- 
 ple who know more and those who know less of Chris- 
 tianity. In going to a people to whom the term "sin" 
 conveys a hazy idea of certain evil deeds that may be 
 counterbalanced by certain good deeds, such as giving 
 alms to a beggar, to whom "Christ" is an unknown 
 proper name, "God" a term for myriads of idols, it is 
 necessary to deal gradually in imparting Christian 
 truth. 
 
 Later other services were added. Sunday school 
 work was first begun with the children in the day 
 school as pupils. There were no trained teachers, and 
 there were many other difficulties in getting started. 
 This has become one of the most successful forms of 
 Christian work. The Chinese religions neglect the 
 children ; that the Christians should think it worth 
 while to teach their religion to the children was quite 
 an innovation. 
 
 There was also established a workers' training class. 
 This met in the morning before the work of the day 
 began. Of this Dr. Dubs writes : 
 
 "It soon became apparent that I must take steps to bring 
 my men into a deeper and richer experience, if I would have 
 them do much effective work. They needed training, instruc- 
 tion, criticism, etc. * * * Thus every day is begun with a 
 service of prayer, 'just among ourselves,' and I am glad to 
 note the progress the native brethren are making. For some 
 
FIRST YEARS IN HUNAN 187 
 
 weeks I have been trying to teach them to live a life of 
 prayer, to realize that nothing of any value to Christ's king- 
 dom can be accomplished without prayer and an utter de- 
 pendence upon the help of the Holy Spirit. It is in this 
 meeting that all important phases of the work are reviewed 
 and discussed, with a view of making our work more ef- 
 fective." 
 
 From the beginning great emphasis was put upon 
 the guest hall work. The guest hall was kept open all 
 day, with an evangelist or another worker in attend- 
 ance. This man would be ready to talk to a casual 
 visitor, and would turn the conversation to some reli- 
 gious theme. 
 
 Another phase of the work was tract-selling. In a 
 land where learning is so much emphasized, much can 
 be done through the printed Word. Consequently a 
 great effort was made to sell tracts of various kinds 
 and printed Scriptures. On every station, and on 
 every itinerating trip, an effort is always made to sell 
 tracts. These are prepared by the best missionaries 
 in China, and can often make an impression where the 
 missionary's stumbling talk fails. They are rarely 
 given away, but are sold far under cost — that the pos- 
 sessor may feel their worth by paying for them. 
 There are authentic cases where a tract bore fruit 
 after ten years ; the purchaser waited ten years after 
 reading the tract for more light upon this subject and 
 then found it when the missionary came and preached. 
 
 Of the women's work and of educational work I 
 shall speak later. The foregoing are the forms of mis- 
 sionary work which are at present very important, and 
 which form the foundation of the work of the mission 
 
l88 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 on all the stations. Most of the work of the mission- 
 ary is like church work in America ; but owing to the 
 people's entire ignorance of Christianity, something 
 which cannot be realized by anyone who has not been 
 in a non-Christian country, it is necessary to add other 
 forms of work, so as to adapt the gospel to different 
 kinds of people. 
 
 In the summer of 1902 anti-foreign rumors became 
 very rife. They kept growing worse and worse, and 
 the people began to get into an excitable frame of 
 mind. Those conversant with the situation feared an 
 outbreak similar to that in 1900, for missionary work 
 sometimes is like sitting on top of a volcano ; it may 
 break out or it may not ; in either event one has to be 
 on the watch. Rumor had it that the cholera epidemic 
 was caused by the poison that the foreigners had put 
 into the wells ; that the foreigners would catch un- 
 suspecting Chinese and gouge out their eyes or heart 
 with which to make medicine. These and other simi- 
 lar rumors were circulated until the situation culmi- 
 nated in the murder of two missionaries in Shenchow, 
 a town in the western part of the province. This mur- 
 der could have been prevented by the local officials, 
 but they were anxious to get rid of the "foreign 
 devils" and winked at the action of the mob until it 
 was too late. The severity with which this negligence 
 was punished by England, whose subjects these mis- 
 sionaries were, cleared the air. The officials of the 
 province saw that the foreigners under their charge 
 must be protected- — and so they were protected. 
 There was no more disturbance of the kind in Hunan. 
 
FIRST YEARS IN HUNAN 189 
 
 These two men were martyrs for the rest of the mis- 
 sionaries. From that day to this no missionary has 
 lost his Hfe as a result of anti-foreign mob violence. 
 The officials can protect the foreigners if they see it is 
 necessary. Whether such will continue to be the case 
 under the laxer rule of the New China is a question ; 
 but now the people are far more friendly than they 
 were then. 
 
 In October, 1902, the mission was definitely located 
 in Changsha. An opportunity was found to purchase 
 a large house situated on one of the main streets, a 
 little to the east of the center of the city. Although 
 the London Missionary Society had previously pur- 
 chased some property just outside the city, this was 
 the first time property was purchased for missionary 
 purposes inside the city. This property is situated on 
 the street leading to one of the city gates, where there 
 is a constant stream of people passing — a circumstance 
 which makes it ideal for street-chapel preaching. The 
 house was light and airy — an unusual thing for a Chi- 
 nese house, making it far more healthful than the one 
 then occupied. In front of the house proper were 
 some shops, which were turned into a street-chapel 
 (also used for the Sunday services) and a school 
 room. So the mission was located at this place. Later 
 on adjoining pieces of property were bought, and 
 though the property is now becoming too small for the 
 work, it is still, and probably will continue to be the 
 chief location of the mission. 
 
 That same fall. Rev. and Mrs. C. A. Fuessle arrived 
 in Changsha. They were the first reinforcements that 
 
ipo 
 
 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 had come to assist Dr. and Mrs. Dubs. The work had 
 become too great for two people to conduct, and Dr. 
 Dubs needed help very badly. Rev. and Mrs. Fuessle 
 had arrived in China a year before, in October, 1901, 
 but as there was no place for them to live in Changsha, 
 and as they could do no work until they had learned 
 the language, they spent their first year at Hankow 
 and Ruling, coming to Changsha in October, 1902, 
 when there was room in the newly-purchased house. 
 For some months Rev. Fuessle proved himself a valu- 
 able helper in the work of the mission, as far as his 
 command of the language permitted. But the seeds 
 of a disease which was in his system before he was 
 sent to China (diabetes mellitis) developed quickly 
 under the influence of the new climate, and in Febru- 
 ary, 1903, he had to return to the United States. It 
 was a great disappointment to him and to his col- 
 league that his promising career should be thus cut 
 short. His first public speech in Chinese was his fare- 
 well address. 
 
 That Mr. Fuessle should have to return on account 
 of his health produced a very unfavorable impression 
 at home. On this subject Dr. Dubs writes : 
 
 "Our general health is just as good here as it was in 
 America, and we can see no reason why a good healthy 
 person, with a good constitution, cannot live here just as in 
 the homeland." 
 
 Dr. Hume, the director of the Yale Medical School 
 
 in Hunan, writes : 
 
 "With reasonable care it is as easy to keep well in the 
 tropics as at home. If one is willing to study the conditions 
 in which he is placed, and to fit himself wisely into them by 
 
Rev. C. A. Fuessle, Jr. 
 
 Died Dec. 1 1, 1903 
 
FIRST YEARS IN HUNAN 191 
 
 adopting a few simple rules of health, it should not be hard 
 to keep well." 
 
 Had Mr. Fuessle remained in good health, the mis- 
 sion would have expanded much more rapidly. The 
 loss of this worker threw a much greater strain upon 
 Dr. and Mrs. Dubs. Mr. Fuessle was an exceptionally 
 gifted man. He had made excellent progress in the 
 language, far above the average. While in charge of 
 the guest hall work he won the confidence of the Chi- 
 nese evangelist and helpers ; all loved him and thought 
 very highly of him. Mrs. Fuessle was preparing to 
 start what would have been the first kindergarten in 
 Hunan. Why the mission should be thus set back in 
 its infancy seems hard to understand ; the lesson of 
 carefulness in choosing missionaries was deeply im- 
 pressed upon the board. 
 
 Mr. Fuessle's enforced return home only served to 
 increase his enthusiasm for missions. It was a great 
 shock to him that he should have to return. At first 
 he seemed to improve under medical care. Since he 
 could not be in China, he must interest others in mis- 
 sions. So he undertook a trip through the Church. 
 It seemed as if he were trying to repay God and the 
 Church a debt he owed in behalf of China. But his 
 exacting labors exhausted his strength. His infinite 
 willingness to do had led him too far. He laid down 
 his life upon the altar of service. On his last Sunday 
 he preached twice; Monday he attempted a curio 
 talk; Friday, December nth, 1903, he passed to the 
 home of his Father, for whose work he had given his 
 very life. 
 
192 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 Thus ended the life of one whose faithfulness to the 
 Church and willingness to do God's work is an ex- 
 ample to all others. His life was brought to an un- 
 timely end because he served God so faithfully and 
 continuously. He wore himself out in service. May 
 God send to us also His spirit of service in such abun- 
 dant measure. 
 
 But even though the staff was reduced in numbers, 
 the work must go on and increase. In May, 1903, an 
 evangelist, Mr. Liu, went to Siangtan with orders to 
 rent a place at all hazards. Siangtan is one of the 
 largest cities in Hunan, about twenty-seven miles 
 south of Changsha on the Siang River. 
 
 Mr. Liu succeeded in renting a house not very far 
 from the present property, in the southern part of the 
 city, near the anchorage of the boats coming from up 
 the river, situated on the main street, where thousands 
 of country people pass daily. He was put in charge of 
 this station, conducting daily street chapel, preaching 
 and Sunday services, as well as guest hall work. Dr. 
 Dubs made a weekly trip to Siangtan to oversee the 
 work. This was the first branch from the main sta- 
 tion at Changsha. At the time it might seem unwise — 
 one man and his wife could not serve two stations. 
 But the faith that led to the founding of the mission 
 was theirs too, and they trusted that there would be 
 speedy reinforcements to aid them in the work. 
 
 On the days of June 19 to 21, 1903, there was held 
 in Changsha a memorable conference of all the Prot- 
 estant missionary societies then working in Hunan. 
 Ten of the thirteen societies were represented. The 
 
FIRST YEARS IN HUNAN 193 
 
 missionaries resolved that, as there were so few mis- 
 sionaries in so large a territory, there was no excuse 
 for duplication of work. Consequently the province 
 was divided into sections, that each missionary society 
 may be unhampered in its own section, and that, ex- 
 cept in the large cities, where there was room for all, 
 only one society should be working in each town or 
 county. As a result of this conference, several of the 
 missionary societies readjusted some of their work, 
 that they might not trespass upon the territory of other 
 societies. This policy has been persisted in ever since, 
 and with two exceptions (the Roman Catholics and 
 the Seventh Day Adventists) has been adhered to by 
 all the missions. New societies wishing to enter the 
 province were assigned unoccupied territory ; and old 
 societies, wishing to withdraw, made arrangements 
 with the other societies to take up their work. In this 
 way duplication of effort has been avoided, and the 
 efficiency of the small missionary force has been 
 greatly increased. 
 
 The territory which has fallen to the lot of the 
 United Evangelical Church comprises the cities of 
 Changsha, Siangtan, Liling, Yuhsien, and Chaling, 
 with the counties in which they are located. Some of 
 this territory has been taken over from the China In- 
 land Mission ; in most of it we were pioneers. The 
 population is estimated at something like a million ; 
 the connection of the main stations by the railroad 
 gives it a great importance and gives the missionaries 
 quite an advantage in traveling. The people (except 
 in the cities) live in the densely populated country dis- 
 13 
 
194 
 
 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 trict. In this territory (except in the cities of Chang- 
 sha and Siangtan) we are the only mission working 
 (except the Roman Cathohcs), and the responsibility 
 for the Christianization of those people rests squarely 
 upon this Church. It may well make us pause to think 
 that our gifts and prayers will determine whether these 
 particular people will know of Christ and of His sal- 
 vation. If we fail, no one else will take up the task. 
 
 One other important event at this conference was 
 the coming of the Yale Mission to Hunan. The so- 
 cieties working in Hunan entrusted higher education 
 in sciences, arts and medicine to the Yale University 
 Mission. Thus there came to Hunan an institution 
 which has become known throughout China, and which 
 gives to the province an intellectual center and a means 
 of training workers that would be difficult, if not im- 
 possible, to secure otherwise. 
 
 On October ii, 1903, the church at Changsha was 
 organized with five members, and the first communion 
 service held. One of these members came by letter 
 from another mission, and four were baptized on con- 
 fession of faith, the first fruits of the mission. Thus 
 was begun the organization of our church in Chang- 
 sha. Five members may not seem to be much as the 
 result of two years of arduous work. But they were 
 years of seed-sowing; the seed that was then sown is 
 still bearing fruit in an ever-increasing number of 
 converts. But it is never safe to judge the Christian 
 Church by the number of members ; in those early 
 days, when people often joined the Church for other 
 than religious motives, it was necessary to go very 
 
FIRST YEARS IN HUNAN 195 
 
 slow in baptizing Chinese converts; and the number 
 of baptized Christians represents a larger number who 
 are Christians, but who have not yet proved their al- 
 legiance to Christ well enough to be granted admission 
 to the organized Church. In the statistics at the end 
 of the book, an attempt is made to estimate the size of 
 the Christian community by adding together the num- 
 ber of Church members and the number of those in 
 catechetical classes and otherwise in preparation for 
 baptism — all of whom are either Christians or on the 
 borderline between heathenism and Christianity. It 
 was well that circumspection was observed in admit- 
 ting converts to baptism, for more than once it has 
 been found that the real purpose of a convert in turn- 
 ing Christian was to gain the foreigner's aid in a law 
 suit. Such converts are promptly expelled, and thanks 
 to its careful policy, the United Evangelical Mission 
 has had as small a proportion of such cases as any 
 other mission. 
 
 With the organization of a church, the first period 
 in the history of the mission closes. It was a period 
 of beginnings, of struggle and hardship, of intense op- 
 position, and small successes. During this period Dr. 
 Dubs and his wife worked alone, except for the few 
 months that Rev. and Mrs. Fuessle were with them. 
 Foundation laying is always slow work, and the best 
 foundations are laid slowest. It was a time when 
 faith was needed to step forward ; but faith tri- 
 umphed, and in spite of troubles with the language 
 and with the forces of heathenism, the mission was 
 firmly founded and a good beginning made for future 
 work. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 CHANGSHA 
 
 From this time forward the history of the mission 
 is the story of how, brick by brick, the superstructure 
 was built on the foundation thus laid. At first con- 
 fined to Changsha, the mission spread southeast, to 
 Siangtan, Liling, Yuhsien, and Chaling. Since each 
 mission station developed separately, we shall consider 
 them one by one, and carry the history of each station 
 through to the year 1917 before taking up another. 
 
 Changsha, the first station of the mission, is the 
 capital city of the province. It is a handsome and 
 densely populated city. The population according to 
 the only census taken, is 270,000. It is at present on 
 the railroad from the coal mines at Pingsiang to 
 Hankow, and is a station on the projected railroad 
 from Hankow to Canton, one of the trunk lines for 
 travel and commerce. Most of the mission boards 
 operating in the province have missionaries in Chang- 
 sha. Consequently it is the center for union move- 
 ments ; the Yale Mission and the Union Girls' High 
 and Normal School are located there. It is assuming 
 importance as a manufacturing center; from the 
 water-front twenty or thirty large smoke-stacks are 
 visible ; there are large antimony works, a match fac- 
 tory, and other establishments. In addition to the 
 trunk line just mentioned, communication is main- 
 
 196 
 
CHANGSHA 197 
 
 tained with Hankow by large river steamers, except 
 for a few months in the winter; making it a place 
 easy of access. 
 
 Being the capital of the province, it is a place to 
 which many come ; men have been found in the most 
 distant parts of the province, and in other provinces 
 too, who have listened to the preaching of the gospel 
 in our chapel at Changsha. At such central stations as 
 this it is possible to reach a greater number of people 
 than anywhere else. 
 
 The development of the mission work in Changsha 
 is the same as that of any other station. The street- 
 chapel preaching, tract-selling, Sunday services, wom- 
 en's work, schools, Sunday school, and other such 
 forms of work have been continued and developed, 
 with varying success. Christian work at Changsha, 
 just as in every large city, has been hard, more diffi- 
 cult than at any other of the stations. This is due to 
 various causes. Not only does a large city present 
 more perplexing difficulties than any other place be- 
 cause of its size, but the presence of a large floating 
 population of the literati (the educated leaders of the 
 people), and government officials who often discour- 
 age Christianity, make it difficult. The foreigners, 
 resident in the city since Changsha was made an open 
 port, make mission work harder; these business men 
 show to the Chinese that our civilization is not en- 
 tirely Christian ; too often they illustrate vividly the 
 vices of the West, and the Chinese think that if these 
 business men are illustrations of what Christian coun- 
 tries produce, then they will have none of Christianity. 
 
198 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 So Changsha, while an important station, has been a 
 difficult one as well. 
 
 In January, 1904, the first permanent reinforce- 
 ments arrived in Hunan — Rev. C. C. Talbott, Rev. M. 
 E. Ritzman, and Miss Marie Hasenpflug. The first 
 two came out as regular missionaries ; Miss Hasen- 
 pflug was on a tour around the world and stopped off 
 a year to visit her sister, Mrs. Dubs, and to teach 
 Homer, then in the grammar grades. For a year she 
 acted as Homer's tutor, and helped a little in the boys' 
 school. When the year was up, she felt the call of 
 mission work so much that instead of continuing her 
 trip around the world, she stayed, and is to-day the 
 principal of the Girls' Boarding School. If some of 
 those in America who are dubious as to whether they 
 feel called to mission work could just come to China 
 and spend a year at a mission station, they would see 
 the great opportunity it presents and would feel its 
 irresistible lure. 
 
 While these reinforcements were a help, yet it must 
 be remembered that a missionary is of little use for 
 the first year or two, that he is on the field ; that time 
 must be given him to learn the language. Even in the 
 second year he can do only a limited amount of work. 
 But these missionaries realized the situation, and were 
 willing to dive in and do anything that they could, 
 even though it meant neglecting the all-important lan- 
 guage study, and so slower progress in mission work. 
 So we find them doing things that no missionary has 
 done since, in his first year in China. 
 
