//Jlf,, oS~. 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. ^ 
 
 Purchased by the Hamill Missionary Fund, 
 
 BV 2775 .M8 1904 
 
 Morris, Samuel Leslie, 1854- 
 
 At our own door 
 
At Our Own Door 
 
 A Study of Home Mis- 
 sions with Special Reference 
 to the South and West 
 
 v^By 
 
 S. L. MORRIS, D.D. 
 
 Secretary of the General Assembly's Home Missions Presby- 
 terian Church in the U. S. 
 
 "And that repentance and remission of sins 
 should be preached in His Name among all Na- 
 tions, BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM." — Luke 24 : 4y. 
 
 "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." — Acts i : 8. 
 
 New York Chicago Toronto 
 
 Fleming H. Revell Company 
 
 London and Edinburgh 
 
Copyright, 1904, by 
 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
 
 (^March) 
 
 New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
 Chicago: 6-^ Washington Street 
 Toronto: 27 Richmond Street, W 
 London: 21 Paternoster Square 
 Edinburgh: 30 St. Mary Street 
 
To the memory of my 
 
 Sainted Father 
 
 who laid down his life at the call of his country^ 
 
 whose example has been my constant inspiration in life^ 
 
 and to my 
 
 Aged Mother 
 
 who early impressed me for Christ and the Churchy 
 
 and who still lingers as a benign benediction in my home 
 
 this volume is most affectionately 
 
 Dedicated, 
 
Preface 
 
 " Oh ! that mine adversary had written a book." 
 The secretary of home missions recognizes the risk 
 of authorship ; but necessity compels the venture. 
 The Southern Presbyterian Church in less than a 
 decade will celebrate its Semi-Centennial ; and yet 
 whilst it has been engaged largely in home mis- 
 sionary efforts, it has never produced a book on 
 home missions. The demands for literature on 
 this subject are numerous, widespread and urgent. 
 The Chattanooga Conference of Young People on 
 Missions, held on Lookout Mountain, July 1-8, 
 1903, challenged the secretary to prepare such a 
 manual of home missions, as would provide the 
 young people of the church a text-book for sys- 
 tematic study of this great department of Chris- 
 tian work. The succeeding volume is the answer 
 to that challenge. The author indulges the hope 
 that it will furnish an array of facts, which will 
 not only instruct the young people, but stimu- 
 late their organizations, ladies' societies. Christian 
 workers, churches, and ministers of the Gospel to 
 greater usefulness in the Master's vineyard. 
 
 The writer places on record his indebtedness to 
 the following books and pamphlets : " The His- 
 tory of the Southern Presbyterian Church," by 
 Rev. Prof. T. C. Johnson, D. D. ; " Presbyterian 
 
 5 
 
6 Preface 
 
 Home Missions," by Kev. Sherman H, Doyle, 
 D. D. ; " Under Our Flag," by Miss Alice Guernsey ; 
 " Leavening the Nation," by Kev. Jos. B. Clark, 
 D. D. ; "The Minute Man on the Frontier," by 
 Kev. W. C. Puddefoot ; " Our Country " and " The 
 Twentieth Century City," by Kev. Josiah Strong, 
 D. D. ; " Our Forty Years in the Home Field," by 
 Rev. P. H. Gwinn ; " A Brief History of the Gen- 
 eral Assembly's Home Missions," by Kev. J. N. 
 Craig, D. D. ; "Keview and Outlook," by Kev. 
 Charles L. Thompson, D. D., secretary ; the relig- 
 ious papers of the church, and especially the Union 
 Seminary Magazine and the Home Mission num- 
 ber of the Christian Observer. Quotations from 
 these are acknowledged in each instance at the 
 proper place ; and the list of books is given above 
 for the information of those who desire further 
 study of the subject. 
 
 "Written amid the pressure of office duties, inter- 
 rupted by absences in attending church courts 
 and other engagements, marred by many vexatious 
 causes, known only to those similarly situated, no 
 one can be more conscious of its defects than the 
 author himself; yet he offers it as an humble 
 tribute of service to the church which holds his 
 loyalty, and to the Master he delights to serve, 
 with the prayer that it may fill some useful sphere 
 in advancing the Kingdom of God on earth. 
 
 S. L. MoREis. 
 
 Ailania, Ghorgia. 
 
Contents 
 
 I. Historical - - - - - -ii 
 
 II. The Program of Missions - - - - 48 
 
 III. City Missions ------ 63 
 
 IV. Mountaineers ------ 50 
 
 V. The White Man's Burden - - - - 112 
 
 VI. The Mexicans in Texas - - - - 130 
 
 VII. Indians and Their Territory - - " *39 
 
 VIII. The Great West - - - - - 163 
 
 IX. The Problem of Missions — Foes - - - 185 
 
 X. Woman's Work — Friends - - - - 201 
 
 XI. Synodical Evangelization - - - - 218 
 
 XII. Argument and Appeal - - - _ 239 
 Index ------- 255 
 
At Our Own Door 
 
 HISTORICAL 
 
 As the oak strikes its roots into the virgin soil, 
 penetrating into the crevices of granite rock, forc- 
 ing entrance into the hard clay, or expanding into 
 the more inviting richer mold, drawing sustenance 
 and strength from all sources; so the Presby- 
 terian Church of the United States has drawn its 
 life and strength from almost all the States of 
 Europe. Puritans from England, Huguenots from 
 France, Scotch-Irish from Ireland, Dutch from 
 Holland, Scotch, Germans, Swedes, Swiss, etc., 
 mingle their blood and religious life to form on 
 this "Western Continent the staunchest and sturdi- 
 est, the purest and most aggressive Presbyterian 
 Church on earth. 
 
 Persecution that scattered the infant church in 
 the early days of Christianity, sending its mem- 
 bership " everywhere preaching the word," has on 
 more than one occasion been a blessing in disguise, 
 God's method of propagating the faith. As the 
 massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day and the Kevo- 
 cation of the Edict of Nantes sent some of the 
 best blood of France into exile, and the Nemesis 
 II 
 
12 At Our Own Door 
 
 of history was avenged when their descendants 
 returned as officers in the German army that con- 
 quered and humiliated France ; so the misguided 
 Stuart dynasty forced the flower of England into 
 the wilderness of America, where their sons founded 
 the greatest of Kepublics, and dealt to England the 
 severest blow in all her history. The Presbyterian 
 Church of America was born of persecution ; and 
 men who were willing to suffer for conscience' sake 
 and satisfied to exile themselves amidst the wild 
 forests and wilder savages for religious liberty are 
 not bad material out of which to build an enduring 
 church. 
 
 The gigantic failure of Spain to establish a 
 great Empire in America, as she entered by the 
 Southern gate through the Gulf of Mexico, and 
 the equally disastrous failure of France by the 
 northern gate through the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
 can be explained only by those who see the finger 
 of God in history, preserving America for the 
 Anglo-Saxon and Protestantism. Driven from the 
 older countries of Europe by persecution, their set- 
 tlement of a new Continent was not so much in 
 the hope of commercial gain as the establishment 
 of an asylum of religious liberty. 
 
 " Perhaps no other nation in history, unless it 
 were God's chosen people, was ever more distinctly 
 religious and missionary in the character of its 
 early settlers. The official charter and commis- 
 sions granted by foreign courts to these emigrants 
 contain, almost without exception, an explicit rec- 
 ognition of the divine claim. 'The thing is of 
 
Historical 
 
 13 
 
 God,' said the London Trading Company in its 
 letter patent to the Plymouth pilgrims. ' In the 
 name of God, Amen' are the opening words of 
 the Mayflower compact, and the full spirit and 
 meaning of that document are summed up in 
 phrase as follows : ' For the glory of God and the 
 advancement of the Christian faith.' The signers 
 of this immortal compact paused on the threshold 
 of their great enterprise ' at a time,' says Bancroft, 
 'when everything demanded haste,' and kept a 
 Sabbath of prayer and praise on Clark's Island. 
 . . . Nor was New England the only spot, 
 settled by Christian emigrants 'for the glory of 
 God.' The Dutch of New York were children of 
 the Eeformation, and however eager for trade, 
 brought their religion with them, and it is claimed 
 set up their first church in New Amsterdam a full 
 year before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. 
 . . . The early settlers of North and South 
 Carolina declared themselves to be actuated by ' a 
 laudable zeal for the propagation of the gospel,' 
 while Georgia, the last of the colonies to be settled, 
 was a philanthropic enterprise from the start, 
 dominated by godly Moravians from Germany and 
 Presbyterians from the Highlands of Scotland" 
 (" Leavening the Nation," pp. 16, 17). 
 
 The Puritans transplanted their Calvinistic faith 
 and austere life to Plymouth Kock, Mass. ; Eng- 
 lish Presbyterians entered Yirginia through James- 
 town; the Dutch settled New York, Maryland, 
 and some as far south as Charleston, S. C; and 
 the exiled Huguenots found a home in South 
 
14 At Our Own Door 
 
 Carolina. But the most important factor in the 
 Presbyterianism of the United States was the com- 
 ing of large colonies of Scotch-Irish, who entered 
 chiefly at Philadelphia and Charleston. It is due 
 to this fact that Pennsylvania and the Carolinas 
 have been the strongholds of Presbyterianism re- 
 spectively for the Korth and South. These two 
 streams afterwards met and flowed together, 
 those from Pennsylvania emigrating westward 
 and southward through Virginia and North Caro- 
 lina, meeting the South Carolina contingent, 
 making the Atlantic slope from New York to 
 South Carolina the nursery of Presbyterianism for 
 the continent. 
 
 From meagre historical data we learn that as early 
 as 1700 A. D., there were congregations at Charles- 
 ton and Wilton, S. C, on Elizabeth River in 
 Virginia, near the present site of Norfolk, at 
 Pocomoke and other communities in Maryland, at 
 Philadelphia, in New Jersey and North Carolina, 
 and perhaps at other places where the records are 
 lost. 
 
 , Francis Makemie is venerated as the father of 
 Presbyterianism in America. Licensed about 1681, 
 he landed in Maryland in 1683. Having decided 
 for Ashley River, S. C, he vainly tried to reach his 
 destination, but was compelled by a storm to re- 
 turn to the neighborhood of Norfolk, Virginia, 
 where he ministered to a company of English 
 Puritans. About 1689, he settled to his life-work 
 in Maryland. " As the Greek cities vie for the 
 honor of Homer's birth, so do the Eastern Shore 
 
Historical 15 
 
 churches vie with one another in their claims upon 
 Makemie as founder or minister." The continuity 
 of his ministry was broken by a visit to the Brit- 
 ish Isles in 1691, and a ministry in the Barbadoes 
 for several years. In 1704 he went abroad to 
 secure ministers and returned with John Hampton 
 of Ireland and George NcNish of Scotland. It 
 was largely through his instrumentality that the 
 first presbytery in America was founded at 
 Philadelphia about 1705, he being probably first 
 moderator, and the other ministers being Hampton, 
 McNish, "Wilson, Davis, Taylor, and Andrews. 
 In 1707 he visited New York, and being refused 
 permission to speak in a church, he preached in a 
 private house ; and for this offense was imprisoned 
 by the governor. Lord Cornbury, for six weeks. 
 Being an inconvenient prisoner to hold, he was 
 soon set at liberty, and died the next year at Po- 
 comoke, Maryland, only fifty years of age. 
 
 This gives an account of the organization of the 
 Church in the United States; but there were 
 others too widely scattered to enter the organiza- 
 tion, Kev. John Cotton and Archibald Stobo, 
 near Charleston, several in IS'orth Carolina, New 
 Jersey and New York, might be enumerated 
 among the beginnings of Presbyterianism. These 
 scattered pastors and flocks, together with the 
 growth of the work, justified the organization of 
 the Synod of Philadelphia in 1716, and the com- 
 pletion of the organization of the Church in a 
 General Assembly in 1789, the same year the 
 Constitution of the United States was adopted. 
 
-^ 
 
 16 At Our Own Door 
 
 At this time the country had a population of five 
 millions, and the Presbyterian strength was 288 
 ministers and licentiates, 419 churches (one-half 
 being vacant), and about twenty thousand com- 
 municants. Such was the humble beginning of 
 Presbyterianism on this Continent. It was as 
 "an handful of corn in the earth upon the top 
 of the mountains," but its fruit " as the shaking of 
 Lebanon," bearing thirty, sixty, and a hundred- 
 fold, now facing the twentieth century with a 
 phalanx of twelve Presbyterian denominations in 
 the United States, aggregating twelve thousand 
 ministers, fifteen thousand churches, and nearly 
 two millions of communicants. 
 
 It is interesting and instructive to know that the 
 first recorded grant of missionary money in this 
 country was made to the First Presbyterian 
 Church of New York in 1719, "to enable it to 
 support the gospel." Did the Church ever make 
 in this world a better investment from a financial 
 standpoint ? Does any outlay of funds ever pay 
 better than home missions ? 
 
 Burdened with their growing spiritual wants, 
 the presbytery, and afterwards the synod, sent 
 frequent and urgent " supplications " to the Synods 
 of Scotland and Ireland and to the evangelical 
 ministers of London and Dublin for ministers and 
 money to aid in their maintenance. Eight nobly 
 did the Mother Church respond to this Macedonian 
 cry from the wilderness of America. So the 
 Presbyterian Church of the United States is the 
 child of home missions, now grown stronger than 
 
Historical 17 
 
 the parent, upon whose shoulders has fallen as a 
 mantle the spirit of home missions. 
 
 Ours has been a home mission Church from the 
 beginning. Before there was any organized 
 presbytery, its ministers were missionaries among 
 the Indian tribes, and were gathering the scattered 
 settlers and more recent emigrants into folds and 
 organizations for future presbyteries. "They 
 maintained their religious life in their wilderness 
 homes by closet and family worship, by catechet- 
 ical instruction, by meeting on the Sabbath for 
 social worship, prayer, reading the Scriptures, 
 singing, conference and exhortation. Sometimes 
 their Sabbaths were gladdened by the missionary 
 preaching the gospel, administering the Sacra- 
 ments, and in various ways animating them to 
 devout and holy living and the godly training of 
 their children. . . . They preached the gospel 
 first to the people along or near the Atlantic 
 coast ; then advanced with the settlements to the 
 foot of the Alleghanies ; then through the gaps in 
 the mountains to the new lands beyond where now 
 are Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Nashville, Lexington, 
 Memphis, New Orleans, St. Louis, Columbus, 
 Indianapolis ; and earlier farther north to Albany, 
 Troy, Schenectady, Utica, Eome, Syracuse, Au- 
 burn, Geneva, Rochester, Buffalo, Erie, Cleve- 
 land, Detroit, Chicago, and so on to the Mississippi, 
 the Missouri, and eventually to the Rocky Moun- 
 tains, and to the shores of the great ocean beyond. 
 They established missions among the negroes and 
 the Indians ; sending Occum to the tribes on 
 
 ^ 
 
l8 At Our Own Door 
 
 Long Island, and later to the Oneidas, Mohawks, 
 Senecas, Cayugas, and other families of the 
 Iroquois ; and David Brainard, and afterwards his 
 brother John, to the Indian tribes of ISTew Jersey 
 and Pennsylvania — the Delawares, the Shawnees, 
 and Tuscaroras : and later still, missionaries like 
 Gideon Blackburn to the Cherokees, Choctaws, 
 Sanduskies, and other tribes." 
 
 It is interesting to note that at the very first 
 meeting of the General Assembly, the Presby- 
 terian Church signalized its organized life by lay- 
 ing hold of the great problem of home missions. '^ 
 The Committee on Bills and Overtures recom- 
 mended " that the state of the frontier settlements 
 should be taken into consideration, and mission- 
 aries should be sent to them" (Minutes, 1789, p. 
 10). A committee of two was appointed to " de- 
 vise such measures as might be calculated to carry 
 the mission into execution." The committee re- 
 ported asking that each of the synods be requested 
 to recommend to the General Assembly at their 
 next meeting two members well qualified to be em- 
 ployed in missions on the frontier ; and the pres- 
 byteries were strictly enjoined to take special col- 
 lections during the year for defraying the neces- 
 sary expenses of the missions. 
 
 In obedience to the order of the General As- 
 sembly, the Synod of New York and New Jersey 
 recommended to the Assembly of 1790 Kev. Nathan 
 Her and Joseph Hart. The Synod of Philadel- 
 phia nominated Kev. Dr. George Dufiield, but his 
 untimely death prevented his entering upon the 
 
Historical 
 
 19 
 
 work. The Synod of Yirginia reported that it did 
 not have an account of the proceedings of the As- 
 sembly, but " substantially complied with the de- 
 sign of that mission with an arrangement of their 
 own at the last meeting " (Mins., pp. 23, 25). In- 
 formation was received by the Assembly that the 
 Synod of the Carolinas was supporting its own 
 missionaries. Eeturns from that first collection for 
 home missions ordered by the Assembly showed 
 an aggregate of about $400. The Assembly 
 adopted a form of commission for the missionary 
 and required him " to keep a distinct journal of his 
 progress, and to make report to the next General 
 Assembly." The effect of this movement can be 
 but slightly estimated, considering the fact that 
 nearly a hundred thousand missionaries have 
 served in this capacity under the commission. 
 
 The minutes of the Assembly show that the sub- 
 ject of home missions came in for a full share of 
 consideration at each meeting of the Assembly. 
 
 In 1798 it took particular action regarding the 
 character of the men to be commissioned, and the 
 tenor of their preaching and other services. It 
 declared that " the missionaries should be men of 
 ability, piety, zeal, prudence, and popular talents." 
 They were also to preach the important doctrines 
 of grace, to organize churches where opportunity 
 offered, and administer the ordinances and instruct 
 the people from house to house and with the self-de- 
 nial of their Master be wholly devoted to their min- 
 istry (Minutes, p. 113). 
 
 In 1801 the General Assembly took the im- 
 
20 At Our Own Door 
 
 portant step resulting in the " Plan of Union " with 
 the Congregational Church, " to promote the spirit 
 of accommodation between those inhabitants of 
 the new settlements who hold the Presbyterian 
 and those who hold the Congregational form of 
 Government," providing that Presbyterian congre- 
 gations might settle Congregational pastors and 
 vice versa. It seems to have originated in a spirit 
 of brotherly love and the exigencies of scattered 
 communities ; but it has since been repudiated and 
 repented by both churches. From the Congrega- 
 tional standpoint the author of "Leavening the 
 Nation " asserts : " It was a plan without thought, 
 hope or faith as to the future of America ; a hitch- 
 ing of her home-missionary wagon to a stake in- 
 stead of a star. . . . Presbyterianism had 
 never proved indigenous to the soil east of the 
 Hudson, and by an illogical parity of reasoning, 
 Congregationalism was assumed to be equally 
 foreign to soil west of that river. Hence it was 
 not uncommon for New England pastors to advise 
 their emigrating members ' to be loyal Presbyte- 
 rians at the west.' Students in the seminary were 
 taught that ' Congregationalism is a river rising in 
 New England and emptying itself south and west 
 into Presbyterianism ' " (p. 40), From the Presby- 
 terian standpoint it was the means of introducing 
 into its harmonious fold a new theology and a dis- 
 cordant element, which finally rent the Presby- 
 terian Church asunder in the great schism of 1837, 
 which was not healed till 1870 ; and which has 
 again brought into one fold at least of the Presby- 
 
Historical 21 
 
 terian Church men of widely divergent views, 
 making always imminent the possibility of another 
 great schism. 
 
 One hundred years ago the Assembly of 1802 
 took a step in advance by appointing a Standing 
 Committee on Home Missions, consisting of seven 
 members, four ministers and three elders, whose 
 duty it should be to collect information rela- 
 tive to missions and missionaries, designate the 
 places where missionaries should be employed, to 
 nominate missionaries to the Assembly, and gen- 
 erally to transact under the direction of the As- 
 sembly the missionary business (Minutes, pp. 25Y, 
 258, 259). This was the beginning of the organ- 
 ized home mission work of the Presbyterian 
 Church. Heretofore it had been conducted directly 
 by the action of the Assembly. Henceforth the 
 work would be conducted by a permanent com- 
 mittee making annual reports to the Assembly of 
 its sessions. 
 
 Among the earliest appointments were Rev. 
 Gideon Blackburn to the Cherokee Indians of 
 Tennessee, and Licentiate Jas. Hoge, of Lexington 
 Presbytery, " to serve for six months in the State 
 of Ohio and the Natchez district." Who can esti- 
 mate the influence of these remarkable men upon 
 the destiny of the church and the evangelization 
 of the country ! In the spirit of Abraham many 
 such men " called of God " have gone out by faith, 
 " not knowing whither," but in the providence of 
 God to inaugurate some new and important de- 
 parture for the enlargement of the kingdom of 
 
22 At Our Own Door 
 
 God. " "When the historian writes the history of 
 national progress in the nineteenth century, he will 
 first of all take account of the home missionary. 
 The march of our civilization is to the music of our 
 religion. This gave the inspiration. "Without that 
 music the pioneer had not marched to such victory " 
 (Dr. C. L. Thompson). To the fidelity of these 
 home missionaries and the character of their work, 
 Dr. H. C. Minton bears testimony : " They need 
 no mead of praise, no word of cheer — and too 
 often they get none. The foreign missionary gets 
 his ' year off ' now and then, but our solitary home 
 missionary, plodding on year after year, never. I 
 have seen something of the life and work of our 
 home missionaries in the west, and I believe that, 
 for hard work and poor pay, and small stint of 
 appreciation, and all else which the world and 
 the flesh eschew and fain would avoid, the home 
 missionary in our western states and territories is 
 the peer of many of those who are carrying the 
 gospel to the far away heathen. There is a 
 romance of the work in either case. They are all 
 empire-builders alike. They bring to their work 
 richer tribute than even Cecil Khodes could com- 
 mand. They build themselves into their work; 
 and this is just as true of the missionaries of Iowa 
 and Dakota and California as it is of those of 
 Japan and China and the islands of the sea. It is 
 the romance of faith and heroism, and trial and 
 self-sacrifice, but it is also the romance of promise 
 and patriotism and service and of the crown at 
 last." 
 
Historical 23 
 
 The increase of population necessitated a still 
 further advance of the work, and so the Assembly 
 of 1809 gives authority to the presbyteries to em- 
 ploy missionaries in their own bounds at such 
 places as seemed to them to have the greatest 
 need of missionary labor ; and the next Assembly 
 in 1810 authorizes the publication of the first mis- 
 sionary periodical by the Committee of Missions, 
 to be entitled Missionary Intelligence. 
 
 The year 1816 marks a great change in the ad- 
 ministration of the work, when the Assembly 
 considered it necessary to make larger plans for 
 carrying on the work, and erected the Committee 
 of Missions into a Board, "with full power to 
 transact all the business of the missionary cause, 
 only requiring the Board to report annually to 
 the General Assembly." It was entitled " The 
 Board of Missions, acting under authority of the 
 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 
 the United States" ; and was authorized to appoint 
 missionaries whenever they may deem it proper ; 
 to make such advances to missionaries as may be 
 judged necessary ; to take such measures for 
 establishing throughout our churches auxiliary 
 missionary societies, and generally to conduct the 
 work of home missions in all its phases. 
 
 It would be impossible in this brief sketch to 
 follow in detail all of the home missionary opera- 
 tions of the Church ; for the history of the Church 
 is largely a history of missions. Before we begin 
 to follow the separate fortunes of the Southern 
 branch of the Church, we can quote in passing 
 
24 At Our Own Door 
 
 only the famous overture to the Assembly of 1831, 
 offered by Dr. John H. Rice, founder of Union 
 Theological Seminary in Virginia, in which he 
 asks the Assembly to recognize more emphatically 
 the mission of the Church : " First, That the Pres- 
 byterian Church in the United States is a mis- 
 sionary society, the object of which is to aid in the 
 conversion of the world ; and that every mem- 
 ber of the Church is a member for life of the 
 said society, and bound in the maintenance of 
 his Christian character to do all in his power 
 for the accomplishment of this object. Second, 
 Ministers of the gospel in connection with the 
 Presbyterian Church are most solemnly required 
 to present this subject to the members of their 
 respective congregations, using every effort to 
 make them feel their obligations and to induce 
 them to contribute according to their ability." 
 It is said by Dr. T. C. Johnson in his history, that 
 "this paper stirred the Church." It were "a 
 consummation devoutly to be wished" if the 
 great truth of this overture could find a per- 
 manent abode in the consciousness of the Churchy 
 and arouse her to a higher appreciation of her 
 great and chief mission among men. 
 
 The Southern Presbyterian Church " was born 
 amid the awful throes of Civil War. The growth 
 of conflicting social and political opinions in the 
 great commonwealth had caused a rupture be- 
 tween the North and South, across whose ever- 
 widening chasm the arms of the Church could not 
 reach. 
 
Historical 25 
 
 " The smoke of battle around Fort Sumter had 
 scarcely cleared away, and the whole country was 
 swept by a wave of tragic emotion, when the 
 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church 
 met in the city of Philadelphia, May, 1861. Under 
 stress of an excitement that carried many of the 
 commissioners off their feet, the famous * Spring 
 Resolutions ' were passed, which effectually severed 
 the ecclesiastical bonds between North and 
 South. 
 
 "The paper embodying these resolutions was 
 considered by the Southern Commissioners as * a 
 writ of ejectment ' of all that part of the Church 
 in the bounds of the territory that had seceded 
 from the Union ; and it became the occasion of 
 the withdrawal of forty-seven presbyteries from 
 the old Church. These presbyteries through 
 their commissioners met in the fair city of 
 Augusta, Georgia, December 4, 1861, and or- 
 ganized the General Assembly of the Confederate 
 States, now popularly known as the Southern 
 General Assembly. 
 
 " The conduct of this Assembly at the first meet- 
 ing presents to the world a sublime spectacle of 
 faith. With dismal and bloody civil strife abroad 
 in the land, the roar of cannon borne upon every 
 breeze, sectional feeling running high, and com- 
 pelling brethren of like religious faith to go apart, 
 that memorable gathering of God's servants rose 
 sheer above the surroundings to the contemplation 
 of the Saviour's farewell command, and looking 
 out upon the whole world as their field of opera- 
 
26 At Our Own Door 
 
 tion, accepted the divine charge in the following 
 beautiful words : ' The General Assembly desires 
 distinctly and deliberately to inscribe on our 
 Church's banner as she now first unfolds it to the 
 world, in immediate connection with the headship 
 of her Lord, His last command, " Go ye into all the 
 world, and preach the gospel to every creature," 
 regarding this as the great end of her organiza- 
 tion'" (Rev. P. H. Gwinn). 
 
 Concerning the elements which made up the 
 constituency of the Southern Church, Dr. Moses 
 D. Hoge testifies that these several strains of 
 European Presbyterianism were so blended as to 
 make " a body of Christians singularly homogene- 
 ous, conservative, truth-loving, and ardently de- 
 voted to right and liberty. The courtly and 
 cultivated Huguenot, the stern and simple-hearted 
 Highlander, the strong earnest faithful Scotch- 
 Irish, the conscientious Puritan, and the frank, 
 honest Teuton, contributed of the wealth of their 
 character and the glory of their history. Devo- 
 tion to principle was the guiding star of their 
 action." 
 
 In 1859, two years before the separation, the 
 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church 
 having its office of home missions in I^ew York 
 established a Southwestern Advisory Committee 
 of Domestic Missions in New Orleans. In the 
 division of the Church this committee had left to 
 it no other course than that of independent 
 action. It reported to the first General Assembly 
 of the Southern Church in Augusta, Ga., De- 
 
Historical 27 
 
 cember 4, 1861, and turned over by request its 
 records, work, and funds to that Assembly. 
 
 Instead of a Board of Missions, the Southern 
 Assembly adopted the principles of Dr. J. H. 
 Thornwell in his contention against Boards, and 
 appointed " An Executive Committee of Domestic 
 Missions," located at New Orleans, La., with Rev. 
 John Leyburn, D. D., as Secretary. The Execu- 
 tive Committee differs from the Board in that it is 
 more directly amenable to the Assembly, and is 
 reappointed at each meeting of the Assembly. 
 
 Under the exigencies of the war, the location 
 of the Committee was changed from Xew Orleans 
 to Athens, Ga., then to Montgomery, Ala., and 
 finally combined with that of foreign missions at 
 Columbia, S. C, with Dr. John Leighton Wilson 
 as Secretary. " During the war the principal work 
 of the Committee was that of providing chaplains 
 for the army. About one hundred chaplains were 
 supported from this treasury. It will never be 
 possible in this world to estimate the value of that 
 camp ministry. Religious interest was frequently 
 profound, with many professions of faith. Many 
 brave soldiers went directly from religious worship 
 to death. Many received the ministrations of 
 these chaplains in hospitals, and many survived 
 the awful conflict and date their religious life and 
 Christian character to the faithful work of these 
 godly and noble servants of God " (Dr. J. N. 
 Craig). 
 
 " The Advisory Committee had been created by 
 an order of the General Assembly of 1859, and 
 
28 At Our Own Door 
 
 had gone into active operation in November of 
 that year. It had presented two annual reports to 
 the old Assembly through the parent Board. On 
 March 1, 1861, it had a balance in its treasury of 
 $7,Y29.55 ; it had received between March and 
 E'ovember $4,490.37, having thus during those 
 eight months $12,219.92. About forty mission- 
 aries were on November 1st in commission, which 
 was about the number in commission at the meet- 
 ing of the Philadelphia Assembly. Through the 
 good providence of the blessed Master and Head 
 amidst the terrible convulsions of the times, the 
 work of missions had moved on without a jar. 
 One cannot fail to notice the wonderful manner in 
 which God had prepared the Southern Presby- 
 terian Church for the storm, in the creation of this 
 agency, without which domestic missions upon her 
 extended frontier must have been brought ab- 
 ruptly to a close, and many faithful laborers with- 
 out a warning cast loose upon the world without 
 visible prospect of support for themselves and their 
 families " (Dr. T. C. Johnson). 
 
 At this first meeting of the Assembly, the duties 
 of the Church Extension Committee as organized 
 under the old Assembly were assigned to this 
 Committee of Domestic Missions ; but a still 
 heavier responsibility was laid upon its shoulders 
 when the Assembly gave it as wards the 4,000,000 
 of negroes in the South, by passing the following 
 resolution : 
 
 "That the great field of missionary operation 
 among our colored population falls more imme- 
 
Historical 29 
 
 diately under the care of the [Committee of Do- 
 mestic Missions ; and that the committee be urged 
 to give it serious and constant attention, and the 
 presbyteries to cooperate with the committee in 
 securing pastors and missionaries for this field " 
 (Minutes, p. 20). That the spiritual interests of 
 these wards were not neglected is evident from the 
 fact that such men (than whom none were greater) 
 as Kevs. Joseph Stiles, D. D., Flinn Dickson, D. 
 D., John B. Adger, D. D., John L. Girardeau, D. 
 D., and Charles A. Stillman, D. D., devoted a large 
 part of their ministerial life as pastors and shep- 
 herds of the colored people. This department of 
 home missions finally developed into an Executive 
 Committee of Colored Evangelization, with Rev. 
 Dr. A. L. Phillips as efficient Secretary, and now 
 ably managed by Rev. Dr. J. G. Snedecor, Secre- 
 tary. Tuscaloosa Institute was erected to train 
 for their needs a colored ministry, which has al- 
 ready done a noble work in this sphere. 
 
 One more special item of our first Assembly 
 calls for distinct notice, its characteristic action in 
 regard to the work among the Indians. It was 
 the first foreign mission work attempted by the 
 Southern Church, and would not be noticed in this 
 sketch of home missions but for the fact that in 
 1889 the Indian work was transferred to the Ex- 
 ecutive Committee of home missions, and is now 
 an important factor in this department. It illus- 
 trates also the fact that home and foreign missions 
 are essentially one, and so often overlap that it is 
 impossible to distinguish between them. 
 
30 
 
 At Our Own Door 
 
 The Indians of the Territory chose to cast in 
 their lot with the South, and it is estimated that 
 the Choctaw nation furnished fully 3,000 soldiers 
 for service, and the Cherokees nearly 2,000. Eev. 
 J. Leighton "Wilson, whom Dr. R. L. Dabney char- 
 acterized as one who " wielded more real power in 
 the Southern Presbyterian Church than any other 
 man in it," interested the Church in these Indian 
 tribes, raised and expended about $20,000 among 
 them in missions during 1861. Having made a 
 personal visit to the Indian Territory, he made a 
 report to the Assembly as provisional Secretary, 
 whereupon the Assembly passed the following 
 resolution, in which Dr. T. C. Johnson says, " it 
 betrayed a glorious missionary zeal." 
 
 " Resolved, 2. That the Assembly accepts with 
 joyful gratitude to God the care of these missions 
 among our southwestern Indian tribes, the Choc- 
 taws, Chickasaws, Creeks, Seminoles, and Chero- 
 kees, thus thrown upon them by His providence : 
 missions whose whole history has been signalized 
 by a degree of success attending few other modern 
 missions ; to a people comprising nearly seventy 
 thousand souls, to whom we are bound by obliga- 
 tions of special tenderness and strength, and whose 
 spiritual interests must ever be dear to the Chris- 
 tians of this land. 
 
 " And the Assembly assures these people and the 
 beloved missionaries who have so long and success- 
 fully labored among them of our fixed purpose 
 under God to sustain and carry forward the blessed 
 work, whose foundations have been so nobly and 
 
Historical 31 
 
 deeply laid. We, therefore, decidedly approve of 
 the recommendations of the report, that six new 
 missionaries be sent to this field speedily, two of 
 them to commence in new missions among the 
 Cherokees, and that a few small boarding-schools 
 be established with the special design of raising up 
 a native ministry. 
 
 " 3. That in the striking fact that the same up- 
 heaving and overturning that have called us into ex- 
 istence as a distinct organization and shut us out 
 from present access to distant nations have also laid 
 thus upon our hearts and hands these interesting 
 missions with their fifteen stations, twelve or- 
 dained missionaries, and sixteen hundred com- 
 municants, so at the very moment of commencing 
 our separate existence we find them forming in 
 fact an organized part of our body ; and also in 
 the gratifying promptitude with which our Church 
 has advanced to their support — the Assembly recog- 
 nizes most gratefully the clear foreshadowing of the 
 Divine purpose to make our beloved Church an 
 eminently missionary Church ; and a heart-stirring 
 call upon all her people to engage in this blessed 
 work with new zeal and self-denial " (Minutes, 
 pp. 16, 17). 
 
 Keports from the Indian Presbytery have been 
 irregular and very unsatisfactor}'^, but statistics 
 show that about 2,100 have been received on pro- 
 fession of faith, and about 300 by certificate, mak- 
 ing an average of about sixty a year. It is true 
 that our roll now contains scarcely a thousand 
 communicants among them, but it can be partly 
 
32 At Our Own Door 
 
 accounted for by the fact that owing to the scarcity 
 of funds to prosecute the work the whole northern 
 section of the Indian Territory was transferred 
 to the Northern Church. Death explains the 
 remainder. 
 
 Eecently at a meeting of the Indian Presbytery, 
 Rev. Silas Bacon, a full-blood Choctaw preacher 
 said : " It is often asked what has become of the 
 money spent on Indian missions. If you will come 
 with me to yon cemetery, I will show you the 
 graves of hundreds of the sainted dead. Is the 
 money wasted that filled these graves with Chris- 
 tians instead of heathen ? " Let the Church hear 
 and answer that question. If Indian Presbytery 
 cannot account to the Church on earth in num- 
 bers for the money expended, she can render good 
 account to the Church in glor}'^ ! " The Lord shall 
 count, when He writeth up the people, that this 
 man was born there." 
 
 Rev. John Ley burn served the Church accept- 
 ably as Secretary of domestic missions for two 
 years; and then foreign and domestic missions 
 were united under the wise management of Dr. 
 John Leighton Wilson, who for fourteen years 
 had been missionary in Africa, a man of eminent 
 piety, great prudence, and forethought well nigh 
 inspired, raised up of God to serve the Church in 
 time of greatest peril. These were dark days of 
 disaster, ruin, bloodshed and agony. " The ma- 
 jority of the male membership entered the army 
 of the Confederacy, and consecrated their lives and 
 property to the cause of their country. Ministers 
 
Historical 
 
 33 
 
 left their churches and joined the army as chap- 
 lains. The treasury of domestic missions was ex- 
 hausted to keep religion alive within the camp. 
 These were not years of gospel expansion, but of 
 gracious ministry to a noble army whose ranks 
 were constantly thinning, to brave soldiers, many 
 of whom went straight from religious worship to 
 death. 
 
 " And after the war what ? The horrors of re- 
 construction ; the tattered remnants of a once 
 glorious army, broken in fortune and spirit; 
 smoking ruins and barren fields; thousands and 
 thousands of negroes invested with the elective 
 franchise, and through the aid of carpet-baggers, 
 become the dominant force in political life ; once 
 prosperous churches reduced to poverty, and va- 
 cant because their pastors had perished in battle, 
 or were compelled to betake themselves to bread- 
 winning ; colleges robbed of their endowments, 
 and theological seminaries closed ; a generation of 
 noble men fallen asleep, with few or none to take 
 their places ; the walls of Zion broken down, and 
 the Southern Presbyterian Church but ' a shell of 
 an organization, with a thin clerical roll and a 
 long list of vacant churches.' 
 
 " Crushed to the dust by the terrible events of 
 war, and chastened by many sorrows, the brave 
 people of the South possessed still the faith of 
 their fathers. In the face of a stern military 
 despotism, they began to build with strenuous 
 hand upon the ruins of better days almost before 
 the camp-fires had died away. In church matters, 
 
34 At Our Own Door 
 
 as in everything else, it was like starting afresh. 
 There was much to be done — a ministry educated, 
 houses of worship rebuilt, broken down churches 
 revived, officers found and elected, and ministerial 
 support secured " (Rev. P. H. Gwinn). 
 
 Yet in these adverse and forbidding circum- 
 stances the record of the Committee shows that it 
 aided in the support of 220 ministers. At the 
 same time it assisted in erecting and repairing 
 thirty churches at a cost of $8,000. The faith of 
 the Church during her baptism of fire, her courage 
 in supreme danger, her patient suffering in defeat, 
 her determined resolution in great poverty to arise 
 and rebuild her broken walls, her steadfast pur- 
 pose turning defeat into victory, make her worthy 
 of a place in history by the side of Nehemiah, and 
 are the admiration alike of friend and foe. 
 
 In 1866 under the weighty influence of the 
 memorial of Dr. J. Leighton Wilson, the Assembly 
 converted the Committee of Domestic Missions 
 into the Committee of Sustentation. The time 
 had not come for advancing " into the regions be- 
 yond." The Church felt the need of sustaining 
 the organizations already established, and rehabil- 
 itating that which had fallen into decay. That 
 were work enough at present to occupy hand and 
 head and heart. 
 
 The newly organized Committee of Sustentation 
 girded itself to the task, and announced as its 
 mission a fourfold purpose : " 1. To aid feeble 
 churches in the support of their pastors and sup- 
 plies. 2. To aid in the support of missionaries 
 
Historical 35 
 
 and evangelists wherever such aid is asked. 3. To 
 assist in rebuilding and repairing church edifices 
 wherever the people have not the means of them- 
 selves to do it. 4. To assist missionaries or min- 
 isterial laborers in getting from one field to an- 
 other where they are without the means of doing 
 this themselves " (Minutes, 1867, pp. 155, 156). 
 
 Ail funds went into a common treasury, and 
 each presbytery drew upon that fund according 
 to its particular needs and the resources of the 
 treasury. This plan modeled after the sustenta- 
 tion plan of the Free Church of Scotland would 
 give unity to the whole Church. Carrying out the 
 injunction of Scripture, "Bear ye one another's 
 burdens," it transformed the Church into one 
 great Presbyterian Brotherhood, by which the 
 stronger presbyteries rallied to the support of the 
 weaker ; and it was hoped a fund would be left 
 always as a surplus to push the work " into the 
 regions beyond." 
 
 The Committee did noble service to the Church 
 and the cause of Christ. Many weak churches 
 became self-supporting, and the Church grew and 
 prospered. However, no machinery is perfect, 
 and various difficulties were raised. Whatever of 
 failure resulted, was due, not so much to defective 
 plan as to the lack of hearty cooperation. Some 
 presbyteries refused their cooperation altogether ; 
 others promised to give the Committee a per cent, 
 of collections, which was carelessly performed ; 
 many zigzagged back and forth from cooperation 
 to non-cooperation, cultivating unwittingly the 
 
36 At Our Own Door 
 
 spirit of independence and sadly marring the unity 
 of the spirit and the unity of the cause. Still the 
 work grew, and the duties of the combined offices 
 of foreign missions and sustentation became too 
 burdensome for even such strong shoulders as 
 those of Dr. Wilson ; consequently, " in 1872 the 
 General Assembly elected as coordinate Secretary 
 the Eev. Kichard Mcllwain, D. D., now president 
 of Hampden-Sydney College, into whose hands 
 principally the home mission department fell, and 
 by whose wise, popular, and energetic administra- 
 tion the sustentation and evangelistic work was 
 pushed forward throughout our Church," the year 
 previous to his election, the Assembly having added 
 the evangelistic arm for more aggressive work. 
 
 In 18Y5, the offices were transferred from Co- 
 lumbia, S. C, to Baltimore, Md. In 1879, the name 
 of the Committee was changed to "Home Mis- 
 sions, including Sustentation, Church Erection, and 
 Evangelistic Departments." In 1882 the offices of 
 home and foreign missions were separated, and 
 Rev. Richard Mcllwain, D. D., became Secretary 
 of home missions. In 1883 Dr. Mcllwain resigned 
 to accept the presidency of Hampden-Sydney Col- 
 lege, Virginia, and Rev. J. IST. Craig, D. D., pastor 
 of Holly Springs, Miss., was elected. In 1886 the 
 office of home missions was transferred to At- 
 lanta, Ga. 
 
 The administration of Dr. Craig lasted seven- 
 teen years, and was characterized by great fidelity 
 to the cause and loyalty to the Church ; and he 
 literally died in the harness. " His tragic but tri- 
 
Historical 37 
 
 umphant death is fresh in the minds of the mem- 
 bers of the synod of Virginia. He had just fin- 
 ished an address of exceptional ability before the 
 synod at its recent meeting in Newport News, 
 when his spirit fled to join ' the spirits of the just 
 men made perfect ' ; and his body was left on the 
 rostrum majestic in death. Not till our dying 
 day will we forget that scene where time and 
 eternity seemed to crowd each other, and heaven 
 and earth were but an inch apart. As the pros- 
 trate form of the venerable Secretary rested upon 
 the rostrum before a large assembly of God's serv- 
 ants, sad of heart, and hushed into silence in the 
 presence of death, he appeared still to be mutely 
 appealing for a more hearty, united, and harmoni- 
 ous support of the greatest cause of the Church. 
 * Though dead, he yet speaketh ' " (Kev. P. H, 
 Gwinn). 
 
 This was October, 1900, and the Executive Com- 
 mittee met in Atlanta during November, and 
 elected Kev. Dr. T, P. Cleveland to serve as Secre- 
 tary till the meeting of the Assembly at Little 
 Kock, Ark.; at which time, feeling the grave re- 
 sponsibility of selecting a successor, the Assembly 
 appointed a special hour for the election to be pre- 
 ceded by a season of special prayer for divine 
 guidance. The choice fell on Eev. S. L. Morris, 
 D. D., pastor of Tattnall Square Church, Macon, 
 Ga., who, by reason of the remarkable circum- 
 stances attending the election, regarded it as the 
 call of God, and entered upon the duties of office 
 July 1, 1901. 
 
38 At Our Own Door 
 
 During the administration of Dr. Craig in 1893, 
 the Assembly made the most important change in 
 the plan of home missions in all its history by 
 separating it into Local and Assembly's Home 
 Missions. Each presbytery was expected to carry 
 on its own work by taking collections in February, 
 June, and August for this purpose. This made the 
 Executive Committee of home missions almost ex- 
 clusively an aggressive agency of the Church for 
 evangelizing " the regions beyond." The Church 
 was directed to give January and September of- 
 ferings for this object, and the Committee was 
 " instructed ordinarily to apply its funds to the 
 development of the work in the weaker portions 
 of the Church which lie in the southern, south- 
 western, and western portions of our territory, in- 
 cluding Indian Territory, New Mexico, Arizona, 
 and Southern California" (Minutes, 1893), For 
 ten years the Committee has operated under these 
 instructions, doing its work almost exclusively in 
 Arkansas, Florida, Indian Territory, and Texas. 
 
