f
Toes. WM LS a.

Che Missionary

LITERATURE.

F le the ea BY THE

paper ede

Ruy. H. U. WEITBRECHT, Pu. D.,

Stonorary ddutorial Secretary,

seeseprsdaanzcparsren

PUNJAB FLELIGIOUS Pook pOciery.

Published as a Supplement to the soctety’s

Report for 1888,

Walhare:

PRINTED AT THE NEW IMPERIAL PRESS, BY SAYYAD RAJAB ALI SHAM,

i889.

PREVACE.

=——“NYOtG Ww

Tis paper was written for the Centennial Mis-
sionary Conference of 1888, and read before that body
by the Rev. Dyson, (see Report of Centennial Con-
ference Vol. IL., p. 258.) Itis published in a separate
form to make it accessible to friends of the work here
in India with a few corrections, |

| HU ewe
April 1889.

THE MISSIONARY IN RELATION TO
LITERATURE.

Ir is, happily, needless to prove to persons conversant with
Missionary work that the formation of a Christian literature is
an essential part of Missionary work in any given nation. The
question which practically concerns us now, is the relative im-
portance of literary as compared with other aspects of Mission-
ary work, and the best means and methods for promoting it,

In treating this subject I can speak personally of India only ;

and in India I have had to do chiefly
ee Ra: with publications in Urdu. But the Urdu
language is, from a literary point of view, the most widely
extended tongue in India: that is to say, it probably reaches
the largest number of readers, and it is also the best furnished
with general and Christian literature. Moreover India offers a
wider field of observation and deduction than any other Mission
field, ranging from the most finished products of Western science
and education in the Presidency cities and provincial capitals, to
the merest savages in their hilly retreats. Hence the observa-
tions here recorded and the deductions attempted may, perhaps,
have an application wider than the area from which they proceed,

What then are the special difficulties and special opportuni-
ties which the experience of the present juncture emphasises in
respect of the literary work of Missions ?

To menticn the chief difficulty, first, I would say that, ex-
cluding strictly spiritual opponents, it is the same which meets
us throughout our modern missions, the wide difference of race

and civilization between the evangelist

Difficulties in adapting. , ble idvce
and the eyangelised, And this it 1s

which renders it so difficult to adapt our literary work both in
form and matter to those for whom it is intended, so that it may
appeal to their faculties and influence them permanently. The
area influenced by Western ideas is continually and rapidly en-
larging, without a corresponding increase of power on the part
-of:the Missionary body to cover it with Christian literature. To
‘take only one instance. The early leaders of higher English
-education in India were Missionaries like Duff and Wilson, into
the fruits of whose labours we have entered and are still entering.
THe ecitee Theses But since their day this higher education
) has fallen—not through a relaxation of
effort on the part of Missionaries, but through the increased acti-
vity of the State—for the most part into the hands of the Gov-
ernment institutions, while primary education has received an
‘enormous impulse. Most of the youths who receive the higher
education engage either in Government service or in the legal
profession; and both during and after their training they are
schooled in a system of religious neutrality oftea amounting to
indifference. Thus, in addition to the old world of India, which
offered its peculiar difficulties, Christian literature now has to
reach a new generation. There are still the ignorant and illite-
rate masses; still a community educated on the old indigenous
lines, with more or less of Hindu or Muhammadan classical
knowledge ; but there is also a community educated by Western
methods, many through English, more through the vernacular
tongues; some quite or nearly up to the standard of English
scholars, others occupying an intermediate position between
this and the purely vernacular reader, while even his language
is receiving a strong dash of English words, uncouth as they look
in their Indian dress. And yet, near as he may come to Western
notions, the Indian is still an Indian in mind and disposition,
and as such he must be approached. The many sided sympathy

in tone, the wide variety in form, needed to meet all these classes,
must be found in Mission literature, if it is not to fall behind in
its great vocation.