CHANGSHA 199 
 
 On April 3, 1904, four more Chinese were baptized. 
 It must not be thought that it is an easy thing for a 
 Chinese to be accepted as a Christian in full member- 
 ship. Ofttimes men will come to the Church who 
 hope to benefit materially from their connection with 
 the foreigner. To exclude such and to insure a good 
 foundation for the future Christian community, a rigid 
 process of weeding out is carried through before a 
 Chinese is baptized. The Christian Endeavor Society 
 (organized a little later) is watched, and those who 
 desire to study further are enrolled in classes, after a 
 careful examination on the part of the foreign mis- 
 sionary and a Chinese Christian sent specially to in- 
 vestigate. The report of this committee is considered 
 at the regular monthly meeting of the members, and 
 the person is accepted or rejected. If the person is 
 rejected, it is not to cast him aside, but to correct some 
 grievous fault; it is an attempt to help rather than to 
 injure. 
 
 These classes for study meet weekly or bi-weekly, 
 and are taught by the foreigner in the stations, and by 
 Chinese colporteurs in the out-stations. The course of 
 study comprises the central chapters of the New Testa- 
 ment, a catechism, and some book on Christianity. 
 But stress is placed more upon the devotional phase of 
 life and the practical application of Christianity to 
 everyday living. These candidates are carefully 
 watched and guided by visits and conversations. A 
 period of at least a year is the time for probation. At 
 last they are invited to meet the Examining Board, 
 which is composed of the missionaries, the Chinese 
 
200 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 pastors, and some members, and the candidates are 
 given a rigid examination in the catechism and as to 
 their own faith. If they are passed, they are recom- 
 mended to a special meeting of the Church members, 
 and if accepted, they are baptized and admitted to 
 Church membership. 
 
 So it is seen that for every Church member there 
 are a great number of "inquirers," persons who ear- 
 nestly desire to be Christians, and in many cases are 
 Christians, but who have not sufficiently proved them- 
 selves. The number of Church members rather repre- 
 sents a minimum number of those reached; the ad- 
 herents of the Church usually number about twice as 
 many. An attempt to estimate the number of Chris- 
 tian adherents has been made under the rubric "Chris- 
 tian Community" in the statistics. 
 
 On March 17, 1904, the new street chapel was re- 
 opened. While the place was being remodeled, it had 
 been closed. One of the new missionaries describes 
 the scene : 
 
 "I wish you could have seen them as they came rushing in. 
 Dirty and ragged some of them were, others clean and well- 
 dressed and evidently of the wealthier class. A hymn was 
 sung and then the evangelist preached to this crowd the un- 
 searchable riches of Jesus Christ. * * * Our new chapel 
 holds about 200 when full, as it very often is. The doors 
 open on to one of the busiest streets in the city. This street 
 is traversed by the great majority of the farmers and students 
 coming into the city. At nine o'clock every weekday the 
 doors are thrown open, and our colporteur sells tracts to those 
 who step inside. At ten the preaching is begun. One of us 
 missionaries always tries to be present. We do this to get 
 the people into the chapel, the crowds being always much 
 greater when one of us is present." 
 
CHANGSHA 20I 
 
 Another feature of the work at Changsha is the 
 monthly union prayer-meeting. This is a gathering 
 of the Protestant Chinese of every denomination. It 
 is a great event, in that it shows that the various de- 
 nominations, though distinct in organization, yet are 
 one in spirit. Indeed, in China, where the missionaries 
 are fighting the forces of heathenism, they reaHze the 
 common fundamentals of Christianity with a vivid- 
 ness seldom found in America where the fight for 
 Christ is not so severe. Just as the Allies were forced 
 to unite their armies when hard pressed, so when 
 Church union comes, it will be found to be the fruit 
 of Christian missions. Such a spirit of unity is a great 
 encouragement to the Chinese Christians themselves, 
 who cannot recognize the differences in the various de- 
 nominations which have won them to Christ. 
 
 To show the impression Christianity had already 
 made upon the city, let me cite an interesting item ; as 
 early as this year the governor of the province, unable 
 to find a sufficient number of school buildings, ordered 
 that some of the temples be converted into schools. 
 The idols were moved from their pedestals, and shoved 
 into alcoves, where they were boarded up. And this 
 was done, not by a Christian, but by a Confucianist 
 governor to further western education. Since that 
 time this has happened again and again. The first 
 impact of our civilization upon paganism is to bring 
 skepticism of the native faiths, but at the same time 
 it does not awaken a desire for Christianity. If there 
 were no missions, China would rapidly become 
 atheistic. 
 
202 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 In November, 1904, another group of reinforce- 
 ments arrived at Changsha, Rev. H. E. Voss, and Rev, 
 and Mrs. A. I. Ferch. Of these, Mr. and Mrs. Kerch 
 were compelled to return to America in a year because 
 of the illness of Mrs. Ferch. Again it was a tragedy, 
 and a great set-back to the mission that these mission- 
 aries should be compelled to return. It is experiences 
 like this one, and that of Mr. Fuessle that have made 
 the Mission Board very careful to secure thorough 
 medical examinations of all prospective missionaries. 
 
 In July, 1905, the port of Changsha was declared 
 open to trade. According to the treaties, foreign 
 missionaries were allowed to reside in every part of 
 the Chinese Empire, but other Europeans or Amer- 
 icans could only reside in certain places which had 
 officially been declared "open ports." This declara- 
 tion opened the way to the establishment of a large 
 foreign colony in Changsha, which now numbers some 
 hundreds. It also meant that Changsha would be a 
 larger trade center than ever, and that it would be 
 subject to a greater variety of foreign influences. The 
 coming of the foreign business man, as mentioned 
 above, makes mission work harder ; the teaching of 
 the foreign missionary and the practice of the foreign 
 business man does not always correspond. 
 
 In October, 1905, the first Christian Endeavor So- 
 ciety was organized. This society was not so much 
 for young people as for young Christians. It was felt 
 that the Chinese who are just growing into a full 
 Christian life must have some place where they can 
 learn to pray, to speak of Christ, and to realize what 
 
CHANGSHA 203 
 
 the fulness of Christ is. So in the Keystone League 
 of Christian Endeavor society the young convert prays 
 his first public prayer, gives his first testimony, and is 
 guided into the richness of Christian life. Here he is 
 not preached at, but practices what he has learned. 
 
 In the summer of 1906 there was a disastrous flood 
 in Hunan. The Siang River is a tributary of the 
 Yangtse. It is a small and shallow stream in winter, 
 but the freshets and melting snows of the mountains 
 cause it to raise forty or more feet and spread over 
 the country. These floods could be controlled, but the 
 lack of an awakened government has prevented it. 
 Every summer there is more or less of a flood ; some 
 summers it is extraordinarily large, and thousands 
 of people are made homeless, and many drowned. At 
 such times the foreigners have done a good deal of 
 relief work, assisted by contributions from America 
 and from the Chinese — such work has always ad- 
 vanced the cause of Christ in the eyes of the Chinese, 
 when they see what fruits it brings. So this time the 
 missionaries seized the opportunity, and by their re- 
 lief work won for their Master a favorable hearing 
 among the people. 
 
 The organization of a "mission" in Hunan dates 
 back to April 21, 1908. Up to this time the superin- 
 tendent had been responsible for the disposition of the 
 entire forces of the mission. Ordinarily a missionary 
 does not participate in the direction of the work of the 
 mission until he has passed the examination in the 
 third year's language work. Only those who know 
 the Chinese and the situation are sufficiently experi- 
 
204 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 enced to decide matters of mission policy. From this 
 time on, while extraordinary matters were left in the 
 care of the superintendent, the policy of the mission 
 was determined by the missionaries at their annual 
 mission meeting. This mission meeting and its com- 
 mittees, stations the missionaries and the Chinese 
 workers, decides such matters as the purchase of prop- 
 erty, erection of buildings, and all important matters, 
 subject, of course, to the action of the Board of Mis- 
 sions in America, especially in matters of finance. 
 
 A new kind of Sunday service was introduced in the 
 summer of 1909. On Sunday evening there was held 
 an evangelistic service for the Chinese in which all 
 the active work was done by the laymen. Neither the 
 foreigners nor the Chinese evangelist takes a promi- 
 nent part. After a short time of prayer in an adjoin- 
 ing room, the Christians go to the street-chapel, and 
 there these men testify to the power of God upon 
 them. Everything is informal ; the people can tell that 
 it is not a scholar speaking to them, but one of them- 
 selves, who is telling of his own experience, and such 
 an address is very effective. In China Christians are 
 on the alert to tell their fellowmen what they have 
 found in their new faith. 
 
 The regular development of mission work was in- 
 terrupted by a local riot in April, 1910. Such riots are 
 always a possibility among an uneducated people 
 which will believe senseless rumors such as the fol- 
 lowing: 
 
 A member of the church came one day, telling how he 
 had overheard a company of people in a back room discussing 
 
CHANGSHA 205 
 
 the situation. "They mentioned the fact (?) that foreigners 
 had always been guilty of gouging out the eyes and ears of 
 little children to use as medicines. An old woman who 
 worked in a foreigner's house, accidentally found a door of 
 a third-floor room open, in which she saw a large number of 
 eyes and hearts that were to be shipped to America to be 
 used in making very expensive medicines. On her return 
 from this room she was discovered by the missionary, who, 
 fearing that she would tell what she saw, gave her a cup 
 of tea; one-half hour later she was dead and her lips sealed 
 forever. This crowd of persons, deliberating in secret, never 
 questioned the story, but simply came to the conclusion that 
 it was about time to wreck all chapels and mission com- 
 pounds." 
 
 Any occurrence may start a riot. In this case, the 
 price of rice, the staple food of that part of China, 
 had more than trebled, due chiefly to the fact that 
 some officials and dealers had gotten a corner on rice 
 and that the prices in China were rising to approxi- 
 mately the level of prices in the rest of the world. Of 
 course this caused a great deal of suffering among the 
 poor people. It was aggravated by the fact that the 
 great rice merchants were shipping rice to other parts 
 of China, where the price was higher than in Hunan, 
 the province in which it is grown, and because the 
 governor, probably in collusion with the merchants, 
 delayed in establishing the customary embargo on rice. 
 At night the hungry people turned on the officials, and 
 began looting the governor's buildings, adjoining the 
 official residence. They succeeded so well that they 
 attacked the Norwegian Mission building. The mis- 
 sionaries had five minutes in which to get out of bed 
 and away. As the crowd broke in at the front door, 
 the missionaries rushed out of the back door, creeping 
 
2o6 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 around in Chinese houses and up in lofts until the 
 morning. Fortunately a foreign steamer was an- 
 chored in the river and they escaped to it. Next the 
 mob turned on the China Inland Mission and the 
 Wesleyan Mission. The next morning the mob burned 
 these missions. Early that morning our missionaries 
 left the city. Dr. and Mrs. Dubs stayed until one 
 p. m. Shortly after they left the mob burst in, and 
 thoroughly looted the place. The windows, doors, 
 brick-work on verandas, clothing, books, furniture, in 
 short, everything movable was ruined, stolen, or torn 
 to pieces. Nothing except the bare walls were left. 
 Twice fire was begun in different parts of the com- 
 pound, but the Chinese Christians succeeded in putting 
 it out each time before any damage was done. The 
 missionaries lost all their personal effects, and were 
 left without a change of clothing or any bedding. 
 
 Immediately five gunboats, English, French, Ger- 
 man and Japanese were sent to the place to protect the 
 foreigners. The official residence of the governor had 
 been burned — a thing that had not happened in a thou- 
 sand years. Twelve days later a new governor ar- 
 rived, with I, GOO soldiers, who made a great display, 
 and conditions gradually settled down. The Amer- 
 ican government demanded an indemnity for the losses 
 of the missionaries, and in due course of time it was 
 paid. The missionaries accepted indemnity for the 
 losses sustained by the board, and for the personal 
 losses of those who cared to avail themselves of the 
 privilege ; however reimbursement was only asked for 
 actual losses and damage caused by the riot. It was 
 
CHANGSHA 207 
 
 shown by previous experience that mission work does 
 not suffer by taking indemnity, except in cases where 
 the demands were exorbitant, and show a mercenary 
 spirit. Nevertheless, the missionaries lost many 
 things that could not be replaced, and the mission work 
 suffered a set-back. The buildings had to be repaired 
 or rebuilt, and it was a long time before the work was 
 as far advanced as before the riot. 
 
 It was not until August 27, 191 1, that a new street- 
 chapel was built and opened. It is a building 22 feet 
 wide and 36 feet long, on the street, where daily serv- 
 ices for those going by are held. After the church was 
 built, it was no longer used for the Sunday services. 
 
 The year after the riot missionary work was again 
 disturbed by the Chinese Revolution. So much has 
 been written about this event that I shall say little 
 here, except what affects this mission. The fighting 
 at Hankow began on October 2, 191 1. Changsha 
 turned republican on October 22. There was no re- 
 sistance. All the people and the officials, with one or 
 two exceptions, favored the revolution. One of the 
 generals, who hesitated when asked to become the 
 head of the new party, was killed. The provincial 
 governor escaped. A new governor was immediately 
 appointed, and that very afternoon the new provincial 
 Secretary of Foreign Affairs called upon the for- 
 eigners and read them the revolutionary manifesto. 
 The soldiers tore off all emblems of alliance to the 
 Manchus, and decorated themselves with a piece of 
 white cloth, the color of the Han dynasty. A large 
 white flag was hoisted above the government build- 
 
2o8 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 ings, with the character "Han" on it, and Changsha 
 was repubhcan. 
 
 During the revolution it was of course impossible 
 to keep the people quiet. So, at the request of the 
 Chinese authorities, the ladies of the mission left the 
 city, and ultimately went to Shanghai, where they 
 would be safe. For about a month mission work was 
 interrupted ; the street-chapel was closed, and when 
 it was opened again, the people were more interested 
 in the Revolution than in religion. But in the end the 
 revolution was an aid to missions, in that it secured 
 religious liberty for the people. The Chinese have al- 
 ways been more or less tolerant towards foreign reli- 
 gions, but the specific granting of religious liberty 
 meant much. True, this liberty was not granted until 
 a few years later, but the fact that it was coming, and 
 the efforts made in its behalf meant much even at the 
 beginning. 
 
 More important, the Revolution changed the attitude 
 of the Chinese to the foreigner. This change was so 
 marked that it was astonishing. The Chinese re- 
 spected the foreigner as never before ; they became 
 eager to have him as their teacher; they sought his 
 advice on many subjects; they adopted his style of 
 dress, imitated his mannerisms, and showed them- 
 selves pro-foreign along all lines. A class was formed 
 in the Sunday school, composed of young men from 
 the best families of the city, teaching the New Testa- 
 ment in English. The Chinese did not make a rush 
 to get into the Church ; but the Revolution brought 
 about such a state of affairs that all classes are willing 
 
CHANGSHA 209 
 
 to give respectful attention to the claims of the gospel, 
 and idolatry received a crushing blow in that so many 
 of the temples were transformed into schools. 
 
 During the time of the Revolution, the railroad 
 from Liling to Changsha via Chucheo was opened, and 
 one of our missionaries was the first foreigner to 
 travel on it. Now the two largest stations of the mis- 
 sion, Changsha and Liling, are joined by this railroad. 
 When it is remembered that previous to this time a 
 trip of 30 miles meant a day of tramping in the hot 
 sun over atrocious roads, or sitting cramped up in a 
 sedan chair for the day, and that this trip, which for- 
 merly took from two and a half to three days, was 
 transformed into a few hours' ride on a railroad, it is 
 seen what a great advantage the railroad is to our mis- 
 sionaries. 
 
 At the mission meeting of 191 2 an important change 
 v^as made in nomenclature. Before this time, the 
 larger appointments were called a "station." Now 
 this name was changed to "circuit," the boundary of 
 the circuit to coincide with the geographical bound- 
 ary of the Hsien or county ; while the terms "station" 
 and "out-station," terms used for a larger and smaller 
 appointment respectively, were retained for the ap- 
 pointments within the circuits. Thus each "circuit" 
 consists of a "station" and several "out-stations." 
 This change in the organization of the districts keeps 
 before the mind of the missionary that he is respon- 
 sible for the evangelization of the whole district and 
 not only for the particular town in which he is located. 
 At the same time an effort was made to open chapels 
 14 
 
210 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 in charge of Chinese workers in the smaller towns and 
 larger villages on all the circuits, while the foreigner 
 remained more a superintendent than a direct worker. 
 This step was a distinct advance towards the complete 
 occupation of the territory in which the mission is 
 located, and shows that the work had now progressed 
 beyond the stage in which the main effort is to locate 
 new stations, to the stage where the effort is to occupy 
 what territory had already been staked out. 
 
 The great effect that Christianity had already made 
 upon China is shown by the request of the government 
 that April 27, 1913, be set aside as a Day of Prayer 
 and Supplication for the newly inaugurated govern- 
 ment. That China, supposedly heathen, the country 
 which in 1900 attempted to exterminate Christianity, 
 should turn to the Christian for prayer — this shows 
 what a great change had come. Of course there was a 
 good deal of diplomacy in the request, but this official 
 recognition given to Christianity set the stamp of ap- 
 proval upon it and marked an epoch in the progress 
 of the Kingdom of God in China. 
 
 The dedication of the new church at Changsha in 
 1914 was made the opportunity for a great evangel- 
 istic effort. This new church is the largest church in 
 the city and in the whole province. The campaign 
 lasted ten days, June 14th to 23d. Rev. Timothy 
 Richard, D.D., Litt.D., of the Christian Literature 
 Society, was secured. He is one of the best known 
 foreigners in China, both for his fifty odd volumes and 
 for his influence upon the highest officials of the coun- 
 try. At the dedicatory services an effort was made to 
 
CHANGSHA 21 1 
 
 reach the leaders of the city. Each day was given 
 over to a particular class, while the two Sundays were 
 given over to the public at large. Admission was by 
 ticket only, and special invitations were given to those 
 whom it was especially desired to reach. The meet- 
 ings were announced in the daily papers of the city. 
 Several papers published daily reports, and one paper 
 published everything that could be furnished, from a 
 daily program to a detailed report of the addresses. 
 Meetings for the officials, the educators in government 
 and Christian schools, women and teachers of the 
 girls' schools of the city, the students, and the Hunan 
 Educational Association were held on separate days. 
 Specially prepared packets of literature were handed 
 the governor, the highest officials, the leaders of the 
 gentry, who are in reality the rulers of the province, 
 the leaders of the dififerent religions, principals and 
 teachers of the government schools, etc. Dr. Richard 
 made a deep impression upon all who heard him, espe- 
 cially the men and women of the educated classes. On 
 women's day fully a thousand women and scholars of 
 the girls' schools were present. A special invitation 
 had been extended to the governor's wife; when she 
 appeared she was greeted with a Chautauqua salute. 
 It was a new thing for the wife of the governor to ap- 
 pear at any public gathering, and when she returned 
 home enthusiastic, it showed that a deep impression 
 had been made. The governor gave a dinner at which 
 Dr. Richard was the guest of honor. Our Workers' 
 Summer Bible Institute was held at the same time, 
 thus affording all our workers an opportunity of meet- 
 
212 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 ing this great man. It was a memorable campaign, 
 one whose influence will be lasting, and did much to 
 bring Christianity into favor with the leaders of the 
 city and the province. 
 
