mm xi of mm. ^imm.%1^3 BV 3269 .T48 C7 1909 Crawford , William Henry, 1855- Thoburn and Ind La A-*&^? j?^.<^f<<£x ^ <*. THOBURN AND INDIA Semicentennial Sermon and Addresses Delivered at the Thoburn Jubilee, Celebrating the Fiftieth Anniversary of Bishop James M. Thoburn' s Sailing for India. :::::::: Edited by WILLIAM HENRY CRAWFORD President Allegheny College New York: EATON & MAINS Cincinnati: JENNINGS & GRAHAM MAR 1 2000 Copyright, 1909 by EATON & MAINS, LETTER APPOINTING JAMES M. THOBURN A MISSIONARY TO INDIA New York, Feb. 22, 1859. To Rev. James M. Thoburn, Minister of the M. E. Church in the U. S. A. and member of the Pittsburg Conference of said Church. Dear Brother: You are hereby appointed a missionary of the M. E. Church to India. You will sail for that country as soon as practicable. On reaching Calcutta you will report yourself to Rev. William Butler, Superintendent of said Mission, and commence and prosecute your study of the lan- guage and your missionary labors under his direction. While you remain in the Mission you will conform to the directions of the Board at New York and the instructions from time to time of the Bishop having charge of that Mission. Yours fraternally, E. S. Janes, M. Simpson. "There has never been a man like unto him in the Methodist Episcopal Church, for the purpose to which he devoted his life. With simplicity mingled with sagacity ; with straightforward English, and yet at times under inspiration reaching the spirit and the words of the ancient prophets, but more frequently of the apostle John, he has persuaded us when he could not convince, and convinced us when he could not persuade." — James M. Buckley. CONTENTS PAGE Introduction 9 PART I SEMICENTENNIAL SERMON AND ADDRESSES CHAPTER PAGE I. Semicentennial Sermon. Bishop James M. Thoburn, D.D 23 II. Transformed Homes in India. Miss Lilavati Singh 48 III. A Review of Bishop Thoburn's Fifty Years in India. Rev. Homer C. Stuntz, D.D 59 IV. High Ideals for High Service. Rev. Stephen J. Herben, D.D 76 PART II ADDRESSES ON THE RELATION OF THE COLLEGE TO MISSIONS A. THE RELATION OF THE COLLEGE TO FOREIGN MISSIONS I. The College and the College Man in Foreign Missionary Achievement. Rev. Thomas Nicholson, D.D 93 II. The Study of Missions in Our Colleges. Rev. Levi Gilbert, D.D 115 III. The Widening Field of Opportunity. Rev. Adna B. Leonard, D.D 125 IV. What Can be Done to Increase Interest in Foreign Missions among the College Students of America? Bishop William Fraser Mc- Dowell, D.D., LL.D 133 V. Discussion 142 7 8 CONTENTS B. THE RELATION OF THE COLLEGE TO HOME MISSIONS CHAPTER PAGE I. The Foreigner in Our Midst. Rev. Robert Forbes, D.D 151 II. The City to be Redeemed. Rev. Frederic H. Wright, D.D 160 III. The Empire of the West. Rev. Claudius B. Spencer, D.D 167 IV. The Problem of the Negro. Rev. Wilbur P. Thirkield, D.D 179 V. The New Call to Social Service. Rev. Herbert Welch, D.D. 19 1 VI. The Training of the Worker. Rev. Charles J. Little, D.D., LL.D 203 VII. Discussion 216 PART III ADDRESSES AT THE FORMAL TRIBUTE AND JUBILEE EXERCISES I. Rev. William V. Kelley, D.D., LL.D., repre- senting the Religious Press 223 II. Rev. C. A. R. Janvier, D.D., representing the Missionary Societies of America 232 III. Bishop John W. Hamilton, D.D., LL.D., repre- senting the Board of Bishops and the Meth- odist Episcopal Church 239 IV. Presentation of House. Rev. Horace G. Dodds, D.D 245 Response. Bishop Thoburn 248 V. Messages of Greeting and Appreciation 250 VI. Responses at the Dinner, with Closing Message by Bishop Thoburn 264 An Added Word 292 INTRODUCTION In presenting to the reader this collection of ad- dresses and papers something ought to be said of the event which brought together so many eminent speakers. SeFdom, if ever, has an institution of higher learning witnessed such an inspiring spec- tacle as the Thoburn Jubilee, which was held at Allegheny College in April last from Sunday, the eleventh, to Tuesday, the thirteenth, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Bishop James M. Thoburn's sailing for India. The Jubilee far surpassed the most extravagant expectations of those who planned it. It leaped beyond the elaborate, the formal, and the stately into the thrilling, the soul-inspiring, and the prophetic. It was one of those overwhelming events which captivate audiences, lead to sublime consecrations, and stir dormant energies into heroic action. Those present will forget many of the things they saw and heard, but they will never for- get what they felt. The presence of God was with us, and the imperative call to imperative duty was heard by many. There are some events which cannot be described. Their uniqueness places them beyond description. The Thoburn Jubilee was such an event. The day after it was over some one asked the dear Bishop himself what he thought about it. "O," he said, 9 io INTRODUCTION "I cannot estimate it yet. I must wait until it is farther away. But I feel sure of this, that at least twenty students will go into mission fields from Allegheny College because of this Jubilee. That makes me very happy." ■ Perhaps the most striking thing about the Jubilee was the fact that it was so much more than a tribute to Bishop Thoburn. Of course, it was that. From the opening service on Sunday morning until the close of the dinner on Tuesday night all eyes were directed toward Tho- burn, and all speakers told of the mighty deeds of the "great little man." But, above all, the Jubilee was a great missionary event, inspiring, illuminat- ing, suggestive, and helpful. If a subtitle to Tho- burn Jubilee should be written, it would read some- thing like this : "A Celebration Showing the Su- preme Importance of the Christian College as a Training School for Missionary Leadership." The evangelization of the world and the relation of the college to this stupendous task was the burden of all the addresses and the petition of every prayer, as well as the theme of conversation in social gatherings and in private talk during the three days of the Jubilee. Thoburn and India were given large place. They were the text, but the theme was ever the same — the evangelization of this world. In looking forward to the Jubilee perhaps nothing aroused so much expectation as the semicentennial sermon by the Bishop. It seemed a glorious coin- cidence that the time fixed for the sermon was not only the fiftieth anniversary of the Bishop's ordina- INTRODUCTION n tion for missionary service, but Easter morning, the morning of the resurrection. The First Meth- odist Church was beautifully decorated for the occa- sion. Palms and lilies and roses sang of victory, peace, and God's great love for his children. The large chorus choir filed into place, while the organ joyously pealed forth Gounod's "Triumphale." The audience crowded the great auditorium, amen corners, gallery", and all, and then gathered in the open space near the altar. And such an audience! Many had come from long distances. Some were present who had been coworkers with Bishop Tho- burn in India, and with him had seen the ravages of the famine and the fever — had seen, too, mighty victories of conversion and spiritual quickening. As the Bishop entered the pulpit the entire audience rose and sang with the choir, "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow." It was a touching trib- ute, and many eyes filled up before the last word of the great doxology. And no wonder! The memories of fifty years were finding expression in praise. The opening prayer was by Bishop Moore. Bishop Thoburn's sermon followed. The text was from the thirteenth chapter of the book of Acts, the second verse: "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." The Bishop has often preached in Meadville, and his sermons are always heard with delight and profit. Never before, however, has he faced here such an expectant audience as the one which greeted him on Jubilee Sunday morning. The audience was not 12 INTRODUCTION disappointed. The speaker was in good voice, ap- parently in the best of health, and the power of God was manifestly upon him as he spoke with simple, earnest, direct, and straightforward speech the message he had prepared. As he told of his con- version and of his call to the mission field, and then of the providential way he had been led during his missionary experiences, it seemed that an Isaiah was speaking the message of God to the people of God. As the Bishop described how the work of conversion is only one phase of the great mission- ary enterprise, many saw the wide field of oppor- tunity in India as they had never seen it before. The closing part of the sermon was a beautiful illustration of Bishop Thoburn's glorious optimism and his contagiously triumphant faith that the king- doms of this world are to become the kingdom of our Christ. After the benediction was pronounced it seemed that everyone in the congregation wanted to take the preacher by the hand. The services in the afternoon and evening were characterized by the spirit of the morning. In describing the high ideals required for high serv- ice Dr. Herben made a strong appeal to the young men and women of the college. "Bishop Thoburn's long life of lofty service," said he, "is an excellent text for my message. He js an incarnation of the highest ideal committed to the highest service. As such he is to us to-day, and has been for many years, a source of unfailing inspiration." One of the most delightfully fascinating features of the INTRODUCTION 13 whole Jubilee was the presence and address of Miss Lilavati Singh. Alas that we must so soon mourn her death! As a product of our mission schools and as professor in Isabella Thoburn College, Luck- now, she was a striking illustration of the gospel's mighty and transforming power in the dark lands of heathendom. Her Oriental dress and her deli- riously mellifluous Oriental voice added peculiar charm to her beautiful description of the great changes which have come about in the homes and among the women of India through the Christian missionary. In opening her address she told of a custom in her country that when tribute was to be paid to some great personage, a garland of gold brocade was brought by those who could afford it to be placed upon the neck of the one to be hon- ored ; but, if the poor came, they might bring simply a wreath of jasmine. "I am almost afraid," she said, "to offer my tribute to Bishop Thoburn ; please look upon it as a garland of jasmine and nothing more." The audience at night was much like that of the morning. It crowded the church to overflowing. Dr. Stuntz, who was appointed to present a review, of Bishop Thoburn's fifty years in India, never spoke with greater freedom and power. In a man- ner never to be forgotten he brought to us the story of the phenomenal achievements of the man whom he described as "a missionary prophet and a dreamer of great dreams of spiritual victories." The mass meeting on Monday evening was an event of i 4 INTRODUCTION high order. Bishop Moore made a stirring appeal for China, and Bishop Hamilton pleaded in his own unique way that America be fully and completely won for Jesus Christ. The missionary conferences on Monday and Tuesday were profitable beyond the highest anticipa- tions. Bishop Moore, Bishop Berry, and Bishop Smith presided. All college work was suspended for the two days, and there was nothing to do but to enjoy the feast of good things brought to us by missionaries and church leaders. Invi- tations had been extended to a number of con- tiguous colleges to send delegates. Five of them responded favorably. Thiel College, a Lutheran institution at Greenville, nearly forty miles away, sent thirty delegates. One of the most impressive sights of the Jubilee was witnessed at the open- ing of the first conference on Monday morning, when the venerable Dr. Jonathan Hamnett, who was Bishop Thoburn's instructor in Allegheny College more than fifty years ago, walked into the room. On reaching the platform he was presented to Bishop Moore, who said: "I think it is a law laid down by the greatest heroes not to receive honor one's self until honor has been paid to one's teacher." He then asked all to stand in honor of Dr. Hamnett. The request met with a hearty response. A fine keynote was sounded in Dr. Nicholson's paper on "The College and the College Man in Foreign Missionary Achievement." There is not room in this brief introduction to even INTRODUCTION 15 refer to all the great papers, addresses, and fine discussions. The reader is referred to the pages which follow. The messages of the two mission- ary secretaries, Dr. Leonard and Dr. Forbes, added much to the success and value of the conferences. An incident which approached the dramatic oc- curred at the close of Bishop McDowell's address when he turned to Bishop Thoburn with a tribute which was simply thrilling. The Jubilee reached its climax in the Formal Tribute Exercises of Tuesday afternoon. First was the academic procession. The seniors of the college were out in caps and gowns, forming two lines on either side of the walk leading from Bentley Hall to the Chapel. After them the juniors, then sopho- mores and freshmen. Under the direction of the marshal of the day, the speakers and all who were to participate in the program formed a line in front of Bentley, and immediately behind them were official visitors, trustees of the college, and members of the faculty in their gay-colored doctor's gowns. The procession was led by Bishop Thoburn and the president of the college. It was no formal tribute which the students paid to the distinguished son of their college as they stood in two long lines reaching from old Bentley up past the Library, then down beyond the class of '03 gateway to the very door of Ford Memorial Chapel. No one could look into their faces without seeing how proud they were of their Bishop, and how they honored him and loved him. They had built no archway for 16 INTRODUCTION the triumph they were giving him. He needed none. There is an unseen archway under which Bishop Thoburn walks whenever he comes upon the campus of his Alma Mater — the archway of our love and admiration. On reaching the chapel the audience joined in singing "Faith of our Fathers," after which Bishop Smith offered prayer. Telegrams and congratulatory letters were then read. Nearly fifty colleges and universities sent greetings. Many missionary societies did the same. Greetings were read from Bishops, from preachers' meetings, from theological schools, from the Gov- ernor of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, from Mr. Bryce, the English Ambassador, and from President Taft. After the reading of congratulatory messages there were three addresses. Bishop Hartzell, who was to have spoken, was detained on account of temporary illness. Dr. William V. Kelley spoke first. He reaches sublime heights in public address, but in the judgment of several who have heard him frequently he never surpassed the superb effort of the afternoon of the closing day of the Jubilee when he described Bishop Thoburn as enthusiast, field marshal, plunger, and typical Christian product. Dr. C. A. R. Janvier, representing the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, and speaking for the missionary societies of America, captured his hear- ers by graphic descriptions of the marvelous work he had seen accomplished in India by Bishop Tho- burn and his associates. Bishop Hamilton's address INTRODUCTION 17 reached a unique climax in a striking reference to the house which was to be presented to the Bishop. A break in the program occurred by the suggestion that the students desired to have a part. The pres- ident of the senior class came forward with fifty beautiful roses, one rose for each of the fifty years of great service. Then followed an exceedingly ap- propriate and happy address by Dr. H. G. Dodds, superintendent of Meadville District, after which, on behalf of a hundred friends, he presented to Bishop Thoburn a warranty deed for a house on Locust Street, together with a draft for a thousand dollars. At this point the audience rose to their feet, and with shouts, song, and waving handkerchiefs expressed gratitude and rejoicing. The Bishop re- sponded briefly. He evidently wanted to say more, but could not. It was not until the close of the dinner given in his honor in Cochran Hall in the evening that he spoke what was in his heart. This address will long be remembered by everyone who heard it. In trying to think over all that happened in the three days, I find myself settling down to the thought that the most impressive feature of the Jubilee was Bishop Thoburn himself — quiet, mod- est, unassuming, apparently altogether undisturbed by what was going on ; hearing and seeing every- thing, responding to every recognition with the simple dignity of a saint; eyes filled up at times, voice choking, but always giving the impression that the strong Son of God was by his side. When i8 INTRODUCTION Dr. Kelley turned to him at the close of his master- ful and prophetic address, strong men cried like children ; the whole audience was moved and melted at the recognition given, and quietly joined with the dear Bishop in giving God all the glory. When the Jubilee was over, distinguished guests went to their homes, and the routine of college was on again, the regular work demanding and receiving full attention ; lecture rooms, laboratories, and gym- nasiums taking on their wonted activities. To all outward appearances we were the same as before. But I am sure I voice the sentiment of students and faculty alike when I say that there abides with all of us the conviction that in the Thoburn Jubilee we saw "a vision of God." Our prayer is that the vision may continue to abide, and that as the result of the Jubilee scores of young men and women from this college and from other colleges may be led to give their lives in glad service to Him who fifty years ago called James M. Thoburn from college halls to missionary service. Many who were, present at the Jubilee expressed the wish that the addresses might be put in perma- nent form. The same wish has been expressed by a goodly number who were not present. It is in response, therefore, to the earnest and urgent wish of a very large number of people that this volume has been prepared. In arranging the material placed at my disposal I have tried to group the addresses and papers in such a way as to give the reader something of the same impression that we INTRODUCTION 19 received who were present during the whole of the Jubilee. I fully realize that some of the best things cannot be put into the book. The flashing eye, the illuminated face, the quality and modulation of the speaker's voice, the suffused emotion of the great audience, the sudden and spontaneous out- burst of appreciative recognition — these cannot be put into cold type. They forever elude both type and pen. The reader's imagination must supply them as best it can. It is a remarkable fact that with so many speak- ers, over thirty in all, coming as they did from long distances and from many directions, there was so little variation from the printed program. Dr. Nicholson and Dr. Gilbert failed to arrive. Both were in the clutch of La Grippe. Dr. Nicholson's paper was brought to us and read by Dr. Stuntz. Dr. Gilbert's paper came later. All other speakers whose names had been announced with one excep- tion were present and brought to us their carefully prepared messages. . It is a matter of regret that the limits of this volume make it impossible to present to the reader all that was said during the three wonderful days of the Jubilee. No pains have been spared, how- ever, to include as nearly as possible all that related directly to Bishop Thoburn and India and to the great problem of world-wide evangelism. The volume is sent forth with the earnest hope that it may carry the message of the Jubilee to tens of thousands in America and in India, many of whom, 20 INTRODUCTION though not present, were deeply interested, some of them sending words of greeting and substantial tokens of admiration and love for the missionary hero in whose honor the Jubilee was held. W. H. C. Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa., June i, 1909. PART I SEMICENTENNIAL SERMON AND ADDRESSES 31 SEMICENTENNIAL SERMON "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work where- unto I have called them." — Acts 13. 2. In these words we find the first definite mission- ary commission ever given to a Christian church, or to individual missionaries. The event was in no way remarkable in itself, and probably excited nothing more than a warm personal interest in a call which concerned two prominent and much- loved young men of the community. No one could foresee that the church at Antioch was about to in- augurate a movement which in its ultimate results would overthrow ancient paganism, and lead to the conversion of the Roman empire. Two de- spised zealots of a hated race were calmly starting out to set in motion an agency which was to recast ancient civilization, overthrow ancient religious ideals, brush aside ancient philosophy, and prepare the way for a new Europe, and ultimately for a new world. In this commission we find nothing strange or startling except its terms. It is not probable that an audible voice gave a command to certain good people assembled in a prayer meeting, nor is it necessary to assume that at any time or place the words recorded in this verse were actually heard by an assembly of Christians at Antioch. It 2 3 24 THOBURN AND INDIA is much more probable — indeed, I have long re- garded it as practically certain — that in the earliest days of Christianity, among the apostles and their first converts, divine messages were given and re- ceived very much in the same way as similar events occur at the present day. When the Holy Spirit came to take up and make universal the presence and power of the risen Christ, it was with the express assurance that he should abide forever, and he is still in the midst of every group of disciples, and still commissions and sends forth those chosen for special work. It is most unfortunate that a con- trary notion has gained general currency in modern times, and that it is too readily conceded that the days of power of which we read in our New Testa- ments have passed away, not to return till the end of the present dispensation. The thought has already occurred to some, per- haps to many, who listen to these words, that the age of miracles is past, that signs and wonders have ceased, and that in our less favored days we are compelled to work by slower methods, and be con- tent with a lower order of gifts and a less effective equipment, but I do not for one moment concede anything of the kind. On the other hand, modern missionaries enjoy advantages of which Barnabas and Paul knew nothing. Throughout nine tenths of the globe they have not only liberty but protec- tion. In almost every nook and corner of the earth they enjoy the prestige which the Christian name gives them. As for miraculous power, we mistake SEMICENTENNIAL SERMON 25 when we assume that Barnabas and Paul depended wholly, or even largely, upon this special source of strength. In the story of their first tour we find that they had achieved great success before any mention of miracles occurs, and when miracles do occur it does not appear that they were introduced as proofs of divine authority, but rather as illustra- tions of divine power. The two missionaries had gone through the whole island of Cyprus, and every- where had met with success before the first mention of anything like a miracle occurs. In an age when miracles were expected, and pretended miracles abounded, when all classes were looking for strange manifestations, a place was found for the miracu- lous such as in our day of spiritualistic impostures does not exist. The age of miracles of a material kind is past for the simple reason that better meth- ods are now available than were possible two thou- sand years ago. But the special subject to which this text calls our attention is the remarkable summons of the Holy Spirit to the church at Antioch to set apart two well-known men to go out as pioneer mission- aries into foreign regions. The call was very specific, the men were named and the summons somewhat peremptory. The work to be done was not stated, nor the places to be visited, but divine direction was assured, and a history which we ac- cept as inspired has recorded the story of their success. Do we have any incidents in our modern life which remind us of this wonderful story? 26 THOBURN AND INDIA Does God assign tasks to his servants now as he did in ancient days? Does the Master who once walked with his disciples among the hills of Galilee ever call one and another, or perhaps a group, and assign them tasks in a land chosen for them, per- haps in the distant ends of the earth? Beyond all possible doubt he certainly does, and in doing so he usually proceeds in the way chosen at the begin- ning; that is, the Holy Spirit gives a double call, first to the disciples to go, and next to the Church to send. This order may not be followed in every case, but it has entered into the life story of many a messenger of Jesus Christ. The special occasion which has called you together this morning must plead my excuse if I venture to tell you the sim- ple story of my own call to the foreign field. It was a double call, first from the Spirit of God, and then from the Church in which I held my membership. First there was a call in a general sense, to foreign missionary work. It was specific, and al- though unwelcome, and at times disturbing, it could not be permanently shaken off. Five years later the call was renewed, but more definitely. I had graduated here in your own college, had responded to what I regarded as a call from God to devote my life to preaching, and was enthusiastic in my work, when, silently and gently as the dew on the flowers, the Holy Spirit began to revive a convic- tion which I had felt for three years or more, that my life must be devoted to work in the foreign field, SEMICENTENNIAL SERMON 27 I did not in the slightest measure welcome this conviction, and would have dismissed it as a fancy but for the assurance which came to me that it was from God. In time, however, this conviction took a definite shape, and India began to rise as if on a distant horizon as the land to which God was summoning me, and which was to be the land of my future sojourn. But I did not make haste to decide a question of such vital concern to myself, of such interest to my friends, and of such practical importance to the society which must send me abroad. I decided to seek the advice of my presid- ing elder, the official through whom the Church would communicate with me. I met him in the early morning in a little village in eastern Ohio. He had just arrived from a night train, and in those days before sleeping cars had come into use he had met Bishop Janes on the train. The Bishop was on his way to Chicago looking for missionaries for India ! The elder nominated me, and almost as soon as we met abruptly asked me if I would go! Without hesitation he said that he inclined to the opinion that I ought to go. I slipped upstairs to the little room in which I had slept, and knelt by my cot to pray, and there God met me. No language can describe what it meant that morning to realize that God had met me in that room. It only re- mained to consult my widowed mother, but here again I found that God had been before me. She had again and again been made conscious that a sore trial was at hand, in some way connected with 28 THOBURN AND INDIA her youngest son, and, though sorely tried, she quietly told me that she could not refuse to let me go. And thus it came about that wherever I turned God gave me a token of his purpose to send me as his messenger to a people of whom I knew little or nothing, and who seemed to be living in the very ends of the earth. If my brief day of ac- tivity in the mission field does nothing more than recall to the Church a vivid realization of the im- mediate and personal leadership, through the agency of the Spirit, of Him who once led his disciples in Galilee, it will abundantly repay me for all I have done or tried to do. I doubt very much if Barnabas and Paul were any more confident of a divine call when they set out from Antioch than I was when I left my circuit in Ohio for a new field on the opposite side of the globe. But the divine call is only an incident in a long and active life. The living Christ is known, and loved, and served through a lifetime of service, and the discipleship of Galilee was no more real than that which is realized by vast multitudes of obedient successors of the same disciples in our own day. He who called me in Ohio in 1859 has been with me on sea and shore, on mountain and plain, in the country hamlet and crowded city, in the palace of the rich and the mud hut of the poor, in the lonely forest and in the midst of uncounted multi- tudes who crowd the city streets. Always, and in terms of his unchanging promise, he is true to his assurance given when withdrawing his visible SEMICENTENNIAL SERMON 29 presence from his followers, that his personal presence should be with them evermore. I have thus far spoken of the modern call to mis- sionary service, and without hesitation have based it upon a personal summons to service from Him who enlisted the fishermen by the Galilean lake, and the customhouse officer at his post of duty. But what about actual service in the modern mis- sionary field ? Barnabas and Paul were called very definitely to put themselves under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, and the story of their service is before us. How is it in our own more recent times ? If the call is the same as in olden times, how is it with the service? To what extent does the risen Christ direct and help the missionary after he reaches his .distant field ? Is there any real differ- ence between this help in China and in Pennsyl- vania? "Is not the promise a broad and impartial assurance given to all disciples, in all lands, and ac- cording to individual needs?" Certainly, given to all on equal terms, but according to individual needs. But I found myself in a land of spiritual darkness, the only Christian among a thousand, or ten thousand, or a hundred thousand fellow beings. I found my situation very different from what it had been in earlier years when I worshiped here in a Meadville church. And when I remembered that I was there in India as a messenger of God, under orders, it is true, from the Church, but still obliged to form my own plans, to pursue paths of my own choosing, and to put my trust in my own 30 THOBURN AND INDIA resources, it is not strange that I looked to God for special direction, and that from time to time I received intimations of the divine will, sometimes given by providential tokens, and sometimes, though less frequently, by direct intimations of the Holy Spirit. Having been sent to India by the Missionary Society of our Church, it naturally followed that I was expected to work under certain limitations which the society should establish. A certain limit of territory was specified within which we were to work. I approved this plan and saw no objection to it. I feared the responsibility which an exten- sion of our field would bring to us. In the territory within which we had set up our banners there lived about fifteen million souls, and surely we could not wish for a larger or finer field of labor. I often thanked God that the lines had fallen to me in such pleasant places, and that he had given me so goodly a heritage. I was receiving a fair support from the Missionary Society, and while doing so I recognized the reasonableness and fairness of the rule that the society should select my field of labor. The man- agers of the society at that time did not wish an extension of the field, and were somewhat nervous lest our financial claims upon them might be in- creased. Under these circumstances I began to be troubled by a conviction that I ought to relinquish the support which I received from the Board and trust God alone for my support. This was a strange idea, and as I think it over now I can see clearly SEMICENTENNIAL SERMON 31 that I did not fully understand myself. I thought I might in this way set a good example to our native preachers, or I might, perhaps, impress the Church at home ; but the real power which moved me was a direct conviction from the Holy Spirit that I must do this particular thing, and when in my heart I decided to do it, immediately God seemed to open a window in heaven and pour out upon my heart and soul such a wonderful flood of love and joy and peace as I had probably never realized before. Now, what did this mean? At first I did not understand it, but its real meaning soon became evident. The step I had taken released me from my obligation to the Board of Foreign Missions, and set me free to enter any door in any part of India to which God by his providence and Spirit should call me. A striking call came in due time, but not until I had tested the genuineness of this preliminary sum- mons to a special duty. When I gave up my salary I expected to become very poor, but to my extreme surprise I immediately began to receive money from many sources, and in sums which far exceeded my personal wants. For the first time in my life I found myself able to give freely to the poor, and to help materially in sustaining our missionary work. The work prospered, the outlook was bright, and I looked with eager hope for a great work of salvation among the teeming millions, who seemed to surround us like the restless waves of a great sea of humanity. 32 THOBURN AND INDIA But God had other plans for me, and these soon began to appear upon my horizon in a way to chal- lenge both my courage and my faith. Bishop Taylor was then an evangelist, and had for some time been preaching in Calcutta, and had organized a little church, but now wished to go to other parts of our great Indian empire. Bishop Harris mean- time arrived from America, and after due inspection of the situation asked me to leave North India, go down to Calcutta, and take charge of the work which had been commenced there. This request did not startle me, for I had been expecting such a call from the authorities of the Church. Both mind and heart had been prepared for it. I now saw why it was that God had released me from my obligation in North India and prepared me for this emergency, by moving me to relinquish my salary as a missionary, and leaving me free to go to any part of India, or, for that matter, to any part of the world. I entered Calcutta as a stranger, but my way seemed prepared before me. The whole city seemed to open its doors to me. In churches and chapels, in theaters and halls, on board ships and in private dwellings, in streets and public squares, everywhere I found open doors and open hearts. For ten years Calcutta became my rallying point, but in the meantime God gave me wider views, and led me on from one point to another, but never permitting me to lose sight of my great commission as a missionary. From Calcutta I went down to Rangoon, in SEMICENTENNIAL SERMON 33 Burma, seven hundred and fifty miles from Cal- cutta. I went without money to pay my return passage, and remained there fourteen days. I preached twice daily, and spent most of my time in visiting among the people. This visiting was really one long course of preaching and teaching, but probably did more good than my public preaching in the Baptist chapel which had been kindly placed at my service during my stay. I could only remain in Rangoon two short weeks, but in those eventful weeks God gave us an organized church with fifty candidates for membership, a very eligible site for a church, and a substantial subscription toward its erection. An organized Annual Conference is the result to-day of that visit, and I have never doubted that God's Holy Spirit prompted and directed my going down to that important city at the time and in the way I was led. But another still more important city lay far down the coast beyond Rangoon. The city of Sin- gapore, only ninety miles north of the equator, was evidently destined to become one of the world's great emporiums, and probably in the fullness of time one of the largest cities in the tropical world. I knew little or nothing of that place, but had noticed its geographical position, and naturally in- ferred that it would become the metropolis of that part of the world. I cannot recall how I became interested in the place, or how I was led to consider the question of planting a mission there. It was two thousand miles distant from my home in 34 THOBURN AND INDIA Calcutta, I knew no one living there, but may per- haps have heard officers of vessels which had stopped there speak of the place as an important port. I only knew that something like a conviction had taken a firm hold of my mind and heart that God would have me go there in person and lay the foundation of a Christian mission. This decision was not made in haste, but was considered prayer- fully for two years or more. Strangely enough, Bishop Hurst, on his way to India, in -total igno- rance of our plans, became peculiarly impressed that God would have him authorize the planting of a mission at Singapore. We in the field meanwhile had fixed upon William F. Oldham, who, having graduated in America, was then on his way to take up his lifework as a missionary in India, as God's chosen servant to be placed in charge of the work. When we all met it seemed as if God had prepared each one for his part of the enterprise. We had nothing to offer Oldham — no salary and no home, no congregation and no membership, no school and no teacher, and no preacher; nothing, in short, but an assurance that God had called him to that post. He did not for a single moment hesitate, and in accepting the work which fell to his lot he entered upon a career which has advanced him to a high position among the notable leaders of the Church. The record of our first expedition to Singapore has become a story of thrilling interest. There were four of us — myself and wife, Dr. Oldham, and Miss Battie, the chorister of our church in Calcutta. SEMICENTENNIAL SERMON 35 We had to make a voyage of two thousand miles and had only money enough to pay our passages one way. Our steamer touched at Rangoon, where our friends received us with enthusiasm, and cheered us by taking a public collection in aid of our expedition. We reached the beautiful city of Singapore in the early morning of Saturday, Feb- ruary 7, 1885, and were met on the dock by a good Presbyterian elder who affirmed that he had seen us, as a party, in a dream, a day or two before and had recognized us when he saw us standing on the deck of the steamer. This good man took us home and entertained us free of charge for three weeks. At the end of three weeks we had organized a Methodist church of which Brother Oldham be- came pastor, and thus was laid the first slight foun- dation of what has since become a great work in Singapore, and a vigorous organization known as the Malaysia Annual Conference. When at Singapore we made inquiries as far as possible concerning all the group of great islands known as Malaysia, and were strongly impressed that among them God was setting before us a wide and effectual door for missionary enterprise. This door seemed to stand wide open in every group except one. This notable exception was the Phil- ippines. "You can go anywhere else," it was said to us, "but if you land at Manila you will be in prison within twenty-four hours." At once the Philippines became our care. We began to pray for them, to make inquiries about them, and to dis- 36 THOBURN AND INDIA cuss the probabilities of a Japanese descent upon the islands, in the hope that in this way a door would be opened to us. The one thing that we did not anticipate was that to our own country- men would be committed this great task, but so God ordered it, and thirteen years later Admiral Dewey swung the long-closed gates wide open, to be closed no more till all the Philippines shall be redeemed to God. Little indeed did we know or even dream, when we set out on that long voyage to Singapore, of the amazing changes which were impending in that remote part of the globe. As I write these words, near what is probably the end of my active career, I am im- pressed that no part of my work in the wide mis- sion field has been more distinctly marked by tokens of God's overshadowing love and care than the planting and progress of our great work in Malaysia. With the opening of 1885 it seemed best that I should have a definite appointment which would indicate the kind of work which I was expected to do, and Bishop Hurst suggested that of General Evangelist. He wished me to go to such places as might need my assistance, but for the season soon to open I was to go to Simla, the summer capital of India, a station far up among the Himalayas. A church had been built there by evangelical laymen of different denominations, and preaching was maintained in it during the summer months by ministers with whom special arrangements were made. I accepted this duty for five months, chiefly SEMICENTENNIAL SERMON 37 for the rest it would give me, but early in the season I met with a severe injury by the falling of the horse I was riding. For some months I was help- less, and at length was ordered out of India, with instructions to make my stay a long one. Like Jacob of old, I appeared here in the United States halting on my thigh and often preaching seated in a chair. My stay was prolonged, I became, widely known, and in 1888 the General Conference made me Missionary Bishop for India and Malaysia. The same General Conference added Malaysia to our great field in Southern Asia, and thus my work for the rest of my life seemed to be cut out for me. I have never professed to have received a special call to this position, but I do affirm that I received a special blessing in it. When I went out to India commissioned by the General Conference to assume the leadership of our work from the Himalayas to the sea, and from the Indus to the farthest Malaysia island, God put his seal upon the appoint- ment by blessing me whithersoever I turned. The Annual Conference and the District Conferences became alike scenes of revival power. For some years I was able to give as much attention, if not more, to each presiding elder's District Conference as to an Annual Conference. At these assemblies we had foreign missionaries, native pastors of various grades, teachers and other workers. We also had a "Woman's Conference" meeting sepa- rately, and when all these classes met in their devo- tional meetings scenes of great power were often 38 THOBURN AND INDIA witnessed. The whole work went forward prosper- ously, and our boundary lines were constantly mov- ing outward. Meanwhile converts multiplied rapidly, and the statistics showed such advances that many even of our friends began to doubt the accuracy of our statistical reports. But we moved on, putting our trust in God, and he has not for- gotten his promise unto this day. For a dozen years I was familiar with revival scenes in many parts of the work, and received abundant tokens to assure me that God's blessing was with me, and but for signs of failing health the same work might have continued indefinitely. But many ask, "What has been accomplished in these fifty years? As you leave the field what changes do you notice? Do the results which appear before you in any reasonable measure justify the cost of the work — that is, the cost in labor, in money, and in life?" Practical people in our prac- tical age will insist on asking such questions as these, and it is well that they should do so. I can only answer very briefly. First, I have seen many thousands of both sexes renounce their ancestral faiths and formally adopt the Christian religion. In our own Church we have, including children, probably a quarter of a million persons. When I sailed for India the total membership was only thirteen. But figures do not by any means indicate the actual results of our work. In our first field there was not one woman who could read or write, and a dense prejudice SEMICENTENNIAL SERMON 39 existed against any attempt to introduce education among women. The higher classes of women were not only shut off from education, but also from medical relief. Our Woman's Society sent out to us the first woman doctor ever sent to a heathen land, Miss Clara A. Swain, M.D., who is still living in Central New York. This far-seeing woman not only healed the sick, but bravely assumed the task of training native women for medical practice. This step immediately attracted the attention of the government, and led to the opening of the medi- cal colleges to women, and now the women of India in large numbers, and of all religions and all castes, are practicing medicine. This .great movement alone is worth all that our foreign missions have cost the Church. Meanwhile a bold attempt was made to meet the prejudice against female educa- tion among the higher classes, as well as to elevate the character of the native Christian women, by founding a college for women. This has been suc- cessfully done by my sister Isabella, and in competi- tive examinations young women have forever put to silence the cry which had been raised among both Hindus and Mohammedans that women have not enough mental ability to entitle them to education. In a word, I may say that Christian missions have practically secured for the women of India the assurance of their social and personal enfranchise- ment, although its full realization will require more time and more labor. But time will not permit me to tell of all the work which has been done. The 40 THOBURN AND INDIA work of conversion is only one phase of the great enterprise. In more than forty languages our men and women are faithfully witnessing for Christ among the teeming millions of Southern Asia, and in doing so are carrying light and blessing to them in a thousand forms. To provide literature for the millions among whom we work, we have estab- lished six publishing houses, in which printing is done in a dozen or more languages. A great host of preachers of different grades have been raised up, and the organization of our District Confer- ences is more effective than of those in any other part of the Methodist world. The deaconess work of our Church was first officially recognized in India, and from an Annual Conference in our field the memorial was sent which secured the formal author- ization of this form of Christian effort in Meth- odism. But time will only permit me to mention one more fruit of missionary work which we may ex- pect to appear in the fullness of time. The average wages of a poor family in most parts of the empire of India does not usually exceed thirty, or at the most forty, dollars a year. Many millions in times of even ordinary scarcity are familiar with the ex- perience of one meal a day. I do not wonder that I am often asked how we ever expect to accomplish anything under such conditions. The task before us seems desperate enough, no doubt, but if we can persuade those millions to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Master they will most assuredly be SEMICENTENNIAL SERMON 41 lifted up out of their dense poverty and painful suffering, and introduced to a life of comparative hope and happiness. If you ask me to explain how this is brought about, I reply frankly that I cannot do it. I only know that, like that which we call a law of nature, some influence, some tendency, something, favor- ably affects a community which fears God and keeps his commandments. The people of India will assur- edly become Christian, and then they will begin to rise. The world of to-day is made up of very poor people. The rich are very few, the well-to-do only a handful, but hundreds of millions live in a state which we would call starvation. This ought not so to be. Our bountiful earth has stores of supplies of which our scientists have not as yet discovered any trace. One Burbank astonishes the world, but God knows and can summon forth a thousand more, and men of this kind can make the deserts literally rejoice, and clothe the barren mountains with orchards laden with fruit. There are two passages in the Bible which have long attracted my attention : one in the first chapter of Genesis and the other in the last chapter of Revelation. The first is the commission given to the race to "subdue the earth." The other is the vision of the tree of life, the leaves of which are for "the healing of the nations." Man has hardly yet commenced the task of subduing the earth, and knows but little of its almost boundless resources. As for the healing of the nations, this promise 42 THOBURN AND INDIA surely is more than a poetical expression. Wars and tumults are to cease. The hungry are to be fed and the naked clothed. Sin will cease to be dominant, and oppression and tyranny will no longer assume a leadership to which they have no title. Men will cease to defy God, and bold, bad men will no longer ride upon the high places of the earth. The Spirit of Christ will become the Spirit of universal humanity, and Earth by angel feet be trod, One great garden of her God. I cannot close these remarks without referring to the extraordinary contrast between the missionary situation to-day and that which was presented in our Church when I went, out to India fifty years ago. At that time our Church had only two foreign missions in all the heathen world — one in China, and a little mission just being planted in India. We were expending some money in Africa, it is true, but that was among the negro colonists in Liberia, all of whom had been Christians before they left America. In the proper sense of the word, we had only two missions among the heathen. We had not entered Mexico, or Japan, or any island of the sea. We had not attempted to penetrate into Africa. At that date the whole Roman Catholic world was sealed against us. Liberty of speech and freedom of worship were denied by