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FOKEIGN MISSIONS

PEOTESTANT CHUECHES.

FOREIGN MISSIONS

PROTESTANT CHURCHES:

THEIR STATE AND PROSPECTS.

J. MURRAY MITCHELL, M.A., LL.D.

FLEMING H. REVELL,
NEW YORK : | CHICAGO :
12 BIBLE HOUSE. I 148 & 130 MADISON STREET.
1888.

PREFACE.

The following pages have been' written under the
impression that it is desirable at present to take
a wide, general view of the field of Missions, and
to present the great subject in a form short and
simple enough to interest those to whom it may
not be familiar.
Many even of the friends of Missions know little
of the work, unless as done in connection with
their own Church or Society. On many accounts
this is to be regretted. For one thing, it is need
ful that there be in the future more of union and
co-operation in Missionary effort than has hitherto
been attained, or perhaps by some even thought of
as desirable.
The main difficulty in drawing up the little book

vi PREFACE.
has been in the necessity of compressing abundant
materials into so limited a space.
Such as they are, the following pages, if but
graciously owned of Him, " without whom nothing
is strong, nothing is holy," may, it is hoped, be
of some service in stimulating zeal and furthering
united action on behalf of the turning of the Pagan
nations from darkness unto light.

CONTENTS.

CHAP.

PAGE
I. Introductory  !
II. What the Missions have Done . . .12
III. State of the Chief Pagan Keligions . . 32,
Animism, etc  32
Zoroastrianism . . . . . .33
.Buddhism  35
Hinduism  ' . . .40
mohammadanism ....:. 43
IV. Modes of Missionary Action . . . . ' 61
Bible Distribution ... • • 63
Preaching  64
Translation and Literary Work ... 65
Schools  66
.Medical Missions  69
V. What Next  74
Enlargement of Effort Necessary , . 74
How to Awaken Missionary Zeal . . 76

viii CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
Volunteer Missionaries .... 78
Union and Co-operation . . . .81
Division of the Field  85
VI. Conclusion  87

APPENDIX.
A. Rise of Missionary Zeal since the Reforma
tion  95
B. Indian Missionary Statistics . . . .104
C British Contributions to Foreign Mission
Work  104
D. Present State of Educated Hindus . . .105
E. Mohammadan Intemperance . . . .106
F. Creeds and Confessions in Mission Churches- 106
G. Comparative Progress of Religions in India. 107

Index  108

PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.

i.
INTRODUCTORY.
I do not wait to prove — I simply assert what will,
I trust, be on all hands admitted to be true — that
the missionary spirit pervades the Word of God from
Genesis to Revelation. The promise to Abraham
was this : " In thee and in thy seed shall all the
families of the earth be blessed." The prophets of
Israel delighted to catch from afar the radiance of
the coming glory. They rejoiced to declare that
"the mountain of the Lord's house" should be
" established in the top of the mountains," and that
"all nations should flow unto it." Let Israel arise
and shine ; let her so shine that " the Gentiles
might come to her light, and kings to the bright
ness of her rising." Nor was this desire extin
guished in the breast of believing Jews even by
the terrible persecutions to which, in later days,

2 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
they were subj'ected by heathen oppressors. We
note all the ardour of Isaiah in the words of the
aged Simeon, when he hails in the infant Saviour
" a light to lighten the Gentiles " as well as the
glory of the people of Israel.
Our Blessed Master was Himself " sent only to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel ; " and Divine
wisdom is traceable in the restriction. But all
through the Gospel narrative there are affecting in
dications of what was deep in His mind and heart,
in reference to the heathen nations. Let one
quotation suffice. " Other sheep I have," said the
Good Shepherd, " which are not of this fold ; them
also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice :
and there shall be one flock,1 one shepherd." The
word must arrests attention. Why must He bring
them ? What necessity could be laid on Him who
" worketh all things after the counsel of His own
will " ? Did it not lie both in the high decree of
God, and in the strong compulsion of redeeming
love, of which, indeed, the decree itself was but
the expression ? Even so felt the Apostles. Paul
exulted in the thought of the everlasting Gospel as
" made known to all nations for the obedience of
faith." So doubtless felt the whole collective Church.
Nor did the missionary spirit speedily pass away ;
the evangelising of the nations was in multitudes a
1 So in the Greek.

INTRODUCTORY. 3
passion, to all an admitted obligation ; and this was
the case through the Apostolic age and long after
wards. " Every man a missionary " may be said to
have been the motto of the early Church.
As we come later down, we see a beautiful mani
festation of evangelistic zeal on the part of the Nesto
rian Christians. The representatives of this once-
flourishing body are found in Urumiah and among
the mountains of Kurdistan ; but they are few and
feeble in comparison with what they formerly were ;
and, until of late, they have been sorely harassed by
the Mobammadans around them.1 The Nestorians
were once a noble missionary Church. They in
fluenced Arabia as well as Persia. They penetrated
far eastward into Tartary, and, through Tartary,
into China. The Syrian Church of Malabar in
Southern India was established,2 or at least greatly
extended, by their labours. Their efforts to spread
the Gospel were continued for nearly a thousand
years. The vigour with which these were carried
on has extorted the admiration even of Gibbon.
" The zeal of the Nestorians," he tells us, " over-

1 They were terribly waBted by the sword of Timur. We regret
to have to add, in the words of Layard, that " the machinations
and violence of the Popish emissaries against them would scarcely
be credited."
2 It is still a question whether the Apostle Thomas preached in
India. That he did so is a very old tradition. Parthia Matthceum
complectitur, India Thomam, said Paulinus of Nola (born a.d. 353).

4 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
leaped the limits which had confined the ambition
and curiosity both of the Greeks and Romans. The
missionaries of Balkh and Samarcand followed with
out fear the footsteps of the roving Tartar, and
insinuated themselves into the camps in the valleys
of the Imaus and ou the banks of the Selinga." a
In Europe there was a manifestation of evange
listic ardour no- less remarkable, and -in our own
islands too. The fire burnt with a bright and
steady flame for at least four centuries. Columba
came from Ireland to Iona in 543 5 an<3 thence
forward, from that centre and from Ireland itself,
the Celtic missionaries carried the tidings of salva
tion over the North of Scotland, the Nortb of Eng
land, and a large part of Europe.2 It has been well
said that "the ardent nature of the Scot,3 which
kindled with burning zeal at the touch of the new
faith, was only to be satisfied with perpetual propa-
gaudism." The share which Iona bore in this great
work is especially remarkable. That insignificant
island in the storm-vexed Hebrides, when once
Columba had planted his Missionary College on
1 Chap, xlvii.
2 They spread themselves over England, France, Germany,
Switzerland, and Italy, from the Mediterranean to Iceland. See
Anderson's "Scotland in Early Christian Times," p. 162.
3 We must remember that the name Scots was not given to
the inhabitants of North Britain exclusively before the twelfth .
century.

INTRODUCTORY. 5
its shores, became, in Dr. Johnson's well-known
words, " illustrious "— " the luminary of the Cale
donian regions ; " or, iu the still stronger language
of Wordsworth, " the glory of the "West." Nor
must we overlook the important work of evangeli
sation carried on by the Cymri or Welsh, especially
from Bangor as a centre, in the sixth century.1
Thereafter, in our islands, evangelistic zeal never
rose so high;, and when the Saxon race was con
verted to Christianity, it gradually died out.2
It must 'be sorrowfully admitted that little or no
zeal for the conversion of the heathen was evinced
by the chief leaders of the Reformation. This may
well surprise us, seeing that Luther, Melanchthon,
Calvin, and others were large-minded and large-
hearted men. How can we account for it ? We
must not forget wkat a tremendous battle they ''had
to fight — a battle for imperilled truth, a battle for
very existence ; and let this consideration go for
what it may be worth. Erasmus, alone of the
1 Wales sent missionaries to Ireland and Brittany. See article
on the Keltic Church in SchafE's Encyclopaedia.
2 The story of the conversion of Europe has the charin of a most
interesting personal element in it when studied in connection with
the lives of the following truly remarkable men : — Ulphilas, among
the, Goths, 4th century; Patrick, "the Apostle of Ireland," pro
bably in the end of the 4th ; Martin of Tours, in Gaul, 5th ;
Columba, 6th ; Columbanus, 7th ; Boniface, in Germany, 8th ; Cyril
and Methodius, among the Slavs, 9th ; Anschar (one of the noblest
of men), among the Scandinavians, 9th,

6 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
great men belonging to the Reformation era, con
tended for the evangelisation of the heathen nations ;
and he pleaded that this should be conducted on
Scriptural principles, as distinct from the methods
which were generally employed by Rome.1
The reader will find in Appendix A. a pretty full
statement of the gradual increase of missionary zeal
from the Reformation to near the end of last century.
It is too long to be inserted here.
The year 1786 affords a new starting-point in
mission history. In that year William Carey
astonished a number of ministers of the Gospel
by asking whether the command to preach the
Gospel was not still binding on the Church of
Christ. The devoted man persevered in his plead
ing, in spite of coldness and even opposition. In
1792 he preached a sermon which led to the
foundation, on 2nd- October of the same year, of
the Baptist Missionary Society. Carey proceeded
to Bengal in 1793.
The London Missionary Society dates from 1795.
It was a broadly catholic institution, supported by
members of all Protestant Churches. Its establish
ment gave an immense impulse to missions all over
England and Scotland.
The Scottish Missionary Society was formed iu
1796; the Netherlands Society in 1797; the
1 In his Ecclesiastes, sive de ratione concionafidi.

INTRODUCTORY. 7
Church Missionary Society in 1799, though it
assumed this specific designation only in 18 12.
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions was formed in 18 10.
We cannot attempt to enumerate the societies
which have come into existence in the course of the
present century. The movement in favour of evan
gelising the nations, which was slow at first, has
gone on with accelerated speed up to the present
day. Thus there were, fifty years ago —
In Great Britain .... 10 Societies.
In the United States . . . 7 „
On the Continent . . . .10 „
27 »
The number now is at least as high as the following
estimate : —
In Great Britain and the Colonies . 25 Societies.
In the United States . . . . • 39 „
On the Continent .... 40 „
104 „
Nor is this list by any means complete. New
Societies, small perhaps, but far from unimportant,
are continually springing up.1
It is painful to think that for a long time many
professed Christians were opposed to missions, and
1 The Quarterly Review for July 1886 estimates all the Missionary
Societies as not fewer than 146.

8 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
levelled against them the shafts both of argument
and ridicule. Conspicuous among the mockers was
Sidney Smith, who sneered at Carey as "a conse
crated cobbler ; " but it ought not to be forgotten
that, in later days, he referred to his attacks on the
Serampore missionaries as having been " absurdity,
unadulterated and pure." The feeling in favour of
missions has gone on increasing. A sarcastic fling
at missionaries, or at speeches on missionary plat
forms, is still indulged iu from time to time, and
occasionally even a theologian, like the late Beck of
Tubingen, may revert to Luther's position; but,
speaking generally, we may say that serious argu
ment against evangelistic effort has almost ceased.
The practical results already realised "compel the
attention of the world. Fuller examination has
dispelled the belief in the virtues once supposed to
pertain to " the noble savage ; " and few have the
hardihood to deny that to turn cannibals even into
" psalm-singing Methodists " is, on the whole, a
gain to civilisation and humanity. It is right to
mention that no one ever spoke more warmly of
the results of missionary labour among degraded
races than did Charles Darwin. " The missionary's
teaching," said he, " is like an enchanter's wand."
He alluded to what he had himself % witnessed in
the Southern Pacific.1
1 Darwin was, to the last, a supporter of missions on the ground of

INTRODUCTORY. 9
Before proceeding farther, it is needful to mention
that this paper will not treat of missions to the
Jevvs. Assuredly we do not overlook the exceeding
importance of these ; but any satisfactory statement
regarding them would extend this tractate far beyond
its prescribed limits. Let it suffice to say, that tbe
results of evangelistic work among the descendants of
Israel have been by no means inconsiderable. The
number of professed converts to Christianity is from
I OOO to 1500 annually ; and many, probably most,
of these belong to the educated class. Recent
movements among the Jews in South-Eastern Europe
have been most remarkable, most encouraging;
especially that in Bessarabia, witk which the name
of Joseph Rabinowich is associated. Rabbi Lich-
tenstein, near Buda-Pesth, seems also exerting a
great influence for good. Movements on a grand
scale may be at hand. It seems impossible to feel
too intensely, or to hope too much, in regard to the
changes iu Jewish feeling which we' witness at this
hour. And " what shall the receiving of them be
but life from the dead ? "
philanthropy and civilisation. He had once had a very bad opinion
of the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, deeming them utterly incor
rigible. But he admitted and admired the wonderful success of
the " South American Missionary Society " among these savages.
He wrote, " It is .most wonderful, and it shames me, as I always
prophesied failure. It is a grand success. I shall feel proud if
your committee think fit to elect me an honorary member of your
Society."

10 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
We must also omit the very important work
which ' is carried ou by several Societies, chiefly
American, among the Eastern Christians — Churches
so venerable, yet in many respects so sorely fallen.
The Nestorians ; the Armenians ; the Jacobite Sy
rians, and the Syrian Christians in Southern India
(originally Nestorian) ; the Copts and Abyssinians ;
the members (belonging to various nationalities) of
the Greek Church — among all of these there is a
large amount of labour now carried on. The results
have been especially conspicuous among the Nesto
rians, the Armenians, the Syrians in India, and the
Copts. We may add the Bulgarians (who are
members of the Greek Church) ; and in so far as
Bulgaria has a national life, it owes that life to
the Christian institution called Robert College, on
the Bosphorus.1
1 Dr. Claudius Buchanan by his "Christian Researches," pub
lished early in this century, awakened a deep interest regarding
the Syrians in India. The Rev. W. Jowett, a few years later
(1815), proceeded on a mission of inquiry to the Eastern Churches,
and published a volume of " Researches " which is still useful. In
1821 Pliny Eisk and Levi Parsons proceeded to Palestine. Smith
and Dwight went out in 1826 to investigate the condition of the
Churches in Asia Minor. Gobat and Kugler proceeded to Abyssinia
in 1829. Goodall began work in Constantinople in 1831. In 1833
Perkins did so among the Nestorians in Urumiah. In 1854 the
United Presbyterians of America began work among the Copts.
There is an impression in some quarters that the American Pres
byterians and Congregationalists have gone forth with the express
desire of "disintegrating" the Oriental Churches, or, as the Arch
bishop of Canterbury puts it, " to incorporate and obliterate ancient

INTRODUCTORY. if
We also pass over the work carried on in Romanist
countries, such as France, Italy, Spain, Portugal,
and Mexico.
Churches." In this reBpect his Grace classes them with the Roman
Catholics (see "The Seven Gifts," p. 215). Dr. Benson has been
misinformed. Our American brethren do precisely what the Church
Missionary Society does among the Syrians in Southern India, and
what, in connection with the present Bishop of Jerusalem, the
Archbishop has expressed his own approval of.

II.
WHAT THE MISSIONS HAVE DONE.
Referring those who desire fuller statistics to the
notes in the Appendix, we here content ourselves
with the following numerical statements as to the
results of missionary labour.
The population of the world is probably above
fourteen hundred millions. The nominally Chris
tian part of this number is above four hundred
millions. Thus the non-Christian portion of the
human race, iu round numbers, is a thousand
millions. The ratio of professing Christians to non-
Christians is as one to two aud a half. Even if
every professing Christian were a true Christian,
the fact that, of the hundred sheep which the Good
Shepherd claims as His own, more than seventy have
wandered far from Him, would be full of solemn
significance. And yet how quietly we take it !
0 Church of the Living God ! where is thy zeal
for the honour of thy Redeemer ? where is thy
pity for perishing humanity ?

WHAT THE MISSIONS HAVE DONE. 13
The number of heathen in the present day must
be much larger than it was when Jesus Christ
issued the great command, "Preach the Gospel to
every creature." Farther, the population of the
globe is continually increasing. During the century
that has elapsed since Carey's earnest appeal was
made, at least two hundred millions, in all probabi
lity, have been added to the Pagan population of
the world.1
Assuredly we have no desire to lessen the im
pression which facts like these are fitted to produce
on every Christian keart. Yet there is a way of
stating them which, though not erroneous, is mis
leading, because it is imperfect. Thus, as the
number of converts from heathenism during the
last hundred years can hardly be estimated as above
three millions, a saddening contrast has often been
drawn between the rapid growth of heathenism, and
the slow progress of the Gospel in our day. Let
us try, then, to look at the question all round.
The population of the globe is continually in
creasing, but the proportional increase is far higher
in Christian than in heathen countries. We have
no very reliable statistics, but we may roughly
calculate the actual increase in Christendom during
the last century to have been to that in Heathendom
1 Very different estimates of the increase have been given. We
believe it probably exceeds the number here stated.

14 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
as one to one and a half. For every ten millions
added to Christendom there have been fully fifteen
millions added to Heathendom. But the propor
tional increase has been very different ; probably it
has been twice as great in Christendom as in
Heathendom. Before the end of this century the
actual increase in the former will, in all likelihood,
equal that in the latter ; and thereafter it will shoot
more and more ahead of it.
It is, of course, very easy to over-estimate the
importance of this growth of nominal Christianity;
and good men will sorrowfully exclaim, "Alas for.
the Christianity of Christendom ! " But it is also
possible to wm&r-estimate the importance of this
steady increase of professors of the Christian faith.
Anyway, it is a fact ; aud it is so in spite of the
growth, in certain quarters, of agnosticism, " esoteric
Buddhism," aud other forms of indifferentism and
unbelief. Farther, it is easy to slide into an extravagant
statement of the rapidity with which the Gospel
spread in the Apostolic period ; and we must be on
our guard against this. We have beeu told that,
as soon as the silver trump of the Gospel sounded
abroad, " the statue of every false god tottered to
its base, the priest fled from his falling shrine, and
the heathen oracles became dumb for ever." This
is tolerable as rhetoric, but intolerable as history.