 The following incident will illustrate the quality 
 of the Chinese converts. One of our members, a stone 
 mason, rebuilt his home, and in so doing furnished a 
 front room with a pulpit and pews. The room can 
 hold from 80 to 100 people. Some of the students of 
 the Union Theological School have been preaching at 
 this chapel, and every Sunday this man, Mr. Huang, 
 brings with him four, five, six, or more men. When 
 the church makes such converts, its future is assured. 
 
 Many of the women cannot come to church on Sun- 
 day unless they bring their babies with them ; to pre- 
 vent the disturbance caused by these little tots, one of, 
 the ladies of the mission started a nursery for them. 
 The improvement in the church service has been about 
 one hundred per cent. 
 
 A series of evangelistic campaigns have been held 
 in Changsha. The first was conducted by Mr. Goforth, 
 of Hunan, in the fall of 1913, and was necessarily 
 much of an experiment. The second was held in the 
 early summer of 1914, at which the principal speaker 
 was a young Chinese minister from Hupeh. In Oc- 
 tober of that year a third campaign was held, at which 
 Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood Eddy were the chief speak- 
 ers. A large shed, holding 4,000, was built, and over- 
 flow meetings were addressed by one of the local mis- 
 sionaries. Some 1,500 men and women signed cards 
 signifying their desire to study the life of Christ in the 
 
CHANGSHA 213 
 
 four gospels. This happened in the city where ten 
 years before it was a dangerous thing to preach the 
 gospel. So much Christ had already conquered, that 
 He was now sought after by the best men of the city. 
 
 On Easter, 191 7, the Changsha church was favored 
 with a visit by Bishop Heinmiller, Dr. Umbreit, and 
 Rev. Rank, of the Evangelical Association. Bishop 
 Heinmiller preached at the morning service. He also 
 visited Liling. The Evangelical Association also has 
 a mission in Hunan, in the western part of the prov- 
 ince. Bishop Heinmiller wrote, in his report of his 
 visit, "United we would have a splendid force at work 
 in China and together we could undoubtedly accom- 
 plish more than we can at the present time." In these 
 days when efficiency is the keyword of success, it is to 
 be hoped that this union will come both at home and 
 abroad. 
 
 Out-Stations 
 
 There are two out-stations to the Changsha Cir- 
 cuit, Chucheo and Lukeo. 
 
 Chucheo is a country place some 20 miles up the 
 Siang River from Siangtan, with a population of 
 about 2,700, with 1,000 more living at the station and 
 10,000 in the neighborhood. It is not at present of 
 much importance, but it will be the junction between 
 the main railroad line from Hankow to Canton and 
 the line to the great coal mines at Pingsiang. It will 
 be an important railroad center for traffic north, south, 
 east and west. 
 
214 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 This station was opened in May, 1904. The first 
 worker there was Colporteur Koh. He was the only- 
 son of his parents, and when, soon after he moved to 
 Chucheo, his ailment of many years' standing became 
 worse, all watched to see how his father, a man of ']'] 
 years old, who had been baptized only a year before, 
 would take it. A few months previous his baby had 
 died. With the death of this man, the family line 
 would be extinct. No greater calamity could happen 
 to a Chinese. The people hinted that it was a direct 
 punishment from heaven for deserting their ancestral 
 gods and shrines. But day by day the dying son ex- 
 horted his aged father to remain faithful and meet 
 him in heaven, for his race too would soon be run. 
 The whole village and surrounding country were 
 struck with consternation when they saw this aged 
 father rejoice that his only son had entered into the 
 eternal rest of God. There was no weeping, no idol- 
 atrous ceremonies, but all was quiet and peaceful, 
 more so than in many a Christian American home. 
 This old man, a Christian of only a year's standing il- 
 lustrated the simple childlike faith that takes the Word 
 of God as it stands, and trusts God's promises. 
 
 A chapel is maintained at this place, with a colpor- 
 teur in charge. The work has gone ahead slowly but 
 steadily. In the flood of 1905 the chapel fell down, 
 and the colporteur lost his personal effects. At first 
 this appointment was superintended and served from 
 Siangtan ; when the railroad was built to Liling, it 
 was made a part of Liling Circuit ; and now, as the 
 railroad connects it with Changsha, and Liling has so 
 
CHANGSHA 21 S 
 
 many other out-stations, it is part of Changsha Cir- 
 cuit, and is served from that place. 
 
 Lnk'co is also on the main line of the railroad, ten 
 miles south of Chucheo, a village of about 3,000 in- 
 habitants, with 13,000 in the district. It was first 
 opened by the London Missionary Society in 1912, 
 which had a Chinese worker there. The property was 
 an old heathen temple, whose owners had renovated it 
 and deeded it to the missionary society, to be held in 
 trust until the local congregation would become self- 
 supporting. When the London Missionary Society 
 withdrew from Hunan, and turned their work to the 
 American Presbyterian Mission, we secured this place, 
 as it was in our territory. It is an example of how 
 Church comity works in Hunan that this place should 
 be turned over to us, simply because our mission sta- 
 tion was nearest to it. Another piece of property was 
 purchased, more centrally located, which now serves 
 as a branch chapel. A Chinese evangelist is located 
 there. 
 
 Changsha Circuit, now (1917), has 5 foreign mis- 
 sionaries and 16 Chinese workers. There are 2 cate- 
 chetical classes with 69 catechumens, a Bible class for 
 men and another for women candidates for Church 
 membership, with an enrollment of 10 and 16 re- 
 spectively. Every week there are two Sunday preach- 
 ing services and two week-day religious meetings as 
 well as a regular women's meeting, averaging an at- 
 tendance of 60. The Church membership is 137; the 
 Christian community (i. e., Church members and those 
 
2i6 Evangelical missions 
 
 in preparation for Church membership, who are yet 
 being tried out; see page 200), is about 206. There 
 is a Sunday school with 267 members, a senior K. L. 
 C. E. with 137 active and 69 associate members, and 
 a junior K. L. C. E. with 32 associate members. The 
 Woman's Bible School, the Girls' Boarding School, 
 the Hunan Union Girls' High and Normal Training 
 School, and the Union Theological School are located 
 at Changsha, as well as the Yale Mission College, to 
 which the mission sends students. There is a boys' 
 day school and a girls' day school on this circuit as well 
 as those mentioned above. The Chinese contributed 
 $135 (American money) during the year towards 
 church expenses, as well as $690 in school fees. The 
 property, which includes one parsonage, two church 
 buildings, and a school building, is valued at $31,135 
 (American money). 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 SIANGTAN 
 
 Siangtan is about 27 miles south of Changsha on the 
 Siang River. No accurate census has ever been taken, 
 as is the case with most Chinese cities and towns; 
 estimates of the population range from 200,000 to 
 500,000. Probably the former figure is more nearly 
 correct. During the summer, when the river is high, 
 there is excellent communication with Changsha ; 
 small Chinese launches and large foreign steamers 
 make the trip. A branch railroad line is to connect it 
 with the Peking-Hankow-Changsha-Canton trunk line. 
 It is the largest business port in Hunan, and has an 
 immense shipping. The river bank is lined with large 
 and small Chinese boats. It is an important center for 
 trade from the southern part of Hunan and beyond. 
 Thousands of country people pass our premises daily. 
 Large parts of the city are on low-lying ground near 
 the river, and are flooded in time of high water. The 
 most prized rice in the country comes from near 
 Siangtan. 
 
 We have already seen how Siangtan was first en- 
 tered (p. 192). But the placing of an inexperienced 
 Chinese evangelist in the town was not sufficient. 
 There were internal and external difficulties that 
 needed the guidance of a foreigner. So Rev. C. C. 
 Talbott was stationed there (April 7, 1904). It was a 
 
 217 
 
2i8 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 sacrifice for him to go alone to take charge of this sta- 
 tion before he had a working knowledge of the lan- 
 guage, and try to shift for himself. Those who have 
 never gone through the experience of living alone in 
 a foreign land where no one understands what you 
 say, and where you have no companions, do not know 
 what that means. But he did it willingly, for he real- 
 ized the importance of keeping a strict supervision 
 over the work. 
 
 Mr. Talbott began building a street-chapel in Au- 
 gust, 1904, and after the usual delays incident to build- 
 ing in China, it was finally completed on March 19, 
 1905. Missionaries from the American Presbyterian 
 Mission, the London Missionary Society and the Chris- 
 tian and Missionary Alliance were present and spoke 
 at the opening service. It is an illustration of the 
 spirit of union on the mission field that all the missions 
 working in Siangtan should be represented at the 
 opening of a chapel. Of the building Mr. Talbott 
 writes : 
 
 "Building in China is work that all dread because of the 
 worry and vexation connected with it ; and the ever-present 
 feeling that the workmen are getting the best of you, al- 
 though you don't know just how or where." 
 
 Yet if proper buildings are to be erected, it must 
 be by the missionary, for the Chinese do not know 
 how, and there is no one else to show them. Later a 
 missionary's house, an evangelist's house and other 
 buildings were erected. 
 
 In July, 1904, the first converts at Siangtan were 
 baptized and the first communion held. Since that 
 
SIANGTAN 219 
 
 time the Evangelical community has grown steadily. 
 But Siangtan has been unfortunate, in that the dearth 
 of foreign missionaries and of trained Chinese work- 
 ers has made it impossible always to keep both a mis- 
 sionary and a Chinese evangelist at the place ; and 
 without both of these men, a station cannot be suffi- 
 ciently conducted. Consequently the work has not 
 gone forward as rapidly as possible. But Siangtan is 
 becoming more and more important and recently has 
 been developing better. 
 
 February 7 to 14, 1908, there was held at Siangtan, 
 as an experiment in mission work, a conference of the 
 people of the Church. Siangtan was then the most 
 central station. Some 50 odd people came from 
 Changsha, Siangtan, Liling and Chucheo. Three 
 meetings were held each day, with addresses by the 
 missionaries and Chinese. The time was just follow- 
 ing the Chinese New Year's, when there is very little 
 work done. The chapel was filled at every meeting 
 and the people felt it was quite profitable. But the 
 difficulties of travel in China prevented holding an- 
 other such meeting, and its place has been taken by 
 the Workers' Conference. 
 
 Siangtan has been especially blessed in that it was 
 the scene of the last labors of Mrs. Lilla Snyder Voss. 
 She was a teacher in the public schools of Reading, 
 Pa., when she decided to become a missionary, and 
 reached China in the fall of 1906. But she had been 
 in China barely two years when she left the work of 
 the Girls' School at Changsha to marry Rev. H. E. 
 Voss. With him she went first to Liling, later to 
 
220 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 Siangtan, where she continued to do valuable work 
 among the women. In the summer of 1913 she de- 
 veloped an mcurable disease. The superintendent of- 
 fered to take her to America, where her life might 
 have been lengthened ; but she declined to leave. She 
 told him that she would rather stay in China, if it were 
 only for a year, to do what she could for those about 
 her, and die at her post of duty, than to come to 
 America and live two years under more comfortable 
 circumstances. Hers was the kind of spirit that 
 makes heroines and martyrs. She worked as long as 
 her strength lasted, leading meetings, teaching in the 
 Girls' Day School, visiting the Chinese women, re- 
 ceiving visits, and caring for her two children. She 
 was untiring in her activities ; indeed, she was an 
 efficient worker. She worked as long as she could. 
 When she could not go to the women because of her 
 infirmity, she had the women gather around her bed, 
 so that she could teach them and pray with them, 
 leading them on in the Christian life. She bravely 
 met her death at her post, doing her duty to the last. 
 On May 6, 191 5, she passed away, a noble example of 
 courage and devotion to the end. "Blessed are the 
 dead who die in the Lord, for their works do follow 
 them." The example of a Christian woman meeting 
 death with such courageous faith in our Lord has had 
 a great influence upon the Chinese of Siangtan. Hers 
 it was to sacrifice up to the hilt. 
 
 A union evangelistic campaign, similar to those held 
 in Changsha, was held at Siangtan, February 28 to 
 March 6, 191 5. The temple of the God of War was 
 
Mrs. Lilla Snyder Voss 
 Died May 6, 1915 
 
SIANGTAN 221 
 
 secured free of charge for these meetings. A Chinese 
 temple has the shrines at one end, in the middle a 
 large court-yard, and at the other end an elevated 
 platform which is used for theatrical performances. 
 On the sides are galleries for the women. The court 
 was covered with a mat shed, and lights, a pulpit, or- 
 gans, seats, etc., were put in. It was the first time that 
 a temple had been used for such a purpose in Siang- 
 tan ; the idols looked down upon a Christian campaign 
 with their usual dreary, dark, dismal faces. The chief 
 speaker was Rev. Ding Li-mei, a remarkable Chris- 
 tian preacher from Shantung, himself a marked illus- 
 tration of what Christ can do for a man. Mr. Nieh 
 and Mr. Tsuen, influential Chinese from Changsha, 
 also spoke. When the meetings closed, the signatures 
 of 1,227 people had been secured to a pledge that they 
 would come to the Christian chapels and study the 
 Christian Scriptures. 
 
 Two pieces of property have been purchased in 
 Siangtan, one on the main street of the city, where the 
 street-chapel is passed by thousands of people daily, 
 and the other five minutes' walk away. The K. L. 
 C. E.'s of the home Church gathered some $10,000 
 for the erection of a church to be called the "Siangtan 
 Memorial Church." to the memory of the missionaries 
 of the Church who have passed to their reward. This 
 church will be completed as soon as the troubled state 
 of the country, and the low rate of exchange permit. 
 
222 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 Out-Stations. 
 
 Pantsishang is located across the river from Siang- 
 tan, and our chapel, which was opened in 191 5, is al- 
 most opposite the church in Siangtan. This suburb 
 has a population estimated at 9,000. A colporteur is 
 in charge. The foreign missionary makes about two 
 visits a week to this place. A Sunday school and 
 street-chapel are the features of the work at this place. 
 
 Shitan is another town with a population of 4,000, 
 about 19 miles from Siangtan, located in a coal dis- 
 trict. The best lime in this part of the province is pre- 
 pared there. It was opened in 1914 and a colporteur 
 is stationed at the place. 
 
 Kutangkiao is a town of about 1,000, half way be- 
 tween Siangtan and Huashih. In 1916 a chapel was 
 rented there, but as there is no available worker, none 
 has been posted there. 
 
 Shahp'u is half way between Kutangkiao and Hua- 
 shih, a village of about 1,500 people. It is in a farm- 
 ing community, as are all these places. Only two 
 miles away is another prosperous village, Chukialong, 
 the home of one of the colporteurs. When, after 
 much urging, the missionary visited this place, he 
 found that seven families had discarded their idols 
 and wished regular service, and that the leading man 
 of the town offered his hall for meetings. However 
 it was found better to locate at Shahp'u, which was 
 done in 1917, and visit Chukialong from this place. 
 So the work grows. 
 
SIANGTAN 
 
 223 
 
 Huashih is a thriving business place in a farming 
 community, about 30 miles from Siangtan. It has a 
 population of about 4,000. A number of the Siangtan 
 Christians or their parents lived here, and so our at- 
 tention was directed to this place. It was opened 
 in 1907 and a colporteur was first stationed there in 
 1908-1909, and a well-situated building was purchased 
 in 1913. At the time of the riot in Changsha in 1910, 
 a member of the Boxer Society from Shangtung 
 stirred up trouble at Huashih, and the chapel was par- 
 tially destroyed. But the Chinese official acted ener- 
 getically ; after a skirmish the leaders of the mob were 
 punished, and the property restored. A place such as 
 Huashih is visited by the missionary twice a quarter, 
 and a Chinese evangelist is stationed there. There are 
 21 members in the congregation, with a boys' day 
 school, Sunday school, etc. 
 
 Siangtan Circuit, now (1917), has 4 foreign mis- 
 sionaries and 14 Chinese workers, with a Church 
 membership of 147, and a Christian community (see 
 page 200) of 347. There are 8 catechetical classes 
 with 50 members and a Bible class for women candi- 
 dates for Church membership with 12 members. 
 Every week there are 7 Sunday preaching services and 
 5 week-day religious services as well as 2 women's 
 meetings, with an average attendance of 70. There 
 are 5 Sunday schools with 247 members in all, 4 
 senior K. L. C. E.'s with 114 active and 155 associate 
 members, and a junior K. L. C. E. with 76 active mem- 
 bers. There are 2 boys' day schools, a girls' day school 
 
224 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 and one other school. During the year the Chinese 
 community has contributed $60 for Christian work, 
 as well as $80 in school fees. The property, which in- 
 cludes 2 parsonages and a church building, as well as 
 other buildings, is valued at $21,717 (American 
 money). 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 LILING 
 
 Liling is a city of from 30,000 to 60,000 people, 45 
 miles southeast of Changsha. It is situated on the 
 Luh-kiang, or Green River, a tributary of the Siang. 
 It is the county seat of a county whose population is 
 about 500,000. The country is mountainous, inter- 
 spersed with many fertile and beautiful valleys. The 
 hills are largely covered with trees, a great many of 
 which have been planted in recent years. Farming is 
 the principal occupation but the region is rich in un- 
 touched minerals. A great deal of tea is prepared in 
 the district. Some 30 miles east are the great Ping- 
 siang coal mines, which are reported to be able to turn 
 out 2,000 tons a day. The railroad from these mines 
 runs through Liling, to Chucheo, Changsha and Han- 
 kow. However, when the mission first came to Liling 
 the railroad only ran as far as that city. The city is 
 comparatively clean, one of the cleanest in the prov- 
 ince. The people are generally well-to-do, and beg- 
 gars are scarce. In the first years that the mission was 
 there, the people were very conservative, staunch idol- 
 aters, with a good deal of devotion to their gods. This 
 district is in the east central part of the province, bor- 
 dering on the province of Kiangsi. 
 