universal Roman Catholic law, with perhaps the notable ex- ception of the noble little kingdom of Sardinia. SEMICENTENNIAL SERMON 43 Missionary work was only permitted at five ports in China, and our Church was only maintaining seven missionaries in the whole heathen world. As for success, our missionaries in China had baptized one convert, that is, one convert in ten years, and I have never forgotten the thrilling report of that baptism made by Dr. Durbin before the Pittsburg Conference in 1858. That baptism created more enthusiasm and encouragement than the conversion of a thousand heathen Chinamen would do to-day. When we left America our latest report from India indicated that they had enrolled thirteen pro- bationers in their church register, and this was regarded as highly encouraging. But what is the situation now? The number of adult converts baptized last year in all our wide field amounted to fifteen thousand six hundred and three! And we have good reason to believe that this number will be increased from year to year, perhaps for many years to come. An amazing change is pass- ing over India, and it seems to me that it is passing over the world. The doors of access to the nations are many, and they are open wide. When I first arrived in India I had a settled opinion — perhaps I ought to call it a strong prejudice — that we had a field marked out for us which was more than large enough for us to cultivate as our own. I had accepted the idea which was almost universally adopted at that time, that each missionary society should have a special field of its own, and I used to affirm that our little section of territory in 44 THOBURN AND INDIA Northern India was amply sufficient for us to at- tempt to care for. But how little did I know ! God had other plans for us. Dr. Butler said to me when we were on our way from Calcutta up to Lucknow, in August, 1859: "You ought to be thankful that you will only have to learn one language. We have only one language spoken in our compact little field." I was very thankful indeed, and ap- proved the wise foresight which had given me a field which had people of a single race and a single language. But where are we to-day? I have lived to see our work expand, and in God's strange prov- idence have been a leading agent in expanding it, until now I see our missionaries preaching in forty- four tongues, and winning converts at the rate of probably more than forty every day in the year. These figures are not estimates, but are based on accurate statistics. I am persuaded that God would have his people know how splendid the opportunity is which he is setting before them. The time is coming when my words will be quoted as an illus- tration of the weak faith and limited vision of the Christians of this generation. Hundreds of thou- sands of poor, depressed, and in some cases op- pressed people are pondering the question of casting in their lot with the only people who have ever taught them a gospel of hope. The millions are coming. From the lowest depths of ignorance and darkness we are to lead them forth into a life of light and life and joy. A new missionary spirit seems to have entered SEMICENTENNIAL SERMON 45 into our people in the last few years. It is a spirit which I believe has been breathed upon us from on high. Our missionaries are going forth into all lands. They are found in every country in Europe, from Saint Petersburg to Rome and in Africa from the Mediterranean to Cape Town. They are not only found at all the great centers of India, but their influence is felt in remote regions, East, West, North, and South. Castes and tribes are moving in bodies as never before. The vast empire of China has startled the world by signs of change which appear among her people. The revolution in Turkey is one of the most amazing events of the present genera- tion. In short, wherever we turn we see tokens that God is abroad in the earth, and those who chance to be living on earth to-day should be wise to know and understand their day; for it is a day of visitation in very deed. The church at Antioch was a notable organiza- tion, and yet it was only a local church, organized on the simple basis which prevailed at that early period. And yet, as we have seen, it furnished two of the great religious leaders of the age, and made all the later ages its debtor by its prompt and un- selfish action when brought face to face with a great crisis and a great opportunity. But we cannot doubt that the Master from his throne is looking down upon a wider world than that of the first century, and is watching for modern messengers to be sent out upon errands as sacred, and, I had 46 THOBURN AND INDIA almost said, as important, as the magnificent task which was confided into the hands of Barnabas and Paul. The Roman empire, it is estimated, con- tained one hundred and twenty million inhabitants, but India has nearly three hundred millions, while the equatorial region which we call Malaysia has fifty million more. In all the ages past since the original commission was given to the first disciples to go out and evangelize the nations, no such spectacle has ever been seen as that which con- fronts us to-day. And can we believe that our glorified Master from his throne in glory is in- different to this spectacle? Is he not calling to us to-day, as he did to his disciples at Sychar, to lift up our eyes and see the coming harvest? And is he not sending forth the Holy Spirit to move upon the hearts of some disciples who are now in this audience, to consider the supreme question of personal duty at this hour? I doubt not there is a noble Barnabas in this audience at this moment; and also the more youthful Saul, soon to have his name changed into Paul, is, I trust, represented here. And the same Holy Spirit is here to awaken a new interest, to kindle a new love, to implant a noble ambition to excel in living for the lowly, and teach the secret of rising by becoming lowly. Nor is the call for men only. The little company of women who followed Jesus in Galilee and Judea have be- come a host in the Christian world, but in our great mission fields we need a million of like spirit. Over SEMICENTENNIAL SERMON 47 there on the other side of the globe we have more than a hundred million women and girls groping in dim twilight, and waiting for messengers of Christ to lead them out into bright and healing sun- light. May the Lord of the harvest speak to the Church here to-day, in the homes of our people, in the sanctuaries and in our schools, in a voice which cannot be misunderstood, and may this peculiar convocation which has brought us together here result in a noble accession to the working force in our missionary harvest fields. While one is called home, may twenty be sent out to reinforce the work- ers at the front. A meeting such as we are holding here to-day, with probably one hundred or more consecrated young people of both sexes, many of whom are asking what God would have them do, ought not to send abroad less than twenty reapers into God's great whitening harvest field. II TRANSFORMED HOMES IN INDIA It is our custom in India on festive occasions to put a garland of golden brocade around the neck of the guest of honor ; and when one is too poor to bring that, he brings just a garland of jasmine or some other common flower. After hearing Dr. Herben's tribute to Bishop Thoburn I am afraid to offer mine, but please look upon it as a garland of jasmine and nothing more. About nine years ago it was my privilege to visit Westminster Abbey. Accidentally I came upon the grave of David Livingstone. A strange thrill went through me, and if it had not been for the other visitors I would have knelt on the grave of that king among missionaries to pray for a por- tion of his spirit. Last October I began my work in this country and crossed from New York to Ohio. I was sit- ting alone in the car, and as the train crossed the line from one State into another I was watching the border line with an almost holy love in my heart because it was the State of Ohio, because it was the home of the Thoburns. I tell you this because there are college men and women here, and it is to you that I direct my message. There were many Jewish women in Palestine at 48 MISS LILAVATI SINGH AND MISS ISABELLA THOBURN From a photograph by B. T. Badley, taken on the grounds of Isabella Thoburn College, Lucknow, of which Miss Thoburn was the founder and first President and Miss Singh one of the best -known graduates TRANSFORMED HOMES IN INDIA 49 the time of our Lord, but the woman who broke the alabaster box of precious ointment is the one who is remembered through time and eternity. There were many learned rabbis in Gamaliel's school, but the man who counted all things loss for the knowledge of Christ Jesus is the man who is known from pole to pole. Some of you think it is a great thing to be a President of this country. Look back fifty years and see how many of the Presidents of the United States are remembered to-day. See if you do not have to go to your history to find even the names of these. But the name of a Moody, of a Cyrus Hamlin, of a Bishop Thoburn are known throughout the world. It is true to-day as it has always been, "Measure thy life by loss and not by gain" ; and it is my prayer that because of my visit here there will be some who will offer themselves for the foreign service. The study of the law of evolution in any branch of science is most thrilling in its interest: for in- stance, the study of biology from amoeba to man, of astronomy from the nebula to the solar system, is of untold value, and a few weeks spent in such study seem to change one's whole life, and we fall prone on our faces and worship and adore the Creator with awe and wonder filling our hearts. But the history of missions in the world and the story of the evolution of the Christian Church in India is even more interesting and wonderful than the history of life or of the solar system, for it is not temporal, but eternal. I wish we had time to 50 THOBURN AND INDIA take up that history, but you must do that for yourself. No one has played such an important part in this work as Bishop Thoburn and his sister. To- night you are to hear a review of Bishop Thoburn's fifty years in India. I wish to direct your atten- tion in the few minutes given me to the part he has played in developing woman's work for woman. What a strange beginning it had ! After Bishop Thoburn had been sent out to India and had sur- veyed the field intrusted to him, he with others was convinced that if the women of the country were to be reached it must be through a woman. This thought had become deeply impressed upon his mind. "One day while itinerating his tent was pitched in a mango orchard. He went out for a little walk in the shade of the trees. It so happened that a vulture had built her nest in the broken top of one of the trees, and in passing near the place he picked up a quill which had fallen from her wing. Taking his penknife he began to amuse himself by making a writer's pen, and having succeeded in this he lightly enough thought that he would go into his tent and see if he could write with the big pen. On trial the pen did its work very well. The first letter written with this strange pen was to his sister, and the incident was destined to be- come historic. This letter contained a brief ac- count of the work among the villages, and described the difficult situation in which girls were placed. As the best possible way to meet the dif- TRANSFORMED HOMES IN INDIA 51 faulty it was suggested that the most promising girls should be gathered into a well-equipped board- ing school at some central point. The letter closed with the question written almost thoughtlessly, How would you like to come and take charge of such a school if we decide to make the attempt? By the first steamer which could bring a reply came the ready and swift response that she would come just as soon as the way was opened for her to do so." The offer of Miss Thoburn of herself led, as we all know, to the organization of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. I wish now to paint two pictures for you : The condition of Indian women as Miss Thoburn found them and the condition as it is now. But, before doing that/ you will pardon me if I stop to say that there is a happy mean between the picture as presented in the books written by Edwin Arnold, Max Miiller, and the Swamis, on the one hand, and of those who paint the social conditions as utterly black and the character of the Indian people as hard, selfish, cruel, and destitute of all good qual- ities. The man whom we come to honor to-day, twenty years ago in one of his addresses in Boston University spoke of my people in a way that has been a source of inspiration and comfort to me. Listen to his words : "The longer I have lived among the people of India, the better have I liked them, and I can say to-day, without any shadow of affectation, that I love them perhaps better than the people of my native land. They have many noble 52 THOBURN AND INDIA traits of character. They have elements of moral goodness and greatness which, when sanctified by grace, will give them a noble position in the great family of our common Father." You cannot men- tion the name of Thoburn in India to-day without the hearts of the people being stirred with love. It is because of the confidence and love he has had in us that his work has been such a success. You may die for a people, but if you do not love and trust them you do not accomplish any lasting good. Because these two loved us and had faith in us they have developed leaders. Not only because of the degradation of my people, but because of their wonderful possibilities, I plead for them. A few years ago I read Lecky's History of European Morals. This wonderful book shows us what Europe was before the dawn of the Christian era. The position of woman in Europe has changed because of the coming of Jesus Christ, who exalted woman. The position of the child has been changed because Jesus Christ has discovered the value of the child. Infanticide was practiced not only in India but in other lands. In Rome after the birth of a baby, when the father went into his wife's chamber, if he lifted it into his arms the child was spared. If he did not it was doomed to die. And even after it was accepted, for the first seven or eight years of its life the slaves looked after it. It knew very little of its parents. It is difficult to tell you of the social evils of India, but you remember the definition of patriotism TRANSFORMED HOMES IN INDIA 53 as given by George Adam Smith : "Patriotism is consciousness of one's country's sins and the desire and effort to remove these." I will now show you the picture of India as Miss Thoburn found it. When Miss Thoburn reached India in 1869 sne was brought face to face with the zenana problem, the child marriage, the widow problem, the firm conviction in the minds of a great part of the Indian people that a woman had neither a soul nor a mind. Even to-day, in spite of the great changes that have taken place, these things exist, so that according to the last census there are forty million women in the zenanas. There are twenty-five million widows, one hundred thousand under ten years of age, five thousand babies of a year old. But the leaven for overcoming this social evil is already at work. You too have social evils, but yours are not sanctioned by your religion ; ours are. On her arrival in India, Miss Thoburn found orphanages and village board- ing schools for girls. But these were not the schools for developing leaders. So she went to work and started a college for the girls of the better classes, girls who would be willing to pay for the education they received. She had only six girls at the beginning, but the number has grown so that now there are two hundred. The boarding schools in the villages are all right. They have grown until at the time of the Jubilee we found that there were twelve hundred and ninety schools in Southern Asia, with something like twenty thou- sand girls in them. 54 THOBURN AND INDIA But increase in numbers is not the chief consid- eration. Quality, drill, leadership are very impor- tant. In order to build up Christian character our women must receive the highest intellectual, moral, and spiritual training. I have visited some of your schools for the mentally deficient. You need experts to teach in these, and we need experts in the missionary field for developing the backward races. I want to show you the ideals upon which Miss Thoburn started this work, and those ideals take me back to her home in Saint Clairsville, Ohio. The girls were told the story of that home until we could almost see it. One of the points she most impressed upon us was self-support. There was no school in India at that time where the scholars could work their way. Her enthusiasm for educa- tion made the parents and the students value it and be willing to work for it and to sacrifice for it, and the result is that of the two hundred pupils in our college, only twenty-five are receiving scholarships. Most of these are given on the loan plan and in most cases have been paid back. Another feature of the school is that a third of the pupils are supported by their brothers. The boys that have received an education are so anxious that their sisters should be educated that they will put off making homes for themselves in order to educate their sisters. Another lesson Miss Thoburn taught us was the right perspective of life, the right value of things — "that a man's life consisteth not in the abundance TRANSFORMED HOMES IN INDIA 55 of things which he possesseth." We were made to see the home where economy was practiced in some things, but not in the buying of standard books and the best magazines. The result is that many of our graduates set aside one tenth of their income for their libraries. That lesson taught in the home in Ohio is duplicated in the homes of Indian women to-day. Another thing she brought to our attention was the love of missions, both home and foreign. She told us how when the home in Ohio was paid for Bishop Thoburn's father brought two gold eagles, and said to his wife: "One is for a new cloak for you; let us give the other as a thank offering at the missionary collection." And the mother re- plied: "No, I will turn the old cloak, and wear it another year or two. Let us give both as a thank offering." I heard that story when a very little girl, and I know many of Miss Thoburn's girls are not satisfied with giving one tenth of their income, but some give a fifth, and others even a third. I could go on telling you incidents to show how the lives of these two great leaders have influenced India. Methodism has done many great things, but I do not think Methodism has done any greater thing than the sending out of Bishop Thoburn and his sister to us. Miss Thoburn was a student, and she made her pupils do well not only in government examina- tions, but made lifelong students of them. You know, in India woman was not supposed to have 56 THOBURN AND INDIA any brains. But under Miss Thoburn's instruction woman has proved that she has brains. Year after year in the Allahabad University girls have stood at the top of the list in the government competitive ex- amination. To give you the record of 1906: Over four hundred candidates, both men and women, com- peted for the A.B. examination, and a girl from our college was first in the list. About five hundred took the next examination, corresponding to your sophomore. One of our students again headed the list. In the high school final examination, for which over a thousand boys and a few girls appeared, two girls were fifth and seventh in the roll of honor. A Presbyterian missionary when speaking of her success as an educationist recently said : "Here was a rich and powerful government anxious to pro- mote the cause of female education, on the one hand, and a Christian woman without money, prestige, or other resources, on the other. Both had the same object in view, and both were in the same field, but the lone missionary worker suc- ceeded, while the powerful government met with comparative failure. The whole case is simply a marvel. It is a picture worthy of the most serious study." But excelling in university examinations is not everything. About eighteen years ago a Hindu friend and I were studying Julius Caesar together. We came to the garden scene where Portia shows her self-inflicted wound to Brutus, and Brutus is so overcome by her strength of character that he TRANSFORMED HOMES IN INDIA 57 kneels and prays, "O ye gods, render me worthy of this noble wife." My friend and I exclaimed together, "Will the day ever come when our men will feel this way toward us ?" And to think it has come! — brought about by the efforts of the man whom we come to honor to-day, and his sister and others like them. Again and again the husbands of Miss Thoburn's girls have said, "All that I am I owe to my wife." Some of you remember Ram Chandra Bose, who was in this country a few years ago. His work carried him into the different parts of India, and at a big convention he was heard to say that the homes of Miss Thoburn's girls were the most beau- tiful Christian homes to be found in all India. The graduates of this college which Miss Thoburn founded are to be found in every part of India. Since the founding of the school in 1870 over six hundred have graduated and been engaged in direct Christian work. To-day there are one hundred and ten of our graduates who are to be found not only in India but in Singapore, two thousand miles away, and in Burma and Ceylon. The girls are scattered all over the country and are doing a noble work as teachers, evangelists, physicians, home- makers, and mothers. Just to give you an illustra- tion of one of the students : After she took her A.B. degree she worked for five years in one of the schools and then she married a leading lawyer. She and her husband have been editing a Christian magazine. She has translated some of Drum- 58 THOBURN AND INDIA mond's works. Another graduate on reading the Autobiography of Booker T. Washington in the Outlook was so impressed with the similarity of the social conditions in the South with those of India that she went to work and translated this story. A favorite motto of Miss Thoburn's which she kept constantly before us was : To be the best that I can be For Truth and Righteousness and Thee, Lord of my life, I come. I have turned aside from Bishop Thoburn to offer my tribute to his sister. The two worked side by side in this great work, and to-day India would crown them both with her humble garland of jas- mine and she would plead with you not to grow weary in your efforts in her behalf. Each nation has its gift. India's is the gift of an intensely religious nature. Capture it for Jesus Christ, for in the words of Keshub Chander Sen, "None but Jesus, none but Jesus, none I say but Jesus ever deserved this precious diadem India, and Jesus shall have it. May India adorn herself as a bride in her glistening apparel that she may be ready to meet him !" Ill A REVIEW OF BISHOP THOBURN'S FIFTY YEARS IN INDIA It is altogether fitting and proper that the Jubilee of Bishop Thoburn's missionary career should be observed. It is peculiarly fitting that it should be observed here in Meadville, at the seat of learning where he "fused his live soul with the inert stuff" of books and problems "before attempting smith- craft" as a missionary leader. These fifty years of service belong to the latter half of a period which must bulk largely in the ulti- mate history of the kingdom of God. More has been done by the Church of Christ toward giving the gospel to the world in this new missionary cen- tury than had been accomplished in the previous fifteen hundred years — more non-Christian terri- tory occupied, more languages mastered, more liter- ature created, and more converts gathered from the heathen and pagan peoples of the earth. It has been a time of "the sudden making of splendid names" — Carey and Judson, Morrison and Moffat, Paton and Titus Coan, Griffith John, Livingstone, Mackay, Hannington, and scores of others. But high up among all the great names of missionaries sent from our sister churches across the Atlantic, and easily first among those who have gone as mis- 59 6o THOBURN AND INDIA sionaries from the American continent, is the name of the missionary leader whose Jubilee of service we are here to celebrate — James Mills Thoburn, Missionary Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church for Southern Asia! We offer devout thanksgiving to Almighty God for having raised up in our own communion one who, in a great period of Christian conquest, has proven our apos- tolic succession by apostolic success, and who will take his place in the annals of Methodism along with Wesley and Asbury as a founder and builder of spiritual empire. Bishop Thoburn has become widely known as a missionary prophet, and a dreamer of great dreams of spiritual victories. In this he but exercises more fully than the majority of believers his rights and privileges under the great promise of Joel, and rebukes those whose eyes are so filled with "the things that perish" that they cannot see the things which God has revealed to his children. But he who thinks of this man of God as a mere dreamer falls into a deep slough of error. By the same grace of God which made him a dreamer he has been a tireless doer. He ever rose from the contempla- tion of "the vision splendid" and wrought with rare tact and great fertility of resource to actualize his vision. His record of solid achievement is unpar- alleled in the history of the last half century of mis- sionary activity. The mesh of any human net that might be let down into the sea of his varied activ- ities would be too coarse to bring up the finest and BISHOP THOBURN IN INDIA 61 best of those "issues of life" of which the Scriptures speak. Only God who searcheth the hearts and trieth the reins of the children of men can truly appraise the output of a life, but we may seine up some of those achievements which unaided human eyes may note, and pass them in review before us. DISTRICT CONFERENCES AND MISSIONS Among the largest, but probably one of the least known, pieces of work which have been accomplished by this man is the incorporation in the Methodist Discipline of provisions for District Conferences and Missions, with well-defined powers. Dr. Butler, Dr. Parker, and others rendered great help in this result; but it was by the tact and persistence of Bishop Thoburn that the General Conference finally enacted these two legislative provisions. Our foreign missionary career as a Church really began when that great man — Dr. William Butler — began the founding of our Church in India. Up to that time we had never faced any of the manifold administrative problems which are found to arise as soon as foreign missionary work is seriously un- dertaken. The Methodist Discipline is a wonderful compendium of laws and rules, but up to that time its provisions were all made for the kind of churches with which Asbury, McKendree, Cartwright, and the mighty Simpson had been familiar. Its ritual was melodious and solemn — in English only. Any translation of it necessarily lost its best flavor, and became sounding words and tinkling phrases. No 62 THOBURN AND INDIA provision existed for licensing *and controlling such a band of local prea'chers, teachers, and other helpers as was so urgently needed, who were below the status of members of Annual Conference, but were on the pay rolls of the Mission, subject to appointment and often needing discipline. When the first Annual Meeting of the India Mission was held these serious disciplinary shortcomings became very evident. In his "Missionary Apprenticeship" the Bishop has stated some of the difficulties which confronted them. He says : We had not sat in council an hour before perplexi- ties began to meet us. The first question raised was a most important one, but we had no answer ready at hand. Young men were present to be received among us, but how were they to be received? The Conference membership was to be held on the other side of the globe. We had no legal right to touch them, and yet we could not but see that we as a body were expected to do something in the premises, and even if .not ex- pected, we saw at a glance that it was of the most vital importance to the future harmony and efficiency of the mission that we should have something to say in the matter. . . . What added to our perplexity was the discovery that the law of the Church had made no manner of provision for an emergency of this kind. The Discipline was silent on the subject of missionary government. The i Missionary Board had spoken, but in vague or equivocal language. A small Manual for the use of missionaries had been published, but it failed to deal with nearly all the really important questions which came before us. An official Letter of Instructions had been sent out by the Corresponding Secretary, but this also, while far in BISHOP THOBURN IN INDIA 63 advance of the Manual, failed to meet our difficulties, and really created more perplexity than it removed. In short, we found ourselves in a position which had not been anticipated by the Church, and for which no proper provision had been made. We did not know what to do, or what to leave undone. Under such circumstances it is not strange that we thought of the only provision which the Discipline of the Church at that time afforded us. We had discovered that an Annual Meeting had no ecclesiastical functions whatever, and no certain functions of any kind; then why not have an Annual Conference? Or, failing this, why not have the Annual Meeting legalized and its functions specified? To us, situated as we were, it seemed so reasonable that something should be done that we did not hesitate to adopt a memorial asking the General Conference to give us a legal status as an Annual Conference. . . . In New York, however, our action was viewed with no little misgiving. The reply of the Corresponding Secretary opened with a frank statement of his appre- hension that we did not sufficiently realize the solemn responsibility resting upon us, and that we were allowing our minds to be diverted from the great work for which we had been sent to India. We were exhorted to be constant in our devotion, and not to allow anything to come between us and our duty. A few questions were answered, but our chief difficulties were left untouched. It was evident at a glance that our position had been wholly misunderstood. The idea of a dozen young men, in a remote corner of the earth, without experience, without churches, and without membership, asking for the formal organization of an Annual Conference seemed preposterous in the last degree. In America such a thing had never been done, and in India it seemed more out of place than at home. And as to legalizing the Annual Meeting, or making any special legislative pro- 64 THOBURN AND INDIA vision for a handful of young men in a remote country, it was not to be thought of. To a distant observer on the other side of the globe it very naturally seemed that we were impatient for full ecclesiastical rights, and that part of the time which we had been devoting to questions of organization might have been better em- ployed in prayer and devotion. To cut that Gordian knot Bishop Thoburn carried through to completion the law by which District Conferences were called into being and clothed with powers of a definite character, and provision was made also for Missions having the ecclesiastical status of District Conferences. These two provisions have revolutionized foreign mission- ary administration. In India and Malaysia to-day there are over forty District Conferences with a membership of over two thousand. The district superintendent is the presiding officer. The preach- ers in charge are the cabinet, and the examinations, committee work, and appointments are taken as seriously as those of the Annual Conferences. It gives the humble exhorters, teachers, and local preachers a definite status, and makes adequate provision for their appointment, direction, and dis- cipline. In the older portions of that field the Dis- trict Conferences are the real centers of power. The membership of each one of these bodies is as great or greater than the membership in the Annual Conferences, and it is in their deliberations that the work of all the smaller schools and circuits is scru- tinized and made effective. This one service is of untold value to the work of every foreign field. BISHOP THOBURN IN INDIA 65 THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN Within forty years an incalculable total of moral and spiritual energy has been applied to the work of our Church through the new ministries made possible to women by the woman's missionary soci- eties and the deaconess movement. Many human agencies have cooperated with the Spirit in releasing these unused forces for the work of Christ, but no man in our communion was alive to the need and pos- sibility of this new agency so early, and none of our Church leaders has done so much as Bishop Tho- burn to make these new ministries at once possible and legal. It was three years before the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society was founded — in 1866 — that he, shaping a pen from the wing of a vulture that wheeled slowly above his tent in a North India village, used it to write his sister, Isabella Thoburn, of the futility of evangelizing heathen lands unless the women of those lands were reached by the min- istry of Christian women, asking her how she would like to leave her schoolroom in America and come to India to begin to train girls for this great service. After three years of agitation among the missionaries and in the Church papers the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society was begun by Mrs. Butler, Mrs. Parker, and others whose hearts the Lord had burdened with this new task, and Isabella Thoburn was their first missionary. Dr. Clara Swain was next appointed, the first lady medical missionary sent to minister to the necessities of the 66 THOBURN AND INDIA uncounted millions of non-Christian women. In framing and securing the legislation necessary to give this ministry of women and the later deaconess movement a proper disciplinary status, and work- able relations with existing benevolent organiza- tions, Bishop Thoburn's aid was invaluable. INTERPRETATION OF THE DIVINE PURPOSE IN THE BRITISH OCCUPATION OF INDIA Bishop Thoburn's first appointment in India gave him heavy preaching and pastoral duties among English officers, soldiers, and civilians in the moun- tain city of Naini Tal. But when he discovered that official chaplains of the established Church regarded all such work an infringement of their rights, he determined to "go unto the Gentiles." Then came several years of lonely work in a native station at Pauri, where, shut away from other mis- sionaries, with the vast and silent peaks of the Himalaya Mountains before him, he began to see the problem of India's salvation in its entirety. In later contact with English and Eurasian life as presiding elder of the Lucknow District, he became profoundly convinced that God had given the heathen millions of India unto the care of the great- est Christian nation of the Anglo-Saxon race for ends of mercy vast beyond the range of human thought. He saw that there, among the original Aryan peoples, and at the heart of all the thousand millions of heathen and pagan peoples yet to be given unto Christ for an inheritance, the British BISHOP THOBURN IN INDIA 67 nation was to do a work which would mightily hasten the coming of the kingdom of God. It seems inexplicable that English ministers did not so interpret God's purpose with their nation. It is strange that no chaplain of the English Church grasped the idea and set himself to work it out. Like the formal priests whom the Pope (in "The Ring and the Book") blames for not helping save Pompilia from the persecution of a husband who put, day by day, hour by hour, The untried torture to the untouched place, these men, Bound to deserve in the matter, prove at need Unprofitable through the very pains We gave to train them well and start them fair, — Are found too stiff, with standing ranked and ranged, For onset in good earnest, too obtuse Of ear, through iteration of command, For catching quick the sense of the real cry. This is the man proves irreligiousest Of all mankind, religion's parasite! This may forsooth plead dinned ear, jaded sense, The vice o' the watcher who bides near the bell. With Bishop Thoburn, to decide has ever been to act. No sooner had he seen this purpose of God for the British government in India than he began to devise plans for the evangelization of English and European populations. Dr. J. H. Messmore, writing of that period, says, "It was at this time that Thoburn's madness began to develop." He 68 THOBURN AND INDIA wrote to William Taylor, whose evangelistic tread had shaken three continents, begging him to come from Australia and grapple with the problem. Taylor came and for four years carried forward an evangelistic campaign among the English and Eu- rasian populations of India — in Bombay, Poona, Madras, Bangalore, Cawnpore, Allahabad, and Cal- cutta — that makes one of the most splendid chap- ters in the new Acts of the Apostles now being written by the deeds of God's servants in the earth. But the plan of Taylor's work all lay in the mind of this man whose Jubilee of service we are here to celebrate. At the end of four years of truly heroic labors Taylor left for the United States never to return to India, and Bishop Thoburn was trans- ferred by Bishop Harris from the original India Conference to the "Bombay and Bengal Mission," and given charge of the work in Calcutta. It is from this time — January of 1874 — that the Church and the world began to know him. All his previous experience had been his preparation for the service he was now to begin. Crowds waited on his min- istry. A new church begun by Taylor, finished after his arrival, proved to be too small from the day of its dedication. The Corinthian Theater was leased on Sunday nights, in faith that God would supply the funds, and every Sunday night this playhouse was filled with vast audiences of English and Eurasian people crowding to hear this fresh voice calling them to repentance and the new life in Christ. Nothing like it had ever been BISHOP THOBURN IN INDIA 60 known in Asia. It was like Paul's career in Ephesus. Three hundred souls were known to be saved during the first year. Into the smooth and dead formality of official Anglicanism, and the quiet and order of non-conforming mission churches came this ringing, authoritative call to repent and be converted. The joyous songs and testimonies of scores who had been reclaimed or converted were heard in the capital city of the greatest idolatrous empire on the earth. In speaking of this work the Bishop says : The genuineness of the work was 'attested by the remarkable hold which it gained upon the more aban- doned and godless classes. An inmate of a house of refuge was taken to one of the meetings by a Christian lady, and on her way home was asked how she liked it. "It is the strangest church I ever saw," was her reply. "It seemed to me that all the bad people in Calcutta were there." It was the New Testament ministry of Christ repeating itself again in our day. The Friend of sinners was there, and the very classes who are supposed to have no religious interest of any kind flocked around him, as in olden time. A year later I found, by actual count, that twenty-five per cent of all the members thus gathered in had before their conversion been intem- perate persons. Evangelistic fires burned on steadily for years. The Sailor's Coffee Rooms were opened in one of the vilest streets of that seaport, and literally hun- dreds of seamen were led to Christ, and that por- tion of the city was transformed into a choice resi- dence district. A school for girls was begun by faith. Another for boys soon followed. A Press jo THOBURN AND INDIA was opened. A new church was erected on a splen- did site, and paid for after almost miraculous efforts. The Lucknow Witness was brought from its pro- vincial home to Calcutta, the name changed to The India Witness, and this man assumed the editor- ship in addition to all his other labors. The paper became at once the leading Christian newspaper in all India, and has never lost its crown. From other cities in South and Central India advice was asked, and help given, and later on came the two great advance steps by which Rangoon and Singapore were opened to the gospel, and in later years he who had interpreted in thought and deed the purposes of God through the British in India was sent by the secretaries of the Board of Foreign Missions to begin the evangelistic and spiritual in- terpretation of American trusteeship in the Philip- pine Islands. What a record of dreams come true ! — Lucknow to Cawnpore ; Cawnpore to Calcutta, where an empire still feels the mighty blessing of God upon his constructive career; from Calcutta to Rangoon, from Rangoon to Singapore, that melt- ing-pot and meeting-place of the nations, and from Singapore to Manila to plant our Church in the capital of a country destined to be the first republic on Asiatic soil. That triumphal missionary march through the heart of a pagan continent is unpar- alleled in the history of the Church of Christ. All glory be to God who called this our brother, trained him in his own way, and guided and empowered him in all these vast undertakings! Missionary BISHOP THOBURN IN INDIA 71 history furnishes no better comment on the great words, "Go ye into all the world ; and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." MASS MOVEMENTS Bishop Thoburn is recognized all over India and the East as the most conspicuous leader of what has come to be called the mass movement in foreign missions. The late Bishop Parker, Dr. T. J. Scott, Dr. Robert Hoskins, Dr. P. M. Buck, Rev. Samuel Knowles, and Dr. E. F. Frease and half a score besides have had a large part in beginning this rapid ingathering of heathen converts ; but because of his grasp of the whole problem, and because of his official position and his entire fearlessness in following whithersoever the Saviour plainly led the way, it has been a part of the great list of achievements of Bishop Thoburn that has approved and carried forward this work in the face of hostile criticism from fellow missionaries until it has not only swept tens of thousands of idolatrous people into the wide current of Christianity, but he has compelled the approval of the policy by many of the leading missionaries of all the churches in India. The Lord Bishop of Madras (Anglican) has not only announced his belief in this method of work, but has inaugurated it all over his diocese, while the leading American missions which sought to oppose this form of missionary work at first, and declared that "if a fox shall go up he will break down their walls," have openly acknowledged their error, and 72 THOBURN AND INDIA are open advocates of the mass movement in missions. The established method of dealing with inquirers in many parts of the mission field has been to or- ganize them into classes, withholding baptism for six months or more until it was certain that no low or false motive prompted them to seek to become Christians. Meanwhile they were taught the mean- ing of the Christian profession. Many became weary of the long inquisition, and dropped out of the lists and were lost to the Church. Bishop Tho- burn's idea is that the methods of Pentecost and of the apostolic age are those which the Spirit would have used in the evangelization of the world. Then three thousand were baptized in a day, and in every city whither the apostles went men, women, and children were baptized and received into the Church as soon as they gave evidence of an honest desire to seek the pardon of their sins. In pursuance of this method God has wonder- fully blessed the Church in India over which the "Holy Ghost made him an overseer." When he responded to the address of welcome made to him in Bombay on landing in India as Bishop in Decem- ber in 1888, he said in the hearing of the writer, "I have not come to fill an office. / have come to India to do a work." When he was elected to lead our hosts there we had less than fourteen thousand members. Now there are over two hundred thou- sand, and the spiritual power of the Church has kept ahead of its marvelous growth in numbers. BISHOP THOBURN IN INDIA 73 And great as are these totals, they are but a tithe of what might have been gathered if the home Church had supplied the workers necessary to train and edify the tens of thousands who were as eager to come into our Church as any that have been received. The inadequate response of the Church to his ap- peals for help in this new era of modern missions has been largely responsible for that partial break in his health which has made it imperative that the shoulders so long bent under imperial tasks should be given some relief. And what is the significance of this added achieve- ment in this consecrated life? Nothing less than this, for one thing, that it immeasurably accelerates the rate of all missionary progress and is thus equal to doubling or quadrupling all the missionary forces of India and of all lands that feel the thrill of this modern call to "attempt great things for God." . But time fails me to pass in review the contribu- tions of this servant of God to the cause of true scriptural evangelism, to the arousing of the home churches to their duty and privilege, and to every cause that makes for the victory of righteousness. What are some of the qualities of the man which have made these results possible? First, a certain native largeness of mind that is best expressed by the term "grasp." He saw things whole. Patient with items when administrative matters were in hands, he never allowed items to eclipse totals. Parts of great problems were seen as parts, and not confused with the whole. 