WHAT THE MISSIONS HAVE DONE. 15
What was the number of professing Christians at
the end of the first century ? The highest possible
estimate would be half a million of souls, but
probably it was much less.1 At the conversion of
Constautine in the fourth century, the Christian
population of the world probably did not exceed
six millions. During the first centuries Chris
tianity increased, but Paganism increased far more
rapidly. That circumstance, however, was no dis
couragement to the Apostles and their fellow-
labourers or successors. They knew that, though
the battle might be sore, the victory was sure.
Instead of being discouraged because the number
of converts from heathenism has, during the century,
amounted only to three millions, we may well be
astonished that the number is so large. Let us
explain. When asked what is doing in the mis
sion-field, we answer : In one point of view little ;
in another, much. On the part of man, very little
in comparison with what ought to have beeu done ;
but considering how little man has done, very
much on the part of God. Most righteously might
the Lord have " withdrawn Himself to the utter
most part of heaven," and there " covered Himself
with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass
through." Most righteously might He have with
held His blessing from our faltering, almost faith-
1 Dr. Warneck makes it only 200,000.

16 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
less doings, and waited until His people should
have come forward with some measure of that
holy consecration which befits the men who are
summoned forth as auxiliaries of Heaven. But, in
His boundless mercy, He has not so waited. He
largely blesses our initial efforts. Not a single
blow — not the feeblest — does He allow to be struck
in vain. One thing, then, has been proved abun
dantly. Through the grace of God, the Gospel is
as mighty now to the pulling down of strongholds
as it was of old. " The foolishness of the preach
ing" effects the same transformation still, when it
comes from the stammering tongues of ordinary
men, as when it flowed in heaven-taught, burning
accents from the lips of Paul or John. Meu of all
religions, fetish -worshippers, demon -worshippers,
monotheistic Moslem, polytheistic Chinese, and pan
theistic Brahmans, the civilised Japanese, and the
cannibal of New Guinea, all confess its resistless
sway ; and wheresoever and whensoever
" The holy words diffusing balm,
The message of the sacrifice,
Are heard within the caves of ice,
Or preached beneath the cocoa-palm,''
there and theu the same unvarying result is wit
nessed. We say it is witnessed in every case,
though not everywhere and always to the - same
extent. Some races and some religions yield to

WHAT THE MISSIONS HAVE DONE. 17
the sway of the Gospel more readily than others ;
but no race, no faith, is wholly proof against its
unearthly power. No race, no faith, can long
resist its calm, majestic, and continuous march.
It speaks ; heart and conscience are aroused, and
ere long respond. It proclaims, as with the voice
of a trumpet, " Truths which wake,
To perish never."
And be it remembered, that it is no altered or
' diluted Gospel which has thus been proved in
vincible. Some men would fain persuade us that,
iu these enlightened days, when physical science
scarcely tolerates the idea of miracle, aud ethics
looks shy on Atonement, we must adapt our
doctrine to the spirit of the age, proclaiming
Christ as ouly an exalted teacher, — a wiser Buddha,
or a nobler Socrates. The missionaries will reply
that the change is no more needful than it is for
them possible. They have preached without reserve
the dogmas of the incarnation, the atoning death,
and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and they
have found that the exhibition of Christ crucified is
" the power of God unto salvation to every one who
believeth." Why should they change their voice ?
Let those who are iu love with an emasculated
Gospel try for themselves its efficacy. Why are

18 .PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
they so slow in doing it ? But the Missionaries,
for every reason, will still unfurl the old banner, and
ply their proved war-weapous of victory.
Aud this is not all. For certainly the great
pioneers of modern missions were, in Lord Shaftes
bury's phrase, " Evangelicals of the Evangelicals."
Eliot, the Mayhews, and Brainerd in New England
were Puritans. Ziegenbalg aud the admirable men
who succeeded him in South India were Pietists.
So, in a pre-eminent degree, were the Moravians —
men, let us frankly grant, of no intellectual culture
and no breadth of view, delighting in hymns which
often conveyed the truth iu language painfully rude.
But they clung, as with a death-grip, to the teach
ing of the Scripture regarding siu, and salvation,
and Christ crucified ; aud thus the earthen vessels
contained heavenly treasure, and the excellency of
the power which accompanied them was seen to be
of God, aud not of man.1
But it will be said that as yet we have spoken
only of numerical results, and that we must weigh,
as well as count, the accessions to the faitk. By
all means. What, then, speaking generally, is the
character of the converts ? We naturally first
1 We speak of pioneers. Hans Egede, however, was, of course,
a Lutheran Churchman. In more, recent times, some who may be
designated High Churchmen, like Bishops Mackenzie, Selwyn, and
Steere, have nobly distinguished themselves in the mission-field.

WHAT THE- MISSIONS HAVE DONE.

19

compare it with the character they bore as Pagans.
As we were preparing to discuss this subject, a
document from India came into our hands, which
gave the following important statement regarding
the proportions of convicts and criminals among
the professors of the three great religions of
Southern India : —
" There is one criminal among 447 Hindus.
,, „ 728 Musulmans.
» » „ 2500 Christians." x
These figures must be, on the whole, fairly accu
rate ; and if so, tkey clearly show the purifying
influence of the Gospel in comparatively civilised
lands. We do not venture to generalise, and say
that the ratios would be precisely the same else
where ; but that everywhere the Gospel purifies aud
elevates is beyond dispute. With regard to the
more degraded races, let it suffice to quote again
from a writer whose testimony will not be called in
question by the most prejudiced scorner of missions :
— " The march of improvement consequent upon the
introduction of Christianity throughout the South
Seas probably stands by itself iu the records of his
tory." " Within twenty years, human sacrifices, the
power of an idolatrous priesthood, profligacy unpar
alleled in auy other part of the world, infanticide,
bloody wars — not sparing women aud ckildren, all
1 Madras Weekly Mail, January 26, 1887.

20 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
these have beeu abolished, and dishonesty, intemper
ance, aud licentiousness greatly reduced by tke in
troduction of Ckristianity." x True, tares are mingled
with tke wheat. Wkeu I put a question on this
subject to an experienced missionary soon after
my arrival in India, ke said, " We get tke best and
the worst." In India educated converts, in that
day of small tkings, were very few; but now, for
many years, they have been numerous. Accessions
of the best — the best both spiritually and intellec
tually — have long been multiplying.
The change effected by the Gospel is perhaps, as
was to be expected, everywhere most manifest among
the women. Iu Southern India, for example, you
can tell whether tke village is largely Ckristianised
by tke appearance of tke women at tke well. Their
dress is more seemly. Their very look is different.
Nearly every Hindu woman has^ a careworn, anxious
face ; as if the battle of life tried her sore. The
Christian woman has a far more peaceful expression.
Of course all Christiau girls are more or less edu
cated, and this gives tkem an immense advantage
over their Hindu sisters. The Christian women of
India, wkeu carefully trained, reveal in their charac
ters as muck of true womankood and purity, and
faitk and love, even as tkeir favoured sisters in
Europe or America.
1 Darwin's " Voyage of the Beagle,'' pp. 505, 414 (Edit. i860).

WHAT THE MISSIONS HAVE DONE. 21
I am convinced that the average character of
converts in India — and what is true of India in
this respect is true of the mission-field generally —
is more than equal to tke average character of pro
fessing Christians at home. And if this be true, is
it not a wonderful truth ? Let us think what long
centuries of Pagan belief and rites have done to
debase the character. Let us then recollect what
centuries of Christian education have accomplished
in purifying and elevating the mind and heart of
Europe. Take Scotland, for example. Tkere an
excellent system of national education has been
moulding the character of tke whole people since
the days of Knox.. It seems almost incredible that
converts aud their children in Heathendom should
stand a moment's comparison witk the inhabitants
of Christendom ; and yet we fearlessly challenge tke
comparison. Still it is said that, at all events, the character
of the converts lacks solidity and strengtk ; emotion,
rather than conscience, rules ; they are always soft
and weak. One word about tke supposed weakness.
Before the great mutiny of 1857 in India, if mis
sionaries had been asked what would be the effect
of persecution on the Native Church, they would
probably have expressed but little hope that the
converts would aspire to tke crown of martyrdom.
Well, tke terrible convulsion came, but the Native

22 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
Ckurck clung faitkfully to Christ. Not a few
meekly endured great suffering, aud some calmly died
the martyr's death.1 But wken we speak of martyr
dom, we cannot but remember witk tearful admiration
tke keroic constancy of tke martyrs of Madagascar, or,
more recently still, of tke young African converts —
mere boys, several of tkem — that lately met a most
cruel death on the shores of the Victoria Nyanza.
Is there in tke martyrology of the Church a more
thrilling story ? And if few — though uot so few as
is supposed — have of late years been called witk
this highest of callings, yet cases of purest self-
sacrifice, of sore suffering meekly borne for Christ,
are of continual occurrence. The Church knows
little of these confessors ; tke world generally knows
notking. Nevertkeless tkeir record is on kigh.
No; "the ancient spirit -is not dead;" the Spirit
of God still works iu the heart of converts as He
wrought of old ; aud what Milton calls " the unre-
sistible might of weakness " is no less conspicuous
now than it was in the purest days of infant Chris
tianity. Laus Deo ! 2
1 " Many of them perished ; they were blown from guns ; they
were cut down by the sword ; they died of starvation iu their
wanderings. Yet when we came to collect after the mutiny and
compare notes, so far as we could discover, only two had consented
to become Mohammadans through fear." — LeupoU, at Liverpool
Conference, i860.
3 "Above all, the Christian character of the native converts is

WHAT THE MISSIONS HAVE DONE. 23
One important result of missions is tke effect on
, those who are still witkout the pale of the Church
— not communicants, nor even baptized. It has
been said that in India, for every one actually
baptized there are ten convinced. Multitudes, of
young men especially, have had their "minds more
or less enlightened by Christian truth, wko, tkough
afraid to profess their faith openly, strive to make a
religion of morality, accepting the teachings of tke
Gospel as their guide. Very affecting cases occur
from time to time of men proclaiming on their death
bed the faith which they had through life concealed,
and then craving the administration of baptism.
In tke West, men are slow to comprekend tkis hesi
tation to come out and be separate, and they are
strong in condemning it. We by no means justify
it; but we understand it. Let us remember that
in India baptism, as a rule, entails expulsion from
kome — a terrible calamity to a Hindu — and expul
sion also from caste, whick is equivalent to civil
death. Then, tke tears of father aud mother, and
tke entreaty tkat tke baptism may be at least de
ferred, are too powerful for many to resist, even
when of tkemselves tkey are quite ready to profess
assuming greater depth and earnestness, and their share in evan
gelistic work is steadily increasing in value as well as in amount."
— Missionary Herald {American), November 1887.
"Never was the outlook more hopeful in the Heathen and Mo-
hammadan world." — Report of C. M. S., 1886-87.

24 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
Christ openly. In many who thus hesitate tke first
love seems to pass away, and they never do actu
ally enter the Ckurck of Christ. Some may go so
far as to practise again, without kaving faith in
them, tke rites of Hinduism. It is a strange and
sad state of things, no doubt ; yet it cannot greatly
surprise us. It is, however, but temporary ; and
already cases occur — aud will certainly do so with
increasing frequency — in which the Christian son or
daughter is allowed to remain in the family without
being solicited to join in any idolatrous rites.1
Every missionary who kas been several years in
India is aware of a great change in the feeling of
the people generally towards Christians aud Chris
tianity. There was a feeling almost of horror when
a conversion had taken place. It was no doubt
traceable, in part, to the difference of Eastern and
Western customs ; the people wondered at our
habits, and disliked them.2 That one of their
1 One of the most recent testimonies to the spread of Christian
ideas, and we may say feelings, is given by Sir Charles Aitchison as
follows : — ¦" Missionary teaching and Christian literature are. leaven
ing native opinion, especially among the Hindus, in a way and to
an extent quite startling to those who take a little personal trouble
to investigate the facts." He then mentions the case of one of the
ruling powers of India, who probably never saw a missionary, but
who has a Sanskrit Bible, which he carefully reads, and who " prays
to Christ every day for the pardon of his sins." We believe that
cases of this kind are multiplying.
- Especially the eating of beef — the cow being sacred, and, in
fact, a goddess.

WHAT THE MISSIONS HAVE DONE. 25
number should unite himself with tkose strange,
" masterful, disagreeable foreigners, was dreadful ;
tkey felt muck as we skould do if a son of ours
went — as tke hero of " Locksley Hall " threatened
to do — and wedded " some savage woman." But
altkougk the dislike of European habits still exists,
tke Hindus see in the native churches rising up
around them, that their people who become Chris
tians can remain, in language and dress and mode
of living, all they were before.
But along with this there is a rapidly growing
conviction that, apart from outlandish habits, Christi
anity is a pure and good religion. People are learn
ing to distinguish between profession and practice,
between true aud false Christians. They believe
tkat the Gospel must conquer in the end, and will
often admit that it ought to conquer. In all parts
of tke country missionaries are thus addressed by
men of all classes, except, perhaps, Brahmans and
Mohammadans : " We are too old to become Chris
tians, but our children or grandchildren will be with
you." This anticipation arises, in part, from the
important fact that everywhere iu India the Chris
tian communities are increasing in intelligence,1 in
1 We confess our surprise at the rapidity of the rise in intelli
gence. Thus at a late B.A. examination in the Madras Univer
sity, the percentage of the Brahmans who passed was thirty-six,
and that of the Christians thirty-seven. Undoubtedly the Brah
mans are a highly intellectual class, and we were not prepared to

26 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
position, aud in influence. Even tke Karens in
Burmah, wko were simply savages before their
conversion, are steadily rising, and must gradually
take precedence of the Burmese wko may continue
Buddhists. And further, Christianity powerfully affects many
who have no love for it as an aggressive system, and
would fain withstand its progress. Of course, all
the moral teachings of the Gospel, and all tkat part
of it wkick Butler calls " a republication of Natural
Religion," — command tke assent of educated men.
Tke effect of these teackiugs extends far beyond tke
circle of tke baptized. Tke educated exclaim, " All
tkat is true, but our books inculcate it as really as
the Bible does." Aud hence eclecticism, — an
eager attempt to cull golden sentences from Hindu
books and bracket them as equals witk Christian
maxims.1 The most remarkable instance of tkis
find the Christians already equalling or excelling them in their
chief characteristic. — See Madras Weekly Mail, January 1887.
1 We by no means charge the men who thus recast Hinduism
with conscious deception. Doubtless, in many cases, they think
they do find what they wish to find. Nor need we be surprised
that there is an earnest desire to prove Hinduism, at least in some
things, more enlightened than the Gospel. Thus we see it stated
that the Hon. G. R. Ranade, one of the best-educated Hindus in
Western India, extols Hinduism on account of its " indefiniteness
and tolerance." Indefinite it is, to any extent, in its beliefs, but
in its rules and restrictions as to caste it is immensely and sternly
definite. And as for tolerance, a breach of caste-rules simply
involves excommunication, which is equivalent, we have said, to

WHAT THE MISSIONS HAVE DONE. 27
strong tendency is now seen iu tke proceedings of
wkat is called tke Arya Samaj. Tke Samaj makes
a desperate effort to prove tkat tke early kymns of
India are monotheistic, aud that the many deities
invoked are all names of one great Being, — poly-
tkeism, pantkeism, and idolatry being thus all dis
carded.1 It is a striking spectacle. No doubt
there mingles in it a large amount of national aud
ancestral pride. It is a most difficult task to con
vince a Hindu tkat ancient India was not at ouce
the wisest aud the greatest of nations ; — aud that God
skould kave spoken to men through Jewish pro
phets rather than by Aryan Rishis, is to him an
almost impossible belief. But the fact is as we
kave stated it; and it has a hopeful side. One
after anotker tke great trutks of Revelation are
admitted ; aud tken tkey are found, or fancied, to
be already imbedded in Vedic hymns, whose true
meaning, we are told, has ouly now beeu brought
to light. Meu are tkus reading Christianity into
Hinduism, as Sir Edwin Arnold, in his very poeti
cal, very unkistorical " Light of Asia," has read it,
civil death. Mr. Ranade should have known better. But the
truth is, that educated Hindus are driven to strange shifts in
defending the indefensible.
1 In their worship, as conducted in London, there is much singing
of Christian hymns, but the name of Christ seems systematically
excluded. The original hymns are vehemently patriotic. The
ancient glory of India is extravagantly insisted on.

28 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
to a large extent, into Buddhism ; aud in Japan
itself, a distinguished leader of. tke Shinshiu sect
assured us that, witk him aud many others, Amida
Buddha occupied almost exactly the position which,
Christ does in Christianity, aud tkat even the doc
trine of the Atonement was accepted by tkem. All
this demonstrates tke deep impression wkick tke"
teachings of Christianity are making on the systems
of faitk with wkick it comes in contact, and it is
clearly indicative of its final triumph. It is very
similar to what occurred in the early days of Chris
tianity. The Gnostic and philosophic systems that
then contended witk tke Gospel, and did so most
successfully when they stole their weapons from it,
were strange comminglings of truth aud error ; aud
from tke outset tkey were doomed to pass away and
perish, or else be gradually absorbed in the Church
Catholic. The immense multitude of minds to which tke
great truths of the Gospel are now steadily pre
sented may be best conceived when we remember,
that the Holy Scriptures are circulated in more
than two hundred and eighty languages, and that
the number of versions is steadily increasing. The
importaut work of translation kas been executed
mainly by missionaries. Tracts and books kave
also been composed in nearly as large a number of

WHAT THE MISSIONS HAVE DONE. 29
dialects. At first tke task of translating the Holy
Scriptures and laying the foundations of a Christian
literature fell naturally to tke foreign missionaries.
But in tke older missions, for a good many years
past, tke Native Christians kave taken a large and
increasing skare in this very important work.1
We must not forget the very large amount of
work performed by the missions, which, altkougk
not directly evangelistic, is yet decidedly a prce-
paratio evangelica, — such as the preparation of
grammars and dictionaries, and the investigation
of native literature, when any such exists. We
add geographical exploration, in which many mis
sionaries besides Livingstone have rendered very
valuable service. They kave also largely contri
buted to our knowledge of the botany, zoology, &c,
&c, of the various regions in which their lot has
been cast.
We might say muck of tke effect of missions in
extending commerce. Moffat, speaking of the com
mencement of his labours in South Africa, observes :
"Our efforts were the precursors of a mighty change,
1 We have one remarkable example of this in the case of the
Rev. Baba Padmanji, an alumnus of the Eree Church Institution,
Bombay. He has devoted nearly all his life to the work of Chris
tian literature ; and he is the author of more than fifty publications,
some of them works of considerable size, and all of them of value.

