Southern Baptist foreign Missions
Glass Ifix^^dO
Book. TFf3
Copyright K?
COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.
THE THREE SECRETARIES
JAMES B. TAYLOR, 1845-1871
H. A. TUPPER, 1872-1893
.R. J. WILLINGHAM, 1893-
Southern Baptist Foreign Missions
^
t. b: ray and others
" Expect great things from God, Undertake great things for God."
Sunday School Board
Southern Baptist Convention
Nashville, Tenn.
<£>
COPYRIGHTED 1910, SUNDAY SCHOOL BOARD SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION
)CLA2?1080
TO
OUR FOREIGN MISSIONARIES
WHOSE DEVOTION HAS BROUGHT SALVATION
TO THE NATIONS ABROAD AND INSPIRATION TO OUR
PEOPLE AT HOME THIS BOOK IS
AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED
CONTENTS.
CHAPTEB PAGE
Introduction 5
I. Baptist Missions Before 1845— T. B. Ray 9
II. The Foreign Mission Board of the Southern
Baptist Convention— T. B. Ray 30
III. The South China Mission— E. Z. Simmons 51
IV. The Central China Mission— R. T. Bryan 69
V. The North China Mission— C. W. Pruitt 92
VI. The Interior China Mission — Annie Jenkins
Sallee 114
VII. The African Mission— C. E. Smith 124
VIII. The Italian Mission— D. G. Whittinghill 148
IX.S The Brazilian Mission— S. L. Ginsburg__ 174
X. The Mexican Mission— R. P. Mahon 198
XI. The Japan Mission— E. N. Walne 218
XII. The Argentine Mission— S. M. Sowell 242
Appendix A 263
Appendix B 264
Appendix C 265
Appendix D 266
Appendix E 269
Appendix F 273
Appendix G 274
(4)
INTRODUCTION.
In the preparation of this book, we have asked a missionary on every field where missions are fostered by the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, to write the story of the work done on his field. Every author has been left to tell his story in his own way. This gives us first-hand information and a greater vari- ety of treatment than would have been possible if one writer had written about all the fields.
In order to give a good background for the chapters on the fields, we have prepared two chapters upon the rise and growth of mission senti- ment in our country, with special reference to the Southern States. Southern Baptist appreciation of missions was not an accident, nor did it have a sudden beginning in 1845, when the Southern Baptist Convention was formed. It was the product of forces which have been at work in our denomination since the rise of missionary enthusi- asm in England in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Our forefathers were in close touch with this movement, and have transmitted to us a wealth of mission sentiment which, to understand and appreciate, we must trace to its historic con- nections.
(5)
6 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
The outlines found at the end of every chapter are not outlines of the chapters themselves, but are designed to state as clearly as possible what is found upon the field under consideration. In this way statistics concerning the fields are simplified and rendered more easily accessible. The names of the missionaries on every field are given every month in the Foreign Mission Journal*
We send forth this book in the hope that those who read and study will do so in the same spirit of prayer which was upon the members of the Not- tinghamshire Baptist Association when they passed the resolutions in 1784 that established the Monthly Concert of Prayer for Missions. To help us catch this spirit, we give in full these reso- lutions, which were the true origin of modern missions, as follows :
"Upon a motion being made to the ministers and messengers of the associate Baptist churches assembled at Nottinghamshire, respecting meet- ings for prayer, to bewail the low estate of religion and earnestly implore a revival of our churches and of the general cause of our Bedeemer and for that end to wrestle with God for the effusion of his Holy Spirit, which alone can produce the blessed effect, it was unanimously resolved to rec- ommend to all our churches and congregations, the spending of one hour in this important exercise, on the first Monday of every calendar month.
*See Appendix "A" for bibliography.
Introduction. 7
"We hereby solemnly exhort all the churches in our connection to engage heartily and persever- ingly in the prosecution of this plan. And as it may be well to endeavor to keep the same hour as a token of our unity herein, it is supposed that the following scheme may suit many congregations, viz. : to meet on the first Monday evening in May, June and July from eight to nine; in August, from seven to eight; September and October, six to seven; November, December, January and February, from five to six; March, from six to seven ; and April, from seven to eight. Neverthe- less, if this hour or even the particular evening should not suit in particular places, we wish our brethren to fix on one more convenient to them- selves.
"We hope also that as many of our brethren who live at a distance from our places of worship may not be able to attend there, that as many as are conveniently situated in a village or neighbor- hood, will unite in small societies at the same time.
"And if any single individual should be so situ- ated as not to be able to attend to this duty in society with others, let him retire at the appointed hour, to unite the breath of prayer in private with those who are thus engaged in a more public manner. The grand object in prayer is to be, that the Holy Spirit may be poured down on our min- isters and churches, that sinners may be converted, the saints edified, and the name of God glorified.
8 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
At the same time remember, we trust you will not confine your requests to your own societies, or to our own immediate connection ; let the whole in- terest of the Redeemer be affectionately remem- bered, and the spread of the Gospel to the most distant parts of the habitable globe, be the object of your most fervent requests. We shall rejoice if any other Christian societies of our own, or other denominations, will unite with us, and we do now invite them most cordially to join heart and hand in the attempt.
"Who can tell what the consequences of such a united effort in prayer may be? Let us plead with God the many gracious promises of his Word, which relate to the future success of his gospel. He has said, 'I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them, I will in- crease them with men like a flock.' Ezek. 36: 37. Surely we have love enough to Zion to set apart one hour at a time twelve times in a year to seek her welfare."
Is not the revival of this Concert of Prayer one of our greatest needs? The modern missionary enterprise was born in prayer ; it must advance in the power of prayer. We pass the call on to you.
T. B. Kay.
Richmond, Va., April, 1910.
CHAPTER I.
BAPTIST FOREIGN MISSIONS PRIOR TO 1845.
To gain a just appreciation of the devotion of Southern Baptists to foreign missions, we must trace first the rise of the missionary movement in England; second, its development in America down to 1845 ; and third, follow the story of the foreign mission endeavor by Southern Baptists under the leadership of their own Foreign Mission Board.
Eisb in England.
One of the most potent factors in the modern missionary enterprise has been the "Monthly Con- cert of Prayer" which is used by all denominations of Christians. It was originated by the ministers of the Nottinghamshire Baptist Association in 1784. These ministers drew up a resolution call- ing upon all Baptist churches to observe one stated hour every month in earnest, united prayer for the support of pure religion to the ends of the earth. Their exhortation ran :
"Let the spread of the gospel to the most distant parts of the habitable globe be the object of your fervent requests."*
*See Introduction.
10 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
Little did they dream that they were inaugurat- ing the modern missionary enterprise and giving it an agency which would prove one of its greatest supports.
The date usually given for the beginning of the modern missionary enterprise is 1792, but we must go back to the institution of this "Monthly Concert of Prayer" in 1784 for its inspiration. It is grati- fying to learn that modern missionary endeavor took its origin in prayer.
The situation among the Baptists of England at that time was gloomy. They were not very numer- ous ; the paralyzing pall of a limited theology hung over them; division severed their scattered ranks ; they had few ministers of culture ; and a general air of discouragement enveloped them. From the earnest hearts of some who felt the dis- tressing weight of inactivity in behalf of the lost, came this call to prayer. Prayer and a great purpose were the powers which brought to this divided and discouraged people unity and leader- ship. It made a new people and saved them for an honored place in the service of our God and our fellow men. Dr. Andrew Fuller, in speaking of the benefits of the new missionary movement, says : "A new bond of union was furnished between dis- tant ministers and churches. Some who had backslidden from God were restored, and others who had long been poring over their unfruitful- ness and questioning the reality of their personal religion, having their attention directed to Christ
Baptist Foreign Missions Prior to 1845. 11
and His Kingdom, lost their fears and found that peace which in other pursuits they had sought in vain."
Of course, it cannot be claimed that the Bap- tists of England originated the idea of foreign missions in modern times. As early as 1705, Fred- erick IV of Denmark sent out to Tranquebar, India, Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and Henry Plut- schau. The Moravians, in 1732, sent missionaries to St. Thomas, and in 1733 sent other missionaries aries to Greenland. Other Protestant mission- aries were sent out from the continent of Europe. These efforts, however, were either in the form of colonies or the missionaries were sent out to col- onies already formed. It was given to these English Baptist ministers of Nottinghamshire Association, under the leadership of Carey, Fuller, Eyland, and others, to launch the mission enter- prise which made the last century glorious by organizing the first modern Foreign Mission Board.
At the meeting of the Nottinghamshire Baptist Association, May 30, 1792, William Carey preached his famous sermon on Isaiah 54 : 2, 3, in which he sounded the note for missionary effort to the end of time — "Expect great things from God, under- take great things for God." "It was as if the sluices of his soul were thrown fully open and the flood that had been accumulating for years rushed forth in full force and irresistible power."
Even then, the Association, after deliberating
12 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
awhile, was just about to adjourn, when William Carey, seizing Dr. Fuller by the hand, imploringly asked, "And are you, after all, going again to do nothing?" This was a dramatic hour. The time at last had come for the turning of the tide. Carey's zeal compelled the Association to take the irrevocable step which resulted in the organization of the first great modern missionary society for the preaching of the gospel in foreign parts. It was resolved, "That a plan be prepared against the next ministers' meeting at Kettering for form- ing a Baptist Association for the propagation of the gospel among heathen." We shall sympa- thize with the hesitancy of the brethren and under- stand the colossal faith of Carey if we will listen to Dr. Fuller's statement of some of the difficulties that faced them. He says: "We were inexperi- enced in the work; we knew of no opening for a mission in any one part of the world more than another; we had no funds to meet the expense that must attend an undertaking of this kind; our situation in an inland part of the country was inconvenient for foreign correspondence; the persons who would have the management would live at such a distance from each other as to ren- der frequent consultation impracticable; and finally, in forming such a society, there would be danger of its falling under irreligious influence. From these and other considerations, those who were expected to engage in the work entered upon it with much fear and trembling."
Baptist Foreign Missions Prior to 1845. 13
Previous to this tidal hour, the hand of God had been shaping a deep undercurrent which eventu- ated in the action of the Minister's Meeting at Nottinghamshire. Not the least of these Prov- idences had been the shaping of Carey, himself. He was born at Paulerspury, near Northampton, August 17, 1761. His father was a schoolmaster. One of the remarkable traits of the boy was his resolution to finish whatever he had begun, no matter what were the difficulties in the way. He had an intense thirst after knowledge. At four- teen he was apprenticed to a shoemaker. He was converted in 1783 — about a year before the issu- ance of the call to the aConcert of Prayer." On the walls of his shop he hung a map of the world, drawn on sheets of paper, and on it he entered facts concerning the condition of the nations. "Captain Cook's Voyages Around the World" was the first book that called out his sympathies for the heathen. He was pastor at Moulton, where on a salary of f 75 a year he struggled to build up the church. Afterward he went to the pastorate of the church at Leicester. At the meeting of the Nottinghamshire Association in 1791, after listen- ing to powerful sermons by Doctors Sutcliff and Fuller, Carey raised the question of the duty of preaching the gospel to the heathen world. The most this Association would do was to call for a publication of Carey's pamphlet which had been prepared for some time, entitled, "An Inquiry Into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means
14 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
for the Conversion of the Heathens." This pam- phlet, which doubtless contains the main argu- ments presented in his famous sermon at the Association, in May, 1792, was published a short time before the meeting of the Association.*
Doubtless the period between May and October, 1792, was one of earnest prayer and anxiety. The day for carrying out the instructions of the Asso- ciation at its meeting at Nottinghamshire arrived. The simple record reads thus :
"At the ministers' meeting at Kettering, October 2, 1792, after the public services of the day were ended, the ministers retired to consult farther on the matter and to lay a foundation at least for a society, when the following resolutions were pro- posed and unanimously agreed to:
"1. Desirous of making an effort for the propa- gation of the gospel among the heathen, agreeably to what is recommended in Brother Carey's late publication on that subject, we, whose names ap- pear to the subsequent subscription, do solemnly agree to act in society together for that purpose.
"2. As in the present divided state of Christen- dom, it seems that each denomination, by exert- ing itself separately, is most likely to accomplish the great ends of a mission, it is agreed that this society be called, The Particular (Calvinistic) Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen.
*Lately republished in a volume with others.
Baptist Foreign Missions Prior to 1845. 15
"3. As such an undertaking must needs be at- tended with expense, we agree immediately to open a subscription for the above purpose and to recommend it to others.
"4. Every person who shall subscribe ten pounds at once, or ten shillings and sixpence annually, shall be considered a member of the society.
"5. That the Eev. John Byland, Eeynold Hogg, William Carey, John Sutcliff, and Andrew Fuller, be appointed a committee, three of whom shall be empowered to act in carrying into effect the pur- poses of this society.
"6. That the Eev. Eeynold Hogg be appointed treasurer and the Eev. Andrew Fuller secretary.
"7. That the subscriptions be paid in at the Northampton Ministers' Meeting, October 31, 1792, at which time the subject shall be considered more particularly by the committee and other subscrib- ers who may be present.
" Signed, John Eyland, Eeynold Hogg, John Sutcliff, Andrew Fuller, Abraham Greenwood, Edward Sherman, Joshua Burton, Samuel Pearce, Thomas Blundel, William Heighton, John Eayres, Joseph Timms, whose subscriptions in all amounted to £13:2:6" ($63.52).
The place to which "the ministers retired to consult farther" was in the little back parlor of Mrs. Beeby Wallis, widow of good deacon Beeby Wallis, of the church at Kettering, who had passed away six months previously.
Dr. Godwin, in his sermon preached in Ketter-
16 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
ing fifty years afterward, beautifully says: "The origin of the mightiest rivers is often found in some sequestered spot. And Kettering has the honor of being the birthplace of this society; and whatever political or commercial changes may pass over this town, it will descend to posterity associated with all that is great and holy in our missionary enterprise. 'My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, saith the Lord of Hosts.' "
The committee met November 13, 1792. A letter from Mr. Carey, who was not present, called atten- tion to the fact that a Mr. Thomas, a surgeon of Bengal, India, was then in London trying to raise money for a Mission to India, and was also very anxious to find a companion to engage in the work with him. Mr. Fuller was appointed to confer with Mr. Thomas.
It developed at the next meeting of the commit- tee, January 10, 1793, that Mr. Thomas was the son of a Baptist deacon at Fairford in Gloucester- shire, and that he had gone out early in life as a surgeon to India. He was so affected by condi- tions in India, that in 1785, while on a visit to England, he was baptized and licensed to preach in order that he might minister to the needs of the people. At the time of the organization of the society, Mr. Thomas was back in England on a second visit and engaged, as indicated, in raising funds for a mission to India. After conference, "the committee being fully of the opinion that a
WILLIAM CAREY
Baptistry in Calcutta, India, in which Judson was Baptized
Pulpit in which Carey Preached ADONIRAM JUDSON
Baptist Foreign Missions Prior to 1845. 17
door was now open in the East Indies for the preaching of the gospel to the heathen, agreed to invite Mr. Thomas to go out under the patronage of the Society; engaging to furnish him with a companion if a suitable one could be obtained. Brother Carey was then asked whether, in case Mr. Thomas should accede to our proposal, he was inclined to accompany him. To this, he readily replied in the affirmative." While the Society was still in sesson, Mr. Thomas, impatient to see his future colleague, entered the room. Mr. Carey rose to greet him. They fell on each other's necks and wept.
"From Mr. Thomas' account, we saw," said Mr. Fuller, "there is a gold mine in India, but it seems almost as deep as the center of the earth. Who will venture to explore it?"
" 'I will go down/ said Carey, 'but remember, you must hold the ropes.' We solemnly agreed to do so, nor while we live shall we desert him."
The question of how to raise the necessary funds now confronted the Society. They were at the beginning of the business of taking offerings for missions, and no habit of giving to this cause had been established. It was a hard task to raise money for a cause so imperfectly understood and against which there was so much positive opposi- tion. As Mr. Fuller tramped through the streets of London, soliciting contributions, often he would turn from the more public streets into side alleys that he might not be seen as he wept over his
2
18 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions,
meager collections. What a picture! Andrew Fuller weeping through the streets of London wTas a perfect picture of many another Secretary of a Foreign Mission Board, as he has striven in tearful anxiety to raise funds from reluctant contributors for the cause that lay so heavy upon his heart.
Great affliction came to Carey from the fact that his wife was unwilling to accompany him upon his mission. She was a pious woman and loved her husband, but she did not share with him the desire to go upon a mission in a foreign land. She re- fused to go, and it was decided that she should remain in England with the children while her husband went out to India. This was a sore trial, but Carey felt called of God to endure it.
Accordingly, he and Mr. Thomas made prepara- tions to embark. They took ship in a vessel sent out by the East India Company. They had not proceeded far before their real mission was dis- covered, and they were compelled to disembark. In this way they felt for the first time the ironf hand of opposition from the East India Company — that commercial organization which obstructed the progress of missions in India for many, many years. Carey and Thomas turned back to London, greatly perplexed. Their misfortune, however, proved to be a blessing in disguise, for before they were ready to sail a little later, on a Danish vessel, Mrs. Carey consented to go with her husband.
On June 13, 1793, this band of missionaries — Carey, his wife, four children, his wife's sister.
Baptist Foreign Missions Prior to 1845. 19
and Mr. Thomas — put out to sea on the Kron Princessin Maria.
The Progress in America.
To follow Carey and his associates in their efforts to establish a mission in India would be a grateful task. What hardships they endured from poverty, sicknesw, and the opposition of the East India Company ! How glorious that achieve- ment in translating the Scriptures into the lan- guage of one-third of the population of the globe and beginning the work which has already resulted in the salvation of millions of the human race! Blessings be upon the Dutch who gave the mis- sionaries asylum and a base of operations at Serampore! The fifteen miles square about that city, owned by the Dutch as a trading station, was indeed a refuge for the storm-tossed of India.
We have dwelt at length upon the rise of the modern mission movement in England, because it has such an important bearing upon the movement among our own people in the United States. But we must now turn aside from these operations to trace the progress of mission sentiment and en- deavor in our own country.
It will be seen that as the rise of the great for- eign mission movement unified and revived our Baptist brethren in England, the incoming of that same tremendous purpose to preach the gospel to all the world, uplifted and unified our scattered and despised people in the United States.
20 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
Mention has been made of the East India Com- pany. Its misdoings strikingly illustrate how the providence of God can overrule the machina- tions of men and make their very evil deeds praise him. We saw how the refusal of this Company to allow Carey to travel in its ship, delayed him long enough to persuade his wife to go with him. Its refusal to allow other missionaries to sail in its ships caused many missionaries to first sail to America and then take ship for India. When these missionaries were on our shores, they were hospitably received in our homes and presented the cause of missions in our churches. This con- tact had much to do with creating sympathy in America for the mission work in the Far East. Then, too, the misdeeds of the East India Company provoked Claudius Buchanan, one of its former chaplains, to write "The Star in the East,"* a pam- phlet which finally broke its power in England and which, republished in America, was largely responsible for the rise of mission sentiment in the United States and the organiaztion of the American Boards. It was the reading of this pamphlet which decided Adoniram Judson to offer his life for service in the foreign field.
