,1 1\« mo\osu,i . m,. \^, PRINCETON, N. J. WiC.J6n/e^/ /n "f'nr^^^l^^ ^. J. JtA^ , ^S), Shelf.. BV 2391 .L7 1383a v. 2 Centenary conference on the Protestant missions of the Report of the Centenary ,. ron.f prpurp nry th REPORT y ■ OF THE CENTENARY CONFERENCE THE PROTESTANT MISSIONS OF THE WO ELD, HELD IN EXETER BALL {JUNE 9th -19th), LONDON, 1888. EDITED By THE KEY. JAMES JOHNSTON, F.S.S., Secretanj of the Conference ; AUTHOR OF " A CENTURY OF CHRISTIAN PROGRESS ; " " OUR EDUCATIONAL POLICY IN INDIA ; "abstract and ANALYSIS OF VICE-EEGAL COMMISSION ON EDUCATION," ETC., ETC., ETC. VOL. II. LONDON : JAMES NISBET & CO., 21, BERNERS STREET, W. 1888. Printed by Hazel), Watson, <& Viney, Ld., London and Ayleslmry. CONTENTS OF VOL. 11. PART IV. MEETINGS OF MEMBERS IN SECTION. First Session. PAGE MISSIONARY METHODS— (1) TJie Agents 3 Second Session. MISSIONARY METHODS— (2) Modes of Working .... 27 Third Session. MISSIONARY METHODS— (3) 2?mZ;«y zwf/t ^^^ Etist London, an Institution for training and helping into the foreign field young men who desired to be Missionaries. We subsequently added a country branch of the Institute, and later on a Training Home for Deaconesses. During these fifteen years we have dealt "with more than three thousand volunteers for Missionary work, have received on probation betw'een eight and nine hundred, have trained and sent out five hundred Missionaries, and have now about a hundred students in the Institute. Our plan is to give the students, where they require it, preliminary secular instruction in the country branch, and then practical training in East London, including Missionary, Evangelistic, Linguistic and Medical departments. All our students receive from a qualified medical man the training of the ambulance corps, the results being tested by a public examination. The deaconesses, in certain instances, are sent for three months to live in hospitals, where maternity cases are treated. Students going to Africa receive instruction in the treatment of tropical fevers, and where there has been special fitness we have given students the advantage of a four years' medical course in the London Hospital. In almost every case these have become qualified medical men, and are now in the Mission-field. The time spent by students in the Institute has varied according to their age and needs. Our system has been an elastic one. We have tried to give to each the help he or she was capable of receiving, and to introduce each to the sphere in which we saw they could best do good Gospel service. The results have not disappointed us. We have received men of all nationalities and all classes, as well as of all Evangelical denominations. We have trained them for all countiies, and former students are now working in connection with between twenty and thirty Societies and Organisations, while many of them have founded new and independent Missions. As a rule they have done well, and given much satisfaction in the Missions they have joined. There are exceptions. Every rule has such, but we thank God on remembrance of the great majority of them. Allow me, in conclusion, to summarise what I have said, and to emphasise certain points. First, we agree most thoroughly with our highly esteemed and respected friend, Dr. Tierson, in his published opinion that " if we would largely increase the Missionary force we must in some way lessen the time and cost of preparing the average workman. ... A most formidable barrier to the work of evangelisation is that, even where botli men and money may be obtained it takes too long a time Summary of ^ud too costlv a culturc to train the average workman; Paper. and this one obstacle often overtops all others, and is practically unsurmouutable. . . . There ought to be a change in our ecclesiastical tactics ; our system of training for the Mission-field must be more flexible, and more economical of time and money, or DISCUSSION. 13 we cannot send workmen into the great world-field in adequate numbers." Without any rigidly uniform system of training we must encourage every willing soul to do the work for which he or she is best fitted, and endeavour further to fit each for their pro- posed sphere of labour, and we must shorten and simplify the course of training. Secondly, no candidates whatever should be accepted for train- ing save spiritually-minded men and women, possessed of good health, good common sense, devoteduess to God's service, and a Divinely indicated call to the work. Thirdly, such persons should be thoroughly tested, and carefully trained. Their training should be adapted to develop the unworldly spiritual character which Missionary work requires. It should always be adapted to the individual case. All Missionary students should be trained in laborious and self-denying habits, and exercised in evangelistic work among our own lapsed masses, especially open- air preaching. Lastly, every Missionary student should be furnished with the practical instructions of the Ambulance Corps, as to how to deal with the accident cases ; while those who are preparing for labour in Central Africa and other parts of the world, where no qualified medical aid is to be had, should receive, in addition to other teach- ing, special medical instruction of an elementary and practical nature, and in those instances where there is marked aptitude aud desire for it, the Missionary student should have the advantage of a full medical course. DISCUSSION. Rev. A. Merensky (Superintendent, Berlin Missionary Society) : Brethren and sisters, — I have very little to say on the subject before us, because Avhat I wanted to say has been stated in such an able way by the readers of the Papers. I have only to express my thanks that this very important subject has been brought before this Missionary Conference. Great stress has been laid upon the want of men and upon the want of money, but I believe that if the Lord would grant us the men the money would be forthcoming, and I believe that we shall not obtain the men who are fully up to the work if we do not follow the commandment of our Lord Jesus Christ when He said, " Pray the Lord of the harvest that He may send foith labourers into His harvest." If we bring this matter before Him in prayer, with all our power, the Lord will give us fit men for the purpose. I beg to state that the leading German Societies have adopted Educated men. the principles mentioned by Mr. Barlow. Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, D.D. (Philadelphia, U.S.A.) : Mr. Chairman, and friends, — It was at Mr. Guinness's personal request that I consented to say a few words at this stage of the Conference upon this most interesting and vital topic. I have been placed in circumstances which have compelled 14 MISSIONARY METHODS — (1) THE AGENTS. me to give a great deal of time and study to the subject of the training of Ministerial and Missionary candidates, and I have a very deep and pro- found conviction that there are some radical errors that lie at the basis of GUI' whole system of Missionary training. I want especially to say that I believe that a prolonged course of merely hterary and intel- ?adei^ lectual Culture is in most cases fatal to a thoroughly spiritual and evangelistic career ; that the separation of a student from practical contact with human souls in direct spiritual woi*k prepares him to go through the rest of his life with a chronic or at least intermittent chill, and if the chill happens to be accompanied with any fever alternating with it, it is only the fever of an intellectual enthusiasm, which has little or none of the glow of the Holy Spirit ; that the effect of the college and even of theological Ministerial training is oftentimes simply to stimulate a worldly type of ambition, which sends men into the Christian field of Missionaiy or of Ministerial labour, ambitious to produce highly intel- lectual and elaborate literary essays which have little or none either of Gospel truth or of the aroma of the Gospel. Therefore I wish to empha- sise with all the intensity of conviction that which Mr. Guinness so admir- ably presented this morning, that there should be, together yan w -^^.j^j^ intellectual training and college or seminary life, personal contact with the lost. If a man is not ready to preach the Gospel any- where, he is fit to pieach it nowhere ; and the reason why I would send men down into contact with the lowest classes is, that if they can reach the lowest they can reach the highest ; but it does not always follow that if they can reach the highest they can reach the lowest. Daniel Webster is said to have affirmed that thoie is always room at the top. I venture to join issue with my distinguished Ameiican fellow- countryman by saying that that is the very place where there is not any room. Society is a pyiamidal structure, and there is room for only one stone at the top, but there is plenty of room at the bottom. The broad basis of the pyramid of society is that to which we must first of all dili- gently, carefully, and piayerfully look. If that be not a sound and well laid basis the whole pyramid of society is in danger of sinking and being destroyed. Therefore I say that to send a man down to work in the slums among the outcast classes will test his consecra- tion ; it will test whether he is after souls, or after salaries and places and positions of emolument and of honour and distinction. If a man can reach the lowest classes in our great cities successfully, so far as that test can be applied, he can reach that class in any community in which God may place him. I would also emphasise open-air preaching. I have never heard so much said as I think ought to be said in favour of extemjjoraneous modes of presenting the Gospel. The fact is, dear friends, that you may put in an essay form a gieat deal that seems pi'ofound only because it is muddy. If you are obliged to speak without notes and extemporaneously, yo\ir ^-idihi'" train of thoughts must be so carefully laid out as that it can 'be correctly and distinctly preserved in your own memory, and in th.at case it will be likely to be plain enough and simple enough to be remembered by your audience. But that which you may reduce to writing, or which a man may read from paper, may be neither very intelligible to himself nor to anybody that hears him. Then again I wish to say — and I think every word ought to be weighed, and as far as possible we ought to DISCUSSION. 15 speak very briefly on these topics — I believe that if a man is a thoroughly consecrated man it will go far to supply to some extent even the original lack of common sense; for we are told that we ^°^^aiote°'* shall have from the Holy Ghost the spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind. Brethren, there is no genius in the world that is equal to the genius of love ; there is nothing that is so inventive ; nothing that is so fertile ; nothing that has such grand conceptions and inceptions of all noble spii'itual work for Christ, I believe we ought to emphasise with Missionary candidates, what our blessed Lord said — " If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." We have a kind of familiar and informal way of saying that life is full of daily crosses ; but there is no Scripture for any such perversion of that phrase of Christ's. There is only one cross, and that is the cross of volun- tary self-martyrdom, and he who is to become a winner of souls must take up once for all, and daily carry after Christ, that cross on which he is crucitied unto the world and the world unto him. Rev. W. McGregor (English Presbyterian Mission, Amoy): Mr. Chairman, and Christian friends, — I think there is entire unanimity in this meeting with regard to everything that has been said both by the readers of the papers and by the speakers as to the spiritual qualifica- tions of those who should engage in Mission work. Experience f^fi'^t^^ in the Mission-field soon teaches anyone that it is no use to send there a man who himself has not yet fully learned what Gospel it is he is to preach to the heathen. He must himself have felt the power of the Spirit of God in his own heart : he must himself have known what it is to have sin forgiven, if he is to preach a Saviour or Redeemer to the heathen in China or anywhere else. With regard then to the spiritual qualifications of men we are all agreed. With reference also to the value and the exceeding importance of practical ti'aining in work at home and in public speaking in the open air, I think all Missionaries will agi-ee with what has been said. I feel, how- ever, that mental training, mental culture, is of great importance. I believe that the Church at home ought to be taught and ought to know that she is not to rest satisfied with ofiering for Christ's work in the Mission-field that which she is not prepared to employ intellectual at home. The example of Christ, of the Apostles, and of the Early Church has been referred to. It is not unusual to speak of the Apostles as uneducated fishermen ; but we have been reminded to-day that they were not uneducated ; they themselves were trained by our Lord apart from what education they had before ; and I think it would argue some hardihood in anyone to stand up and say that the writer of the Gospel of John was an illiterate and uneducated man. And apart from this, who was it that was sent to be the Apostle to the heathen ? When God himself chose from the Apostles a man who was to ^® Apostles. be specially set apart to labour among the heathen. He did not choose any of those original Apostles who lived and laboui-ed with our Saviour ; their work lay chiefly among their own countrymen, and the man who was chosen to go forth into Heathendom, and there carry the message of salvation, to those who knew nothing of God, or Christ, was a man who had all the learning that Judaism could give him added to the culture that Greece could supply. The Apostle Paul was not an illiterate man, 16 MISSIONARY METHODS — (1) THE AGENTS. and I feel that for iis here met together to say anything that might imply that the Church had discharged her duty to Christ, when she had sent forth those who were scarcely qualified to serve her best purposes at home, would be to make a very great mistake indeed. With regai'd to labour in heathen lands, let me say it is not an easy matter to preach the Gospel to a heathen audience in such a way as to secure their attention, to make them really understand what you are aiming at, heathendiffic^iilt ^^^ Carry home a conviction of the truths you wish to preach. To stand up in a crowd here in London, a chance crowd, gathered from all quarters, and to preach the Gospel effectively, so as to secure their attention, and to carry- home the truths to their hearts, is not an easy matter ; but it is still more difficult in a heathen land. You have there a people Avho do not under- stand the language you speak — I mean that the truths you speak of, are so entirely new to them that they invariably attach other senses than the correct one, to that which you are saying, and therefore it needs a man with adaptability — with great ability to realise the intellectual position of the people to whom he is speaking — to accommodate himself to them, and to realise in every way what . . effect the wordsheisusing will produce. Although an uneducated man, loaeneeded.'' without much literary training, if he is a man of superior ability, and has the gi-ace of God in his heart, may, under such circumstances, discharge his duty fully and effectually, yet caterisi parihiis it is to be expected that the man who has had some literary training will, under such circumstances, be better fatted to adapt himself to the condition of those among whom he is placed. And I tliink that the experience of those who have laboured in heathen lands will go with me, when I say, that they have in their own observation seen that this is so— that the men who have had more of the preliminary training have greater versatility and adaptability in their intercourse with those with whom they come in contact in heathen lands. But tlie thing that I feel in my heart most strongly is that which I have already alluded to, that for ns as a Mission Conference, met together to speak of the work among the heathen and the men to be sent thither, to Missionaries to ^^J anything that should lead the Church of Christ to suppose be equal to that she lias discharged her duty to Christ by sending Ministers. forth men less qualified to preach the Gospel than those she employs to preach the Gospel to congregations at home, would be to make a very great mistake. It has been said that the great difliculty is the fewness of the Missionaries we have to send. With all this I fully agree, but our duty is not on that account to lower the qualifications of the men who are to be sent. We are to seek to roiise the Churcli of Christ to realise the claim that Christ has upon His Church to send forth her best men, and to send them forth in large numbers. Christ gave Himself for the Church, and died for our salvation ; shall we deny Him the best we have to offer ? Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, of the China Inland Mission (after a short prayer) ; I fully believe, my Christian friends, in the woids of the last speaker, that we must not lower the standard of Missionary service. I think we want to laise it immensely. I believe in the Holy Ghost, and in the power of the Holy Ghost. We have been too much satisfied with men who have not had to a large degree the power of the Holy Ghost. I speak for my.self . Many years I spent in spiritual work in China, in w^hich I Avas oftener hungry The Spirit's than Avell fed, oftener thirsty than overflowing. We want a power and higher standard of Holy Ghost power in all our Missionary prayer. servants if they are to do the work of the Church efl^ectually. Then again, we want to have more belief in the power of prayer. We have DISCUSSION. 17 been reminded of this again and again. Let us go to the right quarter for our Missionaries. Not to the plough or to the anvil, not to the univer- sity or the forum, but to the great Head of the Church. " Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that He will thrust forth labourers into His harvest;" and depend upon it He will select the right men and the right women. He knows where they are, and who they are, and it is at the peril of the Church if she refuse them. And we must not spoil them when we have got them. I have sometimes taken a piece of chalk pencil, and have thought that I would improve the point, and have tried to do it, at the expense of breaking the chalk off. There are many spoiled by training; the training was not training that helped them, but training that injured them. I have met with many Missionaries, and that not merely in one land, who have regretted the loss of fervour and gpoiiej ^^ zeal that they experienced during their academic course. We improved by must not despise academic training. Thank God we have in Naming, the China Inland Mission some noble men who have not been spoilt, but improved by it ; but I do think we want to take into account that all are not improved by it. When the Holy Spirit comes down upon a man and gives him a sense of His call, we want to set ourselves to ascertain, "Is it a real call?" This should be the first point. Mr. Guinness has spoken of some of the disqviali- fications for Missionary service. I do not believe that those who are called have these disqualilications. I should rather think that their having these disqualifications was evidence of a want of call. If thei'e is ev^idence of the call we have very few other questions to ask. Let me say briefly that the world is just where it was when the Lord Jesus Christ gave His command. Missionary work is not one whit harder now than it was then, and not one whit easier now than it was then. The Holy Ghost's power sufficed then, and nothing else will sulfice now. Nothing more is needed, and if the Lord Jesus should call by His Spiiit the most illiteiate man and send that illite- rate man forth. He can do a mighty work by him, perhaps because he is illiterate, and God Himself will have the glory. God will not give His glory to another, and we must take care that we do not do anythinc>- that Avill rob God of His glory. And when we have found men who are really called of God, let us see that they give evidence of the call at home. We do not put down, in our selection of candidates for China, any particular level of education or ability Dj^jug pg^y that men must have, but we do look out and see that they are men evidence of. whom the Holy Spirit has used in soul winning. A voyage across the Indian or Pacific Ocean will not make a man a soul winner. If God has used him for soul winning at home, my experience is, that He will be a soul winner abroad, and that if He has not used him at home. He will not use him abroad. Therefore it is so important to have proof of the call in the -spork that has been done at home. One word with regard to the Medical C[ualifications. Twenty years ago my own opinion was very much what has been expressed here, that all Mis- sionaries should have a limited measure of Medical training. I have now come to the opposite opinion. I think it is a profound mistake to give a person just a smattering of Medical knowledge. I have seen many good Missionaries spoiled, and very few really benefited ^o be thorou^^h^ by it. Let us have Medical Missionaries. God will lay His hand upon them when they are fully qualified, if you will ask Him. You will not have the expense of training them; God will train them, and VOL. II. 2 18 MISSIONARY METHODS — (1) THE AGENTS. give you plenty of them, if you -will only have them, and put them in the right position. God will answer your prayer with regard to Medical Missionaries, but let us not spoil a good evangelist by making a poor doctor of him. There are others who wish to speak, and I will only say that I would with all my heart seek to impress upon our dear friends present the supreme importance of having the guidance of the Holy Spirit as to the selection of the woi-kers ; and when the Holy Ghost gives the call, again I say, it is at our peril if we refuse the men or spoil them. Rev. G.E.Post, M.D. (Syrian Protestant College, Beyrout) : Asa Medical Missionary of twenty-five years standing I want to give my emphatic con- firmation to the last sentiment with regard to Medical men. I am opposed , toto coelo to sending quacks to a Mission-field. We want either ^ ' well-educated Missionaries, or else men that make no pretence to know anything of medicine. I have seen the evil of it. I have studied the question for twenty-five years, and I say again send us intelligent Medical men, or else send us men that make no pretence to Medical science, and have no intention of carrying out Medical practice. There was one remark made by a previous speaker to which I must take exception from the practical standpoint. If I understood him rightly he said that the qualifi- cation of music is an aid to acquiring a foreign language, I can only appeal to my personal experience. I cannot sing a note, but I delivered a lecture in the Arabic language after being five months in the country, and I preached an extempore sermon at the end of nine months. With regard to the general question of qualification, I am on both sides of that question. I am quite prepared to defend to the last all the positions taken up here. I believe we want men of the grade of city ^^gradM.**^ *^ Missionaries, and street preachers ; I believe we want farmers and blacksmiths ; I believe we want men who are simple prac- tical printers, and who carry out a knowledge of type-setting, type-casting, cutting on wood and steel and copper, and electrotyping, and along with these things the Spirit of Christ. For every man who enters Missionary work, must be imbued with the Spirit of Christ. I believe we want men who will engage in translating, but I differ from the sentiment uttered here that every Missionary should sooner or later expect to be a translator. I believe it is a waste of time and talent to expect hom"* that ; just as it would be a waste in this land. We do not expect everybody here to be a Greek and Hebrew scholar ; we do not want every Minister here to be a good translator of the Scriptures ; we do not expect him to understand every intricacy of Biblical geography and aroh£eology. There are some whose gifts are simply evangelistic ; there are some whose gifts lie in translating ; there are some teachers and some preachers, and some who have the gifts of healing. We want them all. We want to fill the Mission world with just such candidates as you want in the Church at home. There is room for them all. No man can say, " I have no call because I am not an effective street preacher." No man can say, " I have no call because I am not an effective extem- pore speaker." No man can say, " I have not a call because I am not a speaker at all." He can go with his deft fingers and place the type in order and do a work in printing which shall perhaps be greater than that of the greatest of living preachers. I want this one thought to be imprinted upon the minds of my brethren and sisters here, that there is room in the Mission -field for every talent, so that it be consecrated by the Spirit of prayer and by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. DISCUSSION. 19 Rev. H. Grattan Guinness : I wish to utter just a simple sentence by- way of explanation. It has been our privilege to send out at least one hundred Missionaries to Africa. Some of these have gone into . j,^,. j. • - c3 Adapt training the centi-e of that great country, one thovisand three hundred to miles from the coast. These Missionaries had nolens volens to ''"•cumstanoes; practise medicine to some extent ; that is to say they had to give certain remedies in cases of fever, and to take them too, and to attend to certain simple surgical cases. For example, Captain Hoare who is connected with the London Missionary Society, and who was trained in our Institute, had on one occasion even to pei'form amputation to save life, and he had to do it with a penknife. It was an amjiutation of the arm, and was success- ful. Now in order to help these Missionaries — I am referring not to China, but to Afi'ica, — it is our practice, and we found it very useful, to give to every one of our students, first of all, special instruction in connection with the Ambulance Corps, which is a very simple thing and a thing that every one would be the better for. Then we give special instruction to our women Missionaries. We send them to hospitals for training in treating maternity cases. Many of them, in times of Nature's trial, their own or others, may be in isolated positions, far away from Medical help. Then we give full Medical instruction to certain Missionaries — a complete Medical course. Rev. L. Dahle (Secretary, Norwegian Missionary Society) : I must begin by asking your forbearance, since I am at a disadvantage in speak- ing in a foreign tongue. The subject we are discussing is the qualifications of Missionaries for their work. The subject seems to me to jj-^^^ , , fall under three heads. There are some qualifications that I acquired would call natural ; others that are qualifications of grace ; and qualifications. a third class consist of qualifications to be acquired by study. As to the FIRST class, I think we have to lay a good deal of sti'ess on these qualifications of nature. Under this class I would reckon a good strong frame — a good physical condition of life. It is no use sendino- out men that you have to send home again next year. It is no use sendino- out men for whom you have to send a nurse or a Medical man to attend them by the next mail. We want men who can rough it, men who can stand years of work in a tropical country. Having been a Missionary myself continuously for eighteen years without going home, in a country like Madagascar, I have had some experience on this point But not only do we want this class of men ; we go in for men of energy. Learn- ing is a most useful thing, but energy is quite as useful, and quite as necessary for a Missionary. I have seen men sent out to Mission work, very pious men, and when you saw them you thought you saw living saints. ^^°*^ without But they were not successful. You cannot go with folded hands ^"^''^y- through a heathen country as a Missionary, and only look up towards heaven. You will have to look round about you sometimes, and have tact and common-sense at your fingers' ends, or you will be worth nothing. A very important thino- in a Missionary is that he should have the ability to attract people, and not frighten them. That is a special gift that cannot be -^-ttractive acquired if you have not got it by nature. You see it sometimes P"^®*"- when a man goes into a house where there are a lot of children. They will go to one man and not to others. They will feel attracted by one man and not by others. You cannot tell exactly what the special feature is in the man who attracts them — but so it is, they are attracted by one more than by the otlicp* Now the Missionary ought to be, above all, an attractive man to the natives- 20 MISSIONARY METHODS — (1) THE AGENTS. Then if we turn to the second class of gifts, the gifts of grace, I think we all agree that if a man has not got the Spiiit from above, the unction from the living God, if he has not felt in his own Gifts of iieart that burning love to God that makes him willing to ^'^^'^" sacrifice himself entirely for the sake of God, he ought never to leave his native shore, and go abroad as a Missionary, As to the THiKD class, I am glad to find my opinions stated in the first paper read to us this morning, at least in all the essential points, and also by some of the later speakers. But there are some few points on which I difier a little from them. There is no doubt that the Apostles were sent out with a training which we should not call very perfect from Apostles and college Standpoint, but then they had quite a different their Mission. , 5 i,i i • n -.i Teacher from the teachers we have in our colleges— with all respect for those learned men. And not only that, but they had the Spirit of Pentecost in a fuller manner, different in degree fiom what we can expect now, and different in kind, although it is the same. They had not to go to foreign lands and learn a foreign tongue. They had to work within the Greek and Roman woi-ld. They lived in that world, and they knew a great deal beforehand what we now have to acquire by study. Finally, they were sent out as Apostles; those whom we can now send out are only Evangelists. With regard to the curricvilum of education, I agree generally with the first speaker, but let me say that I would not lay so much stress on the knowledge of the ancient languages. This is no doubt a very useful thing. I shall always be thankful to God for the iSs&ionMies ^i^tle smattering I have had of these languages. I have never found the knowledge to be too much in the Mission-field. You always feel that you want much more than you have got ; but stOl I have known Missionaries who have never seen a Greek, Latin, or Hebrew Grammar, and yet I know a case in one station where there are four or five thousand Christians, and a large number of school children, all the result of men of that character. That proves that it is not quite necessary under all circumstances to have a knowledge of the ancient languages. It depends on the position you intend to give a man in the Mission-field. Thei-e is a German proverb to the effect, that you want all kinds of nets for all kinds of fish, and I beheve that is true. If you were going to^hek work. *° place a man in a situation as a college tutor, or if you wei'e going to send him to take part in the translation of the Bible into a foreign tongue, or if you sent him out to fight with Mohammedans or Jews or learned Brahmans, then he would certainly want a fair amount of knoAvledge ; but if he is to work as an ordinary Missionary, among what the Germans would caU the Naturvblker — people whose minds are like a tabula rasa on which nothing is \mtten — he can do fairly well with a smaller amount of knowledge. Rev. J. Murray Mitchell, LL.D. (Free Church of Scotland) : I venture to think there is no essential difference on any important question that has this day been brought foiward. I certainly quite agree with every word that has been said so fervently by my friend Dr. Pieison and many others, in regard to the spiritual qualifications of Missionaries. Unless those spii-itual qualifications exist, the man is not called of Gcd to be a Missionary ; and we ought to see, as far as human beings can judge, that a DISCUSSION. 21 man is a Spirit-tautrht man. That must be regarded as absolutely essential. By all means, test Missionaries by bringing them into contact with home work. We heartily concede that many a devoted man has gone forth without any college training, who has done noble work for God. It is the same abroad as it is at home. IMultitudes are labouring with un^duLt^ed! heart and soul in the home field, wdio have never been at college ; but, being taught by the Spirit of God, they are largely blessed. I think the qualifications for Missionaries abroad are very much the same as those that are necessai-y for Ministers and workers at home. I cannot draw a distinction. But that being granted most heartily and fully, I think that, when we can get a man with mental training, there is a higher work that he is qualified to do in the foreign field. I cannot forget that Moses, " learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," was employed by God to do the mighty and devoted, work committed to him. When I name Paul — to whom reference has been made — Luther, Melanchthon, Calvin, Knox, Whitefield, Wesley, am I not mentioning the noblest names that are contained in the history of the Church ? But every one of them was a man of high education. And I remember, too, that John Wesley lays it down, that his preachers should be thoroughly trained in logic. He was himself thoroughly trained in logic, and I venture to say that his preaching told more in consequence of that than it would have told if he had not been versed in logic, and had consequently reasoned badly. Now let it be remembered that in such a land as India (I speak of the field which I know best) we have men of all grades of society, from savages up to men of the acutest intellects and the highest civilisation. ^^^^^^^^^.^ Therefore we require various classes of men to deal Avitli them. in India. I would not send a man, however earnest, however devoted, who had re- ceived no mental training, to argue with a Mohammedan Maulavi, or a highly-trained Brahman. I should think that I was doing injustice to the cause of truth. It would be like sending a man into the battlefield without his armour. Then be it remembered that the translation of the Word of God is a most important, but a most difiicult work. I have been engaged in it; and no work ever tried my head more than that of getting the very best expressions supplied by the native language for the truths Translation of which the Spirit of God has given in the Word. Are you then ^vriting books, to send out men who have no mental training to do that work ? God forbid, I say. Then, books are to be written. I have myself written not a few, and I believe if I had not gone to college I could not have* written so many ; at all events, they would not have been fitted to do the good that I trust they are doing. Therefore, dear friends, we can all agree that there are difierent positions in the heathen field, for which different intellectual qualifications are required. Spiritual qualifications are abso- lutely essential in every case; but in many cases — I do not say in all — college training, thorough, and the highest available, is also to be sought. Mr. Frederick Freeman : I should like to ask one question. Dr. Pierson and Mr. Guinness have both stated the need of getting men into the field without delay and Avithout cost. I am engaged in business, and I know many labourers who are earning their living in mercantile pursuits, and labouring in the Gospel in the open air at the East End and elsewhere, who would long to be fishers of men in foreign lands, but they do feel that 22 MISSIONARY METHODS — (1) THE AGENTS. it would be a blessed thing if they could abide in their calling and labour in the Gospel too. When one goes fishing one does not like to Mission wotk S° where there is a rod at every yard of the stream, but one prefers to go to the preserved portions. Just one word about training. When I was brought to the Lord, a quai'ter of a century ago, my first thought, after I knew that my sins were forgiven, — the first phrase of Scripture that came to me, within half an hour, was this, " The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." That was more than a quarter of a century ago. I was in a merchant's office when I was brought to the Lord. I afterwards went to Oxford, and I learned a good many things and took a degree, and four years in Oxford knocked out all thought of labouring in the Mission-field. It has taken ten or twenty years of sti'eet preaching to bring the desire back again. I know that in tropical climates like India and China, it is impossible to labour in your calling unless you are a specialist ; labour is so cheap. But this is not the case in many countries, like South America for example. I am thinking now especially of Roman Catholicism — of that land of Roman superstition — and I say that a man who is a printer, or a railway engineer, or a bank clerk, and who is living for Christ in the midst of a Roman Catholic people, will to priesthood. ^^^ ^^^^ *^® grace of God is not limited to the priesthood. Let me only throw out this one thought. You know that three hundred years ago to-day the Spanish Armada was crossing the Bay of Biscay, delayed by contrary winds, while England was gathering together and asking God to deliver us. Do we not remember that circumstance ? Now, dear friends, we are in danger to-day of a far greater invasion of Roman Catholicism and Kitualism — a far more desperate invasion than that was. The end of the Spanish Armada was that England went into the new world and won it from the Spaniards. Now let us carry the Gospel of the Lord Jesus into this new world which is to this very day under the superstition of Rome. Rev.E.W. Syle, D.D. (American Church Missionary Society, from Japan) : One of the prominent features of these meetings is that they are Conferences, and that we compare notes. All that I have to contribute this morning will be one or two remarks in confirmation of some things that have foreTgnfieids. ^^en said by othei'S. It is notewoithy that when the Gospel is sent to a people who have a literature and training, and philosophy, and various systems of false religion, — it is noteworthy that among them the early hei'esies develop themselves in their early order. First there is Arianism, and then Sabellianism. I shall not go into the reason of the case. Now that great doctrine of the Trinity does challenge the thoughts of men, — the pride of intellect and so on. I think this will be found to be the fact with regard to India ; I know it is with regard to China and also Japan. Now I would suggest that pai-t of the knowledge which every Missionary should have, who has any intellectual training Need of given to him, is the early history of what has taken place in the knowledge of Cliurch and in the world from the beginning. Thus he would Church history, i^g forewarned and forearmed. I remember a Missionary coming to a meeting with the rest of us, and telling us that his Chinese teacher had said a beautiful thing, namely, that the Father was the great God manifesting Himself in one way, the Son manifesting Himself in another, and the Spirit in another. That dear good Missionary did not know that that was Sabellianism; but he ought to have known it, and he DISCUSSION. 