 The bane of home mission work in the 
 Southern Church has been the ceaseless and need- 
 less changing of machinery and plans of opera- 
 tion. Compared with the Northern Presbyterian 
 Church, which has made only one change in the 
 location of its Board in a hundred years, and 
 scarcely any in its plan of operation, steadily 
 and persistently pursuing its clearly defined pur- 
 pose onward to ever- widening success, the Southern 
 Church has carried its Committee from New 
 Orleans to Athens, Ga., to Montgomery, Ala., to 
 
Historical 
 
 39 
 
 Columbia, S. C, to Baltimore, Md., and to Atlanta, 
 Ga., and listens at every Assembly to some 
 " overture " for changing the machinery. 
 
 In consequence of this restlessness of the 
 Church, the Assembly at Little Rock, Ark., in 
 1901 appointed an Ad-Interim Committee to find if 
 possible some better plan of carrying on its home 
 mission work. After studying the problem for 
 two years, this committee composed of one repre- 
 sentative from each synod made its report to the 
 Assembly at Lexington, Va., 1903. The Assembly 
 in adopting it, so modified the report as to make 
 it a compromise between the old plan operated for 
 twenty-seven years and the one in operation for 
 the past ten years. 
 
 The new plan adopted and now in operation is 
 as follows : 
 
 " 1. The home missionary work of the Church 
 is a unit, but for its better administration, it is 
 divided into two departments, Local and General. 
 " 2. The Assembly urges upon all its synods and 
 presbyteries to prosecute the work of local home 
 missions within their own bounds to the extent of 
 their ability, and reserves for the use of these courts, 
 the months of February, June, and August to 
 defray the expenses of their local work. 
 
 "3. The Assembly's home mission work em- 
 braces the whole Church for the purpose of aiding 
 the weaker presbyteries and frontier districts in 
 the various synods, but more especially in new 
 territory and unorganized sections of the West. 
 " 4. The Executive Committee shall aid within 
 
40 At Our Own Door 
 
 its ability the work in any presb3'^tery where it is 
 shown to the satisfaction of the Committee, that 
 said presbytery is unable to compass the work ; 
 and in all cases the presbyteries shall secure offer- 
 ings for this cause from their churches during the 
 months designated for this purpose. 
 
 " 5. The General Assembly appoints two annual 
 collections for Assembly's home missions, includ- 
 ing the causes formerly known as Sustentation, 
 Evangelistic, and Church Erection, and appoints 
 the months of January and September for the 
 presentation of this work, and urges upon all its 
 synods and presbyteries to endeavor to have this 
 department of the work presented to the 
 churches distinctly upon its own merits and to 
 secure liberal collections from the churches in 
 their bounds" (Minutes, 1903). 
 
 At first glance there seems but little difference 
 between this and the plan adopted in 1893, but a 
 careful study of the two will reveal the fact that 
 the previous plan was largely local, whilst the new 
 plan makes the Assembly's home missions stand 
 for all the destitutions of the Church, the prefer- 
 ence being given to the weaker presbyteries and 
 unorganized sections of the "West. It may not be 
 perfect ; possibly nothing could be devised which 
 would give satisfaction to all sections with their 
 conflicting interests and diverse methods of work ; 
 but the success of the work will not depend on the 
 perfection of the machinery so much as on the 
 hearty and harmonious cooperation of every 
 presbytery, and the aggressive policy and wise 
 
Historical 41 
 
 management of the Committee under the blessing 
 of God. 
 
 Is it possible to place the matter in stronger 
 light than has been done by Rev. P. H. Gwinn in 
 his able and timely article, " Our forty years in 
 the Home Field," in which he challenges the 
 loyalty of Presbyterianism : " Has the Southern 
 General Assembly become a corporation that her 
 inferior courts should be found in a state of insub- 
 ordination ? Certain it is that for years many of 
 the inferior ecclesiastical bodies have rebelled 
 against the Assembly's scheme of home missions. 
 The presbyteries have been designated as ' co- 
 operating ' and ' non-cooperating.' No matter what 
 scheme the Assembly adopted, it was ignored by 
 certain presbyteries with a nonchalance that is 
 simply appalling. This has gone on till lax ob- 
 servance of ecclesiastical authority has become 
 common, and threatens to seriously disturb the 
 continuity of our Church. Perhaps the last public 
 utterance of the venerable Dr. Dabney was to lift 
 his voice in timely warning against the growth of 
 this spirit. No cause of the Church has suffered 
 more from insubordination of church courts than 
 home missions. The wonder is that so much has 
 been accomplished with such a guerilla system. 
 
 " Now, we would not diminish by one iota the 
 corporate power of the Church ; only adjust and 
 apply it through cooperation. We might show in 
 various ways that the existence of a corporation is 
 often due more to mechanical device than to or- 
 ganic connection, smothering the individual life of 
 
42 At Our Own Door 
 
 its members. On the other hand, the element of 
 corporate power ' may also be kept so much in 
 abeyance as to lose its legitimate force and give 
 an exaggerated development of the principle of in- 
 dividualism, tending to schism, contention, and 
 paralysis of the corporate action.' The effectual 
 antidote to either extreme is cooperation, a splendid 
 mutualism which neither suppresses the individual 
 nor creates rebellion. As applied to a religious 
 body, it is a grand brotherhood of believers, moved 
 by the love of Jesus to daily warfare with sin, and 
 to constant and united effort to give energy and 
 eflBlciency to every enterprise of the Church. This 
 is a body whose members obey the spirit of Jesus, 
 in which it is the glory of the strong to help the 
 weak, and where regularly constituted authority 
 finds becoming reverence and loyalty. . . . 
 One needs not the prophetic vision to see the dis- 
 astrous tendency of the growing independence of 
 synods, presbyteries and sessions of our Church. 
 It is clear that some way must be found to check 
 this tendency and to elicit, combine and direct the 
 energies of the whole Church in one sacred effort 
 for the propagation of the Gospel throughout the 
 destitute regions of our country. If the General 
 Assembly possess the power neither to persuade 
 nor to compel the inferior courts to regard her 
 mandates in matters involving such momentous 
 issues, then let the Church surrender her boasted 
 theory of a ' Jure divino form of Government.' " 
 
 " If we do not hang together," said Benjamin 
 Franklin in the American Kevolution, " we will 
 
Historical 43 
 
 all hang separately." If the presbyteries do not 
 cooperate together under the leadership and con- 
 trol of the Assembly, the cause of missions will 
 retrograde, and the Church disintegrate. The 
 Church seems to be awakened to its dereliction in 
 the past, and there are blessed tokens of a new 
 spirit of fellowship and loyalty on all sides. It is 
 said that Edison on board an ocean steamer, gazing 
 upon the waves rolling and dashing themselves 
 into spray, in their wild, restless motion, ex- 
 claimed : " It makes me perfectly wild to see all 
 of this power going to waste." According to Dr. 
 Strong : " The sun's heat which falls on the sur- 
 face of Manhattan Island is sufficient, we are told, 
 to drive all the steam engines of the world. The 
 force of atomic motion is alike irresistible and im- 
 measurable. Our present knowledge of electricity 
 assures us of its boundless possibilities ; and Na- 
 ture is now whispering in the ear of Science some 
 of her secrets, which suggest the possibility of 
 giving to material civilization, within a few years, 
 an impetus greater even than that resulting from 
 the application of steam." In like manner there 
 is latent power enough in the Presbyterian Church 
 now going to waste to propagate its faith in every 
 nook and corner of our great Southland, if it could 
 be properly directed and utilized. God speed the 
 day ! 
 
 This historical sketch of the growth of home 
 Missions cannot be more fittingly closed than by a 
 glance at results. The organic life of the Southern 
 Church began with ten synods and forty-seven 
 
44 At Our Own Door 
 
 presbyteries, containing about 700 ministers, 1,000 
 churches, and 75,000 communicants, increased by 
 the addition after the war of the Synods of Missouri 
 and Kentucky, and the erection of the Synod of 
 Florida. It now numbers, after the lapse of forty 
 years, thirteen synods, eighty-two presbyteries, 
 1,517 ministers, 3,044 churches, and 235,142 com- 
 municants. Presbyteries and ministers have in- 
 creased about one hundred per cent.; whilst 
 churches and communicants have increased two 
 hundred per cent. It was not until 1870 that the 
 Southern Church was in a position to enter upon 
 aggressive home missions, so that its real progress 
 ought to be estimated for only thirty years. The 
 white population of our mission field (Arkansas, 
 Florida, Texas, and Indian Territory) has increased 
 in thirty years 240 per cent., whilst our church mem- 
 bership in that section has increased 410 per cent. 
 
 In these thirty years the Committee of home 
 missions has aided in erection of about eight 
 hundred churches at a cost of about $100,000, mak- 
 ing the property worth about $1,000,000, and pro- 
 viding 15,000 persons with church homes. 
 
 At least 2,000 Indian youth have been educated 
 in our mission schools, including the majority of 
 our Indian preachers, and about 2,400 Indians have 
 been received into communion in the church. Five 
 missionaries are maintained among the Mexicans in 
 Texas, and thirteen Mexican churches have been or- 
 ganized among them having a membership at pres- 
 ent of 680, and church buildings erected, valued at 
 present at $7,500. 
 
Historical 45 
 
 About 250 home missionaries have been supported 
 annually, supplying on an average about 600 
 churches and preaching to more than 100,000 people 
 year by year. 
 
 The sum total of funds raised by the Southern 
 Church and expended in home mission work is 
 estimated at nearly $4,000,000. Twenty-three 
 millions raised by the Northern Presbyterian 
 Church in a century of Missions and nearly four 
 millions raised by her younger sister in less than a 
 half century, is not a bad showing for either church. 
 
 " But figures are dumb. Statistics are cold, de- 
 ceptive things, when used to compete the growth 
 of an invisible kingdom. ' Numericals do not voice 
 the strong things of religion.' The sum total of 
 S3'^mpathy, self-denial and sacrifice cannot be found. 
 There is no way to compute the unspeakable joy 
 brought to thousands of homes, through the min- 
 istry of the word ; no way to measure the growth 
 of a community in moral excellence ; no symbols 
 to express the length and breadth and height of 
 faith, mercy, love. Undoubtedly the grandest re- 
 sults of our home mission work has been the crea- 
 tion of a current of beneficent influence, like the 
 Gulf Stream, deep, strong, immeasurable, which 
 will increase in volume till it sweeps upon the 
 shore of Eternity " (Rev. P. H. Gwinn). 
 
 Now, we face the future, dim, unknown, great 
 with possibilities. The achievements of the nine- 
 teenth century in science, statecraft, missions, 
 scarcely allow the most vivid imagination to hazard 
 a guess in outlining the horizon of the new century. 
 
46 At Our Own Door 
 
 No wonder Dr. C. L. Thompson, the eloquent Sec- 
 retary of home missions of the Northern Church, 
 with delicate skill touches but the outer garment 
 of the future in the fascinating vision : 
 
 " Years ago I had a vision from the summit of 
 Pike's Peak. Through the lifting gates of the 
 morning mist the landscape to the east lay re- 
 vealed and splendid ; town, villages, farms, plains 
 stretching to the eastern horizon — startlingly 
 distinct in the dry, morning air. It was a vision 
 of civilization. Then turning about to the west, 
 the mountains rose in frozen billows to the skies. 
 The snowy ridges suggested valleys that could 
 not be seen. The vision ended in a teasing haze, 
 through which to the south the Spanish peaks 
 towered distantly, dim and concealing. It was a 
 vision of the unknown. It comes back to me to- 
 day. We stand upon the ridge of the century. 
 Behind us distinct and splendid a hundred years 
 of home missions unroll to the horizon. Before 
 us, vistas of opportunity sentineled and concealed 
 by great events, whose white foreheads rise to- 
 wards heaven, as if owning allegiance to Him 
 who shapes the future." 
 
 Presbyterianism began the last century in this 
 country a little band, and now " by the good hand 
 of our God upon us " it stands upon the threshold 
 of the twentieth century in its aggregate strength 
 in the United States of twelve denominations, 
 12,000 ministers, 15,000 churches and 2,000,000 
 communicants, with its missions stretching around 
 the globe. 
 
Historical 47 
 
 Let not hers be the spirit of Laodicea, " I am 
 rich and increased with goods and have need of 
 nothing ; " but rather that of the chiefest of the 
 Apostles, " I count not myself to have ap- 
 prehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting 
 those things which are behind, and reaching forth 
 unto those things which are before, I press to- 
 wards the mark " — " attempting greater things 
 for God and expecting greater things from God." 
 
II 
 
 THE PROGRAM OF MISSIONS 
 
 The blood stained Cross was possibly still 
 standing on the brow of Calvary, overlooking the 
 City of Jerusalem, but the Kesurrection was now 
 a glorious fact. The risen Christ, Lord and Head 
 of the Church, stood on the summit of Olivet, 
 with the eleven disciples. On the eve of the 
 Ascension, Jesus speaks His very last recorded 
 words to the Church : " 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." Having already given His "Marching 
 Orders" to the Church, "Go ye into all the 
 world and preach the Gospel to every creature," 
 the Captain of the Eedeemed Host now prescribes 
 very definitely the order of the March in His last 
 words to the Church. 
 
 1. In these words we have Christ's own pro- 
 gram of missions; "And ye shall be witnesses 
 unto Me both in Jerusalem " — city missions ; " and 
 in all Judea " — local home missions ; " and in 
 Samaria" — General Assembly's missions; "and 
 unto the uttermost part of the earth" — foreign 
 missions. According to the orders of Christ, the 
 Church is not to begin at the circumference and 
 work towards the centre, but " Beginning at 
 
 48 
 
The Program of Missions 49 
 
 Jerusalem," the centre, she is to work towards the 
 circumference till the Gospel is " preached among 
 all nations." Just as a stone dropped into a 
 placid lake starts ripples, moving outward in ever 
 widening concentric circles, so the Church, start- 
 ing at any home centre must travel to the out- 
 most circumference. 
 
 The Church may assume any one of four 
 attitudes towards missions : 
 
 {a) All the emphasis may be placed on foreign 
 missions, as has been the policy of the Moravian 
 Church. A bishop of that grand, missionary 
 Church, travelling recently on the train with a 
 Baptist minister, admitted that it had been the 
 great mistake of his church. As a consequence, 
 it has transferred itself to foreign fields and com- 
 paratively lost its grip at home, a tremendous 
 factor in the world's evangelization abroad, but 
 an unimportant element in the great struggle of 
 spiritual forces for the conquest of this land for 
 Christ. Q>) It may array itself against missions, 
 as has been done by the Primitive Baptist Church ; 
 and as a consequence, although containing many 
 most excellent Christian people, it is shrivelling 
 into smaller proportions and retiring to mountain 
 regions and backwoods settlements, (c) The 
 emphasis may be placed largely on home missions, 
 as in the case of the Methodist Church. As a 
 consequence, it leads all denominations in its 
 growth and aggressive work in the home field. 
 {d) The emphasis may be placed on home and 
 foreign missions alike, as in the case of the 
 
^o At Our Own Door 
 
 Northern Presbyterian Church. As a con- 
 sequence, it is a great spiritual force in the great 
 West and throughout the entire world. 
 
 There is never any conflict between home and 
 foreign missions, where they are each assigned 
 their proper proportions. Each is a stimulus to the 
 other. The work of local home missions is to 
 ' strengthen thy stakes " ; the purpose of the As- 
 sembly's missions makes it the aggressive work of 
 the Church to " lengthen thy cords " ; whilst the 
 sphere of foreign missions stretches "unto the 
 uttermost parts of the earth." Increase the home 
 mission resources, and the larger will be the income 
 for foreign missions. This is following Christ's 
 program for missions in Christ's own order of the 
 march. 
 
 2. The scope of home missions, as operated by 
 the General Assembly through its Executive Com- 
 mittee at Atlanta, embraces four departments : 
 
 {a) First, in every sense of the word, is the Evan- 
 gelistic sphere. The evangelist is a pioneer who 
 blazes the way for the future path of the 
 Church, in her onward march. The evangelist is the 
 advance guard that reconnoitres for the army, that 
 " goes forth conquering and to conquer " in the 
 name of Christ. The evangelist sows the precious 
 seed of divine truth, that others may reap the 
 harvest in accordance with the saying of Christ : 
 " Other men labored, and ye are entered into their 
 labors." The evangelist lays the foundation that 
 others may rear the superstructure in accord with 
 the principle announced by the chiefest of all 
 
The Program of Missions ^i 
 
 evangelists : " According to the grace of God, 
 which is given unto me, as a wise master-builder, 
 I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth 
 thereon." 
 
 There can be no real aggressive work without 
 the aid of the evangelist. This department of the 
 work includes, not only the evangelists of our fron- 
 tier presbyteries, but our operations among the 
 Mexicans of western Texas. As they come across 
 the Eio Grande, in numbers 100,000 strong, we meet 
 them with the Gospel in a line of out-posts along 
 our border. One of these evangelists, Kev. "W. S. 
 Scott, preaching in an unknown tongue, has for 
 several years received on an average 100 of these 
 Mexicans annually into the Presbyterian Church. 
 Can any man, even with better opportunities, ex- 
 hibit a grander record ? Is not this the manifest 
 approval of the Master ? In addition to this, we 
 have our missionaries among the Indians, and our 
 evangelists in the new territory opening up " in the 
 regions beyond " the pale of the church, and ad- 
 vancing into Oklahoma. 
 
 (h) Following closely upon the heels of the evan- 
 gelists, comes the settled pastor, bringing us into 
 the sphere of Sustentation. As fast as new churches 
 are organized, it is our plan to group them and 
 place over them the under shepherd. No men are 
 ever called to any greater task, requiring them to 
 " endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ," than 
 these hard worked, poorly paid, self-sacrificing 
 home missionaries of the Church. Only the small- 
 est percentage of the Church knows anything of 
 
52 At Our Own Door 
 
 the privations, difllculties, discouragementSj etc., of 
 these noble men, called to nurse infant churches in 
 the midst of adverse circumstances. Many of them 
 would succumb but for the comforting thought, 
 God hnows y and so they " endure as seeing Him 
 who is invisible." 
 
 These two departments of home missions may be 
 illustrated from the analogy of nature. In nature 
 God has two methods of propagating a forest. 
 One is by wind-wafted seed, scattered by the 
 breezes of heaven ; some falling upon the rocks to 
 die, some choked in preoccupied ground, and others 
 falling into good and fertile soil to produce rich 
 harvests. In the Kingdom of Grace this corre- 
 sponds to the evangelistic principle, by which the 
 precious seed of divine truth is scattered beside all 
 waters. " In the morning sow thy seed, and in the 
 evening withhold not thy hand." God has another 
 method still of propagating a forest. The banyan 
 tree stretches out a branch, and then drops to the 
 earth a tender shoot to take fresh hold on the soil. 
 The mother plant does not leave this offspring to 
 shift for itself, and live or die, as it may chance. 
 The organic life of parent and offspring is one. 
 They share a common life. The parent maintains 
 the feeble shoot until it grows strong, and then 
 uses it to stretch out its branches still farther, and 
 again take hold on the soil, and thus a forest 
 spreads. In the Kingdom of Grace this corre- 
 sponds to the sustentation principle, by which the 
 church nourishes its offspring till the weak church 
 becomes self-supporting, and in turn nourishes other 
 
The Program of Missions 53 
 
 churches. By the evangelistic principle she 
 " lengthens her cords " ; by the sustentation depart- 
 ment she " strengthens her stakes." 
 
 (c) The very first thing the pastor is called upon 
 to meet is the problem of a new church ; and this 
 brings us into the department of Church Erection. 
 In the very first conception of a church building is 
 the inquiry always raised, " Can we secure any as- 
 sistance ? " In almost every instance the pastor 
 stimulates them to the herculean task by the sug- 
 gestion of a donation from the Assembly's Com- 
 mittee. So the applications for help pour in and 
 confront every meeting of the Committee. Yet 
 such a small per cent, of our funds can be given to 
 this object, that we are compelled to select a few of 
 the neediest or most importunate, and decline all 
 others ; and it is most diflficult to convince those 
 refused that theirs are not the neediest cases of all. 
 This is very discouraging to the churches and very 
 embarrassing to the Committee. It is unfortunate 
 that the church does not realize, that when any ap- 
 plication is denied, it is not the Committee in At- 
 lanta, but the Presbyterian Church that declines, 
 by withholding the funds ; for " we cannot make 
 brick without straw." 
 
 {d) The last department of home missions is 
 perhaps the most profitable of all, in proportion to 
 the money expended ; for " Mission Schools " of 
 the Indian Territory cost only about three per 
 cent, of the funds raised annually. Contrary to 
 public opinion, let it be understood, that the 
 Indian children are not the neediest cases, for they 
 
54 At Our Own Door 
 
 receive some help from the government ; but the 
 Commissioner of Indian affairs recently reported 
 to the Department of the Interior, that the Terri- 
 tory contains 119,000 white school children, for 
 whose education there is not the slightest provision 
 whatever. To reach even a percentage of these 
 our " Mission Schools " have increased to about a 
 dozen. Recognizing that secular education with- 
 out religious training is often a delusion and a 
 curse, we are not only teaching the secular 
 branches of the common school system, but mak- 
 ing the Shorter Catechism one of the text-books ; 
 and if the Shorter Catechism be the seed sown, 
 " What shall the harvest be ? " 
 
 Time and space forbid at this point any account 
 of these schools. Durant College has grown out 
 of one, which now has a $15,000 pressed brick 
 building, seven teachers and over 300 scholars. 
 At its first opening pupils came from every nook 
 and corner of the Indian Territory, every seat and 
 desk being taken within two weeks ; and there are 
 always those in waiting for the first vacancy. 
 The government sends us 100 of its wards, paying 
 their board and tuition. Who can estimate the 
 sphere of its influence, as these young minds are 
 being trained to go out into every section of this 
 great future state, and become the leaders of 
 thought and builders of the Republic ! Long may 
 this " River " send out its streams to " make glad 
 the city of God." 
 
 3. As to the relation of home missions to the 
 other Schemes of the Church, if space permitted, 
 
The Program of Missions 5^ 
 
 it would be an easy task to show that our home 
 mission work is the basis of all other operations ; 
 and to develop it is to equip the Church more fully 
 for every phase of her work. 
 
 (a) No more serious problem confronts the 
 Church than the decrease in her candidates for the 
 ministry. Many explanations are attempted. Is 
 not this one potent cause, at least? Candidates 
 for the ministry come from small towns and coun- 
 try churches, and very seldom from the cities. If 
 the Church had pushed her home mission work into 
 more of the small towns and country places, 
 would not these have more than repaid the ex- 
 penditure of money, by furnishing the candidates 
 she so sorely needs to-day, to fill the pulpits left 
 vacant, as new places open up, and one by one the 
 fathers fall asleep ? 
 
 (b) Home missions, beyond all question, is the 
 basis of foreign missions. If an army is to ad- 
 vance into the country of the enemy, it needs a 
 strong base of supply to sustain its operation. If 
 the Church had been spreading itself more sys- 
 tematically at home, it would be supporting a far 
 larger number on the foreign field. The Church 
 has lost rich, valuable territory enough in the west 
 to support a dozen men in China or Japan. Texas 
 gives as much to foreign missions to-day as she 
 draws from the home treasury. Money must be 
 spent in the home field as a basis of operation for 
 the foreign. 
 
 " The immediate and continuous need of foreign 
 missions is a base of supply, both of money and of 
 
56 At Our Own Door 
 
 men. That base has not yet been found on its own 
 missionary ground, although self-support in foreign 
 missions is beginning to be tentatively discussed. 
 But for sometime to come, as in the ninety years 
 past, that all important base must be found in 
 America, and among the churches planted and yet 
 to be planted by home missions. Dry up this 
 source of supply for a single year, and missions in 
 Africa, China, India, Turkey, and the Islands will 
 droop like willows cut off from their water 
 courses. And what is true of money is equally 
 true of men. Native pastors have been raised up 
 in considerable numbers, but the need of American 
 trained missionaries continues and increases. 
 Already twenty-five per cent, of our foreign mis- 
 sionaries have been drawn from home missionary 
 soil. . . . Certain forms of speech, which are 
 found convenient and even necessary to distin- 
 guish their operations, have sometimes obscured 
 this truth. It is well to remind ourselves that in 
 the last command of Christ there was no ' home,' 
 there was no ' foreign ' ; 'all the world ' was 
 the field : and the Christian who believes in home 
 missions but not in the foreign is as far from the 
 mind of Christ, as he who believes in foreign mis- 
 sions and not in home. The two are one, and as 
 seamless as the Master's robe. 
 
 " Broad minded men have emphasized this truth in 
 many striking utterances. It was this interdepend- 
 ence of home and foreign missions that moved 
 Austin Phelps to exclaim in that intense style so 
 peculiarly his own : ' If I were a missionary in 
 
The Program of Missions 57 
 
 Canton, China, my first prayer every morning 
 would be for the success of American home mis- 
 sions, for the sake of Canton, China.' It was 
 this that led Dr. R. S. Storrs more than twenty 
 years ago, to write from Florence, Italy : ' The 
 future of the world is pivoted on the question 
 whether the Protestant churches of America 
 can hold, enlighten, purify, the peoples born or 
 gathered into its great compass.' Marcus "Whit- 
 man Montgomery, an intense home missionary 
 worker, gave expression to the same sentiment 
 at Saratoga ten years ago : ' The United States 
 of to-day is the mountain top of the hopes of 
 many nations ' " (Leavening the JSTation). 
 
 In seeking to arouse the church to the necessity 
 of occupying this land for Christ by pushing home 
 missions after the example of our Methodist and 
 Baptist brethren, we have excused ourselves by 
 saying, " Ah ! but we are a foreign mission church. 
 See how much more we are doing in proportion 
 on that line." In the meanwhile, these denomina- 
 tions have been actively spreading themselves in 
 this country and hedging us in at home, until the 
 time is not far distant when they will sweep by us 
 in their foreign mission work from sheer force of 
 numbers. One hundred members, giving twenty- 
 five cents apiece to foreign missions, will count 
 more in the aggregate than ten giving a dollar 
 each. The great disparity between home and 
 foreign missions in our Church is not to be reme- 
 died by relaxing our foreign mission zeal, in order 
 to retrieve our lost territory at home. Perish the 
 
58 At Our Own Door 
 
 thought ! On the contrary, lifting our standard 
 of foreign mission efforts ever higher, at the same 
 time let the Church emphasize her home mission 
 work, as equally important, and by strengthening 
 her stakes at home, she will be more able to 
 lengthen her cords abroad. Money spent on home 
 missions to-day will yield abundant fruit for for- 
 eign missions in the future. 
 
 4. The costliest mistake of the Southern Pres- 
 byterian Church has been the neglect of its home 
 mission work. An empire has been lost in the 
 West. In some sections weak churches have been 
 allowed to die, and the fields abandoned. In other 
 cases the effort was never made until the tide had 
 ebbed and gone out forever. 
 
 "There is a tide in the affairs of men (and 
 churches) which taken at its flood leads on to for- 
 tune, but omitted ! " 
 
 It may not be possible to recover all of the 
 ground that has been lost, but " there remaineth 
 very much land yet to be possessed " ; and our ob- 
 ject now is to arouse the Church to her opportu- 
 nity and responsibility in this great and aggressive 
 work. 
 
 Upon entering the work, the present Secretary 
 first faithfully informed the Church of its lost 
 empire in the West, and then turning his face to- 
 wards a hopeful future, began to sound the call 
 to advance, in what he termed " A Forward Move- 
 ment," even in the face of the debt left as a legacy 
 of the former administration. Backing up his 
 call such churches as Memphis First, Sherman 
 
The Program of Missions 59 
 
 First, Knoxville Third, Athens, Ga., Central and 
 North Avenue Atlanta, and some generous friends, 
 came forward and offered to support each an in- 
 dividual missionary. May their generation in- 
 crease ! Encouraged by these the Committee sent 
 an evangelist to Oklahoma and occupied new 
 towns in the Indian Territory. Then came pro- 
 tests from certain quarters against any " forward 
 movement," and in favor of simply " holding our 
 own," and giving better support to places already 
 occupied. To which the reply was : " Whenever 
 the Presbyterian Church shall fold its arms and 
 call a halt, it will dry up the fountains of its lib- 
 erality and sound its own death knell ; while on 
 the contrary, the best method of supporting the 
 work already in hand is to convince the Church 
 that an aggressive movement is being undertaken, 
 which means progress." 
 
 Now what are the results ? Rev. H. S. David- 
 son, after laboring only a few months in Oklahoma 
 as an evangelist, gathered in Mangum, Greer 
 County, about twenty Presbyterians, and organized 
 the First Presbyterian Church in all the southern 
 section of that great country. Rev. W. E. Mcllwain 
 entered upon his work in September as superin- 
 tendent of the Indian Territory and evangelist, 
 where in seven months besides holding meetings 
 in various places he settled pastors over seven 
 churches and organized six others. His successor, 
 Rev. W. T. Matthews, is meeting with great suc- 
 cess in every quarter. The opportunity challenges 
 the Church I 
 
6o At Our Own Door 
 
 As the result of this " Forward Movement," a 
 petition was sent to the next meeting of the Synod 
 of Texas for the erection of a new presbytery in 
 the Indian Territory, called " The Presbytery of 
 Durant," which petition being granted, the pres- 
 bytery met and organized with eight ministers 
 and twenty churches. It is remarkable that of 
 these eight ministers, every one had entered the 
 Territory during the previous twelve months, and 
 of the churches more than half had been organized 
 in the same period of time. Can any section of 
 the Church show better results for the means ex- 
 pended ? Does the Church ever receive better re- 
 sults from the funds expended than in aggressive 
 home mission work ? 
 
 5. In carrying out the program of missions the 
 Assembly's work does not ask for itself the whole 
 resources of the Church but a wise cooperation of 
 the whole Church, and a profitable adjustment of 
 funds. In every presbytery and synod there is 
 doubtless enough destitution to demand all of its 
 home mission funds in local work. " 'Tis true, 'tis 
 pity ; pity 'tis, 'tis true." 
 
 Each presbytery and synod must supply its own 
 waste places, and go to these neglected moun- 
 taineers and unevangelized suburbs of the city for 
 humanity's sake and for Christ's sake. 
 
 Yet if there are other localities still more desti- 
 tute beyond their bounds, where the population is 
 greater and the money expended brings in better 
 returns, then must synod or presbytery leave the 
 destitute of their own bounds /o/* humanity^ s sake 
 
The Program of Missions 6l 
 
 cmd for Christ^s sakcy until the Church lays its 
 hands on the more needy and more promising 
 fields. Every man making an investment of cap- 
 ital wants to place it where it will bring him the 
 largest returns. If the aggressive work of the 
 General Assembly is doing more, relatively for 
 the spread of our beloved Church, let no local nor 
 selfish motive hinder us from giving it our largest 
 support. Localities in the older synods have 
 waited, can still wait, will wait, Tnust wait, till the 
 Church lays her hand on the inviting field and 
 destitute sections that have never yet been occu- 
 pied and possessed by any denomination. 
 
 The Church must give the gospel to these 
 great centres of population in the west for her 
 own sake. The tide of population rolling west- 
 wards is filling all of that section rapidly. All the 
 public lands are now being thrown open. There is 
 no new territory to be opened. The wave of 
 population will soon reach the Pacific Ocean, and 
 then necessarily roll backwards towards the east, 
 and flow into our own wonderful Southland. 
 Woe be to the Church if it rolls back on her a 
 flood of ungodly men and women ! The battle 
 ground of this country is the west. Whoever 
 organizes the west — Christ or Satan — will largely 
 control the United States. The east must evan- 
 gelize the west, or else the west will paganize the 
 east. It will cost the Church less to evangelize 
 the west now than in the future, and she must do 
 it for Chrisfs sake and for her own sake. 
 
 In pursuing her foreign mission work, the 
 
62 At Our Own Door 
 
 Church is obeying the "Marching Orders" of 
 Christ, in fidelity and loyalty to Him. Is she 
 observing " The Order of the March " in aggressive 
 home mission work, according to Christ's own 
 program of missions ? 
 
Ill 
 
 CITY MISSIONS 
 
 One of the most pathetic incidents in the life of 
 Christ occurred during the only triumphal proces- 
 sion accorded Him on earth. Some were waving 
 palm branches and paving His path to Jerusalem 
 with their garments ; others were shouting " Ho- 
 sannas," and singing " Glory to God in the high- 
 est " ; the whole city was moved at the demon- 
 stration, intended as an ovation to the possible 
 future King. In the midst of the jubilee, it is 
 said, " And when He was come near. He beheld 
 the city and wept over it." If tears could be shed 
 in heaven, possibly nothing of earth would sooner 
 provoke those tears to-day than the city in its 
 degradation, distresses, destitution, sorrow and 
 sin. It is in the city that human nature sinks to 
 its lowest level. If there is a hell on earth, it is 
 the city, sometimes called " The scab on the body 
 of humanity," and designated by Dr. A. J. McKel- 
 way as " the plague spot of Nature." After ex- 
 ploring the wilds of Africa, Henry M. Stanley 
 sought to fire the hearts of mankind by writing 
 " In Darkest Africa," but General Booth paralleled 
 it in " Darkest England." The darker side of the 
 dark continent is not more repulsive than the 
 darker side of London, Paris, New York or Chi- 
 
 63 
 
64 At Our Own Door 
 
 cago, and many lesser cities. In the spirit of 
 Christ, philanthropists are still weeping over the 
 needs, sufferings and sorrows of the cities ; philoso- 
 phers are weeping over city problems ; Christians 
 are weeping over the wretchedness, shame and sin 
 of the city. 
 
 There is always sorrow in the city. Advancing 
 civilization, progress of science, institutions of 
 learning, have not banished from the city its 
 woes, nor diminished its shame. " The Twentieth 
 Century City " shows but little change in condi- 
 tions, since the Psalmist testified 3,000 years ago : 
 " I have seen violence and strife in the city. Day 
 and night they go about it upon the walls thereof : 
 mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it. 
 Wickedness is in the midst thereof: deceit and 
 guile depart not from her streets.'* Here extremes 
 meet ; " Dives and Lazarus are brought face to face : " 
 "the rich and the poor meet together," and ap- 
 peal equally to the compassion of " The Lord the 
 Maker of both." The wretched tenement house 
 and the squalid hut contain no monopoly of suffer- 
 ing. The brown-stone front, and brilliantly il- 
 lumined palace have each its hidden skeleton. 
 
 1. It has been said, "The city is the nerve 
 centre of our civilization. It is also the storm 
 centre." Population is becoming more and more 
 congested in the city, rendering it not simply a 
 menace to good government, but a greater problem 
 to the Church. A comparative study of statistics 
 shows that the growth of the city is abnormal. 
 At the dawn of the nineteenth century, only one- 
 
City Missions 65 
 
 twenty-fifth of the population of our country be- 
 longed to the city ; by the middle of the century 
 it had increased to one-eighth; whilst "the 
 twentieth century city" contains at least one- 
 third. If we include in the estimate the large 
 towns, fully one-half of the people are now con- 
 gregated in the city. The increase in the popula- 
 tion of the country, during the last century, multi- 
 plied itself twelvefold, whilst in the same period the 
 city population increased nearly an hundredfold. 
 Immigration, which threatens the purity of our 
 Anglo-Saxon stock, as well as the morality of our 
 citizenship, makes its chief attack on the city. If 
 the worst elements of European governments, 
 which drift to our shores, could be scattered and 
 distributed in the rural districts, their assimilation 
 would be easier and less dangerous to the body 
 politic; but instead, they swarm into our great 
 cities. While only one-third of the population of 
 the United States is foreign by birth or parentage, 
 eighty per cent, of New York is foreign and 
 ninety per cent, of Chicago. 
 
 " Two things, with respect to immigration are 
 alarming to American Christians and patriots ; its 
 magnitude and its quality. Think of a single ship, 
 the Bavaria, bringing in one voyage 2,854 steer- 
 age passengers, and of a total record, of immi- 
 grants for the year ending April, 1903, of 803,272! 
 Seventeen states of the Union have each less popu- 
 lation. Whereas formerly the influx was almost 
 entirely of the Teutonic race, Irish and German, 
 now the Slavonic strain preponderates, and the 
 
66 At Our Own Door 
 
 flood is largely composed of illiterate Italians" 
 {Central Preshyterian). 
 
 The Christian Herald startles us in its array of 
 statistics : " The present population of Chicago is 
 over 2,000,000. About ninety per cent, of the 
 people are foreign by birth or parentage. Every 
 continent, and some of the islands of the earth, 
 are represented. Sixty languages are spoken. 
 Different nationalities colonize in different parts 
 of the city, until one can visit Bohemia, Poland, 
 Italy, and other lands, without leaving the city 
 limits. 
 
 " There are more Germans than in any city of 
 Germany, except Berlin, and more Poles than in 
 any city in Poland, One city missionary visiting 
 from house to house, during the afternoon of a 
 single week, offered the Gospel to fifteen nation- 
 alities. In one section, not two miles square, 
 eighteen languages are spoken. Many of these 
 people do not understand English. Most of them 
 are nominally Eomanists, and these things greatly 
 increase the difficulty of reaching them with the 
 Gospel. But a glance at the city shows how much 
 the Gospel is needed. About 6,000 saloons are 
 doing business in Chicago. These employ 31,600 
 persons, and have a daily income of $316,000. In 
 a single saloon, on a certain ordinary Sabbath 
 evening, at seven o'clock, there were counted 524 
 men. Within the next two hours 480 more en- 
 tered, until men were standing six deep around 
 the gambling tables. There are 3,000 billiard 
 and pool rooms. Houses of impurity abound. In 
 
City Missions 67 
 
 one ward were counted 312, in which were found 
 1,708 inmates. A thousand men are engaged in 
 alluring other men into these dens. 
 
 "The religious and moral destitution of the 
 masses is startling. Some years ago a section was 
 canvassed, and it was found out of 1,280 families 
 visited, 1,220 did not possess God's word, neither 
 were they willing to receive it. The canvas of 
 another section, revealed 1,140 families with no 
 Bible, with 1,823 families neglecting public wor- 
 ship, and nearly 2,000 children in no Sunday- 
 schools. It is not uncommon to find people who 
 never saAv a Bible, and do not know it when shown 
 to them. One woman produced on invitation 
 what she thought was her Bible : when, on her 
 failing to find the Gospel of John, the visitor 
 came to her assistance, it was to discover that she 
 had "Webster's Dictionary in her hand. 'Well,' 
 said she, ' if that is not a Bible, then we do not 
 have one.' There are said to be twelve Atheistic 
 Sunday-schools in operation in the city, the mem- 
 bers of which are indoctrinated by means of a 
 catechism whose summary states that there is no 
 God, no Christ, no Holy Ghost, no heaven, no 
 hell, no virtue in Christianity and no integrity in 
 its ministers." 
 
 In addition to immigration, which is swelling 
 the size of our cities. Dr. Strong in " The Twentieth 
 Century City " undertakes to account for the in- 
 crease of urban population in three ways : (1) 
 The application of machinery to agriculture, by 
 which one man can now do the work of four men 
 
68 At Our Own Door 
 
 formerly. The overproduction of farm products 
 drives the other three men out of the agricultural 
 business and inevitably to the city. (2) The sub- 
 stitution of mechanical for muscular power, and 
 its application to manufacturers. The world's 
 work was formerly done by muscle, and the word 
 " manufacturer " meant something made by hand. 
 The word has lost its meaning. The springing up 
 of factories in the city to produce agricultural im- 
 plements and a thousand other things, created a 
 demand for mechanical labor, and attracted to the 
 city laborers, who were being driven from the 
 farm. (3) The increase of railroad facilities, 
 which renders it easy to transport population from 
 country to city, and easy to transport food, mak- 
 ing it possible to feed millions at any one point, 
 without danger of famine. 
 
 It would be easy to enumerate other causes. 
 The concentration of wealth in the city means as 
 well the concentration of business. The city does 
 not produce, but it does manufacture the products 
 of a thousand communities. It becomes the depot 
 for accumulating, and then for redistribution of 
 the surplus and the manufactured product. This 
 makes the city a magnate for attracting to itself 
 the executive ability of the whole country. The 
 development of business ability lands one in the 
 city as one effect of the law of supply and demand. 
 
 Then, the city has its educational and social ad- 
 vantages. The high character of the graded 
 school system, the advantage of technological in- 
 stitutions and great universities compel many fam- 
 
City Missions 69 
 
 ilies to locate in cities, whilst the social attractions 
 are equally potent. In addition to all other con- 
 siderations, there is always the vast army of the 
 unemployed, always moving on the city, in the 
 hope of finding work, or, more frequently, an 
 easier, and comparatively idle, life. Sooner or 
 later, this vast horde finds its way to, and its level 
 in, the slums. 
 
 Philanthropists have thought to relieve the con- 
 gestion of the city by transporting many of the 
 families of overcrowded suburbs and slums to the 
 unoccupied lands of the country. But the remedy 
 must prove superficial since the idle life of cities, 
 being more to their taste, than hard agricultural 
 conditions, they will soon give up the struggle and 
 drift back again. Instead of relief to the over- 
 crowded city, the probability is, that the exhaus- 
 tion of the public lands will soon close the safety 
 valve in that direction, and the congestion is likely / -r^fy 
 to become more pronounced. / ^ 
 
 2. Overcrowding in the city breeds suffering. 
 Tenement houses, compared with which the aver- 
 age prison is a palace, swarm with wretched 
 humanity. Damp cellars and dark attics, where a 
 ray of sunshine seldom strays, are infested with 
 what, we hesitate to call, " human vermin." Large 
 families live, eat and sleep in one room in such 
 condition as to render the decencies of life impos- 
 sible. Dr. Strong quotes from, " The Bitter Cry 
 of Outcast London " : " Few who will read these 
 pages have any conception of what these pesti- 
 lential human rookeries are, where tens of thou- 
 
7© At Our Own Door 
 
 sands are crowded together amidst horrors which 
 call to mind what we have heard of the middle 
 passages of the slave ships. To get into them, 
 you have to penetrate courts, reeking with poison- 
 ous and malodorous gases, arising from accumula- 
 tions of sewerage and refuse scattered in all direc- 
 tions, and often flowing beneath your feet ; courts, 
 many of which the sun never penetrates, which are 
 never visited by a breath of fresh air. You have 
 to ascend rotten staircases, grope your way along 
 dark and filthy passages, swarming with vermin. 
 Then if you are not driven back by the intolerable 
 stench, you may gain admittance to these dens in 
 which these thousands of beings herd together. 
 Eight feet square ! That is about the average size 
 of very many of these rooms. Walls and ceiling 
 are black with secretions of filth, which has gath- 
 ered upon them through long years of neglect. 
 It is exuding through cracks in the boards ; it's 
 everywhere ! . . . 
 
 " Every room in these rotten and reeking tene- 
 ments houses a family, often two. In one cellar, a 
 sanitary inspector reports finding a father, mother ^ 
 three children, and four pigs ! . . . Here are 
 seven people living in one underground kitchen and 
 a little dead child lying in the same room. Else- 
 where there is a poor widow, her three children, 
 and a child who had been dead thirteen days. 
 Her husband, who was a cab man, had shortly 
 before committed suicide. ... In another 
 apartment, nine brothers and sisters, from twenty- 
 nine years of age downward, live, eat, and sleep 
 
City Missions 71 
 
 together. Here is a mother, who turns her chil- 
 dren in the streets in the early evening, because 
 she lets her room for immoral purposes until long 
 after midnight, when the poor little w^retches 
 creep back again, if they have not found some 
 miserable shelter elsewhere. "Where there are 
 beds, they are simply heaps of dirty rags, shav- 
 ings, or straw : but for the most part, these 
 miserable beings find rest only upon the filthy 
 boards. . . . There are men and women who 
 lie and die day by day, in their single wretched 
 room, sharing all the family troubles, enduring 
 the hunger and the cold, and waiting, without 
 hope, without a single ray of comfort, until God 
 curtains their staring eyes with the merciful film 
 of death." The comment of Dr. Strong is just : 
 " As the greatest wickedness in the world is to be 
 found, not among the cannibals of some far off 
 coast, but in Christian land, where the light of 
 truth is diffused and rejected, so the uttermost 
 depth of wretchedness exists not among savages, 
 who have few wants, but in the great cities, 
 where in the presence of plenty and of every /^ 
 luxury men starve." ^ The Health Department 
 of New York, made a canvas in 1888 of the 
 city, which revealed the fact that there were 
 32,390 tenement houses, occupied by 237,972 
 families, and 1,093,701 souls! As Hazael was 
 startled into abhorrence at the revelation of his 
 future self, exclaiming : " Is thy servant a dog, 
 that he should do this thing?" so Baltimore, 
 Kichmond, Atlanta, Louisville, Memphis and New 
 
72 At Our Own Door 
 
 Orleans may see and abhor in London and New 
 York their own awful future ! 
 