Dr. William Staughton, who afterward became the first Corresponding Secretary of the old Tri- ennial Convention, was a member of that famous meeting in England which gave birth to the En-
* Found in "Highway of Mission Thought."
Baptist Foreign Missions Prior to 18If5. 21
glish Baptist Society. Dr. Staughton became a living link between the Baptists of the two coun- tries, and his influence for missions was profound.
It is not surprising, therefore, to discover that our American Baptists, who had such intimate touch with the English movement, should make substantial contributions ^to the work in India. This brought Carey into correspondence with the American Baptists. His letters to them were frequent, and some of these letters were published the United States and the organization of the in the Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Mag- azine, the organ of the missionary society which had been organized in 1802 for work among the American Indians. How far all these influences affected the minds of our Bap- tist fathers cannot be said. They certainly produced a profound impression and were the leaven that permeated our people with a con- sciousness of their obligation to help evangelize the world.
It would be most interesting if we could trace in detail how the English movement affected our Southern people. We can give only an instance or two. The first church in America to adopt the "Monthly Concert of Prayer" was the old Pee Dee Baptist Church in South Carolina. The news of this event is reported in the English Baptist Reg- ister, May 13, 1790. The record of the church in Charleston, S. C, deserves especial mention. It not only adopted the "Quarterly Concert of
22 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
Prayer/' but early adopted the "Monthly Concert of Prayer/' in harmony with the suggestion of the English brethren, and did much toward encourag- ing the organization of these Concerts of Prayer in the churches adjacent to Charleston. So inter- ested in missions was this church that when its pastor, Eichard Furinan, was about to abandon his purpose to attend the meeting in Philadelphia, which formed the Triennial Convention, "his church overruled his objection, made a liberal con- tribution for his use, and gave him leave of absence until the winter/' It should be remembered also that Eichard Furman was one of the most active men in America in gathering and forwarding funds for the support of the work fostered by the English Baptist Society in the Far East. As much as |500 is credited to him in one report. These instances are enough to show that our Southern churches caught the spirit of the English movement and gave to it both prayers and money. But the greatest hour in the history of missions among American Baptists was the one when Adon- iram Judson wrote to Dr. Baldwin, Pastor of the Second Baptist Church, Boston. "Should there ever be formed a Baptist Society for the support of a Mission in these parts, I shall be ready to con- sider myself their missionary." No trumpet call ever sounded a more imperious note. It was a summons to battle, and the hosts responded with an enthusiasm which did them everlasting honor. What an hour it was !
Baptist Foreign Missions Prior to 18If5. 23
Among a number of missionaries sent out to the Far East in February, 1812, by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (Congregationalist) was Adoniram Judson. On the way out he fell to studying the Scriptures rel- ative to the subject of baptism. He knew he would be thrown into contact with the Baptists of Serampore, and he felt that he should be pre- pared to controvert their arguments about the manner and purpose of baptism. As he proceeded in his studies, both on shipboard and after his arrival in Calcutta, he became convinced that the Baptist position was the Scriptural one. He pre- sented the matter to his wife, and she soon came to share his views. Soon afterward they were immersed by Dr. William Ward in Calcutta, Sep- tember 6, 1812.
Luther Eice, another of these missionaries, after weeks of study in Calcutta, and after hearing a sermon on baptism by Mr. Judson, adopted the same views and was immersed by Dr. Ward on November 1, 1812. By these acts a very delicate and trying situation was created. It became apparent at once that the Judsons and Mr. Kice could not proceed further with their fellow mis- sionaries, with whom they had gone out. It was just as imperative that all relations be broken with the Congregationalist Board in Boston, which had sent them out. Both of these steps were unhesitatingly taken. The Judsons and Eice separated from their companions and in-
24 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
formed the American Board of their decision. The Baptist missionaries at Serampore generously undertook to care for Judson and Bice until they could get support from either America or England. The question of support was not so serious as the turning from old associations, friends and tradi- tions.
The courageous act of Judson and Bice was met by a response in America just as courageous. The Baptists accepted the challenge and threw them- selves enthusiastically into the foreign mission enterprise with a purpose which has made them one of the mightiest missionary forces in all the world. As President Francis Wayland has well said:
"The change in sentiment in Messrs. Judson and Bice was just the event which was required to awaken the dormant energies of the Baptists in America and concentrate them all, in every part of the country, upon one object, truly Christian in its essence and yet denominational in its form. It was universally acknowledged that in this mat- ter the providence of God had left us no option. Not to enter at once and vigorously on the work of missions would be to belie our profession as Christians and expose us to the merited scorn of the whole religious world."
Immediately upon receipt of the "letter from Judson announcing his change of views, the Ameri- can Baptists began to plan for his support. Within a month from the receipt of this letter by
Baptist Foreign Missions Prior to 1845. 25
Dr. Baldwin, the "Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel in India and Other Foreign Parts" was formed in Boston. The first plan was to form societies in this country which should support the missionaries in connection with the parent society in England. The English, however, declined to make such an arrangement, believing it would be better for the American Baptists to organize their own foreign mission work on an independent basis. The Boston society inspired other centers to form similar organizations, and the spread of these soci- eties over the entire country became a marked feature in the development of the foreign mission enterprise.
A great impetus was given to this movement by the return of Luther Bice from India in 1813. Having allied himself with the already organized Boston society, he threw himself with marvelous zeal and industry into the effort to arouse Ameri- can Baptists upon the subject of foreign missions, telling his story from one end of the country to the other and pleading his great cause with rare elo- quence and power.
Soon the foreign missionary societies began to multiply. The "Baptist Foreign Missionary So- ciety of Virginia" was organized in Richmond, October 28, 1813; the Missionary Society in Charleston, S. C, probably in November in the same year ; the "Philadelphia Baptist Society for Foreign Missions" in December, and before the close of 1813, the "Savannah Baptist Society for
26 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
Foreign Missions/' the "Beaufort, S. C, District Missionary Society for Foreign Missions/' and the "North Carolina Baptist Society for Foreign Mis- sions" came into existence. By the time of the general meeting in Philadelphia, May 18, 1814, societies had been formed in Baltimore, Freder- icksburg, Va., Washington, D. C, Kentucky, Dela- ware, and in other sections of the country. This movement was fostered chiefly by Mr. Rice, who organized twenty-five new societies and enlisted many more in the first year of his service after his return.
It soon became evident that some sort of con- certed action was necessary to give continuity to the work and to carry it forward in the most economical and effective manner. Accordingly, on the 18th of May, 1814, there assembled in Phil- adelphia thirty-three delegates representing the missionary societies and other religious bodies of the Baptist persuasion from eleven different States and from the District of Columbia, for the purpose of "organizing a plan for eliciting,* combining, and directing the efforts of the whole denomina- tion in one sacred effort for sending the giad tid- ings of salvation to the heathen and to nations des- titute of pure gospel light." This Convention, small in numbers but weighty in influence, has the added significance of being the first national gathering of the Baptists of America.
*See Appendix "B."
Baptist Foreign Missions Prior to 1845. 27
Eichard Furman, of Charleston, S. C, w&s chosen President of this Convention. He was, "perhaps the foremost Baptist in America." Thomas Baldwin, of Massachusetts, to whom Judson had written announcing his change of views, was chosen Secretary.*
After six days' deliberation, a Constitution was adopted which formed the "General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination of the United States of America for Foreign Missions." This Convention became known as the Triennial Convention from the fact that it met every three years.
The Constitutiont of this Convention provided for the appointment of a Board of twenty-one Commissioners called "The Baptist Board of For- eign Missions for the United States," which should transact business during the recesses of the Con- vention. The first meeting of the Board was held May 24, 1814. Mr. Kice and Mr. Judson were appointed as missionaries, and provision was made for their support. The English Baptist Mission- ary Society was informed of these actions, and that the American Board was ready to reimburse the English Missionary Society for the funds advanced to Mr. Judson.
From the formation of the Triennial Convention in 1814, down to 1845, the work of American Bap-
*See Appendix "0." {See Appendix "D."
28 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
tists, North and South, in foreign missions was conducted by the Foreign Mission Board of this Convention. In 1815 and 1816, South Carolina was the largest contributor to the work of the Board. In 1818 this honor fell to Virginia. Georgia led in 1837. The five States leading in total contributions from its organization in 1814 to the organization of the Southern Baptist Con- vention in 1845, were New York, Massachusetts, Georgia, Virginia, South Carolina.
Southern Baptists, then, should not fall into the error of thinking that their interest ia foreign missions began with the organization of the South- ern Baptist Convention in 1845. Luther Bice traveled extensively in the South, laboring in be- half of missions, and was everywhere loved and cordially welcomed. He sleeps in the cemetery at Edgefield, S. C. The great career of Judson, who died in 1849, is practically spanned by the period covered by the life of the old Triennial Convention. Southern hearts and hands were with him, and his devoted co-laborers, in their great work in Burmah. It was a Southern man, E. A. Stephens, of Georgia, who completed the Burman-English Dictionary on which Judson was laboring when he died. The remarkable work done in Sierra Leone on the West Coast of Africa originated in Bichmond, Va., and after it was taken over by the Triennial Convention, received the heartiest coop- eration from Southern people. The affection of Southern Baptists for the work performed by the
Baptist Foreign Missions Prior to 1845. 29
old Triennial Convention was eloquently voiced in the minutes of the first Convention, in 1845. Indeed, the thrilling story of the heroism, the sacrifices, and the achievements of these early days is the priceless heritage of the whole Baptist fam- ily in America.
Mission Dates to be Eemembered.
1784. Monthly Concert of Prayer recommended by the Nottinghamshire Baptist Association.
1792. May 30. Carey Preached Famous Sermon on Isaiah 54 : 2, 3.
1792. October 2. ''The Baptist Missionary Society for
Propagating the Gospel Among the Heathen," formed at Kettering.
1793. June 13, Carey and Thomas sail for India.
1812. February 19, Judson sailed for India.
1813. February. "Baptist Society for Propagating the
Gospel in India and Other Foreign Parts," organized in Boston.
1813. October 28, Institution of "The Baptist Missionary
Society of Virginia."
1814. May 18, Meeting of "The Baptist General Conven-
tion for Foreign Missions" (Triennial Conven- tion) in Philadelphia. 1845. Southern Baptist Convention organized in Augusta, Georgia.
CHAPTER II.
FOREIGN MISSION BOARD OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION.
In 1845 it became apparent to Baptists, both North and South, that a separation was inevitable on account of divergent views upon the question of slavery. The Southern people could no longer be induced to support a Board which declared it would not appoint a Southern man to be a mission- ary if he were a slaveholder, and the Northern churches were becoming disrupted by the heated discussions which were being held in all their churches. So far had this dissatisfaction gone in the North that in 1843 there was organized in Boston a Free Mission Society, for the ex- pressed intention of not cooperating with the Southern churches and in opposition to the For- eign Mission Board of the Triennial Convention. Furthermore, the Boston Board was so far remote from the South that it was unable to cultivate very satisfactorily the Southern field. A separa- tion was necessary, therefore, to save the mission cause, both North and South. In 1845, the Vir- ginia Foreign Mission Society issued an address suggesting that a convention be held in Augusta, Ga., in May of that year "to confer on the best
(30)
Foreign Mission Board of the 8. B. C. 31
means of promoting the foreign mission cause and other interests of the Baptist denomination in the South."
In response to this call of the Virginia Foreign Mission Society, 328 delegates from eight South- ern States and the District of Columbia met in Augusta, Ga., May 8, 1845, and organized the South- ern Baptist Convention. This Convention issued an address in which in the following language it showed clearly that the Constitution was essen- tially the same as that of the old Triennial Con- vention :
"The Constitution we adopt is precisely that of the original union ; that in connection with which, throughout his missionary life, Adoniram Judson has lived, and under which Ann Judson and Boardman have died. We recede from it no single step. . . . We use the very terms as we uphold the true spirit and great object of the late 'General Convention of the Baptist Denomination of the United States.' "
It should be borne in mind that this separation was not over any point of doctrine, but was over the practical promotion of the activities of the denomination. The Southern Baptist Convention was not formed in a factional spirit. We must accept as genuine the purpose of this Convention as declared in the following resolution :
"Resolved, That for peace and harmony, and in order to accomplish the greatest amount of good, and for the maintenance of those Scriptural prin-
32 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
ciples on which the General Missionary Conven- tion of the Baptist Denomination of the United States was originally formed, it is proper that this Convention at once proceed to organize a Society for the propagation of the gospel."
The Augusta Convention provided for two Boards, one for foreign and one for home missions, which should serve as large Committees to trans- act the business of the Convention between the meetings of that body. It would be a pleasing task to trace here the inspiring work the Home Mission Board has carried forward during these fifty-odd years, but the limits of this sketch do not permit us. We must give our attention to a brief discussion of the work done by the Foreign Mis- sion Board.
Immediately after the Convention in Augusta, the Foreign Mission Board, composed of twenty- one members, living in Richmond, Va., and a Vice- President in every Southern State, organized for business. The history of this Board falls natur- ally into three periods. The period of beginnings, 1845-1860; the period of retardment, 1861-1879; the period of enlargement, 1880 to the present time.
Period of Beginnings, 1845-1860.
After searching diligently for some months, the Board selected Bev. James B. Taylor, D.D., of Virginia, to be the Corresponding Secretary. Dr. Taylor accepted and conducted the administrative
Foreign Mission Board of the 8. B. C. 33
work of the Board with signal ability and states- manship until 1871.
The selection of fields and the securing of mis- sionaries to occupy them was a difficult task. The first field to which missionaries were appointed was China. In 1845, J. L. Shuck, I. J. Roberts, Samuel C. Clopton, and George Percy were ap- pointed to labor in China. Shuck wras the first Baptist missionary ever to be located in China. He had been sent out in 1836 under the Foreign Mission Board of the Triennial Convention. When the Southern Baptist Convention was formed, he, being a Virginian, naturally sought employment under the new Board, and received from it the first commission it ever gave.
From the time when Lott Carey and Colin Teague (both colored) went out from Richmond, Va., to Liberia, on the West Coast of Africa, in 1821, under the appointment of the Triennial Convention, the effort to reach the millions of Africa had been cordially supported by Southern Baptists. It was to be expected, therefore, that when our own Convention was formed, our Board would imme- diately plan to send missionaries to the African continent. Accordingly, in the fall of 1846, John Day and A. L. Jones were appointed to serve in Liberia. These two fields were the only ones occupied by the Board during this first period. In 1859, the Board resolved to enter Japan, but the approach of the Civil War delayed this for many years.
3
34 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
It was necessaiy also to determine upon the policies which should control the operations of the Board in foreign lands. With statesmanlike foresight and skill, the policies were inaugurated which have since required but slight modification. The Board's first Beport outlined procedure along evangelistic, educational, and medical lines.
Mr. Francis C. Johnson, of South Carolina, on account of his exceptional ability, was sent to China in 1846 to undertake the special work of instructing native preachers. Today the school work has been enlarged, until all kinds of schools, from the Kindergarten to the College and Theo- logical Seminary are employed. These schools gain the sympathy of the people to a very remark- able degree, and thus become very effective evan- gelistic agencies.
The problem of enlisting the masses of our people in behalf of the mission cause was graphic- ally stated by the first Corresponding Secretary of the Board. "The population of the South is comparatively sparse. Our churches are not of easy access, their members being scattered often over many miles of territory. Our forces are not well trained, nor are their capabilities brought into suitable exercise. . . . Our country is not filled up with towns and villages. They are principally agriculturalists, and must be visited upon their farms, or called together at their coun- try places of worship."
The Board addressed itself diligently to the
Foreign Mission Board of the S. B. C. 35
solution of this problem. Effort was made, with varying success, to employ agents who would rep- resent the cause of missions in their several States. The Southern Baptist Mission Journal was called into existence to help supply information. The Secretary, who at first gave only a portion of his time to the Board, soon turned his entire attention to the development of the field, both at home and abroad. He went among the churches trying to rally them to the support of the cause. In 1854, Dr. A. M. Poindexter, of Virginia, was elected Assistant Secretary and wrought most efficiently. One of the greatest impulses given to the foreign mission cause was by J. L. Shuck. He, in com- pany with Yong Seen Sang, a native Chinese con- vert, was visiting in this country at the time of the organization of the Convention. Mr. Shuck and Mr. Yong were asked by the Board to visit the churches. Wherever they went, they created deep interest in missions and gave an impetus to the cause which was felt for many years. That these agencies quickened the missionary zeal of Southern Baptists is demonstrated by the fact that the contributions for foreign missions in- creased from $11,689.05 in 1845, to $41,195.07 in 1860.
In the latter part of the '50's, the outlook was bright for a splendid advance in foreign mission endeavor. The work in China and Africa had been firmly established. Already the Board had undertaken to open the work in Japan and Brazil,
36 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
and was considering other fields. But in 1860 the War Cloud arose, and the impending storm began to chill the activities of the people.
Period op Betardment, 1861-1879.
The Civil War, which destroyed so much wealth and decimated the population of the South, crip- pled most seriously the activities of the Foreign Mission Board. The hopeful progress just preced- ing the War received a violent check when this fearful strife began.
The income of the Board fell until in 1863 it amounted to only $8,634.43. Even if the income had been larger, it would not have been possible to send the money to the missionaries at the front because of the blockade that was maintained so rigidly against the South. So little could be done that Dr. Taylor, the Secretary of the Board, en- gaged himself to the Virginia Sunday School and Publishing Board to give a portion of his time as a colporteur among the hospitals of Bichmond, and Dr. A. M. Poindexter, the Assistant Secretary, retired to his farm.
Correspondence with the missionaries was very limited, and at times entirely cut off. In this crisis, the good offices of the brethren in Maryland and Kentucky were most generously tendered to the Board. These two States suffered less than the others from the ravages of the War, and being on the border, could communicate more easily
Foreign Mission Board of the S. B. G. 37
with the outside world. These brethren raised considerable sums of money and forwarded them to the missionaries. Had it not been for this generous action by the Maryland and Kentucky Baptists, our missionaries would have suffered far more than they did.
Of the actions of the missionaries, themselves, the Keport of 1866 can best speak. "The brethren connected with the different missions deserve espe- cially the grateful thanks of the Board for their considerate regard to our condition by voluntarily reducing their stipulated allowance and otherwise, by a partial arrangement for their own support. As the Board had authorized them in the event of straitened circumstances, to secure loans, it is easy to see how an embarrassing debt might have been created from which it would have been diffi- cult to release ourselves. But these brethren preferred to suffer privation and hardship, being willing to share with the sorrowing ones at home who were drinking in various forms the bitter cup of affliction."