23 would have known it if he had had a training in the history of the Chinch from the beginning. Then there is another point which I must emphasise, the terrible calamity (there is no other word for it) of sending out a Missionary who has to be sent home again. The lack of certification before sending out a Mis- sionary is one of the most deplorable things in the past history ^^.^j^V^^j^**'^ of our Missionary experience. The Missionary goes out, he labours awhile and he finds himself mistaken ; his heart fails him, and, after lingering a little while to see whether he can recover himseLE or not, returns home. There has been a loss of a year of time and a year of expense. After coming and staying, he returns home an unhappy and dissatisfied man. He does not like to blame himself, he generally blames the Society. What the heathen think of him you can guess. They cannot understand it. I have said this only for the purpose of emphasising the great importance of certifying ourselves that those whom we assist to go forth are indeed those whom the Lord hath called. Then allow me to emphasise one other fact. We want all kinds of character in the Mission-field — Christian character ; and we want all kinds of talent — sanctified talent. We want the leader : what would the China Inland Mission have been without Mr. Taylor ? We want the translator : what would the Chinese Bible have been without Dr. Morrison ? We want the pioneer of schools : what would the education of India have been without Dr. Duflf? We want the Christian teacher ; we want the Christian nurse ; we want the colporteur ; we want every man to whom God has given his talent, whether it be one, or two, or five, or ten, to exercise his gift and be content with it. There is trouble, dear friends, and the trouble is this, that men are not content with the gifts which God has given them. I knew one Missionaiy who would have made an excellent colporteur ; he had active habits, he could learn a few words in the native language, and when he sold a Bible or a tract he could Content to use commend it, though it might be with a very imperfect pronunciation ^estfwed and with none of that musical tone which the Chinese language requires. But that was not enough for him ; he must have his own school and his own hospital, and this, that, and the other ; he must be a full-blown Missionary in every respect — in other words, a private in the army but with all the privileges of a general. Now, while we want men of all characters, we want men who are able to meet with and deal with the minds of acute and learned natives. We want men of training in logic, to which reference has been made, and training in the previous history of the operations of the '^or^morahT'^ human mind, so that, as has been remarked, when they return they may not be ashamed. One word more, dear friends. I see before me an ornamentation — it is the chrysanthemum of Japan. We have borrowed many artistic things from Japan, things that are now accepted on all hands. I must not branch out into this subject, which is one of significance ; but bear in mind that at this moment Japan is like a nation born in a day, demanding a religion, because they have found that even a morality without a religion has no basis that will stand. Rev. C. H. Bell, D.D. (Cumberland Presbyterian Church Board of Mis- sions, U.S.A.) : I merely wish to emphasise one point with regard to the last item in our morning's programme : " Ai-e Special Missionary Lectureships in schools and theological seminaries in Christian lands desirable 1" I wish to say, I would have a Professorship, not a mere Lectureship. Let there be men appointed to our colleges, ^"nissionsf °^ filled with the spirit of Missions ; let them instruct the youth, and then select the best men in our seminaries and send them 24 MISSIONARY METHODS — (1) THE AGENTS. abroad ; that is, of course, if the Holy Spirit has called them. We want our best men in the foreign field. In America the call comes to us even from the Western border, " Send us your best men ; keep your poor brethren at home, but send your strongest and most powerful workers to the foreign field." Rev. J. A. Taylor (Baptist Foreign Missionary Convention of the United States) : Mr. Chairman, ladies, and gentlemen, — It affords me no ordinary pleasure to stand in this august body and say a word in the interests of the spread of the Redeemer's kingdom in the woi'ld. I should not attempt to intrude upon you with any thought of mine, were it not for the fact that I represent a denomination or a people in this Conference who until recent years have appealed to historians in vain for a place in their records, and have had to rely on the recording angel for a place in the Book of Remembrance. As a coloured Baptist of the United States, I am pasted* here to represent the coloured Baptist Foreign Convention. They did not send me here because they thought I was able to give any instruction, but to receive information. After God had so wonderfully blessed us, we have begun to feel that He had preserved us and bestowed His mercy upon us, that we might be instruments in His hands of developing that grand country of Africa. I now come to the subject of discussion — Missionary methods and Mis- sionaries, their qualifications, mental and spiritual. I have been very much impressed with one or two sentences uttered by the first speaker, Mr, Barlow, who spoke of having Missionaries trained in one or more branches of industry. We have opened a Mission Station in West Central Africa, We have been labouring among the people there for about eight years. We have made mistakes, like all other young Missionary Societies, But as regards the idea advanced by Mr. Guinness, we are thoroughly satisfied that the first thing necessary is a call of God and a consecration to Missionaiy Avork. Without that, we feel that nothing added by intellectual ^"^esh-ed.°°^ training will ever make a man fit to lalDour among the heathen people. We aie not satisfied with requii-ing the intellectual qualifications. These are the things that I have been sent to gain informa- tion about at this Conference, with its varied experience, that I may be enabled to carry it back to our young organisation, Avhich is beginning to add its little drop to the great ocean of Missionary work, that it may be an humble instrument in the hand of God of bringing that long neglected people out of darkness into light and from the power of Satan unto God. Rev. James Calvert (Wesleyan Missionary Society, from Piji Islands): I was greatly gratified in hearing a Medical Missionary who has been in the work for a long time commend this full qualification for that important work. But I happen somehow or other to have had a diflerent experience from his, and I thought that variety might be helpful to us. I was much surprised to hear Mr. Hudson Taylor, a man of such vast experi- ence, carrying on such an extraordinary work, seeming to pooh-pooh a trifling Medical knowledge ; and then I was afraid that some might be sitting down under the terrifying epithet of " quacks " that was given to those who had not much knowledge. I thought that must mean myself. More than fifty knowledge'* years ago, when I was designated in London for a Foreign Mission, I useful. thought it well to get a little smattering of Medical knowledge. That was all that I could possibly gain, but I resolved to get as much as I could, and I begged a practical surgeon to be kind enough to come to my study DISCUSSION. 25 where I had asked other students who were designated for Mission work to join me, to give us some plain practical instructions with reference to disease and medicine. He did so ; and we obtained knowledge and a supply of medicines, books, tooth-drawing instruments, and other things, which were invaluable. We went abroad to a field where there was no Medical man within twelve hundred miles, and we were sometimes compelled to act Avhether we knew or not ; and we found that this small smattering of information that we had gained in no technical way, but just in a practical form, was of the utmost advantage to us. Of course many a time we had to guess, but better men than we have to guess a good deal, and I am thankful to say that we often guessed right. God blessed us in our Medical department ; and I hope that all Missionaries who go where there is no doctor at all will get as much knowledge as they possibly can. Rev. T. W. Drury (Principal of the Church Missionary College, Islington) : I think that one point on which we must be all agreed this morning, is that a Foreign Missionary must be pretty well an all round man. If we can manage to get our Missionary students to come up to all the requirements of this platform, we shall do very well indeed. But that is just where we are apt to make a mistake. I do not for a moment think that any Missionary Society has aimed too high in the education and training of its candidates. I will not give way " ^ ' on that point one jot or tittle. But I think that we may make the mistake of attempting to apply that training to each and every case. I think the practical suggestion with regard to that point is this, that all who are placed under training for Missionary work ought to be prepared, wherever they are being trained, to go out at any time for whatever work they may seem to be best fitted. When one enters into training in a college, it should not be with a certainty that he is to go on to the conclusion of the regular training course ; but he should be ready to go forth at such a time, and to such work, as those who have experience in training him ^"^^^y^t^jiy think best. I want to refer to one point in particular. We have ^^ " heard this morning hints thrown out, — and I am sure they are hints that must have touched the heart of many here, — with regard to those who are being trained for Missionary work ; I mean that the studies to which we put our young- men have a decided tendency to deaden their spiritual life, and unfit them to go out as hearty, enthusiastic workers for Christ to the heathen. I want to speak to that point. I do not for a moment deny, and I have had some experience in this matter, that there is a danger. But I wonder in what position you can place a young man where there will not be that danger. If you send out young men night after night to preach to crowds in London, you place those young men in very great danger with regard to their spiritual life, especially if you send them out unfitted and untrained for it, teaching others when they need a great deal more teaching themselves. I am not speaking against that for a moment, but I am asking where can you put a young man in these days without placing him in great danger? I have seen a gi'eat deal of this deadening process. I acknowledge it. But what I say is this : that those who are engaged in the training of these young men must not be disheartened, and must not give in. It need not be so. We need not lower the training which we give our men. We need not take them away from their studies, and send them out in a half-trained condition, simply because in some cases the training seems to have that effect. May I tell you what a student of mine said to me ? I said to him : " How is it that the work has been done?" And he answered : "By prayer and pains." He said ^y P^'^y^'' and that he had found sometimes when sitting at his work that he was not holding that communion with his God that he desired to hold, that then 26 MISSIONARY METHODS — (1) THE AGENTS. he would stop and kneel down and hold communion with God, and then go to work again, perhaps at a Hebrew grammar or some stiff work of another kind. " Thus," he said, " I regained my communion with God, and went on, and was refreshed in my work." I believe there are two safeguards. First, a very great care as to the devotional life of the college ; and, secondly, keeping the students in touch with outside work. If these two things are carefully guarded, eguar s. ^^^ .£ ^^^ danger is put before the students, I believe that the veiy danger we anticipate may be turned into a vantage ground, and may be a means of di-awing our students nearer to God by making them feel their weakness in this respect, and thus making the very hardest study a means of blessing. Lastly, our training is not only training, but it is testing. We have been speaking as though the training were merely training for work. Is it not far better, as I have heard it said, to burst a gun at Birmingham than to burst it out on the Afghan frontier ? Of course it is. And you may depend upon it that those men who are in the field, and are saying : " My college studies and my college ti-aining deadened my es ing e. gpjj.^^^j^j ]jjg^ g^j^^ drove all the Missionary spirit out of me," are the men who had not stood the test. [A voice : " They should have stayed at home."] Pi'ecisely. In this very trial we have a good way of testing whether they have real spiritual power to remain and stand firm to the end. Rev. Dr. Syle closed with prayer. MEETIN"GS OF MEMBERS m SECTION Second Session. MISSIONARY METHODS, (2) MODES OF WORKING. (a) The position of Foreign Missionaries as the chief agents in evangelistic and school work in heathen countries, and as the leaders and trainers of natives, (6) The relation of itinerant to settled Missions. (Monday afternoon, June 11th, in the Annexe.) Chairman, Rev. John Stoughton, D.D. Acting Secretary, Mr. B. Broomhall. Rev. J. F. Gulick offered j)rayer. The Chairman: My Christian friends, — It gives me very great pleasure to meet you this afternoon. I think this Conference is likely to be productive of very great and important results ; but very much will depend upon the manner in which these sectional meetings are conducted. Looking at the Conference as a whole, it appears to me that there are two great objects which we have in view. The first is to stimulate Missionary feeling, and the second is to Two objects in make practical observations as to the mode in which Conference, the work is to be carried on. I think we may compare the former, the production of Missionary feeling, to getting up the steam, and the sectional meetings, I apprehend, may be regarded as intended to improve the organisation, or the machinery, as much as possible. During the many years that our Societies have been at work, a great deal of information has been gained as to the best mode information of dealing with those whose spiritual welfare we are gained, seeking to accomplish. I see a variety of subjects which are specified for consideration at these meetings ; and with very great propriety the meetings to-day have reference to Missionary methods 28 MISSIONARY METHODS — (2) MODES OF WORKING. as they regard agents, and Missionary methods as they regard modes of working. I cannot say that I have ever had any practical know- ledge of the working of Missions, but I spent, some years ago, a little time in Syria, and there I was brought into contact School work. ^.^1^ American brethren who are seeking the evangelisa- tion of those who have been brought up in the religion of Mohammed, and I found how very much importance the brethren attached to schools ; and I gathered from the opportunities I had of question- ing my dragoman, who went with me througli the desert, that the schools were indirectly the means of conveying Christian knowledge to the parents of the children ; for the man told me that after his boys had been to school at Cairo morning and afternoon, when he came home he heard from them a great deal about the New Testa- ment, and so he had picked up an amount of information at which I was very much surprised. Then, again, I thought, when I was at Damascus, " Now, if I were a Missionary, what should I do here ? " I walked into the bazaars and saw vast multitudes of people, and I felt what a difficulty it must be to preach to these people, and how important it is to get hold of the children, and to train them up in the elements of Christian truth. So I am very glad that these two things are to be brought together, and that they are to be considered this after- noon in relation to each other. 1 hope they will be very seriously considered, and I hope I shall be forgiven for throwing out this practical observation, — that as this morning a good deal no doubt has been said with regard to agents, we had better not enter into any questions with regard to agents, but confine ourselves strictly to this matter of the modes of working. There are to be three Papers read, — one by the Rev. Dr. Schreiber, the second by the Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, and the third by the Rev. J. Hesse. I will now call upon Dr. Schreiber to read his Paper on " The influence of German colonisation on Missions." [Note. — Dr. Schreiber's able and interesting paper, instead of dealing with the " modes of working " by Missionary Societies under the new conditions of German colonisation in heathen lands, took a wider sweep, outside the lines laid down for discussion in this section. We have therefore taken the liberty of placing it under the head of " The Relations of Commerce and ]3iplomacy to Missions," where it would have been placed at first if there had been time and opportunity for the distinguished Author to confer with the Committee or Secretary beforehand. This will prevent the interruption of the continuity of the discussion, and preserve a valuable paper for our pages. — Editor.] The Chairman : The second Paper is to be read by our friend, the Rev. Hudson Taylor. REV. J. HUDSON TAYLOR. 29 PAPER. 2. By the Rev. J. Hudson Taylor (China Inland Mission). The relation of itinerant to settled Missionary tvork. The relation of itinerant to settled Missionary work is a subject in which I have long taken the deepest interest. It was first suggested to me in 1848 by the publication of the accounts of Giitzlaff's Missionary Union by the Secretaries of the Chinese Evan- gelisation Society. This Society, which sent me out to China in 1853, had, from the commencement, strongly advocated the fullest development of itinerant work. The early itinerations in China of Medhurst, Milne, and Edkins, of the London Missionary itinerant Society, and yet more especially of my revered friend, missionaries, the late Rev. William Burns, — with whom I personally itinerated in 1855-6 in Kiang-su, Cheh-kiang, and the Swatow district of Kwang- tung, — gradually deepened my interest in the subject, and my sense of its importance. Indeed, the views impressed upon me by Mr. Burns, who had laboured as an evangelist in Scotland, England, and Canada, before going out, and whose life in China had been that of an itinerant evangelist, have moulded the whole of my subsequent life, and been largely influential in the formation and course of action of the China Inland Mission. I have therefore, with much pleasure, accepted the invitation to write on this interesting and important topic. I. To prevent misconception, it may be well, at the very outset, to notice that our subject is the relation of itinerant to settled Missionary work ; it is not itinerant versus settled Missionary work. Both are essential and important, and, so far from being antagonistic, are mutually dependent on each other. That we cannot do without Missionary stations is too obvious to require demonstration. When Missionaries commence work in a country their first need is of a home in which to acquire the language ; and in which st^tionar subsequently to translate the Word of God, and to and itinerant prepare suitable tracts, as well as to preach the Gospel to "^^'^^^^ry. those immediately around them. And when a useful amount of Christian literature has been j^repared, the station is equally necessary as a basis from which to evangelise the surrounding district, and to develop and extend local work. In many countries itinerations can only be carried on during part of the year; the station, to which the Missionary may retire, and in which he may labour for other parts of the year, becomes as essential for the itinerant Missionary as for those who are wholly engaged in localised work. The fullest development of medical work, and much educational work, can only be carried on in settled stations, so that the importance and necessity of such primary stations, which are the very foundation of all Missionary work, needs no further demonstration. 30 MISSIONAKY METHODS — (2) MODES OF WOKKING. But not only are stations the necessary basis for further work, but, as the work extends, the multiplication of stations becomes essential. The whole country has to be evangelised, and when the itinerant Missionary reaches regions really remote, there pre^reste is a great loss of time and expense in returning to a stationary clistaut statiou for supplies and recuperation. When, in Missions. ^^^ China Inland Mission, we first commenced itinerant work in Shan-si, Shen-si, Kan-suh, Si-chuen, and Yun-nan, our Missionaries had to return, from time to time, to Hankow for supplies, involving an absence of three to six months from the provinces in question. Thus the need of secondary stations in these provinces became very urgent. In China, the itineration which has created the necessity for opening these secondary stations, has proved the best means of securing them. We attempted, twenty-two years ago, without previous itineration, to open stations as convenient centres for future evangelistic work; but these efforts frequently resulted in opposition, or even riots, arising from the superstitious fears of the people, and the hostility of the literati. We then reversed the process, notwithstanding that it involved much dijQ&cuIty and labour. We first itinerated through large and remote districts, and, seeking the guidance of God, selected suitable points for future head-quarters. These places were visited frequently, friends were made, and we became well-known before attempting a settlement, which then was usually accomplished with little difficulty, and without subsequent cause for regret. The stations thus formed were both the outcome of preliminary itinerations and the prelude to more thorough and systematic woi-k in the provinces in question. The foregoing considerations show the necessity for both itinerant and settled Missionary work. The settled work afibrds opportunity for the evangelisation of the station and its envu'ons, and is a basis for work in the surrounding region; it is also the starting point for longer journeys. On the other hand, the itinei^ant work utilises the books prepared at the station, affords scope for the Missionaries ti-ained there, and directly carries the Gospel amongst the masses scattered over large areas. II. We have seen the importance of work in settled stations : let us now turn our attention to itinerant work, and it will be Arguments for sccu that its importaucc can scarcely be exaggerated. itinerant work. The Gospel is for the whole world. Scripture and experience alike prove this. The Apostle John wrote, " We know that we are of God, and that the whole tvorlcl lieth in the evil one." The Lord Jesus Christ came and lived and died that He might "destroy the works of the devil," who had enslaved the ivhole world. " God so loved the ivorld " — the whole tvorld — " that He gave His only-begotten Son." Jesus Christ became the propitiation for our sins, "and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.'''' Before His ascension He commanded His disciples to go into " all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.'''' In seeking to make the Gospel known, what was the example of our Lord and of His disciples? During His personal ministry on earth, KEV, J. HUDSON TAYLOR. 31 our Saviour worked throughout the wliole land to which He was sent. When His ministry had been successful, and " the multitude sought after Him . . . and would have stayed Him, that He should not go from them," He refused to remain, saying, "I must preach the good tidings of the kingdom of God to other cities also, for therefore Avas I sent." The Apostle Peter, to whom was committed the Gospel of the Circumcision, itinerated much, leading about a sister, a wife ; and he wrote his letters to the dispersed elect of many regions. The Apostle Paul, to whom was com- mitted the evangelisation of the Gentiles, spent his whole life in itinerant work : he employed the beloved Timothy in visits to set in order things that were wanting in many Churches ; and sent Titus to Crete to arransfe matters and appoint elders, not in one place, but in every city. The rapid diffusion of the Gospel in ancient times was mainly through the labours of itinerant evangelists. In modern times, the Methodist denomination, which has sought to make all its Ministers itinerants, has had the most rapid and remarkable growth. In America, within the memory of one person's life, Methodists have grown from a few thousands to as many millions. Even at home, men like the American evangelists, Moody, Sankey, and others, have been marvellously honoured and blessed ; and Evangelistic Missions are recognised now as a power in all our Evangelical Churches on both sides of the Atlantic. If the importance of itinerant and evangelistic work at home is self- evident, from the fact that even in Christian lands the vast majority of the population will not, and do not, attend the ordinary services of our Churches, how much more is it so when we turn to Roman Catholic lands, to those in which the Greek Church prevails, and to Mohammedan and heathen lands ! Here the mass of the unsaved can by no possibility be reached in any other way. There is unfortunately a very paralysing doubt in some minds as to the necessity, or even advisability, of preaching the Gospel to these classes. There are those who are kinder and wiser than Christ, forsooth, who com- manded that to every creature His Gospel should be preached. They know more about the state of the heathen than did the Apostle Paul, who wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. *' They that sin without law perish without law." Nay, there are those who are not afraid to contradict " the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants ; " in which He solemnly affirms objections " I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End ; . . . the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars — theii- part shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Such being the state of the unsaved of India, Africa, and China, and of every unevangelised people in the whole earth, do not their urgent needs claim from us that with agonising eagerness we should hasten to proclaim everywhere the message through ^hich alone deliverance can be found ? Oh, that the Spirit might be so poured out from on high, that from our home pulpits many ministers might be constrained to leave their surfeited congi-egations ; that in the foreign field many Missionaries might be impelled to leave to the care of resident natives, schools and chapels, among those who have already heard the Gospel, alike to emphasise by obedience the reality of the Gospel, and to preach it everywhere until not an unevangelised village i-emains ! It is not sufficient to be doing a work 32 MISSIONARY METHODS- -(2) MODES OF WORKING. good in itself, while the Master's great commission is unfulfilled ; and that commission is, " Preach the Gospel to ever^ creature." And yet we all know that three-quarters of the world's population have never had it offered tc them ! What Christ commanded eighteen hundred years ago, and what the needs of the world now demand, is itinerant work. The Gospel is for all ; all need the Gospel, and few as yet have had it. The unevangelised now living have but a few years to live ; and the immediate and urgent necessity of the world is earnest, widespread, itinerant evangelisation. III. How then should our work be conducted so as to secure in the shortest time the fullest carrjaug out of our Lord's command? We may assume that in most cases a Mission is commenced with comjoaratively few labourers, and that, as the work develops, a larger number of foreign workers, together with an increasing band of native Christians, will be available for its extension. The carrying on of widespread evangelisation will not be found to seriously retard the work at the local centre, while it will prepare a large district for the more thorough evangelisation that will in the course of time become practicable. A little consideration will suffice to show this. It is well known that in most cases, even where the whole strength has been devoted to Avorking a single station, years have elapsed before many converts were gathered. Confidence in the Missionary is of slow growth, superstitious fears do not die out at once. The debased and materialised minds of idolaters do not readily grasp the thought of one living, personal God, and of our responsibility to do His will and to obey His law. Yet these thoughts have to be apprehended befoi-e any true sense ^toe^ate*° ^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^' ^^^ *^""® repentance can take place ; while without conviction of sin the ofl'er of a Saviour will be unappreciated. It is granted that there arc a few persons everywhere who are remarkably prepared by the Holy Spirit for the Gospel, and who will readily accept the offered Saviour ; but such cases are the exception. Therefore, while the truths preached at the station art slowly permeating the minds of the people there, the widespread evangeli.-tf.tion of the more important centres of population around may be carried on with great advantage. It is most desirable that the itineuition be systematic, and that these centres be visited again and again. Short visits are best at first, but longer and more frequent ones will become desii'able as time progresses. Meanwhile the number of workers, native and foreign, will probably be increasing, and the districts to be viciced may be sub-divided with advan- tage ; rendering it possible to reach smaller towns and villages, and perhaps to increase the number of statioub occupied. Still, each newly-opened station should be looked upon as a centre for the fuller evangelisation of circumjacent regions ; and converts should be urged, from the commence- ment, to labour as voluntary and unpaid helpers, as do so many lay workers at home. The Missionary should carefully avoid subsiding into the Pastor and the Paymaster : his is a higher and distinct vocation. But he should afford all possible countenance and instruction to such native Christians as give promise of teaching power and pastoral gift. Itinerant work thus carried on will onhance the importance and value of central stations, for the pi'oduction of Christian literature and the instruc- REV. J. HUDSON TAYLOR. 33 tion of inquirers. Where itineration is only practicable at certain seasons of the year, the books and tracts circulated on the journeys should contain information as to the locale of the Missionary, and an invitation to those interested to visit him at stated times for fuller instruction. Many from a distance -will avail themselves of this opportunity, while those nearer home will at such times be specially helped. When I was in China, a valued friend — the llev. J. L. Nevius, D.D., of the American Presbyterian Mission, Che-foo — was accustomed to spend the two hottest months of summer, and the two coldest months of winter, at home. During his four months' itineration, he would invite those specially interested to spend a month with him at his home, where he entertained them simply, and daily instructed them in Christian doctrine. Men would come one hundred or one hundred and fifty miles at their own expense, and then return, to pass on to their own neighbours that which they had them- selves learned. When the first month's contingent of visitors left, the second month's arrived ; and when they in their turn went home. Dr. Nevius would set out for another four months' tour. In course of time, scores of self-supporting village churches were formed, superintended, and helped by Dr. Nevius, and only two paid native helpers, who were I'eally itinerating Missionaries like the Doctor himself. Were work moi-e frequently con- ducted on these lines, whole countries might be rapidly evangelised. Missionaries who have some knowledge of medicine may do much good and win golden opinions while on journeys, and will be successors of the Apostles, who were commissioned to preach and to heal. While Medical Missionaries are comparatively few, most of them will jj^erants be needed in the stations to carry on hospital work, and to such hospitals the more serious cases met with on Missionary journeys will frequently be sent. But though the Medical Missionary may not himself be able to itinerate, he may forward the work by facilitating the absence of other Missionaries from headquarters. To the question, "flow far can woman's work be itinerant?" I can best reply by reference to the field with which I am most familiar. When travelling with my wife in China, her Female opportunities for work among the women have not been itinerants. fewer or less valuable than my own amongst the men. Not to refer to members of the China Inland Mission, the writings of the late Mrs. Dr. Williamson, of the Scottish United Presbyterian Mission, of Miss Fielde, of the American Baptist Mission, and the reports of Miss Eicketts, of the English Presbyterian Mission, are well known. In the China Inland Mission the married ladies frequently take journeys of one or two thousand miles, when on their way to or from distant stations, and find daily opportunities of labouring amongst their own sex. We have a number of inland stations in which the only foreign workers are ladies, residing with married Christian helpers. Long evangelistic journeys of the greatest value are from time to time undertaken by our single Missionary sisters. Besides the fifty-six wives of our Missionaries, who nearly all of them continue to be Missionary workers, as they were before marriage, we have ninety-five single ladies, working in thirteen of the eighteen provinces. Several of them have done itinerant work in Hu-nan, VOL. II. 3 34 MISSIONAEY METHODS — (2) MODES OF WORKING. a fourteenth province. So that we speak on this subject with some experience. In conchision, while we would not undervalue stationary work, we ask, Is there not a danger of devoting an undue proportion of strength to it ? Scripture, as we have seen, is full of instances of itinerant work, and the words of the great commission directly suggest it ; but is it not remarkable how very little is said, or even suggested, in the New Testament, about localised work ? As climate, family, and other circumstances preclude the possibility of stationary work being neglected, do we not need all , the more earnestly to stimulate Missionary workers to needs givc as much as possible of their time to that branch stimulating, -y^j^fcj^ jg morc in danger of being neglected, and without which nine-tenths of the heathen can never hear the Gospel at all ? Few can be familiar with the history of Missions without coming to the conclusion that serious mistakes, leading to the neglect of evan- gelistic and itinerant work, have been made in the past, from which we should carefully guard in the future. Auxiliary works must not be allowed to become substitutes for that which is primary. " Preach the Gospel " — " Preach the Gospel to every creature'''' — is the clear command of the Master. Literary work is valuable, but it must 7iot take the place of preaching; educational work is useful, but the minister of Christ must not become a mere schoolmaster ; even medical work must be a means of bringing souls under the influence of the Gospel, and not a substitute for it. Localised work may be essential, itinerant work is absolutely imperative, and both must be mainly evangelistic. Christ com- mands us to preach, the Apostles enjoin us to preach, the needs of dying men implore us to preach, — to preach everywhere and to every one. Our wisdom, our happiness, and our success, all lie in obedience. The Chairman : I suppose that any remarks had better be reserved until the three Papers have been read. The next Paper is to be read by the Rev. J. Hesse. PAPER 3. By the Eev. J. Hesse (of Calw, Wiirtemberg). The little I have to say on the subject before us will best be said when I arrange it under three heads : (1) The Missionary as an agent of the Home Church ; (2) his place among his colleagues ; and (3) his position as leader and trainer of his native brethren. I. The true position of the Missionary with regard to the Home The Missionary Church has uufortunatcly become obscured, partly by a representative, the dej)lorable prevalence of sectarianism among us, partly by the thoughtlessness and ambition of men. REV. J. HESSE. 