 3. This congestion in the city multiplies 
 wickedness, by increasing the facilities and oppor- 
 tunities for crime. Association is universally 
 recognized as a tremendous power for good ; but 
 it is a still greater power for evil. The advan- 
 tages of city life are more than offset by its 
 terrors. Brilliantly illuminated saloons, seductive 
 gambling clubs, houses of ill fame, bucket shops 
 and euchre parties, etc., constitute a variety of 
 mantraps, alluring their thousands of the better 
 class to ruin ; whilst low dives and nameless dens 
 of infamy are the antechamber to hell for tens of 
 thousands of the lower classes. "Philadelphia 
 and Pittsburg are exceptionally good cities, but in 
 Philadelphia there are seven and a half times as 
 much crime to a given population, and in Pitts- 
 burg and Allegheny City nearly nine times as 
 much, as in the average rural county of Pennsyl- 
 vania. ... As the saloon sustains important 
 relation to the law, it desires to control both those 
 who make the laws and those whose duty it is to 
 enforce them. It has already become a political 
 institution of power. Politicians are careful not to 
 antagonize it. Its political support or opposition 
 is apt to be decisive ; for saloon keepers are liquor 
 men first, and Democrats or Kepublicans after- 
 wards. When this, their craft, therefore, by 
 which they have their wealth, is in danger, it is 
 easy for them to drop their political differences, 
 and by uniting hold the balance of power, and 
 
City Missions 73 
 
 wield it in the interests of their business. An 
 astute politician in New York, reputed to be a 
 total abstainer and a church member, said he 
 would rather have the support of the saloons 
 than the churches. . . . The rottenest politics 
 on earth are city politics. The most corrupt 
 oflacer that is elevated to power ordinarily is the 
 city oflacial. The larger the city the more apt is 
 it to be ruled by a boss, ward politicians and the 
 saloon " (Twentieth Century City). 
 
 The spirit of commercialism makes residence in 
 the city as great a peril to moral health as con- 
 tagion is to physical health. Business competi- 
 tion is a terrible strain on the man who is com- 
 pelled to keep abreast with his unscrupulous 
 competitor. The mad rush for wealth is evident 
 not only in legitimate trade but in the wildest 
 speculation, in stocks, grain, and cotton futures. 
 Great corporations are grinding their employees 
 and lading them as beasts of burden, till they 
 practically allow no Sabbath of rest, from the 
 terrible treadmill of life. It is said that " Society 
 is rotten at both ends." If the lowest strata is 
 crushed by poverty and vice, many of the upper 
 classes are so occupied with fashionable society 
 clubs, card parties, balls, theatres, etc., as to leave 
 no heart and taste for any religion, except the 
 formal, fashionable, sentimental, asthetic type, 
 which does not rudely shock their taste, seriously 
 interfere with their sins, nor require any self- 
 denial of their questionable pleasures and amuse- 
 ments. On the other hand, the low vaudeville 
 
74 At Our Own Door 
 
 shows, immoral performances, Sunday baseball, 
 and so-called religious concerts, given in the in- 
 terest of the working people, are demoralizing and 
 excluding the Gospel from the masses of the peo- 
 ple. But it is not the province of this chapter to 
 enter into any of the details of city life, where 
 humanity festers and rots, being content to give 
 merely a passing glance at the darker side of the 
 problem. 
 
 4. This congestion makes the city a constant 
 menace to itself, to society and to the nation. It 
 has been said that our enemies were once far away 
 in the great lawless west ; but now, they camp in 
 solid city wards ; they are entrenched behind the 
 endless rows of tenement houses. Socialism, in the 
 guise of love for the working classes, is sowing the 
 seed of its spurious gospel in sympathetic soil, 
 ready to germinate as in a hot bed, showing its 
 fruitage in disastrous "strikes," and in the mutter- 
 ings of irresponsible mobs, shaking their threaten- 
 ing fists in the direction of property and hurling 
 their curses at the church. " Saltpetre, sulphur 
 and charcoal, are each one non-explosive, but 
 brought together, they make gunpowder. Neither 
 ignorance nor vice is revolutionary when quite 
 comfortable, nor is wretchedness, when controlled 
 by intelligence and conscience. But ignorance, 
 vice and wretchedness comhined, constitute social 
 dynamite, of which the city slum is a magazine, 
 awaiting only a casual spark to burst into terrific 
 destruction. . . . Most of our great cities have 
 at some time been in the hands of a mob. In the 
 
City Missions 75 
 
 summer of 1892, within a few days of each other, 
 New York, Pennsylvania and Tennessee ordered 
 out their militia, and Idaho called on the United 
 States government for troops to suppress labor 
 riots. More recent instances are fresh in mind. 
 That is not self-government, but government by 
 military force. There is peril when the Statue of 
 Liberty is compelled to lean on the point of a bayo- 
 net for support. Sooner or later it will pierce her 
 hand. The city, in a position to dictate to state and 
 nation, and yet incapable of self-government, is like 
 Nero on the throne " (Twentieth Century City). 
 
 " The president of the Mormon Church casts 60,- 
 000 votes. The Jesuits, it is said, are all under 
 command of one man in Washington. The Eoman 
 Catholic vote is more or less perfectly controlled 
 by the priests. That means that the pope can dic- 
 tate 100,000 of votes in the United States. . . . 
 The result of a national election may depend on 
 a single State ; the vote of the State may depend 
 on a single city ; the vote of that city may depend 
 on a boss, or a capitalist or a corporation ; or the 
 election may be decided and the policy of the gov- 
 ernment may be reversed, by the Socialist or 
 liquor, or Eoman Catholic, or immigrant vote. It 
 matters not by what name we call this man who 
 wields this centralized power — whether king, czar, 
 pope, president, capitalist, or boss. Just so far as 
 it is absolute and irresponsible, it is dangerous " 
 (Our Country). 
 
 In the language of James Freeman Clark : " A 
 time comes in the downfall and corruption of com- 
 
76 At Our Own Door 
 
 munities, when good men struggle ineffectually 
 against the tendencies of ruin. Hannibal could 
 not save Carthage ; Marcus Antoninus could not 
 save the Roman Empire ; Demosthenes could not 
 save Greece, and Jesus Christ Himself could not 
 save Jerusalem from decay and destruction." 
 
 Are the dangerous elements netted together in a 
 web of evil, also drawing their lines closer around 
 our Anglo-Saxon civilization ? Will history repeat 
 itself ? 
 
 " "When some commercial crisis has closed fac- 
 tories by the thousands, and wage- workers have 
 been thrown out of employment by the million ; 
 when the public lands, which hitherto at such 
 times have afforded relief, are all exhausted ; when 
 our urban population has been multiplied several 
 fold, and our Cincinnatis have become Chicagos, 
 our Chicagos New Yorks, and our !N"ew Yorks 
 Londons ; when class antipathies are deepened ; 
 when socialistic organizations, armed and drilled, 
 are in every city, and the ignorant, vicious power 
 of crowded population, has fully found itself ; when 
 the corruption of city governments has grown 
 apace ; when crops fail, or some gigantic ' corner ' 
 doubles the price of bread ; with starvation in the 
 home ; with idle workmen gathered, sullen and 
 desperate, in the saloons ; with unprotected wealth 
 at hand ; with the tremendous forces of chemistry 
 within easy reach ; then, with the opportunity, the 
 means f the fit agents, the motive, the temptation to 
 destroy, all brought into evil conjunction, then, 
 will come the real test of our institutions, then will 
 
City Missions 77 
 
 appear whether we are capable of self-government " 
 (Our Country). 
 
 These quotations are given in order that the evil 
 which exists and the perils which confront may be 
 portrayed mainly in the language of others. Now, 
 arises the question, Is there any remedy ? If so, 
 what ? Without any hesitation it may be stated 
 that the remedy is not radical enough, which is 
 trying to " purify politics " by means of " good 
 government clubs," by education of the masses, by 
 moral reform, by prohibition crusades, or by social- 
 istic schemes. The very best of these is " healing 
 but slightly the hurt of the daughter of my people." 
 All human means are foredestined to fail. The 
 divine remedy is the gosj)el. The only power that 
 can save the city is the power that can save the 
 soul ; it is the power of Jesus Christ. If moral 
 reformation will not save a soul, neither will it re- 
 deem the city. Two men were walking in the 
 slums of a great city. The skeptic said to the 
 Christian : " Here at least, you must admit that 
 the religion of Jesus Christ has failed." "By no 
 means," replied the other, " it has never been tried." 
 If Christ fails, it is the height of presumption, the 
 supremest human conceit, to attempt the quackery 
 of human philosophy. The church has experi- 
 mented with city missions. The most ardent ad- 
 vocate could scarcely claim brilliant success ; but 
 has the gospel failed ? 
 
 5. This raises the problem of city missions. 
 Beyond all question, it is the greatest problem 
 which taxes the thought and exercises the heart of 
 
yS At Our Own Door 
 
 the church to-day. The man who finds the solu- 
 tion, will win immortality, as the greatest of 
 human benefactors. The Negro Problem, The 
 Eastern Question, the profoundest Enigma, which 
 taxes the mind of political economists are insig- 
 nificant in comparison. They concern the welfare 
 of the kingdoms of this world. The Christian 
 philosopher, who solves the problem of city mis- 
 sions, will serve the kingdom of heaven. Whilst 
 denying the failure of the Gospel, we are none the 
 less ready to admit the failure to a large extent of 
 the Church. It is said that the masses are drift- 
 ing away from the Church. It is a mistake. They 
 are not drifting; they have already drifted! 
 They are already beyond reach, humanly speak- 
 ing. People in the city nearest the church, are 
 often farthest from Christ. In spite of the fact 
 that all denominations are building up great 
 churches in the city, thoroughly alive seemingly 
 to the wants of humanity, and the interests of the 
 kingdom of Christ, it yet remains an awful fact 
 which we cannot ignore, that the great masses 
 have drifted away, and are dying without Christ, 
 under the very shadow of the Church. Is it not 
 equally true — perhaps the explanation of it all — 
 that the Church has drifted away from the 
 masses? To what extent has the church also 
 drifted away from Christ ? " Back to Christ," as 
 a theology may be a delusion ; but " Back to 
 Christ " as a model of life and character, may be a 
 necessity. Is there any significance in the fact 
 that an audience of these " drifted masses " will 
 
City Missions 79 
 
 sometimes cheer the name of Christ and hiss the 
 Church ? Many a church to-day, is seeking mem- 
 bers, chiefly to save itself and not so much to save 
 the souls. If the Church has not drifted away 
 from the people, why is it drifting away from 
 " down town," where the people multiply in ever 
 increasing numbers ? 
 
 " In the fourth and seventh wards of New York 
 City, there are T0,000 people, and seven Protestant 
 churches and chapels, or one place of worship to 
 every ten thousand of the population. In the 
 tenth ward there is a population of 47,000 and two 
 churches and chapels. South of 14th Street, there 
 was in 1880 a population of 541,726, for whom 
 there were 109 Protestant churches and missions, or 
 about one to every 5,000 souls. In 1890 according 
 to the police census, there was in the same quar- 
 ter a population of 596,878, an increase of 50,000, 
 while of churches and missions there was an in- 
 crease of one. Indeed, the Christian force is not 
 so large now as it was ten or even twenty years ago, 
 because churches have moved out and been re- 
 placed by missions. It was stated by Dr. Schauffler 
 in 1888, that during the preceding twenty years, 
 nearly 200,000 people had moved in below 14th 
 Street, and seventeen Protestant churches had 
 moved out. One Jewish Synagogue and two 
 Eoman Catholic Churches had been added. So 
 that counting churches of every kind, there were 
 fourteen less than there were twenty years before, 
 notwithstanding the great increase of population " 
 (Our Country). 
 
8o At Our Own Door 
 
 City missions are the most difficult of all work. 
 " Said a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, in the early days of organized home mis- 
 sionary eifort by its women, ' You have two fields 
 before you — the frontiers and the cities. The lat- 
 ter is the largest and most important, and will 
 eventually claim the largest share of the attention 
 of your societies. But you cannot touch cities 
 with systematic effort until you have a strong or- 
 ganization. You must begin with the frontiers.' " 
 
 It has been said that city missions have had 
 money enough expended on them to convert the 
 world, if it had been wisely distributed. More 
 money can be raised for city work than for 
 any other cause. The rich, benevolent people of 
 our city churches, see the needs of the slums, and are 
 willing to give of their abundance for the needy, 
 whom alas ! their money can seldom reach. Mul- 
 titudes will give money. They need to give some- 
 thing Qnore valuable than this ! More good, ear- 
 nest, consecrated men have broken their very 
 hearts on city missions than perhaps over any 
 other matter. Numbers of young ministers 
 "jump at the suggestion" of a city mission, 
 imagining they will soon be pastor of a city 
 church, with all the advantages such a position 
 brings. Not knowing the difficulties, and not 
 seeking always the welfare of souls, as their sole 
 aim, but actuated by a desire to "build up a 
 church " for their own advancement, they soon be- 
 come discouraged, break their hearts over the 
 failure of the mission and the failure of their 
 
City Missions 8l 
 
 ministry and are too ready to " make a change " 
 for something easier and "more promising." 
 "Who can blame them? They never undei'took 
 it with the expectation of sacrificing their whole 
 life to an idea, but rather as a stepping stone to 
 something higher. Many city missions thus fail, 
 because the promoters are compelled to change the 
 minister so frequently and carry on the work so 
 irregularly. 
 
 City missions fail also because they do not de- 
 velop as rapidly as the promoters had hoped, and 
 the mission is prematurely abandoned, " because it 
 does not pay." The church which undertakes a 
 mission must do it for Christ's sake and be willing 
 to receive no returns, if need be. " A pawn broker 
 with a heart chipped out of flint would cheerfully 
 give on the same inviting terms — one dollar for 
 the return of a thousand. To give in order to get, 
 is not giving at all ; it is only investing. That is 
 not Christianity, but business as now conducted. 
 Oh, when shall we get rid of this commercialism 
 in religion ? Love is not commercial ; it calcu- 
 lates no returns. It breaks the alabaster box of 
 self -concern and pours out the precious ointment 
 of devotion without measure and without price " 
 (Twentieth Century City). 
 
 If the desperate wickedness of the city has been 
 portrayed, neither has there been any effort made 
 to conceal the difficulties and discouragements 
 awaiting those who enter the uninviting field of 
 city missions. Correct diagnosis is essential be- 
 fore undertaking to apply remedies. Already the 
 
82 At Our Own Door 
 
 remedy for the slums, as well as the brown-stone 
 fronts, has been stated as the Gospel. But the 
 practical question is, How to bring the gospel in 
 contact with the masses ? By all odds, the most 
 widely employed means has been the mission Sab- 
 bath-school. These have done a noble work for 
 Christ and humanity. Many have developed 
 under favorable circumstances into self-supporting 
 churches. Many more have produced results 
 which can be estimated only in the great here- 
 after. Failures from a human standpoint are 
 often successes from the divine. " The Lord seeth 
 not as man seeth." Real failure is sometimes due 
 to the fact that the workers do not live among 
 their proteges, and fail to enlist assistant laborers 
 in the vicinity. Often the fruit cultivated so as- 
 siduously is not gathered into any permanent fold, 
 and is practically lost to the church. Even in the 
 face of these disadvantages, we bid Godspeed to 
 all such Sabbath-school workers. Eternity alone 
 can answer the question, " What shall the harvest 
 be?" 
 
 Next to Sabbath-school, stands " The Mission," 
 whether " Chapel " or infant church. Success 
 or failure is often determined by location. If 
 in a section that develops into good homes, the 
 probability of success is assured. Failure is often 
 due to the fact that Christian workers will pat- 
 ronize the " mission " and hold their membership 
 in an up-town church. The better classes living in 
 a stone's throw of the chapel will take the street 
 cars for a " First " church, where they can hear 
 
City Missions 83 
 
 up-to-date sermons, and good choirs and enjoy 
 social advantages. Mission churches are offended 
 at the patronage of such Christians, and the 
 masses find to their chagrin that the distinctions 
 of society are rigidly enforced in church circles, 
 and so become prejudiced against the church and 
 let the " mission " severely alone. Above all other 
 considerations, the minister who undertakes mis- 
 sion work, ought not to be actuated by a desire to 
 train himself for some higher position. Many men 
 fail because they are giving themselves to " study " 
 and visiting the people only in a professional way. 
 Men " volunteer " for foreign missions, and expect 
 to make it a life-work. Who volunteers for city 
 mission work, with the expectation of " enlisting 
 for the war " ? Men in estimating the attractions 
 of Christ for sinners, quote as an explanation, 
 " This man receiveth sinners ; " but they omit and 
 overlook the most important additional clause, 
 "And eateth with them." Men like Jerry Mc- 
 Auley and Hadley, who will enter into the social 
 life of the masses and sacrifice their whole life to 
 such high purpose will find, that " He that loseth 
 his life for My sake (by voluntary exile in the 
 slums) will find it " (in the highest sphere of use- 
 fulness). The slums can only be reached in the 
 spirit of Christ. Not many such experiments have 
 been made. 
 
 However questionable an Institutional Church 
 may be, in some respects and in some quarters, 
 may it not be possible, that it may be the remedy 
 for the slums ; provided always that the Institu- 
 
84 At Our Own Door 
 
 tional features are subservient to and not substi- 
 tuted for, the Gospel. Its " organized charities," 
 " sheltering arms," " rescue work," " door of hope," 
 "trained nurses for the sick," "night schools," 
 " kindergarten," etc., ought not to be ends in them- 
 selves but means always to the one end of bring- 
 ing the Gospel to bear on heart and conscience and 
 life. Many illustrations of the success of such ef- 
 forts have been published. One notable instance 
 stands out prominently in Atlanta, The Baptist 
 Tabernacle of Dr. L. G, Broughton. 
 
 In 1899, Dr. Broughton conceived the idea of 
 establishing a church which would touch humanity 
 at every point, ministering unto the needs of men 
 foursquare, physical, mental, moral and spiritual. 
 Beginning with about 300 communicants it has 
 grown in less than five years to over 1,500. Com- 
 posed almost exclusively of poor people, they raise 
 for current expenses, annually, an enormous sum. 
 Recently, to enlarge their plant, they raised on 
 one Sabbath $15,000. The Institutional features 
 have grown with the growth of the church. Some 
 of the special features are as follows : An in- 
 firmary for the sick ; a home for helpless women ; 
 a training school for Christian nurses ; a school in 
 domestic science ; a Christian dormitory for young 
 women ; seven missions and night schools ; a Sab- 
 bath-school with ordinary classes and special fea- 
 tures in the way of primary department, young 
 men's class and society, young woman's, mothers' 
 class, etc. ; a lecture course, including many of the 
 most prominent lecturers of the country ; a Bible 
 
City Missions 85 
 
 conference modelled after Northfield taught by 
 such men as Campbell Morgan, etc. 
 
 The Tabernacle has a seating capacity of 3,500 
 and is ordinarily filled and often packed at the 
 regular Sabbath services. As all roads lead to 
 Rome and all Scriptures to Christ ; so, as far as 
 the writer has been able to judge, all these Insti- 
 tutional features are made subservient to the great 
 object of preaching " Christ and Him Crucified." 
 
 It may be said his success is due to sensational 
 methods. That would only partially account for 
 the results. The writer among others supplied 
 the Tabernacle during the absence of Dr. Brough- 
 ton in Europe in the spring of 1903. With 
 no " sensational Broughton " to draw, at night in 
 addition to a vast auditorium packed, there were 
 more people in the gallery than the average At- 
 lanta preacher has in his audience. 
 
 The time is not far distant when the Church is 
 destined to awake to the great need of this par- 
 ticular home field. She has heard, and has nobly 
 responded to, the Macedonian cry of countless 
 heathen on foreign shores. Does she hear the 
 dumb appeal of " the heathen nearer," the more 
 pitiable and pathetic, because dumb ? Thank 
 God the day is not far distant. " The morning 
 light is breaking," not simply in China and Africa 
 but in the slums of London, New York and Chi- 
 cago. The Salvation Army was the first ray of 
 hope to a despairing cry, " Watchmen, what of the 
 night ? " 
 
 " The distinct office of organized home missions 
 
86 At Our Own Door 
 
 is to plant churches ; and where are churches more 
 in demand than in the reeking city slums ? Is it 
 asked ' Where are members to be found ? ' They 
 can be imported. Our social settlements are made 
 up of consecrated men and women, who import 
 the home, in their own persons, into the very cen- 
 tres of slumdom. Are there none to carry the 
 Church ? ' But how are such churches to be 
 equipped and supported ? ' As hospitals are built, 
 as asylums are supported, as libraries are equipped, 
 as colleges are endowed. Shall millions be poured 
 out for the suffering bodies and darkened minds 
 of the poor and unprivileged, and must the Church, 
 with its diviner gifts of healing, be denied for the 
 want of a few thousand dollars ? 
 
 " The author makes no claim to prophetic gifts, 
 but he believes that organized home missions will 
 not always turn a deaf ear to the bitter cry of the 
 city, and pass by on the other side. The boast 
 has been that for a hundred years it has followed 
 the people ; then it must seek them within the 
 city gates. To do so will be the truest economy 
 as well as the highest strategy. The wise general 
 masses his army where the enemy is densest" 
 (Leavening the Nation). 
 
 Let the Church begin to gird herself for a tre- 
 mendous and thoroughly organized effort. Let 
 the best young men " volunteer " for a living 
 death to all the luxuries and social advantages 
 among men, for a work more difficult, and in con- 
 sequence more heroic and glorious, than even the 
 foreign field. Let the ancient order of " Deacon- 
 
City Missions 87 
 
 ess " be revived in the class of devoted women, 
 who are willing to surrender everything else for 
 the service of Christ, in Bible readings, in the 
 homes of the poor, distributing alms, nursing the 
 sick, " helpers " in the same sense as those com- 
 mended by Paul as laboring with him in the gos- 
 pel. The time for experiments has passed, the 
 Church must get down to the business of her great 
 mission. 
 
 Kow, let us consider why other denominations 
 are frequently more successful than Presbyterians 
 in city mission work. 
 
 {a) Presbyterians do not readily degenerate into 
 such material as compose the slums. The writer 
 has labored in the slums, alms houses, prisons, etc., 
 and has seldom found any Presbyterians among 
 such as abound in those places. Consequently, 
 other denominations find more of their material 
 in the slums, and more people in sympathy with 
 their system. 
 
 {b) If this is at all gratifying to our denomina- 
 tional pride, a second consideration will counterbal- 
 ance it and take all of the pride out of us, Presby- 
 terians have neglected the country till other denomi- 
 nations have practically taken it ; and so the streams 
 which flow into the city are not Presbyterian 
 streams. These make the great city churches among 
 the better classes and the mission churches among: 
 the poor ; therefore others build up city missions, 
 where we fail. In order to keep pure the water 
 of the city, supplied by the great Croton Aque- 
 duct, it is necessary to give strict sanitary inspec- 
 
88 At Our Own Door 
 
 tion to the small streams which feed it forty miles 
 away. If Presbyterians expect to evangelize 
 properly the city, they must begin on the country, 
 which is furnishing the streams flowing into the 
 city. 
 
 (c) Other denominations adopt sensational 
 methods which appeal often to one's lower nature 
 and frequently are content to entertain the people 
 in order to collect a crowd, whilst Presbyterians 
 are charged sometimes with being more concerned 
 about " orthodoxy " and " right methods " than 
 " reaching the masses." Is this testimony true ? 
 If so, let a commendable zeal atone for the past. 
 
 If the Church would take into consideration the 
 value of the time factor as an element in saving 
 the cities, she must begin now on Birmingham, 
 Atlanta, Dallas, etc., before they become the New 
 Yorks and Chicagos of the South. Money and 
 effort spent now will save greater expenditures in 
 the future. " One man now is worth a hundred 
 fifty years hence. One dollar is worth a thousand 
 then. Now, is the nick of time." The time to 
 save these younger cities is before they are lost ! 
 
 If every great city to-day in its wickedness is a 
 veritable hell on earth, yet purified and trans- 
 formed, the city is a type of heaven, " the city 
 which hath foundation, whose builder and maker 
 is God," " the city of the living God, the heavenly 
 Jerusalem." " And the twelve gates were twelve 
 pearls ; and the streets of the city were pure gold, 
 as it were transparent glass." ..." And the 
 city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon 
 
City Missions 89 
 
 to shine in it ; for the glory of God did lighten 
 it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. . . . 
 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day ; 
 for there shall be no night there." 
 
IV 
 
 MOUNTAINEERS 
 
 As the Kocky Mountains stretch across our 
 western country, from extreme north to south, 
 parallel with the Pacific, so the east has the 
 Appalachian range that parallels the Atlantic. 
 Its southern extremity expands into the Blue 
 Ridge and Cumberland Mountains, forming a 
 unique section, embracing large parts of West 
 Yirginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina 
 and Georgia, which is known as " The Land of the 
 Sky." Its picturesque scenery and marvellous 
 beauty entitle it to the name by which it is often 
 designated, "The Switzerland of America." Its 
 bracing climate, pure crystal streams, mineral 
 waters and famous health resorts annually attract 
 multitudes of tourists from every section of our 
 country. Its hills are rich in minerals and rare 
 stones, which will at some time in the future 
 possibly greatly enrich multitudes whose only 
 worldly possessions at present are barren hills and 
 rugged cliffs. More than forty of its mountain 
 peaks reach an elevation of 6,000 feet, whilst 
 Mount Mitchell in North Carolina, supposed to be 
 the highest east of the Mississippi, lifts its head 
 8,000 feet above the level of the sea. 
 
 "The highest perpendicular face east of the 
 90 
 
Mountaineers 91 
 
 Mississippi is to be found on "Whiteside Moun- 
 tain, where is a wall two miles in length with a 
 sheer drop of 1,800 feet. Precipices hundreds of 
 feet deep are not uncommon. As we stand on the 
 edge of one of these precipices, just above the 
 rocky cavern 1,000 feet below us, the mighty 
 forest trees in the valley appear as mere bushes, 
 the valley extends for miles to one side ; in front 
 hill rises above hill, range after range, peer up be- 
 hind one another, mountain rises above mountain, 
 and the landscape stretches out in awful majesty 
 for scores of miles, until it fades away in a misty 
 horizon. The solemn silence that prevails empha- 
 sizes the grandeur of the scene." 
 
 The whole mountain region is estimated at 500 
 miles long and 300 miles wide, and contains a 
 population a little in excess of 2,000,000 of souls. 
 
 In North Georgia, where this section terminates, 
 there is one mountain isolated and separated from 
 its fellows and for this reason called " Lost Moun- 
 tain." As an allegory, it may aptly represent the 
 people of the mountain regions. Separated and 
 isolated from the mass they are the lost tribe of 
 America, whom Walter A. Page calls " The For- 
 gotten Man." One hundred years ago, the moun- 
 taineer retreated to the hill country, whilst 
 advancing civilization passed him by in its onward 
 march. About the time he lost himself in the 
 mountains, railroads began to penetrate forests 
 and cross the plains ; steamboats began to ply 
 rivers and lakes. The mountaineer is ignorant of 
 their existence. The telegraph brought all the 
 
92 At Our Own Door 
 
 rest of the world in close contact. The moun- 
 taineer was excluded from, the universal bond. 
 The nineteenth century exceeds all past ages in its 
 discoveries and went forward by leaps and bounds 
 in advancing civilization. For the mountaineer, 
 the world has stood absolutely still. "The sub- 
 merged tenth" in our cities is not more com- 
 pletely buried in its living grave of the slums 
 than our "Highlanders" lost among the moun- 
 tains 2,000,000 strong. The world which had for- 
 gotten its lost brother-man, is beginning now to 
 think of the " one out on the hills away, far off 
 from the gates of gold." The search is now on 
 by philanthropists and churchmen, and soon may 
 the time come 
 
 , " When all through the mountains thunder riven, 
 And up from the rocky steep, 
 There will rise the glad shout to the gate of heaven, 
 ' Eejoice, for I have found my sheep.' " 
 
 Who are they and whence came they? The 
 historian traces their ancestry back to Antrim and 
 Ulster in North Ireland; and yet they are not 
 natives of Ireland. By reason of their Eomish 
 sympathies in the great English struggle for free- 
 dom and Protestantism, the Earls of Tyrone and 
 Tyrconnel forfeited their great landed estates in all 
 that region, where Belfast now towers in her 
 morality and Christianity above Dublin and Cork. 
 These forfeited lands were settled by colonists 
 from Scotland, and are now known in history as 
 Scotch-Irish. All the world knows their proud 
 
Mountaineers 93 
 
 record and great moral influence among men. 
 Books have been written to commemorate their 
 influence in the making of this great American Re- 
 public, and of the Presbyterian Church in these 
 United States. These streams of Scotch-Irish 
 flowed in chiefly through the port at Philadelphia, 
 driven from home by the Test oath, which re- 
 quired every one to subscribe to English prelacy. 
 James Anthony Froude says : " In the two years 
 which followed the Antrim election, 30,000 left 
 Ulster for a land, where there was no legal 
 robbery, and where those who sowed the seed 
 could reap the harvest." By this means, Pennsyl- 
 vania and Virginia acquired some of the best class 
 of colonists that ever emigrated to a new country. 
 These streams continued to flow westward and 
 southward till they had preempted for themselves 
 and their posterity the mountains of Virginia, 
 Kentucky and Tennessee. Undaunted by the 
 hardships of life, environed by trackless forests 
 and treacherous savages, they pushed on into the 
 very heart of the wilderness, to carve out for 
 themselves a home of their own making, under 
 conditions of their own choosing. Said President 
 Roosevelt recently : " They were the first and 
 last set of immigrants to do this. All others 
 merely followed in the wake of their predecessors. 
 But indeed they were fitted from the very start 
 to be Americans; they were kinsfolks of the 
 Covenanters ; they deemed it a religious duty to 
 interpret their own Bibles, and held for a divine 
 right the election of their clergy. For genera- 
 
94 At Our Own Door 
 
 tions their whole ecclesiastic and scholastic sys- 
 tems had been fundamentally democratic. In the 
 hard life of the frontier they lost much of their 
 religion, and they had but scant opportunities to 
 give their children the schooling in which they be- 
 lieved ; but what schoolhouses and meeting-houses 
 there were on the frontier, were theirs. The 
 Creed of the backwoodsman, who had a creed at 
 all, was Presbyterian ; for the Episcopacy of the 
 tide water lands obtained no fasthold in the 
 mountains to the north, and the Baptists were 
 just beginning in the west when the Ke volution 
 broke out." 
 
 To this Scotch-Irish contingent, is largely due 
 American liberty and independence. The Mech- 
 lenburg declaration was drafted by these Scotch- 
 Irish Presbyterians more than a year (May 
 20, 17Y4) before the American Declaration which 
 was modelled by Thomas Jefferson after Mechlen- 
 burg. The section which gave birth to this Scotch- 
 Irish declaration was known and dreaded by the 
 British as " the hornet's nest." Thomas "Watson, 
 the new and brilliant historian of the South, ar- 
 gues adroitly and forcibly that the battle of King's 
 Mountain, fought by these same Scotch-Irish 
 Presbyterians, was the decisive battle of the 
 Revolution. 
 
 Their descendants still occupy their mountain 
 home, and like the gulf stream, a distinct river in 
 the midst of the sea, these Highlanders have kept 
 themselves aloof from the rest of the country, a 
 distinct race of people. Immigration flowing in 
 
Mountaineers 95 
 
 from all nationalities has corrupted the purity of 
 our Anglo-Saxon stock, but immigration has never 
 touched the life of the mountaineer. These iso- 
 lated mountaineers are the best Anglo-Saxon stock, 
 of the blood and tradition of heroes, " the only 
 portion of our population that retains pure and un- 
 defiled the Americanism of Colonial times." At 
 the present time they are divided into two sepa- 
 rate classes as distinct from each other as they are 
 from Americans. The higher type occupy the 
 fertile valleys along the banks of beautiful streams 
 and broad rivers. These are the intelligent, culti- 
 vated and educated people who will compare fa- 
 vorably with any section of the world. Abraham 
 Lincoln, Andrew Jackson and Zeb. Yance are 
 often classified among mountaineers as indicating 
 the possibility of our mountain boys, but they 
 were not typical mountaineers. They are but 
 specimens of a large class who have risen to emi- 
 nence from the mountain region. The typical 
 mountaineer occupies his rude cabin on mountain- 
 side or sequestered cove without associations with 
 the outside world, with no advantages of learning 
 and no opportunities of improvement, without 
 ambition in life, leading an aimless, careless, thrift- 
 less existence, in attainments and character on a 
 level with the cracker of the backwoods, and the 
 factory element of towns. 
 
 His home is a one-room log hut, fifteen by 
 twenty feet, with a door and no windows. His 
 family is usually large but accommodates itself to 
 circumstances, living, cooking, eating, sleeping in 
 
96 At Our Own Door 
 
 this room which serves as kitchen, parlor and bed- 
 room. Extreme poverty is manifested everywhere, 
 due to hard conditions, barren soil and innate lazi- 
 ness. The family wants are but few and their 
 taste simple. They literally " take no thought for 
 the morrow " — or anything else. Their garments 
 are scarce in number and coarse in fabric, the 
 product of their own rude looms. Their furniture, 
 consisting of stools, chairs, table and bed, is 
 carved out of the forest by their rude implements. 
 They cultivate no land except small patches of 
 corn and raise ordinarily fine apples from their 
 small orchards. If they could produce larger 
 crops, they would be confronted by the further 
 difficulty of inaccessible markets. They have no 
 means of transportation, except the ox-cart. By 
 reason of these hard conditions, they justify them- 
 selves in illicit distilling, which necessitates a large 
 force of revenue officers for raiding these stills, 
 and breaking up their miserable means of turning 
 their corn and apples into a little cash. These 
 mountain " moonshiners " and the government are 
 always at war. A revenue officer's life is not as 
 safe among them as a wild beast ; and they shoot 
 one with as little compunction of conscience as the 
 other. They pride themselves upon their honesty, 
 locks and bars having no place among them ; but 
 they have but little regard for the marriage tie, 
 and illegitimacy is not considered a special dis- 
 grace. Family feuds are a legacy from sire to 
 son, and blood is the only atonement for blood. 
 "Bloody Breathitt" County, Kentucky, presents 
 
Mountaineers 97 
 
 the world with the spectacle, at this writing, of 
 soldiers guarding a witness, while he gives his 
 testimony ; and the feuds of the Hatfields and the 
 McCoys have lasted more than a quarter of a cen- 
 tury, resulting in dozens of murders, and have now 
 attained a national reputation. 
 
 Eev. E. Mac Davis, who boasts of being " one 
 of them " writes graphically and interestingly of 
 these people : " There has taken place in the re- 
 mote mountains of the South what takes place in 
 remote mountains everywhere, always — a dam- 
 ming up of the stream of humanity and the gath- 
 ering of that stream into pools. These pools, be- 
 cause they have no outlet, give off their freshness 
 and precipitate their salts. The remote moun- 
 taineers are but the Flotsam and Jetsam on the 
 stream of society ; rather they are chips and bub- 
 bles on the surface of a great inland dead sea of 
 salt. Like chips and bubbles they float round and 
 round in slow circles, narrow and yet more nar- 
 row, moving, but never advancing. . . . 
 
 They are in a deeper sleep than ever Kip Van 
 Winkle was. They have bathed themselves in the 
 river Lethe, and are unmindful of the progress of 
 civilization. . . . Their minds are as unruffled 
 as a millpond — as stagnant, too. They have 
 neither envy nor ambition. Their case is one of 
 arrested development. 
 
 In the great cities one-tenth of the people is said 
 to be submerged ; in the mountain coves, nine- 
 tenths of the people have not yet emerged. They 
 are not submerged in the sediment of the stream of 
 
98 At Our Own Door 
 
 civilization, as the "Eastside Whitechapel Folk 
 are." On the contrary, their vices are not ab- 
 normal, their virtues are not exotic. They have 
 not deteriorated, nor degenerated. They have not 
 reverted to original types. They are the original 
 types ; somewhat worn and defaced, but the original 
 types ; they are neither Liliputians nor Brobding- 
 nagians; they are nature's undeveloped chil- 
 dren. . . . 
 
 'Sons and Daughters of the Revolution,' they 
 have lost their family record and know not to boast. 
 They are blind to their glorious inheritance of 
 truth. They have lost their inheritance of char- 
 acter. Themselves white men, they too have be- 
 come the White Man's Burden — the element in the 
 south most important to be reached. They need 
 to be reached. They can be reached by multiplied 
 schools and added churches — by an influx of disci- 
 plined teachers and of educated preachers. 
 
 The mountaineer lives at home, seldom ventur- 
 ing beyond his native vale, and has but little busi- 
 ness with the outside world. One county has but 
 little more communication with its next neighbor 
 than the Congo Free State has with Uganda. One 
 reason of this is the fact that no school exists to 
 train the mind and inspire any desire for knowledge 
 of that which lies beyond the next mountain 
 ridge. 
 
 The poverty of the country allows little pro- 
 vision for a public school system. A school levy 
 on the taxable property of the mountain region 
 would not bring suJQBcient funds to keep the school 
 
Mountaineers 99 
 
 in operation even with indifferent and poorly paid 
 teachers for more than two months in the year. 
 The war impoverished the South, and whilst it has 
 now recovered and is building up a school system 
 in most places, nothing in comparison has been 
 done to alleviate the ignorance of the mountaineer. 
 According to President Dabney, "The average 
 child, whites and blacks together, who attend 
 school at all stops with the third grade. This 
 means that the average citizen in the South gets 
 only three years of schooling in his whole life. 
 
 
 
 AVEEAGES. 
 
 
 
 
 Years in 
 school 
 
 Value school 
 property 
 
 Salary of 
 teacher 
 
 Days in 
 school year 
 
 Ami. 
 expended 
 perpupil 
 
 N. C. 
 
 2.6 
 
 $180 
 
 $23.36 
 
 70.8 
 
 $4.34 
 
 s. c. 
 
 2.5 
 
 178 
 
 23,20 
 
 88.4 
 
 4.44 
 
 Ala. 
 
 2.4 
 
 212 
 
 27.50 
 
 78.3 
 
 3.10 
 
 Ga. 
 
 
 525 
 
 27.00 
 
 112.0 
 
 6.64 
 
 " In other words, in these states, in schoolhouses 
 costing an average of $276 each, under teachers 
 receiving the average salary of $25 per month, we 
 are giving the children in actual attendance five 
 cents worth of schooling a day for eighty-seven 
 days in the year." 
 
 If this is the average for the Carolinas, Georgia 
 and Alabama as States, who can estimate the edu- 
 cational disadvantages of the mountain region ? 
 Northern people have poured out their money into 
 the South for the education of the negro, and he 
 is allowed to share in the funds raised by the white 
 people of the South as they have taxed their prop- 
 erty for public schools. Ko money in comparison 
 
lOO At Our Own Door 
 
 comes South for the education of the mountain 
 whites, and no taxable property in the South pro- 
 vides more than a pittance for his education. As 
 a consequence, the average negro in the country 
 enjoys quadruple advantages from an educational 
 standpoint over the descendants of the Scotch-Irish 
 in the mountains. Even this does not fully enum- 
 erate and reveal the disadvantages of the " child 
 of the mountains," who has also to contend with 
 Ignorant parents, ready to take the child out of 
 school on any pretext or send him to the field to 
 assist in the family support. 
 
 " It were easy to picture homes that would make 
 the heart of Christian womanhood ache with un- 
 utterable sorrow and pity ; schools that are little 
 more than the name might be described in truthful 
 detail ; communities where the homely virtues that 
 are the part of the Anglo-Saxon's birthright have 
 been overgrown by lust and sin, are not unknown 
 in the Southern Mountains — or anywhere else on 
 this broad continent of ours. But all that is re- 
 quired to show the absolute necessity for help from 
 outside sources, given in the spirit of Christian love 
 and brotherly kindness, can easily be imagined by 
 those whose hearts are tuned to the cry of the 
 helpless. The free-handed, open-hearted South, the 
 fortunate, prosperous North — each must help ac- 
 cording to his ability, until the glad day dawns 
 when ' the mountain of the Lord's house shall be 
 established in the top of the mountains ' " (Under 
 
 yOur Flag). 
 Many of these mountain children are most eager 
 
Mountaineers loi 
 
 to learn. It is not uncommon for a boy to walk 
 from five to seven miles daily to school, and others 
 will go barefoot through snow and ice. Miss 
 Guernsey quotes from The Christian Endeavor 
 World the following pathetic incident of one of 
 nature's children : 
 
 " A young man entered a college oflBce, and, 
 touching the president's arm, asked in a peculiar 
 mountain brogue, 'Be ye the man who sells 
 larnin'?' Before the president could reply, he 
 asked again, ' Look here, mister, do you uns run 
 this here thing ? ' 
 
 " The president replied, * Yes, when the thing is 
 not running me. What can I do for you ? ' 
 
 "'Heaps,' was the only reply. Then, after a 
 pause, the lad said : ' I has hearn that you uns 
 educate poor boys here, and bein' as I am poor, 
 thought I'd come and see if it wus so. Do ye ? ' 
 
 " The president replied that poor boys attended 
 the college, but that it took money to provide for 
 them ; that they were expected to pay something. 
 The boy was greatly troubled. 
 
 " ' Have you anything to pay for your food and 
 lodging ? ' asked the president. 
 
 " ' Yas, sir,' was the reply, ' I has a little spotted 
 steer ; and if you uns will let me, I'll stay wid ye 
 till I lam him up.' 
 
 " Such persistence generally carries its point, and 
 the lad remained, and the little steer lasted for 
 years. The president's closing comment upon the 
 incident is this : ' I have had the pleasure of sit- 
 ting in the pew while I listened to my boy, now a 
 
102 At Our Own Door 
 
 young man, as he preached the glad tidings of 
 salvation. Does it pay to help such boys ? ' " 
 
 If these people were originally Scotch-Irish 
 Presbyterians, has the Presbyterian Church no re- 
 sponsibility for their condition to-day ? Is the 
 Presbyterian Church under any special obligation 
 to their descendants? Is there any remedy for 
 these neglected people, who are stranded among 
 the mountains ? " Is there no balm in Gilead ? " 
 
 Dr. Guerrant says : " Here is our Jerusalem : 
 Americans, Virginians, Kentuckians, Tennesseans 
 and North Carolinians, the children of the hills ; our 
 neighbors / our kith and kin. Begin with them, 
 and save them, and let them help us save the 
 world. We believe in foreign missions, but we 
 also believe in beginning at Jerusalem. These are 
 * heathen at our doors.' Their souls are worth as 
 much as others. They are more easily reached. 
 It costs less than half to reach them. The results 
 are quicker, because their language is our own ; 
 their history, tradition, ancestry, the same as our 
 own. The consequences of their conversion are 
 greater. They will furnish the teachers, ministers 
 and missionaries to the heathen abroad." 
 
 They are as truly without the Gospel, as if they 
 lived in the heart of the dark continent. 
 
 " If you cannot cross the ocean and the heathen lands explore, 
 You can find the heathen nearer, you can help them at your 
 door " — 
 
 in the slums of the city and in the cabins of the 
 mountains. 
 
 / 
 
Mountaineers 103 
 
 Some noble philanthropists are already at work 
 on the problem of the mountains, and their remedy- 
 is education ; and the " Soul winner's Association " 
 has entered the field. It may be from lack of 
 ample funds, but nothing yet has been projected 
 on a sufficient scale to do more than touch the 
 outer edges of the problem. Education will re- 
 lieve ignorance and elevate in the scale of intelli- 
 gence, but it will not regenerate society. It is a 
 debatable question whether mere literary educa- 
 tion improves morality. The colored population 
 is far better educated to-day than at the close of 
 the war, but Ex-President Cleveland in a recent 
 address expresses scepticism as to its improvement 
 in morality. Thoughtful people in the South, who 
 are in position to know, fully endorse his con- 
 clusions. Summer schools will not even meet the 
 case of the mountaineer from an educational stand- 
 point. Noble Christian people may educate and 
 even teach these children the Bible and funda- 
 mental principles of morality and religion, which 
 is a step in the right direction, but unless the or- 
 ganized church is planted and maintained near by, 
 most of the fish gathered in the school-net will 
 escape again to the great sea of unregenerate hu- 
 manity. 
 
 If success is ever to crown our efforts in win- 
 ning these souls and reclaiming these people lost 
 among the mountains, it will be along the lines of 
 industrial and Christian schools, alwaijs in connec- 
 tion with the Church. 
 
 Money is wasted from a Christian standpoint, 
 
104 A^ ^^i" ^wn Door 
 
 that does not ally itself with the Gospel ; and the 
 Gospel, according to the appointment of Christ, 
 needs always a church to propagate it. 
 
 The Northern Presbyterian Church is doing 
 noble work in this section, as appears from Doyle's 
 " Presbyterian Home Missions " : " Presbyterian 
 missionary work among the mountain people of 
 the South was begun in 1879. The first mission 
 school was ' Whitehall Seminary.' It was estab- 
 lished near Concord, N. C, and Miss Frances E. 
 Ufford was the first teacher. 
 