 Until this mission came to Liling, there was no rep- 
 resentative of Christ in the whole Hsien (county). 
 IS 22s 
 
226 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 Others had itinerated there, but none had located 
 there permanently. In April, 1904, Evangelist Liu 
 went there, and rented a small place to sell books. It 
 was our intention to open cautiously, and gradually 
 overcome the opposition of the people. He returned, 
 leaving a colporteur in charge. A few days later, Dr. 
 Dubs started for Liling, but no sooner did he reach 
 Siangtan than that colporteur arrived, telling that he 
 had been thrown out of the house and driven from the 
 place when the people discovered that it was a Chris- 
 tian book-shop that had been opened. Dr. Dubs re- 
 ported the fact to the Chinese authorities in Changsha 
 and started for Liling. He found the evangelist and 
 colporteur had preceded him, and they were busy sell- 
 ing tracts from a book-stand on the street in front of 
 the rented place. The landlord begged them to retire, 
 and was backed by the guild of landlords. It had been 
 the boast of the people that no mission had obtained 
 a footing in the county. Dr. Dubs demanded of the 
 magistrate that the mission be granted its treaty rights, 
 and be given possession of the place. After ten days 
 of dilly-dallying he at last gave in, and on April 25, 
 1904, they regained possession. On May 5th, a street- 
 chapel was opened. 
 
 A few weeks later Rev. Ritzman made an itinerating 
 trip to Liling. His account is so typical of such a trip 
 that I quote parts of it here : 
 
 It was our custom when traveling between Changsha 
 and Siangtan always to take tracts with us and sell on the 
 boat, reaching some in this way, perhaps, who would not be 
 reached otherwise. That afternoon the boat was crowded 
 with Chinese. We had taken a good supply of tracts along 
 
LILING 
 
 227 
 
 and we made use of this opportunity to sell 160 cash worth 
 of tracts. We reached Siangtan about 5 p. m., had supper 
 with Brother Talbott, and then went to the evening meeting. 
 
 After the meeting Brother Dubs, Brother Talbott and I 
 went down to the river and took a night boat for Chucheo. 
 It was only a small boat, none of us could stand upright and 
 it is hard to tell how many Chinese were already on board. 
 Here we lay down to sleep. It was as full as seven in a bed, 
 and for some reason or other I actually thought several times 
 of sardines packed in a can. Yet I think we all got a pretty 
 fair night's rest. When there is no alternative you can sleep 
 almost anywhere. It was quite amusing to see some of the 
 peculiar twists and shapes which some of the Chinese as- 
 sumed, and they seemed perfectly contented and happy. It 
 was only twenty miles from Siangtan to Chucheo, and we 
 expected to be at our destination at daybreak. But the wind 
 that had been strong in the afternoon died down, and when 
 we awoke we found ourselves still ten miles away. We de- 
 cided walking was better than staying in the boat, and as 
 soon as the boat could pull to the shore we started out. 
 After a walk of about five miles we stopped for breakfast at 
 a small country inn, not taking more than some tea and a cer- 
 tain kind of bean, which we ate raw. 
 
 About eleven we reached our destination, had dinner, and 
 then Brother Dubs and Brother Talbott returned to Siangtan, 
 and I was all alone in the midst of a crowd of Chinese. I 
 felt verily that I had now to sink or swim, live or die, sur- 
 vive or perish. A few minutes later I had my goods loaded 
 in a wheelbarrow and we started for Liling in a pouring rain 
 that made me wonder whether we would not need to swim 
 almost in some places. Such misfortune, however, was not 
 mine. 
 
 We made ten miles more that afternoon, then stopped at 
 the inn of a little village for the night. I made my supper 
 on rice and eggs, preferring for my own reasons not to par- 
 take of the dish that my teacher thought so fine. We were 
 shown into a little room that looked as if it might, perchance, 
 have been cleaned once or twice since Methuselah's time. It 
 had only a dirt floor, had no ceiling except the black, dirty 
 roof some fifteen or twenty feet up. On the roof there was 
 a little window perhaps five inches by ten for light. I was 
 
228 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 quite tired, but patented board springs, a bed too short, and 
 a chorus of innumerable mosquitoes are not conducive to 
 sound, refreshing sleep, and the night seemed somewhat long 
 and wearisome. 
 
 "Before six the next morning we were off for another 
 tramp of twenty miles. Shortly after wc started, the barrow 
 man and the soldiers stopped about an hour for breakfast. 
 Thereafter we kept up a continuous tramp until twelve, with 
 only occasional brief stops for drinking tea. People at home 
 often laugh over the tea drinking of the Chinese. But what a 
 blessing to the missionary that they do drink tea. Their water 
 is utterly unfit to drink, and in making tea the water is at 
 least thoroughly boiled and another flavor added. 
 
 A dinner after a thirteen-mile tramp without a breakfast 
 
 tastes fine, if it is cooked at a Chinese inn, and I thoroughly 
 
 enjoyed it. A little before four we reached our chapel. 
 * * * 
 
 The country through which we passed is for the most part 
 very beautiful. The road between Chucheo and Liling winds 
 in and out among hills that make one think of the mountains 
 of the old Keystone State. In between the hills there are 
 beautiful stretches of green rice fields, often rising terrace 
 above terrace. But all this scenery is marred by the altars 
 and temples in high and low places. * * * 
 
 One of the most trying things on such a trip, more so than 
 lack of proper food and accommodations, even, is the curi- 
 osity of the Chinese. One may think this a small matter, but 
 let such an one try it for a few weeks. Many of the natives 
 in the region through which we passed have, perhaps, never 
 seen a foreigner, and no sooner do you stop for a few 
 minutes at an inn than you see them come running from every 
 direction and crowd around you as close as they can get. 
 
 At Liling it was no better. The room I occupied was only 
 a small one and had only a small window in it, yet hot as 
 it was I had to have a newspaper over half of that if I 
 wanted any privacy at all. And then from early morning 
 until night there were curious eyes peeping in through cracks. 
 If I wanted to be sure of being alone for some time I always 
 had to lock the door, or I never knew how soon some curious 
 man with a swishing cue might give the door a push ?Lad[ 
 stand staring at me qx ^ven come into the room. 
 
LILING 229 
 
 In the street chapel it was no diflferent. Some would stand 
 and stare with open eyes and mouth by the quarter hour, 
 and the closer they could get the better they liked it. It was 
 really very amusing to see some with eyes bulging out al- 
 most and looking you over from every angle. It required all 
 the will power I had to keep from laughing aloud, and some- 
 times I did have to smile in spite of myself. At such times, 
 when you cannot even have your devotions alone with your 
 Saviour, one longs sometimes for the blessing of being able 
 to get alone entirely by yourself for some time. 
 
 A source of no little amusement to me was the reception 
 of visitors. The upper class of Chinese will not stand and 
 stare and peep through cracks. But they do want to get a 
 good view of the foreigner, and so they resort to visiting. 
 The day after my arrival in Liling, I was in my room only a 
 short time, when in less than an hour I had four visitors. 
 The first was an old man of over fifty years. Hardly had he 
 gone when a man of fifty-five and his son entered. After 
 they went a bright, intelligent-looking young man paid his 
 respects. He was a very rapid talker and in the whole con- 
 versation I could not catch more than a half dozen words. 
 
 After that the visitors came so often that I could not keep 
 count of them. But one gets tired of over and over asking 
 and being asked your honorable name, age, and country, yet 
 I hardly knew what to do, for I could not keep them out 
 unless I locked the door and positively refused admittance. 
 So I finally hit upon the plan of putting out my tracts. This 
 proved an excellent thing, and I sold many a tract to such 
 as would not have come to the street chapel. 
 
 In September of that year there was another attempt 
 
 to put the mission out. Dr. Dubs happened to take an 
 
 itinerating trip to LiHng to visit Mr. Ritzman. On the 
 
 way he noticed that the people acted pecuHarly, and 
 
 when he arrived in LiHng, he found that the Saturday 
 
 previous vile, abusive placards had been posted up in 
 
 the city and surrounding country, comparable only to 
 
 the vile Cheo Han placards of 1890 and 1891. Such a 
 
 poster could easily have stirred up a riot. Instead of 
 
230 
 
 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 taking it down at once, the magistrate left it up three 
 days, and only posted a counter proclamation at the 
 request of Dr. Dubs. It was opportune that he 
 chanced along at that time, or else trouble would have 
 ensued. 
 
 The first foreign missionary to be stationed at Li- 
 ling was Rev. M. E. Ritzman, who arrived on Decem- 
 ber 24, 1904. The city at the time knew so little about 
 Christianity that in all probability only three people in 
 the place knew that the next day was Christmas. 
 
 A year later, on December 12, 1905, the railroad 
 from Liling to Chucheo was opened, and the trip of 
 thirty miles that used to take a whole day was made 
 in less than two hours. 
 
 The work gradually developed in Liling. A fine 
 centrally located piece of property was secured, and a 
 street-chapel and houses erected. 
 
 In August, 1908, there was trouble again in Liling. 
 It is the custom, when there are to be made large sacri- 
 fices to the various idols, for the priests to go around 
 and solicit contributions. This has become so much 
 the usual thing that each shop-keeper was compelled 
 by custom, to pay according to the size of his business. 
 That year, when they came to collect for the sacrifices 
 to Confucius, the God of War, the God of Fire, etc., 
 the local magistrate, supported by the provincial gov- 
 ernment, ordered the Christians to pay. Of course 
 they refused to support any idolatrous sacrifices. The 
 situation became so tense that a riot seemed impend- 
 ing. At last Dr. Dubs visited the American Consul at 
 Hankow, for such a levy was contrary to treaty stipu- 
 
LILING 231 
 
 lations. A few weeks later Peking wired the governor 
 of Hunan to protect Christians according to the treaty 
 and the affair passed off without serious trouble. Each 
 time that such collections are made, there is a chance 
 for trouble, for the inroads that Christianity makes 
 into the pocketbook of the priest are among its most 
 moving results. 
 
 A sad event at Liling was the death of three-year- 
 old Lee, the son of Rev. and Mrs. Shambaugh. 
 Though Dr. Munford did all that could be done, the 
 child could not be saved, and on April 6, 1910, the sac- 
 rifice made by his parents in coming to China was 
 accentuated. In China a child counts for very little, 
 and often nothing more is done than to put one in a 
 rough box, take it out into the country and throw a 
 few shovelfuls of dirt onto it — sometimes not even 
 that. The contrast of a Christian funeral is great. 
 The impression made upon the Church members and 
 school children was deep. In China even a child may 
 preach Christ. 
 
 A great opportunity came to the mission in 1914. 
 In the middle of May a terrible flood visited the city, 
 the worst in forty years. Many people were drowned, 
 and many of the houses, which were built of sun-dried 
 brick, which, when water acts upon them, turn to 
 mud, were destroyed and their belongings washed 
 away. The only foreigner on the station at the time 
 was Rev. Irving R. Dunlap. He promptly went to 
 work to rescue whom he could with his small boat, 
 and saved the lives of many people. Two months 
 later, in the middle of July, there came a greater flood. 
 
232 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 The water ran through the principal streets of the city 
 like a river. Again the row-boat was called into serv- 
 ice. Hour after hour he worked, with the aid of a 
 few Chinese. He rescued people from lofts which 
 the water was then filling; some were saved just as 
 the houses in which they had been staying collapsed. 
 He was thus enabled to save hundreds from drowning. 
 
 The mission compound was higher than most of the 
 city, and the buildings were built of burnt brick, which 
 the water could not wash away. So the victims were 
 brought there. Yet even there the water rose to a 
 depth of two or more feet. That night some 900 peo- 
 ple slept in the mission compound. With the same 
 promptness with which he started rescue work, he 
 gathered cooking pans, improvised fire-places, and be- 
 gan to cook great quantities of rice. That morning he 
 fed 3,000 people. 
 
 Rev. W. I. Shambaugh had just returned from his 
 vacation at Kuling when the news was brought, and 
 immediately went to Liling to help, walking 30 miles 
 in the hot July sun without a drop of water to drink. 
 The filth, left when the water went down, was inde- 
 scribable, and an epidemic was feared. Through the 
 kindness of friends in America, the mission con- 
 tributed some $600 toward cleaning up the city and 
 distributing relief. 
 
 Such action indeed showed what Christianity stood 
 for, and not only did the missionary immediately be- 
 come the friend of the people, but the teaching that 
 would lead a man to act so unselfishly secured a 
 greater hearing. The magistrate and gentry and peo- 
 
UUNG 233 
 
 pie wanted to erect a monument in honor of the mis- 
 sionary, but he refused. So on the next Chinese New 
 Year's they presented a large tablet, eleven by five 
 feet, to the Church, with the words "Glory to the True 
 God" inscribed in large characters and along the sides 
 a brief statement of why it was erected. The magis- 
 trate of the city and other leading officials and the 
 gentry as well as the people came and packed the 
 church. Several of the gentry gave addresses, and 
 then the magistrate spoke, all praising the heroic self- 
 sacrifice of Mr. Dunlap and speaking in the highest 
 terms of the religion that inspires a man to such deeds. 
 This tablet was hung above the pulpit in the new 
 church. 
 
 This new church had been dedicated on January 3, 
 191 5, and that day 31 men and women were baptized. 
 The main room of the church seats 300, and with class 
 rooms that open into the church it holds about 800 
 people. 
 
 Liling is now the most prosperous station of the 
 mission. We are the only mission in the county be- 
 sides the Roman Catholics. It is the center for the 
 Boys' Boarding School, and for medical work, both of 
 which will be spoken of in later chapters. 
 
 Out-Stations 
 
 Liutang is a place about ten miles from Liling, 
 opened in 191 5. It is one of the most populous centers 
 in the Hsien. In the village reside about 3,000 people ; 
 in the district about 25,000. Several of the Liling 
 church members resided there, and they desired to 
 
234 
 
 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 have a place of worship near their homes. The land 
 was given by one of the members, and practically all 
 the money was provided by contributions, and in 1916 
 a church was dedicated there. In 191 7 there were 39 
 baptized Christians at this place. 
 
 Changlishi is another out-station on this circuit. It 
 is thirty miles to the northeast, just across the border 
 into Kiangsi province, a town of about 20,000 inhabit- 
 ants, with 50,000 in the immediately surrounding 
 region. Work was started there in 1914, and in 1917 
 it had 14 baptized Christians. 
 
 Weishan is 10 miles to the north of Liling, where 
 there are large pottery works which employ some 2,000 
 workers. Here there are 9 members at the time of 
 last report (1917). 
 
 Sifen is 10 miles south of Liling, on the road to 
 Yuhsien. Work was started in 191 2, when a place 
 was rented and a colporteur put in charge. It is the 
 third town in size in the county, with about 3,000 
 people, with 30,000 in the neighborhood. 
 
 One day shortly after the colporteur had arrived, 
 a Taoist priest, who lived only three miles away, came 
 to the city and happened to see the colporteur. Mr. 
 Ritzman tells the story : 
 
 When he entered the strange-looking place he accosted the 
 man behind the books : 
 
 "And what is your honorable name?" 
 
 "My unworthy name is Feng." 
 
 "Oh. and which Feng might it be?" 
 
 "The Ma radical with the two points. And what is your 
 honorable name?" 
 
 "My unworthy name is Lu." 
 
LIUNG 235 
 
 "You are a priest belonging to the Taoist sect, are you 
 not?" 
 
 "Right you are. And might I ask what your honorable 
 business is? You have a kind of a funny shop here. What 
 are you selling?" 
 
 "I am a preacher of the Gospel, come here to tell you about 
 the true God, about the true 'Old Man in Heaven,' and about 
 His Son who died for us sinners. Have you ever heard about 
 the Jesus whom we worship? He died for you too. He can 
 save you from your sins." 
 
 "He ! Save me from my sins ! But I am no sinner. I live 
 an upright, righteous life. I have committed no sins." 
 
 "Did you not say that you are a priest? You have been 
 misguiding people and your sins are therefore greater." 
 
 Thus the conversation went on, with the result that the 
 priest bought a catechism, a small New Testament, and a 
 few small tracts. He was just curious to know I 
 
 That was Friday. Before he left, the colporteur had ur- 
 gently invited him to the services two days later. Sunday 
 morning the priest had his breakfast earlier than usual and 
 started for the strange shop to see what this service might 
 be like. No other soul came to the service that day. There 
 were only the colporteur, his wife, and the priest. 
 
 Mr. Feng handed the priest a hymn book, remarking, "Now 
 we will sing a hymn. I lead, will you please follow?" But 
 the priest was afraid of the book and would not open his 
 mouth. 
 
 Again the colporteur announced, "We are going to pray. 
 Will you please stand up, and will you please close your 
 eyes? We always pray to our God with our eyes shut." 
 But the priest was not going to close his eyes. He was not 
 going to be caught unaware with some new kind of magic 
 while his eyes were shut. Not he. Innocently the colporteur 
 closed his eyes. "O Lord, Jesus, we thank Thee for Thy 
 
 great grace in sending us this priest, Mr. Lu " That 
 
 scared the priest. What new God was this ! What new 
 kind of incantation was this ! Better make for the door as 
 quickly as possible. He turned to escape, only to be con- 
 fronted by the colporteur's wife, who had been watching him 
 closely. "Do not be afraid. Do not go. We will not hurt 
 you. Stay." She took him by the arm, and he could not 
 
236 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 very well get away, but his heart trembled, and he wished 
 he had never come to such a place. And when he left the 
 chapel at last he deliberately lied to the colporteur as to the 
 direction of his home and the distance it was in the country. 
 He did not want this man to follow him. 
 
 But the next Sunday found him back again. An unseen 
 power made him restless with a restlessness that he could not 
 explain. He hated, he feared this new thing. The books 
 he bought he could not understand and yet he could not keep 
 away from them. When the neighbors learned what was 
 going on, they fed him with all kinds of stories about the 
 foreigners who dig out eyes and hearts for medicines and 
 other vile stories. His wife became terrible in her bitterness 
 against the new religion and his eldest son became so bitter 
 that he would have shut his father out of his own home if 
 possible. What with the inward struggle that was driving 
 him he knew not whither and the persecutions of friends and 
 neighbors far and wide that were beginning to rain down on 
 him as hail, life became one long misery for him. For Mr. 
 Lu was a very popular priest, successful in his exorcism of 
 demons, a man that was liked, and in former days called to 
 distant places to exercise his power. 
 
 His eldest son fell sick. There was no foreign doctor 
 within miles and the heathen doctors refused to come. 
 "What I This man tore down the household gods. Now 
 they are punishing him. We are but men and powerless 
 against their wrath. No, we will not come." 
 