35 A Missionary, it is true, is an ambassador of Christ, inwardly called and endowed by the Spirit to assist in spreading the kingdom of God (not to proselytise for any particular Church or party) ; but, let us remember, lie is not an Apostle, i.e., a person sent direct by Christ, receiving his instructions from above, and subject to no human authority whatever. On the contrary, he is a responsible agent of the Church or Society which has sent him out, supported by their gifts and prayers, directed by their instructions, and con- trolled by their supervision. I know there are private individuals who have gone out on their own responsibility, and if they are at all like a Norris Groves, Dr. Kalley, Louisa Anstey, or Frederick Arnot, they may do excellent work as pioneers to the regular T^e place of army, and their irregularities may be excused by the independent divided state of Christendom in general, and by the Missionaries, inelasticity of Missionary Committees in particular. But the exigencies of practical work as well as the failings of human nature certainly make it desirable that, in order to secure economy and avoid imposture, every Missionary should take his position as an humble servant of that particular Church or Society with which he can best agree. Is it not a humiliating fact that, apparently, there is so much zeal without knowledge, and, perhaps, on the other hand, so much knowledge without zeal ? Is it not a pity that so much time and talent are all but wasted in erratic exertions of men and women who boldly assume that they pre-eminently do an apostolic work ? And is it not a pity, too, that some of the best organised and most care- fully managed Societies seem rather to repel than to attract many whose singleness of purpose cannot be denied? Let uspray for unity of pray the Lord so to bless this our united Conference, that purpose. a more universal and a more complete combination of wisdom and zeal, of enthusiasm and discretion, may be the abiding result. Well, then, if I have correctl}'' described the legitimate position of a Missionary, it follows that the best thing he can do is to study, and to obey his instructions as laid down, not only in the formal rules and regulations, but also in the history of his Society and of his particular district and stations. If he does this it will profit him more than if he breaks his head to find out the best modes of work- ing for himself. After a century of Protestant Missions we ought to have learned some lessons and acquired some settled habits as well as convictions. Young Missionaries should not make light of such honoured traditions, but rather fall in with them. It is astonish- ing to what an amount of trouble and experiment most people will expose themselves, rather than patiently go on with the work en- trusted to them. II. And this brings me to the second point — the position of the Mis- sionary with regard to his co-workers. Of course he will not stand alone. To appoint a single man to a dangerous post, to let him die or break down, then to hunt for a successor, and, after a delay of months, to send him out 36 MISSIONAET METHODS — (2) MODES OF WOEKING. — such things, let us hope, do not happen nowadays. As a rule there must be two men, at least, to every station ; and each station Mutual relation jj^^g^ have its Conference, where the work is divided among 0 issionaries. ^^^ labourers, where difficulties may be adjusted and united prayer is offered. And again, several stations together will form one dis- trict and every district will have its conference. In this way every detail of work as well as the general interests of a whole province will be taken into account, everybody will know what his business is, the home com- mittee will be kept informed of everything, confufion will be avoided and order maintained. But in these conferences or loc al committees — or what- ever they may be called — not every young brother ought to have a vote. Let him first pass an examination in the language and make himself acquainted with the whole Avork of the station, then, after a year or two of apprenticeship, let him have a share in the management of affairs. Nor should all Missionaries be equal, without any distinction between senior and junior, between leader and led. Some think that ordination at least should confer equaUty in every respect. Bub even among those who lay o-reat stress on the equality of ministers (nay, even among those who would acknowledge no ministers on the ground of the universal priesthood of believers), practically some act as bishops and leaders, while others take a more humble place. Let every man have his Equality ^^^^ office for which he is best adapted, and above all, let theie impossi . ^^ ^ ^^^^ understood division of labour. In the Basle Mission this is carried almost to an extreme. Special men are appointed for almost everything, as for the management of money matters, for building, for the administration of landed property, for literary work, for the schools, for the pastoral caie of churches, for itinerating, etc. Besides, there are chairmen of station and district conferences, a general superintendent, an inspector of schools, and a general treasurer, who are from time to time deputed by the home committee to make a tour of inspection from station to station, and then to report as to the efficiency of every branch of work. Two things are expected from every brother, be he lay or clerical, namely — (a), that he learn the language, and in some measure take a part in the actual pioclamation of the Gospel (not only in the meetings of Christians but alto before the non- Christians) ; and (b), that at a moment's notice he be ready to take the work of any brother who may ^^°^^^^^® have fallen at his post or otherwise been laid aside. In this way the solidarity and continuity of the whole work is main- tained, and great prominence is given to the oral proclamation of the Gospel in the vernacular by every member of the Mission. III. In the third place we have to consider the position of the Missionary as leader and trainer of the natives. And here let us at once dismiss the notion that every Missionary is a born leader of men. He may be, and he must be, an example to all by faithfulness in small things and by un- selfish continuance in well-doing ; but few Missionaries only will be able to exert anything like the influence of a Khenius, a Duff, a Hebich, a Patteson, a Mackay, or a Chalmers. The large majority will ^"®""°*'"'™have to content themselves with a very modest share in this work where it is so easy to do more harm than good. Yet, I think, evexy Missionary should make it his aim, so to win and influence at least one native brotlier that he may, after his own removal from the field, leave behind £on:c mark and impress of his character in the person of such EEV. J. HESSE. 37 a disciple, as Paul hacl his Timothy and Boniface had his Lullus. As to the ti'aining of native helpers and the leading of the native Church in a technical sense, they are subjects that will be treated by other speakers, I will only venture to add a few general rules, by which in all cases the personal intercourse between the Missionary and his native assistants should be regulated. (a) Never ash them to do lohat you loould not do yourself. " Leading and training " does not mean driving but drawing. Bishop Patteson himself cleaning his shoes, dusting his rooms, boiling some soup for an invalid ; Mr. Kirk, in Pithoragarh, with his own hands carrying to the grave the dead body of a leper; Mr. W. ^'^H^l^^^'''^ Martin of Ashapura, riding a distance to fetch water in one of his boots and giving it to a dying stranger by the wayside ; Hebich of Cana- nore, jumping into a well after a boy and saving his life — such acts are seeds. In some Missions the Catechists are all but personal servants of the Missionary, to relieve him of everything below his dignity, or contrary to his tastes. And even where this is not the case, we are too apt to speak of my Catechist, my Bible woman, and the like, as if they belonged to ns. A dismissed Catechist in Malabar some time ago started an opposition pei'iodical, and in one of the first issues published a sarcastic article on the question, Who is the true Agnani ? this being the term by which the heathen are spoken of among Indian Christians, meaning the ignorant. But he applied it to a Catechist, who never knows what his real business or calling is, he being to-day deputed by the Missionary to sviperintend some station building, and to-morrow to arrange the Missionary's library, and once on a Sunday to preach for him, etc., etc. Such caricatures may at least show us the direction in which our shortcomings and our native brethren's difficulties lie. (&) Do not he ashamed to learn from them. Teachers viust he learners. If we wish the natives to follow us, we must show them that we too are willing to follow them in every particular in which they can be a model to us. Make it a habit to have your sermons and other speeches criticised by your native assistants, not only as to pronunciation and idiom, ^tkenu""* but also as to choice of illustrations, adaptation to the people and circumstances. Listen carefully to how they preach and teach. You will find much to imitate. True Missionaries quite involuntarily become influenced by their surroundings, so that in some cases it is easy to distinguish a brother who has laboured in China from one whose work has been in India or Africa, or in a Mohammedan country, by his very appearance, his way of speaking, of thinking. Woe to him, who remains semper idem as to national peculiarities and home prejudices ! It is much safer for us, in a certain sense and in a certain degree, to become Hinduised, or even Chinesised or Africanised, rather than to Euro- peanise and Americanise the natives. Why not ado^Dt what is good and reasonable even in their diet, dress, and other habits ? And then, in regard to cases of discipline, settling of disputes, and other matters requiring not only Christian tact, but a minute acquaintance with national, local, and personal affairs, customs, and the like, let us never neglect to consult our native fellow-labourers before committing ourselves in any way. (c) Our intercourse ivith them must not he restricted to husiness matters. There must be free brotherly communion, and some social intercourse as well. This will draw out their hearts as nothing else, not even, in -, T -11 J o 7 1 TJse their many cases, united prayer will do. language. And here I take it for granted that the Missionary will not converse with his native brethren in any other language but their own. If he does, he will always remain a stranger to them, and they to him. 38 MISSIONAEY METHODS — (2) MODES OF WOKKING. All this, it is true, cannot be done without a genuine love to, and a certain pdmiration for, the natives as such. By genuine love, I do not mean Christian charity, but natural affection. It has both grieved and shocked me to rt-ad in the report of an American Society a statement to the effect, that " there is nothing in the character of the African which could draw our hearts to-^ard him, but compassion ought to move us to do something for him." I have always found that the noblest Missionaries, even African Missionaries, were filled with admiration for some one or more good qualities in their respective charges, and with a considerable degree of enthusiasm for them even from a natural point of view — (Zimmermann, Livingstone, O'Flaherty, General Gordon, etc.); and I would ask. Is it possible to have mastered any one language without ad- miring it, and without feeling drawn to the people who produced it and who use it ? • The Moravian Solomon Schuman in 1749 wrote : "To me no tongue on earth sounds sweeter than the Arawak ; and when I find a new word to express some feature of the Lord and His work, I rejoice infinitely more ^^dett^ than if I had found a lump of gold." Then he speaks of fearful disappointments and bitter experiences with the natives, and adds : " Knowing, however, that probably nobody has ever caused more trouble to our dear Lord than myself, I can submit to all this, and love them all the same right heartily." That is the right spirit. And that will do more to win and inspire the natives than even the otherwise commendable " muscular Christianity " of the first Bishop of New Zealand, or the founder of self-supporting Missions in Africa. {(l) Let us avoid technicalities of theological and denominational phraseology in our conversation with the natives, and rather aim at Biblical simplicity in everything we say. " Triune" is a grand expression, but when you have once heard a native Christian pray to the triune Jesus, you ask yourself, if it were not better to restrict its use to the theological hall ; and of Zion it may be true that the Lord loveth its gates more than all the dwellings of Jacob ; but to hear a Chinese or a negro Methodist continually speak of " our Zion " has a sickening effect. Nothing is easier than to make our native friends surpass ourselves in denominational zeal, but nothing is more unprofitable. Let us beware of it ! (e) My last rule is : Br. true, absolutely true and honest. There is too much of sham and show, of mannerism and making in religion, nay, of hypocrisy and . cant, even in Evangehcal Missionaries. Gossip in India will have it you preach? ^^^^ there are Missionaries who, in public, profess total abstinence, and at home consume quantities of beer and wine " under medical advice" — and I am not prepared to deny the charge, Europeans everywhere, and natives as well, have an impression that Missionaries are not exactly those self-denying beings they are often assumed to be in Missionary literature. But how can we expect our converts to lead a self- sacrificing life, " unless our own self-sacrifice is plain enough to be discerned by them?" (G. Bowen, in Bomhay Guardian, Decembev 3, 1887.) Here is what one of them has to say on the subject : " The European mind, from the climatic influences under which it was moulded, is intent upon having things, to give it numerous comforts. I do not like to deny these to it. But my evil tendencies are running rapidly in the course of imitation of European manners, and I have really begun to feel the ivant of things Avhich my European friends and acquaintances think it right to have for themselves. I have become so well versed in the art of imitation that I have lost the faculty of perceiving the ' thus far and no further.' " " The lesson we learn now is the lesson of securing as many comforts as are within our reach, and as many European fashions in costume as we may happen to know of." (Govind N. Kane, in Bombay GuardAan, 1887, p. 775.) Oh, for more men like George Bowen, of Bombay, and for less like the young brother who wrote from Africa : " I do not care for the goods DISCUSSION. 39 of this world, if I have only enough to make me. comfortable ! " It is true some people think nobody in the world has a greater right to travel first-class by land and soa than the children of God, but ""^f Sg"*^ I doubt if these persons would enjoy meeting a native catechist in a first-class car. Part of the truth we owe our native brethren must consist in con- fessing ox;r faults before them and asking their forgiveness when we have lost our temper, or otherwise sinned against them. Confession has a power and a promise. Beloved brethren, is it out of place in an august assembly like this to make mention of our shortcomings'? I think not. If we wish to have Him on our side, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy, we must have a contrite heart and a broken spirit. And although we ought at all times humbly to acknowledge our sins before God, yet ought we most chiefly so to do, when we assemble and meet together in a Conference like this. O Lord, have mercy upon us, and deal not with us after our sins ! From all blindness of heart, from pride, vainglory and hypocrisy ; from envy, hatred and malice, and all vincharitableness. Good Lord, deliver us ! The Chairman : Now we are to have, I hope, some remarks upon these Papers. I think it is very important that some gentlemen should be able to make some suggestions as to what they importance of understand by the relation of the one kind of work to co-operation, the other, and liow they may be amalgamated — how there may be, as it were, more mutual understanding and co-operation. That, I think, is of immense importance. I very largely sympathise with our friend, who has taken a very great interest in the Inland Mission, but at the same time I look to the Societies with which I have been identified, and I want to see some method in which we might co- operate more than we do. That, I think, is a subject wliicli is very proper for discussion. I have two names of gentlemen who wish to take part in the discussion, and I shall be happy to receive other names if gentlemen will send in their cards. I have first to call apon the Rev. Eobert Rust Meadows. DISCUSSION. Rev. R. Rust Meadows (C.M.S.): My Christian friends, — The only reason I venture to stand up before you is because I have been an itinerant Missionary, and also a stationary Missionary. I have been an itinerant Missionary four or five years, and a settled Missionary for eighteen years. As the subject of itineration is a very prominent one here at this meeting, I want to tell you, in as few Avords as I possibly can, the method which we pursued, and then to show you how our itinera- tion acted upon the native Church, and how each acted and re-acted upon the other. First of all, I want to tell you our methods. There were three of us — three English Missionaries — and we were ^™* three University men — Cambridge men : we lived in the north of Tinne- velly, and had a district that was about fourteen hundred square miles in extent. We purposely made it so small in order that we might be able to 40 MISSIONARY METHODS — (2) MODES OF WORKING. go backwards and forwards all tlirouj-'h, again and again, and this district of about fourteen hundred square miles contained about fourteen hundi-ed villages and towns, and a population of a little more than 270,000 people. We Hved in our tents all the year round, though it was very hot indeed at some times of the year. Each of us had his own tent, and each tent was pitched at a distance of eight or ten miles from the other. We had each to help us a native brother, and these native brethren, too, had their own tents, and they also had their tents ten miles perhaps apart from each other. We always met together once a ^^ers^Ts°^ fortnight in order to confer and to pray together. We stayed at a place a week, and every morning and every evening we got on our horses and rode to a village, and preached in the street to any- body whom we could meet with. Our tents were easily removed from one place to another. Having no fixed home, we used to stop in any native town or village, in what is usually called the "Rest House; " and the fact of our being in the " Rest House," sitting there and eating there, and our faces being white, always brought in a great number of the villagers, who came in meiely from curiosity. Then we used also to have e pers. ^^ j^^j^ ^^^^ ^^^ Only our native preachers, who were highly educated men, and spoke English perfectly, but a number of native catechists, brought from the south of Tinnevelly and from the native Christian Churches. ^Vliat I Avant principally to show you is, how the one branch of work reacted upon the other. We noticed that the native Church down in South Tinnevelly, a very large Church indeed, was not very decidedly a Missionary Church, and we thought it ought to be, and so went down periodically to stimulatine a ^'^® South of Tinnevelly to hold Missionary meetings, the object Missionary being to stir up the native Churches to care for the heathen spint. about them. At these meetings the question was put to the native Church, " Ought you not to be an evangelising Chui-ch, and will you not undertake to send to North Tinnevelly, to the heathen there, to itinerate with the itinerating INIissionaries and native Catechists from the various villages ? " The native Christians subscribed the money necessary for the support of these native Catechists while they were with us. The native Catechists stayed with us for a month at a time, going about with us and preaching with us, and then they retin^ned to their own congrega- tions, and told them what they had seen in the heathen part of Tinnevelly. This method acted very beneficially indeed, in producing a feeling of respon- sibility towards the heathen in the minds of native Christians. Coming back again to our itinerating ; we used often to meet for prayer. If I was with two or three Catechists, for instance, we always met together, first Evangelists' ^f c^\i ^q pray before we went out to preach ; sometimes we would Confe«ince. S° *^^ together, and sometimes we would go alone ; one to one place and one to another. When we came back we all sat down and heard the several reports, and then we would kneel down and ask God to give the blessing upon what we had said. The result of all this, it seems to me, has been very beneficial as regards the Tinnevelly Church. The Tinnevelly Church is now very distinctly a Missionary Church. It has sent Missionaries — I mean, native Catechists — to a good many parts where they have had to learn another language. The Tinnevelly ^^^i^^ch^^ Christians going to the North, or Telugu country, have been obliged to learn another language; and Tinnevelly native Cate- chists have also gone, and are constantly going, over the water to Ceylon, DISCUSSION. 41 in order to be preachers there ; and Tinnevelly Catechists have also gone as far as the Island of Mauritius that they might preach there. We visited the fourteen hundred towns and villages over and over again. We used to visit every one of these villages at least twice viiwes visited, in the year, and many of them a great many more times Churches than that. The result was that a great deal of Christian formed, knowledge permeated the whole of that district. But further than that there were a few native Christian congregations scattered abroad here and there. They were elevated by our influence, and in time in that entire district so many congregations were formed that we were able to make it a Station Mission ; and then we built our bungalow, and there I spent my last eighteen years of Missionary life, superintending the whole of the district, itinerating still, but itinerating more particularly amongst the Christian congregations, and at the same time carrying out an organisa- tion for preaching, if possible, in every one of the fourteen hundred villages. This is the experience of one itinerating Missionary, and I hope it may help to guide others in their work. Mr. John Archibald (National Bible Society of Scotland, from Hankow) : Mr. Chairman, and dear friends, — The fact that the last twelve years of my life have been spent in itinerant work must be my excuse for addressing you. Those twelve years have been spent in China. As an itinerating Missionary in the service of the National Bible Society of Scotland it has been my privilege to see perhaps more Mission stations and moi'e methods of working than ordinary Missionaries are permitted to see, as v/e are now in one province, now in another. I have thus travelled over many of the Provinces of China, and I will tell you a discovery I made. Shortly after I went out to China I began to read up all the literature that the Missionaries had written about their w^ork, and I made this discovery : That Missionaries are apt to look at their work as a question of one kind versus another kind; and in the paper which Mr. Taylor read to us he laid special stress on the fact that it is not a ques-^"'!'^""°r^."°*' „ . . . ■■■ ,11 11 . r. 1 antagonistic. tion or itineration versus settled work, but a question or the interdependence of one kind of work upon another. Sometimes Mission- aries appear to think that one kind of woi'k is opposed to another. Thus I find a statement made by one good brother that the preaching of the Gospel is the greatest hindrance to the cause of Christianity; another brother condemns Medical Missions ; another is opposed to circulating the Word of God, and so on. Then I made this discovery, that the men were better than their theories. You would go and you would find that the brother who did not believe in the preaching of the Gospel, preaching it as hard as he could ; and the brother who did not believe in circulating the Word of God and Christian tracts, was circulat- ing his own which were really very good ; and you would find that after all, although they held different theories, the fact was that in practice they pretty nearly approximated. Now if you consider the matter Theories differ of the different Missions, you will find the very same thing. I do not'"'^ ^3^*3"' *^^ believe, from what I have seen in China, that any one man can claim to have the monopoly either of stationary work or of itinerating work : for each man who is an itinerating Missionary, also carries on stationary work. Go right from the north to the south of China, and from the east to the west, and you will find the Missionary now visiting in his district, and going through his stations, and now at home looking after the churches ; and that is the way in which the work is carried on. 42 MISSIONARY METHODS — (2) MODES OF WORKING. I have risen chiefly to make one remark, and it is this. A good deal of the literature and a great number of the people that I have come in contact with have given me the idea that the impression prevails that there is some ''^onvert^heathen* ^^J'^^ road, some patent plan for converting the heathen world, and ' it is to be found in the direction of itinerating round and round the country as rapidly as you can. I would not wish to speak ill of the work in which my fellow labourers have been engaged, only I wish to tell you there is no such royal road. This itineration is important work, but it is not the whole of the woi-k. I will tell you how I work, and then you will see. I go out not'"ou°h ^^^'^ *^^^ country. When I go into a new village or town in China, the whole population turns out en masse to see the stranger. They call him the foreign devil and even worse names. We preach the Gospel to them, we circulate the Word of God and other Christian books as largely as we can, and we go away. That city is not converted, not by any means. When you go back again the second time you find that a certain impression has been created. You find ^neTesaa^^^*^ that the great mass of the people have penetrated your object. They know you have been there as the teacher of a religion which they do not want, and therefore a great number of them are indifferent. You find others of them hostile, but you will find quite a number who are deeply interested, who have taken in what they have heard and are willing to learn more. This number may be increased, and as you continue to teach them, the number will grow, and by-and-by you will have your converts. But if you merely go from city to city without forming conti-es, you will have no converts; but if you can carry on the stationary work as the other work opens out the way for it, and you can get your people gathered together, your work spreads, and in that way the whole field will be overtaken. Now, friends, that is the work that is being carried on pretty generally by all the Missions in China. We have a splendid field there, and the Avork is going on gloriously, and if you would only give us more men and more money, I believe you would soon see wonderful things done in that ancient Empire. Rev. John Ross (United Presbyterian Mission, Manchuria) : Mr. Chairman, Christian friends, — It affords me very great pleasure, and I esteem it a high honour to be present at this great series of meetings. In order to be present at them I rushed thiougli Japan, and came, without staying more than two or three days, through Canada and the States. Iliis series of meetings should give an impulse to Mission woik all over the world, such as it has not had since the time of the Apostles. Now, regarding this point of itineration, I do not know that absolutely there is any great difterence of opinion among Missionaries as to the value of itineration. I began my life-work in the north of China as an itinei'ant, simply because I was not fit to carry on the work of a settled itineratLn? station. By-and-by I settled down to steady work, and I found it was the only way, so far as I could then see, to be successful. There is one Missionary, who has been referred to already by a gentleman whose name is very prominent both in this country Dr. Nevius ^^ ^ -^ China, in connection with Foreign Missions, that is the expenence. ' ^ o ? name of Dr. Nevius, of Che-foo. I was very much interested in the account of his Missions which I had from his own lips a year DISCUSSION. 43 ago. He went out to China many years ago. For fifteen years he laboured, itinerating for six or eight months of the year over a certain district. Out of that district, and a very large district it was, he has never had a single convert. But at the end of the fifteen^ears.' fifteen years there was a movement begun by the conversion of one man to Christianity in quite another district. The movement spread from that man's village northward to the gulf of Pe-Che-Lee, and south- ward to the shore of Hoang-hai, so that he has now a line of stations from north to south at right angles to the direction in which he began the work originally, with over eleven hundred members in them. Now how was that ? It was exactly by carrying out the line of work which we have ourselves adopted in our northerly province, that of Manchuria. Fifteen years ago I went out to that province where no one was labouring at the time. As I have said I began by itinerating and gradually ^ MancWa. acquiring the language. There were three converts within the first year. These I instructed and sent them out to do itinerating work. We have now Christians in something like forty or fifty villages, and in very many of the large cities. There are somewhere about a thousand itinerate, who have been baptised. Now I would like to mention this, that of this thousand, and of several other thousands who are believers though unbaptised, those who have been converted under the direct influence of the Foreign Missionary will not count up more than a dozen. The rest have been all drawn in through the influence of these few men who were converted by the agency of the Foreign Missionary. Now this touches what I would like earnestly to impress upon this meeting, viz., the absolute necessity of training the natives to carry on Christian work in their own land. It would be impossible for all the Churches in Europe and America combined to send a suflicient number of Missionaries even into that one land of China. It is im- possible, nay further, I consider it is undesirable. What I am experience. inclined to recommend as the result of my experience is this : let all , the various Missionary Societies pick out, not as many men as they can find, but pick out a few, choice in all respects, spiritually, mentally, intellectually, physically. There is no time at my disposal to enter as I would like to on this subject, — but let "^^^^^^^ there be a few choice men, let those train the natives, and the natives will do the work. It seems to me that is the only way you can get the work properly done. Now legarding itinerancy. We have set a few native converts, well- instructed men, in native cities, at distances varying from thirty to forty or fifty miles from each other, to preach the Gospel. They were previously well trained. These men we visit ; we itinerate amongst these cities where there are Christians, where there is a certain amount of Christian instruction ; and what with the work in the city, ^^ superintend. and of training these men to send them out, and then once or twice or three times a year visiting them to gather in the fruits of their labours, we find our hands quite full. We could not, even if we thought it was proper, do more itinerancy than this. We may run from city to city and merely preach once or twice ; but that is not what we desire. We want the heathen to be converted, and in order that they may be converted they must be in contact with Christianity for some time; and that touches the question of the relationship of the station to itinerancy. Train the natives. Train them as fully and as thoroughly and make them as 44 MISSIONARY METHODS — (2) MODES OF WORKING. able preachers as you can. Send them out to itinerate ; superintend them ; go after them ; itinerate in that way. It seems to me that this is the only way in which you can bring tlae settled work and the itinerating Avork into harmonious and effective co-operation. Rev. L. Dahle (Secretary, Norwegian Missionary Society) : The subject upon which I wish to speak is the method of Mission preaching and teaching, a subject scarcely touched upon up to this time; but I do not see how I can deal with the subject, because I have arranged a discourse systematically, and time will not admit of my going through with it, but I can give you the headings. My first question is — Is there a Missionary method of preaching and T 41, >.,„„;oi teaching, or is there not 1 Is there a method, or is there not — Is there a special • ■ -m-- • i i -r n method? a special Missionary method, I mean? The Chairman : There may be several. Rev. L. Dahle : Yes ; but I mean, Can the Missionary do the same as the preacher of Christianity at home, simply go and preach on the lessons for the day, for instance, if it is on Sunday, or take any Mission books, or do anything so as to bring, or try to bring, his teaching and preaching under methodical rules ? That is my first question. The second would be — If there is such a special method, — I mean for Missionary preaching and teaching, — wherein Avould it consist? And I would say there should be two things that should characterise it as Missionary teaching and preaching in contradistinction to ordinary teaching and preaching ; that would be the starting point of the manner of elucidating and illustrating the matter. Now as to the starting point. Two mo es. rpj^g^g g^j.g ^^q clifferent modes, as far as I know, of doing it. Some begin with natural theology, and make that a bridge over to revealed religion ; and some plunge in medias res, and go into revealed religion at once. As a subject for discussion, I will give you the heads of my Paper, and perhaps others may take up the discussion afterwards. If we make natural theology the starting point, there would be two ways of doing that even. You might either Natural and t^^e up the cosmological way ; you may point to the whole creation revealed and lead them to think of God through His work, and make that a religion. starting point. You may point to the conscience of the human heart and the consciousness of sin, and to all the misery in this world and the fear of death and of condemnation, and try to lead them to think of the Supreme Judge. If we now come to the revealed religion, there would be many ways of dealing with it from that point of view; and if you have bridged your way through the natural religion, you might even begin with texts stating the com- mission you have got from God to go out and preach the Gospel of the grace of God as given by Christ to His disciples. That would be one way. Another way would be to begin to explain to them such a Gospel text as " God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Mr. George Saunders, C.B., M.D. (Medical Missionary Association, London): Mr. Chairman, and dear friends, — Mr. Hudson Taylor referred to fixed Hos- itinerant and pital Missions, and I think thereby implied that he did not corn- stationary prehend also itinerating. I would only wish to observe that doctors. ^ fixed hospital has this great advantage, that patients come from a distance to be healed, and thereby they receive the Gospel. A DISCUSSION. 45 Missionary, of course, has to go to the people — mai-k the difference ! — they have to go to the people, and speak to them about their souls. What I rise particularly for is this, to emphasise the immense importance and advantage of Medical Missions. The Chairman : I see that to-morrow one of the topics will be Medical Missions, and the comparative value, for Mission purposes, of hospital, dispensary, and itinerant Medical Mission work. I hope you will be good enough to come and speak upon that to-morrow. Rev. J. Hesse : As to the relation of itinerant to settled Missions, the one must supplement the other, and both must be conducted so as to fit in with each other. There have been enthusiasts of the settled Mission or station system, who went so far as to say, they had never heard of a well running after thirsty people, but only of thirsty people running after a well, and who tried hard to make their station, and, I suppose, themselves, such an attraction to the surrounding heathen, as to render itineration unnecessary — without any success ! And there have been itinerating Missions as, e.(/., that fantastical China Association of Dr. Giitzlaff's, where there was no attempt at forming regular congregations and conducting com- mon worship, but everything on the move, nominally, throughout the eighteen provinces, and which ended as a grand system of im- posture, as far as the natives were concerned. Here, too, systematic, well-planned, and patiently-performed work is the one thing needful ; not well-meant, crude attempts at blowing down the walls of Jericho with a flourish of trumpets. 