 " From that beginning the work has grown until 
 it extends over the mountain regions of the four 
 States of North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky 
 and West Virginia. There are to-day, as a result 
 of the Home Board's work, thirty-one churches, 
 1,378 church members, seventy-six Sunday-schools, 
 6,172 Sunday-school scholars, thirty-seven mission 
 schools, one hundred and eight mission school-teach- 
 ers, 3,000 pupils, twenty-one ministers and sixteen 
 Bible readers. The principal agencies in advanc- 
 ing missions have been churches, mission schools. 
 Sabbath-schools and Bible readers. The churches 
 with attendant ministers, have been established as 
 rapidly as the means would allow." 
 
 The Southern Presbyterian Church is also doing 
 good work in this field. It exceeds the Northern 
 Church in number of churches and members, but 
 is behind in Christian schools. It is impossible to 
 give detail of statistics, because the work of the 
 Southern Church is not directly under the Execu- 
 tive Committee, but is done by various presby- 
 
Mountaineers 105 
 
 teries and synods, but principally by the " Synod- 
 ical Evangelistic Committee of Kentucky," Rev. W. 
 C. Clark, D. D., chairman, Augusta, Kentucky ; 
 and that of North Carolina, Rev. E. E. Gillespie, 
 superintendent, Greensboro, N. C. 
 
 The Assembly's Committee of Home Missions 
 is just entering this field, having recently ap- 
 propriated about $5,000 to begin the work of 
 Christian and industrial schools, among the moun- 
 taineers. 
 
 Among our institutions. King College at Bristol, 
 Tennessee, has done grand v^ork among those de- 
 scribed as the better class. For its means, no 
 college ever did better work, as may be judged by 
 the fact that it gave to the Church such men as 
 Dr. R. C. Reed, Dr. T. M. McConnell, Dr. S. R. 
 Preston, Dr. J. W. Rogan, Dr. J. I. Vance and 
 others equally useful, under the instruction of such 
 able teachers as Dr. J. D. Tadlock and Dr. Jas. 
 Albert Wallace. 
 
 Among schools doing splendid service for the 
 more typical mountaineer is Lees-McRae Institute, 
 described by Rev. F. B. Converse, D. D. : 
 
 " It was our privilege to visit the Lees-McRae 
 Institute, and we were surprised and gratified at 
 what has been and is being accomplished at this 
 point. It is located at Banner Elk, in one of the 
 most beautiful and most elevated valleys, having 
 an altitude of about 4,300 feet, and partly sur- 
 rounded by mountain ranges one or two thousand 
 feet higher. The importance of a good school was 
 appreciated by the evangelists, and an excellent 
 
io6 At Our Own Door 
 
 boarding and day school, under the control of the 
 Presbytery of Concord, has been built up within 
 the last three or four years by Rev. Edgar Tufts 
 and Rev. J. P. Hall. The work that has been ac- 
 complished with the limited means at their 
 command is simply marvellous. Commenced in a 
 small way, it has gradually grown until at the last 
 session there were thirty boarders and fifty-five 
 day scholars — eighty-five in all. Some of the girls 
 came forty miles across the mountains in road 
 wagons — a two days' journey for their fathers to 
 bring them, and another two days' drive returning 
 home. It is a banner school in reference to the 
 Shorter Catechism. Last year the Christian Oh- 
 server sent diplomas to twenty-one of those 
 children who had memorized the Shorter Cate- 
 chism, and sixteen the previous year, besides 
 certificates to those who had committed to memory 
 the Child's Catechisna. 
 
 " It is a mistake to picture the mountain children 
 as an inferior class. Some of them are remark- 
 ably bright. A prize was offered to the one who 
 should first learn the "Westminster Catechism per- 
 fectly. Two of the girls set resolutely to work 
 and recited it without a mistake within a week — 
 one of them on the fifth day after she had com- 
 menced it. A girl who can and will, in addition 
 to her school studies and household duties — for 
 the girls here are industrially trained as well as in 
 books — learn the 104 answers in the catechism 
 within a week, is not deficient either in intellectual 
 power or ambition, or pluck. It is a good school, 
 
Mountaineers 107 
 
 fitting the boys for college and giving the girls 
 equal training. One of its students is now in col- 
 lege with the ministry in view. Board and tuition 
 are furnished to the mountain children who are 
 able to pay, at a price lower than we would sup- 
 pose was possible ; to others board and tuition have 
 been given free. 
 
 " While this was being done, it was necessary to 
 erect buildings for the accommodation of the in- 
 creasing numbers. Twenty acres of land, a most 
 beautiful site for such an institution, was secured. 
 A dormitory for the girls, a three story building, 
 containing twenty-two rooms, has been erected. 
 The view from the observatory on top of this 
 building, is one of surpassing beauty. A school 
 building equally large stands on one side, and the 
 Presbyterian church on the other. Besides this, 
 there is a fourth building of two rooms, for class 
 rooms. The amount of money which has been 
 contributed by Presbyterians for this work is ex- 
 ceedingly small, out of all proportion to the work 
 accomplished. The total amount of cash that has 
 passed through Mr. Tuft's hands during the last 
 three years, is only about $5,000. . . . 
 
 " This institution has been co-educational. But 
 the two departments are to be separated, and the 
 school for boys located in an adjoining county — 
 that at Banner Elk being for girls only." 
 
 Space forbids an account of other institutions. 
 These two are given as specimens of what has 
 been done by Presbyterians, and what ought to be 
 carried on more earnestly on a still larger scale. 
 
io8 At Our Own Door 
 
 In the mountains the Presbyterian church has a 
 magnificent field for benevolent and missionary 
 operation, but it is not without its difficulties. 
 Entrenched among the mountains, almost inac- 
 cessible, these unfortunate people are fortified 
 behind more formidable mountains of ignorance 
 and prejudice. These obstacles will not easily 
 yield, nor at once. The uneducated preacher of 
 the " rarin' and rantin' "type watches jealously his 
 own peculiar province. He appeals to the preju- 
 dice of the ignorant and makes it difficult for an 
 educated minister to get the ear of the people in 
 many communities. Mormon elders get in some 
 of their best work among the mountaineers, induc^ 
 ing many to emigrate to Utah, and in some 
 instances they have established churches. They 
 have recently established their headquarters at 
 Chattanooga, Tenn., and have sent into these 
 mountains hundreds of their trained emissaries to 
 " lead captive silly women " and these simple peo- 
 ple. If these people are to be reached by the 
 gospel to any extent, it must be by means of earnest 
 consecrated men, giving themselves to it as their 
 life-work. If they volunteer to live among the 
 filth and abominations of loathsome, heathen 
 cities, why should not some be willing to give a 
 whole life to our own heathen ? 
 
 It is sometimes said that the Church in the early 
 days of Christianity was " accredited " b}'^ ability 
 to work miracles. Some go so far as to affirm 
 that the Church again needs to be accredited 
 among men, and prove her divine character by 
 
Mountaineers 1 09 
 
 healing the sick, etc. Believers in faith cures are 
 constantly asking, " who said the days of miracles 
 are past ? " Men are " still seeking after a sign." 
 " Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not be- 
 lieve." 
 
 The Church must accredit herself ! Christ and 
 the Apostles, by their miracles, accredited them- 
 selves. They demonstrated their divine commis- 
 sions. So must the Church to-day. What was, 
 in His own judgment, the climax of Christ's grand- 
 est works ? If John the Baptist asked for proofs 
 of His Messiahship, His response was, " Go tell 
 John the sick are healed." If that is not sufficient, 
 tell him, " The blind receive their sight." Give 
 even a greater sign, "The dead are raised up." 
 But the climax of all is, " The poor have the gospel 
 preached unto them." This is the only one of 
 His greatest works which remains to-day literally 
 unchanged. The Church can no longer raise the 
 dead. But she can reproduce still the greatest of 
 Christ's works on a grander scale. The Church 
 can prove her divinity, to the world, by " preach- 
 ing the gospel to the poor." 
 
 Is this evidence of Christliness and Christianity 
 sufficient ? If she will give this " sign " to the 
 world, it will be more potent than healing the 
 sick or raising the dead ! Kaising the dead might 
 startle one community, and the fact would be dis- 
 puted in the next community. Unbelief is not 
 cured by raising the dead. "If they hear not 
 Moses and the prophets, neither will they be per- 
 suaded, though one rose from the dead." 
 
no At Our Own Door 
 
 If the Church wants to cure the world's scepti- 
 cism and allay her own misgivings, let her engage 
 in a great campaign of home missions before the 
 eyes of men. Let earnest consecrated men and 
 women in the self-sacrificing spirit of Christ go in 
 great numbers to reclaim the slums, and scatter 
 themselves in force throughout the mountain 
 regions. Let the Church cease " Playing at Mis- 
 sions," but get down to work. Let wealthy Chris- 
 tians furnish the means as in the early days of 
 Christianity when whole fortunes were laid at the 
 apostles' feet. Let the Church reproduce the 
 spirit of Christ ; and the world will accept such 
 testimony in evidence of Christianity. What the 
 world demands to-day is more home missionary 
 enterprise and effort. Men of the world believe 
 foreign mission work is the result of sentiment ; it 
 does not appeal to their judgment. They are ask- 
 ing why men and money are lavished on Africa 
 whilst millions of negroes are neglected at our very 
 doors ; why such zeal for China, Japan and India, 
 whilst the slums and mountains are forgotten. 
 The Church is rich enough to accept this challenge 
 of the world. Without withholding a dollar or 
 withdrawing a man from the foreign field, she can 
 take hold of the Avork at home on an immense 
 scale. A great home mission revival of " Preach- 
 ing the Gospel to the poor " would meet the ob- 
 jection to foreign missions, and at the same time, 
 cure the world's scepticism. By her great organ- 
 ized charities, the Church proves herself humane. 
 Now, by her great missionary effort in " Preach- 
 
Mountaineers 1 1 1 
 
 ing the gospel to the poor," let her prove herself 
 divine ! 
 
 The slums, the mountains and the great desti- 
 tute West invite the experiment, and await the 
 demonstration ! 
 
V 
 
 THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN 
 
 By Rev, D. Clay Lilly, D. D., former Secretary of Colored 
 Evangelization.' 
 
 In this brief account of the negro, as we have 
 known him in the South, let it be understood that 
 when I use the term, negro, it does not stand for 
 every individual of the race — but only for the race 
 considered in a general way. 
 
 There are as many kinds of negroes as there are 
 of other races — " good, bad and indifferent " is a 
 classification that befits them as it does other peo- 
 ples. The fact which calls for our sympathy and 
 assistance is, that the good class is relatively 
 small — and the bad and indifferent largely in the 
 majority. 
 
 This good class is intelligent, progressive and 
 resourceful. Its religion is not a sham. Its edu- 
 cation has not spoiled it, and its devotion to duty 
 is not inspired by the " loaves and fishes." Its 
 ideals are good — its social standards high, and its 
 life wholesome and elevating. It has been lifted 
 from heathen darkness to its present attainments 
 by the power of the grace of God. If all Amer- 
 ican negroes were of this class, there would be no 
 " Negro Problem " and no reason for this chapter 
 
 ' Written at the request of the author. 
 
 112 
 
The White Man's Burden 1 13 
 
 in a volume on home missions. But this class is 
 small, as all Southern people know, and the eight 
 or nine millions of them in the Southern States 
 are principally indifferent or bad. It is not that 
 they have suddenly or recently become so. Nor 
 that the experience of their ancestors in American 
 slavery, is the source of their shortcomings, indus- 
 trially, intellectually, morally and spiritually. 
 But if any evolutionary process is responsible for 
 it, it is the long, long downward course in sin and 
 degradation during the unnumbered centuries of 
 their separation from the rest of the world and 
 their isolation in the jungle. It does not require 
 a long period for a family to deteriorate, if left to 
 itself under conditions which cut it off from all 
 the light and progress of the world — and perhaps 
 that branch of the human race which retired into 
 the wilds of the Dark Continent and shut itself 
 out from the light of civilization, went constantly 
 from bad to worse, being for centuries practically 
 untouched by explorer, merchant or missionary. 
 And strange as it may seem, it was the cruel lash 
 of the slave trader, which touched him for good, 
 and the overcrowded slave ships, which bore him 
 out from intellectual and moral stupefaction, to 
 touch again the life and onward go of the throb- 
 bing, stressful world. I am no apologist for slav- 
 ery. It was the overruling providence of God 
 bringing good from evil. Later, emancipation 
 clothed him with citizenship and threw him on his 
 own resources. And now behold the man, become 
 a weakling in all the elements of manhood, except 
 
114 ^^ ^^^ Own Door 
 
 the physical, brought back into the arena to con- 
 tend with those who through the ages have waxed 
 strong by the use of all their strength. 
 
 Slavery was the only door which could have 
 ever admitted him into the place where he should 
 find use for his powers, and by no other way 
 could he have entered progressive America 
 There was but one way in — there is no way out. 
 He is here to stay. Deportation, colonization, 
 reservation have all been advocated by sensible 
 men, but never seriously considered by the south- 
 ern people, white or black. 
 
 It will be best for all parties if the white 
 man, strong and dominant, will look seriously and 
 sympathetically at the weaker and dependent 
 colored man, and seeing him just as he is, intel- 
 ligently set about aiding him. 
 
 Those best acquainted with the negro, see him 
 to be possessed with the following characteristics : 
 
 Physically : 
 
 He is possessed with a constitutional languor. 
 He is naturally sedentary and inactive. He works 
 from necessity and not from inspiration. Karely 
 does anything else than daily bread hold him to 
 his work; also is he below par as to physical 
 accuracy and finish. He will " round off the 
 corners " of any task he performs. He will find 
 the easy way. If it is plowing, he will skim the 
 ground ; if it is building, ends will not be square 
 — joints will not be flush, uprights will not be 
 plumb. If it is whitewashing he will "splash 
 
The White Man's Burden 115 
 
 around " working as if the house were on fire to 
 get through quickly and when he is through, not 
 only will the desired object be whitened, but 
 everything within a reasonable radius will have 
 received a generous portion of the wash. 
 
 You may set it down as a pretty general rule, 
 that if a man is too languid to articulate cor- 
 rectly, he will do everything else in the same 
 slovenly way. 
 
 Judged from the standpoint of efficiency, he is 
 the poorest quality of labor in this country. 
 From an economical standpoint, he is the most 
 expensive laborer one can employ. I know land 
 which will produce cotton, corn, cane and tobacco 
 — four of the most profitable crops of the farm — 
 which can be bought for five dollars per acre, 
 simply because negro labor will not make it yield 
 up its treasures. If the negroes were suddenly 
 withdrawn from the South and colonized by them- 
 selves elsewhere, they could not make a living for 
 themselves, which would compare in comfort with 
 what they enjoy at present. If the white people 
 should suddenly withdraw from the South to live 
 elsewhere, the negroes could not manage success- 
 fully the country left to them — and it would de- 
 crease in value from the first. 
 
 Had white labor been employed in the South 
 exclusively from the first, our cotton would never 
 have been manufactured in England — new or 
 old. 
 
 The negro has been the " White Man's Burden " 
 here as elsewhere — he has enjoyed a tutelage under 
 
ii6 At Our Own Door 
 
 the white man. He has been a dull and costly 
 pupil to his teacher. It is, of course, true that 
 the negroes have made much of the wealth of the 
 South — but primary labor does this everywhere 
 — and it was during the days of slavery when 
 negro labor was organized, controlled and di- 
 rected in such a way as to make it efficient and 
 remunerative, that this was true in the South. It 
 is only true in a very limited way to-day. It is no 
 longer possible to organize, control or direct 
 negro labor so as to make it of good profit to the 
 farmer or planter. It requires great patience and 
 forbearance to employ it at all. His redeeming 
 traits as a laborer (and I most cheerfully and 
 freely speak of them) are his patience and 
 tractabilit}', his general good humor, his strength 
 of body, and his willingness to work long hours. 
 These are good qualities, and they go far towards 
 relieving conditions which otherwise would be in- 
 tolerable. 
 
 Mentally : 
 
 He is not the equal of the white man. I sup- 
 pose ages of disuse of the high powers of the mind 
 may account for the atrophied condition of his 
 judgment and power of analysis and synthesis. 
 
 In early life the negro gives evidence of good 
 mental power — the negro child will learn about as 
 rapidly as the white child. But as they advance 
 in life the white intelligence will continue to ex- 
 pand, while the negro will show a case of 
 " arrested development." It is next to impossible 
 
The White Man's Burden 1 1 7 
 
 to teach the negro to reason or judge or to ob- 
 serve inductively or to investigate. And this is 
 true, not because he was for a little while a slave 
 in this country, but because for long ages he had 
 lived under conditions which made no demand 
 upon him for such mental exercises. 
 
 Likewise, he is deficient morally. The negro 
 population of the Southern States is, as far as I 
 know, the most criminal population living in any 
 civilized land — the negroes in the IS^orthern States 
 alone being excepted. Being one-third of our 
 population, they commit three-fourths of our 
 crimes. That this is not due to any treatment 
 accorded him by Southern people is amply proven 
 by the fact that he is more criminal in the North 
 than in the South. His moral character is defi- 
 cient. That which deters men from crime is their 
 repugnance to it, rather than the fear of the 
 penalty attached to it. The white man is deterred 
 both by repugnance and penalty. The negro has 
 little but the fear of penalty to restrain him. 
 Any one acquainted with the negro either in 
 America or Africa, knows that he is not troubled 
 with a quick conscience. To be caught stealing, 
 or proven a liar, will fill most white men of any 
 country with shame and confusion. But it does 
 not so eflfect the average negro — it does not ap- 
 pear to him much out of the way. A grin, a duck 
 of the head, and he scuds away — to repeat the 
 break at the first opportunity. 
 
ii8 At Our Own Door 
 
 Social impurity is a rottenness found in all races, 
 but the sickening prevalence of it among the 
 negroes of all countries is testified to b}'' wit- 
 nesses who are intelligent, unbiased and well 
 informed. 
 
 To one who has not lived in the South, nor 
 known much of the negro elsewhere, it is surpris- 
 ing to hear a Christian physician who has practiced 
 among them for forty years, say that " ninety per 
 cent, of the negro population is impure." But to 
 those who know the conditions as they are, the 
 statement is not at all strange. I once asked a man 
 of the world what per cent, of the negroes he 
 thought was impure, and he responded promptly 
 and emphatically : " All of them, sir, all." I pro- 
 test against this — it is not true. I do not pretend 
 to name any per cent. I know though, that their 
 immorality is terrible in itself, wasting their en- 
 ergies, shocking civilization and discouraging their 
 best friends and helpers. His racial conscience has 
 not been aroused to abhor such a condition. It is 
 numbed, it is stupefied. Ages of wanton license 
 have delivered him over to a shameless mind. He 
 is a deficient. I speak of the race in general — I 
 have already excepted that class which has been 
 rescued by God's grace, and lifted out of the 
 mire. 
 
 And, now, how is this weakened man circum- 
 stanced ? 
 
 Commercially, he is in competition with the 
 white man — ordinarily this is a dangerous position 
 for any race to occupy — as the world's history 
 
The White Man's Burden 119 
 
 abundantly testifies. But it has been a safe and 
 fortunate place for him in this case. He is well 
 adapted to the Southern climate — here he multi- 
 plies — here he enjoys life. His labor is always 
 marketable at a fair price — and he has a good 
 chance to make a living. There is little or no com- 
 mercial antagonism between the two races in the 
 South — and you could not with a search warrant 
 find a negro who wants to work six days in the 
 week and is willing to behave himself, who is do- 
 ing anything less than making a living for himself 
 and family. There is very much less danger of 
 race conflicts than is commonly supposed by per- 
 sons unacquainted with the actual conditions. 
 "When it is remembered that there are 25,000,000 
 of people — one-third colored and two-thirds white 
 — coming into continual contact 365 days each 
 year, it is only to be expected that difiiculties will 
 arise. But these are not often serious and are as 
 infrequent as one can reasonably expect. Econom- 
 ically, the negro is as well and safely circumstanced 
 as he could be anywhere else in the world. But 
 he exhibits deficiencies of the most serious kind in 
 the secure haven where the providence of God has 
 sheltered him — he has not raised a standard of liv- 
 ing in keeping with his opportunities. He has 
 lived among a people who are relatively pure in 
 life — who are quiet and well-behaved. He has not 
 been largely influenced by this wholesome environ- 
 ment. Negro morals, negro thought, and negro 
 character have not been lifted up to any great de- 
 gree. The negro quarter in every city and town 
 
120 At Our Own Door 
 
 is the place of shame and violence. The Southern 
 white people are glad to show respect to good 
 character among the negroes, and do show it 
 whenever it is manifested among them. There is 
 so great a preponderance of the bad that we do not 
 often have an opportunity to evince it. There is 
 more in the " N^egro Problem " than a mere ques- 
 tion of color. It is a question of character also. 
 The inequality of character must disappear before 
 the setting aside of the color question can be even 
 remotely considered. The only thing for the 
 colored people now is to arise and set up their 
 social standards — standards which articulate with 
 the decalogue and then lift up their life to these 
 standards. They have not yet erected their stand- 
 ards — except in the case of the small class which is 
 excepted in all these general statements. 
 
 Religiously : 
 
 His religious life has shown an interesting and 
 curious development. Without any but the simplest 
 forms of religious worship, he has yet made his 
 religion a formal thing — Church membership has 
 had a kind of social significance, and has so been 
 sought by the many. Church services are punctil- 
 iously attended. The whole outward form of re- 
 ligion has had a rapid and showy development. 
 Proportionally, there are probably as many preach- 
 ers, churches and church members among them as 
 among the white people. Since the whites have 
 been centuries attaining their present religious 
 condition, and the negroes only a few decades, 
 
The White Man's Burden 121 
 
 this extraordinary growth must be due either to 
 great pentecostal showers or else to great laxity in 
 church life. Those familiar with the case have no 
 difficulty in deciding which of these two conditions 
 has prevailed. Their growth has been too rapid 
 and their standards too low, so that religion does 
 not have its true meaning among them. Their 
 leaders are too often as blind leaders of the blind. 
 And yet the negroes are exceedingly dependent 
 upon leadership — as all ignorant people are. The 
 most disheartening part of this matter is that they 
 seem to be satisfied with the present sad condition 
 of religious life. Their conception seems to be 
 largely erroneous as to what a Christian should be 
 and do. 
 
 These strictures are severe, but I do not want to 
 be severe — I am trying to tell just what I believe 
 to be the truth about the American negro. I 
 recognize him as my fellow-man and have always 
 tried to be his friend and helper — I am trying to 
 show that he is in need of help, that this help must 
 be given graciously, patiently and perseveringly. 
 He needs to be helped up to a better life. There 
 are many steps of progress ahead of him — if he 
 cares to take them. But no matter how many he 
 assays or few may content him, he will have to 
 take the first step first. 
 
 The First Step of Progress 
 
 He is in the laboring class of this country. He 
 cannot be advanced to any higher class until he 
 has shown himself master of the one he is now in. 
 
122 At Our Own Door 
 
 The great University of Life passes none of her 
 pupils to higher grades until they have proven 
 their proficiency in their present standing. So 
 that whatever exhortation may be addressed to 
 him, or whatever laws passed to advance him, or 
 money spent to elevate him, he can never reach 
 any higher plane, until he first fills acceptably the 
 place he now occupies. Not until he has become 
 a Christian, reliable and efficient laboring class, 
 can he ever become anything more. He consti- 
 tutes our primary labor supply, but it is in too 
 large a measure a malingering, unreliable, criminal 
 supply — to say nothing of its inefficiency and 
 wastefulness. Until these blemishes are removed, 
 and the negro fills acceptably this position of pri- 
 mary laborer, he need not hope for any real promo- 
 tion to higher things. His first step of progress 
 must be to make conquest of the domain com- 
 mitted to him for the present. This is the history 
 of all development, whether of the individual or 
 family or nation. 
 
 The First Great Need 
 
 But to accomplish this first stage of progress — 
 we must strike at the very centre of the matter, 
 viz.: the spiritual life of the negro. A great 
 moral reformation, such as has from time to time 
 swept over lands peopled by white races, must 
 reach the negroes of this land. If asked the 
 greatest need of the American negro to-day, I 
 would say : " Preachers of the right kind." I do 
 not fail to appreciate the work of the large num- 
 
The White Man's Burden 123 
 
 ber of faithful ministers who occupy so many of 
 their pulpits to-day. All honor to them. But 
 they, themselves, are keenly aware of the failings 
 of a great part of their ministry and know that, 
 too often, the so-called shepherd is a destroyer 
 and not a helper. The most direct approach to 
 the spring of life of a people is through their 
 preachers of the gospel. If these can be made 
 what they should be, and the gospel message is 
 sounded out by them, the reforms — moral, social 
 and economic — will surely follow. None but 
 those who have sinned away their day of grace 
 can listen to the preaching of the gospel and not 
 become better men and women. And to become 
 better men and women, is to become better cooks, 
 laundresses, wagoners and ploughmen, as well as 
 better fathers and mothers, and thinkers and 
 teachers. Here is the point of attack. If the 
 fight is made persistently on this line, the victory 
 is assured. If every pulpit among this people 
 should be filled with a pure, intelligent, scriptural 
 preacher they would speedily show great moral 
 advances. All this terrible past can be undone 
 by the power of the grace of God. Suppose that 
 this ministry should banish the emotionalism, 
 pregnant in their worship, and be quick to correct 
 errors of life by admonition, suspension and excom- 
 munication, and raise up the standard of the cross, 
 as the standard of daily life ; can any one doubt 
 the saving effect of such a course, or its ultimate 
 triumph ? If the Christian home should become a 
 prominent feature of their life, and the children 
 
124 ^^ ^"^ Own Door 
 
 be trained in the love of the Lord and encouraged 
 to fill their place in life well, however humble it 
 may be, does any one doubt the improvement 
 which would follow ? 
 
 The Second Great Need 
 
 The negro religious and domestic life has been 
 largely developed from its emotional side alone. 
 It should have its intellectual side awakened. But 
 it is difficult to do this in their present illiterate 
 condition. And again: it is difficult to make 
 mere book learning of advantage to them, so long 
 as they are content with their present moral and 
 spiritual condition. So that I would say that 
 these two great forces must move together. The 
 second great need of the negro is for a larger 
 supply of faithful and godly school-teachers. 
 Much has been said, pro and con, on the subject of 
 negro education. I think opposition to it arises 
 largely from opposition to the methods of some 
 who have undertaken to give help along this line. 
 Not every kind of education is good for every kind 
 of person. To conceive of educating the whole 
 negro race in the higher branches of learning is as 
 foolish as it is economically impracticable. There 
 is no race with such endowment that all of its 
 people can be highly educated. At present only 
 a small per cent, of the colored population need 
 the higher education. I would say give the whole 
 race, as soon as possible, an elementary education. 
 Any life should be better and more serviceable for 
 knowing this. Then, give those who have the 
 
The White Man's Burden 125 
 
 aptitude, a higher grade of education, expanding 
 and enlarging their life and preparing them to fill 
 acceptably positions as preachers, teachers, physi- 
 cians, etc. Finally, give to those who can re- 
 ceive and use it, the very highest kind of training. 
 The negro race must have leaders from its own 
 race — these can be developed only by the best 
 training. But let it be emphasized in all these 
 kinds of training that education prepares for more 
 and better work, and not that it ennobles or en- 
 titles one to live without work. It will not do to 
 take a weak people and merely educate them in 
 books — no quicker way of their undoing could be 
 devised. 
 
 A school for negro children and youth should 
 never lose sight of the idea of discipline — the mak- 
 ing of moral fibre, the lifting up of ideals and the 
 strengthening of purpose are worth vastly more 
 than the information gained from books. Cleanli- 
 ness, immediate and perfect obedience, unfailing 
 promptness and the utmost thoroughness in detail 
 — these should be the A B C of the school for ne- 
 groes. A school that develops these is a good 
 place for any child to be, but is especially needed 
 by the negro child, because he has small oppor- 
 tunity to learn them elsewhere. 
 
 Industrial education, where faithfully and hon- 
 estly done, is of the highest value in developing 
 all these qualities and has a higher value, in that 
 it prepares the child for its place in life. A school 
 which would embody these characteristics would 
 be an ideal school for negro youth. 
 
126 At Our Own Door 
 
 Other Needs 
 
 So much he should learn from church and school. 
 And from church and school — and the great school 
 of life — he should learn to have a greater self-re- 
 spect. A man with no character to maintain is in 
 a deplorable condition — he is a moral bankrupt. 
 The negro must awake to the possibilities of his 
 life. If he holds himself up, no right thinking 
 man will hold him down. 
 
 Also he must learn the invaluable lesson of 
 self-help. He has employed the patronage of 
 philanthropy to such extent that he is in danger 
 of coming to depend upon the assistance of others 
 rather than the efforts of self. But no one can 
 give him any gift comparable with a noble spirit 
 of independence, which seeks help only when its 
 last resource has been expended in the effort to be 
 its own helper. Every man should be his own 
 best friend. In life there are no gratuities — char- 
 acter cannot be bestowed with the alms, and he is 
 best helped who is helped to help himself. Self- 
 help should be a large article in the creed of the 
 negro, who desires progress and success. 
 
 Again, he should learn self -direction, etc., to 
 work and not merely to he worked. The negro 
 population drudge. Work is a necessity but 
 drudging is the poorest quality of work both for 
 employer and employed. There should be an in- 
 spiration for every day's toil. He should work as 
 one with an intelligent purpose and as one who 
 strives to accomplish something. To toil aimlessly 
 and hopelessly, even though it be laboriously, is 
 
The White Man's Burden 127 
 
 not to do one's best. Unless thought and purpose 
 be put into it, work becomes an unbearable bur- 
 den and the yoke its fitting symbol. But to plan, 
 to hope, to achieve — this is to make work a pleas- 
 ure and the laborer a man^ and not " a brother to 
 the ox." 
 
 All this he must learn, all this he must do. 
 After he has done this he can and will do more, 
 but this must come first. 
 
 Our Part in the Work 
 
 I have thus far said nothing directly about our 
 own work for the colored people — but all I have 
 said is pertinent to it. 
 
 The characteristics I have named are those 
 recognized by us all as belonging to the colored 
 people. The economic dependence of the colored 
 man upon the white is known to us all. 
 
 The commercial, social and religious defects of 
 the weaker people are known to every one of us. 
 The principles I have laid down are those to which 
 we subscribe. It only remains I should indicate 
 how the work of the Executive Committee of Col- 
 ored Evangelization in the Presbyterian Church 
 corresponds with these facts. 
 
 This committee seeks by means of Stillman In- 
 stitute at Tuscaloosa, Ala., to train a ministry of 
 the kind mentioned above as the first great need 
 of the American negro. 
 
 It insists upon moral uprightness in the students 
 at Stillman Institute, and the superintendent and 
 
128 At Our Own Door 
 
 faculty at Tuscaloosa do all they can to help the 
 life of the student body on a high plane. 
 
 The committee will not employ among the col- 
 ored ministers a man whose character it has reason 
 to doubt, and exercises what vigilance it can to 
 keep the body of its workers as a band above re- 
 proach. 
 
 The Still man Institute insists upon the student 
 doing what he can for himself, and reduces the 
 help given him to a minimum. It advises him 
 continually to be his own dependence. It de- 
 mands from him labor which it seeks to direct so 
 as to make it profitable to the student — teaching 
 him skill and economy, and exhorting him to dili- 
 gence and fidelity. 
 
 It does what it can for him intellectually and 
 encourages him to go slowly and thoroughly. 
 
 It teaches him to be a practical teacher and pas- 
 tor, and prepares him for usefulness to his people 
 by teaching him their present condition and needs. 
 It seeks to make strong men who shall bear their 
 part in the great work to be done for that race by 
 her own sons. 
 
 In addition to the work of preparing preachers, 
 the institute fits a young man for the position of 
 Christian teacher. Also the committee encourages 
 the ministers in its employ to conduct such schools 
 as are mentioned above under the second great 
 need of the negroes. 
 
 The committee also endeavors to enlist white 
 Christians in the work of the mission Sunday- 
 schools for colored children. These schools have 
 
The White Man's Burden 129 
 
 done a good work wherever they have been given 
 a faithful trial, and God's blessing rests upon 
 them. 
 
 After five years' experience as the executive 
 Secretary of this work for our Church, I am per- 
 suaded that our work for the colored people is a 
 good work. It is well thought out. It rests on a 
 solid foundation. It is as successful as we may 
 reasonably expect. It is in every way worthy of 
 the contributions of our people to it. 
 
 I have severed my connection with the work, 
 but not because of disappointment with it, nor 
 discouragement because of lack of support from 
 the white churches. I believe the colored people 
 need our help — that our way of giving it is the 
 right way, and that we do not need to alter our 
 principles but to endorse them with our gifts and 
 with our personal efforts. 
 
VI 
 
 THE MEXICANS IN TEXAS 
 By Eev. Walter S. Scofct, Evangelist. ^ 
 
 The presbytery of Western Texas embraces 
 fifty large counties covering an area of T0,740 
 square miles, and containing a population of 390,- 
 000. It is one of the largest presbyteries in the 
 empire synod of our Assembly. It is as large in 
 area as the States of Virginia and West Virginia 
 together. Koughly estimated, it measures in 
 straight lines 300 miles north and south, and 500 
 miles from northwest to southeast. In fact, it can 
 be said that it has no western boundary — it can 
 take in the entire republic of Mexico. 
 
 Bordering on a foreign country for the length 
 of seven hundred miles, situated as it is at " the 
 meeting of the waters," and with a heterogeneous 
 population, the difficulties and the importance of 
 its home missionary work cannot be exaggerated. 
 
 1. It is this unique presbytery, which stands 
 high in its contributions to foreign missions and 
 to the cause of education, and has furnished its no 
 small quota of ministerial candidates, which, with- 
 out in any way neglecting its American work, is 
 undertaking, with the aid of the Central Com- 
 
 • Written at the request of the author. 
 130 
 
The Mexicans in Texas 131 
 
 mittee of Home Missions, the evangelization of the 
 90,000 Mexicans within its bounds. 
 
 Whether for our weal or woe, certainly for their 
 intellectual betterment and temporal well-being, 
 the Mexicans are coming into the State in ever- 
 increasing numbers. One hundred and fifty 
 thousand is a small estimate of the number in the 
 State. 
 
 "We have nothing to do directly with the indus- 
 trial and the international phases of the question, 
 nor are we to quarrel with the condition ; it is for 
 us, as a people charged with the high commission 
 to evangelize the world, to meet it calmly and 
 resolutely and discharge our Christian obligation 
 to this influx of aliens ; rejoicing that, in the 
 Providence of God, they have come within this 
 free, Christian land of ours, where, comparatively, 
 they can be reached with the gospel more easily 
 and more effectively. 
 
 There are towns on the border where the Eng- 
 lish language is rarely spoken ; there are county 
 schools where the children learn more Spanish 
 than English. There are some twelve newspapers 
 published in Spanish in the State. In San An- 
 tonio, the metropolis of Texas, there are 12,000 
 Mexicans, with 5,000 more in the county out of 
 the city. In one of the largest public schools of 
 the city, there are more Mexican pupils than 
 American. I once saw seven hundred convicts 
 assembled in the Hunts ville penitentiary, one 
 hundred of whom were Mexicans. 
 
 2. The Mexicans are nominally Koman Cath- 
 
132 At Our Own Door 
 
 olics. To those who question our policy of evan- 
 gelization, I would say that the glory of our 
 Protestant Church is that it frees men from relig- 
 ious thraldom. In our country every one is free 
 to worship God according to the dictates of his 
 conscience, and to believe according to the best 
 light he has. We do not owe this freedom to the 
 Eomish Church ; it is not a product of its system. 
 So long as we do not proselyte with firebrand and 
 sword, and do not compel people to our faith with 
 cruel persecutions, as the French Catholics have 
 done with Protestants in Madagascar, no one 
 should complain. Is not the Catholic Church 
 proselyting Protestants to-day on the Hawaiian 
 Islands ? Did she not but recently proselyte four 
 hundred Protestants at one time on the Fiji Is- 
 lands ? Is she not by her " special missions to 
 non-Catholics," carrying on in this country a cam- 
 paign of proselyting as she has never done before ? 
 
 But we are not proselyting. The common peo- 
 ple of Eoman Catholic countries — the Mexicans 
 among them — are sick and tired of that Church's 
 spiritual dominion, and of the emptiness of its 
 worship and teachings ; their hungry souls are 
 crying out for the Living Bread. They are with- 
 out the gospel, which " is the power of God unto 
 salvation " ; they are ignorant of the truth as it is 
 in Jesus, therefore, they cannot possess the saving 
 faith which cometh by the word of God. 
 
 Then, they do not pray ; they do not come unto 
 God by Christ ; they know not the joy of draw- 
 ing near with boldness unto a throne of grace^ 
 
The Mexicans in Texas 133 
 
 They have a pagan's idea of sin and repentance ; 
 they know nothing of regeneration, nor of the in- 
 dispensable work of the Spirit. In a word, they 
 are without God, and without hope in the world. 
 
 Woe unto us if we preach not the Gospel unto 
 them ! 
 
 In giving the Gospel to these people we are not 
 only obeying our risen Lord's command to make 
 disciples of all the nations, but we are rendering 
 an inestimable service to our country as well, by 
 teaching them to be law-abiding, industrious and 
 thrifty citizens. We are establishing Christian 
 homes among them where the Lord's day is kept, 
 where prayer and praise are heard, where the young 
 are being taught to fear God and keep His com- 
 mandments, and where the marriage relation is 
 held in honor. 
 
 It should be also borne in mind that by evangel- 
 izing the Mexicans in Texas we are indirectly 
 contributing to the evangelization of Mexico. 
 The people are going and coming constantly and 
 the Gospel leaven is being carried to their native 
 land where it has borne fruit in a number of in- 
 stances. Dr. A. T. Graybill has said that the 
 beginning of his church at Linares, Mex., was 
 largely due to a man who had been converted in 
 Texas. 
 
 We have seen too many instances of the efficacy 
 of the precious word of God and of the work of 
 the Holy Spirit among them to doubt for a mo- 
 ment their need of the Gospel and our duty to give 
 it to them. The hundreds of Mexican brethren 
 
134 At Our Own Door 
 
 who have been given to us as trophies of our work 
 are so many incentives for us to redouble our 
 efforts in behalf of the many thousands who are 
 yet groping in the dark, professing to know God, 
 but in their works denying Him. 
 
 Our members would not give up the Bible nor 
 their evangelical faith and go back to what they 
 were before without a great struggle; many 
 would die first ; for they well know it would mean 
 going hack to the world. 
 
 Taking everything into consideration I can 
 truthfully testify to the stability of our converts. 
 The few that have gone back to the priest during 
 the eleven and a half years of my ministry, were not 
 living above reproach when they left us, and have 
 since become extremely worldly and licentious. 
 
 3. To form a just estimate of our success we 
 must not, on the one hand, doubt the efficacy of 
 the Gospel nor the power of the Spirit to con- 
 vict and convert the Mexicans ; and on the other, 
 we should not expect to succeed better, or even as 
 well, in our Mexican work, considering the besotted 
 ignorance and gross superstitiousness of the people, 
 and the men and means at our command, as in 
 the regular work of the Church among Americans. 
 
 The Mexican work was organized when the 
 Presbytery of Western Texas ordained an evangel- 
 ist and put him in charge of it in April of 1892. 
 We then had but one church with fifty-nine mem- 
 bers, and no property to speak of. 
 
 In April of this year (1903) — after eleven and a 
 half years, we reported thirteen organized churches, 
 
The Mexicans in Texas 135 
 
 680 members, twenty-one elders and seventeen 
 deacons. There were eleven Sunday-schools with 
 forty teachers and officers and 415 scholars. 
 Owing to the migratory character of the people 
 we lose a number of members every year. I have 
 estimated that we have lost, in one way and 
 another, some three hundred members, in ten 
 years. This should be taken into account in order 
 to get a correct idea of the growth of the work as 
 regards the number of members received. We 
 have two evangelists and three Mexican ordained 
 preachers, and a day school at Laredo with two 
 teachers. Seven of our churches have their own 
 houses of worship. 
 
 Last year 103 members were received on ex- 
 amination, and fifty-five adults and fifty-eight 
 children were baptized. The Mexicans contrib- 
 uted $450.00 for all purposes. 
 
 For this great work we are receiving but $2,000 
 a year from the Central Committee of Home Mis- 
 sions ; the rest of the expense is borne by the 
 presbytery. Last year, the cost per new member 
 received was $27.00. "While in our American 
 work at large it cost over $100.00 per new mem- 
 ber, it cost the Mexican work less than $30.00 ; 
 and while in the whole Church it took one hun- 
 dred to win five members on profession, in the 
 Mexican work one hundred members won sixteen. 
 Every one interested in this work should be satisfied 
 with such success. 
 
 The original church here at San Marcos has in- 
 creased to four churches and a membership of 350. 
 
136 At Our Own Door 
 
 Each church has its Sabbath-school ; three of them 
 have a Young People's Society and a Woman's 
 Missionary Society. Services are held every Sun- 
 day, the weather permitting, conducted by the 
 elders in my absence. Each church has its own 
 house of worship, the members themselves doing 
 most of the work in their construction. The mem- 
 bers of the four churches have helped each other 
 in the erection of their chapels, furnishing labor, 
 tools and teams. 
 
 The elders and deacons of these four churches 
 have an association regularly organized, which 
 meets once a month, for mutual improvement and 
 for mutual incentive and cooperation in the work. 
 
 I feel that if nothing more had been given us to 
 reward the work of eleven and a half years, the 
 success that has attended the work in the San 
 Marcos field amply justifies the labor and money 
 expended. One of the three preachers we have, 
 came from these churches. Three other young 
 men are studying for the ministry and a fourth 
 will soon begin. 
 
 'r As instances of the zeal and consecration of our 
 Mexican elders, I will mention one who goes 
 nearly every Sunday, when the weather will per- 
 mit, sixteen miles on horseback from his farm to 
 church to conduct Sunday-school and service. 
 Another is going once a month some seventy-five 
 or eighty miles in his own conveyance, at his own 
 expense and without any pecuniary remuneration, 
 to hold services for a week or ten days. 
 
 Surely there is a good foundation in the char- 
 
The Mexicans in Texas 137 
 
 acter of these people upon which we can build up, 
 with the blessing of God, a strong, self-propagat- 
 ing and self-sustaining church in the future. 
 
 4. We could greatly enlarge our work if we 
 had the means. "We would like to take our place 
 and do our modest share in the great forward 
 movement in home missions. 
 
 We need right now $1,200, with what we can 
 raise on the ground, to build three chapels where 
 they are greatly needed. 
 
 The Committee of Education has signified its 
 willingness to aid us in the support of our Mexican 
 students while pursuing their theological studies 
 in some accredited seminary of our Church, but 
 we need help to put them through their prepara- 
 tory course at some suitable school. 
 
 Means should be given us to establish a theolog- 
 ical school, where men with a good literary and 
 scientific foundation can be prepared for the Gos- 
 pel ministry. 
 
 The longer I work in this field the more im- 
 pressed I am with the need of a seminary for our 
 Mexican girls where the future wives and mothers 
 of our mission can receive a practical training 
 and a Christian education fitting them to dis- 
 charge their important and peculiar duties in the 
 home and church. 
 
 Would that some one endowed with means 
 would give us the money with which to establish 
 this much needed girls' school, whose influence in 
 propagating the faith and building up Christ's 
 kingdom among this people would be incalculable. 
 
138 At Our Own Door 
 
 "Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord 
 Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, 
 that ye strive together with me in your prayers to 
 God," for this work. 
 
VII 
 INDIANS AND THEIR TERRITORY 
 
 1. In his discovery of America, Columbus im- 
 agined that he had sailed around the world and 
 touched the shores of India ; and so the strange 
 people inhabiting America were called " Indians." 
 Four hundred years of contact with these " origi- 
 nal inhabitants " and study of the problem of their 
 nationality leave us as ignorant of their origin as 
 at first. They have been supposed by some to be 
 " the lost ten tribes of Israel," a theory as fanciful 
 and with as little foundation as Professor Tot- 
 ten's Anglo-Israel speculation. Others have ex- 
 plained how they drifted across Behring's Strait, 
 where the old and the new world almost touch. 
 The mystery perhaps will never find solution. The 
 North American tribes are known in history as 
 " savages," a well earned title ; but in Mexico the 
 Astecs and in South America the Incas dwelt in 
 cities, exhibiting a high type of civilization and 
 leaving relics and ruins which still perplex the 
 scientist. 
 