30 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
destined to sweep away the filth aud customs of
former generations, and to open up numberless
channels for British commerce, which, but for the
Gospel, might kave remained for ever closed."
Suck is a brief statement of tke results of mis
sionary labour iu tke foreign field. No one will
venture to call them small or unimportant. With
all humility, we aver ¦ that the men have worked
nobly, and that the blessing with which God has
honoured their exertions has been great. The
Church of Christ is bound to render thanks witk
ker whole heart and soul, because of the Lord's
overflowing goodness in accepting witk suck gra
cious acknowledgment the poor service rendered by
His people.
We once climbed to a mountain summit in the
Western Ghats in searck of the source of the
Godavari, one of the greater rivers of India. We
came at last to a spot wkere some drops were trick
ling, but so few that, for two or three seconds, we
held the whole stream in the hollow of our hand.
We then witk the eye traced tke descending rill,
and saw it gradually broaden. We followed it in
thought as it flowed eastward towards the Bay of
Bengal, while, "with pomp of waters unwitkstood,"
it expanded aud expanded, until it became capable

WHAT THE MISSIONS HAVE DONE. 31
of fertilising ten tkousands of acres tkat would
otkerwise kave remained for ever barren.
Even so kave we sougkt to trace, from its almost
imperceptible commencement, the stream of modern
missionary effort. What a blessed change since the
admirable Von Welz, two centuries ago, was striving
with a breaking keart, and vainly striving, to arouse
tke slumbering Churches of Germany to tke neces
sity of obeying the great commission ! Aye, what
a change since, only a century ago, Carey was ridi
culed as "a miserable eutkusiast," and told by
divines of kigk repute that, unless the Pentecostal
gift of tongues were renewed, it was absurd to
attempt to evangelise tke nations ! How vast the
change botk at kome aud abroad ! And yet all
tkat we yet witness is but the commencement.
For tke blessed stream rolls on, and will roll ' on,
ever broadening and deepening as it flows, — causing
" tke wilderness and solitary place to be glad, and
tke desert to rejoice and blossom as tke rose."

( 32 )

III.
STATE OF THE CHIEF PAGAN RELIGIONS.
It may, we trust, be of service for us to take a
glance at the chief Pagan religions, and endeavour
to estimate the amount of force which they possess
in the conflict with Christianity.
Animism, etc.
The lowest forms of religion are those that pre
vail among savage races and those that are slightly
nearer civilisation. These have beeu styled " poly-
demonistic, magical, tribal religions," x and are fre
quently classed under the head of Animism, or tke
worskip of spirits. Fetishism is distinguishable from
this, but easily blends witk it. These religions have
been called. polydemouistic rather than polytheistic,
because the beings worshipped are almost uni
versally malevolent, aud tke worship springs simply
from fear, and is a deprecation of evil. They always
run into sorcery and magic. Tkey kave hardly any
1 So Professor Tiele calls them.

THE CHIEF PAGAN RELIGIONS. 33
moral character. This unhappy creed is very exten
sively diffused. It rules in Africa, except where
Mohammadanism or Christianity has expelled it. It
prevails iu Northern Asia, unless where Buddhism
or Christianity to some extent counteracts it. It is
iu tke Soutk Seas, but there it is rapidly giving way
before tke Gospel. It cannot be called a system,
it is so vague and skapeless ; and before any definite
form of religion it speedily succumbs.
But let us pass to kigher creeds, and among
tkese let us first notice

ZOROASTRIANISM.
Tke founder of tkis system is said by its professors
to kave been the famous Zoroaster. It was at one
time widely extended, under the patronage of the
kings of Persia, and aspired to become a universal
creed. It now exists only in Persia aud India. In
Persia it is dying out, chiefly because crushed under
the iron keel of Mohammadanism.1 In Western
India its followers, the Parsis, are a small but intel
ligent and influential body. As a race, they are
energetic and practical. Western ideas aud habits
are steadily flowing iu amongst them. In point of
female education they have shot far ahead of the
1 In October 1879 there were only 8499 Zoroastrians in Persia.
In 1881 there were in all India only 85,397. C

34 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
Hindus. Still, as yet, tkey cling witk a pathetic
fondness to tke profession of Zoroastriauism. But
tke faitk, as a faith, declines. It tends to resolve ,
itself into simple monotheism, tinctured by the
teachings of Christianity. The sacred book ascribed
to Zoroaster, the Zend-Avesta, though not immoral,
is but a shallow production, aud cannot long satisfy
the awakening mind of tke Parsi community. The
rites are both foolish and complex; some of them
so coarse as to repel and disgust the younger
generation. It is inconceivable tkat such a system
skould long continue to rule the mind of an active
and intelligent race. Time was when Chosroes II.
(called by the Parsis, Khosru Parviz) vowed that he
would consent to no cessation of war against the
Christians until " the religion of the Cross " had been
overthrown and " the religion of tke Sun " erected
on its ruins. Vain boast! In the very laud in
which the proud words were uttered the religion of
the Suu seems doomed to expire within a generation.
Iu India it will survive somewhat longer, at least
in name ; but every conception on religion enter
tained by the Parsis is more and more affected by
Christianity.1 Conversions from Zoroastrianism in
1 Eor example, the dualism, so characteristic of the original creed,
has almost entirely passed away ; and the relation between the
good and evil principles, Hormazd and Ahriman (Oromasdes and
Arimanes), is understood to be that which exists between God and
Satan.

THE CHIEF PAGAN RELIGIONS. 35
India kave not beeu numerous, but tkey have been
most satisfactory. We may now speak of
Buddhism.
Very erroneous statements are often made as to
the extent of this system, if system it can be called,
seeing that its diversities are exceedingly great.
First, the population of China is considerably over
stated, for it is probably under four hundred millions.
Next it is quietly assumed that all tke Chinese are
Buddhists ; but in truth every Chinaman holds a
composite creed, of which, in many cases, the
smallest ingredient is Buddhism. The educated
and official classes profess themselves followers of
Confucius, and as a rule would refuse to be de
signated Buddhists. All things considered, if we
calculate the professors of Buddhism at three
hundred millions, tke estimate is decidedly a high
one. In most places Buddhism is content when it can
hold its own.
Iu Northern 'Asia it blends witk Shamanism,
wkick is a form of Animism or spirit-worship,
and in tkat case all tkat is best iu Buddhism
disappears. »
Iu Japan, where it kas brancked out into eight

36 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
varieties, it is rapidly giving way before advancing
Christianity. In tkat country the original faitk was
Shintoism — tke feeblest, vaguest, and most colour
less of religions. Buddhism, as a more definite
system, was gradually displacing tke ancient faith ;
but now both Buddhism and Shintoism are crum
bling into ruins, and we seem " witkiu measurable
distance " of a national conversion to Christianity —
we mean a national profession of it. There is some
danger that the "Land of the Rising Sun," as
Japan calls itself, may declare itself Christian pre
maturely. Influential public men are advocating
this step on political grounds, believing that only
thus will Japan be permitted to enter the sister
hood of civilised and Christian nations, and be
treated as an equal by the proud peoples of the
West. The change of feeling is truly marvellous.
It is difficult to recall any nation or age in which
equal progress has been made in. an equal period
of time. It was in 1853 that Commodore Perry,
to the consternation of tke Japanese, sailed into
the Bay of Yeddo and induced them to open their
country to intercourse with other nations. Public
preaching has been possible only since 1 8.7 3 ; aud
now the Christian community connected with Pro
testant missions aloue is above 50,000. If Japan
is not all professedly Christian by the end of this
century — thirteen years hence — it seems at least

THE CHIEF PAGAN RELIGIONS. 37
certain that foreign missionaries will then no longer
be required. Japanese Christians will themselves
evangelise any portion of their countrymen that
may still remain Pagan. Regarding the magnitude
of tke ckange that has already taken place, we
content ourselves witk quoting tke words of a
missionary at Kiyoto : " Tke half has not been
told ; it cannot be told. It must be seen and
felt here on the ground." Otker reforms accom
pany aud aid the religious movement, even as
tkey tkemselves have in large measure sprung out
of it. Tke educational system, botk in ckaracter
aud extent, reflects the highest credit on the
Government. The schools even for women are
numerous. Farther, it is almost certain that the
exceedingly complicated characters iu which the
language has hitherto been written will be dis
placed by the Roman alphabet. English is greatly
studied ; it looks, indeed, as if it would gradually
become a second uatioual language.
One may not be able to witness all these rapid
changes witk uumingled satisfaction; for a nation
cannot break abruptly witk its past witkout run
ning serious risk. The importation of the forms of
Western civilisation, apart from the religion on
which that civilisation is based, would be a very
doubtful blessing. But happily, as we have seen,
tke Gospel is rapidly extending ; while botk the

38 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
feeble Shintoism aud the stronger Buddhism are as
rapidly receding.
Iu China, Buddhism is not so visibly losing the
measure of influence which it possesses. China kas
kitkerto beeu eminently slow iu moving. But these
are days in wkich, as iu those that ushered in tke
Christian era, the Ruler of the Universe is signally
" shaking all nations ; " and national pride, and
policy, and tradition must bend to His sovereign
will. The Chinese Government has of late 1 de
clared Christianity to be a good religion, and it
undertakes to protect botk the missionaries and the
converts. Every change in suck a country wkick
is not positively for the worse is for the better ; it
familiarises the mind witk the idea — so new to the
Eastern world — of progress, of improvement. We
therefore rejoice that telegraphs are spreading over
China, and that railways are likely to follow. More
important still, — the ancient classics, which have
been the mainstay of the dominant Confucianism,
aud on a knowledge of wkich all promotion in the
public service has depended, are about to sustain
an unequal competition witk the science of the West.
Examinations in mathematics are already provided
for, thougk not prescribed. The study of physical
science will soon come, aud must effect enormous
1 In the autumn of 1886.

THE CHIEF PAGAN RELIGIONS. 39
changes. Tke throne of Confucius, we might almost
say, begins to totter.
Forty years ago the Protestant Christians in
China did not exceed three in number. Now the
communicants are about 30,000 ; and tke native
Protestant community cannot be reckoned as less
than 100,000. It doubles itself in about eight
years.1 Tibet, with its fantastic form of Buddhism,
Lamaism, has hitherto beeu all but inaccessible to
evangelistic effort. The Moravians kave had for a
good many years one station whence tkey hoped to
effect it, viz., Kyelang in Lahoul. There is now
a second station on the borders of Tibet Proper, and
a third has lately been opened at Leh, the capital
of tke Tibetan province of Ladak. The assault then
on Lamaism has now fairly commenced.
In the southern countries of Ceylon, Burma, aud
Siam, Buddhism remains far nearer its original form
than iu the more northern countries of Asia. The
mythology is less extravagant, the ritual less dazzling,
1 In various parts of China there are races that are almost, or
altogether, savage. Among these the inhabitants of the island of
Formosa occupy an important place. Two missions labour in this
island, those of the English Presbyterian Church and the Canada
Presbyterian Church ; and the blessing given to both has been very

40 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
— though Northern Buddhism, in several respects,
responds to the cravings of the human soul better
than the dreary creed of the south. Ceylon is a
sacred laud to Buddhists, especially those of tke
Southern school. Among other things, it boasts of
possessing a tootk of Buddha, a relic deemed most
precious, thougk certainly it never stood iu a human
jaw. Heuce in Ceylon, Buddhism is tenacious of
life. Yet the progress of the Gospel is encouraging.
In Siam the opposition is decidedly less aud the
prospect still more cheering.1 Hinduism.
Iu the foregoing section we have referred, iu
several cases, for illustration, to this great system of
belief. Our remarks at present may in consequence
be all the briefer. Hinduism has often been classed
as a non-missionary religion. Yet, in fact^ it has
continued to advance among the aboriginal races up
to the present time. Tkese accessions are not
received into the proper Hindu community ; they
1 On the part of the Agnosticism of our day, there is a disposition
to patronise Buddhism, if not to fraternise with it. How far is the
alliance to extend? It was in Ceylon, we believe, that Bishop
Heber asked a Buddhist priest, "Do you worship the gods?" and
was startled by the reply, "No, the gods worship me." Our
Agnostic friends, we presume, will draw the line before reaching
that point, and, if they are wise, they will do it a good deal
sooner.

THE CHIEF PAGAN RELIGIONS. 41
hang on to it, so to speak ; tkey are treated as with
out caste. Tkey accept the degradation, and tkey
tkiuk tkey are better than they were. Truly it
was kigk time for missionaries to preack to the Kols,
Sautals, Kkasias, and suck simple tribes ; for tkese
are days of rapid innovation, even in conservative
India, and, in one or two generations more, most of
tke aborigines would kave been swallowed up iu the
mare magnum around them. A vague, shapeless
demonology like theirs speedily gives way before a
system witk definite beliefs and rites. Their beliefs,
however, are but little changed ; only a few cere
monies are adopted. Happily, several missions are
now energetically at work among these people, and
iu almost every case with very cheering results.
This is true especially of the Kols, Santals, Khasias,
and Garos. In Burma the change among the Karens
has been still more rapid and complete.
But while gaining in this sense from the abo
rigines, Hinduism is engaged in a death-struggle
witk Christianity. We kave already spoken of tke
way in which the lucida tela diei^the arrows of
Gospel light — are piercing it through and through.
Of course we do not assert that the only influence
which tells ou Hinduism is tkat of missions. Many
tkings combine against it. Ours, as Sir Fitzjames
Stephen says, is " a belligerent civilisation." British
government, British law, education, railways, com-

42 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
merce — all conspire to overturn it. They infuse
ideas entirely incompatible with those of tke Shas-
tras, and they necessitate ere long a change of
institutions. This remark, indeed, applies to all
non-Christian systems. They languish and gradu
ally expire when exposed to tke " fierce light " of
modern thought and life. But Hinduism is vul
nerable at every point — more so than most other
creeds. While the influences now referred to are mainly
destructive, the Gospel destroys in order to recon
struct. Christianity is advancing iu India ; and,
comparing one decade witk another, it is doing so
more and more rapidly. True, tke advance kas
mainly been among the aborigines aud the classes
which, as we have said, " hang on " to Hinduism.
Still there have beeu not a few cases, especially in
Northern aud Western India, of conversion among
the higher and middle castes. Europeans may talk
of tke failure of missions ; intelligent Hindus know
better. They confess that, whatever may succeed it,
Hinduism is doomed ; or, if they maintain that it
can live on, tkey mean a Hinduism which is not
Hinduism. Doubtless the outer shell may remain
for a time after the informing spirit shall have fled ;
but it too is mouldering away. We hardly antici
pate its speedy destruction ; we look for a steady,
slow decay. Attempts will variously be made to

THE CHIEF PAGAN RELIGIONS. 43
reform it. We kave spoken above of tke Arya Samaj.1
But, on tke whole (so far as the masses are con
cerned), tke battle will be between Hinduism proper
and tke Gospel.
It may be said that we are forgetting tke philo
sophies of India — those systems of thought which
ancient sages, with infinite refinements, so elaborately
reasoned out. Well, these will always be interesting
as studies iu archaeology; but, as Burnouf expressed
it, it was to " the comprehension of tke incompre-
kensible " that the Hindu philosophers " devoted all
their faculties." To tke sum of enduring thought
tkey contributed simply nothing. The philosophies
of India will therefore not prove any real obstacle
to tke progress of tke Gospel among men who have
received education in tke European sense of tke
word.

Mohammadanism.
In regard to the extent aud progress of this
great system there kas recently been an animated,
not to say a bitter, controversy. A good deal has
been said whick had better been left unsaid. Bold
inferences kave beeu drawn from very questionable
1 The Brahma Samaj (except perhaps the moribund Adi Samaj)
cannot well be called a Hindu system ; the Hindu elements have
been .purged away almost entirely.

44 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
statistics. We trust we may be kept from exempli
fying the raskness which' we censure.1
Let us commence with tke fartkest East.
Iu Japan Islam hardly kas a footing. In tke
large extent of the Chinese Empire it is found
widely scattered, especially in the western pro
vinces. Its adkerents are about four millions.
On the whole, it is quiet aud uuprogressive, aud
this mainly because in the western regions —
Yunnan aud Kashgar especially — its fiery zeal was,
some years ago, quenched in blood. The same
unrelenting cruelty with which Islam has generally
beeu propagated was shown by tke Chinese towards
its rebellious professors.
In Persia, the suppression, or, to speak more
accurately, tke repression of that remarkable sect,
the Babis, has beeu as fiercely sanguinary as auy-
1 The Mohammadan population of the world is roughly estimated
at 1 60 millions. A full third part of the whole is in India.
Islam is by no means a uniform system. Its diversities in belief
and practice are many and great. The two grand divisions are the
Sunni and the Shiah systems. These differ in many small and
some very important points. For one thing, the Shiahs pay almost
divine honour to Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammad. The stern
and fanatical Wahabi system is mainly confined to Arabia.
The Shiah creed prevails in Persia ; but Sufiism is still influen
tial there, although the name may have fallen somewhat into dis
use. Sufiism is a mystical philosoph}', a species of Quietism, with
a strong leaning to Pantheism, in which thoughtful, earnest minds,
sick of the hard externalism of Islam, seek a refuge. Babism has
affinities to this system, with some leanings towards Chfistian "
thought, and much more love to Christians than to Moslem.