The War left the South stunned and impover- ished. Thousands of those who had contributed to missions before the War now lay dead on the battlefields. Many plantations, previously flour- ishing, were now deserted and profitless. Not- withstanding these conditions, our Baptist hosts rallied with wonderful devotion to the support of foreign missions and instructed the Board to as quickly as possible resume all work undertaken
38 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
previous to the outbreak of the War. The debt of f 10,000 which was on the Board at the close of the War wras soon wiped out, and by 1879 the in- come was rapidly approaching the proportions reached in 1860. Italy wTas entered in 1870, and the work attempted in Brazil just before the War, was resumed in 1879. In 1875, the Foreign Mis- sion Journal, which had been suspended during the War, was revived, and in the same year the Board undertook to rehabilitate the long-neglected work in Africa.
On the 11th day of December, 1871, Dr. J. B. Taylor, Corresponding Secretary since the organ- ization, resigned, and eleven days afterward passed to his heavenly reward. Of his distinguished services, the Board makes the following record :
"Kev. J. B. Taylor, D.D., has been the only acting Corresponding Secretary of this Board. During the whole period of its existence, extend- ing through twenty-six years, he has performed the duties of his office with a diligence, fidelity, and disinterestedness never excelled, and with a judgment and prudence and efficiency rarely equalled. He has been in truth the life and motive power of the Board."
The year 1879 is taken as the close of this period, because that date marked a significant turning point in the history of the Southern Bap- tist Convention. The fact of slavery was the greatest single cause for the formation of the Southern Baptist Convention. When, therefore,
Foreign Mission Board of the 8. B. C. 39
the War was over and Keconstruction days had passed, it was natural that the question should rise whether American Baptists should not reunite their activities. The Convention held in Atlanta, 1879, finally decided that the separate organiza- tion should be continued. Many considerations influenced this decision.
"But the sturdiest prop of an institution that was almost ready to fall was the Board of Foreign Missions. They had no rivals in prosecuting the foreign mission work of Southern Baptists. On either side of the Mississippi, all States and Terri- tories were opened to them; their agents were kindly welcomed everywhere. By consequence it was in their power to exhibit a degree of prosper- ity that was unequaled for that time and to pre- sent reports that were always gratifying and often surprising. Friends of the Convention could urge with entire propriety that there was no serious call to surrender as long as this creditable work re- mained intact." — Dr. William H. Whitsitt, in Jubilee Address, Washington, 1895.
Period of Enlargement, 1880 to the Present.
With the question of the separate existence of the Convention settled and the South in some measure recovered from the retarding circum- stances incident to the Civil War, the Foreign Mission Board found itself in 1880 upon the threshold of a new era in which it might hope and plan for extensive enlargement.
40 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
It was possible now for the Board to look to other fields and to equip more adequately the sta- tions already established. The first year of this period was signalized by the establishment of a Mission in Mexico. Japan was entered in 1889, and a mission was established in Argentina in 1903, thus bringing the number of countries in which the Board labors up to seven.
Great advancement has been made, but we should not imagine that it was effected without arduous toil and in the face of serious difficulties. Dr. H. A. Tupper, who became Secretary on Feb- ruary 20, 1872, did heroic service in spite of poor equipment on the foreign fields and difficult though ever-improving conditions in this country. For more than twenty-one years this faithful serv- ant labored for the Board, and was permitted to see its work quadrupled both in workers and con- tributions. He resigned his position on June 30, 1893.
"Between these dates — February 20, 1872, and June 30, 1893 — the voluminous records of the Board and of the Southern Baptist Convention contained on almost every page some proofs of the zealous, assiduous, faithful, incessant labors of this very modest, quiet, Christian gentleman In every State of our vast domain and in every conti- nent of the globe, his autograph letters have car- ried wise advice couched in terms of kindly senti- ment and most courtly politeness, while his un- written record stamped upon the minds and hearts
Foreign Mission Board of the 8. B. C. 41
of members of the Board and missionaries under our appointment is beyond the power of human language to represent. Eternity alone will suffice to estimate the power of his faith, his calmness, his prudence, his consecration."
Dr. E. J. Willingham was called to the Secre- taryship and began his work September 1, 1893. Coming from a successful pastorate in the First Baptist Church, Memphis, Tenn., he threw himself into the work and conducted a campaign for ad- vancement in the face of debt and many discour- agements, with the magnificent results that the reports of the years eloquently display.
During the entire existence of the Board there have been only three Corresponding Secretaries — Drs. J. B. Taylor, H. A. Tupper, and E. J. Willing- ham. At different times the Board had also an Assistant Secretary. Eev. A. M. Poindexter, D.D., served with Dr. Taylor; Eev. T. P. Bell, D.D., with Dr. Tupper; Eev. E. Y. Mullins, D.D., Eev. A. J. Barton, D. D., Eev. E. E. Bomar, D.D., with Dr. Willingham. It is hardly possible to over- estimate the value of the services of this group of Assistant Secretaries. They gave themselves un- stintedly to the cause, and their labors contributed in a large way to the splendid success attained by the Board.
No history of the Foreign Mission Board would be complete without special recognition of the untiring zeal and unfailing support our women have given to this cause. When Yong Seen Sang
42 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
was appointed missionary in the first year of the Convention, the Woman's Society of the First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va.? undertook his support and kept it up for more than thirty-five years. The first plan was that the women should undertake the support of the women missionaries. There was a special report upon the women's work in the Convention in 1872, which urged that the organization of female societies be encouraged in all the churches. A similar report in 1876 conveys the information that, "In many of our churches, female missionary societies have been organized for the support of female missionaries. Perhaps the largest group of these societies is in South Caro- lina, where they already number as many as sixty- eight, and have greatly increased the missionary contribution in that liberal State. Others of a sim- ilar sort exist in Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Ala- bama, and Kentucky, and no doubt in some addi- tional States, but we are unable to report their number. It is desirable that they be established in all. Female societies, cooperating in the gen- eral work of the Board, have from the beginning largely contributed to its revenues and successes, especially in the older States, but we doubt not that this specific object will awaken an interest in behalf of missions such as they have never cher- ished heretofore."
In 1888 the Woman's Missionary Union, auxil- iary to the Southern Baptist Convention, was organized in the form under which it operates to-
Foreign Mission Board of the S. B. C. 43
day, with central Committees in all the States. Its work is auxiliary to all of the Boards of the Convention. This new organization has greatly increased the efficiency of the women's societies.
In addition to raising large sums of money for both home and foreign missions, the Woman's Missionary Union maintains &n extensive mission literature department at its headquarters in Bal- timore, Md. ; a home for missionaries' children in Greenville, S. C, and a Training School for women in Louisville, Ky. Miss Annie W. Armstrong was the capable Secretary for the first eighteen years of the Union's history. Her self-sacrificing devo- tion and intelligent direction contributed one of the most signal services ever rendered the cause of missions in the South. She was succeeded by Miss Edith Campbell Crane, who serves efficiently in this same capacity today.
We have attempted in the preceding pages to pass in review the glorious history of the South- ern Baptist Convention from the time of its forma- tion down to the present day. It has not been possible to portray the difficulties, the heartaches, the anxieties which the Board and its mission- aries have felt during these trying years. With the deepest gratitude we give praise to God for his wonderful blessing and for his faithful guid- ance through all the problems down to this good hour. He has enlarged our work until it wins our cordial admiration and leads us to expect far larger achievements in the years to come.
44 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
It may be interesting to say something about the present form, activities and methods of the Board. The Board is composed of twenty-one members who reside in Bichniond, and a Vice-President in every State. It is appointed annually by the Southern Baptist Convention, to which it makes report. It is served at the present time by R. J. Willingham, Corresponding Secretary; William H. Smith, Editorial Secretary; S. J. Porter, Field Secretary; T. B. Bay, Educational Secretary; B. B. Gwathmey, Treasurer. The Secretaries and the Treasurer are the only members who receive any salary.
The work of the Board is divided into four de- partments, each in charge of a Secretary. Dr. B. J. Willingham has charge of the General Ad- ministrative Department, and exercises a general supervision over the entire work of the Board. Dr. William H. Smith has charge of the Editorial Department, and edits the Foreign Mission Jour- nal and other pamphlet literature. Dr. S. J. Porter has charge of the Field Department, and through the Vice-Presidents of the Board in the hundreds of Associations in the bounds of the Convention and by visiting the churches and con- ventions, keeps in touch with the home field. Dr. T. B. Bay has charge of the Educational Depart- ment, and through organizing Mission Study Classes in the churches, schools, and colleges, cir- culating missionary literature, visiting Conven- tions, Summer Assemblies, and churches, endeav-
Foreign Mission Board of the 8. B. C. 45
ors to faster the study of missions. Of course, each Secretary assists in all departments of the Board's work as far as possible.
The administrative work of the Board is done in the regular Board meetings held on the second Tuesday in every month, with an occasional called meeting. Every matter of importance is referred to a committee and receives careful consideration before it is presented to the Board. There are committees on China, Africa, Japan, Italy, Mex- ico, Brazil, Argentina, Finances, Appointments, Publications, Ways and Means, Woman's Work, and Young People's Work.
On every field there is a regularly organized Mission. A Mission is made up of the missionaries who are laboring in any particular field. For instance, there are four Missions in China, one consisting of the workers in South China, called the South China Mission; another, the workers in Central China ; another, the workers in North China; a fourth, the missionaries in Interior China. The Missions consider the work of their respective fields, and from time to time make rec- ommendations to the Board. Of course, the Board is in constant communication with the individual missionary. Once a year the Mission meets and adopts an estimate of expenses for the coming twelve months, including salaries of the missionaries and of the native helpers and build- ings and other equipment required. This becomes the basis of appropriations by the Board, the
46 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
funds available and the needs of all the fields being taken into consideration.
The work of the Foreign Mission Board upon the foreign fields is divided into four departments — the evangelistic, educational, medical, and lit- erary. It should be remembered, however, that these divisions are for the sake of definition. They overlap in many ways, and the object of all of them is to bring the gospel of Christ in saving power to the knowledge and acceptance of the people. Everything is made to contribute to this one great end.
The evangelistic work consists of those labors of the missionaries which have to do directly with the proclamation of the gospel and with the direct- ing of the religious work of the Mission. All of our missionaries, whatever may be their technical work, preach the gospel and endeavor to win men to Christ through personal work. All share in the organization of churches, the conducting of Sun- day schools, and preaching tours.
The educational work consists of all forms of school work, from the Kindergarten in which the most elemental wTork is done, up through the Academy, the College, the Theological Seminary. These schools are effective means of reaching the people, and render them more receptive to the gospel message. The importance of the impres- sion made upon the child's mind in these schools cannot be estimated, and the necessity of having
Foreign Mission Board of the 8. B. C. 47
a trained native ministry is of transcendent moment.
Industrial school work has been recently added in one or two fields. It aims to make the students self-supporting, giving them an education and a trade at the same time. This makes those who are unsuited for teachers enlightened wage-earning citizens and more efficient church members.
The medical missionary is necessary both for protecting the lives of the missionaries and for the good he can accomplish in winning the sym- pathy of native people. Our physicians in China, Mexico, and Africa are exercising a far-reaching influence. As they treat their thousands of patients, they turn many to Christ.
Christian literature is an exceedingly important factor in every stage of mission endeavor. Large quantities of tracts, Bibles, periodicals, books, must be provided by the missionaries to enlighten the people about the gospel and to counteract the evil effects of some other literature which comes from our shores. In some countries we have established printing plants and publishing houses whose success has demonstrated their usefulness.
The income of the Board is from two sources. The main source of income is from the free-will offerings of our people all over the bounds of the Southern Baptist Convention. This, in the last few years, has greatly increased but is still alto- gether inadequate to meet the distressing and im- perative needs.
48 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
The other source of income is from legacies which are received from time to time. Not a large sum has been received in this way, but it is increas- ing every year. Occasionally, gifts are made to the Board on condition that an annuity be paid the donors during their lifetime.
All contributions are received by the Treasurer, deposited by him in bank and acknowledged promptly by mail and in the Foreign Mission Journal. Once a month, he makes a full report to the Board of all funds received and paid out. The Treasurer pays out all money on the order of the Board, for which he receives vouchers which are examined by the Auditor of the Board and duly reported under his certificate. The annual report of the Treasurer, after being audited by the Board, is printed in the Minutes of the Convention.
The appointment of new missionaries is a serious responsibility. When anyone wishes to be ap- pointed as a missionary of the Foreign Mission Board, he makes application to the Corresponding Secretary, who then sends him a blank form to ascertain the leading facts about his life, his spir- itual experience, educational attainments, expe- rience in religious work, field preferred, and other important points. The Secretary also corresponds with the friends and acquaintances of the appli- cant and endeavors by diligent inquiry to discover the fitness of the applicant for appointment to the work of a foreign missionary. The applicant is given a thorough medical examination by a com-
Foreign Mission Board of the S. B. G. 49
petent physician, and the statement of this physi- cian is passed upon by the Board's consulting physician in Kichmond.
After all the information has been gathered and the Board is satisfied that the applicant is prob- ably suitable, he is requested to come before the Board for examination. At this examination he is questioned as to his conversion, his acceptance of Baptist beliefs, and his call to the mission work. If the applicant successfully passes these examina- tions, he is appointed and his field is assigned.
When the young missionary is ready to start to his field, a railroad ticket is bought direct to the Atlantic or Pacific seaboard, his steamer ticket having been provided beforehand.
In general, it is expected that missionaries spend seven years on the field before returning home for the first furlough, and that their second term of service cover nine years, but owing to climatic conditions, sickness, etc., this varies very much with different workers.
The Board has sent out 549 missionaries, of which 246 now are in the service. In addition to these, there have been a larger number of native workers. A few of the missionaries have died of old age and a smaller number by violence, but the majority of those who have died have succumbed to the effects of hostile climates and overstrain in their work. Whatever have been the hardships, these missionaries have been and are today as happy and hopeful a band as can
4
50 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
be found anywhere. They for the joy that is set before them endure their crosses. They have said with the Apostle, "But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify of the grace of God." Let us thank God for such as these. May a spirit of consecration like theirs so abound that our churches will give increasingly to these missionaries and the Board which is appointed to sustain them, sympathy and support.
The Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
1. Organized May, 1845.
2. Fields entered.
China, 1845. Africa, 1846. Italy, 1870. Brazil, 1879. Mexico, 1880. Japan, 1889. Argentina, 1903.
3. Corresponding Secretaries.
Rev. J. B. Taylor, D.D., 1845-1871.
Rev. H. A. Tnpper, D.D., 1872-1893.
Rev. R. J. Willingham, D.D., 1893 to the present.
4. Present Secretarial Force.
Rev. R. J. Willingham, D.D., Corresponding Sec'y. Rev. William H. Smith, D.D., Editorial Secretary. Rev. S. J. Porter, D.D., Field Secretary. Rev. T. B. Ray, D.D., Educational Secretary.
5. Woman's Missionary Union organized, 1888.
CHAPTER III.
THE SOUTH CHINA MISSION
The first Baptist missionary to China was the Eev. J. L. Shuck, of Virginia, sent out by the Tri- ennial Convention in 1836. He first located at Macao, and in 1842 he moved east forty miles to Hong Kong. In 1844 he and Kev. I. J. Eoberts moved to Canton. When our Convention was organized, in 1845, Mr. Shuck was engaged by our Board to continue the work in Canton. His visit to America, accompanied by Yong Seen Sang, our first Chinese preacher, created much interest in mission work in China. After Mr. Shuck's return to China, he located in Shanghai. Mr. Eoberts became a member of our mission. He had pre- viously been conducting an independent mission, and worked mainly in Canton. He was for some tim£, a kind of adviser to the leader of the Tai Ping rebellion. He organized a small church, which was disbanded after he left Canton. Mr. Eoberts died at Upper Alton, 111., in 1866, of lep- rosy which he contracted by having some lepers live in one of the lower rooms of his house.
There were quite a number of missionaries to join the mission up to the time of Dr. E. H. Graves' arrival, in 1856. Among them, Mr. Gail-
(51)
52 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
The South China Mission. 53
lard was the most useful and most popular with the Chinese. The early members remembered him most affectionately. He was killed in 1862 by his house being blown down on him in the great typhoon of July of that year, when some ten thou- sand Chinese were killed.. Up to this time, two churches had been organized — the First Church, in the old city, of which Dr. Graves is co-pastor, and the Shiu Hing Church, eighty miles west of Can- ton. For three years before the destructive ty- phoon, Dr. Graves had done considerable country work, and had opened a station at Wuchow in the Kwongsi Province. He now had to live in Can- ton and give most of his time to work in this great city.
There were many dangers and hardships passed through during the Opium War, the Tai Ping rebellion, and our Civil War in America. Many of these have never been made known to the world. These were the times when the foundations of our work were being well laid. There was steady growth. When Dr. Graves took his first furlough after fourteen years of hard, faithful labor, there were 120 members. He is still at the helm, and has led to our present large and successful work. This is due largely to his strong faith, per- severance along Scriptural lines of work, to his conservatism and his untiring energy. He never stops work. It is the plodder that succeeds in China.
54 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions. Our Plans of Mission Work.
We have stood for the preaching of the gospel as God's plan for the salvation of the people. This we have done in the chapels, on the streets, in the market towns, in the villages, and everywhere we could get hearers. It is true that much of this work has not yielded much apparent results, but the sowing of the seed has been far and wide, and we are gathering in the harvest in many ways and places.
Much itinerating has been done up and down the numerous waterways of this mission field. We have sought to make much use of our members and native preachers in this work. We would hire a boat and take trips of from a few days to a month. This boat would serve as our home. When we came to towns and villages, we would stop and preach, and talk to the people as we walked and sold tracts or Scriptures. Several of us would preach short sermons at the same place. We would learn much from each other.
The distribution of Scriptures and Christian literature is a very important part of our work. When itinerating we carry a good supply. While some are preaching, others are selling tracts to those who are too far away to hear or that do not want to listen. It is a good plan for the preacher to begin by telling in brief the contents of a tract or a gospel. Those who may be interested will buy a book, and the truths will be fastened in the
The South China Mission. 55
mind when the preacher has passed on. There has been a gracious harvest from the distribution of Christian literature. It has not always been the policy to sell the Scriptures and tracts. I had not heard of any being sold up to 1871. On our first country trip up the West Kiver, in 1871, the sell- ing came about in this way. Mr. and Mrs. Piercey, of the Wesleyan Mission, and myself and wife came to Wingon Market. There was a big crowd of people present. We went out to distribute our literature. The Chinese are anxious to get anything when it is free. They crowded upon Mr. Piercey and took his books from him, tearing many of them in the scuffle. I managed to hold on to mine. I then urged that we sell the tracts for a nominal price. He did not like the idea, but I persisted, and he said, "Well, when we come to another market town, if it is market day, we will try selling. A few days later, we came to Luk Po, a large market twenty miles west of Shiu Hing. There was a big crowd present. We filled our canvas bags, and having agreed upon the price for each tract and gospel, we mounted an ater, a raised platform of stone about two and one-half feet high. When we told the people that our literature was for sale, it had a very quieting effect on them. This gave us a chance to tell what the tracts were and why we sold them. Soon some one bought one. Then "they went like hot cakes." We sold all the gospels and tracts that we had with us.