With the difficulty of adequately performing a task of such.
increasing complexity, a corresponding opportunity is closely

bound up. The spread of knowledge, resultiog from the rapid.
advance of education is opening an ever-widening door to Mission.
literature. A supply of readers is being prepared much. faster:

than a supply of goodreading. Western
Increase of readers. oot :
knowledge and acquaintance with Eng-
lish is eagerly sought for, so that the Missionary—pressed as he is
Nf ? I

by his own proper work—finds himself ana confronted by the

question of pure literature for the people. At no previous periud:

has the increase of the reading community in India been so rapid;
oS a

and the ratio of progress. promises to increase. Before the Edu--

cation Commission in 1882, the number. of scholars was estima.

ted at 2,000,000 ; it is now computed at. 3,500,000, the increase
being chiefly in the primary department. Not ail of, these be-

come regular readers, but the majority will require some mental.

food.

The third feature of the Missionsd eld which bears upon liter--

} } +4 +h Vv yy? 4 ; A Ee ae
Growth of Christiancom- 2'Y work j ust NOW 18 tne grow th of the
munity. Christian. community. The rates of in-

crease in the three decades, preceding 1882, were as follows :—

1851—61 Se ... Ol percent:
1661—71 ee peta ats
1871—81L “as Ve F8Go oP

At the end of 1881 there were 417,372 Protestant Native
Christians in India. For this community, as it increases in num:
bers and grows in intelligence, a Christian literature is more need-
ed every year; and itis only in a well-taught Christian Church that
we haye a reasonable hope of permanence and self-propagation,

To set forth the practical conclusions which flow from these
facts it may be useful to borrow the terms of political economy,
and consider Mission literature in respect of its production, its
distribution, and its consumption. And as its consumption is
the practical end that we wish to attain, it may be taken first.
1. The Consumption of Mission Literature.*
Consumption depends upon demand. How enormously the

Tictonced demand tor demand for literature generally is being

literature. increased by the educational work now

going on,I have already pointed out. Between 1882 and 1885,
the pupils in Government and aided schools in India increased by
some eight hundred thousand.t Of the three-and-a-half millions
now under instruction, some two hundred thousand are in Mis-
sion schools. For these readers literature of a sort is forthcoming.
I have not the means of obtaining full statistics, but I may refer
to the figures given by Dr. Murdoch in his Paper [read at the
same Conference], showing that 8,963 publications were regis-
gistered during 1886 in British India. Of these, the largest
number in any one language (1,435) were in Urdu; and judging
by the Panjab publications of a few years previous, we may
roughly estimate that the percentage of subjects was as follows :—

Religion ee 8 Beh IZB
Poetry, Fiction, and Drama ... ee a
Education = i ciel tle
Other subjects fii wan Tayo

100

Of the first class a certain number, perhaps a sixth, are Chris-
tian works. Thesecond class of books and pamphlets are largely

* T use this term in preference to ‘‘ Missionary Literature,” as the latter
might be understood to mean Missionary magazines, biographies, and the like,

+ This increase may include a considerable number of schools already
existing, which came under Governmental inspection and cognisance during the

period named, but even this connotes an important increase in the effective-
‘ness of the education given,

fi$

demoralising ; while the third again include a sprinkling of
Christian books, published chiefly by the Christian Vernacular
Education Society. With the exception of these school books,
most of the Christian works have a limited circulation, especially
those of any size. The other languages of North India are

relatively less well supplied with Christian books than Urdu.
From these facts we gather that the Vernacular books, which
are read for purposes other than studious
Pernicious literature. eave
or professional are, to a great extent,
morally pernicious. And this applies also, in great measure, to
the English literature favoured by young India, so far as it is
secular. Secularism and free love go hand-in-hand to furnish
the mental food of many English-reading natives; nor is this a
result to be wondered at, when we consider the secular character
of education in Government schools. The Government of India,
in its memorandum of the 3lst December, 1887, on moral educae
tion, has shown its sense of this dangerous tendency, and its
desire to check it, by the introduction into schools and colleges
of moral text-books, and by other means. It is obvious that such
efforts need to be accompanied by the provision of a pure litera-
ture, which will, in due course, be more largely demanded by a
purer generation, and which tends to produce the frame of mind
that perpetuates such a demand. To such efforts the Literary
Missionary (when he has been evolved) will give all the help

that he can spare from his direct Christian work.
The demand for literature, further, will depend not only upon
7 . ee a o4

; the number of people who possess the
Reading on the increase, ys ; ;
ability to read, but also upon their will
to use it, 7.e., on the reading habits they have formed. That
reading habits are on the increase cannot be doubted; but, so
far as my observation and the testimony I have been able to
gather go, such habits are weak, considering the number of

possible readers. The only literature excepted from this neglect
is newspapers ; these are overlooked by very few who pretend to-
education.