THE CHIEF PAGAN RELIGIONS. 45
thing recorded in kistory. Fanaticism is not dead
in Persia. Open preaching to Mokammadans is
not yet possible. But religious inquiry goes on in
secret ; and, where the missionary cannot preach,
tke testimony of the Word of God is by no means
ineffectual. We find a missionary in Persia lately
saying that the Mohammadans there are " more and
more accessible to evangelistic effort."
Iu Arabia it is usually supposed that the Gospel
can be preached only at Aden and the neighbour
hood ; but recent inquiries l give a more encourag
ing idea of this important region. The population
of Arabia may be from eight to ten millions. Three
millions are under Turkish rule ; tke rest are inde
pendent. Under tke Turks tke proclamation of tke
Gospel would encounter the strongest opposition;
but not so, probably, in Independent Arabia. The
number of readers is considerable; and tke circula
tion of the Scriptures would hardly be opposed.
except under Turkish rule. Medical missions could
do immense good. No doubt, when open conversions
took place, tkere would be persecution, even among
the independent tribes. But we must not think of
Arabia as now closed against tke Gospel.2
1 Especially those conducted by General Haig.
2 At Shaikh Othman, near Aden, but in British territory,
the recent death of the Hon. Ion Keith-Falconer, a most accom
plished and devoted man, has been a sad blow to the work in Arabia.
But the mission which he so hopefully began will be energetically
carried on by the Free Church of Scotland.

46 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
Iu Egypt tkere is muck toleration, and the
Egyptian authorities deserve credit for tkis ; al-
tkougk the influence of tke Englisk aud other
foreigners may partly explain it. Couversions
quietly take place from Islam from time to time.
There kave been more than sixty of these
already. Iu North Africa, viz., Morocco, Algeria, Tunis,
Tripoli, aud the Sahara, the Mohammadans are
believed to number nearly sixteen millions. Tkey
are by no means inaccessible to evangelistic effort.
Wherever missionaries go among them tkey are
received with respect, almost witk kindness.1 It
is sad to tkiuk what North Africa, once so kighly
civilised aud flourishing, kas become under the
dominion of Islam ; but let us not despair of its
future. Turkey. — Throughout all the Turkish Empire
direct missionary labour among Mohammadans is
at present almost impossible. About thirty years
ago, aud apparently as a result of the Crimean war,
a very hopeful movement took place, especially in
Constantinople. The Scriptures were freely sold in
the streets, and largely purchased. There was much
religious inquiry ; people even of position flocked to
the house of such converts as Selim Effendi, to hear
him explain the Gospel. But from about 1864
1 Report of Mildmay Conference of 1886, p. 28.

THE CHIEF PAGAN RELIGIONS. 47
tke autkorities took the alarm, aud ere long much
was heard about a " new departure " of Islam, that
is, a revival of Mokarhmadau zeal, wkick extended
far beyond tke boundaries of Turkey. Islam seemed
to waken up to fresk life, being determined to resist,
at all events, farther encroachments on its domain.
Up to this hour tke Turkisk authorities are anxious
to ignore the concessions of tke Hatti Humayoon
of 1856, even in spite of remonstrances from
various quarters. Converts from Islam to Chris
tianity are got rid of ; aud inquiries, though pressed
by foreign ambassadors, are without result. Mis
sion schools are closed; and if liberty be extorted
to re-open them, yet Moslem children are forbidden
to attend. Mohammadans are building mosques
and opening schools throughout Asiatic Turkey
with a zeal unknown for generations. Tke Sultan
himself is earnest in this matter. All this is im
portant. Islam in kigk quarters stands sternly on
the defensive. Still iu Turkey it is not progressive ;
aud we presume it is as true now as it was when,
more than fifty years ago, Lamartine used the
memorable words, tkat Turkey is " perishing for
want of Turks."
India. — Tkere is a belief in some quarters that
India is gradually becoming Mokammadan. As
suredly suck is not the conviction which a some
what lengthened experience iu India has led us to

48 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
form.1 We sum up tke results of that experience
thus : —
I. Undoubtedly tke antagonism between Islam
and Hinduism is increasing. One of tke great
problems of British administration, iu India is how
to keep Hindus and Mohammadans from flying
at one another's throats. 2. Forcible conversions
to Islam sometimes take place in Mohammadan
states. 3. Women who have lost character and
caste generally call themselves Musulmanis. 4.
There has beeu from time to time, and there might
be at any time, a rekindling of Moslem fanaticism
iu districts where Wahabi or Ferazi. preachers make
their rounds ; a matter, no doubt, serious enough to
demand tke careful attention of Government. 5-
We have also known one or two eases in which a
zealous propagandist had been the occasion of the
construction or reconstruction of mosques. 6. There
is an influx into great commercial centres — suck as
Bombay — from Arabia, Persia, and other Moham
madan countries. 7. Further, Islam increases with
the natural increase of population. 8. The Mokam
madan caste is respectable ; and tkere is a tempta
tion to those who are in the lower strata of society
to better their position by becoming Moslems. But
1 We are glad to find our views as to the non-progressiveness of
Islam in India are in accordance with those of Sir Alfred Lyall.
See "Asiatic Studies," p. III.

THE CHIEF PAGAN RELIGIONS. 49
we kave been surprised to see bow little the temp
tation is yielded to ; for a muck larger proportion of
tke aborigines goes to Christianity and Hinduism
than to Islam.
Tke particulars now mentioned, eight in number,
all bear directly ou tke question of the numerical
progress of Islam. We are persuaded that, taking
India as a wkole, it is not gaining on Hinduism.
There is, however, one small district in which it has
been making progress for many years past — that of
British Malabar, on tke west coast of Soutkern
India, in which we find tkat fiercely fanatical sect
tke Moplaks. Notably enough, iu the neighbouring
native states of Cochin aud Travancore, Islam does
not advance. On the wkole, tke advance, even iu
British Malabar, does not count for muck.
Whatever may be the case as to numbers, it is
certain that, in position aud influence throughout
India, Islam has long been decnning. Old families
are decaying, aud few new ones are taking tkeir
place. Hitherto the Moslem has looked scowlingly
on that Western education, of which the more pliant
Hindu has eagerly availed kimself; and tkus the
Mohammadans are gradually elbowed out of Govern
ment appointments. Earnest efforts have been
made by the authorities to make tkem fit them
selves for tke public service, and once aud again
hopes kave been expressed that a "new era"

50 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
was commencing. At Aligkar, in Bengal, also, a
vigorous attempt kas been made by tke euligkteued
Sir Syed Ahmed to give a really good education to
his co-religionists. It is interesting. Will it be
successful ? Not improbably. Furtker, in so far
as true knowledge spreads among Mohammadans,
it may kelp tkem to retain tkeir position, but it will
still more certainly impair their bigotry — their
boundless scorn and hatred, of all religions save
tkeir own.
There seems to be a general impression that the
number of converts to Christianity from* Islam is
far smaller than from Hinduism ; but iu propor
tion to the amount of work done for tkem, couver
sions from the one faitk have been as numerous as
from the other. Missionaries who labour among
Indian Musulmaus have no cause for discouragement.
True, the Moslems have not flocked, like the Hindus,
to Christian schools. Mahomet has not come to
the missionary; and tke missionary, kaving his hands
full of other work, has too seldom gone to Mahomet.
Still there have been not a few most satisfactory
cases of conversion from among Mohammadans in
India. In India Islam kas greatly mixed with Hinduism.
But wken education spreads among Indian Musul-
mans — as sooner or later it is sure to do — great
religious changes are inevitable. Even already a

THE CHIEF PAGAN RELIGIONS. 51
liberal aud lax Islam has begun to appear. It
manifests, and will increasingly manifest, a ten
dency to resolve itself into simple theism. This
impfies a new attitude, not only towards Mokam-
madan traditions, most of which are exceedingly
foolish, but towards the Koran itself. A greatly
reformed Islam, witk its chief seat in India, may
very possibly become a powerful factor in the
religious history of tke world. But this will be
Mohammadanism in little more than name.
These, tken, are our conclusions — at least not
rashly come to — on the muck-debated question of
tke state of Islam in India.
" Si quid novisti rectius istis,
Candidus imperti ; si non, his utere mecum.''
Indian Archipelago. — The islands that lie between
tke Asiatic continent and Australia are often called
Netherlands-India ; and we cannot but suspect tkat
tke belief tkat Islam is advancing in Hindustan
arises from a confounding of the two regions. The
part of Eastern Asia that belongs to Holland
contains, it is probable, nearly thirty millions of
inhabitants. Almost nine-tenths of these are Mo
hammadans, at least in name. Islam is still gaining
converts ; perhaps about 10,000 a year. Christianity
annually receives half this number — about 5000 —
drawn from both Islam and heathenism. The con-

52 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
verts from tke former during tke last twenty years
in Java alone kave been more tkau I o,ooo.J In the
Moluccas the Gospel now spreads faster tkan Islam.
We are sorry to say tkat, as regards religion, tke
conduct of tke Dutck autkorities in the East has
been most culpable in a Christian point of view, as
well as politically disastrous. They kave smiled on
Mohammadanism ; they kave frowned on Christian
missions.2 Now, however, they kave taken alarm ;
for Islam of late, glorying iu its strength, kas mani
fested a bitter katred of all that is Christian or
European, and Holland has begun to tremble for ker
Eastern empire. Let us hope that ske will not now
rusk to tke opposite extreme, and, — as formerly in
Ceylon, — bligkt witk excessive patronage the true
spirit of Christian missions.
The Negro Races. — We come now to speak of
Mohammadanism among tke Negro races of Africa.
Ou this subject there kas been of late much vehe
ment discussion, ckiefly since Canon Isaac Taylor
read a paper ou tke subject. Tke views expressed
by kim have attracted notice mainly because tkey
are those of a clergyman of tke Anglican Church ;
in themselves, they indicate no exact knowledge
1 We have obtained this information from Dr. Schreiber, secretary
of the Rhenish Missionary Society, and from friends in Holland.
2 "Dem Islam ist ausgedehnter Vorschub geleistet worden ;
wahrend die Mission angstlich verhindert und beschrankt wurde." —
Dr. Gundert (Die Evangelische Mission, s. 218).

THE CHIEF PAGAN RELIGIONS. 53
of facts, and little power of reasoning. A writer
from whom he largely borrows kas earnestly repu
diated his " crudities," and censured his " kead-
loug keedlessness." 1 We may, therefore, leave the
Canou aloue.
Livingstone declared that he had seen no
missionary zeal among Mokammadans in Africa.
Mohammadan slave-drivers in abundance; " the land
like the garden of Eden before them, and behind
them a desolate wilderness ; " and the cruelties wkich
he had witnessed, he tells us, haunted his dreams
and made him start up from sleep in horror. He
furtker reminds us tkat tke Koran has not been
translated into any African tongue. Tke slaves
are circumcised, but ueitker instructed nor released
from slavery — Moslem tkus tyrannising over Moslem.
Arabs speak of Negroes as gumu or callous. So
far tke great missionary. But wkile all this is true
1 Mr. Bosworth Smith. See Nineteenth Century, December 1887,
He writes still more indignantly about the Canon's "invincible
ignorance " in the Times of December 29. We differ from Mr. B.
Smith's estimate of Mohammad, and hold with such scholars as
Sprenger and Muir. But the paper now referred to is able and com
prehensive, and has many just views powerfully expressed. It is to
be regretted that the writer of it has never seen Mohammadanism
in situ. .
Mr. B. Smith and some other writers speak of Islam and Chris
tianity as "kindred" religions. Kindred' in what sense? "A
little more than kin and less than kind. " Not kindred in spirit.
Nay, Islam overturns the very foundation of distinctive Chris
tianity by denying the crucifixion of the Son of God.

54 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
of Soutkeru aud Soutk-Eastern Africa, it does not
fully apply to Central aud Western Africa, nortk
of tke equator. Mokammadan influence kas beeu
extending for tke last twelve kundred years over the
Soudan, and to within six, or perhaps four, degrees
of tke line.
And kow extending ? Pre-eminently through war
and conquest. We must not forget the words of
Hallam : " Tke people of Arabia, a race of strong
passions and sanguinary temper, inured to habits
of pillage and murder, found in tke law of their
native propket not only a license, but a command
to desolate the world." x War for tke extension
of Islam was solemnly commanded in tke name of
Heaven ; aud iu tweuty-seveu military expeditions
Mohammad himself set the horrible example, wkich
throughout all succeeding generations his followers
kave only too closely copied.
The unhappy Negroes kave beeu an easy prey.
They are slaughtered like sheep ; for in most cases
their discipline is poor and their arms are 'few.
The Arabs, ou the contrary, are uot only, as Burck-
kardt says, " a nation of robbers," but a nation of
born soldiers.
But 'tkere are Moslem missionaries, we are told,
who are contented witk simple preacking. We
wait for evidence as to their success, aud as to tke
1 History of the Middle Ages, chap. vi.

THE CHIEF PAGAN RELIGIONS. 55
means they use ; since forcible conversion, wher
ever needed, is binding ou tke missionary. Mean
time, we skudder at the accounts given by such
meu as Lander and Schweinfurth as to the character
of the Moslem missionaries. If these experienced
travellers are uot entirely wrong, tke so-called mis
sionaries are often tke vilest of the vile.
And what do they teach ? They teach the Negroes
to repeat in Arabic the words, " There is no God
but Allah, aud Mohammad is Allak's messenger."
The Koran is to the Negro — often to his Arab
teacher — a book of incantations and spells. Writ
ten texts are worn as amulets ; or the writing is
washed off and druuk. Alas for the " exalted ideas
of the Divinity " wkick, we are told, Islam communi
cates to the Negro fetisk-worskipper ! He mostly
retains his old ideas.1 Even if he imbibed the
Koranic idea, what would it be ? Was tke traveller
Palgrave wrong wkeu ke called it " monstrous aud
blasphemous " ? 2 Was he wrong when he said
1 But what are these ? Is Dr. Blyden right ? He says : " On the
continent, of Africa, in spite of the fetishes and greegrees which
many of them are supposed to worship, there is not a single tribe ¦
which does not stretch out its hands to the great Creator" (Christi
anity, Islam, and the Negro Race, p. 132). How far, then, does
Islam raise them to higher conceptions ?— Further, some have talked
as if there were no civilised Negro states, — as if civilisation came
only with the Arabs. This is a great mistake.
2 See " Travels through Central and Western Arabia," by W. G.
Palgrave.

56 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
tkat Allak kas "one main feeling" towards His
creatures, viz., "jealousy," lest they "encroach" on
His kingdom and claims ? The language is strong,
and we will not fully commit ourselves to it ; but
the fact that so well-informed a traveller cau use it
may give some writers pause.
Slavery, polygamy, divorce at pleasure, intoler
ance in religion — these are not excrescences, but of
tke essence, of Islam. To convert men to suck a
faitk is easy. If Islam stops intoxication among
its converts, good ; but does it ? Unhappily no ;
or to a very small extent. At best, the acceptance
of Islam will raise men to tke Arab civilisation of
the seventh century ; but it will fix them there.
Progress is then possible only by casting it away.
The best thing that we can say about Negro con
verts to Islam is tkat they imbibe so little of it.
"' A little knowledge " may in this case not be
"¦ a dangerous thing," — possibly advantageous ; yet
assuredly if tkey "drink deep," they will propor
tionally become fanatical and stern.
We do not for a moment admit tkat Islam is
better fitted than the Gospel for the Negroes in
tkeir present state, thougk we have said that a
lower religion will be more readily accepted than a
higher. Nor need we at all despair of the advance
of tke Gospel among tke Black races. Missionaries
like Dr. Leigktou Wilson, who spent many years in

THE CHIEF PAGAN RELIGIONS. 57
West Africa, speak of tkem as " social, generous,
confiding;" and affirm that the "beauty and con
sistency " of religion is exemplified by the Christian
Negro better than any other. Mrs. Beecker Stowe
did not draw wholly on imagiuatiou when she
delineated the character of " Uncle Tom .; " aud
Emin Pasha has lately said, " The Black race in
valour and courage is inferior to no otker ; in devo
tion aud self-denial, it is superior to many. . . .
They are capable of progress." 1
Nor can we hold tkat the Negro is even in point
of intellect essentially inferior to many of tke
1 Of late, various writers — especially Mr. Froude — have taken a
very discouraging view of the state and prospects of the Negro race.
But we might quote a host of witnesses who speak in very different
terms. Let the following suffice. Lord Brassey says that "the
capabilities of the coloured races are nowhere seen to greater ad
vantage than in Sierra Leone. They supply the official staff of the
Government. A coloured barrister of marked ability is the leader
of the Bar, and makes a professional income of £3000 a year." (See
The Mail, 16th December 1887.) The Bishop of Jamaica sends
home a letter written by one of his clergy, in which the steady pro
gress of the Negroes in Jamaica in honesty, truthfulness, and regard
for marriage is strongly affirmed. Farther, " nothing is more
striking than their temperance." During the celebration of the
Queen's Jubilee in Kingston the only drunk persons seen by the
writer were whites. (See Guardian, January 25, 1888.) With
regard to the Negroes in the Southern States of America, " The
Church at Home and Abroad " (Presbyterian) quotes approvingly
the following words: — "The coloured people of the South are
making wonderful advances in materfal prosperity. . . . The
attainments in learning and eloquence of not a few of them have
been noticed with surprise."