1. No settled Mission is complete without thorough provision being made for a regular and systematic itinerancy, and no itinerant Mission can be of much use, unless it be connected with some fixed station, where Divine service is statedly carried on, and where inquirers can be prepared for baptism. 2. Every Mission station ought to have one Missionary, and one or more native evangelists, whose one chief work is travelling about and preaching the Gospel in every village, nay ! at every house door in the district. 3. Every station should be provided with a minute map of the neighbourhood, and a list of all the villages, hamlets, temples, etc., in it, with distances, number of inhabitants, facilities for lodging or camping, etc. 4. Every evangelist should keep a record, not only of the places visited by him, but also, as far as possible, of the names and characters of the persons with whom he has come into closer contact, either in a friendly or in an unfriendly way, this record, or book of addresses, being the property of the station, and serving as a directory for all present or future workers. 5. He may also note the titles of tracts distributed in the various places visited, to be able, on another visit, to inquire after the 46 MISSIONARY METHODS — (2) MODES OF WOKKING. contents, if read or not, and also to avoid flooding one place with the same books over and over again. 6. In like manner he may note the texts and subjects on which he has spoken, in this or in that particular place, to avoid repetition and to make reference to what has previously been said possible. 7. Educational Missionaries should keep lists of their former pupils, with full particulars as to their whereabouts, by personal visits, by correspondence, or through their evangelistic colleagues, to keep them under the influence of the Gospel. Every old Mission pupil must be utilised as a connecting link between his people and the Mission. 8. Native Church members, living on the station, may be encouraged from time to time, as their private business permits, to accompany the preachers, in order to add their testimony to theirs. It may not be expedient, however, to pay them their travelling expenses, as is done in some Missions. 9. The heathen must be invited to come to the station to see how Christians worship and live. If they can be present at a baptismal service it will help to dispel prejudices. 10. Every book and tract distributed should have on its title page, or somewhere else, an intimation as to where and how further instruction can be obtained (name of station, etc.). 11. As often as the evangelists start on a journey they should be ©ommeuded to the grace of God in a short service at church, and continual intercession should be made on their behalf by the congregation. 12. From time to time they may — also in church — give an account of their experiences, so that the whole congregation may be kept in contact and sympathy with the work among the non- Christians. 13. If the Station schools will, from time to time, march out with the preachers, and help in the singing, it will make a good impression, and refresh boys as well as teachers. Rev. J. Hudson Taylor : I wanted just to make a remark to prevent misconception. In the first place, I think, perhaps, our dear Chairman has no idea how very closely the old Missions and the new ones are connected together. The Chairman : To be sure I have. Rev. J. Hudson Taylor : The very legs we stand vipon are the old Missions. There is one topic upon which I should like to say a word or two, and that is the question of converts. I covild give you twenty instances of converts in twenty minutes, but as I cannot ask for that I will only give you one. My friend, Stanley Smith, after he •tin rato^^work ^^^ been f Or seven months in China, thought he would give himself a vacation to go and see a friend who was distant fiom him three days' journey. Half way across he came to a city of which he DISCUSSION. 47 had never heard before, and in which no evangelistic work had been done. While the mules were eating their dinner he went out to preach the Gospel, and it was not Avith him any question as to Missionary methods, but he said, " You all know what you ought to be ; why are not you what you ought to be 1 You all know what you ought to do : why do not you do what you ought to do? Is it not just this, that you like to do the thing that you know to be wrong rather than to do the thing you know to be right ? Now I have not come to talk to you about philosophy, but to tell you about a living Saviour who is willing to forgive all your sins if you will only go to Him." A young Chinaman was passing by, a learned man, a B.A. of his university. He heard these words, and said, " If there is a Saviour like that there is not a man in this world who does not want Him." He accepted Him there and then, and after conversion and a short time he came to my friend to learn more about Chris- wonderful tianity. A question was afterwards put to him by a native ^^^ *" Christian, " What have you done for Christ since you believed 1 " " Oh ! " he said, " I am a learner." " Well," said his questioner, " I have another question to ask you : when you light a candle, do you light it to make the candle more comfortable ? " " Certainly not," he said, " in order that it may give light." " When it is half burnt down do you expect that it will first become useful ? " " No ; as soon as I light it." " Very well," he said, " go thou and do likewise ; begin at once." Shortly after that there were fifty native Christians in the town as the result of that man's work. I think this will show you that itinerating Missions are not chimerical, and if I had more time I could give you more instances of it. Let us hope that when a Missionary goes forth to do God's work, he will have just as good success as the Apostle Paul. The Chairman : Has anybody suggested that itinerant Missions are chimerical ? Eev. J. Hudson Taylor : I do not want the idea to go forth. The Chairman : I do not suppose the idea is in anybody's mind. You only raise a spirit of antagonism by saying that. Rev. J. Hudson Taylor : But, my dear sir, this is the remark which I replied to. Dr. Nevius is said to have itinerated fifteen years, if I under- stood rightly, without fruit. He did not tell me so. I think it is a mistake ; but I will not say it may not be so. But if it be so, on the other hand there are others who have gained converts in less than fifteen months. Rev. F. E, Wigram offered prayer, and The Chairman pronounced the Benediction. , MEETINGS OF MEMBERS IN SECTION. Third Session. MISSIONARY METHODS. (3) DEALING WITH SOCIAL CUSTOMS. The relation of the Missionary to national, religious, and social customs, such as (a) caste, {h) slavery, (c) polygamy, {tism of Polygamists and Polyandrists. " Polygamy and polyandry are opposed to the idea of Christian marriage. " It is, therefore, the duty of our Missionaries to bear a decided testimony ao'ainst these heathenish customs. While it can on no account be permitted that baptised persons form such connections, the Synod was conscious that there might be cases in which it would lead to yet greater sin if a heathen before his baptism were obliged to dismiss all his wives but one, and therefore resolved : — " That in exceptional cases, and only in such, polygamists may be admitted to holy baptism, but polyandrists in no case. These exceptions are to be considered and determined upon by the Mission Conference of the district in which such cases occur. " It is a matter of course that a baptised man living in polygamy cannot be appointed to office in the Church." — Page 117 of Results of General Synod of the Brethren's Unity (Moravian Church), held at Herrnhut in 1879. That is the result of our experience from different parts of the woi'ld amongst the Esquimos, Indians, Africans, and others whom I might mention. Rev. James Scott (Free Chisirch of Scotland Zulu Mission) : I have spoken very little at public meetings, except in the Zulu language, for the last ten years, and I hope, therefoi'e, that you will excuse me ex*erien«!. ^^ •"• '^^ ^'^^ quite at home in my own tongue. I rise to speak on the question of polygamy, and I doubt if there is any one here to whom that is such a burning question as it is to me. I have at this moment dozens and scores of polygamists waiting to be admitted to my Church, and it is a very serious question Avhat we are to do with them. I could, if time allowed, speak very strongly for half an hour on cither side of the question. I have to do with it every day of my life. As I have said, there are dozens and scores of polygamists wishing to be baptised, and I scarcely knoW'What to do in the matter. I was delighted to hear some of our brethren speak for freedom. I was delighted to hear "zulus. * *^® remarks of Dr. Smith and of the Eev. John Ross from China, because I believe that in some cases we must and ought to accept polygamists. We ought not, of course, to allow polygamy to be rooted in the Christian Church. Amongst the Zulus in South Africa, we have grey-headed old men with their grey-headed old wives coming and asking to be baptised into the Church of Christ, and are we to say to these men, " Send those old women and your children away " ? Let me mention one case that happened several years ago. Far away from any white men, a man with two wives came forward for baptism. What was to be done ? They knew the custom of the Miss-iouaries ; they knew that the Missionaries had laid down a strict rule that no polygamists DISCUSSION. 67 were to be baptised, and all the Societies had agreed upon that ; but I had felt in my own mind for a considerable time that there were cases in which that was a wrong thing to lay down as a hard and fast rule. This Sabbath morning, amongst thirty or forty others, came one man, as to whose Christianity I had no doubt ; he had testified at public meetings, and had spoken nobly for Christ, and he came with his two wives for baptism. I said to him, " What is to be done ? " " Oh," said the man, " I will release one of the women to return to her father's house ; but as I am a Christian now, she must not take those children of mine to be brought up in that heathen kraal." "I will go," ^^ai^^cilS^* says the woman ; "but I must have the children ; I cannot leave my children, I must take them." Let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen, I should not have known what to do that morning but for the fact that my wife was by my side, and she knew that my views were not so strict as the views of some other people, and she said, " Carry out your own views and baptise them, and then leave the question to themselves.'' Rev. E. E. Jenkins (Secretary, Wesleyan Missionary Society) : I wish to , say a word about the Indian marriage curse. I am very thankful that so many speakers, and some of them practical speakers, have addressed the audience on the most difficult subject of polygamy, Tte Indian with which I have been familiar for many years. I wish I were *™^^^^^'^' as familiar with the solution of it as with the problem. But I hope that the Conference will speak out in no uncertain tones on the Indian mania ge question. We have been pieaching against marriage usages. I preached against them for eighteen years, and my successors, and the honoured ministers of other Societies have preached against it ; and now, thank God, the Hindu youths themselves are denouncing them. These young men have been educated in the English language, and when you teach a man English you not only teach him to read our books, but you put English ideas into his mind, and you put before him the examples of Englishmen, and the history of great and free nations. The fact is, that you make such a student, in a very important respect, a new man. Now these men are with us, and they say that this infamous marriage system must come to an end. I wish the Government would act ; I mean the Government of India. I wish they would listen to the constant appeals presented to them, not from Missionary Conferences only, but from the people themselves. Of course a great social movement like this cannot be attempted by ^'^°'^3 ^^sM Government until they see that the people are prepared for it. How many widows do you think there are in India ? Twenty millions. Now there is hope for a widow in this country, they tell me, but there is no hope for a widow yonder. And the poor little girl who happens to be betrothed at the age of two to a youth at the age of eight, if he dies, will be left a widow, and a widow for life ! The enormity of this system has become more and more apparent to the intelligence of India. Oh, if our Queen, the Empress of India, had placed before her a short measure, setting free the vast sisterhood of India from this bondage, and if she would put her well-known signature at the bottom of it — they may talk about the glories of her Jubilee, but I venture to say that a measure of that kind would shed a far more shining and enduring lustre upon Queen Victoria s reign than anything that has ever been done before. Rev. Professor Lindsay, D.D. (Free Church College, Glasgow) : Allow me to say one or two words on this subject. I am one of those who have come here not to give light, but to get it. These questions are constantly being referred to Home Committees, and two of them have been referred to 68 MISSIONARY METHODS— (3) SOCIAL CUSTOMS. the Home Committee of my Church, of which I am Chairman. The two questions that have been discussed most are the questions of caste m**aIy*sT/ed and of polygamy, the one offending against the brotherhood of question, mankind, and the other offending against the Christian elevation of woman. I think that the discussion of this day has shown us that polygamy is not a question that can be very easily settled by people sitting in council at home. It is a question w^hich has very many sides, and those sides are as manifold as the various nations among which we preach Christ. The China Missionaries almost all go together, African Missionaries go together, and Indian Missionaries go together, and none of them have suggested a common rule ; nor has it always been remembered that polygamy affects women and children as Avell as men. The lesson that we have To be left to ]jqqj^ taught to-day is that we Christians at home must remember that our Missionaries, who in our stead are preaching Christ to the heathen, have difficulties to contend with, practical difficulties, in this matter, that we at home cannot estimate, and therefore we must do . something like that which has been done by the Moravian Brethren. I admire the wisdom of the Moravian decision. The Moravian Church is, I believe, the most honoured Missionai-y Church in the world, and the decision it has come to is the decision that I think almost In general q^qj-j Missionary Society might very well adopt as a general principle to guide Missionaiies, then they must leave the matter, not to a single Missionary, nor even to a single Missionary's wife, — though I think the wife is better able to discuss the matter in all its bearings than the husband — but to the general council of Missionaries within that Mission district. Rev. William Clark, M.A., of Barrhead, Glasgow (United Presbyterian Church of Scotland) : I do not think I should have ventured to address the Conference but for a remark made by one of the speakers — a German brother labouring in Africa — to the effect that there ^^^ia'm"''""*'' *" ^^^^ almost unanimity amongst Missionaries in South Africa on this question. The Church to which I have the pleasure of belonging differs iu its practice on this matter from the Church represented by that Missionary. The United Presbyteiian Church, which has Mis- sionaries in China, in Japan, in Jamaica, in Kalabar, in Kaffraria, and in India, is said to be the largest giving Church for Missions in proportion to the number of its members of any Church in the world, except the Moravian, and this circumstance will give us some claim to be heard on such a subject as this. Our Missionaries in South Ivaffraria act in this way. If a polygamist, in regard to whom they have hopeful evidence that he has been converted, wishes to be baptised, he is instructed that the first wife is his ^wcoSised.^^ rightful wife and that the others must go. I understan^t that there are some Churches in South Africa that say rather to such a candidate for baptism : " One of your wives you must take as your wife, the one that you love best." Our Church allows no such liberty of choice ; we say, " The one you married first is your real wife in the sight of the Lord, whatever consequences may be feared ; you are pretty safe in keeping the rule, ' They twain shall be one flesh.' " The example of Jacob has been referred to by one of the speakers ; but wo are ADJOURNED DISCUSSION. 69 under New Testament law, and, as another speaker pointed out, " there is more grace in this dispensation than there was in the former." Allusion has been made to the two passages of Scripture in which it is laid down as one of the qualifications of a bishop that he be the husband of one wife, and to an inference which is often drawn from this expression. I have heard no Scriptural argument used in favour of what is called freedom, except this doubtful inference. I have lectured through the two passages referred to, and after reading all I could lay my hands upon bearing upon their exposition, I have not been able to see evidence of the actual admission of polygamists to membership in the Apostolic Church. We cannot make a controverted question in Church histoi-y as to the usage of early times a rule to determine our course in South Africa and else- where in these days, so long especially as we have the plain enactment, " They twain shall be one tiesh." Mr. Smith of Swatow has expressed most of the views I thought of defending. Let me only advert in conclusion to the desire which it seems is being expressed in some instances by the heathen themselves for an improvement of the law, and the forcible putting down of this evil system of polygamy. Is the Church going to lag behind 1 Can you get the Government to improve aspirationa its legislation, so long as the Church is found countenancing not to be the evil by admitting polygamists to baptism and Church i^courage . membership ? I was glad to hear my friend Mr. Ross, while rather more free in his views than I should be inclined to be, declare that he had never admitted any polygamists to the membership of the Christian Church. ADJOURNED DISCUSSION ON .MISSIONARY METH0DS-(3) DEALING WITH SOCIAL CUSTOMS.** (Friday evening, June 1 5th, in the Loiver Hall,) Dean Vahl (Denmark) in the chair. Bishop Crowther offered prayer. The Chairman : This meeting is to be a continuation of the meeting which was held here on Tuesday morning, on the relation of the Missionary to social customs, such as caste, slavery, polygamy, Indian marriage law, etc. I should like, before I call upon any gentleman to speak, to make some observations about polygamy. It is necessary that we should arrive at right conclusions and make right distinctions in regard to these grave subjects. It seems to me that it is absolutely necessary to make a distinction between polygamy and concubinage. It has been asked, " Why has not Christ forbidden ^^/fj^^^bilaee polygamy V" and " Why is polygamy not forbidden in the New distinct. Testament ? " For myself I do not believe that polygamy existed at all in the Hebrew and the great Latin world, at the time of Christ and the * This meeting contains a large amount of repetition. But as it is a question which requires much and varied experience for its solution, we have not limited the expres- Biona of opinion or statement of facts, but have given all in small type. — Editob. 70 MISSIONAEY METHODS — (3) SOCIAL CUSTOMS. Apostles. Herod Antipas, it is true, had two wives, but he divorced his first wife, and lived only with one. It was the same in the great Roman world. I have never seen anything in the classics to lead us to believe that polygamy existed at that time. There was very great licentiousness, and there was con- cubinage. A man had a wife, — but, though he lived with many others, he had but one wife. We heard on Tuesday that the same custom prevailed in China, and that a man has only one wife, although he lives with many others ; but only the fii-st is considered to be his real wife, the others being looked upon as concubines. If this is really the case, then we can see why polygamy is not forbidden in the New Testament. But when we look to St. Paul, who says a bishop shall The Scriptural have but one wife, the conclusion is drawn that, although it was argument, a permitted that men who lived in polygamy should retain their wives, condush)n. ^^ "^^^ forbidden that a man who held a prominent position in the Church should have more than one wife. The conclusion, I think, is not right at all ; because, when we look to 1 Timothy v. 9, it is said, " Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man." From this it cannot be concluded that it was allowed to other women to live in polyandry. Then thei'e is another distinction that should be made. It has been said, " What shall a man do when he has more than one wife ? Shall he give them up to a life of sin or beggary, when baptised on con- dition that he must have only one wife ; shall he leave the children of the other wives to destitution ? '' I do not think that is right. If a man in our country has a wife, and lives a profligate life, and has children by another woman, what has he to do when he is converted ? Shall he put her aside and give her up to an evil life, or to beggary, and shall he put his children away ? I think that is not right. He should support these unhappy women and his children until they get a livelihood in another and brighter way. I think the same should be demanded from a man who has more than one wife discarded wlves.^"^ ^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ baptised. It seems to me that the proper way would be that a man who has more than one wife should support the other wives and children, if there are any, until provision can be made for them in a satisfactory way. After these remarks I will ask for a discussion upon this most difficult question. Rev. James Scott : Mr. Chairman, — I said before, at the meeting of which this is a continuation, that this is a difficult question with which to deal. In the Mif^sion-field from which I come it is a burning question, and is causing great difficulty to many Missionaries and great difficulty to myself. I am thankful that the Chairman has so clearly put before us the difference between polygamy and concubinage. There is no difficulty as to the course to be taken in the one case, but there is difficulty in the other. Now this question has been before us in our Natal Missionary Conferences for a good many years. I brought the matter up there, and at first I stood alone — I believe entirely alone. But I am glad to say I am not now entirely alone in my view of the subject in this large Missionary Conference, I will state shortly the positions taken up in the Natal Mission-field. First, no marriage at all amongst the Zulu-Kaffirs. Therefore if a man had fifty wives and Zulu-Kaffirs ^^ became a Christian, he was at liberty to reject all those wives and marry any one he chose. If I could accept that all my difficulties would vanish, but the difficulty of accepting such a thing is very great. Where do we put Jacob, and David, a man after God's own heart, in such a case ? The second position is that very commonly taken up by the Missionaries: marriage is between one man and one woman ; therefore when a polygamist and his wives are converted he must take one wife— one of those wives as his real wife. A great difficulty exists, however, as to which one he is to take ; and it was my seeing the Missionaries' action upon that point, during the period when I was still a commercial man among the natives in Kaffirland, that set me thinking; ADJOURNED DISCUSSION. 71 and I have been thinking these hxst twenty years, and I have come to hold a different opiuiou from that of the majority. At the time I am speaking of, a Missionary allovred a chief to take which wife he liked to choose, and he took the youngest. This is a very difficult wMch wife question, as to which wife should be taken. Amongst the Zulus it to be chosen? is a fact that a man's first wife is not his own choice. Wives are bought and sold for — say, twenty head of cattle ; and if a young man's father is wealthy, he is presented by his father with a wife. He has that wife with the full knowledge that if he has twenty more head of cattle he will have a wife of his own choice, and if he has still more cattle he can have a third wife, or a fourth, or a fiftli — as many as he chooses. Now, as to which of those women should be his real wife, whether the first or the second, is a very difficult question to determine. The third position is that of those who maintain that the Zulu-Kaffir marriages are exactly on the same footing as Old Testament marriages, and when a polygamist and his wives are converted, there should be no breaking up of the Breaking up family, but they should all be accepted as one. My friends, this the family, last-mentioned view is the view I have come to consider to be the right view. Remember, there is not one in this house who would stand up against polygamy in the Christian Church more than I would. I have, I know, been misrepre- sented on that question, and I will now tell you that I would fight against it and turn out of membership any member who sought to take a second wife. I have been fighting this question alone as regards Missionaries, but I Opinion of Chris- have on my side the whole body of the lay Christian young men tian Colonists. who understand the question, having grown up among the Zulus, so I am not afraid as to how the question will go in the future. Now, I will bring forward a few difficulties that there are in this matter. First, if we accept into the Church old polygamists with their wives, young men will hang back and keep out of the Church until they have the two or three wives that they may want. They will say, " You have accepted that old man and his wives, and you must accept me also." That is a very grave difficulty. It is no trifling thing. Then if we accept on our communion roll a man with one or two wives, why turn out the man who takes a second wife ? All these things are serious ones to contemplate. But these difficulties, I con- sider, can only be put against the difficulties which can be brought forward on the other side. The refusal to receive polygamists into the Church of Christ is a great hindrance to the G-ospel amongst the Zulus. It is Hindrance to not because a man is a Christian that he will not make any sacrifice Gospel, that is necessary. It is that the old men will not listen. Again and again they have said to my evangelists, " I will rather go to hell with my wives and children than to heaven without them." It is a very serious thing for us to drive a man to such a position as that — that they will not listen to the Gospel, because they know the usual course is that they must part from their wives and children. But these are merely secondary questions. We must look to w-hether it is right or wrong, and consider what our Head and Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, thinks of the matter — and I will take up this verse, " Whosoever putteth away his wife and marrieth another committoth adultery." But I think, when we bring forward that text, we must not forget that our Lord Jesus Christ was speaking to a nation where polygamy was allowed ; and What does the if that was so then the verse cuts another away, because if those ^-^^^^"^ ^'^y • women are the wives of that man we are forcing him and them to commit sin in putting them away. Rev. D. D. Young (Free Church of Scotland Mission, North Kaffirland) : Mr. Chairman, Christian friends, — During this Conference I have been silent because I came here with the object of learning, and my only reason for speak- ing to-night is that, like the speaker who has just preceded me, my work has been in a country where this question is a burning ^ 3°^ vie*" question. I am labouring in South Africa, and I have been there ^'^ " ' ^ * for twelve years. During the first five years I laboured in an institution ; and '?2 MISSIONARY METHODS— (3) SOCIAL CUSTOMS. from my own experience I know that there are many in the field labouring who have not been brought face to face with this great question. While I was labouring at that institution I did not have this question brought before me, but when I went into the midst of heathenism, and laboured amongst the people as I am doing now, I was led again and again to think seriously of this question. And my own conclusion is very much the conclusion of the former speaker. The best way I think that I can bring the question before you is by narrating one or two cases that came under my own observation. I have at present in my Missionary district a man grown up in heathenism who holds a prominent position. He is chief of a tribe and has three wives, and has practically accepted Christianity. He has gone so far as to fall upon his knees and to ask God to forgive his sins and to accept him and make him His own child. The only reason that hinders him from coming out hi^fs d^'cuUv ^o^*^^y '^ *^^* ^^^ three wives are middle-aged, and all have families, 'and he is brought face to face with this question, " If I join the Church and become baptised I will have, according to the rule of the Church, to put away two of my wives ; " and of course he feels his position. It is very hard for him to put them on one side, but I think it is harder still for the two women who would be put away. The wives at present have a social status, they are recognised as the wives of that man, but if they are put away there is no chance of their being married again, for I have not heard of one who has been put away being accepted by another husband and thus being provided for. But the question not only affects the husband, and not only the wife, but I think in a very special manner it affects the ahildren of those wives. I have in my Mission district a very worthy elder. In his heathen days he had three wives, and when he became converted he put away two of the wives and i-emained with the first. But he had children by the other wives ; . and, while one of these other wives is dead, the second is now a a father^care' Christian, and her children are Christians, but they are without the fatherly care and fatherly attention ; and there is great danger of these Christians wandering away, because we all know what it is for a young man to live in his father's house and have fatherly care shown him day by day. Although I have spoken as I have done — and I might say a great deal more yet— I recognise the difficulty of this matter. It is a most serious question — a question that calls not so much for discussion as quiet persevering prayer to the Lord that He might show us the way in this matter. And it is also difficult in this way, that we have an established practice. I think the concensus of the older men in the Mission is in favour of the practice that we Much prayer already have. It is against polygamy. I think so, from all my ^dance! intercourse with the Missionaries. Of course, experience teaches many lessons, and we have to think over the past again and again, and gather lessons from new experience to deal with the subject. But since we have an established practice I recognise the difficulty of the matter, and I therefore entreat all that love the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that they will make this a matter of prayer. There is another thing I think we ought to do, and with this I will close. I think it is a question that ought to be sent down and discussed in all our native Churches. It is a question I think that for myself I should like to see taken up and discussed by the native brethren, like our good father on the platform here, who can look at this question from an entirely different point of view to us in England. I should like to hear his opinion on the subject. Bishop Crowther, D.D. (C.M.S., of the Niger) : Mr. Chairman, ladies, and gentlemen, — The matter before this meeting is one of very great importance, and it is one which ought to be looked at and judged from a cto enar' ' Scriptural point of view. If we go to consult the feeungs of this views!*^ tribe and that tribe of this or that nation and leave the Word of God behind we shall err. We may as well save all the people who are worshipping imaginary gods instead of the one only true God. My ADJOURNED DISCUSSION. 73 opinion, and the opinion of the -women in my own country, is that polygamy is a misery to mankind. You consult men's feelings, but you do not consult the women's. Now I will just give you some information about the state of things in Africa where I come from. Whoever has witnessed this life of polygamy would never venture to support or commend its being continued at all. It is an evil. Supposing a man gets married to one wife, and then he marries another, and another, until he has five, seven, or ten wives. When ho becomes converted he is received only with one wife, but the . others must be put away. And we have witnessed in the heart * facts!^ ^"^ of the country, where we Missionaries go, that where there are illegitimate children born there is a great deal of heart-burning between the husband and the women. This is a fact. And why '? Man was not made to have so many wives in the house. If you understood the secret of the thing you would never advocate a man having more than one wife. Another thing I must tell you is this : As a matter of fact the wives of these polygamists are not fed by their husbands. The women have to provide for themselves. You have only to go to New Calabar to find these poor women, the wives of chiefs — these polygamists — being obliged ^°'^ provide to take axes and go into the forests either to cut wood or to make °^ ^^ves . a fence ; to cut bamboo poles, to thatch houses, while others again — I am talking of the women — have to go out in their canoes to fish, and one or two may have a little baby on their backs. They have to paddle out and catch fish to support themselves and their husbands. Now, is such a state of things as that to be advocated ? My dear friends, I am just telling you all this that you may see what is the state of things. Well, under the circumstances I have mentioned, the wives of polygamists, having children, are not fed by the husbands, neither are the children. The children are not taken care of by the husband at all. Before I sit down, I would ask whether, if the husband dies, you think these women live ever afterwards in misery. No ; before many months you find each of them will get a husband, A Memljer : May I, for the information of this Conference, be permitted to ask Bishop Crowther a very important question ? The Chairman : Yes. The Member : Will you teU us, please, whether, in the case of a native chief having more than one wife, having married them as a heathen, if he becomes a Christian, would you compel him to put aside all Question but the one wife before he is baptised ? and whether, on the other hand, when one of the wives becomes a Christian first, you would baptise and receive into the fellowship of the Church such a woman, she being the wife of a heathen husband, and being one of many wives ? Bishop Crowther : We do not scruple about this. If a chief with two or three wives were to come we should say, "If you wish to be baptised you must put your wives away;'' and if he did not we should not baptise them. If there were to be a hundred women come to us, being the wives of one man, we should bap- tise the women, because we should know that they had no choice in regard to marriage ; we should know that they were drawn into it, and that they could ■ not help it. It is not their choice, so we should baptise them. At the request of the Chairman the meeting engaged in prayer. Rev. .1. Hudson Taylor (China Inland Mission) : Dear brethren, — There is no subject before us which requires to be approached in a more prayerful spirit than this, and I am exceedingly thankful that our Chairman has called for prayer. I went out to China some thirty-four years ago, holding very strongly the view 74 MISSIONARY METHODS— (3) SOCIAL CUSTOMS. that I suppose most hold, namely, that every man having more than one wife, if converted, must be prepared to put them aside. I saw before I had Reason for })een out there very long an instance in which a man was converted who had two wives. He desired to be admitted to the Church, and he was told that in order to be admitted he must put one of his wives away. "Well," he said, "may I take my choice, because my second wife is the mother of my children, and my first wife has no children ? " He was told by the Missionaries in charge, " No, you have no choice in the matter ; the woman you first married is your wife, and your only wife. You never have been married to the other woman ; these children are illegitimate, and you have no right to keep her or to keep them." Well, he was in great trouble and perplexity and did p case. ^^^ know what to do. His own feeling was, I believe, more correct than the advice he got from his Missionary friends. However, at last, feeling that these good men, who had come so far and had brought knowledge of Christ and salvation, must be right, he put away his wife and children, and con- demned them practically to a life of disgrace. They were disowned. Can you wonder that this woman had a bitter hatred of Christ and Christianity ? She said, " If this is the system of Christianity, it is not from heaven." I believe she was right ; it was not the right system, and it was not from heaven. Finally, the man was so distressed when he saw his wife and children put away that he gave up his profession and went back to her. I believe, dear friends, that here a profound mistake was made. I have read and studied the Word of God on that subject, and I was pleased to see in a pamphlet the other evening the very conclusion that I Scrip^e. ^^^ many others have been led to express here. This pamphlet is a brief examination of the Old and New Testament Scriptures on marriage, polygamy, and concubinage. There is one sentence in it which gives you briefly the conclusion that we were led to in considering this matter : — " Thousands of persons were speedily converted when the Holy Ghost came down, and were received as members ; but there is no proof that before they were received any inquiry was made as to their previous family arrangements, or that any who were found to be the husbands of more than one wife, were constrained to retain only one and to put the others away. Nevertheless," says the author, " without violence or harshness to those who had previously been entangled with the sins of polygamy, its speedy extirpation was made." The effect of study of the Old Testament will lead us to believe that polygamy is a great evil, and the New Testament is most pronounced, that the will of God is that one husband shall only marry one wife. But when a husband has married more than one wife before he knows that law, what is to be done ? There is the question. In China, _, . as a rule, a man marries a second wife because there are no children China."