In this matter of reading the Missionary is able to influence’

CHE eee substantially two classes of the commu-

the Missions. nity, the native Christians and pupils in:

Mission schools, and he should see to it that he does his best to.
promote reading habits and a taste for good literature among.
them. Every school and every congregation should have its
lending library, to be kept replenished with the most attractive
books to be had, and new books or tracts or new editions which
come out, should be brought to the notice of the Christian com--
munity or the pupils of the school, by the colporteur and others..
To do this systematically will prove no small stimulus to the
consumption of our literature; and the student, once inoculated.
with a taste for it, will desire its further gratification. It is,
however, most important for us to consider that, owing to the
great extension of Government education, and the pressure-on
Mission schools of examinations and education codes, squeezing
down religious instruction to a minimum, the provision of
Christian literature for the army of readers is rapidly oversha--
dowing the question of conveying a limited amount of Christian
instruction to eh sional Bae few who attend Mission schools,
This leads us to two conclusions. First, the importance of
Importance of news. “ewspapers. Each language area should
papers. have a good Christian. vernacular news-
paper, vigorously supported and well-pushed; and each great

centre, at least each Presidency town, an evangelistic organ,
doing also the work of a literary paper—similar to Progress, so |
exce!lently conducted at Madras.

The second point is the increasing importance of English as
an element in Missionary literature. Here the popular demand

is really increasing. Mr. H. H. Perkins (C. M.S., Amritsar, late
Commissioner of Rawalpindi ) writes: “ Natives have in many
places, ¢. g.,in Rawalpindi, instituted English lending libraries
among themselves.’? Many an English book of distinctly reli-
gious tendency will be acceptable for the sake of its literary
merit or interest, where a vernacular book of similar tone would
be passed by. The English sales of our religious book deposito-
ries, therefore, have a direct Missionary value, if rightly used.
2. The Distribution of Mission Literature.
Distribution must doubtless depend upon demand on the one
Beem iauuon by lsale or side and production on the other, but
gift. the method by which it is carried on will
do much to influence beth. The question is raised in the Con-
ference programme, as to whether distribution should be gratui-
tous or by purchase, If we are aiming to place our literary work
on a solid and permanent basis, this can only be on the basis of
a real popular demand for such literature as we supply. The
demand which we can reasonably expect will be, first, on the
part of the Christian community for its own edification and for
evangelising purposes; and, second, on the part of outsiders
who desire from motives of curiosity or spiritual unrest to know
the Christian religion ; or who are in part so favourably disposed
towards Christianity that they welcome books with a certain
amount of Christian teaching. Hence a rule has been adopted,
since the Allahabad Missionary Conference of 1872, by the
Indian Tract Societies, that all supplies of bouks must be paid
for by the persons who order them, whether Missionaries or
others. This throws the question of free distribution on the
purchasers, and places a definite limit to it, inasmuch as Mission
funds will seldom permit of free distribution of Christian books
to any large extent But it is obvious that the tendency of dis-
tribution should be from free gifts towards purchase; and to say

that a man, notably an Indian, will value and read what he
purchases more than what he receives gratis, is to utter a truism.
What we need in the distribution of our Mission literature is
aIreLTy, 10 that commercial principles should be more
cern mena er fully applied to it. I will take only two
points. The first is attention to details. For instance, in regard
to the get-up of books. Such matters as the best arrangement
of the title page, proper tables of contents, the best style of bind-
ing, having regard to the nature and use of the book, advertising
other publications on the fly leaves, the various minutiz of typo-
graphy, and a hundred other things demand attention. Again,
in the sale room, showing up the stock without exposing it to
damage from glare, weeding out old stock, advertising new
arrivals, sending out specimens by colporteurs, looking out for
new openings; all this, and much more, has to be considered
with care and vigilance. More especially, a constant improve-
ment must be kept up, otherwise distribution infallibly suffers.
In these respects, we must econtess our Indian Publishing Socie-
ties have much leeway to make up. ‘The second point simply
5 follows on the first, I mean the need of

