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FOREIGN MISSIONS

THE INTERPRETATION OF THE CHARAC
TER OF CHRIST TO NON-CHRISTIAN
RACES.
An Apology for Christian Missions. By the Rev. Canon
C. H. Robinson. 3s. 6d. net.
FOREIGN MISSIONS.
By the Right Rev. H. H. Montgomery, D.D.
2s. 6d. net.
CHURCH AND EMPIRE.
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MANKIND AND THE CHURCH.
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Bishops. Edited, with an Introduction, by the Right
Rev. H. H. Montgomery, D.D. 7s. 6d. net.
A SHORT HANDBOOK OF MISSIONS.
By Eugene Stock. Sewed, is. net ; cloth, is. 6d. net.
MISSIONS TO HINDUS.
A Contribution to the Study of Missionary Methods.
By the Right Rev. Louis George Mylne, M.A., D.D.
3s. 6d. net.
CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER RELIGIONS.
Three Short Sermons. By S. R. Driver, D.D.,and
W. Sanday, D.D. is. 6d. net.
THE WHITE MAN'S WORK IN ASIA AND
AFRICA.
A Discussion of the Main Difficulties of the Colour
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LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
LONDON, NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA

FOREIGN MISSIONS
BEING A STUDY OF SOME PRINCIPLES
AND METHODS IN THE EXPANSION
OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

R. H. MALDEN, M.A.
CLASSICAL LECTURER, SELWYN COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YOEK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA
1910
All rights reserved

MATRI ¦ MEAE
CVIVS • INSTINCTV • HOC • QVALECVMQVE ¦ SIT
CONSCRIPTVM • EST • OPVSOVLVM

PREFACE
The following pages are merely an essay. They can
lay no claim to completeness, and more experienced
eyes will convict them of many inadequacies besides
those of which I myself am conscious.
We may sometimes be irritated by the seeming
lethargy of our Church, and its activity in the
Mission Field does not always compare favourably
with that of some other communions.
But it is probably true to say that the Church of
England takes more interest in the Mission Field
now than it has done at any period since the
Norman Conquest.
Missionary meetings are many, and the output of
missionary literature of various kinds has become so
large that it is impossible to maintain an acquaint
ance with it all. To prevent being lost in a maze
of detail, I have tried to consider the missionary
work of the Christian Church as a whole. I have
tried to set forth shortly the grounds upon which
missionary enthusiasm rests, to sketch the missionary
history of the past, and to offer some suggestions as
to methods of maintaining and extending interest in
missions, and of equipping missionaries for their
work.

viii PREFACE
In writing I have thought less of the professed
student than of the ordinary reader. I have there
fore tried to keep the text free from technicalities.
Considerable use has been made of foot-notes, partly
to supply fuller information where it seemed neces
sary, and partly to suggest possible lines of further
study. I have appended a very short Bibliography to
show the general sources from which my historical
information has been drawn, and to indicate where
a fuller discussion of points upon which I have only
touched may be found.
King Henry VI. has left it on record that the
object of his Colleges, at Eton and in Cambridge, was
to be " the dilatation of conning (i.e. spread of know
ledge) and stablishment of Christian Faith." I hope
that it will not be thought presumptuous for one
who owes to those Colleges more than he can readily
express, to say that he has tried to make some small
contribution to the fulfilment of the purpose which
their founder designed them to serve.
R. H. M.

Selwyn College, Cambridge,
Feast of the Conversion of S. Paul, 1910.

FOREIGN MISSIONS
It may be hoped that future generations will look
back upon the first decade of the twentieth century
as a landmark in the history of missionary progress.
About the beginning of the last quarter of the nine
teenth century it seemed as if interest in the spread
of the Church in heathen lands were dying down.
Missionary societies found that their wheels drove
heavily, and there was a general feeling of dis
couragement. Matters had begun to mend fully
twenty years ago, but it is since the opening of the
present century that the greatest change has taken
place. The Missionary Exhibition held at Man
chester in the autumn of 1907, and the " Orient in
London" held under the auspices of the London
Missionary Society, attracted very large crowds, and
have proved that interest in missionary work is very
real and widely diffused. The Pan- Anglican Con
gress of the summer of 1908 can hardly have failed
to stir the most sluggish imagination; and the
Lambeth Conference, which followed it, brought
the extension of the Kingdom of God into still
fuller prominence.

2 FOREIGN MISSIONS
The Student Volunteer movement inspires the
highest hopes for the future, and the recent
Eucharistic Congress of the Roman Church has
probably contributed something towards making
people realize that the Church of Christ is not
restricted to the parish or congregation in which
they themselves are accustomed to worship.
In spite of complaints as to the increasing neglect
of Sunday and decline in the attendance at public
worship, it is certain that interest in religion — in the
broadest sense of the term — has never been as widely
diffused as it is to-day. The extraordinary output
of religious literature, to which all publishers' cata
logues testify, is sufficient proof of this. And mis
sionary work is receiving its share of this interest ;
an interest which in certain quarters is rising to
enthusiasm. For all this we are bound to render our most
humble thanks to God, and to take courage, for the
Holy Ghost is greatly at work in our midst. But we
are also bound to increase our vigilance and care.
For history teaches us that it is much easier to
evoke enthusiasm than to use it. A band of deter
mined enthusiasts, even a single eloquent preacher,
can stir multitudes and make them believe that they
are ready to make any sacrifice on behalf of the
cause which is advocated. Yet such enthusiasm
may easily die away almost as quickly as it has
come without having achieved anything consider-

FAILURE OF THE CRUSADES 3
able or lasting. A signal instance of this is to be
found in the history of the Crusades. It is no
exaggeration to say that the whole of Western
Europe was thrilled by the preaching of Peter the
Hermit and his associates. The project appealed
very strongly to the temper of an age which loved
adventure, and saw no incongruity in trying to
extend the Kingdom of God by force of arms. The
highest authorities supported it to the utmost of
their power, and great sacrifices of men and money
were made on its behalf. But beyond the estab
lishment of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem —
an achievement of doubtful value — the Crusaders
accomplished nothing, and the Holy Sepulchre is
still in the hands of the Turks. In the fifteenth
century the idea of a Crusade failed to evoke any
enthusiasm at all, though the recent capture of
Constantinople had brought the Turk nearer than
ever before.
The repeated failure of enthusiasm, which has
brought to nothing many hopeful religious move
ments, is one of the saddest facts with which the
student of Christian history is confronted. It is
one of the strongest weapons in the armoury of
the enemies of religion. It is most probably to be
explained by the fact that the nature of enthusiasm
is very frequently misunderstood. Enthusiasm is an
emotion, and therefore, like all other emotional
qualities, must be more or less fleeting. It cannot

4 FOREIGN MISSIONS
be continued at its highest. Attempts to per
petuate any emotion, and maintain it at its highest
pitch for any considerable period, are bound to
be reduced to hysterical appeals and sensational
methods. These end either by falling upon deal
ears, or by weakening stability of character in
those whom they influence. In either case a re
action is bound to set in, which may more than
undo whatever good has been done in the first
instance. Our Lord Himself likened the operation
of the Holy Ghost to the action of the wind,1 the
symbol of uncontrollable varying power in Nature.
We know that the conditions which prevailed upon
the Day of Pentecost were not continued.2
It is not, of course, my purpose to disparage
enthusiasm in any way. It is absolutely necessary in
religious work — more necessary perhaps than in any
thing else. But we must be careful not to misuse
it, and try to make it discharge functions for which
it is not fitted. We cannot have progress without
it, but we cannot have sustained progress if we rely
entirely upon it. For then, when it begins to flag
(as it must), we have nothing else upon which to
lean. If a rough illustration may be adduced, en
thusiasm is like a leap. It is often necessary to
1 S. John iii. 8.
2 In 1 Cor. xiv. we see the dangers attendant on the belief that
the gift of tongues would be a permanent possession of the Church.
The history of the Irvingites in our own day is a striking testimony
to the soundness of S. Paul's judgment.

NATURE OF ENTHUSIASM 5
take a leap to surmount some obstacle beyond the
compass of our ordinary stride. But the human
frame is not so constructed as to be able to progress
satisfactorily by a series of leaps. Similarly, while
we welcome enthusiasm as a means of overcoming
special difficulties, we must look elsewhere for sus
tained motive power. When enthusiasm for a cause
has been aroused, the next step is to transform it
into reasoned conviction — to translate the fleeting
emotion into a settled attitude of the will. By
ballasting ourselves, so to speak, in this way, we
can obtain an unwavering determination which is
not to be cast down by apparent failure, but trans
lates our aspirations into wise, far-seeing action on
behalf of the cause which we have at heart.
This is the task which lies before the Church
at the present moment. Enthusiasm for the mis
sionary cause has been wonderfully reawakened of
late years, and we thank God for it. But we must
not be content with merely trying to maintain that
enthusiasm by repeating the methods by which it
has been evoked. Rather we must try to transform
it into a clear, settled, disciplined conviction which
will issue in effective action. If we cannot do this,
then the work of the last few years will have gone
for very little, and the next generation will take up
the task of evangelizing the world almost at the
point where we have taken it up, and the most that
they will be able to say oi us is, that we did not let

6 FOREIGN MISSIONS
things go back. But if we can succeed, who dare
predict what great things the next few years may
bring forth ? Never has the Christian opportunity
been so wide as it is to-day. A door has been
opened in China and Japan such as could not
have been imagined a generation ago ; railways are
being constructed in some of the remotest parts of
Asia and Africa ; every quarter of the globe is being
made more accessible than ever before, and with these
facilities there is undoubtedly a desire to spread and
to receive the Gospel. All depends upon our power
of clarifying and focussing a somewhat vague en
thusiasm, and so transforming it into a working
force. The following pages are intended to be a
small contribution to the performance of this all-
important work, and are written in the hope that
God will allow them to be of some service to some
who desire to see the extension of His Kingdom
upon earth.
A dissertation on Foreign Missions composed with
this object naturally falls into three sections.
(i.) Apologetic. — This term ought not really to
be applied, as it is altogether beneath the dignity of
the subject. No apology — as the word is generally
understood — is needed for the mission work of the
Church. But the English language does not seem
to possess a substitute. By " apology " in this con
nection, I do not mean a defence, but an exposition
of the rationale of Foreign Missions, explaining the

DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT 7
claim which they have upon all who make any pro
fession of Christianity.
(ii.) Histobical. — We ought to know something of
the past mission work of the Church, both for en
couragement and instruction. Eighteen centuries of
Christian history ought to provide us with many
noble examples to imitate, and to save us from
repeating many unfortunate mistakes.
(iii.) Pbactical. — This section should contain sug
gestions as to the means by which interest may best
be maintained at home, and the material resources
which the work demands supplied. It should deal
also with the training and distribution of mission
workers, and their relation to workers of other com
munions whose fields overlap their own.
I. APOLOGETIC
In spite of the progress of recent years, there
are still many highly respectable people who dare
to say that they do not approve of Foreign Mis
sions, and many more whose interest in them is
very languid. Such people are very likely regular
church-goers, even perhaps communicants ; and re
cognize that they are bound to contribute something
to the work of the Church in their own neighbour
hood. But missions they regard as an amiable
weakness of a few clergy, and other faddists, who
allow their imagination to run away with them.

8 FOREIGN MISSIONS
They do not believe that efforts to convert the
heathen will ever succeed upon any large scale,
having apparently overlooked the fact that our own
forefathers were heathen once, and lived so utterly
outside the pale of civilization that a Roman army
mutinied when required to cross the English
Channel. They consider that the heathen have
evolved a religion which suits them very well, better
than any substitute which we can offer; that they
get on very well as they are ; and that it is a pity to
unsettle their minds and introduce discord into their
homes. Also that " there is so much to do at home."
When the slums of our own great towns, and the
squalor of many of our picturesque country villages,
are things of the past — when every man, woman, and
child in this country is leading a truly Christian life,
then perhaps we may turn our attention elsewhere.
They seem to have forgotten that if the Apostles and
their companions had taken this view of their duties,
no one of them would have set foot outside Jerusa
lem after the Day of Pentecost ; and if Christianity
existed at all to-day it would be an obscure Jewish
sect without influence in the world, and unknown
to all save a few professional students.1 We require
to convince these people that mission work is so
essentially a part of the Gospel that indifference to
1 Perhaps the warning, " Ye shall not have gone over the citiea
of Israel until the Son of Man be come " (S. Matt. x. 23) was
intended to keep the Apostles from falling into this mistake.

THE MODERN STANDPOINT 9
it is incompatible with any profession of Christianity
whatever. A century ago the supporters of Foreign Missions
could have justified themselves by appealing to what
the Duke of Wellington is said to have called " the
marching orders of the Church." " Go ye, therefore,
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost :
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you" (S. Matt, xxviii. 19, 20).
But our position would not be very strong now if we
were to rely in this way upon a single passage. In
the first place, we cannot be absolutely certain that
in such a passage we have the exact words which
fell from our Lord's lips. Secondly, there has never
been any movement in the Christian Church, how
ever perverse in its inception and disastrous in its
results, which did not rely upon an interpretation of
some text of the Bible which seemed obvious to its
adherents and untenable to the rest of Christendom.
If we rest our zeal for missionary work avowedly on
a single verse, we are not likely to carry conviction
to those who do not agree with us already, and we
expose ourselves unnecessarily to attack.
Neither should we be wise to make too much of
tribute paid to the work of missionaries by colonial
governors and others who are well qualified to judge.
Their testimony is very valuable as corroborative evi
dence, and we are grateful for it. But we should be

10 FOREIGN MISSIONS
deliberately weakening our own position if we took
it for our sole, or even our principal, support. For
the fact that any institution appears to be produc
ing practical results of a beneficent nature does not
prove that it is desirable in itself. For example,
the Casino at Monte Carlo is said to be extremely
charitable, and to have conferred many solid benefits
upon the whole principality of Monaco. But no
thoughtful Christian would attempt to justify the
practice of gambling on these grounds. And there
have been missionaries who were unworthy of their
great calling, and aimed at gaining political power in
the countries where they worked, or acted unwisely
in other ways ; and eventually, it must be admitted,
did more harm than good. It would be rash to
assume that there will never be such again, and if
we were to base our position entirely on the practical
results which missions produce, a few such would cut
away the ground from under our feet. We ought
rather to try to show that there is in the Gospel
some general principle, too important to be neglected
for a moment, which can only find expression in
missionary work. In other words, that missionary
work in the abstract is an obligation imposed upon all
Christians by the very terms of their faith.
Now, no one can read the Gospel with any real
desire to grasp its meaning without seeing that it
was intended by its Author to be universal. He
addressed Himself to all men. Take away this

UNIVERSALITY OF THE GOSPEL 11
universality, attempt to limit the Gospel as suitable
only to the needs of certain races or certain ages,
and much of its distinctive character is gone at once.
It becomes merely one among many religions. Its
claim to be a divine revelation cannot stand for a
moment. For the idea of a divine revelation which
is not intended for all alike, and is not equally appli
cable to all men at all times, is absurd. It is unreason
able, unthinkable. Either the Gospel is for the whole
world — and in that case it is plainly the duty of
those who have received it already to impart it to
those who have not — or else the Word never became
flesh. There is no possible halting-place between
these two opinions, and the alternative must be
pressed upon those who call themselves Christians
but do not support missionary work. They must
either deny our Lord and renounce the Gospel
entirely, or else do what lies in them to spread it to
the heathen world.
And it should be noted that if we have much to
give to the heathen, we have also much to receive
from them. No two races are precisely alike, and
the fact that the Gospel is for all means that each
race has a special contribution to make towards the
interpretation of it. And until this contribution has
been made we cannot know the exceeding greatness
of our treasure. There must be an interpretation of
Christ far deeper and wider than anything that we
have learned as yet. Just as in the past we can trace

12 FOREIGN MISSIONS
the special contributions made by various peoples,
so will it be in the future — but on a grander scale.
The Greek - speaking world brought the inherited
traditions of centuries of philosophical training to
bear upon the deepest mysteries of the Christian
faith. And although an over-subtle intellect often
led individuals into wild speculations which impaired
the fulness of truth, yet the Church could ill have
spared the Greeks. The theology of to-day owes
more than it can readily express to such names as
Basil and Athanasius, and to the schools of Alex
andria and Antioch.
The Latin Church did more than any other to
bring order and discipline into the Christian world,
and it would be almost impossible to over-estimate
the importance of this service, however deeply we
must regret that in its latter days it has elected to
subordinate truth to order. The naturally legal turn
of mind conspicuous in the great Latin theologians
has produced some unfortunate results; but the
Church owes more to Augustine than to any other
Christian writer after the close of the New Testa
ment. The Papacy could not have become what it
did become if Latin civilization had not produced
imperial Rome ; and we can no more deny the debt
which Western Christendom, at least, owes to the
Pope, than the United States of America can deny
the debt which it owes to the civilization of this
country.

NATIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS 13
Again, the Teutonic nations have made a contri
bution of inestimable value by vindicating the
rights of the individual conscience. We have de
clared that no system, however great its services to
religion in the past, can continue to claim the
allegiance of consciences which it violates. Thus it
has been our privilege to develop the ethical side of
Christianity, and to present it as the inspiration
and guide of right conduct. We are consequently
in danger of regarding a divine revelation as nothing
greater than a code of morals, and even of allowing
people to think that the right conduct which we all
value so highly can be obtained without the religion
which has produced it. But we cannot assume that
Greek, Latin, and Teutonic theology have exhausted
the whole content of the Gospel. The Body ot
Christ will not reach the fulness of its stature until
it includes every nation.1 And what may we not
hope for when the Holy Spirit is made manifest
in minds which have been trained in the ancient
civilizations of the East? It is said— to take one
single instance — that the advanced philosophy of
the Hindus is so profound that European intel
lects can hardly grasp it. We may confidently
expect that they will find in the Scriptures, especi
ally in S. John's Gospel, meanings which are hidden
1 Compare the thought of Origen on Eph. i. 23: "Wherefore
Christ is fulfilled in all that come to Him, whereas He is still
lacking in respect of them before they have come." (Quoted by
the Dean of Westminster in "The Vision of Unity," p. 4.)

14 FOREIGN MISSIONS
from us at present. And so with every other nation.
Because the Gospel is nothing if not universal, we
owe it to them all; not only for their sakes, but
also for our own. It is really most irreverent to
think that anything less than the whole world can
draw out the whole meaning of the revelation which
God has given us. It amounts to assuming that
His ways arc as our ways, and His thoughts as our
thoughts. Secondly, if the Gospel is anything, it is Life.
Now we cannot conceive of life in any form which
does not involve growth. We may say that the
power of growth is the distinctive mark of life in
the world of Nature. The most rudimentary plant
grows, while the most costly and beautiful precious
stone does not. Death is the cessation of the power
of growth. And we can have no reason to suppose
that the life of the Church is not subject to the
same law. As soon as it has ceased to grow, the
Body of Christ will have ceased to live. No doubt
the Church would not disappear immediately if its
missionary work came to an end. It would con
tinue for a time without much apparent alteration.
But it would be dead. It would have become a
mere institution, and, like all other institutions,
would be doomed to decay. It might still, for many
centuries, direct practical activities of a highly
beneficent kind ; it might still compel admiration
by its zeal and the perfection of its organization.

LIFE OF THE CHURCH 15
It might be many things for many years, but one
thing it could no longer be, the living Church of the
living God. Little by little its spirituality would
decay, till at length men would find that it had
nothing to offer which they desired to receive,
and the cry would be heard, " Cut it down ; why
cumbereth it the ground ? " It would disappear as
little regretted as were the philosophical schools of
Athens — once the centre of learning for the whole
civilized world — when Justinian closed them in the
sixth century. They had been, perhaps, the noblest
of all human institutions, but they were only an
institution ; and the time came when their work
was done, and in spite of all their past glories they
were unable to retain their hold upon the intellect
and imagination of the world. A Church which had
ceased to grow, and therefore to live, would have
placed itself in the same category : its disappearance
would be only a question of time.
The truth of this principle will probably not be
questioned by any thoughtful reader of the New
Testament, but it may be noted that it is remark
ably illustrated on a small scale by statistics of
Church work. Statistics are always to be viewed
with caution, but in so far as we are entitled to use
them in such matters, they seem to have proved
that the vitality of any religious body at home is
in exact correspondence with its activity in the
mission-field.

16 FOREIGN MISSIONS
Thirdly, the general conditions of our time have
made missionary work more imperatively necessary
than it has ever been before. The nations of Europe
have divided among themselves a very large portion
of the habitable globe. We are busily engaged in
trying to raise the inhabitants of these territories
to the level of our own civilization. The same pro
cess is going on in countries which are not under
European rule. We have introduced Japan to the
material achievements of the Western world : we are
introducing China, Persia, Siam, and other countries.
We believe that this civilizing work is worthy of the
great Christian Powers of Europe, and trust that we
are creating something which will endure. But we
can hardly help a certain feeling of disquietude when
we remember the great civilizations which have
preceded our own. The civilizations of Babylonia,
Assyria, Egypt, Greece, and Rome lasted longer than
ours has as yet. In many respects they surpassed
our highest achievements. Almost every year the
spade discloses some unsuspected triumph of ancient
culture. And therefore we cannot repress certain
insistent questions when we reflect on these things.
What brought these splendid fabrics to the ground ?
How has it come about that they are represented
to-day by little save ruins? We know that the
government of the later Roman Empire was admir
able, yet all the skill of the best organizers and
jurists that the world has ever seen could not arrest

BURDEN OF CIVILIZATION 17
its decay. Have we any guarantee that the complex
civilization which we are propagating with such
assiduity will not share the same fate ? If it will,
the benefit which Europe is conferring on the world,
at so much cost to itself, is a very doubtful one.
The ancient civilizations of the world were not
failures; on the contrary, they were destroyed by
their own success. They became so complex and
elaborate that they fell by their own weight. For
every advance in civilization makes life harder,
because it demands more of the individual character.
An uncivilized society can be satisfactorily carried
on on a foundation of a few simple virtues, but
a highly civilized one imperatively demands a
great deal more of its members, and if its demands
cannot be met, it cannot be carried on. The
Roman Empire, for example, withered away because
it could not produce enough characters of sufficient
strength to do its work. The remark which Pope
Gregory the Great has put into the mouth of
S. Benedict has proved perfectly true : " Rome will
not be destroyed by the barbarians . . . she will
decay internally." 1 To this burden of civilization
we may apply our Lord's saying, " For unto
whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much
required : and to whom men have committed much,
of him will they ask the more " (S. Luke xii. 48).
An increasing civilization which does not provide
1 " Dialogues," Bk. I., Dia. ii. ch. xv.

18 FOREIGN MISSIONS
for a corresponding development of character is
doomed from the beginning. Circumstances may
hasten or postpone its final collapse, but the down
fall is only a question of time ; and the one power in
the world which can develop character indefinitely
and enable it to bear any burden which may be laid
upon it is Christianity. Many other things {e.g.
good government) may be helpful up to a certain
point, but history teaches us indisputably that they
have shown themselves to be inadequate. A stage
is reached beyond which they can do no more.
Then either the civilization must be arrested at that
point — as appears to have been the case with China
in the past — or it must go forward to its own ruin.
It would be idle to imagine that we could arrest the
spread of our civilization, even in our own depen
dencies, supposing that we should wish to do so.
In the words of Bishop G. A. Selwyn, " In we are,
and on we must." But if we attempt to civilize
upon a non-Christian basis — if we even try to treat
Christianity as one among many beneficent agencies,
instead of the foundation upon which everything
else must be built, we are wasting our time and
deceiving ourselves. We are doing a positive dis
service to the peoples under our care, for we are
raising an elaborate superstructure upon founda
tions which cannot possibly support it. The greater
our activity and apparent progress now, the more
complete will be the final catastrophe. The opening

RATIONALE OF MISSIONS 19
of a new line of railway in Africa ought to mean the
departure of a fresh band of missionaries, because
it places a fresh tax upon the character of the
people through whose territory it passes. The best
that we can give without Christianity is law, which
our subjects, if not Christianized, will probably try
to reject as soon as an opportunity of doing so
arises. On these three grounds, therefore, Foreign Missions
claim the unfaltering support of every professing
Christian : —
1. If the Gospel be of God, it must be for all men.
Therefore it requires the peculiar contribution of
every race to develop its whole content.
2. The Gospel is Life, and life without growth is
inconceivable. 3. By contact with less highly civilized races we
confer upon them many material benefits. At the
same time we place a fresh tax upon their character.
Unless we provide for a progressive development of
character in them we shall merely defeat our own
ends. Christianity is the only force which has not
been proved to be unable to inspire such develop
ment. If there should be any who, while convinced of the
necessity of Foreign Missions in the abstract, still
doubt their practical utility and success in any
given instance, they have only to make some study
of missionary reports. Until they have taken the

20 FOREIGN MISSIONS
trouble to do this, they have no right to express any
opinion on the subject.

II. HISTORICAL
It would be a gigantic task to attempt any treat
ment of mission work from the historical stand
point which should approach completeness. It
would amount to little less than a complete his
tory of the whole Christian Church. The story of
Christian Missions begins in the New Testament,
and is continued to our own time. At times
the work has been hampered by unfavourable
conditions, internal or external, but it has never
been entirely abandoned. No exhaustive treatment
is, however, needed here. It is not necessary to
examine the work in detail until we approach our
own time. A general review of the earlier ages will
be sufficient for us. We cannot do more than try
to grasp a few broad outlines, and deduce a few
general lessons. One principle may be laid down at
the outset. We must not expect to find the methods
of any age exactly suited to any other. The con
tinuity of the Divine Society is not expressed by a
capacity for indefinite repetition, but by its capacity
for unbroken development.
We see from the Acts of the Apostles that the
generation immediately succeeding the Ascension
was a time of great missionary activity. Every

CONDITIONS OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE 21
Christian realized the paramount necessity of spread
ing the Word as widely as possible. The obligation
which lay upon the Apostles was shared by all.
SS. Peter and John were but voicing the feelings of
the whole Christian society when they said, " For we
cannot but speak the things which we have seen
and heard " (Acts iv. 20). And so even persecution
became a means for the spreading of the Gospel
more widely (Acts viii. 1). Circumstances were ex
ceptionally favourable to missionary enterprise ; for
in the preparation of the world for Christ, God had
permitted the conquests of Alexander of Macedon
and the Greek kingdoms of Asia Minor and Egypt.
One outcome of these had been that by our Lord's
time Greek had become an almost universal language.
It was understood by any one with any pretensions
to education at all, and by many others, from the
Indus to Marseilles, and from the Cataracts of the
Nile to the Crimea. He had also permitted the
conquests of the Roman Republic, and subsequently
the establishment of the Roman Empire. The
Empire was strong enough to be more tolerant in
respect of the religious beliefs of its subjects than
any mediaeval State could venture to be. Its ad
mirable organization made travelling more rapid
and secure than it was at the beginning of the
last century. It was probably easier for S. Paul to
make his way through Asia Minor than it is for
any traveller at the present day. Facility of inter-

22 FOREIGN MISSIONS
communication and the existence of an almost
universal language were two advantages which the
early Church enjoyed in an exceptional degree, and
we know that the fullest use was made of them.
S. Paul is, of course, the chief figure in the missionary
history of this period ; 1 and we see that his method
was to pass as quickly as possible from one great
centre of population to another. So far as we know,
he never spent more than from two to three years in
any one place — usually a good deal less. There can
be little doubt that the idea of the Empire appealed
to him very strongly, and that he set himself to
carry Christianity throughout the length and breadth
of it. Whether his policy was consciously thought
out, or whether he was only conscious of the power
of the Holy Spirit driving him from city to city, we
cannot say with certainty. But we can see that the
policy which he adopted was that of a wise and far-
seeing statesman, and may therefore assume that it
was deliberate. Persecution was bound to come
upon the Church, and it was therefore the duty
of the first missionaries to create as many different
centres of Church life as possible. If S. Paul had
devoted himself to building up a large Christian
community in one or two places, he would have
given the government an opportunity of striking
with deadly effect. The Church at Ephesus or
1 Compare "S. Paul the Traveller and Boman Citizen," by Sir W
Ramsay.

DANGER OF PERSECUTION 23
Corinth might have been completely destroyed, and,
if there had been no other, Christianity might have
disappeared. We are accustomed to say that " the
blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church," and it
has often been so. But, on the other hand, there
have been successful persecutions. Christianity was
extinguished in Japan in the seventeenth century,
and in China at an earlier date. A persecution is
very likely to be successful if the persons against
whom it is directed are all to be found within a
limited area, and have no friends elsewhere to whom
they can resort. But a widely diffused society, with
a large number of centres, has — to say the least — a
very good chance of defeating any attempt to ex
tirpate it. And that is the condition in which
S. Paul's labours left the Church of Europe and
Asia Minor. He spared no pains to make the
Church in each locality feel that it was one with
all other Churches, but did not try to concentrate
it into a few places. He left an organization too
close to fall to pieces or perish of inertia, but too
loose to be extirpated by a single blow. But, wise
as his action was, it would be in the highest degree
unwise for us to imitate it at the present day. Or
ganized persecution is no longer to be feared, and
therefore we shall probably do better if we con
centrate ourselves on building up native Churches,
which shall be really strong Christian centres, in a
few places. Their influence will then radiate more

24 FOREIGN MISSIONS
powerfully than would the influence of a large
number of weaker Churches, which we had been
compelled to abandon in their early days and
leave without adequate supervision.
For S. Paul's method had its disadvantages, as we
see from the rest of the New Testament. His infant
Churches soon showed how sorely they needed a
strong guiding hand. Within a few years of their
foundation, Galatia and Colossse were on the brink
of falling into fatal errors, and we do not know quite
enough of their subsequent history to say how far
S. Paul's letters to them were able to avert the
threatened disaster. But most striking of all is the
testimony of the Letters to the Seven Churches,
which probably belong to the extreme end of the
Apostolic Age (i.e. a.d. 90-100). Viewed in the light
of subsequent history, the second and third chapters
of the Apocalypse are one of the most encouraging
documents ever written, because of the apparent
hopelessness of their outlook. Whoever the author
may have been, few men can ever have had to pen
such a dismal record. Ephesus possesses "labour
and patience," but " has left its first love." Against
Pergamos and Thyatira the writer has "a few
things " : he is, however, able to bestow some slight
commendation upon them. Sardis is dead in
reality ; Laodicea knows not that it is " wretched
and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."
Smyrna and Philadelphia alone receive anything

LETTERS TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES 25
which can be counted as real praise. Yet Ephesus
had received a larger share of S. Paul's personal
attention than any other city. The other six
Churches must all have come within the range of
his influence, though he may never have visited
them in person. There is no reason to doubt the
ancient tradition that they had all enjoyed the
supervision of S. John for a considerable number
of years. Yet, in spite of these advantages, at the
close of the first century they all seem to be totter
ing on the verge of extinction. Their collapse must
be attributed, to a very large extent, to the rapidity
with which they had grown up. Still it was better
that a few local Churches should fail to fulfil the
hopes with which they had been founded, than that
the whole Church should be so concentrated that
one persecution might be able to sweep it out of
existence. And we can never be sufficiently grateful
to the author of the Apocalypse for having included
these letters in his book. Surely no modern mission
work has ever, to all appearance, failed so completely
as did the labours of the men who founded these
Churches. The Christian society had not been in
existence for a century; it ought still to have pos
sessed everything that the enthusiasm engendered
by novelty could bestow upon it. The cities of Asia
were strong centres of intellectual activity. If the
Church in them could fall so far below its original
ideals in so short a space of time, it would seem that

26 FOREIGN MISSIONS
its final disappearance from the face of the earth
could not be very far distant.
If experience had not proved the contrary, we
should have felt certain that a society which had
merited such stern rebuke in some of its important
centres before the end of the first century could
not have survived at all until the twentieth. And
therefore we must thank God for having shown us
in these letters that the early days of Christian
history were not free from disappointment and
failure; and also for having showed us that His
Society is not as others. Again and again it may
seem to be sick unto death, but it never fails to
exhibit a unique power of recovery. To study the
failures of the Church strengthens our faith at least
as much as the knowledge of its greatest triumphs.
For its continued power of recovery shows that —
despite all human weakness or wrong-doing — the
whole Body is instinct with the Life of its Divine
Head. We have no trustworthy information as to
the missionary policy of the other Apostles, but
behind the various legends there is probably a
stratum of truth. Probably they did travel very
widely in different directions, but if the scene
of their activities lay outside the Roman Empire,
it is unlikely that they were able to attempt or
accomplish as much as S. Paul did. But it seems
probable that they too aimed at extensive rather
than intensive evangelization ; that is, they tried

PLINY'S LETTER TO TRAJAN 27
to carry the Gospel to as many different points as
possible, and left the young native Churches to
manage themselves. The reason for this policy and
its disadvantages have already been pointed out.
After the close of the Apostolic Age it has been
said that " Christian history passes through a
tunnel." Our knowledge of the condition and pro
gress of the Church during the second century is
very incomplete. We learn from Pliny's well-
known letter to the Emperor Trajan, that, by the
year 112, it had made such way in the northern
part of Asia Minor that the trade of the purveyors
of animals for the temple sacrifices was almost gone.
It is, however, easy to over-rate the amount of truth
contained in this statement. The tradespeople
affected would naturally make the most of their
grievance when laying it before the newly-arrived
governor. Moreover, the conditions of life in an
entirely rural district do not conduce to independ
ence of thought or action, especially if the common
life of the villages be well organized and strong. It
is possible that many Bithynian villages came over
en bloc to the new religion when a few of their
leading people had been converted. The rest of the
inhabitants might, almost as a matter of course,
become diligent in the observances of their new
worship, though many of them had only a very
slight grasp of its real import. It would hardly be
a matter of conscience at all. It is said mission-

28 FOREIGN MISSIONS
aries have to contend with this difficulty at the
present moment in the highly organized village life
of Southern India.
It is possible that during most of this period the
Church was fighting for dear life against the foes of
its own household. Our Lord had foretold the rise
of false Christs and false prophets (S. Matt. xxiv. 24),
and they had begun to make their presence felt
before the close of the New Testament (1 Tim. vi.
20-21 ; 1 John iv. 1 ; Rev. ii. 14-15). It is likely that
they would increase rapidly, and be more successful
in gaining adherents after the death of the last of
those who had known the Lord in the days of His
flesh. The Church of the second century probably
found itself attacked on every side by wild specu
lators, whose views contained enough truth to endow
them with considerable vitality, but involved the
denial of some essential part of the Gospel. We
know that various forms of Gnosticism became rife
very early, and the theosophy of our own day shows
that this kind of fantastic theorizing has not lost its
power of attracting certain minds ; for missionary
work, in the strict sense of the term, there was there
fore probably little opportunity. The Church doubt
less grew, but it was probably more by what may
be called natural expansion than by organized mis
sionary effort.1 By the year a.d. 177 there was a
1 An illustration may make the distinction clearer. The Christi
anity of the United States of America can hardly be called the
outcome of missionary effort on the part of Europe. It has grown

SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES 29
Latin Bible, but we do not know how long before
that date the translation had been made. Probably
not very many years. We do not touch the full
stream of Christian history and tradition until we
come to Tertullian at the extreme end of the century.
He declares that parts of Britain which the Romans
never reached have been conquered by Christ.1
The statement is very possibly a rhetorical flourish,
but it could hardly have been made if it was utterly
at variance with the known state of affairs. We
may take it that the second century had been,
generally speaking, a period of progress. We know
that by the middle of the third century the Church
of Rome possessed one bishop, forty-six priests, seven
deacons, seven subdeacons, fifty-two exorcists, readers,
and door-keepers, together with fifteen hundred
widows and distressed persons who depended upon
its alms for their maintenance.2 The entire Christian
community must therefore have been very consider
able. The position of the bishop and clergy must
have resembled that of the clergy in the larger Indian
cities at the present day. They were not primarily
up, for the most part, because men and women who were already
Christians settled there to seek a livelihood. Similarly Christians
who were not specifically missionaries must have travelled all over
the Boman Empire in the army and the civil service, and even
beyond it in the way of trade.
1 " Adversus Judseos," § De Nativitate Adventus Primus. Chris
tianity undoubtedly reached Ireland very early. The Eomans
never conquered any part of Ireland.
2 Eusebius, " Hist., Eccl.," bk. vi. ch. 43.

30 FOREIGN MISSIONS
missionaries — at any rate in theory. They had a
considerable Christian population to edify and rule,
But because this population was only a small frac
tion of the entire population of the city — 10,000 out
of 2,000,000 is perhaps a reasonable conjecture where
we have no certain information — in practice much
of their work must have been missionary. And it
may be presumed that similar conditions prevailed
in the other great cities.1
Before the third century had run half its course,
the Church began to feel the stress of one of the
most serious conflicts in which it has ever engaged.
It had to meet an opposition more serious than its
worst internal dissensions — not even excepting the
Arian heresy, which, in the earlier part of the fourth
century, counted more than half Christendom among
its adherents — or than the fiercest persecution ever
directed against it by the civil power. It had to
meet a pagan revival — in other words, a hostile
spiritual power. This revival did a great deal
towards improving morality, and purified the old
beliefs of many of their grosser elements. To a
great extent the movement took the form of reli
gious syncretism, trying to borrow from a number
of religions what seemed best in each. Christi
anity was among the contributors to this curious
patchwork; for example, the Emperor Alexander
1 The fact that "paganus" means a countryman shows that
Christianity was strongest in the great towns.

THE PAGAN REVIVAL 31
Severus (a.d. 221-235) is reported to have had
statues of Christ and Abraham in his private chapel
by the side of Orpheus, Apollonius of Tyana, and
other noted sages.1 The centre of this revival was
the worship of Mithras. Little is known of the
details of the cult,2 but it originated in Persia, and
seems to have been a form of sun-worship. Much of
its teaching seems to have been very spiritual and
noble, nnd it spread with great rapidity, especially
among the army. About the year 300 it seemed —
humanly speaking — to be quite uncertain whether
Mithraism or Christianity were destined to be the
religion of the future. The conflict has left one
permanent mark upon the Church by fixing the date
of Christmas Day. There is no doubt that Decem
ber 25 was chosen, in default of any tradition, to
counteract the great Mithraic festival celebrating
the triumph of the sun after the winter solstice.
Apart from its intrinsic importance, this pagan
revival is of special interest to us at the present
time, for exactly the same thing appears to be
happening in India and Ceylon. Hinduism and
Buddhism are said to be making strenuous efforts to
reinvigorate themselves. They have borrowed some
Christian ideas for the purpose : for example, the
Buddhists in Ceylon are said to have introduced a
1 Gibbon, vol. ii. p. 112 (ed. Bury). He is even reported to have
contemplated building a temple to Christ.
2 All that is known about it will be found in Professor Cumont's
book on the subject, "Les Mysteres de Mithra."

32 FOREIGN MISSIONS
personal God into their system, which does not pro
perly provide for the existence of such a Being.
Altogether the revival is said to be meeting with
considerable success, and to be exerting a beneficial
influence upon its adherents. No doubt that means
that missionary progress will receive a decided
check, which may last for more than a generation ;
but it also bids us be of good courage. For beyond
doubt it means that the final collapse of those reli
gious systems is almost within sight, and that the
triumph of Christianity in those regions may be
looked for within the present century, or at least at
no very distant date. To acknowledge Christ as a
good man, to wish to graft any of His teaching into
an older religious system of very different trad.oions,
is, among people who have never yet knpvii "tHm, a
step toward the spiritual experience which alone can
enable them to say " Jesus is Lord " (1 Cor. xii. 3).
In the year 324 the Emperor Constantine1 — to
borrow Dante's phrase — " turned the eagles " : that
is to say, declared Christianity to be the State
religion of the Empire. This change of policy on
the part of the government was by no means an
unqualified blessing to the Church. It brought
certain very solid advantages of an obvious kind,
but at the same time certain less obvious, but
1 The date of his own conversion is uncertain. He had pro
claimed religious toleration, and given the Christians absolute
freedom of worship by the edict of Milan in 313.