* ^7 ^^^ ^^^^ wife, and it is thought to be the duty of the people, at any cost, to secure legitimate posterity. These women are lawfully married. They could not but be married ; they have no voice in the matter. But if they are put away they are put into a false position, and very few of them will be able to live respectable lives, while they and their children will be greatly lowered in the estimation of all around them. Are we to make the children illegitimate, and let them go with the Avives who are put aside, or are we to say that the husband must keep the children and train them ? I hold that there is no lawful cause to put away a wife except that of adultery. So strongly do I feel on this question that if a man were to come and say, " I am married to two wives ; I am prepared to put one away ; I will turn her out ; I want you to receive me and baptise me," I should tell him I could not do it under the circumstances. This matter is one for much prayerful consider- ation. Might I suggest that, possibly, in different countries the Varying question must be dealt with in different ways ? I think perhaps we conditions m i i j.ii- i_- • i • xj.j;i different lands. "^'^^ '^^^^ talking sometimes in a general sweeping way, forgetful " that there may be very great differences in our circumstances. For instance, perhaps those who hold views of one kind about education are quite right with regard to the country with which they are familiar, yet their par- ADJOUENED DISCUSSION. 75 ticular line of action might become quite unnecessary in regard to another country. So possibly the polygamy of Africa may be different from the poly- gamy of China. I hold that holy men must have latitude, and seeking God's guidance do the best they can. Mr. W. C. Bailey (Secretary, Mission to Lepers in India) : Would those gentlemen who advocate the putting away of all wives but one kindly tell us, first, What would they do with the remaining wives ? Second, so far as their experience has gone, What is the usual fate of those women who are put away ? Third, When a woman who has children is put away, to whom do the children go ? Rev. C. H. V. Gollmer (C.M.S., from Lagos, West Africa) : I think I must leave these questions for a more experienced Missionary than myself to answer. We have heard already from one of the speakers that there has been, up till now, a recognised rule that in most countries polygamists have not been admitted by baptism into the Church ; and we must have a very good reason indeed, it seems to me, for altering that rule. We ourselves, as Christians, thank God, are growing more and more into the light of His truth, and enjoying more the privileges of the Gospel than some of our forefathers did, and we want to bring these blessings to the native Churches, y^^^^^^j. g^^^a^a. We want to preach a full Gospel and not half a Gospel. If Ave bring polygamy into our Churches we shall never get rid of it. I will just say this, that although I have not had much experience myself, I have the great privilege and honour of being a son of a Missionary who was associated with Bishop Crowther many years ago, and I know something of his experience and difficulties. It has abeady been said that this subject is of vital interest to the religious life of native Christians, and should be discussed in all the native Churches. I can inform you that this important subject has been already . discussed at a Diocesan Conference at Lagos, on the West Coast natfve Church, of Africa. Thirty-five years ago Lagos was one of the great slave marts in Africa. Twelve months ago there was this Conference held to con- sider certain questions which affected the well-being of the African Church connected with the Church of England especially ; and I would like to read to you a few extracts from one of the addresses by a native gentleman, a Christian communicant of our Church, showing you a native view of the subject, and also the conclusion that was come to ; and I will read tke very important document which is to be presented to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and which, it seems to me, is an answer to Bishop Colenso. They do not want to have any- thing to do with polygamy in that part of West Africa. This gentleman says, first of all, that he believes, and many other people in the Yoruba country believe also, that originally polygamy was not the custom ; and Bishop Crowther, I think, will bear me out in that statement. It was introduced by the Moham- medans. [The quotation was too long for insertion, but the following is a copy of the memorial to the Archbishop of Canterbury: — " Memorial from the Yoruba Division of the Diocese of Sierra Leone, W. Africa. " To His Grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. " May it please your Grace, — " We, the Bishop of Sierra Leone, English and African Missionaries of the Church of England, engaged in Church Missionary Society work in the Yoruba country in Western Africa, and Pastors of native Churches, desire to approach your Grace, and to record our firm and sincere convictions, grounded on practical experience of work in this country, on the subject of polygamy. " We have heard that this question is being debated in the Mother Church, and we are hopeful that it will receive its due attention at the appi-oaching 76 MISSIONARY METHODS— (3) SOCIAL CUSTOMS. Conference of Bishops, but we feel constrained at once to express our view of the matter. " We consider that we are in the very best part of the world to see the evil of this system ; we are well and painfully aware of its complications, and we clearly see how it hinders our efforts in the matter of evangelisation. "Polygamy is to this part of the world what ancient heathen systems of belief are in India and China. It forms the principal barrier in our way. We believe that to remove it, however, in the way that some would suggest, would be to remove all test of sincerity and whole-heartedness in embracing the Christian faith, and thus lead to the admission of a very weak and heterogeneous body of converts ; and we are certain that the effect of any — the least — compromise in the view hitherto maintained of the Christian marriage-tie, would be a great blow to Christian morality in these parts. " We respectfully request our ecclesiastical leaders to give forth a united utterance on this subject, as soon as may be, for we are of opinion that for it to be treated as an open question is in itself a weakness to the Church, and an additional difficulty to us in our very arduous efforts for Christian purity in this part of Africa. "We, who sign this memorial, are in Conference assembled at Lagos, in the Southern Division of the Diocese of Sien-a Leone, a Conference convened by the Bishop to consider this and other matters, and Ave are present as representatives, lay and clerical, from various parts of this Yoruba country. " We are, your Grace's humble Servants in Jesus Christ, (Signed) " Ernest Graham, Bishop of Sierra Leone. "James Hamilton, Archdeacon of Lagos." &c., &c., &c., &c. Here follow the names of eighteen clergy, of whom four are European and fourteen African, also the names of the twenty-five lay members of the Conference.] Rev. James Calvert : My dear friends, — It was stated the other day that the members of all the Missionary Societies were of one mind. That is altogether incorrect. I think we should act wisely if we resorted to common sense in the matter, because polygamy is so manifestly an evil that it ought with"T)oiy^my. *^ ^^ gi'appled with, overcome, and put aside, like all other abomin- ations that exist. We cannot tamper with this polygamy. I have never known any individual get on in the least in his religion who refused to abandon every wife but one. I have found that the natives have a conscience, and they feel that it is wrong in the sight of Him who made them, — one man and one woman at the beginning, — and it is manifestly an impropriety that they have been led into ; and that they have transgressed against God and lived in darkness. The native Christians are generally enabled to give up all their wives but one. It is true that some of them would like to give up the entire lot, and have another woman altogether, but that we have objected to. With regard to the question of a man keeping to the first wife and leaving all the others, he is no more married to the first than he is to the other women. He never takes any of them saying that they would live together " till death did them part.'' He takes one and then another. But the question is, . What shall be done with the remaining wives ? When the King was to'^ tiir^e*s. converted he chose one and was married to her, and was faithful to her for twenty-nine years. What became of all the rest of the women ? it may be asked. They were married to the persons who ought to have had them years before. These women afterwards turned out to be good wives, and their husbands were industrious and took care of them. With regard to the children, the women generally had them. The chief had had many wives, but kept only the one he was married to and all their children. I believe that if we talk this over, and are determined to stick to the Scriptures and to common- sense, we shall find that polygamy will vanish as all other sins vanish. ADJOURNED DISCUSSION, 77 Rev. Francis H. James (B.M.S., from China) : First of all let me say that none of us advocate polygamy. It does seem impossible to make some things clear, especially if people do not wish to see ^^'^^^ ^'^ '^^"^^ them. Now, not in every case do the wives earn the food for 'li^llit^'^" their husbands. They do not in China. It has been denied by Chinese Missionaries that these women are wives. Let me give you some facts. In the imperial temples of China, on the tablet by which the Emperor is worshipped, you will find mentioned the Empress and all the concubines. They are something more than concubines, and they cannot lightly be put away. If they are discarded they are taken and kept in a special part of the palace for the rest of their lives. They can never, however, become the wives of another. The common word for " lady " in China is " taitai," and the first wife is called the " taitai." The second is called " e-tai-tai," which similarity of designation is another proof that these women are something more than concubines, that they are in fact wives. The Chinese conscience does not look upon them as concubines, but as women in a far more honourable position. Again, it is sometimes assumed that we do not want to keep to the Scrip- ture. We do keep to it. It is an unfair thing to assume that those who take the other side of the question are wishing to depart from the Scripture. We have no wish to do anything of the kind. I think a common -sense inter- pretation of the Scripture, as stated by Mr. Hudson Taylor, is certainly on our side. We do not want to go back to rules made Interpretation forty or fifty years ago. We want the teaching of Scripture in its °f Scripture, clearest passages, and when we have that we are safe. It has been said that we must not appeal to feelings. There are feelings and feelings. There are feelings we do not wish to consider or countenance ; but I maintain that we have a right to listen to the feelings of justice, mercy, and compassion, and we are wrong if we do not go according to them. I believe that in the sight of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and in the sight of God, those who are in the position of my opponents to-night are wrong, and I hope the day will come soon when they will heartily repent and change their way of dealing with this matter. Rev. Paulus Kammerer (Basle Missionary Society, from China) : All I wanted to say has been said by Mr. Taylor and the previous speaker about this question. I only want to add that the Basle Mission has settled this question in this way : We admit polygamists to the congrega- ^ J'^J^'". tions, but not to any official post. We never allow anything like that, and I think there is nothing in the Scripture against this method. The Basle Mission has experience in Africa, India, and China, and this has been the conclusion of all the experience met with in these three fields ; but I believe there is a great difference between polygamy in Africa and in China. I have discussed this question with my fellow brethren from Africa. I heard from them that a negro wife is quite content when she has one child by her husband, to leave the husband with her child, and earn her livelihood. This was what was told me by an African Missionary, but I am very sorry that such a length of time is devoted to this question, for there are many others which should have been discussed in this Conference ; one for instance being the betrothal of infants in China, which is a very important question. I believe this question has been neglected too much by some Mission- o" infant^'^ aries in China. The Basle Mission had very much difficulty discussing this question, the Missionaries not being unanimous. I will ask some of the Chinese Missionaries who may speak after me, to give us their opinions upon this question. We have always to bear in mind the various customs of various nations. We have difficulty in dealing with them, and we are not to look to see whether they are connected with idolatry or not ; and the betrothal of infants is, I believe, connected with idolatry, because it rules in their ancestral Avorship ; so we ought to be very careful as to allowing the betrothal of infants to 78 MISSIONAEY METHODS — (3) SOCIAL CUSTOMS. any who are connected with our Churches, because much mischief might accrue. I would ask you to give us some information about this matter. A Member : I should like to make a few remarks, and I would say that my reason for asking to be permitted to speak was not that I wished to say anything about polygamy, but about slavery. I was the very man, I believe, who suggested that we should have a meeting to continue this discussion and to extend the subject to slavery. The petition was sent in at my suggestion, but the subject of slavery, curiously enough, is left out. With regard to polygamy Custom of J ^ji] only take this opportunity of stating that the practice of our ^Societv'^ Norwegian Missionary Society has been the same as that of the Berlin Society, as stated by the Kev. Mr. Merensky, and further explained by his friend here this evening. Rev. Professor T. Smith, D.D. : I will say first of all that I am exceedingly glad that the right reverend father behind me (Bishop Crowther) has made a speech on this subject. I can freely argue with his speech, but I hope I shall say nothing which will appear to be inconsistent with the very profound respect which I and others have for him, as one who has been and is greatly admired and loved. I think his views on this subject are utterly wrong. of polveamv^ ^ First of all he takes it for granted that in some way or other we have less hatred and less sense of the evil of polygamy than he has. I venture to say there is not one member of this Conference who does not as thoroughly detest and abhor polygamy, and is not as certain of the perfect evil of it as the right reverend father himself. He seems to assume that we have to require of our professed converts the renunciation of all sins except this one sin, which we are to allow them to retain. I can scarcely deny that some who spoke on my side of the question may have given something like a countenance to this, but certainly that is not my view of the matter. I myself would not baptise a man or admit him to baptism who did not confess his sin of polygamy as a sin committed against nature — and against the light of nature which he possessed, although he had not the light of the Gospel — and if I baptised him it would be with the understanding that I should debar him for ever from holding any office in the Christian Church. I would say, " You renounce idolatry and all the sinful habits you have formed ; but you are bound to retain the obligations which you had incurced as a heathen man ; you came under obligation to these Husland's -vromen, and these obligations you must fulfil ; they are an evil " ^^e*"* y°^ have brought upon yourself by your sin.'' Polygamy is an evil, an unspeakable evil, and that evil he must bear on account of his sin, just as the drunkard must bear the evil he brought upon himself through drunk'j uness. I cannot release him by conniving at an injustice. I should hold hin.. to be bound to do his duty towards those women, and if he refused to do this and put them all away but one, or if he put every one away, I say he would commit sin against God, and bring scandal upon the Christian name. Dr. Robert Pringle (of the Bengal Army) : Mr. Chairman, and Christian friends, — You have had the ministerial view of the case, and now I will take it up from the professional point of view — at least, I wUl deal with the subject according to my professional knowledge. Mohammedanism has permeated the whole of the East. One gentleman alluded to it just now, and I may say that Mohammedanism will rule the whole world by getting the bridle rein of sensuality. Polygamy is the custom of Eastern countries, and I say that if we are going to ask these men to give up all but one wife when they come into the Church, it is not to be a queotion of whether it is to be the one by whom they have had children. I put that on one side. That is not the point. I say it is the ques- tion as to whom they were first married, that woman is the man's wife, and ADJOURNED DISCUSSION. 79 every one else is not his wife, and these people know as well as we do that this is right in the sight of God. Rev. Gt. Smith (English Presbyterian Mission, Swatow, China) : I have been a Missionary for fully thirty years, and the Church with which I am con- nected consists of Chinese converts and communicants, the latter numbering three thousand five hundred odd, and with another L^ge experience Church united with us, more than four thousand communicants. ° i^chjna!""^ Well, during all these years the uniform practice of this Church has been to exclude polygamists, and this has helped to maintain the purity of the Church, and is no bai'rier to the conversion of the Chinese. I must explain about the Chinaman and his wives. There are what are called wives, and also concubines, and it is the ambition of a Chinese mandarin to have a wife from each of the eighteen provinces in China, and as many concubines as he can afford to support. Polygamy is very common among the higher circles, but I venture to say from my own experience that a man who indulges in polygamy goes against the conscience of the Chinese. I have had it pointed out that a man, when he became wealthy and took a second wife, while he was rising in the scale of wealth was falling in the scale of morality. I believe that we have the consciences of the people on our side when we oppose polygamy. It is laid down by Christ, as the law of His Church, that we are to return to the original law given in the beginning ; and, I hold that it is most important for the future of the Church of Christ, that its foundation be laid on social pmity. There may be what appears to be severity at first. When Peter said, " Far be it from Thee to do such a thing,'' the Master answered, " Thou savourest not the things that be of God, but of man." I have no sympathy with the appeals to the love of God to sanction polygamy. I believe such appeals to be an utter misrepresentation of the meaning of Scripture. God is a holy God, as well as a God of love. I was deeply grieved to hear the sentiments expressed by a man holding such a position as Mr. Hudson Taylor. When he told us the story about the woman who was put away by her husband, and then suffered all the hardships that she did, I cannot but say that, as far as I can judge, the case was mismanaged. Let it be always remembered that in China there is not the slightest difficulty for a woman to get a husband ; the great difficulty is for a man to get a wife ; and if a woman is put away, she can get a dozen men to choose from, if she wish, without trouble. So that it is not a fair repre- ea'-7^CMn° sentation of the thing to say, " She is an outcast when put away. Her former husband is still bound to care for her welfare." Now, coming to another point, we have heard from Africa (Bishop Crowther), we have heard from the Fiji Islands, and from other places how the work has been done. Polygamy has been banished from the Church in these parts and elsewhere, and the Church is flourishing, and that shows that it is practicable. It has been found to be successful, for the Church becomes prosperous. Rev. John Mackenzie (L.M.S., from Bechuanaland) : I will speak to you about a part of Africa that has not been alluded to this evening — Bechuanaland and Basutoland. The native custom there has always been, amongst the great majority of the people, for one man to have but one wife. ^^^^^^^^^^ Polygamy is like a man who purchases a carriage ; it is an indication of rising in society. According to a man's rising in society so is the number of his wives. When a man takes a second wife, and then a third, he at once makes pro- vision for each one of these women. In the case of a wealthy man, he gives them cattle and servants, and surrounds each of them with all that makes a separate establishment. We have unfortunately called all those people wives, bringing down that beautiful Enghsh word. They g^Xr^ves. themselves consider that there is only one wife, and the others do not occupy her position. The custom was that while a wealthy man had a 80 MISSIONAKY METHODS— (3) SOCIAL CUSTOMS. number of them, he had only one wife, concerning whose children no provision needed to be made. Her children were the heirs at law ; and the man did not make provision for them in the sense in which he made provision for the others. When he died, if he had not made provision for the issue of the smaller wives, of course they would get nothing ; so that the social standing of these women speaks for itself. It is now a great many years since Christianity went into Bechuanaland, borne by Robert Moffat, followed by Livingstone, and by others who passed through those difficulties in their time. There is now a Christian influence Experience of jn that part of the world ; and if any one were to bring the new *^^^"."^°^ doctrine there he would have no chance whatever, on account of Livingstone. ^^^ public opinion of the country already created. The course to pursue has already been decided there, where Christianity has been so long established. A friendly settlement is always made as regards the children, and also as regards the women. They do not lose caste, and certainly the children do not, because according to the heathen arrangement they belong to the father, and are as dignified after the man becomes a Christian as they were before. Polygamists showing interest in Christianity should be helped in every way, and treated with consideration and patience. But their place was the catechumen's class ; the water of baptism did not belong to them. A MemTjer : But do they keep the provision that he makes for them ? Rev. J. Mackenzie : They do ; and when the man dies they are surrounded by the property he has left to the woman, their mother, and it is theirs. And I may say, with reference to this matter, no practical difficulty ever occurred in my own experience, now extending over some twenty-eight years. Rev. John Hewlett (L.M.S., from Benares) : Mr. Chairman, — It seems evident from the speeches that have been made by our African brethren that the difficulties they have experienced in dealing with this question are different from those met with in India and China. After a great deal of serious, painful, and prayerful thought, I have come to the conclusion that under certain circumstances it is not required that a man, who has more wives than one, should, before embracing Christianity, put away all his wives except one. Now the question in India is narrowed down very much. The Christian Marriage Act prevents polygamy after embracing Christianity. Then again there is no question about concubinage. No one, of course, would The question -wish to baptise a man that kept a concubine, a woman whose legal "^^Itadia "^ status as wife was not acknowledged. But there are cases of the following kind in India. A man who has one wife and no children often takes an additional wife with the hope of having children by her. That is looked upon as a respectable thing in India. It is quite legal. The Indian conscience does not revolt against it. On the other hand, it is regarded as per- fectly honourable. But it does sometimes happen that a man who has two wives becomes convinced of the truth of Christianity, and wishes to be baptised. Some Missionaries would tell him that he cannot be baptised unless he puts away his second wife, although she may have had children by him. ^riws!*" t)ther Missionaries would take the opposite view, and I have been compelled to take that view. I feel that the woman has rights as much as the man. A good deal of the discussion here this evening has assumed that it is only the husband who has rights, and that his advantages only shoidd be considered. But as all his wives, who married him in good faith, according to the law and sentiment of the country, have they not rights as much as he ? They did no wrong, according to their light, in marrying. In fact — in India they have no choice in the matter — marriage is arranged for them by their parents. , As to the children, the husband could keep them, I suppose, but then rights^ ^ *^®y would be deprived of the mother's love and care. Have they no rights] I believe that their putting away of the wife under these circumstances is revolting to all our best feelings ; and if so, are not they ADJOUENED DISCUSSION. 81 revolting to the feelings of the God of love ? Well, such a man sometimes really embraces Christianity. But it has been asked, " Would you not only baptise such a man, but also receive him into Church fellowship 1 " Yes, as our dear friend Dr. Smith says, but I would not give him any office in the Church, because he should suflPer in consequence of having erred, though in ignorance. There is another point : It has been asked, but not answered, " Would you admit all the wives of such a man into Church fellowship 1 " To that I say, Yes. If I had reason to believe that all the wives were truly converted, I would admit them into Church fellowship. Rev. J. A. Taylor (Baptist Foreign Missionary Convention of U.S.A.) : I regret very much to have heard some of the statements that have been made by gentlemen who are so old in Missionary work. It places me, in my opinion, in a very awkward position, but I have a very firm decision on this question. I think if we kept pace with the New Testament Scripture we should have no difficulty in finding how to decide this question. Let the teaching of the Son of God be our guide, and we shall always keep right. I fear that sometimes we let our zeal run away with our best judgment in this matter. The very first difficulty that met our Society, some eight years ago, when they opened the Mission Station in West Central Africa was this very question, as to whether we should admit polygamists into our Churches. Having suffered to a great extent in the United States from the allowance of this kind of thing we met, and decided emphatically, "No; the Decision of Gospel of Jesus Christ did not allow polygamy in His Church."-^^Pjjfl*'^gjf;^- And I feel so to-day, and whatever you may decide for India or Africa, I am here to appeal to you in the interests of millions of coloured people in America who have a deep interest in the evangelisation of Africa. I say for God's sake do not make such a provision for Africa as to allow polygamists into the Church. We do not want it. The Africans themselves do not want it. Our principle of Missionary work is based on this, that it is better to have a few firm Christians with clean moral principles, who will hold up the light of the Gospel of the Son of God, than to have a multitude who have sin mixed up in them. Let me tell you that if we want to convert the world to Christ, if we want a Church that will shine out " as clear as the sun and as fair as the moon, and be as terrible as an army with banners," against chm'ch"^^ every sin, that Church must be purged from sin, and polygamy is one of the worst and most demoralising of sins. May I ask that whatever you may decide for India or for China, do not make any provision for Africa, that dear old country which I love, to admit polygamists into the Church of Jesus Christ. Mr. Edward Whitwell (Kendal) : I just wish to say a few words as a Christian outside Missionary work. We are told by the Apostle that if a man is married to an unconverted woman he is not to put her away. Now we all know that it is a sin for a Christian to marry an unconverted woman, but when in ignorance they are married, and the man subsequently becomes converted, he is not to put his wife away ; therefore I argue that . ^^""^ the same principle will apply to the cases mentioned by our dear brethren from China. They married two wives in their ignorance — before they were converted. Just the same then as this unconverted man and woman were married, now that he becomes converted the converted man is to continue living with the unconverted woman and not put her away. I think the argument applies. The meeting concluded with prayer by the Rev. H. Grattan Guinness. VOL. II. MEETINGS OF MEMBERS IN SECTION. Fourth Session. MISSIONARY METHODS. (4) DEALING WITH FORMS OF RELI6I0US BELIEF. Adaptation of methods to diflferent forms of religions thought, (a) Unreformed Churches, (&) Ancestral Religion (Confucianism), (c) Mohammedanism, (d) Brahmanism, (e) Buddhism, (J) Fetish worship. {Tuesday afternoon, June 12t/i, in the Annexe.") Chairman, J. Bevan Braithwaite, Esq Acting Secretary, Mr. B. Broomhall. Major-G-eneral Haig offered prayer. The Chairman : Ladies and gentlemen, — I have felt it to be a great privilege to have any part, however small, in a Conference vastnessof of this kind. Tlie subjects presented to us are so vast subjects, that we might be in danger of being led away into too discursive a discussion, and I have been exceedingly anxious that we should keep to that which is really practical and serviceable to the great cause for which we are met here. I have thought that in the few words I venture to address to this meeting, I could not hold up a better model for Missionary The Missionary eflbrt thau the Apostle divinely called and raised uj) model. for us Gcntilcs. In his character and in his work we may see very much that is practically applicable to our present duty even in this age of the world ; his call, his dedication, keeping to one thing, — " This one thing I do, forgetting the things that are behind, and reaching forth to those that are before — I press toward the mark," — and his sympathy for souls. His great motto _ was, " God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world." The same Holy Spirit that taught him to follow in the footsteps of the same adorable Redeemer, REV. E. S. ASHTON, B.A. 83 will bring us in the power of the same faith, to share in the same blessed victory. Let this be the motto which we take up afresh even at this hour, as we each make it an hour of renewed consecration to our Lord and Master, " God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. There are two Papers to be read this afternoon. The first will be read by the Rev. R. S. Ashton, B.A. PAPER. 