58 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
proudest races. Toussaint L'Ouverture, Frederick
Douglas (half Negro), Bishop Crowther, Dr. Blyden,
— these names at once occur to us, and otkers
could easily be added, as proving that Negro capacity
is often high. But the Negro has never had fair
play ; nor has he yet. We boast of having given
him emancipation ; but you may strike the fetters
off kis body, aud yet make the iron enter his soul,
perhaps only the deeper. The haughty Aryan race
condescends to welcome Shemitic and Mongolian
converts ; but, in its daintiness, it barely tolerates
the Negro. What is our religion worth if this
feeling is to last ? Let us leave all pride of race to
the Brahman. Let us remember that the believing
Negro is a child of God as much as any of us —
dearer, it may be, because of his simple faith, to
tke heart of ' tke Father, than we with all our
boasted superiority of intellect and civilisation.
Let us respect the Negro, and so teach him to
respect himself.
But observe how our missions are weigkted by
this wicked scorn of the Blacks. The Arabs hardly
have the feeling. From before the days of Moham
mad the Arab and Negro have freely intermingled,
and not unfrequently intermarried. The dark skin
is no bar to advancement. Men distinguished in
Mohammadau history have been Negroes. Tke Arab
Accepts the Negro convert as a brother. Our missions

THE CHIEF PAGAN RELIGIONS. 59
will kave fair play wken we skall do the same.
Meantime we heartily rejoice tkat a due position
has been given by tke Church Missionary Society
to' such men as Bishop Crowther and Archdeacon
Johnson, and to Bishop Holly of Haiti and Bishop
Fergusson of Liberia by the Protestant Episcopal
Church of America ; and that non-Episcopal societies
kave not a few ordained Negro preackers.
We must still refer to one appalling evil — the
traffic in intoxicating drink, so eagerly pushed by
many traders in Africa. Portugal, Britain, France,
tke United States — are all offenders in tkis matter,
aud far above tke rest, Germany.1 That professedly
Christian nations skould carry on this hideous traffic
is deplorable ; aud if really Ckristiau men kave any
share in it, it is high time tkat tkey should realise
tke horrible consequences of wkat they do. Most
touching was the appeal made a short time ago to
Bishop Crowther by the Mohammadan chief Malike,
entreating kim to put a stop to what was ruining
kis people. Drink seems almost as witkering a curse
1 The Rev. Horace Waller, an old companion of Livingstone's,
has published a striking pamphlet, entitled " Trafficking in Liquor
with the Natives of Africa." His tables show that Britain exports
to Africa twice as much liquor as America, and Germany (chiefly
from Hamburg and Bremen) nearly seven times as much as Britain.
This, then, is as foul a blot on German character as the opium
traffic is on that of the British Government in India.

60 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
to miserable Africa as tke* slave-trade itself. Unless
the plague can be stayed, the inevitable issue is the
extermination of all whom it reaches.
It is some consolation to think that all traders in
Africa are not involved iu this condemnation. Thus
the " African Lakes Company " has operations ex
tending from Quillimane to Lake Tanganyika, but
traffic iu intoxicating drink it utterly abjures. Aud
there are other companies, aud doubtless individual
traders, that are equally free of the leprosy.

( 61 )

IV.
MODES OF MISSIONARY ACTION.
Let us first inquire what these are, and then
wketker tkey require to be modified in order tkat
greater results may follow.
" The great work of evaugeksing the heathen
ought not to be restricted to any one method.
Every mode of operation that manifests the spirit
of tke Gospel, every civilising influence that the
missionary cau bring to bear ou the people, and
that gives to Christianity a practical aspect, lies
witkiu tke scope of the Divine commission." x Tke
general trutk of tkese weigkty words will kardly
be disputed.
The great modes of missionary activity have been
the following : — The preaching of tke Word ; the
education of the young; and the circulation of tke
Holy Scriptures and religious books. Various
missions, especially German ones, have kad in
dustrial operations ; but tkese have not been so
1 Mr. John Lowe in his work on Medical Missions.

62 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
common among civilised races. In recent days,
Medical Missions have assumed muck prominence.
Tkey kave been especially favoured by Britain and
America ; but Germany, too, is beginning to employ
tkem, especially the Basle, Bremen, aud Moravian
Missions. Tkere is another mode of extending' the Gospel
wkich we may call unofficial, — we mean the influence
exerted by converts on their countrymen in social
intercourse. Now it is a most interesting question, Can we
estimate tke amount of blessing whick kas rested on
tkese modes of activity respectively ?
An experienced Chinese missionary, Dr. Nevins,
kas mentioned kis impressions on this subject.
Beginning witk the kind of work whick seems to
have had least effect, he states the order thus : —
I. Bible-distribution,
2. Tract -distribution,
3 . Preacking iu chapels,
4. Translation and literary work,
5. Sckools,
6. Preacking on missionary tours,
7. Private social intercourse.
Dr. Nevius holds the last-mentioned mode to
kave been exceedingly influential. In fact, he
reckons that " by far the greater number of bap
tisms " is to be referred to the influence of private

MODES OF MISSIONARY ACTION. 63
social intercourse. We understand kim to mean
social intercourse between Christian aud keathen
natives. The Rev. D. Maclvor also affirms that
" seven-eigktks " of the conversions tkat have oc
curred in his mission have beeu traceable to tke
influence of Native Christians — not recognised offici
ally as evangelists — on their heathen friends and
neighbours. Tkis is important testimony.
Tke statement of Dr. Nevius does not include
Medical Missions or women's work among women.
The value of these stands relatively high iu the
list. Dr. Nevius has made a valuable estimate ; but it
would be rask to say it kolds universally. More
over, we must remember that, in almost every case
of conversion, tkere has been a concurrence of in
fluences, and tkat it can hardly be traced to any
single cause. Bible Distribution.
It is probable tkat many will be surprised at the
comparatively little effect assigned to the circulation
of the Holy Scriptures. But we must remember
tkat, to an uuinstructed keathen, many parts of
tke Bible are difficult of comprekension. When
it is circulated among professing Christians — say,
of tke Eastern Churches — the result .is usually much

64 , PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
more striking. Among Mohammadans, too, Bible-
distribution is fitted to do muck good; for tke
Moslem kave already a considerable knowledge
of Scriptural names aud facts.

Preaching.
We need hardly say a word on the importance of
the third and sixtk modes of usefulness — preacking
— wketker carried on in ckapels or in the open air,
wketker as repeated in the same locality, or on
extended missionary tours. Eack plan is useful
in its own way. If possible, places already visited
should be revisited several times.
We presume missionaries are generally agreed
that, in preacking, attacks on heathenism should
seldom be made. It generally irritates ; it drives
off rather than draws. Brahmans, and still more so
Musulmans, are often anxious for discussion, and it
is not always possible to avoid it; but tke mis
sionary will extricate himself from its entanglements
as speedily as possible and lovingly proclaim the
glad tidings of salvation. Kind entreaty will seldom
or never fail to soften and impress. Hard, unfeeling
argument will do no good ; in fact, it will do harm.
While we say this, we hold tkat missionaries
should have mastered tke systems of faith with wkich
they deal, and be ready, on fittmg occasions, to show

MODES OF MISSIONARY ACTION. 65
that tkey have done so. Otherwise tkeir skunuing
of controversy will be misunderstood.
It is a great matter wken a "missionary can not
only preack, but sing. A sweet, tender kymn reaches
farther than a strong argument. " A verse may find
kim wko a sermon flies," as George Herbert well says.
Iu recent discussions ou the relative progress of
Christianity and Islam in Africa, it has several times
been asserted that, in preaching to the keatken,
missionaries inculcate " untkinkable and transcen
dental dogmas." Suck is not our experience. The
preaching we kave heard has dwelt especially ou the
life and death, the miracles and parables, of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Eack fact, miracle, or parable forms
a picture whick the rudest Pagan mind can easily
perceive. It is not tke doctrines of tke Gospel tkat
repel the keatken. It is the Hfe it prescribes.
Among Hindus, at all events, if a missionary would
lower the Bible-standard, ke migkt soon have a
threefold or tenfold number of converts.
Translation and Literary Work.
Translations of valuable works into the languages
of India, as well as the composition of original pro
ductions, must be regarded as of the greatest possible
importance. Suck books are required botk for the
growing Ckristian population and tke non-Christian

66 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
communities. A pure literature — there is not at
tkis moment a more pressing want iu India, Ckina, and
Japan. The Ckristian Vernacular Education Society,
wkick was formed in the year of the Mutiny, under
tke presidency of Lord Skaftesbury,1 kas done- excel
lent work for India ; but its revenue is far too small.
A similar society kas recently been formed for China,
whick, we trust, may effect much good. Happily, in
India at least, native autkorship of a high class is
by no means scanty. Already even Hindu ladies
are doing valuable service witk tkeir pens. The late
Toru Dutt of Calcutta, for example, who was a truly
remarkable proof of tke grace and refinement which
tke Hindu woman can attain under tke elevating
influence of tke Gospel, wrote Englisk in prose and
verse witk singular correctness aud taste.
Schools.
There was at one time in influential quarters a
prejudice against schools as an evangelistic agency ;
but it seems largely to kave passed away.
We know of no work more precious, more
delicate, aud more difficult than that of teaching
the Gospel to keathen children. To do it rightly
will require the best energies of the best men in
every mission. Now under that of Lord Northbrook.

MODES OF MISSIONARY ACTION. 67
Education of a kigher kind has been carried
fartkest in India aud among the Ckristian 'commu
nities of tke East. Iu .India the powerful advocacy
of Dr. Duff gave it great prominence ; and the
Scottish Churches kave had iu India much the
largest share of the higher education. For a long
time mission institutions were put to a great dis
advantage by the exclusive patronage which Govern
ment gave its own purely secular colleges ; but
more justice has of late been done to botk missionary
aud native institutions. In accordance witk the
great Despatck on education of 1854, Government
ougkt to witkdraw gradually from direct connection
witk all tke kigher education. Not only is it pledged
to do so, its colleges are far more expensive than
otkers. Moreover, it does not, and cannot, rightly
educate ; for what is tke value of instruction purely
secular ? Even the natives have often deplored the
absence of moral and religious teaching in Govern
ment institutions. Some time ago the First Prince
of Travaucore quoted witk high approbation the
assertion of Pestalozzi tkat intellectual teaching by
itself is positively " pernicious.-" To toss the mind
of India out of superstition into unbelief is strange
work on the part of a Christian Government, aud tke
results must be deplorable. Can men sowtkeTvind
and not reap tke whirlwind ? Therefore let Govern
ment hand over to otker bodies, native or missionary,

68 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
the task it cannot of itself perform. Quite enough,
aud more than enough, remains for it iu tke ele
mentary teaching of the masses (whick Government
has far too muck neglected, and in wkick the
infidelising process hardly comes into play), aud in
tke maiuteuance of colleges for law, medicine,
engineering, and tecknology generally.1
All Christian Colleges ought to be endowed.
It is interesting to note that America, whick does
not believe iu endowing churches, sedulously and
munificently seeks to endow its colleges, wketker
at home or abroad. Wkeu will Britain follow tke
example, aud put its missionary colleges ou a strong
and stable basis ?
Witk regard. to popular education iu India, it is
desirable tkat the missions skould have many of
their converts trained as teachers. Not a few of

1 Since these words were written, the Government of India has
addressed a long despatch to the Local Governments on the subject.
of discipline and moral training in schools. It begins by admitting
that the extension of education has in some measure resulted in the
"growth of tendencies unfavourable to discipline and favourable to
irreverence." Governments are slow to admit mistakes. Let the
Indian Government receive the meed of praise due to a candid
confession which means so much. Unhappily, the remedies it
suggests will be of little avail.
A native gentleman of high position — the present Sheriff of
Madras — lately expressed himself thus on a great public occasion :
— "The country - needs a radical change in the character of its
training schools. . . . The elaboration of a system of Technical
Education has become a great necessity."

MODES OF MISSIONARY ACTION. 69
these might set up schools of tkeir own, receiving
grants-in-aid from Government. The occupation
would be sufficiently remunerative. Iu all suck
schools tke great truths of natural religion could be
inculcated, without giving tke slightest offence to
Hindus or Mokammadans, aud probably with tkeir
decided approbation. We believe that, iu many
cases, the Christian Scriptures could be read and
explained, as is done iu Travancore.1
We have beeu speaking of education as an evan
gelistic agency. It is unnecessary to dwell on tke
necessity of tkorougk Christian training for tke
children of converts. Nothing can exceed this in
importance. Already, iu consequence of tkeir Chris
tian education, the children of converts are steadily
rising iu the scale of society.
Medical Missions.
Of the vast importance of Medical Missions iu every
part of tke foreign field, it seems hardly necessary
to say a word. In Mohammadan lands like Turkey
and Persia, iu wkick direct preaching of the Gospel
1 In the school at Trivandrum, under the direct patronage of the
Hindu Government of Travancore, the Christian Scriptures are
regularly studied. We found there a Syrian Christian diligently
teaching the Gospel of St. Matthew to Hindus, several of whom
were Brahmans. Apparently they were much interested in the
lesson.

7o PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
is compassed witk so muck difficulty, a medical
missionary would kave abundant opportunities of
doing good. The office of tke physician is keld in
tke kigkest esteem by all Mohammadans ; aud no
man could enjoy more direct access to the hearts
of tke Moslem than a Ckristian physician bent on
doing good to botk soul aud body. Even when he
could not preack, kis life would be a sermon.
Specially valuable are Female Medical Missions,
since, as a rule, the women of the East are acces-
- sible only to women. Would that for every lady-
doctor now iu India and China we had a thousand !
It is deplorable to think that, for generations to
come, there will be an immensity of physical suffer
ing, especially among women aud ckildren, whick
medical skill could remove, — aye, aud of premature
death, which could easily be prevented.1
Ou the whole, iu reference to the various modes
of evangelistic effort, we kave little or no change to
propose. Eack form of effort has been blessed, and
doubtless, in the goodness of God, will continue to

1 We heartily rejoice in the effort made, under the presidency of
the Countess of Dufferin, to meet this great evil. Lady Dufferin
wrote on 25th October 1887 that the Jubilee Fund for this object
amounted to five lakhs of rupees — say nearly ^40,000. By 31st
December the sum of 9331 rupees seems to have been added. May
all success attend the scheme ! Yet we must remember that the
Zenana Medical Missions have a still higher aim, since they min
ister to the soul as well as to the body.

MODES OF MISSIONARY ACTION. 71
be so. We still call attention to the most powerful
of all agencies — that of private, unofficial effort on
the part of native Christians. " Every man a mis
sionary," — every man a mirror, receiving and re
flecting light; — let tkat be more aud more tke
cry of tke rising Churches in Heathendom. Yet
we do not require to press this as an exhortation ;
for it is tkeir cry more aud more, and tkerefore do
we feel assured tkat the final triumph is hasten
ing on.
Tkere is another form of effort that is fitted to
do muck good — we mean visits of earnest Chris
tian meu from Europe. Addresses to natives may
in India be given in many cases in English, aud in
other cases tkrougk interpreters. Tkis kind of work
is not new ; but it is increasing. Tkus, a Winter
Mission, consisting of six clergymen aud two lay
men, kas this season been sent out by the C. M. S.
for work among ' Christians • and heathens in India.
It kas beeu warmly -welcomed, and seems to be
doing muck good. Suck deputations skould uot be
limited to India.
But wkeu tke trutk has been published aud men
have separated from keatkeuism, wkat follows ? The
converts kave to be gathered into congregations
for public worship, tke preaching of tke Word, and

72 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
the administration of tke sacraments. For suck pur
poses Paul and Barnabas " ordained elders in every
ckurck." , We presume it will be universally ad
mitted tkat tkeir example skould be followed as
soon as suitable office-bearers can be found. For
tke office of pastor native converts should be care
fully trained.
But congregations should not remain isolated.
How skould tkey be associated ? Here we come
on the question of Church-government ; whick we
will not polemically discuss. Three great forms of
it exist — the Congregationalist, Presbyterian, aud
Episcopalian. In Christendom even Congregationalists kave
tkeir denominational " Unions." In Heathendom
suck unions are absolutely necessary, as a mini
mum. Presbyterian missions will naturally unite, the
native congregations under Presbyteries, Synods,
and General Assemblies. Episcopalians will appoint
Biskops witk dioceses.
But everything must be done witk a view to
render the Mission Ckurches as soon as possible
independent of foreign control. They will of them
selves demand this ; but it is, at any rate, necessary
to their healthy growth and extension. Self-
support must go along with self-government; it

MODES OF MISSIONARY ACTION, 73
will seldom precede. Of course, wken foreign
support and control kave ceased, tkere skould still
remain loving aud frequent intercourse between
the Mother Churches and their daughters iu Hea
thendom.

( 74 )

WHAT NEXT?
i . Enlargement of effort, far more than change
of metkods, is required ; but how vast is tke necessary
enlargement !
Here tke tone of joy iu wkick we kave beeu
speaking must be laid aside. Undoubtedly our
first duty is sorrowful confession of neglect and
earnest pleading for forgiveness, with a determina
tion, God helping us, to bring forth fruits meet for
repentance. What Ckristian cau rest satisfied with the pittance
now raised for tke conversion of tke keatken ? 1 It
is little more tkau two millions for all Protestant
missions. Lack of funds indicates lack of feeling.
Contrast this witk the enormous sums spent on
amusements, or on intoxicating drink (about 130
millions), or on tobacco, in the United Kingdom
alone. When the contrast is first mentioned to any
1 In the Churches of North America it is said to be xT^'h part of
1 per cent, of income.