 The aborigines of !N"orth America were sepa- 
 rated into distinct tribes, speaking at least two hun- 
 dred languages, roaming the forests, living in tem- 
 porary wigwams, cultivating none of the soil except 
 a little patch of Indian corn, the work of the 
 
 139 
 
140 At Our Own Door 
 
 " squaw," whilst the " braves " spent their time in 
 hunting wild game and in scalping the prisoners 
 captured from neighboring tribes. Still with all 
 their savagery, brutality and degradation, they 
 have established their claim to recognition in the 
 " Unity of the Human Race " by the possession of 
 many traits of nobility of character and by some 
 rude knowledge of the Deity. " Lo, the poor 
 Indian, whose untutored mind saw God in the 
 cloud and heard Him in the wind," demonstrates 
 his religious nature, and his childlike faith in " the 
 Great Spirit," and his right to recognition in the 
 Brotherhood of Man. 
 
 "The character of the American Indian has 
 been variously estimated. James Fennimore 
 Cooper, in his matchless Indian stories, has ideal- 
 ized him and has described him as capable of being 
 inspired by lofty motives and of performing heroic 
 and self-sacrificing deeds. On the other hand, there 
 have been those who have scarcely found language 
 in which to express their opinion of the cruelty 
 and treachery of the Indian character. The golden 
 mean is perhaps the better estimate. Like all other 
 races, the Indian was a mixture of good and evil, 
 and was capable of performing both heroic and 
 diabolical deeds " (Dr. Sherman Doyle). 
 — " There is no good Indian but a dead Indian," 
 has grown into a proverb, which contains about as 
 much truth as the slander that " the Pilgrims upon 
 landing at Plymouth Rock fell first upon their 
 knees and then upon the aborigines." The first 
 is a slander of the Indian, which seeks to justify 
 
Indians and Their Territory 141 
 
 our national treatment of him ; the latter is a criti- 
 cism which arraigns the government as a mur- 
 derer of the innocent and a robber of his lands. 
 It is doubtful whether there was ever a quarrel in 
 which the wrong was all on one side and the right 
 on the other. It matters little how the enmity 
 between the races originated, the United States and 
 its people are not wholly innocent in their dealings 
 with him, but neither is the Indian himself blame- 
 less. If there have been broken treaties on 
 one side, there have been treachery and toma- 
 hawks on the other. If the Indian has been 
 driven from his " hunting ground," he has received 
 other lands more than his needs require ; and he 
 has been given "rations," civilization, education 
 and Christianity. If the French employed his 
 tomahawk and scalping knife against the English, 
 the English and the American have used him as a 
 tool against the French and against each other. 
 But there can be no questioning the fact that in 
 the balances of compensation, he has received more 
 of good than evil at the hands of the white 
 man. 
 
 The charge of exterminating the Indians contains 
 more or less of truth, but is certainly not proven. 
 "Whilst many have estimated their number in 
 North America in the settlement of the country, 
 at several millions, it is at best a guess without any 
 basis of data. Many conservative estimates equally 
 worthy of consideration place the number at much 
 less than half a million. In that view of the case 
 " extermination " has only reduced him to 266,000 
 
142 At Our Own Door 
 
 according to the latest census. If civilization is 
 exterminating him, it must be admitted that the 
 process has been slower than his own internecine 
 method of warfare, by which he was exterminat- 
 ing himself, and certainly much more humane. 
 
 Hon. T. J. Morgan, ex-commissioner of Indian 
 Affairs, and for ten years corresponding Secretary 
 of missions in the Baptist Church, furnishes the 
 most exhaustive and just summary of our relations 
 to the Indians ever attempted, which may be 
 abridged as follows : 
 
 They were our Forerunners^ who preceded us 
 and had the oldest claim upon the American Con- 
 tinent ; our Hosts, who welcomed our pilgrim fore- 
 fathers when they landed at Plymouth Rock ; our 
 Landlords, from whom we first rented and ac- 
 quired land; our Rival Nation, with whom we 
 made treaties and traded ; at times our Savage 
 Foes, burning our homes and cruelly tomahawk- 
 ing alike defenseless women and little children ; 
 afterwards our Friendly Allies, who helped us to 
 fight our battles against our enemies; gradually 
 overcome by the white people they became Con- 
 quered Subjects / now the Wards of the nation 
 receiving constant help from the government ; as 
 lands are being allotted them in the Indian Terri- 
 tory, they are becoming our Fellow Citizens / many 
 of them are still Savages and Heathen, who must be 
 evangelized and led to Jesus ; and numbers are now 
 converted and are our Fellow Christians and Breth- 
 ren in Christ, assisting in the great work of giving 
 the Gospel to others. 
 
Indians and Their Territory 143 
 
 Others have divided our treatment of the Indian 
 into three periods : 
 
 {a) The Colonial^ characterized by war, blood- 
 shed, treachery on both sides and rapine — a perfect 
 reign of terror. The farmer returned from his 
 fields to find his wife scalped and his children car- 
 ried away into the trackless forests to a living 
 death. The villager was awakened at midnight 
 by the yells of savages or the lurid flames that 
 laid in ashes the town. The congregation carried 
 their muskets to church and stacked them outside 
 the door. Indians were cheated and maltreated 
 by the settlers ; often enticed by fair promises to 
 their death. 
 
 (J) The National Period, designated by Helen 
 Hunt Jackson, " The Century of Dishonor," in 
 which there were constant wars between the races, 
 the Seminoles driven from Florida, the Cherokees 
 from Georgia and the Creeks from Alabama — 
 driven by soldiers ever westward — in which multi- 
 tudes perished during the long overland route. 
 New treaties were made giving lands to the 
 Indians " while water ran and grass grew," only 
 to be violated before the ink in which the treaty 
 was written had scarcely dried. This was the 
 period of the "Indian Agent," "rations," and 
 government guardianship. Corrupt men grew 
 fat by robbing the Indian of his supplies, etc. ; but 
 it was not worse than the average " spoils politi- 
 cian system " ; and which we may expect to have 
 repeated in Porto Kico, the Philippines, etc., where 
 
144 -^t ^"^ ^^'^ Door 
 
 bad men are confronted with temptation and the 
 opportunity. 
 
 (c) The third period is known as " The Peace 
 Policy, ^^ beginning in 1870, when President Grant 
 announced his intention of dealing with the Indians 
 in a more friendly and righteous manner. Civili- 
 zation and education were invoked to ameliorate 
 his condition. Industrial schools and colleges were 
 established ; and Christian people invited to send 
 missionaries to instruct them in the way of right- 
 eousness, etc. This is beginning to bear fruit ; and 
 the Indian is fast coming to the privilege of citizen- 
 ship and into the possession of property and lands. 
 
 In the Capitol at Washington are four histor- 
 ical pictures, which are striking object lessons of 
 the treatment which the Indians have received. 
 The first is the landing of white men, and the 
 offering of corn to them by the Indians, The 
 second is the signing of the treaty ceding Pennsyl- 
 vania to the white man. The third shows Poca- 
 hontas in the act of defending Capt. John Smith. 
 The fourth represents an engagement between the 
 whites and the Indians, in which the latter are 
 being killed. An Indian, to whom the Capitol 
 was being shown, stood thoughtfully before the 
 pictures described and summed up the history of 
 his people in a few simple words : " Indian give 
 .white man corn. Indian give white man land. 
 Indian save white man. White man kill Indian." 
 Admitting this simple indictment as the truth of 
 history, is there anything to be said in extenua- 
 tion besides the law of self-preservation, which 
 
Indians and Their Territory 145 
 
 often required the white man to fight for his life ? 
 In other words, has the Indian received any proper 
 compensation for his ill treatment ? Passing by 
 the thousands of dollars spent in " rations " and 
 education by the Government in the effort to civi- 
 lize him for citizenship — amounting to $140,000,000 
 in the last thirty years — let us glance at the work 
 of the Church in Christianizing him and preparing 
 him for the citizenship of heaven. 
 
 The Indian suffered much at the hands of the 
 Spaniard, but to him belongs the honor of making 
 the first attempt to establish missions among the 
 North American tribes. Many Franciscan Monks 
 perished in the attempt, but finally succeeded in 
 establishing a successful mission at St. Augustine, 
 Fla. Many converts at different times blessed 
 their labors. The first Protestant mission for 
 Indians was established at Martha's Vineyard. 
 Thomas Mayhew, father and son, devoted them- 
 selves to the work of Christianizing the Indians. It 
 is said the first convert, " Hiacoomes," became a 
 preacher of the Gospel among his own people. In 
 1650 Mayhew reported 190 conversions among this 
 people. 
 
 "Most conspicuous among the early successful 
 missionaries to the Indians stands John Eliot, 'the 
 apostle to the Indians.' The field of his labors 
 was among the Pequots and other tribes of East- 
 ern Massachusetts. He began his work in 1646 
 while pastor of the church at Roxbury, Mass. He 
 labored incessantly and his efforts were crowned 
 with success. He gathered converts into towns 
 
146 At Our Own Door 
 
 and established schools and civilized industries 
 among them. These towns were known as * pray- 
 ing bands,' or ' Indian praying towns.' He framed 
 two catechisms for Indian use and translated the 
 Bible into their language, which was his greatest 
 work. The translation of the entire Bible was com- 
 pleted in December, 1658. Two years later the 
 printing of it was finished. This was theji/rst Bible 
 prinied on the American Continent. 
 
 " What a providence that it should have heen in 
 the Indian tongue ! Eliot's motto, written at the 
 end of his Indian Grammar, was, 
 
 " ' Prayer and pains^ 
 Through Faith in Jesus Christy 
 Will do anything.^ 
 
 He labored for thirty years among his people 
 teaching them to work, to read and to pray. ' He 
 gave them a Bible in their own tongue and from 
 those hunting and fighting savages six Indian 
 churches were gathered, whose more than a thou- 
 sand " Praying Indians," once and again stood firm 
 against fearful odds, and became a bulwark of 
 safety to their pale face neighbors.' 
 \ "The Quakers began their Indian missionary 
 work in Pennsylvania in 1685. Penn's famous 
 treaty with the Delawares, which was unbroken 
 for seventy years by either party, has been called 
 ' the brightest spot in all our dark dealings with 
 the Indian tribes.' The Moravians early estab- 
 lished successful Indian missions. They began 
 their work in western Connecticut in 1742, but 
 
Indians and Their Territory 147 
 
 labored most extensively in Pennsylvania, Georgia 
 and Ohio. . . . Kev. Jonathan Edwards, the 
 great New England divine, was also a successful 
 missionary among the Indians. . . . 
 
 " The Presbyterian Church has always been in- 
 terested in the conversion of the American Indians. 
 The history of Presbyterian missions among the 
 Indians ' is a long and inspiring story from early 
 Colonial efforts beginning with Long Island Indians 
 to this opening of the twentieth century, when at 
 least thirty-five tribes have been reached and 120 
 missions and schools are in successful operation in 
 the great "West.' The first Presbyterian missionary 
 among the American Indians was Kev. Asariah 
 Horton. He began his work on Long Island 
 in 1741. His salary was £40 per annum. . . . 
 
 " Eev. David Brainerd, the biography of whose 
 consecrated life was written by Jonathan Ed- 
 wards, was the second Presbyterian missionary to 
 the Indians. . . . Dr. Ashbell Green says his 
 * success here was perhaps without a parallel in 
 heathen missions since the days of the apostles ' " 
 (Presbyterian Home Missions). 
 
 The Presbyterian Church carried on successful 
 missions among many tribes and did a great work 
 for Christ among these children of the forest. In 
 addition to the great number of converts won in 
 many quarters, it can point to the Choctaws, 
 Chickasaws, Cherokees, Creeks and Seminoles of 
 the Indian Territory, to-day numbered among 
 Christian people, as the " Five Civilized Nations," 
 largely due to the work and influence of the mis- 
 
148 At Our Own Door 
 
 sionary. At the beginning of the Civil "War these 
 cast in their lot with the Southern States, and were 
 ministered to by the Southern Church, which spent 
 $20,000 on them the first year of the war. The 
 strain of the war which reduced the Southern peo- 
 ple to extreme poverty was a hindrance to suc- 
 cessful prosecution of the work ; and yet few mis- 
 sions have been more creditable alike to benefactors 
 and beneficiaries. The war ruined the South finan- 
 ,x cially, and being unable to meet the needs of the 
 work, with unselfish generosity the Southern 
 Church transferred all the Northern section of the 
 Indian Territory to the Northern Presbyterian 
 Church, confining its own operations to the two 
 tribes of Choctaws and Chickasaws. By this act 
 it lost the results of its large outlay of funds and 
 self-sacrificing effort, but gave to our sister church 
 one of the brightest fields of missionary enter- 
 prise, which to their credit let it be said has been 
 faithfully cultivated. During the forty years of 
 its separate existence, the Southern Church has re- 
 ceived about 2,500 Indians into the fold of Christ 
 and expended perhaps a quarter of a million dol- 
 lars on their evangelization. After transferring 
 many of their converts to the Northern Church, 
 and contributing numbers to the Church Trium- 
 phant, it still has forty churches and about 1,000 
 communicants among them. Of these, eighteen 
 have been organized within the past two years, 
 many of them containing white people so rapidly 
 settling the Indian Territory. One new presby- 
 tery has recently been formed of eight ministers 
 
Indians and Their Territory 149 
 
 and twenty churches, which marks the more re- 
 cent growth of revived work in this field. 
 
 One of our missionaries, Mrs. Bella McCallum 
 Gibbons, a cultured and refined Christian woman, 
 who is giving her life and heart to this work and 
 rendering noble service to Christ and the Church 
 in this field, is best entitled to testify to the charac- 
 ter of this people, and the work under present con- 
 ditions : 
 
 " As the Indian was 400 years ago, he is in many 
 respects the same to-day. Although they have 
 adopted the dress, and many of the customs of 
 our race, still to a great extent they are children 
 of Nature, simple in their habits, reverent in their 
 devotions, given to hospitality to friend or to foe. 
 
 " It is generally believed that as a race they are 
 indolent, but that is a mistake. It is true that many 
 of them are very poor, hundreds of them without 
 the necessities of life, much less the comforts, still 
 when we remember the life of their ancestry, we 
 must not be too harsh in our judgment. 
 
 " When living here unmolested, their wants were 
 simple, their little patches made them bread, the 
 game in the forest furnished their meat, while the 
 skins of animals were used for bedding and shelter. 
 They did not know how to till their land, to build 
 their homes, but many of them have learned, more 
 are learning all the time ; and although to the out- 
 side world their advancement has been slow on those 
 lines, when we consider their opportunities for an 
 education that would teach them to be energetic, 
 self-sustaining, providing for the future, we must 
 
150 At Our Own Door 
 
 again throw the veil of charity over them, because 
 they have never been taught how to best apply 
 their latent energy in the right way. 
 
 " By nature Indians are of a reverent disposition, 
 and when they profess Christianity at all, theirs is 
 religion in all simplicity and purity. They are not 
 bothered in their belief with either creeds or dog- 
 mas, the simple story of ' the Cross ' is sufficient 
 for them in this life, as well for the one which 
 holds so much promise to them when they pass to 
 the one beyond. All their worship is sacred to 
 them, and their church hymns, sung in their own 
 language, mostly written in minor keys are touching 
 in the extreme. Not many of our race can hear 
 them sing for the first time with dry eyes. Their 
 consciences are so tender that if they do the least 
 thing they think sinful, it becomes such a burden 
 to them that they will take no part nor parcel in 
 any form of divine worship until confession is 
 made to the Church ; then assured of forgiveness, 
 they are ready for work in the Master's vineyard 
 again. 
 
 " Before the Indians left their homes in the East, 
 Presbyterian missionaries were at work among 
 them. Rev. Messrs. Copeland, Byington and 
 Hotchkin came here with the Choctaws to this 
 weird, lonely, desolate looking country, burying 
 themselves with these people in these unbroken 
 forests in order to teach them that Christ died for 
 them, to lead them to believe that the white man's 
 God would also be a loving, merciful Father to 
 them if they would accept His teachings — which 
 
Indians and Their Territory 151 
 
 numbers have done. More missionaries followed 
 those early pioneers ; some have entered into their 
 rest beyond, others are still here, laboring under 
 many trials, telling and teaching of God's love 
 and mercy." 
 
 The present Secretary made a visit to the Terri- 
 tory almost immediately upon his election, and in 
 his first published report gave this testimony, 
 which has not been changed by any of his subse- 
 quent visits and closer scrutiny of the case : " The 
 Indian people are as true and genuine Presbyteri- 
 ans as can be found anywhere on earth. The visit 
 of the home mission Secretary to the Indian Pres- 
 bytery will always be remembered as a joy for- 
 ever. Leaving their homes, the entire Indian com- 
 munity was encamped around the church. Each 
 Indian Church sends not only an elder to presby- 
 tery, but entire families, men, women and children. 
 At daybreak the bell rings for sunrise prayer meet- 
 ing, conducted by the Indians themselves in the 
 Choctaw language. At 9 and 11 a. m., and at 3 
 and 7 p. m., they have preaching by a Choctaw 
 Indian or by a missionary through an interpreter. 
 After the last service, at night, the Indian popula- 
 tion remains to sing, which they keep up till late 
 in the night, and it thrills one's soul to hear their 
 earnest singing of the good old tunes. Most of 
 the Indian Churches have service every Sabbath. 
 If no minister is present, an elder conducts the 
 worship, and they sing and pray with as much en- 
 joyment as if a minister were present to preach 
 the Gospel." 
 
152 At Our Own Door 
 
 In addition to its churches and Sabbath-schools, 
 the Southern Church ten years ago began to estab- 
 lish Christian schools among the Indians, not only 
 to teach ordinary branches of secular education but 
 the catechisms of the Church, and the principles of 
 the Christian religion. This work has prospered 
 and grown from a " day of small things " to large 
 proportions, sustained entirely by the gifts of the 
 Sabbath-school children in their fifth Sabbath col- 
 lections. Out of this work has grown Durant 
 Presbyterian College, a beautiful pressed brick 
 building costing $15,000, employing seven teachers 
 and having annually 300 students. It is nearly 
 self-supporting, but sadly in need of more dormi- 
 tories and furniture, being unable to accommodate 
 the students proposing to enter its walls, and com- 
 pelled each year to turn away many applicants for 
 places among its student body. President E. 
 Hotchkin deserves the lasting gratitude of the 
 Church for his self-denying labors and his indomi- 
 table perseverance, which have made this institu- 
 tion a success and an honor to the Presbyterian 
 Church. It has more students than Henry Ken- 
 dall College in the Cherokee Nation, which costs 
 the Northern Presbyterian Church $16,000 an- 
 nually ; and it does not cost the Southern Church 
 $500. 
 
 At Antlers we have a high school of two 
 teachers and 215 scholars ; at Cameron, three 
 teachers and 135 scholars ; at Wapanucka, two 
 teachers and 112 scholars. Besides these high 
 schools, we have common schools at Goodland, 
 
Indians and Their Territory 153 
 
 Hugo, Chish Ok'tock, Bennington, Cold Spring, 
 Hamden, Tulia Hikia, and Shady Point. More than 
 1,200 pupils annually receive instruction at our 
 hands, those unable to pay being taught absolutely 
 free. Dr. Adoniram Judson passing a Christian in- 
 stitution said, " I wish I had a million dollars." 
 A friend remarked, " If you had it would soon all 
 go into foreign missions." " No, it would not," he 
 replied ; " I would establish just such a Christian 
 institution as this ; for such furnish the seed corn 
 of the world." If any philanthropist agrees with 
 this estimate of Christian education, will he heed 
 and help the effort to establish a Christian indus- 
 trial school at Goodland Church where the Indians 
 in receiving their allotments are donating a part 
 of their land for this purpose ; and Mrs. Gibbons 
 is appealing for a modest sum to inaugurate the 
 movement in this strong recital of facts : 
 
 " Eight years ago, the Southern Board of Home 
 Missions reopened the school here, and it has 
 steadily grown in numbers until now the enroll- 
 ment for this term is 104, sixty-eight being Indian 
 children. For several years it has been the desire 
 of the church to establish an industrial school 
 here, one in which these boys and girls can be 
 taught to fit themselves for positions of useful- 
 ness, to apply their energies in the right direction. 
 Children from other places have been boarded by 
 these Christian people, some of them denying 
 themselves the comfort of life to give some orphan 
 child the benefits of a Christian school. 
 
 " Five years ago, we asked the Indian Council to 
 
154 At Our Own Door 
 
 appropriate money to board a limited number of 
 pupils, and through the influence of Dr. Craig, the 
 Home Mission Board promised money to build a 
 home for the children, but the council never made 
 the appropriation for us until this year, and they 
 only allow us seven dollars per month, not more 
 than enough to feed them. We have forty Choc- 
 taw children boarded by the government, and at 
 least a dozen more kept in private homes. 
 
 " Now, we have the children, but no boarding- 
 house. Our schoolroom is very small, devoid of 
 furniture, with the exception of some straight 
 pine benches. In our church we teach five grades ; 
 this building is old, out of repair, very uncomfort- 
 able in cold weather. Our boarding-house can 
 keep only fifteen, the rest are scattered around in 
 different homes ; twenty-three are now in the 
 home of our good Indian preacher, Silas Bacon. 
 Both he and his good wife are giving all their time, 
 their talents and their lives, to these children, and 
 they keep several orphans that will receive no 
 board money, as they came in after the contract 
 was full, and Mr. Bacon would not send them 
 away. 
 
 " Among our children, the Indian pupils, we have 
 thirteen without either parent, twenty-eight with 
 only one parent living. Many of these children 
 come to us homeless, clothesless, and to a great ex- 
 tent, Christless ; coming to us from isolated places, 
 where Sunday-schools are unknown. We have 
 grown boys and girls who never attended a Sun- 
 day-school, never knew a prayer before they came 
 
Indians and Their Territory 155 
 
 here. But they are noble children, obedient, studi- 
 ous and quiet at all times, ever ready to listen to 
 our Bible teaching, to be taught our catechisms 
 and to sing our religious songs. Many of them 
 have bright minds, all they need is proper training. 
 As a rule the full blood Indian child is easy to 
 control, and if one wins their affection they are 
 easily led ; — not much trouble to instruct them 
 after they learn our language, which they usually 
 do in from one to two years. 
 
 " We are striving to get the Industrial School 
 started, and by the advice of Dr. Morris we make 
 this appeal to the churches, aid societies, the Sun- 
 day-schools and the Christian people of our coun- 
 try to help us start it. The land has been promised 
 to us by the Indians themselves, if we can get the 
 building." 
 
 Who will hear and respond to this earnest, 
 pathetic appeal ? 
 
 This brief sketch would be incomplete without 
 an account of the Territory itself, its conditions 
 and prospects : 
 
 2. The Indian Tekritory 
 
 No section of the United States has been so gen- 
 erally misunderstood as the Indian Territory. Many 
 geographies are still in existence which describe 
 the Western section (now Oklahoma) as a part of 
 " The Great American Desert." This quondam 
 " desert " is now covered with golden grain, and 
 its rich pasture lands are feeding " the cattle upon 
 a thousand hills." These prairie lands are in- 
 
156 At Our Own Door 
 
 exhaustible in fertility, and the most thoroughly 
 improved section of the country, making Okla- 
 homa and the Indian Territory the paradise of the 
 "West. It is by no means all prairie. Great forests 
 skirt the plains, composed largely of post-oak groves, 
 interspersed with pecans. Kivers and mountains, 
 valleys and hills, cultivated fields and primeval 
 forests, mingle together in such proportions not 
 only to relieve the monotony, but furnish as beauti- 
 ful landscapes as can be found anywhere in our 
 country, marvellously rich in rare scenery. The 
 traveller crosses the border of the Indian Terri- 
 tory, expecting to see the line of demarkation 
 very plain between civilization and the land of the 
 untutored savage. As the train dashes along, he 
 keeps his eye on the window for the first sight of 
 " the red man " ; but he looks in vain. Where he 
 expects to see the Indian hut or little patch of the 
 barbarian, he sees broad, cultivated fields, as rich 
 in many places as the valley of the Mississippi. 
 Where he expects the Indian wigwam, he discovers 
 great cities with brick stores and stone banks. One 
 can live ten years in the Indian Territory without 
 seeing an Indian. They do not haunt the villages 
 and have no special yearning for railroads. 
 Along the streams and out in the forests there are 
 Indians ; but they are such a small per cent, of the 
 population as to make the Indian Territory a mis- 
 nomer. There is no Indian Territory except on the 
 map ; and it is almost as great a myth " as the Great 
 American Desert." It is true there are fifty thou- 
 sand Indians in the Territory ; but, according to 
 
Indians and Their Territory 157 
 
 the United States census, it contains nearly five 
 hundred thousand inhabitants, making ten whites 
 to every Indian. It is the whitest section of the 
 South ! No other Southern State contains ten 
 whites to any other citizen ! It may surprise many 
 people to learn that Arizona contains almost as 
 many Indians as the Indian Territory. Many 
 other " reservations " contain even more ; for of 
 the 250,000 Indians in the United States, only one- 
 fifth are in the Territory. Even of these 50,000, 
 very few are full bloods. The great majority are 
 descendants of " half breeds " and as white as the 
 average Caucasian. They would scarcely be enu- 
 merated as Indians, but for the fact that it gives 
 them a claim upon the fine lands that are now 
 being allotted to the Indians by the government. 
 Intermarriage will soon solve the Indian problem 
 in the Indian Territory. 
 
 It is said that an Irish historian devoted a chap- 
 ter in his History of Ireland to " Snakes." The 
 entire chapter reads, " There are no snakes in Ire- 
 land." The time is not far distant when the his- 
 torian will write his chapter on the Indian 
 Territory in these words, " There are no Indians 
 in the Indian Territory." 
 
 It has been said that " the Indians are the rich- 
 est nation and the poorest people on earth." The 
 strange paradox is true. In their homes they have 
 but few of the comforts of life which the indi- 
 vidual can enjoy. And yet the vast revenues 
 accumulating to their credit and for their benefit 
 are enormous and increasing with each passing 
 
158 At Our Own Door 
 
 year. The sources of these revenues are various. 
 The royalty on the coal mines of the Choctaw 
 nation amounts to $200,000 yearly. Every white 
 man in the Territory is required to pay a " permit " 
 of five dollars a year for the privilege of living in 
 the reservation. These are just specimens of their 
 enormous income. This money cannot be dis- 
 tributed to the individual. It would be a curse to 
 most. But it can be used for the benefit of the 
 nation. Consequently, any Indian child who is 
 willing can be educated at the public expense. 
 Board, tuition, and in many instances clothing and 
 all the necessaries of life, are furnished for their 
 education and equipment of the children for the 
 duties of citizenship. The United States govern- 
 ment has schools distributed throughout the coun- 
 try, where they are taught ; and many religious 
 organizations, recognizing that secular education 
 without moral training is a curse to them, have 
 founded denominational schools for their religious 
 instruction. 
 
 The policy of the government in the past, how- 
 ever good in intention and worthy in effort to 
 discharge its obligations to these wards of the 
 nation, has not always been wise, judged by re- 
 sults. The system of distributing "rations" in- 
 discriminately to needy and otherwise alike, has 
 reared a race of paupers, thriftless, idle, and a 
 menace to the peace and morality of the country. 
 The plan of inducing a child, accustomed to the 
 hardships of poverty, to leave a home of wretch- 
 edness and enter a government school, where 
 
Indians and Their Territory 159 
 
 every comfort is provided and every want antici- 
 pated, translated suddenly from squalor to com- 
 parative luxury, is not calculated to produce the 
 highest type of citizen. Education is not in itself 
 a panacea for all the ills of life. It is very ques- 
 tionable whether it is a blessing in any sense, 
 unless carried on along moral and religious as well 
 as secular lines. Many of these Indian children 
 after several years of luxury and education, re- 
 turn to their wretched homes and savage life. 
 
 Under the Dawes Commission, the government 
 is pursuing a wiser policy, and will probably solve 
 the Indian problem in the near future. This 
 commission is allotting the lands now held in com- 
 mon, so that each individual will soon come into 
 possession of his inheritance and can use it or 
 abuse it, according to his inclination. It is esti- 
 mated that each Indian, man, woman (and child 
 yet unborn and until the registration books are 
 closed), will receive in the allotment over five 
 hundred acres (according to value in different sec- 
 tions), and can sell all except one hundred and 
 sixty acres, which the government requires him to 
 keep for twenty-one years as a homestead. As 
 soon as this is done, most of the lands will pass 
 into the hands of the white people, the Indians 
 retaining only their homestead, which will be 
 ample for the needs of most of them. It is often 
 asked why the government delays this allotment 
 year after year, and thus retards the development 
 of the country. Several reasons might be as- 
 signed : The Indians themselves are allowed the 
 
i6o At Our Own Door 
 
 privilege of ratifying the terms of the treaties, 
 and these must be submitted back and forth be- 
 tween Congress and the Indian tribal legislatures. 
 A still more potent reason, perhaps, lies in the fact 
 that a few influential individuals are enriching 
 themselves at the expense of the rest, and have 
 sufficient influence to delay the matter. Accord- 
 ing to the present system any Indian (or white 
 man married to an Indian) may cultivate or use 
 all the land fenced or improved by him, and until 
 the lands are allotted in severalty. The full blood 
 Indian takes little or no advantage of this pro- 
 vision. But the mixed breed and white men with 
 Indian wives fence in large areas, and are getting 
 rich from its use. It is said that one man alone 
 has a revenue of $50,000 annually from his " im- 
 proved lands." Just as soon as the allotment is 
 made, it can readily be seen that his share will be 
 reduced to five hundred acres. These men are 
 very naturally opposed to the allotment, and are 
 opposing by all means in their power. The value 
 of their lands offers a temptation to adventurers 
 to marry these Indian girls for the sake of their in- 
 heritance. In order to prevent such matrimonial 
 investments, the Choctaw Legislature has placed 
 the license fee at one thousand dollars for a white 
 man to marry an Indian and share the allotment. 
 Another law passed by the tribal legislature im- 
 poses the penalty of death upon any Indian who 
 sells any part of his land to a white man. While 
 it is impossible to acquire lands at present, yet the 
 United States government has made provision that 
 
Indians and Their Territory 161 
 
 lots in any incorporated town may be sold to 
 aliens. This, however, is only a " quit claim " 
 which the purchaser obtains from a citizen ; and 
 when the commission appears to make titles from 
 the United States government, it is necessary to 
 pay a small amount to the government and obtain 
 the property by " letters patent." 
 
 The material development of the country is mar- 
 vellous. New railroads are not simply being pro- 
 jected but are being built, in every direction. 
 Coal deposits and oil fields are being discovered, 
 and options are being sought by great corporations 
 from the tribal legislatures for developing these 
 natural resources. This is causing population to 
 pour into the Territory from every part of the 
 United States. 
 
 It is said that Henry Clay once climbed the Al- 
 leghanies and put himself in the attitude of one 
 listening, and exclaimed, "I hear the tramp of 
 millions ; they are the myriads who are to occupy 
 and populate our great Western country ! " Great, 
 prophetic soul, who saw the future glory and de- 
 velopment of our country ; and yet it has gone far 
 beyond his vivid imagination ! The human fancy 
 can scarcely forecast the future of the Indian 
 Territory ! The next United States census will 
 show fully two millions of people in that great 
 section ! There are perhaps one hundred towns 
 and cities in the Territory to-day, containing, on 
 an average more than one thousand inhabitants 
 each. They spring into existence under our very 
 eyes! Between the visits of the Secretary of 
 
i62 At Our Own Door 
 
 home missions (six months apart), towns had 
 sprung up which had no existence in thought at 
 the time of the first visit. They are not mush- 
 room growths, as one might imagine. They are 
 buildings of brick and stone, and, in many in- 
 stances, of rare architectural designs. 
 
 It furnishes the Presbyterian church the greatest 
 opportunity, perhaps, which will ever come to her 
 in the twentieth century. The country is preju- 
 diced in favor of the Presbyterian church in many 
 sections by reason of the splendid work done in 
 behalf of the Indians. Nearly all of these towns 
 contain a fair proportion of Presbyterians. It is 
 true there are difficulties, and salaries are small ; 
 but where is the man, called of God to preach the 
 Gospel, who would not choose to spend his ener- 
 gies in the midst of the living masses of unevan- 
 gelized people at a sacrifice, amid self-denials, 
 rather than in a well feathered nest, and preach to 
 empty pews ? The writer has stated, again and 
 again that if he were at the beginning of his min- 
 istry, with his present knowledge of conditions, he 
 could not be chained on this side of the Mississippi. 
 If the young men will give " the dew of their 
 youth " to the work, and the church will furnish 
 the means, we may confidently expect, within a 
 few years, that the Synod of the Indian Territory 
 will not only be a possibility, but one of the im- 
 portant factors in the development of the church, 
 and not by any means the least in the sisterhood 
 of synods. 
 
vm 
 
 THE GREAT WEST 
 
 The fictitious boundaries of America invented 
 to impress the imagination with the idea of vast- 
 ness might with better propriety be employed to 
 mark the limitations of the West : " Bounded on 
 the north by the Aurora Borealis, on the east by the 
 rising sun, on the south by the Equator, and on the 
 west by the Day of Judgment'* The public 
 speaker cannot bring himself in his addresses to 
 say tamely " the "West " ; it is invariably " the 
 great West." No man has succeeded better in im- 
 pressing the public with a sense of its greatness 
 and importance than Dr. Josiah Strong : " The 
 "West is characterized by largeness. Mountains, 
 rivers, railways, ranches, herds, crops, business 
 transactions, ideas ; even men's virtues and vices 
 are cyclopean. All seem to have taken a touch of 
 vastness from the mighty horizon. "Western 
 stories are on the same large scale, so large, indeed 
 that it often takes a dozen eastern men to believe 
 one of them." 
 
 It is generally supposed that the Mississippi 
 River divides the east and west into somewhat 
 equal areas. But as a matter of fact the area be- 
 yond the Mississippi is two-and-a-half times the 
 size of that on the east. To divide our country 
 
 163 
 
164 At Our Own Door 
 
 into equal parts, it would be necessary to begin at 
 the mouth of the Rio Grande on the Mexican 
 border and run directly north, throwing a large 
 part of Texas on the East and all immediately 
 north of it as far as Canada. In present parlance 
 the West means everything beyond the Mississippi ; 
 but it has not always been the case ; and even now 
 hundreds of miles beyond the Mississippi, the 
 West is still far beyond. 
 
 " Nothing better illustrates the vast and rapid 
 expansion of America during the nineteenth cen- 
 tury than the history of ' Sectional Nomenclature.' 
 ' The West ' has had a new definition in every de- 
 cade. ' To the Westward,' named in the preamble 
 of the Connecticut Society, was the State of New 
 York, ' northwestward ' was Vermont. Of a much 
 earlier period, it is related on good authority that 
 a surveyor was commissioned in Massachusetts to 
 lay out a highroad from Cambridge towards Al- 
 bany, as far as the public good required. His road 
 came to an end twelve miles from Boston in the 
 town of Weston, and the report made to the 
 government was, that the work had been pushed 
 into the wilderness as far as the public need would 
 ever require. A good many pieces have been 
 added to that road, and before each such addition 
 * the West ' has steadily retreated. At different 
 times it was on the banks of the Charles, the 
 Connecticut and the Hudson ; on the shores of the 
 Great Lakes, in the Mississippi Valley, on the tops 
 of the Rockies, and it stopped at the Pacific only 
 because it could go no farther. Beyond that line 
 
The Great West 165 
 
 the East began again, Nor has this vague con- 
 ception for the "West been always due to the pro- 
 vincial short-sightedness of New England. The 
 writer remembers, not twenty years ago, visiting 
 a primary school in Southern Wyoming, from 
 whose windows the peaks of the Kockies were 
 visible. To his question addressed to the children, 
 how many of them were born in "Wyoming, only 
 two hands went up. To the further question, how 
 many of them would like to grow up in "Wyoming 
 and help to make it a grand State, not a hand was 
 raised ; and when the catechism was brought to a 
 close with the bewildered inquiry, ' Where then 
 are you going ? ' with a united shout they replied 
 ' West ' " (Leavening the Nation). 
 
 The original thirteen states occupied only a thin 
 strip of land along the Atlantic coast with unop- 
 ened territory stretching towards the Mississippi 
 south of the Ohio. From the earliest history of 
 the country aggressive men have always been com- 
 pelled to wage a fierce conflict with others strenu- 
 ously opposing "the annexation of more terri- 
 tory." No event in our national history has ex- 
 erted a greater influence on the destiny of the 
 country than the famous " Ordinance of 1787." 
 Embracing the states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, 
 Wisconsin and Illinois, a section of 250,000 square 
 miles, wedge-shaped, and from that fact known as 
 " the keystone of the American commonwealth," 
 was added to the territory of the United States ; 
 and from that moment " Expansion " began. Its 
 influence on our national life was not more potent 
 
i66 At Our Own Door 
 
 than on the church. It was a new birth of the 
 home missionary enterprise of the church, calling 
 for " expansion " of the spiritual kingdom to keep 
 pace with the march of empire. Population 
 poured in to possess this marvellously rich land. 
 Home missionaries entered to win new territory 
 for Christ and the church. 
 
 The nineteenth century opened with the Missis- 
 sippi River as our western boundary. The Louisi- 
 ana Purchase of 1803, the Annexation of Texas in 
 1845, the Mexican Treaty of 1848 carried our pos- 
 sessions to the Pacific and multiplied our territory 
 two and a half times. This created " The Great 
 West." 
 
 "Of the twenty-two states and territories west 
 of the Mississippi, only three are as small as all JSTew 
 England. Montana would stretch from Boston on 
 the east to Cleveland on the west, and extend far 
 enough south to include Richmond, Va. Idaho, if 
 laid down in the east, would touch Toronto, Can- 
 ada, on the north, and Raleigh, North Carolina, on 
 the south, whilst its southern boundary line is long 
 enough to stretch from Washington City to Colum- 
 bus, Ohio ; and California, if on our Atlantic Sea- 
 board, would extend from the southern line of 
 Massachusetts to the lower part of South Carolina, 
 or if in Europe, it would extend from London 
 across France and well into Spain. New Mexico is 
 larger than the United Kingdom of Great Britian 
 and Ireland. The greatest measurement of Texas 
 is nearly equal to the distance from New Orleans to 
 Chicago, or from Chicago to Boston. Lay Texas 
 
The Great West 167 
 
 on the face of Europe, and this giant with his 
 head resting on the mountains of Norway (directly 
 east of the Orkney Islands) with one palm cover- 
 ing London, the other Warsaw, would stretch him- 
 self down across the kingdom of Denmark, across 
 the Empire of Germany and Austria, across north- 
 ern Italy and lave his feet in the Mediterranean. 
 The two Dakotas might be carved into half a 
 dozen kingdoms of Greece ; or if they were divided 
 into twenty-six equal counties, we might lay down 
 the two kingdoms of Judea and Israel in each " 
 (Our Country). 
 
 In his address to the General Assembly of 1901, 
 Dr. C. L. Thompson, Secretary of home missions, 
 urged the importance of the west as occupying a 
 vital position in the superstructure of the govern- 
 ment : " The work of the Central West is to build 
 the piers on which the Nation's weight must rest. 
 I looked recently at the new bridge over the East 
 Kiver. The shore approaches are long, the cables 
 are anchored far back. But standing on granite 
 feet out in the river are the great steel piers, that 
 will hold the strain of the mighty structure. Our 
 national life has long approaches. It is anchored 
 far back in traditions and constitutions. But the 
 young states of the west must stand like steel 
 piers on granite foundations, if the arch of the 
 State shall stand secure from shore to shore. 
 All honor to the men who build. And when we 
 think of the heroes of wars, let us not forget the 
 missionaries who toil on disgraceful stipends — 
 making Christian the States, that will hold the 
 
l68 At Our Own Door 
 
 balance of power. They are the true nation 
 builders." 
 
 1. In this account of the West it is necessary 
 to confine our scrutiny to that section lying within 
 the bounds of the Southern Church. Only half a 
 century has passed since the Republic of Texas cast 
 in its lot among the States of the Union, contain- 
 ing at that time about 200,000 people ; and it has 
 gone forward marvellously, striding in its seven 
 league boots to the very front, claiming a popula- 
 tion at present of three and a half millions, equal 
 to the entire country at the time of the American 
 Revolution. The orator is yet unborn who can 
 make the average citizen appreciate by means of 
 statistics and comparisons anything of its vast 
 area, magnificent resources and future possibilities. 
 
 {a) In size it contains 262,000 square miles, 
 larger than the North West Territory added by 
 the Ordinance of 1787. If Texas were carved up 
 into separate States it would make 240 Rhode 
 Islands, 112 Dela wares, thirty-one Massachusetts, 
 six Kentuckies, or four Georgias ! Place it east 
 of the Mississippi, and it will cover Mississippi, Al- 
 abama, Georgia, South Carolina, ISTorth Carolina 
 and Tennessee. 
 
 (b) The greatness of area is even exceeded by 
 the greatness of resources. Her lands are of every 
 conceivable variety. Possibly the United States 
 contains no soil but can be duplicated by Texas. 
 The vast acreage taken as a whole is doubtless the 
 richest in the world. Every variety of crops can 
 be grown on her fertile valleys and broad prairies. 
 
The Great West 169 
 
 Her cattle ranches are the marvel of the world. 
 Her oil fields just opening up are fabulous. Her 
 cotton crop is now larger than the entire cotton 
 crop of the United States at the beginning of the 
 Civil War. She now furnishes one-third of all the 
 cotton raised in the United States, and the time may 
 come when she will drive her sister states out of 
 the cotton market, and undertake the contract for 
 supplying the world. Her minerals are as yet an 
 unknown quantity. In 1860, Texas had about 300 
 miles of railroad ; at present she has nearly 11,000 
 miles, more than any State in the Union except Illi- 
 nois and Pennsylvania, which have each about the 
 same amount. 
 
 According to Dr. Strong in " Our Country " 
 Texas is capable of supporting the entire popula- 
 tion of the United States. " After allowing, say, 
 50,000 square miles for ' desert,' Texas could have 
 produced all our food crops in 1879 — grown as we 
 have seen, on 164,215 square miles of land — could 
 have raised the world's supply of cotton, 12,000,000 
 bales, at one bale to the acre, on 19,000 square 
 miles and then have had remaining for a cattle 
 ranch a territory larger than the State of New 
 York. Place the population of the United States 
 in 1890 all in Texas, and it would not be as dense 
 as that of Italy ; and if it were as crowded as Eng- 
 land, this one State would contain 129,000,000 
 souls ! " 
 
 At present her school lands amounting to thou- 
 sands of square miles are leased by great cattle 
 corporations for the largest ranches in the world, 
 
lyo At Our Own Door 
 
 but the influx of population is crowding westward, 
 and as these leases are expiring they are being 
 opened up for farming purposes, which will in a 
 few years decrease the grazing lands but add im- 
 mensely to the agricultural acreage and the popu- 
 lation of the country. 
 
 (c) The country has its silver question, negro 
 problem, immigration peril, but Texas has prob- 
 lems peculiarly her own. Life is at its flood tide 
 in Texas. Business opportunities are so great, that 
 it is most difficult to hold back the entire popula- 
 tion from being engulfed in the vortex of com- 
 mercialism. For many years the State has been 
 afflicted with a most undesirable type of citizen- 
 ship. It has been the asylum for the criminal 
 classes from all the older States in the Union. To 
 convert them from lawlessness and assimilate them 
 into the body politic is no small contract, espe- 
 cially as most of them are isolated from the restrain- 
 ing and moral influences of home life. Add to 
 these the 100,000 Mexicans coming across the 
 border with their low standard of morality and 
 their idolatrous rites practiced in the name of re- 
 ligion, and the problem becomes still more compli- 
 cated. 
 
 {d) The church must face all these conditions. 
 Yet in spite of these difficulties and obstacles the 
 Gospel is having some of its greatest triumphs in 
 Texas. Based upon the oldest records of religious 
 work in Texas, we gather the following facts : 
 
 Kev. P. H. FuUen wider was the father of Texas 
 Presbyterianism ; 
 
The Great West 171 
 
 Rev. Hugh Wilson, the great organizer and 
 teacher ; 
 
 Eev. Dr. Daniel Baker, the great evangelist, who 
 laid the foundations of religious work and churches 
 in many sections and made Austin College the 
 child of his tenderest care ; and Rev. J. W. Miller 
 the wise counsellor and teacher. 
 