1. By the Rev. R. S. Ashton, B.A. (Secretary, Evangelical Continental Society). The best method of evangelisation in Romish lands. The end sought by the discussion of the subject is, I presume, a practical one. Evangelisation is the presentation and enforcement of the Gospel and its claims. And the question is not, should this object be aimed at by the circulation of the Scriptures and religious literature, or by preaching and visitation. In every country all such, and perhaps other, methods will be adopted, and in such ways and proportions as are determined by the condition of the countries and of their peoples, their state of enlightenment, and the kinds of Mission work rendered possible by the laws or by the rulers. The question is this. How can the Gospel be most suitably pre- sented, with a view to its ready and hearty acceptance, to people brought up amid the errors of Rome, and in complete The question ignorance of the real teaching of the Scriptures. In *<> ^e answered, other words. How is the Gospel message to be adapted to the peculiar needs of Romanists ? In proceeding to study this question it will be well to inquire whether the Apostles and first preachers of the Gospel adapted their methods to the peculiar condition of people whom they addressed. Their audiences were very various — Jews and proselytes of Jewish religion ; Athenians with their philosophical habits ; Corinthians, the devotees of sensual pleasure; Romans, energetic and imperious ; Egyptians, lovers of mystic rites; and also the less civilised or even barbarous peoples of Libya and of the British Islands. Then, too, the men themselves differed in temperament and in intellectual power. There were in the Apostolic band a Peter and a Paul, a John and a James, and among the first preachers an Apollos and a Timothy. Their mode of preaching would, of course, depend on the bent of their mind, and we may presume also on the intellectual and spiritual condition of the audiences to be addressed. The reports of Paul's preaching in the course of his Missionary journeys, brief and summary as they are, tend to confirm this presumption. Certainly, his sermons did not always follow the same method. The discourse delivered in 84 MISSIONAKY METHODS — (4) RELIGIOUS BELIEFS. the synagoo-ue at Antioch in Pisidia contrasts with that on Mars' Hill. In Thessalonica on three successive Sabbath days Paul reasoned out of the Scriptures respecting Christ, in order to show that Jesus of Nazareth was none other than this Christ ; while before Agrippa he set forth his own conversion and call to the great work of preaching the Gospel. Adaptation was surely one element in the success of his preaching. Guided by this example we may safely conclude that the preacher's or evangelist's duty is to study the position of his hearers in relation to the truths of Christianity. He will not think Adaptation, that au addrcss adapted to people surrounded from child- ourduty. hood with more or less of Christian notions and influences would suit an audience of Hindus in some region of the great Indian Peninsula where the Missionary had never before been seen. The needs of the human heart are the same in each case, but the first thing to be done is to awaken the consciousness of these needs, and while appeals to forgotten truths might be efficacious in the case of the dwellers in some East End slum, they would sound as strange and unintelligible jargon in the ears of an utterly heathen and idola- trous people. Similarly, a Protestant addressing a Roman Catholic audience must remember that his hearers are more or less acquainted with Christian names, and even with some Christian truths, but that they connect therewith ideas and notions derived from the false light in which they have been taught to view them. The Protestant evangelist must, therefore, endeavour through study of Romanism, and through intercourse with Romanists, to enter into and thoroughly understand the way in which Christianity — or as much of it as is taught by Rome — is understood by Romanists. One idea, indeed the dominant idea, inculcated by the Papal Church, is man's need of salvation — an idea underlying all the teachings of Chris- tianity— " Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." On this point Catholics and Protestants are at one. But divergence arises the moment the meaning and necessity and methods of this salvation are examined. A deliverance is needed — on this all are agreed. ^"^^g^^^l'^When, however, the nature of the deliverance is inquired into, it is at once seen how widely different are the teachings of Komanism and Scripture on this subject. E-ome speaks of three kinds of sin, original, mortal, and venial, and thereby promotes its own end — the making the Church's intervention indispensable for the salvation of men ; at the same time it thereby lessens the heinousness of sin in general, and lulls the conscience of the sinner. This may be gathered from the Church's own statements respecting the different kinds of sin. " The guilt and stain of original sin " — that is, Adam's sin and guilt, become morally our own, because of our connection with Adam, the head of the race — " are entirely washed away by the Sacrament of Holy Baptism." Once baptised, thei-efore, there is no need to be troubled on the score of original sin. There remains actual sin, which may be either venial or Tnortal. " Venial sin is a shght infringement of the law, or it may be in some cases a great violation of the law? but rendered slight in the person who REV. R. S. ASHTON, B.A. 85 commits it through his want of sufficient knowledge, deliberation, or free- dom." ''It is not abandoning God for a creature, but it is in some degree dallying with created objects, whilst still adhering to God. It is a sin which, though heinous in itself, does not so ^^*^Jg°[g^"^ grievously offend God as mortal sin does." " It causes a stain of guilt in the soul, of which we can easily obtain pardon " — hence its name venial. " Mortal sin is beyond comparison more dreadful than venial sin." " It is a dethroning of God from one's heart." " It causes the death of the soul." This distinction between venial and mortal sins is the open door for the entrance of casuistry, a principle innate in the corrupt human heart, and which the Romish Church has marvellously developed and strengthened, and that too in face of the condemnation pronounced upon it by Christ, when dealing with the Pharisees of His time. We may add that so-called Christian morality has been made, by writers of the Komish Church, " to sanction what human morality and the conscience by itself never sanctioned. The most vicious of men will never say openly or in the shape of maxims, what Romish theologians have dared to say about robbery, lying, adultery, and murder." {Rome et le Vrai, Bungener.) The natural consequence of all this trifling with sin has been to deaden the moral sense, to make almost every kind of sin appear venial, and to confine the area of real sin within the limits of the Church and its decrees. One of the first duties, therefore, of an evangelist working among Roman Catholics is to try and set sin in its true light, by revealing the casuistry of the Church on the subject, and by bringing the ^^p^^^^^*" '"' light that shines from the Cross of Christ to bear directly on the conscience of his hearers. He must seek to re-awaken the sense of sin. However beautifully and faithfully the Gospel may be preached, it will have but little power over hearts not made conscious of their need of the salvation it ofiers. The complaint is often made by workers in Romish countries that they seldom or ever meet with persons bowed down with a feeling of their sin. The question addressed to Paul by the heathen gaoler, is not heard by them, — " What must I do to be saved ? " Until, then, they have been able to set sin in its true light as in all its forms a transgression of the law of a holy God, for which the sinner is himself responsible, their proclamation of a Saviour is likely to be a comparative failure. Further, the doctrine is carefully and constantly insisted on by the Romish Church, and has taken general possession of the minds of its pro- fessed members that the work of saving men devolves on the Church, that the priest is the indispensable agent or channel ^g^^y^^"^ through whom the blessings, over which the Church has exclusive power, can be imparted to men ; also that the observance of the sacraments px'escribed by the Church, and performed by the priest, is the only means by which they can be made partakers of salvation. In con- firmation of the last of these three points, let me say that in a popular exposition of Cathohc belief intended for the special use of Protestants, and from the pages of which I have already quoted, there is a chapter entitled, " How Christ's redemption is applied to man, that they may be justified and sanctified." It is a singular and startling fact that this chapter is the shortest in the book — not filUng one page — and that the Avhole gist of it is contained in the last paragraph, which is as follows : 86 MISSIONARY METHODS — (4) EELIGIOUS BELIEFS. " The direct means instituted by Christ Himself for applying His infinite merits to the souls of men, are the holy sacraments, which are so many channels instituted by Jesus Christ to convey to men His grace, purchased for us at the price of His most precious blood, ' You shall draw water with joy out of the Saviour's fountains ' " (Isa. xii. 3). Romanism is thus clearly shown to be a purely sacramental religion, and the evangelist who wishes to lead Romanists to a participation of the blessings of the Gospel, must keep this fact in mind. He Sacramental jjiust seck to undermine this sacramental notion, so fatal to all ^^ " true appreciation of Christ. He must show from Scripture that salvation does not come as the result of a slavish discharge of certain supposed religious duties. The performance of work must be supplanted by faith and obedience. Men must be taught that through Christ they have free access to God, that Christianity knows nothing of the manifold banners erected by priests in every age to prevent men from thinking that they can speak to theii* Father above. The heaven and the Christ, which Catholicism represents as so far removed beyond the ken of ordinary men, must be shown to be within reach of the greatest sinner and the humblest believer. Christ must be pi-oclaimed as the great High Priest and only Intercessor, so tender and gracious that He readily welcomes all who approach Him. " Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out." He must be set forth as nearer to men now than in the days of His earthly life ; as still Jesus of Nazareth, the Brother and Helper of man, though seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high ; as the Lamb of God whose one sacrifice is sufficient to meet all needs, because oflered to take away all sins ; and as the Mediator through whom salvation is imparted to all who accept Him. The evangelist in Romish countries must insist on the absolutely free nature of the Gospel, its direct message to eveiy one, and its promise not only of forgiveness, but also of eternal life. This last point is of great importance. Popery has much to say about hoHness, but it has always gone on the assumption that only a small section of the human race can attain to it, or at least to any high Views degree of sainthood. Its saints, too, are men and women of holiness. " . ^ ^ p • e whose virtues have been the lesult of a perpetual practice of certain prescribed rules, rather than the outgrowth of a sure and eternal life imparted to the soul through faith in Christ. The Romish Church has always upheld the notion of an aristocracy in piety to which the great mass of men cannot lay claim. It must be the business of the preacher of Christ to show that there is no aristocracy in Christianity, that the holiness and perfection to which the Saviour ui'ges His disciples is one quite within the reach of all, and should be sought by all. The fictitious piety with which Romanists are so familiar, and which has too often been but a cloak to cover hideous vice must be exposed, its hollowness and worthlessness made evident, and it must be shown that through the grace of God, and by the power of His Spirit men may become new creatures in Christ Jesus, and may live a life beautiful for its purity, and i-ich in its power of usefulness. In one word, the duty of the evangelist who has to labour among the victims of priestcraft, and among a people educated in the idea that " Catholicism dispenses man fi-om keeping a personal conscience, ^'^^^Gos'per*^'*^'^^ devolves on the priest the care of his salvation," is to dwell especially on the objective side of Chiistianity, presenting the Saviour as ready to welcome with open arms every penitent sinner and to EEV. K. S. ASHTON, B.A. 87 make him partaker of His own nature. Dispensing as far as possible with theological terms and distinctions, he must try and unfold the Gospel as a message of life, sent direct to every man, and urging him at once, and with- out any intermediai-y, to welcome the grace of God, and to submit to the redeeming, sanctifying power of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so to realise the blessedness of one who is reconciled to God, and can with all freedom and in all the fulness of the term, say, that God is His Father. Passing now from the consideration of the mode of evangelisation, allow me to make a few remarks on the slow progress of Missions in Roman Catholic lands. I say slow 2)'>'ogress, because after twenty or thirty years of labour in Italy, for example, one might have expected to see Evangelical Christianity more deeply rooted in the country than it seems to be at the present time. First of all, it should he home in mind that the acceptance of Bible- teaching, followed by the open confession of Christ ordinarily entails in Fopish countries suffering and loss. It seems to be a rule of soeiety, even in France, and acted on even by Freethinkers, ^°'^^*^"^^''®^ °^ 1,, ,1, 1 .,..•' PI conversions. and by the more worldly and rationalistic section of the Protestant community, that a man must not change his religion. To do so is to incur an amount of obloquy, which nothing but a real conviction of the truth, and a strong faith in Christ can enable him to bear. Again, has not the work of evangelisation been often impeded by over-haste in founding Churches? The fact that a few people have listened with apparent pleasure to a preacher who has denounced the over-hastein errors of Romish teaching, and proclaimed that true liberty founding is to be found only in Christ, has often been deemed sufficient Churches, reason for organising them into a Church and treating them as a body of persons fully qualified to represent and promote the kingdom of Christ around them. And yet, perhaps, not one of them has been truly con- verted to Christ, or formed any true conception of what the Christian life and the kingdom of God really are. But over-haste in forming Churches has not been the only mistake committed. The method of their formation has often been, to say the least, prejudicial to then- growth. Why should not evangelisa- tion be carried on far and wide, the Gospel earnestly proclaimed, ^ormalion! and men and women brought to the saving knowledge of Christ ? And then, and not till then, let these converts be encouraged to form themselves into Christian Societies or Churches for the purpose of mutual I edification, and the promotion of the kingdom of God. Churches composed of persons whose Christianity is a negation of Rome and its doctrines, rather than an acceptance of Christianity, or which are entirely dependent on foreign gold for existence, may figure well in the reports of Societies, but they have in them no element of vitality or spiritual power. Another reason of the slow advance of Gospel truth in Romish lands has often been the unsuitable character of the preacher. 1. He has employed wrong methods in presenting the truth. In some cases the staple of his discourses has been the exposure of the errors of Rome, with very little direct exposition of the cardinal truths of Christianity. Such preaching has enkindled animosity to- '''^nsuitable wards the Pope and his teachings, but not won souls for Christ ! Men have learnt to hate error, but not to love the truth. Catholic super- stitions have been denounced, but the good news of salvation has not been 88 MISSIONAKY METHODS — (4) EELIGIOUS BELIEFS. pressed upon men, nor their consciences aroused to feel their need of it. Christian morality has been taught, but the heart has not been prepared for its acceptance. There has been an attempt to build up the Christian edifice, but without sufficient care in first of all preparing and laying its foundations. The Apostle's warning has been overlooked : *' Neither is cir- cumcision anything," says he, " nor uncircumcision, but a new creature " (Gal. vi. 15). Again teachers, born and trained amid Protestant surroundings, and accustomed to Protestant views of truth and Protestant modes of speech, have often failed to place themselves in the position of Romanists and to understand the meaning they attach to Christian terms. They have talked as Protestants to Protestants, and consequently their teaching has been misunderstood. They have lacked the spirit or the power of adaptation. 2. This suggests another reason of the comparative failure of Continental Missions. Men have been appointed as evangelists without any previous training. Good men, perhaps, they have tried to teach others, when destitute themselves of anything like a competent knowledge of the truth of Christ. Their glibness of speech has misled them and others into sup- posing that they were able to pi-each. And to this must be added the remark that Societies, anxioiis to push forward the work, but unable to find fitly trained men, have engaged these ready speakers and self-confident evangelists, rather than allow the doors opening before them to be closed. And in this way, it is to be feared, they have done irreparable injury to the cause they wished to advancce. A little work well done is surely better than large undertakings carried on by inefficient workmen. 3. But worse than the untrained, though perhaps Avell meaning and pious labourers, aie the men who have taken up the preacher's calling, as others have become la^vyers and doctors, simply with the idea of obtaining a livelihood. Such agents may be able exponents of the doctrine, they may render the services of the Church with corx'ectness and beauty, their words may even glow with an eloquence that captivates the hearers and awakens admiration for the truth, but being destitute of living faith, having none of the unction of God's spirit, not being living examples of the power and blessedness of the truths they advance, their ministry has no converting, uplifting power. It is not such labourers that God thrusts into His vine- yard, and the vineyard suffers from their presence in it. Men of God, baptised with His Spirit, full of faith in His Son Jesus Christ, men possessed withal of the power of adaptation, and trained to Conclusion, understand the peculiar needs of Roman Catholics, such are the men that are lequired in Continental counti'ies, and by such and such only will those countries be really evangelised. The Chairman : I think we must all have felt that there is much to instruct us in what we have heard. The Rev. G. M. Cobban will now read a Paper. [We regret that we cannot give Mr. Cobban's Paper, as it has been sent for publication to some periodical, and no manuscript or copy has been sent us. The following brief abstract has been f orwaided by the writer. — Ep.] REV. G. MACKENZIE COBBAN. 89 Christianity in relation to Hinduism. 2, Rev. G. Mackenzie Cobban (Wesleyan Missionary Society, from Madras) read a Paper on the above subject, the gist of which was to show that the method of the Missionary must be discriminating and intelligent. Everything non-Cliristian is not of the devil. God and spiritual truth are not shut up in the Hebrew and Christian sacred books ; they are outside these as well as inside. Every intelligent Missionary knew that this was true of the Aryan and non-Aryan literature of India which contained many spiritual truths with which Christianity has affinity. These might be a surprise to the Missionary, still he must bow to facts and give to them a cordial recognition. He must not minimise them. What does it matter whether men learn to hate idolatry by the teaching of a Hindu poet, or whether by the teaching of a Hebrew sage 1 We were not yet able to deal with the question of "origin," of how all the truth came to India which we find there. But all were agreed that every fragment of spiritual truth came from God. Apart from the Brahmanical section of the Indian people and those castes whose are the privileges of the Aryan faith, there were one hundred and seventy-five millions deno- minated Hindus, for whom the Aryan priesthood and faith could do nothing. These presented a magniiicent field for Christian Missionary work. In South India, the Sivites are divided into Vedantists and Siddhantists, who are non-dualists and dualists. The dualists professedly hold the tenets of the Agama philosophy. There ai-e dissenters who have flung off Brahmanical authority, consisting of a large section of the people The Vaishnavas represent iJiree schools, the two principal being the Sri and Madhva Vaishnavas. The Saktis have a large following. Besides all, there are the worshippers of the ruder deities, and the aborigines. The audience to which Christianity made its appeal was a varied one. With regard to the truths known in India, these would be used by the wise Missionary as allies. And since there was in embryo among the Hindus a doctiune of Christ, this especially should be used. Christianity had sufiered gi-eatly from a narrow and imperfect representation, and had been in consequence grievously misunderstood by the better classes of the people. The narrowness of some Missionary fathers, who insisted on beef eating as a badge of Christian discipleship, had greatly increased the difficulties of the modern Missionary. Christianity must be presented more intelligently and with greater sympathy with the truths as well as with the men of India. The Acting Secretary : I can only say that if I were prepared to con- cede as much as our friend does, I should not be prepared to leave home and country to preach the Gospel anywhere. Owing to the absence of writers of Papers on Confucianism and other subjects, two friends in the room have kindly offered to speak, namely, the Hev. George Piercy, for many years a Missionary in China, and Mr. Samuel Clarke, from Western China. DISCUSSION. Rev. George Piercy (Wesleyan Missionaiy Society, from Canton): Mr. Chairman, dear friends, — I have only ten minutes, and I have a greater difficulty than that. I was not warned to speak on this subject until a 90 MISSIONARY METHODS — (4) EELIGIOUS BELIEFS. few minutes before the gathering; but I want to make the most of my opportunity with your kind help. The first point is as to ancestral worship in China. Here it is said, " Ancestral Worship : Confucianism." Now, these three words will help me, and they will help you, perhaps. Please Confucianism understand at the outset that Confucianism is very much not ancestral broader than ancestral worship. Anybody here that wants to worsUponiy. gt,u(jy Confucianism had better immediately buy Professor Legge's translation of the Chinese classics and study them, or put them- selves under his tuition, which will be still better. Now a few words as to ancestral worship in China. You all probably know that in China we have thi-ee forms of religion, — Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. I have nothing to do with the two latter. I have nothing much to do with Confucianism, except on this one point Ancestral wor- °^ ancestral worship. Ancestral worship is dearer to the hearts ship the worsliipof the Chinese than any other kind of worhip. They worship of China. Buddha, they worship idols of many kinds, but they say that the idols belong to everybody, but their ancestors are their own, therefore they worship them. Ancestral worship in China perv^ades the whole land. There is no heresy in China with regard to this point of worship. Now, an ancestor who is worhipped is a dead ancestor of course. He is in the spirit world. It is the spirit of the dead ancestor that is worshipped. Then you must understand that the Chinese take the spirit of a man to consist of three ; or, if you like it better, that the spirit is in three parts — three spii-its, I would say, in one. The spirit having passed away may be instantly worshipped, worshipped, as I have said, by offerings, and by reverential postmes of the body, and by the soul of the worshipper also pledging itself to come into harmony with the teachings of Muchmoney ^j^g dead ancestor, and of the generations gone by. This is also carried out at the graves, and before the ancestral tablets in every house. This form of worship is universal in China, and sometimes a great deal of money is expended upon it. This kind of worship is probably the most earnest form of religious belief that obtains in China. It is universal. It reaches to the highest, and it goes down to the very lowest. I remember I once asked an old and Umversa . yenerable-looking man, " Do you worship idols ? " " No," he said, " I do not." But you come nearer and nearer still. Then he will admit that his family does ; he must admit that there are the ancestral tablets in the ancestral hall ; he must admit that the family worships at the tombs ; he must admit that this pecuhar form of worship is very active, and that he is more or less identified with it. We have this ancestral worship, and anybody here can see at once that any An argument Christian Missionary has very solid ground in Chinese thought, and for a future in Chinese practice, and in Chinese feeling to say, "The dead do state. not pass into absolute non-existence. If they do, why do you worship them? Why go right and left, here and there, and worship your ancestors ? " And so we have in this recognised fact of the worship of ancestry, the behef in the spirit of the ancestor existing, good gi-ound for appeahng to them as to the existence of other spirits, and of the great Eternal Spirit. Mr. Samuel Clarke (China Inland Mission) : The Chinese have a saying that of all virtues filial piety is the greatest and most praiseworthy. Now, Chinese notions of filial piety are very stereotyped, and among their notions of the obligations pertaining to filial piety is the duty of sacrificing to ancestors. Chinese opinions in reference to another world, and with DISCUSSION, 91 reference to the soul of man after death, are very cloudy and obscure ; but they do have some sort of faith that the soul in some state or another does exist after death. Moreover, they believe^¥''®®° ^^|?®^ "* that these sacrifices which they offer to their ancestors do ensure, in some way or another that they will not undertake to explain, that the souls of the deceased will be the better for these sacrifices. A Chinaman as a rule is very willing to promise not to worship idols, not to call in Buddhist priests to offer prayers for him after his death ; but the last thing he will promise is that he will not offer the usual sacrifices at the graves of his ancestors. And I am present to say that I do not think there is any difference of opinion among Protestant Missionaries in China about the treatment of this subject. We are all agreed that a Chinese Christian must not be allowed to worship his ancestors. It is objected by some that the Chinese do not worship their ancestors, that these things are only civil rites, which do not mean anything at all. But, now, what is it that the Chinese do ? At the graves of their ancestors, and at the ancestral tablets, and in the ancestral temple they pros- ^"'"'°" P- trate themselves, they invoke the spirits of their ancestors, they offer sacrifices, and they burn incense. Now, if that does not amount to worship I cannot understand what worship is. We have very little to say against the Chinese notions of morality. These notions, I venture to say, are the highest notions to be found anywhere apart from Christianity ; and as Christian Missionaries we do not say one . word against Confucius as a teacher, or against the ancient sages of^j^ jjjq!^^^^'*)^^^^ China. We tell the Chinese that the doctrines the sages taught them in reference to morality were very good, and we find fault with the Chinese because they do not practise what these sages taught. As Christian Mis- sionaries I think that in the Chinese classical books we can very easily show the Chinese, perhaps much more easily than Indian ^ ^'^^'^ ^"^' **''' Missionaries can in India, that there is one God, that this God is a person, that this God owns all things, and rules over all. Moreover, from Chinese classical books I think we can very well prove to the Chinese that they are sinners and ought to receive punishment. Missionaries going out to China should try to get some correct notions of what the Chinese really believe. We sympathise with tlie speaker who said that a Christian Missionary ought to know, or try to know, what his hearers think, and I believe Christian Missionaries in China, all of them, do more or less attempt to understand what a Chinaman thinks. Eev, C. H. Rappard (St. Chrischona Missionary Society, Basle) : I would only say a few words on the subject of how to deal with members of unreformed Churches. I have had a little experience of that. I think the first thing is that we who belong to reformed Churches should be reformed, renewed, and sanctified people; that will. make a great impres- sion upon members of the Roman Catholic Church to which How to deal I especially refer. We have in our training college near with Roman Basle a certain number of young men, and also in the Mission- CathoUcism. field, a number of old men and very good evangelists, who came from Austria, and who were Boman Catholics before. One of them came to Switzerland as an artisan, an ignorant man. He was received into a family in the Canton of Berne ; they were very pious people. When he was there they had family worship. The father read the Bible and after- wards he prayed, and the young man was quite astonished, and there he learned to know what Christianity really is. He became a converted man. He presented himself to us, we have received him, and he is now a successful preacher of the Gospel. 92 MISSIONARY METHODS— (4) RELIGIOUS BELIEFS. In some parts of Switzerland where there are many Koman Catholics, we had meetings for evangelisation for a whole week ; and we told those who came to invite their Roman Catholic neighbours. They came and listened, Meetings for ^^^ ^-^qj saw how the Christians rejoiced in the free grace of their omams s. -j^^^^ Jesus Christ ; and many have been brought to a living faith in Jesus. And then I think it is a very good thing to bring them the written Word of God, through men who love the Word of God, because they have them- selves found in the Bible the living Person of the Book, our Lord Jesus Christ. Rev. J. Kennedy (L.M.S., late of Benares) : At the commencemerj:, sir, of your address, you very properly referred us to the example of the Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. Tor nearly foi'ty years I have been in the midst of Hindu idolatr-y and darkness, and I think Forty years' j j^j^Q^y pretty nearly what they think from what I have learned. I may just say this : I have done my very best — I may say that in the sight of God — to know what Hinduism is in all its aspects. I have read their books, and I have arrived at very different conclusions from those of our friend here. I have arrived at this conclusion, that while undoubtedly God has been speaking to them in vai-ious Conduwon -^yays, they have not been learning ; and until we can take to them the Gospel we cannot expect to find among them anything like those views of God which w-e should wish to find. They have a need of something direct from Heaven, to teach them the lessons which they can never, never learn themselves. Far be it from me to speak against them. There are some whom I have cause to look upon with deep affection, and I have received much kindness from them ; but it is only tlie Word of the living God that can bring them to the living God through Jesus Christ. Rev. John Hewlett (L.M.S., from Benares) : I have had the privilege of spending neai-ly twenty-seven years as an Indian Missionary, a gi-eat deal of the time in Benares, and I feel bound to rise and do what I can to set right these apparently conflicting views about Hinduism and the Gospel. I believe that if the brethren, who have lettered sentiments to which we have listened, could see the matter from the same standpoint, and know each othei-'s views well, they would not have differed as they noUM^cting^ have done. I did not understand Mr. Cobban to say in the least that there was anything in Hinduism which could take the place of Christianity ; that, for example, there was anything in Hinduism which could take the place of the atonement of Christ oi' the woik of the Holy Spii'it in the heart; but if I understood him aright, he meant that in Hinduism there is an immense variety, from what is basest, on the one hand, to a good deal that looks very fine on the other. Hinduism is a vast system variously developed, aiming at meeting every phase of the soul's longings, every want of human nature. For nearly thirty centuries, the leading spirits among the Hindus have Hinduism. \)qq^ brooding over problems of life and death, of God and the universe ; and I believe that if we condemn Hinduism as a whole, and say it is nothing but a religion of the devil, we err, we say what is wrong. I believe that many of the Hindus have earnestly groped in the dark, without a i-ay of the great revelation to guide them, after Itsinabiutyto something that would satisfy the deepest longings of their * ^' souls. I do not say that they have attained to that which can purify and save the soul. I believe they have not; but I believe they have Disctjssioil. 93 been most sincere. This is what I understood Mr. Cobban to mean; and I believe if he had been allowed to finish his Paper, he would have shown that this was his meaning ; and I am persuaded that in dealing with the Hindus, we are wi'ong in condemning everything they say and everything they believe, and that it is our duty to try to find out what they really believe, and what appears good and true in their system. And we must admit that there are some grains of truth and some grains of goodness in their system, and we should make these the basis of our reasoning with them about Christianity. Then again with regard to much we cannot call true, I think it is our duty to try to understand it. Now, for example, their highest belief is pantheism : a belief in a Supreme Being of some kind. I think it is our _ ,. .. wisdom to make that the basis of our talking to them about Chris- gg^^^gfj^ tianity. We can agree with them at least as to God's omnipresence, point out what is wrong in their belief, and tell them what is the real truth about God's omnipresence, God's pervading all things and upholding all things. Again, when the Hindus speak of their absorption into the Deity, we can correct that and tell them what the Christian doctrine of the union with the Deity really is, and then we can gradually come down to point out the en-ors of some of the less sublime aspects of Hinduism. I will just say this in conclusion : I believe with the Hindus there are some really earnest and sincere aspirations. I have in conversation with many of the Pundits in the Schools of Philosophy in Benares, and with the Monks in the Monasteries, found men who seemed to be most ^ft^r^th"^ sincere, and I tried to lay hold of their beliefs, and make them the basis of my talking to them about Christianity. I have thus sought to commend Christianity to them. I believe many have been led to love Christ. They have felt there was something very beautiful in His Gospel, and I trust I shall find some of them hereafter at His right hand. Mr. David McLaren, J.P, (Putney) : I certainly regret, with, I am sure, the whole of this audience, that the second Paper which was read was not read to the end. I earnestly hope that there was something in the q, . . latter part of it which might have relieved the anxieties of not a few who heard that Paper. I do not wish to say a single word now in condemnation of it. I only wish to suggest that there are a few questions which I shall be very glad if the reader of the Paper has an opportunity of answering here, but which, if not answered here, I daresay will be answered by him, or some of his friends elsewhere. I just took note of such expressions as " spiritual truth," which frequently occurs „ in that Paper, and it is referring to the spiritual truth which ^Jh!" was to be found in the books of the Hindu philosophers. I should just like to ask if this is the spiritual truth proved there ? — " there is one God and one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus." Is that to be found there ? But instead of preaching the true salvation : " There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved," but the name of the Lord Jesus, — instead of preaching salvation by the blood of Christ, I have seen it stated, we must keep that back from some of the Hindus. Principal Brown : That was not said this afternoon. Mr. McLaren : I should like to know whether those who follow that school of thought, which they call " the liberal school," preach judgment 94 MISSIONAKY METHODS — (4) EELIGIOUS BELIEFS. by the man " whom He hath ordained." These are the questions I should like to have answered in all honesty ; and 1 will just say this Views of future j^j^ conclusion : I sometimes think our friends forget what was the special thanksgiving of our Lord : "I thank Thee, 0 Father ! that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." The Chairman : We have had the example of the Apostle Paul set before us, and I think we may rest upon his example. " God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Now 1 will call upon Dr. Junor, to address the meeting. Eev. K. F. Junor, M.D. (Formosa) : This subject is a very interesting one to me, the method of dealing with the religions of the East. I think we go very much to the East, thinking that this Christianity Christianity not of ours is for US, and that it is ours, manufactured by us ours, u or . ^^ order. We are resting too much under that opinion, and at the same time I think we introduce too much of our personality in preaching the Gospel to these heathen nations. It seems to me that we could do very much better, not by attacking, but by supplanting. Now in China there are many things as has been observed with regard to India, many things which we can find like hooks upon which we can hang truth. The gods of China are not mentioned in the classical books of China. That is one nail driven into the coffin of idolatry. I say there are not any of the gods which are this day worshipped in China men- tioned in the Chinese classical books. Tell a Chinaman that ; he does not know it. Only a few learned men know it. If you go to a Chinaman, or to any countryman different from yours, and give him the impression that it is some religion of yours, it sets up his opposition at once. Christianity is from the East. It is not ours. We are simply transmitters of it, and we are to fill our hearers with that impression that we are simple . messengers of God, sent forth to preach something that we our- from the East, selves have received ; not that we have found that it has been good, or simply to proclaim that we have known the comfort of it ; but as messengers of God to teach them the truth. They are seeking after truth, just as we are. I believe we make a mistake, Christian brethren, in pre- suming that the value of Christ's sacrifice is confined to you and me. Who is it that knows God's purpose ? Did Christ die for the world or not ? Yes. May not God be dealing with these heathen nations through Christ Jesus ? May they not be saved through Christ Jesus — those who believe in Him ? I do not believe that the lieathen are saved, observe. That is not what I am saying ; but I say that we do not know God's purpose in Christ. I have no doubt that other Mis- sionaries have met men in India and other lands who have been seeking after God, who have no ancestral worship and no idolatry whatever. They are blindly seeking in the dark, and they will gladly hear the truth if you will point it out to them. Why should we deny them the privilege of finding Christ through God, as well as God through Christ ? Brethren, we must go to these people and take their religion, not in the spirit of opposition, but taking the things that are good in it, and pointing reUgion^f^ out to them better things that may be substituted ; and many of them have already the belief in the one God. I believe that the old religion of China was the belief in and worship of one God, and not the idolatry that we have to-day. I tell them that " we are going back" — that is what I used to do — " going back to the old forms of worship in which your forefathers, your ancestors, whom you so revere, once worshipped." I believe that to be the DISCUSSION. 