74 THOBURN AND INDIA Second, tremendous powers of endurance. Dur- ing twenty-five years his frail body has borne up under loads that would have killed a man of average physical stamina in a quarter of that time. While in Calcutta he was pastor of the greatest Protestant church in Asia, with a revival on his hands at every service; presiding elder of a district covering at first nearly one half of India, editor of the lead- ing weekly journal, striking body blows at intem- perance, child-marriage, and scores of living, pal- pitating questions which had to do with the king- dom of God, and had administrative and financial burdens upon him in connection with the institu- tions which had been begun in Calcutta, and with the scattered churches of William Taylor's planting. Third, the gift of versatility. He could do more things and do them all well than any man I ever knew. Fourth, great courage. Duty calls him to sur- render his salary and trust God for bread. It is done! A great church is needed in the capital of an empire containing one out of five of the earth's population. He has no funds for site or structure. A poor widow puts twenty-one dollars in his hands for the needed enterprise. He accepts a widow's leadership in Christian enterprise, and proceeds to erect the most commodious and best located church in that great city, and the list might be expanded by pages. Fifth, a saving sense of humor. To a degree not suspected by those not intimate with him he is BISHOP THOBURN IN INDIA 75 blessed with a vein of rich humor — an inheritance which is the birthright of one but a single genera- tion removed from a small island in the north of Europe. Sixth, entire consecration to God. "He chose Christ for a career." Seventh, complete absorption in missionary work. During the General Conference of 1896 one of the highest officials of the Church suggested to him the probability that he could be made a General Superintendent if he would consent. His answer was that he could consider nothing that would inter- fere with his missionary service in India. And all in all this heroic servant of God is not only the most noted evangelistic missionary of our day, but incomparably the best loved man in Meth- odism ; and while such as he are placed in positions of power among us, we shall continue our career as a Church winning souls, fighting unrighteous- ness, and hastening the day when "the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign in the earth." IV HIGH IDEALS FOR HIGH SERVICE We meet to-day to do honor to an apostle of Jesus Christ and a servant of humanity. And in doing honor to him we do honor to ourselves, and to the great causes with which his life has been knit. Fifty years ago, a youth of twenty-three, James Mills Thoburn left this community, sundered ties that were precious and tenacious, and giving will- ing ear to a Voice that had been calling him, he set his face toward that far-away land to whose people he had already given his heart and to whose enlightenment he had consecrated his energies and his life. Half a century of years have slipped over the edge of time into eternity since that day of his first departure for that distant land of great possibilities and of marvelous achievements. For fifty years he has had a conspicuous part in developing these possibilities, and has contributed his full share in the bulking up of these achievements. We look at India to-day, and recalling the India of fifty years ago, we say with wonder and with gratitude, "What hath God wrought!" And then we remind ourselves that God has wrought mightily in India because in various parts of the Christian world he has found men and women of high ideals 76 HIGH IDEALS FOR HIGH SERVICE ;/ who in the name of Jesus Christ have given them- selves up to high service in that land. Without them these marvelous achievements could not have been wrought. It was the coming together of the divine and the human that enabled God to lift up humankind in India. Many heard God's call for the deliverance of that country and people. They responded. They gave without stint. They endured hardship. They labored with unfailing fidelity. They toiled with joy through sacrifice. They were undismayed by difficulties. They defied the pestilence. They were unafraid of famine. They met reverses with courage. They were troubled on every side, yet not distressed ; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken ; cast down, but not destroyed. Many sealed their covenant with their lives. But the cause they loved prospered. The Captain they followed tri- umphed. The people they served were lifted up. And he who declared himself to be the Light of the World became through their undying labors the Light of India. Foremost among the great-souled men and women who have given themselves for India's re- demption stands James M. Thoburn: honored and loved in every part of India for his unparalleled devotion to the betterment of its people; known throughout the world as one of the greatest of modern missionaries ; and held in sincere and rever- ent affection in every corner of universal Methodism as a firm believer in its doctrine, a fervent exponent 78 THOBURN AND INDIA of its experience and spirit, and a wise and indus- trious builder upon its foundations. In the story of world-wide Methodism, in the record of the development of modern India, and in the inspiring and romantic recitals of the mission- ary enterprises of the last half century the name of James M. Thoburn must be give a place of con- spicuous honor, because it stands always for the deepest consecration, the most unsparing labors, and the most distinguished achievements performed with the utmost self-effacement for the sake of humanity in the name of Jesus Christ. Bishop Thoburn's long life of lofty service is an excellent text for my message. He is an incarna- tion of the highest ideals committed to the highest service. As such he is to us to-day, and has been for many years, a source of unfailing inspiration. Every man is subject to the overlordship of some ideal. It may be high. It may be low. It may be indifferent. But the ideal determines the life. As a man "thinketh in his heart, so is he." The ideal influencing heart, soul, imagination, thought, ex- presses itself in activity, character, life. The low ideal produces the base life, with all its attendant distresses, disappointments, and disasters. The high ideal produces the noble life, rich with graces, services, benedictions that bless mankind and bring contentment to the heart of the individual who is under its mystic and benignant sway. Clearly it is the duty of the individual to yield to the dominance of the highest ideal. Not only HIGH IDEALS FOR HIGH SERVICE 79 because from its influence emerges the largest meas- ure of personal contentment, but, rather, because it enables him to live at the maximum of efficiency for the benefit of humanity. It does not need to be demonstrated in these days that "none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself." The influence of the ideal goes far beyond the individual in whose life it is manifested. The highest ideal is that which makes the high- est and best life. And it must be, therefore, that this ideal has its source of inspiration in the best life. If it reaches the best it must come from the best. And it is so, for we find the highest ideal and the best life centering in Jesus Christ. President Hyde, in his book, The College Man and the College Woman, appeals to students in behalf of Jesus Christ in these words: "Start where you will in the moral world, if you follow principles to their conclusions they always lead you up to> Christ. He touched life so deeply, so broadly, and so truly that all brave, generous living is summed up in him. Starting with the code you have here worked out for yourselves, translating it into positive terms, and enlarging it to the dimensions of the world you are about to enter, your code becomes simply a fresh interpretation of the meaning of the Chris- tian life. All that we have been saying has its counterpart in that great life of his. He gave his best; and how good and beneficent it was!" But the highest ideal may be defeated of its worthy purpose. It must manifest itself in high 8o THOBURN AND INDIA endeavor in order to maintain its vitality. This was particularly true in the case of our Lord. He was under the influence of the highest ideals, in his heart were the stirrings of the noblest motives, and his life of unceasing endeavor for the sake of hu- manity gave validity and vitality to the ideal that controlled him. The example of Jesus is before us, then, as the most conspicuous illustration of this principle. We must draw our inspiration from him. The great motive of his life was redemption, the great pur- pose was service. If redemption was to be wrought only at the price of self-abasement he was willing to pay that price. The self-abnegation of Jesus for the redemption of humanity is amazing. We are told by one who knew the mind of Jesus that he, "being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God : but made himself of no repu- tation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Jesus put the emphasis upon service. His whole life is an instance of sublime devotion to the passion for humanity. It possessed him. He could not shake it off. He did not try to. He yielded him- self to it without restraint. From the day that he said to his bewildered parents, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" to the hour when he declared to his chosen few, "I must HIGH IDEALS FOR HIGH SERVICE 81 work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work," he never got a moment's release from the driving dominance of that divine passion for humanity. He withheld nothing that could meet human need. His Father had given the best he had for the redemption of mankind : "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." This Jesus said of his own accord concerning the loving-kindness of God and his own mission for the succoring of humanity. God gave the best he had for the highest serv- ice. Jesus Christ gave the best he had to meet the needs of humankind. And no equipment of mind, heart, soul, body that any man or woman possesses is too precious to be offered as a sacrifice for the sake of the human brotherhood. Every man who is under the sway of the highest ideal must — if he is true to that ideal — yield himself to the highest service he can render in the name of Jesus Christ for the benefit of mankind. For "every man contains in himself the elements of all the rest of humanity ; and some time or other to every man must come the consciousness of this vaster life." And with this consciousness must come also a recog- nition and appreciation of the vaster obligation to meet and supply, as far as he may be able, the needs of the rest of humanity. This Jesus did. This all must do who name his name, and recognize his 82 THOBURN AND INDIA gracious sovereignty, and yield themselves to the sway of his authority. This brings us to the statement that the best men and women must give themselves to the best serv- ice. It would be absurd to put a stoker in command of a battleship. The best equipped men are sought for the places of greatest responsibility in trade and in the professions. So, in the ampler fields of the higher service, where character is to be formed, where civilizations are to be created, where races are to be redeemed, and where the kingdom of God is to be established, the best equipped men and women should address themselves to the most dif- ficult tasks. An Irish poet in commemorating the execution of a patriot declares that "the fittest place where man can die is where he dies for man." And, while this is true, one can say with equal truth that the fittest place where man can live is where he lives for man : for living for humanity is quite as valuable a factor in the higher develop- ment of the brotherhood as dying. But how many there are who are unwilling to live at the maximum of their efficiency for the bene- fit of humanity! How many gifted men and women, who have enjoyed the bounty and privilege of God's favor, repudiate their obligations to God and refuse to give ear to the voice of human need ! They have full equipment for service. The oppor- tunities for the employment of that equipment appeal to them from every side. But they are un- willing to adjust equipment to opportunity. The HIGH IDEALS FOR HIGH SERVICE S3 appeal of the human brotherhood falls upon dull ears, when no man who has had the chance to succor humanity has the right to be deaf to the cry of his brother man for help. They shut their eyes to the vision of the world's sin and suffering, when no man who can do anything to cleanse away the sin of the world or to mitigate human suffering has the right to be blind to these harsh and appealing conditions. They withhold their hands from gentle ministry toward their fellows, while sorrow, poverty, ignorance, degradation, injustice, oppres- sion, violence, passion, debauchery, hatred are mak- ing their frightful scars upon human society every- where, when no man who has felt the touch of the compassionate Jesus has the right to disappoint the just expectations of his brother man. But not only should the best men and women give themselves to the best service ; the best service should be given to the most needy. The best equipped for the hardest place, is the rule that will yield the best results. . Christianity is the greatest force that ever touched the lives of men. It embodies the noblest philan- thropy, the truest philosophy, the purest ethics, and the sanest sociology, and inspires the finest character and the loftiest ideals of service. But Christianity needs to be interpreted. The best in- terpretation of life is always through the highest type of life. And this Christianity furnishes. Who, then, is best qualified "to interpret Christian- ity ? He who is best equipped. The man who has 84 THOBURN AND INDIA a fine and true sense of justice, who thinks soundly, who has a keen and sympathetic appreciation of all forms of beauty, who has a deep and consuming love of humanity, who believes in the steady upward development of social conditions, and in the ulti- mate realization of an ideal social order centering in Jesus Christ. When those well qualified to in- terpret Christianity have endeavored to perform this service they have won success. Those whose work in this direction has been successful have been wise, just, kind, thoughtful, helpful, industrious, consecrated, strong in faith, and cheerful in spirit. They have gone forth into the hard places, and have laid the enduring foundations of a better civiliza- tion; they have diffused the light of a higher cul- ture ; they have helped to remove the bands of super- stition, to dissipate the pall of ignorance, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, and to publish to the world the acceptable year of the Lord. In their endeavors to interpret Christianity they have touched individuals ; and, having become new creatures in Christ Jesus by contact with him, they have helped to make these individuals over into new creatures through the transforming power of Jesus Christ working in and through them. Into this service for individuals in the name of Jesus these workers of the kingdom have poured their energies without stint, and mighty is the result of their labors. In this kind of service lay the great HIGH IDEALS FOR HIGH SERVICE 85 secret of their success. It is the contact of life with life that counts most in the working out of the problem of human betterment. Humanity is lifted up to nobler things not by wholesale, but by individuals ; not by the mass, but by the unit. The biographer of Alice Freeman Palmer says of her service for others: "There was in her a wastefulness like that of the blossoming tree. It sometimes disturbed me, and for it I occasionally took her to task. 'Why will you,' I said, 'give all this time to speaking before uninstructed audiences, to discussions in endless committees with people too dull to know whether they are talking to the point, and to anxious interviews with tired and tiresome women? You would exhaust yourself less in writing books of lasting consequence. At present you are building no monument. When you are gone good people will ask who you were, and nobody will be able to say.' But I always received the same indifferent answer: 'Well, why should they say? I am trying to make girls wiser and happier. Books don't help much toward that. They are really dead things. Why should I make more of them ? It is people that count. You want to put yourself into people. They touch other people, these others still, and so you go on work- ing forever.' " The important thing is lodged in service in behalf of the individual and with the individual. It may seem insignificant, but it is really moment- ous. It may seem like a waste, but it is an invest- 86 THOBURN AND INDIA ment that yields richest returns. It may seem use- less, but no endeavor is useless that brings Jesus Christ into the lives and hearts of men and women. The humblest service rendered in Christ's name sanctifies life and is a benediction to humankind. To many of us at this hour the dominant con- ception of service is that related to the missionary enterprise. He whom we honor to-day, and in whose presence we are met, has been a missionary of the Cross of Jesus Christ for half a century. It is natural, therefore, that missions should have a prominent place in our thought at this time. The missionary is held in high esteem wherever his work is known. The idea of sacrifice is always associated with him. He is looked upon as one who endures hardship as a good soldier of the Cross. He is on the fighting line. He makes up "the thin red line of heroes" that is bringing the distant peoples into subjection to Jesus Christ. No wonder he is held in deep affection the whole world around. The late Dr. John Watson said of the mis- sionaries : "We second-rate fellows here at home are the militia : a very respectable lot of hardwork- ing men, but just militia. They are the fighting line. Theirs are the medals with the bars. They are our Victoria Cross men." And a short time ago the head master of a famous boys' school in Massachusetts declared:. "I have much to do with boys; and I would rather have one of my boys become a foreign missionary than President. The work of missionaries is the grandest in the whole HIGH IDEALS FOR HIGH SERVICE 87 world, and the missionaries are the heroes of modern times." Some months ago a banquet was given in New York to his excellency Viceroy Tuan Fang, of China. This is what he said about the influence and service of the American missionary in his country : "We take pleasure in bearing testimony to the part taken by American missionaries in pro- moting the progress of the Chinese people. They have rendered inestimable service to China by the laborious task of translating into the Chinese lan- guage the religious and scientific works of the West. They have brought the light of Western civilization into every nook and corner of the empire." These words of high commendation can easily be multiplied. No one apologizes for the mission- ary. He needs no apology, any more than Jesus Christ does. He has won his way to superlative words of approval by the distinguished services he has rendered to humanity everywhere in the name of the Master of men, under whose great commis- sion he has gone forth to the conquest of the world. Twenty years ago Bishop Thoburn appeared at Wesleyan University and made an appeal in behalf of India. He wanted some young men from the group of students to reinforce the heroic band that was preaching the truth of Jesus Christ to the people of that distant land. The opportunity for service of the highest kind was presented, but there was no response. The Bishop, whose soul was burning- with a desire for the salvation of India, 88 THOBURN AND INDIA turned away from the university with a sad heart as he said: "I have not found as yet a single can- didate for missionary service in Wesleyan Uni- versity. India wants the best. I fear something is lacking. Why do they not respond to India's appeal for help?" Well, things have changed much since the day of that appeal to which no response was given. The inspiration of Bishop Thoburn's life and services has been irresistible. It has gripped the con- sciences, fired the imagination, and quickened the consecration of college men and women in every land. From Wesleyan University, and from scores of other centers of higher education, many men and women of fine ability, of deep devotion, of rich spir- itual life have gone forth as messengers of the Cross of Christ. In this glorious company Alle- gheny College is represented by a splendid band. From these halls of learning James M. Thoburn went to India, as did Henry Mansell, James H. Messmore, James W. Waugh, and William F. Oldham. Merriman C. Harris went to Japan, Albert L. Long to Constantinople, Wilbur C. Swearer to Korea, Laura Temple to Mexico, and others inspired by the same motives have given themselves to mission labors in other fields. And I doubt not there are some enrolled among the students here who are looking forward with the rapture of happy anticipation to work for Jesus Christ in distant lands. God grant that there may be many! Indeed, all should give response to HIGH IDEALS FOR HIGH SERVICE 89 Christ's call for high service, having yielded them- selves to the sway of the high ideals centering in him. For Christ's call is directed to all, since there is something for everyone to do in the great enter- prise of the world's betterment. That call sounds in the ears and beats against the hearts of the young people of this college to-day. God wants volunteers for the carrying on of his enterprise of redemption. Is he finding any among the students of Allegheny College ? There is a story of the Scotch Guards and the expedition to Ashanti. The Guards were called upon to engage in a perilous undertaking. The colonel frankly told his men that not many of them would return alive. No man was ordered to go. But volunteers were called for. And so the colonel said, "Any man who will volunteer will step one pace to the front," and then he turned his back to them so as not to embarrass them in their decision. After a moment he faced the line again. It was without a break. Anger arose in his heart, and leaped to his face. "What," said he in hot wrath, "the Scotch Guards and not a volunteer !" Where- upon a soldier stepped from the ranks, saluted his commander, and said, "Colonel, the whole line has stepped forward." That was the spirit of conquest. That is the spirit we need to take this world for Jesus Christ. May that spirit prevail in this college from whose halls so many royal men and women have already gone as volunteers in the army of the conquering Christ! PART II ADDRESSES ON THE RELATION OF THE COLLEGE TO MISSIONS A. THE RELATION OF THE COLLEGE TO FOREIGN MISSIONS 9* THE COLLEGE AND THE COLLEGE MAN IN FOREIGN MISSIONARY ACHIEVEMENT The careful student of the history of missions is deeply impressed with the uncommon service of the college to this great cause. Only a brief survey can here be attempted. We note : I. The college has been the birthplace and the nursery of foreign missionary movements. Chris- tian societies of students have played a most im- portant part in modern church history. This com- pany needs only to be reminded of the Holy Club of Oxford, and to contemplate its far-reaching mis- sionary consequences. John Wesley, the leader of that club, gave us the phrase which has become the missionary platform of the Church — "The world is my parish." The "haystack prayer meeting" was held by a group of Williams College students, com- posed of Samuel J. Mills, James Richards, Francis L. Robbins, and By ram Green. They wrought a revolution in the religious life of the college and developed a missionary spirit which brought into existence the American Board of Foreign Missions, the first organized foreign missionary society in America. This "haystack prayer meeting" also originated a missionary movement, pronounced by Dr. McCosh the most remarkable since Pentecost. 93 94 THOBURN AND INDIA Mills went from Williams to Andover, where his zeal influenced not only his former classmates at Williams, but also graduates of Yale, Harvard, Brown, and Union. In 1898 a band of five Yale students devoted a year to work among young people's societies, visit- ing seventy cities. One of these was John Law- rence Thurston of Yale ('98), who later went to China and became the founder of the Changsha Mission. Brownell Gage of Yale ('98) and his wife went out in 1904, and later Warren B. Sea- bury of '00, Edward H. Hume of '97, and William J. Hart of '05. They have a medical mission with dispensary and hospital, and a general school with thirty pupils. All these are but types of work which has from time to time been projected by college bands and college graduates. About eighteen years ago in Japan two student bands formed, in extreme parts of the empire — one at Sapporo Agricultural College, the other at a boys' school in Kumamoto. The former developed into a church; and a world observer has said that the city of Sapporo is more thoroughly permeated with Christianity than any other city he saw in Asia. The Kumamoto band entered Doshisha, then recently founded by Joseph Neesima, an Am- herst graduate and the missionary apostle of Japan, and by the splendid scholarship of its members established Christianity in the confidence of the Japanese. That band furnished, or inspired, those Congregational ministers who were responsible for THE COLLEGE AND FOREIGN MISSIONS 95 the remarkable growth of that denomination in Japan. The names of some of the members will shine like stars of the first magnitude in the galaxy of illustrious names which will be celebrated by the future historians of early Christianity in the Sunrise Kingdom. Need I recount the story of the Cambridge band whose members have played so important a part in the work of the great China Inland Mission, projected by J. Hudson Taylor? Five of the seven members — C. T. Studd, W. W. Cassels, Stanley P. Smith, Arthur Turner, and Montague Beauchamp — were college men. I need only mention the work of the Student Volunteer Movement, which for more than fifteen years has been instructing Christian students con- cerning the world-wide nature of the kingdom of God, its progress, condition, needs, opportunities, problems, resources, and claims. Up to January 1, 1908, 3,500 volunteers, recruited from the stu- dent bodies, had actually sailed for the foreign field ; an even thousand of these having sailed during the past four years. In the total not less than fifty denominations are represented — 826 went to China, 624 to India, 313 to Africa, 275 to Japan, 167 to South America, and about twenty different foreign countries in all were supplied. The colleges have led in the scientific study of Christian missions, the number of students in the Mission Study Classes in 1907-08 being 23,495. For many years the colleges and seminaries have given annually from $30,000 to $40,000 to foreign missions ; and in the year 1908 96 THOBURN AND INDIA the reports show that twenty-five thousand differ- ent students and professors in these institutions con- tributed $116,712. Seventy institutions each gave $300 or more. Mr. John R. Mott, the inspirer of this movement and a genius in the organization and propagation of far-reaching missionary move- ments, was trained in Upper Iowa University, later graduated from Cornell University; and a com- petent authority states that every member of the large staff associated with Mr. Mott in the mani- fold agencies of the Volunteer Movement is a college man. In June, 1904, twenty-six members of Harvard University, under the inspiration received at the Toronto Student Volunteer Convention, formed a Harvard Mission Band. That year three Harvard men went to foreign posts — one to teach English in the Canton Christian College, China; another became a minister and teacher at Hankow, China; and the third went to serve as secretary for the college Christian Association in India. In the suc- ceeding years more than thirty Harvard men have gone into the foreign field. And on February 12, 1909, this Harvard Association decided to establish a medical school in China which should bring within the reach of young men in the Celestial Empire the American ideals of medical service. The University of Pennsylvania has an organiza- tion which maintains strong university services and Bible study classes ; and shows its interest in home missions by conducting a modern university settle- THE COLLEGE AND FOREIGN MISSIONS 97 ment in Philadelphia, and a summer camp for boys across the river. Not only have they sent their representatives to the foreign fields, but they main- tain a medical school in China. It was founded by Dr. J. C. McCracken, who, during his career at the university, was the holder of the world's record for the "hammer-throw," of the intercollegiate record for the "shot-put," captain of the track team, guard and full-back on the football team, president of the Christian Association, president of his class for four years ; and who, after graduation, was for two years in charge of the student Christian work at Columbia University. Other institutions have maintained similar mis- sions and organizations : Northwestern University students are now supporting a chair in the Anglo- Chinese College at Singapore; Cornell College has for years supported one of its graduates who is now principal of a boys' school in India. Careful exam- ination reveals the fact that not a single one of our Methodist institutions is without its honorable record, and that our classical academies — such as Cazenovia, Wilbraham, Genesee Wesleyan, and Ep- worth — have their honor roll of devoted mis- sionaries. II. The college man has been the typical foreign missionary leader: 1. Because he, of all men, has the widest vision and the firmest grasp of the far-reaching world principles revealed in the Bible and embodied in the teaching of Jesus. Moses, the Jewish lawgiver, 9 8 THOBURN AND INDIA the founder of the people who were the early mis- sionaries of a theistic religion, was trained in the best schools of Egypt. Paul, the central human figure of the New Testament, was a student in Gamaliel's school. Strip the Pauline theology of its Jewish and local elements, and you have left the greatest and most permanent portions of the apostle's work. His "plan of the ages," his grasp of the social organism contemplated in Christianity, as set forth in the twelfth and thirteenth chapters of First Corinthians, his conception of the place and possibilities of man in the Christian system, as set forth in Ephesians, have never been surpassed for the sweep of their thought and the reach of their power. Martin Luther, the commanding figure in the Reformation, which was really one of the great missionary movements of Europe, was a graduate of Erfurt. Out of that Reformation came the uni- versities of Konigsberg, Jena, Halle, five univer- sities in France, the Universities of Glasgow, Saint Andrews, and Aberdeen in Scotland, and the modern colleges of Oxford and Cambridge with their great service to foreign missions. Competent authority also credits Luther with being the chief influence in the foundation of the modern public school systems. Count Zinzendorf, the famous Moravian mis- sionary who so profoundly influenced John Wesley, was trained at the Universities of Halle and Wit- tenberg, and organized at Halle a missionary society THE COLLEGE AND FOREIGN MISSIONS 99 known as "The Order of the Grain of Mustard Seed." Raymond Lull, the famous missionary to the Mohammedans, called the "Henry Martyn of the Middle Ages," was a court poet, a skilled musician; was trained in the best schools of his time ; and was one of the gayest knights at the banquets of James II before he became the astute scholastic philoso- pher and the ardent foreign missionary. Among the great leaders on the foreign mission field, perhaps no one has accomplished a greater work than the royal man in whose honor this cele- bration is conducted. His open-minded attitude toward the historical study of the Bible and toward new problems of critical investigation has been a delight to scholars. He has been a master of men, a great administrator, the inspirer of missionary enthusiasm, the creator (directly and indirectly) of a missionary literature, the honest and efficient dis- penser of millions of dollars of missionary money; but he will, perhaps, be longest remembered and most highly valued for that quality of prophetic vision which belonged to the Old Testament prophets and which was preeminently the quality of the great apostle to the Gentiles. Bishop James M. Thoburn had vision without being a visionary. He has been our seer, who, perhaps more than any other man we have had, has been able to estimate forces, to see strategic situations, and to formulate century-reaching policies. If Allegheny College had done nothing more than give the world and the ioo THOBURN AND INDIA Church James M. Thoburn, she would have justified her existence and rendered value received for the money which has been bestowed upon her. 2. Because the attitude of mind and heart be- gotten by the college has been conducive to leader- ship. Modern culture has emphasized the spirit of investigation. The student in a chemical laboratory rejoices when he finds that a certain reaction has produced a wholly unexpected result. If he dis- covers a new or a novel fact compelling the recon- struction of a theory, he is a hero. He learns to show the keenest interest in new discoveries and in the investigation of new facts. This has made the college man peculiarly adapted to the new prob- lems and conditions of the foreign fields. He readily works up old principles into new forms and perceives how great and vital fundamentals can persist through manifold changes and adaptations. Hence, the college man has been the foremost leader in that quiet transformation which has wholly changed our point of view in foreign mission work within a generation or two. Formerly we sent mis- sionaries to the heathen because they were without God, children of Satan, utterly lost without the knowledge of the historic Christ. Now, under the leadership of such college men as Charles Cuth- bert Hall, we have come to see that all the heathen systems are the sincere attempts of men groping after the light, and we base our missionary appeals on the principle of adding more light to the scanty light they already have. THE COLLEGE AND FOREIGN MISSIONS 101 3. Then the college man has been quick to recognize a sense of social obligation. He realizes that he is "blessed that he may be a blessing." Oberlin College early sent its first graduates as ministers and teachers to found like colleges in the West. Olivet and Benzonia in Michigan, and Tabor in Iowa, thus sprang into existence. Simi- larly, Eastern college men founded Iowa and Beloit Colleges. Moreover, the sense of obligation for home and foreign missions has coexisted in our college communities. This is the real spirit of the Christ and the New Testament. A thrilling story, that of John P. Shipherd and Philo P. Stewart meeting at Elyria, Ohio, in 1832, to decide on some definite line of effort which should produce the maximum spiritual benefit to a perishing world. Months of earnest thought and discussion, fervent petition and longing for heavenly illumination ; then Mr. Shipherd saw, as if in a vision, the outline of a great undertaking so complete that he was wont to refer to it as "the pattern shown him in the mount." A tract of land secured ; a colony planted ; the central and most important thing in the colony, a school to train teachers and other Christian toilers for the boundless and most desolate fields of the West. This school becomes Oberlin College. The first catalogue says : "Its grand object is the diffu- sion of useful science, sound morality, and pure religion among the growing multitudes of the Mis- sissippi Valley. It aims also at bearing an impor- tant part in extending these blessings to the desti- 102 THOBURN AND INDIA tute millions which overspread the earth." What was the outcome? The Western Reserve — the chief Congregational stronghold of New England for sixty years — found its pastors and pulpit supplies at Oberlin. Some ten or fifteen Con- gregational colleges farther west, with the churches, schools, and colleges of the American Missionary Association, owe far more to Oberlin than to any other institution. In 1836 Hiram Wilson graduated. He proceeded to Upper Canada to commence work among twenty thousand slaves who had fled from slavery to that place of refuge. Finding them in deepest poverty and igno- rance, lapsing into vileness and utter depravity, he devoted his whole life to Christianizing and edu- cating them. At the end of two years fourteen teachers from Oberlin were assisting him, at an actual cost of $1,000. More than twenty men and women toiled through a period of sixteen years with the Indians and settlers in the then remote regions of Minnesota and the Northwest. A com- petent authority asserts that by i860 Oberlin had contributed directly and indirectly $100,000 to the American Missionary Association and that nine tenths of all its missionaries had been supplied by this single institution. In 1862 the college had 39 students in Jamaica, 29 in West Africa, 25 among the Indians in the Northwest; while of home mis-, sionaries there were 24 in Michigan, 18 in Illinois, 8 in Kansas, and 8 in the Southern States. In 1881 an Oberlin band of seven went out to found the THE COLLEGE AND FOREIGN MISSIONS 103 Shansi China Mission. The total record to date shows over 250 foreign missionaries, more than 600 who have ministered to Indians, Mountain Whites, slaves, and others in this country, and other home missionaries and settlement workers, which bring the total contribution of this single institution to the missionary force up to over one thousand. In 1835 the Missionary Lyceum of Wesleyan University (Middletown, Connecticut) debated the question, "What is the most promising field for a foreign mission of our Church?" China was strongly advocated, and as a result of the debate a committee was formed to prepare an appeal for opening a mission in that land. This appeal was published in The Christian Advocate and $1,450 was raised for the purpose. Judson Dwight Collins, graduated from Michigan University in its first class, offered himself for China. President Wilbur Fisk advocated a mission in China in a notable address before the university in 1846; China was placed on the list of Methodist Episcopal missions the same year, and Judson Dwight Collins and Moses C. White (of Wesleyan University and Yale) were accepted as the first missionaries of our Church. Since then old Wesleyan has a long missionary roll of honor. Now, what is true of Oberlin and Wesleyan can be shown to be true in greater or less measure of almost all of our schools and colleges, par- ticularly of those operated under Christian au- spices. Northwestern University has three of 104 THOBURN AND INDIA its graduates in Africa, thirty in China, twenty- three in India, nine in Japan, three in Persia, eleven in South America, and some scattered in other fields. Among these are some of the most conspicuous leaders on the field. Ohio Wesleyan has sent over 150 missionaries to the foreign field; among them, such conspicuously useful men as Nathan J. Plumb, Hiram H. Lowry, George D. Lowry, B. T. Badley, W. N. Brewster, A. E. Chenoweth, George R. Davis, Charles W. Drees, I. H. La Fetra, W. A. Mansell, W. P. Mc- Laughlin, L. W. Pilcher, N. L. Rockey, Nathan Sites, T. J. Scott, and J. H. Worley ; while DePauw has furnished forty-five foreign missionaries, scat- tered through fourteen different countries, among them, Thomas B. Wood, J. H. Pyke, Levi B. Sal- mans, and Edward B. T. Spencer. Time fails us to mention scores of others from various colleges — like F. D. Gamewell, hero of the siege of Peking, who is college-trained and who has degrees from four different universities; Isaac W. Wiley, beloved Bishop, graduate of University of New York; R. S. Maclay of Dickinson; and James Simester of Baldwin University. 4. Again, the training of the college has fitted men for leadership because it has developed the power to see things as they are and to do things as they ought to be done; inspired the statesman- ship which enables men to form policies commend- ing themselves to the judgment of thinking men; and cultivated the ability to create that enthusiasm THE COLLEGE AND FOREIGN MISSIONS 105 which disposes large companies of men to follow the chief. These are the qualities of leadership. Not only has the college cultivated them in a pre- eminent degree, but it has attracted to its halls in all ages the men who possess these elements as native qualities, just because it furnished the counter- part of training which such men felt they needed. Call the roll of our missionary bishops : Thoburn of Allegheny, Hartzell of Illinois Wesleyan, Warne of Albert College and Garrett Biblical Institute, Scott of our own Walden and Clark Universities, Oldham of Allegheny, Robinson of academic train- ing and then of Drew, Harris, educated at Scio and Allegheny, E. W. Parker of New Hampshire Bib- lical Institute. The only non-college man in the list is William Taylor, and he was the heroic genius of a flaming evangelism, raised up for a unique work. Add our two General Superintendents on the foreign field — Lewis of Cornell College and Bashford of the University of Wisconsin and our own Boston. Then call the roll of the missionary secretaries : Leonard of Mount Union and Stuntz of Evanston Academy and Garrett Biblical Institute, J. O. Peck of Amherst, A. J. Palmer of Wesleyan University, Charles C. McCabe of Ohio Wesleyan, H. K. Carroll of Syracuse University, C. H. Fowler of Genesee College and Northwestern University, John M. Reid of Genesee, John P. Durbin of Miami and Professor in Augusta, R. L. Dashiell of Dickinson, Joseph M. Trimble of Ohio University (Athens), 106 THOBURN AND INDIA William L. Harris, renowned professor in Ohio Wesleyan University, Edward R. Ames of Ohio University, Nathan Bangs, once president of Wes- leyan; and it is not out of place to name here that princely giver and strategist of missions, John F. Goucher, graduate of Dickinson College. But behold the college leader on the field itself. The impression sometimes prevails that William Carey was an ignorant shoemaker, but the records show that from childhood he eagerly devoured books, especially of science, history, and travel, and that notwithstanding his poverty he learned Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Dutch, and French, and acquired under tutors who were college men the education which fitted him for his work so that at one time he was a professor in Fort William College. David Brainerd was not a college graduate, but he spent two years in Yale, when an unhappy remark in criticism of a professor led to his expulsion. He completed his education under a clergyman who was a college graduate and who piloted him through the remainder of the Yale curriculum. Henry Martyn, the apostle of India, a graduate of Saint Johns College (Cambridge), received the highest academic honor of "Senior Wrangler," the prize for the greatest proficiency in mathematics, and the prize for the best Latin composition. Robert Mor- rison, the apostle of China, was trained in Hebrew and theology by a minister at Newcastle ; then spent nearly two years in the Independent Academy at Hoxton, and later two years in the mission college THE COLLEGE AND FOREIGN MISSIONS 107 at Gosport. He cooperated with Dr. Milne in founding the Anglo-Chinese College at Malacca, since moved to Hongkong. It is a noteworthy fact that these missionaries, in addition to being trained men themselves, considered it of the first importance that they should found schools and colleges wherever they went. Alexander Duff entered the University of Saint Andrews and studied under the great Chalmers. His first mission to India was to found a collegiate institute which should confer the highest education on native youth. He was called the "Christian Educator of Southern Asia." When in 1867 he returned to his native land he was made a professor in the college of the Free Church. Adoniram Judson, a graduate of Brown Univer- sity and of Andover, went out of college uncon- verted; but while groping his way at Andover he was led into light and consecration by Mills, Rich- ards, and Hall, of "haystack prayer meeting" fame. David Livingstone studied Latin, Greek, and botany until he had obtained a good preparatory education. Working as a spinner in the summer and studying at Glasgow in the winter, he earned a degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow. Alexander Mackay was a precocious youth who read the New Testament at three and at seven read intelligently Milton's "Paradise Lost," Gibbon's "Decline and Fall," and similar works. His father, a scholarly man, carefully trained him in the cur- riculum of a college course, and brought him in io8 THOBURN AND INDIA personal touch with such great lights as Hugh Miller, the scientist, and Sir Roderick Murchison, who were frequent visitors at the manse. Later he spent two years at Free Church College Training School for Teachers, and four years at the Univer- sity of Edinburgh, afterward going to Germany for still further study. Saint Marys Hall (Oxford) gave us Bishop Hannington; while William Butler studied at Hardwick School and Didsbury College. Thomas Coke — whom Bishop Galloway has called "the Foreign Minister of Methodism" — was an Oxford graduate. Keith Falconer, the nobleman missionary, was a Cambridge man, an expert in Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic, hailed as in the front rank of scholarship even by the critics. The appeal of the young Scottish nobleman led three students in the Reformed Dutch College at New Brunswick, New Jersey — Samuel Zwemer, James Cantine, and Philip T. Phelps — to open a second mission in Arabia. They labored seven years and sold over ten thousand copies of the Scriptures before they made their first convert, but nothing daunted they toiled on to victory. Valpy French was a Rugby boy, educated under Thomas Arnold, and later at University College, Oxford. He was the first Bishop of Lahore and went four times to India, each time to begin new missions. He was the founder and the principal of both Saint Johns College, Agra, and the Lahore Divinity School, and one of the greatest of our missionaries among the Mohammedans. John Eliot, the celebrated THE COLLEGE AND FOREIGN MISSIONS 109 apostle to the Indians, educated at the University of Cambridge, was an acute grammarian and a specialist in philology. James Calvert was educated at Malton and Hoxton Academies before he became the apostle to the Fiji Islanders. James Gilmour was a Glasgow man. Reginald Heber, well known as the author of the hymn, "From Greenland's Icy Mountains," was a distinguished scholar of Oxford, the winner of many honors, before he became the loved Bishop of Calcutta. John G. Paton, the apostle to the New Hebrides, was trained in the University of Glasgow. And what shall I more say of Gell of Cambridge, for forty years Bishop of Madras ; Saumarez Smith, fellow of Trinity, now Archbishop of Sydney; Cheetham of Christ's, Bishop of Sierra Leone; Speechly of Saint Johns, Bishop of Travancore; Batty, fellow of Emanuel, "Second Wrangler," who went to India; Shackell of Pembroke, who went to Agra; Roger Clark and his more distinguished brother, Robert, who went to Peshawur, with Wigram of Trinity College, and Long of Corpus Christi, secretaries of the Church Missionary Society — but names to most of us, and yet repre- senting the contribution of the college in missions of which most of us have never heard? It is not possible to mention all the missionaries now in active service, but such names as that of Emil Leuring, our apostle to the head-hunters of Borneo, one of the most distinguished scholars of his time, thoroughly trained in the German universities, are no THOBURN AND INDIA the guarantee that a similar showing might be made in an extended investigation of living men. III. The college man, moreover, has been the chief factor in shaping the Christian ideals which have conquered the heathen world. He has incar- nated the finer qualities and the higher aspirations of the Christian character. For some conception of the tremendous influence of the foreign mission- ary, we can only refer you to such a source as the chapters in the third volume of that monumental work by J. S. Dennis on "Missions and Social Prog- ress," which show how the missionaries have pro- moted the reconstruction of laws, the reform of judicial procedure ; aided in the renovation and the amelioration of administrative methods; elevated the standard of government service; furthered proper international relations; and made large and unique contributions to the world's store of knowl- edge. They have performed tasks requiring gen- uine scholarship, such as the publication of hun- dreds of volumes, monumental labors in lexicog- raphy, and in the reduction of obscure languages, which existed only in confused spoken idioms, to written forms; in the creation of many a literature; and they have made important contributions to comparative philology. Moreover, the missionary has proven himself an explorer and a geographer of the first rank; an archaeological discoverer; a stu- dent and a discoverer in biology, geology, botany, zoology; a scientific physician, making medical dis- coveries of world-wide significance; and withal, a THE COLLEGE AND FOREIGN MISSIONS in most important factor in international diplomacy and in political movements of world scope. In all these achievements the college man has been the leader; and the relative importance of the man of academic training, indicated before, has been main- tained. And, once again, the college man has been and is to be the chief leader in the unifying movement which will give the world a Protestantism whose solidarity is as great as the political solidarity of Roman Catholicism, but which is to be based on loyalty and devotion to the great world-wide prin- ciples of Christianity stated by Jesus in his famous intercessory prayer. All the missionary boards are insisting on high educational qualifications for their candidates. They are looking to the colleges almost exclusively for their supply. The hour does not permit a similar statement concerning the work of women on the foreign field. Owing to the small provision for the higher educa- tion of women in an earlier day, her part in the great work was somewhat delayed. Many noble souls have gone out as deaconesses, primary and grade teachers, matrons, wives, and helpers of mis- sionaries, with less than a college education; but the college woman has also her record of high endeavor and of great leadership. The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society has 303 missionaries; of these 11 1 are graduates of colleges and univer- sities, 47 of normal schools, 12 others of both college and normal school, and 20 more have done some 112 THOBURN AND INDIA college work though they did not remain to grad- uation. Who can speak in too eloquent terms of the great work of Isabella Thoburn, trained in the Wheeling (West Virginia) Female College? First to respond to the call of her distinguished brother whom we honor to-day, pioneer of the Woman's Foreign Mis- sionary Society Band, undaunted by difficulties, she saw the zenanas open; she laid the foundations of the Lucknow Woman's College, the first college for women in all Asia; she founded the Girls' High School at Cawnpore; she aided Mrs. Lucy Rider Meyer in founding the Chicago Missionary and Deaconess Training School ; and she wrought a work which, for scope, permanent value, states- manlike qualities, and future significance, is worthy to be placed alongside the work of any great mis- sionary leader of the centuries. Her name may be appropriately joined with that of the noble Bishop in the celebration of this week. Associated with Miss Thoburn in her first work was Dr. Clara Swain, of precious memory; and one of the trophies of her ministry was Miss Lil- avati Singh, trained under Miss Thoburn in the Lucknow College, and graduated with honors from the College of Allahabad and the University of Calcutta. A scholar, an executive of great ability, perhaps the most prominent native teacher in Indian educational work, it is a sufficient index of her standing to recall that, though she had no official connection with the Young Women's Christian THE COLLEGE AND FOREIGN MISSIONS 113 Association, that body selected her as its delegate to represent the students of India at the World's Stu- dent Federation of Japan, because they felt that no one could better represent the educated women of India. It is said that the Chinese government has in- vested the $10,000,000 paid back by the United States from the Boxer indemnity funds, and is to spend the interest in sending carefully chosen young men to study in our leading American universities. They are to return to the service of the Chinese government. Pity it is that we have no Methodist university of international reputation which will attract these young men as will the names of Har- vard, Yale, Johns Hopkins, and Chicago. It is to be hoped that our Northwestern, our Syracuse, our Boston, or colleges like our Ohio Wesleyan or our Allegheny may not be overlooked, and yet in these other institutions the great major- ity of these Chinese boys will, without doubt, find their place. It ought to inspire us to build one or two universities of international fame, imbued with the spirit and the Christian ideals for which Meth- odism has stood. Is it not possible for us to appeal to Bishop Bashford and Bishop Lewis — both of them ex-presidents