WHAT NEXT? 75
Christian assembly, the hearers can hardly believe
the figures to be correct.
Again, are we satisfied with the proportion of
labourers going forth to reap the fields that are
white uuto the harvest ? In round numbers, we
have seut forth 3000 ordained ministers, 730 lay
men, and 2500 women — ckiefly tke wives of mis
sionaries. Tkree tkousand missionaries for all
Heathendom ! Why, the Presbyterian portion of
Scotland has a larger number. If Scotland, witk all
tke auxiliary influences of family instruction, schools,
city missionaries, &c, &c, requires a minister for
every tkousand inkabitauts, then how many does
Heathendom require ? But even give tke same pro
portion, aud we need, for every one man already seut,
to provide about three hundred. We by no means
forget tkat one of our chief endeavours must be
to raise up native labourers, preachers, and teachers.
Still, tke foreign staff requires muck enlargement
even iu countries like India and China ; and we are
reminded of Xavier's passionate outcry : " It often
comes into my miud to go round all the Universities
of Europe, crying like a madman to all the learned
men there, whose learning is greater than tkeir
charity, ' Ah ! what a multitude of souls is, through
your fault, shut out of heaven ! ' " And to those who
reply tkat, in these enlightened days, few believe in
that melancholy consequence, we say, as Mr. Spurgeon

76 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
said some time ago, " The question is not whether
the heathen will be saved if they do not hear tke
Gospel, but wketker you will be saved if you do
not send tkem tke Gospel." Tke command is per
emptory ; the duty is prompt obedience.1
2. Lack of interest in missions largely depends
ou lack of knowledge. How shall tke knowledge be
enlarged ?
We must by no means overlook the immense
importance of the pulpit in this connectiou. If no
missionary fire burn in tke pulpit, the pews will be icy
cold. We trust that more and more systematically
tke great subject is presented to their flocks by
ministers of religion. Striking facts can be drawn
from mission kistory witk wkick the preacher can
illustrate and enforce his teaching. And ought a
single Lord's day to pass in which tkere is not in
the prayers pointed allusion to tke work among botk
Jews and Gentiles ? Whatever difficulty there may
be iu regard to this in congregations wkick wor
ship in fixed liturgical forms, there is no difficulty
when extempore prayer is offered.
Certainly we do not overlook the value of addresses
1 A3 to t»e wants of Indian women alone, in 1880 Sir Salar
Jung wrote that no fewer than 1025 medical women, educated in
England, were absolutely necessary for India as a beginning ; but
that even that number was "wholly insufficient." On the British
register there were in 1887 only 54 ! — Dr. Jex Blake.

WHAT NEXT? 77
delivered by missionaries who are fresh from the
field abroad ; we do not overlook the value of tke
great " May Meetings," aud similar reunions ; we do
not overlook the value of books on missions ; but
still the great propelling power must be put forth
iu tke ordinary ministrations of tke multitudinous
pulpits of Europe aud America. At the same time,
we cannot dispense with any auxiliary influences.
In Sunday-schools, in addresses to children, and
family teaching, what subject could be more attrac
tive to tke young ? With all earnestness we would
insist on tke importance of parental influence in this
connection. The future Brainerd or Martyn may best
receive the first impulse to a missionary life at his
mother's knee ; and surely many a Christian mother
would feel it a kigk privilege to instil the feeling of
self-sacrifice into a- sou or daughter's soul. There is
reason to fear that hitherto, even in pious households,
the influence of parents, brothers, sisters, kas been to
discourage, rather than encourage, those members of
tke family wko sougkt to dedicate tkemselves to the
missionary life ; but when the zeal for missions rises,
as ere long it will rise, to tke keight of a holy passion,
all this will change, and every Christian family will
rank it among its selectest honours that one of its
number kas gone fortk to the high places of the
field. We haye all keard witk admiration of the
Spartan mother, so moved by devotion to her country

78 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
that, as she seut fortk ker son to tke battlefield,
she presented kim with a shield, and said, " With
this, my son, or on it," — tkat is, " Return in triumph
witk it, or be borne upon it dead ; but fling it not,
to save tky life, iugloriously away ! " Cauuot de
votion to Ckrist raise a motker's keart as kigk as
devotion to country ever did ?
Let tkere be a koly rivalry among tke . Churches
iu this matter. For pious men to wage among eack
other vehement aud even bitter controversy ou points
of no fundamental importance, wkile a thousand
millions of tke kumau race are perisking before
tkeir eyes, reminds us of Jokn Foster's terrible com
parison of tke state of Ckristeudom to a great battle
raging iu the antediluvian world, and bostile squad
rons doing desperate deeds of valour against each
other, while the universal deluge was rising round
them. 3. We have spoken with muck sorrow of tke paltry
sum wkick is as yet raised for missions. But we
must not forget tkat already tkere are mauy zealous
labourers in the field wko receive no salary ; they
have gone forth at their own expense. All the
ordained agents of tke English " Universities' Mis
sion" do so. The number of these volunteers, if
we may call tkem so — but they may well belong
to tke regular army — ougkt very largely to increase.

WHAT NEXT? 79
We cannot rest content until multitudes wkom God
kas blessed witk a competence skall feel it tkeir
greatest honour to dedicate themselves aud tkeir
possessions to tke work abroad. We need meu like
Lord Shaftesbury in Heathendom as muck as in
Ckristendom. The noblest of the land ougkt to
deem themselves still more ennobled by going " far
hence unto the Gentiles." Does the assertion raise
a smile ? Why should it ? We advocate no new
thing. Columba and several of tke old Celtic
missionaries were of noble, or even princely, lineage.
Has tke Gospel lost tke power it possessed a
tkousand years ago to move tke higher as well
as tke lower classes ? At a later time that
truly remarkable missionary Raymond Lull was
a nobleman of Majorca ; or, coming to still later
days, Xavier was a Portuguese of position. Scot
land is still mourning over the early death of an
Earl's son, tke Hon. Ion Keith-Falconer, son of the
Earl of Kintore, wko kad consecrated himself, witk
rich acquisitions in Oriental lore, to work-among the
Mokammadans of Arabia. He is dead, but kis kigh
example lives, aud will not die.1
1 Equally striking is the case of the Hon. J. H. H. Gordon,
a son of the fifth Earl of Aberdeen. He was brought under deep
religious impressions at the age of eighteen, and thenceforward was
diligent in seeking to bring men to Christ. At the University of
St. Andrews he was, according to Principal Shairp, " the favourite
and flower of all his generation." So at Cambridge. A man of

80 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
Aud there are -things iu kistory more remarkable
still. Notking in tke early annals of Buddhism is
more striking tkan its missionary zeal. The praises
wkick some are fain to lavisk ou it as a system of
belief are sufficiently foolisk ; but we cannot note
tke efforts of its early professors to extend their
religion witkout being lost iu wonder. Tkeir mes
sage was a message of despair; tkey could only
assert that existence is misery, and the sooner it
ceases tke better. Yet they deemed the message
true ; tkey tkougkt it might be of use to sorrow-
stricken humanity, aud therefore they hastened to
publisk it abroad ; and, iu doing so, they skunued
not trackless deserts nor inkospitable mountains nor
tempestuous oceans. Conspicuous among tkose extra
ordinary missionaries were the sou and daughter
of Asoka, tke first Buddhist sovereign of India.
The Prince Mahendo and the Princess Sanghamitta
laid aside the purple robe of royalty, put on the
yellow garments of the mendicant ascetic, devoted
themselves to a missionary life, proceeded to the
island of Ceylon — theu tenanted by worshippers of
varied accomplishments ; his religion bright and sunny. From an
early period he had a desire to become a missionary. He intended
to proceed to the Transkei Territory in British Kaffraria, and there,
having purchased land, to carry on mission-work, assisted by a staff ¦
of Christian agents. He died in 1868. The "Gordon Memorial
Mission " was founded by his relatives in connection with the death
of this remarkable young man.'

WHAT NEXT ? 81
demons — and tkere lived aud probably died as
teackers of the new religion. What a lesson !
Wkat a rebuke to slumbering Christendom ! Surely
tke self-denial of tkose old Buddkist missionaries
is infinitely pathetic. Can it fail to shame us ?
Will it fail to rouse us ?
4. We next speak of union aud co-operation in
Missions. It is a grand and extensive theme ; but
we cau touch only on certain aspects of it.
We cannot possibly forget kow our Blessed Lord,
in His great intercessory prayer, pleads for tke unity
of His people, and witk that unity connects the
belief of the world iu His Divine mission. It is a
solemn question, What is tke nature aud extent
of tkat unity? How far does it imply a visible,
external, formal oneness ; or kow far would unity of
keart and aim answer the great idea ?
At all events, it is plain tkat we are far off from
tke state of wkick tke Lord Jesus speaks. For ex
ample, there are uow more than thirty-five Churck
organisations in India. We may be thankful that
there kas, ou the wkole, been not muck of mutual
collision, though collision there has been ; but who
cau tolerate tke idea of our European aud American
divisions being transplanted to the East and tkere
perpetuated ? Sectarian jealousies are deplorable at
home ; they would be ruinous abroad.

82 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
Tke missionaries see tke necessity of union aud
are striving for its attainment. To a certain extent
tkey are successful. Iu Japan, five Presbyterian
bodies kave coalesced into one Church ; aud the
converts of tkree Episcopakan missions — two from
England, tke otker from America, have done the
same tking. So at Amoy in Ckiua, the English and
American Presbyterians are blended in one Mission
Churck ; and indeed tkey were the first to set the
good example of suck union. So, doubtless, other
denominations will gravitate towards each otker and
gradually coalesce, until iu eack mission sphere there
will be but one Episcopalian body, one Presbyterian,
oue Methodist, and so on. So far well.
But are these great divisions to be perpetuated
in tke mission-field ? The question is deeply im
portant, and demands earnest consideration.
We are disposed to think it will be solved
chiefly by the Mission Churches themselves.1 They
will ckoose their own ecclesiastical polity. It will
probably be no mere reproduction of any form,
whether European or American. They say they
will attempt to find, and possibly they may succeed
in finding, a system wkich shall combine tke merits
1 Thus the Japanese Christians connected with the Episcopal
Churches " avow their desire for an independent national Episcopal
Church, separated for a time from the other Churches, but looking
forward to union hereafter."— C. M. S. Report, 1886-87.

WHAT NEXT? 83
of eack of the leading forms of Churck order now
existing in Christendom. Already iu Japan an
earnest effort is made to blend the leading ckarac-
teristics of Presbytery aud Congregationalism ; and
tkere are thoughts of a uuiou more comprehensive
still. We do uot say tkat tkere will be only one Churck
in eack great mission-field. India consists of various
nations, speaking various languages. Each great
province may prefer to kave its own Church ; each
Ckurck may have its distinctive ckaracteristics. But
among these Churches there will be, we fervently
trust, full intercommunion. No unchurching of
eack otker. If not one Churck in the strict sense,
yet a grand confederation of Churches. If not in
corporation, yet hearty co-operatiou. And in so far
as tkis great ideal may be realised, the union of the
Churches iu Heathendom will react powerfully ou
our miserably divided Christendom. The teachers
will perforce learu from the pupils.1
1 The unity of spirit that exists among the .Native Christians of
India is truly beautiful. They freely intermingle, not understand
ing, and with difficulty tolerating, the ecclesiastical barriers which
in Europe and America separate Christians from Christians. I was
much struck with this unity in Calcutta on a remarkable occasion
when the Brahmos appeared as three separate and irreconcilable
bodies, while the Christians marched as one great company of
brethren. This unity, thank God, remains unbroken. But the
oneness and mutual love of Christians is exhibited on a far grander
scale than this. The massacres at U-Ganda stirred the hearts of

84 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
Already tkere kave beeu very important confer
ences of missionaries iu tke foreign field. There
kave been several provincial conferences in India,
and tkere kave beeu two great general ones, attended
by missionaries gatkered from all parts of tke coun
try, aud, we may say, representing all tke forms of
Evangelic Protestantism. Great good kas resulted
from tkese " koly convocations." Important ques
tions kave been discussed, important information
kas been given ; and tke hearts of meu kave been
more closely drawn together.
Missionary conferences at home are equally im
portant. In particular, an interesting and useful
one was held in London teu years ago ; and one
whick, in several respects, was perhaps more im
portant still, was previously held iu Liverpool. Pro
bably such conferences will henceforth be required
once every five years.
converts in all parts of the world. Most touching letters of
sympathy poured in on the C. M. S. Committee, not only from
members of Anglican missions, but from others, e.g., from Christians
in Madagascar connected with the London Missionary Society, and
from the pupils of the English Presbyterian Mission at Swatow in
China. Yes, well said Keble —
"No distance breaks the tie of blood —
Brothers are brothers evermore.
So is it with true Christian hearts ;
Their mutual share in Jesus' blood
An everlasting bond imparts
Of holiest brotherhood."

WHAT NEXT? 85
It is very probable tkat all Protestant Churches
and Missionary Societies will soon unite iu setting
apart the same time annually for prayer aud sup
plication on behalf of missions, and tkat in all parts
of the world tke missionaries who have gone forth
will — along witk the flocks they kave gathered
out of keatkenism — rejoicingly fall iu witk tke
arrangement. Indeed, tkis is already done to a
large extent ; and we may expect tkat, at the Gene
ral Missionary Convocation next June, the arrange
ments for this great annual concert of prayer may
be finally completed.
5 . Some warm friends of Missions think the time
has come when the unevangelised portion of the
world should be mapped out and divided by common
consent among tke great missionary bodies.1 Tke
conception is a grand one, whatever practical diffi
culties may at present stand in the way of its fulfil
ment. One thing must not be overlooked. Many
fields of labour whick are said to be occupied are
occupied but nominally ; one single man is perhaps
toiling among a million of heathen ; and any real
occupation would require a double, triple, or quad
ruple number of workmen. Tkere is a fascination
about fresk enterprises wkick may easily carry us
1 Especially the late Isaac Taylor, and more recently Mr, Arth
ington of Leeds and the Rev. Dr. PierBon of America.

86 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
away, aud make us leave fainting labourers to sink
forgotten at tkeir posts, wkile we are pressing ou
to tke " regions beyond," Still, tke conception of
tkus dividing Heatkendom is noble aud inspiring •
aud we must struggle towards its practical accom-
pliskment. Let us begin by eack missionary body
proposing to itself a definite high aim whick it will
strive to attain during tke next decennial or quin
quennial period ; and let there be full understand
ing among the Churches as to what each hopes to
accomplish. There would then be a generous, holy
rivalry among tke various regiments of tke one grand
army ; eack would begin to realise tke magnitude of
tke contest ; eack would enter into tke joys aud
sorrows of multitudinous " brethren in arms ; " each
would be stimulated to " do exploits," as tke prophet
says, iu tke cause of God aud man. At present
each regiment thinks almost exclusively of itself.
There is no general plan of campaign. Eack regi
ment chooses its own ground and fights its own
battle. Hence narrow, sectional, almost selfish
thoughts. What mere earthly campaign could be
carried on in any such way to a successful issue ?

( 87 )

VI.
CONCLUSION.
It is time tkat these remarks skould draw to a close.
To the best of our ability we have sought honestly
to present the subject we kave been discussing in
botk its aspects. We have compared tke present
witk the past, and kave spoken of the increase of
evangelistic zeal, contrasting tke something accom
plished now with tke nothing attempted before.
We have also compared tke work uow done witk
the work that remains undone ; and perhaps, as we
kave been doing so, a tone of sorrow, capable of
being taken for a tone of despondency, may have
been perceptible in the statement.
But in truth there is no cause for despondency.
Sorrow is right, rebuke is right, but despondency
is entirely wrong ; for a new era in missions is
beginning. Nay, it has begun. More tkan ten years ago I was
conversing on tkis subject with Dr. Duff. No man
used stronger language than he in reference to the

88 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
lack of missionary zeal among congregations at
kome. To kim tke keart of tke Ckurck'seemed cold
as ice, and ke sorrowed over tkis witk an exceeding
sorrow. But wkeu I ventured to say that there
were indications iu many quarters of awakening
zeal, ke said ke too could see tkem, aud that he
believed a great ckange was coming on.
Since that time tke spirit of Christians at home,
like tkat of Paul at Athens, has been " stirred "
witkin tkem, and is being stirred more and more.
We kave all been thinking more or less of the dis
honour done to tke True aud Living God tkrougkout
Heatkendom, aud of tke misery of tkose wko dwell
iu tke region of tke skadow of death. Tke marvel
lous openings wkick, iu nearly all lauds, have been
made for tke proclamatiou of tke Gospel kave
compelled attention ; the large amount of blessing
wkich God has made to rest ou faithful work has
in some degree warmed our hearts, and gratitude
impels us to run the way of His commandments ;
and last, not least, a sense of our guilty neglect iu
tke past now prompts tke desire to make up for
it, as far as in us lies, by double diligence in time
to come. The Church, as if drugged with opiates,
kas slept a death-like sleep; but at least she uow
begins to ask, Have I not slumbered too long ?
Now, for the first time in history, we can kave
some adequate idea of the grandeur of the com-

CONCLUSION. 89
mission, " Teack all nations." 1 Now, too, for the
first time in history, all nations kave beeu made
accessible. We are first overwkelmed by tke mag
nitude of tke allotted task, aud tken the believing
soul strives, with tke kelp of God, to rise to tke
kigk occasion.
Many things have concurred to produce tkis
kappy ckange ; among others, Mr. Moody's visit to
tkis ¦ country. Not tkat he spoke of Foreign Mis
sions; during kis first visit he appeared purposely
to skuu the subject; but he spoke of Ckrist's love
and His claims, aud of perfect consecration ou the
part of believers ; and tkese tkings, wken understood
and felt, enkiudle missionary zeal.
Proofs of the awakening meet us almost every-
wkere. It is as wken the soft breath of spring
passes over the world, aud gladdens at ouce a thou
sand regions with life aud fragrance and beauty.
" Tke winter is past, the raiu is over aud gone, the
flowers appear on the eartk, the time of the singing
of birds kas come, and tke voice of tke turtle is
keard in our land."
Women are coming forward in rapidly increasing
numbers to enter at doors wkick were skut and fast-
barred for ages, but are uow flying open on every
baud. We need as many women as meu in tke
1 We think this sentiment was lately expressed by the Bishop of
London.