56 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
This was the beginning, so far as I know, of the selling of tracts to the natives in China. From that day to this, we have been selling. Only in exceptional cases does anyone give them away now. Some of the older missionaries used to remon- strate with me for selling tracts, but all have adopted this policy.
One good brother, probably to show me how to do the work, sent two coolie loads, four big bas- kets, of literature with some brethren to give the books to the students who were attending the tri- ennial examinations in the neighborhood of our chapel. They were instructed to give to those who wore long gowns. The short-coated people did not like this. These gathered a crowd and charged upon them and took their books away from them. People are more likely to read and appreciate that which costs them something. And those who can't read are not going to waste their cash for tracts. We have many evidences of the value of this work in interesting and in saving many people. There is great need for men and women with gifts for writing tracts and books for use in this work. It would be hard to over-esti- mate the importance of producing and distribut- ing Christian literature in China. The Chinese have great reverence for the printed page. They are a reading people. Newspapers and periodicals are increasing very rapidly here. I cannot think of a wider field of usefulness than this offers to those who love and are gifted in this work.
The South China Mission. 57
By our preaching and the distribution of Christian literature up and down this field, we have sown the good seed and some have been won to Christ. These we have sought to cultivate and develop. Thus following the lead of God's provi- dence, we have opened up nearly all of our twenty- eight churches and about fifty other stations where we have some members and regular preaching. Connected with these we have about 4,000 mem- bers. One preacher often has charge of more than one station. These are connected with some cen- tral church.
The Chinese live in cities, towns and villages. This is favorable to the evangelizing of these places, and as we gain more members in these places, it will lend itself to the better development of these Christians.
Where there are enough members in a locality, we hold occasionally Bible classes for a week. Those interested and the inquirers attend. This is our best way to teach them the truths of the Bible and instruct the Christians as to their du- ties as church members to each other and to the unsaved. We usually have one or more of the pastors or preachers to help in teaching. And much attention is given to teaching them to sing. The young learn to sing very well. The old try, and make a noise, which is better than to be mum. This class work gives us opportunities to study our people and see who are leaders and who will do to become preachers and should go to the Sem-
58 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
inary to prepare themselves for more efficient work.
As our numbers increase, we must give more attention to education. A large mass of unedu- cated and untrained members is, to a considerable extent, a dead weight. Therefore, it is necessary for the missionaries to give much of their time to this work, along many lines. The Theological Seminary is of prime importance. The Graves Theological School at Canton is well started with three foreign teachers — Drs. Graves, Greene, and Brother Anderson — and one native professor, Ue Sui Wan, giving all their time to teaching. The Seminary is patterned after the Seminary in Louis- ville. Special attention is given to teaching the Old and New Testaments. The students are ex- pected to do much preaching, selling of tracts and teaching in the Sunday schools. On the first day of the month, "Missionary Day," a special address is given by some one not connected with the school on subjects that will instruct in general missions in the world and at the same time stimulate to more practical work. Eeports are made by the students of their work for the month. From this institution we are sending out some strong men for the pastorate and to do evangelistic work. We need more teachers, another building to cost about six thousand dollars (gold), and to accom- modate sixty more students. The students are coming as fast as we can house them and teach them. We enrolled sixty-one students this year.
The South China Mission. 59
The Academy at Canton, schools at Wuchow and Yingtak, are preparing young men for all departments of our work and different avocations in life. The Academy at Canton is well housed, has a good staff of teachers and over one hundred students. This school is doing splendid work. It is not a mission school, but is run by the Bap- tist Chinese. It is adjoining our Mission Com- pound, and is carried on in closest sympathy and the heartiest cooperation with our missionaries. The same thing is true with the schools at Wuchow and Yingtak. From these schools, many of our brightest and most promising preachers, doctors, merchants, and men in all departments of life come.
The Girls' and Woman's Boarding Schools at Canton, Wuchow, Yingtak and Shiu Hing are doing a very fine work and one that is necessary for the permanency, efficiency, and growth of our work. Almost any number of our women could get government and other schools to teach if they were prepared. The boarding schools are prepar- ing these girls for teachers, to be wives of preach ers, to be Christian mothers, to be Bible women. The schools for women are teaching the married women to read. Many of these women are the wives of our preachers and leading members. It is of first importance that our preachers have wives that can help them in their work instead of being a hindrance. It is rather pathetic as well as amusing to see these mothers and grandmothers
60 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
learning to read, with their little ones on their backs or at their sides. And these Woman's Schools are for the training of Bible women, too. Our work needs many more Bible women. These schools are training hundreds of girls and women for the openings to be found in the awrakened China. It is difficult to realize the hardness, the magnitude, and importance of this work. These schools are to be valued and fostered for the growth and bringing in of the Kingdom of Christ.
There are day schools for boys and girls. These are to be increased as our work progresses. These young ones, and there are many of them, must receive their primary education at home. This is the great opening for many more teachers, men and women. Every church and station should have its Christian school. We cannot afford to have our children go to heathen schools. The places where Christian schools should be started are almost without number. This presents a splendid field for a general superintendent of such schools.
The importance of medical work has been so often told that one hardly knows how to tell it in a way that will not be commonplace. There is the widest field in the world for this Christ-like work of healing the sick. I know of no kind of mission work that so readily wins the approval of all classes of people. It is a means of relieving untold suffering, saving many lives, and bringing many into the kingdom. By the healing art, much prej-
Tlie South China Mission. 61
udice to the gospel and the missionary has been broken down and many individual hearts have been opened to the truth and many homes opened to Christ's messenger and many communities are ready to hear favorably the message of salvation.
Something Abou^t Our Field.
This comprises nearly all of the Kwongtung Province of twenty millions, and all of Kwongsi Province of nine millions. The majority of these peoples can be reached by steamers and passage boats towed by steam launches, plying up and down the various rivers, canals, and waterways of these provinces. Eailroads are being constructed. Three short lines are in operation. One of these is being pushed through the province from Canton north to Hankow and Peking.
Our three main stations are Canton, Wuchow and Yingtak. Canton, itself, is a big field. A city of from one and one-half to two millions of people. There are probably not more than two thousand resident Christians of all denominations. Of these about five hundred are Baptists. And from Canton, as a center, there are many large cities and numerous large towns and villages to be evangelized. Almost half of the province is to be reached from Canton as a center.
The Sz Yap field is worthy of special mention. In these four districts, Sz Yap means four cities or districts, most of the Chinese in America have
62 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
their homes, and by their contact with Americans they are much in advance of other parts of the country as to Western ideas and Christianity. There are to be found Christians in most of the villages. It is easy to do mission work in these places. There are many chapels — Presbyterian, Congregational, and Baptist — in this section. Not all that have joined the churches in America and come back are true Christians, but many are. Throughout this Sz Yap field you will find many people wiio can speak some English. They have built much better houses and live better and are more eager to send their children to school than others. A good proportion of the boys in our Academy are from the Sz Yap.
For the Canton station, we have fifteen mission- aries. We need double this number, and we need very much a physician for our new Compound at Tung Shan, which is four miles from the foreign concession. Here we have the Graves' Theological Seminary, Academy, Girls' Boarding School, the Woman's Boarding School. The China Baptist Publication Society has bought property and will build here soon. We have five dwellings, a church that will seat 1,000, an orphanage, and home for blind girls. The head offices and car yards of the Canton and Kowloon Kailroad adjoin us. They have seven new brick dwellings finished, and are building others and putting in an electric plant. Our place is high, healthful, and desirable to live and work in for the Master. The destitution and
The South China Mission. 63
opportunities for the Canton station are equally great.
Wuehow is an open port or treaty port, and is about 200 miles west of Canton, just across the border in the Kwongsi Province. Wuehow is the commercial distributing center for the prov- ince and is by far the most important city for our work. We have located there six missionaries, a church of 364 members, hospital that will accom- modates 60 in-patients, a Boy's Boarding School, a Girls' and a Woman's Boarding School, and a new church house just finished that will seat 550, with Sunday school rooms and other conveniences for book-room and for street preaching.
The language is mainly Cantonese and Man- darin in their variations. The topography of the country is made up of river valleys, hills and moun- tains. It is rugged and picturesque. The people are like their country — rough and turbulent. Here is a fine opportunity for strong men and women, both physically and spiritually, full of faith and the Holy Spirit. This is a most interesting and promising field. We have five churches and twenty stations, with 1,101 members. These stations are from 40 to 300 miles west and north of Wuehow. A large proportion of our minis- terial students are from this field. For some brethren writh evangelistic gifts and the ability to lead the native brethren this presents a fine open- ing for winning souls for the Master. Who will come and join our splendid force of young mis-
64 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
sionaries to conquer this Kwongsi Province for Christ?
Yingtak is the center for our Hakka Mission. The city is not very large, only about 20,000, but it is the distributing center for this field. It is on the North Kiver, and about ninety miles from Canton, on the railroad — the road that runs from Canton to Hankow and Peking. This field contains five to six millions of people. This is a rough and most beautiful country. The men are well edu- cated. They have never bound the feet of their girls. They are not so wedded to idolatry as the Cantonese are, and they have not the strong prejudices against foreigners and Christianity that other Chinese have.
The Hakka field has nine churches and four stations, and 1,433 members. This is our most compact field, and gives promise of rapid growth and development. These stations are from 30 to 100 miles east and northeast from Yingtak. Here is a very inviting field for two or three evangelistic leaders from the homeland.
At Yingtak, we have five missionaries, a church of 82 members, a Boarding School for girls and women, and a Boarding School for boys. These are young and promising, and necessary to our work. We are just completing a new church that will seat about 450. Here we have a dispensary and shall soon have a hospital. We have two good dwellings in a beautiful compound, well located.
Mil!
I 'zLrii
^m^m: 'm^«;^m>*A
Mayfield-Tyzzer Hospital, Laichow, China Hospital, Yangchow, China
John Stout Memorial Hospital, Wuchow, China Oxner Hospital, Pingtu, China
Warren Memorial Hospital, Hwanghien, China
The South China Mission. 65
Shiu Hing, where at present only Miss North lives, is a very inviting field. This is our oldest country station. There is a church with four out- stations, and two others should be opened at once. There is a school for girls and women here. Some of these are boarders. We should have two mission families living here.
Our Association, which is made up of the churches of the two provinces, was organized twenty-six years ago. This is an important part of our work. There is now a Home Board with a general secretary and five missionaries. The secretary visits the churches and stations, holds meetings, helps in Bible classes. He lays special emphasis on aggressive work on the part of the members to win souls and carry the gospel to those who have not heard it. He preaches everywhere the importance of self-support. His work is tell- ing for the better organization of our forces, the spread of the gospel and the permanency of our work.
The five missionaries are located at important centers. Three of these are partially supported by their churches. The other two are beginning new work. It is the policy of the Association to increase the number of missionaries just as fast as our contributions will allow, and in time to take the work that the missionary has been doing and move him on to new fields. The burden of evangelization must be laid on the shoulders of the native Christians.
66 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
The China Baptist Publication Society is the work of the Baptists of China ; but being located in Canton, should have a place in the story of the South China Mission. It was organized about eleven years ago. The growth has been steady and rapid from the beginning. We believe that we have only made a beginning. There seems to be room for almost unlimited expansion. The powder and far-reaching influence of such a work is hard to over-estimate.
It started with nothing but faith and opportu- nity. Now it has assets to the amount of $65,- 846.35, and liabilities to the amount of $22,652.15. Last year over 250,000 copies of books and tracts were issued, at a cost of about $7,000. More than ten million pages of Christian literature were sent out to the millions of Chinese. A very large part of the work of the Society is to print and distrib- ute the Word of God. We bespeak your prayers and help for the China Baptist Publication So- ciety. The Sunday School Board, at Nashville, Tenn., has just made us a generous grant of $5,000 for our Bible work.
There seems to be an idea in the minds of some people that this is a very unhealthy part of China. We think this is not well founded. A careful com- parison of our three mission centers — Central, North, and South China Missions — shows that the term of service is longer, health is better, and there are fewer nervous breakdowns here than in the other two missions. But let us lay aside all prej-
The South China Mission. 67
udice and preconceived notions, and remember that God made this part of China as well as other parts, and that he has placed a very large number of people here. These are intelligent, thrifty, and shrewd. The Cantonese are the people that go abroad to America, Europe, Australia, the Straits settlements, and to India. This emigration has broadened the minds and enlarged the ideas of this people. Educational reform and Western ideas of civilization have met with a readier and more sym- pathetic acceptance here than in other parts of China. The Cantonese are largely the leading merchants and bankers in the principal cities, and the treaty ports in China, Japan, the Philippines, and the Straits settlements. As to trade, they are the Jews of the "Far East." All of these things go to make this one of the most interesting and promising missions in China. The thing for every man to do who is called of God to mission work is to decide where he can accomplish most for the glory of God by helping to bring in the reign of Christ, thus hastening the time when "He shall take to himself his great power and reign from the rivers to the end of the earth."
The South China Mission.
1. Main Stations —
(1) Canton.
(2) Wuchow.
(3) Yingtak.
68 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
2. Church Statistics —
(1) Churches, 28.
(2) Church buildings, 70.
(3) Membership, 4,235.
(4) Out-stations, 61.
(5) Sunday schools, 52.
(6) Sunday school scholars, 1,817.
3. Missionaries —
(1) Foreign, 41.
(2) Native, 180.
4. Schools —
(1) Day schools, 36.
(2) Canton Boys' Academy.
(3) Canton Girls' Boarding School.
(4) Training School for Women (Canton).
(5) Shiu Hing Woman's Boarding School.
(6) Wuchow Boys' Boarding School.
(7) Wuchow Woman's and Girls' Boarding School.
(8) Yingtak Boys' Boarding School.
(9) Yingtak Women's Boarding School.
(10) Graves Theological Seminary (Canton).
5. Medical —
(1) Stout Memorial Hospital (Wuchow).
(2) Dispensary near Wuchow.
(3) Dispensary in Yingtak.
6. General —
(1) Work opened 1845.
(2) Residences for missionaries owned by the Board,
(3) Chinese Baptist Publication Society (Canton).
(4) Home for Blind Girls (Canton).
CHAPTER IV.
THE CENTRAL CHINA MISSION.
It will perhaps be most instructive and inter- esting to let the missionaries who organized the Central China Baptist Mission (formerly known as the Shanghai Baptist Mission) speak for them- selves. We are fortunate in having full records of their mission meetings. They will now tell us in their own words who organized the Mission, when and where it was organized, and show us how they transacted mission business in those early days :
"Brethren James, Shuck, Tobey and Yates, hav- ing been appointed missionaries to the Chinese Empire by the Board of Foreign Missions of the Southern Baptist Convention, received instruc- tions from the said Board, December 18, 1846, to establish a mission at the city of Shanghai.
"Brethren Shuck, Tobey and Yates, being to- gether at Hong Kong, and aware that matters of importance demanded their immediate attention, met on August 19, 1847, at the house of Brother Shuck for the purpose of organizing the said Mis- sion.
"Brother Shuck, by request, opened the meeting with prayer. The choice of officers for the meet-
70 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
ing resulted in the election of Brother Shuck as Chairman and of Brother Yates as Treasurer."
After a Constitution had been adopted, the fol- lowing preamble and resolutions were presented and adopted:
"Whereas, Funds for the use of this Mission were placed in the hands of Brother Tobey, and the same having been by him disbursed according to account rendered by him,
"Resolved, That the Mission sanction Brother Tobey's account, and that he be requested to trans- fer the remainder of the funds in his hands to Brother Yates, our present Treasurer.
"Also, Resolved, That Yong Seen Sang and Mun Seen Sang be appointed as native preachers to labor in the city of Shanghai and vicinity, in connection with this Mission, the former at a salary of twelve and a half dollars per month, the latter at a salary of ten dollars a month, both commencing August 1, 1847.
"Also, Resolved, That our Treasurer, Bev. M. T. Yates, be authorized to effect a loan of six hundred dollars, to meet the expenses of this Mission until our remittances arrive."
Let us now look in on one of their Mission meetings :
"Owing to various circumstances, the usual business meeting for the month of October did not occur until the evening of November 4, 1847. Present were Brethren Shuck, Tobey and Yates.
The Central China Mission. 71
"The meeting was opened with prayer by Brother Tobey. The journal of last meeting was then read. Brother Tobey presented a bill for expenses (Mrs. Tobey's illness in Hong Kong; also for books, Mission Library). Ordered to be paid; amount, $87.
"The Treasurer's report was then read and re- ceived.
"Brother Shuck presented a bill (Mrs. Shuck's illness in Hong Kong) ( Yong and Mun Seen Sang's salary), also a book for Mission Library. Ordered to be paid. Amount, $148.45.
"Resolved, That our Treasurer be authorized to effect such a loan, in such amounts, at such times, and at such rates of interest, as in his own judg- ment may seem best for the Mission.
"Also, Resolved, That our Treasurer be author- ized to request the Board in Kichmond to pay the rent for the next year of the house occupied by Brethren Yates and Shuck, by a bill on England instead of sending the money to Shanghai; amount of rent, $700.
"Also, Resolved, That the members of this Mis- sion meet on Saturday evening, November 6th, for the purpose of forming a Baptist Church."
Seed Sowing— 1846-1866.
The first work of the missionaries was to study the language, and in this they encountered many difficulties, because at that time no books had
72 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
been prepared to assist new missionaries in ac- quiring the language. Morrison's was the only dictionary. This lack of books forced them to mingle with the people, and besides helping them to become good speakers, gave them many oppor- tunities of studying the people, and of learning how to adapt themselves to them. They were able to begin preaching after the first year.
Chinese houses were rented, repaired, and adapted for street chapel use, and in these they held daily preaching services. One missionary would stand out on the street and invite the people in, while another would try to seat them, and the third would preach the Gospel. In this way thousands of sermons were preached and tens of thousands of people heard something of the way of salvation.
The first church lot was purchased inside the old city in the midst of a dense population, early in 1849, and the first church building erected on it. It was finished and opened for the first service on the first Sunday in March, 1850. It was burned down on May 28, 1862, and we find the following in the minutes of the mission meeting of May 31, 1862:
"We feel deeply the loss of this house, the first church erected within the walls of Shanghai, but then we have reason to thank God that he has per- mitted his servants to preach the Word of Life almost daily within its sacred walls for a period of
The Central China Mission. 73
more than ten years, and it is supposed that more than 300,000 persons have heard the Gospel from first to last from its pulpit. May it prove as bread cast upon waters to be gathered for many days hence."
The Civil War was raging at home, so that no money could be secured from the Board to rebuild the house, but God opened the hearts of the foreign merchants and friends in Shanghai, and they sub- scribed more than |5,000 to replace the church. The loss proved to be a gain in many ways.
In those early years no foreigners, not even missionaries, were allowed to travel far inland from the open ports, so that it was impossible to do much work outside of Shanghai, but our mis- sionaries, as early as 1849, had an outstation at Oo Kah J ah, a few miles from Shanghai. They at first rented a Chinese house for a street chapel and a day school. It is interesting to note that this was the first work established by any denom- ination in the interior of China, and that the ladies of the Mission raised money in Shanghai to buy a lot and build a small house for a chapel and the day school. The missionaries soon broke over the restrictions of travel, and visited and preached in the great cities in this part of China.