of American colleges — to use their utmost endeavor to have some of the brightest young men in our Anglo-Chinese Christian schools selected for this honor; and, failing that, may we not get some offset by selecting a dozen or more of the brightest young men in our Chinese Christian U4 THOBURN AND INDIA schools, who shall be sent to this country — perhaps partly supported by the Loan Fund of the Board of Education — that they may return to represent in their own land Christian ideals as interpreted by Methodism ? II THE STUDY OF MISSIONS IN OUR COLLEGES Most interesting, both from the theoretic and practical point of view, is the question, What shall be taught in our colleges? The great universities in the world make it their proud boast that they cover in their offered courses every department of human learning. This may be carried too far. In late years there has been a protest against the over- multiplication of electives in some of our American colleges. Such studies may readily run into the class denominated "fads, fancies, and foibles," and recognized by the students as "soft snaps." But in pleading for the introduction of the study of missions in our seminaries and colleges we are putting forth no mere visionary scheme, but a sub- ject of vital interest, in which the human element relieves the investigation from the dryness and dreariness of purely abstract research. It has been found in our public schools that the best way to study geography is in connection with the history of the countries; and collegiate students to-day are approaching psychology along physiological lines. We believe that missions to-day represent such im- portant and vital concerns and movements that without difficulty their study will engage and en- trance the minds of students. Through that study, iiS n6 THOBURN AND INDIA too, not only in colleges but throughout the entire Church of Christ, an awakened and abiding inter- est in the whole problem of the evangelization of the world will be kindled. Not only in our seats of learning should study classes be formed, but also in connection with our local churches, in the ad- vanced Sunday school classes, and in the circles of the Epworth Leagues. If the prosecution of such investigations could become general, not only would the intelligence and the conscience of large masses of Christians be informed and touched, but an active propaganda, in men, methods, and money, would show admirable results. We have said that the study of missions is no small and insignificant department of human knowl- edge. The establishment of a mission is not simply the planting of a conventicle on some foreign shore, manned by a few narrow sectarians who would propagate an alien theology in an uncongenial soil. While the mission comes primarily to conduct the propaganda of the gospel of Christ and to make known the truth contained in the Bible, and particu- larly in the New Testament, the scope of its inten- tion is very wide; for it brings to backward and uncivilized nations all that has been developed in connection with the gospel and as the outgrowth of it. This means that the missionary is not simply an evangelist or a preacher, but that he introduces also an educational system, and makes a way for all the ministering philanthropies that Christianity has established. MISSION STUDY IN OUR COLLEGES 117 Hence the medical missionary, with his dispensary, clinic, and hospital, is intimately associated with the religious leader, as is also the corps of teachers con- ducting a seminary or college. The inspiration of the idea of missions has not adequately seized the attention of many. Numerous Christians still exist who have not opened their eyes to perceive the magnificent scope and tendency of such a work which aims at the unity of the race, along the lines of the only unifying principle, that of the religion of Jesus Christ, that can bind all men and all nations into the brotherhood of human- ity. It is in vain to think of a common language, or common customs, but a common religion is not a preposterous speculation. The missionary to-day has but one motive, and that is of brotherliness, as he goes, not speculating so much upon the future of his heathen fellow mortal, but with love in his heart, and wanting him to become possessor of the highest and best things that humanity has achieved, in religion, education, and government. He comes to bring the glad word of the evangel, to lift his brother up to the level of his high prerogative. In fact, in many places, as in India, the social meaning of Christianity has dawned upon millions of low- caste and no-caste peoples, who are flocking to the standard of the cross in larger numbers than they can be, at present, safely taken care of and indoc- trinated. These poor and downtrodden peoples have obtained glimpses of the possibilities that may be theirs through the emancipation and inspiration u8 THOBURN AND INDIA of the religion of Jesus Christ; and Jesus himself, in accordance with his own declared program, is proclaiming relief to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, the setting at liberty of them that are bruised, and the dawning of the acceptable year of the Lord. The ferment to-day in India and the democratic movement throughout the Orient are direct products of the liberalizing and socializing action of the gospel, and as such makes its appeal directly to the students of sociology and national development. It is said that our solar system, along with all other systems in our visible universe, is moving toward some mysterious, far-off point in the heavens. The meaning of this movement and its probable end no one can now determine. Such mysterious and wonderful trends have their counter- part in the currents which are constantly in action in the human race. The study of these currents, not only for one contemplating enlisting as a mission- ary, but for anyone who anticipates the goal of hu- manity's growth and progress, should be immensely absorbing. It is true that, whatever subject of knowledge one may undertake, he will soon find that it runs out speedily into almost every other knowable subject in the universe, for all knowledge is interconnected and intimately interwoven. It is like the seamless robe which Jesus wore. Con- sequently, it is not surprising to find that when one begins the exploration of the missionary problem he finds himself, almost of necessity, looking into the history, biography, ethnology, nationality, MISSION STUDY IN OUR COLLEGES 119 sociology, ethics, philosophy, international law, government, diplomacy, . journalism, medicine, science, and literature. He, of necessity, enters into the study of religions, comparatively, in order to find the points of contact and departure between them and Christianity. In this way the mission- aries of the present day are far better fitted than those of a former era to present the gospel method- ically and intelligently to their brethren of other faiths. As Jesus said that he came not to destroy but to fulfill the law of Moses, so these missionaries present themselves, in their first advances, not as antagonists to the teaching of Buddha, Confucius, or Mohammed, but as those who would supplement to the full the imperfect by the perfect and entire. They follow the diplomacy of Saint Paul on Mars' Hill, when he referred complimentarily to the evi- dent zeal for religion in the Athenians, shown by the multitude of statues to the gods, and then pro- ceeded with his declaration and exposition of the one true God, who had made his revelation in Jesus. These missionaries, just as we here in our own country are applying the principles of Christ to the elucidation and solution of numerous political and sociological problems, can take these same prin- ciples and bring them to bear upon the solving of national and international questions on the other side of the globe. To fit men for such broad activ- ities and operations as these the lecture rooms of our colleges must of necessity furnish adequate training. Nowhere else can it be had so well, and 120 THOBURN AND INDIA nowhere else can the broad views and relationships necessary for such a lifework be presented. In our Christian colleges also the world-wide view of humanity's connections can be so elaborated from the professor's chair that the miserable little provincialisms which still survive, and which would represent the home field as a sufficient area for evangelistic enterprise, will give place to a plane- tary outlook. Our students ought never to go out from college walls feeling that Christianity is a faith that flourishes best in some pent-up and con- fined favorite section, or that it should be isolated from the world at large. They ought to see that in truth to-day the world is indeed a whispering gallery ; that there are no longer any hermit nations ; that the telegraph, the swift ships, the mail service, the railway, have bound all peoples into one family, and that no longer does there exist any definite dis- tinction between home and foreign missions. Wherever there is human need, wretchedness, deg- radation, serfdom, poverty, superstition, intellec- tual and spiritual ignorance, there, in that spot of earth, arises the call to the missionary for help. America, for a long while, politically kept itself, according to the injunction of Washington, out of entangling alliances with other nations ; but the time came when it could no longer live by itself apart. It had bound itself up commercially with every other civilized people, and it found its obliga- tion inescapable as a recognized world power to bear its part of the white man's burden, and do MISSION STUDY IN OUR COLLEGES 121 what it could to lift up into light and freedom and knowledge the undeveloped tribes. And the Chris- tian Church of America must also accept its share for the unification of the world under the auspices of the Christian faith. All Christians must realize the intrinsic worth of other men under whatever name they appear. Americans must correct the egotism of their national self-appreciation enough to recognize the merits of other forms of govern- ment, and the claims of other peoples upon them; and American Christians must break away from the selfishness of trying to sequestrate the benefits of the gospel for themselves alone, and hold the precious heritage of the faith as a trust for all men unto whom it has not yet come. I have said that the study of missions ought to be anything but a dry-as-dust sort of elective. It ought to be filled with enthusiasms, with the red blood of human passion and struggle. When one thinks of the ferment going on among the Hindus in India; of the swift forging into the front place of the foremost nationalities of Japan; of the ad- vance in Korea under Japanese tutelage; of the amazing educational and industrial revolution in China and the most significant governmental re- forms there instituted ; of the partition of Africa among European powers, and the plans being swiftly consummated of making over that whole continent into an area of civilization; of the constitutional crises which have brought Russia, Turkey, and Persia out of the catalogue of absolutisms, and 122 THOBURN AND INDIA given the people a voice through representative gov- ernment; of the religious crisis in France which has denationalized the Roman Catholic Church; of the open door in Italy, where to-day Protestantism is finding in the ancient capital a strong foothold in the very seat and center of Romanism — when one thinks of all this history in the making, how can it be imagined that the study of missions should be anything but replete with the most absorbing facts' and views ? One wonders how any college can think that it is presenting studies of the largest import unless it includes such a course in its curriculum. And not only should the mind of the student travel abroad to find fields to engage his keen attention, but right here at home, in the problems centering about the life of our great cities, and raised for us by the incoming tide of millions of immigrants, it will find subjects which demand the closest applica- tion of thought and the most serious tests of applied Christianity. For all students in our colleges and in our churches, it is gratifying to say that a literature unsurpassed in its accuracy and happy methods of description is to be found in the books, magazines, reports, maps, and pictures, which form libraries in themselves, and are the output of our mission and other publishing houses. To be thoroughly ac- quainted with these is indeed to have a liberal edu- cation. Naturally, too, the study of these will lead to acquaintance with the great biographies of mis- sionary heroes. The best way of studying the his- MISSION STUDY IN OUR COLLEGES 123 tory of any nation is to familiarize oneself with the life stories of its great statesmen, whose careers made epochs in the nation. To know the stories of Carey, Livingstone, Mackay, Taylor, Thoburn, Hannington, Patteson, and many others, is to know the stirring history of the progress of missions dur- ing the last century. Such study as this will be not only informing, but will grip the mind with all the intensity that the most masterly fiction possesses. Such a course as this which we have outlined, when it becomes general in our schools and churches, will be one of the best means of securing a steady and adequate financial support for the great work of Christianity. That work is not something spasmodic and sporadic. It is a vast and tremen- dous campaign. Few realize what it means to bring the world to the feet of Christ. We cannot depend upon sentiment alone or enthusiasm alone, without a solid substratum of facts and knowledge to uphold and prompt it, and only serious and patient study can give us such a substantial foundation. Out of colleges, and out of our churches too, as the result of such a broadening and fertilizing edu- cation, our young men and women may be depended upon to feel the call to consecrate their lives for the salvation of their less favored brothers and sisters. Already, the Lay Movement in Missions and the Young People's Missionary Movement are showing us the stirring of great emotions and con- victions among the Christian masses, outside the clergy as a class. Hundreds of our best and bright- 124 THOBURN AND INDIA est men and women are under conviction that the best investment they can make of a life is to give it to Christ as a missionary offering, and hundreds of hard-headed and practical men are rising to the perception of the dignity and grandeur of the mis- sionary crusade, and are determined that it shall be wisely directed, properly officered, and efficiently financiered. This era is one of immense hopeful- ness, and our colleges can cooperate gloriously and effectively by their classroom studies and lectures with our churches and our missionary societies in hastening forward the coming of the kingdom and the final victory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ill THE WIDENING FIELD OF OPPORTUNITY To bring out clearly the widening field of oppor- tunity .for missionary endeavor let us glance at some of the events that have culminated during the nineteenth century, which less than a decade ago passed into history. A century ago more than one half, nearly two thirds, of the whole world was unknown to civilized people. At that time the great dominion of Canada to the northeast was settled only along the lower Saint Lawrence and the southeastern border, while the interior and far western regions were absolutely unknown to white men. The independence of the United States was acknowledged by foreign powers in 1787. When the nineteenth century came the Re- public was thirteen years old, with a population of five millions living mainly east of the line running along the crest of the Alleghany Mountains, from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. There were scattered and isolated settlements west of the Alleghanies and, along the Ohio valley, and there were French colonies along the lower Mississippi. In 1762 the Louisiana Purchase, comprising all the present ter- ritory of the United States west of the Mississippi except Texas, the territory included in the States of Oregon and Washington, and the areas acquired 125 126 THOBURN AND INDIA from Mexico since 1847, was ceded to Spain by France. In 1800 it was ceded back to France, and in 1803 it was sold by France to the United States for a consideration of 60,000,000 francs. When the nineteenth century came the stars and stripes did not float over a single square mile between the Mississippi and the Pacific coast. Mexico was con- quered by Spain in 1521 and held until 182 1, when Hidalgo struck the first blow for freedom. But during the three hundred years of Spanish tyranny and robbery not half the territory was explored. South America was conquered by Spain in the fif- teenth century, but the interior of the continent was as unknown at the beginning of the nineteenth century as was the heart of Africa. Turning to the eastern hemisphere, we find that the East India Company was chartered by Queen Elizabeth in 1600. In 1798 Lord Mornington submitted a plan to extend British rule over the whole peninsula. The plan thus outlined was followed in the main until its final consummation in 1877, when Queen Victoria was crowned Empress of India. At that time Arabia and Asia Minor, including Palestine, was held by the Turks, as it is to-day, and northern and eastern Asia, including Thibet, Turkestan, Mongolia, Manchuria, Siberia, China, Japan, and Korea, were strange lands to Europeans. Africa was almost wholly unexplored. Europe occupied territory along the Mediterranean. A colony of Dutch and Portuguese had been founded at the Cape of Good Hope, and a tract of country on the WIDENING FIELD OF OPPORTUNITY 127 west coast was held by slave-stealers. But not un- til the last quarter of the nineteenth century was the Dark Continent fully explored. Australia was discovered by Dutch mariners in 1606, and other contiguous islands in the southern seas later still. In 1769 Captain Cook explored the east coast of Australia, but the whole group was not fully ex- plored until 1873. It may be said that with the close of the old century the habitat of the last man had been located. There remain only for the explorer the north pole and the south pole. Less than two years ago Cap- tain Peary planted the American flag within two hundred miles of the north pole, and within the last year Captain Shackleton planted the Union Jack at a point about one hundred miles from the south pole. As Christians we are not particularly inter- ested in these explorations, for the reason that human beings do not inhabit those polar regions. Further explorations of all the continents and the islands are being pushed forward. There are eighty- three geographical societies, with a membership of fifty thousand, publishing one hundred and fifty- three journals, all devoted to the further explora- tion of the surface of the globe. The whole world field is not only known but is open to the proclamation of the gospel of Christ. Not only do we have an explored world, but facil- ities for reaching every part of it in a comparatively brief space of time. A century ago there was not a steamboat on the globe. In 1803 Robert Fulton 128 THOBURN AND INDIA launched a small steamship upon the river Seine, but it proved to be a failure and it was laughed at by the wise men of Paris. In 1807 he launched a steamer on the lower Hudson that made its first journey to Albany, one hundred and fifty miles, at a speed of five miles an hour. But his invention revolutionized travel by land and sea. A century ago a voyage from New York to Liverpool meant six weeks more or less; from London to Bombay four months ; from London to Calcutta five months. Carey went from Dover, England, to Calcutta in 1793 and was five months at sea. Robert Morrison was seven months from England to Canton in 1807. Judson was eleven months from Salem, Massachu- setts, to Calcutta in 1812. Moffat went from Eng- land to Cape Town in 181 7 and was three months on the way. Stephen L. Baldwin went from New York to Foochow in 1857 an d was 147 days at sea. James M. Thoburn went from Boston to Calcutta in 1859 an d was 120 days at sea. Now from New York to Liverpool the distance can be made in less than five days. Recently the Mauretania crossed the Atlantic Ocean in four days, seventeen hours, and six minutes. When the old century came there were no rail- roads. The first railroad was constructed in Eng- land in 1814 and was used for transporting freight, making a speed of five miles an hour. The first passenger railroad opened on the planet was in 1830 between Liverpool and Manchester. Now there are about 600,000 miles of railroad, or enough WIDENING FIELD OF OPPORTUNITY 129 to belt the globe twenty-four times. The United States has about half of the world's railroad mile- age, or enough to belt the globe twelve times. Rail- roads are being rapidly extended in all parts of the world. Even the Dark Continent is being well supplied. The Cape to Cairo line, the dream of Cecil Rhodes, will probably be completed within a decade. With these facilities for travel by land and sea it is estimated that the remotest pagan upon the face of the earth may be reached from some Christian community within the limit of about thirty days. So we have not only an explored world but facilities for reaching every part of it in a very brief space of time. Another widening opportunity is seen in the facilities now at hand for the distribution of informa- tion. When the old century dawned there was not a free public school system in the world, and it was during that century that the universities, colleges, and seminaries of the world were largely founded. At that time the only printing press was worked by hand and could turn off only one hundred im- pressions an hour. Now we have the steam-power press that turns off 100,000 impressions an hour. There never was a time when good literature was so abundant as now. The number of printing plants in foreign mission fields approximates two hundred, turning out more than 12,000,000 copies of various publications annually. A century ago the Bible was printed in sixty-six languages and dialects, available to 150,000,000 of people. Now there are 130 THOBURN AND INDIA in existence five hundred and four different trans- lations, accessible to 1,200,000,000 of people. About 300,000,000 remain to be supplied, and it is probable that well within the first half of the present century the Bible will be published in all the languages of earth. The facilities for distributing information through the international postal system are simply marvelous. More than one million people are constantly em- ployed in handling the mails of the world. But we do not wait in these times for the distribution of information through the post office facilities. Elec- tricity is the agency employed now. The first tele- graph line on the planet was opened between Balti- more and Washington city in 1843, and very appropriately the first message passing over it was, "What hath God wrought!" Now the total mile- age of telegraph lines is estimated at 1,200,000; the total mileage of single wires 4,000,000, over which messages amounting to 1,000,000 pass every twenty-four hours. There are 1,750 submarine cables, with a mileage of 252,000, carrying mes- sages amounting to 6,000,000 annually. In these days information is sent broadcast throughout the world instantaneously. On July 4, 1903, President Roosevelt sent the first cable message that ever circled the globe. Cable connection between San Francisco and Hongkong was completed. Pres- ident Roosevelt was at his summer home at Sag- amore Hill, on Long Island. The message was twelve minutes in making its journey, but it was WIDENING FIELD OF OPPORTUNITY 131 repeated on the way nineteen times. Had there been a complete circuit so that no repetition had been necessary the message would have returned to Sagamore Hill within the limit of the minute of its departure. And now we have the wireless, and atmosphere takes the place of wire. Another indication of our widening opportunity is found in the cooperation that is now a reality between the various Protestant denominations of the world. A half century ago these different de- nominations were so many hostile camps. Now the one great purpose is cooperation. The Congress of Protestant Denominations, which met recently in Philadelphia, was a sign of the times. Some forty different denominations were represented, and there was not a note of discord from the beginning to the end based upon doctrinal differences. For more than a dozen years secretaries and representatives of the Boards of Foreign Missions of the United States and Canada have held annual sessions for the purpose of studying the whole missionary sit- uation and planning for cooperation in all parts of the world. Protestantism in our day is presenting a united front to the paganism and Mohammedan- ism of the world. When the old century dawned the Christian populations of the world were esti- mated at 200,000,000. They are now estimated at 550,000,000. One hundred years ago there were: Protestant missionary societies 13 Male missionaries 170 Communicants 50,000 i 3 2 THOBURN AND INDIA At the beginning of the present century there were : Protestant missionary societies 537 Foreign missionaries 14,000 Native ordained preachers 54, 000 Foreign and native 68,000 Communicants 1,588,000 Adherents 3,373,°°° Sunday schools 8,000 Sunday school scholars 1,100,000 Educational institutions 20,000 Students and pupils 1,046,000 Amount contributed annually for foreign missions . $23,000,000 In view of what has already been accomplished it is reasonable to expect that within the first half of the present century the pagan and Mohammedan world may be evangelized. IV WHAT CAN BE DONE TO INCREASE INTEREST IN FOREIGN MISSIONS AMONG THE COL- LEGE STUDENTS OF AMERICA? There are two things that appeal to college men and women as I know them — and I feel that I know them. One is the appeal of a thing that is in itself worth doing; the other is the spectacle of a personality which is doing or which has done a noble and worthy thing. College men and college women are tremendously interested to make life tell in the largest possible way. If I were asked to name the one word that most appeals to college manhood and womanhood, I should name the word reality. They are not seek- ing simply an occupation, they are seeking a chance at something worth doing. They are not especially interested with those forms of activity that have not in them a real service. There have been a good many theories of education in the world since edu- cational processes began, and a good many words have been used in the history of education to define its end. Those old Greeks in the days of Aristotle thought that citizenship was the end of training. The old Humanists in a later day thought that sweetness and light were good on their own ac- count. Some of us were brought up on the theory *33 i 3 4 THOBURN AND INDIA that the end of education is character. There has come to be a widely current view outside of the colleges, and finding its way inside of the colleges, that the end of education is the training of people for practical utility so that, as Mr. Howells said of one of his characters, "a man can exploit the community for his own benefit." But take it by and large, the one word that is most in vogue in college circles to-day is not citizenship, not ecclesi- asticism, not sweetness and light; not even char- acter, noble as the term is. The one word most in vogue is the word service, and the theory most pre- vailing, especially in the Christian college, is that Christian training is for the development of Chris- tian character for Christian service. And that being the case, it comes back to the Christian Church to offer to her youth that kind of opportunity after graduation that will make a college man's blood run fast. Professor James has discussed the need of a modern equivalent for war as an occupation. What makes war so appealing to youth ? Well, war seems to be a thing worth going into. I doubt not there are men back here on this campus this week who were on this campus in the early 6o's, who thought that their lives would be quite well spent if they gave those lives to the service of the nation. And I do not doubt that on this campus men quit singing "Lauriger Horatius" and all the rest of the college songs they knew and began to sing, "We are com- ing, Father Abraham," and were glad of the INTEREST IN FOREIGN MISSIONS 135 chance, counting not their lives dear unto them- selves. Now, what is the modern equivalent for war in its appeal to college youth? I do not hesitate to say to you, sir, who have been working twenty years and more at the administrative end of a great missionary enterprise, and to you, sir, who have given fifty years of service in the field, though I have never seen a day in the foreign service in my life, that the Church's missionary enterprise is the one largest appeal that it has to make to youth this day. In the first place, that is true because this is the one thing that is now best worth doing. And col- lege fellows want to be into the things that are best worth doing. In the second place, this mission- ary enterprise offers to the college youth fellow- ship with the people that are best worth knowing. And in the third place, it gives them a chance to tell the story that is best worth telling. The Thing that is Best Worth Knozving. I have been preaching in the colleges for a great many years, and I am speaking in this perfectly familiar way by permission of the president. I talk to fifteen thousand college students a year, and have for ten years. Here is the favorite stanza out of all the hymns sung : O Lord and Master of us all, What e'er our name or sign, We own thy sway, we hear thy call, We test our lives by thine! 136 THOBURN AND INDIA And here, in my judgment, is the favorite scripture to which college youth makes quickest response: It is the story of how One went into the synagogue where he had been brought up, into the congrega- tion, as dull and respectable as you are, and as respectable as dull, a congregation living on its past and not expecting any very mighty thing to happen to any one of its sons, a congregation sus- taining and using one of the noblest of all literatures then existing, a literature that had become the most pathetic and unlovely thing in the world, a dead letter — and this youth stood up to give his testi- mony, or to read the lesson for the day, and reached back into that old literature and laid hold of a pas- sage that ought to have become a dead letter, and began to emphasize it as they never had heard it emphasized, and cried out in the startled ears of those who suddenly discovered that the dead letter became a living letter again, "The Spirit of the' Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to give humanity a chance." And every college man will understand what I mean when I say that if we had been sitting there in that synagogue that day when this young Hebrew stood up and emphasized the personal terms of the sentence, opening, the door to a majestic life, we would have been on our feet in an instant; if we had been wearing our college caps the college caps would have gone into the air ; if we had been wearing the college gowns we would have swung our college sleeves, but we would have cried out to that One standing there, "If you are INTEREST IN FOREIGN MISSIONS 137 going to do a thing like that, we are with you, we are with you!" That is youth's response to the call of a thing that looks worth doing. When Sir Philip Sidney was just a lad he wrote to his brother, saying, "If there are any good wars I shall attend them." College students are always looking for good wars to go to. And I do not hesitate to say now, having made the statement I made a moment ago, that even to-day, in the days of great fortunes, to-day in the days of great polit- ical opportunity, to-day in the days of great pro- fessional outlook, there is no appeal that moves the college student heart in such tremendous degree as does the missionary appeal. And the most im- pressive spectacles that have been seen on this con- tinent, in my judgment, have been the spectacles like that we saw at Nashville when four thousand five hundred college students from seven hundred dif- ferent institutions sat together considering the con- quest of the world for Jesus Christ. The Folks Best Worth Knowing. College stu- dents like good company. They like, to use their own phrase, to line up with the leaders. They will throw their hats in the air at the mention of Liv- ingstone. The story of Hannington is like a bugle call to college men. They know these great biog- raphies, and you can fire their hearts by the men- tion of their achievements. The Telling of the Story that is Best Worth Telling. We know perfectly well in the colleges that we are going to be smart enough, and we know 138 THOBURN AND INDIA perfectly well that we are going to be rich enougn ; but we know also perfectly well that the one story that is most needed in this old world is the story of One who came without personal fault, free from personal sin, with supreme power to lift men out of sin and to lift sin off from men, and to take that story which stands alone in the world and carry it to the ends of the earth. We know what the great business of this world is. The great business of this world is telling the world about Jesus Christ. You think every once in a while that there may be in the colleges a good deal of skepticism. But I will tell you a secret about that skepticism. I have not discovered anywhere among college students a desire to find Jesus Christ less than what we thought him. Always the eagerness seems to be the other way. They want to know that he was and is the Son of God, the living Lord of all life. Because if he is taken out of the heavens, if his face is blotted from the world's literature, then they know perfectly well that there is no other story worth telling and that no other prophet has a message in the world. They want to speak the prophetic word, and they know perfectly well there is no prophetic word apart from Jesus Christ. I spoke of that great Nashville convention. I went to it under painful, pitiful circumstances. My college youngster was that week, as we feared, near the end of her earthly life. She rallied and did last for a year or more after that. I said on Satur- day night, "I do not see how I can go." She knew INTEREST IN FOREIGN MISSIONS 139 my engagement to go, and she called me to her and said: "Daddy, I will not slip away while you are gone. But there will be all those students at Nash- ville. You go down and tell them what they know, that any one of them who gets a chance to tell the story of Jesus Christ anywhere in the world ought to jump at it." O, it is well worth doing, and it is well worth saying. This is Christ's last message to the world. And it is worth being in. The impression upon college life that it is worth being in makes and awakens instant response in college hearts. I was the other day up at Madison, Wisconsin, and sat down to breakfast in the hotel alone. Presently a fine young fellow sat down opposite me. He was all full of his own affairs. It was evidently one of his early trips out, and he wanted to talk about things. After we had exchanged the courtesies of the morning he asked me if I was a traveling man, and I said I was. "Yes," he said, "so am I." And he went on to tell me that he was in the jewelry busi- ness, and I said I was in the jewel business myself — "When he cometh to make up his jewels," you know. He said, "I am in business with my father." I said, "I am in business with my Father." He said, "My father started the business long ago, and he has taken me into partnership with him." And I said, "My Father started the business long ago, and I am in partnership with him." He looked at me a minute and he said, "I have a sus- picion that you are guying me." I said, "No, I 140 THOBURN AND INDIA am a Methodist preacher and a Methodist bishop, and I am in business with my Father, in the business he started, and he took me into partnership with him." And he said, "Yes, I am in business like that, too." Then we understood. That is it — the business our Father started, and took us into partnership with him, the business of telling the story of Jesus Christ and his redemption. The appeal to college men and women on the basis that the thing is worth doing, and the folks are worth knowing, and the story is worth telling, will awaken its own response. May I take a moment to say the rest of it, that the other thing that appeals to college men and women is the living spectacle of one who has really achieved a notable thing and who walks before us, himself the embodiment of his own achievement? You know perfectly well that when Lord Roberts, "Bobs," comes back from India or from South Africa or from anywhere, and goes into certain circles, every young Englishman who sees him wants to be a soldier. You know perfectly well that when certain physicians, like William McClure, the "country doctor of the old school," move in certain circles, every worthy youth in the community, in- terpreting the medical profession in the light of its highest example, wants to go into medicine. I cannot imagine myself how anybody who ever heard Phillips Brooks preach could keep out of the min- istry. It seemed to me that if I had gone to Boston for other purposes than to study theology, if I INTEREST IN FOREIGN MISSIONS 141 had heard Phillips Brooks on the Sunday after Gar- field died, preaching would have seemed to me the one big business in the world, and I would have quit everything else to go into it. I cannot imagine David Livingstone hearing Robert Moffat with any other outcome to his life than the outcome it had. I cannot see anything contradictory in the story that when the death of Hannington was reported in Cambridge scores of Cambridge men were on their feet to offer themselves to Africa to take Han- nington's place. If William Carey could walk through the colleges, he himself would be the em- bodiment of missions, and men would rise and say, "We are with you." If Paton should do it, he him- self would make such appeal to men that they would say, "We are with you." Dear Bishop, do you see what I am coming to, how I cannot escape it? You have glorified and perfected the early years of your service in the field by these later years of your inspiring presence at home; for hundreds and thousands of college boys and girls have interpreted the missionary vocation in the light of your radiant life and have offered themselves to the service of your Master beside all waters and under all skies. V DISCUSSION DR. ERNEST ASHTON SMITH More than threescore years and ten ago, Pres- ident Homer J. Clark, of Allegheny, in an appeal to the ministers and the members of the Pittsburg and Erie Conferences, said: "Our people must see the' close connection existing between the operations of the college and efficiency of missions. Let us not forget that our colleges are destined to furnish many of the best laborers in the missionary field." This prophetic utterance was published when he whom we honor this day, Bishop Thoburn, was a lad of three years. In the same address Dr. Clark noted that there was a loud call for volunteers, one to go to Africa and one to South America. Jabez A. Bur- ton, one of the strongest candidates for the ministry in the Class of 1838, answered this summons and went out to Liberia, where in less than a year his life was joined in sacrifice with that of Melville Cox. To-day we rejoice that, "though a thousand perish," Africa has not been given up. Dr. Martin Ruter resigned the presidency of Allegheny in 1837 and went to the new republic of Texas as a foreign land and in six months had won it for Methodism. He had been long divided between his college duties and the mission field. 142 DISCUSSION 143 One of the foremost men in the entire Church of that period, the love of Christ constrained him to launch out at an advanced age into the perils of the frontier. In the intensity of his zeal he poured out his life, and in the Boston memorial service Dr. Ruter was honored as a missionary hero, along with Bishop Coke, who had been called to the Church triumphant as he sailed to Ceylon. Rev. Timothy Alden, the founder of Allegheny College, made frequent journeys of evangelism to the Indian tribes and wrote many valuable mission- ary treatises. In the decade of the 20's red men were enrolled in Allegheny as students. Such, then, have been the baptism and the consecration of this old college to missions from its earliest years. I believe that no traditions in an educational insti- tution can equal in value those of its missionary service. Oberlin College has no prouder possession than its Martyrs' Memorial, erected to the sixteen lives offered up in far-off Shansi. How our heritage of to-day is enriched by the record and the influence of Bishop Thoburn, Bishop Harris, Bishop Old- ham, Dr. Mansell, Dr. Messmore, Dr. Waugh, Mrs. Beebe, and Wilbur Swearer! It is an all-important problem how to keep the college in touch with its missionary responsibility. The Student Volunteer Movement has given the volunteer band, the mission study class, and the college support of a missionary. All three of these methods prevail in Allegheny. A band was early 144 THOBURN AND INDIA formed. The study class was started under the present plan in 1900, and is now completing its ninth successful year, having an enrollment of one hundred and thirty. To borrow the phrase of Dr. Stuntz, the Alle- gheny method has been the "mass movement" ; the purpose is to get a large number of the students interested. This body becomes the inner group of the constituency for the support of our foreign representative, Rev. Wilbur Swearer, in Korea. By a conference three days in advance of each weekly meeting with the selected leaders of all the college groups, the study night finds the entire class ready for the topic. Our young people have come to see God in the history of to-day, as they follow the missionary advance on continents. Above all, the study class has been marked by a deep devotional spirit. Its members are possessed with a new vision of service at home and abroad. There has been created a readiness to be sent, not counting material gain, but in the joy of a ministry of love. The common spirit animates, that whatever is done, it is as unto the Lord. DR. JOHN W. KING I come from the sun-kissed hills of Belmont County, Ohio, bearing the greetings of the old home church of the Thoburns. I am learning afresh the truth of the statement that "God moves in a mys- terious way his wonders to perform." I did not understand, two years ago, why I should be slated DISCUSSION 145 for Saint Clairsville. On learning of this Jubilee, I selected a second cousin of the Bishop, a member of my church, to come to Meadville and speak for the church. He was taken suddenly ill, and, be- sides, Dr. Crawford insisted that whoever else came, I must. I now see that I am enjoying the highest honor of my life thus far, in having some little part in this coronation. Bishop Thoburn has been to me a great inspira- tion throughout my ministry. At my first Con- ference he was present, being home on furlough, and preached from the words, "Covet to prophesy." It gave me a vision of the New Testament prophet I had not known. Later I heard him on the Chau- tauqua platform. This time the text was, "Christ is all." Only last summer we celebrated the cen- tennial of the organization of our church at Saint Clairsville. I said to my official board, "I want Bishop Thoburn to preach the sermon." A kind Providence favored us. The Bishop came and preached. The theme of the sermon was "An Over- coming Faith." The story of Jacob was told in a thrilling way, weaving in with it some missionary experiences. The church was crowded, friends and relatives were out to do him honor. The service made a profound impression. What better outline for a successful ministry can we have than these three texts indicate — Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of prophecy and as "All in All"; then a crown of victory at last ? I had hoped to bring you a picture of the home 146 THOBURN AND INDIA where our Bishop was born. I was told I could not do that, as the two-story log house had been destroyed. However, by the aid of the kodak, I bring three views of the place. Here they are, and I present them to your Library for the Thoburn Alcove. In one of our homes a few days ago I was told the story of a young missionary coming home on furlough. He invited his sister one day to take a walk with him. They followed the road leading to the schoolhouse on the pike, whither he had so often gone as a lad. He said to her, "I am tempted to stay at home and not go back again to India." "You had a call from God to go, did you not?" "Certainly I did," was the reply. "Have you the same kind of a call to stay, flattering as the offers are to do so?" "I do not think so," an- swered the young missionary, and the sister an- swered, "Much as we should love to have you with us, you would better follow the divine leading." Later this same sister was called to the mission field. Her noble work for and with the women of India is well known. The influence of the Thoburn family lives on among my people. The graves of the father and mother are only a few rods from my church. A modest monument marks the place, on which are inscribed the names of father and mother and of the sainted sister whose body lies in far-away India. The name Thoburn kindles the missionary spirit among my people. One class in the Sunday school is named after the Bishop. This class is always DISCUSSION 147 heard from on Missionary Sunday. My hope and prayer is that when God sees fit to translate this brother — may it not be for a long time! — his mantle may fall on my people. His influence now sweetens our thought, and his name is as ointment poured forth. Saint Clairsville people of every name are proud that "this man was born there." B. THE RELATION OF THE COLLEGE TO HOME MISSIONS 149 THE FOREIGNER IN OUR MIDST Mr. President, Christian people, I have come from Philadelphia to Meadville to bear fraternal greetings from the members of the Board of Home Missions and Church Extension to one of the greatest missionaries of the ages, the greatest mis- sionary of the present generation — Bishop James M. Thoburn, Allegheny's most illustrious son. The theme assigned me by the committee is "The Foreigner in Our Midst." We have no foreign missions and no home mis- sions in the best sense of the word. For conven- ience of administration there is an organization incorporated as "The Board of Home Missions and Church Extension," and another organization called "The Board of Foreign Missions"; but no Methodist is true to his Church who is not thor- oughly loyal to both Boards. There is no com- petition between them, but a spirit of cooperation. I tell you a brief story. Methodism was estab- lished on this continent in 1766. The first Meth- odist minister was a local preacher; his congrega- tion consisted of five people, his wife being one of the five. The meetings were held in a room in his own house, in what was then the little town of New York. The story of Methodism, beginning with *5! 