90 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
mission-field ; aud ere long we skall doubtless kave
them. Wkat a remarkable movement kas there beeu
among students — as at Edinburgh, Dublin, Cam
bridge, and now most of all iu America ! x In
America it is almost startling in its magnitude, as
wken tke prophet says, " Thy keart shall fear and
be enlarged." We kave been too muck disposed
to measure the Divine keart by the narrowness of
our own. Let us henceforth " expect great things
aud attempt great things ! "
In the autumn of 1886, two young men, gradu
ates of Princeton College, New Jersey, after spend
ing some time under Mr. Moody, set out on an
important work. They were the sous of mission
aries, aud born in India. Their purpose was to
visit the colleges, and. invite students to declare
themselves " willing and desirous, God permitting,
to be foreign missionaries." They carried out their
plan, and, by the latest accounts, no fewer than
2 200 persons (including more tkan 300 females)
kave declared their readiness to go forth to the
keathen field.2 They belong to the various Evan
gelical denominations. Above 300 are in Canada,
1 The rapid addition of a hundred labourers to the "China
Inland Mission " is also very remarkable.
a See a paper by Dr. M'Cosh, late President of Princeton
College ; it is quoted in the Foreign Missionary for May 1887.
See also Bombay Guardian, January 7, 1888.

CONCLUSION. 91
tke rest are iu tke United States. We know few
movements in mission history at all comparable to
tkis. Dr. M'Cosk rightly speaks of it as laying on
the Churches " an awful responsibility."
Doubtless the whole number of those who kave
tkus " willingly offered tkemselves " will not become
missionaries. Some may draw back when the first
gusk of feeling passes away ; others will be found
disqualified by feeble health. But, when all abate
ments are made, it is a truly remarkable phenome
non. What is the duty of the Church in connection
witk it? Thanksgiving, sympathy, assistance, —
fervent thanksgiving, hearty sympathy, prompt and
large assistance.
Some of the students wko kave thus responded
to tke call of Christ may go forth at their own ex
pense, but many will require pecuniary help. At
present the income barely suffices to supply the
necessities of meu already in the field ; and tke
missionary revenue of tke American Churches re
quires to be more than doubled by the time tke
missionary baud is ready to go fortk, — and that,
we presume, will be from tkree to five years keuce.
Our expectation, like our prayer, is that He wko
kas toucked tke kearts of these young disciples will
touck tke keart of the whole membership of the
Churches ; and that, wken suck numbers feel it a
duty and an honour to Go, corresponding numbers

92 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
will feel it a duty and an konour to give. There is
no lack of means ; let tkere be no lack of keart ! It
will be unspeakably deplorable if, at suck' a crisis,
the Churches shall slumber on.1
Hitherto missionaries, aud all faitkful Christians
wko kave realised tke astual condition of the
keatken, kave felt as tke devoted Judson felt when
tkis groan ascended from his deepest soul — " Will
tke Christian world ever awake ? Will means ever
be used adequate to the necessities of the keathen
1 The Missionary Herald of June 1887 contains an extract from
a letter to the Treasurer of the American Board from a gentleman
and his wife, who wish their names to be withheld, but send 5000
dollars — say^iooo — to the Treasurer, with the remark that their
hearts are greatly moved to hear of so many young men and women
offering themselves as missionaries. So will many hearts be moved.
" They come, they come, these brave young hearts,
Aflame with earnest zeal ;
They come with hopes as high as heaven,
With purpose firm as steel.
They come by scores, these brave young hearts,
From homes all o'er the land ;
They come anointed of the Lord,
And led by His right hand.
They come, they come ! God bless them all,
And speed them on their way !
May others come, till all the world
Shall own Messiah's sway ! "
These lines— which we quote not as highly poetical, but as being
full of heart— were found written on a slip of paper at a meeting
of the Prudential Board, 19th April, at which sixteen persons were
appointed to the foreign field.

CONCLUSION. 93
world ? 0 Lord, send help ! Our waiting eyes are
unto Tkee ! " Suck cries kave pierced tke keavens.
Therefore tke Ckurckes will not slumber on. And
surely -tke man must be blind who cannot discern
the signs of tke times, wko does not see tkat great
tkings are at kand. To tke question, " What may
happen ? " the best rejoinder is, " Wkat may not
happen?" Let us lift up our heads in tke kope
that "redemption drawetk nigh," — yea, "the time
of tke restitution of all tkings."
Of a great change recorded in Scripture it is
said tkat " tke tking was done suddenly." So, iu
the providence of God, tke end often comes un
expectedly, even wken a silent preparation kas been
going on long before. Tke fruit kas been banging
on tke tree, and little ckauge kas been from day to
day perceptible ; tke ingatkering kas seemed scarcely
drawing nearer. But tke splendour of summer
passes into tke mellow magnificence of autumn,
and tken is " tke fulness of the times," the fitness
of tke time. -A great wind skakes the tree, and
suddenly tke ripened fruit can be gathered all
around. Dr. Marskman of Serampore was accustomed to
say tkat tke difficulty was not witk the hearts of
the keatken ; it was with the keart of tke Ckurck,
¦ — its coldness, its contractedness. But the heart
of tke Ckurck is being warmed and enlarged ; the

94 PROTESTANT FOREIGN MISSIONS.
Lord in many ways is stirring it ; aud probably move
ments botk among tke Jews aud iu Heathendom
are at kand wkick will fill tke languid world with
astouiskment. Let tke keaveus rejoice* aud let the
eartk be glad ; for tkose " scenes surpassing fable,"
on wkick tke eye of tke seers of Israel dekghted
from afar to gaze, may ere long be "scenes of
accomplished bliss."
Therefore let every Christian be full of prayer and
hope. Let kim say, in tkose words of Milton which
rise almost to tke sublimity of Holy Writ : —
" Come fortk out of Thy royal chambers, 0
Prince of all tke kings of tke earth ! Put ou the
robes of Thine imperial majesty! Take up that
unlimited sceptre which Thine Almighty Father
katk bequeatked Thee ! For now' the voice of Thy
Bride doth call Thee, and all creatures sigh to be
renewed."

APPENDIX.

A.
Rise of Missionary Zeal since the Reformation.
Sweden.
The first Protestant Mission was sent out by Gustavus
Vasa, king of Sweden, in the year 1559. It was estab
lished in order to evangelise the inhabitants of Lapland.
About the year 1600 five churches were built for the
Lapps. Later on, a minister was appointed to accompany
them in their wanderings. Holland.
Early in the seventeenth century the Dutch wrested from
the Portuguese many of their territories in the East ; and
the question of the conversion of the natives soon engaged
attention. Not only were men's ideas widened, their
hearts were enlarged. The Dutch East India Company,
¦which dates from 1602, had tke conversion of the heathen
as one of its professed aims. Various treatises appeared,
advocating the cause of missions. Professor Walseus of
Leyden established in 1622 an institute for training
missionaries. Some admirable missionaries were sent out,
and excellent work was done. Ere long the movement

96 APPENDIX.
became political rather than religious ; and, as the mere
name of Christian secured the favour of Government, pro
fession largely took the place of true conversion. In this
way tke Hollanders too closely followed the policy of their
rivals, tke Portuguese; England and Scotland.
The possession of foreign settlements had led England to
think of tke duty of evangelising their inhabitants. "Wken
Sir Humphrey Gilbert led an expedition to America in
1583, ke expressly included mission-work among the
objects iu view ; he spoke of the necessity of having com
passion on poor infidels, " captived of the devil." In
1628 the charter granted to the Massachusetts Company
affirmed tke duty of winning tke natives of America " to
the knowledge of the true God and Saviour." The seal
of the Company bore tke figure of an Indian, with these
words on a scroll issuing from his mouth, " Come over
and help us." In 1644 a petition signed by seventy mini
sters of religion in England and Scotland was presented
to the Long Parliament, praying tkat steps might be taken
for the evangelisation of the heathen in America and the
West India . Islands ; and in 1 648 Parliament issued a
circular to all the congregations calling for contributions
towards that object. In 1631 the celebrated John Eliot
left England, and in 1646 he began his great work among
the American Indians. He was only the first of a noble
succession of men— -the remarkable family of the Mayhews
among them — who consecrated their entire lives to work
among the heathen.
During the seventeenth century several of the most

APPENDIX. 97
distinguished men in England manifested a deep interest
in tke cause of Missions.
Tke plan of Cromwell to form a great Protestant Propa
ganda, embracing the whole world, was a very noble con
ception; but the times were too stormy to allow it to be
carried into execution.
¦ Very touching was the language of Baxter. When, at
the. Restoration nearly two thousand ministers were for
bidden to preach, he wrote thus: "My soul is much
afilicted with thoughts of the world, and more drawn out
in desire of its conversion than heretofore. I was wont
to look little farther than England in my prayers, . . .
or if I. prayed for the conversion of the Jews, that was
almost all. But now . . .' there is nothing that lietk so
heavy on my heart as the thought of the miserable nations
of the earth. Could we but go among Tartars, Turks,
and Heathen, and speak their language, I should be little
troubled for the silencing of 1800 ministers."
The Hon. Robert Boyle, one of the founders of the
Royal Society, was also deeply concerned about the spread
of the Gospel. He paid the expense of publishing Bishop
Bedell's translation of the New Testament into Irish, of a
Malay version of the Gospels and Acts, and of Pococke's
Arabic translation of Grotius's treatise De Veritate Religi-
onis Christianas. He also founded the Boyle Lectures for
the refutation of Judaism, Paganism, Mohammadanism,
Atheism, and Deism.
In the eighteenth century Bishop Berkeley formed the
project of a Christian College at Bermuda for the purpose
of extending the Gospel among the American Indians.
He proceeded to America in 1728 at great personal sacri-
G

98 APPENDIX
flee, and waited three years in the vain hope that Govern
ment would fulfil its promise of support. The attempt
was worthy of the high Christian character of this distin
guished man.
A Society was formed in 1649, called "A Corporation
for Promoting and Propagating the Gospel iu New Eng
land." 1
The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge was
formed in 1698; and in 1701 the Society for the Pro
pagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.
Both of the two last Societies, however, attended to the
spiritual wants of English colonists more than those of
the heathen. The former indeed sustained the Lutheran
missions in India throughout last century. The latter
only began missions to the ' heathen in the present
century. The charter of the East India Company, as given in
1698 and renewed in 1702, required that at every station
there should be a chaplain who should learn the language
of the country and instruct in religion the native servants
of the Company. Germany.
But we must now go back and note the rise of the
missionary spirit in Germany. It is interesting to observe
that its origin is traceable to the celebrated Grotius, a
1 This is not the same as the well-known " Society for the Propa
gation of the Gospel." After the American War of Independence,
it transferred its operations to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
It still exists. It employs clergymen and teachers. It has lands
in the provinces now mentioned, and in England.

APPENDIX, 99
Dutchman, but for some time Ambassador of Sweden at
Paris. Seven students from Liibeck there came under his
influence, and were moved to devote themselves to a mis
sionary life. The most noted of these was Peter Heyling,
son of a goldsmith of Liibeck. He left Paris in 1632,
and proceeded by way of Malta and Alexandria, reaching
Abyssinia in the end of 1634 or beginning of 1635. He
was an uncommon man both in attainments and devoted-
ness. His translation of the New Testament into Amharic
was a valuable work.
From about the year 1664 a most earnest attempt was
made by an Austrian nobleman, Ernst Von Welz, to
arouse the Churches of Germany to a sense of their obli
gation to diffuse the Gospel among heathen races. The
result was small, although the pleading was most pathetic.
Von Welz proved by noble self-denial that he spoke from
deep and conscientious conviction. He abandoned his
title of Baron, was ordained to the office of missionary, de
voted his fortune to the work, and proceeded to labour in
Dutch Guiana. Here the admirable man soon died, appa
rently having done all he did in vain. But his memory
is precious, and his example is surely most arousing. .
We may next refer to the evangelistic zeal of one of
the greatest men of modern days, the philosopher Leibnitz.
The Berlin Academy was founded in 1700. Leibnitz had
sufficient influence to introduce as part of its basis the
resolution that the Society should "occupy itself with the
propagation of the true faith and Christian virtue." So
far as the Academy was concerned, the scheme of the
philosopher fell to the ground ; but the great conception
bore fruit in various ways.

ioo APPENDIX.Scandinavia.
The next name that demands attention is that of
Thomas von Westen, born at Trondhjem (Drontheim), in
Norway. He was a man of rare devotedness. In 1 710
he became pastor of Vedo, near his native place, and
preached the truth witk all earnestness and much success.
But his heart was especially drawn out in pity towards the
numerous heathen nomads in the north of the country. A
college for training missionaries to labour among them was
established by Government in 1 7 1 6. Westen was appointed
director. He made three laborious missionary journeys'
in the far north. His literary and other labours were
incessant, and his ardent zeal was communicated to a
number of devoted disciples.1
We may be said to enter on a new epoch with the
establishment of the Danish Mission to Tranquebar in
Southern India. Denmark, indeed, was only too slow in
taking up this work. She had been trading with Southern
India and in possession of Tranquebar for nearly a cen
tury, but nothing had been done for the conversion of the
natives. Dr. Lutkens, the chaplain of King Frederick IV.,
when residing at Berlin, had come under the influence of
both Spener and Erancke, two of the most honoured names
in the records of German piety. At his suggestion two
German candidates of theology were ordained and sent out
to Tranquebar in the end of 1705. These were Ziegenbalg
and Pliitschau. The mission, indeed, was German rather
. x Herzog, in Schaff's Encyclopedia. See also Dr. F. Stevenson's
" Dawn of the Modern Mission " for a vivid sketch of Westen's
character. This remarkable man is too little known about.

APPENDIX. 101
than Danish. It received pecuniary support from the
Danish Government, but Danish theologians gave it little
sympathy. The main stay of the enterprise was Franeke,
who resided at Halle. The interest taken in the mission
in Britain was greatly deepened by a visit paid by the ex
cellent Ziegenbalg to Europe, including England, ia 17 14.
A real Danish mission was begun when Hans Egede,
a Norwegian, proceeded as a missionary to Greenland in
1 72 1. Egede was a man of truly consecrated life. Mar
vellous was his patience in pressing on the cold hearts of
his countrymen the claims of the heathen for thirteen
years before he was sent out. Egede in broken health
left Greenland in 1736 ; but the mission still went on.
The Moravians.
Before this, however, another community had entered
on the field with a lofty consecration which has ever since
been an example and a rebuke to the rest of Christendom.
We speak of the Moravians or United Brethren, whose
efforts have been all along, in the words of William
Wilberforce, " supported by a courage which no dangers
can intimidate, and a quiet constancy which no hardships
can exhaust."
The moving spirit in connection with these missions
was Count Zinzendorf. He had been brought into con
tact both with Franeke and Ziegenbalg ; and a visit to
Copenhagen in 173 1 greatly strengthened his desire for
the conversion of the heathen. In 1732 the community
at Herrnhut sent out two missionaries to the West Indies,
and early in 1733 two others to Greenland; and ere long
the intense ardour of Zinzendorf seemed transfused into

102 APPENDIX.
the whole Church. In six years from the time the nuV
feionaries had sailed for Greenland, the conversion of Kajar-
nak — than which none is more celebrated in missionary
annals — added fresh fuel to the flame ; and the small and
poor Moravian brotherhood became a city set upon a hill,
conspicuous far and wide. We are not concerned with
the question whether the modes of work adopted by them
were in all respects the wisest possible ; whether, for
example, they did not too long overlook the importance
of training a native ministry ;l but in their ardent longing
for the conversion of souls and the maintenance of a
high standard of personal piety among the converts, they
have all along been nobly eminent. About one in sixty of
their adult members becomes a missionary to the heathen.
The parent Church numbers only one-third of the converts
gathered out of Heathendom. England and Scotland.
Until near the end of the eighteenth century, the inte
rest in missions, as exhibited in England, was lamentably
small. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
Foreign Parts was languid. Somewhat less so was the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
In 1709 a Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge
was formed in Scotland, which, however, did no work
among the heathen before 1740. Among the agents it
then employed among the Indians was the truly admir
able David Brainerd, whose journals and touching history,
as described by Jonathan Edwards, have been blessed to
multitudes. Towards the middle of the century Dod-
1 See Warneck, p. 57.

APPENDIX. 103
dridge laboured at Northampton to kindle missionary zeal
and send out labourers ; but even bis high character and
earnestness could not arouse the heart of England from
its deplorable apathy. Eeligion never was at a lower ebb
in England. Utter unbelief prevailed in many quarters
(as Butler testifies in his preface to the " Analogy ") ;
and in others there was freezing indifference. But the
miserable state of things had driven the few believing
men to earnest and united prayer both in Britain and
America. We may especially refer to the correspondence
that took place between earnest Christian men in Scot
land and New England, and to the arousing appeal of
Jonathan Edwards, entitled " An humble attempt to pro
mote explicit agreement and visible union among God's
people in extraordinary prayer for the advancement of
Christ's kingdom on earth.'.' It appeared in 1 746. Ere
long Wesley and Whitfield were made the instruments of
a glorious revival. That, of course, aroused an interest in
missions ; for warm evangelical life is necessarily evange
listic. In the providence of God, various causes com
bined to quicken the new current of thought. Among
the chief of these were the great discoveries that had been
made in distant regions by Captain Cook and others, and
the new facilities of communication between one part of
the world and another. Knowledge of the world became
larger, clearer ; and the condition of their fellow-creatures
in lands hitherto unheard of could not fail to occupy the
attention of Christian men.
This brings us down to Carey's time. See p. 6.