pon eta. ete a Pe eficient supervision. How can vigilance
be without a vigilans, watchfulness without a watcher? And
how can one watch the distribution of literature when he has his
own proper work to look after? Yet this is, with scarcely an
exception, the position of evary Missionary and layman in India,
upon whom the guidance of literary work devolves. And, if we
consider that the circulation of Mission literature has hitherto
been carried on thus a3 a by-work, we caa only be thankful to
God for the extension which He has permitted it to attain.
Moreover, if we regard the only instance that I am acquainted
with, of a Huropean Missionary entirely devoted to literary work,-—
I-refer to my honoured friend, Dr. John Murdoch, of Madras,—

we cannot but keenly feel how much more might be done were
more men of the right kind assigned to sub-divide the labour of
this immense task. The Church of Christ
must enlarge her ideas of Missionary
work. We need laymen acquainted with the book trade, yet full
of a desire to win souls, who will devote themselves, with no
thought of worldly gain, on the same footing as other Mission-
aries, to the work of pushing the sale of Mission literature in
Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Allahabad and Lahore, without neglect-
ing the many opportunities for direct evangelisation that will
come in their way. Will Christian England give us such?
Before passing on to the last part of my subject, I will touch

Must enlarge our ideas.

on two more points connected with the
distribution of literature. The first is the
desirableness of having in every town Mission something of the
nature of an institute to supplement the ordinary bookshop or

Two points.

colportage ; a place in which there is a lending library, books for
sale, a paper or two to read, and a Catechist, or other preacher
in attendance; the same place serving also for preaching and
lectures.

The other point is that, as already urged, pupils in schools
and colleges should be encouraged to buy books and tracts not
only vernacular, but English ; and that these should be more
widely used in prize distribution.

3. The Production of Mission Literature.

Production is of two kinds, material and mental. Under the
first head comes the question of the Mission Press, mentioned (
in the programme ; under the second that of Authorship. —

The Mission Press—The value of the Mission Press in a

country such as India rests, of course, on

The Mission Press, : :
grounds different from those which neces-
sitate such an institution, say, in Madagascar, There is now an

eager competition for printing work in the way of regular trade.
Still the Mission Press has its value, if efficiently supervised,
inasmuch as it frees the Publishing Society from the disadvan-
tages of competition, and affords a guarantee for correctness of
proof-reading and goodness of work. The Press should print
Missionary work at a rate which will just cover expenses (not
including the Superintendent’s salary), and outside work should
only be done as a resource when Mission work is not at hand,
at ordinary market rates. Above all, the Superintendent of the
Press should be a missionary layman, acquainted with printing
work, and assigned to that as his special duty.

Last, not least, comes the matter of Authorship. The Chris-
tian vernacular books that we have, do all credit to those who
produced them ; but the mass of them are only first attempts,
and stand in great need of revision and improvement, to render
them fitted for our present needs, and the rise in the standard
of education. Useless will be the pushing of sales, vain all
improvement in the get-up of books, only saddening the demand
for Christian reading, unless we can improve in the matter of

Authorship, both by engaging the ser-

vices of fresh talent and experience, and
by developing the gifts of those who already work. Who, then,
1s to do this? Whois to watch the needs of his province, to
inquire after literary workers, native and European ; to suggest
to them the part that each shall take, to unify and press forward
the production of Christian books in each of the great languages

of India? We wust have Literary Missionaries, one at least for
each language area.

Authorship.