 From the most humble beginning, consider the 
 great progress of Presbyterianism in Texas by a 
 comparison of the past fifty years- 
 Just fifty years ago — in 1853 — when there was 
 a total of 72,000 communicants in the Southern 
 Presbyterian Church, Texas contained only 700 — 
 less than one one-hundredth of the whole number. 
 In 1903 Texas had over 20,000, out of a total of 
 235,000 — nearly one-tenth of the whole. Fifty 
 years ago Texas contained twenty-five Presby- 
 terian ministers and three small presbyteries. 
 Now in half a century this little handful, like 
 Jacob's company, has become " two bands." The 
 three presbyteries have grown to ten, and the 
 twenty-five ministers have multiplied into 187. In 
 this same period the strength of Presbyterianism 
 has increased nearly thirtyfold in Texas, while in 
 the country east of the Mississippi, it has increased 
 only threefold. Presbyterianism has grown twice 
 as fast in Texas as the population, the latter in- 
 creasing fifteenfold and the Church thirtyfold. 
 If we add to this the three thousand communi- 
 cants of the Northern Presbyterian Church and 
 the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (more than 
 equal to the Southern) we may safely say, that 
 
172 At Our Own Door 
 
 Texas contains fifty thousand Presbyterians. It is 
 a matter of great surprise to learn that Texas con- 
 tains more Presbyterian churches than any South- 
 ern synod, except Virginia, but that synod is com- 
 posed of three States, Virginia, West Virginia and 
 Maryland. The synod of Virginia leads with 469 
 churches, while Texas contains 390. North Caro- 
 lina with the largest Presbyterian membership of 
 any Southern State is a close second with 386. It 
 will thus be seen that no money which has been 
 contributed to religious purposes has produced 
 more liberal returns than that expended on Texas ; 
 and it is now being repaid with compound interest. 
 Fifty years ago Texas Presbyterians gave to all 
 the causes of benevolence less than $6,000. Now 
 in just half a century they are giving $260,000 — 
 more than fortyfold. By actual calculation Texas 
 is leading the whole church in liberality. The 
 Synod of Virginia with 43,000 members gives the 
 largest aggregate, $423,127, an average of $9.74 
 per member. Texas comes next in the total 
 amount. Its 20,336 members gave $258,412— 
 being $12,21 per member. Kentucky and South 
 Carolina have each about the same membership as 
 Texas ; yet Kentucky reports only $188,049, and 
 South Carolina $144,209. The money expended 
 on Texas from the home mission treasury comes 
 back to the church with interest, as Texas now con- 
 tributes more to foreign missions than she draws 
 for her vast home mission field. 
 
 " Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number 
 the fourth part of Israel ? " But the time is coming 
 
The Great West 173 
 
 when Texas will far outnumber Israel in her palm- 
 iest days. Texas will one day contain as many 
 people as the United States now numbers. If the 
 present rate of increase continues, and the church 
 can furnish the men and means for still greater 
 aggressiveness, we may confidently expect with the 
 blessing of God, that the time will come when 
 Texas will contain more Presbyterians than can 
 be reckoned at present in the entire Southern 
 Church. 
 
 In his first address and publication on home 
 missions, the present Secretary said : " As goes 
 the United States so goes the world ; as goes the 
 West so goes the United States ; and Texas is a 
 tremendous factor in the west ; so that Texas may 
 play no mean part in influencing the destiny of the 
 world in the future. Alexander the Great wept 
 for more worlds to conquer but the Presbyterian 
 Church might well be content for awhile, if it 
 could conquer the great Empire State of the West 
 for Christ." The east must evangelize Texas, or 
 this mighty giant may turn on us a current of un- 
 godliness, which will shake the foundations of our 
 civilization as the vandal hordes of the north 
 overturned the civilization of the Roman Empire. 
 In Texas it is now " Flood Tide " and we " must 
 take the current when it serves or lose our ven- 
 tures.'' Texas is another name for opportunity ; 
 and opportunity spells r-e-s-p-o-n-s-i-b-i-l-i-t-y. If we 
 wait " till the harvest is past," " the summer will 
 be ended," and the opportunity gone forever. 
 
 2. Passing by the Indian Territory, the most 
 
174 At Our Own Door 
 
 promising home mission field in the West, which 
 has been considered in connection with the Indians, 
 our attention is claimed next by Oklahoma, its 
 twin Territory, the newest frontier, whose develop- 
 ment reads like a tale of the Arabian Nights. 
 Once it was " the Great American Desert," which 
 according to Dr. Strong, " seems to have become 
 a fugitive and vagabond on the face of the earth," 
 now it is called Oklahoma, which means " Beauti- 
 ful Land." Few people perhaps are aware of the 
 fact that Oklahoma owes its existence to the 
 Southern Confederacy. The Creeks and Seminoles 
 held claims upon this territory, but owing to their 
 sympathies with the South in the war, the gov- 
 ernment decided that these claims were forfeited, 
 and their land reverted to the government, and 
 became a part of the " public lands." It contains 
 about 40,000 square miles, being larger than any 
 New England State and only one-third less than 
 Georgia or Florida, the largest States east of the 
 Mississippi. 
 
 Before the northern section was opened in April, 
 1889, several organized attempts were made to 
 force entrance into this " Beautiful Land " and 
 were defeated only by government troops. 
 
 No worse method of opening the country could 
 have been devised. At the firing of a signal gun 
 at twelve o'clock the mad rush began, and the men 
 or women who drove down the first stake had 
 legal titles to the lot. Richard Harding Davis at- 
 tempts a description of this confusion confounded : 
 " These modern pilgrims stand in rows twenty feet 
 
The Great West ij^ 
 
 deep, separated from the Promised Land, not by an 
 ocean, but by a line sci'atched in the earth with 
 the point of a soldier's bayonet. The long row 
 toeing this line are bending forward, panting with 
 excitement, and looking with eager eyes towards 
 this new Kingdom ; the women with dresses tucked 
 up to their knees, the men stripped of coats and 
 waistcoats for the coming race. 
 
 " And then, a trumpet call, answered by a thou- 
 sand hungry yells from all along the line, and hun- 
 dreds of men and women on foot and on horse- 
 back, break away across the prairie, the stronger 
 pushing down the weak, and those on horseback 
 riding over, and in some instances killing, those on 
 foot, in a mad, unseemly race for something they 
 are getting for nothing. These pilgrims do not 
 drop on one knee to give thanks decorously as did 
 Columbus, according to the twenty dollar bills, but 
 fall on both knees and hammer stakes into the 
 ground, and pull them up again, and drive them 
 down somewhere else at the place, which they hope 
 will eventually become a corner lot, facing the 
 post-office, and drag up the next man's stake and 
 threaten him with a Winchester, because he is on 
 their land, which they have owned for the last 
 three minutes." 
 
 In September, 1893, the Cherokee Strip was 
 opened in the same manner amid still wilder scenes 
 while 200,000 fought and struggled at the risk of 
 life and limb for "a claim" in this new country. 
 
 Dr. Clark in " Leavening the Nation " gives an 
 account of an eye-witness : " The horsemen and 
 
176 At Our Own Door 
 
 those in light vehicles were lined within a 100 foot 
 strip along the border for miles, and the heavier 
 teams loaded with merchandise of all sorts, lumber, 
 household goods, tents, buildings fitted and ready 
 to be put together, barrels of water, stacks of cooked 
 food were ranged in the rear to follow the owners 
 who were to race for claims and town lots. On 
 the railway were forty palace stock cars attached 
 to three engines. As this train moved into posi- 
 tion, it was literally filled and covered, sides and 
 top, with living humanity, as fast as men and 
 women impelled by wildest frenzy, could scramble 
 into place. Every part of the cow-catchers and 
 engines were black with men anxious to be near 
 the front, to jump and get a little advantage. 
 Eleven minutes before twelve o'clock, a false sig- 
 nal was given, and in less time than I can pen it 
 the prairie was alive with the myriad racers. The 
 few soldiers were utterly powerless to stop the 
 rush, and away in the distance went the wild 
 crowd. The rush and the roar of thousands, the 
 whistle of engines, and the rumbling of the im- 
 mense trains, the shouts of the excited drivers, the 
 noise of the moving wheels, the rearing and tossing 
 and neighing of excited horses, the discharge of 
 firearms in every direction and the clouds and clouds 
 of dust, raised by this moving mass, all conspired 
 to make impressions from those who witnessed 
 the grand and awful scene, never to be erased. 
 Thousands of men and some women jumped or rolled 
 or fell from the train, running at the rate of twelve 
 or fifteen miles an hour, to secure a claim or lot. 
 
The Great West 177 
 
 Some broke an arm or leg or both ; a few Avere 
 killed. Many got more real estate upon their faces 
 and persons than they had to keep, or sell that 
 night. Others were rewarded by getting splendid 
 claims and valuable lots for their efforts and risks. 
 The Rock Island Right of Way is fenced through 
 the strip with a five wired barbed fence. Through 
 this, most found a serious difficulty in making their 
 way. I saw one man with a big piece out of his 
 trousers ; he said he hung on the fence and vainly 
 struggled to extricate himself, while a woman 
 crawled through and got the claim he was after. 
 One man leaped the fence, struck his flag in a 
 choice piece of ground, and then pulled out a skirt 
 and sun-bonnet from under his coat and donned 
 them. Women's rights are respected on the western 
 plains, he argued with himself. Two young men 
 and a young woman raced for the same claim. She 
 caught in a fatal wire. The rival male claimants 
 staked at the same moment. They then ran and 
 extricated the struggling lass, took her stake and 
 drove it into the ground, pulled theirs up, lifted their 
 hats and went to seek other quarter sections." 
 
 " The Minute Man on the Frontier " enriches the 
 description with the following incident : " In one 
 case a portly woman, taking the tortoise plan of 
 slow and steady, reached the best section, while 
 the men still hung in the fence like victims of a 
 butcher bird. It is said of one young woman, who 
 made the run on horseback, that reaching a town 
 site her horse stumbled and she was thrown vio- 
 lently to the ground and stunned. A passing man 
 
178 At Our Own Door 
 
 jumped off his horse and sprinkled her face with 
 water from his canteen ; and as she revived, the 
 first thing she said was, ' This is my lot.' 
 
 " ' No, you don't,' said the man. But to settle it 
 they went to law, and the court decided in favor 
 of the woman, as she struck the ground first." 
 
 The Southern section was opened in August, 
 1901, the towns and their sites being sold at public 
 auction and the quarter sections assigned by lot- 
 tery. Men were compelled to make oath that they 
 were not owners of land elsewhere. They regis- 
 tered at El Keno and Lawton for the drawing, and 
 the man drawing the first number was allowed to 
 take choice of sections, etc. The lots of the pro- 
 spective town of Lawton, at that time a prairie, 
 sold at auction for $600,000. The present Secre- 
 tary of home missions visited Lawton two months 
 after entering office and saw the town a month old, 
 variously estimated at from 10,000 to 20,000 thou- 
 sand people. Banks, newspapers, barrooms and 
 churches began their career under tents ; and lum- 
 ber was selling at $30 a thousand. Of the eighty 
 barrooms which sprang up like magic, one adver- 
 tised itself handsomely at the expense of the tem- 
 perance crusader, as flying from the tent pole its 
 flag announced : " All Nations Welcome Except 
 Carrie." 
 
 Munsey's Magazine for May, 1903, gives the fol- 
 lowing origin of the town of Thomas : On board 
 an excursion train going into Oklahoma, a Town 
 Site Commission was formed. The train was 
 stopped at a suitable place, and the site laid out. 
 
The Great West 179 
 
 Before night the town had a saloon, a grocery, a 
 half-dozen law offices, and a daily paper issued 
 from its own plant ! The present taxable value of 
 Oklahoma is $60,000,000 ; whilst the wheat crop 
 of 1902 amounts to 25,000,000 bushels and the corn 
 crop 60,000,000. During 1902 at least 30,000 peo- 
 ple settled in the Territory. 
 
 The Committee which appeared before Congress 
 to urge Statehood was able to make the following 
 showing : 
 
 Without including the Indian Territory the new 
 State would exceed twelve States of the Union in 
 size and nine in population, while in resources it 
 could boast 144 banks, twenty-two daily newspa- 
 pers, a University and 1,500 miles of railroad. 
 
 Dr. Clark in " Leavening the Nation " sums up 
 the religious progress of Oklahoma as follows : 
 
 " Let it be remembered that this Territory is only 
 thirteen years old. ' The oldest girl born in Okla- 
 homa is not out of short dresses.' Between 1890 
 and 1900 the population advanced from 61,834 to 
 398,245, a gain of 500 per cent., surpassing all other 
 records for that decade, and probably for any dec- 
 ade in the history of American settlement. The 
 growth of religious forces has kept pace with the 
 march of population. Already Oklahoma has 200 
 religious organizations, representing a church mem- 
 bership of over 6,000. More than eighty Congre- 
 gational churches have been planted, with their Sun- 
 day-schools, Endeavor Societies, and their more than 
 3,000 communicants. Thirty Presbyterian churches 
 have taken a good start. Baptists, Methodists and 
 
i8o At Our Own Door 
 
 Episcopal missions are represented by fifty more. 
 Colleges and academies have sprung up in the path 
 of these religious movements, as they always will." 
 
 The Southern Church only entered the field in 
 1902 and is confining its operations to the newer 
 southern section. Its evangelists have already or- 
 ganized several churches, and are preaching regu- 
 larly at other stations. 
 
 " The Minute Man on the Frontier " says, " A 
 church could be organized every day in the year, 
 and not trespass on any one's work," The desti- 
 tution may be judged by this fact stated by Dr. 
 Doyle : " In one western State, in 1901, the Presby- 
 terian Church entered seven regions in which up 
 to that time no church of any kind had been doing 
 any religious work." 
 
 The success of home missions in the west is evi- 
 dent from the fact that Secretary Thompson of the 
 Presbyterian Church acknowledges that nine- 
 tenths of all their churches are of home missionary 
 origin ; and the Presbyterian Church for that rea- 
 son is especially strong in the "West. 
 
 3. New Mexico is part of the Territory, ceded 
 by Mexico to the United States in the Treaty of 
 1848, and an area larger than all of New England 
 and New York combined. It shares with Florida 
 the honor of being the oldest country settled in 
 the United States, dating back within forty years 
 of the discovery of America by Columbus, The 
 oldest house in the United States is said to be lo- 
 cated in Santa Fe, the capital and second oldest 
 City in America. The writer a few years ago in 
 
The Great West i8l 
 
 studying the comparative religious statistics of the 
 census of 1890 was amazed to find that JSTew Mex- 
 ico stood at the very head of the list of states, in 
 having the largest church membership in propor- 
 tion to population. The explanation lies in the 
 fact that the whole country is nominally Eoman 
 Catholic. It is really a foreign land in the United 
 States and differs very little from Mexico itself, 
 containing together with Texas most of the Mex- 
 icans in the United States. It is the home like- 
 wise of the Pueblo Indians, 8,000 in number, a 
 quiet, peaceable people, whose religion is a mixture 
 of Catholicism and paganism. It possesses a pe- 
 culiar order of religious fanatics called Penitentes, 
 probably the successors of the old Spanish Flagel- 
 lants, who early came into this country, with as- 
 cetic practices and superstitious ceremonies. On 
 Good Friday it is said they carry a huge cross to 
 a distant hill and represent in a rude way the cru- 
 cifixion of Christ ; it is sometimes even charged 
 that they have crucified one of their number. Few 
 Americans know perhaps that the Passion Play is 
 thus coarsely represented in our own land. They 
 strip themselves to the waist and lash themselves 
 with whips until the blood flows freely, and some 
 have died under these self-inflicted scourges. 
 
 It is a beautiful country of mountains and val- 
 leys, caiions and parks ; the climate is dry and 
 salubrious attracting many invalids in search of 
 health. Its precious metals are valuable and its 
 fruits among the finest in the world. On account 
 of the scarcity of rainfall the crops are confined to 
 
i82 At Our Own Door 
 
 the valleys, but are capable of supporting any num- 
 ber of cattle and sheep. Here the Montezumas 
 ruled the most civilized and enlightened of all the 
 aborigines. Here the Spaniards and Catholics 
 have ruled for 300 years without making any ad- 
 vance in science, industry, education or religion. 
 At the time it became a part of American Terri- 
 tory it possessed but one school in all its wide do- 
 mains. It furnishes a fine field for foreign mis- 
 sions at home among its 122,000 population. The 
 Presbyterian Church has established a number of 
 splendid schools that are leavening and elevating 
 gradually the whole Territory. 
 
 Kev. Joseph B. Clark sums up the result of re- 
 ligious effort in the following language : 
 
 " Presbyterian missions in New Mexico reflect 
 honor upon the wisdom and diligence of their 
 Board. Their work includes three presbyteries 
 in the Synod of New Mexico, sixty-two organized 
 congregations, — of which twenty-seven are Amer- 
 ican, twenty-nine Mexican, — with a total member- 
 ship of 3,500. There are thirty-eight ordained 
 missionaries, twenty-two evangelists and helpers, 
 sixty commissioned teachers and 1,500 enrolled 
 pupils. These congregations have raised during the 
 past year $29,000 for missions and church expenses. 
 
 " Methodists show a total of sixty organizations, 
 forty-two churches, and 2,500 communicants. Bap- 
 tists, Congregationalists and Episcopalians are 
 doing a smaller work, but of the same kind, educa- 
 tional and religious combined, and with constant 
 and most cheering tokens of success." 
 
The Great West 183 
 
 The conditions in Arizona do not differ essen- 
 tially from those found in New Mexico ; this same 
 mixed population, only larger relative proportion 
 of American settlers, drawn thither by the richer 
 mines and larger possibilities of the soil. 
 
 The Southern Church entered the field a few 
 years ago and met with immediate success, but 
 from lack of funds to prosecute the work has not 
 pushed it aggressively. Being a part of our own 
 Southland there is a tremendous obligation upon 
 us to give this vast section the gospel. To the 
 searching question of the Master, " Where is the 
 Mexican, thy brother ? " will we repudiate the obli- 
 gation by saying, " Am I my brother's keeper ? " 
 
 This brief review but touches " The Great West " 
 at one or two points as specimens. But " what can 
 the man do that cometh after the king ? " It 
 would seem almost presumption to attempt to add 
 to the forecast of Dr. Strong on the future of the 
 West : 
 
 " Beyond a peradventure, the West shall domi- 
 nate the East. With more than twice the room 
 and resources of the East, the West will probably 
 have twice the population and wealth of the East, 
 together with the superior power and influence 
 which, under popular government, accompany 
 them. The West will elect the executive and con- 
 trol education. When the centre of population 
 crosses the Mississippi, the West will have a 
 majority in the Lower House, and sooner or later 
 the partition of her great Territories, and probably 
 some of the States, will give to the West the con- 
 
184 At Our Own Door 
 
 trol of the Senate. When Texas is as densely- 
 peopled as New England, it is hardly to be sup- 
 posed that her millions will be content to see the 
 62,000 square miles east of the Hudson send twelve 
 senators to the seat of government, when her terri- 
 tory of 262,000 sends only two. The West will 
 direct the policy of the government, and by virtue 
 of her preponderating population and influence 
 will determine our national character, and, there- 
 fore, destiny. 
 
 " Since prehistoric times populations have moved 
 steadily westward, as De Tocqueville said, ' as if 
 driven by the mighty hand of God.' And follow- 
 ing their migrations the course of empire, which 
 Bishop Berkeley sang, has westward taken its way. 
 The world's sceptre passed from Persia to Greece, 
 from Greece to Italy, from Italy to Great Britain, 
 and from Great Britain the sceptre is to-day de- 
 parting. It is passing on to ' Greater Britain,' to 
 our Mighty West, there to remain, for there is no 
 further west ; beyond is the Orient. Like the 
 star in the East, which guided the three kings 
 with their treasures westward, until it stood still 
 over the cradle of the infant Christ, so the star of 
 empire, rising in the East has ever beckoned the 
 wealth and power of the nations westward, until 
 to-day it stands still over the cradle of the young 
 Empire of the West, to which the nations are 
 bringing their offerings. 
 
 " The West is to-day an infant, but shall be a 
 giant, in each of whose limbs shall unite the 
 strength of many nations." 
 
IX 
 
 THE PROBLEM OF MISSIONS— FOES 
 
 Church history has impressed no lesson more 
 forcibly than the fact, that it is easier to evan- 
 gelize a nation than to maintain the purity of the 
 truth. It is easier to conquer a country for Christ 
 than to hold it for Christ. "Where is Jerusalem, 
 the Mother Church ? Where is Antioch, that sent 
 out Paul and Barnabas, the first distinctive foreign 
 missionaries ? Where is the Church of Asia Minor, 
 that had its Ephesus, Smyrna, Philadelphia, etc. ? 
 Where is North Africa, with her great churches of 
 Alexandria, Hippo, etc., that contained in the 
 early days of Christianity a thousand (Presbyte- 
 rian) bishops ? In all the region around the Medi- 
 terranean, where Christianity had its earliest and 
 grandest triumphs, in all Bible Lands, Mohammed- 
 anism has uprooted Christianit}'', and from hun- 
 dreds of minarets and towers 200,000,000 followers 
 of the " false Prophet " hear the call : " God is 
 God and there is no God but God, and Mohammed 
 is His prophet." Geneva, the home of John Cal- 
 vin, is now the home of Eationalism. The origi- 
 nal Presbyterian Church of England is now Uni- 
 tarian. Many of the largest sections of the once 
 Christian church are now apostate and anti- 
 Christ. 
 
 »8s 
 
l86 At Our Own Door 
 
 Will history repeat itself in the United States ? 
 It may be thought that in our " Christian country " 
 with its splendid civilization, material development 
 and great religious organizations, there is no 
 danger of degeneration ; and yet the danger may 
 lie just in the direction of our splendid civilization 
 and material progress. The church is being over- 
 organized and cumbered with machinery till in 
 danger of breaking beneath its own weight. 
 Machinery is being substituted for spirituality. 
 Culture is more in evidence than piety. The 
 church is becoming "rich and increased with 
 goods" and in danger of becoming satisfied. 
 Commercialism and worldliness are sapping in 
 many places the life of the church. As long as 
 the church was poor and persecuted she was spirit- 
 ual and aggressive. As soon as Constantine en- 
 throned her in the palace of the Caesars, she lost 
 her spirituality and power largely, ceasing to bear 
 witness to the truth. The logical result was 
 " The Dark Ages " ; the remedy was " The Kefor- 
 mation." 
 
 It may be that America is the world's last great 
 problem. It may be that here the forces of good 
 and evil are gathering for a last gigantic struggle, 
 the spiritual Arma-Geddon. Are we not already 
 in the midst of perilous times ? Is not the adver- 
 sary already marshalling his forces for the fray ? 
 Intemperance, that annually fills a hundred thou- 
 sand graves with its victims and consumes a billion 
 dollars of the country's wealth, is a huge monster 
 of iniquity, but is not the most dangerous foe of 
 
The Problem of Missions — Foes 187 
 
 Cliristianity. It is an open, avowed, hideous evil. 
 The more subtle, dangerous foe is Satan trans- 
 formed into "An Angel of light," not so much 
 anti-Chrisi as a false Christ, offering a substitute 
 for the Gospel of Christ, preaching "another 
 Gospel which is not another." The struggle for 
 this country is fierce and uncompromising, between 
 good and evil, between Satan propagating his 
 " gospel of dirt " by false prophets, and Christianity 
 propagating its faith by home missions. 
 
 Has the world ever witnessed such a propaganda 
 of falsehood as the Christian Science craze ? A 
 woman of questionable reputation, divorced from 
 her husband, discovers a new gospel in 1866, which 
 she promulgates at Boston. Laughed at and ridi- 
 culed at first on account of its absurdities and 
 questionable morality, it at length becomes a fad 
 among a certain type of society women for the lack 
 of better employment and newer sensational ex- 
 citement. Just the opposite of the Gospel of 
 Christ which was "preached to the poor," this 
 spurious gospel is preached almost exclusively to 
 the indolent rich. Propagated chiefly by women 
 preachers and so-called " healers," who have made 
 merchandise of souls and grown rich by practicing 
 on nervous, hysterical and credulous people, ac- 
 cepted at first largely by cranks and unbalanced 
 minds, it has obtained a foothold in almost every 
 section of the country. The Christ of God " had 
 not where to lay His head," and was crucified by 
 the world. This false Christ of Boston has amassed 
 millions of dollars by the sale of her book (which 
 
i88 At Our Own Door 
 
 must always be purchased as a condition of being 
 healed, making her " healers " without exception 
 her book agents) ; and she herself has been deified 
 as " Our Mother," as much an object of idolatrous 
 worship by her dupes as is " Our Lady " by 
 papists. 
 
 As a system of philosophy (" science, falsely so 
 called " ), it is heathen Pantheism, redressed in 
 semi-religious garb, and baptized under a new 
 name. It is a false gospel that denies the exist- 
 ence of sin, which in theory denies, and in practice 
 admits, the existence of pain, which merges self in 
 God and converts God into a sentimental " Father- 
 hood and Motherhood," which takes away from us 
 a personal Christ and gives us an abstract idea in- 
 stead. Its rapid spread cannot be accounted for 
 upon any rational principle, for it is contrary to 
 reason. It is a delusion of the devil that spreads 
 as contagion. It manifests that zeal which is so 
 characteristic of falsehood. 
 
 Its literature is plaguing the country like the 
 frogs of Egypt. Our railroad depots are flooded and 
 public libraries are infested with it. In one of our 
 great cities " The Public Library," founded by 
 philanthropists and public spirited citizens now in 
 their graves, has been prostituted by its present 
 directors in the service of this slime of the pit, and 
 over the door of this Public Building the writer 
 saw in flaming characters " Christian Science 
 Reading Room," During one of the largest State 
 Fairs in the South, where the crowd was esti- 
 mated at 40,000 people, the writer saw no evangel- 
 
The Problem of Missions — Foes 189 
 
 ical church distributing the principles of its faith, 
 but there were the propagators of this substitute 
 for the gospel, thrusting their literature into the 
 faces of all passers-by. 
 
 Mark Twain may laugh it out of court, philos- 
 ophers may demonstrate its absurdity, preachers 
 of the gospel may show that it is utterly subver- 
 sive of the gospel and morality, the funerals of its 
 " patients " and the death of its devotees may be 
 in evidence in every community ; and yet it goes 
 on unblushingly denying the existence of suffering 
 and sin, collecting its fees from fresh victims, and 
 making new converts by a species of hypnotism 
 peculiarly its own. The Church cannot longer af- 
 ford to ignore it, the faintest toleration of it is un- 
 faithfulness to the Truth, and to Christ. The 
 Church must meet it squarely and unhesitatingly, 
 by teaching the truth which neutralizes it ; and by 
 its home mission operations in occupying the 
 ground, effectually shut it out of new communi- 
 ties and circumscribe the sphere of its operations. 
 
 " Out of the mouth of the false prophet " — the 
 time was when the application of this language 
 pointed to Mohammed. The church has come to 
 recognize the fact that no individual can embody 
 within himself exclusively the character and office 
 of " False Prophet." He is the teacher of a false 
 gospel, whether Mohammed, Swedenborg, Madame 
 Blavatsky, Mary Baker Glover Eddy, or Joseph 
 Smith, the founder of the " Church of the Latter 
 Day Saints," popularly known as Mormonism. 
 
 The history of the latter is unique. Kev. Solo- 
 
190 At Our Own Door 
 
 mon Spaulding, a Presbyterian minister, adopted 
 the fanciful theory that the Indians were the de- 
 scendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, and 
 constructed a romance, embodying and maintain- 
 ing that idea entitled " The Manuscript Found." 
 It was written in imitation of Scripture language, 
 containing frequently such expressions as " It 
 came to pass." Having tried in vain to find a pub- 
 lisher, this manuscript lay several years in the 
 office of the Presbyterian Banner. Sidney Rig- 
 don, a Baptist minister, employed in the Banner 
 office and afterwards a prominent Mormon, had 
 this manuscript in possession for a time and made 
 a copy of it. 
 
 In some way it came into the possession of Jo- 
 seph Smith, an obscure and illiterate man, native 
 of Vermont, then residing near Palmyra, New 
 York. Pretending to have been divinely guided 
 by celestial visions and voices, he claimed to have 
 found certain golden plates, which were written 
 in " Egyptian," but translated by himself and 
 given to the world as the " Book of Mormon," the 
 Bible of the Latter Day Saints. If anything can 
 be proved by evidence, there can never be the 
 shadow of a doubt, that the romance written by 
 Spaulding and the Book of Mormon by Joseph 
 Smith are one and the same. It was so asserted at 
 the time by numbers of persons in that community 
 who had access to both. It was testified by Mrs. 
 McKinstry, the daughter of Spaulding. The evi- 
 dence was so damaging that one Hurlburt, accord- 
 ing to the sworn statement of Mrs. McKinstry, 
 
The Problem of Missions — Foes igi 
 
 borrowed the original manuscript under the pre- 
 tense of comparing it with the Book of Mormon. 
 The manuscript was destroyed, probably in the in- 
 terest of Mormon ism, and the evidence led to the 
 conclusion that Hurlburt was himself a Mormon. 
 
 " The Book of Mormon has been supplemented 
 by * The Book of Doctrines and Covenants.' This 
 book contains the revelations to Joseph Smith and 
 Brigham Young. These, with the Bible, form the 
 Mormon Scriptures. They consider the Old Tes- 
 tament as being specially for the Jews, the New 
 Testament for the Judaic and European Christian 
 Church, the Book of Mormon for the American 
 Christian Church, and the Book of Doctrines and 
 Covenants specially for themselves. 
 
 " The history of the development and spread of 
 Mormonism has been most remarkable. The Mor- 
 mon religion, if it may be so called, began with the 
 experiences and achievements of Joseph Smith. 
 January 18, 1829, he married Emma Hale against 
 her parents' wishes. The Mormon church was or- 
 ganized April 6, 1830, at Fayette, Seneca County, 
 New York, at the home of a convert named Whit- 
 mer. Six members were enrolled — the prophet, 
 two of his brothers, two "Whitmers and Oliver 
 Cowdery, a school-teacher. Cowdery had become 
 Smith's amanuensis in 1829. On May 15, 1829, 
 by the command of an angelic messenger, who 
 called himself John the Baptist, Smith baptized 
 Cowdery and Cowdery baptized him. Afterwards 
 they ordained each other to the Aaronic Priest- 
 hood. Smith later received the Melchizedec 
 
192 At Our Own Door 
 
 Priesthood from the apostles, John, James and 
 Peter. In December, 1830, Sidney Rigdon, who 
 had secured for Smith the copy of ' The Manuscript 
 Found,' announced himself as a convert. ' Rig- 
 don was erratic, but eloquent ; self opinionated, but 
 versed in the Scriptures ; and in literary culture 
 and intellectual force was the greatest man among 
 the early Mormons.' From this point on the sect 
 grew very rapidly " (Dr. Sherman Doyle). 
 
 Various places became the rendezvous of the 
 saints. From Kirkland, Ohio, to Jackson County, 
 Mo., they passed. Driven from community to 
 community till finally they founded Nauvoo on 
 the Mississippi. Joseph Smith continued to receive 
 " revelations," and when at Kauvoo the spiritual 
 wife doctrine was announced it caused great indig- 
 nation. The office building of the Expositor^ 
 the opposition paper to Mormonism was burned. 
 Redress was sought in court, and finally Joseph 
 Smith, the leader, was thrown into prison at Car- 
 thage, Mo., where a mob attacked the jail, and 
 Smith was murdered. It was exceedingly unfor- 
 tunate ; for it converted a fakir into a martyr. It 
 aroused the saints and gave them a stronger and 
 wiser leader in Brigham Young, who led them 
 overland a journey of 1,100 miles to Utah, where 
 they established a flourishing colony in the beauti- 
 ful valley of the Great Salt Lake. They organized 
 the State of "Deseret" signifying the "Honey 
 Bee," but on account of its polygamous practices it 
 was refused admission to the Union. The United 
 States organized it into a Territory, but it required 
 
The Problem of Missions — Foes 193 
 
 government troups to maintain the authority of 
 the National Government. The State of Utah has 
 been recently admitted to the Union, upon the 
 adoption of a constitution forbidding polygamy, 
 but it is still encouraged and practiced. With 
 Mormon juries, courts and officials it is almost im- 
 possible to convict a polygamist. 
 
 Ecclesiastically, it is a hierarchy of the most 
 despotic order. It is both church and state, whose 
 ambition is to control the National Government, 
 as effectually as it dominates Utah. Tithing is es- 
 tablished by law and binding upon every member 
 of the Mormon Church. This brings in an enor- 
 mous income of $1,000,000 annually for the sup- 
 port of the machine and for the propagation of 
 their faith in other sections. As an organization 
 it controls its members as completely as the Jesuit 
 Order and by methods as disreputable. Brigham 
 Young decided that a lie might be told in the in- 
 terest of the church. Each must spend several 
 years in missionary work if commanded. They 
 " say to one man go, and he goeth, and to another 
 man come, and he cometh." Their agents are all 
 over the world, making proselytes, shipping them 
 to Utah, who must refund such expenses as soon 
 as possible. 
 
 The writer and friends met one in Berne, Switzer- 
 land, in 1895. After a most gushing welcome to 
 his countrymen from America, with many expres- 
 sions of pleasure at the meeting, the following con- 
 versation took place almost verbatim : 
 
 " What is your occupation here in Switzerland ? " 
 
194 At Our Own Door 
 
 " I am a missionary." 
 " What church do you represent ? " 
 " The church of the Latter Day Saints." 
 Our telltale countenances expressive of disap- 
 pointment and disgust caused this " missionary " 
 immediately to add : 
 
 " And I am very proud of my church." 
 Whereupon, Dr. W. T. Thompson, now of Wash- 
 ington, D. C, ventured to inquire, " Are you 
 equally proud of the Mountain Meadow Massacre ? " 
 To which he promptly replied : " The public has 
 never understood our position in that affair. We 
 heard a report that this party had formed an alli- 
 ance with the Indians to murder our people. So 
 we killed them as we believed in self-defense." As 
 we all boarded the train for Geneva, he excused 
 himself from our company, saying he always trav- 
 elled third-class, and remarked, " the only reason 
 I do not travel fourth-class is because there is no 
 fourth-class." 
 
 The Presbyterians, Baptists and Congregational- 
 ists have issued an Indictment of " Ten Keasons 
 Why Christians Cannot Fellowship with the Mor- 
 mon Church," which has been condensed by Dr. J. 
 B. Clark as follows : 
 
 "1. The Mormon Church unchurches all 
 Christians. 
 
 2. The Mormon Church places the Book of 
 Mormon and the Book of Doctrines 
 and Covenants on a par with the 
 Bible, equally inspired and binding. 
 
The Problem of Missions — Foes 195 
 
 3. The Mormon Church makes Joseph Smith 
 
 a Prophet of God, and all who reject 
 him, heretics. 
 
 4. The Mormon Church makes faith in the 
 
 Mormon Priesthood essential to salva- 
 tion, and denial of its authority a 
 damnable sin. 
 
 5. The Mormon Church teaches a doctrine 
 
 of God that is anti-scriptural, dishonor- 
 able to the divine Being and debasing 
 to man. 
 
 6. The Mormon Church teaches that Adam 
 
 is God, and that Jesus Christ is his son 
 by natural generation. 
 
 7. The Mormon Church is polytheistic. It 
 
 teaches the plurality of gods. 
 
 8. The Mormon Church teaches an anti- 
 
 biblical doctrine of salvation. 
 
 9. The Mormon Church believes in polyg- 
 
 amy. The doctrine is to them both 
 sacred and fundamental. 
 
 10. The Mormon Church teaches that God is 
 a polygamist " (Leavening the Nation). 
 
 " If there be any doubt as to the designs of the 
 Mormons, let the testimony of Bishop Lunt be 
 conclusive on that point. He said in 1880 : * Like 
 a grain of mustard seed was the truth planted in 
 Zion ; and it is destined to spread through all the 
 world. Our church has been organized only fifty 
 years, and yet behold its wealth and power. This 
 is our year of jubilee. "We look forward with per- 
 fect confidence to the day when we will hold the 
 
196 At Our Own Door 
 
 reins of United States Government. That is our 
 present temporal aim ; after that, we expect to con- 
 trol the Continent.' When told that such a scheme 
 seemed rather visionary, in view of the fact that 
 Utah cannot gain recognition as a state, the Bishop 
 replied : ' Do not be deceived ; we are looking 
 after that. We do not care for these territorial 
 officials sent out to govern us. They are nobodies 
 here. We do not recognize them, neither do we 
 fear any practical interference by Congress. We 
 intend to have Utah recognized as a State. To- 
 day we hold the balance of political power in 
 Idaho, we rule Utah absolutely, and in a very short 
 time, we will hold the balance of power in Ari- 
 zona and Wyoming ' " (Our Country). 
 
 Socially, Mormonism is a blot upon our country 
 and a disgrace to civilization ; politically it is a 
 menace to any government ; religiously it is a delu- 
 sion, but propagated with the characteristic zeal 
 of the fanatic and bigot. 
 
 It is a well-known fact that they have recently 
 acquired vast tracts of land in northern Mexico 
 and are now undertaking to plant colonies on 
 them. 
 
 If they were content to confine their operations 
 to the West that would be peril enough for our 
 country, but they are invading the East, and oper- 
 ating in all parts of the world, having an aggre- 
 gate membership at present of three hundred 
 thousand. Presbyterians send twenty-two mission- 
 aries to Utah ; whilst the Mormons send 2,000 to 
 every nook and corner of our country ! 
 
The Problem of Missions — Foes 197 
 
 " Mormonism makes practically no proselytes 
 among its gentile neighbors. Its progress is the 
 result of its persistent missionary work. In 1901 
 officers of the Mormon Church claimed that from 
 1,400 to 1,900 emissaries of the church of the 
 Latter Day Saints were in the field. The East is 
 permeated with their influence. They enter a 
 Christian Church in Harlem, New York, and their 
 specious arguments capture members and officers 
 of its Christian Endeavor Society, who forthwith 
 emigrate to Utah ; they call from house to house 
 in Pennsylvania, and even the descendants of 
 Scotch Covenanters are not proof against their 
 wiles ; they penetrate the coves of the Blue Ridge 
 and the AUeghanies, seeming Angels of Light 
 to the secluded inhabitants. They take service in 
 families, the better to carry forward their work. 
 A Mormon butler actually induced sixty servant 
 girls to go to Utah by the promise of husbands 
 and homes. 
 
 " The English manufacturing towns are promising 
 fields. The people are ignorant, superstitious and 
 poor, and the offer of a building lot, or a farm, is 
 very attractive. In the six years beginning with 
 1840, 3,750 Mormon immigrants came from Great 
 Britain alone. No law can prevent this unless the 
 incomers admit that they are polygamists — and 
 that contingency, of course, is carefully guarded 
 against. In fact, the doctrine of polygamy is 
 usually kept in the background, if not denied, 
 until a new convert reaches Utah. 'When we 
 dare,' said an apostle, speaking of missionary work 
 
198 At Our Own Door 
 
 in Japan, ' we preach the doctrine of plural mar- 
 riage.' . . . 
 
 " Three hundred American mormons are reported 
 as attending the dedication of a Mormon Temple 
 in Copenhagen. The Book of Mormon has been 
 translated unto fourteen different languages, in- 
 cluding German, French, Danish, Italian, Dutch, 
 "Welsh, Swedish, Spanish, Hawaiian, Hindostanee, 
 Maori, Samoian and Tahitian" (Under Our Flag). 
 
 One of the great dailies in Atlanta recently an- 
 nounced that there are more Mormon elders at 
 work in Georgia than Presbyterian ministers. The 
 writer was in Baltimore recently and read a call 
 in one of the papers for a meeting of ministers 
 and others interested, to take action in regard to 
 Mormons preaching in that city ; and he stood on 
 the streets of Macon, Ga., and saw the Great Mor- 
 mon Convention, as it adjourned, and watched 
 them as they scattered two by two in all directions 
 to propagate their infamous doctrines. Once they 
 glided stealthily, through rural districts, and fron- 
 tier settlements, but now they preach boldly on the 
 streets of Atlanta and infest our great cities and 
 the very strongholds of our faith. To counteract 
 and thwart them, is one special mission of home 
 missions. The Presbyterians and Congregation- 
 alists are gaining a foothold in Utah by means of 
 schools and missions; but it is too late to send 
 missionaries after the proselytes have been shipped 
 to Utah. The Church must meet these emissaries 
 in every community. Other communities must be 
 preempted against them by being occupied for 
 
The Problem of Missions — Foes 199 
 
 Christ so thoroughly through home missions, that 
 these emissaries will find an uncongenial atmos- 
 phere. 
 
 " Why did not the Mormons effect a settlement 
 in Illinois or Missouri, where they first attempted 
 to found a home for their pernicious doctrine and 
 strange practices ? Because the ground was oc- 
 cupied by a better class of citizens who abhorred 
 the vicious tenents of the Mormons and bitterly 
 opposed their progress. So this anomalous sect 
 sought a home farther west where the foot of the 
 white man had hardly trod. There they created 
 a great commonwealth of ignorant and fanatic 
 people under the absolute control of unscruplous 
 leaders, whose disregard of sound morals is 
 equalled only by their contempt for civil law" 
 (Rev. P. H. Gwinn). 
 
 If it is true as stated by Oliver Wendell Holmes 
 that the training of a child should begin a hun- 
 dred years before it is born, then the time to pre- 
 pare our communities against Mormonism is before 
 they make their appearance on the scene. No 
 method will be effectual till the Church in its home 
 mission operation exceeds the zeal of the false 
 apostles of this unscrupulous sect. If men are 
 zealous for falsehood, why is it Christians are not 
 more zealous for the truth ? 
 
 This chapter devoted to an expose of the enemy 
 has dealt with only two types, as specimens. Time 
 would fail to tell of Theosophists, who under the 
 guise of " Brotherhood of man " is seeking to in- 
 troduce into our country the old effete heathen 
 
200 At Our Own Door 
 
 Buddhism of the East. One of our cities in 
 Georgia contains an organization of Theosophists 
 one hundred strong; and they have established 
 under the leadership of Catherine Tingley an in- 
 stitution in California for the propagation of this 
 form of heathenism in the United States. Time 
 would fail to tell of Spiritualists, Socialists, An- 
 archists, Dowieites and other foes, which antago- 
 nize the church and threaten godliness. 
 
 It is time the church were girding up her loins 
 and preparing to meet the enemy, which is " com- 
 ing in like a flood," if she is not only to capture 
 this country, but hold it for Christ, It is neces- 
 sary to contend not only for the faith, but for our 
 fair land, our home, our civilization and our relig- 
 ion. This is the object of home missions ; to meet 
 the enemy at every point ; to give the Gospel to 
 every community ; to plant a church in every lo- 
 cality ; until every dark valley is illumined, and 
 every mountain-top crimsoned with the glory of 
 the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 It must be home missions for America now / or 
 it may be that foreign missionaries from Japan or 
 New Zealand must come in the coming centuries 
 to tell the story of the Cross in our apostate land. 
 
WOMAN'S WORK— FRIENDS 
 
 Will the noble, self-sacrificing women of the 
 Church of Christ allow the Secretary of the As- 
 sembly's home missions to speak a word to their 
 hearts for the cause of our common Lord ? Will 
 you consider this appeal individually for your sym- 
 pathy, prayers and help in the great cause of home 
 missions ? Will you, if possible, read this chapter 
 at any of the meetings of your Ladies' Societies, 
 and let them consider whether they cannot divide 
 their gifts for the cause of Christ, so as to include 
 the self-denying men who toil in the slums of our 
 cities, among the destitute mountain regions and 
 the scattered multitudes of the West ? Is there 
 not here and there a company of women who 
 could undertake the support of a home missionary 
 for the Indian Territory, Oklahoma or Texas ? 
 
 " Now, there stood by the Cross of Jesus His 
 mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of 
 Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene "—and woman has 
 been standing by His Cause ever since ! 
 
 1. It is a question of great interest to us who 
 love to dwell upon and study each circumstance in 
 the life of Christ, how He was sustained during 
 His public ministry, from His baptism of consecra- 
 tion at its beginning until His baptism of blood at 
 
 201 
 
202 At Our Own Door 
 
 its close. Who supported heaven's Missionary, 
 who not only left His native shore but descended 
 from a throne, laying aside His royal robes and 
 divine glory, to publish the gospel of salvation to 
 the heathen of earth, at the expense of His life ? 
 "Whence came the means that ministered to His 
 wants whilst He " went about doing good," " heal- 
 ing the sick," " raising the dead," " preaching the 
 gospel of the Kingdom," in the synagogues or pri- 
 vate houses, along the public highways of Pales- 
 tine and in populous cities, or in lonely deserts and 
 on mountain heights, exhibiting an unselfish, un- 
 worldly self-sacrificing and consecrated life, which 
 is the type and model of all missionary effort ? 
 