 The son became worse until he lay as one dead. The 
 neighbors gathered about with incense and paper money and 
 candles to perform the last rites for the dead. At first they 
 tried to persuade the father to go out into the fields some- 
 where and they would attend to it all if he did not feel that 
 he could. Then they became more insistent and furious io 
 their demands. His wife became a veritable tigress in her 
 rage. She jumped at his neck and shook him as a terrier 
 shakes a rat, hissing between her teeth, "If my son dies, you 
 die and I die. We will all die together." 
 
 Marvelous the power of God that could help him to en- 
 dure during those days ! He prayed as he had never prayed 
 before, and finally got his eldest daughter on his side. She 
 joined him in his prayers. At last the tide turned, the son 
 
LILING 
 
 237 
 
 gradually regained his health, the wife was appeased, and 
 at last agreed to accompany her husband to one of the serv- 
 ices at the chapel. 
 
 To-day this ex-priest Lu is one of the most successful col- 
 porteurs of the mission. 
 
 Thus work in a village may produce remarkable 
 results. 
 
 Pcht'utang is 20 miles northeast of Liling; it is as 
 large as Sifen, situated at one end of an extremely 
 thickly settled valley. At first (1913) the colporteurs 
 were received gladly, but when the people saw that 
 Christianity would hurt their business of making fire- 
 crackers (which are used largely in idol-worship) they 
 threw the colporteurs out of the town. The next year 
 they returned, and work has been done there ever 
 since. 
 
 Chiiamvan is a village 20 miles south of Liling of 
 700 people with 30,000 living within a radius of 4 
 miles. Property has been rented there and a colpor- 
 teur stationed at the place. Because of its situation 
 on the road to Yuhsien, it can be visited by the for- 
 eigners traveling to and fro. 
 
 Liling Circuit, now (1917), has 11 foreign mission- 
 aries and 20 Chinese workers. There are 178 Church 
 members, and a Christian community (see page 200) 
 of 417 souls. There are 10 catechetical classes with 
 115 members, 4 men's Bible classes with 87 members, 
 3 women's Bible classes with 45 members, and i wom- 
 en's Bible school with 31 enrolled. Every week there 
 are 6 Sunday preaching services, and 6 week-day re- 
 ligious meetings, as well as one religious meeting for 
 
238 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 women, with an average attendance of 70. The 5 
 Sunday schools have a total average attendance of 
 350, and the 4 senior K. L. C. E.'s have 179 active 
 and 238 associate members. The Albright Prepara- 
 tory School, a boys' boarding school and a girls' 
 boarding school, the hospital and dispensary are lo- 
 cated there. The Chinese community gave $70 
 (American money) for Church work, as well as $1,845 
 (American money) in school and hospital fees. The 
 value of the buildings, which include a parsonage, a 
 church building, a hospital, a dispensary, and 4 other 
 buildings is $35,542 (American money). 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 YUHSIEN 
 
 Yuhsien or luhsien, is a town of some 20,000 people, 
 situated about 60 miles south of Liling. It is located 
 on the Chaling River, a tributary of the Siang, at the 
 confluence of the Hsinshi River, The county of which 
 it is the center has a population of 350,000. Here 
 again we are the only mission, with the exception of 
 the Roman Catholics. In some directions there is no 
 missionary for 200 miles. 
 
 For some years the missionaries had itinerated to 
 this city. I quote the following paragraphs from an 
 account by Mr. Ritzman of a trip in 1905 : 
 
 One of the duties of a missionary is to take frequent itin- 
 erating trips into the surrounding country. Our foreign, and 
 also our native workers, are so few that we can occupy only 
 the most important centers of population — cities which num- 
 ber thousands of people. But just as at home, the great mass 
 of the people live in the country, or in little villages, ranging 
 in population from one hundred to several thousands. We 
 cannot expect these people to come to us. Many of them, 
 perhaps, in all their lifetime never get into a city occupied 
 by a missionary, and should they even do so the probability 
 is that they would never come to a chapel except by the 
 merest accident. Yet something must be done for these 
 people, and one of the agencies for reaching them is the 
 itinerating trips of the missionary and his coworkers. 
 
 It was for the purpose of reaching such people that the 
 colporteur and I recently took a trip to Yuhsien. While 
 all along the way, at the farm-houses and in the villages, 
 there is presented the opportunity of reaching some of the 
 
 239 
 
240 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 very people who would otherwise not be touched by a mission- 
 ary's influence. * * * 
 
 We left here on Tuesday forenoon. I had a big handful 
 of tracts and some five cash gospels stuffed into my pockets, 
 while the colporteur also carried a big armful of books. 
 We were not yet beyond the bounds of Liling when we began 
 to sell. And all along the road, wherever a traveler passed 
 us, we asked him to buy one of our books. At every house 
 where there was a man in sight we would stop for a minute 
 and try to sell. That plan we continued on the whole trip, 
 and while it was sometimes tiresome to carry a pile of books 
 in your arms for ten or fifteen miles a day, nevertheless we 
 had the great joy of selling a gospel or tract to many a way- 
 faring man, and dropping a booklet into many a home that 
 otherwise we could not have reached. * * * 
 
 In one village we caused no little annoyance to the school 
 teacher of the place. The news of the arrival of a foreigner 
 reached the school room very quickly, and in a few minutes 
 I was surrounded by about a score of boys in the uniform 
 of the public school pupils. Several of them bought books. 
 But it was only a few minutes until the teacher came, for- 
 bade them to buy any more books and chased them back 
 to their desks. They had not been gone more than a few 
 minutes when I looked up and saw one of them come running 
 back, occasionally looking over his shoulder to see if the 
 teacher might be on his heels. Then another came, and soon 
 the whole crowd was surrounding me again, and they bought 
 more books than the first time. Again the teacher came and 
 chased them back. This was repeated at least three if not 
 four times. The last time I had some large illustrated gospels 
 which fairly made the boys wild to buy. I do not know how 
 long this would have continued, for after the teacher chased 
 them back the last time, we left. In China, where school 
 regulations are so lax, it is nothing new for a whole school 
 to desert its teacher for very much less attraction, even, than 
 a foreigner. 
 
 We reached Yuhsien Saturday noon. We had aroused not 
 a little curiosity all along the way, and especially in the vil- 
 lages, but Yuhsien far outstripped them all. We had no 
 sooner entered the city than we had a howling mob behind 
 
YUHSIEN 
 
 241 
 
 us, tumbling over one another to get a glimpse of the for- 
 eigner who had so unexpectedly dropped into their midst. 
 
 We had just about time to get my baggage into a room 
 of one of the inns, when a small official called. Before he 
 was gone a second one came. After dinner we loaded up 
 with books and started out. Such a crowd I had never 
 before been in. The hotel and the street were packed. I had 
 half a dozen soldiers around me, and it was with the greatest 
 difficulty that we could get through sometimes. The people 
 bought as I have never before seen them buy. 
 
 I had taken out into the street in my first armful twenty 
 or so large gospels, and about as many small ones, also a 
 pile of other books. I do not believe I was out in the street 
 ten minutes before every one of them was sold. Certain I 
 am that I had not left the inn more than two hundred yards 
 behind. We returned to replenish our stock and empty our 
 pockets of cash, for the cash in China are just as unhandy 
 as our copper cents at home. One does not care to carry 
 several hundred of them in his pockets for any length of time. 
 This time we took along a much bigger pile, and by about 
 five o'clock we were almost sold out again. Great was our 
 joy that evening. The sales of that day amounted to 2,320 
 cash. * * * 
 
 Monday was a good day — the best day of all. We started 
 selling about eight o'clock, and kept it up until dark, with 
 about an hour's intermission for dinner. The crowds were 
 just as big as Saturday, and just as anxious to buy. Most 
 of the time the excitement was so great that half of the peo- 
 ple, I believe, did not know what they were buying. Usually 
 the people want to see the subject of the tract they want to 
 buy and turn over the pages, but that Monday the men 
 would ask us what price we sold them at, and we would sing 
 out the answer, two cash, six cash, twelve cash, etc., and the 
 money would be forthcoming for one or more books. 
 
 I wish that the people who pity us poor fools of mission- 
 aries, as some call us, could have been with us that day. 
 * * * 
 
 Counting the cash that evening was quite a long and tire- 
 some job. But we felt very much like shouting when the 
 result was announced. We had sold tracts to the value of 
 4,380 cash. I hardly think the average price of our booklets 
 16 
 
242 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 that day was more than three cash ; so that we sold in that 
 day more than 1,400 copies. Think of the privilege of putting 
 1,400 copies of Scripture portions and religious booklets into 
 the hands of heathen men and women ! How could we help 
 but be happy that evening? 
 
 In May, 1908, Dr. Dubs, Mr. Ritzman, and Evan- 
 gelist Liu made a trip to Yuhsien, and rented a place 
 for book-selling, etc. Before they left they called on 
 the chief magistrate and told him what they had done. 
 He was very nice to them, and they left. But only a 
 few days after, this magistrate called the gentry of 
 the city together, and in their presence gave a most 
 severe scolding to the owner of the house, and to the 
 inn-keeper who acted as middleman for us, and 
 through whose help we were able to rent. The official 
 called the inn-keeper all kinds of names, and wanted 
 to compel him to take back the guarantee money. 
 Fortunately for us, the inn-keeper was not so easily 
 scared and showed that he had a good bit of backbone, 
 and refused to receive the money. We must thank 
 God for thus influencing this inn-keeper to help us, 
 else we would have lost the house and it would have 
 taken years more to get a foothold. 
 
 When Dr. Dubs reported to the Bureau of Foreign 
 Affairs at Changsha what he had done, they too acted 
 queerly, and requested the mission to withdraw, al- 
 leging that there was trouble in Yuhsien. So Mr. Ritz- 
 man went to Yuhsien again. He found things all quiet 
 at the place. The colporteurs who were there had 
 called on the owner of the house ; at the time a friend 
 of the owner's, who had been at Changsha and knew 
 about the gospel, happened to be there, and he spoke 
 
YUHSIEN 243 
 
 very strongly in behalf of the mission. Mr. Ritzman 
 found the people quite friendly ; the officials had been 
 trying to bluff the mission to keep away from the 
 place. 
 
 The colporteur who was left at Yuhsien was a man 
 by the name of Cheo. Colporteur is the name applied 
 to one of the lower grades of Chinese w^orkers. The 
 colporteur travels about, selling books and preaching, 
 or is given charge of a small out-station, where he 
 preaches, sells books, and does similar work. Mr. 
 Cheo is not an impressive man; he never had much 
 of an education ; he is not a good preacher, but he has 
 been very faithful, and leads a life of much prayer and 
 utter dependence upon God in his work. In 1902 he 
 became one of the personal servants of Dr. Dubs, 
 acting as door-keeper. In that capacity he had the 
 opportunity of attending most of the services of the 
 mission, with the result that he became a Christian. 
 He was successively house-coolie, table-boy, chapel- 
 keeper, helper, and colporteur. He was a pioneer 
 worker in Siangtan, Chucheo, Liling, and Yuhsien. He 
 has been rioted out several times. When the mission 
 undertook to start a new station, he was called on to go, 
 and faithful to the cause of Christ, he left the place 
 where he had established himself in comfortable cir- 
 cumstances by the work of several years, and moved 
 on to a new post, there again to endure hardships, lone- 
 liness, and possible danger in the work of opening up 
 a new city. For three years he stood all alone at Yuh- 
 sien, except when the missionary spent six months 
 with him, and in that time twenty-six persons were 
 
244 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 baptized into the church. Such is the character of the 
 Christian Hunanese. 
 
 At the time of the Changsha riot in 1910, there was 
 also trouble in Yuhsien. This time it was due to the 
 excessive zeal of the Chinese Christians. Idolaters 
 were parading an old and revered idol through the 
 streets, soliciting funds for its worship. This idol was 
 brought into the home of one of the Christians. Of 
 course compliance was refused. The member and 
 adherents stood shoulder to shoulder in their refusal. 
 Enraged at the taunts and jeers of the heathen, and 
 angered that they were to be compelled to contribute, 
 they demolished the idol, and abetted by many fellow- 
 citizens who had lost faith in idolatry, they destroyed 
 it with all its paraphernalia. Such tactless courage nec- 
 essarily provoked fierce opposition. That they were 
 not one and all exterminated and their property as 
 well as that of the mission not wholly destroyed is 
 due to the providence of God. The magistrate acted 
 vigorously in quelling the trouble and voluntarily paid 
 for all repairs and reimbursed the workers for their 
 loss. 
 
 The work at Yuhsien has developed as on the other 
 stations. In September, 1912, Rev. and Mrs. Suhr 
 came to Yuhsien, and shortly afterwards Rev. and 
 Mrs. Talbott. Property was purchased, and the usual 
 buildings erected. In 191 1 a boys' day school had been 
 started, and a girls' school was started in 191 3. Sun- 
 day school, preaching services, women's meetings, and 
 the other activities of the mission are carried on. The 
 first Junior Christian Endeavor Society was started on 
 
YUHSIEN 245 
 
 this station in 1914. In May, 1915, the new church 
 was dedicated, and it was made the opportunity for 
 a week of evangehstic services, something hke those 
 at the dedication of the Changsha church, but on a 
 smaller scale. Some 600 to 1,000 persons were pres- 
 ent every day of that week at the services. A junior 
 girls' choir was organized, and a woman's school 
 opened in 191 5. 
 
 Out-Stations. 
 
 Hsinshi is a town whose population is estimated at 
 3,000 to 4,000, located some 17 miles north of Yuhsien. 
 In 191 2 a place was rented for a chapel and a Sunday 
 school and Christian Endeavor Society started. Mr. 
 Cheo is the colporteur in charge. The hostile attitude 
 of the people has now changed to one of friendliness. 
 One woman has changed so completely since she came 
 under the influence of Christianity that she is a won- 
 der to all around her. Though she has barely enough 
 to live on, she refuses to make of her place a gambling 
 den, whereby she could easily, according to the cus- 
 tom of the place, support herself and her three chil- 
 dren. Six persons have been baptized at this place. 
 
 Hsiao Tsih is 13 miles northwest of Yuhsien, a place 
 a little smaller than Hsinshi, with a population esti- 
 mated at 1,500 to 2,000. It was opened in 1914. At 
 this place one woman 62 years old misses church only 
 a few Sundays in the year, though she has to walk 
 4 miles to service. Just after the Chinese New Year 
 of 1917 there was trouble over theater dues (the 
 theaters are connected with the temples, and are in- 
 variably immoral) ; the people tried to compel the 
 
246 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 Christians to pay. They threatened to buy the place 
 the church had rented and then prevent any one else 
 from renting to the church. This stirred up the Chris- 
 tians of the place, and they subscribed about $100 to 
 buy a place for a chapel. The matter was presented 
 to the Yuhsien congregation and they give $100 more 
 and the Hsinshi people $10. The missionaries added 
 to this sum until it amounted to $250. Then a much 
 better piece of property was discovered, and bought 
 for $500, the mission providing the balance of the 
 amount. 
 
 P ehshuhsia is 53 miles to the northeast of Yuhsien, 
 with an estimated population of 1,000. The work was 
 begun in August, 191 5, and is still difficult. The four 
 leading clans of the place have announced that any- 
 one who joins the Church will be cut off the family 
 register and deprived of all rights of the clan. Never- 
 theless the attendance at preaching service is good. 
 
 Huangtuling is 35 miles from Yuhsien on the road 
 to Liling, and has about 800 inhabitants. It was 
 opened in October, 191 5, and has had a steady growth. 
 The war stopped the buying of property, and as a re- 
 sult all the regular adherents cannot get into the pres- 
 ent chapel. 
 
 Lutien is 13 miles south of Yuhsien, with about 800 
 people. Permanent work was begun there in Febru- 
 ary, 1916, and the colporteur is on friendly relations 
 with the people. A young man 25 years old, who was 
 studying for the Buddhist priesthood became ac- 
 qainted with the colporteur, and became so interested 
 
VUHSIEN 24f 
 
 that he took gospels and tracts home with him to sell 
 to the people of his clan. 
 
 Tsaoshi is 12 miles down the river from Yuhsien, 
 and is estimated to have 5,000 inhabitants. The Lon- 
 don Missionary Society opened a chapel there in 
 1905, and in 1917 this chapel and the evangelist in 
 charge were transferred to our mission. 
 
 Yuhsien Circuit, now (1917), has 5 foreign mis- 
 sionaries and 18 Chinese workers. There are 8 cate- 
 chetical classes with 58 catechumens, and a woman's 
 Bible school with 18 enrolled. Every week there are 
 7 preaching services and 21 week-day religious serv- 
 ices, as well as a women's meeting, with an average 
 attendance of 31. The circuit numbers 109 Church 
 members, with a Christian community (see page 
 200), of 380. There are 9 Sunday schools with a total 
 average attendance of 364, 5 senior K. L. C. E.'s 
 with 93 active and 120 associate members, and a junior 
 society with 19 active and 41 associate members. 
 There are 2 boys' day schools and 2 girls' day schools. 
 During the year the Chinese community contributed 
 $114 for Church work as well as $67 in school fees. 
 The value of the property, which includes 3 parson- 
 ages, I church building and 4 other buildings, is $13,- 
 299 (American money). 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 CHALING 
 
 Chaling is a city of about 10,000 people, with about 
 30,000 people in its immediate environs, situated 30 
 miles east of Yuhsien. The county (which constitutes 
 the circuit) has about 300,000 inhabitants. It is the 
 youngest station of the mission, and yet the oldest to 
 have a resident foreigner. Rev. A. H. Sanders, who 
 is at present stationed at Chaling, has gathered some 
 notes of the early history of the place : 
 
 Our mission took up the work at Chaling practically in suc- 
 cession to the China Inland Mission. In 1897 the China In- 
 land Mission from Kiangsi sent a Chinese helper, named Ren, 
 to rent a house at T'ang-hsia, a small village two miles from 
 the Kiangsi province border (on the Hunan side). Shortly 
 after the rental agreement was signed, Miss Jacobsen, a 
 Swedish lady, came over and made her home there. Although 
 many itinerating journeys had been made by various mission- 
 aries previous to this time in the south and west of the 
 province, and although missionaries had lived for considerable 
 periods on boats, and although premises had in some places 
 been rented and occupied by native workers, yet Miss Jacob- 
 sen was the first foreign missionary to live in her own hired 
 house, and T'ang-hsia was the first mission station with a 
 resident missionary in Hunan. 
 