95 case. I wish we could but get them to worship the true God. There are many men, it seems to me, who are now seeking after the true God, and if we go to them, in the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we shall have great power with it if we tell them that it is by faith that He is to be found. All idolaters are on the same level. There is no distinction between men who offer offerings to idols. It does not matter what the character of the idolater is, the offering is acceptable ; and if you tell that to a Chinaman he sees the force of it at once ; and he sees also that the leve^i^™^ richer man can offer the better gift. But when we tell them that in Christ Jesus we are all sinners, and that we are only saved through Jesus Christ, and tell what He has done for us ; then we appeal to their common sense as well as to their best instincts, and we shall do more for them than by attacking the religious system that we find existent there. Every man should try and understand, as has been said just now, how they think and how they feel : you can do nothing unless you do that ; just as a minister here must go to his people and understand how they think and feel, and then he can preach to them. So among the heathen we must understand what they want ; and they do, brethren, want the Gospel : they want to serve God just as truly as we do. They have their bad and good just as well as we have ; but we can by the grace of God, through His glorious truth which is in Christ Jesus, lead them to see and feel that they need something outside of themselves, and that that is to be found in Christ, God's representative in the flesh. The Chairman : I have great pleasure in introducing our venerable friend, Dr. Brown, Principal of the Free Church College, Aberdeen. Rev. Principal Brown, D.D, (Aberdeen) : Mr. Chairman, — I should not have thought of addressing the meeting at all this afternoon but for the Paper of Mr. Cobban. I agree with those who wish that they had heard the whole of it, because I should not like to do injustice to what he intended to impi'ess upon us, for to tell you the truth, the impression which left itself upon my mind, after he had finished that portion of ?ilf*pa^°"® •his Paper which he read, was this : That there is a great deal of genuine religion outside of Christianity, but that Christianity is the per- fection of the thing, and that they would be far better to be Christians. Now, I can hai-dly think that he believes what is surely very far from being correct. The question is not how many good beliefs these people have, for there are elements of true religion all over the world which require only to be developed in order to show that there is a spark of truth in them. But what I want to know is, Is there anything saving, insufficiency of anything quickening, anything elevating, anything purifying * ®^® ^''°^^' outside of Christianity ? My friend Mr. Swanson, who has been speaking with great power to-day and has known China for nearly thirty years, once said to me. Say what men will, nothing lifts humanity out of the dregs and dirt into which it has been plunged in heathen lands, but the Gospel of Christ ; there may certainly be a great many elements of truth, but because they want that which is saving and quickening in it, they do nothing what- ever to accomplish the great object that God has in view : there is no salvation for the human soul in them. I may tell you that my precious friend Dr. Duncan, who is known to some here as one of the most learned men in his day, was once asked, '• What do you think of the condition of the heathen outside of Christianity ? " "Ask a converted heathen what he thinks of the state he was in ^'"'vi^'g^'* ■when he was an unconverted heathen, and I leave the question there." In the first ages there were those who thought by philosophy to bring people 96 MISSIONARY METHODS — (4) EELIGIOUS BELIEFS. to Christ, and there was Neo-Platonism, and Plotinus went into such elevated regions of spirituality that you would almost say that that was Neo-Platomsts. g^j-^jy ^g g^Q^j ^s Christianity. But did any one of them become Christians ? Look at any of those systems which seem to approximate to Christianity. They come very near to it, but they never reach it. But go to them with Christ, with the precious' blood of the Lamb, and tell them that is the way by which alone sin can be taken away, and you touch ^^tT^hewt'*^ their hearts. You may say they do not understand what sin means. Well, I believe it ; they do not ; but there is a conscience within them, there is that within every one of them which, if you tell them the right thing, wiU be touched, and I believe that has been abundantly testified. Bring the simple Gospel to them and we elevate their intellectual character and bring them to a luminous understanding of the very thing about which St. Paul's jQ^ gjj^y they know nothing. What did the Apostle Paul do ? I at Athens! think his experience will teach us. He went to Athens. He took the method of our friends, that is to say, he appealed to them by common principles, principles common to them both, and he took a glorious text, and you may say a very ingenious text, — " The unknown God." Well, he delivered a grand lecture, and what was the fruit of it ? Whj, we are told : " So Paul departed from among them. Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed : among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them." Very weU, he went away ; and where did he go ? To Corinth. Avery short distance it was, and he said he was among them in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. Why so ? Because he had failed. He thought he would make a gi'eat impression upon these people by appealing to what was common to them, and he produced no effect. When he went to Corinth, he determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and wc know the result. Rev. John Ross (United Presbyterian Mission, Manchuria) : Mr. Chairman, and Christian friends, — Duties in another part of the building have prevented my being here to hear all the Papers, but I was particularly struck with, and very much interested in, what I have heard of the Paper Views of ^^ which so much discussion has taken place. I do not know Mr. Cobban's that I heard anything that was objectionable, but it seems to Paper. j^q from what I did hear that if the opinions of the various speakers could be sifted out, there would be found no essential difference. It seems to me, that the position of the Paper was this ; that all moral truth is important whether it be much or little. I do not think that the writer of the Paper wished, as I in my Mission work do not wish, to see mere moral truth substituted for Christianity. I know that in the various heathen systems there is some truth. We do not in this little island of the sea embrace all the wisdom of the world, nor all the thinking of the world ; and we must, when we go into other lands, either oppose or utilise as auxiliaries the truths that are there. In order to know what ^t^msfaw truth there is we must examine. It seems to me the writer ' of the Paper does that, and that has been my own practice. We must examine the various systems with which we come into contact; and what am I as a Missionary to do with these 1 Are we to spurn all the systems in toto, because nine-tenths of them are false ; or are we to utilise the tithe of truth, and say : " Now, here we agree : here we Christians and you heathen agree ; but this won't save you ; we have come here with a higher truth, with another truth, with a totally different truth, a soul-saving truth, which you have not here." It seems to me, the posi- tion of the Paper was that, and that is exactly the standpoint I occupy •with regard to Confucianism. DISCUSSION. 97 Now, Confucianism in China is a moral system ; it is not a religious system ; we have no business to call it so ; it is as much a moral system as that of Socrates or Plato, and worthy of being named alongside of anything that was ever concocted by human brains outside of Christianity. I come Confucianism before the Chinese, and perhaps my text is a sentence from Con- ^ mo^rai™ f ucius ; and I say, " Do you observe this ? " No. Then I say to them, " We have brought you something else." " We have come with something which will enable you to observe the truths you know, — at present they are a dead body, — we have come here with the living soul and spirit of Christianity, which will make that dead body of yours a living body, from which living, vital Christianity will shine forth, and act in your national life, in your family life, and in your individual life." That is the position I take up. I am sorry the time is so short that I cannot fully explain myself ; but it seems to me there is not really such a great disparity of opinion at bottom if we could but quietly compare our views together. With regard to ancestral worship, let me say one word. In connection with this phrase I do not like the word worship. I am one of those Missionaries who do not admit any person into the Christian Church except on renunciation of this ancestral ritual, as I would prefer to call jt. ^"''^^*^'"^'"*"^^ Worship, I imagine, always implies prryer ; in connection with °° ^°'^ ^' what is called ancestral worship there is no prayer. There is burning of incense, there is offering of fruits and flowers, and there is bowing to the ground ; but there is no prayer, either to the deceased spirit, or for the deceased spirit. We ourselves like to go to the graves of our deceased friends, and we desire to see them clean and neat. We go there with crowns of flowers, and with garlands, and they are laid there. I do not dislike the foundation of this ritual in China, which is that same fihal spirit which prompts a son or a daughter to go to the grave of a father and mother in this country and keep it in order. Let us not destroy that spirit ; but let us eliminate all that is non-Christian from the practice which has grown out of it. The Acting' Secretary: Our time is so far gone (in fact, we have exceeded the time allowed for this meeting), that we cannot call upon any more of the speakers whose names have been sent ^' Cobban up ; but if it be the will of the meeting to hear Mr. Cobban ^"^ ^' for two or three minutes, we cannot refuse that. Rev. G. M. Cobban : I thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I thank the meeting for this opportunity of saying just a word. My object in tlie Paper, part of which I read, was to ui^ge this : That a Christian Missionary going into the midst of people of another faith to preach our Gospel to them, should know those people, and know what they are Missionaries thinking. That was the tirst point. Men going with the should know foregone conclusion, like my adviser to whom I referred, that t^^ People. all Hinduism and all Buddhism is of the devil, will never take the trouble to know. That was what I wished to emphasise. Next, I wish to bear witness — I speak as a witness of what I know, — to the fact that in Hinduism — I was not speaking of the idolatrous section of it, or of the priestly section of it, but of the other section — there is a great deal of truth, of spiritual truth — to repeat the word. As to where it came^'*:Jl:T"*^^^j c 11 -i. T 1 j-i • J. truth from God. irom, and how it came, i have nothing to say now. All spiritual truth is from Him ; that is my conviction. And when I meet spiritual truth yondei-, either on the lips of a Hindu or in a Hindu book, I say this has come from God, and I rejoice. As to the extent of the spiritual truth, I will give you an illustration. VOL. II. 7 98 MISSIONARY METHODS— (4) RELIGIOUS BELIEFS. A little poem in my carpet bag, says : " Why should Grace take the human form to save us. If Grace be in the heart, is not that enough 1 " And the poet's answer is : " Just as the hunter takes a deer, The iiiea of^ ^^^ exhibits it, that he may catch a deer ; just as the fowler ^"^""^ takes a bird of that class which he Avishes to catch; just so Grace, wanting to catch man, took the form of a man." Now the fact which this brings out is this : that among the Hindus there is a doctrine of God manifest in a human form, something like the Theophanies of the Old Testament ; and how easy it is for a Missionary to preach Christ to a people who believe as far as that ! Take another point, spiritual worship. Here in another poem I find the poet exhorting the people. '"' You are going to worship, are you not 1 and you have brought flowers from your garden, and you are going to offer them, but that idol is not God, and these are not the right flowers. ^^ Sjht.'^'^ God is a spirit. God wants a flower ; but the flower that He wants is the flower that grows in the garden of the heart, the flower of love. That is the flower you must bring." Very true. Very true. I do not believe that came from beneath, you know. But these are only specimens. Why, I tell you I have met with exjiressions of truth yonder in those heathen books that have surprised me, but they have also delighted me, because they have given me the conviction that God b.ns been in this country before I came. The Spirit of God has been speaking somehow, whether by fragments of prophecy or revelation I cannot tell, and I do not care. But the great fact is this : that all the religious truth that is in India has come from God, and that Christianity finds there a line of approach to the Hindu heart by these truths which are already there. fw^ChiisWty. ^° ^°^ imagine that I Avas going to run my Paper to this conclusion : that they have quite enough yonder without Chris- tianity. God forbid. I am a Scotchman. No ; there can be no substitute for Christianity, and no substitute for, as there is no rival to, Christ. No; India must have Christ ; but I venture to say that any one who knows even the little that I know about Hindus, will preach Christ with more zeal and with greater joy, than if he were preaching in the dark, not knowing how much of truth there is amongst the people out there. I do not believe in a modified Christianity, nor do I beheve in any compromise *tobe^od^ed°* between Christianity and other religious systems. Christianity stands alone ; and after we have made allowance for all the truth outside Christianity, Christianity is without a peer. There is no doubt about that. But if I find spiritual truth there, the same kind of truth as I find in Christianity, am I to call it brass when outside, and gold when it is inside Chiistianity ? No ; I Avon't. It is not honest. The Chairman : I suppose we must now bring this very interesting meeting to a conclusion. Rev. E. 0, Williams closed with prayer. ADJOUKNED DISCUSSION ADJOURNED DISCUSSION ON MISSIONARY METHODS— (4) DEALING WITH FOEMS OP RELIGIOUS BELIEF. ' {Thursday e-cening, June litk, in the Anjiexe.) Bishop A. W. Wilson, D.D. (U.S.A.), in the chair. [It is not thought necessary to give a full report of this meeting. The attendance was so small as to make it doubtful whether the discussion should be begun, and led to its being bi-ought to an early close. The speeches were Avell worthy of a place in our report, but being chiefly from delegates who had not attended the meeting of Reasons for which this was an adjournment they naturally travelled over the same ground. The following is a brief abstract. — Ed.] Rev. G. Owen (L.M.S., from Pekin) gave an intei^esting and elaborate account of the character, origin, and history of ancestral worship in China, and dwelt on those aspects of the customs observed in connection with it which are not idolatrous, and advocated the tolerance of certain modified forms of observance of them by Christian converts. He showed how 'the customs were " based on filial piety," and Ancestral that filial piety was the basis of Chinese government and morahty, and the sudden and entire abandonment of them was apt to react on the fundamental principles of reverence and filial love, and to lead to the neglect of the great law, " Thou shalt honour thy father and thy mother." He thought that for example once a year the converts might take part in the great c/mtg ming festival at the period corresponding to the Jewish Passover, when the Chinese went ^"^^^^ '°°' out to sweep the tombs, and hang strings of paper money for the use of the departed spirits, the Christians might attend to the graves of their ancestors, and strew flowers on the tombs, but must be absolutely foi'bidden to make oflferings of money, food, and such like. They might also keep a register of their ancestors, like a family pedigree in Western lands, instead of the present tablets. Mr. Owen observed that there was no great difiiculty in getting real converts to give up heathen customs, in fact they are apt converts to go too far; and the Poman Catholics who made a half-way abandon house for their converts did not gain thereby. customs. Rev. J. Ross referred to the testimony of one of the advisers of the father of the King of Corea, who had studied Chi-istian books, when a prisoner in China, and who had become quite friendly toward Christian Missions, to which he had formerly been much opposed. This adviser told one of Mr. Poss's teachers that the king's father had stated that if the people v ere allowed to observe these old ancestral customs he believed all Corea might become Christian in tluee years. 100 MISSION AKY METHODS — (4) RELIGIOUS BELIEFS. Rev. W. S. Swanson (English Presbyterian Mission, Amoy) advocated a different policy, more in harmony with the " root and branch " methods of the Puritans, while he condemned interference with customs which were not sinful in themselves, or connected with idolatry, such as binding <'t> X :■ * the feet of girls. These old customs wei-e best removed by the Koot and c , ^ t c i • ^ • • i i-i branch" ISTew Testament method oi laying down principles which methods, undermined or supplanted them than by positive laws or external authority, as in the case of slavery in the early days of the Christian Church. Rev. George Piercy asked Mr. Swanson whether the Churches in the region of Amoy allowed the Christians to perform any ceremonies in con- nection with ancestral worship or ancestral ritual, by what- General , name it miioneer agency no one nowadays would venture to dispute. But they are more than a pioneer agency. We claim for this enterprise, that it is one of the most powerful, effective, and directly evangelistic agencies which the Church possesses. "The array of facts and statistics in support of this claim are so remarkable and convincing that to us it is altogether unaccountable that Medical Missions have not, long ere now, secured a place in the very fore-front of our Missionary methods. We believe that, if the spiritual fruits of our Medical Mission in China could be tabulated, the fact would be revealed that in that great Empire no method of Missionary work has been more signally blessed in spreading the knowledge of the Gospel than our Mission hospitals and dispensaries. The seed sown in the hearts of ^ , . „, . patients has in many cases brouglit forth fruit in some thirty, in es sin *'some sixty, and in some an hundred fold. In not a few instances native Churches have sprung up in towns and villages far distant from the headquarters of the Medical Mission, but where no other human agency had been employed, the patients having received the " double cure," had returned to their homes, and told out among their friends what the Lord had done for their souls. Medical Missions have not only broken down prejudices and opened " wide doors and effectual " among the exclusive Chinese, but they have been, in a very marked degree, the nurseries of the native Churches. The same may be said of Medical Missions in India. Were the triumphs of the Gospel won through this agency in India more widely known, we doubt not that in that land of caste prejudice Medical Mission hospitals and dispensaries would be multiplied an hundredfold. In itinerant Mission work we can hardly over-estimate the value of this agency. Clerical Missionaries, when engaged in such work, everywhere feel the need of it, and, whether competent or not, are compelled in some Valuable measure to assume the character of the physician. The story of Missions, itinerant Medico-evangelistic Avork sent home from time to time by our Medical Missionaries reads like a continuation of the " Acts of the Apostles.'' If it can be truthfully said of any Medical Mission that in spiritual results it MR. G. D. DOWKONTT, M.D. 107 is not so fruitful as we might expect it to be, we have no hesitation in saying that the fault is not in the agency, nor with rare exceptions in the agent, but in the exceedingly limited resources placed at his disposal wherewith to carry on the work. His work as a healer of disease is in many Missions so over- .... whelming, and the help he receives so inadequate, that it is utterly ^^^^^ered^ '^ impossible for him, single-handed, to develop to the full the capabilities of his Mission as an evangelistic agency. Intimately acquainted as we are with Medical Missions and with Medical Missionaries in all parts of the world, to us, the wonder is, that with the comparatively little support they receive, and the amazing amount of professional work they have to overtake, they have, from a spiritual point of view, accomplished so much. One word, in conclusion. In a paper which we read on " Medical Missions" at the Missionary Conference in 1878, we then said, "When I went out to India, in 1861, there were not more than twenty Medical Missionaries in the Foreign field ; now there are between ninety and a hundred." It is with heartfelt thankfulness that we are to-day able to say that there are now over three hundred Medical Missionaries in all parts of the world engaged in this Christ- like work, and about thirty of these are fully qualified lady physicians. PAPER. 2. By Mr. G. D. Dowkontt, M.D. (Medical Director of the Inter- national Medical Missionary Society, New York). Mr. Chairman, dear brethren, and sisters in Christ, — Being unexpectedly called upon, in the absence of the writer of a paper promised for this meeting, I shall confine my remarks particularly to the first division of the subject under consideration, viz. : " The Place and Power of Medical Missions," trusting to your kind sym- pathy and indulgence while I do so, my notice to prepare this paper having been extremely short. In the consideration of any subject it is desirable that the terms to be used should be clearly defined. While the majority of those present may be fully conversant with the meaning of the words Medical Mission, and Medical Missionary, yet for the sake of the few who are not, it may be well to explain them. What is a Medical Missionary/ ? — A fully qualified physician, who uses his or her medical knowledge for the relief of physical .^^^^ ^eaicai suffering, and to obtain an entrance for that Gospel which Missionaries he or she seeks to make known. In other words, one who *'«*°'^d°' takes the fruits of Christianity, and thus seeks to plant the roots. What is a Medical Mission dispensary or hospital ? — A place where the sick poor are gathered together to obtain physical relief, and while there have the Gospel preached to them. It will probably save time if we shall consider interrogatively three more points concerning Medical Missions. Why should Medical Missions exist ? — Because of the great need for them, and their immense value in obtaining access,' removing 108 MEDICAL MISSIONS — (1) THE AGENTS. prejudice, and establishing confidence among the heathen abroad, and the almost worse than heathen at home. What reasons can be adduced for their employment? — Chiefly four : Christ commands it ; sympathy demands it ; wisdom dictates it ; and experience has promd their value. What are the special advantages of Medical Missions ? Among others, self-p)reservation, self-support^ as far as practicable, and successful Gospel effort. The need for Medical Missionaries is a subject but little known, and still less realised by the vast majority of Christians ; but the following facts their^eed. °' ^^® adduced as affording some idea of it : — 1st. There are over one thousand millions of heathens and Mohammedans in the world. 2nd. They are perishing no less physically for lack of medical aid, than spiritually from ignorance of the Gospel. 3rd. There is only one Medical Missionary to nearly as many people as there are in the entire city of London. 4th. They are dying at the rate of about /org^j(,g c^^([ incidcuts are reproduced which carry the mind back to His life on earth, and bring before us, as nothing else could, a living picture of what His daily surroundings must have been. Wherever the Medical Missionary goes, the poor, the halt, the blind, the leper, the fever-stricken, in short, all forms of disease, and suffering daily present themselves before him. To many he can give complete relief ; to some only alleviation ; and in instances not a few, human skill will be of little avail. We cannot work miracles in these times, and of none can that be true which is recorded of the first and greatest of Medical Missionaries — '•' He healed them every one ; " but to all alike we can proclaim the old, old story of a Saviour's love. In dealing with this important agency some of the disadvantages and objections which may be urged against it must first claim our atten- tion. It must be admitted that grave foims of disease in Md^oW^tiW heathen hxnds cannot be treated satisfactorily during itiner- ation. Such cases and others of long-standing chronic ail- ments, as well as those in Avhich a major operation may be necessary, will often present themselves, and for them the Medical Missionary, during his short sojourn, cannot do much. And yet the little he can do is highly appi'eciated, and his kindly-spoken invitation to bring the patient to the MR. JOHN HUTCHISON, L.R.C.P. AND S.E. 127 central hospital, coming directly from himself, inspires conjSdence, and is often taken advantage of. Then it is urged that but little can be done on a hurried tour for any patient whom one sees but once or twice ; and that from difficulties of transport it is impossible always to have on hand the sort of remedy or medical appliance which is needful in every case. Now I admit that there is much truth in all these objections, but answered^ I still believe — as the result of long and varied experience — that with all its drawbacks and difficulties such medical work is in number- less instances a means of incalculable benefit. As regards its Missionary aspects, I do not need to enlarge much upon them in order to convince you that opportunities are thereby afforded of the most signal value for presenting the Gospel message. Lalwuring as I have been for many years in a native State, where our Missionary operations are viewed with not a little jealousy by the authorities, I can bear emphatic testimony to the powerful influence which this agency has exerted in dift'erent parts of the territory — in disarming opposition and in gaining for VIS the goodwill and friendship of all sections of the community. But valuable as itinerant Medical Missions undoubtedly are, they can hardly be said to have been brought as yet into anything like practical operation. Foreign Medical Missionaries are very few in Need of number, and as a rule too much tied down by the charge extension and of dispensaries and hospitals to devote much time to itinerating development, work ; and however beneficial occasional tours may be, they are, as a rule, too desultory in their character to be productive of much permanent Missionary influence. In order to make this agency a real power for good, such as I am convinced it is capable of being made, it must be greatly extended and developed ; and this can be done only by the employment of native agents. The field is very vast, and in India, even after making full allowance for the good medical work done in extension Government dispensaries and hospitals, there are still countless multitudes for whom practically no medical provision exists, and it is with these chiefly one comes into contact in itinerating work. Were it practic- able to raise up and maintain a sufficient staff of fidly-quaUJied and fully- equipped native Medical Missionaries for this work — men of fervent piety and Missionary zeal — I believe it would be one of the most powerful evangelistic agencies which the Church could call into existence. But such an agency is beyond the hope of realisation except to a very limited extent. It is in view of this that I venture to bring forward a proposal, which seems well deserving of earnest consideration. As one moves about in the midst of the sickness and misery so prevalent in heathen lands, the question loill suggest itself, whether it is not possible to give^j^g employment a partial medical training to a considerable number of our of partially- ordinary Mission evangelists in every district to fit them f or t'*'"*"^ "^t'^^^s* dealing with the simpler forms of disease, and to be of some use where the need is so great. This is a matter on which all will not be agreed. My own opinion is that while central and branch dispensaries should be in the hands of /w%-trained men, a partially-ti-M.nei[ native agency might be brought into existence in village and itinerating work to a far greater ■ixtent than has yet been done. I believe that nothing but good would follow the establishment of such an agency. Every Medical Missionary 128 MEDICAL MISSIONS— (2) THE AGENCIES. knows what a large proportion of cases presenting themselves in ordinaiy dispensary practice consists of diseases for which the treatment is fairly simple and unifoi'm. I find from the statistics of my own Proportion of (jigpgnsary that nearly one-fourth of the total number of cases is made up of the diflerent forms of malarial fever, in almost all of which qiiinine is more or less beneficial. If to these be added all other cases of a fairly simple character, it will be seen that in a large proportion much may be done to alleviate or cure by one whose medical training may not have been very complete. I do not propose that such agents should in any way take the place of fully-qualified men, when these are obtainable. Nor do I mean to say that they would treat even simple forms of disease as efficiently as fully-qualified men ; but in the absence of an adequate number of these, and in face of the abounding sickness in heathen lands, agents such as I have spoken of would be an inestimable boon to many, and their efficiency as preachers of the Gospel would be vastly enhanced thereby. I have put this plan to the test of practical experience in my own field of labour. My Mission sphere comprises the whole of the Chamba State, situated in the bosom of the North Western Himalayas. A dispensary and hospital have been in existence in the capital for twenty years ; but it is only recently that anything has been done for the outlying parts of the State, ep an es e -^yj^j^]^ .^^e very difficult of access owing to the mountainous character of the country. Beyond the outer ranges of snowy mountains and bordering on Western Thibet, there is a very interesting and beautiful valley called Pangi. I have long had a deep interest in the people of that valley, and some years ago I sent one of our native evangelists to labour among them. He had been in charge of the Leper Asylum of the Mission to Lepers in India under me for a consider- able time, and had become pretty familiar with the uses of the simpler remedies ; and the treatment of ordinary forms of disease ; and I had therefore no hesita- tion in entrusting him with a small medicine chest. He found it of the greatest service in carrying on his evangelistic work ; the people were most grateful for the help he was able to render, and he was thus enabled to carry the Gospel to every village and house in the Pangi valley ; receiving everywhere a most cordial welcome. In the beginning of every summer, this noble servant of Christ, one of the most devoted native workers I have ever known, takes his departure from Chamba into the Inner Himalayan wilds ; and we often hear nothing of him for months. He has to cross and recross a lofty snowy range higher rker^^PanT^^^^ Mont Blanc, to traverse mountain paths which are always difficult and dangerous, and to undergo much toil and hardship. His mode of work is to take up his abode in a village for a few days, or even for a week or two, and make himself quite at home with the people. All day long he is employed in visiting the sick ; preaching to and conversing with the villagers ; exhibiting and explaining the Bible pictures he always carries ; selhng and distributing the Scriptm-es and tracts to all who can read ; and himself reading and expounding the Word of God to those who gather around him. I have myself on many occasions when itinerating with him had oppor- tunities of witnessing the most gratifying evidences of the esteem in which he is held ; and as the result of his labours the evangelistic work in Pangi is now in a most hopeful condition. The experiment which was so successful in this instance I have been trying to repeat in other j)arts of the Chamba State ; and my Branch ideal, as yet only partly realised, has been to have a few dispensaries, branch dispcnsaries in suitable centres, under fully qualified men, and a band of partially trained medical evangelists itinerating among the villages in other parts of the territory. MR. JOHN HUTCHISON, L.R.C.P. AND S.E. 129 Now it has often seemed to me that an agency such as this might be brought into much more extensive operation in village work on the plains of India. Something of the kind is urgently- called for, especially in parts like the Central Punjab, where the Christian community is increasing very rapidly, and now numbers many thousands, scattered over a wide area. To these, our brethren in Christ, we are under special obligations, and in their times of sickness and pain they cry to us for that medical aid which they cannot provide for themselves. The day when every Mission centre shall have a fully-qualified Medical Missionary as a necessary part of its equipment seems as yet far distant ; but a partially-trained agency could be raised up without much trouble, and maintained at insignificant cost. It would be an incalculable boon to many, both Christian and heathen, and a most valuable auxiliary in the diffusion of the Gospel. In order to the efficient working of such a scheme as this, it would be indispensable that the agents in each district should be under the supervision of a fully-qualified Medical supervision Missionary, who would inspect their work, and help and necessary. advise them. They, on their part, would keep themselves in constant communication with him, sending, as far as possible, all difficult cases to the central hospital. It may be remarked here that such a method of work would not be new in any Mission station. It is one which every Missionary, however small his medical knowledge, is forced by the exigencies of his position more or less to adopt ; and all that is advocated here is its indefinitely wide extension among the native agents of our Missions, under care- ful and systematic conditions of training and management. As regards the cost of maintaining such an agency, it would be just the ordinary expenditure for the evangelistic staff" of the Mission, with that for the necessary medicines and The cost medical appliances superadded, which would not, I verysmaii. think, be great. It seems very doubtful if, in India, any important help could be obtained by payments from patients. All Govern- ment dispensaries furnish gratuitous medical relief, and Mission dispensaries have hitherto done the same. The work of these agents also would be to a great extent among the low-castes and the poor, who, from their circumstances, have a special claim on our philan- thropy, and are least able to pay for medical aid. It is among them, too, that the Gospel is making most rapid progress, and evangelistic work is most hopeful and successful. As regards the character and extent of the training necessary for such agents, there will be difference of opinion — the more complete it can be made, the better ; but it is too wide The training of a subject to enter upon now. All that is needful could the best men. be effectively carried out in connection with any Mission dispensary ; and probably every Medical Missionary would prefer to formulate a course for his own pupils. It ought to be practical above all things ; VOL. II. 9 130 MEDICAL MISSIONS— (2) THE AGENCIES. and I think it might be carried out without interfering to any extent with the pupil's discharge of his ordinary duties as an evangelist. The men selected for training ought to be the very best on the Mission staff — notable not only for piety and zeal, bat also for evangelistic power — in fact, men who have already made their mark as successful evangelists. With such a staff of workers, co-operat- ino" with central and branch dispensaries and other evangelistic agencies, and growing in numbers and efficiency year by year ; and, with that indispensable requisite, — the blessing of God on their labours, — a blessing which assuredly would not be denied — there would seem to be almost no limit to the possibilities of Missionary success to which the Church might not hopefully look forward. The Chairman : I will, with your permission, first call upon the Eev. Mr. Lowe to address us. He has had large experience in the training of Medical Missionaries, and will be able to inform us of some of the difficulties attending the supply of men in sufficient The Edinburgh uumbcrs, aud of Sufficiently satisfactory qualifications Medical Mission, for the purposes of Mission labour. I know that the Trainino- Institution in Edinburgh has had considerable influence over the whole of this work, aud I am sure Mr. Lowe will give us some information that cannot fail to be valuable to us. DISCUSSION. Rev. John Lowe, F.R.C.S.E. (Secretary, Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society) : Sir Eisdon Bennett, and Christian friends, — I represent a Society which has trained a large number of Medical Missionaries, and has provided men for all the various Missionary Societies, — I think we can say that between sixty and seventy Medical Missionaries at present engaged in foreign fields have been trained in connection with this Society. I went out in 1861 to Travancore as a Medical Missionary. Dr. Hutchison has just referred to the training of Medical evangelists for Medical Missionary service. In 1862 I commenced a class for Mescal »t"de^ta native agents. We selected eight of the most intelligent and best educated men from our Mission Seminary there. They had received an Enghsh education and were devoted Chiistian men looking forward to Missionary work. We commenced a class in con- E^enenceof j^gction with our hospital, and passed them through a course of four years, and now these men, and otheis since trained in connection with the Medical Mission, are carrying on their work most successfully in branch dispensaries established in various parts of the province. The one great complaint made by Medical Missionaries labouring in all parts of the world is that they do not receive the support necessary for carrying on this important department of their work. I should like more fully to refer to the importance of training native agents. We have in connection with our Medical Missionary Society a very excellent Training Institution in Agra. The students there attend the Agra ^stit^te. Medical College. They are devoted young men, chosen from all the various Missions in Northern India by the Missionaries in connection with all the various Societies, and sent to Agra to be under Dr. Talentine's superintendence, and to pass through a course of four years' training DISCUSSION. 