152 THOBURN AND INDIA Philip Embury in New York in 1766 up to this twelfth clay of April, 1909, is the brightest chapter of ecclesiastical history that has been written since our Lord ascended from the slopes of Olivet. At that time we had not a foot of ground or a pane of glass or a plank or a shingle or a pound of nails on this continent. To-day we have 30,000 church buildings, $170,000,000 invested in church build- ings and the ground on which they stand, $40,000,000 in parsonages, and $50,000,000 in educational institutions, and I do not know how many millions in orphanages and hospitals and homes for the friendless and for the aged and other eleemosynary institutions. We are a great people. Judging the future by the past, we are only at the beginning of things. One important need is more money. People have not yet learned to give to the cause of God. We are just studying the alphabet when we ought to be over in Homer's Iliad. Our giving is magnificent compared with the past, but we are only in the infancy of benevolent and char- itable contributions. America is the world's hope. God would not allow the discovery of America until the right time. It was in 1438 that men began to print from mov- able blocks; in 1453 Constantinople fell; in 1483 Martin Luther was born, and when he was a little boy nine years old, in 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed across the sea and rolled up the curtain which Almighty God had allowed to hang over this con- tinent since creation's birth. These important THE FOREIGNER IN OUR MIDST 153 events did not occur by accident so close together in the fifteenth century. An important battle was fought on the Plains of Abraham in 1759. By the decisive victory of the British general, Wolfe, over the French general, Montcalm, it was determined that English, and not French, should be forever the dominant language on this continent, and that Protestantism, and not Romanism, should dominate the New World. Seven years after that question was settled Em- bury began to preach, and just seven years later the first Methodist Conference, consisting of ten mem- bers, was held in Saint George's Church in Phil- adelphia (1773), only a few squares from Inde- pendence Hall, where three years after the meet- ing of the first Methodist Conference fifty-six of the tallest of the sons of God signed the Declara- tion of Independence (1776). Those were the days of Lexington and Concord Bridge and Bunker Hill and Germantown and Valley Forge, when the soil of the infant colonies was being baptized with the blood of heroes that a nation might be born. God was laying the founda- tions of a great country, and he was building up a great moral and religious force called Methodism, which would to a great extent mold and direct the thought and sentiment of the New World. In 1783 Great Britain recognized our independence, and in 1784 the Methodist Episcopal Church was formally organized in the city of Baltimore. These are dates not related by accident. God i 5 4 THOBURN AND INDIA expected large things of the Methodist Church, and we have not disappointed him. We consented to have our great Church cut in two that we might be right on the slavery question. The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America met in Philadelphia in last December and adopted reso- lutions on the Church and social problems which the newspapers published as wonderful deliverances; and practically the best part of those resolutions was taken from the Methodist Discipline adopted by the General Conference in Baltimore in May preceding. For a hundred years we have been at the head of the procession and have created largely the temper- ance sentiment that exists in this country to-day. God is expecting great things of America and is expecting great things of Methodism, the leading force, religiously, on the continent. We have a tremendous problem on hand. There are four thou- sand men under the flag to-day receiving help from the Board which I have the honor to represent. When you think of a missionary your thought runs away to some land beyond the seas. You are liable to forget the brave men in this country who are toiling on small salaries, some of them on two hundred or three hundred dollars a year and some on even less. They are among the black men of the Southland, among the poor whites, the descend- ants of the men who followed the fortunes of the flag in the 6o's, some are among the hills of Mon- tana, and some are even in this State of Pennsyl- vania. The Board of Home Missions and Church THE FOREIGNER IN OUR MIDST 155 Extension has its note in the bank to-day for two hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, which we were compelled to borrow that we might help to sustain these four thousand missionaries all over the States and Territories and insular possessions of our great country. We must learn that there are "foreign missions" and that there are "home missions," and unless home missions are vigorously and faithfully sus- tained, in the very nature of things foreign mis- sions in time must suffer. America is the base of supplies for all missionary fields. I hope Bishop Hartzell will succeed in raising three hundred thousand dollars for Africa ; but do not forget that there are eight or ten millions of Africans in Amer- ica, and we are only touching the fringe of the problem of their evangelization. These people have a claim on us. Bishop Bashford and others have raised a large amount of money to help the work in China, but we find it almost impossible to collect enough money from our people to rebuild one Chinese church in the city of San Francisco which in the providence of God was destroyed by the earthquake three years ago. I preached in a theater one Sunday at eleven o'clock at night in Philadelphia, to a thousand men and women of the street. We paid forty dollars for the use of the building for that service. It stands on a piece of ground where we once had a Methodist Episcopal church, and they sold it out 156 THOBURN AND INDIA and ran away. In Boston, not far from the slopes of Bunker Hill, we are paying a high rent for a room in a building which the Church once owned. They sold it and ran away. We must quit all that. We sold a church in Baltimore. The Italian Mis- sion needs a church just now, and that very build- ing is just where the church is needed. We sold the old Wharton Street church in Philadelphia to the Roman people and they established a mission there. I am not willing that we shall sell any more Methodist church property in the city or the country. Keep all you have, get more, and hold all you get. That is the correct theory for Methodism. There is a good deal of talk about saving the cities. There is no way to save the cities only by saving the citizens. Save the individuals one by one. You cannot save people in platoons. There is much talk of "civic righteousness." There are not two kinds of righteousness, one for the city and another for the country. There is just one kind of righteousness, and that is obedience to the Ten Commandments and loyalty to our Lord who died for all. We must save the cities, and to^ do so we must save the citizens. We cannot solve the city problem by simply singing psalms and distributing tracts. The great Hadley Mission in New York has under- taken to save the city by siege. The Mission is open every night. John Callahan is doing a mag- nificent work. More money is needed to properly sustain and develop the Hadley Mission, which is THE FOREIGNER IN OUR MIDST 157 successfully grappling with the downtown problem. The New York City Missionary Society has the largest problem on hand of any city in the country. Every city has its problem. New York has the largest and most perplexing problem and needs the most money. Dr. Frank Mason North gives that city work wise supervision. The problem of the redemption of the country is precisely the same as the problem of the redemp- tion of the city. It takes a little more money for real estate and buildings in the city, and we must be more persistent in our efforts. In the country we can build a church costing a comparatively small sum and it becomes the center of interest in the community. If you have a sermon only once in two weeks you can have a prayer meeting the other Sunday, or a Sunday school. But the great dif- ficulty before us to-day is the city. At the pres- ent rate of progress we shall some day be raising money in the country towns to help evangelize the city, sO thoroughly foreign are the large cities be- coming and so thoroughly depraved are the people in the worst portions of our great cities. We should thank God that the foreigners are here. They are coming at about the rate of one million a year. God in his providence is thus aid- ing us in the work of foreign missions by bringing the people from distant lands to our shores. We must meet them with the spelling book, the Prayer Book, and the New Testament. With our public schools, a free press, a church that asks no favors 158 THOBURN AND INDIA from the state, only opportunity to interpret the Scriptures and proclaim the truth according to its own understanding, we are equipped for our divinely appointed work. The absolute and complete separation between church and state in this United States is in itself a lesson to the people from other lands. Foreigners converted at our altars become successful mission- aries to the homeland. The Methodist Episcopal Church will yet be aroused to an appreciation of the truth that the best work that can be done for foreign peoples will be done among the foreigners who are here. We reached the great German peoples by way of William Nast; the Swedes through the conversion of Hedstrom ; the Nor- wegians when Petersen learned the way of life. China will be reached by the Chinese who are here. Africa appeals to us through the eight or ten millions of Africans who are citizens of this country. When large sums are raised for China it should not be difficult to secure a sufficient amount of money to rebuild one Chinese church in San Fran- cisco. The relation of home and foreign missions is interactive. The two great benevolent organiza- tions of the Church must move forward in perfect harmony, each supplementing the other, and after a while we shall begin to think in continents and speak in millions. The foreigner is in our midst. He is here in the order of God's providence. We must welcome him, THE FOREIGNER IN OUR MIDST 159 treat him as a brother, and love him as the Saviour loves him. We rejoice in the fact that the Methodist Epis- copal Church is to-day preaching the gospel in more languages than were used after the miracle of Pentecost, and this is "but the dawn of noon-tide yet to be." I rejoice with you on the occasion that brings us together, and I pray that the Board of Foreign Missions and the Board of Home Missions and Church Extension shall claim the attention and loyalty and devotion of all the students of Allegheny College, and that when God asks for a man to go, whether it be to a foreign field or to a home field which may involve more sacrifice, with your hand on your tombstone, your eye on the day of judg- ment, and your thought on the narrow bed in the June grass where we shall all sleep by and by, you will say, "Here am I, send me." II THE CITY TO BE REDEEMED "Gocl made the country, man made the town," has become a trite saying, and yet, while there is a great deal of truth in it, it is not all the truth. It lacks exactness as much as the Irishman's remark that it was a fine sign of an overruling Providence that the big cities are all located on the rivers. But from the day, thousands of years ago, when the sons of Cush went forth and built Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh in the land of Shinar to the day when Boston, New York, Chicago, and Pitts- burg were established, there has been the evidence of the hand of an overruling Providence in bring- ing together the peoples of the earth. Cities are not altogether man-made. As God is in his world, so is he in the cities, though unfortunately his domination over the hearts of men therein is not always in evidence. Man is a social animal, and the vast segregations of city life are tokens of the native-born instinct asserting itself. Alas! these cities of ours, like those of Lot's day, have departed from the original state of purity, and herein they illustrate man's influence, but the primeval idea of the city was a segregation of homes, and "Merrie England" apprehended this conception of real city life by the use of the old adage, "Every English- man's home is his castle." 1 60 THE CITY TO BE REDEEMED 161 The greed for gain has so taken possession of the holders of real estate in our cities as to reduce living to the condition of the old cave dweller, if not worse. The craze for skyscrapers is an evidence of this fact. Apartment houses have been constructed with great pretensions to comfort and elegance, and yet the heterogeneous nature of the buildings is so apparent as to obliterate the last vestige of real home life. And when we deal with the tenement life we touch the cankerous and cancerous sore of our intensive civilization — the sweatshop, the crowded lodging house, the congested, seething mass of humanity, herded together, worse than cattle, where morality is at a premium, and where virtue is next to an impossibility. The present sys- tem of housing in our cities is ruinous alike to the individual and the nation. The immigration problem confronts us at every turn, but we can solve it, if we will. The density of population in the United States is not so marked as to warrant the putting up of the bars to im- migrants indiscriminately and arbitrarily. Our city populations are perhaps too dense, especially in the centers, and it may be wise to make some restrictions in this direction. Encourage coloniza- tion in the thinly settled parts of the States, and if necessary, by the offers of land grants or even money bounties, call off the crowds from the cities and prohibit the concentration of immigrants in the cities, but never keep out all immigration. It would be selfish and un-American, and would rebound with 1 62 THOBURN AND INDIA tremendous force. The wealth of America lies in these socalled alien hordes, and the only way to solve the problem of immigration is to treat the foreigner squarely, deal with him honestly, and meet him fraternally. A recent writer has called attention to the singu- lar spectacle of Christendom sending missionaries to the heathen beyond the seas and contemplating with indifference and hopelessness the intensive and vigorous growth of heathenism at home. We pay the traveling expenses for our best men and women to preach the gospel to foreigners at the ends of the earth, and when these same foreigners come to us of their own accord, paying their own travel- ing expenses, we turn away from them with an- tipathy and despair. Italians have a glamour and picturesqueness in Italy which disappears upon their arrival in America. Like their own olives, they seem to lose their flavor through transportation over sea water. The black-eyed Italian of sunny Italia becomes a "dago," a "guinea," and when he moves in we move out. Let me tell you frankly, as one who- knows, the Italian resents very highly this kind of treatment. If the city is to be redeemed we must catch the spirit of the Master, and sound the tocsin, calling to arms the stalwart, the true, the leal-hearted, to war against cruel prejudice and unreasoning ignorance. The difference between the Irishman and the Frenchman, according to Heine, is, that when the Irishman does not like his government, he emi- THE CITY TO BE REDEEMED 163 grates, but when the Frenchman does not like the government, he makes the government emigrate. The Church has pursued too much the Irishman's policy, fleeing from adverse environment instead of subduing it. It is like the company of militia that enlisted with the express understanding that they were never to be taken out of the country, unless it should be invaded. This policy of retreat is fatal to Christianity. Humanitarian efforts only will fail to meet this problem ; that is simply building a magnificent struc- ture without foundation. The city to be redeemed must have Christ presented to it in the individual life. An insane fear of promulgating sectarianism has caused a stampede from religious teaching in national, state, and private philanthropic institu- tions of our land. Christ may be presented to Jew and Gentile, Roman Catholic and Protestant, with- out being an offense to any. Let us get back to first principles without getting back to past mistakes, and the future city will be saved from irreligion and crime. I ran across this sentiment somewhere. I do not know the writer, and I am not sure that I know the exact words, but I believe I have the thought: "The way of life is always the way of the cross, because the possession of every higher perception involves the loss of a lower one, the gaining of every new conception of love the going of something dear and sweet and familiar, the forming of every spiritual tie the breaking of an earthly one." It 1 64 THOBURN AND INDIA was this thought that caught the young man fifty years ago in this college whom to-day we honor; it is the young man or young woman who has caught this vision of the Christ who can bring things to pass in the redemption of the city. Time was when anything was considered good enough for the submerged tenth, the dweller in the slum, and our cities have been drifting away from God. Young laymen coming from our colleges, what are you ready to do for the future? Here is your op- portunity. But you will need a passion for souls. Says Jowett: "The gospel of a broken heart de- mands the ministry of bleeding hearts. If that suc- cession be broken we lose our fellowship with the King. As soon as we cease to bleed, we cease to bless. When our sympathy loses its pang we can no longer be the servants of the passion." When Henry Martyn reached the shores of India he made this entry in his journal : "I desire to burn out for my God." "I refuse to be disappointed," exclaimed Hannington, in the darkest hour ; "I will only praise." James Chalmers, of heroic mold, once said: "Recall the twenty-one years, give me back all its experience, give me its shipwrecks, give me its standings in the face of death, give it me surrounded with savages with spears and clubs, give it me back again with spears flying about me, with the club knocking me to the ground — give it me back, and I will still be your missionary." A short time after this was said, I read in an obscure corner of a daily newspaper words something like THE CITY TO BE REDEEMED 165 this: "A missionary eaten by cannibals"; and the death of this modern Paul was announced to the world. Are we still in the succession ? A little time ago I visited a club of boys and girls. There must have been fully one hundred and fifty present. The club was held in a vacant house with hardly a stick of furniture in it ; in fact, when I talked to the boys the great majority of them sat on the floor. I found three young women taking care of them. My first glimpse of the girls was as they gathered round one of the young women. She was giving them some instruction in sewing. There were Jews, Syrians, Hungarians, Italians, and Irish — a motley crowd indeed. By and by the lady in charge, who had invited me to visit the club, made her appearance. It was the signal for a rush toward her. There was no gush of senti- mentalism ; there was the tender touch, the sweet smile, the unobtrusive clinging that indicated strong affection. I took mental notes of the scene, and then talked with the young lady. She is an intelligent woman, in fact, an instructor in a training school for nurses, and is an earnest Christian. She is giving her services four evenings a week. It was an inspiration to talk with her. She said, "Some of my friends wonder why I do this work, but O, I have just learned to love the children" ; and even while she spoke the little ones passed her to get a smile, a pat on the cheek, or a tender caress. One little fellow, Joe by name, a poor, unfortunate, friendless chap, with only one eye, stood near by. i66 THOBURN AND INDIA She called my attention to him, and remarked : "We nursed that little fellow through typhoid — a nice boy. Joe, come here." The little fellow seemed to be waiting for the invitation, and placing her arms round him she drew him to her side, and ( patted him on the cheek, and I saw the suspicion of a tear in the boy's eye. He was longing for a little bit of love. Do not call this sickly sentimentality; it is the reproduction of the spirit of the Master who blessed the children. The young woman had caught the passion of Christ, and longed for souls, and God gave them to her. The city will never be redeemed until you have learned to give your life's blood for it — that is the very essence of redemption. Dr. Guthrie used to tell an incident of a vessel that came upon a wreck. They went on board, and found the emaciated form of a young man lying among a bundle of canvas. He was at the last extremity, and they thought he was all that was left of the sinking wreck. They saw that the poor dying man was making an effort to speak; they listened and heard him say, "There's another man on board." It was all that he could say, but it was enough: he had done what he could to save his fellow creature. And that is what God expects of you and me. Will you do it? Ill THE EMPIRE OF THE WEST Petrarch says that history is poetry freed from the encumbrance of verse. Such history is mine to bring in speaking of the Empire of the West. Around that theme gathers the American epic of the last hundred years. Always the West is the optimistic, the soaring soul of America. The story of the West is the epic of discovery, for it is the story of Coronado and of Zebulon Pike; it is the tragedy of liberty, for it is the story of Osawatomie Brown; the idyl of education, for it is the story of making state universities and of multiplied small colleges; the lyric of aspiration, because the wind- swept prairies and mountain canyons are free. In this West are Lewis and Clark, as one has said, pushing through darkest America from the mouth of the Missouri to the mouth of the Columbia; there is the opening of the Santa Fe trail and the reckless pony express, long before the artillery of Zachary Taylor rattled along the Rio Grande ; there is Moses Austin leaving Saint Louis to get from Ferdinand VII of Spain permission to open Texas ; there is Fremont hoisting the flag at Sonoma and Monterey ; there is John Colter laughed at for what he said he had seen in the Yellowstone; there is John Wesley Powell crashing down the awful gorge 167 168 THOBURN AND INDIA of the Canyon of the Colorado River, that slit where the sunlight never falls, that soul of Bee- thoven and Dante, in stone; there are the adventur- ous pioneers, those argonauts of the desert; there are rising commonwealths; there is our epic West. When Allegheny College was founded in 1815 there was as yet no West at all ; and that was but yesterday. Josiah Quincy did not propose to let in Louisiana. He did not propose, and Congress, he said, had no right to propose to throw the liberties of the United States into the "hotchpot with the wild men of the Missouri." Civilization had tracked the trails of the big game across the mountain passes, and Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio had come into the Union, but the West was disparaged because it was not known, just as the farther West is disparaged still. But since the founding of Allegheny College the West has been pushed farther and farther toward the setting sun. The rural free delivery and the long-distance telephone have abolished the country, until the waves of civilization and of education have swept over the Sierra Nevada and wash the shore line of the Pacific. I am to speak of this West, the epic of the pioneers and their sons, both of whom are still living, and that epic song of those pioneers : We cross the prairies as of old The pilgrims crossed the sea, To make the West, as they the East, The homestead of the free — THE EMPIRE OF THE WEST 169 a song of Whittier's actually sung by the first colony of Free Statesmen as they were leaving Boston for Kansas in 1854. The Methodist Epis- copal Church has put into that West nearly twenty million dollars missionary money to pay preachers, missionaries to save that West. They tracked the prairie schooner; they went in on the construction train; they traveled circuits larger than the State of Rhode Island — and are doing it yet; they preached in shanties and dugouts, and under the canopy of heaven. But what were they doing? What empire were they building? And who were these builders? That is my theme. It is now pretty well settled that migrations of men tend to move along parallels of latitude. Thus in the expansion of America, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Northwest were settled by those who had the Puritan spirit because they had the Puritan blood. A professor in the State University of Kansas told me recently how a neighbor, a woman professor in the university, born in the humblest of Kansas homes, had got interested in her family tree and had found it heading back into the best Plantagenet blood in Burke's Peerage, such blood as Hampden had, and Mather, and Cromwell, and Wesley. I say this expansion of the American people brought into the West the Puritan ideals because it brought there the Puritan blood. See how in mak- ing this Empire of the West the pioneers, the pioneer preachers, built those pillars of civilization 170 THOBURN AND INDIA .the churches and the schools. In 1795 in the un- trodden wilderness, in poverty and even destitution, provision was made near the Ohio River by the Christian pioneers for the sale of public lands for public schools, and surveyors were sent to lay out a town as the seat of a proposed college. The town was called Athens. It was eight years later that Ohio came into the Union, and six years later Ohio University in Athens was opened. Thus, too, at Oxford, where in 1824 Miami University was opened. In this expansion of America the Presby- terians modeled their Western Reserve College after Yale; Oberlin began as a communistic experiment; and think of what Oberlin meant to the Union in the days before the civil war. In twenty-five years the university at Athens graduated but twenty-five students, and Miami University was for years lit- tle but a grammar school. The Western Reserve College faculty was reduced to one professor, who occupied thereby not only the chair but the whole sofa. Mr. Bryce has said some sarcastic things about the "universities" in Ohio which confer de- grees — there are forty-one, some one says — I can find but thirty-four; however, thirty-four are nine more than in all New England; but those thirty- four colleges, with their seventeen thousand stu- dents, impregnating year after year the little forty- one thousand square miles, not so large as Maine and Vermont, which have, combined, six colleges, have certainly justified themselves fairly well in putting Ohio, in church and state, in evidence be- THE EMPIRE OF THE WEST 171 fore the world. Some of these colleges were small, but Oliver Wendell Holmes rattles on merrily of a day at Harvard : And who was on the catalogue When college was begun? Lord! how the seniors knocked about The freshman class of one! America must never tire of hearing how were founded her Western colleges. There is Upper Iowa University. Some here have never heard of it; but they have heard of John R. Mott. Fayette was a wilderness in 1850; the place had scarcely a half dozen families; it was known as Milliken Bottom, and on the magnificent ridge near by the Indians camped. By 1854 the country was sparsely settled, and it was an impossible journey by ox team to Cornell College, seventy-five miles away. But by that time one pioneer had subscribed ten thou- sand dollars for a college, and later seven thousand dollars more, and when his money gave out he still put up four thousand acres of land. Where in the annals of education has there been such mu- nificence? In 1855, when the foundations were ris- ing on that ridge, the Iowa Conference, which in- cluded the whole State, took over the college, and from it have come forth heroes. Twice in those early days the building was unroofed by storms; but on a Wednesday evening, April 24, 1861, twelve days after Sumter was fired upon, a meeting was called in the chapel, and speeches were made 172 THOBURN AND INDIA by some students, some of them to be known to fame. Twenty-three of the little band enlisted as volun- teers, and when they marched away it was with a flag made by the girls of the college. And as she gave it to them Miss Sorin said: "Take our flag, and as it floats over you, sometimes give a thought to those by whom it was presented. Proudly, con- fidently, we commit it to your keeping. ' . . . As you have been proud to live under it, if death be your lot, may you die under its folds, and may God protect you and prosper you as you defend your colors." That flag was carried by those college boys at Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and Vicks- burg — theaters whose stage called for the grit that surges in the Puritan blood; and those who came back from that stage became Methodist preachers and the fathers of Methodist preachers, those mak- ers of the epic West. That was what made Iowa. Upper Iowa Univer- sity has been poor, but it has been rich enough to have awakened such a personality as John R. Mott. Iowa has eight Methodist institutions of learn- ing, seven colleges and one academy ; but when these are filled with thousands of students there is still enough of Methodist college material left to fur- nish nearly seventy per cent of the students at the State Normal and Agricultural Colleges, and a large per cent of the student body of the State University. And whether they have made good, the long line of Methodist statesmen and church- THE EMPIRE OF THE WEST 173 men attest. Some, for homogeneity, for average of culture, wealth, conservatism, Americanism, put Iowa at the head of American commonwealths. There are one hundred and fifty-three thousand Methodist church members in Iowa. There are twenty-six degree-conferring colleges in Iowa, and in them nearly fourteen thousand young people are at school. In Iowa, too, is Cornell College. And President William Fletcher King — name ever to be spoken in praise if one can pass beyond the sentiment of love — has told me how in that incomparable meadow which like a horseshoe surrounds the gently swell- ing and heavily wooded knoll on which the college stands — President King has told me how, in that meadow he saw the smoke curling from the wig- wams and tepees of Indians in those distant years, quite fifty years ago, when he came from the Ohio Wesleyan in 1857. Cornell College has a faculty of forty-six men, a plant worth $328,000, and an endowment of $642,226. Only six of our insti- tutions have an endowment so great. Cornell began at the beginning of Methodism west of the Mississippi River, at the beginning of the making of the Greater West. She was poor, she was endangered, but she survives. There is no college in Iowa of higher reputation, and her record is a part of the inspiring record of the Church and of the nation. But earlier than these I have named is Iowa Wes- leyan. It was chartered by the territorial legis- 174 THOBURN AND INDIA lature, and James Harlan, friend of Lincoln, United States senator, and member of Lincoln's Cabinet, was its first president. And I must name that Irishman, Charles Elliott, too, who vibrated between the schoolmaster's desk and the tripod, being editor in the course of time of the Pittsburg, the Western, and the Central Christian Advocates. What these men and their successors, and their stu- dents, and the sons of their students have wrought is written in the deathless story of a Common- wealth, a Church, and a Republic. I was going out to the Kansas Wesleyan Uni- versity one afternoon when a beautiful old New England lady, who looked as if a figure of Giotto was just stepping from the canvas, sat down op- posite me in the dining car. Presently she ventured to ask, "Are there any colleges in Kansas?" I replied, "Only twenty, and Massachusetts has thirteen. The city the train just left, you may have observed, was named Lawrence. It was named for Amos Lawrence, for whom our Lawrence Uni- versity at Appleton, Wisconsin, was also named, and for whose brother Abbott, who came within a few votes of being elected President of the United States, Lawrence Scientific School at Cambridge was named." At Lawrence is the Kansas State University with its income of nearly a half million dollars, its student body of twenty-five hundred, and its faculty of one hundred and seventeen. But it is twenty miles away that there is a still better illustration of that Puritan spirit which makes THE EMPIRE OF THE WEST 175 Kansas perhaps the best survival of Puritanism in this land. Kansas came into the Union in 186 1, about sixty days before Sumter was struck. But six years earlier, in 1855, when the days were dark and Kansas was bleeding, the Methodist preachers in a little log cabin began talking of a needed college. In 1858 the territorial legislature gave the charter and Baker University began. Her campus was almost in sight of the battlefields of John Brown. She was poor; once the sheriff came to take her bell and library to satisfy creditors ; but the preach- ers and teachers lived on cornbread and water a while longer to save that institution. When the war came on the president of Baker heard the first drum taps and entered as chaplain. Baker is not yet on "Easy Street" ; but consider her long list of dis- tinguished alumni, not forgetting Secretary Rand- all of the Epworth League, United States Senator Joseph L. Bristow, Bishop William Alfred Quayle, and here in Allegheny College, second to none of them in point of character, Professor Frank C. Lockwood, of the faculty. It is the common opinion of people throughout Kansas that no other institution has done anywhere near so much in molding that State as has this Methodist college. Besides Baker are the Kansas Wesleyan and Southwestern, both emerging into a large life. And what have these colleges and the spirit which maintained them done? Go ask India or the Phil- ippines, Thoburn or Oldham. Ask those anywhere 176 THOBURN AND INDIA who wage war against the saloon. A few days ago, at the Southwest Kansas Conference, one district superintendent reported that his district, an agri- cultural district, had given for missions this Con- ference year eighty-eight thousand dollars. These are types of the Empire of the West which the Methodist pioneers did their full part to create. And as for Oklahoma, there, where we can ob- serve a great State in the making, a group of men, one of whom was a Thoburn, a son of the brother of James, and who was the secretary of the group, incorporated Epworth University ; while a daughter of this brother of James was dean of women in another Western Methodist college. As for Colorado : I once ventured to ask a gentle- man in Quebec where Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, which was that day doing business in Que- bec, came from. "From Denver, Colorado," he said. I begged to tell him that Denver was my home, and that Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show was quite as great a curiosity in Denver as it could be in Quebec. According to the government census, there are six times as many Indians on the Indian reservations in New York as there are in Colorado (and in this I do not count Tammany). There are four times as many Indians in New York as there are in Wyoming, and thousands more than in Idaho ; and they are quite as savage. While as yet Colorado was a land unknown, in the early days of the pony express, John Evans, that railroad and empire builder, founder of Evans- THE EMPIRE OF THE WEST 177 ton, and with his brother-in-law Orrington Lunt and Grant Goodrich the founder of Northwestern University, was sent by his friend Abraham Lincoln to be governor of the raw territory. About the first thing John Evans did was to found what is the University of Denver, and the contributions of this institution can be measured when we recall the stamina of its population and the fact that with the university have been connected Ammi B. Hyde, of Allegheny College, as trustees Earl Cranston and Henry White Warren, and as chancellors David H. Moore and William Fraser McDowell. The Congregationalists have in Colorado one of their best colleges. The higher values are not neglected. There are troubles, outbreaks, some- times a pistol shot in the mines; but Pennsylvania has heard the like at Homestead and in the coal breakers. Over all, Colorado is not a mining so much as an agricultural and horticultural State. These States are types in the Empire of the West still in the making. There are also ancient civiliza- tions in that West; for New Mexico was visited by Coronado, and Santa Fe — the city of the Holy Faith — is dim with antiquity. And outside of Santa Fe and Albuquerque are the pueblos of those chil- dren of the sky, those kin people of the cliff dwell- ers. There are the cow puncher and the miner ; there are the flagilantes, the Mexican greaser, the Spanish priest; there also is the Puritan, though it is hard to find him on Sunday. The deserts ache with heat, and through the air darts not one single bird; but 178 THOBURN AND INDIA with irrigation these deserts break the apple trees with their crops ; and w T ith future irrigating systems they will have a distinct place in the future of the Republic. The college, though a weak one, is also there. Mr. Chairman, you will observe in all this one trait of the West, though I have not mentioned it : The West is modest. Do not smile. The West is to-day Puritan America. It is homogeneous because it is agricultural, because it is educated, because it is led by the products of Christian schools. It is homogeneous because though there are millions of immigrants, these immigrants are themselves pioneers — agriculturists made similar in the melt- ing pot of our churches and schools. Mr. Chairman, when Allegheny College was founded the center of population was scarcely west of Washington. It has surged across the Alle- ghanies, across the prairies of a West scarcely dreamed of by Josiah Quincy and Thomas Jef- ferson ; it is approaching the Mississippi, and the time is not far when it will cross that stream. But, Mr. Chairman, the geographical center of the Re- public is in the State of Kansas ; and as the center of population approaches it, you need not fear, it will be met by the Christian churches and Christian colleges which were founded by the pioneers. IV THE PROBLEM OF THE NEGRO The negro is here. He cannot be eliminated or ignored. He is constantly referred to as a problem. The sooner he ceases to be a problem and is recog- nized as an American citizen and a man — a constit- uent part of the body politic, with equality of oppor- tunity and the rights and privileges of a man — the better for the negro and for the nation. It is evident that any serious consideration of the civil, moral, and religious life of the nation will not leave the negro out of account. Negroes constitute one eighth of the population. They have to do with the character and history, the political life and social well-being of the nation. History must take account of the negro, for, as now con- ceived, history records the development of races and nations; the education and life, the achieve- ments, the welfare and progress of all people. Political economy must consider him. He is a part of the body politic, and sooner or later must be counted as a potent factor in the political life of the Republic. Economics must keep the negro in view ; for "the study of economics no longer means simply a broad survey of the nature and causes of the wealth of the nation, but looks to the con- dition of all the people, their poverty or wealth, 179 180 THOBURN AND INDIA their progress or decline ; their moral and religious status. These elements make for economic effi- ciency and constitute the strength or weakness of the nation. Political philosophy cannot ignore the negro. He cannot be set off by himself. For weal or woe, white and black are bound together. His condi- tion affects society. Just as Edom was a constant menace and curse to Israel, so to-day any degraded people drag down their neighbors. In short, every comprehensive movement in America, in church or school, looking to the general religious and moral life and welfare of the people, must have the negro in view. The problem of sectionalism is settled. Who, living amid the strifes of reconstruction forty years ago, could have prophesied that to-day, over the graves of the blue and the gray, .the North and the South would clasp hands in fraternity and peace? The problem of the races, however, is un- settled. Have we not reason to hope that within the next generation races which God in his prov- idence has placed here side by side may find a per- manent basis of mutual confidence, forbearance, and respect that will enable them to dwell together in peace and equity? Let no man lift a hand or enact a law that may delay this day of racial security and prosperity. The negro is here through no fault of his own. He was not so much invited as he was urged, forced, brought here by the concurrence of both Southern THE PROBLEM OF THE NEGRO 181 and Northern men. His passage even was paid, as is the case of no other immigrant to America. And he is here in the providence of God. Through the ordeal of slavery in a Christian land, the negro has gained four inestimable blessings, namely: ideas of law and order, the power of sus- tained work, the English language, and the Chris- tian religion. In a word, he has gained civilization. And who but the negro would ever have opened up and developed the opulent resources of the South- land, under a semitropical sun — who but this hardy, cheerful, sinewy son of the tropics? The negro is free through no fault of his own. And during the bloody and awful crisis of his being freed he ever proved true. He coveted freedom. He knew that his master was fighting to rivet the bonds that held him, and that the triumph of Fed- eral arms would set him free. Yet, while he never betrayed a Union soldier, at the same time he never betrayed the trust of his master. Those thrilling words of Henry W. Grady should at this time awaken anew the sense of gratitude and obligation in the heart of every Southern man : "History has no parallel to the faith kept by the negro in the South during the war. Often five hundred negroes to a single white man, and yet through these dusky throngs the women and children walked in safety, and the unprotected homes rested in peace. A thou- sand torches would have disbanded every Southern army, but not one was lighted. When the master, going to a war in which slavery was involved, said 1 82 THOBURN AND INDIA to his slave, 'I leave my home and loved ones in your charge,' the tenderness between man and master stood disclosed. And when the slave held that charge sacred through storm and temptation, he gave new meaning to faith and loyalty. I rejoice that when freedom came to him, after years of waiting, it was all the sweeter because the black hands from which the shackles fell were stainless of a single crime against the helpless ones confided to his care." A race that could show such devotion to a people and such fidelity to a sacred trust has not changed its nature in a single generation. Dazed by his new- found freedom, misled by Northern politicians on the one hand and distrusted by his old friends on the other, though his attitude has a little changed, there is in him yet as freeman a genuine basis on which to rebuild and again firmly establish the shat- tered relations. The negro holds the ballot through no fault of his own. He did not seek it. It was placed in his hands largely as a political measure. Men call it a blunder. It surely was a fearful risk, for I recall that warning word of Wendell Phillips that an ignorant ballot is the winding sheet of liberty. But it is my conviction that it was one of those "blunders" of Providence in the interests of hu- manity. It has cost the negro much, but it has made him a citizen. And let not the members of legislatures in several Southern States consider that by measures calculated to practically dis- THE PROBLEM OF THE NEGRO 183 franchise the negro they are avenging a wrong done the South by the North in giving the ballot to the negro. Mr. James Bryce, the thoroughly disin- terested English ambassador, in his "American Commonwealth," shows that if the South had at once "accepted the total results of the war they would have moved out into a new age under the most favorable conditions." He notes "their huge mistake in rejecting the constitutional amendment offered by Congress. If that had been done there would have been no delay in the return of the States, and no enfranchisement of the colored man." And he quotes Justice Lamar, of Mississippi, to show that the inevitable result of rejecting the consti- tutional amendment by the Southern States was the enfranchisement of the negro. The South, then, must share the responsibility of his enfran- chisement. History, however, will show that the ballot has been the greatest force in lifting the negro from serfdom into manhood. And that which lifts into manhood any member of the body politic is a bless- ing to the state. The ballot in his hand lifted the negro out of the mass and made him count as one. It saved him from a state of practical peonage, to which enactments in several States were consigning him. It is his misfortune that the Republican Party exploited him as a voter and did not develop him as a citizen. Yet no race, under like condi- tions, ever before made such progress in citizenship in a single generation. 