 A tangible connecting link with that work and our present 
 occupation is that to the Sunday services at T'ang-hsia there 
 came regularly, traveling eighteen miles from his home in 
 Kiangsi, a man named Liu Tseh-lin, who afterwards became 
 our earliest and is now our oldest native evangelist. (At 
 present he is stationed at Chaling.) 
 
 The China Inland brethren in Kiangsi now (1898) thought 
 that it would be possible to advance further in and occupy 
 
 248 
 
CHALING 249 
 
 Chaling city. By this time Mr. Liu was a trusted Christian, 
 and in the seventh month he and another were sent to ChaHng 
 city with instructions to rent. In this they were successful. 
 A month later Dr. Frank A. Keller came and took up his 
 residence here. The premises secured were outside the city 
 (Chaling, as other large places, is surrounded by a wall), a 
 few doors west of our present site. 
 
 Dr. Keller was anxious to get premises inside the city and 
 very nearly succeeded in doing so. The deed was already 
 written and signed, but as the money was being paid over, the 
 landlord seized the money with one hand and with the other 
 grabbed the deed and conveying it to his mouth, attempted to 
 swallow it. Only with difficulty was it rescued, but it was 
 almost illegible and writing a fresh one was refused. So 
 the deed was called off and the money returned. 
 
 In 1899 a mob wrecked the mission house and destroyed 
 all its contents. By this time Mr. A. P. Quimback had joined 
 Dr. Keller; both escaped the violence of the mob by hiding 
 in a bean-curd shop opposite. The medicine shop of the land- 
 lord, K'ang, was wrecked at the same time. Other premises 
 inside the city were provided for the missionaries by the 
 gentry, who personally escorted them with fire crackers and 
 much ceremony. But the Boxer uprising broke out (1900) 
 and it was not thought best to wait for trouble here. The 
 missionaries returned to Shanghai, as did most of those who 
 survived that terrible year. And when things had quieted 
 down sufficiently to allow return to the interior, Dr. Keller 
 took up his residence at Changsha (1901). 
 
 Chaling was henceforth worked from that city, chiefly by 
 itinerations undertaken by Mr. Hampson, who was then Dr. 
 Keller's companion. It was at this time that the friendship 
 began between Dr. Keller and Superintendent Dubs, which 
 doubtless was a factor in directing our mission towards this 
 field. In 1902 the China Inland Mission withdrew from 
 Chaling, doubtless feeling that the place was too remote from 
 Changsha, and having no stations in between. 
 
 As early as the autumn of 1908 Rev. M. E. Ritzman 
 made an itinerating trip to Chaling. In the early part 
 of 1910 property was purchased there by two Chris- 
 
250 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 tian Chinese who went with money in their purses and 
 bought a most desirable site in the heart of the city. 
 But it took much time and patience to secure posses- 
 sion. On July i6th a mob rioted the place. The 
 damage was not so great, for the mob was only feeling 
 its way along, seeing how far the officials would let 
 it go. Unexpectedly Dr. Dubs arrived in town just 
 at the time. Upon his appearance the magistrate 
 adopted a vigorous policy, ordered repairs to be made, 
 and averted all further danger. 
 
 That July the chapel was opened. It was a source 
 of regret that Rev. Liu was not able to be present to 
 see a chapel opened where he had been rioted out 
 twelve years before, for he could not leave his congre- 
 gation at Changsha. His place was taken by his old- 
 est son, Nan-seng, who was studying at the Yale Mis- 
 sion College. 
 
 The first missionary to be located there was Rev. 
 A. C. Lindenmeyer. But his administration was cut 
 short by his tragic death. When he and his wife went 
 to Chaling, they knew that if any serious illness over- 
 took them it would be difficult to secure medical aid. 
 Nevertheless they took the risk, for the work needed 
 them. Soon afterwards Mr. Lindenmeyer was taken 
 sick with acute appendicitis, followed by peritonitis. 
 Under favorable conditions it would have taken four 
 or five days by boat to reach the nearest doctor, at 
 Siangtan, but with wind and tide as they were it would 
 have taken ten or twelve days. Mr. and Mrs. Talbott 
 rushed to Chaling by night, as soon as word was 
 brought them, and the four missionaries started for 
 
Rev. A. C. Lindenmeyer 
 
 Died Oct. 31, 1913 
 
CHALING 251 
 
 Siangtan on a boat immediately. But the disease 
 worked its way very swiftly, and the next day, October 
 31, 19 1 3, after severe pain, he entered into his eternal 
 reward. The boat had yet nine miles to make to get 
 to Yuhsien. 
 
 Rev. A. C. Lindenmeyer was one of the brightest 
 of the missionaries on the field. His death was a very 
 great loss to the mission. He was just at the begin- 
 ning of a promising career, for he had been in the 
 country two and a half years. He had been married 
 only four months at the time of his death. His body 
 was buried in the mission compound at Yuhsien. He 
 was literally a martyr to the cause of missions at 
 Chaling. 
 
 The people of Chaling are simpler than at the other 
 stations, and when their friendship had been won, the 
 work developed faster than at the other stations. In 
 1917 there was held the first anniversary feast to com- 
 memorate the beginning of the church in Chaling. 
 Twenty-nine of the influential men of the city, includ- 
 ing the magistrate, were present, and stayed to a lan- 
 tern lecture by Rev. A. H. Sanders. That we should 
 be able to reach men of this type shows a great prog- 
 ress in the city. 
 
 As present we have a well-located property on the 
 main street outside the walled city. Our recently re- 
 modeled chapel, with a seating capacity of 300, fronts 
 directly on this busy street. In the rear we have a 
 double Chinese workers' house, at present occupied by 
 the two missionary families. Within a stone's throw, 
 on a raised terrace, we have a splendid property of sev- 
 
252 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 eral acres, where missionary residences and other 
 buildings, as needed, will be erected. 
 
 Out-Stations 
 
 Because Chaling has been so recently occupied by 
 foreign missionaries, the work has not developed much 
 beyond the town itself. There are two out-stations, 
 with a colporteur in charge of each. Besides this there 
 are a number of preaching places, where services are 
 held. Around the city these appointments are filled by 
 the Christians in turn, who go gladly and without re- 
 muneration. The running expenses are met from the 
 Church collections. Rents average $2 per year, which 
 is simply for the privilege of using a room for service, 
 whenever required. 
 
 Hukeo is about 20 miles south of Chaling, and has a 
 population estimated at 1,500. In the immediate 
 environs are 10,000 people, all of whom have a rea- 
 sonable chance of hearing the gospel at our chapel. 
 This place was opened October 26, 1916, and a col- 
 porteur stationed there. 
 
 Kaolong is 20 miles northeast of Chaling, with 
 about 500 people, 7,000 being in the immediate en- 
 virons. It was opened February i, 191 7. As yet there 
 are no baptized Christians on these two out-stations. 
 
 The preaching places deserve a brief mention. 
 Hiiangt'ang is 3^^ miles south of Chaling, with an 
 estimated population of 400, with 5,000 in the immedi- 
 ate environs. Here one of the prominent men of the 
 town became interested, and allowed the mission to 
 use his guest-hall for preaching. He with two others, 
 
CHALING 253 
 
 all of them among the most prominent men in the 
 town, have been recently baptized. They practically 
 "run" the preaching at Lingfang, T^yz miles beyond, 
 which has about 150 people (with 2,000 in the immedi- 
 ate environs), and T'lchco, between the two aforemen- 
 tioned places (a village of about 50 people, with 1,000 
 in the immediate environs). It was the faithful testi- 
 mony of these same three men that planted the gos- 
 pel seed at Yaoshui, a place of about 400 people (with 
 5,000 in the immediate environs), and in Kongt-ang, 
 a village of about 1,000 people, a suburb of Chaling. 
 Sioach'ae is another suburb of Chaling, with about 
 200 people. Shihpahkiu is still another suburb, 2 
 miles west of Chaling, with possibly 200 people. 
 Mafukiang is 7 miles southwest of Chaling, a place 
 whose population is estimated at 350, with 2,000 in 
 the immediate neighborhood. The weekly services 
 there are supported by the junior K. L. C. E. at 
 Chaling. P'ingsliiii is a village of about 250 people 
 on the road to Yuhsien. There are 4,000 people in the 
 immediately surrounding farming community. Yaopi 
 is a busy market town, half way between Chaling and 
 Kaolong. It has about 700 people, with 5,000 in the 
 immediate environs. Kuanlao is a village of about 
 150 people, with 1,000 in the immediate neighborhood, 
 south of Kukeo. Cheopi and Hot'ien are two villages 
 of about 200 and 250 inhabitants respectively, with 
 immediately surrounding communities of 4,000 and 
 8,000 people, in the neighborhood of Kaolong. 
 
 In the work of taking the gospel to these villages 
 the Christians of Chaling have a share, in that they 
 
254 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 give and go to preach. Without their help this coun- 
 try work would be crippled ; thus the gospel is pro- 
 claimed at these many places. 
 
 Chaling Circuit, now (1917), has 4 foreign mission- 
 aries and 8 Chinese workers. There are 6 catechetical 
 classes with 52 members, 2 Bible classes for men can- 
 didates with 29 members and 2 women's Bible classes 
 for candidates with 13 members. Every week there 
 are 9 Sunday preaching services and il week-day 
 religious meetings, as well as a regular women's meet- 
 ing, with an average attendance of 57. The Church 
 membership numbers 38, and the Christian community 
 (see page 200) 177. On the circuit there is a boys' 
 day school and a girls' day school as well as one other 
 school. During the year the Chinese community gave 
 $52 (American money) for Church work as well as 
 $30 (American money) in school fees. The property, 
 which includes a parsonage, a church building, a 
 school building and one other building, is valued at 
 $4,342 (American money). 
 
Missionaries at Annual Meeting, Ruling, 1917 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 RULING 
 
 Kuling is not a station of the mission, and yet it is 
 as important, for it is the place where the missionaries 
 secure the rest and recuperation that enables them to 
 work so hard during the rest of the year. It is situ- 
 ated in a beautiful valley near the summit of the Ku 
 Mountains, some 5,000 feet above sea-level, some 400 
 miles down the river from Changsha. 
 
 In Hunan, where the latitude is the same as New 
 Orleans or southern Florida, the summers are ex- 
 tremely hot, but without the sea breezes these places 
 have to temper the heat. To a person who has been 
 accustomed to the cooler climate of the United States, 
 the continuously hot summers of Hunan are unbear- 
 able. While some strong constitutions can stand the 
 strain of the summer, most people need a change. 
 Kuling provides a relief in temperature that is very 
 necessary for most people. 
 
 To the average missionary, working in a Chinese 
 city with two or possibly a few more English speaking 
 persons, a change is necessary. While on the station, 
 he works continuously, usually doing the work of two 
 men, because the great need presses upon him so hard. 
 Therefore he needs to get away from the Chinese, 
 into a different atmosphere, for a while at least, to pre- 
 vent his becoming stagnant. 
 
 2SS 
 
256 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 These two essential needs Ruling meets — a cool, 
 pure, refreshing atmosphere, and associations with 
 others than Chinese; for most of the missionaries of 
 the Yangste Valley are there. The summer confer- 
 ences held each summer also mean much in the de- 
 velopment of the spiritual life. Ruling means for the 
 missionary both a longer life and increased efficiency ; 
 consequently the missionary board has wisely pro- 
 vided opportunity for the missionaries to recuperate 
 there. A summer at Ruling is not a luxury, but a 
 necessity. 
 
 But there is another side to the picture. Summer 
 is a trying time on the mission field. More trouble 
 seems to break out at that time than during any other 
 equal part of the year. Dr. Dubs writes in one of his 
 reports: "Observation has taught me that it is not 
 wise to leave our congregations and members without 
 foreign oversight." The Chinese Christians are babes 
 in Christ ; the mere presence of a foreigner is a great 
 help towards keeping them firm in the midst of tempta- 
 tion. As one Chinese brother put it: "The mission 
 church is like a barrel made of staves. We Chinese 
 members are the staves, and the foreign pastor is the 
 hoop. When the pastor is with us, we stand together, 
 united; but as soon as the pastor leaves we begin to 
 fall apart, and scatter just like the staves of a barrel 
 when the hoops are removed." 
 
 So the mission has provided that the women and 
 children go to Ruling for the summer season, while 
 the men are allowed only a month apiece, and must 
 take turns in supervising the stations. 
 
RULING 257 
 
 Houses at Kuling command extremely high rentals ; 
 consequently the board has provided houses for its 
 missionaries. The first house, built with money col- 
 lected by the Women's Missionary Societies in honor 
 of the first missionary to Japan, and called the "Eliza- 
 beth Krecker Memorial Home" was finished for the 
 summer of 1906. It is a large double house situated 
 half way up the hill-side, and furnished by the "Wom- 
 an's Missionary Society. As the missionary force 
 grew larger it became necessary to provide additional 
 accommodations, so in 1910 an adjoining bungalow 
 was purchased out of the Silver Anniversary Fund of 
 the Woman's Missionary Society. This soon became 
 inadequate, and so in 1916 a third bungalow was 
 built. It is imposing in appearance and will house 
 four families. One apartment has a movable parti- 
 tion ; when this is removed it gives a fairly large-sized 
 room that will serve as a hall for meetings of the 
 mission. 
 
 The annual mission meeting has been held, for a 
 number of years, at Kuling, in July, that being the 
 time of the year when the rnissionaries can best come 
 together. At this meeting all important questions of 
 policy, stationing, appointment of Chinese helpers, 
 buildings, etc., are settled, subject, of course, to the 
 approval of the Mission Board in America. It is the 
 central event of the year. 
 
 The value of the mission property in Kuling is now 
 $10,131 (American money). 
 
 17 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 WOMEN'S WORK 
 
 One great difference between China and America is 
 that the work among the women must be done entirely 
 by women. A man cannot visit or teach the lady 
 members of his parish except under exceptional cir- 
 cumstances ; such action would ordinarily be very in- 
 correct according to Chinese ideas. So the work 
 among the w^omen has been done mostly by the wives 
 of the missionaries or by single ladies. 
 
 Work among the women of China is very important. 
 It is a great advantage to have both members of a 
 family in the church. Unless we can gain the women 
 for Christ we are fighting a losing battle. It is a sure 
 sign that the grace of God is working in a man's heart 
 when one sees his changed attitude to his wife. For- 
 merly she was his chattel, a burden endured because 
 she was necessary for having sons. He treated her 
 with contempt, as one unable to acquire an educa- 
 tion. Only after she had borne a son or two, was her 
 condition ameliorated somewhat. After the leaven of 
 the gospel begins its work in a man's heart, his rela- 
 tion to his wife and family changes, and it gives us 
 great joy to see this change in the lives of the Chris- 
 tians. We lay much stress upon it and seek by every 
 means possible to bring the families of the men who 
 attend the services into the Church. 
 
 258 
 
WOMEN'S WORK 
 
 259 
 
 One day, as a missionary was walking through the 
 street he saw a mother with a Httle child, hardly a 
 year old, scarcely able to stand up alone. She was 
 holding a burning stick in the child's hand, teaching it 
 to bow down to the household god. If it is true, as 
 the psychologists tell us, that the impressions a child 
 receives before it is six years old, determine its future 
 life, then China will never become Christian until the 
 mothers of the nation are Christian. 
 
 But women's work has its especial difficulties. 
 While one out of ten men can read, only one of 100 
 women can read. How are you to teach the Bible to 
 people who cannot read, and are supposed to be in- 
 capable of acquiring an education? How are you to 
 reach people who rarely leave their homes ; whose 
 feet are bound so tightly that it is painful to walk any 
 distance? 
 
 From the beginning of the mission Mrs. Dubs vis- 
 ited among the women of the neighborhood, and in- 
 vited them to the church. One of the most effective 
 means of work was to visit the women in their homes, 
 alone or in company with a Chinese Bible woman, and 
 preach to the crowds that would gather to see the 
 strange foreigner. For these women she began wom- 
 en's meetings held on a week-day afternoon, which 
 she or the Bible woman conducted. To these meetings 
 the women would come, frequently bringing their 
 babies, to see the foreigner and to hear this new doc- 
 trine. 
 
 When they became interested in Christianity, and 
 desired to be baptized, it was necessary to organize a 
 
26o EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 woman's catechetical class, to teach them to read or to 
 commit the catechism by heart, as well as Scripture 
 passages, and to make sure that they understood what 
 it was to become a Christian. All this work devolved 
 upon Mrs. Dubs in addition to her housework. It was 
 not until March 20, 1904, that the first woman's Sun- 
 day school Bible class was organized. 
 
 So many of the women were poor, that in order to 
 enable them to earn a little pocket money, and also to 
 attract more women, Mr. Dubs started industrial work, 
 getting them to embroider, cross-stitch, etc., at which 
 the Chinese women are adepts. Many friends of the 
 mission in America have rejoiced in the possession of 
 a piece of embroidery and many have sold embroidery 
 that was made by these Chinese women. In this way 
 many women were brought under the influence of Mrs. 
 Dubs who would not otherwise have been drawn to 
 the mission. 
 
 In this work a Chinese Bible woman is a great help. 
 A Bible woman is usually of mature age, having some 
 knowledge of the Bible, whose work is to proclaim 
 the Christian message. Her duties are as varied as 
 the needs of human hearts. She goes out daily to 
 visit in the homes to which she can gain access, to 
 enter into the conversation of the women and try to 
 lead them to a knowledge of a higher life. On meet- 
 ing days she goes about the neighborhood and invites 
 women to the meeting. Sometimes she herself leads 
 the meeting. Furthermore there is a great deal to be 
 done in the line of teaching; teaching the women to 
 read, and assisting the lady missionary in her work. 
 
WOMEN'S WORK 261 
 
 On Sunday she may teach in the Sunday school ; she 
 welcomes strangers to the service, shows new women 
 their seats, and helps to keep order, as the women's 
 side of the church is often very disorderly. After 
 Sunday she rounds up delinquents and urges them to 
 attend the meetings. She visits the sick and tries to be 
 helpful. When possible, she may go to the out-sta- 
 tions and hold short sessions of school for the women. 
 The great difficulty is to find capable Bible women. 
 Educated women are scarce ; Bible women are scarcer. 
 Consequently, at many of the stations and out-stations, 
 especially the latter, where there is no lady missionary 
 or Bible woman, there is no work done among the 
 women at all. 
 