ATTITUDE OF CONSTANTINE 33
scarcely less solid, drawbacks. It is not wonderful
that it was received with a burst of enthusiastic
thankfulness by men who could recall the horrors of
the fiercest and most extensive persecution in history.
It meant that the reign of terror instituted by
Diocletian could never recur. It gave the Church
peace so far as its relations with authority were
concerned, and therefore an opportunity for the
better ordering of its own affairs. In gratitude it
honoured the Emperor with the title of " The Equal
of the Apostles." But Constantine was very far
from being a real Christian at heart. As was not
uncommon at that time, he held a low and super
stitious view of the Sacrament of Baptism, and
therefore refused to receive it until he was on his
deathbed. The Roman attitude to religion had
always been essentially Erastian ; religion was for
them an important part of the machinery of the
State, and ought to be kept efficient like any other
department. The question of its abstract truth or
falsehood was of secondary importance. It was a
strong influence — however it might have come into
being — and as such was to be fostered and regulated
by prudent rulers. Constantine's motives were
probably much the same as those which had
led Augustus to restore the temples, and provide
for the maintenance of public worship, three and
a half centuries earlier. Public worship of some
kind there must be, and it had become plain

34 FOREIGN MISSIONS
that the Church could be of more use in the con
duct of the government than the old religion. It
was therefore the part of a judicious ruler to avail
himself of it as far as possible. A distinguished
modern religious leader has stated that he regards
Constantine's action as the most successful blow ever
dealt to the Church by Satan.1
Its first result must have been to increase
enormously the burden of the Church's intensive
work. Christianity became fashionable, and was
nominally embraced by many who were still pagan
at heart. Inevitably the whole spiritual tone of the
Church was lowered. Moreover, the leaders had for
the first time to deal with a problem which, in
varying forms, has been with us ever since. They
had to try to co-ordinate the spiritual independence
which belongs of right to Christ's Society, and the
allegiance which Christian men are found to pay
to Christian rulers. They had to resist undue
encroachment by princes, who not unnaturally
thought that they had a right to direct every
form of activity in their dominions, and yet refrain
from raising the Donatist cry, which has not yet
lost all its power to attract, "Quid Christianis
cum regibus?" (What have Christians to do with
kings ?), which would have frozen the Church into
a narrow sect. A study of the life and writings of
S. Ambrose, who was Bishop of Milan from 374 to
1 B. M. Benson in " The East and the West," vol. i. p. 293.

WORK OF THE FOURTH CENTURY 35
397, will show how hard the task was, even for the
greatest. Yet despite these drawbacks, as we look back now
upon the " conversion " of Constantine, we can hardly
fail to recognize it as a signal instance of the good
hand of our God upon us. For, except during the
brief change of policy under Julian " the Apostate "
(361 to 363), it gave the Church tranquillity and
confidence, and therefore an opportunity of equip
ping itself for the almost overwhelming missionary
labours which were to be forced upon it during the
succeeding centuries. The fourth century stands
with the sixteenth as one of the great eras of creed-
making. It saw the canon of the New Testament
authoritatively determined — i.e. the final rejection of
all the attempts to supplement by means of forged
gospels, revelations, and epistles what God has been
pleased to make known to us, It saw the Roman
baptismal creed, commonly called "the Apostles'
Creed," in almost its present form : x it saw the two
Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople (325 and 381),
whose joint labours gave birth to what was accepted
by the Council of Chalcedon in 451 as the " Nicene "
Creed : the only formula, be it noted, which has ever
commanded the allegiance of both East and West.2
1 The exact form which we use now does not seem to occur before
the eighth century (Gibson, "Articles," viii.),
8 At the Council of Ferrara in 1438 a Latin Bishop proposed the
Apostles' Creed as a possible basis of reunion between East and
West. A Greek Bishop immediately exclaimed, " We neither have
nor know the Apostles' Creed."

36 FOREIGN MISSIONS
If the canon of Scripture had not been authorita
tively settled, if there had been no authoritative
formulae to guarantee unity of teaching, the Church
must, humanly speaking, have melted away among
the masses of heathen who were so soon to press
upon it. The work of the fourth century secured
the possibility of effective missionary progress in
the future.
The same century witnessed the beginning of the
monastic institutions which were destined to play
a very large part in missionary work. Western
monasticism usually traces its origin to S. Benedict
and his foundation at Monte Cassino in 516. But
the movement had begun much earlier in the East,
and before the end of the fourth century there were
large numbers of monks in Western Europe.1 The
idea of a monastic community (i.e. a number of
men, or women, living together by rule, and having
as little as possible to do with the rest of the world)
seems to have originated with the hermit Antony
in Egypt towards the close of the third century.
In 322 a regular monastic settlement was founded
at Tabennisi, an island in the upper Thebais, under
Pachomius. The ascetic ideal of life was invested
with peculiar power at that time by the awful
licence of ordinary life in the great centres of
population. It is not wonderful that flight from
1 When S. Ambrose was Bishop of Milan there was a monastery
" full of good brothers " outside the walls. S. Augustine, " Con
fessions," bk. viii. ch. vi. sec. 15.

EARLY MONASTICISM 37
the haunts of their fellows seemed to be the only
means of salvation to many earnest souls. The
Egyptian and Syrian deserts offered a refuge which
was eagerly sought, and it is probable that the
monastic idea proper may have arisen in part from
the banding together of a number of " solitaries "
for mutual help and protection.1
It is possible to attack the ascetic ideal of life on
many grounds. No doubt some of the early hermits
and monks were barely sane, and defaced God's
image by the bestial manner in which they chose
to live. No doubt they were often intensely self-
centred, and their view of pure religion and un-
defiled before God and the Father was in some
respects a distorted one. Yet by the very conditions
of their existence the hermits were missionaries.
Their instinct was to push beyond the limits of
civilization; but the regions to which they betook
themselves were not always destitute of all inhabi
tants. It must frequently have happened that some
savage tribe whose territory had not been included
— or at any rate had not been effectively included —
within the Roman Empire gained their first know
ledge of Christianity from some hermit who had
established himself in their midst. Then it might
happen that the fame of his sanctity attracted
1 The movement was probably stimulated by the persecutions
under Decius and Diocletian, which made the desert a desirable
refuge. The hot Eastern climate is also favourable to medita
tion.

38 FOREIGN MISSIONS
disciples from the more settled regions which he
had left behind, and so a little Christian colony
was formed. Some of the most famous religious
foundations in Europe began in this way.1
The hermits were not created by any missionary
zeal, and we may not be able to justify all their
motives. Still they were undoubtedly in many
cases the pioneers of missionary work.
It is unlikely that any institution will ever be
devised more admirably adapted for missionary
purposes than the monastery. In the first place,
the monks had no family ties to recall them from
their new home. Probably no one will deny that a
great deal of missionary work at the present day can
be done by unmarried better than by married men.
And as the monastic life was only intended for
those who felt that they had a strong vocation for
it, the evils which must follow any attempt to
impose celibacy on any large number of men did
not disfigure its earlier stages. It is probable that
they never would have become rampant if a high
vocation had not come to be regarded merely as a
quiet profession, and so to be embraced by many
whom God had not fitted for it.
Secondly, the common life must have been especi
ally valuable to new settlers in a strange and savage
land. It removed the possibility of the spiritual
1 For example, the abbey of Crowland, in Lincolnshire, which
grew up round the hut of S. Guthlac.

VALUE OF MONASTIC INSTITUTIONS 39
loneliness which weighs so heavily on many a modern
missionary. The monk proper was hardly ever alone
for a single instant:1 his spiritual and intellectual
life was sustained and strengthened by the constant
society of his brethren. It is impossible to estimate
how much Protestant communions have lost through
reluctance to train monks and use them for mis
sionary purposes. It would be outside the scope of
these pages to trace the later development of monastic
institutions, or discuss the question whether they
might not have shared in England the ecclesiastical
reforms of the sixteenth century, and so have been
preserved to us down to the present day. But if we
could have retained some of our monasteries, and
re-inspired them with enthusiasm for their ancient
ideals, there can be little doubt that Christianity
would have advanced much more rapidly through
out a large part of our dominions than it has done.
Thirdly, on the economic side, a monastery was
an almost ideal missionary implement. As a rule,
only a small proportion of the brethren were in
priest's orders, and the lay-brothers were commonly
skilled in various branches of labour. Therefore,
given a site, the mission became self-supporting in
a very short space of time. It was not obliged to
appeal to headquarters at home for funds, because it
1 The active, practical bent of much Western monasticism is, no
doubt, partly the outcome of climatic conditions. The anchorites
of the East did, however, find imitators in the West, especially in
the Celtic Church.

40 FOREIGN MISSIONS
could produce everything it required — except, per
haps, books— upon the spot. Before long it might
even be in a position to send an outpost still farther
afield. And so the evangelizing work went on, bring
ing in its train the best that the civilization of the
day had to offer. The monastic settlement was an
example of sober, well-ordered Christian life, and
wielded, on a larger scale, the resources of which
the Medical Missions of our own time avail them
selves with such good results. The influence of
such communities helped to raise the whole tone
of life in their immediate neighbourhood, and the
large grants of land which they often received
showed how thoroughly they gained the confidence
of the people among whom they worked. We are,
perhaps, too ready to reproach entire Churches, or
individual religious associations, if they become rich.
Certainly our Lord taught that His ministers are
not to aim at accumulating wealth, and we have
good reason to dread the deceitfulness of riches.
But, on the other hand, a monastery could not grow
rich, as many of them did, if it had not succeeded,
in the best sense of the word. For people are not as
a rule willing to enrich an institution with gifts of
land and money until it has gained their affection
and respect in a very marked degree.
In the year 378 a Roman army was completely
defeated by the Goths at the battle of Hadrianople,
and the Emperor Valens was killed. This date may

THE MIDDLE AGES 41
be regarded as in a sense the beginning of the
Middle Ages. The battle showed the barbarians of
the north that Rome was not invincible : thirty-
two years later the world was thrilled by the
news that the Imperial City had been sacked by a
Gothic army.
It would be out of place to chronicle, however
briefly, the struggles which filled the greater part of
the next two centuries. Suffice it to say that great
numbers of heathen established themselves, as con
querors, in various parts of the Roman Empire.
Missionary work upon a heroic scale was literally
forced upon the Church, whose energies were not
confined to the lands which had been under Roman
rule. It is impossible to treat the work of the
succeeding centuries as a whole from any one point
of view. Even the Papal chair cannot be utilized as
a centre. It will therefore be most convenient to
take each country separately, and sketch briefly the
careers of the men who were most largely instru
mental in bringing it to a knowledge of the truth.
At a later date it will be more convenient to speak
of the work accomplished by Religious Orders and
the great Missionary Societies of modern times.
One of the earliest of the great mediaeval mis
sionaries of the West is S. Patrick. As his career
is almost a typical example of the process by which
the greater part of Europe was converted, and he
has left a widespread and permanent mark upon the

42 FOREIGN MISSIONS
country where he laboured, it will not be out of
place to give a fairly detailed account of his achieve
ments. A cloud of legend has, naturally, gathered
round his movements, but the labours of Irish
scholars have enabled us to speak with con
siderable certainty of the principal events in his
history.1 He was born at Dumbarton, probably at the end
of the fourth century. His father was a deacon, and
a decwrio (i.e. a town councillor), and his grandfather
was a priest. It is therefore probable that the future
Apostle of Ireland had no Irish blood in his veins.
At the age of sixteen he was carried off by Irish
pirates, and sold as a slave to Milchu, a chieftain of
Dalaradia, a district which corresponds roughly with
the modern county of Antrim. For six years he was
employed as a swineherd near the hill of Slemish.
During these years of hardship and misfortune he
was gradually recalled to a higher life.2 He tells us
himself that the love of God increased in him so
much that he would often in a single day say as
many as a hundred prayers, and in the night almost
as many. " I felt no evil," he adds, " nor was there
any laziness in me, because, as I now see, the Spirit
1 This account of S. Patrick's life and work is taken from
Professor G. T. Stokes' book on "Ireland and the Celtic Church."
The original authorities are his own Confession, Maccumthenius'
Life, and the Book of Armagh.
2 His own estimate of the profligacy of his earlier days is
probably exaggerated.

CALL OF S. PATRICK 43
was burning within me." When he was nearly
twenty-three he heard in a dream a voice saying to
him, " Thy fasting is well : thou shalt return to thy
own country." He waited a little, and again had a
dream in which the same voice told him that the
ship was ready which was to convey him. There
upon he fled from his master, made his way to the
coast, and succeeded in escaping to France, whither
his family had apparently migrated. But instead
of being resolved never to revisit the scene of his
sufferings, his heart had been won by the land of his
enforced adoption, and he was determined to return
thither as a missionary on the earliest opportunity.
He tells us in his Confession: "Again, after a few
years, I was with my relations in Britain, who re
ceived me as a son, and earnestly besought me that
at least after I had gone through so many tribula
tions I would go nowhere from them. And then I
saw in the midst of the night a man who appeared
to come from Ireland, named Victorius, and he had
innumerable letters with him, one of which he gave
to me. I read the commencement of the epistle
containing 'The Voice of the Irish,' and, as I read
aloud the beginning of the letter, I thought I heard
in my mind the voice of those who were near the wood
of Fochlut, which is near the western sea, and they
cried out, ' We entreat the holy youth to come and
walk still among us.' And my heart was greatly
touched, so that I could not read any more. So I

44 FOREIGN MISSIONS
awoke. Thanks be to God that after very many
years the Lord hath granted them their desire."
The exact manner in which S. Patrick began his
mission has been the subject of bitter controversy.
There is no evidence to show that he received any
commission from Pope Ccelestine, and the probability
is against his having done so. The Pope of the
fifth century did not occupy anything resembling
the position which he now holds in the Roman com
munion. The Congregation de Propaganda Fide,
which now controls the whole missionary activity
of that Church, did not exist. It is more probable
that he was consecrated bishop by Germanus1 of
Auxerre, and received his commission — so far as he
did receive one — from him.
About the year 432 S. Patrick landed with a few
companions on the spot now occupied by the town
of Wicklow. His knowledge of the language and
customs of the Irish secured him a not unfriendly
reception, but he did not stay long at Wicklow.
His heart was set upon the scene of his captivity.
1 Germanus was a distinguished bishop of Gaul, noted for his
opposition to the native British heresy of Pelagianism. About the
year 425 the British bishops summoned him to their assistance.
He not only expelled the heretics, but, falling back on his early
military training (he had been a general before he became a bishop),
he organized the British forces and routed the combined forces of
Saxons and Picts. The battle was fought near Mold in Flintshire,
and is known as the Hallelujah Victory. Palladius, who had been
sent to Ireland by the Pope, had just been martyred by the Picts,
and Germanus may well have recognized in Patrick the man suited
to carry on the work.

CONVERSION OF DICHU 45
Accordingly he sailed northwards along the coast,
touching at a few convenient points. Finally he
landed at the mouth of Strangford Lough, and pro
ceeded to explore the country. The party had not
gone very far before they met a swineherd, who
naturally assumed that they were pirates or robbers,
He told his master, a chieftain of high descent, whose
name was Dichu. Dichu came out sword in hand
to oppose the invaders, but, struck with S. Patrick's
appearance, received him kindly, and took him to
his house. He listened to his preaching, became a
believer in Christ (" the first of the Scots," x say more
than one of the lives, " who confessed the faith under
Patrick's ministry"), and was baptized. Tradition
says that he at once presented S. Patrick the
ground on which they were standing. There the
Saint erected a church, since called Sabhall Padhrig,
in English "Patrick's Barn." This barn became a
favourite resort of S. Patrick, and it was in the
monastery of Sabhall — or Saul, to give it its modern
spelling — that he finally entered into his rest. Saul
has continued a Christian church and parish down
to our own day. But still S. Patrick had not
reached the scene of his captivity, so after a short
time spent at Saul made his way northwards into
Dalaradia. The story goes that Milchu, his former
master, heard of the approach of his fugitive slave,
1 For many centuries the inhabitants of Ireland were always
known as Scots.

46 FOREIGN MISSIONS
and feared that he should be unable to withstand
the magical powers with which he was invested, and
should therefore become a slave himself. So (at the
direct instigation of the devil) he gathered all his
substance into his house, and, standing on it as a
funeral pile, burned himself to death. S. Patrick
arrived in time to witness the conflagration, and gave
vent to his feelings in sighs, groans, and prayers.
He then prophesied that none of Milchu's seed
should sit upon his throne for ever. The chieftain's
family did, however, receive the faith. His son,
Guasacht, became bishop in the church at Granard,
and two of his daughters became consecrated virgins.
S. Patrick at once returned to Dichu on the shores
of Strangford Lough, to prepare for his next great
step, his assault on Tara,1 the very centre of Irish
paganism. He arrived at the mouth of the Boyne,
and, abandoning his boats there, advanced a day's
journey up the river to the great pagan cemetery of
Slane. S. Patrick must have seen the huge sepul
chral mounds of Knowth, New Grange, and Dowth,
much as we see them now. Here he determined to
stop to keep Easter, pitching his tent upon the hill
of Slane. No doubt he had arranged that the crisis
1 The hill of Tara is situated in the middle of Meath. Legend
makes it the seat of the Irish kings from immemorial antiquity, but
none of the extant remains are older than the reign of Cormac Mac
Art (218-260), with whom the authentic history of Ireland begins.
The tribes ceased to meet there after the year 563. Cormac him
self is said to have been a Christian, or at least to have imbibed
some Christian ideas, probably from British captives.

S. PATRICK AT TARA 47
of his missionary life should coincide with the great
Christian festival. At the same time King Laoghaire
and his priests were keeping a great pagan feast at
Tara, whence Slane is easily visible. It was their
custom to proclaim by edict that no fire should be
lit on that night within sight of Tara until the royal
beacon had blazed forth. Death was the penalty for
disobedience. S. Patrick was probably ignorant of
the edict, and even if he had known it would have
treated it with contempt. He therefore began to
celebrate Easter as usual, by lighting the Holy Fire.1
This was seen from Tara, and the King at once sum
moned a council of his great men, that he might
learn who was the audacious offender. Whereupon
the Druids 2 declared : " This fire which has been
lighted before the royal fire will never be ex
tinguished, unless it be extinguished this night.
Moreover, it will conquer all the fires of our religion.
And he who has lit it will conquer us all, and will
seduce all thy subjects, and all kingdoms will fall
before him, and he will fill all things, and will reign
for ever and ever." At this the King was greatly
enraged, and set out with his two principal magicians
to punish the offenders. A number of prodigies
occurred, both on that night and the following
Easter Day. The accounts of them are clearly
1 This custom is repeatedly referred to by writers from the
fourth century onwards. Duchesne thinks it was of Celtic origin.
2 The Druids were the powerful priesthood which we find in all
Celtic nations. The Eomans abolished them in Gaul and Britain.

48 FOREIGN MISSIONS
imitations of the apocryphal story of the struggle
between S. Peter and Simon Magus,1 and of Moses'
contest with the magicians of Pharaoh. Of course
the Saint was victorious in each encounter, and
finally Laoghaire was baptized at the prayer of his
chief men, and gave S. Patrick a safe-conduct
through Ireland.
The Saint's direct success at Tara was not, how
ever, very great. He won two or three of the King's
courtiers, who afterwards became bishops, but the
traditions of the place were too strong to yield to
a single assault. Still he had obtained his safe-con
duct, and of this he made full use. He addressed
himself primarily to the chiefs, knowing that the
strong tribal organization of the Irish would natu
rally induce them to adopt anything which had met
with the approval of their rulers. The chiefs were,
so to speak, the strategic points in the campaign.2
He spent some time in Meath, and then went for
1 " Constitutiones Apostolicse," vi.
2 Exception may be taken to this policy on the ground that it is
the opposite of that of our Lord and the Apostles, and that the
power of the Gospel should be manifested first in the raising of the
lowest classes in any country. But this is a question which may
be decided by local conditions. The Boman Empire set itself de
liberately to destroy all tribal or national feeling of any kind. It
was governed by official rulers who might relapse into private life
at the expiration of their term of office. A Soman pro-consul or
pro-praetor was much less influential than a hereditary tribal king.
It was inconceivable that each tribe should not be homogeneous
in its religious belief, and no change could be made except in
obedience to the chief.

DEATH OF S. PATRICK 49
seven years to Connaught, where he has left his
mark to this day, in numerous dedications of
churches and popular tradition. He then went to
Ulster, regulating his movements by the principal
trade routes of the country, preached in Donegal,
and revisited his old friends in Antrim. Finally, in
the year 445, he founded the see of Armagh. At this
point his biographers insert a fictitious visit to Rome
to obtain the Pope's sanction for all he had done in
Ireland.1 The truth is that he left Ulster, and tra
velled southwards, finally reaching Munster, where
he is said to have spent seven years. Then, becom
ing conscious that his end was near, he made his
way back to the north, and was overtaken by death
at Saul, near Downpatrick. His body is believed to
be buried on the site of the present cathedral of
Downpatrick. So much can be disentangled from the legends
which have gathered round his name. He may be
regarded as a typical example of the manner in
which the barbarous races of Europe were converted.
His individual success was probably greater than
that of most other missionaries; but it must be
remembered that he had exceptional advantages.
It can seldom have happened elsewhere that a mis
sionary has landed in a heathen country where he
1 The legendary nature of the story is sufficiently shown by the
fact that he is supposed to have stolen — with the 'connivance of the
Pope — a number of relics while the keepers of them slept. D

50 FOREIGN MISSIONS .
has lived for some years previously. We see strongly
developed in him the three great characteristics
which must be found in every missionary : —
(1) An overwhelming sense of the inward call to
the work, which can enable a man to say with
S. Paul, "Woe unto me if I preach not the Gospel"
(1 Cor. ix. 16).
(2) A high degree of personal courage in the face
of active hostility. S. Patrick knew that he was
risking his life by his action at Tara.
(3) A statesman-like grasp of the strategic points
in the geographical formation of the country, and
the character of the people.
Many of the conversions brought about by any
great missionary pioneer are inevitably only skin-
deep. But once the foundations have been laid,
smaller men can be found who are able to build
upon them.
S. Patrick's career is in no sense unique. It has
had its parallels elsewhere in the past ; under altered
conditions, it has them even in our own day. We
may be sure that God will never fail to raise up such
men so long as the heathen world calls for their
work. It will now be appropriate to give a very
brief sketch of the " Apostles " of other countries, to
whom we owe it that Europe has been a Christian
continent for nearly a thousand years.

S. COLUMBA 51

Beitish Isles

S. Columba x was born in Donegal on December 7,
521, and belonged to the royal clan of the O'Don-
nells. He was brought up a Christian, and educated
chiefly at the famous monastic school of Clonard.
The first forty years of his life were spent in Ireland,
but a quarrel with S. Finnian led to a pitched battle
at Cooldrevny, in the year 561, between the inhabi
tants of Ulster and Meath. S. Columba's party were
completely victorious, and 3000 of the Meathmen
were slain. For this he was excommunicated by a
Synod, and his confessor, S. Molassius, abbot of Inis-
murray, off the coast of Sligo, advised him to leave
the country and atone for his wrong-doing by trying
to evangelize the heathen Picts of Scotland. He set
sail, and finally established himself, with about 200
followers, on a little island adjacent to the isle of
Mull. It is said that his choice was determined by
the fact that this was the first spot which he reached
from which the Irish coast could not be seen. The
real name of the island seems to have been Y or Hy.
This was Latinized by his biographer into Ioua, and
then misprinted lona. It must have taken some
months to organize the community, and provide for
1 The authority for his life is the biography of Adamnan, ninth
abbot of lona (679-709). Adamnan was a man of remarkably wide
culture, and also wrote a treatise on the Holy Places, i.e. a narra
tive of travel in Palestine, Syria, Egypt, and Constantinople,

52 FOREIGN MISSIONS
its material needs ; but by the end of the first two
years Columba had converted many of the inhabi
tants of Mull and of the mainland. He then deter
mined to attack Pictish paganism in its stronghold,
and made his way to the residence of the renowned
King Brude, near to the modern Inverness. He had
not yet gained a complete mastery of the Pictish
language; but fortunately two of his community,
Comgall and Canice, were Picts by birth, and he
availed himself of their assistance. The story of his
dealings with King Brude recall those of S. Patrick
with King Laoghaire. The Druids opposed him by
every means in their power ; but their magic was
completely surpassed by the Saint's miracles. In
565 King Brude was converted, and the foundations
of the Church of Scotland were laid.1 The monas
tery of lona soon became a very famous centre of
missionary enterprise. Its sons penetrated as far
north as the Orkneys, and as far south as the Mid
lands of England. In the next century it sent
Aidan (Bishop of Lindisfarne, 635-651) to North
umbria, to whom more than to the Roman Paulinus
the conversion of that part of our country is due.2
1 Before Columba's time a small number of Irish Christians had
established themselves in a second Dalriada in Argyllshire. But
they were hard pressed by the Picts, and had been nearly extermi
nated by King Brude in 560. The knowledge of their plight may
have influenced Columba's movements.
2 It had no doubt been Christian in Boman times ; but the Saxon
invasions of the fifth century had reduced the British Church to
the western half of the country.

S. AUGUSTINE 53
Finan, Aidan's successor, was also a monk of lona.
Columba himself died peacefully on June 10, 597,
before the altar of his church. His biographer tells
us that his face was like that of a man who in his
sleep had seen a vision of heaven. Nine days before
his death the first Christian king of English race
had been baptized at Canterbury.
National pride forbade the ancient British Church
to take any part in the conversion of its conquerors.
It maintained a separate existence till the thirteenth
century, when, though Wales was still independent
of the English crown, the four Welsh dioceses were
formally incorporated in the province of Canterbury.
The Churches of Strathclyde and Cornwall (West
Wales) had been absorbed in the Church of England
at an earlier date, when those territories passed
under Saxon rule. The second great root of English
Christianity is the Roman mission under S. Augus
tine. The story of its inception is well known. The
attention of Pope Gregory the Great was caught by
the appearance of some slave boys exposed for sale
at Rome. He inquired to what country they be
longed, and when he learned that it was a heathen
one determined to do what he could for its con
version. It is worth while to notice that England
had no special claim upon him of any kind. Its
political connection with Rome had ceased nearly
two centuries earlier. The Pope neither exercised
nor claimed any jurisdiction over the remnants of

54 FOREIGN MISSIONS
the British Church. Famine and pestilence had
brought the fortunes of the Romans themselves to
a very low ebb. But the mere knowledge that there
was a heathen country which might be reached was
a sufficient reason for trying to reach it without
delay. The Pope's first step was to commission his
agent in Gaul to buy any English slave lads of
seventeen or eighteen who were being taken through
the country, and forward them to him, that he might
have them educated and send them back as mis
sionaries to their own country.1 We have, however,
no information as to the success of this scheme.
About the same time he despatched Augustine — one
of the chief officials of the monastery of S. Andrew —
with about forty monks to preach to the English.
They set out, probably in the early spring of 596,
When they had got as far as the famous monastery
of Lerins (an island off the southern coast of Gaul)
their courage failed them. They were ignorant of
the English language, and received alarming reports
as to the ferocious character of the people. Augus
tine was sent back to Rome to beg that they might
be relieved of their mission. When he returned he
brought a letter from the Pope, dated July 23, 596,
exhorting them to persevere. The party advanced
1 It is interesting to note that a precisely similar plan was
adopted by Bishop G. A. Selwyn in Melanesia. During his voyages
among the islands he persuaded parents to entrust boys to him.
He then educated them at the college which he had founded in
New Zealand and returned them as missionaries to their homes.

EARLY SUCCESSES 55
slowly, engaging, we are told, some Frankish priests
to, act as interpreters; and it was not until after
Easter 597 that they landed in the isle of Thanet.
After a few days, Aethelbert, King of Kent, con
sented to receive them,1 and was so favourably
impressed by the first interview that he allowed
them to settle in his capital city, Canterbury, and
made provision for their maintenance. On June 1
he was baptized — tradition says in S. Martin's
Church — and many of his subjects followed his
example. Augustine realized that he was to do
more than merely found the Church of Kent, so
betook himself to Gaul, where on 16th November
he was consecrated Archbishop of the English by
Vergilius, Archbishop of Aries, with the assistance
of other Gallican bishops. His return was followed
by a vast increase in the number of converts.2 On
Christmas Day 597, ten thousand are said to have
been baptized in the river Swale, near the mouth
of the Medway, and it was plain that the Christian
faith had taken hold of Kent. The policy recom-
1 The way had been to some extent prepared by his marriage
with Bertha, daughter of Charibert, King of Paris. She was a
Christian, and her family only consented to the match on con
dition that she should be allowed the exercise of her religion. She
brought with her a Frankish bishop named Liudhard to act as her
chaplain. Tradition states that S. Martin's Church, Canterbury,
which is still in use, was her chapel.
2 The absence of a powerful native priesthood like the Druids of
the Celtic countries no doubt accounts to some extent for the rapid
progress made.

56 FOREIGN MISSIONS
mended by Gregory was to retain as far as possible
what had belonged to the old religion. Temples
were to be used as churches, and the festivals which
had been kept with heathen rites were to be made
aids to Christian worship. At the seasons at which
the people had been wont to sacrifice oxen to idols,
they were to come to the same buildings — now
Christian churches — and, camping round them, feast
their cattle, and give thanks to God, the Giver of all
good things. So it has come about that the chief
Christian festival is known among us by the name
of the heathen goddess Eostra, in whose month it
usually fell. The advantages and dangers of such
a policy are obvious. On the one hand, it conduces
to the rapid spread of the Gospel ; on the other, it
may help gross superstitions to survive. There does
not, however, seem to be any evidence that the
struggle between the profession of Christianity and
practices incompatible with it was more protracted
in England than elsewhere. It may, however, be
laid down that a Church which adopts Augustine's
policy must be a preaching Church, and must direct
itself especially to the development of conscience.
Augustine died on May 26, 604 or 605. In 616
Aethelbert was buried in S. Martin's by the side of
Bertha. On his death the Church suffered a violent
reverse. His son Eadbald was a heathen, and in
accordance with heathen custom married his step
mother (Aethelbert had been married twice). This

COLLAPSE OF THE MISSION 57
act was the signal for a widespread return to
heathenism in Kent, and with the death of Sedbert,
king of the East Saxons, about the same time, that
people also relapsed into idolatry. There were only
three bishops in England — Mellitus, Justus, and
Laurentius, and the first two withdrew to Gaul.
Laurentius was on the point of joining them when
the conversion of Eadbald improved the position of
affairs. But during the next few years no progress
could be made. When Justus, one of the last sur
vivors of the original mission, became Archbishop of
Canterbury in 624, the mission seemed to have been
an almost complete failure. But the fortunes of the
English Church had reached their lowest ebb, for
three years later Paulinus converted Eadwine, the
powerful King of Northumbria. Though Eadwine's
sons apostatized, and the work had to be done over
again by Aidan, still this temporary success put
heart into the Church at a time when encourage
ment was sorely needed. In 635 Wessex reserved
the Gospel from Birinus, an Italian monk who
apparently came direct from Rome. In 658 Wulf-
here, a Christian, became King of Mercia, and
during the seventeen years of his reign did all that
he could to further the spread of his religion. In
681 the kingdom of the South Saxons, which, cut
off from external influence by the almost impene
trable forest of Anderida, had remained heathen and
barbarous, surrendered to the preaching of the fire-

58 FOREIGN MISSIONS
brand Bishop Wilfrith,1 and the last stronghold of
paganism in England was broken down.
The early history of English Christianity presents
features in common with that of many other great
missions : over-rapid success at first, immense num
bers of superficial conversions, then relapse into the
old ways and apparent failure. If all history is the
best cordial for drooping spirits, of no history is
that more conspicuously true than the history of
Christian Missions. In 620 it seemed as if Pope
Gregory's mission (despite the great qualities of its
first head) had been a complete failure. When
Mellitus and Justus were tempted to return to Italy
heartbroken, and did actually withdraw to Gaul, no
one could have foreseen that the people upon whom
it seemed impossible to make any lasting impression
would themselves be sending great missionaries to
other lands in less than two hundred years, and in
the remote future would be called by God to play
a leading part in the evangelization of the world ;
1 The story is that a three years' drought had produced a famine
so terrible that numbers of the people drowned themselves to
escape the pangs of hunger. They could not fish in the sea, being
perhaps afraid of deep water, and so only caught eels. Wilfrith
showed them how to join eel-nets together, and so gather the
inexhaustible harvest of the sea. Gratitude impelled them to
listen to his preaching. Their King, Aethelwath, was already a
Christian. Wilfrith was an outlaw at the time owing to political
and ecclesiastical complications in his Northumbrian diocese, and
the rest of England was closed to him. Eleven years before the
South Saxons had tried to murder him and his companions. See
infra, p. 63.

CONDITION OF FRANCE 59
perhaps even to be the centre round which the
sundered fragments of Christendom may yet be
gathered into one.
BUEGUNDY AND CENTBAL EUEOPE
Towards the close of the sixth century, France1
had become a byword throughout Europe for im
morality and irreligion. For more than a hundred
years it had been the prey of foreign invaders, and
the civilization of the fourth and fifth centuries had
been swept away. The Merovingian kings were
probably the worst dynasty that ever occupied a
European throne. King Clotaire burned his rebel
lious son alive with his wife and daughter. We
even hear of a Bishop of Tours burning a man alive
to obtain the title-deeds of an estate which he
coveted. The assassins sent by Fredegonde to
murder Childebert were in holy orders. She caused
the Archbishop of Rouen to be murdered while
chanting service in church, and a bishop and an
archdeacon were her accomplices.2 Into this fright
ful whirlpool an Irish missionary flung himself
with the headlong courage of his race. S. Colum-
banus was born in Leinster in 543 — the year in
1 By the year 177 there was a strong Church in the South of
France maintaining close relations with Asia Minor, but we do not
know how or when it had been founded. There is no good ground
for believing that Dionysius the Areopagite was the first apostle of
France. Christianity probably came there by natural expansion.
2 Milman, " History of Latin Christianity," bk. iii. ch. ii.

60 FOREIGN MISSIONS
which Benedict, his great monastic predecessor and
rival, died.1 The sixth century was a golden age
of the Irish Church. S. Columbanus received the
greater part of his education at the monastery of
Bangor, on Belfast Lough, then at the zenith of its
fame, and perhaps the best educational establish
ment in Europe. He landed in the north of France,
and made his way to Burgundy. He was favourably
received by King Gontran, who gave him the old
Roman castle of Annegray. Here he founded a
monastery which quickly became a famous school,
and gave birth to the great daughter foundations of
Luxeuil and Fontaines. He soon came into conflict
with Brunehault, queen of the south-eastern part of
Gaul, on a plain point of Christian morality. His
determined adherence to certain Irish customs,2
which were at variance with those of the Roman
Church, also made him unpopular with some who
might have been expected to support him. His
monastery was boycotted, and finally he was arrested
and placed on board a ship bound for Ireland. The
ship was driven by weather into the mouth of the
Loire, and the captain, thinking that he had an
1 The authorities for Columbanus' life are his own writings, con
sisting of his " Monastic Eule," in ten chapters ; » book on the
daily penances of the monks ; a book on the measure of penances ;
an instruction on the eight principal vices ; a considerable number
of Latin verses ; five letters and seventeen short sermons. Also a
biography by the Abbat Jonas, an Italian monk of Bobbio, who
was his contemporary.
2 Especially as to the right form of the tonsure and the date on
which Easter ought to be kept,

COLUMBANUS IN SWITZERLAND 61
unlucky passenger, refused to keep him on board.
He was landed, with a few companions, to go where
he would. His quarrel with Brunehault had closed
the greater part of France to him, but he spent
a short time at the court of Clotaire II. Thence
he made his way by boat up the Rhine — in
itself no small achievement — till he reached the
lake of Constance. Here he and his companions
stayed for a time and preached the Gospel to the
heathen Swiss, and founded the great monasteries
of Reichenau and S. Gall.1 His labours met with
success, but his impetuous temper made him un
popular. The people stole his cattle and slew his
monks, and complained that the strangers scared
away the game by infesting the forests with their
presence and prayers. Thierry, son of his old
enemy Brunehault, had also extended his dominions
till they included the spot where Columbanus was
living. So he set out with only one companion, and
crossed the Alps to the court of Agilulf, king of
the Lombards. The north of Italy was at this time
a stronghold of Arianism2 and pagan superstition,
i S. Gall was one of his companions. His name is preserved to
this day as that of a Swiss canton,
2 Arianism was very popular, first at the imperial court and then
among the Teutonic invaders of the Empire. Its contention was that
a father must have existed prior to his son, and that therefore ' ' there
was when the Son was not." This made the Son a creature, and so
destroyed both the Trinity and the Incarnation. It is perhaps the
most signal example of the incapacity of common sense to appreciate
the central mysteries of the Christian faith. It is encouraging to
remember that at one time it commanded a majority in Christendom,

62 FOREIGN MISSIONS
and it seems that Columbanus had long desired to
visit it. He was favourably received, and land was
granted to him at Bobbio, in a retired gorge between
Genoa and Milan. Here he founded his last great
monastery, which was a centre of light and
knowledge for many centuries. It was suppressed
by the French in 1803, but the church still serves
as a parish church. Towards the close of his life
the passion for solitude increased upon him. He
discovered a cavern in the neighbourhood, which
he transformed into a chapel. There he spent his
last days as an anchorite, until his death on
November 21, 615. History shows us few more
courageous missionaries, and few whose life-work
produced more enduring results. The foundations
of S. Gall and Bobbio alone exercised a widespread
influence for many centuries. Modern learning
owes an almost incalculable debt to the collections
of manuscripts which were made there. We cannot
entirely condone his impetuous temper, but it may
be doubted whether a less fiery disposition could
have ventured to attack France at that period. He
at least showed Queen Brunehault that there were
Christians who would not bring the Gospel into
harmony with her desires. Like Columba, S. Francis
of Assisi, and some other notable saints, he is said
to have had remarkably close sympathy with birds
and animals.

WILFRITH IN FRISIA 63

Fbisia
As soon as the Church was fairly established in
England, the Saxons recognized the duty of spread
ing the Gospel in heathen lands. Naturally their
thoughts turned first to their own kinsmen on the
Continent. A beginning was made in Frisia (now
Friesland in the north of Holland) by what might
almost be called an accident. In 678 Ecgfrith, King
of Northumbria, arranged with Theodore, Archbishop
of Canterbury, to divide the vast diocese over which
Bishop Wilfrith was presiding into three. Wilfrith
himself was apparently not consulted. His fiery
temper had doubtless made him personally unpopular,
and he decided that he had been ill-treated. He
appealed to the Pope as the only hope of redress.
His ship was driven out of its course by tempest
(whereby he escaped his enemies, who were in wait
for him near Etaples) and he landed on the coast of
Frisia. It speaks volumes for the missionary spirit
of the time that, although it was most important in
his own interest that he should reach Rome as
quickly as possible, before his enemies had discovered
his whereabouts, he could not pass through a heathen
country without some effort to bring its inhabitants
to a knowledge of the truth. He obtained leave
from King Adelgis to preach the Gospel, and baptized
many of all ranks. His work seems to have been

64 FOREIGN MISSIONS
evanescent, but he at least prepared the way for the
great work of S. Willibrord1 a few years later.
In 687 an attempt to send out a mission to the
people from which the Angles and Saxons of Britain
were known to have derived their origin was made
by Ecgbert, a Northumbrian. When on the point of
departure, he was prevented from sailing by what he
believed to be a divine warning. But three years
later he was able to despatch a party of twelve under
Willibrord, a Northumbrian who had been brought
up in Wilfrith's monastery at Ripon. They landed at
the mouth of the Rhine, but Rathbod the King would
not give them a hearing. Pippin of Heristal, Duke
of the Franks, had conquered the south-western part
of Frisia, and he received the missionaries gladly.
Their preaching met with great success, and Willi
brord showed extraordinary courage in destroying
idols. He was greatly helped by the spread of the
Frankish power, and in 719, on the death of Rathbod,
Pippin gave him Utrecht for his archiepiscopal see.
He had been consecrated Archbishop of the Frisians
without a see by Pope Sergius twenty-three years
before.2 He even made an expedition to Denmark,
but found that the Danes would not listen to him.
He managed, however, to obtain thirty boys to
1 His life was written by Alcuin of York, who died in 804.
2 Episcopacy is, of course, a much older institution than the
diocesan system. The early Irish bishops lived in monasteries, and
exercised their functions wherever required, much as our judges go
on circuit at the present day.