104

APPENDIX.

B.
Indian Missionary Statistics.
The following figures, derived from the Decennial
Statistical Tables, will give a fair view of the progress
made by the Protestant Missions iu India during
ten years.

Description.

1871.

1881.

Stations 

522

716

Foreign Agents, Ordained

548

658

Native „ „ . .

38i

674

Congregations

2,972
4,538
Native Christians
3l8,363
528,590
Communicants .
78,494
145,097
Male pupils
i",372
168,998
Female pupils .
3i,S8o
65,761
Sunday school pupils .
83,321
Zenana houses visited . . 1 I , wo
1
9,566
c.
British Contributions to Foreign Missionary Work.
The following statement is not very satisfactory ;. but,
all tke more on that account, it ought to be pondered : —
Canon Scott Robertson finds that, for the year 1886, the British
Isles contributed less by ,£33,237 to foreign missionary work than
they did for 1885. The total for 1886 was £1,195,714. Of this
amount, £486,082 was contributed through Church of England
societies ; £193,617 through unsectarian or joint societies; £330,128
through Nonconformist societies; £177,184 through Scotch and
Irish Presbyterian bodies; and £8,703 through Roman Catholic
societies."
APPENDIX. 105
D
Present State of Educated Hindu's.
For some time past there has been, in various parts of
India, a somewhat remarkable state of mind among the
educated. The Bombay Subodh Patrika, a high-class,
well-informed paper, conducted on theistic principles, has
lately expressed itself as follows (15th February 1888) : —
" The religious condition of the generality of educated
Hindus fills us with alarm. Faith in the old religion has
disappeared. No one, we make bold to say, believes in the
Vedas as inspired." The editor mentions a large number
of prescribed rites which educated Hindus entirely neglect.
He adds : " Drinking has made frightful progress."
He then proceeds to speak of a remarkable reactionary
movement, which is comparatively new.
" Bad as the condition of the educated Hindu is, it
is rendered far worse by the reaction that has come over
us. The reactionists make the loudest professions of their
faith in current Hinduism, the most essential precepts
of which they violate iu secret, and on all occasions they
appear as the most vigorous champions of the religion."
This "studied insincerity" the Subodh PatrUta con
demns as "sapping the very foundations of morality."
The editor is not a Christian ; but all Christians will
deeply sympathise with him in his lamentation over this
deplorable state of things. The men he refers to are
loudly calling for political reform, but never seem to
think of moral reform in tkeir own hearts or in their
domestic and social customs.

I06 APPENDIX.
These remarks do not apply, we believe, to the members
of the Brahma Samaj in Bengal, the Prarthana Samaj in
Bombay, or to the associations connected with them.

E.
MOHAMMADAN INTEMPERANCE.
We find a French missionary in Tunis writing thus :
" The most shameless drunkenness reigns among all classes
in Musalman society. Drunkenness is one of the greatest
obstacles we have to contend with in our work among
them" (L'Eglise Libre, 2 Mai 1888). Unhappily the
same thing is true of Mohammadans in many other
places. F.
Creeds and Confessions in Mission Churches.
This subject will necessarily require earnest considera
tion on .the part of the Mission Churches. It is interest
ing to note what is proposed as the doctrinal basis in the
contemplated' union of Presbyterian and Congregationalist
Churches in Japan. All ministers of religion will be
required "to accept and subscribe the Apostles' Creed,
the Nicene Creed, and the Nine Articles of the Evangelical
Alliance." They must also approve of the Westminster
Shorter Catechism, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the
Plymouth Declaration, "for feubstance of doctrine." But
overtures towards union will be gladly received from other
Churches if they can accept as their doctrinal basis the
three first-mentioned documents, viz., the Apostles' Creed,

APPENDIX. 107
the Nicene Creed, and the Nine Articles of the Evangelical
Alliance. Certainly a very comprehensive union could
be formed on the basis of these three documents.

G.
Comparative Progress of Eeligions in India.
Since the preceding pages were in type, a lecture on
the religions of India has been delivered by Sir W. W.
Hunter, who is a high authority on Indian statistics
generally. We are happy to see that his conclusions on
this much-debated question in no way conflict with the
views we have expressed ; and we trust his careful state
ment will put an end to the controversy. Sir William
says that, taking Bengal, as being the greatest province
outside the famine area of 1877, with a population
amounting to one-third of the whole of that of British
India, the increase during the nine years preceding 1881
was as follows : —
General population .... 10.89 Per cent.
Mohammadans .... 10.96 „
Hindus, below . . . . 13.64 „
Native Christians .... 64.07 „
In British India as a whole, so far as statistics are
available, the rate was —
Increase of general population . . 8 per cent.
Increase of Christian population . . 30 „
These are eloquent figures.

INDEX.

Abtssinians, 10.
Academy, Berlin, 99.
Africa, Gospel in North, 46.
African Lakes Company, 60.
Ahriman, 34.
Aitchison, Sir Charles, quoted, 24.
Alighar, Mohammadan education at, 50.
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 7.
American Missionary Herald, quoted, 23.
American students, awakening among, 90.
Animism, 32.
Appeal to Church, 93.
Arabia, Gospel in, 45.
Armenians, 10.
Arnold, Sir Edwin, 27.
Arthington, Mr., plan of, 85.
Arya Samaj, 27, 43.
Attacks on heathenism to be avoided in preaching, 64.
Authorship, native Christian, 66.
Baba Padmanji, Rev., his works, 29.
Babis in Persia, 44.
Bangor in Wales, 5.
Baptist Missionary Society founded, 6.
Baxter, quoted, 97.
Beck of Tubingen, 8.
Bedell, Bishop, 97.
Beecher Stowe, Mrs., 57.
Benson, Archbishop, quoted, II.
Berkeley, Bishop, g1/.
Bible, missionary spirit in, I.
Blyden, Dr., quoted, 55-
Bosworth Smith, quoted, 53.

INDEX. 109

Boyle, Hon. Robert, 97.
Brahma Samaj, 43.
Brainerd, 18, 102.
Brassey, Lord, quoted, 57.
Buchanan, Dr. Claudius, 10,
Buddhism, 35 ; compared with Christianity, 36 ; missionary zeal
of, 80 ; in Ceylon, 39.
Bulgarians, 10.
Burckhardt, quoted, 54.
Burnouf, quoted, 43.
Canada Presbyterian Church, mission of, 39
Carey, William, 6.
Celtic missionaries, 4.
Ceylon, Buddhism in, 40.
Character of converts, 18.
Charges against converts, 21.
Children, teaching Gospel to heathen, 66 ; how to instruct in mission-
work, 77.
China Inland Mission, 90.
Ghina,,progress of civilisation in, 38 ; Christianity in, 38 ; declara
tion of Government with regard to Christianity, 38.
Chosroes II., 34.
Christian Vernacular Education Society, 66.
Church government, 72.
Church Missionary Society founded, 7 ; Report quoted, 82.
Churches, appeal to, 93.
Colleges, Christian, 68.
Columba, 4.
Commerce, services rendered by missionaries to, 29.
Comparison of converts with European Christians, 12 ; Hinduism
and Christianity, 20 ; Buddhism and Christianity, 20.
Conferences, missionary, 84 ; in the field, 84 ; at home, 84,
Co-operation in Christian mission-work, 81.
Copts, 10.
Corporation for promoting and propagating the Gospel in New
England, 98.
Creeds and conferences in Mission Churches, 106.
Crime in India, statistics of, 19.
Cromwell's plan of propaganda, 97.
Crowther, Bishop, 58.
"Cymric (or Welsh) missionaries, 5.
Danish Mission in Tranquebar, 100.
Darwin, Charles, quoted, 8.
Deputations from Europe, value of, 71.
Despatch, Government, on education, 1854, 67.

1 10 INDEX.
Dogmatic teaching»charge of excessive, 67.
Douglas, Frederick, 58.
Duff, Dr., 67, 87.
Dufferin, Countess of, her fund, 70.
Dutch authorities in the East, 52.
Dutch East India Company, 95.
Dutt, Toru, 66.
Dwight, 10.
Early Church, missionary spirit in, I,
East India Company, 98.
Eastern Churches, work among, 3.
Education, higher, 67 ; secular, 67.
Educated Hindus, present state of, 105.
Edwards, Jonathan, treatise of, 103.
Effects of various modes of operation compared, 62.
Egede, Hans, 18, 101.
Egypt, Gospel in, 46.
Eliot, John, 96.
Emin Pasha, quoted, 57.
Endowment of Christian colleges, 68.
English Presbyterian Church, mission of, 39, 82.
Enlargement of effort, necessity of, 68.
Erasmus, 6.
Female Medical Missions, 70.
Ferazi Mohammadans, 48.
Fergusson, Bishop, 59.
First Protestant mission, 95.
Fisk, Pliny, 10.
Formosa, missions in, 39.
Foundation of missionary societies, 6.
Free Church Mission in Arabia, 45.
Gibbon, quoted, 3.
Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 96;
Gobat, Bishop, 10.
Goodall, 10.
Gordon, Hon. J. H. H., 79.
Gordon Memorial Mission, 80
Government of Native Churches, forms of, 72.
Grotius, his interest in missions, 97.
Gundert, Dr., quoted, 52.
Gustavus Vasa, 95.
Haig, General, 45.
Hallam, quoted, 54-

INDEX. in
Hatti Humayoon of 1856, 47.
Heber, Bishop, 40.
Herald; Missionary, quoted, 92.
Herbert, George, quoted, 65.
Heyling, Peter, 98.
Hinduism, 40; comparison with Christianity, 41.
Holland, 95.
Holly, Bishop, 59.
Ignoeance concerning missions, 76.
Income, inadequacy of, percentage of, 74.
Increase of Pagan populations, 13.
India, progress of Christianity in, 47.
Indian Archipelago, Christianity in, 51 ; Mohammadanism in, 51 ;
encouragement of Christianity by Government in, 52.
Industrial operations in connection with missions, 61.
Influence, "unofficial," 62.
Intellectual standard of Native Christians in India, 20.
Intemperance, Mohammadan, 106.
Intercourse, private, means of conversion, 62.
Interest in missions% chief means of increasing, 76 ; in England, 96.
Iona, 4.
Isaac Taylor, Canon, 52.
Israel, prophets of, 1.
Jacobite Syrians, 10.
Japan, progress in, 35, 44 ; Christian union in, 82.
Jews, missions to, 9.
Jex-Blake, Dr., quoted, 76.
Johnson, Dr., quoted, 5.
Jowett, Rev. W., 10.
Judson, Dr., quoted, 92.
Kajabnak, conversion of, 101.
Karens, 26.
Keble, quoted, 84.
Keith-Falconer, Hon. Ion, 45, 79.
Khasias, 41.
Kols, 41.
Koran, 51.
Kugler, Missionary, 10.
Lamabtine, quoted, 47.
Lander, 55.
Lapland, mission in, 95.
Leibnitz, missionary zeal of, 99.

"2 INDEX.
Leupolt, quoted, 22.
Liberia, 59.
Lichtenstein, Rabbi, 9.
" Light of Asia," Arnold's, 27.
Liquor traffic with the Negroes, 59.
Literary work as a mode of missionary action, 65.
Livingstone, quoted, 53.
London Missionary Society founded, 6.
Lowe, Mr. John, quoted, 61.
Lull, Raymond, 79.
Liitkens, Dr., 100.
Lyall, Sir Arthur, quoted, 48.
MacIvob, Rev. D., quoted, 63.
Mackenzie, Bishop, 18.
Madagascar, martyrs in, 22.
Madras Weekly Mail quoted, 25.
Mahendo, Prince, 80.
Malabar, progress of Mohammadanism in, 49.
Malike, King, appeal of, 59.
Marshman, Dr., quoted, 93,
Martyrs, native, 22.
Massachusetts Company, 96.
Mayhews, the, 96.
May meetings, 77.
M'Cosh, Dr., quoted, 91,
Medical missions, 62, 69.
Mildmay Conference Report, quoted, 46.
Milton, quoted, 22, 94.
Moravians, 39, 101.
Modes of missionary action, 61.
Moffat, Dr., quoted, 29.
Mohammadanism, 43 ; supposed numerical progress in India of, 47 ;
declining influence in India of, 49 ; progress in Malabar of,
49 ; number of converts .from, 50 ; protection by the Dutch
Government of, 52 ; extension in Dutch Indies of, 52 ; exten
sion in Africa of, 52 ; missionaries of, 54 ; vices fostered by,
56 ; overthrows the foundation of Christianity, 53.
Molucca islands, 52.
Moody, Mr., '89.
Moplahs, 49.
Mutiny, Indian, 21.
Negro races, 52 ; capacity of, 57 ; conversions to Mohammadan
ism of, 52 ; conversions to Christianity of, 57 ; appreciation by
missionaries of, 57 ; liquor traffic with, 59 ; Worthies, 58.
Nestorian Christians, 3.

INDEX: 113
Netherlands missionary Society founded, 6.
Nevius, Dr., 62.
Number of Missionary Societies, 7 ; of missionaries, 75.
Numerical results, 13.
Opposition of professed Christians, 7.
Organisation of campaign desirable, 81.
Pagan religions, state of, 32 ; population, increase of, 13.
Palgrave, W. G., quoted, 55.
Parliament, Long, 96.
Parsis, 33.
Parsons, Levi, 10.
Paulinus of Nola, quoted, 3.
Perkins, Missionary, 10.
Perry, Commodore, 36.
Persia, Gospel in, 44.
Pestalozzi on secular teaching, 67.
Philosophies, Indian, 43.
Pltitschau, 100.
Pococke's Arabic translation of treatise by Grotius, 97.
Prayer, season of universal, 85.
Preaching as means of exciting interest in mission-work, 64 ; as
mode of missionary action, 62.
Proportion of Christians and Heathen in the world, 12.
Proportional increase of Christians and Heathen in the world, 13.
Promise to Abraham, 1.
Quabteely Review, 7.
Rabinowich, Joseph, 9.
Ranade, Hon. G. R., quoted, 26.
Reformers, want of zeal in, reasons for, 5.
Religions in India, comparative progress of, 107.
Repression of Christian effort in Turkey, 46.
Robert College, 10.
Romanists, missions among, 11.
Salae Jung, Sir, quoted, 76.
Sanghamitta, Princess, 80.
Santals, 41.
Scandinavia, 99.
Schaff's Encyclopaedia, quoted, 5, 100.
Schools as mode of missionary action, 66.
Schreiber, Dr., 52.
Schweinfurth, Dr., 55.

114 INDEX.
Science, services rendered by missionaries to, 29.
Scottish Missionary Society founded, 6.
Scriptures, circulation of, as means of missionary action, 63.
Secular education in India, 67.
Selim Effendi, convert, 46.
Selwyn, Bishop, 18.
Shairp, Principal, quoted, 79.
Shamanism, 35.
Shiah system of Islam, 44.
Shinshiu sect, statement of a leader of the, 28.
Shintoism, 35.
Singing, influence of, 65.
Smith, Sydney, quoted, 8.
Smith, Eli, Missionary, 10.
Social intercourse, most effective mode of missionary action, 62.
Societies founded, 6 ; noticed, 98.
South American Missionary Society, 9.
Spartan mother, 78.
Spread of Christianity in first century, 1 5.
Spurgeon, Mr., quoted, 76.
Statistics of translation of Holy Scriptures, 28 ; of missionary
societies, 6 ; of missionaries, 75 ; of increase of population of
the world, 12.
Steere, Bishop, 18.
Stephen, Sir Fitzjames, quoted, 41.
Stevenson's, Dr. F., work on missions, 100.
Students, missionary zeal of, 90.
Sufiism in Persia, 44.
Sultan of Turkey, 47.
Sunday-schools, exciting zeal for mission-work in, 77.
Sunni system of Islam, 44.
Syed Ahmed, Sir, 50
Sympathy of converts with other missions, 85.
Syrian Christians of Southern India, 3.
Teachees, native, 69.
Tibet, Moravian missions in, 39.
Tiele, Professor, quoted, 32. '
Tierra del Fuego, influence of missions in, 9.
Thomas, St., 3.
Tolerance, increase in India of, 24.
Toru Dutt, 66.
Toussaint L'Ouverture, 58.
Tranquebar, Danish mission in, 100.
Translations as a means of missionary action, 65.
Travancore, opinion on secular education of First Prince of, 67 ;
religious teaching in Government school of, 69.

INDEX. us

Trivandrum, Government school at, 69.
Turkey, Gospel in, 46.
TJ-Ganda, martyrs of, 83.
Unbaptized, effects on, 23.
"Uncle Tom," 57.
Unsalaried missionaries, 78.
Unity, Christian, 81.
Universities' Mission, English, 78.
Vebnaculab Education Society, Christian, 66.
Voyage of the Beagle, quoted, 20.
Wahabi Mohammadans, 44.
Walseus, Professor, 95.
Waller, Rev. Horace, pamphlet on liquor traffic, 59.
Warneck, Dr., quoted, 102.
Welsh missions, 5.
Welz, Ernst von, 99.
Westen, Thomas von, 99.
Wilberforce, William, quoted, 101.
Wilson, Dr. Leighton, quoted, 56.
Women, influence on, 20.
Wordsworth, quoted, 5.
Xaviee, quoted, 75.
Zenana Medical Missions, 70.
Zend-Avesta, 34.
Ziegenbalg, 18, 100.
Zinzendorf, 101.
Zoroastrianism, 33.

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