 This work prompted the starting of a Woman's 
 Bible School at Changsha by Mrs. Dubs. Its purpose 
 was to train Bible women and also to give other 
 women an opportunity to live for a while in a Chris- 
 tian atmosphere, and to learn some of the fundamen- 
 tals of Christianity. It opened in March, iQii, with an 
 enrollment of 10 women and one baby. The curricu- 
 lum comprised the catechism, the New Testament, Old 
 Testament history, singing, arithmetic, the home, read- 
 ing and writing Chinese, and needlework. Mrs. Dubs 
 had made arrangements for opening it in October, 
 1913 ; the prospectus was printed ; the course of 
 study adopted ; the teachers engaged ; when came her 
 sickness and death. 
 
 The school was continued under various principals. 
 In 1917 the first commencement was held, when three 
 women were given their diplomas. One of them went 
 
262 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 to assist in the woman's work at dialing, and one to 
 Siangtan. This woman, a Mrs. Wu, was first sent to 
 the school by Mrs. Lilla Snyder Voss, after whose 
 death Mr. Voss continued her support. Though she 
 was fifty years of age, she proved a good student and a 
 winning woman ; when she graduated there were 
 eighteen women in Siangtan waiting to enter her 
 classes for Bible instruction. 
 
 Mrs. Dubs was taken ill in the summer of 1913, and 
 removed to the Red Cross Hospital of the Harvard 
 Medical School at Shanghai. At first the surgeons 
 were uncertain as to her disease ; later it was diagnosed 
 as glandular carcinoma of the peritoneum. It was 
 useless to attempt to remove the cancer; after much 
 suffering she "went home" on February 9, 1914. 
 
 Mrs. Emma M. Dubs was the first woman mis- 
 sionary of the Church. Her interest in foreign mis- 
 sions dates from her girlhood days. After her mar- 
 riage she was elected superintendent of the Bureau of 
 Literature of the Woman's Missionary Society of the 
 Church ; in this capacity she also published the monthly 
 magazine. The Missionary Tidings. When her hus- 
 band was chosen as the first foreign missionary, she 
 came to China with him, undaunted by the atrocities 
 and barbarous cruelties of the Boxer year. She was 
 the first foreign lady to enter the city of Changsha, 
 and she sufifered the hardships and privations that 
 such a course of action entailed. She had the un- 
 daunted courage and spirit of the missionary hero and 
 pioneer. 
 
Mrs. Emma M. Dubs 
 Our Pioneer Missionary Among Women and Children 
 
WOMEN'S WORK 263 
 
 She started the woman's work of the mission. Be- 
 cause she was profoundly impressed with the fact that 
 only the power of the gospel could raise women up 
 out of the depths of degradation into which they had 
 fallen, she made it her first duty to preach Christ and 
 His gospel. Everything that she undertook, whether 
 industrial, educational or evangelistic work, was made 
 subservient to the one aim and purpose of her life, 
 namely, to bring Christ to the women of China. 
 
 In addition she made it a point to keep her house 
 and table a healthful place. How important a good 
 home is, only missionaries can tell. Dr. Dubs writes : 
 
 I am sure that we would not be in such good health now 
 were it not that Mrs. Dubs is a good and careful housekeeper. 
 I have seen missionaries ruined in health because their wives 
 paid no attention to the kitchen. 
 
 Mrs. Dubs also started the educational work of the 
 mission. She was ready to do anything that wouici 
 further the gospel, and her activities were manifold. 
 For some years she did the arduous work of mission 
 treasurer. Only eternity will tell the magnitude of 
 the influence of her devoted and consecrated life spent 
 in the Master's service. 
 
 Shortly before she died she dictated a last message 
 to the missionaries of her Church : 
 
 Please tell them that at the brink of the grave, life's values 
 assume a different relation. I would urge all our missionaries 
 to forget everything else (than the preaching of Christ cruci- 
 fied) ; lay it aside and think more of the great work we are 
 trying to do and plan for its success. I would do very differ- 
 ently in my endeavor to spread the gospel, were I to have an- 
 other opportunity. Tell them to work harder than ever for the 
 
264 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 success of our cause, for one does not regret such work when 
 the end of our earthly pilgrimage comes. 
 
 Especially would I urge all the ladies of the mission to 
 do more for the women of China in their lost condition, and 
 may God bless them in their work. My prayer is that God 
 may give our mission work far greater success than it has 
 yet achieved. I send my best wishes to all and wish to be 
 remembered to all the Chinese, and especially to the women 
 of Changsha, with whom I have been associated the past 
 years, and for whom I labored. I hope to meet all in heaven. 
 
 In September, 1912, Mrs. Dunlap, the lady mission- 
 ary at Liling, tried a new line of approach to the 
 women. In order to enable her to reach them more 
 effectively, she started a day school for women, meet- 
 ing from two to five afternoons a week. Nineteen 
 scholars were enrolled, only two of whom could read. 
 Consequently the chief part of the work was teaching 
 these women to read and commit Scripture verses and 
 the catechism. This school was kept open two and 
 a half months in the fall and two months in the 
 spring. It has been very successful ; during one year 
 (1915) of the 30 women enrolled, there were 17 con- 
 versions, all of them entering the Church on profes- 
 sion of faith at baptism. Other missionaries have since 
 adopted this type of work, with the result that there 
 are now three schools of this sort, including the 
 Woman's School at Changsha, viz., at Liling and 
 Yuhsien, with an enrollment of 31 and 18 respectively. 
 
 A type of work entirely new in this part of China 
 was inaugurated in 1916 with the appointing of Mrs. 
 Chii (pronounced jii, j as in judge, ii as in fiihl) as 
 general woman's evangelist for the mission. Mrs. 
 
WOMEN'S WORK 265 
 
 Dubs first met her as the wife of an official in Chang- 
 sha. She was a woman of education and talent as 
 well as of good social position, and was a great aid to 
 Mrs. Dubs in the study of the language. After she 
 became a Christian, she helped Mrs. Dubs in visiting 
 the women of Changsha. One of the last requests 
 Mrs. Dubs made was that Mrs. Chii be sent to the 
 Bible School at Nanking for further preparation for 
 work among the women of Hunan. During the two 
 years that she spent there she visited the city jails for 
 women regularly. As a result a change of conditions 
 took place; from places of unadulterated wickedness 
 they have been transformed — the matron and quite a 
 number of inmates being enrolled as Christians, and a 
 larger number anxious to know more of the truth. 
 She graduated with honor in 1916 and was appointed 
 evangelist that summer. 
 
 Mrs Chii's plan of work is to go to a place and con- 
 duct a series of evangelistic meetings there, lasting for 
 a week or ten days. By the use of charts she aims to 
 fiave the regular attendants remember her subjects 
 and their divisions. While holding this campaign she 
 visits in as many homes as possible in the forenoons, 
 holding meetings in the afternoon as well as receiving 
 callers. 
 
 She has been remarkably successful in her work. 
 During the year she visited a dozen stations and out- 
 stations ; at each one she stirred up interest among the 
 women as never before, with the result that a number 
 of women became earnest enquirers. In Chaling the 
 
266 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 first four women to be baptized came as a result of 
 her campaign. 
 
 For the women of Hunan more work must be done 
 than for the men. The wives of the missionaries are 
 often too busy to do all that is necessary. It is to be 
 hoped that lady missionaries may be sent to take up 
 this important work more effectively. 
 
Hospital at Liling 
 Middle Section 70x42 feet. Each Wing 71x30 feet 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 MEDICAL WORK 
 
 In China medical work is an integral part of mis- 
 sion work. Chinese medicine is an affair of herbs and 
 roots, prescriptions of tiger's tooth, finger-nail parings, 
 acupuncture to let out devils, magic, and mummery. 
 To such a people who are without effective medical 
 aid, the need of a physician is very great. The Chi- 
 nese are above all practical, and are drawn to Chris- 
 tianity when they see it working itself out in practical 
 philanthropies. Dr. Peter Parker, it is well said, 
 opened up China at the point of a lancet. Not only 
 does a dispensary or hospital attract many who would 
 not otherwise come, but it gives an unequalled oppor- 
 tunity for preaching the gospel and at the same time 
 illustrating Christian kindnesses. The death of Rev. 
 A. C. Lindenmeyer, directly due to the lack of medical 
 aid, shows that a physician is necessary for the health 
 of the missionaries themselves. All these reasons com- 
 bine to make medical work an essential part of any 
 mission. 
 
 The mission early realized the importance of such 
 work. On December 15. 1902, the first dispensary was 
 opened in Changsha. The superintendent had invited 
 Dr. John MacWillie to take charge of the medical 
 work for a year. From the first the dispensary found 
 favor with the Chinese. The treatment given to beg- 
 
 267 
 
268 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 gars especialy astonished the Chinese. For a foreign 
 doctor to wash the sores of a beggar and clean him up 
 generally, is something that a non-Christian Chinese 
 finds it impossible to understand. 
 
 But this arrangement was only temporary, and Dr. 
 MacWillie left in July. Medical work had to wait 
 some years until our first medical missionary, Dr. 
 David C. Munford, arrived in October, 1909. He was 
 stationed at Liling, and for the first few years spent 
 most of his time in studying the language. But the 
 protracted sickness of his child hindered him very 
 much. At last it seemed necessary for Mrs. Mun- 
 ford to return to America to care for her child, and 
 in October, 191 1, Dr. Munford also returned, having 
 severed his connection with the mission. The hospital 
 which had been planned, had to wait for some years 
 until the arrival of another doctor. 
 
 Dr. Benjamin E. Niebel, the son of the present 
 corresponding secretary of the Missionary Society, a 
 graduate of Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, 
 having also completed a course as resident physician 
 and surgeon, at Grace Hospital, Detroit, Mich., ar- 
 rived in China June, 1914. With Dr. Niebel and his 
 wife came Miss Cora F. Hobein, R.N., to be head 
 nurse. Dr. Niebel is a physician and surgeon of the 
 highest ability. After a summer at Ruling, and eight 
 months at the Nanking Language School, he went to 
 Liling. Upon his arrival, which was the following 
 September (1915) sick calls came in before he had his 
 goods unpacked or his home settled. In a few days 
 he was giving up the whole afternoon to seeing patients 
 
MEDICAL WORK 269 
 
 on his back veranda. The first of the year he moved 
 into the new dispensary ; he spent four to six hours in 
 the dispensary every afternoon. At the same time he 
 was planning and helping build the hospital, as well as 
 continuing his study of the language. In this work 
 Miss Hobein and Mrs. Niebel were a great help. Mrs. 
 Niebel took care of mixing prescriptions. To illus- 
 trate the type of work at a dispensary, I quote from an 
 article by Dr. Niebel : 
 
 I open the door to the waiting room, and see quite an 
 audience of patients sitting there, waiting for the doctor, and 
 listening to the gospel preached to them in their tongue, by 
 one of their own people. We have a colporteur, a converted 
 priest, who gives every afternoon to the preaching of the 
 gospel and the selling of tracts in the dispensary. 
 
 The first two patients are already at my side, and I at 
 once begin to question them regarding their diseases. 
 
 "What is your sickness?" I ask one. 
 
 "My name is Gia," he replied quickly. 
 
 "What is your sickness?" I repeat, slowly. 
 
 This time he understands and answers, "Pain." 
 
 Often it requires the nurse, myself, and the bystanders, 
 using every form and change of phrase to make the country 
 patient understand a simple question. There is no danger 
 of a doctor becoming conceited over his ability to speak 
 Chinese. 
 
 "Where does it pain?" I continue. 
 
 "My heart pains." Pain from the head to the feet is 
 designated as heart pain by the Chinese. 
 
 "Show me with your hand where the pain is located?" I ask. 
 
 He places his hand over his abdomen. After a few more 
 questions and an examination, he is given medicine. 
 
 The other patient, a hollow-cheeked man of forty years, 
 steps up. 
 
 "What is your trouble?" I begin. 
 
 "My heart is not good," he answers, as he waves his hand 
 over his body from the waist upwards. 
 
 "How is your appetite?" I ask. 
 
270 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 "Do not have any," he replies, coughing painfully. 
 
 "How long have you been coughing?" I continue, already 
 certain of the cause of the "pain in the heart." 
 
 I examine his chest and find that that fatal disease, tuber- 
 culosis, has already gotten a death grip upon the man's body. 
 * * * It seems as though a third of the patients that come 
 to the clinic are sufifering from this disease. It is the most 
 prevalent disease in China, and takes the Chinese by the thou- 
 sands each month in the year. * * * 
 
 Now a young man enters the room and complains of a dull 
 pain in his head as well as a pain in his heart. I examine 
 him carefully, but can ascertain nothing especially wrong. 
 To my questions regarding the nature of the pain he gives but 
 vague answers. Although he shows no indication of fever, 
 I decide to take his temperature. After many words and 
 motions, he finally understands where the thermometer is to 
 be placed. After leaving it under his tongue for a minute, 
 I withdraw it. His face brightens as though he had received 
 some potent medicine, and with a smile he says, "I feel much 
 better now, doctor." I step into the drug room to get some 
 medicine, and on returning he again says, "Thank you, doctor, 
 I am all right now." The thermometer was evidently good 
 medicine. 
 
 The last patient is a man with a child in his arms. At least 
 it must be a child, for it wears child's clothes and has the 
 hand of a child. But is it a child ? I do not see any eyes ; 
 they are gone. And I do not see any nose, but in its place 
 is a slight hole for an air passage. And I do not see any 
 lips or ears. I do see a flat, diseased surface, with one set 
 of teeth in the lower part, and I do hear the moaning of a 
 child. It cannot live, but something can be done to relieve its 
 suffering." 
 
 At the dispensary, the patients enter into a large 
 waiting room, in which is a colporteur, who preaches 
 to them, pleads with an interested listener, or sells 
 books or parts of the Bible. All are invited to at- 
 tend our Church services ; all are urged to purchase a 
 Bible or helpful tract; nearly all are personally plead 
 
MEDICAL WORK 271 
 
 with. One can understand what influence for good 
 may be wielded there when one reaHzes that during the 
 past year we have had nearly eight thousand patients, 
 coming not only from Liling, but from villages at a 
 distance of 100 and more miles away. And all have 
 heard the story of the all-powerful physician. 
 
 In 191 7 the hospital at Liling was completed. The 
 larger share of credit for arousing sentiment at home 
 and gathering funds to make the building of this hos- 
 pital possible belongs to the Woman's Missionary So- 
 ciety. The site is ideal, located near the river, on an 
 elevation 120 feet above the river. The long middle 
 section is seventy by forty-two feet, the wings are 
 each seventy-one by thirty feet. Each side of the 
 middle section has a porch running full length. The 
 hospital has two full stories, a basement, and an attic. 
 There are four large wards, one small one, and ten 
 private rooms. The present force of the hospital con- 
 sists of Dr. Niebel, with Mrs. Niebel assisting him 
 daily, a Chinese doctor (Dr. Chen) who is a gradu- 
 ate of the University of Nanking, Miss Cora F. Ho- 
 bein, R.N., who is head nurse, with two Chinese 
 nurses. The dispensary is in a separate building, near 
 the street. 
 
 The last report shows that during the year 1918 
 there were 8,186 out-patients, 247 in-patients, 190 out- 
 calls and 500 operations. 
 
 The same year the hospital opened. Miss Hobein 
 started a school for nurses, which promises to be a 
 great help to the hospital. The development of such 
 
272 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 a school shows to what lengths a mission must go in 
 supplying the needs of the people it serves. 
 
 Inasmuch as Liling county alone has 500,000 people, 
 that region was fully enough for one doctor. For a 
 number of years calls were sent out for another physi- 
 cian, and at last he was found in the person of Dr. 
 R. A. Welch, a graduate of the University of Illinois. 
 He reached China, May, 191 7, and was stationed at 
 Yuhsien, where he is studying the language. Mrs. 
 Welch remained in America for a year to pursue her 
 studies, and will sail for China in the fall of 1918. 
 
 Yuhsien county has a population of 100,000 and 
 there is only one physician there. The people of 
 Chaling, which county has 340,000 more, have plead 
 with the mission that the next doctor be stationed 
 there, and have promised to subscribe towards the cost 
 of the hospital. The Woman's Missionary Society has 
 been gathering money for a woman's hospital, which 
 shall be called the "Emma Dubs Memorial Hospital," 
 and which has been located at Yuhsien. More physi- 
 cians, especially a lady physician, are needed badly. 
 Pray that the right persons may be found. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM. 
 
 The future of our mission work in China depends 
 upon our schools. An adult Chinese may be brought 
 to a knowledge of Christ, and become whole-heartedly 
 Christian ; but the habits of his previous heathen life 
 stay with him in the main. We cannot expect very 
 much from the first generation of Christians. But if 
 the children are properly cared for and educated, if 
 from earliest childhood they are trained to be Chris- 
 tians, so that, for example, they do not even know the 
 names of the idols, then great things may be expected 
 of them, and we may expect that they will compare 
 favorably with the Christians of other countries. But 
 if we allow the children of our Christians to grow up 
 in non-Christian schools, which will counteract the 
 influence of the Christian services and Sunday school, 
 we cannot expect the second generation of Christians 
 to be strong in their faith or capable leaders of a Chi- 
 nese church. 
 
 Not only is a Christian education needed for these 
 children, but China has so few schools, that most of 
 the children would receive no education at all unless 
 the mission provided it for them — and then where 
 would we get the future Chinese leaders of the Church, 
 ministers, evangelists, and colporteurs, as well as edu- 
 cated laymen, who would carry on the work that has 
 
 273 
 18 
 
274 
 
 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 been started? If we are to secure the necessary help- 
 ers in our mission work — and without Chinese helpers 
 the missionary can do but little — we must train them 
 in our own schools. 
 
 But it is not enough to educate the men ; they must 
 be provided with Christian wives, themselves capable 
 of preaching to the women of China the good news 
 they have learned. The education of the girls of China 
 is as important as that of the boys. 
 
 China has abolished her ancient system of examina- 
 tions, whereby all degrees were given upon the basis 
 of a highly artificial system of purely literary learn- 
 ing, and has endeavored to establish modern schools. 
 But she has not been able to find the necessary teach- 
 ers ; the government schools too often oppose Chris- 
 tianity or teach paganism or agnosticism. China needs 
 a Christian educational system to give her people an 
 education that is something more than literary knowl- 
 edge — to give a hold upon the deeper realities of life 
 that will alone make them steadfast and unselfish. 
 