FRISIA AND GERMANY 65
educate and send back as missionaries. He died in
739, in the eighty-third year of his age, in a monastery
which he had founded at Epternach, near Treves.
In 716 another noble man came to Frisia, in the
person of Winfrith. He is better known under the
name of Boniface.1 He was born at Crediton in
Devonshire about 680, and came of noble family. He
sacrificed the honours which would certainly have
come to him in his native land to take up mis
sionary work. When he landed in Frisia he found a
state of war between Rathbod and Charles Martel,
which made missionary work impossible. A year
or two later Pope Gregory formally appointed him
missionary to the Germans. In 719 he returned
to Frisia, and stayed three years helping Willibrord,
but refused to become his permanent coadjutor and
successor. In 723 he again went to Rome, and was
consecrated bishop, though no place was named for
his see. His courage in cutting down the sacred oak
of Thor at Geismar, in the presence of a heathen
crowd, led to the conversion of the Hessii. He suc
ceeded in reforming the Church of Thuringia, which
had become extremely corrupt, and Gregory III.
made him archbishop of it. Large numbers of men
and women of the monastic order came to help
him from England, and his statesman-like qualities
1 There are two lives of S. Boniface: one written by Willibald
of Mainz for Archbishop Lul, Boniface's contemporary, and one by
Othlo, written in the eleventh century, E

66 FOREIGN MISSIONS
enabled him to lay broad and deep foundations for
the German Church. In his old age he desired once
more to preach among the Frisians, many of whom
were still heathen. He resigned the administration
of his -province, and journeyed through the Frisian
marshes at the head of a band of clergy, of whom
some at least were of English birth. On June 5,
755, he had arranged to confirm some newly baptized
persons at Dokkum, near the Lauwers See. Soon
after sunrise he was told that a heathen force was
advancing against him. Some of his younger com
panions wished to fight, but he would not allow them,
and almost all the party was put to death. His
body was buried in the church of the monastery of
Fulda, which he had founded.
One point in his career calls for special notice.
When he became bishop he took an oath of obedience,
strongly expressed, and unreserved, to the Roman
See. Thus from its outset the German Church was
brought into close connection with the Papacy.
There can be little doubt that this was a wise course.
It kept the German Church from becoming a mere
appanage of the Carlovingian house. For many cen
turies the Papacy was the only source to which it
was possible to look for reform in Church matters,
and it directed the events of Europe with incompar
able skill. S. Boniface would have required more
than human foresight to divine how intolerable its
claims were destined to become.

BEGINNINGS IN THE NORTH 67
Scandinavia
The first missions to the Scandinavian countries
were occasioned by political rather than purely reli
gious considerations. Feuds arose in Denmark touch
ing the succession to the crown, and Harald Krag,
one of the princes of Jutland, asked the Emperor
Louis the Pious to interfere. In 822 Ebbo, Arch
bishop of Rheims, was despatched as ambassador to
the Danish court. He was a man full of missionary
zeal, and one of the objects with which he was
charged was the conversion of the country. In 826
Harald and his wife were baptized with great pomp
in the presence of the Emperor at Ingelheim. It
was impossible for Ebbo to settle permanently in
Denmark because of the claims upon him at home,
so he selected a young monk of Corvey, named
Anscar or Ansgar,1 to return with the King as his
chaplain and adviser. Anscar was born in 801, and
seems to have been one of those exceptionally gifted
souls who from childhood find no interest in any
save spiritual things. He believed himself to have
been favoured with visions and divine warnings on
more than one occasion. When asked whether he
would return with Harald to Denmark, Anscar pro
fessed himself willing and anxious to go. Only one
companion, Autbert-r-a monk of noble birth — could
1 The original authority for Anscar is his life by Eimbert (printed
by Putz in " Monumenta Germanise Historica").

68 FOREIGN MISSIONS
be found for him, and none of the servants of the
monastery would face the dangers and hardships of
the unknown North. Anscar began by establishing a
school of twelve boys to be educated in the principles
of Christianity. The unsettled condition of the
country probably made it impossible to attempt more.
In 828 Harald had been driven from the country
by his enemies, and ill-health had compelled Autbert
to return to Corvey. Meanwhile the Emperor had
received some Swedish envoys, with a request for
priests,1 so Anscar was asked to undertake this
further task. The Danish Mission was entrusted to
a monk called Gislema, and Anscar set sail for
Sweden, accompanied by a monk named Witmar.
During the voyage they were attacked by pirates,
but eventually they landed at Birka. Every facility
for preaching was afforded them, and they worked for
a year and a half. Anscar then returned to obtain
reinforcements, and the North was formally com
mitted to him by Pope Gregory IV.
Denmark was now subject to Horick,2 who showed
himself a violent opponent of Christianity. Direct
access to the country was impossible, but Anscar
continued his policy of buying suitable captives,
whenever possible, and educating them for future
i Commercial transactions had brought them into contact with
Christian nations. Anscar found a number of Christian captives.
2 There is some difference of opinion as to the correct spelling
of many of these Scandinavian names. I have for the most part
followed that adopted by Neander.

ANSCAR'S DIFFICULTIES 69
work. In 845 a heathen insurrection interrupted
the Swedish Mission, and in the same year the city of
Hamburg, which had been made the base of opera
tions for the whole North, was destroyed by Norman
pirates. Anscar lost everything he had, and barely
escaped with his life. Five years before, his powerful
patron Louis the Pious had died, and Ebbo had
become engrossed in the quarrels of the Frankish
Empire. Anscar found himself destitute, without
friends to whom he could turn for support, or any
immediate prospect of renewing either of his missions.
But by 849, Lewis, King of Germany, had managed to
rearrange certain of the bishoprics in his dominions
in such a way as to secure to Anscar a sufficient
income for his work, and the arrangement was sanc
tioned by the Pope. He at last succeeded in gaining
the respect and confidence of Horick, and, though the
King himself did not become a Christian, he allowed
a church to be built, and the new religion to be
propagated. In 851 Ardgar, a priest, was despatched
to re-open the Swedish Mission, and found several
who had not forsaken their faith during their trying
isolation. Two years later Anscar himself returned.
The progress of the Church in the Scandinavian
countries was slower and attended with greater
difficulties than in any other part of Europe. The
turbulent character of the people, who had never
been tamed by Roman civilization, made them un
willing to submit to authority in any form, and they

70 FOREIGN MISSIONS
were exceptionally tenacious of their ancestral cus
toms. It was not easy for them to desert the gods
who had brought them victory over their more
civilized neighbours, and their rulers were sometimes
actively hostile to the new religion.
Anscar died on February 2nd or 3rd, 865, after
having laboured for thirty -four years for the salvation
of the heathen North. His work was taken up by
his faithful disciple Rimbert, but for some time little
progress was made.
During the first half of the tenth century the
Danish throne was occupied by a usurper named
Gurm, who was bitterly hostile to the Christian
faith. Harald Bluetooth, who reigned from 941 to
991, was favourable to the new religion, though,
like Constantine, his personal convictions were
vague. After his death there was a relapse, but
with the accession of his son, Canute 1 the Great, in
1014, the Church entered upon a period of un
hindered progress. For seventy years after Anscar's
death the Swedish Mission was practically at a stand
still, but during Harald Bluetooth's reign in Denmark
some progress was made. During the first half of
the eleventh century the Swedish king, Olof Staut-
connung, declared himself in favour of Christianity,
and tried to place it on a firm footing throughout
1 Canute's English dominions helped to bring him within the
range of Christian influence, and his English wife Emma was a
devoted Christian.

CONVERSION OF SWEDEN 71
his dominions, but his somewhat violent zeal pro
voked a good deal of opposition. His successor,
Jacob Amund, was more temperate and more success
ful. Some difficulty arose with regard to the Arch
bishop of Bremen, who claimed more authority over
the Church than the Swedes were inclined to admit.
But the miraculous recovery of a priest of the great
pagan sanctuary of Upsala from blindness1 did
much to conciliate popular opinion. By the middle
of the century Christianity was securely established
in Sweden, though it was long before it could purge
itself of all pagan elements. Superstition forbade
the immediate destruction of Upsala, though it
eventually became the primatial see of the country.
The most remarkable people in Europe during the
darkest period of its history were the Northmen or
Normans. The energy and enterprise of the whole
Continent seems to have been concentrated for two
centuries in a single people. Issuing from their
home in Norway, they penetrated as far as Constan
tinople in one direction (where they formed for a time
the imperial bodyguard) and America in the other.2
1 The story is that the Virgin Mary appeared to him in a dream
and promised to restore his sight if he would come over to the
worship of her Son. He became a zealous champion of Christianity.
It is difficult to form any definite opinion with regard to the
miraculous cures of the Middle Ages. The evidence is sometimes
very good.
2 There seems to be no doubt that about the year 1000 Leif
Ericsson reached the American continent, probably near what is
now the State of Massachusetts. Greenland had been discovered
earlier ; it is said to be visible from Iceland.

72 FOREIGN MISSIONS
In the course of three hundred years they made
themselves masters of Sicily, a large portion of
France, Russia, England, and Ireland, and planted
colonies in Iceland. They were probably the bravest
warriors and most adventurous mariners that the
world has ever seen. The terror which they inspired
in England was long commemorated by a clause in
the Litany, " From the fury of the Northmen, good
Lord deliver us."
Their wanderings brought them into contact with
Christianity in various parts of the world, and in the
middle of the tenth century Prince Hakon, who had
received a Christian upbringing at the court of
Athalstan of England, made an effort to plant the
Church among them. But ancestral custom was
too strong for him. He practised Christianity in
secret, with the aid of clergy imported from England,
but a definite proposal to his people to accept the
new religion was unanimously rejected. They de
clared that it would take up too much time, and
that its fasts would undermine their strength.1
The King's unwillingness to take part in the
public sacrifices offered to Odin made him violently
unpopular, and he finally consented to eat of the
sacrificed horse and drink the cups drained in its
1 We see already strongly developed the characteristics which
have been the strength and weakness of English-speaking Christi
anity ever since— 1, Conservatism; 2, Disregard of authority; 3,
Impatience of discipline. We owe them a great deal, but it is
hard to estimate how much they cost us at the present day.

CONVERSION OF NORWAY 73
honour without previously signing the cross over
them, as had been his custom.1 But for the stress
of foreign invasion, he would probably have lost his
throne, and about the year 960 he was killed in
battle.2 In 967 Harald Bluetooth made himself
master of Norway, and tried to introduce Christi
anity by the same violent methods as those which
he had adopted in Denmark The natural result
was a violent reaction in favour of paganism. This
was turned to account by Hakon, Sigurd's son, who
had helped Harald to conquer the country, and had
been appointed Stadtholder or Viceroy by him. He
showed great zeal in destroying Christian founda
tions, and the popularity which he gained by this
means enabled him to seize the sovereign power.
His rule was, however, so oppressive that in a few
years he was overthrown by Olaf Tryggvasson. This
remarkable man had travelled widely, and had
become acquainted with a German priest named
Thangbrand. From him he had bought a large
shield bearing a representation of Christ upon the
cross embossed in gold. He afterwards believed
that he had owed his life to the supernatural efficacy
1 On one occasion this act nearly produced an outbreak. The
passions of the spectators were only allayed by the assertion of
Sigurd, an influential noble, that what the King had really signed
was not the Christian cross, but the hammer of their native god
Thor. 2 The fact that he fell fighting against a foreign enemy had
doubtless helped to conciliate opinion in favour of the religion
which he had professed.

74 FOREIGN MISSIONS
of this shield on more than one occasion, and so was
gradually brought to believe in the divine power of
the Figure which it bore. He was baptized in the
Scilly Isles, and returned to Norway fully resolved
to destroy paganism. He took with him Thangbrand,
whom he had met again in England, to act as his
chaplain. Thangbrand appears to have been un
worthy of his sacred profession. He had been
banished from Germany for killing a man of superior
rank in single combat, and his temper was naturally
inclined to violent measures. Olaf was received by
the Norwegians with open arms, and his personal
popularity no doubt helped to counterbalance his
high-handed conduct in religious matters. After
his death, in the year 1000, there was naturally a
recrudescence of paganism. Olaf the Thick, who
came to the throne in 1017, imitated the methods of
his predecessor. The thin veneer of Christianity
which he imposed gave way before the strain of a
bad harvest in 1021, and paganism was openly
practised. His despotic severity probably facilitated
the conquest of the country by Canute, King of
Denmark and England. Olaf was killed in battle,
at the head of an army in which none but Christians
were allowed to serve, on July 29, 1033, and was
honoured as a saint and martyr. The veneration
with which he was regarded contributed largely to
the secure establishment of Christianity in what
had been his kingdom. The career of these two

SETTLEMENT OF ICELAND 75
men is a remarkable instance of the way in which
God overrules unpromising beginnings to serve His
purpose. Olaf Tryggvasson's first introduction to
Christianity was by an unworthy priest, He was
led to baptism by a faith which was largely
superstitious. But the circumstances of his death,
which made it possible for him to be regarded as a
national hero, made his successor's task easier. The
death of Olaf the Thick counterbalanced his former
mistaken policy, and made him in a real sense the
founder of the Norwegian Church.
In 874 Iceland was colonized by the Northmen.
Irish anchorites had settled there at least a century
earlier. An Irish monk named Dicuil, who wrote a
book on geography in the year 825, tells us that
thirty years before that time he had conversed with
persons who had lived there. The truth of their
statement is proved by the fact that they told him
that in summer it was as light at midnight as at
midday.1 The advent of the Northmen seems to
have extinguished Christian worship, and there was
no attempt to introduce it for at least a century.
In 997 2 Thangbrand visited the island as Olaf's
ambassador, but only succeeded in hardening the
prejudices of the people against Christianity. By
999 he had committed two murders, and had to
1 Stokes, " Ireland and the Early Celtic Church," p. 217.
2 The first definite attempt was in 981, when a bishop came to the
island in company with a native chieftain named Thorwald, whom
he had converted.

76 FOREIGN MISSIONS
fly. Shortly afterwards Christianity was publicly
adopted, but paganism was not prohibited, and
lingered on by its side till at least as late as the
twelfth century. The first native bishop was con
secrated in 1056, and fixed his episcopal see at
Skalholt. The Gospel was carried in like manner
to the Faroe Islands1 and to Greenland about the
same time. Greenland received its first bishop in
1055. In 1059 one John, a Saxon or Irish bishop, is
said to have met with a martyr's death while
attempting to spread the Gospel on the mainland
of North America. The Christian community in
Greenland suddenly disappears from view about
the end of the fifteenth century. Nothing certain
is known of its end, but it was probably destroyed
by pestilence. The country was practically un-
visited, and almost forgotten, till 1721, when a
Danish missionary named Hans Egede landed to
work among the remnants of the Eskimo.
Sclavonic Countbies
In the year 813 the Bulgarians, a people of Asiatic
origin, who had previously established themselves
along the Danube, made an irruption into the Eastern
Empire, which had its capital at Constantinople, and
captured Hadrianople. Among their prisoners was
a bishop, who formed his companions in captivity
1 The Orkneys certainly, and the Shetlands probably, had received
the Gospel earlier from the Celtic Church.

BEGINNINGS IN BULGARIA 77
into a Church. He was eventually martyred, and
an attempt to carry on the work made by a monk
named Constantine Cypharas did not meet with
much success. But in the year 861 the Empress
Theodora exchanged a sister1 of the Bulgarian Prince
Bogoris for him, and she laboured to convert her
brother to the faith. A famine induced him to seek
help from the God of the Christians (apparently
as a last resort), and his sister, having remarked
his fondness for painting, sent for a monk named
Methodius,2 who was a skilful artist. He drew
a picture of the " Last Judgment " which pro
duced a great effect on Bogoris' mind. About
863 he was baptized, and received the name of
Michael, the Greek Emperor Michael standing god
father to him, and Photius, Patriarch of Constan
tinople, wrote him a long letter of encouragement
and instruction. He, however, tried to force Chris
tianity upon his people, and repressed the revolt
which naturally ensued with great cruelty. He was
not well supported by the Greek Church,3 and the
views of Christianity which became current in Bul
garia differed so widely that the people were at a
loss what to believe. In 865 Bogoris appealed to
1 She had been brought to the imperial court as a prisoner in
early youth, and had there been brought up as a Christian.
2 He is probably the same as the " Apostle of the Slavs," who
bore the same name, but the identification is not beyond question.
3 For example, the deficiency of clergy led to a Greek layman
posing as a priest. When the fraud was discovered the people
cut off his nose and ears,

78 FOREIGN MISSIONS
Pope Nicholas I., who dealt with him like a true
father-in-God, and showed what the Bishop of Rome
might have been, and ought to have been, to the
whole Church. Eventually, however, the Bulgarians
decided to adhere to the Greek Church, and the
Emperor Basil took great pains to provide them
with an adequate supply of Greek clergy.
The central figures in the missionary history of
this region and period are two remarkable brothers,
Cyril and Methodius. Cyril began his labours among
the Chazars who inhabited the Crimea. Both Jews
and Mohammedans were seeking to make proselytes
among them,1 and they sent an embassy to the
Emperor Michael, asking for a Christian teacher.
In reply he despatched Cyril, and his brother joined
him soon afterwards.
The Moravians were the next people to whom
they went. The Moravians were a Sclavonic tribe
which had been made subject to the Frankish Empire
by Charlemagne. Some seeds of Christianity had
been planted among them by this means, but hitherto
they had borne little fruit. The mission of the two
brothers was occasioned partly by political considera
tions, for the Moravian Prince Radislav had formed
an alliance with the Greek Empire. They were wise
enough not to hesitate to use the vernacular for the
1 As late as the year 921 their King is said to have been a Jew,
and to have had some pagans as well as Christians and Moham
medans among his subjects.

CYRIL AND METHODIUS 79
most sacred purposes, and Cyril translated consider
able portions of the Bible into the Sclavonic language.
Presently Radislav was led by political considerations
to attach himself to the German Empire, and there
fore to the Western Church. At this time the schism
between the Greek and Latin Churches was breaking
out, and ecclesiastical complications ensued. At this
crisis the brothers showed that they could rise above
party differences. They repaired to Rome (where
Cyril remained as a monk), and Methodius, having
satisfied the Pope with regard to doctrinal matters,
took an oath of allegiance to the Roman See, and
was consecrated first Archbishop of the Moravian
Church.1 Political troubles, and the jealousy of the German
clergy, proved serious obstacles, and Pope John VIII.
showed himself less wise and large-hearted than
Nicholas I. In 881 Methodius went to Rome, and
from that time we hear no more of him. Either he
must have died shortly afterwards, or his enemies
succeeded in preventing his return.
The political dependence of Bohemia upon Mor
avia led to the baptism of Duke Borizwoi, probably
1 Of course this Church has nothing to do with the modern
Moravians or Unitas Fratrum. They did not become an organ
ized body till the beginning of the eighteenth century. The
German bishops steadily opposed the formation of an inde
pendent archbishopric of Moravia, and it disappeared when the
kingdom was divided between the Germans, Bohemians, and
Hungarians.

80 FOREIGN MISSIONS
between the years 870-880.1 After a century of
chequered fortunes, the Church was finally estab
lished, with Prague for its centre, about the
year 980.
It would take too long to chronicle, however
briefly, the steps by which the Gospel was slowly
propagated among the Wends and other Sclavonic
peoples of Eastern Europe. The process which has
been traced in the British Isles and the Scandi
navian countries was repeated again and again. Poli
tical or commercial intercourse prepared the way;
then some great hero gave himself to the task.
Over-rapid success led to relapse, and after a
period of chequered fortunes the Church was
firmly established. Then the long war with super
stition and pagan habits, which can hardly be said
to have ended yet in some Christian countries,
was begun. The last people in Europe2 to be
converted were the Lithuanians, in what is now
the most westerly province of the Russian Empire.
They remained in undisturbed paganism till the
fourteenth century.
The Church of Russia calls for special remark,
because, unlike its neighbours, it does not trace
its origin to any heroic missionary. No one is
1 Some authorities place this event as late as 894, in which case
Methodius could have had no part in it.
2 Not counting the Lapps and Finns, whose geographical position
made them almost inaccessible. Paganism was not finally extin
guished in Lapland until quite modern times.

CONVERSION OF VLADIMIR 81
entitled to be called "the Apostle of Russia."1
About the year 986, envoys from the principal
religions of the world are said to have approached
Vladimir, the Russian Prince. First came Bul
garian Mohammedans from the Volga, but the pro
hibition of wine entailed by their religion placed
it out of court immediately. Next came some
representatives of Western Christendom, whether
from the Pope or not is uncertain. They seem to
have presented Christianity in too foreign a dress
to accord with Russian tenacity of ancestral custom.
Next came Jews from among the Chazars of the
Crimea, but the fact that they were without country
or city of their own seemed to prove the futility of
their creed. Eventually Vladimir decided to send
embassies to the chief religious centres, and form
his own opinion. The gorgeousness of the church
of S. Sophia at Constantinople, and the services
there, so impressed the envoys 2 that' they decided
that here indeed the true religion was to be found.
Still Vladimir hesitated, but undertook to become
a Christian if victory were granted him in a war
which he was waging. His arms were successful,
1 There is no solid foundation for the legend that S. Andrew
sailed up the Dneiper and planted his cross upon the hills of Kieff.
The original authority for the beginnings of the Bussian Church
is Nestor, the monk of Kieff, who lived 1050-1116. See Stanley's
" History of the Eastern Church," p. 337.
2 They are said to have taken the deacons and assistant deacons
for supernatural beings, and to have been encouraged in this belief
by their Byzantine guides. F

82 FOREIGN MISSIONS
and he married Anne, the sister of the Emperor
Basil. He was baptized at Cherson in the Crimea,
and shortly afterwards had his people baptized en
masse in the river at Kieff, having previously had
their principal idol, Peroun, dragged across country,
scourged, and thrown into the stream. In this
manner the foundations of the greatest national
Church in the world were laid. Nowhere else
has the Church been more closely linked with
the fortunes of the nation. Its leading saints,
S. Demetrius and S. Alexander Nevsky, were
victorious leaders of Russian armies at times
of great national peril. The Christmas Day ser
vices are, to some extent, overshadowed by trium
phant thanksgiving for Napoleon's evacuation of
Moscow on December 25, 1812. In the story of
the foundation of the Russian Church we note
the value of ceremonial in dealing with uncivilized
people. Our dread of superstition, and the fact
that elaborate ceremonial does not appeal to most
Englishmen, have perhaps led us to under-estimate
its value in the mission-field. We cannot defend
the conduct of the Byzantines, but it is hardly too
much to say that Russia owes the beginnings of
its Christianity to the ceremonial of S. Sophia.
And it may even be that we in England are too
much afraid of superstition. Our own days of
superstition have been left so far behind, that we
have forgotten how large an element it is in the

VALUE OF SUPERSTITION 83
savage character; I do not mean that it ought
not to be discouraged ; ,but the process of eradi
cation must be a very slow one, and it seems as
if superstition could often be used as a preparation
for the reception of purer spiritual truth. The harm
does not really begin until a superstitious temper
is regarded as a religious one which ought to be
perpetuated, instead of as a stage, which must be
left behind in due course. It would be difficult
to say ithat 1 the woman who said, " If I touch
but His garments I shall be made whole '' (S. Mark
v. 28), was not grossly superstitious. She probably
had no idea who He was, or any conception of
spiritual power in the true sense of the word. Yet
He did not refuse to heal her. It is not the duty
of the Christian Church to inculcate superstitious
ideas. But in dealing with primitive peoples whose
religion is nothing but superstition, it may be worth
our while to consider whether — as their religious
ideas, however low, represent the highest that they
have thought about God — superstition may not be
the first channel through which the truth is to enter
their minds. Undoubtedly it has often been so in
the past, and it would be difficult to prove that
the Kingdom of God has suffered in consequence.
We must now retrace our steps to review the
1 For this thought I am indebted to a sermon preached before
the University of Cambridge on November 10, 1907, by the Eev.
J. N. Figgis, Litt.D., subsequently published in a, volume entitled
"The Gospel and Human Needs" (Longmans, 1909).

84 FOREIGN MISSIONS
missionary work of the Eastern Church. Hitherto
we have only come into contact with it when
speaking of Russia and Bulgaria. The conversion
of Russia is perhaps its most conspicuous achieve
ment at the present day, but we must not over
look its earlier work in the farther East.
It is very greatly to be regretted that so little is
known about the Eastern Church in England.1 We
are apt to assume that the Christian world is com
posed of Roman Catholics and the offspring of
those who rejected the Papal claims during the
sixteenth century.
Geographical considerations tend to make us
forget that in Eastern Europe, and Western Asia,
and Northern Africa there are communions which
protest as strongly against the Papal claims as we
do ourselves. They include about 140,000,000 souls
(i.e. probably about a quarter of the Christian
population of the world). They are the most ancient
part of Christendom. They are entitled to regard our
earliest beginnings as recent history. The resistance
which they offered to the claims of the Pope had
led him to secede from communion with them five
hundred years before his successors withdrew them
selves from a large part of Western Europe. For
centuries they have suffered the fiercest persecution
1 I believe that there are four churches of the Orthodox rite in
England (two in London, one in Liverpool, and one in Bristol), and
one of the Armenian in Manchester.

MOHAMMEDANISM 85
at the hands of the followers of Mohammed,1 and we
owe it to them that the lamp of Christian truth has
been kept burning in many countries where it would
otherwise have been extinguished.
The first Gentile natives of Asia to receive the
Gospel were the Syrians. The Syrian city of Antioch
gave to " those of the way " the name by which they
will now be known to the end of time. The people
1 A sketch of the history of Christian Missions can hardly be
made to include Mohammedanism. But justice cannot be done to
the Eastern Church if no mention be made of the chief enemy with
which it has had to contend. Even Western Christendom has been
influenced by dread of the Sultan at Constantinople. We may
agree with Dean Stanley that Mohammedanism ought really to be
regarded as an extreme variant of Oriental Christianity. There is
no doubt that Mohammed himself was deeply influenced by the
local legends of the Syrian and Arabian Christians, and by inter
course with a Nestorian monk of Bostra — named Bahari, or Sergius,
or -George. He believed that he had a Divine call to preach a
purer faith to the idolatrous tribes of Arabia, and in some respects
his belief was justified. The foundation of Islam is usually dated
from his flight from Mecca to Medina in 622. Mohammed himself
died in 632, but his religion spread very rapidly throughout Western
Asia, Northern Africa, and gained a considerable foothold in Europe.
The crescent has been seen in France and outside the walls of
Vienna. In spite of many regrettable features, the monotheism of
Islam is sufficiently spiritual and pure to possess real vitality. It
is said to be spreading rapidly in Africa, and is still, as always,
inexorably hostile to Christianity. Its strength is illustrated by
the words in which Mohammed's father-in-law announced his death
to the crowds which had gathered round the house : ' ' They that
have placed their trust in the Prophet know that Mohammed is dead,
but they who have placed their trust in God know that He liveth
for ever and ever." A visit to North Africa in 1892 led Arch
bishop Benson to think that the Mohammedan mosques were more
spiritual in conception than the Boman Catholic churches there
(" Life," p. 540, single volume edition).

86 FOREIGN MISSIONS
of Antioch soon came to claim S. Peter as their first
bishop. Whether that claim is justifiable or no,
their third bishop was the martyr S. Ignatius,
whose letters are our chief source of information on
certain points of Church order at the end of the first
and beginning of the second centuries. The see of
Antioch was eventually raised to the dignity of a
patriarchate, and ranked fourth in the world ; after
Rome, Constantinople, and Alexandria, and before
Jerusalem. Closely akin to the Syrians of Antioch
are the Assyrians — the modern representatives of
the builders of Nineveh and the people who hung
like a storm-cloud, which might break at any
moment, over the Jews during the greater part of
the prophetic period. The Assyrians of to-day call
themselves Syrians, and may therefore be spoken of
by that name. Probably " East Syrians " would be
the most accurate title. According to one tradition,
Persia and Western Asia generally received its first
knowledge of Christ from the Wise Men on their
return from Bethlehem. By this means the way
was prepared for S. Thomas, who, with two com
panions — Thaddseus one of the Seventy, and Mari —
chose the regions east of the Tigris to be the field of
his missionary labours.1 The apocryphal correspond-
1 For early Assyrian Christianity generally see an article by the
Eev. A. H. Lang in " The East and the West " for 1904, p. 300. The
apocryphal Acts of Thomas represent him as having made his way
to India as a slave, and having entered the service of a native king
named Gondophares. The very ancient Christian colony on the

THE EARLY SYRIAN CHURCH 87
ence between our Lord and Abgarus, King of Edessa,
is a further indication of the fact that Christianity
had made its way among the Syrians in very early
times. Such a document would not have been drawn
up if the writer had not hoped that his forgery
would be accepted as genuine. There would have
been no chance of that if Christianity had not
reached Edessa sufficiently early to make it con
ceivable, in the eyes of men whose chronology was
not likely to be strictly accurate, that such a corre
spondence might have taken place. The Liturgy
used by the Syrians of Kurdistan is the oldest actu
ally in use in the world at the present day. The
Pshitta or old Syrian version of the Bible can hardly
be later than a.d. 180, and is perhaps the first
translation of any part of the New Testament ever
made. The chief episcopal seat of the Syrian Church
was fixed at Seleucia-Ctesiphon, and remained there
until the destruction of the city by the Saracens
in 637.
But in the fifth century the Eastern Church was
rent asunder. The Council of IJphesus in 431 con
demned Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, as a
heretic, declaring that by denying the title " Mother
of God " to the Virgin Mary he made Christ a crea-
Malabar Coast, now numbering rather more than half a million
souls, is of Syrian origin, and still goes by the name of "the
Christians of St. Thomas." John, "Bishop of Persia and India,"
was present at the Council of Nicaea in 323.

88 FOREIGN MISSIONS
ture. Recent investigations1 have shown that the
condemnation was in all probability a terrible mis
carriage of justice. If Nestorius had held what his
opponents believed that he held, they could not
have acted otherwise. But both parties misunder
stood each other. The confusion was probably
largely due to the fact that they did not possess a
common native language. Nestorius was banished
beyond the frontiers of the Roman Empire. But
the injustice done him did not extinguish his mis
sionary zeal, and the Nestorian Church spread far
into Asia.2 At one time its organization included
twenty-five patriarchates ; its primate bore the
sonorous title of Patriarch of Babylon, and some
at least of the Mongolian princes embraced the
Christian faith. Vague legends of this great Church
in the remote heart of the East made their way into
Western Europe during the Middle Ages. Little was
known of its true character, for its reputed heresy
1 ' ' Nestorius and His Teaching," by J. F. Bethune Baker (Camb.
Univ. Press, 1908). Nestorius was a native of Germanicia, in the
Euphrates district, and was at one time a monk of the monastery
of Euprepius, near Antioch. The attack upon him was begun and
headed by Cyril of Alexandria.
2 The Greek traveller Cosmas Indicopleustes found a Christian
Church in Ceylon in the year 527. A seventh-century inscription
at Madras says that " whosoever believes in Messiah, God, and the
Holy Ghost is in the grace of Him who bore the Cross." In 883
Alfred the Great sent Sighelm, Bishop of Sherborne, and Athelstan
on a mission to the shrine of S. Thomas at Meliapur. In 1258
the Syrians were planning a mission from Cochin to the island of
Sumatra, but were never able to carry out their design.

THE NESTORIAN CHURCH 89
had prevented inter-communication with the West
during its early days, and after the seventh century
it was isolated by the interposition of a solid and
ever-increasing barrier of Mohammedanism. The
stories of its splendour and extent took shape in the
curious mediaeval legend of Prester John.1 He was
supposed to be a Christian potentate ruling a vast
empire, of a magnificence to which Europe could
show no parallel, in the centre of Asia. It was
believed also that he was himself a priest and came
of a line of sacerdotal kings. His power went down
before Genghiz-Khan in the first half of the thirteenth
century. From that time the early Christianity of
the Mongolian races began to decline, though Kublai-
Khan, Genghiz' grandson, tried to introduce Euro
pean Christian missionaries into his dominions. China
had received Christian teachers as early as the fourth
century. The earliest were most probably the Syrian
merchants who passed to and fro through Central
Asia on their business. And the way having been
thus prepared, it was not long before an organized
attempt was made to work this large and promising
field. In 635 a band of Syrian monks, headed by
one called in Chinese Olopun (i.e. monk), made their
1 This seems to be the most probable origin of the story. It is
less likely that rumours of the Grand Lama of Tibet had made their
way westward, for stress is always laid on John's Christianity.
More than one traveller has noted internal resemblances between
the great ceremonies of Lamaism and those of the Boman Church,
but it is hardly conceivable that one could ever have been mistaken
for the other.

90 FOREIGN MISSIONS
way to Si-ngan-fu. We are fortunate enough to
possess a first-hand account of his work, and all that
ensued until the year 781, in the form of a monu
ment erected in that year. It was buried during a
great persecution in the year 841, unearthed by the
Jesuits in the seventeenth century, and finally roofed
over by a patriotic Chinaman in the year 1858. It
stands at present in the precinct of a temple. The
stone is 7 J feet high, 3 feet wide, and 10 inches thick.
The inscription is in Chinese (the names of the Syrian
clergy being in Syriac), and commemorates the noble
law of Ta-Tsin (Rome) in the Middle Empire. It
contains a brief summary of the content of the Chris
tian faith, and gives a short account of its spread in
the Chinese Empire. Olopun translated the Scrip
tures into Chinese, and by the end of the seventh
century " monasteries had filled a hundred cities," 1
though Buddhists derided it. In the fourteenth
century Buddhist services were imposed on Chris
tians, and, as in Japan down to 1868, the faith could
only be kept up in secret. Naturally, under such
circumstances, it became corrupted in various ways,
But still it proved a valuable foundation for the later
Jesuit missionaries to build upon.
By the thirteenth century the Assyrian Com-
1 Buddhism had already made the Chinese familiar with monastic
institutions. In fact, the monument states that the Syrians had on
their arrival been placed in a Buddhist monastery, with injunctions
not to mingle the " illuminating " religion (i.e. Christianity) with
the " pure " religion (i.e. Buddhism).

NESTORIANS IN THE FAR EAST 91
munion extended from the Tigris to Japan, from
Ceylon to the Arctic Ocean.1 It is quite impossible
to form any estimate of the number of its adherents,
but no other communion has ever covered so wide
an area. No ecclesiastic has ever held effective
jurisdiction over so many miles of the earth's surface
as did the Patriarch of Babylon. For it would seem
that his rule was not merely nominal. Each of his
twenty-five patriarchs had to appear before him
annually or at intervals of three or five years, ac
cording to the distance of his throne. One of these
metropolitical sees was at Kabul; another at Cam-
baluc, the modern Pekin. To-day this great Church
is represented by a remnant ready to perish — which
would in all probability have perished by now if it
had not been for the Archbishop of Canterbury's
Mission — of some 200,000 souls in the mountains of
Kurdistan. Their Catholicos bears the hereditary
title Mar Shimum (i.e. Lord Simon), and lives at
Qudshanis on the banks of the Pison — one of the
rivers of Eden. The whole episcopate is represented
by about a dozen men — chosen for the office from
infancy — whose poverty is so great that they are
compelled to earn their living by manual labour.
Huge and populous areas where this communion
was once firmly established have now to be converted
1 So J. M. Neale in "The Sea Tigers: A Tale of Mediaeval Nes-
torianism." I have not been able to find his authority for the
statement that it extended to the Arctic Ocean.

92 FOREIGN MISSIONS
afresh, though it seems that in some cases (notably
in parts of China) the seed once sown has never been
completely destroyed.
It would be altogether beyond the scope of these
pages, and the powers of the writer, to try to explain
this collapse. No doubt investigation would show
that it is to be attributed to a variety of causes.
But to a large extent it seems to have been due to
direct persecution. It is possible that such persecu
tion was not undertaken on purely religious grounds.1
The Church may have become too rich. Its officers
may have seemed to be idlers — a mere burden im
posed upon the more industrious portion of the
community ; or it may have acquired — or have tried
to acquire — undue political influence. Its misfor
tunes may have been (in part at least) of its own
making. It will be more valuable to our present
purpose to try to estimate the cause of its extra
ordinary success.
Now there seems to be no doubt that the success
of the missionary work of the Assyrian Church (and
probably to a lesser degree of all Eastern Churches)
was due very largely to its wonderful freedom from
what may be called provincialism. That is to say,
1 It is probably true to say that Mohammedans are the only
people who have ever persecuted systematically for religious reasons
only. In Europe a heretic was a public danger in a mediaeval State,
and was persecuted on that ground. The one Church was the only
real bond of union in countries which were nominally united under
one ruler. Anything which impaired its influence threatened the
cohesion of the State.

THE ASSYRIAN COMMUNION 93
it was not distinctively Assyrian wherever it went ; J
it had thoroughly mastered S. Paul's principle of
becoming all things to all men. It did not appear
to the nations to whom it went as a foreign agency,
which aimed at destroying all ancient habits, and
making its adherents as much like foreigners as
possible. It offered them translations of its sacred
writings in their own tongue. In such matters as
the structure of its churches, and generally in its
organization, it was prepared to follow closely lines
to which the people were already accustomed. Its
clergy do not seem to have put the power and
prestige of their own patriarch first. They did not
work to strengthen their original Church at home by
enlisting, as it were, a foreign legion in its support.
Their aim was rather to create genuinely national
Churches wherever they went. The advantage of
this method is obvious, but it is exposed to two
equally obvious dangers. In the first place, it may
lead to pure Congregationalism.2 It may mean that
the historic organization of the Church is made of
no account. Each district — eventually each congre
gation, however young, small, and ignorant— may
lay claim to a perfectly free hand in the manage-
1 This adaptability would be particularly valuable in China,
where the people are exceptionally conservative in their ideas and
habits. 1 Not necessarily in the technical modern sense. Such Churches
may retain the episcopal order, but a bishop may be the worst
possible kind of congregationalist at heart if he surrenders himself
to what Archbishop Benson once called "-Diocesanism."

94 FOREIGN MISSIONS
ment of its own affairs. That means that its polity
becomes steadily narrower in outlook. The wisdom
which has been accumulated by long experience in
wider fields goes for nothing ; its very existence may
hardly be suspected. The counsels of the Church
are those which can gain a local majority at any
given moment. Its assemblies provide full scope for
the fanatic, the partisan, and the plausible agitator,
and very little for leaders of any other type. The
conception of unity hardly finds any place among its
ideals, and it has little power of resistance in times
of exceptional stress, because it has to stand alone.
And, secondly, it may lead to the compromising of
Christian principles. His anxiety not to appear to
be a foreign innovator may lead the missionary to
allow his native converts to continue practices which
really traverse the truth of his message. The mis
sionary, even more than any other man, needs to be
able to discriminate between what is essential and
what is not. He has to steer, on the one hand,
between Congregationalism and a Papacy; on the
other, between making his work too foreign in
appearance to succeed, and adapting himself so
closely to the ideas which he is trying to raise, that
he sacrifices everything which might have succeeded
in raising them.
In other words, a missionary needs to have an
exceptionally firm and clear grasp of principles.
Once the principles are clearly grasped, the applica-

IMPORTANCE OF PRINCIPLES 95
tion of them to particular instances as they arise is
comparatively easy. The missionary will, like S.
Paul, know exactly how far he can go.1 He will
recognize when any concession for which he may be
asked must be met with a decisive and final No.
And any mistakes which he may make are not
likely to prove very serious. If the right principles
are at work, errors of application will soon correct
themselves. The real danger lies in opportunism.
If the missionary be content to live, as it were, from
hand to mouth, dealing with every problem as it
arises by the light of common sense, in view of what
seems to be the best course at the moment, he is
merely courting disaster. It may not come in his
own time, but come it must. Probably the explana
tion of the weakness of much modern English mis
sionary work lies in our national incapacity for
principles, particularly theological ones. " Practical "
and " efficient " are what we seem to have taken for
our watchwords. They are admirable words — but
they ought to mean rather more than " active " and
" energetic." 2 The strength of the Eastern Churches,
1 For the idea of this paragraph, I am indebted to a, sermon
preached before the University of Cambridge by the Bishop of
Birmingham on May 2, 1909.
2 It is difficult not to be a little disturbed by the small place
which — to judge from the printed reports — principles seem to
occupy in the minds of many of those who spoke at the Pan-
Anglican Congress of 1908. The effect produced on the mind of
the reader is that organization is regarded as the sovereign remedy
for all our shortcomings. We shall do well to bear in mind the
saying of Joab to Ahimaaz : " Wherefore wilt thou run, my son,
seeing that thou hast no tidings ready?" (2 Samuel xviii. 22).