 He could not have been sustained by His family, 
 for the offering of His mother at her purification 
 (Lev. 12 : 8 and Luke 2 : 24), and the occupation 
 of His father, Joseph, the carpenter (Matt. 13 : 55), 
 indicated that the family at Nazareth were not 
 strangers to poverty. It could not have been fur- 
 nished by other members of His family or kindred, 
 " For neither did His brethren believe in Him " 
 (John Y : 5). He had no means of His own, for 
 " though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became 
 poor " (Mark 6 : 3 and 2 Corinthians 8 : 9). It 
 was necessary, by a miracle of knowledge, that He 
 should apply to the fish of the sea to obtain the 
 money for paying the tribute required of each Jew 
 for the Temple service (Matt. 17 : 24-27). 
 
 Alluding to His own poverty, how touchingly 
 He exclaims : " The foxes have holes, and the birds 
 of the air have nests ; but the Son of man hath not 
 
Woman's Work — Friends 203 
 
 where to lay His head " (Matt. 8 : 20, and Luke 
 9 : 58). The disciples could not have ministered 
 unto His maintenance, for although they possessed 
 a treasurer, who " had the bag and bare what was 
 put therein," yet they were but poor fishermen, 
 and as they shared His manner of life and lot, must 
 themselves have been sustained in the same way. 
 
 He worked no miracles to satisfy His wants; 
 the suggestion of Satan : " Command that these 
 stones be made bread," He positively refused. By 
 miracles, on more than one occasion, He supplied 
 many thousands with bread, but never worked a 
 miracle in His own behalf. The only light which 
 can be thrown upon this inquiry, is that which 
 gleams in a few seemingly casual references by the 
 evangelists in their Gospels. In Luke 8 : 2, 3 there 
 occurs the remarkable statement that there were 
 certain women which had been healed of evil spir- 
 its and infirmities : Mary called Magdalene, out of 
 whom went seven devils, and Johanna, the wife of 
 Chusa, Herod's steward, Susanna, and many others 
 which " ministered unto Him of their substance^ 
 Some of the best and most ancient manuscripts in 
 the latter clause read " them " instead of " him," 
 thus including the disciples as objects of their min- 
 istrations as well as Jesus. 
 
 Matthew, in describing the various circumstances 
 and characters which surround the Cross of Christ 
 at His death, mentions (Matt. 2Y : 55) that " many 
 women were there, beholding afar off, which fol- 
 lowed Jesus from Galilee, ininistering unto Him^ 
 among which was Mary Magdalene, etc." Mark, 
 
204 ^^ ^"^ ^^^ Door 
 
 alluding to these women, who beheld Him cruci- 
 fied, explains that they were the same " who also, 
 when He was in Galilee, followed Him and minis- 
 tered unto Him " (Mark 15 : 40, 41). The word in 
 the Greek, translated " ministered," is the one from 
 which is derived our English word "Deacon." 
 From the infallible testimony of the sacred scrip- 
 tures, it is evident that Jesus, the great Itinerant, 
 was sustained in His work by the liberality of a 
 few noble, self-sacrificing, devoted women ! 
 
 It is never said that any man ministered unto 
 Him of his substance. It is true that the Magi 
 brought gifts unto His manger ; that Nicodemus 
 brought a " mixture of myrrh and aloes " to the 
 cross, and that Joseph of Arimathea furnished 
 Him a sepulchre ; but these were at the beginning 
 and the close of His earthly life, and were not to 
 sustain Him in His work. On one occasion it is 
 recorded that having refused to convert stones 
 into bread for his use, " Behold, angels came and 
 ministered unto Him." Angels and women were 
 His ministering spirits! Angels and women are 
 placed in the same category, by the similarity of 
 their work! Oh! woman, what honor has been 
 attained by you! To be classed with angels! 
 Who have ministered unto the Son of God ! 
 " Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached 
 throughout the whole world, this, also, that she 
 hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of 
 her." 
 
 2. By whom supported, and from whence comes 
 the means that send out missionaries of the Cross, 
 
Woman's Work — Friends 205 
 
 both home and foreign, in this age of the Church, 
 who have caught the spirit of their Master, to 
 imitate Him in preaching the Gospel to the 
 heathen of every land ? Through whose liberality 
 comes it to pass, that every sea bears upon its 
 bosom the "ambassador for Christ" ; that the sun 
 shines upon no land where the Gospel is not now 
 being preached ? Who sustains the home mission- 
 ary on the far western plains of Texas, and amid 
 the hardships of the Indian Territory ? The hand 
 and heart of woman are conspicuous in this matter. 
 She who sustained the first missionary out of her 
 substance bears no inferior part in the work of the 
 Church, which characterizes, and is the glory of 
 the twentieth century. The magnitude of her 
 labor cannot be estimated, but only indicated, by 
 the following brief review of the operation of the 
 Ladies' Missionary Societies during the past hun- 
 dred years : 
 
 The dawn of the nineteenth century marked the 
 beginning of the organized work of Ladies' 
 Societies and Missionary effort. In 1800 fourteen 
 women, part of them Congregationalists and part 
 Baptists, organized the "Boston Female Society 
 for Missionary Purposes," and raised $150 the 
 first year. Immediately "Female Mite and Cent 
 Societies " sprang up all over the state. In ten 
 years auxiliaries had so multiplied that the an- 
 nual income amounted to $1,360. In 100 years 
 the society has raised about $175,000. 
 
 In the Presbyterian Church, Ladies' Societies 
 began to appear about 1860, which so multiplied 
 
2o6 At Our Own Door 
 
 that a general conference was held at Chicago in 
 1870; but it was not until 1878 that the Synodical 
 Committees met in the Bible House and organized 
 the " Woman's Executive Committee of Home 
 Missions," which has raised in the aggregate three 
 and a half million dollars. 
 
 Previous to 1850 nearly fifty Ladies' Societies 
 had been organized among the Baptists, raising 
 each year about $12,000. In 1879 at Chicago all 
 these were consolidated under the direction of a 
 general society, which has raised in all $1,500,000. 
 
 It was not until 1880 that the Congregational 
 Societies came together to form the "Woman's 
 Home Missionary Association," but it is estimated 
 that the missionary boxes furnished to needy min- 
 isters by them would amount to two and a half 
 million dollars in value, and their gifts to church 
 erection, etc., were at least a half million dollars ; 
 whilst in their organized capacity these women 
 have contributed one and a half million dollars to 
 home missions. In the last twenty years the 
 ladies of the Keformed Church have given $275,- 
 360. The Woman's Auxiliary of the Episcopal 
 Church began in 1871 and has contributed the 
 enormous sum of five millions of dollars for 
 missions. 
 
 In the Southern Church, there are Ladies' Mis- 
 sionary Societies in almost every prominent church 
 and in many of the weaker, but there is no general 
 organization except " Presbyterial Unions," con- 
 fined to individual presbyteries. These contribute 
 annually nearly $50,000 to foreign missions, and 
 
Woman's Work — Friends 207 
 
 $2,000 to the Assembly's home missions, besides 
 their gifts to local home missions. The aggregate 
 of their gifts can only be estimated, but would 
 probably amount to a million dollars. 
 
 Adding these gifts of Ladies' Societies together, 
 we have the vast sum of fifteen millions of dollars. 
 Millions of other uncounted dollars contributed by 
 women for missions are known only to Him " who 
 seeth in secret and will reward openly." 
 
 Compare the membership of the Southern Pres- 
 byterian Church and the membership of the 
 "Ladies' Missionary Associations " in its bounds, 
 and then compare the respective contributions of 
 each by the year, and some idea will be furnished 
 in regard to the question, who supports the mis- 
 sionaries, at home and abroad. Add to this the 
 other fact, that more than half of the membership 
 of the Church, whose contributions are compared 
 with these " Ladies' Missionary Associations " are 
 themselves women, who contribute a large share 
 of that credited to the Church ; and their work 
 will be even more manifest. Disband these asso- 
 ciations of devoted women, and paralyze the indi- 
 vidual efforts, and estop the gifts of others, much 
 of which is earned by their own personal labor, 
 and what disastrous results would overtake the 
 cause of missions ! Many laborers would be re- 
 called ; many stations abandoned, many souls left 
 to perish, if not the whole work, humanly speak- 
 ing, involved in hopeless confusion and utter 
 ruin. 
 
 What a commentary on the love of woman! 
 
2o8 At Our Own Door 
 
 What a specimen of her self-sacrificing spirit ! 
 What a proof of her devotion to Christ ! 
 
 3. Women have ever been true to Christ. It 
 was no woman who denied Him. Woman never 
 betrayed Him into the hands of His enemies. 
 Though endowed by nature with a shrinking, 
 modest, timid disposition, yet they stood by His 
 cross when the disciples forsook Him and fled, who 
 had boasted that they would die with Him. It is 
 not mere sentiment that woman was " last at the 
 cross and first at the sepulchre." The fact that 
 the evangelist explained that these women at the 
 cross were the same who ministered unto Him, 
 confirms a great principle, that the parties who 
 contribute to an object or cause are the parties 
 to whom it is dear, and who will cling to it with 
 ever-increasing devotion. That object which costs 
 us thought, labor or money, is the object around 
 which our affections will entwine their strongest 
 tendrils. 
 
 Woman had ministered unto Him of her sub- 
 stance, therefore she stood by His cross, followed 
 the body to the sepulchre (Luke 23 : 55), her loving 
 hands assisting in this sad duty, prepared the 
 articles for embalming (Luke 23 : 56), was seen 
 "sitting over against the sepulchre" (Matt. 27: 
 61), first discovered His resurrection (Matt. 28: 
 1-10 ; Mark 16 : 1-8, etc.), and was consequently 
 the first to whom He appeared (Mark 16 : 9). 
 Only one of the twelve was at the crucifixion, not 
 one at the burial, nor is there any evidence on 
 record, or any probability even, that any one of 
 
Woman's Work — Friends 209 
 
 them ever visited the sepulchre till after the an- 
 nouncement of His resurrection. She who was so 
 true to Christ, is it any wonder that she should be 
 true to His cause? The more she labors for 
 Christ, or contributes to His cause, the more her 
 affections are stimulated ; and the more they are 
 stimulated, the greater are her labors of love. 
 By the law of action and reaction, her labor and 
 her love continually augment each other ; her 
 labor giving strength to her love, and her love 
 giving fervor to her labor. 
 
 4. Owing to causes like these, the highest com- 
 mendation or eulogies ever uttered by Christ to 
 the honor of any human being, were spoken by 
 Him in behalf of woman. It was a woman, who, 
 out of the depth of her love, anointed Him with 
 the precious ointment so costly (Mark 14 : 3, 4) as 
 to move the indignation of a man, who only a 
 few days afterwards sold Him to His bitterest 
 enemies, betraying Him with a kiss for a sum of 
 money less than one-third the cost of the oint- 
 ment (Matt. 26 : 14-16). Of this woman on a 
 former occasion He had said, " But one thing is 
 needful ; and Mary hath chosen that good part, 
 that shall not be taken away from her." Now, 
 for this loving act of anointing, she is to receive 
 still greater honor from Christ. From His lips 
 she receives the noblest tribute that could be 
 bestowed on any human being, " She hath done 
 what she could " (Mark 14 : 8). Such a testimonial 
 may never have been deserved by any man. 
 There is, at least, no record that Christ ever said 
 
210 At Our Own Door 
 
 of any man, He hath done what he could. She 
 erected for herself a monument more beautiful 
 than marble, more lasting than adamant or brass, 
 more valuable than ruby or diamond. " Where- 
 soever this Gospel shall be preached throughout 
 the whole world, this also that she hath done shall 
 be spoken of for a memorial of her." 
 
 His commendation of the " poor widow " is His 
 testimony to the liberality of woman. " Jesus sat 
 over against the treasury, and beheld how the peo- 
 ple cast money into the treasury." He is not in- 
 different to the gifts of His people, but beholds 
 and considers the proofs of their love and devo- 
 tion. " And many that were rich cast in much. 
 And there came a certain poor widow, and she 
 threw in two mites, which make a farthing." 
 This was the smallest offering allowed to be made. 
 " And Jesus called His disciples unto Him." He 
 calls their attention specially to her act : " and 
 saith unto them, Yerily I say unto you, that this 
 poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which 
 have cast into the treasury," etc. He weighs the 
 gifts of His people, and makes ability the standard 
 of estimating their value, and gives them credit 
 accordingly (Mark 12 : 41-44). Woman hath this 
 additional honor that she made the most valuable 
 contribution in the estimation of Christ ever made 
 to His treasury. It was not a man that had this 
 honor or praise of Christ. 
 
 "The coats and garments, which Dorcas had 
 made while she was with them," were shown after 
 her death as evidence, that she was a " woman full 
 
Woman's Work — Friends 211 
 
 of good works and alms deeds which she did" 
 (Acts 9 : 36-43). 
 
 In concluding his Epistle to the Romans, it is 
 remarkable how large a proportion of the saluta- 
 tions given and commendations uttered were of 
 women. Of Phoebe, Priscilla, Persis, Tryphena, 
 Trypbosa, Julia, Junia, and Mary, it was variously 
 said by him in approbation : " For she hath been 
 a succorer of many and of myself also ; " " who 
 bestowed much labor on us ; " " which labored 
 much in the Lord," etc. (Rom. 16). 
 
 These references indicate how important was 
 the work of women in the primitive Church. All 
 these numerous and varied commendations of dif- 
 ferent women, and which were not bestowed on 
 men, are not simply accidental, but proofs of their 
 greater devotion and superior merit, and are but 
 specimens of Paul's exhortation, "Render there- 
 fore to all their dues ; tribute to whom tribute is 
 due; honor to whom honor." What a work is 
 being done in the Church of the present day for 
 Christ by the Dorcases, the " poor widows," the 
 Lady Huntingtons, and many others, whose worth 
 is known only to Christ, and whose praises are 
 spoken only by Him ! How many church debts 
 have been paid, how many ministers of the Gospel 
 have been sustained, how many church edifices 
 and chapels have been erected by them! For- 
 tunate is the church that hath a Dorcas, or a pious 
 " poor widow " ! These are more valuable than 
 the rich or noble. As they stood by His cross, so 
 they will not desert His cause at the approach of 
 
212 At Our Own Door 
 
 disaster, but will rally closer around it, water it 
 with their tears, uphold it by their prayers, labor 
 for it with their hands and sustain it by their gifts, 
 till the calamity be overpast. " Then Jesus an- 
 swered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy 
 faith ; be it unto thee even as thou wilt." 
 
 5. It is a slander perpetrated on woman, which 
 charges her with being liberal at the expense of 
 her husband. It is a charge which is quite easily 
 refuted. That one, of whom Jesus said, "She 
 hath done what she could," was an unmarried 
 woman. She, whom Christ announced to His 
 disciples as having made the most liberal contri- 
 bution of all that cast into the treasury, was " a 
 poor widow!''* Of those that "ministered unto 
 Him of their substance," concerning whom any- 
 thing definite is known, most were either widows 
 or unmarried. Not many years ago, a young 
 lady of culture and wealth, to whom the world 
 presented as many attractions as to any, to whom 
 home and friends were as dear as to others, offered 
 herself to the Church as a missionary to a foreign 
 shore. Nor was this all, for many other devoted 
 women have done the same ; hut she went at her 
 own expense. 
 
 In the majority of churches the most liberal con- 
 tributors, those whose gifts are greatest in propor- 
 tion to their ability, are the " poor widows," and 
 those whose offerings are the result of their own 
 exertions. Many pastors and deacons would, 
 doubtless, confirm that statement from their own 
 personal observation, and would be ready to prove 
 
Woman's Work — Friends 213 
 
 it with the facts and figures. It may be, therefore, 
 that in the aggregate " the widows' mites " will 
 amount to a far greater sum than the gifts of the 
 rich, not only in the estimation of Christ, but also 
 in actual figures. If the whole church were but 
 endowed with the faith and love, and consequently 
 the liberality and devotion, of many "a poor 
 widow," it would be comparatively easy to con- 
 quer the world for Christ ! 
 
 6. What is it a Christian woman cannot do ? 
 She may have been a heathen ; but let her heart 
 be won for Christ, and henceforth her efforts in 
 His behalf are untiring. It was reported in the 
 missionary periodicals that not long ago a mission- 
 ary in India was awakened out of sleep by a noise 
 at the door. Upon inquiry he found there a 
 woman, who had been converted from heathenism 
 and was now connected with his church, who said 
 to him, " O sir, I cannot sleep for thinking of these 
 perishing people ; and I have come to ask you to 
 pray with me for their conversion." They knelt 
 there and mingled their entreaties for the heathen 
 around them. In a short space of time they wit- 
 nessed the conversion of that people by the thou- 
 sand, and the Telugus are to-day a Christian 
 nation. 
 
 No sacrifice is too great, no cross too heavy for 
 her to bear, if she but recognize in it the will of 
 her Master. The wife of a missionary stood upon 
 the seashore in India watching the diminishing 
 form of a receding vessel. On board were her 
 children, being taken home to be educated. Know- 
 
214 At Our Own Door 
 
 ing they would be months upon the water, and 
 many years must elapse before she could see them 
 again, perhaps never, with her heart full of emo- 
 tion she exclaimed, " This I do, O Christ, for Thy 
 sake ! " 
 
 It may be that God has not endowed woman 
 with the wisdom of man, nor has He created her 
 with the strength of man, and she is, therefore, 
 designated " the weaker vessel." But He has given 
 her that which is better. He has enriched her with 
 more heart and irresistible influence. Her heart 
 is a match for his wisdom, and her influence can 
 cope with his strength. Although called " the 
 weaker vessel," yet doubtless she far outstrips him 
 in the race. Her opportunity is inferior to His. 
 She is not permitted by the Master to advocate His 
 cause from the pulpit. Her sphere, compared with 
 that of the other sex, is limited. But when the 
 history of redemption is written, and the " books 
 are opened," and the rewards of faithfulness and 
 activity are meted out " according to their works," 
 then, perhaps, it will be revealed that if her oppor- 
 tunities were not so great, yet she accomplished 
 more and performed a more important part in the 
 evangelization of the world than man. 
 
 7. Woman ought to be devoted to Christ. Al- 
 though the human race is under an obligation to 
 Christ which no service, no tears, no zeal, no hom- 
 age, no love can ever cancel, though all were com- 
 bined and prolonged during the ages of eternity, 
 yet woman is under peculiar obligation to Christ 
 and the elevating influence of His religion. If it 
 
Woman's Work — Friends 215 
 
 were permitted to give utterance to the expression, 
 that all human beings, both men and women, are 
 infinitely indebted to Christ, and that the latter class 
 are, if possible, even more indebted to Him, it 
 would be but saying that His religion has brought 
 the same spiritual blessing to woman as to man, 
 and has added even another, in elevating her from 
 the most abject slavery to man to a position of in- 
 fluence and a degree of refinement in some respects 
 at least even superior to his. 
 
 Christ was and ever has been her truest and best 
 friend. His religion civilized man ; it emancipated 
 and ennobled woman. The difference between the 
 position of woman, the slave of man in every 
 heathen land, and her position of honor in every 
 Christian country, is a difference caused by noth- 
 ing else except the religion of Christ. Neither 
 civilization, education, refinement, nor any other 
 system of religion, ever accomplished such a mar- 
 vellous result. The learning or philosophy of a 
 Socrates did not impel him to undertake the task 
 of ameliorating her bondage. Neither the moral 
 culture of a Seneca nor the statesmanship of a 
 Cicero was of any material benefit in alleviating 
 her bitter life. The religion of the most righteous 
 Pharisee did not secure his friendship in her be- 
 half, or induce him to become the champion of her 
 rights ; but, on the contrary, caused him to take 
 the least public street leading to the synagogue, 
 and to gather up the folds of his flowing robe, lest 
 he become contaminated by accidentally touching 
 a woman. The very disciples of Christ were im- 
 
2i6 At Our Own Door 
 
 bued with the same spirit, and marvelled, not so 
 much that " He talked with the woman " of Sa- 
 maria, as that " He talked with a woman ! " (John 
 4 : 27, correct translation.) According to the teach- 
 ing they had received, He was violating one of the 
 tenets of the rabbis. 
 
 His conversation with woman was not the only 
 method by which His friendship was exhibited to- 
 wards her. He did not scorn her touch like the 
 self-righteous Pharisee, but addressed words of 
 comfort to her who touched Him secretly with fear 
 and trembling, " Daughter be of good comfort " 
 (Luke 8 : 48) ; and to the woman that was a sinner, 
 bathing His feet with penitential tears, whose 
 touch moved the scorn and indignation of the 
 Pharisee, He said kindly, " Go in Peace " (Luke 
 T : 50). It was this spirit of Christ once manifested 
 in His person, ever afterwards manifested in His 
 religion, that emancipated woman from the most 
 galling and degraded bondage of man. It is His 
 religion and that alone that caused the difference 
 in the condition of woman among heathen and 
 Christian nations. 
 
 It is not strange, therefore, that she should be 
 the friend of Jesus, His religion. His Church and 
 His cause of missions. The appeal in behalf of 
 evangelization may be made to woman with a 
 double argument and more intense emphasis. 
 One appeal may be based upon the wretched state 
 of her sisters wherever the Gospel's blessed sound 
 has never been heard. She cannot resist the ap- 
 peal of such a peculiar nature, that which calls 
 
Woman's Work — Friends 217 
 
 upon her to redeem her sisters from a twofold 
 bondage of tenfold bitterness, from bondage of 
 slavery and bondage of sin, from bondage to man 
 and from still more degrading and galling bondage 
 to Satan, to relieve her body from the yoke of 
 man and release her soul from the yoke of Satan. 
 Such an argument could not fail to exert a most po- 
 tent influence in arousing many a " Ladies' Mission- 
 ary Association " to even more fervent zeal and in- 
 creased activity, in securing many "a widow's 
 mite " with Christ's blessing upon it and its giver, 
 and in stimulating many a one to win Christ's ap- 
 probation, " She hath done what she could," " Well 
 done, good and faithful servant." 
 
 But the second is a still more powerful appeal 
 even than the first ; one which comes alike to man 
 and woman ; the argument which is hoary with 
 age ; that which prompts the converted heathen 
 to send the Gospel to other heathen: it is the 
 voice of a risen Eedeemer crying in the ears of 
 apostles in an imperative command, thundering 
 through the ages like the voice of mighty 
 waters, heard by the men of this generation 
 "marching" orders which the Church dare not 
 disobey. " All power is given unto Me in heaven 
 and in earth." " Go ye, therefore, into all the 
 world and preach the Gospel to every creature." 
 " And lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end 
 of the world." 
 
XI 
 
 SYNODICAL EVANGELIZATION 
 
 In the year 1881 two gentlemen of Louisville, 
 Kentucky, offered to duplicate any amount of 
 money which might be raised by the Synod of 
 Kentucky to the amount of $5,000 for the prose- 
 cution of evangelistic work in that State. The 
 synod accepted the offer and entered vigorously 
 upon an aggressive effort. This was the begin- 
 ning of a movement in the church known as " Syn- 
 odical Evangelization," which afterwards spread 
 into almost all the synods in some form ; and al- 
 though abandoned by some, is still in operation in at 
 least one-half of the synods at present. The plans 
 of the synods have not been uniform, but there has 
 been a similarity of work ; and the object of this 
 chapter is to give some account of this aggressive 
 effort in the various synods. 
 
 1. Alphabetically, Alabama comes first. In the 
 year 1892 the following action was taken by that 
 synod : 
 
 " Kesolved, That a Committee of fifteen be ap- 
 pointed at this meeting of synod to be known as 
 the Executive Committee of Evangelistic Labor, 
 which shall be authorized to inaugurate a general 
 work of evangelization within the bounds of synod. 
 This Committee shall have power to employ a fi- 
 
 2l8 
 
Synodical Evangelization 219 
 
 nancial agent, to collect money for this purpose in 
 all our churches, to engage evangelists and direct 
 their movements." 
 
 The Committee was appointed and the agent 
 elected. He secured $2,514.05 the first year. Dur- 
 ing that year five evangelists were employed for 
 part of the time and a total of $6,T82.75 was col- 
 lected in cash and subscriptions for the work ; and 
 over two hundred persons received on profession 
 of faith. The synod decided to try to raise $10,000 
 the next year. In 1893 the evangelists held fifty- 
 five protracted services, made 1,464 pastoral visits, 
 preached 1,264 sermons, ordained fourteen elders 
 and thirteen deacons, organized four new churches, 
 witnessed 746 confessions, received 109 members 
 on certificate and 601 on examination ; and 
 $8,272.52 was subscribed and collected for the 
 work. A good deal of colportage work was done 
 also by this Committee this year. In 1894 the 
 Committee had three evangelists. During this 
 year fifty meetings were held, 1,200 sermons 
 preached, 1,700 visits made, 542 members received 
 on examination, and ninety by certificate, and 
 $5,198.10 received in cash and subscription. The 
 reports for the succeeding years remain about the 
 same each year until the work was abandoned in 
 1898. 
 
 The reason for discontinuing is stated in the fol- 
 lowing resolution : " In view of the fact that there 
 has been for several years past very little differ- 
 ence in the amount given by the three presby- 
 teries ; and therefore each presbytery in the di- 
 
220 At Our Own Door 
 
 vision of funds has received back and expended in 
 its own work approximately the same amount that 
 has been raised by itself (the Presbytery of Tusca- 
 loosa excepted this year) ; and that we believe a 
 larger amount can and will be raised by each pres- 
 bytery for its individual work than for the work 
 of the synod as a whole ; and in the strong, and 
 we believe almost universal, desire on the part of 
 the constituents of the different presbyteries to 
 prosecute their own evangelistic work ; therefore, 
 we recommend that the Sy nodical Evangelistic 
 work be discontinued, and that the several pres- 
 byteries be urged to take up this great and press- 
 ing branch of our work and prosecute it to the full 
 extent of their ability." Since 1898 each presby- 
 tery has carried on its own work in accordance 
 with the above resolution. 
 
 2. The Synod of Arkansas adopted its present 
 plan of home mission work in 1899, so that it is 
 now only five years old. The plan is very simple. 
 The Synodical Committee is made up of the chair- 
 men of the Presbyterial Committees, four in num- 
 ber, and a member at large. This Committee 
 meets regularly once a year to plan its work for the 
 succeeding year. A canvas is made once a year for 
 the raising of funds and laying the burden of the 
 work on the churches. The Presbyterial Com- 
 mittees conduct their work as usual and are aided 
 by the Synodical Committee and evangelists. 
 
 About $16,000 have been expended in this work 
 during the period of 1899-1903, employing nine 
 evangelists, whose time aggregated two hundred 
 
Synodical Evangelization 221 
 
 and four months or seventeen years evangelistic 
 work for one man. The number of members added 
 on profession is 928, by letter 887, total 1,815. 
 Manses have been built at eight or more points, 
 valued at about $10,000. Churches have been 
 erected at nine points valued at $25,000. There 
 are now three evangelists at work and two more 
 are wanted. There are twenty-three counties out 
 of seventy-five in which there is not a Presbyterian 
 Church, and twenty-one with only one. But there 
 are many towns and country localities where 
 churches could be organized if the money and 
 men were available. Arkansas offers a fine field of 
 promise for home mission work. 
 
 3. The Synod of Florida as at present consti- 
 tuted came into being December 2, 1891. In the 
 year 1879 the Presbytery of St. Johns, then ex- 
 tending over the whole part of the State east of 
 the Suwanee River, began a good evangelistic 
 work in the lower counties of the State. This 
 work was continued until 1890, and did very much 
 towards making possible the erection of the Synod 
 of Florida in 1891. Two evangelists covered the 
 whole territory, and a third did some work in two 
 of the counties of middle Peninsular Florida. The 
 organization of the churches of Tampa, Plant 
 City, Braidentown, Clear Water, Dade City and 
 Bloomingdale was the main outcome of this evan- 
 gelistic effort. 
 
 At the meeting of synod in 1886 (South Georgia 
 and Florida) a Committee on evangelistic work 
 was appointed, and authorized to raise the sum of 
 
222 At Our Own Door 
 
 $2,500 and begin the work. Two evangelists were 
 employed, who devoted their labors to the Presby- 
 tery of Florida, comprising the territory west of 
 the Suwanee River. The Committee failed to 
 collect the needful funds, so that after a year or 
 two this work had to be abandoned. Some addi- 
 tions were made to the churches already estab- 
 lished, but no new places were occupied and no 
 churches were organized. Beyond this effort noth- 
 ing was ever done by the former Synod of South 
 Georgia and Florida. 
 
 Evangelistic work has often been discussed in 
 the present Synod of Florida. The way never 
 seemed open to attempt anything, however, until 
 the meeting of 1902 in the City of Jacksonville. 
 The synod was of the opinion that " it is now time 
 that we should employ with the aid of the As- 
 sembly's Committee, an evangelist for the work in 
 our State." A special Committee, centrally lo- 
 cated, was appointed, to which was entrusted the 
 raising of the funds and the securing of an evan- 
 gelist. This Committee was "authorized to en- 
 deavor to secure by correspondence or personal 
 solicitation at least $600 from individuals, $400 
 from the churches of the synod and $500 from 
 the Assembly's Committee, to pay the salary 
 of an evangelist for the work in our synod," 
 Nothing as yet has been accomplished in this 
 direction. 
 
 4. In the year 1890 the Synod of Georgia 
 inaugurated within its bounds the w^ork of Sy nod- 
 ical Evangelization, or rather encouraged the effort. 
 
Synodical Evangelization 223 
 
 At first it was largely voluntary work begun 
 by Drs. Barnett, Strickler and Gaines, made 
 possible by the individual gifts of persons and 
 churches in or near Atlanta. Later the synod 
 formally undertook the work by appointing an 
 Executive Committee, composed of the presby- 
 terial chairmen of the presbyteries and several 
 laymen in Atlanta. The Committee met in De- 
 cember and June each year and mapped out the 
 work on a basis of $8,000, but only about $5,000 
 was actually received annually. 
 
 The work had a twofold aspect. It not only 
 employed evangelists but supplemented the salaries 
 of weak groups and sustained them until they be- 
 came self-supporting or were abandoned as hope- 
 less. For about five years the work prospered 
 greatly ; then, owing to the fact that presbyteries 
 began to withdraw or cooperate only partially, it 
 declined till it was abandoned in 1900 and re- 
 manded to each presbytery, to be carried on sepa- 
 rately by presbyteries doing their own evangelistic 
 work. 
 
 During this period of evangelistic effort the 
 Synod of Georgia made its greatest progress, 
 growing from about 10,000 communicants to 15,- 
 000, and from 151 churches to 210. An impetus 
 was given to evangelism which is still felt, and 
 each presbytery is prosecuting an aggressive work 
 with varying degrees of success. 
 
 5. Synodical Evangelization was Dr. Stuart 
 Robinson's last favorite scheme of aggressive 
 church work. It was inaugurated by the Synod of 
 
224 ^^ ^^'' ^^" Door 
 
 Kentucky October, 1881, a few days after his 
 death and chiefly under his influence, and under 
 the immediate inspiration of a telegram from Col. 
 Bennett H. Young and K. S. Veech, Esq., ofi!ering 
 "to double any amount between $2,500 and $5,000, 
 which may be raised by the synod for evangelistic 
 labor within its bounds." This generous offer was 
 accepted with appropriate expressions of gratitude. 
 An Executive Committee was elected to have 
 charge of the work and instructed to apportion 
 $5,000 among the churches. 
 
 It consists at present of the Chairmen of six 
 Presbyterial Committees of home missions who are 
 members ex-officio and fifteen other members who 
 are elected by the synod, and including three 
 elders and two laymen and the chairman, whose 
 duties are largely those of a secretary or superin- 
 tendent, and upon whom chiefly rests the burden 
 of responsibility for the success of the work. 
 This Committee is the agency through which the 
 presbyteries cooperate to their mutual advantage 
 in the prosecution of the work within their re- 
 spective bounds. It always meets a few days after 
 the adjournment of the synod to formulate a 
 schedule of operation for the year, to consider the 
 needs of particular fields, to make such changes in 
 the apportionments and appropriations as may seem 
 proper, and to do whatever else may be necessary 
 for the best interests of this cause within constitu- 
 tional limits. Other meetings are held at stated 
 times and on special occasions. Three presbyteries 
 have always done some mission work within their 
 
Synodical Evangelization 225 
 
 respective bounds in addition to the work done 
 through the Synod's Evangelistic Committee. 
 
 This remarkable movement has been character- 
 ized from its beginning (1) by the earnest advocacy 
 of the foremost men of the synod, with whom it 
 has ever been a favorite cause ; (2) the larger gifts 
 of a number of generous friends ; and (3) by the 
 apportionment among the churches of the amount 
 called for by the synod each year, generally $10,- 
 000. The value of its direct and indirect results 
 has exceeded the largest expectations of its most 
 enthusiastic friends. For twenty-two years there 
 has been an average of forty or more laborers em- 
 ployed, including synodical evangelists, presbyte- 
 rial evangelists, local home missionaries, lay work- 
 ers (chiefly theological students) and consecrated 
 women who conduct Sabbath-schools and catechet- 
 ical classes and distribute Bibles and render other 
 kindred service. A total of $239,000 has been 
 contributed and expended, eighty-five churches 
 have been organized, seventy-five houses of wor- 
 ship have been erected and paid for, 120 Sabbath- 
 schools have been gathered and sustained, twenty- 
 eight counties have been entered for the first time 
 by our church and occupied. The numerical net 
 gain of the synod has been 100 per cent. The in- 
 crease in the number of candidates for the minis- 
 try, the impetus given to educational and other 
 church work, the spirit of esprit de corps awak- 
 ened, the Christian courage enkindled, the enthu- 
 siasm aroused and the influence exerted upon other 
 synods and denominations, stimulating and in- 
 
226 At Our Own Door 
 
 spiring them to undertake greater things for the 
 Master along similar lines, exceed by far the nu- 
 merical increase and territorial expansion. To ap- 
 preciate more fully these results, it must be re- 
 membered that " for forty years there had been no 
 territorial or numerical growth " of Presbyterian- 
 ism in Kentucky, until God used Dr. Robinson's 
 influence and the consecrated thousands of Colonel 
 Young and Mr. Yeech to move the synod of Ken- 
 tucky to branch out for the first time in the his- 
 tory of our Church, in the work of Synodical 
 Evangelization. 
 
 6. The Synod of Louisiana which was erected 
 in November, 1901, covers the State of Louisiana 
 and two counties of Mississippi. The population 
 of this territory is in round numbers 1,500,000. 
 Of these 6,469 are Presbyterians. This member- 
 ship is divided among three presbyteries. 
 
 Home mission work in Louisiana and Eed River 
 Presbyteries is done under the supervision of Pres- 
 byterial Committees, which cooperate with the 
 Synodical Committee, the latter securing and dis- 
 bursing all funds. This Synodical Committee is 
 composed of the chairmen of the Presbyterial 
 Home Mission Committees, and one minister and 
 one elder from the Presbyteries of Red River and 
 Louisiana, and two ministers and one elder from 
 New Orleans Presbytery. It is elected annually 
 by the synod. The executive work of the Synod- 
 ical Committee is done by a sub-committee of five, 
 which meets monthly in New Orleans. 
 
 New Orleans Presbytery supports and directs 
 
Synodical Evangelization 227 
 
 independently her own work and besides contrib- 
 utes a pro rata to the Synodical Committee for use 
 in the other parts of the State. The Home Mission 
 Committee of this presbytery has under its care, 
 in addition to the work usually denominated as 
 home missions, interesting missions to resident 
 Italians, French, Chinese and negroes. 
 
 The home mission work in Louisiana is en- 
 tirely self-supporting. Last year this synod aided 
 forty-six churches within the sjmod, nine in the 
 Presbytery of Louisiana, nineteen in New Orleans 
 Presbytery and eighteen in Eed Eiver Presbytery. 
 
 7. The Synod of Mississippi prosecuted vigor- 
 ously for some years aggressive work, but at Co- 
 lumbus in 1902 the committee was dissolved and 
 Synodical Evangelization abandoned. Correspond- 
 ence failed to obtain the details in reference to the 
 work of this synod ; but its committee was consti- 
 tuted very much as in other synods, and the suc- 
 cess and work done differed very little from the 
 others. 
 
 8. The Synod of Missouri has been in connec- 
 tion with the Assembly twenty-seven years. This 
 time with reference to home missions may be 
 divided into two periods of twelve years each, and 
 a shorter one of three years. During the first 
 twelve years, the home mission work was carried 
 on by the presbyteries independently; but little 
 evangelistic work was done except as pastors found 
 time for it. The additions were not large and the 
 net growth almost nothing, as the figures show. 
 There were in 1874, sixty-eight ministers, 141 
 
228 At Our Own Door 
 
 churches, and 8,000 members; and in 1886, sev- 
 enty-seven ministers, 138 churches, and 8,870 
 members, or a loss of three churches and a gain of 
 nine ministers, and only 870 members in twelve 
 years. There was, however, better organization, 
 and a decided increase in contributions to all 
 causes, both at home and abroad. 
 
 During the next twelve years there was a great 
 change both in methods and results. All the pres- 
 byteries united on one general work under the 
 direction of a Synodical Evangelistic Committee. 
 An average of $5,000 a year was given for special 
 evangelistic effort ; and from one to six evangelists 
 were employed every year, beginning January, 
 1886. The work of these evangelists was greatly 
 blessed; and as the direct result of their labor, 
 during twelve years, there were 4,441 additions on 
 profession of faith, forty-three churches were orga- 
 nized, including three among the negroes, and 
 thirty-eight church buildings erected at a cost of 
 $50,000. Nine counties hitherto unoccupied by 
 either synod were entered ; and the net gain to 
 the synod during this period was twelve ministers, 
 thirty-four churches, and 4,278 members, or an in- 
 crease of fifty per cent. There was also an in- 
 crease in total "benevolences" in 1898 over those 
 of 1886 of $10,961, and in total contributions of 
 $17,382. Best of all the whole synod was greatly 
 encouraged, and a new life was infused into every 
 part and department of the church's work. The 
 past three years have witnessed the same contin- 
 ued prosperity of the work. 
 
Synodical Evangelization 229 
 
 9. In North Carolina, synodical evangelistic 
 work has been in operation since 1889. In each of 
 the eight presbyteries composing the synod there is 
 a Home Mission Committee. The several chairmen 
 constitute the Synodical Committee. The synod 
 elects a superintendent who is ex-ofBcio member 
 of said Committee and chairman of the same. One 
 general evangelist devotes his whole time to hold- 
 ing missions in the mission field. His time is 
 divided among the presbyteries as the needs de- 
 mand by the Synodical Committee ; and the evan- 
 gelist is under the direction of the Presbyterial 
 Committee in whose presbytery he labors. The 
 work is supported by church collections in the 
 month of June and subscriptions taken by the 
 superintendent and cash offerings received by the 
 general evangelist at the close of the meetings held 
 by him. 
 
 The results of the work may be judged by the 
 fact, that fourteen years ago thirty-eight counties 
 out of ninety-seven were without Presbyterian 
 Churches, now only eleven are destitute of Presby- 
 terian Churches. From one to five churches have 
 been organized in the twenty-seven counties opened 
 up. There have been over 10,000 professions of 
 faith under the preaching of the evangelists em- 
 ployed by this Committee, and an average of four 
 churches organized each year. 
 
 At present the Committee has under its super- 
 vision about thirty workers, consisting of evan- 
 gelists, teachers, colporteurs, etc. For all its local 
 work, including presbyterial and synodical, North 
 
230 At Our Own Door 
 
 Carolina raises annually $30,000, the largest 
 amount of any synod in the Assembly. 
 
 10. The Synod of South Carolina was the last 
 of all to undertake synodical evangelization, ob- 
 jection being raised against its constitutionality. 
 Some of the presbyteries have never entered into 
 the work fully, but given only partial assistance. 
 A few years ago a Synodical Committee was ap- 
 pointed whose composition is made up of members 
 from each of the six presbyteries, ordinarily a 
 minister and an elder, but there is one exception 
 to this rule. The chairman is elected by the synod ; 
 and all the members for one year. Meetings of the 
 Committee are held at the call of the chairman, 
 who is also secretary and treasurer. 
 
 At the meeting of synod in 1902 this committee 
 was directed as far as possible to confine its work 
 to evangelistic labor strictly, and leave all susten- 
 tation work to the Presby terial Committees. This 
 has been the endeavor of the Committee during 
 this year. There are four evangelists under the 
 care of the Committee. Six small churches have 
 been supplied by these men. Last year there were 
 eight others, which have now been committed to 
 presbyterial control. The State has over 40,000 
 cotton mill operatives, who represent a population 
 of 100,000 souls. 
 
 The synod has authorized the Committee to raise 
 $5,000 annually for the work ; but of this sum 
 only about $2,000 has been actually raised. There 
 are no financial agents of the Committee. At the 
 meeting of 1903 synod elected a superintendent 
 
Synodical Evangelization 231 
 
 for the State and a general evangelist, looking to a 
 larger aggressive effort. 
 
 11. The Synod of Tennessee as now consti- 
 tuted only came into existence in 1901. Up to that 
 time it had been divided between the Synods of 
 Memphis and Nashville. The present synod at its 
 first meeting elected a Committee of Synodical 
 Missions, but as yet has not succeeded in launch- 
 ing the work. It is still in contemplation. 
 
 12. The Synod of Texas inaugurated its synod- 
 ical mission work in 1898, by adopting the follow- 
 ing resolutions : 
 
 " (a) That synod take up evangelistic work sep- 
 arated from the remaining branches of home mis- 
 sion work, which shall be left to the control of 
 the presbyteries. 
 
 " (h) That in order to this, synod appoint a 
 Committee of eleven, four ministers and seven 
 ruling elders, of which five shall be a quorum, and 
 to which shall be committed the planning of this 
 work. 
 
 " (c) That this Committee be advised to em- 
 ploy as soon as practicable one or more evangel- 
 ists as the funds in hand may justify, and to se- 
 cure such funds the Committee is authorized to 
 solicit subscriptions for this work in our churches, 
 with the consent of pastor and session. 
 
 " (d) It shall be the duty of the synodical evan- 
 gelists to solicit funds, and arouse interest in the 
 work in every proper way, and hold meetings as 
 the occasion may require. 
 
 " {e) That these evangelists shall labor under 
 
232 At Our Own Door 
 
 the joint direction of the Synodical Evangelistic 
 Committee and the Presbyterial Committees of 
 Home Mission, in whose bounds they are labor- 
 ing. 
 
 " (/) That this work shall be carried on inde- 
 pendently of the Assembly's Committee, the funds 
 for this work being received and dispensed by the 
 treasurer of Synod's Evangelistic Committee. 
 
 " ( g) That this work shall not interfere with 
 any home mission work of the presbyteries, now 
 existing or that may hereafter be planned." 
 
 For the first year the Committee could secure an 
 evangelist for only six months, whose report shows 
 that he held meetings in ten churches, preached 
 201 sermons, and travelled 2,000 miles. The work 
 was continued at irregular intervals during 1900, 
 but no results are given. In 1901 the evangelists 
 held " twenty-one meetings, extending from ten to 
 fifteen days each. Members received, 342; chil- 
 dren baptized and dedicated to the Lord, 169 ; and 
 many family altars established. In several churches 
 the members were increased fifty to one hundred 
 per cent. ; church lots were bought and paid for, 
 and six to eight thousand dollars raised for church 
 lots, buildings, pastors' salaries," etc. 
 
 In 1902, eighteen meetings were held ; in which 
 " 263 were received into the church ; sixty-six in- 
 fants were baptized ; and money or pledges aggre- 
 gating about $1,688 received for the work ; 
 $2,641.75 was raised to pay off balance on pastors' 
 salaries and church debts ; many family altars 
 were established ; and in some cases more than 
 
Synodical Evangelization 233 
 
 fifty per cent, added to the church membership." 
 This is a specimen of the reports year by year ; 
 and the work is still continuing. 
 
 13. The evangelistic work of the Synod of 
 Virginia is conducted by a Committee which is 
 elected every year. At first the Committee was 
 widely scattered over the synod, each presbytery 
 being represented. This plan was cumbersome 
 and caused needless delays and expense in the con- 
 duct of the work. The Committee is now small 
 and made up mainly of ministers and elders in one 
 locality, and this meets easily and with little ex- 
 pense on the call of the chairman, who is also 
 treasurer. 
 
 {a) It is charged with the duty of electing the 
 evangelists, of locating them for work, and of 
 raising funds for their support. Only at the re- 
 quest of a presbytery can the Committee send an 
 evangelist into its bounds ; and after assignment 
 to any particular presbytery the work of the evan- 
 gelist is entirely under the control of the home 
 mission Committee of that presbytery, thus pre- 
 serving presbyterial authority. 
 