Mrs. Cabaniss was perhaps the first foreign woman to enter the walls of Soochow while out on a preaching tour with her husband.
The missionaries realized the importance of
74 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
preparing and using Christian literature to assist them in their work of spreading the Gospel. Kev. J. L. Shuck had spent some time in Canton, and had acquired some knowledge of the written lan- guage before coming to Shanghai, so that he nat- urally took the lead in preparing the first litera- ture. We find many resolutions about literature in the minutes of the early mission meetings. We quote one :
"Resolved, That Brother Shuck be requested to draw up a statement of the objects of the members of this Mission in coming to China, accompanied by an abstract of the Gospel in the Chinese lan- guage for distribution among the people of Shanghai."
Mr. Shuck produced many tracts which were most helpful in enlightening the people on the subject of the Gospel.
The missionaries also realized the importance of doing some work among the children, of sowing seed in the tender hearts of the young and estab- lished day schools in the street chapels. The wives of missionaries took the lead in this work. We might call it mother-missionary work. They had to pay the children a cent a day at first to induce them to attend school, but as early as 1853 we find that Key. G. Pearcy established a day school in a village, and the villagers agreed to pay a part of the expenses.
The Central China Mission. 75
In the minutes of August 31, 1849, we find the following resolution:
"Resolved, That we herewith submit to the Board that the result of our experience during this time has been an increased conviction of the serious importance of having a medical missionary connected with us as soon as it is possibly prac- ticable for the Board to secure a suitable man."
The drowning of Dr. James before reaching Shanghai had prevented them from having a med- ical missionary from the beginning. Dr. C. W. Burton came in 1851. The Mission not having established any regular medical work by building and equipping a hospital, and there being a very great demand among foreigners for a physician in Shanghai, with the approval of the Mission, he ceased to be a missionary supported by the Board on January 1, 1859.
His interest, however, in mission work did not abate, for he continued to assist the Mission both with time and money. During the Civil War, when the Board could not support its missionaries, he was a liberal contributor to their needs.
Some of the results of this period are seen in a statement to the Board made by Yates, Crawford and Hartwell on April 9, 1866, at their last meet- ing, after which time Dr. and Mrs. Yates were left alone for many years :
"Kegular services have been kept up at Shanghai in two and part of the time in three chapels. The
76 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
native church has for more than a year been sup- porting a native preacher. Baptized since 1861, 8 ; lost by death, 2 ; present membership, 28.
"At Tengchow regular services have been kept up in one and part of the time in two chapels. Baptized since 1861, 20; excluded, 3; present membership, 23."
The number of Christians baptized and churches established do not by any means represent the full results of the labors of this period. It was a time of seed-sowing, not of harvesting ; a time of foun- dation-laying, not of house-building; a time of preparing for greater things in the future.
The Yates Period— 1866-1888.
We saw in the last section that all the mission- aries had left Shanghai except Dr. and Mrs. Yatest They arrived in Shanghai, September 2, 1847. They were truly the father and mother of the Mission, who laid the deep and broad foundations upon which we are now building. Dr. Tupper wrote of Dr. Yates : "The reputation of Dr. Yates is as broad as the earth and no broader than his character," and Mrs. Yates was in every sense broad enough to be his companion and helpmeet. Though dead, they still live in their works, in many loving hearts, and in their daughter, Mrs. J. F. Seaman, who has given many thousand dol- lars, much time and thought to carry on the work begun by her father and mother.
This section describes a time that is peculiarly
The Central China Mission. 77
a "Yates Period," and its history can best be told in Dr. Yates' own language :
"As I am alone, there have been no mission meetings during the year. My whole time has been devoted to mission work. With the aid of one unpaid assistant, I have maintained during the year seven public services each week at Sung We Dong and Kiaw Hwo Dong. During the summer I preached twice each month at Ling Ka Uyang Nyang, in the country. My services at Kiaw Hwo Dong have been well attended, and some interest manifested. I have baptized one "Voang Sen Sang." There are several cases of interest. O that the Lord of the harvest would grant a bless- ing upon my labors in my day." (December 31, 1866.)
"No record has been made for sixteen years, except Treasurer's account and Church record, and this has been kept in Chinese. During all these long years I have done the best I could to hold the fort alone. The church has had a steady growth, and several years ago sent out a colony to form a church at Quinsan (fifty miles from Shang- hai), where we now have a church of eighteen members, with a native pastor, See Sen Sang, and eighty-five members in the mother church at Shanghai. In addition to my preaching and class work, I have for some time been engaged in trans- lating into the Shanghai dialect the Gospels of Matthew, John, the Acts of the Apostles, and the
78 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
Epistle to the Bomans, in order that my churches might have the Scriptures in the language in which they think and speak. The above books have been published and are in use. I shall con- tinue, if the Lord permits, till the whole New Testament is completed.
"Four days ago the U. S. Mail brought me the long-prayed-for colleague in the person of Eev. W. S. Walker. Also the Eev. C. W. Pruitt, for the Tengchow Mission in Shantung. May the Spirit of Truth so guide them that they may be- come indefatigable workers!" (January 31, 1882.)
"For some time I have been trying to find a suit- able place for a chapel in the great city of Soo- chow. I am happy to say I have finally succeeded in purchasing a lot directly — L e., not through a Chinaman — on Lonton Street at Ping Hwo Djaw. My title deed has been duly authenticated by the local authorities. To Tsun Tang as Lontonloo is one of the principal streets of the city, ours is con- sidered to be one of the best positions in the city. May the Lord of the Harvest continue to prosper his work in that great city, which has for so many ages been given up to idolatry and vice." (July, 1882.)
"W. J. Hunnex, who was formerly connected with the China Inland Mission, but who, after his resignation from the Inland Mission, has been received by our Board as an assistant missionary for one year, moved with his wife to Chinkiang on
The Central China Mission. 79
the Yangtse Kiver, where I have long been anxious to start a mission station." (January, 1883.)
"The new chapel at Soochow, having been com- pleted, 35 x 23 feet, with two small offices on either side of the great door, and with a granite baptistry in the open court, was, on Sunday, the 10th inst., duly opened by appropriate religious services. On my way up I called at Quinsan and took with me Brother See Sen Sang to take part in the dedica- tion services.
"The chapel was crowded to its utmost capacity with a disorderly and noisy crowd. After a short delay, they were ordered to sit down, when I preached to them, and See Sen Sang followed me. At three p.m. the native brethren, Lee and Tsee Nyi Shang and Tsung Tsoang Oh, preached in succession to large audiences. This is the begin- ning of our work in the Provincial city. May the fruit thereof shake like Lebanon!" (June 14, 1883.)
"Brother and Sister Walker (for on September 19, 1883, Mr. Walker and Miss Lillian Ella Mateer, of Tengchow, were united in marriage) and I have just returned from Soochow. While there on Sunday, the 11th inst, we and Lee T'ay San, of Quinsan, organized the Baptist Church of Christ in Soochow, consisting of seven members — five male and two female. Immediately after the organization, the door was opened for the recep- tion of members, when two males presented them-
80 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
selves and were received. I at once proceeded to baptize them and two who had come tip from Quinsan in the new baptistry. This is the second colony that has gone out of the mother church at Shanghai." (November 14, 1883.)
"You telegraphed me from the Convention, 'Build your chapel.' I am happy in being able to inform the contributors to that fund that the Tsing-way dong is completed, and is in use daily.
"Bryan will have nothing to do but to take the reins and drive off. But that will be enough to occupy his whole attention and skill. The train- ing of a yoke of young oxen or a team of young mules is nothing to the labor and patience required to bring into subjection to Christ a team of stolid Chinese.
"North Carolina is doing well, having six repre- sentatives in China, and another at Wake Forest, who will soon come to the front to occupy Soo- chow. The influence of my alma mater will go on down through the ages. Her endowment ought to be doubled. I'll be one of two hundred to do it within five years." (November 8, 1885, to Eev. C. T. Bailey, D.D.)
"My long-expected reinforcement arrived on the evening of the 13th. I had been down at the wharf until 5 p.m. Then I was told that the steamer would not come in till the next morning, and I returned home. I had not been at home an hour before someone pulled my front-door bell. I
The Central China Mission. 81
opened the door and found two strangers standing without who called out, 'Herring and Bryan.1 This was a surprise. By nine o'clock we had Mr. and Mrs. Herring and Mr. and Mrs. Bryan with us. Need I tell you that there was joy in this old house? Thanks be to God for all his mercies to them and to us. We have now seen enough of them to know that North Carolina has sent us the right men and women. They give promise to be real co-laborers in the right way, and seem to be ready to labor, and, if necessary, to suffer for Christ.
"Brother Herring remains with me. Brother Bryan goes to Chinkiang. Now, we want two mountaineers for Soochow, to take charge of the little church there and work up the cities on the Grand Canal. This is a great field and a great opportunity." (January 19, 1886.)
"For many years I have made special prayer that God would inspire some of the members of my church with the will and courage of their convic- tions to come out of the rut of spiritual medioc- rity. Thank the Lord, this prayer has been an- swered in the person of my deacon, Wong, who has been a member of my church about twenty-eight years. Having been blessed in temporal things, he felt he ought to manifest his gratitude to the Giver of All. This he has done by building on his own land at his own cost, a unique place of worship for the Chinese; and it is dedicated to the Lord forever.
6
82 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
"Wong and his noble act are an inspiration to all. He has pointed out a new and better way. He is a forerunner in ushering in the self-support and religious spontaneity so desirable in China." (January 18, 1887.)
"I thank the Board for remembering me. I fear, however, that the release came too late to be of much use in prolonging life and usefulness. When I awoke on the morning of June 30th, I was surprised beyond measure to find that some- thing serious had happened to me during my sleep. I could not get up. My left arm and leg seemed to have lost their cunning. I managed to get my feet to the floor, but my left foot could not bear my weight, and gravitation drew me to the floor. I could not rise without much help.
"I sent for Dr. Douthwaite, who, after examina- tion, told me that I had decided premonitory symptoms of paralysis. He cautioned me to be very careful, and expressed the opinion that in a few days I should be able to walk again." (Che- foo, July 15, 1887.)
Mrs. Yates, under the date of February 3, 1888, wrote :
"My husband is better, and walks without stum- bling, although not with elasticity and endurance. He looks remarkably well, and eats and sleeps like a laborer, yet he is not like his old self.
"I hope that the Board will accept his offer to give up his salary. It is not a new thought with
The Central China Mission. 83
either of us. It has been my heart's desire, these many years, to be self-supporting, and now, as we are fully able to be so, I hope that you will appro- priate our allowance to a new man for Chinkiang. "You know that during the American War we were thrown upon our own resources, without much expectation of being again connected with a Mission Board. My husband had no difficulty in earning more than enough for our support. Those savings, added to a small inheritance from my father, were invested in building lots. These have so risen in value that the income from them is ample for all our wants."
Kev. K. T. Bryan wrote to the Recorder: "I am afraid Dr. Yates overtaxed himself with the new house, planning, buying, and instructing me and the carpenter. Just four weeks before his death he came up here again to help me about the house. He arrived about midnight, February 18th, and seemed very tired.
"The next morning I heard a heavy fall, and, on running into his room, I found him lying on the floor. He was stunned by the fall and was unable to see. He told us that when he waked up he felt that the bed was turning over with him, and in his efforts to stay on, he fell off. The side of his head which he had struck in falling remained paralyzed until his death. He remained with us through the week, and on the 25th he returned to Shanghai. During this week he told me and the builder many things about the house.
84 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
"After another week I went down to see him. It was evident that he was sinking. One day, while rubbing his aching foot, I looked up and saw tears running down his cheeks; then he sobbed a few times. I wiped away the tears, and he said : 'So much work, and I can't do any of it!' I said, 'God can have it done.' He replied, 'But God needs men.' Shall these tears be disre- garded ?"
March 21, 1888, Bev. D. W. Herring wrote to the Recorder:
"Dr. Yates was buried on the afternoon of March 19th. The services were conducted by Dr. Gulick, Dr. Thompson, Pastor Wong and myself. A host of his friends — and no man here had more than he— were assembled on that beautiful spring day.
"After going twice around the world, up and down this great Empire, and through typhoons and shipwrecks, and through the dangers of two wars, he has left his body to lie here in this ceme- tery which he, more than any other man, had made a place of beauty.
"He said to me only a few days ago : 'The people at home want men to die on the field, and I am going to lay the foundation.'
"There has been only One who could say, 'It is finished.' But there have been few men who have approached more nearly to the completion of their life work. He had on hand his translation of the
The Central China Mission. 85
New Testament and the completion of the house in Chinkiang. The first copies of the former were delivered at the chapel as his body was borne from his house. The latter is well under way, and he left full directions for its completion."
Pastor Wong Ping San wrote:
"Our believing and being saved, and what we have been able to do for Christ's cause, is all through Pastor Yates' instruction and exhorta- tion. The time since his arrival in Shanghai is forty-one years. As a man he was faithful and true. As a preacher he was clear, and all men delighted to hear him. He treated the disciples as his children ; therefore, they honored him as a father. He toiled for the Master, and spared not his own money. He established churches at Quin- san, Soochow, and Chinkiang. For more than a decade of years he has had no time to rest. Laying here the foundations of the Lord's cause, the work has fallen on him, one man. His years being many, his strength failed. Last year, taking his sickness along with him, he proceeded with the translation of the Scriptures, forgetting that he was sick.
"Of us, the members of this church, there is not one who is not wounded and grieved at heart. His words of exhortation and prohibition, always timely, have been of immense benefit to us, and we cannot forget him."
From the human standpoint, Dr. and Mrs. Yates
86 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
were left largely alone, but they knew that they were not alone, and the results show that God was with them.
At the close of this period, the one main station had become two, Shanghai and Chinkiang, with two out-stations, Quinsan and Soochow. The one organized church of 28 members had become four with a membership of 125.
It is encouraging to note that the visible results of this period are four times larger than that of the first period. That was a time of seed-sowing, this the beginning of harvesting and a preparation for the enlargement of the next period.
Period of Enlargement — 1888-1909.
One of Dr. Yates' dying sayings was, "But God needs men." Mrs. Yates was spared six years after his death to see the beginning of the supply of that need. She gave up her salary and mission home, and lived with her daughter, Mrs. J. F. Seaman, but continued to be the good shepherdess of the native Christians and the Mother of the Mission- aries.
She believed in wise enlargement. On one occa- sion, while some young missionaries were arguing with her for enlargement in evangelistic work, she said : "Why are you arguing with me ? Go and open the new street chapel, and I will pay the expenses." She not only paid the opening expenses, but afterward made a contribution that continued
The Central China Mission. 87
to support this new work about a year after her death.
She joined her husband on March 24, 1894, to enjoy with him the rewards of a long life of loving service, leaving behind a host of sorrow-stricken hearts to mourn the loss of "Mother Yates."
The number of missionaries working in this period is so large that we cannot even introduce them. It would be a pleasing task to tell some of the things in which individuals have taken a lead- ing part, and what they are now doing, but the limits of this sketch will not permit us.
We have all been working together among our- selves and with the native co-laborers and native Christians. One sows, another reaps, and we all rejoice together.
During this period the number of missionaries has been greatly increased, the whole number having reached fifty-two. Only four have died during the twenty-one years, and only eight have resigned, leaving forty who are still missionaries of the Board. This is a record for which we are devoutly grateful and humbly proud.
The number of workers has not been enlarged more than the work in which they are engaged.
The Chinkiang Station was made a separate Mis- sion in 1889. There was a riot on February 5, 1889, and the Mission property was burned. The Chinese Government promptly paid an indemnity, and God moved on in the establishment of his Kingdom.
88 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
The Yangchow Station was opened on December 18, 1891, and the Church was organized with four members, two foreigners and two Chinese, on Feb- ruary 5, 1893. It was difficult at first even to rent a place, but in 1896 land was bought and a house built. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce moved into the first Mission-owned house on September 25, 1896. We now have five dwelling houses, one school building, one church building, one hospital, and one small building for woman's work, all of these with roomy grounds, and one large place for another dwelling house. The church has grown steadily, and now has nearly fifty members.
The Chinkiang Mission reunited with the Shang- hai Mission on January 14, 1897, and the two became the Central China Baptist Mission. In union there has been not only strength, but en- largement on all lines.
An Association of the churches of the Shanghai Mission had been organized in May, 1895. The two churches of the Chinkiang Mission joined, and rapid enlargement has followed. The three churches that began the Association have now become thirteen, and the one hundred and twenty- five members have increased to more than seven hundred, with many inquirers, and many more who are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven.
The missionaries have not given so large a pro- portion of their time to evangelistic work, but this has been greatly enlarged by the increased number of native evangelists. There are now quite a num-
The Central China Mission. 89
ber of out-stations occupied by our native co-labor- ers. The church members also are adding their contribution by personal work, and the Associa- tion has its Home Mission Board that employs one native evangelist.
The native Bible women are doing a great work among their sisters. Dear old Sister Dzung is constantly preaching the Gospel to the Chinese women.
The Mission was doing almost no school work at the beginning of this period, but the quality and quantity of the schools have been very greatly in- creased. There are now two boarding academies for girls and two for boys, and one each for girls and boys to be opened soon. Soochow is also planning to have a boarding school for girls. There are a number of day schools. This host of boys and girls, many of whom become Christians, and all of whom learn something of Christian truth, means much for the future. There were no training schools for women ; now there are three, in which many women are being trained to work for God.
After much preliminary consultation and prayer, a union in higher educational work was consummated in 1905 between the Northern and Southern Boards. Each Board has contributed f 40,000, TJ. S. gold currency; twenty-seven and one-half acres of land have been purchased ; seven buildings have been erected; a Theological Sem- inary of forty students has been established; a
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college was opened last year and has about fifty students; other buildings are being planned for the near future.
The enlargement and equipment of the work has kept pace with the increased number of workers. God has prepared us for a great harvest, and we are praying that it may soon come.
The sunset is beautiful and glorious, but it does not represent the outlook of this Mission. It re- minds of the song, "Work, for the night is com- ing." The sunrise is a better illustration of the future prospects. It comes to tell us that "the morning light is breaking, the darkness disap- pears."
The Central China Mission.
1. Main Stations —
(1) Shanghai.
(2) Soochow.
(3) Chinkiang.
(4) Yangchow.
2. Church Statistics —
(1) Churches, 16.
(2) Church buildings, 6.
(3) Membership, 818.
(4) Out-stations, 16.
(5) Sunday schools, 14.
(6) Sunday school scholars, 705.
3. Missionaries —
(1) Foreign, 33.
(2) Natives, 33.
The Central China Mission. 91
4. Schools —
(1) Day schools, 11.
(2) Shanghai Boys' Academy.
(3) Eliza Yates Memorial Girls' School (Shanghai).