96 FOREIGN MISSIONS
and of the Assyrian Communion especially, has
been their innate capacity for theology. Even the
remnant of the Assyrians of to-day, ignorant though
they have become from lack of opportunities of
learning, are said to move naturally, almost as it
were by instinct, in the region of principles. Their
pre-eminent interest is theology, and their natural
gifts enable them to handle it with an ease which
their Western brethren can only envy. Thus the
early Assyrian missionary could deal with the
problems of his work with a consistency and cer
tainty that the European of to-day has failed to
reach. He moved confidently in regions where we
blunder and hesitate. If we are ever to rival their
achievements, it will not be solely, or even chiefly, by
the organizing and busy energy which are so dear to
us. They are only, at the best, instruments. Behind
them must lie the real grasp of fundamental prin
ciples which can only be the fruit of prolonged
thought. Unfortunately we find thinking more
difficult than organizing, and so tend to walk more
and more in the easier path. The objection to it is
that it will eventually prove to be a blind alley.
The other great field of early Eastern missionary
enterprise was Africa. At the beginning of our era
the genius which had led Alexander the Great to
choose the barren, sweltering sandhills at the mouth
of the Nile to be the site of a great city had amply
justified itself. Alexandria was the second city of

ALEXANDRIA 97
the Mediterranean world : in commercial importance
it rivalled Rome itself. Its geographical position
made it the clearing-house of three continents.1
From its earliest days it had attracted a very large
number of Jewish immigrants — in whose interest the
Old Testament was translated into Greek. At the
beginning of our era there was probably hardly any
important nation unrepresented there. Its Museum
(which was practically what we understand by a
University) possessed the finest library in the world.
The city was also a principal centre of the worship
of Serapis. The cult of this divinity was one of
the orgiastic Oriental creeds which obtained a wide
popularity in the Roman Empire during the first
three centuries a.d. Whether we accept the tradi
tion that S. Mark became the first Bishop of Alexan
dria or not, there is no doubt that Christianity — as
was natural — established itself there in very early
times. The importance of the city made the see one
of the most important in the world. In the third
century it produced 2 Origen, who was probably the
most learned and laborious student of the Bible
there has ever been. His chief work, the Hexapla,
i.e. a Bible in six parallel columns, containing the
1 To be accurate, of course, only of such parts of them as may
be regarded as sharing a common civilization, i.e. the Mediter
ranean countries of Europe, N. Africa, and. W. Asia. But that was
the world for practical purposes.
2 Or rather, to be strictly accurate, was the scene of his life's
work. He may have been born elsewhere. G

98 FOREIGN MISSIONS
Hebrew and different Greek translations, required so
much labour to produce, that, so far as is known, no
other copy was ever made. In his interpretation of
some of the earlier parts of the Old Testament he
anticipated much of what is regarded in some
circles as "advanced criticism" at the present
day.1 In the fourth century it produced the well-known
heretic Arius2 (whose mistaken views probably, at
one time, commanded a majority in Western Chris
tendom) and his great opponent, Athanasius. There
has seldom been a greater champion of the fulness of
Christian belief than Athanasius, or a century which
had more need of him than the fourth. Of course
the Church of such a city became a strong missionary
1 e.g. " Philocalia," ch. 17 : " Who would be so silly as to imagine
that God, after the fashion of a human gardener, had planted a
garden in Eden towards the east, and set in it a tree of life that
could be seen and felt? Any one who is not blind can collect
multitudes of such examples written down as though they had
occurred, and yet never having occurred in the literal sense." I
owe this reference to " Some Thoughts on Inspiration," by the
Very Bev. J. Armitage Eobinson, Dean of Westminster (Longmans,
Green & Co., 1905). It is only fair to add that Origen is sometimes
fanciful in interpretation, and presses allegory too far.
2 Arius made the generation of the Son an act in time, thereby
reducing Him to the level of a creature. If his views had finally
prevailed, the Church would have become as nerveless and destitute
of saving power as the Unitarian body is to-day. But he did not
see that. He owed his vogue to the fact that he appealed strongly
to the ordinary common sense of the plain man. It seemed obvious
that a Father must have existed before His Son. He was probably
also helped by the fact that his stock phrase, " There was when
He was not," runs in Greek in a way that makes it an almost
ideal catchword for a party.

EGYPTIAN MONASTICISM 99
centre. It spread westward along the north coast
of Africa, and southward far up the Nile. But the
mob of Alexandria came to have an evil reputation
for riotousness and ferocity,1 and its Church could
not help being tinged with these characteristics. It
is to the Egyptian Church that we owe the begin
nings of Christian monasticism. The first definite
rule for a Christian community living apart from the
world was believed to have been revealed to one
Pachomius by an angel towards the close of the
third century. Soon the deserts of Upper Egypt
became dotted with " religious persons " (in the tech
nical sense). In many cases these were solitaries —
hermits who separated themselves as far as possible
from all other human beings. Sometimes a number of
such gathered together for mutual help and protection
under a common head. But, even so, the individual
members were more isolated than in the monas
teries of the West. The religious communities of
the Egyptian desert bore little resemblance to the
homes of quiet thought, artistic production, and
useful labour of various kinds which the word
"monastery" suggests to us. They tended to be
little more than hotbeds of savage fanaticism, which
sometimes bordered upon downright insanity. The
visits of large parties of the dwellers in the desert
1 There is a very graphic description of the people and Church
of Alexandria in the fifth century in Charles Kingsley's novel,
" Hypatia." In general outline it is probably fairly accurate.

100 FOREIGN MISSIONS
to Alexandria were not likely to conduce to the
healthy growth of the Church. Since the Moham
medan conquest the Egyptian Church has been
exposed to relentless persecution, and has been
brought very low. It is represented to-day only
by the small remnant of the Copts. It is to be
feared that they are sunk in ignorance and super
stition, for it is said that there are few, even among
the clergy, who can understand the language of their
liturgy. But we are bound to respect them as the
modern representatives of all the wisdom of the
Egyptians, and for the fact that they have not
allowed Christianity to become wholly extinct in
the Nile Valley. It is to be hoped that brighter
days are in store for this very ancient Church under
our regime. Like ourselves, they have had to resist
the aggression of the Roman See.
There is one living memorial of their missionary
activity, during the days of their greatness, in the
Church of Abyssinia. There are probably still many
people in England who do not realise that south of
Latitude 15° — speaking roughly, between Khartum
and the south-west shore of the Red Sea — there has
been a Christian State for nearly 1500 years. In
some respects the Abyssinian Church is the most
remarkable in the world. For many centuries it
was completely cut off from the rest of Christendom.
At the present day it is an island surrounded by a
ring of peoples bitterly hostile to Christianity in any

THE ABYSSINIAN CHURCH 101
form. And it may probably be regarded as the ex
treme instance of the extent to which Christianity
can be overlaid with superstition without ceasing to
exist. Among other peculiarities, it is the custom
of the Abyssinian Christians to keep models of the
Ark of Zion J in their churches, and to make them
an object of worship.
But whatever can be said against the Abyssinian
Church, it has preserved a seed of truth in a region
which would otherwise have been surrendered, first,
to some low form of paganism, and then to the religion
of Mohammed. And it is also a valuable reminder of
the vigour of the Church that was once in Egypt.
Having given this very brief outline sketch of the
missionary work of the Oriental Churches,2 we must
turn once more to the achievements of the principal
Church of the West.3
During the earlier part of the thirteenth century
1 An English translation of a MS. in the possession of the
Emperor of Abyssinia, called "Magda, Queen of Sheba," has
recently been published. It professes to describe how the son of
the Queen of Sheba and Solomon stole the Ark from the Temple at
Jerusalem and brought it to Abyssinia. The Ark is continually
spoken of as " Our Holy Mother and Queen," and the book was
probably composed to justify the worship of models of it against
objections which had been raised by more enlightened opinion.
2 The final separation between the Eastern and Western Churches
took place in the eleventh century. Their relations had been
strained for some time before. But the Papacy has never dared
to deny the validity of Eastern Orders.
8 For this sketch of the Franciscan Missions to China I am
indebted to an article by the Bishop of Gibraltar in "The East
and the West," April 1904, p. 121.

102 FOREIGN MISSIONS
the rise of the great Mongol Empire under Genghiz
Khan began to cause uneasiness in Europe. Prob
ably no one has ever reigned over so great an
empire, for his dominions extended from Poland to
the Yellow Sea. The united powers of Europe would
have had little prospect of withstanding his armies
if he had made any serious attempt to conquer their
territory. But, as the Mongol Emperors were not
barbarians, but wise and enlightened rulers, it was
soon seen that there might be better ways of averting
the danger than by force of arms. It seemed possible
that the Great Khan himself (that is the title by
which the Mongol sovereign was commonly known
in Europe) might be converted to Christianity. It
looked as if the Church might gain the most mag
nificent triumph of its history, if missionaries of
sufficient devotion and courage could be found to
undertake the work ; and of these there was at the
moment no lack. The rise of the mendicant orders
had produced a Papal militia which was exactly
what was required. Preaching the Gospel "to the
enemies of Christ" had been part of the original
plan of S. Francis, and the Dominicans had adopted
the same ideal. At the Council of Lyons in 1245,
Pope Innocent IV. appealed to these two orders
for a spiritual army to convert the Mongols, and
there was no lack of response. A Franciscan friar,
named John of Pian-Carpino, was chosen to lead an
embassy to Muscovy, and thence to the Far East.

FRANCISCAN MISSIONS IN THE EAST 103
He started from Lyons on April 16, 1245, and was
joined en route by two companions. The party
penetrated far into Asia, and seem to have been well
received, for on his return in 1247 Pian-Carpino was
made Archbishop of Antivari in Albania. His stay
in the East had been too short to produce any per
manent result. A second mission of Dominicans,
which started soon after, returned in July of the
same year, with nothing to show for the expedition
but an insulting letter from the Mongol general at
Baidju, which put an end to all prospect of imme
diate success. Neither of these parties had reached
Cathay itself, though the existence of the great city
of Cambaluc (Pekin) was known in Europe. It was
first visited by two Venetian merchants, Nicolo
and Marco Polo, in the year 1260.1 On their return
they brought letters to the Pope praying that learned
missionaries might be sent to instruct the people
in the liberal arts.2 It does not seem certain that
Kublai Khan had any desire for religious instruction,
though expressions to that effect have been put into
his mouth.
In 1279, whether in consequence of the letter or
1 An English translation of Marco Polo's travels, edited by
T. Wright, has been published by George Bell & Sons : London,
1897. 2 This is, perhaps, the first recognition of the purely educational
side of missionary work, which has been brought into prominence
of late years, especially in India. It should be remembered that
the thirteenth century was a period of exceptional intellectual
activity in Western Europe.

104 FOREIGN MISSIONS
not, Pope Nicholas III. determined to make another
attempt, and a commission of five Franciscans was
despatched from the second Council of Lyons. But
their way was blocked by the disturbed condition
of some of the districts through which they had to
pass, and they were unable to accomplish anything.
An effective beginning was not made till the year
1289, when Nicholas IV. despatched the famous
friar, John of Montecorvino,1 with letters addressed
to Arghoun Khan in Persia, and to Kublai himself
at Cambaluc. Little or nothing was heard of him
till 1305, when he managed to send a letter to his
friends in Europe. In it he speaks of having
baptized about a hundred persons in India en route,
and of finding a strong and unfriendly Nestorian
community in China. He had been kindly treated
by the Great Khan, who was not, however, disposed
to change his own belief ; and at the time of writing
had contrived to build a church in Cambaluc, and
furnish it with three bells. He had baptized about
six thousand persons, and estimates that he could
have baptized five times that number if there had
been no other calls upon his time. He had also
purchased a hundred and fifty boys from pagan
parents, out of whom he had managed to form the
nucleus of a choir.

1 A village near Salerno. John was born in 1247, and may be
regarded as one of the greatest missionaries which the Church has
ever produced.

FRIAR JOHN OF MONTECORVINO 105
Not long afterwards (probably early in the follow
ing year) he wrote another letter giving some par
ticulars of the work to the brethren of the Franciscan
and Dominican Orders in Persia. In it he speaks
of having been definitely persecuted by Nestorians,
and of having opened another " station " (locus) close
to the gate of the Lord Khan (i.e. the entrance to
the imperial city). He also mentions the presence
of many monks of various kinds, wearing different
habits, who were "of greater abstinence and aus
terity than our Latin monks." These were doubtless
Buddhists. On receipt of these letters, Pope Clement V. at
once caused a Bull to be prepared nominating John
of Montecorvino as Archbishop of Cambaluc and
Primate of the Far East. Seven Franciscan friars
were consecrated bishops, and despatched with a
commission to consecrate their archbishop, and then
remain with him as his suffragans. Only two of
them reached Pekin in safety. In 1308 the Arch
bishop was consecrated with great pomp, and soon
afterwards the Pope sent them a reinforcement of
three more suffragans.
Meanwhile the Dominicans had been working
with great effect among the Mongols of Persia. In
1304 they had converted the Nestorian Patriarch,
Mar Jabalaha, and induced him to write a letter of
submission to Pope Benedict XI. Fourteen years
later John XXII. consecrated Francis of Perugia

106 FOREIGN MISSIONS
to be first Archbishop of Sulthanyeh, and sup
plied him with six suffragans. It looked as if a
Christian Mongol Empire were almost within sight.
We have a letter from Andrew of Perugia (one
of the two consecrators of the first Archbishop
of Cambaluc), written from the city of Zayton
(really Zaltun), which he describes as being on
the shores of the ocean three weeks' journey
from Cambaluc. It is addressed to the warden
of his convent at Perugia, and depicts a most
flourishing state of affairs. Zayton possessed a
cathedral, built and endowed by a wealthy Arme
nian lady, and another " convenient and hand
some" church. This church also possessed mon
astic buildings sufficient for twenty-two brethren,
who, it may be assumed, were of native descent.
The allowance for maintenance made by the
Emperor to the bishop was so much in excess
of his requirements that he was able to devote a
large part of it to church-building. Some Genoese
merchants resident there estimated it at about
a hundred golden florins per annum. After this
letter, which is dated January 1326, we have little
further knowledge of the missions to Cathay.
Archbishop John must have died about 1330, and
his place was never really filled, though efforts
to provide a successor were made. The last
authentic fact we know is that, in 1362, James
of Florence, fifth bishop of Zayton, was martyred

PROGRESS OF FRANCISCAN MISSIONS 107
with many followers, and this seems to have
brought the Church to an end.1
It is obvious that the constitution of the mission
was bound to be in itself a source of weakness. The
fact that it was directed entirely by friars made it
depend directly from the Papacy. So intimate a
connection with a base so remote would not be
likely to conduce to satisfactory working, when
once the mission had established itself firmly.2 At
the outset it was probably of the greatest value.
It is possible, too, that the Church suffered some
what from the liberality of the Great Khan. An
infant Church, with a gigantic missionary task still
before it, is probably better without the patronage
and support of those in high places. Less than any
other kind of Church can it afford to risk even
seeming to offer any but purely spiritual advantages
to its converts. We know nothing about Andrew
of Perugia's twenty-two native brethren. They may
1 A Franciscan writer of the present day, Pere Leon, in his book
" L' Aureole Seraphique," vol. i. p. 274 note, states that in 1456 the
see of Pekin was occupied by a Franciscan, the seventh from John of
Montecorvino. If this is anything more than a mistake, he can
only have been a titular bishop who was never within a thousand
miles of his see. (I owe this reference to the Bishop of Gibraltar's
article mentioned above.)
2 Still it should be noted that the missionaries were given a
remarkably free hand in some respects. For, in his first letter
John speaks of having translated the Canon of the Mass into
Tartar, and of celebrating habitually in that language. Of course
we do not know how this piece of information was received at
Bome. But he does not think it necessary to offer any kind of
apology for his action.

108 FOREIGN MISSIONS
have been men truly called by God to the life of
a Christian monk, or they may have been men
of no real spirituality at all. The fact that the
bishop enjoyed a liberal allowance from the imperial
treasury may have suggested adherence to him as
an easy means of acquiring an assured competence
for life.1 But the principal cause of its extinction
was doubtless persecution. The tolerant Tartars
were succeeded by the Chinese Ming dynasty, and
religious toleration ceased. Probably the Ming sove
reigns did not feel themselves sufficiently secure
upon their thrones to tolerate subjects who looked
to any authority beyond their own.
We must now turn to the other side of the globe,
and speak briefly of the early missions of the Roman
Church in the New World. It is unnecessary to go
into details, and to do so would involve the relation
of much that is better forgotten. Those who desire
more detailed information can glean it from the
pages of Prescott's " Conquest of Mexico " and " Con
quest of Peru." The Spanish conquests in America
were accompanied by unspeakable cruelties, and
they tried to extend the Kingdom of Christ by the
1 The present writer has seen it seriously advanced as a proof
of the superiority of Buddhism to Christianity, that a ship's fire
man, who became a Buddhist monk at Singapore, found himself
transferred from a life of exhausting toil to an easy and comfort
able profession. The author of the article in which the fact was
recorded went on to ask triumphantly : " What other religion in
the world could have done that for him ? " (Mormoniem is said
to make a somewhat similar appeal.)

THE SPANIARDS IN AMERICA 109
same methods as those by which they extended
the empire of Spain. But, without proposing to
defend their conduct, it is not fair to judge it by
modern standards. They were probably no worse
than any of their contemporaries would have been
under similar circumstances. For centuries pre
viously, the Spaniards had been fighting almost
continuously — not for empire, but for national exist
ence. The long struggle with the Moors could not
fail to accentuate any latent tendencies to ferocity
and cruelty that there might be in the Spanish
character. Shortly after the final subjugation of
their ancient enemy, a prospect of empire and
wealth upon a scale of which no man had ever
dreamed suddenly opened before them. The exist
ence of the great American continent became
known. It was hardly possible to exaggerate the
riches which it contained, and it was given into
their hand by the supreme authority of the Vicar
of Christ on earth. It was not wonderful that they
were like men intoxicated. They had but to make
good their hold upon what they believed to be their
lawful inheritance, and Spain would be supreme
throughout the whole world.
And we must try to be fair to their missionary
methods. They belonged to an age which saw no
harm in trying to propagate spiritual truth by
material methods. It was commonly held that
men could be, and therefore ought to be, compelled

110 FOREIGN MISSIONS
to accept the views which had commended them
selves to those in authority. Coercion was the
recognized method of spreading or suppressing
opinions of any kind.1 It is unreasonable to expect
the Spaniards in the New World to have advanced
so far beyond the views held by the rest of Europe
as to have realized that a new continent could not
be converted by violence. And if they went beyond
what had been done before in Europe (and it is by
no means certain that they did), it must be remem
bered that they were beyond any restraint which a
slightly more enlightened public opinion might have
exercised. There was no one else in America to be
shocked by their treatment of the Indians, and little
if anything could be known about their doings by
the rest of Europe. Probably no one else has ever
had such an opportunity of acting cruelly or so
much temptation to do so.
For in this respect their Church gave them no
help. It had long ceased to make any account of
theology. Religious teaching, as we understand it,
barely existed. Its thinkers were occupied with
devising arguments in support of a particular theory
of Church government, and with very little else.
1 The Church Discipline Bills which are brought forward in the
House of Commons from time to time by private members show
that there are still some people in England who cling to this
antiquated view. The spirit of such bills is that of the Middle
Ages at its worst. It does not make much difference whether the
instruments employed are the stake, or deprivation and imprison
ment. Both are equally bound to fail.

WEAKNESS OF THE ROMAN COMMUNION 111
The Church had become a vast and complicated
system which nobody understood : from which every
body made his own selection. Men were left to
form their own conception of God, and of what
was acceptable in His sight. The seat of authority
was too much engrossed with European politics, of
which it was the hub, to have ;time to offer much
guidance in religious matters. Bishoprics in general
were merely a convenient means of providing for the
support of the great officers of State or rewards for
public service. Such teaching as was given aimed
at stimulating enthusiasm rather than at diffusing
knowledge of God. It was not wonderful that men
trained in such a system — or rather left to grow up
in such a chaos — should have seen no harm in
conduct which we see to have been utterly un
christian. They believed quite honestly that they
were serving God faithfully according to His will.
And it must always be remembered to the Spaniards'
credit that they did, collectively, feel the obligation
of bringing the Gospel to their new subjects. Mis
sionary work, as they understood it, was to them an
inevitable accompaniment of their conquests. Prob
ably no other nation 1 has ever acted so systemati
cally on the principle that the cross must accompany
its flag to the ends of the earth. Certainly we our-
1 The Mohammedans, of course, always took their religion with
their armies, and imposed it on their new subjects. Long contact
with them may have done something towards convincing the
Spaniards of the obligation.

112 FOREIGN MISSIONS
selves have not. More than once by placing diffi
culties in the way of forming new bishoprics, our
Government has positively hindered the progress of
the Gospel in regions newly brought under its care.
It has seldom done anything to help it. And when
Protestantism has said all that can be said about the
Inquisition in the New World, and has repeated all
the stories of newly baptized children having their
brains dashed out by Spanish soldiers to ensure
their salvation before they had had time to sin,
the fact remains that the Spaniards and Portuguese
did cause Christ's name to be named upon the
American continent over eighty degrees of latitude.
The Church of Latin America may be degraded and
corrupt, but still it is a Christian Church, and
administers the Sacraments to many who at the
present day would never, in all probability, have
heard of them from any other source. The condition
of its most ignorant and superstitious members does
not compare unfavourably with that of the residents
in the "back-blocks" of Australia, some of whom
have lapsed into such complete heathenism that
they have never heard the name of Christ, and do
not recognize the attitude of prayer when they see
it. The fact that the cross was planted throughout
the length and breadth of Central and Southern
America almost as quickly as those regions became
known to Europe is a unique missionary achieve
ment in the history of the Church. The Spaniards

RESULTS OF THE SPANIARDS' WORK 113
and Portuguese set their hands to a great work,
and probably few of their contemporaries would
have seen anything to object to in the way in
which they carried it through.
The religious changes which passed over Western
Europe during the sixteenth century naturally
affected the spread of the Gospel in heathen lands.
After the Reformation missionary work falls into two
, great divisions.1 First, that of the Roman Church,
which in heathen countries is conducted very largely
by members of various religious orders. This also
includes propaganda among those who do not
recognize the supremacy of the Pope. The policy
of the Roman Church for the last three hundred
years has been to ignore the existence of all other
Churches, and to treat the whole world outside its
own communion as a legitimate field for missionary
activity. Secondly, that of the various Reformed
Churches, which has been, and still is, to a very large
extent, conducted by semi-private societies. Before
proceeding to give any sketch of the work that has
gone on from the sixteenth century down to our own
time, it will be convenient to consider briefly as a whole
the missions of the preceding period — i.e. from the
fifth century, which may be regarded as the beginning
of the Middle Ages, down to the Reformation.
1 With the exception of Bussia, about which something will be
said below, none of the Eastern Churches have been in a condition
to attempt much in the way of missionary work since the fall of
Constantinople in 1453. H

114 FOREIGN MISSIONS
Speaking generally, it may be said that mediaeval
missions usually began by being extremely success
ful, and subsequently collapsed and had to be built
up again almost from the beginning.1 Certainly
when we recall the Churches that were great once,
and have now practically ceased to exist — for the
rebuilding was not always possible — we have no
reason to be discouraged by any of the collapses of
our own time. Failure in the mission-field is no
new thing.
One great advantage which the mediaeval Church
possessed is that it seems to have had comparatively
little difficulty in obtaining men to fill its posts
in the mission-field. This must be ascribed to a
variety of causes. The love of adventure was often
very strong, as appears from the way in which
people would go on pilgrimages. The excitement
of departing to preach the Gospel in a distant and
unknown country must have been in some cases a
powerful motive. The spirit of obedience also was
strongly developed. Men were probably more ready
to do what they were told to do, and go where they
were told to go, than they are now, and authority
was perhaps more ready to issue its instructions
with no uncertain voice. This temper was directly
fostered by monastic institutions, whose immense
value in missionary work has been pointed out
1 The early history of Christianity in the kingdom of Northumbria
is a case in point. See page 57.

VALUE OF DISCIPLINE 115
above. When Augustine and his companions
were alarmed during their journey through France
by the reports which reached them of the state of
England, they were disposed to turn back. But
Gregory bade them go on, and it was then that the
discipline of their monastic training told. They
were told to advance, and like well-trained soldiers
they did. Probably, if they had not had years of
habitual obedience to superiors behind them, they
would not have been strong enough to overcome
their natural fears.
The mediaeval missionaries often produced very
remarkable results in a very short space of time.
This is largely due to the fact that they usually
began at the top. They addressed themselves first
to the king or chief, and to the principal men by
whom he was surrounded. And if they were not
immediately successful in gaining the personal
allegiance of the king himself, they usually managed
to secure a measure of his goodwill. And the
conversion of any one of high rank usually meant
the conversion of his dependants en masse. In
places where clan or tribal feeling was strong, it
was natural for every one to imitate his chief. It
would have been presumptuous, if not worse, for
any one in a humble walk of life to question what
had commended itself to his superiors. It was
natural for the missionaries to begin that way, for
they were unacquainted with any but monarchical

116 FOREIGN MISSIONS
institutions, and believed that monarchy was the
only form of government which was acceptable in
the sight of God. To them it would have seemed
almost sacrilege to address themselves to any one
before the king. And this method had certain
great practical advantages. In the first place, it
secured a certain measure of personal security
against attack to the new-comers, and in the second,
the king was usually ready to provide them with
means of subsistence. The gifts of land made to
them ensured the continuance of the work. On
the other hand, it may be urged that this method
is not that of our Lord and His immediate followers.
They began with the lowest classes, and from them
the Gospel worked upwards. But it is difficult to
say whether that method ought to be regarded as
a principle, to be observed always in all missionary
work or not. It may have been merely dictated
by the social conditions of the Roman Empire in
general, and Palestine in particular, at the begin
ning of our era.1 Our Lord may have begun with
the poor, simply because in that particular case
there was nothing to be done with the rich. But
the social outlook of the Gothic or Germanic or
Keltic peoples was very different from that of the
Jews, Romans, or Greeks. Their national life was
organized in an entirely different way. If, as seems
1 The sense of solidarity produced by caste is said to be causing
mass-movements towards Christianity at the present day in some
parts of India.

MEDLEVAL METHODS 117
probable, each nation is to be won by being ap
proached through its own existing institutions, that
may mean beginning with the humble in one instance
and with those in high places in another. The cry,
" Quid Christianis cum regibus ? " J was first raised
by the heretical Donatist sect. It does not neces
sarily represent the view which the Church ought
to take. We cannot always accuse missionaries who
began by addressing themselves first to rulers of
disregarding a fundamental principle of the Gospel,
and of trying to wage the warfare of the spirit with
the help of the flesh ; under some circumstances, to
address the rulers first might be the right course,
and the only one which could offer any prospect
of success.
Its drawbacks are very obvious. The king is
converted, and his subjects follow suit by thousands,
many of them having only the vaguest ideas as to
what they were accepting. We read of wholesale
baptisms in rivers, which really meant very little.2
1 ' ' What have Christians in common with kings ? "
2 Of course much of the work of the mediseval Church was
weakened by a rather mechanical view of Sacraments. A Sacrament
was commonly regarded as an opus operatum — i.e. as something
complete in itself. If it were administered and received duly, so
far as all externals were concerned, that was all that was required.
This view was perhaps carried to its extreme development by the
early Jesuit missionaries in North America. They would brave any
tortures at the hands of the Bed Indians to baptize children, who
would probably never exchange a word with a Christian as long as
they lived. Probably this extreme is preferable to the other, which
barely recognizes Sacraments at all.

118 FOREIGN MISSIONS
Or in some cases, notably in Norway, they are not
inclined to adopt the new views, and the king tries
to impose them by force of arms. A great deal of
blood was shed during the conversion of Europe
by rulers who found their subjects less tractable
in religious matters than they had expected; and
what one king had imposed by violence, his suc
cessor was entitled to uproot in the same way if he
chose. Christianity might spread rapidly over the sur
face, but in many cases it was necessarily only a
thin veneer. It was often tainted with heathen
superstitions which it made little effort to re
move. Such a faith was not calculated to stand
persecution if the sympathies of the sovereign
changed. And even if things went well with the Church,
the fact that it had begun at the apex of society
tended to hasten one unfortunate development. The
rulers of the Church were naturally about the king's
person. They could hardly escape from taking a
considerable part in politics. No doubt the great
affairs of State were better directed by them than
they would have been by any one else available at
the time, but the effect upon the Church was not
wholly good. The spiritual office tended to become
an appanage of the secular. Bishoprics soon came
to be regarded as merely means of providing for
public servants. Possibly a Church which had been

THE COUNTER REFORMATION 119
built up from the lower to the higher ranks of
society might have escaped this danger for a longer
period. It might have been in a better position to
resist such partial absorption by the State when the
process, which was probably inevitable, began. It is
easy for us to find fault with many things in the
conduct and methods of the missionaries of the
Middle Ages. But the greater part of such criticism
is really unfair. It consists in blaming them for not
having been in advance of the ideas of their time.
The courage and devotion of such men as Patrick,
Boniface, Columbanus, Anscar, Methodius, and John
of Montecorvino— merely to cite a few examples —
are really beyond praise. The positive results of
their work were enormous. We can owe nothing
but gratitude to the men into whose labours we have
entered. We cannot reproach them for sharing the
ideas of their time because such ideas are not those
of our own day.
The Reformation is an event of such importance
in our political, as well as in our religious, history
that we are sometimes inclined to overlook the effect
which it produced upon its opponents. The anti-
Protestant movement in the Roman Church, which
is generally called the counter-Reformation, is really
at least as remarkable as the Reformation itself.
Probably it would be no exaggeration to call it
the most remarkable single episode that has ever
occurred in the history of the Christian Church. Its

120 FOREIGN MISSIONS
immediate success was greater than that of the
Protestant movement, and its permanent results are
fully as large at the present day. It called forth
a burst of missionary enthusiasm such as has not
been seen since the first day of Pentecost. So far as
organization is concerned, there can be no question
that the mantle of the men who made the Roman
Empire has fallen upon the Roman Church ; and it
has never given more striking proof of its vitality
and power than it did at this time immediately after
a large portion of Europe had been torn from its
grasp. Printing-presses poured forth literature not
only to meet the controversial needs of the moment,
but also admirable editions of the early Fathers to
whom the Reformed Churches appealed — sometimes
with more confidence than knowledge. Armies of
devoted missionaries were scientifically marshalled.
Regions of Europe which had seemed to be lost for
ever a were recovered to the Papacy, and the claims
of the Vicar of Christ were carried far and wide
through countries where they had never been heard
before. The leading spirits in this movement were the
Jesuits. As they may fairly be regarded as some
of the most intrepid and successful missionaries that
the Church has ever possessed, it will not be out of
1 For example, the southern portion of Germany and parts of
Austria-Hungary. Even France and Spain were not well affected
to the Papacy at the Council of Trent.

FOUNDING OF THE JESUITS 121
place to give a short account of the origin and
progress of their order. Their founder was a
younger son of a noble Spanish house, and was
named Inigo Lopez de Recalde. He was born in
the province of Guipuscoa, and followed, as was
natural for one in his circumstances, the military
profession. In 1521 he was severely wounded in
defending Pampeluna against the French. During
his convalescence his imagination was fired by the
glowing stories of the " Legenda Aurea," and he deter
mined to set himself to imitate the deeds of Christ,
S. Francis, and S. Dominic. On March 24, 1522, he
suspended his shield and sword before a miraculous
image of the Virgin at Montserrat, in token that
he had renounced his temporal knighthood for a
spiritual. He believed that the deepest mysteries of
Christianity were displayed to him in a series of
special revelations, and, after travelling for some
time in the East, went to Paris in 1528. His object
was to equip himself more thoroughly for public
teaching by a regular course of study at the Uni
versity. Learning seems, however, not to have been
congenial to him. His enthusiastic temper and
severe asceticism found their natural outlet in
influencing those with whom he was brought into
contact. Two fellow-students who came especially
under his influence were Faber, a Savoyard, and
Xavier, a native of Navarre. To them he first sug
gested the idea of forming a religious order, to be

122 FOREIGN MISSIONS
called the " Company of Jesus." 1 Their first project
was to sacrifice their lives in absolute poverty at
Jerusalem for the conversion of the Saracens and
the edification of the Christians. If circumstances
should make that impossible, they resolved to place
themselves unreservedly at the disposal of the Pope
for any service he might select. When the order
was fairly constituted, de Recalde assumed the name
Ignatius Loyola, by which he is better known.
Early in 1537 Loyola took up his quarters at Venice
with eight companions, but the outbreak of hos
tilities between the Turks and Venetians put an
end to any immediate prospect "of embarking for
the East. Meanwhile they employed themselves
in preaching and setting an example of self-
renunciation in Italy. In 1543 they received the
unconditional approval of the Pope. Of course such
an effective spiritual army — prepared to go any
where and attempt anything — was an invaluable
instrument in his hands. The order spread with
almost inconceivable rapidity. It drew converts
from every class of society. It recognized from the
outset the supreme importance of educational work.
Its schools and colleges could hardly be multiplied
fast enough to accommodate all who wished to enter
1 The title indicates that it was to be modelled on the lines of an
order of chivalry. De Eecalde is said to have composed in earlier
life a romance of chivalry, in which the hero was the Apostle
S. Andrew.

CONSTITUTION OF THE ORDER 123
them.1 When Loyola died in 1556, the Company
had possessed itself of thirteen provinces beside the
Roman. Seven of these belonged to Spain, Portugal,
and their colonies. In 1551 thirty Jesuits estab
lished themselves at Vienna under the auspices of
Ferdinand, King of the Romans, who placed the
management of the University in their hands.2
Before the third quarter of the century the tide of
Reformation was beginning to be turned, and mem
bers of the Company were actively at work in
almost all the chief countries of Europe. In some
respects the Jesuits were unlike other religious
orders. Their rules dispensed with the offices of
common worship, and allowed them to lead a more
secularized existence than other "religious." They
were thus enabled to throw themselves into their
work of preaching and teaching with more freedom
and effectiveness. The confessional was prominent
in their system from the first. Before the end of
the century their orthodoxy had been seriously
questioned by the Inquisition. But they had
proved themselves too valuable to the Pope for
him to interfere with them. They did not confine
themselves to trying to regain ground th&t had
1 In some of these the education was at first purely secular. But
it tended to aim more and more exclusively at fitting its pupils to
do battle for " the old religion," whenever and wherever they might
be called upon to do so.
2 It is said that there had not been a single candidate for holy
orders in the University for nineteen years previously.

124 FOREIGN MISSIONS
been lost in Europe. One of the original members
of the Company was the great Francis Xavier, whose
heroic labours have earned for him the title of the
"Apostle of the Indies."1 On May 6, 1542, he
landed at Goa. There he found that many of the
Portuguese settlers had virtually abandoned even
the outward profession of Christianity. With the
sanction of the bishop, he began a vigorous mission
to them. He visited hospitals and prisons, and
used to walk through the streets ringing a bell, and
imploring all heads of families, for the love of God,
to send their households to him for instruction.
His simple, earnest character soon gained the affec
tion of all, and he quickly brought about a wonderful
change in the conduct of the people, especially of
the young. Six months later he departed to work
among the Paravars, in the neighbourhood of Cape
Comorin. They were a poor and degraded people,
who had been, till shortly before Xavier's coming,
the slaves of their Mohammedan neighbours. They
had been liberated by the Portuguese, and were,
therefore, disposed to look with favour on Christi
anity. A few had been baptized, but had had no
instruction in the faith. Xavier lived on rice and
water in native fashion, and his success was no less
striking and rapid than it had been among the
Portuguese. After fifteen months he returned to
1 It is a matter for regret that the records of his noble life have
been interlarded with a number of very improbable anecdotes,

S. FRANCIS XAVIER 125
Goa for reinforcements, and early in 1544 took three
European colleagues to the south of India. Each
had a different station assigned him, and Xavier him
self broke fresh ground with his wonted success
in the kingdom of Travancore. It seems that he
was unacquainted with the native languages, but
produced a great impression both on the Paravars
and people of Travancore by exhibiting great
physical courage. He then proceeded to the
islands of the Malay archipelago, some of which
had been opened up by Portuguese traders. He
was successful in Malacca, but nearly lost his life
in Java and Del Moro. In the summer of 1547 he
met at Malacca a native of Japan called Anger.
This man became a Christian, and proceeded to the
Jesuit College at Goa. In August 1550, Xavier and
Anger, with two companions, landed in Japan, and
during the next two years a small Christian com
munity was formed. But the goal of Xavier's
ambition was the great empire of China. This
hope was, however, unrealized. He died of fever
on the island of Sancian on December 2, 1552, at
the age of forty-six. The subsequent history of the
Church which he founded in Japan is briefly told.
By 1587 it is said to have numbered 200,000 souls.
Then a storm of persecution broke upon it, and
almost all the Jesuits were banished from the
country. More persecution arose in 1596, and again
in 1617, when the Christian population was thought

126 FOREIGN MISSIONS
to have been nearly 2,000,000. Finally, in 1624,
Christianity was forbidden. In 1638 the Portu
guese and their religion were finally expelled, and
Japan had no intercourse with Europe, except
through one Dutch factory at Deshima, for more
than two hundred years. In storming the last
stronghold of Christianity the Japanese were assisted
by the Dutch, who made no effort to propagate their
own beliefs. When the country was reopened, a
dim tradition of Christianity is said to have been
found lingering on in one remote corner. The
Japanese Government thought that Christians had
pledged their allegiance to a foreign Power. They
were also accused of having acted offensively in
Shinto and Buddhist temples.
Xavier's Indian Missions were carried on steadily,
though by less worthy hands, after his death. But
no serious beginning was made in China for thirty
years. In 1582 an Italian Jesuit named Ricci landed
in China as a member of an embassy from the coast
of Macao. His methods differed completely from
those, of Xavier. Instead of directing his appeal to
the emotions and preaching repentance, he tried to
disarm the natural hostility of the Chinese to any
novelty by a lavish display of learning. His parti
cular forte seems to have been mathematics. He
adopted native costume, and even hinted that what
he had come to teach was merely the development
of ideas which had already been promulgated in the

THE JESUITS IN CHINA 127
writings of Confucius. Then, when he considered
that he had disarmed the hostility of those in
authority and had gained a sufficient knowledge of
the leading features of the Chinese character, he
embarked vigorously on the preaching of the Gospel.
His success was immediate and remarkable. When
he died in 1610 the Church bid fair to permeate all
classes of society. The conversion of China seemed
to be almost in sight. By 1616 there were churches
in five provinces. From 1622 the work was carried
on by Adam Schalk, a German of similar attainments.
In 1631 reinforcements of Dominicans and Francis
cans began to arrive. Towards the close of the cen
tury the successful negotiation of a treaty between
China and Russia by a Jesuit missionary named
Gerbillon led to the legal toleration of Christianity.1
But even before this time troubles had again arisen.
The Jesuits had allowed their converts to continue
ancestor-worship, regarding it as the equivalent of
prayers for the dead and the invocation of saints.
To this the stricter Dominicans objected. Exception
was also taken to the Chinese rendering of the word
God 2 adopted by the Jesuits. After much disputing,
1 Schalk's successor, Ferdinand Verbiest, rose high in the estima
tion of the Chinese by showing them an improved method of found
ing cannon.
2 The expression they used meant literally "chief ruler" or
"lord of neaven." It was doubtless inadequate, but it appeared
that the Chinese language did not contain a thoroughly appropriate
word. The Dominicans do not seem to have had any satisfactory
alternative to suggest.