 The beginnings of the educational system of the 
 mission are very humble. Dr. and Mrs. Dubs arrived 
 in Hunan in 1901. Early in 1902 Mrs. Dubs felt as 
 though she wanted to do something, but she hardly 
 knew what. So one day she invited Chao-uen, the 
 daughter of one of our personal teachers, to come to 
 her house daily for instruction in English, arithmetic, 
 and sewing. The first sign that the leaven of the 
 gospel was working in the families of those who came 
 to our services, was the decision that brought this little 
 girl to us for an education. Shortly after this time her 
 
THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 275 
 
 feet were unbound, though then it was very unpopu- 
 lar, and exposed the Httle girl to much ridicule. 
 Within a few months another child was added to this 
 little school in Nan-seng, the son of one of our evan- 
 gelists. Such was the beginning of our school work 
 in Hunan. 
 
 The second step was the decision of Mrs. Dubs to 
 teach the children of these families who attended our 
 services regularly. Accordingly on February 9, 1903, 
 this school was opened. But this move came so sud- 
 denly that it found the mission without school supplies 
 and without a proper building or even a suitable room. 
 The school sessions were held in Mrs. Dubs' home 
 until March, 1903, when a room was fitted up for this 
 purpose. This opening was a cause for much rejoicing 
 on the part of our Chinese members. They were ex- 
 ceedingly glad that they could now send their children 
 to a Christian school under the influence of teachers 
 who would not counteract the influence of the Chris- 
 tian training they received. 
 
 A year later, on March 15, 1904, the school was 
 opened in new quarters on our new property. The 
 number of pupils increased so rapidly that the room 
 became full. The work increased to such an extent 
 that it became necessary to invite Miss Marie Hasen- 
 pflug, who had come to Hunan on a visit to her sister, 
 Mrs. Dubs, to take some of the classes. As the school 
 grew, the advisability of separating the boys and girls 
 became apparent. On May 31, 1904, Mrs. Dubs and 
 Miss Hasenpflug opened a girls' day school. Miss 
 Hasenpflug was deeply impressed with the lack of 
 
276 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 workers in this branch of missionary endeavor. She 
 realized the immense field of usefulness open before 
 her, and decided to join the mission and to give herself 
 to the education of the girls of Changsha. This de- 
 cision on her part opened the way for the furtherance 
 of this branch of work. 
 
 In a similar manner day schools have been started on 
 all the stations, and (where capable Chinese teachers 
 could be secured) on a few of the out-stations. There 
 are now (1917) 7 boys' day schools and 6 girls' day 
 schools, as well as 3 day schools for boys and girls, 
 with a total of 30 teachers and 454 pupils. The chil- 
 dren's ages range mostly from six to fourteen, and so- 
 cially from the servant's boy to the official's son. 
 These schools teach the elementary branches only. 
 They are feeders to our boarding schools, and the best 
 pupils from these day schools are sent to the boarding 
 schools. 
 
 The Girls' Boarding School, which is now the 
 higher girls' school of the mission, grew directly out of 
 the day schools at Changsha. In a day school the 
 pupils are in the heathen atmosphere of their homes 
 part or most of the time, and only under Christian 
 influence for a very limited part of the day. In a 
 boarding school, the pupils can be kept in a Christian 
 atmosphere all the time, with the result that better 
 work can be done, both scholastic and evangelistic. 
 For our schools are directly subservient to the main 
 purpose of the mission — to proclaim Christ. The 
 boarding school takes the boy or girl out of his en- 
 
THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 277 
 
 vironment, and transfers him into a Christian environ- 
 ment — hence its greater effectiveness. 
 
 In 1906 we succeeded in purchasing additional 
 property adjoining the mission compound. This 
 property was cleared of all the old buildings, while 
 the two best houses were reserved to be repaired and 
 renovated for a temporary home for the Girls' Board- 
 ing School. In the fall of the same year this school 
 was opened amidst much enthusiasm, with Miss M. T. 
 Hasenpfiug as principal and Miss Lilla Snyder (later 
 Mrs. H. E. Voss) as assistant. The venture proved 
 its wisdom. More pupils applied than could be ac- 
 commodated, and preparations for a new building 
 were begun. 
 
 In the spring of 1908 the long-continued and heavy 
 rains weakened the north wall of the temporary school 
 building, and it crumbled away under its own weight. 
 Fortunately no one was hurt, but this event showed 
 the need of building a home for the school. Immedi- 
 ate steps were taken to rent another building, but the 
 hostility of the Hunanese, and especially of the gentry 
 and officials made it impossible for the mission to rent 
 anywhere. Landlords were intimidated and refused 
 to rent at any price. For a while the fate of the 
 school trembled in the balance, but after a severe and 
 prolonged contest extending throughout the summer, 
 a house was rented in the southern part of the city in 
 which the school and teachers were housed tempo- 
 rarily. 
 
 Meanwhile the new building was planned and on No- 
 vember 19, 1908, sod was turned, and the corner stone 
 
278 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 laid January 5, 1909. With this new building the 
 school prospered as never before. A better class of 
 girls began to come to it. But in the winter of 1910- 
 191 1 its existence was again threatened. The prop- 
 erty next door was purchased by a theater company 
 and a Chinese theater erected. Now in China a thea- 
 ter is always immoral ; this fact the Chinese them- 
 selves recognize. Furthermore a tower was erected on 
 this property from which the people could look right 
 into the school, a thing which of itself would prevent 
 the better class of Chinese girls from coming to the 
 school. The noise of the performance is great, and 
 disturbed the school work. The mission offered either 
 to sell out to the theater company or buy them out ; 
 but they set the price at a prohibitive figure. Foreigners, 
 not missionaries, who come to China accept invitations 
 to feasts at which a Chinese theatrical company per- 
 forms; this fact is becoming known all over China. 
 So when Dr. Dubs spoke to the Chinese about the 
 theater, they replied with such stories. The better 
 class of Chinese realized the incongruity of having a 
 theater next to a Girls' Boarding School, yet the local 
 authorities would not do anything, for the theater be- 
 longed to one of the most influential men in the prov- 
 ince. In extremity Dr. Dubs went to Hankow, where 
 he sent a petition to the Viceroy of the two provinces 
 of Hunan and Hupeh, telling him that the school had 
 been started for the benefit of the Chinese, and appeal- 
 ing to him, on the ground that the school was a help 
 to the girls of Changsha, to prevent the destruction of 
 
THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 2/9 
 
 the school. Immediately orders were sent forth, arid 
 the theater was closed, never to open again. 
 
 Since that time the school has prospered. It was 
 closed temporarily during the time of the Revolution ; 
 but last year (1916-1917) it was full of eager pupils. 
 The capacity of the building was taxed to the ut- 
 most. The class of girls attending was better than ever 
 before. In fact this school now has the reputation of 
 being one of the best in the province. The 8 teachers 
 care for "jy pupils. 
 
 The spiritual tone of the institution has also been 
 very high. In 191 7 the girls started a weekly prayer- 
 meeting at which the girls took turns in leading. Each 
 girl had her own prayer list, and a number of the girls 
 were converted. 
 
 Higher education for girls is provided for at the 
 Hunan Union Girls' High and Normal Training 
 School, also located at Changsha. This is a union 
 project with the American Presbyterian Mission, This 
 school gives instruction of high school grade. For a 
 time Mrs. Lindenmeyer was our representative at 
 this school ; after her marriage the mission engaged 
 Miss Leona Thomasson for a year. Then Miss Min- 
 nie Gohn taught there until Miss Strunk was ap- 
 pointed. 
 
 Higher education for boys is secured in the school 
 at Iviling. This school was opened in the fall of 1912 
 as the Boys' Boarding School, with Rev. I. R. Dun- 
 lap in charge. There was no specially trained men to 
 take charge of such a school, but it was necessary to 
 open it to keep the influence of the mission over its 
 
28o EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 boys. For some years none but primary work was 
 done. In the fall of 1916 Rev. S. M. Short took charge, 
 and a year later a high school course was added. At 
 this time the name of the school was changed to the 
 "Albright Preparatory School." Last year 85 stu- 
 dents were enrolled, 27 of whom were in the high 
 school department. It is aimed to make the standard 
 of scholarship as high as that of any school in the 
 province, and to prepare the graduates from the high 
 school department to enter Yale College at Changsha. 
 
 Yet it is the "aim never to lose sight of the fact that 
 the chief purpose of educational missions, as well as all 
 other forms of missionary work, is to lead to Christ 
 those who know Him not and to strengthen for His 
 service those who are already His," as Principal 
 Short writes in one of his reports. 
 
 The boys have their own K. L. C. E. organization. 
 They elect their own officers and manage their own 
 society, with regular meetings Sunday afternoons. 
 The appointing of leaders, arranging of programs, etc., 
 have been in the hands of the students, and there 
 never yet has been a time when the leader was not on 
 hand to lead the meeting. Early last fall the officers 
 of the society arranged for a voluntary Bible study 
 class to be taught by two of the older students. More 
 than 30 boys joined and have continued studying dur- 
 ing the year. Twenty-four of the students are mem- 
 bers of the Church and 22 are studying the catechism, 
 a number of whom are likely to be baptized at the next 
 communion service. 
 
THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 281 
 
 Thus it is seen that all of our schools are doing ex- 
 cellent work and are graduating pupils who will be a 
 credit to the mission. While educational work is 
 costly, yet it pays high dividends in effective, educated 
 lives. At present the great need is for an endowment 
 fund for these schools, for, as in all schools, the fees 
 cover only a small proportion of the cost of the edu- 
 cation. Here is an opportunity for great service to 
 China in training up a new Christian generation. 
 
 Hunan is fortunate in possessing a first class col- 
 legiate institution. In 1904 Yale University of New 
 Haven, Conn., decided to start a mission institution, 
 and decided upon Changsha as the location for their 
 school. This school is backed by Yale students and 
 graduates, and is rapidly becoming one of the fore- 
 most institutions of its kind in China. The intention 
 is to make it a school of the same grade as the one in 
 America. At present there is a preparatory school, 
 collegiate school, medical school, and hospital. Of the 
 eight graduates in the first graduating class of the col- 
 lege, in 191 7, four were members of our mission. One 
 is now the assistant pastor in Yuhsien, a second has 
 been an assistant to Rev. Knecht and is attending the 
 Theological School at Nanking, and a third is assisting 
 Dr. Niebel, and attending Yale Medical College. The 
 fourth is studying in an American university. Thus 
 there is a complete Christian educational system from 
 the earliest primary school through college, with all, 
 except the last stage, under the supervision of the 
 mission. Such a system will provide for the mission 
 
282 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 the educated, trained Chinese leadership that it will 
 need in the years to come. 
 
 But the growing generation are not the only ones 
 who need schools. In the United States, the work of a 
 minister is chiefly to remind people of what they have 
 already learned ; the fundamentals of Christianity are 
 known to all ; in China, the missionary must teach the 
 people something entirely new. Consequently the work 
 of the Church is largely a work of education. So 
 schools have been developed for all classes of people. 
 The Woman's Bible Schools and of the catechetical 
 classes have been already noted (on page 200, and pp. 
 161, 264). 
 
 In 1912 Dr. Dubs and Rev. Dunlap started a night 
 school for young men who came to study English. It 
 was a success, and some 80 were enrolled. This school 
 was a means of reaching a great many people who had 
 been stirred by the Revolution to inquire into for- 
 eign knowledge. But it proved too much of a drain 
 upon the missionary's time and strength, and so was 
 discontinued. This plan has been tried at other sta- 
 tions, with similar results. 
 
 The greatest need of the mission is trained Chinese 
 workers. Most of the actual work of reaching the 
 non-Christians must be done by the Chinese. But a 
 man who has had no education and only four or five 
 years of Christian experience, without any Christian 
 training at his mother's knee — such a man makes but 
 an indifferent worker. Other missions have the same 
 difficulty ; if the mission is to have any effective work- 
 ers, it must train them itself. So there have developed 
 
THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 283 
 
 various workers' training classes, Bible schools, con- 
 ferences, etc. 
 
 The superintendent felt the need of a training 
 school for the workers of the mission so much that he 
 drew up a curriculum as early at 1908. In 191 1 he 
 conducted such a school for six weeks, with indifferent 
 success, he says. He had too little time to spare ; he 
 could not devote the necessary amount of time to make 
 the school effective. After the Union Theological 
 School had been started, it was felt that the workers 
 who were not able to attend this instiution needed 
 training as well as those who could. 
 
 At last the man was found who could take charge 
 of such classes. Rev. M. E. Ritzman returned to 
 China after graduating from the Bible Teachers Train- 
 ing School in New York and Drew Theological Semi- 
 nary. He was stationed nominally at Chaling, but the 
 work to which he devoted most of his strength was in 
 training classes with the colporteurs. 
 
 These classes met four times during the year (1915- 
 1916) two weeks at a time. They met both at Liling 
 and at Yuhsien, in order that all the workers could at- 
 tend. The day opened with a half hour of devotion, 
 followed by an hour of study in doctrine, using a 
 simple book on the teaching of the Bible; then an 
 hour of Bible study, covering Matthew, Mark, Luke, 
 John, Acts and Romans. In the afternoon the men 
 were taught to write and read sermons. The men 
 were expected to review what they had learned in the 
 intervening months, and pass an examination upon it 
 at the opening of the next session. Brief essays were 
 
284 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 also required. Eighteen men took the work the first 
 year. 
 
 While the work is very elementary, yet it meets a 
 great need, and has resulted in increased success on 
 the part of the Chinese workers of the mission. These 
 classes have developed into a seven-year course, and a 
 diploma is to be given upon the successful completion 
 of the course. The school is to be moved to Siang- 
 tan, where quarters are prepared for it. This school 
 will be a great benefit to the mission, (Unfortunately, 
 owing to the great lack of teachers, Mr. Ritzman had 
 to give up these classes to teach in the Changsha Theo- 
 logical School.) 
 
 Another means of educating the Chinese workers of 
 the mission is through summer conferences. The first 
 annual conference of the workers was held in 1913. 
 These conferences have been held at various times of 
 the year, but mostly in the summer. At the time of 
 the dedication of the church in Changsha, the confer- 
 ence was held there, in order that the men might hear 
 Dr. Timothy Richard. These conferences are com- 
 posed of the Chinese workers of the mission, and an 
 equal number of lay delegates from the various sta- 
 tions. In 1916 the average attendance was about 250. 
 Discussions of various sorts were held, as for instance : 
 "Excluding the Bible, what kind of books and period- 
 icals should preachers read?" "What should preach- 
 ers be as to conduct, education, and manner of life?" 
 "Should chapels be opened in market towns, and how 
 far apart should out-stations be established ?" "What 
 relation does the Kingdom of God have to woman?" 
 
THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 285 
 
 "What is the duty of the Church to children ?" Thus it 
 is seen that the primary purpose of these conferences 
 is educational — to help the workers in their problems, 
 and to make them realize the scope of their duty. It 
 is hoped, that when these workers become better 
 trained and able to do without the missionary's super- 
 vision, that their conference may develop into an an- 
 nual conference similar to those in America. 
 
 The highest institution for the training of Chris- 
 tian workers, is, of course, a theological school. Such 
 a school has been established in Changsha, by the co- 
 operation of four missions, the American Presby- 
 terian, the Wesleyan Methodist (English), the Dutch 
 Reformed, and the United Evangelical. Each mission 
 was to furnish a teacher of its equivalent. A union 
 creed was agreed upon. Because of the lack of suffi- 
 cient teachers and of students who had had a college 
 education, the course of study was made more ele- 
 mentary than that of an American theological semi- 
 nary, while students who were ready for theological 
 work equal in grade to that given in an American 
 theological seminary were sent to other institutions 
 which had the necessary professors. The war has 
 seriously affected this institution ; one of the missions 
 has withdrawn, and the school is struggling along. 
 Four of the young men of the mission have been study- 
 ing in this school, and have been helping at Changsha 
 meanwhile. 
 
 Thus it is seen that the mission has a complete edu- 
 cational system. While these schools are very costly, 
 and while education is a more costly form of mission 
 
286 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 work than any other, with the possible exception of 
 medical work, yet it yields better results than any other 
 form of work, and it is absolutely necessary to train 
 the future Chinese leaders of the Chinese church, and 
 so to perpetuate the Christian seed planted by the mis- 
 sion. The great need of the mission is that of more 
 workers in this line of activity. If our schools are to 
 develop as they should, we must have more mission- 
 aries. 
 
 These statistics do not claim to be accurate. The 
 office of the superintendent has been twice rioted, and 
 many records have thus been lost. These figures are 
 as accurate as the material available permits. Blanks 
 represent cases where data are not available. On the 
 meaning of the term "Christian Community," see page 
 200. 
 
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288 
 
 EVANGELICAL MISSIONS 
 
 PRONUNCIATION OF GEOGRAPHICAL TERMS 
 
 Chaling — cha-ling 
 Changsha — chang-sha or 
 
 tsang-sa 
 Cheopi — jo-bee 
 Chuanwan — ju-ain-wan 
 Chucheo — chii-cho or jii-tzo 
 Chukialong — j ii-j i-a-long 
 Hot'ien — ho-ti-en or ho-dain 
 Hsiaotsih — si-ow-tsse 
 Hsinshi — sin-sse 
 Huangt'ang — hwang-dang 
 Huangtuling — hwang-do-ling 
 Huashih — hwa-sse 
 Hukeo — hoo-ko or foo-ko 
 Hunan — hoo-nan or foo-nan 
 Kalong — gow-long 
 Kongt'ang — gong-tang 
 Kuanlao — gwan-low 
 Kuling — koo-ling or goo-ling 
 Kutangkiao — goo-dang-j i-ow 
 Liling — lee-ling 
 Lingfang — ling-hwang 
 
 Liutang — li-o-dang 
 Lutien — lo-dain 
 Luk'eo — lo-ko 
 Mafukiang — ma-foo-ji-ang 
 Pantsishang — ban-tsse-sang 
 Pehshushia — pu-shii-shi-a 
 Peht'utang — bu-to-dang 
 P'ingshui — ping-swee 
 Shahp'u — sha-poo 
 Shanglishi — sang-lee-sse 
 Shihpahkiu — sse-ba-j i-o 
 Shitang — sse-dan 
 Sifen — sse-fun 
 Siangtan — si-ang-dan 
 Siaoch'ae — si-ow-chai 
 T'icheo — tee-cho 
 Tsaoshi — tsow-sse 
 Weishan — wai-san 
 Yaopi — i-ow-bee 
 Yaoshui — i-ow-swee 
 Yuhsien — i-o-shain 
 
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Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries 
 
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