 (b) The evangelists are always regularly or- 
 dained ministers of the Gospel, and generally they 
 are men who have proven themselves to be con- 
 servative, evangelistic pastors of some years' ex- 
 perience. Some are located at strategic points and 
 kept there as long as it may be necessary for the 
 development of the work, and the forming of self- 
 sustaining charges; others are kept in a presby- 
 tery from year to year according as the needs re- 
 
234 At Our Own Door 
 
 quire, and others pass from one presbytery to 
 another as the general work demands. They open 
 up new fields, settle pastors, visit weak and vacant 
 churches, infuse new life into them, help the pas- 
 tors in home mission churches by protracted 
 services, organize Sunday-schools and raise funds 
 for the evangelistic work, for church erection, for 
 debts on churches, etc. 
 
 (c) The results have been very gratifying in 
 proportion to the funds supplied and the men em- 
 ployed. The following figures give only a glimpse 
 of the work from 1891 to 1902 : Average per year 
 of men at work, six ; members added to the Presby- 
 terian Church on profession, 3,706 ; members added 
 to sister churches, hundreds ; churches organized, 
 thirty -five ; money raised by churches, $49,037.63 • 
 by evangelists $59,637.70, by individuals $10,- 
 231.28 ; the total amount of money raised being 
 $118,906.61. 
 
 14. The following table of comparative statistics 
 exhibits the distribution of Presbyterian strength 
 throughout the Assembly by synods, and reveals at 
 a glance where the greatest destitution lies. Statis- 
 tics of other evangelical churches furnish a painful 
 exhibit of our comparative weakness, in numbers 
 at least. They also show that destitution from a 
 Presbyterian standpoint does not necessarily indi- 
 cate religious destitution. The inability of Presby- 
 terianism to obtain a foothold in many communi- 
 ties often means that it has delayed till the ground 
 is thoroughly occupied by other evangelical 
 churches; and it is often a waste of men and 
 
Synodical Evangelization 
 
 235 
 
 means to attempt to recover lost opportunities and 
 lost ground. Is it not wiser and more Christian to 
 attempt to plant our principles in comparatively 
 unoccupied territory, really destitute not only from 
 our standpoint, but in a religious sense ? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 d 
 
 a^" V 
 
 
 S 
 
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 ti 
 
 SYNOD 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 2§. SS«|5§ 
 
 S 
 
 3 
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 03 
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 03 
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 s2:os,'^S|i^ 
 
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 8 
 
 
 
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 A 
 
 
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 Qj 
 
 w^ 
 
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 JZi 
 
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 Alabama 
 
 1,828,697 
 
 14089 
 
 ~75 
 
 69 
 
 9 
 
 11 
 
 134424 122498 
 
 7874 
 
 3000 
 
 Arkansas 
 
 1,311,564 
 
 5762 
 
 170 
 
 75 
 
 23 
 
 21 
 
 75000 
 
 65000 
 
 3300 
 
 10500 
 
 Florida 
 
 528,542 
 
 4347 
 
 75 
 
 45 
 
 6 
 
 12 
 
 25000 
 
 25000 
 
 3100 
 
 1700 
 
 Georgia 
 
 2,216,331 
 
 16521 
 
 75 
 
 137 
 
 39 
 
 45 
 
 202724 
 
 171542 
 
 8100 
 
 600 
 
 Kentucky 
 
 2,147,174 
 
 20241 
 
 91 
 
 119 
 
 22 
 
 60 
 
 200000 
 
 100000 
 
 4200 
 
 20000 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 1,381,625 
 
 6469 
 
 112 
 
 59 
 
 29 
 
 11 
 
 41000 
 
 30000 
 
 7837 
 
 1000 
 
 Mississippi 
 
 1,551,270 
 
 13182 
 
 50 
 
 75 
 
 6 
 
 13 
 
 99662 
 
 86134 
 
 4001 
 
 6000 
 
 Missouri 
 
 3,106,665 
 
 12818 
 
 227 
 
 114 
 
 19 
 
 21 
 
 175000 
 
 230000 
 
 7118 
 
 43000 
 
 N. Carolina 
 
 1,893,810 
 
 36762 
 
 35 
 
 98 
 
 11 
 
 14 
 
 169436 
 
 141284 
 
 5128 
 
 4000 
 
 S. Carolina 
 
 1,340,316 
 
 20595 
 
 28 
 
 41 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 101077 
 
 77764 
 
 7557 
 
 4000 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 2,020,666 
 
 18984 
 
 84 
 
 99 
 
 42 
 
 17 
 
 137850 
 
 154630 
 
 5700 
 
 40000 
 
 Texas 
 
 3,048,710 
 
 21213 
 
 120 
 
 243 
 
 93 
 
 68 
 
 198377 
 
 200000 
 
 5000 
 
 40000 
 
 Virginia 
 
 4,003,034 
 
 44149 
 
 60 
 
 139 
 
 32 
 
 40 
 
 122138 
 
 176200 
 
 39000 
 
 30000 
 
 (Virginia includes three states: Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.) 
 
 A study of these figures reveals some startling 
 facts. The two Carolinas lead all the synods in 
 the percentage of Presbyterians to the white popu- 
 lation ; and yet the statistics of 1902 compared 
 with 1903 show an actual decrease of the church 
 in South Carolina ; whilst North Carolina having 
 the largest Presbyterian population of any State in 
 the Assembly, with its splendid synodical work, 
 made only a small net gain in membership. Mis- 
 sissippi and Virginia stand next in Presbyterian 
 strength, in proportion to white population ; and 
 yet they barely held their own during the past 
 year. Alabama, Florida and Georgia stand side 
 
236 At Our Own Door 
 
 by side, each having one Presbyterian to every 
 seventy-five of white population ; and yet Georgia, 
 separated from South Carolina by a river only, has 
 thirty-nine counties without a Presbyterian Church 
 and forty-five with only one ; so that practically 
 eighty-four of its 137 counties are destitute of 
 Presbyterianism, making it one of the weakest in 
 the whole Assembly. Kentucky with its splendid 
 well-organized sy nodical work actually lost ground 
 the past year. Missouri has the appearance of 
 being weakest, having only one Presbyterian to 
 every 227 of white population ; but if we take ac. 
 count of the Northern Presbyterians, it would con- 
 tain about one in every one hundred, which would 
 lift it above some of the others. Texas shows only 
 one in 120, and Arkansas one in 170, which makes 
 them in reality the most destitute from a Presby. 
 terian standpoint, and justifies the action of the 
 Assembly in selecting them as its great home mis- 
 sion field, discriminating in their favor in the dis- 
 tribution of home mission funds. Being new terri- 
 tory in the West, towards which the tide of popu- 
 lation is pouring, renders them not only the needi- 
 est, but at the same time the most hopeful, field 
 for the planting and propagating of Presbyterian- 
 ism. 
 
 15. The threefold division of home missions 
 into Local, Synodical and General, is rather un- 
 fortunate, and somewhat confusing to the rank 
 and file of the church. It would be far wiser, and 
 more efiicient work would be done, if there were 
 only two departments : Local and General Assem- 
 
Synodical Evangelization 237 
 
 bly's Home Missions. This would not in the 
 slightest interfere with synodical work ; but on the 
 contrary, give it greater power by reason of the 
 concentration of effort and forces. It seems a 
 waste of energy and a needless multiplication of 
 machinery to have presbyterial and synodical mis- 
 sions both undertaking to occupy the same terri- 
 tory. "Why not unite all the local forces of the 
 Synod in one great synodical evangelistic effort ? 
 If the presbyteries of a synod can combine without 
 friction and to their mutual advantage in partial 
 evangelistic work, why not in the whole work of 
 the synod ? In union there is strength. 
 
 This would enable every synod to have its super- 
 intendent of missions ; every presbytery would be 
 represented on the Committee, and have absolute 
 control of the operations within its own bounds. 
 It would give tremendous potency and point to the 
 meetings of synods. In all probability it would 
 double the efficiency and aggressiveness of the 
 Church. Might it not supply the " Missing Link," 
 which would make our system more successful in 
 its operation ? In cases where the presbyteries of 
 a synod decline to unite in such synodical effort, 
 each could do its own work separately, and in that 
 synod there could be presbyterial local home mis- 
 sions exclusively. All local home missions in a 
 synod would then be either presbyterial exclusively 
 or synodical exclusively, as determined by them- 
 selves. It would prevent friction, confusion, waste 
 of forces and the multiplication of machinery. 
 In either case, whether the plan of local home 
 
238 At Our Own Door 
 
 missions in a synod is presbyterial or synodical, 
 the Assembly's Committee would be able to sup- 
 plement the efforts of the weaker portions of the 
 church. 
 
 All parts of the work of home missions would 
 be wisely articulated, and well adjusted to each 
 other, and as a consequence move harmoniously 
 towards one end. Waste force, now creating fric- 
 tion and retarding the progress of the whole, 
 would be utilized in advancing the Kingdom of 
 Christ. Presbyterianism would be no longer " a 
 house divided against itself." Its lack of aggres- 
 siveness would no longer be a reproach. Every 
 thoughtful mind recognizes that there is something 
 lacking. Every earnest soul is longing and pray- 
 ing for the remedy. Is not the suggestion worthy 
 of the thoughtful and prayerful consideration of 
 our beloved Church ? 
 
XII 
 
 ARGUMENT AND APPEAL 
 
 " The insight of genius," said Thomas Carlyle, 
 " consists in cooperation with the world's real tend- 
 ency." The instinct, \vhich can read the signs of 
 the times in the commercial world and forecast the 
 future, spells success. The trend of the age to- 
 wards great railroad combinations, billion dollar 
 steel trusts, etc., foreseen, enabled the keen-eyed 
 financier to use the world's current to tide him 
 over the shallows in which others floundered, 
 whilst it lifted him into the throne of commercial 
 power — a real king, greater than the Monarch of 
 Britain or the Czar of Russia. In like manner the 
 Christian who shall command the greatest success 
 in advancing the kingdom of God on earth must 
 study to discover which way God is moving and 
 " keep step with Jehovah." It is what some one 
 has termed, " conspiring with God." 
 
 Facts are the fingers of God in history pointing 
 the direction. Facts are the voice of God in prov- 
 idence, like the pillar of cloud by day and of fire 
 by night, indicating the line of march. Facts are 
 the steps of God in the Church, leading the way. 
 The most powerful argument for home missions is 
 the logic of facts. No stronger argument for 
 home missions has been attempted in this volume 
 
 239 
 
240 At Our Own Door 
 
 than the presentation of facts. They speak for 
 themselves and for God. This closing chapter is in- 
 tended to give them a voice, that the facts them- 
 selves may appeal to the Church in the interest of 
 a deep, widespread, powerful revival of home mis- 
 sions, like " a rushing mighty wind," as at Pente- 
 cost. 
 
 1. World-wide evangelism in obedience to the 
 " Marching Orders " of Christ demands the ac- 
 centuation of home missions Jirst in " the order of 
 the March." " That repentance and remission of 
 sins should be preached in His name among all na- 
 tions, heginning at Jerusalem.''^ 
 
 " Save America to save the world," is both good 
 philosophy and true Christianity. "As goes 
 America, so goes the world," has a deeper signifi- 
 cance to-day, owing to our international influence, 
 than when uttered by Austin Phelps seventeen 
 years ago. The greatest obstacle to foreign mis- 
 sions is not pagan superstition nor heathen philos- 
 ophy. So called " Christian " England and Amer- 
 ica, not only give the gospel to the heathen, but are 
 themselves the greatest hindrance to its success. 
 England sends more opium than missionaries to 
 China. Christian people saw the finger of God in 
 the acquisition of the Philippines by our " Chris- 
 tian Nation." " We double freight our vessels to 
 Africa and the Philippines with missionaries on 
 deck and rum in the hold. What message can the 
 missionary bring as he steps from the gangway, that 
 is not paralyzed by the cargo rolled out on the 
 wharf ? " We supply Japan with Bibles and the 
 
Argument and Appeal 241 
 
 results of the higher criticism, with the gospel of 
 Christ and " the gospel of dirt " as promulgated 
 by Huxley and the gospel of doubt as inculcated 
 by Ingersoll. Missionaries among the heathen 
 dread nothing so much as our ungodly soldiers, 
 merchants, tourists, etc. The Japan student who 
 upon landing in San Francisco fell upon his knees 
 and thanked God that he was at last upon the soil 
 of " Christian " America was rudely awakened 
 from his dream of ideal Christianity by the jeers 
 and ill treatment of the rabble, " certain lewd fel- 
 lows of the baser sort." 
 
 " "William Kincaid, after years of devotion to 
 home and foreign missions, declares that 'the 
 planting and nurturing of churches in America is 
 our first and best work for the world / our first 
 work because all other Christian activities grow 
 from and depend upon this ; our best work because 
 in no other place on earth can we obtain so mighty a 
 purchase for the elevation of mankind.' * Should 
 America fail,' declares Professor Park, ' the world 
 will fail.'' And if further testimony were needed 
 to mark the far-reaching influence of home mis- 
 sions in America upon the fate of the nations, the 
 stirring words of Professor Phelps, addressed to 
 the Home Missionary Convention at Chicago in 
 1881 might be added : 
 
 " ' The evangelizing of America is the work of an 
 emergency. That emergency is not paralleled by 
 the spiritual conditions and prospects of any other 
 country on the globe. The element of time must 
 be the controlling one in a wise policy for its con- 
 
242 At Our Own Door 
 
 version, and for the use of it as an evangelizing 
 power over the nations. That which is to be done 
 here must be done soon. If this continent is to be 
 saved for Christ, and if the immeasurable power 
 of its resources and its prestige is to be insured to 
 the cause of the wotWs conversion, the critical 
 bulk of the work must be done now. The decisive 
 blows of conquest must be struck now. For rea- 
 sons of exigency equally imperative with those 
 which crowded Jerusalem upon the attention of 
 the Apostolic pioneers, this country stands first on 
 the roll of evangelical enterprise to-day. This as 
 it seems to me, is just the difference to-day be- 
 tween the Oriental and the Occidental nations, as 
 related to the conversion of both to Christ. The 
 nations whose conversion is the most pressing ne- 
 cessity of the world to-day are the Occidental na- 
 tions. Those whose speedy conversion is most vital 
 to the conversion of the rest, are the nations of the 
 Occident. The pioneer stock of mind must be the 
 Occidental stock. The pioneer races must be the 
 western races. And of all the western races, who 
 that can read skillfully the Providence of God, or 
 can read it at all, can hesitate in affirming that the 
 signs of divine decree point to this land of ours, as 
 the one which is fast gathering to itself the races 
 which must take the lead in the final conflict of 
 Christianity for the possession of the world. 
 Ours is the elect nation for the Ages to come. 
 We are the chosen people. Ours are the promises, 
 promises great and sure, because the emergency is 
 great. We cannot afford to wait. If we cannot, 
 
Argument and Appeal 243 
 
 the world cannot afford to wait. The plans of 
 God will not wait. These plans seem to have 
 brought us to one of the closing stages in this 
 world's career, in which we can no longer drift 
 with safety to our destiny. We are shut up to a 
 perilous alternative. Immeasurable opportunities 
 surround and overshadow us. Such, as I read it, 
 is the central fact in the philosophy of American 
 home missions ' " (Leavening the Nation). 
 
 " The speedy evangelization of the home field is 
 the quickest way to large success in the foreign 
 field. According to present methods of propagat- 
 ing the Gospel abroad the home church is the base 
 of supplies. Hence, there must be enlargement 
 at home or shrinkage abroad. ' The greatest need 
 of the foreign field is a revised, reconsecrated, and 
 unified home church,' said Ex-President Harrison 
 in his classic address on missions before the Ecu- 
 menical Missionary Conference in ]S"ew York. 
 The right sort of home missionary work quickens 
 the energies of God's people, unites the Church, 
 and begets a world-wide missionary zeal. 
 
 "Let us apply this principle in the concrete. 
 Nine years ago the first Presbyterian church at 
 Newport News, Virginia, had a membership of 
 thirty-four. The pastor was then aided by the 
 Home Mission Committee. In less than a year 
 the church assumed self-support. Since that time 
 it has sent off a colony, the Second Presbyterian 
 church, with a membership of 100, and is at pres- 
 ent maintaining a flourishing mission. The con- 
 gregation has built three houses of worship, one 
 
244 At Our Own Door 
 
 of them a beautiful building handsomely equipped 
 at a cost of $31,000. The church has risen from 
 the weakest of any denomination in the city to 
 the strongest, and is contributing liberally to all 
 the causes of beneficence, notably to foreign mis- 
 sions " (Rev. P. H. Gwinn). 
 
 Until quite recently the church at Moultrie, Ga., 
 was aided from the treasury of home missions. 
 ISTow it supports its pastor all his time, is exceeded 
 by no church in the State in proportion to mem- 
 bership in gifts to home missions, and supports its 
 own missionary in the Congo Free State, and it is 
 now supporting its own missionary in the West. 
 Illustrations of this kind might be multiplied in- 
 definitely and in any direction. The strong 
 churches of Texas, Texarkana, Sherman, Dallas, 
 etc., of home missionary origin, now have each 
 its own representative in the foreign field. The 
 surest and quickest method of winning Japan, 
 China, India, Africa and the Isles of the sea for 
 Christ is " Beginning at Jerusalem " — by winning 
 America; for, said Matthew Arnold, "America 
 holds the future." 
 
 2. Presbyterianism lays the obligation of home 
 missions upon every individual member of our 
 Church, whose very constitution and history make 
 it a missionary society for the propagation of the 
 faith. The Presbyterian church in the United 
 States had its origin in home missions, the colonies 
 being at that time a part of the Mother Country, 
 and were sustained and developed by men and 
 means liberally supplied by the Mother Churches 
 
Argument and Appeal 245 
 
 of Scotland and Ireland for the benefit of their 
 children scattered in the forests of America. The 
 very existence of the Presbyterian Church in this 
 country is Itself a noble monument to home mis- 
 sions. The first act of its organized life in the 
 meeting of the first General Assembly was to 
 launch its home missionary enterprise, which has 
 since reached to every section of our broad land. 
 It has been characterized in all of its varied his- 
 tory by the home mission spirit. Some of the 
 brightest chapters in all the annals of its existence 
 are the records of its home mission efforts. Its 
 children yet unborn will feel a pardonable pride 
 in the work of their fathers among the Indians, as 
 they transmuted, by the operation of divine grace 
 through the agency of home missions, thousands 
 of savages into Christian people and children of 
 God. Presbyterians have the honor of being the 
 pioneers in Kew Mexico, Utah, Alaska and many 
 sections of the great West. According to Secre- 
 tary Thompson, nine-tenths of the Presbyterian 
 churches beyond the Mississippi had their origin in 
 and were sustained by home missions. The great 
 Synod of Texas is a standing illustration of " a 
 handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the 
 mountain," whose " fruit shall shake like Lebanon." 
 "Presbyterian missions in particular have 
 yielded and are yielding to-day rich spiritual divi- 
 dends. Presbyterianism in a half century has 
 organized and developed 2,000 churches beyond 
 the Mississippi River. In its first century's work 
 it organized or aided 6,500 churches. Place the 
 
246 At Our Own Door 
 
 average year's service in these 6,500 churches at 
 fifty years, — set the average number of souls 
 saved in each one at but ten a year, and the stu- 
 pendous result is 3,250,000 saved souls, as a result 
 of Presbyterian home missions ! If one soul is 
 worth more than the whole world who can ask if 
 Presbyterian missions pay, in view of 3,250,000 
 souls saved in a century ! Then add to this the 
 value of missions along other spiritual lines, — the 
 strengthening of the tempted, the comforting of 
 the afflicted, the supporting of the dying, the 
 transformation of homes, the redemption of com- 
 munities and the uplifting of entire peoples and 
 populations " (Dr. Sherman Doyle). 
 
 Home missions are the hope of the future. If 
 the Presbyterian Church is to grow with the 
 growth of this mavellously developing country ; if 
 her glorious heritage of the past is to be the 
 prophecy of a more glorious future ; if her sceptre 
 of influence among the nations is not to depart to 
 some other branch of the visible church ; if she is 
 to meet her obligations to the " aliens from the 
 commonwealth of Israel " in her midst — 9,000,000 
 negroes, 12,000,000 foreigners, 2,000,000 mountain- 
 eers, 300,000 Mexicans, 300,000 Mormons, 250,000 
 Indians, and 12,000,000 adults in the United States 
 " without Christ and without God in the world " ; 
 — if she is to fulfill her mission amongst men and 
 meet the expectations of the Master; then must 
 she project her home mission work on a still 
 broader basis, and gird her loins for a still more 
 strenuous effort. If John Wesley recognized that 
 
Argument and Appeal 247 
 
 "the world is my parish," can the Presbyterian 
 Church be content with the domain of less extent ? 
 Every loyal child of the church who would see her 
 come into possession of her heritage must aid in 
 her home mission effort of winning America, that 
 she may attain her destiny "in the regions be- 
 yond." 
 
 3. Self-interest necessitates home missions. 
 Not simply the salvation of myriads of the lost, 
 but the very salvation of the church itself depends 
 upon her home mission zeal. The church must 
 evangelize the masses or they will paganize her 
 children in the coming generation. The moun- 
 taineers are an object lesson of warning, children 
 of the Covenanters and of the Scotch-Irish. The 
 slums of our cities are the degenerate children of 
 the church largely, whose ancestors gradually 
 drifted from the church, by the way of neglect, 
 into the cesspool of debauchery and criminality. 
 Only by evangelizing the masses can our country 
 be saved from the fate of other degenerate nations. 
 Dr. C. L. Thompson lifts his voice in eloquent 
 warning : 
 
 " Our Gospel is yet little more than a voice cry- 
 ing in the wilderness. It has not evangelized the 
 people. We punctuate our creeds with stately 
 church spires in great cities, but even under their 
 shadow the people die friendless and unregarded. 
 By all the misery and wickedness, by all the doubt 
 and despair of our congested population, we are 
 not a Christian people. By the infidelity of a 
 thousand new communities in which the Church is 
 
248 At Our Own Door 
 
 but a feeble protest against conditions she has not 
 changed — we are not a Christian people. By all 
 the sodden sin and cruel crimes of mining camps, 
 by all the fever of mammon, regardless of whom 
 it consumes — in gay capitals, or lonely hamlets, or 
 moving tents — we are not a Christian people. By 
 all the menace of incoming tides of population, east 
 or west, infidel or pagan — we are not a Christian 
 people. 
 
 " And a Christian people we must become, if we 
 would not add one more to the wrecks of republics 
 along the path of history. To this result there is 
 only one road. Christian missions must do the 
 work they have so splendidly outlined. . . . 
 The missionary must go into the slums of the city 
 and stay there till they brighten into Christian 
 homes. He must camp on the trail of the advanc- 
 ing line of every population till the new settle- 
 ments become the abode of virtue and religion." 
 
 For a quarter of a century men who forecast the 
 future of our country have been calling to the 
 church to prepare for the great spiritual conflict, 
 The Battle of Arma-Geddon, the gigantic struggle 
 for this country by the forces of good and evil, in 
 the battle-ground of the West. Such graphic de- 
 scription as that of Dr. Thompson is enough to stir 
 to fever heat the most cold blooded, careless Gallio, 
 who " cared for none of those things " : 
 
 " When Seward said the time was coming when 
 our Pacific coast would be the theatre of the 
 world's greatest events, we eastern people smiled 
 in our serene and satisfied conservatism. We were 
 
Argument and Appeal 249 
 
 the people, and wisdom was in danger of dying 
 with us. But something has happened. It re- 
 quires no prophet to forecast the time when the 
 Pacific will be the world's central sea. One-third 
 of the human family already throngs its coasts, and 
 they are getting ready for great affairs. The two 
 dominant lines of the human march approach each 
 other on that sea. The Anglo-Saxon is leaving the 
 ancestral home. Most of them have pitched their 
 tents on American shores. The old world's camps 
 are breaking up, and more are coming. They are 
 moving westward, drawn by the events of Seward's 
 prophecy. From the other side another column is 
 moving eastward ; the soon-to-be second race of all 
 races : the Slav, slow, steady, sturdy ; moving like 
 a bear, clumsily rolling over the steppes of Asia. 
 He approaches the Pacific. China gasps, Japan 
 doubles her artillery, and America may well 
 ponder ! "What does it all portend ? Shall these 
 two great columns meet? The one armored 
 with new ideas — the other heavy with the impact 
 of the old. And if they meet — what then ? If 
 our lines bend upwards along Aleutian Islands, 
 those broken piers of immemorial history, if the 
 Slavic lines gather across the narrow straits, what 
 then but the world's Armageddon and the final 
 conflict between liberty and tyranny, Christianity 
 and superstition ? " 
 
 The shock of battle has not yet come. All 
 parties are rallying and marshalling their forces. 
 They are now engaged in maneuvring for position 
 and occupying strategic points. The wise general 
 
250 At Our Own Door 
 
 will not neglect to occupy the most favorable van- 
 tage ground. If the church shall win in this great 
 campaign in the West, she must occupy the great 
 centres of population. Delay is dangerous. Some 
 places can wait — others cannot! "With many, 
 " now is the accepted time " ; " now is the day of 
 salvation." For the Presbyterian Church it is just 
 the nick of time in the new country of the West. 
 The struggle for Cemetery Kidge decided the fate 
 of the battle of Gettysburg. The battle of Gettys- 
 burg decided the Pennsylvania campaign. The 
 Pennsylvania campaign decided the fate of the 
 Confederacy. So in a certain sense, the struggle 
 for Cemetery Ridge decided the fate of the Con- 
 federacy ! In the West it is now " the struggle 
 for Cemetery Ridge" with us in many places. 
 Many of these new towns springing up will be the 
 strategic points of the future. If we lose them, 
 we lose the Territory ; if we lay our hand on them, 
 we can hold the country for Christ and the Pres- 
 byterian Church. No other such opportunity will 
 come to the church in the twentieth century ! It 
 is the crisis of her opportunity ! If lost, it goes 
 by forever and ever ! 
 
 The Presbyterian Church of the South is spe- 
 cially interested in the battle of the West. She 
 must help to win the conflict for her own salvation. 
 The North is already overcrowded. The West is 
 rapidly filling. The time is coming when the pub- 
 lic lands of the West will be exhausted, and the 
 streams of population must flow southward. What 
 is to be the character of that coming tide of peo- 
 
Argument and Appeal 251 
 
 pies ? Will it be Christian or godless ? It is a 
 question of tremendous import to the South ! The 
 unparalleled development of the South is attract- 
 ing the attention of the world, attracting capital, 
 attracting business enterprise, attracting popula- 
 tion. Leaders of thought in the Church begin to 
 foresee the great crisis of the South, as indicated 
 in the language of Rev. P. H. Gwinn : " South- 
 ward the star of Empire moves to-day, — the Em- 
 pire of capital. The annual export trade of the 
 South is greater by $170,000,000 than it was a dec- 
 ade ago. Manufacturers follow in the wake of 
 a growing foreign commerce. In 1899, New Eng- 
 land increased her spindles three and a-half per 
 cent., while the South increased thirty-four per cent. 
 . . . To-day there is, perhaps, no place in the 
 world where God's people may look for quicker and 
 better returns from their investments than within 
 the territory covered by the Southern General As- 
 sembly. What if our membership were increased 
 during the next decade to 1,000,000 ; and what if 
 she average one dollar per member to the cause of 
 foreign missions ? How it would speed the Gospel 
 in all lands. Ought not such splendid results to 
 be achieved at whatever cost ? Will not the Al- 
 mighty hold our Church responsible for as 
 much ? " 
 
 The Southern Church was financially wrecked 
 by the war, and for a whole generation was en- 
 gaged in building up her dismantled homes and 
 broken fortunes, greatly crippling and embarrass- 
 ing her missionary enterprises. Now the great 
 
252 At Our Own Door 
 
 struggle with abject poverty is ended. The church 
 of the South is growing rich. Will she use her 
 wealth for selfish indulgence and display ? Or 
 will she recognize her obligations to Christ ? Will 
 she rise to the height of the occasion ? Will she 
 meet the great crisis in her history ? 
 
 4. There remains yet one more consideration, 
 the greatest of appeals. The appeal of humanity, 
 the claims of the destitute, the " Macedonian cry " 
 of the dying, are exceeded in pathos and power 
 only by the Cross of Christ. If " the life and death 
 of Christ are the model and type of all missionary 
 effort," there can be, and ought not to be, any 
 stronger appeal to the church than the Cross. Yet 
 Christian men spend so much more for cigars and 
 beverages than for missions, that Bayley says, " A 
 deified appetite outranks a crucified Christ " in His 
 own blood bought Church. Church of Christ, will 
 ye bear longer the reproach ? Will ye not tarry 
 at the throne of Grace till ye be filled with the 
 Spirit of Christ ? 
 
 " Must Jesus bear the Cross alone, 
 And all the world go free? " 
 
 The Church of the Redeemer now needs, as never 
 before in her history, men to make sacrifices for 
 Christ, that they may be able to furnish the means 
 for giving the Gospel to those " scattered abroad 
 as sheep having no Shepherd." The Church needs 
 consecrated ministers who are willing to make the 
 sacrifice of themselves for Christ, leaving comfort- 
 
Argument and Appeal 253 
 
 able places for the sake of the unevangelized 
 masses. 
 
 In one of his campaigns, at a critical moment in 
 battle, Napoleon called for a hundred men to lead 
 a forlorn hope, explaining that it meant certain 
 death to any who volunteered. " Now," said he, 
 " let any man who is willing to die for the emperor 
 step out of ranks," and the whole regiment leaped 
 forward as one man and rang their muskets at his 
 feet. If men are willing to die for a man, if men 
 are willing to sacrifice life itself for an emperor, 
 are there not those in the blood bought Church of 
 Christ who are willing to make some great sacri- 
 fice for Christ and the Church ? 
 
 Gathered around the crucified, but now risen 
 Christ, the eleven disciples had given them the 
 most powerful object lesson, the most irresistible 
 appeal of history : 
 
 "And when He had thus spoken. He showed 
 them His hands and His feet." Those hands were 
 pierced hands, and those feet were pierced feet ! 
 It was an object lesson exhibiting the cost of re- 
 demption. It was an appeal for sacrifice and serv- 
 ice, based upon the Cross. No wonder they went 
 from the presence of those pierced hands and feet, 
 and " turned the world upside down." Would to 
 God the Church could see those pierced hands and 
 feet to-day, mutely, passionately, poAverfully, ap- 
 pealing for sacrifice and service, seemingly saying : 
 
 " I gave, I gave My life for thee, 
 My precious blood I shed, 
 What hast thou given for Me? " 
 
Index 
 
 A3IEEICA, World's Last Great 
 
 Problem, 186 
 Arizona, 183 
 Armageddon, 249 
 Army Chaplains, 27 
 Authorship Demanded, 5 
 
 " Back to Christ," 78 
 Bacon, Rev. Silas, quoted, 32 
 " Bitter Cry of Outcast Lon- 
 don," quoted, 69 
 Board of Home Missions Cre- 
 ated, 23 
 Books Consulted, 5, 6 
 Broughton, Dr. L. G., Institu- 
 tional Church, 84 
 
 Candidates for the Ministry, 
 
 decrease in, 55 
 Carlyle, Thomas, quoted, 239 
 "Central Presbyterian," 
 
 quoted, 65 
 Chattanooga Conference, 5 
 Chicago, Cosmopolitan popula- 
 tion, 66 
 Chicago, Degradation of, 67 
 Christ, " His Hands and His 
 
 feet," 253 
 Christian Endeavor World, The, 
 
 quoted, 101 
 Christian Herald, quoted, 66 
 Christian Science craze, 187 
 Christian Science pantheism re- 
 vived, 188 
 Christian Science propaganda, 
 
 188 
 Church accredited. The, 109 
 Church erection, 53 
 Churches, earliest, 14 
 City, Christ weeping over, 63 
 
 City, congestion of, peril to self, 
 
 74 
 City, increase in population, 64 
 City, increase accounted for, 68 
 City, increase multiplies wick- 
 edness, 72 
 City, increase remedy for, 69 
 City Missions, explanation of 
 
 failure of, 81 
 City Missions, Presbyterian, 87 
 City Missions, problem of, 77 
 City, the peril of Commercial- 
 ism, 73 
 Clark, Dr. J. B., quoted, 175, 
 
 179, 182 
 Clark, Jas. Freeman, quoted, 75 
 Clay, Henry, quoted, 161 
 Cleveland, Ex-President, quot- 
 ed, 103 
 Cleveland, Dr. T. P., elected 
 
 Secretary ad interim, 37 
 Converse, Dr. F. B., quoted, 
 
 105 
 Craig, Dr. J. N., elected Secre- 
 tary, 36 
 Craig, Dr. J. N., tragic death, 
 
 37 
 Craig, Dr. J. N., quoted, 27 
 
 Dabney, President, quoted, 99 
 Davis, Eev. E. Mac., quoted, 
 
 97 
 Davis, Richard Harding, quoted, 
 
 174 
 Domestic Missions' Advisory 
 
 Committee, 26 
 Domestic Missions' Executive 
 
 Committee, 27 
 Doyle, Dr. Sherman H., quoted, 
 
 104, 180, 191, 192, 246 
 
 254 
 
Index 
 
 255 
 
 Durant, Presbyterian College 
 
 of, 152 
 Dutch, First Church of in U. S., 
 
 13 
 
 Education, value of Christian, 
 
 153 
 Eliot, Apostle to Indians, 145 
 
 Foes of the Chuech Christian 
 
 Science, 187 
 Foes of Mohammedanism, 185 
 Foea of Mormonism, 189 
 Foes, remedy for. Home Mis- 
 sions, 200 
 Foes of Theosophists, 189 
 Forward Movement, result of, 
 
 59 
 France, failure of, 12 
 Friends — women, 201 
 
 Genebal ASSE3IBLY organized, 
 
 15 
 Gibbons, Mrs. Bella McCallum, 
 
 quoted, 149 
 Graybill, Kev. A. T., quoted, 
 
 134 
 Guernsey, Miss Alice, quoted, 
 
 101 
 Guerrant, Dr. E. O., quoted, 
 
 102 
 Gwinn, Eev. P. H., quoted, 24, 
 
 33, 37, 41, 45, 199, 243, 251 
 
 HAEEISON, EX-PEE9IDENT, 
 
 quoted, 243 
 
 Hoge, Dr. Moses D., quoted, 26 
 
 Home Missions, ad Int. Com. 
 on, 39 
 
 Home Missions, analogy of na- 
 ture, 52 
 
 Home Missions, appeal of the 
 Cross for, 252 
 
 Home Missions, at the first Gen- 
 eral Assembly, 17 
 
 Home Missions, basis of all ope- 
 rations, 55 
 
 Home Minions, basis of Foreign 
 Missions, 55 
 
 Home Missions, Board created, 
 23 
 
 Home Missions, changes in ad- 
 ministration, 38 
 
 Home Missions, first standing 
 committee on, 21 
 
 Home Missions, hope of the fu- 
 ture, 246 
 
 Home Missions, Presbyterian- 
 ism creates obligation for, 244 
 
 Home Missions, present plan of, 
 39 
 
 Home Missions, results of, 44 
 
 Home Missions, scope of, 50 
 
 Home Missions, self interest 
 necessitates, 247 
 
 Home Missions, three depart- 
 ments of, 236 
 
 Home Missions, world wide 
 evangelism argument for, 240 
 
 Home Missionaries first ap- 
 pointed, 18-21 
 
 Home Missionary, First 
 Monthly, 23 
 
 Home Missionaries, form of 
 commission for, 19 
 
 Home Missionary funds, first 
 grant of, 16 
 
 Home Missionaries, individual 
 support of, 59 
 
 Indians, Aborigines of Amer- 
 ica, 139 
 Indians, care of, 29 
 Indians, character of, 140, 149 
 Indians, Dawes Commission for, 
 
 159 
 Indians, distribution of, 157 
 Indians, first attempts to evan- 
 gelize, 145 
 Indians, Industrial Schools for, 
 
 155 
 Indians, intermarriage with, 160 
 Indians, lauds of, purchasing, 
 
 161 
 Indians, manner of worship, 151 
 Indians, miscellaneous Missions, 
 
 146 
 Indians, peace policy, 144 
 
256 
 
 Index 
 
 Indians, policy of the Govern- 
 ment, 158 
 
 Indians, Presbyterian Missions 
 among, 147, 150 
 
 Indians, revenues of, 158 
 
 Indians, Southern Presbyterian 
 Missions among, 148 
 
 Indians, schools for, 153 
 
 Indian Territory, 155 
 
 Indian Territory Misnomer, 156 
 
 Indian Territory, opportunity 
 for Presbyterianism, 162 
 
 Indian, treatment of, 141, 143 
 
 KiNCAiD, William, quoted, 
 
 241 
 King College, Tennessee, 105 
 
 " Land of the Sky," The, 90 
 LawtoD, Oklahoma, remarkable 
 
 grovrth, 178 
 "Leavening the Nation," 
 
 quoted, 13, 20, 56, 86, 165, 
 
 175, 179, 241 
 Lees-McEae institute, 105 
 Leyburn, Dr. John, Secretary, 
 
 27 
 Louisiana Purchase, 166 
 
 McKemie, Francis, 14, 15 
 
 " Man, The Forgotten," 91 
 
 Mayflovrer Compact, 13 
 
 Mcllwaine, Dr. Kichard, elected 
 Secretary, 36 
 
 McKelway, Dr. A. J., quoted, 
 63 
 
 Mecklenburg declaration, 94 
 
 Mexicans, evangelization of, in- 
 directly reaching Mexico, 133 
 
 Mexicans, immigration, 131 
 
 Mexicans in Texas, 51 
 
 Mexicans, Missions inaugurated, 
 134 
 
 Mexicans, Missions, results, 135 
 
 Mexicans, nominal Roman Cath- 
 olics, 132 
 
 Mexicans, present needs, 137 
 
 Minton, Dr. H. C, quoted, 22 
 
 " Minute Man on the Frontier," 
 
 quoted, 177, 180 
 Missions, attitudes towards, 49 
 Missions, cooperation in, 60 
 Missions, departments of, 50 
 Missions, the program of, 48 
 Morgan, Hon. T. J., quoted, 142 
 Mormonism, conflicts vrith, 192 
 Mormonism, designs of, 195 
 Mormonism, ecclesiastic despot- 
 ism of, 193 
 Mormonism, Indictment of 
 Evangelical Churches against, 
 194 
 Mormonism invading the East, 
 
 198 
 Mormonism, Missionary in 
 
 Switzerland, 194 
 Mormonism, origin of, 190 
 Mormonism, proselyting meth- 
 ods, 197 
 Morris, Dr. S. L., elected Secre- 
 tary, 37 
 Moultrie, Georgia, 244 
 Mountaineers, ancestry of, 92 
 Mountaineers and Catechism, 
 
 106 
 Mountaineers, Anglo-Saxons, 95 
 Mountaineers, characteristics of, 
 
 96 
 Mountaineers, diflSculties in 
 
 evangelizing, 108 
 Mountaineers, population of, 92 
 Mountaineers, school facilities 
 
 of, 98 
 Munsey^s Magazine, quoted, 178 
 
 Negroes, care of Home Mis- 
 sions, 28 
 Negroes, characteristics, 114 
 Negroes, Executive Committee 
 
 of colored evangelization, 29 
 Negroes, first great need of, 122 
 Negroes, first step of progress, 
 
 121 
 Negroes, moral status of, 117 
 Negroes, other needs of, 126 
 Negroes, pastors of, 29 
 Negroes, quality of labor of, 115 
 
Index 
 
 257 
 
 Negroes, redeeming traits of, 
 
 116 
 Negroes, religious life of, 120 
 Negroes, second great need of, 
 
 124 
 Negroes, slavery, blessing in dis- 
 guise to, 113 
 Negroes, splendid opportunities 
 
 of, 119 
 Negroes, social impurity of, 118 
 Negroes, Stillman Institute for, 
 
 127 
 Negroes, two classes of, 112 
 New Mexico, area of, 180 
 New Mexico, oldest Colony in 
 
 U. S., 180 
 New Mexico, religion of, 181 
 New Mexico, religious progress 
 
 of, 182 
 New Mexico, Southern Pres. 
 
 Church in, 183 
 Newport News, Virginia, 243 
 
 Oklahosla., Cherokee Strip 
 opened, 175 
 
 Oklahoma, opening of Northern 
 Section, 174 
 
 Oklahoma, origin of, 174 
 
 Oklahoma, religious progress of, 
 179 
 
 Oklahoma, showing of Commit- 
 tee on Statehood for, 179 
 
 Oklahoma, Southern Presby- 
 terian Church in, 180 
 
 Oklahoma, Southern Section 
 opened, 178 
 
 Opportunity, crisis of, 250 
 
 "Ordinance of 1787," 165 
 
 "Our Country," quoted, 75, 
 77, 79, 167, 196 
 
 Persecution, method of propa- 
 gating the Faith, 11, 12 
 
 Phelps, Austin, quoted, 240, 241 
 
 Phillips, Dr, A. L., elected Sec- 
 retary of colored evangeliza- 
 tion, 29 
 
 Plan of Union, The, 20 
 
 Presbyterian Church, Birth of 
 Southern, 24 
 
 Presbyterian Church, Child of 
 Home Missions, 16 
 
 Presbyterian Church, costliest 
 mistake of, 58 
 
 " Presbyterian Home Missions," 
 quoted, 147 
 
 Presbyterian Church, sources of 
 American, 11 
 
 Presbyterianism, humble be- 
 ginnings of, 16 
 
 Presbyterianism, statistics of, 46 
 
 Presbytery, first in the U. S., 15 
 
 Rice, Dr. John H., quoted, 24 
 Eoosevelt, President, quoted, 93 
 
 Scepticism, the cure for the 
 world's, 110 
 
 Schools, Mission, 54 
 
 Schools, Mission, always in con- 
 nection with the Church, 103 
 
 Schools, Northern Presbyterian 
 Mission, 104 
 
 Schools, Southern Presbyterian 
 Mission, 105 
 
 Scotch-Irish element, 14, 93 
 
 Snedecor, Dr, J. G., elected 
 Secretary of colored evangel- 
 ization, 29 
 
 Southern Presbyterian, birth of, 
 24 
 
 Spain, failure of, 12 
 
 "Spring Resolutions," famous, 
 25 
 
 Stillman Institute, 127 
 
 Strong, Dr. Josiah, quoted, 43, 
 67, 71, 163, 169, 183 
 
 Sustentation, Executive Com- 
 mittee of, 34 
 
 Synodical Evangelization, com- 
 parative statistics, 234 
 
 Synodical Evangelization, origin 
 of, 218 
 
 Synodical Evangelization iu 
 Alabama, 218 
 
 Synodical Evangelization in 
 Arkansas, 220 
 
258 
 
 Index 
 
 Synodical Evangelization in 
 
 Florida, 221 
 Synodical Evangelization in 
 
 Georgia, 222 
 Synodical Evangelization in 
 
 Kentucky, 223 
 Synodical Evangelization in 
 
 Louisiana, 226 
 Synodical Evangelization in 
 
 Mississippi, 227 
 Synodical Evangelization in 
 
 Missouri, 227 
 Synodical Evangelization in 
 
 North Carolina, 229 
 Synodical Evangelization in 
 
 South Carolina, 230 
 Synodical Evangelization in 
 
 Tennessee, 231 
 Synodical Evangelization in 
 
 Texas, 231 
 Synodical Evangelization in 
 
 Virginia, 233 
 
 Texas, annexation of, 166 
 Texas, area of, 168 
 Texas, benevolences of, 172 
 Texas, comparative progress of 
 
 Presbyterian Church in, 171 
 Texas, future prospects of, 173 
 Texas, peculiar problems of 170, 
 Texas, resources of, 169 
 Texas, Synod of, argument for 
 
 Home Missions, 246 
 Thomas, Oklahoma, remarkable 
 
 origin of, 178 
 
 Thompson, Dr. Chas. L., 
 
 quoted, 22, 46, 167, 247, 248 
 "Twentieth Century City," 
 quoted, 73, 75, 81 
 
 " Under Our Flag," quoted, 
 100, 198 
 
 Watson, Thos. E., quoted, 94 
 West, comparative statistics of 
 
 the, 166 
 West, divided from the East, 164 
 West, fictitious boundaries of 
 
 the, 163 
 West, marvellous future of the, 
 
 183 
 West, The South interested in 
 
 the, 250 
 West, The struggle for the, 61 
 Western Texas, the Presbytery 
 
 of, 130 
 Wilson, Dr. J. Leighton, Secre- 
 tary, 27 
 Woman, Christ eulogizes, 209 
 Woman, indebtedness to Christ, 
 
 215 
 Woman in the primitive church, 
 
 211 
 Woman, Missionary Societies of, 
 
 205 
 Woman Missionary Societies in 
 
 Southern Church, 206 
 Woman Sacrifices for Christ, 
 
 213 
 Woman True to Christ, 208 
 Woman, work of, 201, 203 
 
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