(4) Cantonese Girls' School (Shanghai).
(5) Smith Bible School for Women (Shanghai).
(6) Boys' School (Soochow).
(7) Girls' School (Soochow).
(8) Girls' Boarding School (Yangchow).
(9) Boys' School (Yangchow).
(10) Shanghai Baptist College and Seminary.
5. Medical —
(1) Yangchow Hospital.
(2) Dispensary near Yangchow.
6. General —
(1) Work opened 1847.
(2) Residences for missionaries owned by the Board,
15.
CHAPTER V.
THE NORTH CHINA MISSION.
The North China Mission occupies two prefect- ural cities, Tengchow and Laichow. These are sub-capitals, with officials having jurisdiction over several counties. Another station is at Chefoo, a treaty port where international trade is con ducted. Our other tw^o stations are inland, and have a purely Chinese population. They are Hwanghien and Pingtu. The territory we influ- ence from these five stations is reckoned to con- tain a population of about five millions.
Laying the Foundations — 1860-1880.
Each successive war with a foreign power has had the effect of opening China wider to the gospel. Chefoo was opened to foreign trade and to mission- ary residence when peace was made with the French and English in the autumn of 1860. Mr. J. L. Holmes, a man of fine intellect and attractive personality, was the first to enter this field. The treaty port was new, the field was new and very inviting. But Mr. Holmes was destined to work in it less than a year. The long-haired rebels, with whom Mr. Holmes had conferred near Shang-
(92)
The North China Mission. 93
hai in their northward movement, affiliated with the roughs in Shantung, who were of a different and more diabolic temper. Mr. Holmes went out to parley with these over the safety of Chefoo and was cruelly slain by them, both he and his com- panion. Mrs. Holmes afterward joined the Teng- chow work, thus temporarily closing our station in Chefoo.
Dr. J. B. Hartwell, with his family, in the early months of 1861, with the true spirit of a pioneer, settled in Tengchow and began a great work for the Lord. The early years in Tengchow were attended with such difficulties as these : a strong prejudice against renting houses to foreigners, the fewness of the workers, country overrun by bandits, cholera epidemics, frequent invasions of missionary homes by death, and troubles incident to the Civil War in America, all of which the little band of American missionaries surmounted with a genuine heroism sustained by a sublime faith in their cause.
This period saw the organization of two churches, both in Tengchow. The charter mem- bers of those churches have largely passed to their home above, but a very few still remain, among the rest the man whose honor it was to be the first in Shantung to be baptized, a brother Wang of Tso Shu Tswang. A marked characteristic of our work in China has always been the slight demark- ation between the preachers and the laymen. In this period there was only one ordained preacher,
94 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
but there were quite a number of men whose evan- gelistic gifts were noteworthy, men who led souls to Christ. Perhaps of these the principal was Tsang Yun Te, for whose baptism the ice was cut in the Hwanghien moat, but whose heart was so warm that he led a multitude of his relatives and neighbors to the Lord. Although a plain farmer, his prayers were frequently continued to the small hours of the night.
The schools organized in this period had some characteristics which have largely passed away. They were less self-supporting, and the pupils nec- essarily were drawn largely or almost wholly from non-Christian families. It is not strange that the missionaries felt dissatisfied with their efforts in this department. But even about those schools there is one thing which ought to be indelibly burned into our memories. It is that out of those schools came men and women who are today our best workers and the brightest lights in our Shan- tung Baptist work.
During this period, Chefoo was again occupied by us for a short time. The family residing there was again compelled to leave on account of bad health.
When we reflect that during those two decades the North China Mission had only three men, one of whom lived less than a year after reaching the field, and another had his work cut short by sev- eral years on account of the illness of his wife ; and six women whose average service for the period is
The North China Mission. 95
only nine years, we are constrained to say, "What hath God wrought !" At the close of the period, we find that hundreds have been baptized, scores have taken the courses in schools, six or seven chapels for frequent evangelistic services have been opened in as many centers, that two churches have been organized, that Mr. Hartwell has cov- ered an enormous part of the country in his horse- back itineraries, and that his name is a household word ; that Mr. Crawford, in addition to his evan- gelistic work, has done some literary work of real value, many of his translations of hymns being in use to the present day. We find that Mrs. Craw- ford and Mrs. Holmes have taken the gospel story into hundreds of villages and thousands of homes, and that the Misses Moon had wrought w^ell in homes and schools. Did not the period begin with the martyrdom of one of our number? Was it not further sanctified by the death of Mrs. Hart- well and three of her children, and by the suffer- ings and loneliness of all the rest?
Tearing Up the Foundations — 1881-1889.
Mission methods have always been a live topic in North China. The missionaries after a time grew dissatisfied with their schools so largely sup- ported from America. They came also to doubt the wisdom of supporting evangelists and Bible women from mission funds. The chief argument against these was whatever ground there may
96 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
have been for the taunt, "rice Christian/' hurled at us by Chinese and foreigner alike. On the other hand, it was exceedingly difficult to give up these practices lest the work should be injured, for other denominations were continuing them. There were also members of our own Mission who did not feel so strongly. The revolutionists finally had their way. The schools were disbanded, and no money for the time went to the support of evan- gelistic work when done by Chinese.
The North China Mission existed for almost a quarter of a century with scarcely any change in its personnel. But since then, great changes have come. The young blood of our home churches has been poured into our Mission stations. There have been since our Mission was first organized in 1861, fifty-nine persons appointed to work in it. Of these, nine were appointed in the first twenty years and fifty have been appointed in the remain- ing twenty-eight years. This is surely very en- couraging. A goodly proportion of these rein- forcements came within the second period. There were the Bosticks, the Joiners, the Davaults, the Halcombs, the Pruitts, the Leagues, and others.
With the coming in of new life, there came growth. New stations were occupied. Hwanghien had been long talked of. Tours for preaching brought other places more and more into view. Gradually Hwanghien and Pingtu were elected. Hwanghien greatly appealed to Dr. Crawford, be- cause of its wealth and because many of his mem-
Yates Hall, Shanghai, China Yingtak Baptist Church
Pagoda Pagoda, Yangchow, China
Compound, Canton, China Carter Girls' School, Hwanghien, China.
The North China Mission. 97
bers lived in that country. The struggles to get a foothold there were interesting. Those rich Hwanghien men bought over or terrified every man that offered a house. And when at last the Mission was on the point of winning success, they tried three very powerful methods, all of which in this case failed. They had the middle man who negotiated the matter thrown into prison and severely beaten; they raised a mob to intimidate or kill the missionary, but fortunately he had left before the mob assembled ; they attempted to bribe the viceroy, Li Hung Chang, who is reported to have told them they were acting very foolishly. And so the house was rented. The first missionaries ap- pointed to that station, Messrs. N. W. Halcomb and C. W. Pruitt, both lost their wives before they could move. Then two others were appointed who went. But in this case, too, trial was in store. One of them, Mr. E. E. Davault, died shortly afterward, and the other, Mr. J. M. Joiner, broke down in health and returned to America. But the Mission was able to keep up the station. The opening of the Pingtu station, while falling slightly beyond the limit assigned to this period, belong to it quite truly. To a lady was given the honor of opening that very prosperous station, and that after the men of the Mission had failed. The Mission realized it was getting a prize in Pingtu. But when Miss Moon was invited to go out and look after some women who were inter- ested, the men of the Mission did not know they
7
98 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
were giving her the opportunity of accomplishing what they had tried, but had failed to do. She walked in so quietly, so unostentatiously, so smil- ingly, that the objectors either forgot to make objection or else they did not realize what she was doing till it was done. Truth compels that there be added to this statement the fact that she lived so humbly in a poor, unfurnished, hired Chinese house that it greatly preyed upon her health, and for a long time anxiety was felt about her. After this heroic opening, the Pingtu station has been occupied by families, first by Mr. T. J. League, and later by Mr. W. H. Sears and others.
The discussion of methods reached its climax when the missionaries composing the North China Mission, in 1893, mutually agreed to separate for the highest good of the work. The extremists, about twelve in number, decided to locate in Taianfu and other places in the west, and called themselves "Gospel Missioners." Our Mission was left in peaceable possession of all the old territory. Thus a long struggle was happily ended. Not that we never expect discussion of methods any more. We shall always have them. But happily such sharp divisions are not always necessary. The Gospel Missioners pulling out left the North China Mission weak, barely able to maintain the three stations then on our hands.
There were several reasons why the growth of this period was comparatively not equal to the growth of the first period. Many of the mission-
The North China Mission. 99
aries were new to the work, and most of their energies were devoted to learning the Chinese lan- guage. Schools and native helpers had been largely given up, and these are fruitful agencies in a mission work. This policy naturally some- what alienated the Chinese brethren, and in some cases, actually turned their energies toward build- ing up other denominations. Then, naturally, too great discussion of methods defeats its own end, too much energy being spent in discussion and not enough in aggressive work. But in spite of these reasons, two new churches were organized — one at Hwanghien and one at Saling in Pingtu.
Developing Our Plans— 1890-1900.
Dr. Hartwell, after several years work among the Chinese in the United States, returned to China to help reorganize our Mission after the separation of the Gospel Missioners. He came back to us ripe in experience and rich in spiritual life. He settled in Tengchow, where for a period of years he was a tremendous power as a preacher. His preaching was full of instruction, of good understanding of Chinese life, and of intense action just such as the Chinese enjoy. Dr. Hart- welPs return to Shantung marked the beginning of our third period.
It is astonishing how slowly conviction grows. It was a long time after the Gospel Mission separa- tion before the Mission took up its true policy and
100 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
started schools again. The old arguments must have time to become obscured in the mind. Our Chinese were widely scattered and wholly unfitted to bring their children together in school. The missionaries would be remiss should they fail in face of this plain opportunity. For the children to grow up in ignorance and idolatry would be a fatal mistake, and one from which the mission- aries would find it hard indeed to shift the respons- ibility. Our policy gradually grew clear and strong: a Christian education, at least to the ex- tent of being able to read the Bible, for every boy and girl of every Christian family in our connec- tion. We would try to enlist everyone, parents and others, in the support of these institutions. At first we started two schools — the one for boys at Hwanghien under the care of Mrs. Pruitt, and the other for girls, at Tengchow, under the care of Mrs. Hartwell.
Medical work had for a long time commended itself to the missionaries. We prayed for a man for Pingtu. We believed he would greatly bless the missionaries there, and at the same time open wider doors of usefulness. We hailed it as a good providence when Dr. H. A. Eandle, of the China Inland Mission, applied for appointment to that field. Although attached to the Pingtu station, Dr. Eandle was a decided strength to all our sta- tions. Dr. Handle's business ability was so fine that the medical work under his care was more than self-supporting.
The North China Mission. 101
Mr. John W. Lowe, in passing Laichowfu on his way from Pingtu to Hwanghien, felt profoundly stirred to open that great city and surrounding region to the gospel. Ever since its opening shortly afterward, he has been able to direct a tre- mendous amount of sanctified energy against its bulwarks of heathenism. Laichowfu is sixty miles west of Hwanghien, and thirty-three north of Pingtu. Like these, it is in the midst of a flourishing agricultural community. The situa- tion is admirable for evangelistic work. The opening of Laichowfu belongs to the transition between our third and fourth periods.
The New Era— 1901-1909.
We now reach a period of rapid expansion. This is due to several causes : The discussion of methods has practically subsided, leaving the Mission in a state of aggressiveness which is very helpful. The Boxer uprising has just passed, and its terrific advance either drove out or burned up much that hindered. All this synchronized with the coming into our Mission of a large number of very fine workers, both men and women. These consisted of doctors, nurses, unmarried women, and preach- ers. They come from many States of our South- land, and so we have mingled the aggressiveness of the West with the conservatism of the East.
The Boxer uprising was due to a strange blend- ing of political and religious causes. The Chinese
102 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
are not nearly so much disposed to persecution on account of religion as are some other people, but the fact that the missionaries had for nearly a cen- tury been protected by treaty had created a suspi- cion that our mission was a political one and that we were the forerunners of armies of aggression, and that the Chinese in becoming Christians be- came apostate to their own country. This sus- picion seemed confirmed when, on the murder of a German Catholic missionary in Shangtung, the Germans sieged Tsingtau, the finest port on our Shantung coast. This was followed by Kussia acquiring Port Arthur and Great Britain Wei- haiwei.
The Boxer secret societies grew with remarkable rapidity during the winter of 1899-1900. About them there were two remarkable things : one was their unalterable opposition to everything foreign — matches, cloth, religion, and all. The other was their fancy that faith in their protecting deity rendered them invulnerable against foreign bul- lets and swords. The movement reached such a frenzy by the spring of 1900 that it looked to many as if it must sweep everything before it. Its en- ergy was cyclonic, its dread was paralyzing, its influence all but universal in the Chinese Empire. One important man, Yuan Shih Kai, was, however, not swept off his feet, and coming, as he did, in the midst of the development to be governor of Shantung, practically saved the situation there. It was he who changed the edict from the throne,
The North China Mission. 103
"Kill all foreigners/' so as to read, "Protect all foreigners," and transmitted it so to all the officials under him. The Shantung missionaries owe their lives to him.
All our North China missionaries had to flee, some taking refuge in Tsingtau, some in Chefoo, and some in Japan, while one family whose fur- lough was at hand, returned for a period to Amer- ica. Those who fled to Chefoo suffered most, per- haps, on account of the crowded condition in that port. Thirty or forty people were crowded into Mrs. Seaman's summer home at Chefoo. The men patrolled the streets at night to prevent surprise, while the women took turns superintending the affairs of the large family. Our Chinese brethren suffered more. Among them were some martyrs. A number of others were imprisoned and re- peatedly beaten to induce them to recant, which they all refused to do. The mission houses at Pingtu were first looted and then torn down.
On account of the large number of faithful mar- tyrs on their list, Chinese Christians have ever since had a higher standing in the world. They have, consequently, been more aggressive. The Chinese government has, itself, felt the effect and determined upon reforms of the most wide-reach- ing importance. Among these may be mentioned the introduction of a constitution, with attendant legislative bodies and a public school system mod- eled on that of the West. It is impossible to over- estimate the importance of this last reform, involv-
104 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
ing, as it does, a curriculum as wide as that of our own schools, to replace the old, narrow curriculum which was hoary with age, and which was totally unsuited to the needs of modern life. Already we have seen some tremendous effects of this reform upon our mission work in Shantung. The mis- sionaries have a higher standing among the Chi- nese, and are frequently sought after for advice, and bright students are brought for instruction in our schools. Another very delightful result of the Boxer struggle is that missionaries are no longer looked upon with suspicion, but are everywhere regarded as true men. This grew out of the fact that our Western governments did not follow up their opportunity and divide China, as the Chinese supposed they would do. Indeed, the whole atti- tude toward Christianity is saner, and we believe more hopeful.
We are hoping to have a well-equipped school or academy for each sex at every one of our five stations. We have these schools in embryo now. They need developing and furnishing. The three oldest of these schools — the Girls' School at Teng- chow and the Boys' Schools at Hwanghien and Pingtu — have been doing fine work for years, The Pingtu school has turned out a noticeably large number of finely-equipped young men. The Hwanghien school has graduated fewer, but has some very fine workers among those who have taken its courses. We almost prize more the graduates of our Girls' School in Tengchow, who
The North China Mission. 105
are invading homes and doing more than any other class to break down the superstition of ages. In these various schools there is great hope for trained workers for the future. Among our church members there are none who understand quite so well the difference between superstition and true religion as do those who have gone through our schools.
For a long time our Mission had realized the necessity of special training for our constant workers. It was in May, 1903, that we determined to go forward with that work, and organize the North China Training School for Men. During the first two years, 1904 and 1905, the teaching was done in Tengchow, because of the fact that Hwanghien had no suitable buildings. Two of the missionaries, Drs. J. B. Hartwell and C. W. Pruitt, gave their entire time to this work. They were greatly pleased at the progress made by the students in spite of the fact that several of them were rather advanced in life. From the first, it was regarded as a training-school, and the stu- dents were led to undertake a great deal of prac- tical work among the heathen population. No step we have ever taken has so thoroughly ap- pealed to the Chinese brethren as the establishment of this school. They see in it the possibility of the Chinese getting a comprehensive knowledge of the Christian system from which circumstances had previously excluded them. It was in 1905, while working still in Tengchow, that the gladdening
106 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
news reached us that Hon. J. C. Bush, of Mobile, Ala., had given the handsome sum of ten thousand dollars for the buildings to be erected in Hwang- hien, and that the name of the institution was to be henceforth The Bush Theological Seminary. Our enthusiasm knew no bounds. We saw the hope of our institution living and blessing future generations of Chinese people. The Seminary has now turned out several classes, and quite a number of those who have taken the course are powerful preachers of the Word.
The Bible Woman's Training School at Lai- chowfu wras scarcely less needed than our Semi- nary. It is only necessary to state the need for Bible Women that it be realized. The Chinese women are secluded, shut in, kept to themselves, and so have no opportunity of hearing of our Lord unless the herald goes within the seclusion and there tells the story. Our Bible women, because of the truth having made them free, have a greater liberty, and move among the homes with great power and love. The Training School is to meet the needs of this class. It was organized some- what later than the Seminary, and has fewer stu- dents, but its drill is thorough and its usefulness already recognized. Miss Mary E. Willeford has had charge of the Training School from its organi- zation.
Dr. T. W. Avers was the first medical mission- ary to settle in Hwanghien. Shortly afterward, the First Baptist Church in Macon, Ga., contrib-
The North China Mission. 107
uted money for the hospital at Hwanghien, to be called the Warren Memorial Hospital, in memory of Dr. Warren, who was for many years the be- loved pastor of that church. The hospital occu- pies a sightly spot on the eastern side of Hwang- hien city. Some of its features may be mentioned : It has in-patients and out-patients. The latter simply sit in one of the waiting rooms till called for. After examination, they receive their med- icine, pay the fee, and take their departure, to come again or not as circumstances may require. The in-patients have more severe diseases, and are assigned a place in one of the rooms of the hos- pital. The room is the only thing given them except in the case of charity patients, who are not very numerous. The in-patients supply their own food, fuel, bedding, and nurses, if they require any, and pay for their medicines as do the out-patients. In addition to this, the wealthy among the patients and friends of the hospital make contributions once or twice a year towards the expenses of the institution. The waiting rooms, as well as the wards, are the scenes of very active and constant evangelistic effort. Miss J. L. Pettigrew, a trained nurse of great ability, has charge of the women's wards of this institution.
Dr. Oxner went to Pingtu in 1903 and entered upon the medical work. The demands were large, the equipment almost nil. The doctor was very conscientious and exceedingly anxious to accom- plish all he possibly could in his work. He plead
108 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
with the friends at home for equipment, but the means were insufficient. The burden under its trying circumstances was too much for him, and in April, 1907, he laid it down to join those who "rest from their labors.'' His appeal was not in vain, and the Oxner Memorial Hospital is being erected as an outcome in the city where he died. "He being dead, yet speaketh."