131 both in medical and evangelistic work. Dr. Valentine has this session ten students in bis Institution, and he has at the present moment applications from nine or ten Missionaries wishing him to take in students to be fully qualified for this great and blessed work. Dr. Valentine has had great encouragement in this department of service, and we look forward encouragement with much hopefulness to a large extension of Medical Missionary work through these native agents trained in Northern India, and I know in connection with Dr. Hem-y Martyn Clark's work in Amritsar and other Medical Missions large numbers of devoted young natives are being trained for Medical Missionary service. Mr. William Clark, M.B., M.C. (United Presbyterian Mission,' Kusseera- bad) : — I desire, Mr. Chairman and Christian friends, to say a few words briefly upon the comparative value for Mission purposes of Hospital, Dispensary, and Itinerant Medical Missionaiy work. Now it is not that either one or other of these forms of woi^k should be adopted Yaiw of specially to the exclusion of the others ; they are each and all different forma valuable in their own proper place. We might say the of'work. hospital work is the intensiform evangelistic department of Mission work. Your patients residing under your own roof and brought day by day under religious instruction receive an amount of knowledge which it is utterly impossible to impart to a mere dispensary patient who may only hear you once or twice in the dispensary ; and in comparison with the amount of instruction that is capable of being given in one Missionary address in a far off heathen village during the course of an itinerancy, you can see that the direct evangelistic influence brought to bear upon our hospital patients is very great indeed. This I look upon as the ideal form of modern Medical Mission work — hospital work, from which we may reasonably expect, I think, the greatest results considered in their intensity. In their expansive influence our Mission dispensaries are greater than our hospitals. "We receive very much larger numbers, and are able to treat in our dispensaries greatly increased numbers Intensity and in comparison with those we are able to take into our hospitals, and ^uenoe. feed and treat through a long course. But the most expansive form is the itinerary, probably the pleasantest to the Missionary himself. I know of nothing pleasauter or healthier, in my own experience, than a five or ten miles' ride in the eai'ly morning, preaching to one hundred, or it may be to a thousand people, in a village that you had never visited before, and seeing from fifty to one hundred patients in the morning, during the course of the day, and in the evening ; preaching all day long in the tent to individual patients who come to visit you there, as well as to the great crowd in the bazaar of the village at which you happen to be encamped for the night. I would like to say a word about payment by patients for medicines. It is an exceedingly desirable thing that in every shape and form Mission money should be saved, and that contributions should be received from all and sundry, but as a Medical Missionary of fifteen years' for^l^^ckies experience in Northern India, I protest against the introduction of any commercial element between the Medical Missionary and his heathen patient. With reference to the training of native assistants, I may say that I have sent five men to the Agra Medical Missionary Training Institution, who were trained under my friend Dr. Valentine. Those five have turned out splendid medical men, I am happy to say, and that two of them have turned out good Medical Missionaries is a pleasurable thing for me to announce to you. Dr. Pringle (Bengal Army) : SirEisdon Bennett, and Christian friends, — During thirty years' service in India, of which I may say the last twenty 132 MEDICAL MISSIONS— (2) THE AGENCIES. have been spent in itinerating, and nearly half of that time in tents, among a population of ten millions in the northern portion of Bengal, I have had considerable opportunities of seeing what the work under this head can do, and in sa5'ing this, I do so with deep thankfulness to God for the opportunity He has given me, and above all for this opportunity of tailing you, that it is a work the value of which it is utterly impossible - J J to estimate. The story just now told in those short but graphic Medical work words by my brother countryman is just the secret. You inestimable, cannot tell the numberless opportunities that it opens out. One man is cured, and he goes home and tells the story. It is the old story of the love of Christ, how He had compassion on the multitudes, and that story will go far and wide and bear fruit. I know the Agra College well, as I was in that district for twenty years, and undoubtedly the action that Missionary Societies are now thinking of taking is the very best, being the one that the Government itself has been ^ti'^'d^ctors compelled to take. When great sickness prostrated the country, ' they sent out their educated native doctors through the villages with supplies of medicine, and I am satisfied that there are few modes in which relief can be afforded equal to that. When the body is so very carefully looked after, I feel we may leave it prayerfully and hopefully to the Church to see that the soul is not forgotten. The Chairman: I am sure Dr. Pringle cannot render greater service to Medical Missions than by giving them the result of his experience, in the form of a small, condensed handbook, which might be given to every Medical Missionary, and not only to Medical Missionaries but to ordinary Missionaries, for they are called upon for medical help in a large number of cases. In conversation with my distinguished friend, Dr. Livingstone, again and again I have talked this question over with him, ^^'ophdon.^'* and he was very emphatic on the subject of the necessity of attacking the first initiatory cold stage of fever, in a very diffeient way from that which had usually been resorted to, and he attributed his own comparative immunity to his adhering to his practice. There are a number of points of that sort connected with our own depart- ment, as well as the higher, which, if they were gathered up by those who have had experience in the Missionary field, and condensed into a portable volume, would be of inestimable value for every form of Missionary labour abroad. Of that I am quite satisfied. Mr. Henry Soltau (China Inland Mission, formerly of Burmah): I represent those who have only a partial training, and am not a qualified Medical man. I wp,s forced to be a Medical man as a, "^lis- ^o°^acti8e. sionary in Burmah by the people themselves. I had no inten- tion, in going out, to give any medicine. I took a homoeopathic medicine chest, just for my own personal use, but the people came and demanded that they should have medicines for their diseases. The medicines did not take much effect i;pon them, and I had to turn to Perry Davis's Painkiller, and Jayne's Expectorant, and the Almanack published to explain those medicines. I went on very well for a short time, untU we had a Medical Missionary out there, Dr. Harvey, in connection with our Society, the China Inland Mission. I then got from him a year's training in dispensary work, which was very helpful. I was given a v^ery valuable book, called " Moore's Family Medicine for India," and with that, and with DISCUSSION. 133 the medicines recommended, which are not homoeopathic, I began to get some good results among the people. When Dr. Harvey left, through ill health, he left the wliole of the patients in his charge in my hands. I then went on with itinerant work, because the people demanded it. They sent messengers for us, and we had to go some distances into the country, on the border tracts between China and Burmah, places where no white person had ever been seen amongst people who are great robbers. We took nothing but medicines ; no money, and"rup°es. excepting one bottle, — a quinine bottle, full of rupees, stufied in with tiour. It looked like quinine, and we carried that in our medicine chest. In commencing work in two or three different villages I happened to have to treat people suffering from abscesses, and the use of the lancet gave great relief, and made a profound impression among the people. The result of our itinerant work has been that the American Baptist i^^nobig.' Missionaries who followed us there, sent up some native evangelists, and they established Mission stations in several of the villages which we visited first, and have had the joy of baptising between twenty and thirty of those wild robber people, who have become consistent Christians ; so that I think there is something in itinerant work and also in hospital work. I used to charge a small sum for certain medicines that had to be given to people who had got diseases through their own fault. I found that rather a good thing, but otherwise we gave all the medicines free. I may add that I am now training fully in Edinburgh, and hope, God willing, "Who to take to take my degree, and be sent out next year. paymen rem. Mr. Andrew Jukes, M.R.C.S.L., L.R.C.P. Ed. (C.M.S., from Dera Ghazi Khan) : I think. Sir Risdon Bennett, that it is important that those who have had practical experience of Mission work abroad, should give their opinion upon certain points, as you have so desired. In the first place I fully agree with Dr. Maxwell in his opinion of the primary importance of hospital work as distinguished from dispensary and itinerant work with i-espect to its Missionary character. I do not think there can be any question that the longer a patient comes under the power of the Gospel the more likely is he to receive the truth of the Gospel, and to have opportunities of getting the various prejudices removed with whicli in the first place he generally comes to the hospital. We have had a very important paper from Dr. Hutchison, and I fully agree with him that the training of native agents is a most important part of the Missionary's work. I do not think it is absolutely necessary to wait till the native agent is fully trained before you give him some opportunity of practically doing the Avork which he has seen carried on in your own Medical Mission. I think with Dr. Hutchison there are very many simple remedies which the ^^™ori£ '^^ native agent who is not qualified can with advantage take with him and give in his itinerations to many of those who are sick. The number of maladies which it is possible to treat by an unqualified assistant in certain districts is great. As we just now heard there is a very large proportion of malarial fever, and as almost evei'y native has experience of this malarial fever himself, he can very quickly recognise it in the case of another, and I have found by giving instructions as to the use of remedies in these cases, that often very great good has been done. The effect of itinerating work amongst people who have prejudice against Europeans and against Christianity is very great, although, I do not think it is so satisfactory, in bringing so many converts to the Christian Church as is the case of Mission work in hospitals ; it prepares the soil for the seed. 134 MEDICAL MISSIONS — (2) THE AGENCIES. Eev. J. McLeod (Philadelphia, U.S.A.) : I am not a physician, but I am deeply interested in this work. My wife and myself are more deeply interested indeed in the establishment of a college in Ceylon, which is to have a medical department. I have more and more realised the importance of this in Missionary work, and my impressions have been deepened by every word that has been said this morning. I feel this, that Actionseloquent. ^ Medical Missionary can speak at once. Other Missionaries have to learn the language, but a Medical Missionary knows his language at once. As soon as he does something for the people they can appreciate his character, and value him, I have sometimes thought it was a good thing that Missionaries did not know the language, and that they had to spend some time in order to acquire it, that they might show what they had besides the language, what they had besides talk, Avhat they had besides good advice — that they might show the people that they have something outside the mere teacliing of high moral truths, which many of them have already, from their own heathen scriptures ; but Avith legai-d to this Medical Mission work they have it not. For that reason I believe every Missionary, as soon as he is amongst the people, and can smile in a baby's face, and can help a poor mother, or give some clothing or anything else to ^"^ife^Si^^T ^^^® people, is doing his work, and is preparing himself to obtain the confidence of the people, when he can speak their language. The Acting Secretary said that Mr. Burroughs, of the firm Burroughs & Wellcome, had expressed a wish to present to Medical Missionaries, who might be at the Conference, two small cases of medicine, as an 1 0 me in . g^pression of his interest in their work. He thought they might propose a very cordial vote of thanks to Mr. Burroughs for this most generous and acceptable otter, which he had made to the meeting. Rev. Dr. Schreiber (Rhenish Missionary Society) : I am not, sir, even in the same case as some of the speakers. I only had half-a-year's study in Edinburgh before going out as a Missionary, but I was obliged to do as much as I could. I have learnt one thing, and that is that I could not do anything and everything, and so we are now on the way to look for real Medical Missionaries. It is a gi^eat fault with us in Germany that we have been so late in this respect. We have very few Medical Missionaries — only two from the Basle Missionary Society, and one from the Moravians ; but now we in our own Society are just looking for two or three ; one to go to China, to a new hospital near Canton, and one to go to Sumatra. I hope you will show us the way in which we are to get such men, because, I am sorry to say, I am afraid we shall not find them in Germany just yet. Rev. F. Lion Cachet (Secretary, Dutch Reformed Missionary Society) : I must say that I was in a more unfortunate position than the gentleman who has spoken a little while ago. He was called a doctor, and he was not " qualified." I was qualified, holding the Transvaal Government licence to practise medicine and surgery; but I did not feel myself quaU- butSiSSfi^'i to the work. I always had that dreadful cloud hanging over me, " Suppose anything should happen that I cannot treat, what must I do?" Well, I have had some medical training, and have studied hard, and had a successful practice for about ten or twelve DISCUSSION. 135 years. I was forced to practise; I was the only minister at the time among the Dutch Boers — I hope no one will shudder— and my parish was three hundred, or four hundied, or five hundred miles in extent. I had to look after my people, and also after the coloured people. I was in con- nection with some friends in Natal, fully qualified men, and if I wanted them I could have their help ; but how could I send for a medical man two himdred or three hundi-ed miles, when they could only give a few minutes to a case, and they had no time to come. But still the Lord showed Him- self to me many a time, and heard my prayers, when I was at my poor wits' ends. When a difficult case came before me, I would pray, " Lord, show me what I have to do ; assist me in my diagnosis ; strengthen my nerves and give me what I wanb ! " If ever in my life I felt the strength of trusting in God it was at that time. I came back from Africa a second time, and became the Secretary of our Dutch Mission in Java, and the first thing I did was to say to our Committee, " We must send out a fully qualified Missionary to Java to do the work of the Medical Missionary, and to train others." God has given us the man, and he is at present under Dr. Maxwell's care in his institute. I plead with you, my friends, to send out fully qualified men. At the same time do not let any Missionary go out who does not know at least a little about minor operations. One gentleman has spoken about the use of the lancet, but the forceps goes just as far. Mr. R. A. Macfie : It was suggested yesterday that if there were any difficulties felt or any doubts in the mind they might be put in writing, and I ventured as Chairman to say that if those questions were put together perhaps the Committee would allow us a separate session to consider them. With that view I have written out these questions. " Is it desirable" — I give no exposition of my reasons, they rather questions!^ underlie than appear on the surface — " Is it desirable that Medical Missions be conducted by special Societies ? Can and should one dispensary serve more than one Mission body, and should not the well-to-do brethren be encouraged to use it, of course paying ? Might the contributions of the well-to-do be made voluntaiy, and, after paying for medicines, be applied to the Mission funds 1 Might there not be an office or offices, with correspondents qualified to advise -with Medical men, who, from having private means or a desire to change climate combined with inward prompt- ings of love and zeal, feel able to offer their services gratuitously for limited periods of engagement, and who desire information and guidance 1 " Then the last question is, " Might we not appoint a Committee to consider these questions and report ? " My present object is merely to call attention to the last of these questions, " Might we not appoint a Committee to con- sider these questions and any others referred to it ? " and also, I think, a special Meeting might be intimated to-night, at which any question sent in might be answered. The Acting Secretary : I fear it is quite impossible to expect another meeting. Every moi'ning and evening is filled up to the extent of this building's capacity ; but I will lay the matter before the Secretary. The Chairman: At all events there can be no objection to collecting the main points that have been elicited at this meeting, so as to bring them 136 MEDICAL MISSIONS — (2) THE AGENCIES. before the public in a form that will be available abroad as well as at home. A number of points have been brought forward which it is very desirable should be put upon permanent record, and made available for those who are immediately connected with Medical Missions. May I ask Dr. Pringle to let me know later on how far he thinks it possible that private soldiers connected with the stations where there are Medical Officei'S, would be available as Nurses or as Assistants to the Soldiers as ]\f edical Missionaries in carrying on work ? I mention this because I know in connection with the Army and Navy many of the privates make the most efficient aids to Medical men. A couple of the best nurses I ever came across in the course of my whole professional life were two men in the Navy. I was called upon to attend their captaio, and I found that intelligence, efficiency, dexterity, and everything a nurse should have were evinced by these men to a degree that I have hardly ever seen approached by any other nurses, male or female. Miss De Broen (Paris) : Mr. Chairman, and Christian friends, — I think I may say that mine is the worst of all cases, for I am neither qualified nor a little qualified. The reason, however, why I have been Medical MiMionpgj.jjj-^j.g(-| ^^ ^^y ^ £q^ words is tliis, that the Lord has used me as an instrument to establish a Medical Mission in Paris. We all know much of the value of Medical Missions in heathen lands ; but, dear friends, in France it is almost more valuable than anywhere else. The heathen have a natural craving for God, so much so that they create themselves gods ; but the French infidels say, " We have no God," as you know well enough. As one of the Town Councillors lately, when he gave away prizes to thousands of children, " Ah," said he, " my children, we are greatly abused, especially in English newspapers ; they slander us because they say we send God out of our schools ; but," he added, " it is not true, becaiise there is no God ; how can we send Him oi;t of our schools." Now, dear friends, this is the use of the Medical Mission in Paris that we are •'^ble to preach the Gospel to the patients. It is fifteen years ago since the Lord permitted me to open a Medical Mission, great opening. g^jj^ I was very happy to see the first Medical Missionary sent out to me. Dr. Laidlaw, who was here yesterday ; and now the Mission has so grown that we have had as many as thirty thousand attendances in one year, which has given us an opening to visit from six thousand to eight thousand new individuals yearly. The Chairman : We shall be very glad to hear some information on the second point as to the payment by patients for medicines. If there is any Missionary present who has any experience on this subject, it will be desirable that we should have more information than we have at present had upon that point. Pastor A. Haegert (Bethel Santhal Mission) : I have been twenty years in India, and for sixteen years I have been doctoring the people. I have attended something like thirty thousand patients ; every praetitiwfers, J^^''-' ^^^^ sufierers from one hundied and fifty villages have come seeking my medical aid. It has been my privilege to train, years ago, twelve native preachers for medical work. They occupy to-day twelve hundred square miles. They attended last year many DISCUSSION. 137 patients from one hundred and eleven villages. They have saved scores and scores of lives, and hundreds and hundreds have been visited by them, and I thank God for that. Now my medical men are not qualified according to Government diploma, but they know medicine, they know diseases ; and the best medicines that money can procure, and the best medical works that money can buy, I have placed in their hands. Now, with reference to money matters, I was asked in years gone by, what I should charge. I began by saying, " Friends, you are to pay something for your medicines." Well, you know, they are Oi-ientals. Tliey are as keen as needles. They know that we have attended thousands -y^^ should not and tens of thousands for nothing, and now, once in a blue and who should moon, we ask them for money. The result is they doubt our p^^' honesty, and begin to dodge and argue like real Orientals, showing that they should not pay, while every one else gets it for nothing, so that instead of spending my valuable time in endeavouring to teach them the knowledge of God, and to draw them to the Saviour, I was spending my time, in order to get a copper out of these men. Well, I gave it up as a bad job, never to be done again. If a rich money-lender, who is the curse of thousands of people, comes to my house seeking my favour I say, " My friend, my charge is £5 to begin with, and after curing you it will be £5 more." " Sir, you take 10^." " No, I will take £10, if you please ; if you do not like it, good morning, sir ; " but then I know he has been making money fast by destroying hundreds of homes, " You pay for your medical advice ; if you do not like it, good morning." There was a correspondence last year in the papers, about Medical Missionaries complaining, that medical work made them ch-y, that it made them secular, that it robbed them of spiritual power. Sir, I have lived in India twenty years. Every day from morning to night, I have more or less been ^Teadeninff? removing paia and suffering. It has not made me dry. There is a house, — the good man of the house is dying ; the wife says to me, "Come and see my husband, or he will die ; and I shall be a widow, and my children will be orphans." I go to his house ; there is sorrow, sadness, perplexity. My medicine makes tlie pain go away, death runs away from the house, peace, joy, and health come back. Is there anything in that to be sad about, or to get dry about, or to make you lose your spiritual power ? Why, it makes me just glad to do it to thousands more ! The Acting Secretary said the next speaker was Mr. Alfred Sutton of Reading, who had sent three sons to be Medical Missionaries, — one to Burmah, one to Baghdad, and a third to Quettah. Mr. Alfred Sutton (Reading) : Mr. Chairman, and Christian friends, — As it has been my priviJege to be called upon to speak, I will just say that there have been two thoughts in my mind upon points which have not been answered. The one is that medical men abroad should have a little more licence given to them perhaps than other More Ucenoe for •n T • • • T , -111 • 1 • 1 medical men. Missionaries, but certainly they do requu"e hcence to act accoi"d- ing to the circumstances in which they are placed ; and then, the other point is that which has been mooted, but which no one seems to be able to answer; and it is very reasonable that they are unable to answer, because the circum- stances are so difterent in difierent localities. That question is, as to receiving payment from patients. I think, perhaps, I may ^^aUe^°t*s''^ illustrate that by the position of my three sons. One is in Upper Burmah, surrounded by nothing but very poor people indeed. It 138 MEDICAL MISSIONS — (2) THE AGENCIES. would be wrong upon principle in every way to ask tliem to pay. And again in Baghdad, where my son Henry Martyn is, he is surrounded with such an immense number of persons requiring his services, that he is obliged to confine his attention entirely or almost entirely to the Moham- medans, wretchedly poor, and a few of the Jews, if possible still poorer ; and therefore he cannot attend at all generally any of the upper classes. He has told us of one or two instances of the wives of merchants and others who have prayed him to come to them, and in that case he has gone, but he has refused to receive any payment from them, although they will insist on his receiving some curiosities from the ruins of Babylon or Nineveh, or something of that kind. But there is the other son in Quettah, altogether differently circumstanced. There are those here who know that Quettah is a totally different place to either of the other two ; and in Quettah there are families who can well afford to pay. But I need hardly say my son will not receive payment of any kind in the ordinary sense, but it is of immense importance to him to have a hospital. He cannot possibly get on without a hospital, and therefore any persons who send for him in the upper ranks of life, put down in a book any gifts which they may feel inclined to make, to the hospital fund. I think it is both legitimate and desirable that medical men should under such circumstances receive fees. Mr. William Gauld, M.D. (BethnaJ Green Medical Mission, formerly of Swatow, China) : There is a point which has been touched upon this morning, on which I should like to say a word. It was alluded to by a friend to whom I listened with much sympathy, namely the question of _ , the Medical Missionary doing work before he has begun to of language learn the language, or before he has acquired it. Now I hold essential ^ very Strong opinion on that point. I know that there are °^°^ ' some Missionaries who have done noble work without knowing the language, but I hold that for a Missionary's own sake, for the influence he has amongst his patients, and for the preservation of his own spiritual life, it is most important that he should be able to speak to them, not only about their diseases but about the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ ; and I think the very advantage spoken of, that the Medical Missionary has of being able to show the loving kindness of the Gospel in practical work before he knows anything of the language, is one of his greatest dangers. Missionary Societies would do well if they would strictly enjoin Medical Missionaries, especially, not to do more medical work than they can possibly help for the first year, and to give that year to the study of the language. Then- futu.re work will tell all the more powerfully for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then with regard to the relative value of the three forms of Mission work which have been spoken of, I am entirely at one with what has been said by most of the speakers, and especially with the Paper which has been Relative v^e of read by my friend Dr. Maxwell; but I think the Medical Mis- of wor™^ sionary would do well in his own person to combine all three. In our Avork at Swatow, where we had the privilege of building three hospitals at different times, in the winter months when it was possible and even pleasant to travel, it was a pleasure to me to take my medicine chest and go with a brother Missionary or native helper into the country, and spend as long a time there as I could. My assistants were always, after the first year or two, able to carry on the work in the hospital at Swatow in my DISCUSSION. 139 absence, so that the work there did not very materially suffer. The itinerant work will have this great advantage, it lets the people know you. Many of them know so little of your appearance that they "^^^^rant work. are afraid to come to the hospital. They do not know what a foreigner is ; there are terrible stories told in China of what the foreigners are — demons, and all sorts of things. The Chinese in their various villages and towns see you, and they learn what you are, and in that way their confidence is gained, and they are more ready to come to the hospital. I think a great deal of good Missionary work can be done in these itinerancies, and good work for the body as well. Then about the dispensary work. I had two dispensaries in connection with hospital work at Swatow, and in the town, where one dispensary was, the hostility to Europeans was of a very marked kind. On the first two weekly visits there, we were stoned out of the town; and ispensanes, our boatmen would not go in again unless we got the Mandarin to protect us, which we did. On our way up the river to that dispensary once a week, almost every face we met was scowling at us, and the river boatmen were any- thing but friendly ; still, having gone there week after week, and persevered with our work, the people came and heard the Gospel, and had their bodily ailments attended to. In the course of a year or two the change in that district was very marked ; going up the river we were met with smiles, the whole feeling of the people had turned towards us, and in favour of our work. With regard to the payment of fees by patients, I suppose the idea of requiring payment is to make the Mission as little expensive to the Home Boards as possible. Now in China we secured a great deal of work being done at very little expense, by making the patients who i,yp^entg came to the hospital pay for their own food. We did not feed any of them except in special cases, and in that way, at little more than the expense of the drugs, we were able to attend to thousands of patients in a year. Of course if any wealthy men came, they were welcome to help us, and occasionally we sent a subscription list round amongst the European and Chinese community, which was well responded to, so that the Chinese helped in that way to some extent. I think in China at least it is well not to charge the patients. Many of them are poor peasantry, and the very fact that they come from long distances and have to support themselves in hospital, is a guarantee that they really want to be healed, and secures us against being pestered by beggars or others who would simply come to live upon us. Rev. Dr. Green closed the proceedings with prayer. MEETINGS OF MEMBERS IN SECTION. Seventh Session. WOMEN'S WORK IN THE MISSION-FIELD, (1) TUE A GENTS. (a) The place of female agency in Mission work, and its relation to the departments of general Missionary Societies both in home arrangements and foreign work. (6) The training of agents at home and on their arrival in the foreign field. (c) Female Medical Missionaries. {Wed?iesday morning, June \2>th, in the Large HalL)* General Sir Robert Phayre, K.C.B., in the chair. Acting Secretary, Rev. Gilbert Karney, M.A. Prayer by the Rev. Gilbert Kamey. The Chairman : Dear Christian friends, — As my time is limited, I do not propose to occupy much of it with anything that I have to say upon this important subject. I leave details to those who have practical experience and knowledge of the work. But I can say, that our subject of conference this morning, viz., the work of women in the Mission-field, cannot be surpassed for importance in the great work of Missions, in whatever part of the world it may be carried on; and I think that we have an evidence of this in the progress already made. It is, comparatively speaking, a very short time since this branch of Mission work was organised on a large scale, but in that time, and considering the slender means in operation, it has already begun to effect important changes in the heathen world. It has access where the Word of God never penetrated before, and as that Word carries power and light with it, 1 ^naj heartily that it may prevail more and * TLis meeting, which was to have been held in the Annexe, was adjourned to the Large Hall, owing to the crowded attendance. MISS EAINY. 141 more, and have a fuller and freer entrance to those places which the Lord has opened up to us. It has been my privilege to be Personal associated with the Lord's work in India for about forty testimony. years and upwards, and all I can say is this, that I know no work that requires our sup]iort, our prayers, and our sympathies more than this "women's work," which we are about to consider this morning. It has supplied a want which for years the people of God have been longing to see met. It was about thirteen or fourteen years ago that I had an excep- tional opportunity of knowing the awful oppression to which women in the highest rank, as well as in the lowest, are subjected in the Zenanas and the harems of India, and I can assure you, when I heard of Zenana visiting, and Bible work, and schools for the young, and last, but not least, of lady physicians, with their trained nurses, taking up this work, it made my heart rejoice. In the instance to which I refer, I brought the matter to the notice of the proper authorities, and I am thankful to say obtained substantial relief. Just to show what progress is being made in that same signs of quarter, I not long ago received from a native Christian improvement, gentleman of my acquaintance a letter in which he told me how, in that very country, where oppression of the worst kind had prevailed amongst women, the present ruler, a most enlightened and well- educated prince, sent to him and his wife, asking them to preach the Gospel to them and their Court. Now I merely mention this to show what results the Lord brings about when He opens the way according to His word. " All power is given to Me in heaven and in earth; and lo ! I am with you alway." "We learn from this, dear friends, that there is no amount of oppression, that there is no amount of hindrance that Satan may oppose to the progress of the Gospel, that cannot be removed by believing prayer and pleading the promises of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us plead these promises on behalf of this glorious work which our dear sisters in the Lord have commenced under His leading and guidance ; let us pray that He may be with them, and that they may all of them receive a great accession of strength in this our Conference. PAPER L By Miss Rainy (Free Church of Scotland). " The place of Female Agency in Mission Work, and its relation to the department of general Missionary Societies, both in Home arrangements and Foreign loork^ Woman's influence has been a potent factor in the world's history — too often, alas ! for evil, since that fatal day, when, having tasted the forbidden fruit, " she gave also to her husband, with her, and he did eat." Must we not carry with us woman ana that old story of " Paradise Lost," while seeking to trace ^«r Redeemer, woman's place and function in the story of " Paradise Regained " ? 142 women's WOEK in the mission field — (1) THE AGENTS. She owes a great debt to the race that she mined. She owes everything to the Eedeemer ; for never was a creature more utterly undone than she, when first the Promise shed a ray of hope across her path, brightening, in the fulness of time, into that wonderful announcement : " Hail ! thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee ; " and awakening Mary's glad response : " Behold the handmaid of the Lord ! " (Luke i. 28, 38). It was natural, that in the joy of a revelation like this, there should be a great burst of service. And so we find it in the Church of the New Testament, from Anna, the prophetess, who Women in the spake of Christ to all that looked for redemption in New Testament. Jerusalem ^ to that elect lady who trained her children to walk in the truth.^ Women ministered to Him of their substance.' The Samaritan woman gave Him her testimony;* the Syrophenician woman, her faith ;^ the woman that was forgiven much, her love and her tears.® It was well their part to bring Him what they could. It concerns us more to note how graciously He accepted their service, — how He delighted to draw it out and to vindicate it,^ even when rendered by the poorest and the most unworthy. For more than knowledge or power. He prizes love,^ and it is His glory to take the weak things of this world, to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are.® Women were honoured to carry to the Church the tidings of His resurrection ^'^ they shared in the Pentecostal efi'usion," and they were welcomed by the Apostles as fellow-labourers and fellow-sufferers in the Gospel.^ From allusions in the New Testament, and in the writings of the early Christian Fathers, it appears that while all Christians, men and women, were expected to take their share in the work of the . Church ^^ some women were specially set apart as dea- Deaconesaesin p ,i j • i i