128 FOREIGN MISSIONS
Clement XI. despatched a legate, Cardinal Thomas
de Tournon, to investigate the question on the spot.
Following the decision of the Roman Propaganda, he,
in 1704, disallowed the Jesuit rendering absolutely,
and further condemned a number of minor conces
sions to Chinese prejudice which they had made.
He was arrested by order of the Emperor — who was
under Jesuit influence — and died at Macao in 1710.
Naturally the Jesuits were accused of having had
him murdered. In 1715 Clement XI. formally con
demned the admission of pagan usages into the
Church. In 1745 Benedict XIV. did the same, in
more emphatic language. From this date the Church
was systematically persecuted in China, though not
exterminated. It was weakened by the suppression
of the Jesuit Order in 1773, and still more seriously
by the French Revolution.1
In Thibet the early Jesuit Missions produced little
result, in spite of the fact that religious orders
(Buddhist) had been developed there to an extent
unknown in any European country. At the begin
ning of the eighteenth century a Capuchin Mission,
under Orazia della Penna, was somewhat more
successful, and was granted a house of residence at
the capital. The permanent result seems, however,
to have been inconsiderable.
The Jesuits were no less active and successful in
1 From 1G03 it had drawn very largely upon a missionary semi
nary in Paris.

THE JESUITS IN AMERICA 129
the western hemisphere.1 In 1549 a body of them
accompanied the governor to the new foundation of
Bahia (San Salvador). In 1586 a detachment was
summoned from Brazil to undertake the evangeliza
tion of Paraguay. Here they were given an entirely
free hand. The government of the country was
entrusted to them in all respects, and they were able
to exclude all other Europeans. In a short space of
time they completely changed the character of the
natives. From a low and brutal type of savage,
they were transformed into respectable members of
society. But the policy of their rulers arrested all de
velopment beyond a certain point. The Paraguayans
were jealously guarded from the acquisition of any
knowledge which might do them harm. They were
treated like children. Although the spectacle of a pro
longed childhood of grown men and women cannot
be particularly edifying, still it must be acknow
ledged that Paraguay is perhaps the only instance
in which the European colonization of America has
been to the advantage of the original owners of the
soil. The French Jesuits founded the Church in
Canada in 1611, and in 1675 Louis XIV. caused a
bishopric to be founded at Quebec. Several of its
earlier occupants were worthy representatives of
1 Special mention should be made of Pedro Claver, who called
himself ' ' the slave of the negroes," and did a great work among
them in Cartagena. He died in 1654. In many parts of America
the Franciscans and Dominicans did very good work. But the
Jesuits are responsible for the greater part, I

130 FOREIGN MISSIONS
what may be regarded as the Golden Age of
the French Church. It would be out of place
to go into details of the early work of the
order in Canada, but mention must be made of
the martyrs Goupil, Foques, Lallemand, Brebeuf,
and Daniel, who suffered at the hands of the
Indians. Their exploits and the constancy of then- faith (and
they were but the chief among many) represent
perhaps the highest pitch that human endurance
and heroism have ever reached. The strength of
the Roman Church in Canada to-day is a testi
mony to the devotion of its pioneers, and the
solidity of the work which God enabled them to
accomplish. California received the Gospel and civilization at
the hands of Jesuits from 1697. After the sup
pression of the order the work was carried on by
Dominicans and Franciscans.
The laws of the English Colonies in North America
were of course extremely unfavourable to Roman
Catholicism. In 1700 Roman priests were forbidden
to enter New York on pain of death. In Maryland
alone was there toleration. This was originally due
to the personal influence of the founder, Lord Balti
more, who was himself a Roman Catholic. It was
subsequently secured by law.
No student of Foreign Missions can fail to be
interested in this great and wonderfully successful

REASONS OF THEIR SUCCESS 131
missionary order.1 We must therefore proceed to
try to gain some insight into the causes of the
strength and weakness of the Jesuits, and their
methods. We possess the original constitutions,2 so
can see what stamp the founder desired his Company
to bear.
The remarkably rapid growth of the order is prob
ably to be ascribed largely to the extent of the
demands which it made upon its adherents. It had
the courage to appeal directly to the instinct of
self-sacrifice. From the outset, its theology was in
some respects remarkably lax, so the order was
peculiarly attractive to the enthusiastic spirits who are
prepared to make any sacrifice of themselves. There
are always men to be found who will undertake any
task, however difficult, rather than sit down quietly
to think out principles. (Reference has already been
made to the fact that Loyola himself did not find the
life of a student congenial.) Such men are naturally
fitted for activity, and for this the order offered
exceptional scope. It is not meant, of course, to
imply that the society did not number many learned
men among its members ; still less to disparage the
heroic self-sacrificing temper. That temper is always
1 At the time of its suppression in 1773 the order possessed
22,589 members, of whom 11,295 were priests. Its unpopularity was
probably largely due to the jealousy excited by its extraordinary
achievements. 2 An edition with an English translation was published by Messrs.
T. G. and F. Bivington in 1838.

132 FOREIGN MISSIONS
latent in mankind, and the Church always has need
of it ; though it is difficult to handle it in such a
way that it shall not eventually do as much harm
as good. The Jesuits stimulated it, and pressed it into
their service with remarkable skill. The education
of the young was by their constitution one of their
primary duties. By this means they were able to
lay their lofty ideals of service before boys at a time
when the mind is peculiarly susceptible, and ready
to be fired by heroic impulses. Every school in
their hands became a recruiting-ground for the order.
The thoughts which Thackeray has put into the
mind of Henry Esmond must really represent the
thoughts of thousands who had received their edu
cation at the hands of Jesuit tutors : — " Father Holt
used to delight to tell Harry during their walks of
the glories of his order, of its martyrs and heroes;
of its brethren converting the heathen by myriads,
traversing the desert, facing the stake, ruling the
courts and councils or braving the tortures of kings ;
so that Harry Esmond thought that to belong to the
Jesuits was the greatest prize of life and bravest end
of ambition ; the greatest career here, and in heaven
the surest reward. And when little Tom Tusher his
neighbour came from school for his holidays, and
said how he too was to be bred up for an English
priest — it tasked young Harry Esmond's powers of
reticence not to say to his young companion, ' My dear
Tommy, do you call yours a Church and a priesthood?

APPEAL TO THE IMAGINATION 133
What is a fat living compared to converting a hun
dred thousand heathens by a single sermon ? What
is a scholarship at Trinity by the side of a crown
of martyrdom, with angels awaiting you as your head
is taken off ? Could your master at school sail over
the Thames on his gown ? Have you statues in your
church that can bleed, speak, walk and cry ? My
good Tommy, in dear Father Holt's Church these
things take place every day ! " 1
And such statements as to the influence wielded
by the order were hardly exaggerated. For Jesuits
were all picked men. The constitutions lay down
that physically deformed or defective candidates
were not to be accepted. Neither were men who did
not possess intellectual qualifications sufficient to
promise valuable service.2 The probation was long
and strict, and might be begun at fourteen years of
age. It was impossible to become a professed member
before twenty-five. Such careful selection, and the
difficulty of obtaining admission to the order, would
naturally help to stimulate enthusiasm to belong to it.
The main principle upon which the life of a Jesuit
was founded was implicit obedience to his Supe
rior. This was pushed to what we must regard as an
1 ' ' Esmond " p. 27. The date is the last quarter of the seventeenth
century. 2 Men who were unable to become professed members of the
order for any reason might serve it in purely temporal matters.
They were called Coadjutors, and were to be "content with the
part of Martha in the society."

134 FOREIGN MISSIONS
immoral and unreasonable pitch. He was charged
to regard his Superior as being in the place of God.
He was to be "like a corpse," or "like a stick," in
his master's hands. Nothing commanded by the
Superior " in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, or
in virtue of holy obedience," could constitute a sin :
whatever it might be, it was to be performed, " that
the greater glory of Christ our Creator and Lord may
follow." 1
Such a system naturally produced a machine of
extraordinary efficiency. Probably no one has ever
had such a perfect instrument for the execution of his
will as that which is wielded by the General of the
Jesuits. From its inception the society possessed
in an exceptionally intensified degree all the power
which the common life of discipline confers on any
religious order. It probably represents the limit
which human nature can reach in this direction. Of
its working value there can be no question. The
Bull of Clement XIV. suppressing the society frankly
acknowledges that its power was so great that it had
become a menace to the peace of the world, and
the good government of the Church. The Bull of
Pius VII., re-establishing it in 1814, admits that the
Papacy2 could not afford to despise such valuable
support. But because the system was overdone, it
1 " Constitutiones Societatis Jesu," ch, v.
2 During the early years of the last century the prestige and
influence of the Papacy were at a very low ebb.

EXAGGERATED OBEDIENCE 135
produced certain very regrettable results. The ex
aggerated ideal of obedience deprived the inferior of
all moral responsibility in practice. This inevitably
tended to weaken his moral sense. Moral sense
which had been weakened for many years in this
way was not likely to be strengthened by accession
to the practically unbounded power which rested in
the hands of the General. Thus one outcome of the
system was to destroy the corporate conscience of the
society.1 Anything which helped it to gain its ends
was lawful. Those who were actively employed in
helping it to gain its ends did not in all probability
know exactly what those ends were in any given
instance, and were not called to have any opinion
about them if they did. The individual Jesuit was
in the position of a private soldier in one corner of a
huge battle-field. He was not in his General's con
fidence, and had merely to execute the orders he
received. This lack of conscience led to the unde
sirable developments of casuistry with which the
1 Loyola himself did not in all probability foresee this con
sequence. If he had, he could hardly have appreciated the serious
ness of it. His military training had impressed him with the value
of unconditional obedience. Bishop Creighton once gave it as his
opinion that conscience had a noticeably smaller hold upon the
Latin or the Slav than upon the Teuton (" Life," vol. ii. p. 250). Its
hold upon the average Spaniard during the first half of the six
teenth century must have been remarkably small. It is not fair to
blame Loyola and his associates for not possessing a sense which
would have differentiated them from the great mass of their fellow-
countrymen at the time, because we are fortunate enough to share
it with the majority of our own.

136 FOREIGN MISSIONS
Jesuits are peculiarly associated. In itself casuistry
is entirely unobjectionable. In fact it is the essence
of pastoral work in the Church, and of real states
manship in politics. It might almost be said to
be the essence of administrative work of any kind.
Casuistry is properly the application of principles to
particular cases. But to do that with profit the
casuist must be very sure of the principles which he
proposes to apply, and the principles must be sound
in themselves. It was in this respect that the
Jesuits failed. They were so sure of themselves, and
their society, that in many respects their work was
wonderfully effective. But in theology — as has been
pointed out above — they were always weak. In
consequence, instead of really applying permanent
principles to human needs, they tended more and
more to modify the principles to suit the exigency of
the moment. Thus they became involved in almost
every imaginable form of deceit, and their conscience
was not sufficiently strong to arrest their progress
along this path. They made so much of the means
and methods of carrying on their work, that they had
to sacrifice the moral sense by which it ought to have
been dominated. We see in them a perfectly elabo
rated system with almost unlimited ability, loyalty,
and heroism at its command. Whatever could be
done by these means the Jesuits did, and the rest of
Christendom has much to learn from their achieve
ments. But the system was the product of a bad

ROMAN MISSIONARY SOCIETIES 137
period in the Church's history, and was only com
pleted at the cost of excluding the element which
might have made it a permanent blessing to the
entire Church of God.
The1 supreme control of all Roman Catholic
missions at the present day is vested in the Con-
gregatio de Propaganda Fide— i.e. a Central Board
of Missions, the members of which reside at Rome.
It was instituted in 1622, chiefly by the efforts of
a well-known Roman preacher, Girolamo da Narni.
It began by establishing a college for missionary
clergy, and a printing-press for the production of
literature. It has recently been deprived of its
endowments by the Italian Government.
Besides this there is a general association for
the support of Roman Catholic missions all over
the world. It was founded at the beginning of
the last century, and its earliest members were
women engaged in the silk industry at Lyons. In
1823 Pope Pius VII. bestowed his blessing upon
the society, and the bishops of the various nations
joined in its work. Finally Pope Gregory XVI.
raised it to the rank of universal Christian insti
tutions, and commended it to all churches in an
Encyclical Letter. It was founded by laity, and its
administration is almost entirely in their hands.
1 For the greater part of the information given about modern
Boman Catholic missions I am indebted to an article by the Bev.
E. Eubank, which appeared in " The East and the West" for 1905,
p. 46.

138 FOREIGN MISSIONS
There are two central councils : one at Lyons, the
other at Paris. The working expenses are very
small, for the services of the directors are given
gratuitously. It has no permanent endowments
of any kind, and all the money received annually
is distributed annually. It has nothing to do
with the selection or training of priests for the
mission-field, and it does not attempt to interfere
with the working of any missions which it supports.
It is simply concerned with supplying the proper
rulers of the Church with the funds for discharging
this part of their duty. At present over 300,000
copies of its annals are published bi-monthly in a
number of different languages. The first English
edition appeared in 1840, and an American edition
is produced at Baltimore. It is a law of the society
to make its affairs public.
It is sometimes spoken of as if it were the only
Roman Catholic missionary agency. Comparisons
are drawn between the sums which it raises and
those raised by the Reformed Churches, and the
conclusion is hastily drawn that the Roman Church
does very little missionary work among heathen.
As a matter of fact, there are many societies and
religious orders engaged in the work, but the sums
raised by them, and the progress made, are not
made public.
At the present time there are some thirty-three
religious orders and societies carrying on missionary

THE PORTUGUESE IN INDIA 139
work, mainly supported by their own exertions.
Besides these there are more than thirty orders of
Brothers,1 and 125 of Sisters engaged in the same
task. Without counting native workers the Roman
Church has in the mission-field at the present day
at least 15,000 priests and monks, 5000 teaching
brothers, and 45,000 sisters. A century ago it had
hardly a thousand all told.
The progress of the Roman Church in India has
been greatly impeded by the Portuguese Govern
ment,2 and the corrupt condition of the Church in
Goa. Matters were brought to a crisis by the civil
war in Portugal between Dom Miguel and Dom
Pedro, which ended in an almost complete revolt
from Rome. With the consent of the English
Government, Pope Gregory XVI. established vica
riates apostolic 3 in Calcutta, Bombay, Madras,
Ceylon, and other districts. When the Goanese
broke into open schism, the Pope abolished the
1 These brothers are almost, if not quite, entirely engaged in
educational work of elementary character. Few, if any, of them
ever proceed to priest's orders. They devote their lives to the
teaching of little children.
2 In the sixteenth century the Papacy conferred upon the Portu-
guese^Crown the patronage of all bishoprics founded in Portuguese
colonies and adjacent provinces. This was grossly abused till the
Papacy was compelled first to ignore the right, and then to abro
gate it.
3 This title is given to administrative areas in which the Church
has not advanced sufficiently for a properly equipped diocese to be
constituted. It corresponds to a " missionary jurisdiction " in the
Anglican communion.

140 FOREIGN MISSIONS
metropolitical rights of the see, defined the limits
of his vicariates, and made them dependent on
himself alone. The schism brought no credit to its
promoters, and did a great deal of harm to the cause
of Christianity in India. In 1886, Pope Leo XIII.
established an Indian hierarchy, and by a con
cordat with Portugal rearranged the sees subject
to the patronage of the Portuguese Crown. The
Archbishop of Goa is now styled " Patriarch in
the East Indies," and has four suffragans directly
under him (including the Bishop of Macao in
China). There are seven other metropolitical sees,
having under them nineteen bishoprics. Three
native vicars-apostolic govern the portion of the
ancient Syrian Church which has accepted the
supremacy of Rome. These last, however, retain
their own form of service. In British and French
India there are 809 European missionaries, 349
native priests, and a total Roman Catholic popu
lation of a little more than 1,200,000. It seems
to be difficult to arrive at exact statistics with
regard to the jurisdiction of Goa, but we should
probably not be far out in placing the whole
Roman Catholic population of India at about
2,000,000. It must be borne in mind that the
Roman Church was in the field before ourselves.
Here, as always, one of their great sources of
strength lies in the care which they bestow on
educational work.

ROMAN CHURCH IN THE FAR EAST 141
The Roman Church made rapid progress in Indo-
China during the seventeenth century. In Tong-
king and Annam, Christians were systematically
persecuted with the utmost cruelty from 1720
down to the French occupation. Within living
memory whole populations were exterminated for
refusing to deny their faith. But speaking gene
rally, the persecutions were unsuccessful. In Burma
and Siam the Gospel does not seem to have taken
such firm hold upon the people, and there has been
less persecution. At the present time the Roman
Church in Indo-China consists of sixteen bishops,
512 European missionaries, 527 native priests, and
nearly 1,000,000 members. The total population
is about 40,000,000.
As has been already mentioned, Roman Catholic
missions in China were paralyzed by the suppres
sion of the Jesuits in 1773. With the re-establish
ment of the order, they reawoke to vigorous life,
From 1815 x down to the Boxer rising of 1900 the
Chinese Christians have faced relentless persecu
tion with invincible constancy. The reason alleged
in an imperial edict of 1832 was that "every one
of them down to a blind old woman despised the
authority of the Emperor to obey a European."
1 On September 14 in that year Bishop Dupresse was led to
execution at the head of thirty-two confessors, after a ministry
of thirty-nine years. A Chinese priest, on being told that he must
die for Christ's sake, replied, " I should never have ventured to
hope for so signal a grace."

142 FOREIGN MISSIONS
It was admitted that they were not guilty of any
crime. In 1900 the Roman Church in China pos
sessed more than 40 bishops, 904 European mis
sionaries, 471 native priests, and a total population
of nearly three-quarters of a million. It has prob
ably increased considerably since then.
The story of Korea is much the same. Chris
tianity entered the country with the return of an
embassy from Pekin in 1783, but as it traversed
the national ancestor-worship, persecution ensued
almost immediately. Mass was celebrated for the
first time by a Chinese priest on Easter Sunday
1795, and the number of Christians steadily in
creased. Freedom of conscience was proclaimed in
1894, and in 1901 the Roman Church possessed
32,000 adherents there.
Reference has already been made to the early
missions in Japan,1 and the virtual extinction of
the Church by persecution. As soon as the Govern
ment learned that a remnant had been discovered
in 1865 by a French priest named Petitjean, per
secution broke out afresh, and in 1869 4500 Chris
tians were deported. When liberty of conscience
was granted in 1873, more than 2000 had been
martyred. In 1891 Pope Leo XIII. established
1 In 1862 Pius IX. canonized the first twenty-six martyrs of
Japan, and in 1865 a fine church in their honour was built at
Nagasaki, where they were crucified. In 1867, 205 martyrs were
beatified, and the feast of the " Finding of the Christians " was
ordered to be kept by the Japanese Church for ever on March 17.

IN AFRICA 143
a national hierarchy. In 1903 the Church pos
sessed an archbishop and three bishops, 82 Euro
pean missionaries, 31 native clergy, and a total
population of 58,000 ; 1649 pagans were baptized in
that year. The mission is worked from the foreign
missionary society of Paris.
At one time it seemed as if Africa would be
evangelized from the Portuguese settlements, and
good progress was made with some regions; but
with the political and religious decline of Portugal
the work fell to pieces. The great missionary re
vival of the nineteenth century, and the opening
up of hitherto unknown districts, have led to a
great restoration and extension of the decaying
African Churches. The occupation of Algeria by
the French in 1830 opened a door for Christian
enterprise in the north of the African continent.
In 1838 Algiers was made an episcopal see, and
European colonists were invited to settle there.
The French Government, however, placed every
possible obstacle in the way of the conversion of
the natives. In 1866 Algiers was made an arch
bishopric, and bishoprics were established at Oran
and Constantine. Napoleon III. and MacMahon,
the Governor of Algeria, deliberately set them
selves to oppose Christianity and favour Moham
medanism. But they found an unexpectedly serious
hindrance to their policy in the person of Arch
bishop Lavigerie. They tried to induce him to

144 FOREIGN MISSIONS
accept a metropolitical see in France, but without
success. In the year 1868 there was a dreadful
famine, and the archbishop soon found himself
responsible for the education and maintenance of
some two thousand destitute Arab children. He
could get no help from the French clergy, for the
Government strictly forbade all ministrations among
Moslems. Accordingly he founded an order of mis
sionary priests, trained to live as Arabs and natives
lived, to learn the dialects of the country, and to
devote themselves to the conversion of the in
habitants. From their adoption of the white Arab
dress they are called the White Fathers. In 1873
they were enabled to break ground among the
Kabyles,1 in the mountains between Algeria and
the Sahara. In 1876 three of them were despatched
for Timbuctoo, but they were murdered by the
Moslems before reaching their destination. When
the news reached Algiers, all the members of the
society offered themselves to the archbishop for
the post. But he thought that so young a Church
ought not to be asked to make such an enor
mous sacrifice. Every year since 1878 fresh mis
sions have left the mother-house for various places
in the interior of Africa. The White Fathers are
now at work in Algeria, Tunis, Sahara, Sudan,
1 The Kabyles are descended from the ancient native Church
of North Africa, and have preserved some Christian customs and
traditions.

SOCIETY OF S. JOSEPH 145
Nyassa, Congo, Tanganyika, and round the Vic
toria Nyanza. They have made nearly half a
million converts in those regions.
The English Missionary Society of S. Joseph,
founded by the late Cardinal Vaughan, is carry
ing on a very successful mission in Uganda.
Various Belgian societies are at work in the Congo
State. In the Portuguese possessions progress is
prevented by the action of the Government, and
the existing Church is said to be in great need
of reform. In British South Africa the Roman
Church has made steady progress, though it is
not considered to have developed sufficiently as
yet to have a national episcopate.1 The whole
of Africa, including the islands, has 15 arch
bishops and bishops and 31 vicariates. The total
number of adherents in the missionary countries
is about half a million. This does not, of course,
include the more settled and civilized areas,
or probably Roman Catholics of European par
entage. Reference has already been made to the missionary
work of the Roman Church in America. At the
present time it is the largest religious body in the
United States. Its growth has been helped by
the immense numbers of Roman Catholic immi
grants which pour into the country every year. In
1 The traditions of the Dutch Church are, of course, very strongly
opposed to it.

146 FOREIGN MISSIONS
the opinion of many good judges, the Roman Church
is to be seen at its best in North America. It is
possible that it may at some future period make
an important contribution to the reunion of Chris
tendom. There are some who hope for great things
from an American Pope.
In New Zealand the Society of S. Joseph has some
flourishing missions under its charge ; but, speaking
generally, comparatively little mission work seems to
have been done in Australasia. A beginning is now
being made in Melanesia — in regions where the
Anglican Melanesian Mission has been in the field
for a generation. In Australia itself the Roman
Church is numerous and influential, deriving its
strength largely from the Irish who have emigrated
thither. So far as can be judged by statistics, there
can no be question about the extent and success of
the missionary work done by the Roman Church
in recent years. Nothing but personal knowledge
gained at first-hand could justify any expression of
opinion as to its real value and tendency. And to
such knowledge the present writer can make no
claim. We are sometimes told that the methods of
the Roman clergy leave much to be desired, and that
they are content with very superficial knowledge in
their converts. It may be that in some cases they
do little more than substitute Mary and Joseph for
the idols to which the people have been accustomed.
It may be that the Host is adored in place of the

EXCELLENCE OF ORGANIZATION 147
ancestral fetish,1 and that the new worship produces
as little moral change in the worshipper as did the
old. But even the very brief references which have
been made to the modern martyrs of the Roman
Communion prove that its converts can show them
selves at least as worthy of their profession in time
of persecution as those of any other body have ever
done. And there is no doubt that the Reformed
Churches have still much to learn from Rome. In
organization we are far behind them — though it
must always be borne in mind that organization
can be over-elaborated until it defeats its own ends.
A great system cannot work perfectly smoothly until
it has stifled criticism. And the stifling of criticism
is apt to destroy vitality. It can hardly fail to
weaken it. But at the present time that danger
seems to be very remote from ourselves. One
respect in which the Roman organization of mis
sionary work is superior to our own is in its use of
native material. Priests for service abroad are very
largely recruited in the countries where they are to
minister. They are then sent to be educated at
Rome, in one of the numerous colleges under the
direction of the Propaganda. Thus they receive
1 A fetish is an object of reverence : a stone, a stick, or anything
of that kind. It is probable that those who cultivate it have little
idea why they do so. They may conceive it to be the abode of some
supernatural power. The point on which they are clear is that
neglect of the fetish will bring about disastrous consequences. The
word is said to belong to Western Africa.

148 FOREIGN MISSIONS
(probably) a better education than would be possible
in their own country, and are thoroughly imbued
with all the associations which belong to the capital
of Christendom. Great importance is, naturally,
attached to these. The Roman Church has also
made more of lay-work.1 In its orders of teaching
Brothers it possesses a large and very valuable army of
auxiliaries, who are thoroughly well trained for their
work. But they do not need the educational quali
fications which must be possessed by priests, because
they never have to bear the responsibilities attaching
to the higher orders of the ministry. Thus it is
easier to obtain men to fill their ranks, and their
education and maintenance are comparatively inex
pensive. Such men — and the numerous Sisterhoods
— may be regarded as specialists in a narrow field.
In their field they are remarkably effective. And
we must also admit that the Roman clergy possess
exceptional knowledge of human nature. They
realize that good intentions are not all that is
required in the mission-field, but that men must be
studied, and studied scientifically. They have raised
the handling of individual cases to a fine art. They
seem able, as it were, to range freely over the entire
key-board of an instrument, while we confine our-
1 Or rather, to speak more accurately, of persons who were not
priests. A large proportion of monks are only in minor orders, i.e.
below the rank of sub-deacon. These orders were abandoned — un
wisely, as it seems now — by the Beformed Churches in the sixteenth
century.

WEAKNESS IN THEOLOGY 149
selves timidly to a few notes. They know how to
strike the imagination, how to kindle enthusiasm,
and, above all, how to use it when kindled.1 To our
thinking, they have gone too far in this direction.
In aiming at elasticity and adaptability they have
compromised principles. Theologically their weak
ness and confusion are extreme. But it is certain
that the Reformed Churches have gone too far in the
opposite direction. We have lost much by rigidity
and narrowness. Part of the very difficult task before
us now is to make ourselves so sure of our principles
that we can enlarge the range of our appeal without
risk of injury to them. We do not desire the impos
ing fabric of the Roman communion, with its proud
claim to embrace the whole of Christendom, though
we recognize the power of such a weapon. But, as
Charles Kingsley once said, "when Popery has no
more to teach us it will disappear — and not before."
It would be impossible to bestow too much praise
on the noble, self-sacrificing lives of many Roman
missionaries. No Church has ever produced men
1 Macaulay has some interesting remarks on the capacity of the
Boman Church for using enthusiasm in an essay on Von Eanke's
" History of the Popes." He seems to think it possible that this
capacity may eventually enable it to swallow up National Churches.
The English Church of his day was much narrower and more frigid
than it is now, and he did not know enough about the Boman to
realize that it has sometimes retained enthusiasts by allowing them
to follow their own devices, without reference to abstract truth.
The Infallible Guide has usually waited to see which way its sub
jects had determined to go before raising its voice to bid them
proceed.

150 FOREIGN MISSIONS
more ready to devote themselves entirely to those
to whom they minister. It is undoubtedly to this,
more than to anything else, that the success of their
work must be ascribed. And no one can grudge
success won by such means. It cannot be necessary
to do more than allude to the work of Father Damien,
a Belgian priest, among the lepers.1 The spirit con
spicuous in him is widely diffused among members
of his communion, and the whole Christian world
must thank God for it. But it seems as if much of
the work of the Church were becoming a struggle
between the ennobling influence which flows from
such lives and the degrading outcome of earthly
teaching which has lost the power to regenerate.
We in England believe that the Unity for which our
Lord prayed is something larger and more mysteri
ous than acceptance of the supremacy of one Vicar
of Christ on earth. One Lord, One Faith, One Bap
tism cannot be reduced to One Rite, One Code, One
Chair. We believe that the future of Christianity
is not with the Roman communion. The Roman
Church has erred in the past, and may again. It
cannot be the sole standard and judge of truth.
But it would be worse than foolish to disparage its
ancient glories, or to ignore what it has done for the
conversion of the heathen in our own day.
1 On the island of Molokai, where it was the practice of the
Government of Hawaii to deport them. He tended them from 1873
till he died of leprosy himself in 1889.

PROTESTANTS AND GREEKS 151
It will be convenient to speak next of the mission
work of the Eastern Churches. The Western refor
mations of the sixteenth century left the most ancient
portions of Christendom practically untouched. As
early as 1525 a little correspondence passed between
Constantinople and Wittenberg, and in 1573 the
Emperor Maximilian II. appointed a Protestant
ambassador at Constantinople, who took with him
as his chaplain Stephen Gerlach, a Greek scholar of
considerable reputation. He invited the Patriarch
Jeremiah to examine the Augsburg Confession, and
overtures were made to cement a permanent union
between the Greeks and Protestants. The corre
spondence was still proceeding when Jeremiah was
driven from his throne; but it ceased in 1582, and
nothing came of it. In 1599 a meeting was arranged
at Vilna, between Greek priests and representatives
of the Reformed Saxon, Bohemian, and Helvetic
communions. They were to discuss the terms of a
confederacy against " the Roman Anti-Christ," and it
is probable that the motives of the promoters of the
meeting were as much political as religious. The two
parties found that, though they had some common
ground, they diverged widely on many points. The
Greeks rightly decided to do nothing until they had
had an opportunity of consulting the Eastern Patri
archs, especially their own mother- church of Con
stantinople. The replies they received have not been
preserved; but it may be assumed that they were

152 FOREIGN MISSIONS
unfavourable. Political alliance was concluded to
resist the Romanists, who were gaining ground
rapidly in Poland.
In the following century, Cyril Lucar 1 (Patriarch
of Alexandria in 1602, and of Contantinople in 1621)
corresponded with various Reformed Churches, in
cluding our own. In 1616 he sent Metrophanes
Critopulus to Oxford, for instruction in the principles
of the English Church.2 In 1628 he testified his
goodwill towards us by presenting Charles I. with
the famous Codex A (Alexandrinus) of the New
Testament, now in the British Museum. But his
difficulties were increased by the opposition of the
Jesuits, and he failed to accomplish anything
permanent. The charge is commonly brought against the
Eastern Churches that they do no missionary
work. Of most of them it is true, in fact. But,
for the last four centuries, they have not been in
a position to undertake it. The Patriarchs are held
responsible by the Turkish Government for the good
conduct of their people in civil as well as religious
1 He was a native of Crete, which was at that time a Venetian
possession, so he had been brought up within the range of Western
ideas. 2 The Archbishop of Canterbury (1610-1633) was George Abbot,
He seems to have been a thorough Calvinist at heart. His office
has probably seldom been filled by a man less well fitted by tempera
ment and outlook to understand the Greek Church, or to commend
the English to its representative. If Cyril had had either Parker
or Laud to deal with, it is possible that something might have
come of his overtures.

PERSECUTION OF GREEK CHURCH 153
matters. The Christian Churches in the Ottoman
Empire are habitually oppressed, and frequently
persecuted with great severity. Most people in
England are probably unaware that in 1821 Gregory,
Patriarch of Constantinople, was hanged at the door
of his cathedral on Easter Day. Another patriarch,
Cyril, was hanged at Adrianople. The Archbishop
of Cyprus, his three suffragan bishops, and all the
hegumens (i.e. priors) of the Cyprian monasteries
were hanged upon one tree before the palace of the
ancient kings. Many other prelates and prominent
ecclesiastics were put to death in the islands and in
Anatolia. Mount Athos 1 was devastated. And yet
none apostatized. We cannot say that there is no
spiritual life among people who have shown them
selves so ready to die for their faith. And Churches
which have been so persecuted almost within living
memory can hardly be reproached for not having
tried to make converts elsewhere.2 It may be hoped
that the new regime in Turkey will bring about a
better state of affairs in this respect. The only
one of the Eastern Churches which has been in a
1 Mount Athos is the chief centre of Greek monasticism. There
are probably several thousand monks, in all, resident upon it. It
is called the "Holy Mountain" in the Greek Liturgy of S. Chry-
sostom, which is the one commonly in use.
2 " Question Beligieuse d'Orient et d'Occident," by M. Mouravieff,
formerly secretary to the Most Holy Governing Synod of the
Bussian Church. Quoted by the Eev. B. Eubank in an article in
" The East and the West " for 1904, p. 143. I am indebted to Mr.
Eubank's article for most of the information about the Bussian
missions given below,

154 FOREIGN MISSIONS
position to address itself to the conversion of the
heathen in recent years is the Church of Russia.
That is by far the largest national Church in
the world, for it possesses a membership of some
90,000,000 souls.
Down to the latter part of the fourteenth century
Russia was subject to the dominion of the Tartars.
The Russian Church and nation were brought so
low during this dismal time that they were repre
sented by little more than the small band who
gathered round Demetrius of the Don at the
Monastery of the Troitza (Trinity), sixty miles from
Moscow. His first great victory was won in 1380,
and from that time the second expansion of the
Russian Church began. It has spread steadily with
the growth of the Russian Empire ever since. The
Mohammedan kingdom of Kazan was conquered in
1552, and that of Astrakhan four years later. Bishops
were at once appointed, and the conversion and
colonization of the vast new fields which had been
opened up went on together. The ancient Christian
kingdom of Iberia, which was hard pressed by the
Turks and Persians, appealed to the Czar Theo
dore, and priests were immediately despatched to its
assistance. In 1588 the Russian Church was re
lieved of its dependence on Constantinople by the
elevation of the see of Moscow to the dignity of
a patriarchate. This was done with the consent
and co-operation of Jeremiah II., the then Patriarch

THE RUSSIAN CHURCH 155
of Constantinople, and though the change was prob
ably inspired chiefly by motives of policy, it has
undoubtedly proved beneficial. It has made the
Church more truly national than it could have been
otherwise. Devotion to it has thus become a part
of the intense patriotism of the Russian people, and
its extension throughout the dominions of the Czar
a matter of course.1 The annexation of Siberia
began in 1580, and soon afterwards an archbishop
was appointed to Tobolsk. Cossacks, hunters, and
adventurers pushed steadily eastward, and towns
sprang up in the uninhabited wastes. An episcopal
see was established at Irkutsk, and became the chief
centre of Christianity for the north-east of Asia.
The Russian Church has worked so well in these
regions that Siberia may now be counted a Christian
country. It contains some 7,000,000 Christians, as
against little more than half a million heathen. In the
Kirgiz steppes and Turkestan the Mohammedans are
still in a majority. But the Church is gaining ground
there, so that we may hope that in another genera
tion or two large areas of Tartary and Turkestan will
be as Christian as Siberia is now.
1 The patriarchate was suspended by Peter the Great. The
supreme authority in the Bussian Church is now " The Most Holy
Governing Synod," which is a, body of bishops nominated by the
Czar for the purpose. Their meetings are presided over by the
Czar himself — in theory; in practice, by his lay - procurator.
Theoretically the patriarchate has only been put into commission
from motives of expediency, and might be revived by any Czar at
any time. By the present arrangement the Church is (probably)
subjected to the State to an undesirable extent.

156 FOREIGN MISSIONS
The Chinese Mission began through the capture
of some Russians and Cossacks, at Albazin on the
Siberian border, by a Chinese force at the end of the
seventeenth century. There was a priest among
the prisoners, and when they reached Pekin the
Russians asked for a place of worship. A heathen
temple was granted to them by the Chinese Govern
ment. In 1716 a mission party arrived, consisting
of two priests, a deacon, and seven students. The
Government received them warmly, and made them
an allowance for their support. The clergy were
raised to the rank of mandarin. In 1721, Innocent
Koutchinsky, Chaplain-general of the Navy, was con
secrated bishop for the Chinese Mission, with the
title of Bishop of Perislav. But a new Emperor had
ascended the throne, and he was very unfavourable.
Innocent was never allowed to enter China, so threw
himself vigorously into mission work in Siberia. The
subsequent history of the mission has been un
eventful. It has been supported by the Russian and
Chinese Governments to a somewhat paralyzing
extent, but it has managed to open a branch at
Urga, the capital of Mongolia, and the seat of the
worship of a living Buddha. It has produced a Chinese
translation of the Bible and other religious books.
It suffered severely during the massacres at Pekin
in 1900, but has been re-established since, with a
bishop, who is a master of the Chinese language,
at its head.

RUSSIAN MISSIONS IN JAPAN 157
No formal mission was opened in Japan till 1870.
But a beginning had been made a few years before
by a monk named Nicholas, chaplain to the Russian
Diplomatic Consulate at Hakodadi. In 1872 some
ill-disposed local authorities tried to revive the laws
against Christianity, which had never been repealed,
though the Imperial Government was not hostile.
Some 120 were imprisoned, and some officials who
had embraced the new religion were dismissed from
their posts. The Russian Consul protested vigor
ously, with the result that in a few months the
prisoners were released, and officials were forbidden
to hinder the progress of the Gospel. In 1882
Nicholas was consecrated bishop, and a splendid
cathedral was built in Tokio. On January 1, 1900,
the Orthodox 1 Church in Japan was represented by
231 communities, with a total membership of a little
more than 25,000. It possessed 1 bishop, 28 priests,
5 deacons, 16 readers, and 152 catechists. Only the
bishop, one priest, and one deacon were Russians ; all
the rest being Japanese. It says much for both
parties that the advance of the mission is said not
to have been hindered by the recent war. It has
always treated English missionaries with the utmost
1 It may, perhaps, be worth while to mention that " Orthodox"
is merely the normal title of the Churches in communion with
Constantinople. It is used to distinguish between them and the
various heretical, or semi-heretical, sects and Churches of the East.
It contains no offensive implication so far as English Christianity
is concerned.

158 FOREIGN MISSIONS
courtesy and consideration. The Orthodox Mis
sionary Society and the Holy Synod contribute
£6000 a year between them for the work. Chris
tianity reached the shores of Russian America with
the first Russian settlers about the middle of the
eighteenth century. It owed its propagation in part
to motives of policy. The early Russian settlers
were anxious to convert the natives, because they
thought that the closer intercourse which would
ensue would benefit their trade. A great deal of
missionary work has been undertaken from such
mixed motives at various periods of the Church's
history. We may regret that the motives have
not been pure, but cannot deny that they have often
produced very solid results. The Russians were, at
least, prepared to treat the natives as human beings.
They wished to be able to deal with them on equal
terms as men. They did not regard them merely as
a commercial asset to be exploited in any way that
seemed likely to prove profitable to the European
trader. The first missionaries arrived at Kadiak in
1793, and the whole expense was borne by the two
founders of the Russian-American Company. In
1796 one of the missionaries — a monk named
Juvenal — was murdered by a hostile tribe. A
bishop was appointed, but was lost at sea, with
most of his clergy, soon after his arrival. In 1816
one of the most zealous lay supporters of the mis
sion died, and it was almost abandoned. But it was

RUSSIAN MISSIONS IN AMERICA 159
soon revived by a priest of Irkutsk, named John
Veniaminoff.1 After labouring for sixteen years
with great success among the fierce Aleoutines and
Koloshes, he was sent to S. Petersburg to try to
obtain further support for his mission. The Emperor
Nicholas insisted that he should be consecrated
bishop, and he returned at the end of 1841 as
Bishop Innocent of Kamchatka. For twenty-eight
years more he led the life of a true apostle of the
Church of God, travelling thousands of miles by sea,
and in sledges drawn by reindeer.2 He taught the
Aleoutines to read and write, and translated the
Gospels into their language. During the last
eighteen years of his work he held the rank of
archbishop. Finally, in 1869, after forty-five years
service in the mission-field, he was recalled to fill
the highest office in the Russian Church. Though
over seventy years old, he succeeded in establishing
the " Orthodox Missionary Society," to work for the
conversion of non - Christians resident in Russia,3
1 The Bussian-American Company was granted extended privi
leges in 1821. It was expressly stipulated that the company should
maintain a sufficiency of priests for the colonists. Most of these
were supplied from Irkutsk.
2 It is a curious coincidence that during these years a similar
work was being carried on by his slightly younger contemporary,
Bishop G. A. Selwyn, in New Zealand and Melanesia. It is probable
that the two most heroic missionaries of modern times never heard
of each other's existence.
3 Bussia contains a considerable number of Jews, and there are
some Mohammedans and Buddhists on the lower Volga. The society
extended to foreign work afterwards. There was a special Society
for the Propagation of Christianity in tl>e Caucasus already existing,

160 FOREIGN MISSIONS
before his death. With the cession of Russian
America to the United States, the mission found
itself in a new position. The Bishop of Alaska was
obliged to undertake the oversight of all com
munities of Orthodox immigrants. He removed
his see to San Francisco, and regards the whole of
North America as his diocese. The Orthodox
Church in North America possesses at the present
day 52 churches, 76 ecclesiastics, and rather more
than 33,000 adherents. It makes about 900 converts
yearly. It is therefore a small body, and its position
has become rather anomalous. It may be hoped
that it will in course of time become united with
the American Episcopal Church.
The Napoleonic wars were followed by a great
Christian revival. The Russian Church had not
escaped the spiritual lethargy which fell upon
Europe during the eighteenth century. But it
shared to the full the general quickening of national
life which followed the deliverance from the invader.
Mission work was actively prosecuted in the remoter
parts of the empire. A notable instance is the
Altai Mission, which was begun in 1830 by Father
Macarius, in the Altai Mountains, on the borders of
Chinese Turkestan.1 The population consisted of
nomad Tartars and Kalmucks, with a sprinkling
1 His resources at starting were so slender that he could not
even afford tea — almost a necessity of life for a Bussian — and it
took him three years to get a house built. During that time
he lodged in the cabin of a. Bussian settler.