Dr. and Mrs. Huckaby came in 1904. That their hearts were in the work was the thorough convic- tion of every member of the Mission. After four short years, like Dr. Oxner, they both passed on to be with Christ. Another very pathetic point was that Dr. Huckaby was Mrs. Oxner's brother, this making her affliction a treble one.
The latest addition to our hospital equipment is the Mayfield-Tyzzer Hospital, which has just been completed at Laichowfu. This splendid building was contributed by Doctors Mayfield and Tyzzer, of St. Louis, Mo. Blessings be on these two gen- erous men !
Chefoo was occupied the third time in 1906. Mr. Peyton Stephens led in this occupation. His ex- perience in China peculiarly fitted him to under- take this work. In it he was joined by the Mor- gans, and together they have built up a very pros- perous work.
Problems and Progress.
Ancestral worship is more alive than any other part of the Shantung religion. It seems to be
The North China Mission. 109
most piously observed. In many cases hundreds of dollars' worth of paper is burned to furnish the dead parents with money and other things neces- sary for their comfort in the world of spirits. Yet it is difficult to say that even ancestral wor- ship is really founded on faith. These burnings so persistently practiced seem to have their motive in two sentiments — the one a desire to preserve Chinese institutions, the other a feeling of affec- tion for the departed. There is little evidence that they really believe the paper they burn is con- verted into spiritual money, furniture, and other needed articles, although theoretically they hold that doctrine.
In Shantung there are no separate country resi- dences, as we have them in America. Even country people all live in villages, and from there go out to work the land around them. These villages vary in size, the population ranging any- where from twenty or thirty to ten thousand. There are to them several advantages of living in villages, viz. : mutual protection against robbers ; less outlay for stock and agricultural implements, these being largely used in common ; greater econ- omy of land in buildings ; and greater opportunity to be neighborly, in which the Chinese excel. In the more densely populated districts these villages dot the plains in a most charming manner. From some eminence, hundreds may often be counted without shifting one's position.
Notwithstanding the density of population, in
110 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
Shantung, our more than two thousand members are scattered over six or seven counties. In num- bers of cases the nearest Christian neighbor is many miles away. Our Shantung membership being so widely scattered is one of the reasons why we do not ordinarily have protracted meetings, as usually held in America. Our membership cannot easily get together. In lieu of the protracted meeting, we have evangelistic and educational classes, in which a number of people come together frequently from great distances and study the Bible together for a period of ten or twenty days. Some of these classes are for inquirers and some for new Christians. All are highly used of the Lord in building up our work.
In modes of travel, the Shantung missionaries are at a disadvantage in comparison with our Central and South China Missions. The Shen tsze, or mule litter, is probably the most comfort- able. But even this is fearfully fatigueing and nauseating to many. This is due to its being carried on the backs of two mules, which often fail to keep step, or otherwise walk unevenly. But the Shentze affords good capacity for taking along the necessary bedding and other necessary equip- page for a Shantung journey. Other less attract- ive modes are the cart, muleback, donkeyback, and on foot. Chinese carts are clumsy, over fearfully uneven roads, and travel in them is attended with a great deal of danger.
From Chefoo to Pingtu, taking in our other
The North China Mission. Ill
stations en route, is only one hundred and seventy miles, but to make the journey requires as long a time as it would take you in a Pullman car to go from New York to San Francisco, and you must expend about five times the energy that journey would require. So it turns out that miles are not altogether a correct measure of distance.
In spite of these inconveniences, many mission- aries habitually make long tours for preaching. The motive thereto is various : to sow widely thq gospel seed, to look up people who are known to be interested, and to keep in touch with those who have been baptized. Frequently weeks are spent in this kind of travel, even in winter, when the mercury coquettes with zero and when the mis- sionary never sees a suggestion of fire for heating purposes day or night.
The Shantung people hold learning in high esteem. They almost worship the printed page. The characters which look so repulsive to the man of the West, to the Chinaman are sacred. Were they not wrought out by Confucius? Does not their use mean the widespread prevalence of his principles? Our missionaries are taking advan- tage of this love of literature to circulate the greatest of all literature. We keep a considerable number of colporters employed all the time. We are trying to sow down the whole land with Chris- tian publications. Our China Baptist Publication Society is a great blessing to the work in this respect,
112 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
In the present state of our work, there is a dom- inant note of hopefulness. Evangelism is decid- edly aggressive. There are many indications of a desire on the part of the Chinese to take up the work for themselves and push it. They have annu- ally from one to three associational evangelists, the present number being three. The last Asso- ciation was held in April, 1909. Nineteen churches reported. The total membership, including the Swedish Baptist work, was 2,421. Of these, 581 had been baptized since the preceding association, which, however, met in November, 1907. With this aggressive band of devoted workers, and with a thorough cooperation on the part of our Ameri- can churches, we have a large hope for the evan- gelization of Shantung.
The North China Mission.
1. Main Stations —
(1) Chefoo.
(2) Tengchow.
(3) Hwanghien.
(4) Laichowfu.
(5) Pingtu.
2. Church Statistics—
(1) Churches, 17.
(2) Membership, 2,223.
(3) Church buildings, 26.
(4) Out-stations, 49.
(5) Sunday schools, 44.
(6) Sunday school scholars, 1,770.
The North China Mission. 113
3. Missionaries —
(1) Foreign, 45.
(2) Native, 80.
4. Schools —
(1) Day schools, 58.
(2) Chefoo Girls' School.
(3) Tengchow Girls' Boarding School.
(4) Hwanghien Boys' Academy.
(5) Carter Girls' School (Hwanghien).
(6) Pingtu Girls' School.
(7) North China Institute (Pingtu).
(8) Girls' School (Laichowfu).
(9) Boys' School (Laichowfu).
(10) Woman's Training School (Laichowfu).
(11) Bush Theological Seminary (Hwanghien).
5. Medical —
(1) Warren Memorial Hospital (Hwanghien).
(2) Mayfield-Tyzzer Hospital (Laichowfu).
(3) Oxner Memorial Hospital (Pingtu).
6. General —
(1) Work opened 1860.
(2) Residences for missionaries owned by the Board,
13.
8
CHAPTER VI.
THE INTERIOR CHINA MISSION.
A little child of five years, who has been reason- ably healthy, who has not been specially bad, and who has not been remarkably good, cannot be said to have much history which is of interest to out- siders. It is intensely interesting to the parents, but as its past is so much the same as others, under the same circumstances, even its brothers and sis- ters care little to hear its doings rehearsed. But this much may be said for the child, while there has scarcely been any past, or history, there is a present which is daily full of interest, and there is beyond, a future, possibly most glorious, the visions of which only the eye of God has caught in its perfectness, the fulfillment of which he will be bringing to pass as the child is able to bear it. So the Interior China Mission of the American Southern Baptists in China appears to us who have labored in it during the five years of its existence.
In different places and at different times, Mr. Sallee and Mr. Lawton felt very much burdened for the great mass of Chinese in the far interior. Not that our fields in South, Central, and North China were fully manned, not that the work (ii4)
The Interior China Mission. 115
already begun was not offering wonderful oppor- tunities for service, not that there was a desire to undertake the new and difficult work, and not that there were absolutely no missionaries in the interior, but for the fact that workers in the inte- rior were far fewer than on the coast, owing prob- ably to the fact that the coast cities have been accessible to missionaries for about one hundred years. Also that millions interior had not had the opportunity of hearing the gospel once in a lifetime. Then, too, Honan, as many provinces long ago have done, is waking up to the fact that she must have Western learning, or be relegated to the background, and she is reaching out in every direction for the new. If she is not given Christ at this time, we must look for a Honan not Chris- tian, but agnostic. Sad to say, she is not asking for true religion, and to all appearance does not want it, "but not those that desire Him most, but those that needed Him most, appealed most strongly to Jesus." How great the need that true Christians live and teach Christ in such a way that they must say, "I want what you have." The greatest and most compelling reason for taking Christ to Interior China is that Christ commanded his disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. We, as Southern Baptists, want to take Christ to all China as much as in us lies. So Mr. Lawton and Mr. Sallee cov- eted that our Southern Baptists embrace this opportunity to work together with God in carry-
116 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
ing the gospel into this stronghold of Chinese heathenism.
Mr. Sallee came to China in 1903 and found Mr. Lawton feeling as he did about interior mission work. After consultation with the Central China Mission, they started on an extensive trip in the interior through Hupeh, Honan, and return- ing to the coast through Kwangtung. They trav- eled two hundred miles on foot and many hundred by small native boats. They were escorted through difficult places by soldiers, in order that no harm might come to "Uncle Sam's" subjects so far interior. Later they took a trip into Honan, and were directed to Chengchow, which is the very heart of the Honan province. It is at the junction of the great railroad running from Peking to Han- kow, to be continued to Canton, and another road to run from the east coast into the great northwest, thus making the one-time little city of Chengchow a future great interior city, where the four quar- ters of China meet on common ground. In these five years since the coming of the railroad and the missionaries, a strong city has been built up out- side the west gate. This, together with the old city and the densely populated villages, offers to our Southern Baptists a unique vantage ground from which to influence a vast section of Interior China.
After a location was decided upon, the next thing was to rent property. A few years ago a foreigner could scarcely enter some Honan cities,
The Interior China Mission. 117
much less rent property, but God seemed to pre- pare the hearts of some of the Mohammedans to rent property to our missionaries, and the task was to make these native Chinese houses habitable for Mrs. Lawton and the children. After a partial preparation was made, Mrs. Lawton came from a comfortable foreign house to live in a native house in Chengchow. Gladly did she begin this new work, not thinking of personal comfort, wanting to help these new people among whom she had come to live.
Besides regular preaching services, every oppor- tunity was used to make the people understand the "New Doctrine." As in the beginning of the gospel, the common people heard the word gladly. Strange to say, among those who heard were a number of Mohammedans. It is generally con- ceded that the Mohammedans are the hardest people in the world to be reached by the Gospel. The Lord seemed to do a work in the hearts of a few, and in a short while there were two Moham- medans asking for baptism. They received in- structions for many months before they were received for baptism. It was a happy time for the foreigners when the baptismal waters were first troubled in Chengchow. Since this others have been baptized, and a church of twenty-eight mem- bers has been organized.
The work among the women was rather slow, owing to the fact that for three years there was no woman able to devote her entire time to them,
118 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
but all along there were some asking the way and several have been baptized. One of these, an old woman, gives evidence of a great desire to see others saved, and she enjoys telling the gospel to her lost friends, and God is using her efforts. O for fifty consecrated Chinese women to spread the Gospel News!
There have been two Sunday schools kept up in Chengchow, and also two day schools. The chief object of these day schools is to teach the Bible, but secular books are also taught. Some bright pupils have been discovered in these day schools, and it is hoped that we may be able to increase the number of the day schools, making them feeders for the higher schools.
Five regular out-stations have been opened, and regular visits made to other places, which seem ready for the gospel. These latter cannot be opened, as there are no available native evangelists to station there. The Interior Mission has seven native evangelists engaged in the work, either in the hospital, book-rooms, or out-stations. Mr. and Mrs. Herring's return from the Gospel Mission has added materially to the evangelistic force. Besides doing much of the regular preaching, Mr. Herring has preached in scores of the country vil- lages.
Dr. Louthan has fitted up a native building in Chengchow, for a temporary hospita1, where he can accommodate forty patients. He has opened three of the five out-stations above mentioned,
The Interior China Mission. 119
where he is regularly preaching and healing. The first year the hospital was opened he had about three thousand patients and preached to many more. Only God can tell the far-reaching influ- ence of a missionary doctor as he goes about heal- ing diseases and ministering to sin-sick souls.
As Chengchow was such an important place and not occupied by any other mission, it was decided to settle there first, but with the view of pressing on to the capital city, Kaifeng. Feeling that Kaifeng was the place to locate the principal schools of the mission, and that the time was ripe for opening such work, and as Mr. and Mrs. Sallee had been set apart for school work at least for some years, it was decided that they move to Kai- feng, which is located forty-five miles due east from Chengchow. Not only the mission felt that it was time to begin such work, but when Dr. Willingham visited us in 1907, he thought it a great opportunity. In September, 1908, Mr. and Mrs. Sallee rented a native house in Kaifeng and moved from Chengchow, where their first friends among the Chinese had been made, and their first work in China had been done.
From September until Chinese New Year new friends were being made ; Mrs. Sallee, especially, was being looked at critically by the natives who were not used to foreign women. They were not quite sure but that she would scoop out their children's eyes for medicine. The gospel story was being told to the multitude for the first time ;
120 ^southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
and arrangements being made for opening the schools.
At the beginning of the Chinese New Year the Academy was opened with nearly thirty boys in attendance. A small school for girls was opened in the crowded quarters of Mrs. Sallee's own court. Fear that the foreigner would eat the children keeps many girls out of the Christian schools. This must be lived down. Our girls' schools must look to the Christians of the homeland for support until Honan wakes to the fact that her daughters deserve as much and as good education as her sons, and that there is no more likelihood of the for- eigner eating girls than boys. We were success- ful in renting good quarters for the boys' school, which afforded ample room. The women of Texas agreed to raise $3,000.00 for the erection of the first girls' school for the Interior China Mission, to be known as the "Annie Jenkins Bailee School for Girls." The Board granted permission, and half the money is already in the treasury of the Interior Mission, the remainder will be quickly coming, and we hope the school will be built soon.
The Board of the Southern Baptist Convention owns ten acres of land outside of Chengchow city, upon which two comfortable foreign houses have been built, a hospital compound, upon which the building is to be erected very soon; land for three more foreign residences, together with Mary Lawton Memorial Woman's Home, given by the Lawton brothers.
The Interior China Mission. 121
A field of ripened grain wasting and rotting, be- cause the gleaner delays his coming, attracts every- one's pity, if not sympathy ; but Honan does not present such a scene; no, would that it did! How strongly it would appeal to the multitude for help, but it is like a field of flint. The workman picks away through the long hours of the day, and when night comes how much has he accomplished ? The second day? the third? one year? two? Is the pick dull? Is there some other method? The chips are very few. Why is it? Because it is flint. We have kept back the gospel so long that these flinty hearts must bear the gospel many, many times before it seems to make any impres- sion. To hear that there is a true God who sees and cares is all so mysterious that it must be told over and over until it can begin to enter into their thoughts and become a part of their very beings. Some hear once, some return to hear again, but many never get beyond the first truths. Today we need men and women who are willing to tell over and again the same Old Story, but in His power to tell it with newness and vigor.
There are four men and four women in the Inte- rior China Mission. Miss Mclntyre, who has been out only a few months, is devoting her time to the study of the language, and rightly so. Mrs. Her- ring a,nd Mrs. Lawton have interesting families of six children each. God has given them a great work to do for Him in rearing these in a special way for him. But their hearts are fully in the
122 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
work, and they find many ways of helping the Chinese, both by their examples in the home and by leading women's and children's meetings when possible. This leaves only five to give their entire time to the millions who are depending upon them for Gospel teaching.
See a tract of land about the size of the State of Missouri, containing the population of Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, and you will be able to gain some conception of Honan and her dense popula- tion of 22,000,000 people, then think of three or four families as the representatives of our South- ern Baptist Convention. What should our people do about this?
In one of the great power houses which controls the water supply of Chicago there are two tremen- dous wheels, twelve or fourteen feet in diameter. These wheels almost make one dizzy with their constant whiz and with the number of other wheels set in motion by them. Underneath all this great machinery there is a man hidden away, a man greasy and dirty, but from this place, all unno- ticed, he commands every part of this great ma- chinery. So in Honan, there must be not only a man underneath, but there must be many men and women who are willing to hide themselves away in the dark interior and labor unseen and unsung with one hand holding to the poor heathen and the other laying hold to the Throne of Power.
The Interior China Mission. 123
"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it."
The Interior China Mission.
1. Main Stations —
(1) Chengchow.
(2) Kaifeng.
2. Church Statistics—
(1) Churches, 1.
(2) Members, 28.
(3) Out-stations, 5.
(4) Sunday schools, 2.
(5) Sunday school scholars, 75.
3. Missionaries —
(1) Foreign, 8.
(2) Native, 9.
4. Schools —
(1) Day schools, 3.
(2) Boys' School (Kaifeng).
(3) Annie Jenkins Sallee School for Girls (Kaifeng).
5. Medical — Dispensary at Chengchow.
6. General —
(1) Work opened in 1904.
(2) Residences of missionaries owned by the Board, 2.
(3) Mary Lawton Memorial Woman's Home (Chen-
chow).
CHAPTER VII.
THE AFRICAN MISSION.
Country and People.
Southern Baptist mission work is conducted among the Yoruba tribes in Nigeria, West Coast of Africa. Being in the tropics, the climate is always warm, but nicely tempered by sea breezes. In January and February, however, there is a dry, cool wind, called "Harmattan," blowing from the north, filling the air with a kind of mist, or dust, some say, from the desert, which is very dis- agreeable, and to the natives, cold. The usual range of temperature is between 70 and 95 de- grees.
In the main a high and rolling country, with few swamps, except on the coast, one would ex- pect health, yet along with Sierra Leone, it has been long known as the white man's grave. The percentage of mortality and break-downs is still very great.
The people are pure negroes, but as negroes they are a fine-looking people. They are all shades of black, from exceedingly black to quite light color, mahogany color, yellow, and so on. There are
(124)
The African Mission.
125
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126 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
very few mixed with white blood, except on the coast, and in the railroad towns. Possibly much of the light color we see among the pure negroes is of Arabian origin, but it is very ancient. Much more of it is seen among some interior tribes, as among the Fulahs. Many people think that the pure negro is a very ugly fellow, and that our American negro is a great improvement on the pure African negro. But this is a mistake. If there is a difference, the African negro is the better looking of the two. They are frequently quite delicate of form and feature, and are a nice looking people, with, of course, the negro features. The Brazil negroes are called Portuguese, and speak the Portuguese language as well as the Yoruba.
It is estimated that there are about four million people speaking the Yoruba language. They live in villages, town, and cities. There are cities from ten thousand up to two hundred thousand inhabitants. But they are mere collections of native houses, and not streets lined with business houses. Business is transacted in large markets held in the open or under trees and booths. Then there are large markets held at certain places every five or seven days, where people from all parts of the country gather to do business. Some come several hundred miles to these markets, making one or two trips a year. Some of these markets are cities of booths, uninhabited except
The African Mission. 127
on market days. Goods from every part of the world may be found in these markets.
The houses are made of clay built into the walls while soft, and allowed to dry in layers. The walls are about seven or eight feet high, and the rooms seven or eight feet square. A series of these rooms is built around an open court, the rooms opening into a piazza which opens into the court. The rooms and piazza are covered with a high, steep roof of poles and grass. There are no windows, and only small doors. The floor is of beaten earth, which is washed once a week with a native composition which keeps it hard and smooth. Their only furniture is grass mats and skins of animals, on which they sit or sleep. Sometimes they have small stools, not to mention gin boxes and the like. In these days the lead- ing chiefs have a few chairs which are furnished to white men who call upon them.