To quote from words previously written on the same subject :—-

‘* The production and distribution of Christian literature is a distinct phase
of Missionary work, the supervision of which needs men distinctly devoted to
the work, ‘Till the Church of Christ and its handmaidens, the Missionary
Societies, recognise this as an axiom, and till men of recognised ability are set
apart for the purpose, our literary work will remain, as it has hitherto, more
or less defective, Considering the haphazard manner in which the work

of Christian literature has been allowed by Missionary authorities to shift
for itself, we cannot but be most thankful for the amount of progress made.
When we reflect that, generally speaking, the work has been done chiefly asa
parergon by those whose time was already fully occupied, it is no small matter
for icongratulation that there should be works on most subjects extant, all of
which contain a great deal that our young Christian communities need to be:
taught, and some of which put that instruction in a clear and attractive manner..
At the same time we cannot but feel that much of the work is more imperfectly
done than it need be, and that what has been done is not always brought to.
bear in the most effective manner on the spiritual needs of the people.”

To show the feeling of not a few Missionaries on this poins I add part of a
letter received from one who is labouring in a great stronghold of Hinduism :—

‘* Tt makes me sad and impatient at the same time to. see how little regard
our Society pays to the great need cf pushing forward the literary branch of
Missionary labour, There are some thirty periodicals of the Arya Samaj pub-
lished in Hindi and Urdu, dealing with religious questions either in a spirit
indifferent or hostile to Christianity. Our Society, big as it is in comparison
with the Arya Samaj, publishes none in these dialects. Books also, like those:
I have mentioned before, are sadly needed, Some time ago, on two different:
occasions, two Hindu gentlemen argued with me about that wretched farce-
Theosophism: I do not think any of our tracts deal with this matter. A.
Muhammadan pleader who is dissatisfied with Islam has come to me to argue
about the difficulties of Genesis I., and the proof of the existence of a personal
God. A Pandit (the spiritual tutor of some prince in the Agra Government Col-.
lege) the other day argued with me among other matters about the apparent
disproportion between man’s sin and condemnation, further how our Blessed
Saviour being born of Mary could have been free of the taint of original
sin. Now what tracts or commentaries in the vernacular have we on these
subjects ?

** Natives are publishing tracts exactly on the same lines as Ram-pariksha,,.
&c. I have such an one bearing the title Isupariksha, and a Native Christian.
preacher, whom I had made peruse it said to me: ‘* Sahib, a man who has:
read Isupariksha will now not be induced by Rampariksha to give up Ram.”
Another pamphlet, ‘‘ self-contradictions of the Bible, ” in Hindi has fallen into.
my hands.* What ARE we doing to counteract these publications? In one.
respect of course it is matter for rejoicing to see them, for they plainly show
that the natives are advancing more and more from the stage of indifference:
and dormancy as regards Christian influences to the second stage of opposition.
(the secret mainspring of which isfear!) By and by, Deo adjuvante, we shall.
have the third stage—that of conviction, and then the fourth and final.one—
that of conversion and profession—will be reached !”

*% * * * &

But while emphasizing the need for Literary Missionaries, ET would also add
the expression of a conviction that the true ‘‘ Literary Missionary.” cannot be
merely a man who will sitin a corner and write, Our literature is intended to.
influence the thoughts and lives of men, and he who would produce it must
have some practical acquaintance with both. Ido not know the qualifications
which are needed can be better described than in the words of the Rev. J.
pat lest of Benares in a paper read. before: the Calcutta Decennial Conference-
of 1882-83.

‘* Wirst, there must be brought about in the soul of the writer, by the power
of the Holy Spirit, an intensely earnest experiences of the great spiritual strug-
gle which is being carried on by the kingdom of Christ to gain the victory over:
Hinduism. and Mahomedanism. All good literature is a distillation of the
most stirring events of the age through the mind of the writer, No valuable.

_ _" I myself lately heard from a young Hindu convert that when he was inquiring Hindus had:
plied him with a book entitled “ Baibalwirudh,’”’or “ Anti-Bible,” This seems to be the same as,,
or similar to, the one mentioned,—H, U, W,

vernacular Christian literature can be produced unless the soul of the writer in
ane to Christ has entered the thickest of the battle to establish His kingdom
in India.

‘* Secondly, the writer must feel, together with a burning hatred of idolatry
and superstition and all other sin, an intense Christ-like love of the people. A
knowledge of their language is far from sufficient. There must be a sympathe-
tic knowledge of the people themselves, gained from close intercourse with
them, from hearing their daily troubles and daily joys, a knowledge which
deeply realises their wants and yearns to satisfy them.