IN TURKESTAN 161
of Russian settlers. From the beginning it was
worked on strictly scientific principles. The centres
from which the work was to be carried on were care
fully chosen, and the dialects of the tribes systemati
cally studied to determine which would be the most
suitable for translations of the Bible and Liturgy.1
As the work progressed, Christian villages were
formed, to free the new converts as much as pos
sible from the danger of associating with heathen
neighbours. In 1865 the entire Liturgy was cele
brated in the Telungut language for the first time,
and since 1880 the head of the mission has been a
bishop, who takes his title from the town of Biysk.
Of the 45,000 native inhabitants of the district,
25,000 are already Christians. They occupy 188
villages, and possess 67 churches, in which the
services are performed in the local dialects. There
are seven other Siberian missions conducted on
similar lines.
It is easy to accuse the Eastern Churches collec
tively of formalism, superstition, and ignorance.
There may be some truth in the charge, but it
is probably based largely on no more than the
fact that their ways are not as ours. Their very
elaborate ritual — so complicated as to make that of
Rome bald and meagre by comparison — and pro
tracted services are not readily intelligible to us.
And we are apt to condemn, in religious matters,
1 i.e. The Communion Office. L

162 FOREIGN MISSIONS
anything that we do not understand. But the very
brief sketch given above will be sufficient to show
that the only Eastern Church which has had an
opportunity of doing any missionary work in recent
years has some very remarkable achievements to
its credit. It is probably true to say that policy
has played a part in Russian missions. They have
been undertaken at the instigation of the Govern
ment, partly with a view to consolidating or extend
ing political influence. The Russian Church has
never entered the mission-field in remote parts of
the world, where Russian diplomatists had nothing
to gain by its success. But still the work has been
done, and we must not be too ready to condemn the
motives which have prompted it. For Russia is
still a Church before it is a State. The Church is
national there to an extent which we can hardly
conceive. It is not only the spiritual organ of the
great majority of the people : it is one of the chief
expressions of their national consciousness.1 It is
practically impossible for a Russian to contemplate
any divorce between his nationality and his Church.
Therefore, when he desires to extend the influence
of his country, he naturally, instinctively, tries to
extend the influence of his Church. It would prob
ably not be fair to say that the Russian Government
1 The other is devotion to the Czar as Autocrat of All the Bussias.
To the Bussian peasant he is a sacred personage, and is regarded
with something closely akin to religious reverence.

CHURCH AND STATE IN RUSSIA 163
deliberately uses the Church as a piece in the game
of politics, and therefore encourages its missionary
work. It is rather that to extend the influence of
the Church is to a Russian statesman the natural
method of compassing his political ends. It is in
evitable that it should be so under the conditions
which obtain in Russia. Given similar conditions
in England, our Government would probably have
encouraged the missions of the English Church in
exactly the same way.
It should be noted that the Russian is the only
Church which seems able to make any considerable
progress in the conversion of Mohammedans.
It is said that the Russian Church suffers from
neglect of the ministry of preaching. Sermons are
seldom preached in ordinary parish churches. This
reacts disastrously on the intellectual attainments of
the clergy, and means that many of the laity have
little opportunity of receiving instruction in the
tenets of their belief. The priesthood has also
become, to a very large extent, a hereditary pro
fession,1 and so comes to be embraced by men who
have no very special vocation for it. But when we
1 A Bussian parish priest must be married, and must marry
before his ordination. A bishop cannot be married, and therefore
the episcopate is recruited from the monasteries, which are a very
important feature in Bussian religious life. The outcome of this
system is that none of the bishops have had any parochial experi
ence whatever. And it is difficult not to suspect that a monastic
episcopate is often not on the best of terms with the parochial
clergy.

164 FOREIGN MISSIONS
have criticized what seem to us to be weak points
in the Russian Church, we cannot accuse it of
deadness or lack of zeal. There is probably no
communion in Christendom which as a whole under
stands so well the meaning of worship, appreciates
the power of united prayer,1 and has so strong a
consciousness of the Presence and Power of the
Holy Ghost. These are its three great sources of
strength, and such a threefold chord is not quickly
broken. The religious fervour of the Russian seems
to need no stimulating on the part of the clergy.
Their task is rather to guide a force which the clergy
of other countries have to labour to create. How
far it can ever be used solely for the extension of
Christ's Kingdom apart from the glorifying of Holy
Russia — that is, how far the Orthodox Church can
ever spread outside the Russian Empire or Russian
spheres of influence — is a question about which we
cannot as yet express any opinion. Its capacity in
this respect is being tested now in Japan.
It is not at all easy to give any coherent general
account of the missionary work of the various
Reformed Churches. It is practically impossible to
find any standpoint from which it can be viewed as
a connected whole. It has no centre round which
its component parts can be grouped. The rejection
1 Bishop Creighton says that all the churches in Moscow were
crowded during a service of intercession, lasting for four hours, on
the eve of the imperial coronation. (" Historical Essays and
Eeviews," p. 304.)

REFORMED COMMUNIONS 165
of the Papal claims naturally led to great confusion.
The reaction was, in some cases, almost as bad as
the abuses which had produced it. The history of
Protestant Christendom during the last three and a
half centuries sometimes seems to be little but a
procession of fleeting movements, many of which
came to very little. Sects have sprung up, split,
multiplied, and died in a bewildering fashion, and
the larger and more permanent Protestant bodies
have not worked together. It is impossible that
they should, for they differ widely on many impor
tant points. Their missionary work can therefore
only be treated, as it were, by compartments. The
most convenient method will be to speak first of the
principal achievements of the Reformed Churches of
the Continent, and then to touch briefly on what has
been done from our own country.
For the first generation or so of their existence,
the Reformed communions were not in a position
to undertake work in different mission-fields. They
resembled small garrisons closely beleaguered by
an enemy who was immensely superior in numbers.
In some parts of Europe they failed to hold ground
which they had won; and after they had come
through their initial dangers in safety, the political
disturbances which ensued hampered their progress.
In England the Civil War and the suppression of
the Church for eleven years put serious missionary
enterprise out of the question during the greater

166 FOREIGN MISSIONS
part of the seventeenth century. During the same
century Germany was being devastated by the
Thirty Years' War. It is probably true to say that
it is only in our own time that she has thoroughly
recovered from the injuries inflicted upon her during
that fearful struggle. Thus, during the seventeenth
century, the Reformed Churches which might have
done most in the mission field were paralyzed
through no fault of their own. The eighteenth was
not a time of widespread enthusiasm for the enlarge
ment of Christ's Kingdom; and both in England
and in Germany the rulers of the Churches were
fighting hard against the foes of their own house
hold.1 During the prominence of Sweden there was
sufficient work for its Church at its own doors.
Some of the Lapps2 in the far north were not
even nominally Christians; and the Lithuanians,
whatever their nominal profession may have been,
had not entirely abandoned their ancient snake
worship. 1 The position taken up by the English Deists during the
eighteenth century has been completely abandoned for so long
that the literature of both sides is to us tedious, and almost
ludicrous, reading. We are apt to forget how serious the attack
was. It was directed with great ability, and at one time seemed
almost to have succeeded. It must be recorded to the credit of the
English Church at that time that it overthrew these very formidable
opponents by intellectual superiority and sheer weight of reasoning.
2 It is doubtful whether heathenism is quite extinct among them
at the present time.

THE HUGUENOTS 167
Fbance
The French Huguenot community entered the
mission-field as early as 1556. The project originated
with a French Knight of Malta named Villegagnon,
who wished to plant a colony in Brazil to rival the
Portuguese settlements there. His motives were
no doubt purely commercial. But by representing
himself as highly favourable to the Huguenots, he
secured the support of their great admiral, Coligny.
The Huguenots came forward in large numbers,
partly perhaps to escape from the storm which was
plainly gathering in France, and the party landed at
Rio Janeiro. Villegagnon invited two ministers and
twelve students from Geneva to undertake purely
missionary work. The hopes of the colonists were,
however, frustrated by their leader. Villegagnon
presently declared his strong aversion to Genevan
doctrines, and finally forbade the religious meetings
of the Huguenots. In 1558 he sent the Swiss minis
ters back to France, having lodged a formal charge of
heresy with the master of the ship. After suffering
almost incredible hardships from leakage of the ship
and famine, they landed at Hennebon. Commisera
tion led the French judges to acquit them. Soon after
wards the colony was destroyed by the Portuguese.1
1 The French Protestants are now a very small though influential
body. Doctrinally they seem to be very close to the English
Unitarians, and they undertake no missionary work on any con
siderable scale.

168 FOREIGN MISSIONS
The early English adventurers in America recog
nized that one of the duties of a colonist was to
try to bring the native population to a knowledge
of the truth. But nothing could be attempted on
any considerable scale. The first baptism of a native
took place in 1587, and a little later Raleigh pre
sented the Virginian Company with a hundred
pounds "for the propagation of the Christian
religion in that settlement." 1
Holland
As the power of Portugal declined, the Dutch
began to supersede the Portuguese in their settle
ments in the East Indies. In 1602 the Dutch East
India Company was formed, and missionary enter
prise was included among its avowed aims. In
Ceylon no one was eligible for any government post
until he had signed the Helvetic Confession of
Faith. By 1722 there are said to have been 400,000
Christians in the island. The same methods were
adopted in Java, and naturally produced similar
results. A mission was also set on foot in Brazil,
but collapsed with the abandonment of the colony
in 1667. It is to be feared that the temporal
advantages offered by the Dutch to the profession
of Christianity militated against the value of their
1 The Preface to the Book of Common Prayer (1662) states that
" the Office for the Baptism of such as are of Biper Years . . . may
always be useful for the baptizing of Natives in our Plantations,
and others converted to the Faith."

DUTCH AND GERMAN 169
work.1 At the present time the only considerable
mission undertaken by them is among the natives
in South Africa. No accurate statistics of the pro
gress made seem to be available ; but it is difficult
to hope for much from the narrow Calvinism which
is apparently all that the Dutch Reformed Church
has to offer. Gebmany
The pietistic movements of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries produced a fitful activity in
the mission-field. About 1634 Peter Heiling, a
lawyer of Liibeck, made his way to Abyssinia, and
translated the New Testament into the language of
the country. In 1664 Ernest von Welz appealed to
his Lutheran fellow-countrymen to found a mis
sionary society, and to establish a training college
for missionaries in every university. He went him
self as a missionary to the Dutch territory on the
Guinea Coast, but died shortly afterwards, and his
efforts produced no permanent results. Towards
the close of the century the philosopher and states
man Leibnitz propounded a scheme for uniting all
Christian states and princes in missionary enterprise.
1 Speaking generally, the spirituality of the Eeformed Churches
of the Continent (with the exception of France) seems to be at
rather a low ebb. In Martin Luther's Catechism of 1539, " Give us
this day our daily bread" is explained as referring to material,
temporal benefits only. The tone of such teaching is bound to tell
eventually.

170 FOREIGN MISSIONS
Probably he had no conception of what his proposal
involved.1 In the early part of the eighteenth
century Germany brought into prominence a sect
which, though small numerically, has always been
remarkable for its activity in the mission-field. The
continuous history of the Moravian Brethren, or
Unitas Fratrum, may be considered to begin in
1722.2 In that year a small party, led by Christian
David, a mechanic, left their homes in search of
liberty of conscience. They were invited by Count
Zinzendorf to settle on his estate near Zittau, in
Saxony. For a short time the immigrants attended
the Lutheran parish church, but in 1727 the society
adopted a code of rules of its own, and ordained
twelve elders to carry on pastoral work. Zinzendorf
became their first bishop. In 1731 two of its mem
bers departed to preach the Gospel to the Eskimo in
Greenland, and the year following two more went
to the negroes of S. "Thomas. By the end of the
century it had more missionaries in the field than
all the other Reformed Churches together. At the
present time it has representatives in most European
1 It seems to be a tendency of German Protestantism to try to
ignore fundamental doctrinal differences in the interests of prac
tical activity. The combined Jerusalem Bishopric — to be held by
a Lutheran and an Anglican alternately — of the last century is a
case in point.
2 The existence of the society can be traced back to the middle
of the fifteenth century. It is probably a relic of the reforming
movement in Bohemia, which was virtually extinguished by the
death of John Hus.

THE MORAVIANS 171
countries, and more than three hundred ordained
missionaries in various parts of the globe. It is said
that in proportion to its total strength the Unitas
Fratrum sends out about three times as many
missionaries as any other body. The Moravians
possess no formal creed, and are probably narrow in
their interpretation of Scripture. Their religion may
be described as a very pure pietism, and we can
therefore hardly look for any great achievements
from it. A Moravian fellow-traveller exercised a
very deep influence over John Wesley ; and we can
perhaps trace the unhealthy element inherent in
their doctrines in the subsequent career of the great
preacher. But in any case they set the rest of the
world a very good example in respect of missionary
enterprise.
Denmaek
Danish missions were not begun upon any ap
preciable scale till the beginning of the eighteenth
century. In 1705, Frederic IV. commissioned
Liitken, his Court Preacher at Copenhagen, to select
men for work among the heathen. Liitken was on
friendly terms with the German pietists, and his
choice fell on two theological students of the Uni
versity of Halle, named Ziegenbald and Plutschau.
They went to the Danish settlement of Tranquebar
in India, and the King provided for their mainten
ance. They were both men of unusual ability, and

172 FOREIGN MISSIONS
their work met with great success. In 1714 the
Danish Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
was founded, but its operations continued to be
directed chiefly from Halle. The leader among them
was August Hermann Francke, who wrote a remark
able tract called "The Lighthouse of Evangelical
Missions," in which he urged the King of Prussia,
Frederic I., to take up the cause of missionary work
in China. Under the guidance of the society, the
Tranquebar mission flourished till, by 1778, it had
received more than 15,000 converts. Its influence
was felt beyond the limits of the Danish settlements.
In 1721, a party of forty-six persons under Hans
Egede, a Norwegian who had been educated at
Copenhagen, landed in Greenland, and founded a
Christian community there, which is still in exist
ence.1 He died in 1758, and was succeeded by his
son, who in 1766 completed the translation of the
Bible (which had been begun by his father) into
the language of the country.
But, with the honourable exception of the Mora
vians, the Reformed Churches of the Continent do
not seem to have done much in the mission-field.2
1 Beference has already been made to the mediaeval Danish
colony and mission to Greenland. It was utterly destroyed in the
fifteenth century, but whether by attack, weather, or pestilence,
or a combination of all three, we do not know.
2 There are now considerable colonies of the Scandinavian
Churches in the United States of America. But they seem to
confine themselves almost entirely to the spiritual care of emi
grants of their own communion.

DANISH 173
Doubtless they are for the most part small, and
none of them is in the position of mother-church of
a great empire. In some cases they are probably
still hard put to it to maintain the ground that
they have already occupied. But, even if these
disadvantages should be removed, we can hardly
think that they have any great future before them
abroad. Lutheran theology seems to be becoming
too nebulous to be an effective weapon in the
teacher's hands. It is more a subject for discussion
than an instrument wherewith to save souls. The
services of the Calvinistic Churches are so bald that
they are not likely to capture the imagination of
many.1 And all the Reformed Churches of the
Continent have — to our thinking — fallen into the
error of exalting the human institution of the
sermon overmuch, at the expense of the Divine
Sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord.
England
By the close of the seventeenth century the
Church of England found itself in a fairly assured
position. The eleven dismal years, during which
it had been a penal offence to use the Book of
Common Prayer, had made it certain that the
Church would never again be displaced in favour
1 There seems to be no doubt that a rich and dignified ritual is
very useful— if not absolutely necessary— in the mission-field.

174 FOREIGN MISSIONS
of any form of Protestant Nonconformity. The
failure of James II. had shown that the Pope need
no longer be regarded as a dangerous foe. The
growth of the East India Company on the one
hand, and the formation of settlements in North
America on the other, made it plain that the future
of the English Church was not to be restricted to
the British Isles. The state of morals at home was
low, as is shown by Evelyn's Diary, and the fact
that in 1697 William III. issued a proclamation
against the "open and avowed practice of Vice,
Immorality, and Prophaneness." From 1678 earnest
men had begun to form Religious Societies, or
"Societies for the Reformation of Manners," of
various kinds. By 1699 there were thirty-nine
such societies in or near London and Westminster,
and several in other parts of the country, beside ten
in Ireland. During the spring of that year the
oldest of the extant societies in the English Church
was founded: The Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge.1 As its title implies, it threw itself
mainly into educational work. At the present time
its publishing department is very large; but both
by the production of literature, and by direct con
tributions in money, it has done, and is still doing,
1 The first meeting was held on March 8, 1698-9, and was
attended by four laymen, Lord Guildford, Sir Humphrey Mack-
worth, Mr. Justice Hook, Colonel Colchester, and one clergyman.
Dr. Bray. For further details as to progress, see " The History of
the S.P.CK." brought out by the Society in 1898.

RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES IN ENGLAND 175
a great deal for Church extension in our colonies
and dependencies, so must be included among the
missionary agencies of the Church.
Early in 1699 the Bishop of London despatched
Dr. Bray — a clergyman of some distinction — to
Maryland to act as his commissary1 there. From
the first, Dr. Bray regarded his task as including
missionary work among heathen. It was soon found
that the work could not be carried on satisfactorily
without the aid of some body having the status of
a corporation. An attempt was made to have the
infant S.P.C.K. incorporated for the purpose, but
this proved impracticable. On his return from
America in 1700, Dr. Bray secured the support of
Archbishop Tenison and Bishop Compton of London,
and on June 16, 1701, the King granted a charter
to "The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
in Foreign Parts." The S.P.CK. paid for the
drafting of the charter. From the first, this
Society regarded missions to the heathen as its
primary task, and in 1710 formally resolved that
they ought to be prosecuted " preferably to all other
endeavour." From that day to this its policy has
been consistent.
Ten months later its first two missionaries sailed
to Boston, and until the year 1785 clergy were
steadily supplied to various parts of what are now
1 There was no bishop in America as yet, and so the English
colonies there were under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London.

176 FOREIGN MISSIONS
the United States of America.1 In some places, as
in Maryland and Virginia, their ministrations were
confined to the English colonists. But missionary
work was done among the Indians with solid results,
notably among the Iroquois in the State of New
York. Four of their Sachem visited England in
1710, and Queen Anne presented them with some
communion plate. At the time of the Declaration
of Independence, political feeling ran so high in the
State of New York that Dr. Inglis, a missionary of
the Society, and afterwards first Bishop of Nova
Scotia, was driven from his parish for refusing to
omit the prayer for the King. From the small seed
sown by the Society has sprung the American Church,
which at the present time possesses more than a
hundred bishops, and some five thousand clergy.
Though small numerically, it is said to be an ex
tremely influential body. At the present time it
has despatched missions, with bishops at their head,
to China, Japan, West Africa, Hayti, Brazil, and the
Philippine Islands. Throughout the eighteenth
century, the Society contributed generously both
in men and money to the Church in other parts
of America. But progress was hampered by the
absence of any American episcopate. There is no
doubt that the Church of England lost a great
1 For further information see "The Spiritual Expansion of the
Empire": published by the Society in 1901. The fact that the
Archbishop of Canterbury is ex officio President gives the Society
a semi-official position in the English Church.

WESLEY AND AMERICA 177
opportunity by its reluctance to supply the growing
Churches beyond the seas with the sorely needed
third order of the ministry. Just before the last
difficulties had been overcome, Wesley's faith failed
(he had seen the need with his own eyes, and knew
how urgent it was), and he " consecrated " two
"bishops" for service in America. This was the
fatal act that placed him in the position of a schis
matic, and made the separation between his followers
and the Church inevitable.1 It is impossible to
estimate how much this hasty act has cost both
sides. For, setting aside the vexed question whether
a presbyter has any right to ordain others, it is
obvious that no religious body could allow one of
its members to ordain upon his own initiative with
out the approval of the occupants of the higher
offices. The bishops were doubtless to blame in
their treatment of Wesley, but no amount of mis
sionary zeal could justify his action.
We must not attribute the unwillingness to pro
vide a colonial or missionary episcopate (which
continued well into the last century) to mere in
difference on the part of the bishops or ministers
of the Crown. Their outlook was limited by ideas
which had been produced by circumstances not of
their own making. During the eighteenth century
1 On his deathbed Wesley said : "I live and die » member of
the Church of England, and no one who regards my advice will
ever separate himself from it!" His advice was formally dis
regarded four years later. M

178 FOREIGN MISSIONS
the conception of the Church that was uppermost
in men's minds was that of an "Establishment."
By force of circumstances it had come to be of
great political importance. In Elizabeth's reign
any one who was not a member of the Church was
at least open to suspicion of being a traitor to the
Crown. The Civil War was — among other things —
a struggle between the Church and Nonconformity.
The House of Hanover was preferred to the House
of Stuart on religious grounds, and therefore the
Church was regarded by the Hanoverian sovereigns,
to a large extent, from the political point of view.
It was difficult to look upon a bishop as anything
but a spiritual peer. His position in the State
tended to overshadow the spiritual side of his office.
Naturally the Crown was averse to the multiplication
of peers (for a peerage meant much more then than
it does now) for the sake of a handful of settlers
some thousands of miles away. And what would
be the status of a colonial or missionary bishop ?
If he were not a peer, what was he ? And a peer
who could never occupy his seat in the House of
Lords seemed to be an absurdity. That is how the
question presented itself to the mind of the eighteenth
century; and we can hardly blame the authorities
of that day for not being able to grasp immediately
views that seem obvious to ourselves. The solution
of the difficulty was hastened by the Declaration of
Independence, for when the United States ceased

THE AMERICAN EPISCOPATE 179
to belong to the English Crown, its episcopate would
naturally cease to be of political importance in
England. Dr. Seabury was consecrated at Aberdeen
on November 14, 1784. Three years later, Dr.
White and Dr. Provoost were consecrated Bishops
of Pennsylvania and New York respectively, in the
chapel of Lambeth Palace. In 1790 Dr. Madison
was consecrated in the same place to be Bishop of
Virginia. On March 12, 1787, Dr. Inglis— formerly
rector of Trinity Church, New York — was con
secrated as our first colonial bishop. His diocese
embraced the whole of British North America from
Newfoundland to Lake Superior.
The work of the Society in Africa began on the
Gold Coast in 1752. Mr. Thompson, Fellow of
Christ's College, Cambridge, who had been for five
years a missionary in New Jersey, gave up every
thing to undertake work among the negroes. In
five years he had sent three negro boys to England,
and in 1765 one of them, Philip Quaque by name,
was ordained by the Bishop of London to become
a missionary to his own people. But in 1824 the
work came to an end. Probably it had been spread
over a large area too rapidly, and therefore lacked
solidity. The colonization of South Africa was not formally
begun until 1820. The progress of the Church
was extremely slow, and suffered for want of a
bishop. Episcopal functions were sometimes per-

180 FOREIGN MISSIONS
formed by bishops en route for India. In 1847 the
diocese of Capetown was founded by Miss (after
wards Baroness) Burdett-Coutts, and from that
time the work has branched out steadily in every
direction. Perhaps the most remarkable single
mission is that of S. Augustine at Rorke's Drift.
There are few more miserable chapters in our
history than the story of the early settlements in
Australia. In 1787 the first shiploads of convicts
were sent out. The Government not only declined
to make any spiritual provision for the prisoners
and their guards, but were with great difficulty
persuaded to allow a chaplain, Mr. R. Johnson, to
volunteer at his own charges. The authorities
could not for very shame fail to order attendance
at public worship, but every conceivable obstacle
was placed in Mr. Johnson's way. It was six
years before he could succeed in building a rough
church, at his own cost, and almost with his own
hands. His first schoolhouse was deliberately set
on fire. Fresh convict ships were continually
arriving, and so, despite his efforts, there grew up
in Australia a society which competent observers
declared to be immoral beyond anything conceived
elsewhere. The country is said to be suffering
still from those awful years.1
1 For forty years no official steps were taken to promote Christi
anity there, though the S.P.G. had begun supporting schoolmasters
there since 1793. Then the whole continent was made an arch
deaconry of Calcutta, 6000 miles away. Finally, in 1836, under

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND 181
The story of New Zealand, which belongs to the
next century, is better reading. The first Christian
service held there was performed on Christmas
Day, 1814, by Samuel Marsden. In 1841 G. A.
Selwyn was consecrated first Bishop of New Zealand.
A better choice can seldom have been made for any
post.1 He so laboured there for eight-and-twenty
years that he not only firmly established the Church
in the country which had been entrusted to him, but
did much to quicken the missionary spirit in the
Church at home. A geographical error in his
letters patent made the diocese of New Zealand
include the whole of Melanesia.2 By long and
perilous voyages among the islands, the Bishop laid
the foundations of the Melanesian Mission, in which
Bishop Patteson subsequently laid down his life.
One outcome of Bishop Selwyn's work in New
Zealand is that the Maoris are one of the few
native races in a country which has been settled
by Europeans who are not in danger of becoming
extinct. In India the English Church did nothing till
1814, when Bishop Middleton was sent out to
the auspices of the Duke of Wellington, the then Prime Minister,
Bishop Broughton was sent out to preside over a mere handful of
clergy. Norfolk Island — the worst of all the convict stations — is
now the headquarters of the Melanesian Mission.
1 For further information see " The Life and Episcopate of Bishop
G. A. Selwyn," by H. W. Tucker (Gardner, Darton & Co.).
a It was made to extend from 50° South to 34° North, instead of
34° South : 34° North includes about a third of Asia.

182 FOREIGN MISSIONS
Calcutta. At that time the only AngUcan clergy
in the peninsula were the chaplains of the East
India Company. The Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel did not begin work there until 1818.
At the present time the Indian Church is in a
somewhat anomalous position. It is an Establish
ment: that is to say, its bishops are appointed by
the Government, and it is maintained out of public
funds for the purpose of ministering to the English
residents. But at the same time it undertakes
missionary work among the heathen, for which it
has to rely upon voluntary effort.
The limits of an essay such as this preclude any
attempt at giving a complete sketch, even of the
barest and most statistical kind of the work of our
oldest missionary society. At the present time it is
engaged in spreading the Gospel throughout the
length and breadth of the British Empire, and in
China, Japan, Korea, and Borneo.
We must now speak briefly of the other chief
missionary society of the English Church. In 1783
a society was founded bearing the name of "The
Eclectic Society."1 It used to meet in the vestry
of S. John's Chapel, Bedford Row, and from time
to time discussed the question of Foreign Missions.
Charles Simeon and John Venn, rector of Clapham,
1 For the information given I am indebted to the Historical
Sketch at the beginning of the centenary volume issued by the
Society in 1902.

THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY 183
were two of the leading members. On March 18,
1799, Venn introduced the subject, "What methods
can we use more effectually to promote the know
ledge of the Gospel among the heathen ? " On
April 12, in the same year, sixteen clergy and nine
laymen met at a hotel in Aldersgate Street, Venn
being in the chair, and passed four resolutions,1
forming themselves into a Missionary Society. The
name adopted six weeks later was " The Society for
Missions to Africa and the East." The name " Church
Missionary Society " was at first colloquial, and was
not formally adopted till 1812. Admiral Gambier
was appointed first president in that year. The
other presidents have been the Earl of Chichester
(1834-1886), Captain the Hon. Francis Maude
(1886), and Sir John Kennaway from 1886 onwards.
The patron is a member of the Royal Family, and
the title of vice-patron is reserved to the Archbishop
of Canterbury.
The Society began its operations by despatching
two missionaries to Sierra Leone in 1804, and a
second party followed in 1806. The climate proved
exceedingly unhealthy, and in 1818 three deaths
occurred in a single week. Whereupon one of the
1 The second was to the effect that the S.P.CK. and S.P.G
confined their labours to British plantations in America and to the
West Indies, so that the Church did not possess a strictly missionary
society. The brief sketch given above will have shown that this
view wag not correct. There was, however, of course, ample room
for the new Society.

184 FOREIGN MISSIONS
survivors wrote home, " And now, dear sirs, be not
discouraged. Let more labourers put their lives in
their hands, and come to help those that are left.
Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God."
In 1842 the value of the Society's work there was
recognized in the report of a parliamentary com
mittee. The West African missions have suffered
many vicissitudes, but their progress also affords
encouragement. The first two English missionaries1 despatched.
by the Society were laymen. They sailed for New
Zealand in 1809, in response to an appeal made by
Samuel Marsden for Christian workmen to help
civilize the Maoris. But the disturbed condition
of the country 2 made it impossible for them to land
until 1814. In 1822 William Williams arrived, and
in 1825 the first baptism — that of a chief upon his
deathbed — took place. The first public baptism was
in August 1829.
In 1811 the attention of the Society was directed
to the Levant, and in 1815 Mr. Jowett — the first
English clergyman and graduate who offered himself
to the C.M.S. — started to inaugurate a Mediterranean
1 The C.M.S. availed itself largely during its early days of the
services of German missionaries in Lutheran orders. Probably
English ones were not to be had, but such action raises difficult
questions with regard to Church order. It assumes a community
of doctrine and discipline which does not exist in fact. Much
excellent work has been done by these men.
2 The crew of the British ship Boyd had been killed and eaten by
the Maoris in revenge for murders committed by traders.

THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY 185
Mission. The first missionaries were well received
by the patriarchs and bishops, and it was hoped that
their presence might serve to quicken the Oriental
Churches. Political disturbances, however, prevented
the accomplishment of any lasting work, except in
Egypt. There are, of course, many in England in
whose eyes the institution of such a mission is an
unwarrantable intrusion into regions where an older
and larger Church than their own has been at work
since the Apostolic Age.
From 1814 the Society has played a large part in
India and Ceylon, and at the close of the last century
was spending more than £100,000 annually on its
Indian missions. In 1899 it possessed 170 ordained
and 38 lay missionaries, 39 unmarried European
ladies, 142 native clergy, 3906 male and female
native catechists and teachers. The total number
of adherents gained by its missions was a little
more than 130,000, of whom one quarter were
communicants. Work in Canada began in 1820, with a small
grant to Mr. West — first chaplain to the Hudson
Bay Company — for the education of some native
children in what was then called the Red River
Settlement, now Winnipeg. The first out-station
was opened in 1840, on the Saskatchewan, under
the charge of an Indian convert named Henry
Budd. During the last century the work of the Society

186 FOREIGN MISSIONS
advanced steadily in all parts of the world,1 and
it should be noted that to the C.M.S. belongs the
honour of having made the first attempt to bring
the Gospel to the Australian Aborigines. It is now
strongly represented in Palestine and Persia, as well
as in more obvious mission-fields.
It would be impossible to give any complete out
line of the missionary work which is being carried
on by the English Church within the prescribed
limits of an essay such as this without overload
ing it with statistics, whose real significance cannot
be grasped very readily by the reader. Those who
desire further information must turn to the annual
reports of the great societies, or of individual missions.
Beside the societies already mentioned, the English
Church possesses, among others, a South American
Missionary Society (whose success among the most
degraded natives of South America induced Charles
Darwin to become a subscriber), a Zenana Mission
for reaching the women of India, and a Society for
Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews. Missions
of a special character are the Cambridge University
Mission to Delhi, the Oxford University Mission to
Calcutta, the missions of the Society of S. John
the Evangelist ("Cowley Fathers"), the United
Universities' Mission to Central Africa (founded in
1 In 1874 it decided to abandon its missionin Madagascar. Since
the French occupation every possible obstacle is placed in the way
of missionary work of any kind.

UNIVERSITY AND OTHER MISSIONS 187
response to a special appeal made to the Universities
by Dr. Livingstone), and the Archbishop of Canter-.
bury's Mission to the Assyrian Christians. This last
aims at reviving, along its own lines, a very ancient
Church with a glorious past. It was founded in
response to an appeal from the Assyrians themselves
in 1836, and reconstituted on a permanent basis in
1886. Trinity College, Dublin, also maintains a
strong mission at Travancore in the south of India.
In all, the English Church has at the present time
104 bishops and some 5000 clergy of its communion
at work in foreign parts.1 The number is not really
large compared with our resources, but it may be
hoped that it will increase rapidly during the next
few years. It is said that only one-seventh of the
missionary work being conducted by English-speaking
people at the present day is in the hands of members
of the English Church. We have certainly been
culpably remiss in the past, and have thereby thrown
away great opportunities. We do not yet realize the
claims of the mission-field as fully as we ought, but
there are signs on all sides that a great improvement
is taking place in this respect. Without attempting
to justify our omissions, it may be pointed out that
1 Some of these are not, of course, strictly speaking, missionaries,
e.g. on the Continent of Europe, and in the more settled parts of
Canada, Australasia, and Africa. These figures do not include the
Church of the United States. The two assistant bishops in Western
Equatorial Africa are negroes. There is also a large army of
European and native lay workers.

188 FOREIGN MISSIONS
there is probably no Church whose resources are so
severely taxed at home. Our communion is more
liberal than any other, and therefore opinions diverge
widely within its borders. Such diversity is doubt
less desirable, but it does not facilitate corporate
effort upon any large scale. The temptation is
always to enlist support by appealing to narrow
party spirit. We are also confronted with the
necessity of bringing an ancient system into closer
harmony with the needs of the present day, and
the experience of the sixteenth century warns us
against recklessness in discarding what it would be
difficult, if not impossible, to replace. And there
is probably no other Church which offers all its
privileges to all, " irrespective of whether they con
tribute to its upkeep or no. There are many in
our Church who would be indignant if its minis
trations ever ceased to be brought to their doors —
however rarely they avail themselves of them — and
still more indignant if they were required to make
any return for them, either in money or personal
service. This temper is not the product of our
own day. Doubtless it ought never to have been
allowed to spring up. But the responsibility for it
does not rest with the present generation, which
has to bear the burden which it imposes.
Before proceeding to speak briefly of the mis
sionary work of the principal Nonconformist bodies,
reference must be made to two societies in whose

BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY 189
work Churchmen and Nonconformists combine.
The British and Foreign Bible Society was founded
on March 7, 1804, mainly through the exertions of
Mr. Thomas Charles of Bala, for the purpose of
circulating copies of the Bible throughout the world.
It now has colporteurs in almost every quarter of
the globe, and distributes over five million books
annually. It has produced translations of the Scrip
tures, or of portions of them, in nearly four hundred
different languages. Its colporteurs frequently suffer
great hardships in their journeyings in remote places,
and they are sometimes, even at the present day,
exposed to downright persecution. During the last
year they were stoned in Peru. It is impossible not
to admire their heroism, and the translating work
done by the Society is very valuable.1 But it is
doubtful whether much solid result can be looked
for from mere distribution of copies of the Bible.
The policy implies a view of the nature of the Bible,
and the way in which it should be used, which has
never been shared by the greater part of Christen
dom, and has fewer adherents in England than was
1 It is, however, much to be regretted that the Society always
publishes its Bibles in incomplete form (i.e. Old and New Testa
ments only), and that from this example the practice has become
general in England. The religious life of England is undoubtedly
impoverished by the fact that the Apocrypha is almost unknown.
Our people lose a great deal by knowing nothing of Jewish history
between Malachi and the birth of Christ, or of the noble Wisdom of
the son of Sirach. Some acquaintance with such stories as Tobit,
or Bel and the Dragon is also a great help towards understanding
what is meant by inspiration.

190 FOREIGN MISSIONS
formerly the case. Probably the chief value of the
Bible Society's distributions will be found to be in
preparing the ground — to some extent — for real
missionary work. It is difficult to believe that
character can be permanently transformed and
elevated without the aid of Church-membership,
and the definite duties and privileges which it
brings. There is, however, some evidence that the
circulation of copies of the Bible is useful in stimu
lating a spirit of inquiry. The London Missionary
Society was founded in 1794, and was from the first
avowedly " undenominational." The fundamental
principle announced ran as follows : " The design is
not to send Presbyterianism, Independency, Episco
pacy, or any other form of Church order or govern
ment, but the glorious Gospel of the blessed God to
the heathen ; " 1 and again, " We are called together
for the funeral of bigotry, and I hope it will be
buried so deep as never to rise again." We cannot
help admiring the tolerant spirit which dictated
such a declaration, but its working value is unfor
tunately very small. " The glorious Gospel of the
blessed God " is not merely a number of facts to be
imparted ; it is a life to be lived, and therefore calls
for some organization in which to live it. Preaching
1 It may be noted that this assumes that no question of Church
order involves any fundamental principle. Probably few among
the leaders of any communion would be inclined to share this view
to-day, or to agree that adherence to a denomination is necessarily
bigotry.

THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY 191
that does not aim at attaching the hearer to a Church
presents no more than a very small fragment of the
Gospel, and robs it of more than half its saving
power. Conversions may indeed be made by such
methods, but what prospect has the newly-made
Christian of being able to withstand the temptations
of his old life if unattached to any Christian body ?
and how can his teacher fail to bias him in some
one direction ? In our Lord's own words, " We speak
that we do know, and testify that we have seen"
(S. John iii. 11). There cannot be a really unde
nominational Christian teacher, because the very act
of communion involves fellowship with some orga
nized Christian body. We must all regret our
unhappy divisions, but we do not stand to gain
anything by ignoring facts and pretending either
that our divisions do not exist, or that important
questions are not involved in them. And therefore,
although the London Missionary Society has spread
far afield — in its earlier days at any rate in the face
of bitter opposition,1 and has numbered devoted men
and women among its adherents, it seems to the
present writer that great permanent results cannot
be looked for from it. It tries to embody an unwork
able principle, and starts from the false hypothesis
1 One of the directors of the East India Company declared that
he would rather have a band of devils in India than a band of mis
sionaries. The first mission ship Duff was captured by a French
privateer during her second voyage to the South Seas, and her loss
cost the infant Society £10,000.