1 84 THOBURN AND INDIA Of late years there has been a growing spirit of confidence and good will among the better classes of both races. This is so notwithstanding a certain degree of lawlessness and crime. The negro has come to see that his salvation is not in the Repub- lican Party ; that there is small sympathy with him in the heartless machine of modern politics; that his best future lies in self-respecting adjustment .to the people among whom he lives. Trusted leaders of the race are conservative and seek a right adjustment of the race to its present environment. The accumulation of property, the advance in knowledge, the genuine progress of the negro along all lines, is unprecedented. I have often been in counties where there are four negroes to one white man. Their relations in nineteen communities out of twenty are now peaceable. Let it be borne in mind that the negro is Amer- ican by birth, training, spirit, and ideals. Those count for Americanism, and not race or color. On sober second thought the .South is realizing this, and the enthusiasm for foreign immigration is sub- siding. They find that the Teutonic stock of northern Europe will not come to the South in ade- quate numbers and compete with hard-working, low-waged negroes. The broad and opulent fields of the South and its unmeasured resources are only barely touched. They await full development. The obstacle is not the negro. He has done his part. Unused to freedom, untrained in skilled work, he has since emancipation done all that could reason- THE PROBLEM OF THE NEGRO 185 ably be expected of him. Not fewer negroes but more loyal, earnest, well-equipped negroes are needed. All things considered, the negro is the best laborer available for the semitropical climate of the South. Again, the negro is demonstrating his manhood qualities in his evident intellectual capacity. Three thousand negroes have taken collegiate degrees, ten per cent of these in Northern colleges; illiteracy has been cut down nearly fifty per cent in forty years. Professor Shaler, of Harvard, a man of Southern birth, says, "There are hundreds and thousands of black men who in capacity are to be ranked with the superior persons of the dominant race, and it is hard to say that in any evident feature of mind they characteristically differ from their white fellow citizens." The race has progressed educationally in spite of conditions. That they have made the best of meager opportunities is indicated by such facts as these: that while in 1901 the expenditure in South Carolina for the education of each white child was $3.95, for the education of the colored child it was only 74 cents. Conditions have not improved since then. When it is realized that in such a State as Illinois the per capita expenditure for education is over thirty dollars, this educational quickening and advancement of the race is almost unexampled. Again, the showing of the Twelfth Census is greatly in favor of the negro in proving that he does not shirk labor, but still produces his full share 1 86 THOBURN AND INDIA of the cotton crop. In 1899, out of a cotton crop of 9,534,707 bales, negro proprietors alone produced 3,707,881 bales, or thirty-nine per cent of the total crop. These proprietors numbered only 746,715, against 1,418,343 negro agricultural laborers. This shows that if these hired laborers were as efficient as the independent tenants nearly the entire cotton crop of the South stands to their credit. Now, it is in view of such facts, showing the American birth, spirit, and ideals of the negro, his manhood qualities and his growth upward in the strength of character that is the basis of good citizenship, that we should consider the question as to his disfranchisement through unfair and un- equal un-American laws. The representative negroes of the South have come to believe, with all thinking men, in a restricted ballot. They favor an educational and even property qualification that applies to all citizens alike. They are also convinced that politics alone cannot settle the race problem. Now, what will be the outcome of such measures as the disfranchisement laws with their "under- standing" and "grandfather" provisions, that are acknowledged to be open doors, inviting to dis- crimination and fraud against the black man? In the first place, such laws will dishearten the pro- gressive and degrade still further the idle, profligate, and indifferent among the negroes. They will tend to mass the ignorant of both races in hostile camps, and thus endanger the peace and prosperity of our THE PROBLEM OF THE NEGRO 187 civilization. As Bryce well says in his "American Commonwealth," after a careful study of the American problem: "Nothing is so dangerous to a state as a submerged class. It contains Samsons who will in the end be feeling for the pillars of the state. The massing of ignorance is a blind but terrible force, to be dreaded by any civilization. The colored problem will be solved, > but never satisfactorily till the leaders in church and state of the South address themselves sympathetically to the great work." Such unfair and un-American laws are not de- signed to encourage and uplift the negro and to make of him an aspiring man and a worthy citizen. They are meant to put on him a political weight that will crush out of the race all hope for honor- able citizenship, and for that equality of opportunity that is the right of every self-respecting citizen. Such a policy of repression and domination by discrimination or fraud, based on color, will not settle the problem. The old axiom has proved true in American politics, "Nothing is settled until it is settled right." This bill in operation would un- settle relations that are now in process of peaceful adjustment. You cannot bury one of the inalienable rights of man, and by resolution and enactment forever screw down and fasten its coffin lid beyond resurrection. Right and truth, in the end, will rise in their might, burst the coffin lid, and live to vex men until they are adjusted in harmony with the law of right, and with the law of God. Such laws THOBURN AND INDIA have to do not with the condition of a race merely, but with human rig. Laws thus framed cannot stand before the en- lightened conscience of mankind. They make for the degradation of Southern commonwealths in the eyes of an enlightened world. Maryland, Georgia, and North Carolina are not the only States that face this problem of illiterate and immoral citizen- ship. Xew York has the same problem. It made the Tweed ring possible. It supports the Tammany oligarchy. It corrupts the ballot. It robs the treasury. It is a greater menace to the state than the ballot of the negro. Does Xew York meet this evil in a spirit of repression that would keep these voters in permanent subjection through ignorance and fraud? Xo. She trusts to schools, to churches. to the spirit of enlightenment, to the agencies of redemption among these unredeemed and turbulent and corrupt masses for their uplifting into self- respecting and safe American citizenship. This is all that the negro asks. It is the least that the race which holds the power and wealth and government of this land should accord. A Southerner, the son and grandson of slave owners, has well expressed the true American idea : "Every interest in the land demands that the f reedman be free to become in all things, as far as his own personal gifts will lift and sustain him. the same sort of American citizen he would be if. with the same intellectual and moral caliber, he were white." Henry \Y. Grady looked forward to the time when the solution of this THE PROBLEM OF THE NEGRO 189 problem in equity and fairness to all would "prove our blessing, and the race that threatened our ruin would work our salvation, as it fills our fields with the best peasantry the world has ever seen; when the South may stand upright among the nations and challenge the judgment of man and the approval of God in having worked out in their sympathy and in his guidance this last and surprising miracle of human government." How did this man of prophetic vision propose to bring about this end? He clearly realized the seriousness of the problem before the South "to carry within her body politic separate races, equal in civil and political rights and nearly equal in numbers." But he believed that the only permanent solution was one that was in righteousness and that by its fairness to all would bring peace. He there- fore said : "She must carry these races in peace, for discord means ruin ; she must carry them in equal justice, for to this she is pledged in honor and grati- tude. She must carry them even to the end, for in all human probability she will never be quit of either." In ringing words that are a rebuke to the spirit of such laws, in words I would that every voter and every legislator might hear and heed, for the honor of the South and for the welfare of both races, Mr. Grady pleaded : "Let this resolution be cast on lines of equity and justice. Let it be the pledge of honor, safe and impartial administration, and we shall command the support of the colored race itself, more dependent than any other on the protection i 9 o THOBURN AND INDIA and bounty of the government. Let us be wise and patient, and we shall secure through its acquiescence what otherwise we should win through conflict and hold in insecurity." Thus Henry W. Grady, the great-hearted, far- seeing friend of the South, would "render back this problem in the world's approval" and "make clear that new and grander way up which the South is marching to higher destiny." "Not in passion, my countrymen, but in reason; not in narrowness, but in breadth ; that we may solve this problem in calm- ness and in truth, and, lifting its shadows, let per- petual sunshine pour down on two races, walking together in peace and contentment." THE NEW CALL TO SOCIAL SERVICE A branch of home missions characterized as "social service" may be greeted with some surprise, if not suspicion. And, indeed, the surprise, at any rate, may be not wholly without excuse. For "social service" is wider than home missions in the area of its operations; it belongs to both the home and the foreign field. Yet in another sense it is narrower; for while "home missions" may be so broadly interpreted as to deal with all classes and all needs, "social service" has come to be re- stricted in its application to certain classes and certain needs. This service is "social" in that it has in view not solely or perhaps chiefly the individual, but seeks the regeneration of the community, the transforma- tion of its laws, customs, and conditions of- life. It is "social" also, as distinguished from, though by no means opposed to, evangelism, in that its aim is not, at least directly, spiritual ; it is concerned with the temporal and material facts of life. It is more than philanthropy, which proposes the relief of distress ; for social service is preventive, radically remedial, and not simply palliative. It includes as well the work of such diverse agents as the educator, the temperance agitator, the probation officer, the 191 192 THOBURN AND INDIA social settlement resident, the charity organization, prison reform, industrial betterment, legislation for better housing, food, wages, and the like. It deals with society, regarded as a living body, the welfare of one of whose members is the affair of all. To this social service there is in our day a new call. Ages ago there was an old call. It was the call of primitive Christianity, it was the call of Christ. For the thought of a ministry to the bodily needs of men is no modern thought; Jesus Christ fed and healed and heartened and raised from the dead. The thought of a transformed society is no new discovery; Jesus Christ predicted a kingdom into which those who believed in him were to enter, a kingdom which was a society of his brothers and which was to be the type and the instrument of a new and permanent social order, permanent because just and kindly and free. Society itself is a divine institution. The social instinct is a means of grace, whether it be manifested in family love or friendship or fra- ternal union. Love is of God, all love. And the kingdom of God is a kingdom of love, love not merely sentimental, but practical ; love not by moonlight, but by daylight; love in business, poli- tics, and social relations. After the Protestant Reformation, with its stress upon faith, in the release of the spirit from its dog- matic and ecclesiastical shackles, individualism seemed to run riot in religion, and the importance of the spiritual welfare obscured the fact that there NEW CALL TO SOCIAL SERVICE 193 was more to man than a spirit. It is perhaps a fair question whether the new call to social service did not first begin to find utterance through the lips of John Wesley. Be that as it may, the call to-day has become more insistent than in the eigh- teenth or any preceding century. Its strength and emphasis arise from a new view of man. The religious rights of man were vindi- cated four centuries ago. His political rights have been grudgingly admitted during the last one hun- dred and fifty years. But the application of that religious and political democracy to social and industrial relations is yet far from being completely worked out. No fantastic notions of equality of endowment or identity of opportunity need be indulged, but democracy must have its way in the realm of economics. When Abraham Lincoln complained of that political party which considered "the liberty of one man to be absolutely nothing when in conflict with another man's right of property/' and declared that he stood "for both the man and the dollar, but in cases of conflict, the man before the dollar," he was the herald of a wider democracy before which the artificial barriers of class and station were bound to fall. The sweep of this democratic spirit has made inevitable many economic readjustments. Corresponding with this higher estimate of man as man, apart from his trimmings and his trap- pings, has come a new view of religion. Christianity has been rehumanized, made more ethical, more 194 THOBURN AND INDIA practical, more imperial. Jesus has been exalted as Teacher and Example. His tenderness, his sym- pathy, his fellowship with the wants and woes of men, his universal and eternal humanity have been disclosed as never before. And the claims of his religion to the sovereignty of all life, the refusal to be shut from any region of thought or feeling or action, have shown every occupation to be holy and every obligation to be sacred. A new knowledge of the facts has been diffused. The improved means of transportation and com- munication, the increase of travel, the daily news- paper, the business of turning the world of incident inside out for the gaze of every beholder, these have lent a new meaning to the brotherhood of man. When before were we next-door neighbors to all the world, as now? When did we ever know how the other half lives? Knowledge may not be power, but it is commandment. Moreover, the facts themselves have changed. Not only the knowledge of the situation, but the situation is new. No one would think of claiming that the conditions of living among the poorer sec- tions of the population are worse than a century ago, but it is unquestionable that the contrast between rich and poor has been heightened, the relative position of the less favored is worse, and the discontent and danger of the situation have therefore become more acute. The industrial revolution, growing from the in- vention of the steam-engine, and transferring the NEW CALL TO SOCIAL SERVICE 195 workshop from the home to the factory, has meant concentration of wealth and accentuation of poverty ; it has been followed by combinations of both labor and capital into gigantic and powerful organiza- tions; it has been accompanied by the congestion of population to an unprecedented degree in our overgrown and ill-regulated cities. Think, for example, of that so-called "Lung Block" in New York city, with its two or three thousand inhabitants, seven hundred persons to the acre, with forty cases of tuberculosis to a single house in five years, and with three fourths of the tenement houses of the block licensed to carry on manufacturing of clothes and the like in the infected rooms! Think of the conditions of misery which Huxley years ago described as the lot of a large percentage of the English population : "It is a con- dition in which the food, warmth, and clothing which are necessary for the mere maintenance of the functions of the body in their normal state can- not be obtained; in which men, women, and chil- dren are forced to crowd into dens wherein decency is abolished and the most ordinary conditions of healthful existence are impossible of attainment; in which the pleasures within reach are reduced to bestiality and drunkenness; in which the pains accumulate at compound interest in the shape of starvation, disease, stunted development, and moral degradation ; in which the prospect of even steady and honest industry is a life of unsuccessful battling with hunger, rounded by a pauper's grave." 196 THOBURN AND INDIA It would not appear that our Christian civiliza- tion is a very great success. In so far as it is Chris- tian, it is a success. The trouble is that so little of it is Christianized. Happily, our day has seen an awakening of in- terest in all men and all conditions. There is not only a new situation, a new knowledge, but a new sense of responsibility. Missionary, philanthropic, social, and educational movements have been tak- ing rapid strides. Of all the signs of hope, the best is this — that among right-minded men is a stirring consciousness of their terrific obligations. A new social conscience has been born. Men care, as never before, how the other half lives and works, and, what is more, they propose to do something about it. Part of the mission of Christianity, in the cath- olic interpretation of it shared by such men as him whom we honor to-day, is the diffusion of a new spirit in the time, the creation of an atmosphere that is favorable to true religion. The removal of temptation, the cure of disease, the relief of poverty, the encouragement of education, the culti- vation of a social temper, the formation of high moral ideals, the opening of opportunities, these are all truly Christian works. It is in fact true that the establishment of the kingdom of God in the earth, as it is conceived in the New Testament — the kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy — cannot in any real and thorough sense be followed out without running us afoul of a host of industrial, legislative, and international problems. NEW CALL TO SOCIAL SERVICE 197 It would appear, therefore, that social service is a legitimate part of the task of religion. It is so because of the moral relations and effects of physical conditions. The construction of playgrounds in congested districts may mean, as it actually has in Chicago, less business for the juvenile courts. Or the needless death of a poor trackwalker may mean the shame of his widow; corruption in the streets may mean bereaved hearts and blighted homes ; den- sity of population may involve the disappearance of decency; no parks, no museums, no wholesome amusements may mean crowded saloons and burned- out lives. If child labor stunts the joyfulness, the strength, the intelligence of those on whom the Republic is to depend, can any Christian citizen be indifferent ? We have not yet comprehended the full force of environment on character. Sin may produce disease and poverty, but poverty and disease also help to perpetuate sin. The drunken sot has more than a weak or vicious will to account for the wretched condition. And we must come to see that if it is Christian, as all admit, to cure the world's woes, then it is Christian to prevent them, and in addition much less expensive, much more sensible. "Sanitary regulations," said Frederick W. Robertson long ago, "may be as religious as a miracle." "To man a lifeboat may be more he- roic, but it at the best only mitigates a disaster; the prevision that mounts a fogbell on Inchcape Rock is less showy a virtue, but infinitely more useful." 198 THOBURN AND INDIA If it is Christian to be partial, it is Christian to be thorough. If it is Christian to build hospitals, it is Christian to form anti-tuberculosis leagues. If it is Christian to save the drunkard, it is Christian to close the saloons. If it is Christian to demand legislation against the saloon, the brothel, the gambling house, it is Christian to enforce it and to compel others to enforce it. Whatever affects human welfare, whatever in conditions of life has an influence on character and conduct, is surely of consequence to the Christian. If people, as Jack London describes them, have but one small room for a family, and in that room sleep and dress and eat and wash and work and, if very poor, keep the body of their dead for days or even weeks on bed or table or shelf — such a room, as he protests, "is not home but horror." "When a father and mother," to quote him again, "live with three or four children in a room where the children take turn about in sitting up to drive the rats away from the sleepers, when those children never have enough to eat and are preyed upon and made miserable and weak by swarming vermin, the sort of men and women the survivors will make can readily be im- agined." What should we do, my brothers, what chance should we have if kept at exhaust- ing toil for starvation wages, with poor nutrition, surrounded by drinking, swearing, fighting, and filth? Should we want a change in circumstances? Should we not hail as good news from heaven some word and act of hope and of help? NEW CALL TO SOCIAL SERVICE 199 Is it well that while we range with Science, glorying in the Time, City children soak and blacken soul and sense in city slime ? There among the glooming alleys Progress halts on palsied feet, Crime and hunger cast our maidens by the thousand on the street. There the master scrimps his haggard seamstress of her daily bread ; There a single sordid attic holds the living and the dead ; There the smoldering fire of fever creeps across the rotted floor, And the crowded couch of incest, in the warrens of the poor. And Jack London, when he had dwelt with the People of the Abyss in East London, was right in his indignant cry : "Man cannot be worked worse than a horse is worked, and be housed and fed as a pig is housed and fed, and at the same time have clean and wholesome ideals and aspirations." For right character and conduct right conditions must be created. This sense of responsibility for the welfare of the unfortunate brother, for giving him at least his chance at decency, has found expression in a thou- sand ways. There is John E. Gunckel, in Toledo, with his six thousand and more newsboys; there is Judge Ben Lindsey in Denver with his loyal raga- muffins, carrying the city election for him against both political parties ; there are the "Big Brothers" in New York, looking after that ninety per cent of 200 THOBURN AND INDIA strayed boys who have been merely careless or neglected. There are the institutional churches, the broadening Young Men's Christian Association, the social settlements, the innumerable societies for agitation and uplift — all growing from the new situation and the new sense of responsibility. Into the long warfare to be waged against evil in its multitudinous forms, our generation is sum- moned, as by a clarion call. And if there is any time when ear and eye should be open, when visions should come quickest, clearest, most golden, it is youth. If there is any spot where such visions should glow and allure, it is the college, the place which stands, not first for wealth or brains or train- ing, but for service. In our colleges we prepare for leadership ; but we covet no intellectual aristocracy. Our leaders in government, in church, in finance, are to be the servants of the people. Their idealism is to be so fine and true that it consorts with hu- mility. From the place of privilege they are to go to the place of opportunity. Their advantages are to be translated into blessings for the less fortunate. Like the Lord, who, knowing that he came from God and went to God, rose and girded himself with a towel and washed the feet of his disciples, those who are gifted and exalted are to seek greatness through service. To the scholar comes the special obligation to blend sanity with enthusiasm, to give wise direction and fervent leadership to the social movements of our day. It should be added that if history means any- NEW CALL TO SOCIAL SERVICE 201 thing, that call should come with its full meaning and force in a Methodist college. Mr. J. R. Green, in his Short History of the English People, after noticing the effect of the Methodist revival upon religion and morals, goes on to say: "A yet nobler result of the religious revival was the steady attempt, which has never ceased from that day to this, to remedy the guilt, the physical suffering, the social degradation of the profligate and the poor." He adds : "A passionate impulse of human sympathy with the wronged and afflicted raised hospitals, endowed charities, built churches, sent missionaries to the heathen." If the broad and balanced conception of Chris- tianity which was in the heart of early Methodism is not to be disgraced by latter-day developments, then the rising generation of Methodists, the stu- dents in our Methodist colleges, must rally in the new crusade for the deliverance of man — the whole man — from ignorance and misery and oppression. The new call to social service must echo through the halls Of learning, and the chiefest must become minister to the least. These things shall be ! a loftier race Than e'er the world hath known shall rise, With flame of freedom in their souls And light of knowledge in their eyes. They shall be gentle, brave, and strong To spill no drop of blood, but dare All that may plant man's lordship firm On earth, and fire, and sea, and air. 202 THOBURN AND INDIA Nation with nation, land with land, Inarmed shall live as comrades free; In every heart and brain shall throb The pulse of one fraternity. Man shall love man with heart as pure And fervent as the young-eyed joys Who chant their heavenly lays before God's face with undiscordant noise. New arts shall bloom of loftier mold, And mightier music thrill the skies, And every life shall be a song, When all the earth is paradise. In the day of the triumph it will be worth while to say, "I was there." VI THE TRAINING OF THE WORKER It is a common error that technical education is of recent origin. On the contrary, the technical school is older than the college of liberal arts. The University of Salerno began as a school of medicine, the University of Paris as a school of theology ; the University of Padua, famous for the lectures of Galileo, was principally a school of law, even at his coming. "A leading purpose of the founders of Harvard College," says their latest bulletin, "was to advance learning and to perpetuate it to posterity ; dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches when our present ministers shall lie in the dust. Accordingly, for two generations the college was virtually a theological school in its curriculum and dominant influences, and in the pur- poses of its students." Hence its motto, Pro Christo et Ecclesia. The same is true of most American colleges, but like Harvard they have been invaded and conquered by the secular spirit; trans- formed in curriculum, in dominant influences, and in the purposes of their students. They now main- tain themselves partly by acquired momentum, and partly by the belief that they furnish a training of the mind and a culture of the soul, adequate and necessary to every fruitful life. This reverses the 203 204 THOBURN AND INDIA ancient order. The college of liberal arts which at Padua included the faculties of theology, medicine, and philosophy has dwindled to the latter only; it is a new and much bewildered institution struggling to adapt itself to a new and highly complex environ- ment. It no longer trains ministers and doctors; nor does it pretend to. It engages, so we are told, in a nobler enterprise, to wit, the development of perfect manhood. Now, if it rightly measures the size of this tre- mendous job and chooses the efficient means for doing it, we shall all with one accord agree that the college of liberal arts is essential for the training of the missionary. For the first and indispensable requisite for him is manhood, the kind of manhood developed here fifty years ago, the kind of manhood we have met to acknowledge humbly and with grati- tude to God ; manhood like that of Thoburn and of Grenfell, like that of Moffat and of Livingstone, like that of Toynbee and of Denison ; manhood that proves its virtue alike in the villages of India or in the wilds of Africa, in the East End of London or on the coasts of Labrador. This is my first remark. I venture to say that our beloved friend, Bishop Thoburn, even here in the presence of his cherished Alma Mater, will agree with both my first and second when I insist that back of the best training of any college should be the training of the Christian home. Not that one un- happily deprived of it may not find its best possible substitute in a Christian college; on the contrary, TRAINING OF THE WORKER 205 it is the avowed purpose and precious privilege of the Christian college to supply this terrible lack. But happy are the young men and women who enter college clothed with the prayers of their par- ents as with a protecting garment, and beckoned forward to noble achievement by heavenly visions that came to them in their homes and by divine voices familiar to them in their childhood. "Your young men shall see visions." What proof of the outpouring of the Spirit could be more splendid? How desolate the fireside where none appear ! How cheerless the college from which they have faded, "leaving not a rack behind" ! Much has been written in recent years of moral and religious education. Here, in the presence of a product of earlier methods, I may be forgiven for asking, have we not quit the business for the joy of discussing some supposed improvements ? When these newly planted trees have borne their fruit it will be time enough to boast of their superiority to the ancient orchards. But, change our methods as we may, we shall never escape the fact upon which I am now insisting, that the place to behold the visions of God is first of all the consecrated home, and next to that the consecrated school. When these visions may come, what shape they may take, who can tell? Biography abounds in surprises. The lad Cavour had a vision of himself as prime minister of Italy when as yet Italy was sneered at as a geographical expression. The boy Melloni rises before the dawn and watches the sun rising 206 THOBURN AND INDIA behind the hills of his native city and afterward expounds the secrets of radiant energy. The chief thing - is the mood of expectation, the watching, listening attitude, that young people entering upon life should expect visions, should be ready to obey them when heaven shall open above their heads. There is a practical atheism rife in the surrounding atmosphere . more dangerous than any other — an atheism that excludes the thought of God from our momentous decisions. It pervades the home and the school. Children grow accustomed to this attitude of parents and of teachers. Questions of supreme importance are discussed and determined in their hearing as though there were no God whose will should be considered. On the other hand, they reverence the piety that covets divine guidance and expects "the light that is sown for the righteous." Now, any training that fails to develop this at- titude of expectation, this confident looking for divine guidance and divine help, develops an imper- fect, nay, more, a very defective manhood, either an arrogant Superman, the new name for the old Vampire, or a timid, inefficient half-man whose noblest deeds are empty dreams. This holds true for any kind of life; the nobler, though, a man's ideals, the sublimer his enterprises, the more imperative this attitude, this mood be- comes. It is the very mind of Christ, and hence its supreme importance in the training of the missionary. Another feature of his training should be a TRAINING OF THE WORKER 207 mastery of the present evidences of the power of the gospel. Students of a former generation were fed on Butler's Analogy. It was and is a great book, especially for those that inwardly digested it. Paley's Natural Theology and Paley's Evidences were likewise relied upon to dispel the doubts that they created. But our age demands another kind of argument. It demands of every proposition experimental proof. Hence the evidential value of missionary history, missionary history in its widest and sublimest range, the unfolding of the life of Christ from Bethlehem to the ends of the earth; not the history of the development of theological speculation, but the history of the conquest of human souls and human society by the power of a present Saviour; not the history of ecclesiastical systems, but the story of heroic evangelists struggling suc- cessfully to transform an environment invariably and desperately hostile — history brought down to date, full of the outpourings of a present Pentecost. Equally important is the training in brotherly kindness in the full sweep of Christ's ideal. Bold indeed were the words of Paul, comprehending in one immortal sentence Jew and Gentile, Greek and Barbarian, bold and comprehensive as the mighty prayer of Jesus : "Thy will be done in the earth as it is in heaven !" How narrow, for instance, is our present teaching of history! The Orient is better known to our merchants and our railroad magnates than to our college professors, who if concerned with it at all are interested more in its ancient 208 THOBURN AND INDIA literature than in its present life. Africa, whose northern coast has been the scene of many a bloody struggle; whose mysteries have enticed explorers since the day that Julius Caesar longed to find the sources of the Nile — Africa interests the student chiefly because of ancient Carthage or the Egypt of the Pharaohs. The Africa of the twentieth century, like contemporary China, has not yet found its proper place in our curricula. The sudden splendor of Japanese achievement has dazed rather than en- lightened us; we can discuss most learnedly the variations in ancient manuscripts, but we are blind to the signs of the times and the urgent demands of a changing order. In one of our great universities which offers eighteen courses of history under six different teachers, all that relates to the Orient is included in a course on world-politics from 1878 to the present day, an elective which occupies two hours a week for one semester! We still sing occasionally, "To serve the present age, My calling to fulfill." How, pray, are we to serve the present age if we never study it — if the children of this world in their pursuit of wealth know vastly more about it than the children of light? if we are not only igno- rant of it, but misinformed about it, if we are the victims of prejudice and carefully cultivated racial hostility, not to say ignoble fear, a fear condensed in phrases like "the yellow peril"? TRAINING OF THE WORKER 209 We are a strange people, we Americans. No- where is the alien welcomed more cordially by the politician, the capitalist, the labor leader; they can use him, each in his own way. Yet nowhere is the prejudice against the alien so deeply rooted as in our cultured classes. We have in Chicago a club known as the "Lovers of Italy," but a club of lovers of the Italians would be rather hard to organize. We eulogize Kosciusko and Pulaski, but we do not love the Poles; we speak eloquently of John Huss and Comenius, but we do not adore the Bohemians ; Socrates we still compare to Jesus, but the modern Greek we treat with disdain and even loathing. Not very long ago a college professor, speaking of the southern Italians with contempt, as a kind of human garbage, was amazed to hear my recital of their virtues and the wrongs that they have endured for generations. History used to be called philosophy teaching by example. That implies a knowledge of contemporary conditions at home and abroad, for to these conditions the teaching must be applied ! Of what avail our knowledge of the past if we are ignorant of the present, our knowledge of Athens or Rome or even of Jerusalem if we are blind to the social structure of New York and Calcutta, of San Francisco and Peking? This leads naturally to my next suggestion. A proper training for the missionary requires that he know experimentally and theoretically the essence of the gospel. I objected recently to a teacher of rhetoric that his productions had neither com- 2io THOBURN AND INDIA mercial nor literary value. The many would not buy them, and a fit audience, though few, could not be found for them. I should make a similar ob- jection to a teacher of astronomy who could not manage a telescope. Our age is growing dread- fully intolerant of inefficiency, of knowledge of the mouth as distinguished from knowledge of the hand and the brain and the heart. We are through with creeds and catechisms as an end in themselves — they are relics of mediaeval training; but we are not through with definite and workable conceptions of a life by faith in Jesus Christ, for these corre- spond to the scientific truths from which the mir- acles of modern material progress are derived. The world, however, the unevangelized world at home and abroad, will not be argued into these concep- tions unless and until it sees them in triumphant operation. In the byways of Chicago, among the fishermen of Labrador, among the famine-stricken of India or of China, it is the same demand : Show us the miracles wrought through the faith that works by love. You can derive a better creed, a better conception of Christ, from the conduct of David Livingstone than the Nicene Fathers ob- tained with all their subtle distinctions; a creed that does what they tried but failed to do — lifts Christ up to God by showing his actual relation to human sin and human suffering. I have tried to be a scholar. Such was the vision vouchsafed to me, and to it I have not been altogether disobedient. I have grown gray in the study and in the classroom. TRAINING OF THE WORKER 211 But my dear friend Thoburn knows more of the real meaning and the real power of the gospel than books could teach me, for in the beginning of his beautiful and fruitful life he had a conception of Jesus, clearer, simpler, richer, and more valuable than mine, while in applying it to human needs he verified it and exemplified it with the glow of his energetic mind and the rich red blood of his con- secrated heart. Or take the case of Dr. Grenfell: see him verifying his conception of the living Christ with his boat and his hospital ; see him dying daily on the stormy North Atlantic to prove the eternal truth that he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself, Christ within him, the wis- dom of God and the power of God. Especially should the theological school cherish this ideal. What are the refinements of exegesis, what are the riches of historical research, what are the delvings of systematic theology if they bring not the knowl- edge that is power? I have carefully avoided questions of detail, pre- ferring to speak plainly of underlying principles. In fact, the history of missions shows how hard it is to anticipate the emergencies of missionary life. Think of Alexander Duff teaching the English al- phabet to Hindu children ; think of Livingstone and his explorations ; think of Gamewell and his engi- neering skill employed against the Boxers ; think of Grenfell and his hospitals, and then frame if you can an adequate plan for missionary education ! To the missionary no knowledge, no skill, no aptitude, 212 THOBURN AND INDIA no form of genius comes amiss. The chief thing is to bring every thought into captivity to Jesus Christ, to be always and everywhere alert about the Father's business. Would you not, some one asks, train him beforehand in the language of the people to whom he is going? There are, my dear friend, tongues and dialects innumerable. Even highly developed languages like German and Italian are one thing to the cultivated and another to the people dwelling in particular regions. I find myself, for instance, baffled by the Neapolitan dialect which I encounter in certain most valuable Italian writings. While ready to admit the possibility of acquiring certain languages here at home, I should neverthe- less maintain that a living language can be most easily and most thoroughly mastered where it is spoken daily and where its literature is produced. If we had a department of comparative psychology, that is, a department devoted to the study of the human mind as it appears in racial diversities, I would certainly urge the missionary worker to make the most of it. For he should know and be able to detect the universal properties of human nature which are discoverable underneath all its changing aspects; he should be trained to a quick perception of that which is permanent and that which is transient, of that which is fundamental in human character and that which is due to the peculiar environment which has conditioned its development. Such study should be pursued not with reference to a particular tribe or nation, but TRAINING OF THE WORKER 213 in a broad and careful manner, so that the student may apply the training that it gives him anywhere on the round globe. Now let me file a caveat. The student of Orient or Occident must beware of shop-worn and mis- leading phrases, as, for instance, Chinese uniform- ity, or the slums of New York ; he must beware, too, of misconceptions easily derived from impressionist writers who display their own poor interiors rather than the characteristics of the races that they depict or of the literature whose surface they have skimmed. The life of a neighboring nation is easily misconceived; and such misconceptions lead fre- quently to war. How difficult, therefore, to under- stand the life of a people, remote in space and alien in thought, in manners, in religion. Why, there are people in Evanston, as I happen to know, whose notions of the foreign populations in Chicago are shamefully and wickedly grotesque! The law of achievement is everywhere the same. Know beforehand what you are aiming at; its inward nature, rather than the outward conditions that you may peradventure find. An engineer must master first the invariable principles common to all engineering, afterward the particular problem set before him. If he cannot overcome the Alle- ghany Mountains, surely he can never build a road across the Himalaya ranges ; if he could not get over or under the Monongahela, he will never get beneath the Ganges ; if he could not develop elec- tricity from a mountain stream, he would never 214 THOBURN AND INDIA get it from the falls of Niagara or the cataracts of the Nile. Fundamentally the missionary problem, like the engineering problem, is everywhere the same. The laws of spiritual energy, like those of physical energy, never change. Conditions, on the other hand, vary with time and space. The Rome of to- day differs from the Rome in which Paul preached, who would be astonished to see the present Antioch, and would find strange difficulties in California or in China. Conditions, therefore, must be con- quered as they are met. It helps certainly to see the great apostle meeting and overcoming the op- positions of his world ; so, too, it helps to study the conduct of every missionary conqueror who has grappled with a hostile environment. As the study of campaigns may help a commanding general, as the study of great constructions may help an engineer, so may these examples, while concentrating his thought and purpose upon the immutable principles of the gospel and their application to universal needs, at the same time teach the young missionary how to free his mind from delusions, how to strip his soul of prejudice and conceit, and how to develop the ability to see things as they really are, which is the very eye of science. He may thus learn to measure the depth and the height and the breadth of Paul's tremendous exhortation to look not at the seen and the tran- sient, but at the unseen and the permanent. Fixing his eyes upon the invisible, he will purge them of error and misunderstanding; he will learn to reduce TRAINING OF THE WORKER 215 afflictions and obstacles to their proper size; he will be quick to detect opportunities, to find the rem- nants of the divine amid the ruins of the human nature, and as the angels, who when sent on mighty errands renew their strength and quicken their intelligence in the light of God's countenance, so will he recruit his energies of mind and heart in the radiance of that eternal truth which makes us free and overcomes the world. VII DISCUSSION DR. CAMDEN M COBERN One question has been suggested constantly dur- ing this Jubilee — how does the modern college com- pare in the work it does with the old college which gave Bishop Thoburn to the world? Of course, the Bishop may not be a college product altogether. Some men become leaders even though they have entirely lacked college training. Though both Paul and this modern apostle to the Gentiles were college men, it is safe to suspect that they would have been heard from even though they had lacked this advantage. It is also well to re- member that Gamaliel had only one disciple of this caliber, and that the Allegheny of half a century ago put out few graduates like this man whom we are now honoring. However, I think every candid investigator must acknowledge that in at least one direction the old ^ college was superior to the average modern college in the United States. The old-time college had one chief aim : to turn out men, men of power and Chris- tian character. Too many of the modern colleges and universities, especially the larger ones, have changed the emphasis. They seek to turn out mathematical sharks, philosophical specialists, sci- 216 DISCUSSION 217 entific investigators, or it may be physical ath- letes. Is that what a college is for? A pagan college could do that. The old Egyptians and Babylonians were experts in mathematics and had quite as much skill in engineering as some modern Bachelors of Science. Most of our professors of philosophy would hesitate to cUim superiority in mental acuteness to Plato or Aristotle. Even our literary men are too modest to claim that they are sending out many students superior to Cicero or Horace or Vergil or Homer; while in athletics we still look back for our ideal to the Olympic games. I believe in athletics, and I yield to no one in my reverence for exact science and minute scholarship ; yet it seems to me in this Christian twentieth century the main thing aimed at should be the symmetrical development of the whole man, putting the telescope to his eye so that he can see the wide fields of knowledge, fitting him to use his full powers, devel- oping in him high ideals of Christian character and inspiring him for leadership and world service. Neither Paul nor Wesley could have been a heavy- weight at football. Neither John nor Peter had much of a library, and their college course was short and there was but one teacher in the faculty; but these men had training which fitted them to be reformers, thinkers, world movers. That college is a failure from a Christian standpoint which sends out first-rate scholars and fourth-rate men. The old college was distinctly and confessedly religious. It thought that was the reason it was 218 THOBURN AND INDIA most needed; it is the reason the small Christian college is most needed to-day. It is only in such schools that the students can be known as individ- uals, and individually guided, developed, and in- spired to their best. A well-known president of an influential state university at a great educational meeting in Philadelphia recently urged the necessity of appointing in each large school a "Dean of Man- ners and Morals," so that such schools could be as safe as the smaller institutions. It cannot be done that way. This work of character-making cannot be delegated to a "Dean of Manners and Morals." Each member of the faculty and the whole tradi- tion of the school ought to be committed to this as the chief work of the college — to make men. The whole system ought to tend to this supreme aim. Within the last two months I have sent notes to a score of large universities asking what propor- tion of the men in the school of liberal arts expected to enter special religious work, such as the ministry, missionary work, social settlement, or Young Men's Christian Association work. Most of these schools could not even guess at an answer. They knew whq were interested in football, but did not know who were interested in these big things. They were sur- prised that anyone should expect them to know! When they did estimate the number, the percentage was so small as to make everyone concerned ashamed. The fact in the case is that a college does what it aims to do. It emphasizes that which is its chief interest. What a college does with its DISCUSSION 219 students depends largely on the ideals of the college and its faculty. That is the reason why the great world leaders in religious and philanthropic work have come from Christian colleges, and an immense proportion of them from small colleges. DR. J. J. WALLACE Mr. President and Friends: I had expected to give that portion of your time and power of atten- tion which might remain unexhausted at this junc- ture to my colleague, Dr. Charles M. Stuart, editor of the Northwestern Christian Advocate, whose paper you do not always have with you as you have the Pittsburg Advocate. But since he is not yet present I hasten to say what is on my heart. It would argue a singular lack of feeling of the right sort if one should find himself out of sympathy with the spirit and purpose of this celebration. It would betray a lack of judgment to utter a word out of harmony with what has been here spoken. Yet this is, as we all realize, a rare event, a unique occasion. You have been saying here what is or- dinarily reserved to be said when a great and good man has been translated to heaven. We hope that in his kindness to us God will long delay the trans- lation of Bishop Thoburn, and we have the con- fidence to say to him these things which we usually say about other men when their ears are closed to our voices, not alone because he is worthy in char- acter and achievement for this distinction, but also because we feel sure that the simplicity of his faith, 220 THOBURN AND INDIA the sanity of his judgment, the integrity of his heart, the singleness of his purpose, will not be corrupted or in any wise injured. But we shall be gratified because we have done a right and good thing, and this celebration will bear fruit for the kingdom which he has served so efficiently. About the question immediately before us, the relation of the college to home missions, I only desire to remind you that our Methodist colleges were most of them founded by men who were es- sentially home missionaries. They may not have had the highest appreciation of technical scholar- ship, but they did have a noble ideal of education as a preparation for service and for work which they saw must be done in this land and in all the earth, work which they were faithfully attempting to do and for which the best type of education fits men. We need to conserve and make much of this con- ception of education in these days when emphasis is being laid upon scholarship on the one hand and commercialism on the other. Right nobly has this man whom we honor to-day exemplified the higher function of education, and the one word more which I would speak is this: that the finest fruit of this celebration will be the emulation of his example by the young men and women now in our colleges. His career cannot be reproduced or paralleled, per- haps, but there is the same demand and opportunity for service, for singleness of aim, for simplicity and heroism of faith, for sound sense in action, that there was when he sailed away to India fifty years ago. PART III ADDRESSES AT THE FORMAL TRIBUTE AND JUBILEE EXERCISES 221 ADDRESS OF DR. WILLIAM V. KELLEY After presenting affectionate greetings to the Bishop from Dr. J. T. Gracey, who was in India with Thoburn, Mansell, and Messmore, Dr. Kelley said: President Crawford, Bishop Thoburn, and Friends : Why are we here ? John Burroughs deifies Walt Whitman. We are Christians and not pagans ; we do not deify any man. If this celebra- tion were simply for the glorification of James M. Thoburn he would hold up his hand in horror and in protest. If he were to speak to us here this afternoon I think he would suggest that we join together in that refrain of the sweet and holy Ger- man hymn, "Let Jesus Christ be praised." We are here to rejoice in a conspicuous illustra- tion of what Jesus Christ can do with the man and the life wholly surrendered to his control. And its lesson, especially to the students of this college, is : Consecrate your life, fling it away in splendid abandon for Christ and the world, and see what will come of it for you in the fifty years ahead. It is for us to realize more fully through this celebration the ineffable majesty, the immeasur- able power, the imperishable grandeur of Christian ideals and Christian service. If this be not the 223 224 THOBURN AND INDIA result the whole program will be a profitless per- formance. We are here to nail a few epithets upon the name of Thoburn, to call him some names indicative of our thoughts about him and our feelings toward him. I begin by calling him an enthusiast. I go to my dictionary for the meaning of the word, and Webster's first definition of an enthusiast is one who thinks himself divinely inspired, possessed of some special revelation. And for proof of the propriety of calling him an enthusiast I refer you to the September, 1906,' number of the Methodist Review, in which you will find an article entitled "Inspira- tion" written by J. M. Thoburn. In that article he tells how as a missionary again and again he has felt himself to be directly inspired by God, has felt in his soul that he had a special revelation from him, not to be foisted upon the Church or forced upon his brethren for their guidance, but absolutely per- emptory for him in the marking out of his own plans and the choosing of his course. Thus has he lived his life and done his work, seeking guidance from God and getting it. This is notorious. Therefore, under that first definition of Webster, I charge that this man is one of the most magnificent enthusiasts ever produced in the history of Chris- tianity. And the second definition is like unto the first in its fitness and applicability, for by that definition an enthusiast is one whose mind is wholly possessed and heated by what engages it. And I ask you, ADDRESS OF DR. KELLEY 225 who know men, whether that does not describe James M. Thoburn. Has he not been wholly en- gaged and heated by the great work in which he has been engaged? I am reminded of that divine en- thusiast who set aside all claims of relationship and all other interests and said, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" — and of that later enthusiast who said, "I am determined to know nothing among men save Jesus Christ and him crucified. This one thing I do. I count all things else as dung." A splendid enthusiast, surely, under both defini- tions of the word ! I trust I shall not desecrate this place nor violate the proprieties of this occasion if I say, in a sense the appropriateness of which will appear in a mo- ment, I trust, that I have figured him in my mind as a plunger. Years ago when he was a young man I am told he was not an admirer of Browning and not a believer in his greatness. But one day in Singapore when weary, if not sick, he was lying down and resting; and Dr. H. C. Stuntz, who was with him, began to read to him parts of "Paracel- sus." The Bishop listened until the reader reached that great passage about the pearl diver in which he says, "Are there not two points in the adventure of a diver, one when, a beggar, he prepares to plunge, one when, a prince, he rises with his pearl ? Festus, I plunge." And the listening Bishop ex- claimed, "Brother, I have done that many a time. I have plunged." 