‘* Thirdly, the literature on which the minds of the people feed should be
studied, however distasteful. The Hindi-speaking community make the Prem
Sagar and the Ramayana their greatest spiritual nourishment, The style of
these books pleases their taste, just as the stories of Krishna and Rama con-
tained in them enchant their souls. Without a mastery of such books how is
it possible to make the best of matter attractive to readers to whom they have
been the greatest delight ?

‘* Fourthly, there should be a thorough knowledge of the Hindu and Moha.-
medan systems. To a considerable extent, sufficient perhaps for popular writ-
ings, such a knowledge can be gained from English books. Butin order to be
complete:y equipped, to make the press a successful Missionary agency in India,
such an understanding of the full strength of Hinduism and Mohamedanism is ~
necessary as can only be acquired by a deep study of those religions in their
original writings. ”

** Of course it is presupposed that the writer has already acquired a thorough
mental training previous to his entry on the mission field. Philosophy, linguis-
tic study, literature, business training—these and many other. forms of mental
culture will all contribute their quota. ”

I am not insensible of two qualifications to this plea for the
Missionaries devoted to ®ppointment of Literary Missionaries.
literature. One is suggested by the Rev. R. Clark, of
Amritsar, who has worked in this cause as few have, that well-
known authors in England might do not a little to help us by
writing short papers or articles with special reference to the
religious doubts and difficulties of Indians. Still it is only a
small part of the needed work which can thus be done. The
other consideration is of more weight. It is that we foreigners
are but working to prepare the way for the natives of India itself,
and that our chief care should be to train them for the work of
providing a Christian literature for their own land. Most true
this is. We foreign Missionaries desire nothing more ardently
than to be able to pass on the torch to Indians. But now there
is the conflict, and in the midst of it the work to be set forward,
as the walls of Jerusalem were built by Nehemiah and his compa-
nions, for at least a temporary shelter; and in this the more

highly-endowed brother who has come from without must, as yet,
lead the denizens of the land. Moreover, it is just because the
work of training or eliciting literary ability in the Indian Church,
is so vastly important, that special men are needed to do it.
When, in the name of Christ, will they be given ?

The question is raised in the programme of this Conference as
to how far the Missionary may devote himself generally to the
_ work of pure literature? Ireply: Give the Missionary, whom
God has so called, leisure, first of all, to devote himself to the work
of Christian literature, and when he has surveyed and assayed
this field in earnest, we will then begin to discuss what time he
can spare for the remoter work.

The appointment of Literary Missionaries is part of a larger

ee) question: that of Missionary reserves.
Soe The Literary Missionary, as has already
been shown, cannot be a neophyte. Experience in general Mis-
sionary work is a necessary pre-requisite for his calling. But
how can Missionaries of experience be set free for this work
under the present system of distributing our forces? No sooner,
in the majority of cases, does a Mission appear strongly manned,
than some ot the staff are drafted off “to enter a fresh door. ”’
The first Mission is reduced to the strength barely necessary for
the maintenance of the work; a vacancy occurs through death
or sickness ; and once more the mournful cry goes forth : “ Under-
manned.’’ Is any earthly warfare carried on as we prosecute,
for the most part, this campaign of Christ’s kingdom? What
general would dare systemically to fight without reserves? And
what treatment would be accorded to one who did so, when he met
with well-merited defeat ? Does any business succeed on such
principles? If it is immoral to extend our pecuniary obligations,
especially where others are involved, beyond the limit at which

we can reasonably hope to meet them, what shall we say of the

policy of extending our spiritual liabilities when we are inade-
quately fulfilling those which we have already contracted? Let u

*? The best of works engage

not in such cases speak of a “ call.
in outside the line of God’s moral guidance becomes a decoy
Nor let us cover the rashness with the name of “ faith.”” By a
means let us go forward in faith ; but let us first apply that fait
to the provision of proper resources for the prosecution of th
work in hand, by accumulating some reserves to supply deficien-
cies which we know by experience will constantly occur, calls

which must arise within the limits of the field already entered on.

bye iosee A
aire malice