192 FOREIGN MISSIONS
that a really undenominational teacher can be
found. Either the Society will find itself compelled
to abandon the principles laid down at its inception,
or else the positive content of its teaching x will
become less and less until it ceases to have any
saving power. It has hardly been in existence
long enough as yet for the difficulty to have become
acute. The chief fields of its operations have been
with the island of Tahiti for a centre and in India.
The principal Nonconformist bodies have always
thrown themselves into missionary work with admir
able energy.2
The Baptist Missionary Society was founded in
1792. It owed its inception to the enthusiasm of a
young preacher, a shoemaker of Northamptonshire,
named William Carey. At first he met with nothing
but contemptuous indifference from the members of
his own body. The meeting at which the "Parti
cular Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel
among the Heathen" was founded was held at
Kettering. Only twelve persons were present, and
the collection for the world-wide task amounted to
£13, 2s. 6d. A surgeon in the employment of the
East India Company in Bengal had already begun
to preach the Gospel there. He happened to be in
1 The chairman's speech at the Jubilee Conference in 1844
contains little but an indiscriminating attack upon the Boman
Church. * It was not until the end of the eighteenth century that they
found themselves in a position to attempt anything considerable,

THE BAPTISTS IN INDIA 193
London at the time, and Carey was appointed to
return with him as fellow-missioner. They landed
at Calcutta on November 9, 1793. Carey was joined
soon afterwards by two others, named Marshman
and Ward. A printing-press was set up for the
production of a Bengali New Testament, but the
hostility of the East India Company compelled the
missionaries to take refuge in the Danish settlement
of Serampur. Eventually Carey became Professor
of Bengali in the College at Fort William. The
profits of his government appointments, together
with those of the printing-press, and the schools
instituted by Mr. and Mrs. Marshman, enabled the
party to contribute altogether £80,000 to the mission.
Carey himself died on June 9, 1834, worn out by
forty years of devoted labour. Marshman survived
him by three years. The Society has grown steadily
during the last century, and now has extensive mis
sions in various parts of the world.1
The real history of Methodist missions begins a
few years later, for the Wesleyan Missionary Society
was not founded until 1816 ; but its inception was
due principally to the energy which had been dis
played by a very remarkable man a few years earlier.
Dr. Thomas Coke was born in Wales in the year
1747, and after a distinguished career at Oxford was
ordained. The church of the parish which he served
1 For further information see the proceedings of the Baptist
World's Congress, held in London in 1905. N

194 FOREIGN MISSIONS
as curate soon became crowded, and his fervent
preaching and numerous services led his superiors
to regard him as a dangerous fanatic. He was
admonished for his irregularities 1 by the Bishop of
Bath and Wells, and finally expelled from the
Church. He then attached himself to John Wesley,
and was one of the two " bishops " whom Wesley's
failure of faith despatched to preside over the
Church in America. Besides extensive work on the
mainland, his energy extended to the West Indies.
He was also enabled to inaugurate a successful
mission to West Africa. In his sixty-sixth year
he sailed to begin mission work in Ceylon, but
died during the voyage. Others of the party
reached their destination, and were favourably re
ceived by Lord Molesworth, the commandant, and
the early progress of the mission was remarkably
successful. The Congregationalist body entered the mission-
field about the same time. The American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions was instituted
in 1810, and has done valuable work in various
parts of the world. Its members played a large
and honourable part in the anti-slavery agitation.
English Congregationalists seem to avail themselves
1 Without defending the action of the authorities, it should be
noted that the preaching of the great Evangelicals of the eighteenth
century was often marked by very disorderly scenes. The bishop
and rector may have had better reasons for their action than
appear on the surface,

METHODIST AND CONGREGATIONALIST 195
largely of the London Missionary Society for dis
charging this part of their duty.
The smaller Nonconformist bodies also prosecute
missionary work with great vigour in proportion to
their strength.
The three principal bodies — the Baptists, Metho
dists, and Congregationalists — are very strong in N.
America. This is due partly to the fact that many of
the earliest settlers were Nonconformists whom reli
gious intolerance had driven from England during
the seventeenth century to seek a home in a new
country. Their growth was further stimulated by the
refusal of the English Church to create an American
episcopate during the eighteenth century. The
reasons for this reluctance have been discussed already.
These American Churches have shared to the fullest
extent the missionary revival of the last century,
and are doing valuable work in various parts of the
world, particularly in India. They have also a very
large number of adherents among the negroes of the
Southern States. It is to be feared, however, that
the extreme emotionalism which is the least attrac
tive feature in Methodism meets with an unhappily
ready response in the negro character, and that
serious difficulties are in store for the Methodist
communions there on this account.
The English-speaking Nonconformist communions
seem to possess two very valuable qualifications for
missionary work. First, their comparatively recent

196 FOREIGN MISSIONS
origin has enabled them, as it were, to start clear.
They are not hampered by many of the difficulties
by which very ancient institutions, such as the Church,
are necessarily beset. They are not as yet confronted
with the problem of maintaining many costly edifices
out of resources which have become hopelessly inade
quate. Their projects are not hampered by having
to work in accordance with what seemed good to an
earlier age, when modern conditions and require
ments could not by any possibility have been fore
seen.1 The difficult problems which will be raised
by the question of their relation to the State have
yet to be worked out. Secondly, their looser organi
zation enables them to spread with greater ease and
rapidity under new conditions, and (probably) also
to avail themselves more readily of the services of
laymen. But in many respects their difficulties are
still to come. They have been in the field for little
more than a century 2 at most, and a century is a
very short period in religious work. Hitherto they
have been concerned with little save the laying of
foundations, and it is a matter of historical experi
ence that as the superstructure rises problems multi-
1 In these respects their relation to the Church is parallel with
the relation which the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge bear
to those which have been established of late years in Liverpool,
Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, and elsewhere. In each case
the newer institution misses something, but has many obvious prac
tical advantages.
2 This is also the position of many particular missions and
societies ef the English Church.

COMING DIFFICULTIES 197
ply and become more acute. It remains to be seen
whether these active communions are sufficiently
sure of their theological principles, and whether
their system is sufficiently strong to resist the strain
which must come upon them when their Asiatic or
African converts enter the field of religious specu
lation. All communions will be tried severely, but
the creeds and system of the Church have proved
their power of resistance again and again in the past.
Those of the Nonconformist bodies are as yet untried.
We have our Lord's word for it that new heresies
will arise. We can see for ourselves that it is in
evitable that they should. As soon as the Gospel
has been diffused over any area an intensive, as
opposed to purely extensive, work assumes the fore
most place. Men will begin to ask questions. They
will begin to speculate on the various doctrines of
the Christian Faith, and it is impossible to say what
forms their speculations will take. Then comes the
hour of trial for the Christian teacher — of trial in
some ways more severe than persecution itself. He
has to decide whether what is new to him is a real
contribution to the fuller understanding of the
Gospel, which he must welcome with gratitude, or
whether it is "another Gospel," which he must
reject with the uncompromising vigour of S. Paul.
He knows too that his decision may affect the
spiritual welfare of thousands for years — it may
even be for centuries — after his own time. At

198 FOREIGN MISSIONS
such times of difficulty he needs not only the per
sonal guidance of the Holy Ghost, but all the help
which he can receive from the corporate wisdom
and experience of his communion. Because the
life of a Church is larger than that of a single
individual, it follows that the Church collectively
can receive the Holy Ghost in a larger measure
than is possible for any individual member. And
therefore, when the individual member is in any
special difficulty, he must rely less upon himself
than upon the collective wisdom of his Church.1
Now it may be predicted with some confidence
that before the end of the present century India,
China, and possibly Japan, will have become hot
beds of every imaginable form of heresy.2 It is
inevitable that this should be the case when Chris
tianity has become the centre of their religious
thought. India has given birth to one strange
semi-Christian sect already in the followers of Chet
Ram. No doubt some of these perverted beliefs
will be fairly familiar types. They will not differ
very much from some of the various forms of
Gnosticism with which the Church had to wrestle
in the early days of its history. But it is probable
that some will be original. We shall have theories
1 It has been pointed out earlier in this essay that the intellect
is the special sphere of the operation of the Holy Spirit. We must
look to Him for help in dealing with intellectual problems especially.
2 It is not, of course, meant that they will not also have made
valuable contributions to the understanding of the Gospel.

NEW HERESIES 199
of which we had never dreamed pressed upon us
as essential parts of Christianity, or it may be even
as the full content of the Gospel. They will come
to us with all the authority which they can derive
from having already commanded the assent of more
subtle intellects than our own. Every communion
will feel the strain severely, and it remains to be
seen whether the doctrine and discipline of the
Nonconformist missions will be found to possess
the necessary power of resistance. The question
can only be settled by actual experience. But
certain recent developments of English Congre
gationalism, and the religious vagaries of the
United States (where the Nonconformist com
munions possess a very large number of adherents),
cannot but make us feel anxious with regard to
the future of their widely diffused and vigorous
missions in the more important fields of the
East. It may seem that too much space has been
devoted to the history of the missions of the
Church, and especially to the remote past. The
work of earlier ages has been described in some
detail, while that of our own time has been dealt
with more briefly. The work of foreign Churches
also may seem to have been allowed to occupy too
large a place. It may be thought that it would
have been more useful to have spoken more fully
about what touches us more nearly. But the line

200 FOREIGN MISSIONS
which has been followed in the historical part of
this essay has been followed of set purpose.
In the first place, the information relating to
earlier ages and foreign Churches is not very
readily accessible. To a large extent it is beyond
the reach of the ordinary reader. It has to be
pieced together from various sources, and the task
can hardly be attempted by any one who has not
the command of a considerable library. There is
abundance of cheap literature about the missionary
work of our own country, and of recent years, that
can be procured without difficulty by all who wish
for it. The year-books of the various Churches
give the statistics of their work, and most missions
of any importance issue an annual report. Many
produce a monthly magazine as well. The bio
graphies of great missionaries, such as Bishops
G. A. Selwyn, Steere, Patteson, and Hannington,
or of Henry Martyn or Dr. Livingstone, can be
obtained without difficulty. And therefore it has
seemed better to the present writer to pass over
this ground very rapidly. The aim of this essay
has not been to stimulate enthusiasm so much as
to broaden knowledge, and it would therefore have
been beside the point to recapitulate what can be
gathered without difficulty from other sources.
Moreover, it would be impossible for any single
person to possess a detailed knowledge of all the
missionary work now in progress. The most we

IMPORTANCE OF THE PAST 201
can do is to take a general interest in it as a
whole. We shall do the cause of Christ better
service by focussing our interest upon the details
of one or two particular missions. Each must
select for himself some particular work that hap
pens to appeal to his sympathies in an especial
degree, or that has, by force of circumstances, some
special claim upon him. But it would be wrong
for any one to try to relieve us of the responsi
bility of making our own selection. To try to do
so would not advance the interests of the cause.
For the working value of our choice — that is, its
power to elicit solid and continuous support by
prayer and alms — must be derived chiefly from the
fact that it is our own. The mere process of making
the choice for ourselves is of the greatest educational
value. And secondly, there is in some ways more to be
learned from the past than from the present. An
old Greek proverb advised that no man should
be called happy until he is dead, and the saying
enshrines a great deal of truth. We cannot really
judge the value of any contemporary work ; especi
ally of religious work, the value of which resides in
its capacity for permanence. We can never be sure
whether some new structure, however imposing it
may be in our eyes, is built of stubble or of material
that can endure. Nothing but time, and the slow
tests which time applies, can tell us that. And this

202 FOREIGN MISSIONS
testing is necessarily slower where religious work is
concerned than in any other case. For the field is
larger, and immediate apparent success means less.
Opportunism commonly plays a large part in politics,
and perhaps it is right that it should. The statesman
may be satisfied when he has dealt satisfactorily with
the needs of the moment. He knows that any
arrangements he may make will not last for ever :
probably he does not desire that they should last
even for a century. He is concerned more with
passing exigencies than with permanent principles.
And it is probably true to say that opportunism of
the best kind has a particularly large place in English
politics. We are inclined to rely upon successful
opportunism in our political life, and as a rule it
seems to serve us very well. But whatever place
opportunism may be entitled to occupy in politics,
it can have no real place in religious life. Reli
gious work that does not concern itself primarily
— almost exclusively — with permanent principles is
worth nothing. And to the present writer the im
porting of opportunism into religious work seems to
be the great danger which lies before English-speak
ing Christianity at the present time. Both in Eng
land and America we seem inclined to overrate the
value of success, or rather to insist, to an extent
which may prove disastrous, on seeing some imme
diate result in everything to which we put our hands.
Sixteen years ago Archbishop Benson declared that

USELESSNESS OF OPPORTUNISM 203
" noiselessness " was one of the marks which must
be upon all Christian work, and that without it no
Christian work could be brought to perfection.1 That
was not the temper of the time at which he was
speaking, and still less is it the temper of our own
day. The impatient, advertising, temper of our day
has made itself felt in our religious life, and it leads
directly to opportunism of the worst kind, in action
as well as in judgment. We are inclined to base our
opinions on the knowledge of a few facts which are,
so to speak, immediately under our eyes. We must
beware of forming our judgments in a matter so large
and important as Foreign Missions upon a knowledge
of recent or contemporary work only. Some con
temporary mission may appear to be doing good
work ; converts may be flocking in, and support from
England may not be wanting. But time may show
that the conversions have been altogether superficial,
or that they have been gained at the cost of some
compromise which ought never to have been made.
Whenever this has been done, there has always been
a heavy reckoning to be discharged at some future
time. Or a mission may seem to be a failure. Years
of work may have produced no visible result. But
all the while the Christian leaven may have been
slowly spreading. The missionary may have been
strong enough to resist some tempting alliance with
the world which would have brought him popularity.
1 " Fishers of Men," p. 148 (Macmillan & Co., 1893).

204 FOREIGN MISSIONS
He may have gone on quietly and faithfully sowing
his good seed without caring whether the harvest
be reaped by his hands or those of others. In such
cases, when the harvest does come it is worth the
gathering.1 And therefore a knowledge of the past
is really more important to us in some ways than
a knowledge of the present. Or rather, the latter is
apt to be altogether misleading without a solid back
ground of the former. We stand on more solid
ground when we pass judgment on the work of
former generations, than when we criticize our own.
It is upon knowledge of the past, primarily, that our
judgments must be formed. We can only think out
our principles by learning what has happened — by
seeing what results certain courses of action did
actually produce. For it often happens that the
results were by no means those which the actors
themselves expected. When we have thought out
our principles in the light of past events, then it is
time to acquire a knowledge of existing circumstances
to see how those principles are to be applied. But
we can never deduce right principles from knowledge
of the present alone, and if we try to work without
clearly thought out principles, we shall probably
succeed in doing very little that had not better have
been left undone.
And thirdly, nothing but knowledge of the past
1 For example, Henry Martyn only lived to baptize one old Hindu
woman.

NEED OF A SENSE OF PROPORTION 205
can give us a due sense of proportion. Without that,
hardly any work of any kind can be brought to a
successful issue, and religious work less than any
other. We all need the power of seeing things in
their right relation to each other, and so of being able
to estimate their relative importance. And it seems
to the present writer, that this sense is one in which
our time is singularly deficient. It is probably true
to say that as a nation we are weak in this respect,
and we do not seem to be making much advance.1
It is possible that this is a natural first consequence of
the spread of education, and the universal diffusion of
the power of reading. More judgments are formed
and widely disseminated than was the case fifty
years ago. If so, it may be hoped that it will soon
pass, but while it lasts it is a very serious danger.
Unless we can acquire a better sense of proportion,
our missionary work is bound to suffer severely. It
is most important that we should not be completely
wrapped up in our own efforts, and ignore those
which have been and are being made by others on
different lines. Our natural tendency to " insularity "
— that is, to neglect whatever has not originated with
ourselves — will do even more harm in the mission-
1 A well-known preacher is reported to have said recently in New
York that the agitation in favour of female suffrage was "the
greatest movement for humanity since the death of Christ." It is
noteworthy that many newspapers devote more space to a murder,
a suicide, or a petition for divorce, than to really important home
or foreign intelligence.

206 FOREIGN MISSIONS
field than anywhere else. The first step towards
unity — and even towards the comity of which mis
sionaries feel the need even more than we do at
home — must come from better knowledge and more
generous appreciation of the work of other Churches.
And it is to be hoped that such knowledge will
do something towards rousing us to efforts which
shall correspond more closely with the extraordinary
opportunities which God has given to our race.
And it is also essential that we should not make
the mistake of thinking that no times have ever
borne any resemblance to our own. Our difficulties
are not without parallel in the past. We have neither
succeeded nor failed upon any unprecedented scale.
There have been missions which made at least
as rapid progress as any of ours do now, and there
have been others which — like some at the present
day — seemed unable for a time to make any headway
whatever. The more striking successes of the past
afford us perhaps the most valuable warning, for
they have sometimes been followed by almost com
plete collapse.1 Nothing but a knowledge of the
past can save us from undue elation or despondency.
Without it we can hardly fail to overrate the value
of immediate apparent success, and we shall be in
danger of trying to purchase what looks like progress
by undue concessions to popular demands. In this
way we might be led into very serious compromising
1 Notably in the case of the early Assyrian missions. See p. 91.

GROUNDS FOR HOPE 207
of principles. That is probably a greater danger than
the risk of being unduly discouraged by apparent
failure. For it seems as if this century would be
one of very rapid advance in the mission-field. All
observers are agreed that there is a new spirit abroad
in many parts of Asia. And therefore it is especially
incumbent at this time on all who have the extension
of Christ's Kingdom at heart to set themselves to
solidify their judgment as much as possible by
broadening the knowledge upon which it is formed.
The present writer is convinced that there is nothing
so steadying amid the whirling difficulties of the
present as a knowledge of the triumphs and failures
of the past. And the more we know of them the
more shall we realize the truth of the closing sentence
on the monument of the Wesleys in Westminster
Abbey : " God buries His workmen, but carries on
His work." III. PRACTICAL
When one who has never been a missionary him
self, or had any opportunity of forming a first-hand
opinion on missionary work, sets himself to write of
Foreign Missions from the practical point of view, he
must be conscious that his most urgent need is a
becoming humility. He cannot but feel that there is
something presumptuous in venturing to offer, from
the sheltered life of England, criticism or advice to

208 FOREIGN MISSIONS
men who have, literally, hazarded their lives for the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ. If there should be
anything in the following pages with which any
missionary can have good cause to be offended,
I trust that it will be recognized that the offence
is altogether unintentional, and is the outcome of
ignorance rather than ill-will.1
Viewed from the practical stand-point, the subject
naturally falls into two main divisions : —
(1) The development of the missionary spirit at
home, and the home organization of the
resources required for the work.
(2) The actual conduct of operations in the field.
Before proceeding further, it may be well to try to
rescue the word "practical" from the degradation
which seems to have overtaken it. It is to be feared
that in many peoples' minds " practical " has come
to be regarded as the equivalent of " by rule-of-
thumb." " Practical " gifts are held to be a satis
factory substitute for deep or accurate knowledge of
any subject, or even to render the existence of such
knowledge quite superfluous. We are often told
that " what the Church wants to-day is not scholars
or theologians, but practical men." On examination,
1 There is a useful sketch of the present state of the mission-
field and its claim upon us in the " Evangelization of the World in
this Generation," by J. B. Mott, published by the Student Volunteer
Missionary Union. It also contains a useful bibliography. But
the author restricts his view to what he calls " evangelical denomi
nations," and so ignores the Latin and Greek communions, which
probably contain four out of five of the Christians of the world.

MEANING OF PRACTICAL 209
this ideal of the practical man often resolves itself
into a person of unbounded energy, who is content to
pass his days in a whirl of multitudinous business,
without ever stopping to think whether his activi
ties are promoting or hindering the cause which he
has at heart. The true meaning of "practical" is
"efficient." The really practical man — that is, the
man who really gets things done — is the man who
has the power of bringing theoretical knowledge to
bear with good effect upon the conduct of affairs.
That power ought to be immensely valuable in any
walk of life ; but its value becomes very slight if it
leads to neglect of any of the resources which it
might employ. It may be laid down that no great
cause can be really advanced by bustling activity
alone, unsupported by careful thinking. To those
who are inclined to over- value mere activity, and to
speak of thinkers as " dreamers " or " visionaries," it
may be worth while to point out that the seeing of
visions and the dreaming of dreams is to be one of
the signs of the Presence of the Holy Ghost. " And
it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out
My Spirit upon all flesh : and your sons and your
daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream
dreams, and your young men shall see visions " (Joel
ii. 28). Again, the spirit of wisdom and understand
ing is the first of the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit
(Isaiah xi. 2). This truth was fully recognized in
the Middle Ages, when it was customary to intro-

210 FOREIGN MISSIONS
duce the figure of the Dove in pictures of the
councils of learned doctors; but it is to be feared
that it has rather dropped out of sight in our own
day. We should perhaps be slow to invoke the
guidance of the Holy Spirit when sitting down to
arrange the details of, say, some complicated scheme
of Church finance. Yet to do so would be com
pletely in accord with the general feeling of earlier
ages. Now, because missionary work is spiritual work, it
follows that it can only be advanced by spiritual
methods. That is a principle of which we must
never lose sight for a moment. It is impossible to
estimate how much the Church has suffered from
attempts to advance the Kingdom of God by un-
spiritual methods, especially when, as has usually
been the case, the employment of such methods has
been accompanied by enormous professions of belief
in spiritual power. The story of the Inquisition
is a case in point. Unfortunately it is by no means
the only one,
First among spiritual methods we must place
Prayer. Regular intercession on behalf of Foreign
Missions in general, and for individual missions or
missionaries, should be one of the normal duties of
every Christian. It may be worth while to point
out that this cannot be a very easy task. Prayer of
any kind, especially Intercessory Prayer, may with
out irreverence be called an Art. It must be labori-

DIFFICULTY OF PRAYER 211
ously studied and slowly acquired, like any other
art. We could have no right to expect that the
supreme Christian power, to the exercise of which
our Lord devoted Himself with such earnestness,
could be easy to acquire or put into force. And it
is probable that we tend to exaggerate our own
difficulties in prayer, or rather to under-estimate
those of other people. We are perhaps inclined to
think that others find prayer much easier than we
do ourselves, and to assume that we are the prey of
some special difficulties. In reality all but a very
few exceptionally-gifted souls must always find
prayer difficult, and therefore we ought not to be
discouraged if we find that our difficulties do not
seem to diminish appreciably with practice. To a
Christian the fact that prayer is difficult is a testi
mony to its efficacy and value. We must expect
that Satan will seek to hinder by every means in
his power this most effective method of destroying
his works. The difficulty of regular intercession
will probably be found to diminish somewhat if a
band or Guild of Intercessors can be formed. The
members should agree to use the same prayers, and,
if possible, to use them at the same time of day.
There is great spiritual support in the knowledge
that one is not isolated, but is acting in concert with
others. Elijah would not have wished to die if he
had known that there were seven thousand faith
ful in Israel beside himself. Every clergyman, or

212 FOREIGN MISSIONS
minister, should endeavour to organize such a guild
among his communicants, and many missions issue
monthly or quarterly papers of intercession suitable
for the purpose. He should make a special point of
trying to enrol the aged and invalid members of his
congregation. They have, of necessity, the leisure
which the younger and more able-bodied often find
it almost impossible to obtain. And no one who has
ever had the privilege of ministering to the sick can
have failed to notice what unsuspected graces and
powers are often developed in the course of a long
illness. Those whom sickness has promoted to the
Ministry of Prayer are often able to exercise it with
a power which they never possessed when in good
health. And to be members of a Guild of Inter
cessors would remove the feeling of uselessness
which must be, for those who have been accustomed
to activity, the most trying feature of a prolonged
period of weakness or ill-health. It would entitle them
to feel that, so far from being withdrawn from God's
service, they were wielding the most effective of all
the weapons which we can employ for the extension of
His Kingdom. Such a Guild of Intercessors would,
at any rate in its early stages, be entirely private.
Individuals would be asked to become members
privately by their pastor. But at the same time
there should be public services of intercession for
Foreign Missions held in the church. It will prob
ably be found best to hold these on some week-

FORMS OF INTERCESSION 213
night rather than on Sunday; but, of course, no
absolute rule can be laid down in the matter. The
most convenient method will probably be for the
minister to have a paper containing a list of various
missions and their special requirements at the
moment, and to invite the prayers of the congre
gation for each in turn, silence being kept for a few
moments after each petition. All should be invited
to attend these services, and it will be best to hold
them at regular intervals, or at some special time of
year. The custom of devoting the Advent season,
and especially S. Andrew's Day, to this purpose is
spreading rapidly in the Church of England, and the
example might well be followed by other bodies if
they have no other existing arrangement. To those
who cannot for any reason make use of printed
papers of Intercessions, and do not feel able to com
pose prayers for themselves, it may be pointed out
that in the Lord's Prayer the words " Thy Kingdom
come" may be used with missionary intention.
Beyond doubt they have a missionary significance,
and this may be emphasized mentally by any one who
uses them. A great proof of the divine origin of the
Lord's Prayer is the wealth and variety of meaning
which may be found within its brief compass.1
1 For example, Justin Martyr (c. A.D. 120) considered that it
might be a sufficient formula for the consecration of the elements
in the Eucharist, instead of the Words of Institution which all
Christian bodies have decided to use. Compare also S. Gregory the
Great, Ep. ix. 12.

214 FOREIGN MISSIONS
Doubtless the number of those who would join
such a guild or be present at such services would be
few at first. But we feel sure that the two or three
could always be found to gather in Christ's name for
this purpose, and that the movement once set on
foot would spread rapidly. The development of it
would mean that from every parish and congregation
spiritual power would flow out to the ends of the
earth. The missionary would feel himself wonder
fully invigorated; he would know that he was not
forgotten by those whom he had left behind, and
that as from time to time he made his needs known
at home, they would be laid before the Throne of
Grace by a united band of fellow-workers. The new
convert, too, struggling with temptations springing
from tradition and environment, the force of which
we can hardly realize, would feel that there were
other wills, strengthened by years of Christian habit,
striving for and with his own. This aspect of the
Communion of Saints would be realized as it has
perhaps never been since the days of the Apostles.
It is surely one of the first duties of all who, in
any capacity, have charge of souls to try to develop
this power among their people.
Next to Intercessory Prayer must be placed
the influence of the Pulpit. Missionary sermons
might be more frequent than they are at present
in most churches. Congregations are sometimes
heard to complain that sermons are dull, and

MISSIONARY SERMONS 215
there is no doubt some justice in the charge.
It is unreasonable to expect to find a Chrysostom
in every pulpit, but any man whose heart is
in his ministry ought to be able to inspire and
interest his people with accounts of the pioneer
work in the Kingdom of God. The romance of
Empire is always to be found upon its frontiers. A
day in the life of an administrator on the North- West
Frontier of India, for example, is as a rule more
interesting to hear about than a day in the life of
a magistrate at home. There are many excellent
biographies of great missionaries which would supply
abundant material for many sermons. Yet we can
seldom recollect having heard them utilized in this
way. It would probably be better that such ser
mons should be preached on occasions when the
collection at the close of the service is not to be
given to missionary work. There is in many people's
minds an invariable connection between a missionary
and a money-box. They do not expect to hear
anything about Foreign Missions without being
asked to contribute to them at the close of the
service. That tends to oust missionary work from
its proper position. It tends to make people regard
it as something irregular, something additional, to
which it is an act of especial virtue to contribute,
instead of one of the most important of the normal
duties of the Church. The missionary sermon and
collection are viewed as a kindly concession to the

216 FOREIGN MISSIONS
enthusiast whose work is to be assisted by them.
We do not want to have to rely on special appeals
for contributions to missionary work any more than
we do for funds to meet normal church expenses.
We want to bring people to contribute regularly as
a matter of course ; and it is therefore most desirable
that missionary sermons should be preached by the
regular staff of the church. It is no doubt a very
good thing to have the pulpit occupied from time to
time by one who is, or has been, himself a mis
sionary. His account of what he and his companions
have adventured for God will come with a force
and freshness which can only belong to first-hand
narratives of actual experience; and a missionary
lecture, illustrated with lantern-slides, given in the
schools or parish-room, may do much to stimulate
interest among children and young people. But we
shall weaken our cause very seriously if we rely on
the occasional visit of an ex-missionary as our
principal means of awaking and maintaining interest
in the work; for the ex-missionary or missionary
deputation is almost compelled to ask for money
wherever he goes. That is expected of him by
the society or organization under which he works,
and, as has been pointed out, that is not always
desirable. It is not right that the progress of the Kingdom
should invariably be associated with a direct appeal
for money ; and the process bears very hardly upon

BURDENS PLACED ON MISSIONARIES 217
the missionary himself. When he returns to Eng
land for a few months, he desires a complete holiday.
His work requires that he should build up his
spiritual and bodily powers, which have been severely
tried. Instead of being able to do this, he too often
finds himself expected to scour the country preach
ing, lecturing, and begging for money. And he
knows that if he does not do this his work will be
crippled ; some great opportunity perhaps will be
missed for lack of funds and may never recur. If
the home clergy were more assiduous and regular
in trying to create strong missionary interest among
their congregations, a great part of this necessity
would disappear. The gain from every point of
view would be enormous. The temper which resents
sending money out of the parish for any purpose
must be fought as patiently, gently, and stubbornly
as the temper which finds its principal recreation in
gambling or drunkenness.
In practice it will probably be found best to try
to attach the people to some particular district or
station. That gives a centre for their interest, and
it is to be feared that a large proportion of our
average congregations have scarcely enough imagina
tion or sympathy to rise to a keen, sustained interest
in the whole field of missionary work. The grandeur
of the whole cause in its largest aspect should be
laid before congregations from time to time, but for
practical working purposes it will probably be found

218 FOREIGN MISSIONS
better to try to focus sympathy upon some special
point in the mission-field. People can then be
informed definitely of the exact progress which the
work is making, and this will help to satisfy our
strong commercial bent, which makes us like to
know positively what we are getting for our money.
Despite its obvious limitations, this temper has the
advantage that it makes for efficient administration
in matters of detail ; and whether good or bad, it is
undoubtedly a factor which cannot be disregarded
in dealing with a large proportion of English people.
The printed report and any other publications of the
particular mission in question should be circulated as
widely as possible, as they will be the best means of
refuting those who declare scornfully that " missions
do no good." The plain statements of fact contained
in a report are very difficult to explain away.
Where there is a Parish Magazine, that can also
contribute something to fostering interest in the
cause. The editor can from time to time insert
paragraphs about missionary work, and these would
sometimes meet the eye of people who do not take
in, or perhaps do take in but do not read, any
exclusively missionary publication. Such paragraphs
might be made at least as interesting as some of
those whose appearance in parish magazines at pre
sent suggests that they have been inserted by an
editor who was at his wits' end for copy to satisfy
the printer.

MISSIONS AND THE YOUNG 219
The Sunday School and Young People's Bible
Class are another important area within which.
missionary zeal may be developed. We are all
agreed as to the importance of enlisting the sym
pathies of the young. With every year that passes,
after a certain age, the mind becomes less elastic
and less able to receive new ideas. It is very difficult
to convince a middle-aged man, who has for many
years been accustomed to regard the religious con
dition of his own neighbourhood as the extreme
limit of his responsibility, that he owes, or can
possibly owe, any wider duty to the whole Body of
Christ. But young people are naturally more im
pressionable. If all the children in our Sunday
Schools could be brought up to know that it is as
much their duty to support Foreign Missions by
every means in their power as to practise Christi
anity at home, an enormous advance would have
been made. Every Sunday School should, as a
matter of course, possess a library for the benefit
of the teachers, and all such libraries should contain
some missionary literature. Biographies of eminent
missionaries will probably be found most useful for
this purpose, and the superintendent should urge
the teachers to give lessons from them at regular
intervals. He might also sometimes give a short
missionary address himself to the whole school.
The Conferences of the Student Volunteer move
ment show with what force the missionary idea can

220 FOREIGN MISSIONS
appeal to the young, and we believe that it can
appeal with equal force to children at a very early
age. For boys especially, lessons from the lives of
great missionaries could not fail to be of the highest
value. It is a common complaint that boys as soon
as they have left school drop out of the religious life
in which they have been brought up. In many cases
this is probably due to the fact that Christianity has
never been presented to them in such a way as to
strike their imagination.
Meekness is a very important Christian virtue,
and therefore one of the most difficult to practise.
It is probably the last in which any European can
hope to excel. And therefore it is an ideal which
cannot be expected to appeal strongly to the young,
especially to boys. Can a healthy, vigorous boy,
who is conscious of growing powers within himself,
and has just attained for the first time some measure
of independence, be expected to be meek ? We may
regret his tendency to undue self-assertion, but must
recognize that it is only natural. At an early age it
is often an indication of real force of character, and
may be trusted to disappear as time goes on. By
dwelling too much on meekness we may easily lead
a growing boy to regard Christianity as something
unmanly — suitable for women and girls, but not for
himself. He may struggle hard against this idea,
but none the less it rises continually in his mind,
and he cannot banish it altogether. He has also,

WEAKNESS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 221
probably, been taught that religion is our great stay
in sorrow and misfortune. Neither of these have
as yet come his way, and therefore he does not value
religion any more highly on that account. He tends
possibly to regard it as a kind of Salvation Army :
a refuge for those who have failed in life. But he
means to be a success. His mind is not sufficiently
developed, and his knowledge of character is not
sufficiently wide for him to appreciate the supreme
strength of Christ. The characters of the Bible he
hardly regards as human. To him they are beings
of another order, who lived in a world so far removed
from his own that it never occurs to him to compare
himself with them. And so, without necessarily
falling into evil habits, he becomes indifferent to
religion. He knows that he ought to lead a good
life, and is ready to make an honest effort to do so,
but allows the organized life of the Church in which
he has been brought up to go by. He has never
been shown anything in religion which appeals to
him naturally. It is to be feared that the teaching
which many boys receive in the Sunday School
causes far more irreligion in later life than all the
exploded fallacies disseminated by the Rationalist
Press Association and its sympathizers. I feel
sure that much of this evil might be averted if
lessons from the lives of distinguished missionaries
formed a regular part of the course of every Sunday
School. If boys were taught something about such

FOREIGN MISSIONS
men as David Livingstone, Henry Martyn, Bishops
G. A. Selwyn, Patteson, Hannington, and Steere,1 to
take a few examples, it would give them a new idea
of Christianity. It would show them its heroic side,
and English schoolboys and young men possess the
capacity for hero-worship in a very marked degree.
They would be shown a type of Christian life which
they could thoroughly appreciate. They would begin
to learn that Christianity is not merely, or chiefly,
a woman's business. They would discover that some
of the greatest of modern Christians have displayed
the highest possible degree of courage, resolution, and
endurance ; that they have in fact excelled in all the
qualities in which every growing boy wishes to excel
himself. I am convinced that in the story of mis
sionary work, more than in any other department
of Christian activity, can be found an ideal to appeal
to the class which every religious communion finds
most difficult to retain within its fold. And is it too
much to hope that in this way some might receive
their first call to the mission-field ? There are prob
ably some — perhaps many — young men (and women)
whom God has intended to serve Him in this work.
But they have never heard their call, and so have
found their way into other lines of life, from which
they will, in all probability, never extricate them-
1 The list might be extended almost indefinitely, and made
thoroughly representative of any communion. It will probably
be best for the teacher to confine himself to comparatively modern
times.

ENCOURAGING VOCATION
selves. Of course, we ought not to try to get children
to pledge themselves early in life to a task for which
they may have no real qualifications whatever : if we
try to sweep them off their feet, as it were, with a
wave of missionary enthusiasm, we should merely
be courting future failure and reproach. Such action
would deservedly bring discredit upon the whole
cause. But any one who is engaged in giving
Christian teaching, in any capacity, ought to make
it a part of their duty to keep watch for any indica
tions of vocation for the missionary life. The task
is difficult, and awful in its responsibility. Much
earnest prayer and thought will be needed to guard
against self-deception on either side. But we owe it
to the whole body of Christ to undertake the task.
The least that we can do is to give vocation an
opportunity of developing by teaching those who are
entrusted to us something about the heroic pioneers
of the Kingdom in the ends of the earth. And we
in England shall not be wrong if we teach our chil
dren that God has called us to play a larger part
than any other nation in the evangelizing of the
world. He has entrusted us with a dominion such
as He has never entrusted to any other people. To
say that we have gained our empire by our own
prowess would be to take our stand by the side of
Nebuchadnezzar, and deserve at least as great
humiliation. We dare not say that God has given
it to us as a reward for some special virtues which

224 FOREIGN MISSIONS
we possess. To do so would be to sink to the lowest
spiritual level ever reached by the Jews. The only
tenable view of the position which we occupy in the
world at present is that it is a great opportunity to
be used in God's service. The story of the way in
which we have acquired our empire contains many
inspiring chapters. It thrills us with its list of
heroic achievements. But if we can rise to the
opportunity which has opened before us in this way,
that story will be dull and poor compared with the
story of how we showed ourselves worthy of what
has been entrusted to us. If we fail, the most miser
able and shameful chapter in the world's history has
yet to be written. If those who are bearing the
responsibility of imparting Christian teaching dis
regard the possibility of the existence of a missionary
vocation in those whom they teach, and are silent
upon all that belongs to the mission-field, it will
surely be that some whom they ought to have told
will rise up against them in the judgment to reproach
them for their neglect.
It has been laid down above that our methods
in promoting the missionary cause must be spiritual,
and suggestions have been offered as to the way in
which spiritual power may be brought to bear upon
it. But the highest degree of spirituality does not
preclude the most careful administration of material
things. Indeed, we see from the Acts (chap, vi.) that
the former ought always to issue in the latter. The

NEED OF REGULAR SUPPLIES 225
material things which pertain to the work must now
claim our attention.
It is impossible to speak of the actual adminis
tration of funds in the mission-field without having
had personal experience of various methods. But
attention has already been called to the economic
value of the monastic principle.1 Some attempt
to reproduce the valuable side of monastic life
has been made in the " Bush Brotherhoods " which
have recently been instituted in some parts of
Australia. It is to be hoped that the principle
will be more widely and fully developed. With
regard to the raising of funds at home, the ideal
at which we must aim is that every Christian
should make some definite contribution to the
work every year. It would be an enormous gain
if each mission could count upon a certain fixed
income every year. At present many needful plans
for expansion have to be abandoned, because the
promoters cannot feel certain that they will receive
next year as much as they have received the year
before. It might be better never to have tried to
go forward than to be compelled to retreat for
lack of funds after a few years. Thus the gener
ous contributor to Foreign Missions — the man who
can afford to give large sums — is always a source
1 The industrial community life developed with such success
by S. Columba in lona is said to have been employed by the
Moravians in their missions, with equally happy results. P

226 FOREIGN MISSIONS
of some anxiety to those whom he supports. They
have to ask themselves anxiously as each year
comes round, Will he repeat his generosity? If
he does not, what shall we do ? And when he
is removed by death, it may not be in his power
to bequeath a capital sum to make up for the
loss of his yearly contribution. Of course the
income of any mission or missionary society must
fluctuate to some extent by reason of unforeseen
legacies. But our aim should be to make it as
certain and constant as possible by trying to in
crease the number of small subscriptions. It is
really better to obtain eight subscriptions of half-
a-crown than one of a pound. And it may there
fore be doubted whether the existence of the great
societies, such as the Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel, the Church Missionary Society, the
London Missionary Society, and others is really
conducive to the welfare of the cause. It would
be worse than foolish even to wish to disparage
the loftiness of their ideals, the excellence of their
administration, or the greatness of the services which
they have rendered, and are rendering, to the Church
of God all over the world. But they are the out
come of private zeal working at a time when the
corporate conscience of the Church had not recog
nized its responsibility in the matter. And there
fore it may be questioned whether their continued
existence does not tend to hinder the development

DRAWBACKS OF MISSIONARY SOCIETIES 227
of that conscience to the full extent. Of course we
are not yet in a position to do without them, nor
shall we be, in all probability, for many years to
come. But that is the ideal which we ought to
keep in view. A missionary society is of the nature
of an expedient for stirring the sluggish conscience
of the Church; the crowning proof of its success
would be for it to have rendered its continuance
unnecessary. For as long as we have specifically
missionary societies within the Church, so long
will many worthy people continue to hold the
view that missionary work is in some sort an
extra, and not a necessary, normal, universal duty ;
for any society must be smaller than the whole
communion within which it works. Our other
societies are all, to a certain extent, exclusive.
They exist to serve the interests of some par
ticular section or class (e.g. young men, young
women, mothers, sailors, boys between twelve and
eighteen, and so on). To such societies there can
be no possible objection. They meet special needs
which could not receive adequate attention with
out them, and they provide a field for the exercise
of special talents in the service of the whole Body
of Christ. We cannot expect every Christian to
take an equally keen and active interest in, let us
say, the Girls' Friendly Society and the S. Andrew's
Waterside Mission. There is no reason why he
should. The specializing societies enable him to

228 FOREIGN MISSIONS
promote the work to which he feels especially
drawn, whatever it may be. But we can, and do,
expect every Christian to take an equally keen
and active interest in the general cause of Foreign
Missions; that he ought to do so is the very fore
front of our position. But a great missionary
society inevitably tends to be classed with any
other society, as promoting good, useful work which
appeals to some, but has no claim to universal
support. I think that the claim of Foreign Mis
sions upon the whole community would be greatly
strengthened if the work at present discharged by
the great quasi-private societies could be made one
of the normal activities of the whole Church. The
formation of such bodies as the Australian Board of
Missions and the United Board of Missions for the
Provinces of Canterbury and York in the Church
of England seem to be a step in this direction.
Further, there must always be a danger lest the
home executive of a great missionary society become
too dictatorial, and come to regard its missionaries
too much as its servants, to be ordered about at
its good pleasure. Once established, the missionary
ought to have as free a hand as possible ; he ought
not to receive instructions from home as to how he
is to do his work, unless he seems to be on the
point of adopting measures altogether out of har
mony with the communion to which he belongs.
The danger of over-interference on the part of the

ASSESSMENT OF CONGREGATIONS 229
home authorities would probably be diminished if
the relation of the missionary to his supporters
were the same as the relation between each indi
vidual clergyman and the whole Church at home.
I have said that the ideal is to ensure a fixed
income— subject to the inevitable fluctuations caused
by legacies — by bringing every Christian to make
some regular annual contribution to the cause. For
this purpose, as for the purpose of intercession, it
will probably be best to try to attach every con
gregation at home to some particular spot in the
mission-field. The congregation should then assess
itself, and undertake to remit a certain sum annually
direct to the missionary whose work it has under
taken to support. His annual report will show
how the funds have been applied. This assessment
should be very carefully made by a committee that
it may be in due proportion to the resources of the
congregation, and it may, of course, require revision
from time to time, as the character of the population
in any given district may change. Care should be
taken not to fix it too high in the first instance ; our
Lord Himself warned us against embarking on enter
prises for which we have not sufficient strength.1 But
once it has been fixed, it should be reckoned among
the normal working expenses of the church. The
missionary assessment should have to be met annually
as a matter of course, as much as the bills for light-
1 S. Luke xiv. 28.