226 THOBURN AND INDIA There are more points than two in the adventure of a diver. This man knows that in his own per- sonal experience. He has known what it is to stand alone, stripped of all secular ambitions, all thought of selfish advantage, naked of worldly resources, and plunge into the sunless depths of heathenism. He knows the experience of the diver as he gropes along the bottom in the mud and mire and slime of heathenism, feeling for pearls, immortal, unspeak- ably precious pearls. He knows the feeling of the diver when he closes his clutch upon the treasures of the deep ; he knows the joy of the diver when he comes up out of the suffocation and the darkness and the mire and holds his pearl aloft in the face of heaven and the light of day. And in this man's case, when he plunged into the depths and came up with his treasures, it was not one pearl but, first and last, hundreds and thousands of pearls. This is what I mean when I call him a plunger. Empty- handed he plunged. He disappeared from sight. He stayed down a long time, sometimes. He was gone for years and we did not see him. But when he came back it was with his hands full of pearls. He knows what it is to make the grim plunge into dark depths and what it is to rise radiant, with his gleaming treasure. I will call him a typical Christian product. The proof of Christianity is its products, in men, wo- men, institutions, policies. Christianity, like Paul before Agrippa. is glad of the privilege anywhere to speak for itself, to make its argument and present ADDRESS OF DR. KELLEY 227 its proof, and everywhere, before the throne of reason, in the court of science, in the halls of culture and the seats of the mighty, it invites the sharpest criticism. Especially in the presence of the heathen faiths it says, "I count myself happy that I am per- mitted to answer for myself." And it produces its proofs in its products — men. The Christian Church in America had such men as Thoburn to send to India, such men as Bashford to go to China, such men as Hartzell to go to Africa, with thousands and thousands like them, first and last, to go to the darkened nations of the earth — Christian statesmen, Christian heroes, willing to toil terribly for the uplift of the nations and the glory of Christ, willing to lay down their lives in long labor or in sudden sacrifice, as the Master may demand. Christian products are seen in institutions also. Bishop Thoburn, you know better than I do, and your confidence in the prediction is stronger than mine intelligently can be, that the day will come when India, looking upon our institutions planted there by Christianity, will say, "The God that sends relief from famine, the God that builds asylums, that makes the deaf to hear, the blind to see, the lame to walk, through the beneficent and skillful ministry of Christian physicians, the God that sprinkles our land with schools to enlighten our darkness and elevate our degradation, the God that makes such a man as John F. Goucher to plant and sustain a hundred and more schools in the villages 228 THOBURN AND INDIA of India, and as years go on raises up generation after generation of such men as these, the God that answereth by orphanages, let him be God! Yea, let the God of Christian institutions be our God forever and ever !" That is the cry that will sound all over India in the day of the Lord. In policies also Christianity has proofs to offer. Why is it that America stands to-day foremost in the eyes »of the world among Christian nations ? Because her policies toward the peoples of the world are more Christian than those of any other nation. What the United States has done in and for Cuba, what the United States has done and is doing in and for the Philippines, what the United States has done in and for China, what John Hay, a Christian statesman, the foremost diplomat and statesman of his time in all the world, did for diplomacy between nations when he made frankness and candor and openness and absolute truthfulness the rule and practice in diplomacy, instead of concealment and duplicity and trickery and intrigue ; when he demon- strated that the Golden Rule of Jesus Christ is applicable and supremely wise in the affairs of na- tions as in the affairs of individuals ; when he thus presented to the world the spectacle of a Christian product in his own person and in the nation he represented — all this strengthened magnificently the evidences of Christianity. Only a few days ago a prominent official in one of the western provinces of China issued a proclamation in which he com- mended to the people of his province the Christian ADDRESS OF DR. KELLEY 229 religion, the religion that could produce Americans who, having a great sum of money from the Chinese nation in their hands as an indemnity, all uncom- pelled and even unasked returned into the hands of China a large part of that indemnity. Such a national policy toward other nations presents evidences of Christianity which will irresistibly conquer the world. One more epithet. I would call Bishop Thoburn a Christian field marshal. What, that gentle, mild- mannered, soft-voiced, and decidedly unmilitary- looking man, a field marshal! Yes, a soldier and a general for Jesus Christ. Years ago there died in Switzerland an old man who told as the most memorable event of his boyhood that once he had strayed into the French camp and had seen Napo- leon Bonaparte down on his knees studying the map of Europe on a drum head. A significant sight, surely, for the peoples of Europe, when such a man as he goes to studying the map of Europe on a drum head ! He was planning to roll that drum across the width of that map. He was studying the situation of the countries, for he meant to put his armies in their capitals. He was tracing the boundaries of the kingdoms, for he meant to push his drum against them and shove them this way and that according to his own greedy wish and his own mighty will. Forty years ago in India you might have seen a frail, slender young man laying the map of India alongside his open Bible. He, too, was bent on conquest. He meant to do 230 THOBURN AND INDIA what he could to carry that Word of Life across the width of that Indian map, east and west, north and south. I call him as grdat a marshal in his purpose and insatiable longing for conquest in the Christian empire as Napoleon was in the military conquest of Europe. A Christian field marshal surely this man has been. I said this celebration brings us here not to glorify a man, but to glorify Jesus Christ, who made him what he is and helped him to do what he has done. And I would like the privilege for just one moment of holding up Jesus Christ before these young people who are here, in order that if possible the glowing incandescence of this man's devotion may be kindled in you and that Allegheny College, so honored in her sons and daughters in the past, may send forth from her doors to the ends of the earth many messengers of light who will carry the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ to the perishing nations. On the first day I ever spent on English soil I heard the great Mr. Spurgeon address a conven- tion of Baptist clergymen. His subject was Jesus Christ, and the charge to his fellow ministers was that they should rouse themselves and lose them- selves in Christ, that they should spend themselves unreservedly and passionately in his service. And he closed by reciting some of the words from Macaulay's poem where before the battle of Ivry the soldiers said concerning Henry of Navarre, their king and leader: ADDRESS OF DR. KELLEY 231 The king is come to marshal us, in all his armor drest; And he has bound a snow-white plume upon his gallant crest. Right graciously he smiled on us, as rolled from wing to wing, Down all our line, a deafening shout: "God save our lord the king!" And then King Henry, speaking to his army, said : "And if my standard-bearer fall, as fall full well he may. For never saw 1 promise yet of such a bloody fray, Press where ye see my white plume shine amidst the ranks of war, And be your oriflamme to-day the helmet of Navarre." And then Spurgeon held up Christ as the divine Captain, the leader who goes forth to certain con- quest, who should kindle our souls and our devotion a thousandfold more than any human leader that ever called men to his standard. Dear young people, rich and fine with the learn- ing of the schools and the discipline of training; now, when the call is sounding, "The Son of God goes forth to war: Who follows in his train?" summon your whole being — "body, soul, and spirit," as the old knights used to say — to respond, "Be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet!" II ADDRESS OF DR. C. A. R. JANVIER Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen : It is to me a very great pleasure to stand here and represent a sister missionary society on such an occasion as this. I can see no special fitness that I have for being here as such representative unless indeed it lie in the fact that my father was one of those that greeted Bishop Thoburn in India fifty years ago, and that the mission which it is my privilege to represent set aside two of its preachers, one of them bearing in part my father's name (Joel Janvier, whom Bishop Thoburn will well remember), who became the first workers under the Methodist pioneers. It has been my privilege personally to know every one of the men that were mentioned a little while ago — Waugh, Mansell, and Messmore. Twenty years ago I made my first acquaintance with him whom we honor to-day. I was sent as the representative of the Northern India Mission to bear friendly greetings to the Methodist mission which was in conference, the Conference of North India, in Bareilly. And there Bishop Thoburn made an address on the Holy Spirit which brought a message never to be forgotten by at least one who heard him that day. There are three things that especially stand out 232 ADDRESS OF DR. C. A. R. JANVIER 233 in my thought of Bishop Thoburn. The first is his prophetic vision. He has been from the first a man of far foresight. He is a dreamer of dreams, a visionary in the best and blessed sense of the word. He saw far, he saw where other men were blind, he saw possibilities where other men saw only difficulties. He saw, for instance, the possibilities which lay in the submerged masses in India. With prophetic eye he saw what God was ready to do for them. Again, he was the first to see what the mis- sionary movement might mean to the Europeans and Eurasians in India. He was among the first to solve the problem of reaching that population and using its forces for the advancement of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Then, in the second place, he was not only a man of far vision, but he was a man of boundless energy. He would have been only a dreamer of dreams if he had not added that insistent restlessness of energy. He cannot sit still now. He never could. His only thought is of larger endeavor. I under- stand you are going to give him a house. I warn you to put very strong bars on that house and sur- round it with a very high wall, because I miss my guess if one of these days you do not lose him and see him out in India again! You have your task cut out for you if you mean to keep Bishop Tho- burn in Meadville. He is full of that unresting energy born of intensity of purpose and boundless longing for service. But, in the third place, neither prophetic vision 234 THOBURN AND INDIA nor resistless energy could ever have accomplished what he has accomplished if he had not been a man — may I put it this way? — of God-consciousness, a man who from the very first heard a divine call, a man who went out into the loneliness of the forest and there heard God speak to him. He went to India with just as sure a sense of a call as Samuel had when he was called and Eli explained to him God's message. He recognized a call from God at every step, and while he did not for a moment pretend to say that it bound others who were associated with him, it absolutely and inexorably bound him. At every step of the way on through these fifty years he has heard God calling him, and so far as I know by God's grace he has never turned away from the call. Can you wonder that a man with that vision, a man with that energy, a man with that sense of God's call, of God's nearness, of God's readiness to bless, has accomplished what he has accomplished ? Can you wonder that he is one of the most inveterate and unconvertible optimists that this world ever knew? And yet, dear friends, that is not the whole of the story. When you have said what you may of Bishop Thoburn's foresight, his energy, and his sense of a call from God at every step, that is not the whole. There are some men of whom it is said they are larger than their work, they have given dignity to their work and made it great. With all honor to Bishop Thoburn — and no one can honor him more than I do — I say without the smallest ADDRESS OF DR. C. A. R. JANVIER 235 hesitation that his work is greater than he, and it is in part his work that has made him great. He is great to-day because he stands against the back- ground of a great empire which he is helping to win for Jesus Christ. And I would for a moment turn your vision away from Bishop Thoburn to the India which he loves. And yet as you turn your faces toward India, you will not have turned them from Bishop Thoburn, for you will see him there still. And long after he shall have been called to the reward above — and God grant that the call may be long delayed! — you still will see Bishop Tho- burn in India in the tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands that have been reclaimed in the name of Him whose gospel means light and life in their darkness and their death. I bid you turn your eyes toward India for a moment and see the changes that have come since Bishop Thoburn went there. I was told since com- ing to the platform that after he had been there five years he came back and reported five converts. This last time when he was in India in one day he baptized eight hundred and thirty-seven. And that is only a hint of the changes that have taken place. When Bishop Thoburn went there in 1859 there were in the neighborhood of one hundred thousand Protestant native Christians. There has been an increase in these fifty years of about one thousand per cent. One hundred thousand has grown to well over a million. God has done wonderful things in India, and what he has done 236 THOBURN AND INDIA is only the beginning of what he is yet going to do. I had a letter the other day from a friend who has watched closely the movement among the Mihtars, or outcasts, and he said that those who are in touch with the present-day situation are saying that there is beginning among the Chumars, the lowest of those who are in caste, a movement that will throw into the shade anything that has ever yet taken place. Bishop Thoburn will recognize the outlook as no one else can. In truth, India ■'has been stirred during this half century as perhaps no other nation except possibly Japan. Intellectual movements, social movements, political movements, religious movements have taken place, and have upheaved the nation that was dream- ing the dreams of Nirvana, a nation sunk in the depths of moral and spiritual torpor and lethargy such as no one can know who has not come in contact with it. In India, remember, N are two great religions — Mohammedanism, with its deadening fatalism, and Hinduism, with its even more deadening panthe- ism. The Mohammedan conscience is killed by its fatalism. What was to be came to pass, and there is nothing to be done about it. Catch your Moham- medan servant in some fault, and he will lie out of it as long as he can — and somewhat longer — and when you finally get him where there is no escape, he will face you and say, "What could I do, sir? The handwriting on my forehead was too much for me! It is written on my forehead." Yes, even to killing a man, the answer will be, "It was written ADDRESS OF DR. C. A. R. JANVIER 237 on his forehead that he should die, and on mine that I should kill him: what could I do?" And this fatalism is no mere hair-splitting of the philosoph- ical student, it is the thought of the man on the street. And the controlling thought of pantheism, I say, is even more deadening. There is nothing but God. God is all and all is God. God is good, therefore all is good. What is sin? Sin is either a phase of God or else it is illusion. If my sin is illusion I am a fool to be troubled about it; if my sin is a phase of God I am worse than a fool to be troubled about it. Naturally men and women are not troubled about their sin. You have been told that the people of India are intensely reli- gious. A great deal of the religion is outward formalism. A great deal more is only worldliness plus superstition. A great many pilgrimages are made annually to secure the favor of the gods — that cows may calve, that crops may be plentiful, that a wife may bear a son. The religion born of a sense of sin and need is rare. For pantheism has sent conscience to sleep. And I want to say to you to-day what I think still needs to be said. The missionary is not a rainbow-chaser. The Bishop is not leading a band of "short-haired women and long-haired men." He is a man who has seen a deep, dark need, and by God's help is trying to meet it. It is sometimes said that missionaries exaggerate the immorality of the lands to which they minister. I tell you a missionary dare not 238 THOBURN AND INDIA tell the whole truth. Bishop Thoburn dare not tell you the whole truth about the morals of India — the morals of India, not in spite of these religions, but, alas, largely because of those religions ! My heart goes out in a great longing in behalf of India as I face the young men and young women of this college. India desperately needs just such help as you can give. Men and women, if you want to honor Bishop Thoburn, do not simply form an academic procession here! Head your procession the other way — head it for India! Let there go out a great stream of America's best young men and women, men and women of long vision, men and women of intense energy, men and women who hear God's call. Go out in the footsteps of Thoburn and help to win India for Jesus Christ ! Ill ADDRESS OF BISHOP JOHN W. HAMILTON Mr. President, you have conferred very high honor in selecting me to represent to-day the chief pastors of our great Church. My brother, many another of the score and more of the Bishops would have chosen golden speech with which to bring to you our tribute. I would yield to no one of them in the sincere and affectionate esteem of you as the distinguished colleague whose name is in all the earth, and no one of the number, I am sure, would bring a higher estimate of your long service in the Church and for the world. But I take it the associations and memories of many years have something to do with my invita- tion to speak at this hour. I have come from the New England Conference, of which William Butler, the founder of the missions in India, was a member, and within the bounds of which Mrs. William Butler, whose heart is large enough to make her the foster mother of all the missions, still lives at an age so great and so full of honor as to take away all of woman's desire for the concealment of the number of the years of her pilgrimage. I had the honor myself to be appointed a mis- sionary to India. I was chosen first by Bishop Janes to go to Bulgaria, but at the earnest solicita- 239 240 THOBURN AND INDIA tion of Drs. Durbin and Harris, and Bishop Simp- son, who had the charge of the mission, I was changed to India, where I was to have the editor- ship of the Witness, with the department of publica- tions. But, in the mysterious providence of this life, my father was taken into the skies, and he left my mother with six children to fall into my arms. I lost my opportunity for the honors abroad, and have only been a home missionary since. Then there was another association, down in the southeastern side of Ohio. My father, a Pittsburg Conference preacher, was pastor of this great Tho- burn family. I gave my heart to God and my name to the Methodist Episcopal Church on the 24th day of February, 1854, in the very same society where this brother, James M. Thoburn, nearly a year later, on his return from Allegheny College, was received from probation into full membership. I might claim, therefore, some little right to be here. I have had a long association in many ways with the work of the Thoburns. I was present at the first meeting in connection with the organization of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society in Boston, and wrote the first report of its beginnings, which went into all the Advocates. I was present at the reception given the first missionary appointed by this society, and in the farewell meeting, when she took her departure from Boston to India. And she was this Bishop's sister- — Isabella Thoburn. Fifty years ago! What a half century! The world has lived more in this half century than in ADDRESS OF BISHOP HAMILTON 241 all the six thousand — or twenty million, as Lord Kelvin thinks — years before. We know more of Jesus Christ, his mission on the earth and his saving power, from the revelation of these fifty years than the disciples who walked with him and talked with him. I am glad that I have lived long enough to witness the wonderful change which has come over the thought of the Church concerning Christian missions. I can remember when it was thought that if a preacher was not competent for the work at home he would do for a missionary. Send him South, it was said, or send him to Africa, far-off India, or Cathay. While it would be slander upon the heroic men and women who founded missions on the frontiers and rims of the hemispheres, there are men and women here who know full well that this was the thought in the minds of many of the committees which went to the Annual Conferences to seek pastors for the next year. Now, I am going to say something which some of the persons present may not appreciate, but you, my brother Bishop, will appreciate full well. It is not your office, sir, which has honored you, but you have lifted your office into honor before the whole world. I am old enough to recall that your office was conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity. When your first predecessor in the office came to this country from his hamlet diocese he could not find a seat in a conveyance between Phil- adelphia and New York. It stirred the heart and pocket of a great layman to charter a train of cars 242 THOBURN AND INDIA to carry him when he rode alone. He was not worthy to sit among the General Superintendents of the Church. When I was first elected to the General Confer- ence I promised God before I left my home that if it were in my power I would do something toward the taking down or breaking down of the middle wall of partition, built up from perdition between the office of Missionary Bishop and that of General Superintendent. And while it was a bit of bra- vado, possibly — some one said I was cutting a dido and that it ended my career — for me to say, as you will find by turning back to the Daily Advocate I did say, I would not have such an office if it were brought to me on a silver plate, I had something in my heart which was of the nature of love and care for my fellow man, if he were black. I determined that no more black men should be selected for that office until it had been dignified in the mind and heart of the Methodist Episcopal Church. There were good men in that Conference who went about engag- ing this colored man, that colored man, and the other colored man to take the office, but I followed in their footsteps, often until the "wee sma' hours" of the morning, to get every man of them to promise that he would not have the office when it was brought to him. When finally it seemed an inspira- tion that a white man could be selected, I moved up and down the aisles among these men and said, "Here is the deliverance from this office in Africa. Let us elect William Taylor." And it was as if ADDRESS OF BISHOP HAMILTON 243 God had spoken to enough voters to bring about the result. But I recall what a sensation was pro- duced when it was announced that William Taylor was elected "the black Bishop" of Africa. "He was a man." Such was the excitement and chagrin of defeat, that the conservative leader, then so long time editor of The Christian Advocate, now gone where color gives trouble no more, could not contain himself, and he hurried away to the New England delegation where I was seated and with much anima- tion in his manner and voice said to me, "We will put such restrictions on him that he will be no bigger than if he were black." I arose in my place, with equal determination — rather presumptuous, I admit, with a gray-haired man talking to me in that way — and replied, "You try to do that and we will take off what restrictions are now on." In the cooler mo- ments which followed we simply left Bishop Taylor limited to Africa — but he not only had the whole continent to himself: very much of both hemi- spheres. What I wanted was to bring the contemp- tuously treated office up from its humiliation. And then, sir, when in another General Confer- ence your name was mentioned for the office, I knew, just as the disciples of Jesus were first called Christians at Antioch, and the Wesleyans, Meth- odists at Oxford, we had a name to conjure with, and which would lift this office to such dignity as to make it worthy of the ambition of the man who could have the office of the General Superintendent. To-day I stand here to find all 244 THOBURN AND INDIA continents bringing honors to you, and you are bringing such honor to Meadville as to place it among the immortals. Your grave, sir, will be a shrine for pilgrimages. When many of our names in the General Superintendency will be for- gotten, the missionaries from all lands and the representatives of the nations of them which are saved will come to read the lines upon your tomb- stone, when the kings of the earth could bring no greater honor to you. I would rather have the honors that will crown your head than to be King of England or President of the United States. A single line written on a plain stone set up at your sepulcher will be epitaph enough — "He turned many to righteousness and saw a nation born in a day." I can say little more*. You have gone over this world putting your poverty into the face of the wealth of many lands, pleading for every cause, but never for yourself. You have been saying by your own giving, if not in song, what everyone has well known : "No foot of land do I possess, No cottage in this wilderness, A poor wayfaring man." But, Servant of God, well done! Your glorious poverty is past; The battle is fought, the race is run, And you have a house at last! IV PRESENTATION OF HOUSE DR. H. G. DODDS There is just one claim that I insist on making for Bishop Thoburn which has been mentioned by no one else, and it is this: The result of his work proves him to be one of the world's chief bene- factors. I do not hold that he could ever have pro- duced a play of Shakespeare, or a "Paradise Lost" ; nor do I say that he could ever have constructed a locomotive as did Stephenson, or have developed a scheme for harnessing the subtle forces of electricity and compelling them to obey his will and do his service as is done by Edison ; nor do I say that he could ever have championed a Reformation as did Luther, or have achieved success upon the field of battle as did Grant. And I would be very slow in believing that any one of these could ever have entered his field of achievement with the degree of success that has attended his effort, yet they and he are all rightly and proudly named as benefactors of the race. Any man who, by his skill and toil, takes from the soil or from the mines of the earth the latent forces which, when turned into the channels of trade, greatly add to the world's wealth may rightly be called a benefactor of the race. And again, any man that extends the boundaries of 245 246 THOBURN AND INDIA man's field of investigation by the discovery of new planets in the heavens, new laws for the government and use of the elements about us, or new and beneficent purposes to which the materials or the forces that are known to man may be applied, has added to the world's wealth and„ well-being and may rightly be called a benefactor of the race. And again, any man that invents new devices by which the labor of man is lightened, or his convenience, his health, or his safety is provided for, has added to the world's wealth and well-being and may rightly be named as a benefactor of the race. But the man that looks upon every child of Adam as representing "either a potential addition to the productive capacity and enlightened citizenship of the world, or, if allowed to suffer from neglect, a potential addition to the destructive forces amongst men," and establishes a system of operation by which these potentialities are perpetually turned away from the evil and in the direction of the good ; he that changes the dark- ness of ignorance and superstition into the light of knowledge, and enables brutish men to think the great thoughts of God after him; he that shatters the prejudices against womanhood and lifts her up from a plane of degradation to one of admira- tion ; he that fills the human heart with divine emo- tions and inspires men steeped in sin with a desire to become sons of God — such a one adds most to the world's wealth and well-being and must be regarded as one of the earth's greatest benefactors. PRESENTATION OF HOUSE 247 All this and more has been accomplished by him whom we are all delighted to honor to-day. Bishop Thoburn, I am unable to express the gratitude of the dwellers in India, more than two hundred thousand of whom are now the followers of Jesus Christ, of the great Methodist Episcopal Church, or of the Protestant world, to you for your splendid life of self-sacrifice and devotion to the highest interests of men. But it is now my pleasant privilege to represent a few of your warm personal friends who have hoped to express their apprecia- tion of your service to the Church, in a substantial way that may add to your comfort in your later life. In this envelope you will find a clear title to a modest but comfortable home on Locust Street in this city, where you may dwell with your family while God spares you in the flesh. It is wrapped within the folds of the Stars and Stripes, that splendid banner of freedom under which you were born and under which you expect to spend the remnant of your days upon the earth, and for which your heart is filled with love and loyalty. In this envelope you will find the names of those who have contributed toward the purchase of the home, together with a check for a sum of money sufficient to enable you to modify and improve the home according to your liking. It is wrapped within the folds of the Union Jack, the British flag, that splendid banner under which a great portion of your work was done and for which you have learned to cherish an ardent spirit of admiration. 248 THOBURN AND INDIA In these two envelopes you will find not that which proposes to be a sufficient compensation for your service in the Church of God, but a small token of the love and esteem in which you are held by the friends of Allegheny College, your Alma Mater, by the people of America, and by civilization every- where. We congratulate you upon your having been spared to stand for fifty years upon the fight- ing line in the Lord's army, and for the splendid victories you have been permitted to witness. May you live to see still brighter days for India and for all the darkened corners of the earth, and when you pass away from the protection of these two Anglo- Saxon banners, may it be to spend eternity under the protection of the more glorious banner of the Prince of Peace. RESPONSE BISHOP THOBURN I have more in my heart to say than I could say if I remained here all night and retained the power of speech. It is very hard to say anything. I feel just a little like the boy who found it very hard to eat butter because it would stick in his throat. There are so many things which occur to me, some of which are due to you; but I cannot possibly attempt to make anything like a formal address. I do wish to say, however, and this is, perhaps, the only response I can give, that I feel now that I belong to your community, and I hope to make myself as useful as I possibly can while God per- PRESENTATION OF HOUSE 249 mits me to live among you. I have been reminded again and again to-day of a beautiful story that we find in the Bible, about the notable woman who had returned to her country in a time of distress after long absence. The prophet knew her worth and kindly offered to speak to the king in her behalf, but she declined the offer, saying, "I dwell among my own people." I adopt this as my own motto to-day. The people of Meadville are my own people hereafter. I am one of them, and our inter- ests are merged together. I could say very much more — and very much more is due to many kind friends who are here — but my feelings will not permit me. May God bless you one and all, present or absent, now and ever- more, and when you fail on earth, may we all be received together into everlasting habitations! V MESSAGES OF GREETING AND APPRECIATION William H. Taft, President of the United States: I have your favor concerning the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Bishop Thoburn's sailing for India. I know Bishop Thoburn and have the highest regard for him and for his great work, and take pleasure in sending my good wishes for the Jubilee. Hon. James Bryce, English Ambassador (written from Fresno, California) : Till now I have cherished the hope of being able to be with you on the 13th, but during the last two or three days it has become plain to me that I must travel direct to Washington, and the same duty to arrive there at the earliest possible moment has obliged me also to decline to speak in several important cities on the way. It is a great disappointment, for I should have valued the opportunity of joining in the tribute to Bishop Thoburn and of addressing you on the sub- ject of missions in India. Pray express my most sincere regrets. Edwin S. Stuart, Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: I have pleasure in acknowledging the receipt of your courteous letter of the 28th inst., inviting me to attend the Jubilee to be held at the college in April, from the nth to 13th. I wish that I could accept this kind invitation, but the Legislature, which is now in session, has passed a resolution fixing April 1 5th as the time for 250 MESSAGES OF GREETING 251 adjournment. The pressure of official business just previous to that time and for thirty days after adjourn- ment will be extremely heavy. Sir Andrew Leith Fraser, of India: I thank you for your kind invitation to be present, on April nth to 13th, at Allegheny College, for the fiftieth anniversary of Bishop Thoburn's sailing for India. I regret that, as I leave for England next Satur- day (10th inst.), I am unable to accept that invitation. Bishop Thoburn has done much for India. I feel very strongly the value of mission work among the Indians, and the great importance of the influence exercised among the people of India by the life and character, as well as by the teaching, of the missionary. It would have given me great pleasure to have had an opportunity of testifying to my grateful sense of what Bishop Thoburn has done in mission work. I also greatly appreciate the Bishop's splendid work among the poorer white population and the Eurasians. These had been greatly neglected, owing to the special nature of the duties of chaplains to troops and mission- aries to the Indians, while no special agency was sent to the European and Eurasian non-official population. I remember the late Sir Charles Bernard saying to me that his heart was filled with hope regarding the future of the Eurasians after a visit to Bishop Thoburn's church in Calcutta. I share with you your congratulations to the Bishop, and your prayers for his happiness. Bishop J. E. Robinson : What a noble part Bishop Thoburn has played in the great preparation that the Church has been making for the spiritual conquest of these lands which have been the theater of his unrivaled activities! Who is there among us equal to the task of estimating the 252 THOBURN AND INDIA measure of the influence of this heroic missionary leader in laying imperishable foundations and shaping the policy of the Church in these awaking Eastern lands? In Saint Paul's Cathedral, London, a familiar inscription bids those who would fain see the monument of the architect of the stately fane to look around. Circum- spice! In the time to come Western visitors to the East will ask for Bishop Thoburn's monument. Thank God, there will be those of the Methodist faith at hand in all parts of India, Burma, Malaysia, and the Philip- pine Islands to bid the inquiring friends to look around. In the prosperous churches established through his bold initiative, in the well-equipped educational institutions that owe their existence in whole or in part to his optimistic faith, in numberless well-ordered communities of happy Methodist Christians that in all human prob- ability would have no existence apart from his aggressive leadership, in various useful enterprises that were brought into being through his farseeing statesmanship, will be found an embodiment and expression of the service he has rendered to mankind far more worthy and enduring than any monument of marble or bronze that might be erected to his memory. Much there is in my heart to say at this time con- cerning my dear and honored friend, but I must refrain. Zinzendorf, the noble missionary-spirited leader of the Moravians, was wont to say, "I have one passion; it is He, it is He!" For more than a third of a century I have labored practically by the side of James M. Tho- burn. I say now with the utmost deliberation that, in my wide fellowship of service with many true-hearted servants of God during all this period, I have never found anyone who seemed to me more fully dominated by the passionate desire to establish and advance the kingdom of God among men. From this all-absorbing desire to make Christ known among the Gentiles and to give peoples in the regions beyond who sit in darkness MESSAGES OF GREETING 253 a healing glimpse of the Light that lighteth every man coming into the world, nothing could possibly divert him. Bishop M. C. Harris : I very much regret that I cannot be present at the "Thoburn Jubilee," but avail myself of the opportunity of sending a few words of greeting. My first word is thanksgiving to God that our be- loved Bishop has rounded out a half century of service to God and man. By his own request the last General Conference placed him among the retired worthies of our episcopal family, but he continues in labors abun- dant, with voice and pen, for the extension of the kingdom of God. Neither to him nor to any other man is it permitted to join the higher service of the "choir invisible" until the earthly work is done. Personally I am greatly indebted to him, and would now confess it with a grateful heart. His letters from India to the dear old Pittsburg Christian Advocate opened to me the strange world of India, fired my heart with missionary zeal, and finally led me to yield my life to God for the service of Christ in Eastern Asia. All these years he has been to me a teacher and an inspir- ing example of self-effacement for the salvation of men. While he has been devoted to India, his first love, yet he has taken the whole unevangelized world into his heart. His appeals have not been alone for Southern Asia, but for Eastern Asia, Africa, and the islands of the sea. For all non-Christian tribes and nations he has made eloquent appeals, and urged the Church to go forward. In brief, the breadth of his vision, the universality of his sympathies, and deathless passion for the redemption of all men, his world-moving faith in the Son of God and his coming reign over all the earth, his practical wisdom, crowned with self-abnegation, give to this 254 THOBURN AND INDIA "apostle to the Gentiles" a place of high distinction among the great men of God in this and past generations. But what shall I say more? To God be the glory for this life so abundant in toil and rich in results. In doing honor to Bishop Thoburn we also honor his Maker, Redeemer, and Guide, who gave him grace to be obedient "to the heavenly vision." It seems most fitting that in the evening of his days, with happy memories of life-service behind him and immortal hope before him, he should return to Mead- ville and spend the last years in sight of his Alma Mater, whose love for and pride in her noble son will only in- crease as the years come and go. Here where God called him to special service, and from whence he went forth to "preach the unsearchable riches of Christ" to the Gentiles, may he abide until the day comes when he shall "take his crown." And now it remains for me to express my joy in that Allegheny College, the Methodist Church, and the citizens of Meadville and friends near and far have united in providing a home for the Bishop and his children, and are come together to commemorate this occasion. May the blessing of Heaven rest upon the Thoburn family to all generations! Bishop Frank W. Warne: I would greatly enjoy being present at the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Bishop Thoburn and his party sailing for India. That was a great day in the history of Methodism. That was a great party. Bishop Thoburn and Bishop and Mrs. Parker have done great things for the kingdom of India. Bishop Thoburn will live in Indian Methodist history in much the way that Bishop Asbury lives in American Methodist history, and in addition to that Bishop Thoburn will have a large place in the history and work of our whole Church. I consider it one of the greatest privileges of my MESSAGES OF GREETING 255 whole life to have been intimately associated with Bishop Thoburn, and, apart from my parents, I owe more to him by way of inspiration and high ideals and delightful fellowship than to any other man I have ever known. It has perhaps fallen to my lot to be more closely associated with the work of Bishop Thoburn than any other man living. I was thirteen years pastor of the great church in Calcutta which now bears his name, and for most part of that time had the honor of being the pastor of his family, and was permitted to study at close hand the work that he did in that great city. My admiration for his work puts him, in my estimation, both as a minister and Christian statesman in the first rank of living men. Bishop William Burt: It is seldom the privilege of anyone to live long enough to see such great results of his own work as is the privilege of James M. Thoburn on this occasion. Only fifty years, and what has God not wrought through this one man and his colaborers? He alone can tell with his inimitable eloquence the great changes that have taken place in India and picture to us the glories of the coming day when heathendom shall be no more, and Christ shall reign supreme. We know what an inspiration and blessing he has been to the home Church in broadening our vision, strengthening our faith, and sanctifying our love and service. Blessed man, may he yet live many years, yea, long enough to see India redeemed and our great Church fully awake to her divine opportunity! Bishop Henry W. Warren : India was invaded once to its unutterable advantage by English civil and military forces; was invaded again to its even greater advantage by American spiritual 256 THOBURN AND INDIA forces under the leadership of Butler, Thoburn, and others ; among whom for length of service and absorbing devotion Thoburn is chief. Bishop Luther B. Wilson : To God be praise for the gift and guidance of this his servant, whom we love and would honor. His con- secration in service, his wisdom in leadership, his out- look and message make him a prophet of God to the Church of the twentieth century. His message shall not die. May the beloved messenger long time abide with us! Bishop William F. Anderson : Hearty congratulations to dear old Allegheny for its beautiful tribute to the most apostolic man now living, Bishop Thoburn. My deep regret is that it is impossible to accept your kind invitation to be present. I shall be with you in spirit. Bishop Edwin H. Hughes: I am glad to join with the multitudes of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with those of the Church Uni- versal in extending congratulations to Bishop Thoburn. He has achieved in two great ways: in character and service. Indeed, as I write, I find myself thinking of two great apostolic names in connection with the name of Bishop Thoburn; for he seems to have gained the character of a Saint John while doing the work of a Saint Paul. Years ago one of his sermons gave me new life; and I owe him a personal spiritual debt. Greet the dear Bishop for me. God bless him forever' Bishop William A. Quayle: This may serve in an imperfect way to express my appreciation of the life and service of Bishop James M. Thoburn. His history has been an event in Methodist MESSAGES OF GREETING 257 history; his life has made an epoch in Methodist life beyond the seas. May God bless him and make his memory precious against all generations to come! Bishop Robert Mclntyre: How much I regret that I cannot be there! Give my love to the old Hero of India Missions with the wish that he may return late to heaven. Dr. L. B. Wolf, General Secretary Board of Foreign Missions of the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States of America : As one who has known Bishop Thoburn's work in India for twenty-five years and more, and who has known him personally, I want to say that nothing would gratify me more than to participate in some way in the services held in his honor by his Alma Mater. His work in India has been a great and successful one. All over the land, not only in his own Church but also in other Churches, he has been honored for his works' sake and for his kindly character and noble service. I regret exceedingly that other engagements will not allow our Board to send a representative to participate in these expressions in his honor. Give my personal regards to Bishop Thoburn, and may the blessing of the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, abide with him the remainder of his so- journ here below. Dr. Robert E. Speer, Secretary Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America : I wish I could accept your invitation, but I have already engagements which will prevent my attending the fiftieth anniversary of Bishop Thoburn's sailing for India. I esteem and love Bishop Thoburn for what he 258 THOBURN AND INDIA is and for what he has done, and I should rejoice to be present at the anniversary. Dr. Henry N. Cobb, Corresponding Secretary Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed Church in America: We have received your kind invitation to be repre- sented at the Thoburn Jvibilee to be held at Allegheny College, April 11-13, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Bishop Thoburn's sailing for India. It gives me great pleasure to say that the invitation is cordially accepted on our part, and that we have asked Rev. William I. Chamberlain, Ph.D., D.D., to attend and represent us on this interesting and auspicious occasion. Dr. Chamberlain is at present a professor in Rutgers College, New Brunswick, New Jersey, and also a member of this Board. He will, however, on May 1 prox., be- come a Corresponding Secretary of the Board. He has served as a missionary in India for nearly twenty years, during the latter part of which service he was principal of our college at Vellore. At present, also, he is President of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in Amer- ica. We are glad to be able to send him, and trust that his attendance will be mutually acceptable. Dr. William North Rice, Acting President Wesleyan University : In behalf of my colleagues and myself I have the honor to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your invitation to attend the Thoburn Jubilee. We sincerely regret that it will be impracticable for any of us to be present on that interesting occasion. We trust that the Jubilee services will be not only a worthy recognition of one who has proved himself truly a successor of the apostles, but a means of kindling to new intensity the missionary spirit in the Church. MESSAGES OF GREETING 259 Dr. J. D. Moffat, President Washington and Jef- ferson College, and Moderator Presbyterian Assembly : Few men in our country have accomplished so much abroad as Bishop Thoburn, and I wish that there might be many of our abler men to take up and carry on to its completion the work so admirably begun in foreign missionary countries. Dr. Edward H. Bosworth, Oberlin College: In President King's absence the Faculty has asked me to express to you our thanks for the invitation to attend the Bishop Thoburn anniversary. It seems im- possible for a representative of the College to be present, but we desire to express our deep interest in the occa- sion and our great appreciation of Bishop Thoburn's distinguished missionary achievements in India. All sections of the Church certainly unite in grateful recog- nition of the blessing that has rested upon his untiring effort. We hope that these anniversary exercises may awaken fresh interest in India and perhaps call out some one who may render another half century of service in the great cause. President L. H. Murlin, Baker University: The students and Faculty of Baker University author- ize me, in their name, to send cordial greetings to Allegheny College, and their gratitude to Bishop Tho- burn for his consecrated life, which shall always be to them a blessing and inspiration. Student Committee Garrett Biblical Institute: Whereas, in the providence of God, Bishop James M. Thoburn, by his thorough consecration to the cause of 26o THOBURN AND INDIA the Master, has been made a great blessing to our Church in America and to the foreign missionary enter- prise, especially in India ; be it Resolved, That we, the students of Garrelt Biblical Institute, hereby