230 FOREIGN MISSIONS
ing and warming the building ; and it should be the
last of all accounts to be subjected to retrenchment.
Economize on the music or decorations if need be —
on anything rather than the missionary assessment.
It might be no bad thing to let the congregation
shiver in a dimly-lighted church for a few Sundays
in winter because the contributions to missions had
fallen short of the prescribed figure, and the deficit
had to be made good by economy in other direc
tions. It is to be feared that there are but few con
gregations ripe for such a policy at present ; but if
the guilds of missionary intercessors were an in
variable element in our religious life, we believe that
the financial policy suggested above would become
possible in a very few years.
There is no reason whatever why we should not
pray directly and specifically for the funds required
in any particular instance. Those who feel a diffi
culty in doing so have surely missed some of the
teaching of the Lord's own prayer, with its clause,
" Give us this day our daily bread." And again :
" Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I
do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it "
(S. J ohn xiv. 13, 14). This was well understood by the
man who of all others entered most fully into his
Master's mind : " And this is the confidence that
we have in Him, that if we ask any thing accord
ing to His will, He heareth us. And if we know

THE RANGE OF PRAYER 231
that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that
we have the petitions that we desired of Him ''
(1 S. John v. 14, 15).
The temper of our time is not particularly prayer
ful, and the prayerless atmosphere which hangs
about like, some poisonous gas has not been with
out its effect even upon devout minds. Inability1
to distinguish between omniscience and wide know
ledge, or between omnipotence and very great power,
has led many to imagine that there can be human
needs beneath God's notice. They think that it is
in some sort more reverent to adopt what is some
times described as a " generally prayerful attitude,"
than to formulate direct petitions for particular
needs. Yet the efficacy of prayer has seldom been
more forcibly attested in recent times than when
financial needs have been made the subject of
direct petitions. The late George Midler is said to
have disbursed £2,000,000 during his lifetime, and
yet never to have asked any human being for a
penny. He obtained it all in answer to prayer.
The progress of the Candidates' Fund in connection
with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
is another case in point.
i Heine said : " The Supreme Being, perfectly omnipotent and
all-seeing, if He existed, was too great to trouble Himself with what
a wretched little mouse in the Bue d' Amsterdam might believe."
This limiting the power of God in the attempt to ascribe greatness
to Him is not uncommon among ourselves. See Archbishop Benson,
" Fishers of Men," p. 99.

232 FOREIGN MISSIONS
The children in the Sunday School should be
encouraged to make their contribution, and a collec
tion for missionary purposes might well be made by
each teacher at regular intervals. It will probably
be necessary to attach the children to some special
mission about which they can be taught from time
to time, otherwise we can hardly expect to arouse
their interest. The best plan is to get the Sunday
School to charge itself with the maintenance — or a
part of the maintenance — of some child in a mission
school: £7 per head seems to be the sum usually
required. The children at home feel naturally more
drawn to some one of their own standing, and follow
his progress through the alphabet and the thorny
ways of the spelling-book with keen interest and
real sympathy. Some of them will be glad to
write letters to their " mission-child," and to receive
answers from him. The knowledge that white
children in distant England have him in their
prayers and thoughts, and are glad to hear that
he is doing well, must help to increase the mission-
child's self-respect. And any increase in self-respect
must make the spiritual work of the missionary on
the spot much easier.
Of course we must always be careful not to
pauperize native churches by continuing to supply
them with funds after they have become strong
enough to stand alone. Money raised in England
must always be devoted, as far as possible, to the

DANGER OF PAUPERIZING CONVERTS 233
opening up of new fields. We should be doing a
real disservice to our converts if we failed to give
them every opportunity of developing habits of self-
sacrifice and reliance on their own resources. The
Church of England undoubtedly suffers in some
respects from the possession of ancient endowments,
and the deadening effect of an endowment or quasi-
endowment would be increased if the funds came
from another part! of the world. The readiness of
native churches to provide for their own require
ments is often most encouraging, and the admirable
temper which they frequently display in the matter
ought not to be checked in any way. No doubt
work which is just self-supporting might seem to
advance more rapidly if aided by remittances from
England, but the gain would be only apparent. We
should not be acting in accordance with the real
interests of those whom we wished to serve, and
the outcome of our mistaken policy would, some
day, become painfully evident. In this matter we
at home must of course be guided chiefly by the
authorities on the spot. They must realize — as they
probably do already — that they must aim at making
the work self-supporting as soon as possible, and that
it is their duty to inform us as soon as it has reached
that stage. It is in some ways a real misfortune
that what are now the mother-churches in Europe
and America are very much richer than any that
can be established in other parts of the world. The

234 FOREIGN MISSIONS
mother-church of Jerusalem was probably the
poorest of the Apostolic Age,1 and could not have
supported its daughters in other lands had the
request been made. Without doubt, S. Paul's
foundations owed a great deal to the fact that they
might fairly be called upon to contribute to the
needs of their mother-church.
We now come to the most important factor in the
missionary question, namely, the missionary him
self. How can the supply of missionaries best be
increased, and what preliminary training will be the
best preparation for their work ? For the actual
offering of men and women we must rely upon the
calling of the Holy Spirit. Something may be done
by human agency to inspire missionary enthusiasm,
and we must watch over the first signs of a vocation
for the work as soon as they begin to appear. But
the real call must come from within : it can only be
the work of the Holy Spirit. We cannot forestall
1 Except, perhaps, for a brief period under David and Solomon,
Jerusalem must always have been a. poor city. It was never
much more than a village, compared with Babylon, or Antioch, or
Alexandria, or Corinth, or Bome. The surrounding country was
mountainous and barren. It was at some distance from the sea,
and had no navigable river, so that it could have little trade. And
in the Apostolic Age it must have been almost impossible for any
one who was known to be a Christian to obtain employment there.
The Jerusalem Christians must have been almost destitute, which
explains the exceptional measures which were adopted for their
support (Acts ii. 44, 45 and iv. 34, 35). These passages have
sometimes been used as an argument for communism as the normal
ideal of Christianity. It was merely a temporary expedient to meet
an exceptional need, and was not tried elsewhere.

THE TRAINING OF MISSIONARIES 235
the vocation, or pretend to dispense with it. Only,
when it has become plain, we at home are bound to
do anything we can to remove any obstacles which
might hinder it from being carried into effect, and
to ensure that the hearts and minds of all who have
been so called may be enlarged to receive the grace
of God to the fullest possible extent. It is to be
feared that in some cases parents will raise objec
tions, and if they choose to exert their authority
over a boy or girl, and refuse to allow them to be
trained for missionary service, they cannot be dis
regarded or overruled. In such cases we can only
warn them that they may be found to be fighting
against God, and pray that they may be enabled to
take a more Christian view of the matter. Speaking
generally, it may be laid down that the training of
the future missionary should be as wide and deep as
possible. We have probably lost a great deal in the
past through men whose minds were not sufficiently
well trained to obtain any real grasp of the problems
to which they had addressed themselves. It is to be
feared that the Gospel has suffered grievously in the
hands of men who could draw no distinction between
an African savage bowing before his fetish and the
most intellectual type of Brahmin, but classed both
together as heathen, and would have tried to convert
both by the same methods.
Every effort should be made to secure a Univer
sity education — preferably at Oxford, Cambridge, or

236 FOREIGN MISSIONS
Dublin — for the future missionary ; 1 and the present
writer is of opinion that he should not be encouraged
to take his degree in theology. A preliminary course
in arts, or some other subject, should be insisted on
whenever possible. If the student has any aptitude
for natural science, it would be well worth his while
to acquire some medical knowledge.
The objection to an exclusively theological course
at the University is that it seems to destroy the
student's sense of proportion. Theology is the
science of the grace of God. It means knowledge
of the way in which that grace has been imparted
to men at sundry times and in divers manners in
the past, knowledge of that grace itself, and lastly
knowledge of the means by which it may be brought
to bear on human needs at the present time. It
must therefore be an inexhaustible study. But
personal observation has led me to think that if
young men are allowed to devote themselves to it
1 The training of women missionaries must, of course, be rather
different. They cannot be ordained to the ministry of the Church.
Presumably they never engage in bazaar preaching, and they can
not be called upon to give judicial decisions on such points as
whether any given native custom is an interesting piece of harm
less symbolism, or something incompatible with Christianity.
Their work must be chiefly preparing native women, to whom
male missionaries cannot have access, for baptism and confirma
tion, or teaching girls in school. In any case it must be carried on
under male supervision, so it is doubtful whether the equivalent of
a university education is required in their case. The present writer
does not feel qualified to express any definite opinion on the whole
question.

OBJECTIONS TO DEGREE IN THEOLOGY 237
exclusively from the age of nineteen they often fail
to appreciate its greatness. They fail to realize that
it is not on the same footing as other studies, and
regard it merely as a preparation for their future
career instead of the business of their whole life.
Thus they are tempted to think that when their
degree examination has been safely passed they
have done with theology for ever. All cannot
become what is meant by "a learned theologian,"
but it is a grievous thing if any man is ordained
to the ministry of the Church without having
realized that he has as yet only advanced a very
little way in theology, and that it is his life's work
to try to progress in the knowledge of the grace of
God ; in its intellectual as well as in its devotional
and administrative aspect.
But if a man takes his degree in some other
subject, it means that he does not devote himself
exclusively to theology until he has reached the age
of twenty-two, or perhaps a little more. His mind
is much more mature than at nineteen, and he is
beginning to lay aside the schoolboy's belief that a
subject can be exhausted in a few courses of lectures.
He will have passed through many new experiences
during the last three years, and they ought to have
altered his whole attitude towards anything which
he has to learn. It does not matter much if a
missionary is not a sound scholar or an accurate
mathematician; but it does matter very much

238 FOREIGN MISSIONS
indeed if he is not a sound and accurate theologian.
If he is not that, his labours are likely to end in
giving his flock a totally wrong conception of the
great Christian doctrines, which will probably result
in a disastrous schism when any better equipped
teacher comes to take his place. If we can help it,
we ought not to risk our missionaries, or any of our
clergy, mislearning their theology at the beginning,
by allowing them to make it their sole study while
their minds are still quite immature. The additional
cost involved by the longer training would more
than repay itself.
In any case, his training should include a systematic
course of comparative religion. During the last few
years an immense amount of material relating to
primitive religious beliefs has been collected by
various scholars. With this the future missionary
must have some general acquaintance quite apart
from any detailed study of the beliefs of the people
amongst whom he is to work. For it is essential
that the missionary should be able to take a large
view. In common with all other Christians, he
must recognize that God has never left Himself
without a witness,1 but hath in every nation them
that feel after Him if haply they might find Him,2
and that there is a Divine Light which lighteth
every man3 coming into the world. But beside
this, it falls upon him to try to fasten upon what-
1 Acts xiv. 17. 2 Acts xvii. 27. 3 S. John i. 9.

COMPREHENSIVENESS OF CHRISTIANITY 239
ever truth there may be in the beliefs with which
he is surrounded. Like S. Paul at Athens, he must
make the best of what confronts him. So far as
possible he must treat it as a stepping-stone to a
more perfect knowledge of God rather than as an
enemy to be destroyed. He will not be able to do
this unless he has learned something of the ideas
which lie at the back of the mind of primitive
man, and are more or less clearly expressed by his
religious practices.
There are undoubtedly ceremonies 1 and doctrines
in other religions which resemble those of Christi
anity. Such resemblance is, of course, made the
most of by those who wish to disparage the Gospel
in general and missionary work in particular; and
the missionary must always be prepared to deal
with such. If he has been accustomed to regard
Christianity as something standing entirely by itself,
possessing nothing in common with any other creed,
he may find these resemblances somewhat discon
certing. They might seriously impair his faith in
what he is to teach. But if he has approached the
study of comparative religion in a scientific manner,
under the guidance of competent teachers, he will
find in the resemblances between Christianity and
1 e.g. something akin to our sacramental doctrines seems to exist,
or to have existed, in Central America, where it cannot be ascribed
to Christian influence. The Buddhist ritual in Thibet has been
commented on as suggesting that of the Latin Church. (See p. 89,
note.)

240 FOREIGN MISSIONS
other creeds the strongest possible proof that God
has given a revelation to man. His revelation to
the Jews is not the only means by which He has
been pleased to make Himself known to us. Other
nations, too, have learned something of Him.
Nothing shows the divine origin of Christianity so
strongly as its comprehensiveness. If it is what it
professes to be, it must of necessity have some ideas
which exist, albeit in a less fully developed form,
in other creeds. It must include all the best and
highest that any men have thought of God at any
place or time. It must gather up all that is good in
any creed, interpret it more perfectly, and develop
it more fully. Nothing can enable a man to ap
preciate the exceeding greatness of God's revelation
to us so fully as a knowledge of the religious ideas
which have taken shape in the minds of other
portions of the human race.1
It is probably desirable that every missionary
should spend at least a year at some specifically
missionary college before going abroad. There he
can learn something of the mechanical arts which
1 To make the exclusiveness of Christianity the principal proof of
its divine origin is to weaken our own case immensely. This was
the common error in the Church of England during the eighteenth
century, and made the attack of the Deists possible. The Deists
summed up their position in the words, " Christianity as old as the
world," believing that if they could show that Christian morality
or Christian ideas had existed in any degree before our Lord's time,
belief in a divine revelation in the Person of Christ would become
impossible. Their orthodox opponents did not see that this was in
reality no attack at all.

ARRANGEMENTS FOR SHORT SERVICE 241
may be required of him in his new surroundings.
It may often be an advantage to him to be able
to use an axe, milk a cow, and perform various
agricultural tasks,
It may be presumed that most, if not all, of those
of whom we have been speaking will spend the
greater part of their lives in the mission-field. They
have heard the call of the Holy Spirit to this
particular work, and find in it a life-long occupation.
But beside them there is no reason why the mis
sionary ranks should not be strengthened by a
number of " short service " men. It is a common
complaint that the younger clergy do not show
much readiness to volunteer for service abroad. It
is said that they ought to go as readily as soldiers.
The comparison is not really a fair one, for the
conditions are not at all parallel. The soldier goes
with his regiment, and knows that he will return
home at the end of a definite number of years,
probably with a higher rank, and will continue to
follow his profession in a garrison town in England.
But the missionary has much less possibility of
retreat. If he finds that he is doing no good, he
may still be obliged to remain on for want of
money to pay his passage home ; or, when he does
come home, he does not as a rule find it very
easy to earn a living in England. It may be dis
creditable to the Church at home that it should
be so, but such is said to be the case. We
Q

242 FOREIGN MISSIONS
do not ask that all difficulties and risks should
be removed from the paths of those who have
devoted their lives to Christ's service in any
capacity, but that their way should not be hindered
by unnecessary stumbling-blocks of an economic
kind. A great deal is often done financially for men
before they are ordained, but the case of the ordained
missionary does not seem to have enlisted much
sympathy as yet. There are probably many men
who are ordained because they believe that they
have been truly called to the ministry of the whole
Church, who have not felt any special call to any
particular branch of the ministry. The work of the
Church is divided in various ways, and most men
have to find out by experience in what particular
direction their own talents can be most usefully
employed. This they have to do during the years
immediately after their ordination. Few men find
the sphere of their life's work in their first curacy or
charge. Now it is to be hoped that most of these
would be ready to take up missionary work, if such
a step were not almost irrevocable. They do not
know whether they have been called to that par
ticular part of the ministry or not, but are quite
ready to find out by experiment, provided that they
were certain of being able to retreat if it should
prove not to be their proper sphere. Some no
doubt would find in it their life's work; the rest
would return to England at the end of three or

ITS ADVANTAGES 243
five years to resume work there, and their places
would be taken by men who had come out
on the same understanding. Thus there would be
a continual passing to and fro of men between
the Home Church and the Mission-field. Each
would fill the places which had just been vacated
by the other, and it cannot be doubted that the work
of the Church at both ends would benefit enor
mously. The mission-field would receive a continual
stream of fresh blood, and the knowledge and
ideals of many in the home ministry would be
enlarged. It will no doubt be some time before a
period of foreign service comies to be regarded as a
normal part of a clergyman's career ; but it would be
much more reasonable to ask that it should be so
regarded if provision could be made for it on the
economic side.1
The most important practical problem which
presses on the individual missionary is the question
of his relation to other Christians of different com
munions. Nowhere are our unhappy divisions a
1 Per contra it may be argued that it would be a mistake to
demand anything but the highest degree of self-sacrifice from the
missionary. The great French missionary society, " La Society des
Missions Etrangeres," is said, never to lack recruits, and it never
permits those whom it has accepted to return to their native
country for any purpose whatever. But though such a system
may work well in a Church where the early training of the clergy
is not calculated to develop individuality, it would not suit any
English-speaking communion. It is impossible to ascertain what
proportion of French missionaries (if any) come to regret their irre
vocable choice,

244 FOREIGN MISSIONS
more grievous hindrance to the work than in tha
mission-field. It is only natural if the heathen
decide that they will not pay any attention to the
Gospel until we have settled what it is and how it
should be taught. It is, however, worth while to
remember that this difficulty is no new one. There
never was a golden age when all the forces of
Christendom were absolutely one. The imposing
fabric of mediaeval Christianity stood for an ideal
which was never realized. From the day when the
Judaizing teachers came to Antioch (Acts xv. 1) the
Church has always been troubled with internal dis
sensions, and the temper of the contending parties
has often been much worse than it is now. So while
we regret the fact, we need not let it discourage
us as if it were something altogether modern. Yet
we are all bound to do whatever lies in our power
towards restoring the broken unity of the Body of
Christ. The question must not be degraded to the
level of mere expediency. We ought not to desire
unity merely because divisions hinder our work, but
because disunion is directly contrary to the funda
mental principles of Christianity : it is really the
negation of our whole position.1 Yet it would be no
advantage to pretend that our differences do not
exist, or that they are not important. We are
bound to regard them as very important indeed, and
the practical question before us all, whether at home
1 See especially S. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians.

UNITY 245
or abroad, is, How far can we unite with members
of other communions for any purposes without com
promising principles which we hold dear ? How is
the Churchman to bear himself towards the Con
gregationalism or the Baptist towards the Moravian ?
In some ways the difficulty is likely to become more
acute in the mission-field as time goes on. At
present it is often possible for missions of different
communions not to cross each other's paths. Com
mon courtesy demands that no body shall intrude
into a district which is effectively occupied by
another. At present there is ample room for us all.
But as the work extends and the network of mission
stations becomes complete, the unoccupied territory
in which any mission can isolate itself will cease to
exist. We shall be forced into contact with our
neighbours on all sides, and shall be compelled to
determine our relations with them. It is impossible
to make any definite suggestions as to. the lines
along which reunion might be achieved, but it may
be hoped that the general reunion of all Christendom
may be promoted from some distant corner of the
mission-field.1 There the evils of disunion are most
apparent, and the memory of ancient quarrels and
injustices is not so bitter as in the older countries.
Hampering conditions with which we have to
struggle at home do not exist. But so far as can
1 Negotiations for union have been set on foot by the Episcopal
and Presbyterian Churches of Australia.

246 FOREIGN MISSIONS
be judged at present, the time for definite schemes
for reunion has not yet arrived. The desire for it
must be stronger and more widely diffused; the
vision must have been seen by many before we can
hope for any great results. The most that can be
done at present is probably to arrive at some general
agreement with regard to such things as marriage
customs, the relation between the living and the
dead, and so on. There are doubtless some heathen
social customs incompatible with Christianity, but
on the other hand we must guard against trying to
enforce European social customs needlessly, in the
belief that they are the only ones which ought to
be regarded as Christian. We have probably missed
many opportunities by presenting Christ to the
world in too European a guise,1 forgetting that,
according to the flesh, He was an Asiatic. We
have to steer between trying to Europeanize rather
than evangelize the world, and letting Christianity
be degraded to the level of the people whom it is
intended to raise.2 No doubt it would appear to
spread more rapidly if it were allowed to be in
harmony with all the social habits of the heathen;
but to those who urge such a policy upon us, we
can only reply, Non tali auxilio.
1 See a remarkable article called " Interpreting Christ to India,"
by S. E. Stokes, in " The East and the West," April 1908.
2 The Abyssinian Church is perhaps the most striking example
of the amount of corruption which can be worked into a Church ;
also of the fact that the veriest dregs of Christianity are better than
the new wine of any other creed. (See page 100.)

HEATHEN SOCIAL CUSTOMS 247
Yet at the same time we must not forget that
marriage — which is likely to be the centre of many
missionary difficulties — is older than Christianity.
It existed before our Lord's time in its twofold
aspect as a legal contract and religious ordinance.
Roman law acknowledged three legal forms of
wedlock : after one particular ceremony divorce was
impossible. Christianity took over to some extent
the existing rite, purged it of some gross elements,
and invested it with new meaning. But certain pre-
Christian ceremonies were retained. The "giving
away " of the bride is undoubtedly the relic of the
Roman ceremony, per aes et libram, when the bride
was conveyed to her husband by a mock sale. The
veil and orange blossoms represent the wreath and
flammeum of the Roman bride ; and the use of the
ring is a piece of symbolism without any especially
Christian significance. We must therefore try to do
again for heathen marriage rites what the Church did
for the marriage rites of the Roman Empire. The
meaning which we attach to marriage is distinctively
Christian, and rests upon the authority of our Lord
Himself.1 Therefore it can never alter. But the
symbolical rites by which that meaning is expressed
are not distinctly Christian. They must always be
a matter of arrangement, and their exact nature is
unimportant, provided always that they do not in
any way traverse the Christian ideal.
1 S. Matthew xix. 5-10.

248 FOREIGN MISSIONS
Again, the fight in which the dead are regarded
is another source of difficulty.1 Ancestor-worship is
customary in many heathen countries, and cannot
of course be sanctioned by the missionary. On the
other hand, it is most desirable and truly Christian
that we have those who have gone before us in
continual remembrance. To do so is to invest the
Communion of Saints — a clause which is to be
feared means very little to many people — with real
meaning. There can be no doubt that religion has
suffered in all Protestant countries by neglect of the
dead. We have often assumed that the final state
of the soul is fixed at the moment of death — an in
trinsically improbable view for which the Bible gives
no sufficient support whatever.2 We have been too
ready to identify any form of prayer for the dead,3 or
even commemoration of them, with certain unsound
views which became prevalent in the Middle Ages,
and have never been completely disavowed by the
Latin Church. It may be hoped that we shall learn
a much-needed lesson from the mission-field in this
respect, and certainly we must be careful not to
1 It is worth while to notice that this has always been the case.
See, for example, S. Augustine's " Confessions," bk. vi. ch. 2.
2 The parable of Dives and Lazarus (S. Luke xvi.) is not to be
understood as conveying authoritative detailed information as to
what befalls us immediately after death. Our Lord adopted the
imagery and language to which His hearers were accustomed.
3 It is probable that Onesiphorus was dead when S. Paul prayed
for him (2 Tim. i. 18). See also 2 Maccabees xii. 43-45. Neither
S. Paul or Judas Maccabjeus can be called Boman Catholics.

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE 249
destroy a truly Christian impulse in our converts
because it has been misapplied in the past. But it
is most important that missionaries of all com
munions should come to some working agreement
as to the attitude which ought to be adopted with
regard to such questions.
In conclusion, it may fairly be said that the out
look at the present time is most encouraging —
perhaps more encouraging than it has ever been at
any other period in the history of the Church. We
need now repentance for our shortcomings in the
past — and perseverance. We must pray without
ceasing, and be instant in season and out of season
(i.e. persevere whether the cause happens to be
fashionable at the moment or not). History shows
us that we have no right to expect unbroken success,
and no reason to be discouraged at apparent failure.
It is our duty steadily to proclaim Christ as the
Key to the mystery of existence; to affirm that
whatever is noble in any man finds its interpretation
and fullest development in Him. We must declare
our conviction that Christianity is for all the world,
and that the Body of Christ cannot reach its full
stature until there is no nation or people which has
not been incorporated therein, and that therefore
missionary work has an undeniable claim upon all
who profess and call themselves Christians. It is
our duty to perfect and extend our organization in
every way. Much more may be done in the direc-

250 FOREIGN MISSIONS
tion of systematic raising of funds and recruiting of
men and women. But in the midst of all the bustle
and turmoil which this involves, we must never
forget that the work is spiritual, and that there can
be no real advance except by spiritual methods :
" Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,
saith the Lord of Hosts " (Zechariah iv. 7).

BIBLIOGRAPHY
"S. Paul the Traveller and Roman Citizen." Professor Sir
W. Ramsay.
"The Letters to the Seven Churches.'' Professor Sir W.
Ramsay.
" The Church in the Roman Empire down to a.d. 170." Pro
fessor Sir W. Ramsay.
" Life and Letters in the Fourth Century." J. R. Glover.
" Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire."
S. Dill.
" Confessions of S. Augustine." (Edited by J. Gibb, D.D., and
W. Montgomery, D.D.)
"General Church History." A. Neander. (English Transla
tion by J. Torrey.)
"History of the English Church." (Edited by W. R. W.
Stephens and W. Hunt.)
" Ireland and the Celtic Church." Professor G. T. Stokes, D.D.
"Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.'' E. Gibbon.
(Edited by Professor J. B. Bury.)
" History of the Eastern Church." A. P. Stanley, D.D.
" Church History— Modern Period." S. Cheetham, D.D.
" Church History — Reformation Period." C. Hardwick. (Edi
ted by W. Stubbs, D.D.)
" The East and the West." (Published Quarterly by the S.P.G.)
" Digest of Records of the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel."
" The Evangelization of the World in this Generation."
J. R. Mott.
" The Ecclesiastical Expansion of England." Bishop Barry.
" A History of Christian Missions in the Middle Ages." G. F.
Maclear, D.D.
" Report of the Pan-Anglican Congress." (Society for Promot
ing Christian Knowledge.)
"Religious Progress of the Century." (Edited by W. H.
Withrow.) 261

INDEX

Abbot, George, Abp., 152 n.
Abgarus, King, 87
Abraham, 31
Abyssinia, 100, 169
Adamnan, 51 n.
Adelgis, King, 63
Aethelbert, King, 55
Aethelwath, King, 58 n.
Agilulf, King, 61
Aidan, S., 52
Albazin, 156
Alexander Nevsky, S., 82
Alexander of Macedon, 21
Alexander Severus, Emperor, 31
Alexandria, 96-100
Algeria, 143-4
Altai Mission, 160-1
Ambrose, S., 34
America, North, 71 n., 76, 129-
130, 145, 158-160, 168, 175-9
 South, 112, 129, 167, 186
Amund, Jacob, King, 71
Anderida, 57
Andrew of Perugia, 105-6
Andrew, S., 81 n.
Anger, 125
Anne, Queen, 176
Annegray, 60
Anscar, 67-70
Antony, S., 36
Apocalypse, the, 24-6
Apocrypha, the, 189 n.
Apollonius of Tyana, 31
Ardgar, 69
Arghoun Khan, 104
Arianism, 61 n., 98 «.
Armagh, 49
Assyrian Church, 86-96, 187
Astrakhan, 154
Athanasius, S., 12, 98
Athos, Mount, 153
Augustine, S., of Hippo, 12
 S., of Canterbury, 54-6
Australia, 112, 180, 186

Babylon, Patriarch of, 88-91
Bangor, 60
Baptist Missionary Society,
192-3
Basil, Emperor, 78
 S., 12
Benedict XL, Pope, 105
 XIV., Pope, 128
 S., 36
Benson, Abp., 93 n., 203
Bertha, Queen, 55 n.
Birinus, 57
Biysk, 161
Bobbio, 62
Bogoris, Prince, 77
Boniface, S., 65-6
Borizwoi, Duke, 79
Boxer rising, the, 141
Boyd, 184 n.
Bray, Dr., 174 n., 175
British and Foreign Bible
Society, 189-90
Broughton, Bp., 181 n.
Brude, King, 52
Brunehault, Queen, 60
Budd, Henry, 185
Buddhist revival, 32
Bulgaria, conversion of, 76-8
Burdett-Coutts, Baroness, 180
Burgundy, 59-61
Cambaluc, 103-6
Canice, S., 52
Capuchins in Tibet, 128
Carey, William, 192-3
Chalcedon, Council of, 35
Charles, Mr. , 189
Chazars, the, 78, 81
Chichester, Earl of, 183
Childebert, King, 59
China, 89-90, 103-8,141-2, 156
Christmas, date of, 31
Church Missionary Society, 182-^6
Claver, Pedro, 129 n.

252

INDEX

253

Clement V., Pope, 105
 XI., Pope, 128
 XIV., Pope, 134
Clonard, 51
Clotaire, King, 59
Ccelestine, Pope, 44
Coke, Dr., 193-4
Colchester, Colonel, 174 n.
Columba, S., 51-3
Columbanus, S., 59-62
Comgall, S., 52
Comity of Missions, 243-7
Oompton, Bp., 175
Congo State, 145
Congregationalism (episcopal),
93 n.
Congregationalist Missions,
194-5
Constantine, Emperor, 32-4
 Cypharas, 77
Constantinople, Council of, 35
Cooldrevny, 51
Coptio Church, 100
Cormac Mac Art, King, 46 n.
Cosmas Indicopleustes, 88 n.
Counter-Beformation,the,119-20Critopulus, Metrophanes, 152
Crusades, 3
Cyril of Bulgaria, 78-9
Cyril Lucar, 152
Damien, Father, 150 n.
Darwin, 186
Dead, prayers for the, 248
Demetrius, S., 82, 154
Denmark, conversion of, 67-9
 missions from, 171-2
Deshima, 126
Dichu, 45
Dicuil, 75
Dokkum, 66
Dominican Missions, 105-6, 127,
130
Donatists, 34
Dumbarton, 42
Dupresse, Bp., 141 n.
Dutch in Japan, 126
 missions, 168
Eadbald, King, 56
Eadwine, King, 57

Easter, origin of name, 56
Ebbo, Abp., 67-8
Ecgbert, 64
Ecgfrith, King, 63
Eclectic Society, the, 182
Edessa, 87
Egede, Hans, 171
Elijah, 211
England, Church of, 188
 Boman Mission to, 53-8
 special claim of missions
on, 223-4
Enthusiasm, 3-6, 149 ».
Epternach, 65
Faber, 121
Ferdinand, King, 123
Ferrara, Council of, 35 n.
Fetish, 147
Finnian, S., 51
Fochlut, 43
Fontaines, 60
Francis of Perugia, 105
Franciscan Missions, 102-7, 130
Francke, A. H., 172
Fredegonde, Queen, 59
Frederic IV. , King, 171
French Missionary Societies,
137-8, 243 m.
Frisia, conversion of, 64-6
Fulda, 66
GAMBIEB, Admiral, 183
Genghiz Khan, 102
Gerbillon, 127
Gerlach, Stephen, 151
Germanus of Auxerre, S.,
44 n.
Germany, conversion of, 65-6
 missions from, 169
Gislema, 68
Goa, 124, 139-40
Gold Coast, 179
Gondophares, King, 86 n.
Gontran, King, 60
Greek Church, persecution of,
152-3
Greenland, 76, 172
Gregory the Great, Pope, 17,
53-6
 IV., Pope, 68

254

INDEX

Gregory XVI. , Pope, 137
 Patriarch of Constanti
nople, 153
Guasacht, Bp., 46
Guilford, Lord, 174 n.
Guthlac, S., 38 n.
HADRIANOPLE, 40
Hakodadi, 157
Hakon, Prince, 72
 Sigurdsson, 73
Harald Krag, Prince, 67-8
 Bluetooth, King, 70
Heiling, Peter, 169
Hook, Mr. Justice, 174 n.
Horick, King, 68-9
Huguenot mission to Brazil, 167
IBEEIA, 154
Iceland, 75-6
Importance of past, 199-207
India, 86 «., 124-5, 139-41, 171-
172, 181-2, 192-3
Inglis, Bp., 176, 179
Innocent IV., Pope, 102
Intercession, 210-14
lona, 51-2
Ireland, conversion of, 44-9
Irkutsk, 155, 159 n.
Iroquois, 176
James of Florence, 106
Japan, 90-1, 125-6, 157
Jeremiah, Patriarch of Constan
tinople, 151
Jerusalem Bishopric, 170 n.
 Church of, 234
Jesuits, the, 120-37
John VIII., Pope, 79
 XXIL, Pope, 105
 Bp. of Persia and India,
87 n.
 of Montecorvino, 103-5
 of Pian-Carpino, 102-3
 the Saxon, Bp., 76
Johnson, B., 180
Jowett, 184
Justin Martyr, 213 n.
Justinian, 15
Justus, Abp., 57-8

Kabyles, 144
Kamchatka, 159
Kazan, 154
Kennaway, Sir J., 183
Kettering, 192
Kieff, 82
Korea, 142
Koutchinsky, Innocent, 156
Kublai Khan, 89, 103-5
Laoghaibe, King, 47
Laurentius, Bp. , 57
Lavigerie, Cardinal, 143-4
Leibnitz, 169
Leif Ericsson, 71 n.
Leo XIIL, Pope, 142
Lerins, 54
Lewis, King, 69
Lithuanians, 166
Liudhard, Bp. , 55 n.
London Missionary Society,190-2
Louis the Pious, 67-9
Loyola, Ignatius, 121-2
Luther's Catechism, 169 n.
Liitken, 171
Luxeuil, 60
Lyons, Council of, 102
Macabius, 160
Mackworth, Sir H., 174 n.
Madagascar, 186 n.
Madison, Bp., 179
Malay Archipelago, 125
Mar Jabalaha, 105
Mar Shimum, 91
Mari, 86
Marriage problems, 247-8
Marsden, Samuel, 181
Marshman, Mr. and Mrs., 183
Martel, Charles, King, 65
Martyn, Henry, 204 n.
Maude, Captain F., 183
Maximilian II., Emperor, 151
Mediaeval methods, 110 m., 114-9
Melanesia, 146, 181
Mellitus, Bp., 57
Merovingian dynasty, 59
Methodius, 77-9
Michael, Emperor, 77
Middleton, Bp., 181
Milchu, 42, 45-6

INDEX

255

Ming dynasty, 108
Missionary sermons, 214-18
 Societies, disadvantages of,
226-9
Mithraism, 31
Mohammed, 85 ».
Molassius, S., 51
Molesworth, Lord, 194
Monaco, 10
Monasticism, Eastern, 36-7, 99
¦  Western, 38-40, 225
Mongol empire, 102-3
Moravians, 78-9, 170-1
Mott, J. E. , 208 n.
Miiller, George, 231
Narni, Girolamo da, 137
Nestor, 81 n.
Nestorius, 87-8
New Jersey, 179
New Zealand, 146, 181, 184
Nicsea, Council of, 35
Nicholas, Bp., 157
 I., Pope, 78
 III., Pope, 104
 IV., Pope, 104
Nonconformity, advantages and
dangers of, 195-9
Northmen, 71-2
Norway, conversion of, 72-5
Nova Scotia, 176
Olaf the Thick, King, 74-5
Olaf Tryggvasson, King, 73-4
Origen, 13«., 97
Olof Stautconnung, King, 70-1
Olopun, 89
Orpheus, 31
" Orthodox" Church, meaning of
title, 157 n.
Orthodox Missionary Society, 159
Pachomius, 36, 99
Palladius, 44 n.
Paraguay, 129
Paravars, 124
Patriarchate, the Bussian, 154-5
Patrick, S., 41-50
Paul, S., 21-4, 234
Paulinus, Bp., 57
Pekin, 105, 156

Penna, Orazia della, 128
Perislav, 156
Peroun, 82
Persecution, grounds of, 92 n.
Persia, 104-5, 186
Peru, 189
Peter the Great, 155 n.
Peter the Hermit, 3
Petitjean, 142
Pippin, 64
Pison, 91
Pius VII., Pope, 134, 137
Pius IX., Pope, 142 ».
Pliny, 27
Pliitschau, 171
Poland, 102
Polo, Marco, 103 ».
Portuguese, 124-5, 139-40, 145
Prester John, 89
Principles, importance of, 95-6,
201-4
Provoost, Bp., 179
QuAQTJE, Philip, 179
Qudshanis, 91
Quebec, 129
Badislav, Prince, 78-9
Bam, 198
Rathbod, King, 64
Rationalist Press Association, 221
Recalde, de. See Loyola
Bed Biver Settlement, 185
Beichenau, 61
Religious Societies, 174
Ricci, 126
Rimbert, 67 n. , 70
Roman Empire, 17, 21, 48 n.
 missionary methods, 146-50
Rorke's Drift, 180
Russia, conversion of, 80-2
 expansion of, 154-5
 missions from, 156-64
Saint Gall, 61
San Francisco, 160
Sancian, 125
Saskatchewan, 185
Saul, 45
Schalk, Adam, 127
Scotland, 51-2

256

INDEX

Seabury, Bp., 179
Sebert, King, 57
Seleucia-Ctesiphon, 87
Selwyn, Bp., 18, 54 n., 181
Serampur, 193
Sergius, Pope, 64
Short Service System, 241-3
Siberia, conversion of, 155
Sierra Leone, 183-4
Simeon, Charles, 182
Simon Magus, 48
Si-ngan-fu, 90
Skalholt, 76
Slane, 46-7
Slemish, 42
Spaniards in America, 108-13
Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge, 174-6
 for Propagation of Chris
tianity in the Caucasus, 159 n.
 for Propagation of the Gos
pel, 175, 179, 182
 of S. Joseph, 145-6
Stokes, S. E., 246 n.
Sulthanyeh, 106
Sunday Schools, 219-24
Superstition, value of, 82-3
Sussex, conversion of, 58 n.
Swale, 55
Sweden, conversion of, 70-1
Syrian Church, 85-7
Tabennisi, 36
Tahiti, 192
Tara, 46-8
Ta-Tsin, 90
Tenison, Abp., 175
Tertullian, 29
Thaddaeus, 86
Thangbrand, 73-6
Theological degree, 236-8
Thierry, 61
Thomas, S. , 86
Thompson, Mr., 179
Timbuctoo, 144
Tobolsk, 155
Tournon, Cardinal Thomas de,128
Training of missionaries, 234-41

Tranquebar, 171-2
Trinity College, Dublin, 187
Troitza, 154
Uganda, 145
Undenominationalism, 190-2
United States, 160, 176
University Missions, 186
Upsala, 171
Urga, 156
Utrecht, 64
Valens, Emperor, 40
Vaughan, Cardinal, 145
Veniaminoff, John (Bp. Inno
cent), 159-60
Venn, John, 183
Verbiest, 127 n.
Vergilius, Abp., 55
Victorius, 43
Villegagnon, 167
Vladimir, 81-2
Wales, Church of, 83
Ward, 193
Welz, Ernest von, 169
Wesley, John, 177
Wesleyan Missionary Society,
193-4
White, Bp., 179
"White Fathers," 144-5
Wilfrith, S., 58, 63
William III., King, 174
Williams, W., 184
Willibald, S., 65 n.
Willibrord, S., 64-5
Winfrith. See Boniface
Wulfhere, King, 57
Xavier, Francis, S., 122-5
Yellow Sea, 102
Zaitun, 106
Zenana Mission, 186
Ziegenbald, 170
Zinzendorf, 171

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