express our appreciation of his long life of useful service, extend our sincerest congratula- tions, entering heartily into the spirit of this felicitous occasion, and unite in invoking God's continued blessing upon him that he may long be spared to see the growth and development of the work which he has so wisely begun and established. Dr. L. H. Pearce, Editor Northern Christian Advocate : I am glad that through the Jubilee, arranged by his Alma Mater, the Church that has loved and honored him, and in whose service he has done so great a work, will have a chance to put additional brightness into these sunset days of his life. Dr. Franklin Hamilton, Chancellor of American University : I regret more than I can tell you my inability to be present at Bishop Thoburn's Jubilee. I would that I could join in these hours of affectionate appreciation and gratulation. Who among us but honors James M. Thoburn for his work and loves him for himself? How appropriate that while he yet is with us he should have revealed to him the gratitude and reverence of all God's people! The afternoon is worthy of the morning and the noonday. May the sunset and evening star be far distant ! God bless Bishop Thoburn! The generations will rise to call him blessed. I am grateful for the privilege of joining my voice in affectionate remembrances at this time of Jubilee. MESSAGES OF GREETING 261 Dr. David G. Downey, Corresponding Secretary Board of Sunday Schools of the Methodist Episcopal Church : No man in Methodism more deserves honor and reverence than Bishop James M. Thoburn. May God abundantly bless him, and greatly enrich the Church by continuing to her for many years the benediction of his presence and counsel. Rev. Titus Lowe, recently Pastor of Thoburn Church, Calcutta : I count it a high privilege to add one note to the resounding chorus of congratulation to Bishop Thoburn which is being heard in Meadville in these days. For four years I trod the broad avenues, the narrow streets, and the narrower zigzaging lanes of Calcutta, the second city in the British empire. Everywhere I found the name of Dr. Thoburn loved, honored, and revered. His ministry in that city, more than twenty years after it had closed, is still a fragrant memory. I heard his praises sung in the palatial residences of Chowringhee and likewise in the by-lanes off Bow Bazaar andTJhurumtolla. Throughout the city the church is spoken of as Dr. Thoburn's church. As the Indian Jubilee was approach- ing it occurred to me that it would be eminently fitting should the church be formally christened. The official board took up the suggestion with enthusiasm, and at the reception tendered to the Bengal Conference in Jan- uary, 1907, at which Bishops Thoburn and FitzGerald presided, announcement was made that the church should be known henceforth as the Thoburn Methodist Episcopal Church. The announcement was greeted with great enthusiasm, everyone recognizing its appropriate- ness. 262 THOBURN AND INDIA In coming days Thoburn Church will become a holy place, and the way thereto will be well worn by the feet of the pilgrims who will wend their way thither to see the place where the Prince of Modern Missionaries did some of his mightiest work, and where the peer- less seer of our times uttered forth his soul-stirring prophecies. Thus far four distinguished ministers have powerfully influenced the religious life of Calcutta: Carey, the Baptist; Heber, the Churchman; Duff, the Presbyterian; and Thoburn, the Methodist. The last is by no means the least. SOME OF THE TELEGRAMS Bishop Hartzell: "Exceedingly regret illness prevents my being with you. Give my love and congratulations to Bishop Thoburn on concluding half century of world-inspiring usefulness." "San Francisco Methodist Preachers' Meeting sends congratulations, love, and best wishes." William F. Warren, Dean Boston Schoolof Theology: "*The Faculty of this school honor and love Bishop Tho- burn beyond telegraphic expressions. We hope long to meet him daily at the mercy seat." "The Baltimore Preachers' Meeting of the Methodist Episcopal Church congratulates you upon fifty years of missionary career." Dr. James M. Buckley: "Regretting impossibility of being present at Thoburn Jubilee exercises, say to him for me: Your work abides. The past and the present are secure. May the rest of your life be gladsome, made so by sweet remembrances, bright anticipations, and comfortable surroundings." Mrs. S. B. Cochran: "Allegheny is to be congratulated upon the privilege of celebrating the Bishop Thoburn MESSAGES OF GREETING 263 Jubilee. The whole Church joins in appreciation of his great work." "Philadelphia Methodist Preachers' Meeting joins in congratulations and rejoicing." "Cincinnati Branch Woman's Foreign Missionary Society sends greetings. ' How beautiful upon the moun- tains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings!' " Mrs. George O. Robinson: "The Woman's Home Mis- sionary Society sends congratulations with profound appreciation of Bishop Thoburn's noble Christian service." "The Omaha Methodist Preachers' Union sends greet- ings and congratulations to the world's greatest Mission- ary Bishop, James M. Thoburn, on the fiftieth anniver- sary of his sailing for India." Dr. Albert C. Knudson: "Most hearty congratulations to Bishop Thoburn and his Alma Mater from first occupant of Thoburn Chair English Bible." Bishop Nuelsen: "I thank God for the inspiration of Bishop Thoburn's life and work, and wish for him the fullness of the blessings of the Master." Dr. Charles Bayard Mitchell: "Extend to Bishop Thoburn my heartiest congratulations. May he remain so long on earth that the friends in heaven will begin to grow apprehensive." Dr. George P. Mains: "To Bishop Thoburn a jubilant Jubilee and still many sun-crowned years." J. F. and Lucy Rider Meyer: "We join the millions in congratulations for that 'other man sent from God' whose name was James. See John one six." VI AFTER-DINNER RESPONSES At the Jubilee dinner in Cochran Hall President Crawford spoke briefly on behalf of the College and then presented the toast-master of the evening, Mr. Frank A. Arter, President of the Board of Trustees of Allegheny College, who guided the after-dinner speakers with rare skill and wisdom. There is space for only such portions of the responses as relate more directly to Bishop Thoburn a,nd his work. DR. T. L. FLOOD I have felt like saying "Amen" to every senti- ment that has been expressed to-day in commenda- tion of Bishop Thoburn and the work he has done. But there is one thing that was left out. Even in that beautiful speech of the Superintendent of the Meadville District which was so complete one thing seems to have been forgotten. As treasurer of the fund I wish to say that the house which was pre- sented to Bishop Thoburn to-day cost five thousand dollars, and it is paid for ; and in the envelope which was handed to him wrapped in the British flag there was a check for one thousand dollars to make im- provements and repairs on the house. Besides, we hope to put two or three or four hundred dollars on top of that thousand. And the house, after all, is 264 AFTER-DINNER RESPONSES 265 the thing he will enjoy when we have all gone home and shall have settled down to our normal course of living. Now, there is in some college towns a bitter feeling between the college — the students and the faculty — and the town. I read a speech the other day made by a Methodist Bishop who not long since was the president of a university, in which he made the point that for many years there had been very hard feeling between the people of the town and the university, which exists to this day. The reverse of that is true in Meadville. With the college, made up of as many people as are here, with the^ faculty doubled in the last twelve years, with the rank and file of the citizens of the town, the kindest feelings obtain. The people of Mead- ville believe in Allegheny College, they count it their own, and they are proud of it, proud of its reputation and proud of its distinguished sons. BISHOP CHARLES W. SMITH I may without impropriety be permitted to speak on this occasion for an organization which seems so far not to have been distinctly represented — the old Pittsburg Conference, to me the greatest Con- ference in the Church. It has an illustrious history — the old Conference which embraced substantially what is now included in four Conferences — Pitts- burg, Erie, East Ohio, and West Virginia. It has a most honorable record in missionary work; while this old Conference and old Allegheny College 266 THOBURN AND INDIA together have a record scarcely to be equaled. Has it been forgotten that Martin Ruter, the first pres- ident of the college under Methodist auspices, was one of the very first foreign missionaries of the Church? The grass had scarcely become green on the grave of Melville B. Cox in Africa, the proto- martyr of Methodist missions, when Martin Ruter heard the call of the perishing and hurried with the message of the gospel to Texas, then a foreign country. To that land he gave his life, and there he slept in an unmarked grave until a few years since, when Bishops Mallalieu and Hamilton had a suit- able monument erected over it. Nor should it be forgotten that almost five years before this, and only one year after the college was taken over by the Conference, one of its brilliant young ministers, Thomas Drummond, left Morgan- town, Virginia, and hastened to Saint Louis, then a frontier village, to bear the message of life to dying men. A year later, in 1834, he fell a victim to cholera and gave up his young life to God. As the end approached he said to an attendant, "Tell my brethren of the Pittsburg Conference, I died at my post." On this incident Dr. William Hunter wrote a spiritual song, once widely popular among our people, beginning: Away from his home and the friends of his youth He hasted the herald of mercy and truth. In the same year from this Conference there went Peter M. McGowan and John L. Irwin, to AFTER-DINNER RESPONSES 267 Missouri and Arkansas, and with them Andrew Hunter, a local preacher, a student in Madison College, brother of Dr. William Hunter. Later, Wesley Browning and Joseph Boyle followed them. McGowan and Irwin returned, but the others be- came part of the Church in that region. Andrew Hunter came to such prominence in the Church South and in the State as few men in any calling attained. But I must not attempt to call the roll of the men who have gone out from this old combi- nation to the pioneer and missionary work of the Church. Time will not allow. I cannot give from memory the year in which Albert L. Long, an alumnus of the college, and all his ministerial life a member of the Conference, went out to Bulgaria as a missionary. His dis- tinctively missionary career was short, for he soon accepted a professorship in Robert College, Con- stantinople, with the hearty approval of the mis- sionary authorities, and that became his lifework. He not only attained distinction as a scholar and teacher, but as a master of statesmanship he be- came a recognized authority and was the confiden- tial adviser of rulers on European problems and especially as they affected Turkey. In personal character, in intellectual endowments, in scholarly attainments, in masterful influence, neither the college nor the Conference has produced a greater son than Albert L. Long. Bishop Thoburn could give you the names of the long list of the men who have gone from us to 268 THOBURN AND INDIA lead the hosts in India. I know many of them, but cannot call them all. Both the college and the Con- ference are proud of them. Of course, you need not be told that the chief of them all, the leader of India, the peer of any missionary of any Church and any land, is the quiet, dynamic, unconquerable little man whom we honor on this occasion — James M. Thoburn. Next to him as an influential leader in that land is our own Bishop Oldham. Unques- tionably the leading missionary in Japan and Korea is Bishop M. C. Harris. No man of any Church is so well and favorably known and wields so large an influence as does this enthusiastic son of yours. When you get a glimpse of these things you can readily see why I am proud as a son of the old Con- ference to recall these our noble brethren who have shed such luster upon us all. DR. CHARLES M. STUART I have been asked to speak for the Religious Press. It is easy to become adjusted to a theme like this, especially when you have such a splendid theme as Bishop Thoburn. Just see what he has done for the religious press. Bishop Thoburn makes peerless copy. We can make our reputation in the Northwestern by simply printing his picture on the front page. More than that, if an article by Bishop Thoburn appears anywhere in the paper, people will forsake even the advertisements to read AFTER-DINNER RESPONSES 269 it; and I can pay no higher tribute to him than that. Bishop Thoburn is an ideal contributor. He knows when he gets through, and when he gets through, by a fine providential instinct he stops. He not only writes briefly and to the point but he com- municates that kind of charm which compels a reading from beginning to end. That is an exceed- ingly rare thing. You can count on the fingers of two hands all the writers in this country who can compel a reading of that kind in the religious press. I do not know how it happens. I suppose it turns on two things — because of what he is and because of what he does. Somehow he has acquired a repu- tation for having done things, and a reputation, may I say it, for being a saint. And just this charm of the man in his articles is the last refinement of style, and it is that which compels a hearing from all our people. I do not believe that personality is lost in type, at all. Then one other thing: Bishop Thoburn always furnishes news that nourishes. There is one kind of news that diverts. But when Bishop Thoburn has anything to say he is telling you about a change and progress in human nature which bring to you the happy conviction that the kingdom of God is coming. That is the sort of thing which makes the religious paper a power in the religious life. The thing that comes from the heart to the heart, the thing that builds up faith, the thing that makes God more real and more near — that is the kind of 270 THOBURN AND INDIA news which Thoburn brings in showing us the nations turning to God. DR. A. B. LEONARD Dr. Kelley to-day said that Thoburn has some very striking qualities. He called him an enthusiast, a plunger, a typical product of Christianity, a Chris- tian field marshal. I was looking for him to say one thing more. James M. Thoburn in a seer. He went to India in 1859. Dr. William Butler, who was the superintendent of the mission, said to Tho- burn as he said to the others, "You will have only one language to learn. We are here in the midst of seventeen million five hundred thousand people who speak Hindustani, and here is a field for us for an indefinite period." It was a sort of line he laid down beyond which it was not supposed Methodism would go for decades, if indeed ever. I said Tho- burn was a seer. He began to see into the future and to see that we must cross the lines that were laid down. In a few years he entered into corre- spondence with that apostolic missionary William Taylor and invited him to go to India. He responded and held great revival services in almost all the great cities of India, organizing Methodist Episcopal churches among the English-speaking people, and these churches early became centers of missionary effort and they naturally began to radiate and take up work among the natives. That made it necessary to change the line that had been laid down. And what has been the result? Our AFTER-DINNER RESPONSES 271 Church has organized its Annual Conferences all over the whole of Southern Asia, including the Philippine Islands. And instead of preaching the gospel in that country to-day in the Hindustani language alone, our missionaries and native preach- ers are preaching the gospel in more than forty dif- ferent dialects and languages. And this man has seen it all from the beginning to the end. And if there is any man to-day in India that stands higher than another, that is crowned as being the prince among all the missionaries of the Methodist Epis- copal Church that have labored in that country — and I might include the other churches as well — there would be a unanimous voice saying that that man is James M. Thoburn. And before I sit down I want to pay this tribute to our missionaries in Southern Asia. A braver, more courageous, persistent, and gloriously happy class of enthusiasts I have never seen on this foot- stool. There is not a missionary among them that does not believe that in the name of Jesus Christ we will conquer Southern Asia. That awful caste system is being undermined. There are evidences of it on every hand. Even Mohammedanism is feeling the effects of Christianity. More and more Christian ideas are permeating India, and the time is coming and is not far distant when there is going to be a tremendous breaking down among those ancient systems of religion. The Lord Jesus Christ will triumph in India and in China and in the whole world. 272 THOBURN AND INDIA DR. CHARLES J. LITTLE In a lecture to our students Bishop Thoburn once said this queer thing : "When I returned from India I was at the Round Lake Camp Meeting, and Bishop Simpson, and Bishop Pierce of the Southern Church, were there. As I was going by one of the tents one night I heard some young men talking about who was the greater preacher, Bishop Simpson or Bishop Pierce. Some favored one and some favored the other. But one of them spoke up and said, 'You fellows may say what you please, but as for me I would rather hear that little missionary from India than either of them.' And then another one chimed in, 'Yes, so would we all ; but he can't preach.' ' O, if I could only teach the students of Garrett Biblical Institute not to preach but to talk out of the fullness of a luminous mind and a rich, warm heart about the things they know! There is an everlasting waste of energy in preaching about things that we do not know much about ; and there are glorious applications of energy in talking sweetly and talking luminously about the things we understand, about the things that you have wrought into your life, about the things that you have experienced in your hand-to-hand contact with humanity. Well, we have trained some missionary workers. And if Bishop Thoburn will come out and talk to our boys we will train them better. I do not want Bishop Thoburn to think that these last years — AFTER-DINNER RESPONSES 273 and pray God they may be many! — are going to be less rich than any of the previous years of his life. I want him to feel that there are pearls to plunge for yet, and that here among these students and in this community he may have upon him yet the touch of that Hand that has been the power of his life, that invisible Hand from which he has never tried to escape. I want him to go into the future with a sense that He that multiplied the loaves and the fishes until they fed a multitude can multiply the remnant of his days until they are precious food for the souls with whom he lives; that in his presence among these students he will be an electric influence that will thrill their souls as they look upon his face and remember his work. I want him to go into the future with the feeling that whenever his brethren see him he is doing them good, that whenever they hear his voice the sweetness of his sincerity and his unaffected humility is coming to them in benediction and in benefac- tion; that when he appears among his brethren in Conference the gracious words that come from his lips quiet strife and stir up that sort of enthusiasm that makes men glad that they are called to be the companions of those that do the work of God. Days or years, my dear friend, that will be as God orders. But wealth, the wealth of influence, the power that comes from a life that has been conse- crated, that is yours, that is yours. Not praise — ■ you do not care for that; not eulogy — you do not care for that; but that glorious grace of God that 274 THOBURN AND INDIA has been your power — that is what you care for, and that is what in God's name and in Christ's name I promise you to the very last. DR. A. J. NAST I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to say a word in behalf of the hundred thousand German Methodists of America and Germany who revere the name of Bishop Thoburn and who have loved him so many years. I have had the honor of edit- ing the Christian Apologist for nearly twenty years, and during this period among the various benevolent causes for which contributions have been received and acknowledged weekly in the columns of this paper I think none have recurred more fre- quently than those designated "for Bishop Tho- burn's Mission in India." It would be quite out of place for me at this late hour to attempt to add anything to the many fitting words that have already been uttered to express the deep love and respect in which Bishop Thoburn is held by all who have known him or who have acquainted themselves with his career and work. But I count it a great privilege to be present at this celebration of the fiftieth an- niversary of his missionary service. I have known Bishop Thoburn for the past twenty years, and have had the opportunity of hearing him represent his mission field many times before the General Mis- sionary Committee meetings of our Church. Some of the most impressive scenes in my memory are connected with these meetings, when this humble, AFTER-DINNER RESPONSES 275 quiet man would chain the attention and sway the minds of the Missionary Committee as no other one could. It was impossible not to catch the spirit of his wonderful prophetic vision and faith. For many years he has been my ideal of Christian disciple- ship. I have often stood by his side to take his hand and look into his face when I had not a word to say. I felt that Jesus Christ was near that man, and so I feel this day. He represents to me the best conception of a life of continual fellowship with God and of wholly consecrated service. Many eyes are turned to Allegheny College to- night, not only from all parts of the United States, but also from India and from Europe, for Bishop Thoburn's name and influence have pervaded the whole Methodist Church and he is one of the fore- most interpreters of the missionary triumph of the gospel throughout the whole world. There is but one light that will never grow dim; it is the Light of this world — Jesus Christ. There is but one power that will never wane; it is the power of the Spirit of God. There is but one love that will never perish from the earth; it is the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. This light, this power, this love have all been embodied in the person of James M. Thoburn, because his has been supremely a life of faith in the Son of God. Bishop Thoburn, our prayers go up to God's throne for you throughout our beloved Methodism, and I echo the beautiful sentiment of Dr. Little that these last years may be 276 THOBURN AND INDIA weighted more richly with blessings to you than all that have gone before ! DR. WILLIAM I. CHAMBERLAIN I am much honored in being the official repre- sentative of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed Church in America, which is celebrating this year its seventy-fifth anniversary, to bring its greetings to Bishop Thoburn and to President Crawford, and also those of Rutgers, a college still older than Old Allegheny, one of the few founded before we came to be a nation, a college one hundred and forty-three years old; and also of a city still older than Meadville, a city that received its charter on the day following the grant of the charter to New York city herself. I represent also this even- ing — and I do not wish to exalt the office except in so far as it honors still more the guest whom we all wish to honor in every legitimate and proper way this evening — I stand to-night as the presid- ing officer of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, the highest ecclesiastical body of that most ancient Protestant Church in this country, which first organized a church in 1628 on the Island of Manhattan; and as such I officially bring the greetings of that ancient body to our Bishop Thoburn to-night. I have said "our Bishop Thoburn," for he is more than the Bishop of Meth- odism, more than the Bishop of the India mission field. He is the Bishop of the Church universal, because of his contribution to the Church universal. AFTER-DINNER RESPONSES 277 I have wondered to-night what impression I could take from this most interesting gathering. And the first is one of very sincere congratulation to the college and to the town, the two bodies unit- ing in this most unique and happy celebration of this most remarkable event. It seems to me that among all the various qual- ities that have been ascribed to Bishop Thoburn through these interesting exercises there is one that gathers about itself all others, one that has projected itself not only through Methodism but through India and through the Church universal, and that is a most winning and a most forceful personality. Dr. Stuart has said that personality cannot be lost even in cold type. Here is a personality that has projected itself not only into the Church at home, but into the Orient, and has worked itself out in many personalities that in the days to corfle will rise up and call him blessed. Another impression is this : It has been said that Bishop Thoburn is a seer. It is not easy for a man to be a visionary. It is not easy for a man to plunge down into the mire of heathenism to find pearls, or to stay there long enough to get the pearls and bring them to the surface. It was not easy for men in the gloom and silence of the catacombs to foresee the overthrow of the Roman empire. Everything good in the world was an ideal before it became a realized fact, and these great visions that the Bishop has seen in India have come to be so many of them realized facts. "Paradise Lost" 278 THOBURN AND INDIA was a daydream in the mind of the blind poet before it became the great and immortal poem of John Milton. Saint Peter's at Rome was a daydream in the mind of the great architect until Michael Angelo saw the old Roman Pantheon and lifted it up and hung it in the grandest domed cathedral of the world to-day. Indeed, it is only the ideals that these visionaries like Bishop Thoburn see that seem destined for realization in the onward march of the history of mankind. The stupendous majesty of the ideal is the certain guaranty of its immortality. Browning has somewhere said : God gives to every man one life, like a lamp, Then gives that lamp due measure of oil. Lamp lighted. Lift high. Wave wide. We rejoice together to-night with a great joy that Bishop Thoburn has lighted his lamp, that he has lifted it high, and that he has waved it wide, so that it shines far into the darkest corners of Asia and into our hearts to-night. MR. FRANK A. ARTER When some one spoke of Bishop Thoburn as a field marshal I could not help thinking of the events that transpired as I followed him here and there over that great field in India over which he has marshaled his hosts. Perhaps the most interesting sight of all my recent tour was when we got up at three o'clock in the morning to see the sun rise on Mount Everest, towering six miles into the sky. But there was one sight more interesting to me than AFTER-DINNER RESPONSES 279 to see the sun rise on that magnificent mountain. At eventide over on Observation Hill I sat for two hours watching the declining sun. And as the shad- ows came up the valleys from the western hills, creeping up, up, up, finally covering those glistening mountains, hid from sight and yet far out in the unknown I could still see that reflected light on the world beyond. We have seen the rise of this great soul beside me ; we have seen the light as it began to shine from his first feeble efforts, and we have seen it grow till the light shone over the whole world. And now we are sitting on Observation Hill. The shadows are beginning to grow a little longer. Our friend may be here a few years. He cannot hope to be here a great many. And yet when the time does come and he is taken out of our sight, the reflected light from this immortal man will still shine,* not only here but beyond in other generations. And now I shall not keep you longer from hearing the man you most want to hear. Bishop Thoburn, I now present you to your friends. RESPONSE OF BISHOP THOBURN AT BANQUET I could say a great deal if time permitted and if I thought it proper, for you have mentioned so many things this evening which are of intense interest to anyone who knows India that I have no lack of topics. But it would be out of taste, and I hardly think there would be any necessity to justify it if I were to talk to you very long. 280 THOBURN AND INDIA I am somewhat puzzled myself with what I hear, and I do not fully succeed in accounting to myself for some of the expressions — I may say most of the expressions — that I have heard here this evening. I think I have a pretty correct idea of what I have done in the last fifty years. I do not think I have been misled very seriously in putting an estimate on it, and I am very confident that many of you have been. God has enabled me to do some things undoubt- edly on the other side of the globe, in the name of his Son, Jesus. I do not for a single moment doubt that. But it has not been so exclusively my work as most persons have supposed. I have been asso- ciated with a large number of rare men and women over there from almost the beginning of the fifty years, and I know what my share may have been and what theirs may have been, and you are giving me a great deal of credit which some better men and women really deserve. If there is anything in particular about myself that perhaps might distinguish my work a little from that of some others, I should say it is this : I used to be greatly concerned about what Meth- odist people in the early days called "power," or what many people still call a baptism of power, or the anointing of power. Such expressions are found in the Bible, I know, but the idea is often very mis- leading, because people who begin to be concerned on this subject are apt to think that it is something like a shawl that is thrown over the shoulders, AFTER-DINNER RESPONSES 281 and that we must get this robe of power and then we shall be able to do this and that and the other thing. I have known a great many hundred people in my day who were uselessly and I think harmfully concerned about the power to work miracles. They believed they were not very good Christians be- cause they could not work miracles, and they have often come to me and asked my advice on that subject. So far from being conscious that I have been gaining in spiritual power all through these years, I am conscious rather that I have been made more and more aware of the fact that I am girded all around about with spiritual weakness, and that my ability to do some good in the name of Jesus Christ becomes most striking while I am feeling my weakness. The apostle Paul affirmed that his strength was made perfect in weakness, and in our day as in his it is true that when we are conscious of our weakness we think of Christ, and we per- haps think of him alone. And it is then that we are really put in a position to represent him. When I first began to preach I believed distinctly that God wished me to do it, and yet I had not very clear ideas or ideals. And after I had preached perhaps three or four weeks, and did not see any result, and did not see any prospect of things get- ting better, I went out one day into the woods to pray. It was along in the month of August, as I remember, and I found a fallen maple tree the leaves of which had dried on the branches, in such way that I could go in among them and be con- 282 THOBURN AND INDIA cealed from observation. There was no one in the woods to see me, anyway, but I had an intense desire to be alone with God. I said to myself, "I will not come out of here until I have found the anointing of power that I shall need as a preacher." With this feeling and resolution I began^to pray. Nothing like power seemed to Come to me. I prayed for the fullness of the Holy Spirit, but with no apparent result. I prayed for what Methodist people in the olden time were apt to call a blessing, that is, when they had a vague notion that some- thing good and great was needed, but had no clear idea as to what it was. When I became intensely earnest I said to myself, "I am not fit to preach as I am; I cannot go and represent Jesus Christ to the people around me, and I must have that which will qualify me to do this." All I found was this : It seemed to me — I cannot explain that phrase — but the only thing I can say is that my Saviour Jesus came there. I did not see him; there was a consciousness, that was all, of a Divine Presence. And the words were not articu- lated, and yet they were spoken, spoken to my con- sciousness, "Go, preach my gospel." That was all. And it just seemed as if a great foundation of adamant had slipped under my feet. I had some- thing to stand on, and I have had no very serious trouble since. And this is all. I did not get my ideal, what we call a blessing, at that time. It was simply a commission from the risen Son of God. I had not any doubt at all that AFTER-DINNER RESPONSES 283 Jesus Christ was there, and had spoken those words. For he usually speaks to us still through his inspired Word, uses that as the agency through which the Spirit acts. I went out to my work, and there was no very great result that followed for some time. But I almost immediately perceived that when I preached away up in a box at one end of a room, called a pulpit, while people were sitting around here and there trying to understand what I was saying, I was not accomplishing much. If I had been hungry and had wanted to get a ten-o'clock lunch from one of the farmer's wives who was present, I would have gone down to her in the most practical, straightforward way in the world, and told her exactly what I wanted, and I am sure she would have attended to my request without delay. It seemed to me that in those days nobody talked religion in that straightforward way. They had a religious tone and phraseology, and a great deal more of a peculiar phraseology than they have now. It was of a kind that seemed to hold us at a distance. The months ran along and the time came to hold what we called protracted meetings. There was a little country village twelve miles away, and my colleague said we would open up there. He said to me: "You go on down to Greentown and begin meetings on Thursday night. Preach Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday night, and preach twice on Sunday, and by that time you will be ready to set the meetings in motion and I will come down 284 THOBURN AND INDIA on Tuesday." I went away very glad, because it was my first chance to have the responsibility of conducting a meeting. I went down to that little village, and said to myself that I did not really know those people, and must know them before I could do much in the way of preaching to them. So I decided to visit the whole town and to pray in every house where they would let me pray, and proceeded to do so. It was a little awkward at first, but I soon learned the trade. I would begin the conversation about something or other and bring around the subject of religion, and after a while I would ask if they would let me pray with them. It was a little trying for a boy — I was a beardless youth then — yet I found that I was making headway. There was one house where they would not let me pray, but only one. There was a Roman Catholic woman in the village and I had not the slightest trouble in winning her favor. I remember well the good woman, who was pretty well known in the town. I went in and said, "I understand you are Irish." "O yes." "Well," I said, "everybody else in the village is Pennsylvania Dutch, and you and I make up the Irish part of the community. I am an Irishman, too." And so I was — that is, my parents were. And I still often tell people the same thing. Well, that woman had never gone to a Protestant place of worship except on funeral occasions. I got her to come, with no trouble at all. I was thinking that by the time my colleague got AFTER-DINNER RESPONSES 285 down we would get things stirred. Saturday night came around and the house was full. I said, "If any persons here would like to have us pray for them, personally and specially, I wish they would just indicate it to us by rising." There was a lady right in front of me, about five seats away, w r ho stood up. Her husband had risen away back by the door, but she did not know it. Everybody was startled. They were among the leaders of fashion in all that part of the country, and persons who seemed to be recognized as irreligious — and here was the wife in front and the husband farther back, and both of them rising to get us to pray for them. Well, the end of it was that the revival was "on," was in actual progress. By this time I had learned one thing: that every time I had gone into one of those houses Jesus Christ had gone with me. I believed that. I had no doubt of it then, and I have no doubt of it now. It was a real presence in very deed. I believed that he was there, and while I was try- ing to represent him, exactly the same thing was going on that used to go on in the land of Judea, when Jesus was here in this world. And I assumed as a matter of course that he would attend to the work if I would do my part of it. By Monday the whole town understood what was going on, and Monday night when I asked persons to come forward for prayers we could not get room for those who came in the little church. When my colleague came down the next day, expecting 286 THOBURN AND INDIA that we had probably got ready to begin work, he seemed almost dazed. He could not realize that no preparation was needed, and that we had only to march up and take possession of the land. Now, that is all there is about it, as far as my work goes. From that time on I learned this lesson and that lesson about how things were to be done, but all there has been in it, and all there is in it to-day, as I believe and know, is the supreme fact that Jesus Christ is with me. It is a partnership. Whatever I do in his name, he becomes responsible for seeing that the right result is reached ; that is all. In this spirit I went out to India. I knew that Jesus Christ had laid his pierced hand on my head, and had set me apart to go to India in his name. The story is too long to tell at this late hour, but what I tell you now represents the fact. I knew that. Though I sometimes believe God called me with his Spirit so that I was in a somewhat abnor- mal condition spiritually, I never yet had what we call a Christian experience that seemed to me to be exactly the right thing; but I learned that the only way to have an experience that you can depend upon at all is to just simply cling to Jesus Christ, and remember that he has said, "I will never forsake thee." And so as the years went by I became per- fectly certain that after I had been moved by the Spirit of God to go and open a new mission, if I went I should not go alone. And so when the word came to me, "Go down to Rangoon and preach there, and when the people are converted organize AFTER-DINNER RESPONSES 287 them into a church and set things going," I went down to that town seven hundred and fifty miles away, and took a colleague with me who was a good singer, and who was able to help in the preach- ing. The Baptists gave us the use of their chapel, and a good man from England took me in and entertained me. After I had been there about a day a man came in and as I looked up he said, "You do not seem to know me." "No, I do not know you." He said, "I thought you would know me. You have seen me before; I am one of the men you prayed with on Thursday evening up in Calcutta." I said, "I pray with people every day, and I do not recall that particular occasion." He said, "I thought you would remember it because we were both drunk." I then remembered. He continued, "It impressed us that you would pray with us when we were drunk; and when I came down here and heard that you were here it struck me that you might have no money and I have come round to offer you some." Well, I hadn't much money in those days; I had no salary from the Missionary Society, and I gladly accepted his offer. Y'ou may think that I was letting myself down, that I would lose the respect of the people when I let myself be supported by wandering drunkards! Not at all. If you begin to think of your fellow men in that way you will never do them any good at all. A man may happen to be drunk, or he may be a drinking man, but I must regard him simply as my brother. At the utmost he is a sinner, and so 288 THOBURN AND INDIA am I. Whenever we get so that we are troubled about the people around us being wicked we are not going to do them any good at all. Paul at his best said, "Among all this whole host of sinners I am the biggest — 'of whom I am chief.' " I did not make any ado about it; I just simply said, "Thank you, I will take your money," and he was the first man to join the Methodist church in that town. And that is the kind of material we put into the foundation of a Christian empire over there. Never put a man aside because he is not influential in the community. Never despair of the conversion of a drunkard, whether man or woman — and a great many women were drinking there. Never draw lines. Never adopt complex methods. Do not allow a choir to run away with your judgment. That is an immense question. I am afraid that the choir in the modern church in the United States of America has usurped a more prominent place than belongs to it, and you are depending more on your music than you are on your preaching for getting the people to come to church. But you will never save the people of these United States by that pro- ceeding. You may keep your congregation as large as that of the Presbyterian church across the way, or the Baptist church on the next street — they are all about alike in this matter — but that is not going to save a nation. Music will take its rightful place if you let the Lord Jesus Christ determine the char- acter of the service. And remember always that he is standing there, and while nobody sees him, AFTER-DINNER RESPONSES 289 still he is looking at you and at the audience with an eye of flame. And he is not going to give you any great, overwhelming spiritual sensation, that some people call an outpouring of the Spirit, for the mere sake of startling the crowd. He will do just as he has done before. He has not changed. Yesterday, to-day, and forever he is the same. He is walking in every place to-day just as he did when he was here in this world, and you will learn after a while that when you go out on his errands you can catch his hand and walk beside him as you would walk beside any friend. There will be no great sensation, no great spir- itual flurry, there will be no great and sudden over- flow of joy such as we used to hear so much about in our meetings. It is business. It is divine busi- ness. Give God a place in the midst. Great times are at the door. This world is going to be saved. We have not any conception at all of the great work out yonder. I have again and again found myself with right in front of me, on the ground, under the trees, two thousand, three thou- sand, or four thousand men and women — and it is a wonderful thing that there are both men and women, because they never before met in the same assembly at all. Here they were, husbands and wives, mothers and daughters, fathers and sons. And I would talk to them just as I am talking to you, trying to make them understand what it is to be Christians. "Have you received the Spirit yet ?-" That is what they always say. They never say, 290 THOBURN AND INDIA "Are you converted?" — never. One will say to the other, "How long have you been a Christian ?" "I was baptized three weeks ago last Monday." "Have you received the Spirit yet?" And when they say they have received the Spirit they mean exactly what the Methodist convert means when he says here, "The Lord has converted my soul." And when you go and talk with him you will find that what the poor fellow means is this : He will say, "I love Christ now as my Saviour. I did not know anything about that before." And he will tell you, perhaps, that he feels that his sins are forgiven, or he may tell you, instead of that, that he simply now loves God, and that he prays anew, and it is all real to him. We can teach those poor fellows, and they develop into men. And then we begin to license some of them as exhorters in the old Methodist style, and next we promote them to be local preach- ers. We have two classes of local preachers ; and by and by we take them into the Annual Conference, and then some of them are put in charge of cir- cuits. And with God's blessing we are developing some splendid men, men who bring things to pass, men who understand the whole business of establish- ing the kingdom of God in the hearts of men. And that is all there is to it. Perhaps you have been expecting me to tell you a great deal more in the line of wonders. The great wonder is that we have reached a people who are so poor, so ignorant, so dense in their ideas. I say AFTER-DINNER RESPONSES 291 the great wonder is that we have been able to reach them at all. And the fact that I have seen eight hundred women in one body, all Christians; that I have seen perhaps a thousand men with their wives in one assembly — the fact that we have reached such a point as that indicates that God is doing great things. Now they are going to come by the thousands, those poor people that our friend, Dr. Janvier, spoke about to-day, those Chumars, the low-caste people — and there are millions of them, practically of the same kind. We have received thousands from those different classes of low- caste peoples. I know now of six different places where we have bodies of men who are offering themselves as candidates for Christian baptism, numbering from five to ten thousand each, and we might just as readily as not have ten thousand con- verts in each place, which would be sixty thousand a year, and it would not surprise me if it were more. We must make up our minds to accept the fact that God means Jo save the world, and if so, we must learn how to count by the million. We must do it, and not be frightened by a mere row of figures. I must confess, how r ever, that many good men and women think I am too sanguine. They have grave doubts. They fear that the ignorant converts may corrupt the Church. It has been said to me, "Don't you see that the whole thing is bringing into the Christian Church a class of people who do not understand what they are doing, and after a while we shall have a dreadful state of things here?" 292 THOBURN AND INDIA I see it, of course, but I see this also, that we are bringing these people to the feet of Jesus Christ; and as this world is to become a Christian world, there must be a time coming, and coming soon, in which Jesus Christ will meet these people in the power of the Holy Spirit by thousands, and tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands, and millions, for he means to save the world. When you say there has never been anything like this in history, I admit it ; of course there has not. But, as Brother Janvier said a while ago, things are changing for the better. The opportunities are different and they will be a great deal better. And by and by there will come along here a man who will say, "They say there used to be an old missionary around here, whom you knew as Brother Thoburn, and he used to be happy when they would gather up statistics and show that they had made as many as fifteen or sixteen thousand converts in twelve months, but now we have as many as that in one week." That is the kind of talk some of you will hear. And then there will come beyond that a still larger number. I cannot go on talking to you. You are dear, good, blessed people, and the Lord loves you, and will reward you for all your kindness and goodness, but some of you will live to see grander things than I have ever seen, or even dreamed of. AN ADDED WORD Of the eight missionaries who accompanied Bishop Thoburn, one, J. R. Downey, died before AFTER-DINNER RESPONSES 293 reaching his station in India. He was the youngest of the five brethren, but seemed to be in good health and gave promise of a successful career in the mis- sion field. But his death before reaching his station in India illustrated the mysterious ordering of God's providence. One was taken, and the rest left. Of the eight survivors, two are left in India : Dr. James Walter Waugh, an alumnus of Allegheny College, and Mrs. L. S. Parker, the widow of the late Bishop E. W. Parker, who not only survives but whose name is found on the list of effective missionaries. Dr. Waugh is living in retirement at Naini Tal, while Mrs. Parker is at the station to which she was appointed at the last session of the North India Women's Conference. It is worthy of note that in this company which sailed in 1859 wer ^ two young men who lived to become pioneer missionary bishops. Dr. Waugh holds the honorable record of being the founder of our first missionary press, and con- sequently of our publishing work in India. It has often been remarked that no company of mission- aries that has been sent by our Church to India has rendered more notable service than the brethren and sisters who sailed by the ice ship Boston in 1859. Perhaps it ought to be explained that fifty years ago not only India, but nearly all the Orient, depended for its ice supply upon sailing ships which were transformed into so many ice houses, and carried before the winds to the chief cities of the tropical world. Princeton Theological Seminary 'Libraries 1 1012 01218 3176