They are an industrial people, working at farm- ing and many trades. There are cloth weavers, mat, basket, pottery makers, cloth dyers, leather workers, gourd carvers, blacksmiths, wood work- ers (making hollowware, doors, carved posts, tool handles, etc.), tailors, builders (building house walls is a trade), and traders, who make trading expeditions to their large markets for trade. Most of their work is crude, but it an- swers their purposes. Nearly every one does some farming, whatever else he does. Their ideas of work suitable for men or women are not so far
128 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
different from our own, except that women are burden bearers. Men carry burdens, too, and heavier ones than women can carry very often, but if there is but one load between a woman and man, the woman would expect to carry it, though often the man would take his turn.
In honor, the man is always preferred, and yet they show great respect for their women, espe- cially the younger men for the older women, and the women exercise great influence. Showing re- spect for seniority runs all through the family and social life of the people. All sewing and nearly all weaving is done by men, though women make one kind of cloth. Most of the selling in the markets, but not all, is done by women. With few exceptions, the men do the farming, but the women help to gather the harvest and carry it to town. Women are the potters, and they do the cloth coloring. Women are seldom idle, partly because the most of their work is at home. Men are often idle, partly because when at home in town they are absent from their work, and have nothing special to do.
Everything, including cats and dogs and field rats, is used for food. All food except fruits is cooked, and their cooking is quite complicated and extensive.
They are pagans, worshipping a great many idols, including the devil. Not very many are represented by images. A great many natural objects, such as trees, rocks, rivers, snakes, etc.,
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The African Mission. 129
are worshiped, as containing the spirit of the god or of some person long dead. They believe in multitudes of spirits, good and bad, whose favor must be obtained or anger placated by prayer and sacrifice. They also often worship the spirts of their ancestors. The rulers, especially, once a year offer sacrifice at the graves of all their predecessors. They will tell us that the visible object worshiped is so worshiped only as contain- ing the spirit of the god or person, and they use a different name for the visible object and the spirit, but these are often confounded, and it is doubtful if the distinction is always made in their thought. Their worship consists in placing blood, some unused portions of the animal, food and money (a small shell) upon the object wor- shiped or place of worship, and in genuflections and forms of words and sometimes dancing. They observe also annual feasts to individual gods.
The country is under English rule, but, with few exceptions, the native rulers are left in con- trol with certain limitations, and always subject to the English officers.
A railroad is now built from Lagos to Ilorin. about 300 miles, and will, some time, be extended to the far interior. Under English direction, roads have been built in many parts of the coun- try, and on some of these there is an automobile service. All this is in great contrast to bush paths, absence of all convenience, wars, dangers to life and property of twenty-five years ago.
9
130 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions. Our Work Previous to 1875.
Our first work in Africa was in Liberia, 1,000 miles west of the Yoruba country, and was carried on by colored missionaries.
In 1821 Lott Carey and Colin Teague, of Kicii- mond, Va., were sent as missionaries to the negro colonists in Liberia by the Old Triennial Conven- tion, and began their work in Monrovia, West Africa. The work from the very first showed great prosperity. Carey proved himself to be a great leader, and the Mission to Africa was a most gratifying success.
As soon as the Southern Baptist Convention was organized the eyes of the Foreign Mission Board were turned toward Africa. A report adopted at the meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1846, in Bichmond, Va., summa- rized the progress already made.
"Twenty-five years ago a little church of only seven members, with Lott Carey as pastor, was organized in an upper room of a private dwelling in this city. That church is now the first Baptist Church of Monrovia. It has become the mother of some seven to ten churches, and also of the Providence Baptist Association of Liberia. Since that period, hundreds of colored Baptists have emigrated from this country, and settled perma- nently in the land of their forefathers. They will gladly cooperate with the Board of this Conven- tion, and particularly with the vast numbers of
The African Mission. 131
their colored brethren in the Southern States, in spreading the gospel over that benighted country."
In the fall of this same year the Eev. John Day and Eev. A. L. Jones were appointed as mission- aries to Liberia.
Finally, after much correspondence, in 185G the Northern Board transferred its Mission in Liberia to the Southern Baptist Convention, and Southern Baptists watched with peculiar interest the progress of their missionary endeavors in the "dark continent." The work grew so rapidly that in 1861 there wTere twenty-four churches with a membership of 1,258. It had proved to be one of the most fruitful fields of the Convention.
"In these fields," said one Board report, "more than a thousand believers have been baptized by our missionaries. For the number of stations and the extent of the field, these missions have been less expensive, and in the number of acces- sions, more remunerative, than any under our control."
Then the war came on, and the Board was forced to withdraw its support, and the native churches were thrown upon their own resources. The missionaries and other leaders heroically de- termined to keep up the work as far as possible, even though they had no support from the Board. Too much cannot be said of the way these mis- sionaries sacrificed during that trying time, and even after the war, when the Board was so im-
132 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
poverished that it could not send help to these needy missionaries, they still held on.
In 1871 the Board resumed the work in Africa, but the lack of funds made it impossible to carry forward the work in a very adequate way. Fin- ally, in 1875, because the Board thought that it was possible to enter the central portion of Africa more advantageously through the Yoruba coun- try, the work in Liberia was abandoned, and thus was closed sadly a brilliant chapter in our mis- sionary history.
About 1850 T. J. Bowen and Henry Goodale entered Liberia with a view to starting work in the far interior, perhaps back of Yoruba land. While in the interior of Liberia Goodale died, and Bowen returned to the coast and sailed to Badagri, the then English port of the Yoruba country. Bowen was very anxious to get to the far interior back of the Yoruba country, where he believed there were healthy highlands. After a great many hardships and difficulties, and be- ing prevented by native chiefs from getting be- yond the Yoruba country, he returned to America for more missionaries. Beaching Africa again, he established work at Ijaiye, Ogbomoso, and later at Oyo, all interior cities of the Yoruba country, and where there were no others working. Needing communication with Lagos, on the coast, the missionaries later occupied Abeokuta, which was already occupied by others. In the meantime, about 1850, the English had interfered in a
The African Mission. 133
native quarrel in Lagos, putting an anti-slave trade claimant on the throne, and after some years, Lagos became English headquarters. Our work in the Yoruba country really began with the settlement of Brethren Bowen and co-laborers . at Ijaiye in 1854. The time previous to this had been spent by Bowen in finding out where we could work, and in the return home for mission- aries. Ijaiye was one of the largest and most im- portant towns of the country, and was the home of the then chief military officer of the whole country. Work was opened in Ogbomoso in 1855. This also was one of the larger cities of the coun- try. Soon after 1855 we had eight men and five women on the field. But West Africa was to prove true to its reputation as the white man's grave, for very soon six of these were in African graves, and several had been compelled to return home. Yet the work was progressing. Cheap mission houses and chapels were built at our several stations, and work was being done in three cities and four stations.
In 1864 our colored missionary, Harden, who had been removed from our Liberian Mission and stationed at Lagos, died. Mrs. Keid had died at Ogbomoso, Mrs. Philips at Ijaiye, and several others at other points.
In 1860-61 war against Ijaiye by the rest of the Yoruba country, led by the large city of Iba- dan (200,000 inhabitants), resulted in the de- struction of the city, the killing or capture of
134 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
large numbers of its inhabitants, and the disper= sion of the rest.
Ten thousand or more of these settled in Abeo- kuta, which was not a Yoruba city, and it is among these in that city our chief work was car- ried on for many years. Thus our main work was destroyed. Brother Stone, who had been captured by the Ibadans in the beginning of the war, and had made his escape, brought the na- tive children of the mission to Abeokuta, where Philips was already at work. During this time, Reid, being cut off from all communication from the outside, was shut up alone in Oyo for twenty- seven months, having to live and dress as do the natives. I have heard some of the native Chris- tians, who were children then, tell of Reid's sur- prising appearance when he finally got away and reached Abeokuta. Clark had been located at Ogbomoso, but in 1859-60 he gave up the work.
About 1865 a great persecution broke out in Abeokuta, in which all mission property and prop- erty of the Christians was destroyed, or stolen, and the Christians and missionaries were driven out and greatly mistreated. Philips was one of these. All escaped to Lagos, the missionaries be- ing taken by force by the natives, and greatly persecuted on the way. This practically des- troyed all our work except at Lagos, though there were still a few unbaptized converts at Ogbomoso and Abeokuta. Clark had left a very good house, nicely furnished and a fine case of books at Ogbo-
The African Mission. 135
moso, which were nearly all taken by the natives. Even the marble slab at Mrs. Keid's grave was broken up, taken away and sold for grinding stones. In 1868 Philips gave up the work, and in 1869 Stone's health completely failed so that he was compelled to retire. Thus our work had practically ceased in 1869 except the few converts left principally in Lagos. These, M. L. Stone, a boy trained by missionary Stone, whose name he took, held together until we again had a mission- ary on the field.
The Mission After 1875.
A little before 1875 God moved upon the heart of W. J. David, of Meridian, Miss., to offer him self for our work. He was born in 1850, and did a great work in Africa for fourteen years. He was really the founder of our present work, having no advantage over the mission- aries beginning a new work, except that he found a few converts, and a young man reafly at hand to help him. David and Colley (a colored man sent by the colored churches) sailed in January, 1875, for West Africa. By direction of the Board, David closed up our work in Liberia, and before the close of the year he and Oolley had begun to re-open our work in the Yoruba country. David found a young carpenter, M. L. Stone, preaching to the converts in Lagos, and working at his trade for a living. David em- ployed him as a mission worker, and he has been
136 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
the very first of our native preachers ever since. He is today the pastor of the large self-supporting church at Lagos.
As soon as possible David visited Abeokuta and Ogbomoso, reorganizing the work. Until then, since the persecution above mentioned, white men had not been allowed to enter Abeokuta, and traveling was still dangerous. David found a few converts at each place and baptized a number, whom he organized into churches. Later he placed Stone in charge at Ogbomoso. Most of the con- verts he found at Abeokuta proved worthless, but those at Ogbomoso had kept up services all those years under a large tree in the mission yard, and became the foundation of our highly successful work there. A large proportion of our native workers have come from the Ogbomoso church.
Colley, our colored missionary, retired from the work in 1879. In the meantime David had re- turned home in broken health. Having recovered his health and married, he and Mrs. David re- turned to Africa in 1879.
In 1882 P. A. Eubank, a graduate of the Semi- nary at Louisville, and Mrs. Eubank sailed for Africa. In their first year they had a very serious time with the African fever. They under- took to settle at Abeokuta, and did for a time, but so uncomfortable was the house, and so un- sanitary the surroundings, their health became impaired, and they were compelled to return to Lagos. Later, in 1884, when the Davids were
The African Mission. 137
compelled to return home to recuperate health, the Eubanks were needed to take charge in Lagos. In those days it was necessary that we have a missionary located at Lagos. It is not so now.
In October, 1884, W. W. Harvey and wife, S. M. Cook, and C. E. Smith reached Lagos Decem- ber 15, two months after sailing from New York.
We were all put to work at once preaching, but through interpreters. Nearly all missionaries then of all societies preached through interpre- ters. Most of them had not been in the work long enough to use the language in public speech.
The Davids returned to Africa in March, 1885, in such an exceedingly small sailing ship that it was a wonder to me they could cross the ocean in it. The ship carried materials for the new church then being built in Lagos. It had no other cargo, so it came straight to Lagos. Soon after this the Harveys and the writer located at Abeokuta; Cook, the Davids, and Eubanks remaining in Lagos. The writer was very much troubled with fever for the first year, but fared better the rest of his stay in Africa. Harvey had splendid health the first year, then his health gave way, and after struggling on for awhile, he was compelled to re- turn to America, and after a few years he died from the effects of the African climate. After a little more than a year, Cook returned home, but returned to Africa several times to look after the mission work which he carried on independently. On a recent visit he died of the dreaded black water
138 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
fever in Ibadan, where a church house has been built to his memory.
Near the end of 1885, there being a little disturb- ance in our church at Ogbomoso, and it having been a long time since the station had received a visit from a missionary, I made that city a visit. I had to pay a chief at Abeokuta |25.00 in goods to be allowed to travel twenty-five miles of the journey and for protection. The rest of the two hundred miles was free, except the paying of tolls at various points. At the little town of Eruwa, surrounded by mountains, I was met by Chris- tians from Ogbomoso who had come to guide me and carry my loads. I shall never forget the cordial welcome they gave me, saying many times, "Baraka," "Baraka," which means peace.
On the morning of the fourth day, after meet- ing these friends, and six days after leaving Abe- okuta, I reached Ogbomoso, where our native brother, Lewis O. Fadipe, was in charge, and who gave me a hearty welcome. I had had a hard journey, and had been sick part of the time, and the night before I had slept in a hut where the water from a hard rain poured into one corner of the room by buckets full. Before I left Ogbomoso, I had a hard siege of fever. I found at Ogbomoso a little church of twenty members. I preached in the little thatched roof, mud wall chapel. It was crowded to suffocation, and crowds stood outside at the windows and doors. They were not used to the white man then, most of
The African Mission. 139
them having never seen one. Wherever I went crowds were at my heels. I could not eat in private, and scarcely sleep in private for the crowds would not leave me. Times have quite changed now, and a white man is scarcely noticed. I remained one month and baptized twelve con- verts.
In June, 1885, Mrs. David was taken ill, and in an effort to save her life, Brother David started home with her. In a few days she fell asleep in Jesus, and her remains were buried in the ocean off the "Gold Coast." Her last words to the stricken husband were, "Don't give up Africa." Brother David proceeded to America, bringing his little girl, Nettie, and the babe a few weeks old. Every one loved Mrs. David. Hers was one of the most beautiful Christian characters.
In March, 1886, Miss Cynthia Elba Morris, of St. Genevieve County, Mo., who had taken lectures at the Seminary in Louisville two sessions, came to Africa, and was married to the writer.
While at home, David married and returned with his bride to Africa. Soon afterward my wife and I located at Abeokuta, where we labored for two years, building a much needed church house, establishing a day school, and making con- siderable progress in the work. It was soon after locating here, and twenty months after entering the country, that I began to preach in the native tongue.
In 1887 the condition of our work in Ogbomoso
140 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
was such as to require a missionary to be located there, and I was asked to go. Though there was a war of many years standing going on, and the country was full of war parties and robbers, we undertook the journey. There was no decent house to live in, and the only fairly decent room we had was so small that our bed, a large English one, took up about four-fifths of the space. Grass roof, clay walls and floor, two small openings for windows, with wooden shutters, and a clay and stick ceiling made up our palace. Here my wife had a long siege of fever. And to add to our har- rowing experiences, people were brought to us, the first ones in the middle of the night, cut to pieces by war, kidnapping and robber parties, for us to dress their wounds. To add to all our other difficulties one of our members made trouble with our native evangelist and led three-fourths of the members away. They did not return for over a year.
Not long before this a faction had occurred in the Lagos church which took away three-fourths of the members there. These were dark times, but all has worked out to the furtherance of the cause. We had scarcely settled at Ogbomoso and the Eubanks had not yet gone to Abeokuta, where they expected to locate, when the Davids broke down and were compelled to return home. The Eubanks had to remain in Lagos, and Abeokuta was again left alone. We had so few trained na-
The African Mission. 141
tive workers then that it was far worse for these places to be left without a missionary than now.
In July, 1888, Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Newton and three of their children (Miss Newton as a mis- sionary), and W. T. Lumbley and wife reached Lagos. My wife and I went to Lagos to meet them, and to bring the Lumbleys with us to Ogbo- moso. Some of the chiefs gave us much trouble on the way down, and we had to pay considerable money to be allowed to pass. While in Lagos making my arrangements to return, my wife was suddenly stricken with "blackwater" fever, and died the third day. Soon after I started back to Ogbomoso by way of Abeokuta, taking the Lum- bleys with me. On reaching Abeokuta the chiefs would not allow us to pass beyond, though they had promised me we could do so, and I had paid them for the privilege. So, leaving the Lumbleys with the Eubanks at Abeokuta, I returned to Lagos and started back by the route I had come down. Again I had a great deal of trouble with the chiefs, and had to pay for the privilege of passing. Finally I reached Ogbomoso and en- tered my home, a home full of sad reminders.
I labored on alone until I was taken danger- ously ill. No one but natives were near me, and all communication practically cut off by the wars. After a long time, one of my notes passing from hand to hand, reached Eubank at Abeokuta, and by paying $25.00 for the privilege he was allowed to pass under special restrictions, and came to
142 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
me. In the meantime, Brother Pinnock, then with the Wesleyans at Ibadan, seventy miles from me, had come and spent a week with me. I was now in broken health, after five years in Africa, and was ordered home.
I spent eighteen months at home, and before returning (1891) was married to Miss Lucy Shen- stone. About 1891 the Eubanks returned home, and having no home in which to place their child, they resigned the work. In 1892 the Newtons took a vacation in America, and after returning to Africa, Mr. and Mrs. Newton fell victims to the blackwater fever, Brother Newton dying at sea in the beginning of 1903. A few years after- ward, Miss Newton, then Mrs. SutcHffe, died in Lagos of the same fever.
Some time in 1891 S. G. Pinnock and wife came to us from the Wesleyans, and located in Oyo, Keid's old field.
I had always tried to do some training work, but a few years ago I undertook a theological training school at my own expense. Later, the Board undertook the support of the school, and now we have a good school, and fairly good, but inexpensive buildings at Ogbomoso.
After I had been in Africa twenty-two years, and my wife sixteen years, my wife's health failed, and we were compelled to return to this country. Since then my own health has gone so that we are compelled to-remain here indefinitely. In 1906 Brother Lumbley, who had labored in
The African Mission. 143
Africa nearly twenty years, broke down in health, and returning to England with his wife, he sud- denly passed away. Mrs. Lumbley is still labor- ing in Africa trying to carry on the work she and her husband had been doing. In 1901 L. M. Duval and wife came to our work, and began work at Saki, a large town in the northwestern part of the country, where they are still working, and in conjunction with E. G. MacLean, a recent addition to our forces, are carrying on an industrial school. In 1905 Mr. and Mrs. Compere, of Arkansas, came to Africa and labored at Ogbomoso in the train- ing school, and did general mission work until Mrs. Compere's health failed and forced them to return to America in 1909. In 1907 Dr. George Green and Mrs. Green went to Ogbomoso, where they have given special attention to medical work. The latest addition to our work was Brother and Sister Ward, who returned with the Comperes in 1908, and who worked in the training school at Ogbomoso. After a service of a little more than a year, Mrs. Ward's health failed, and while they were on their way to the United States, Ward was stricken with smallpox, and died in England. Besides the school and general mission work, the missionaries have always done a considerable amount of medical work as best they could, ac- cording to their limited training. W. M. Perry, who with his wife had to return after a little more than a year in Africa, gave chief attention to this work, for he had received some special
144 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
training. Dr. George Green, a thoroughly trained physician, has taken up this work in earnest, and there is great opportunity for it.
We have at present, in Lagos, a church of about 300 members under their own pastor, self-sup- porting and owning their own building. There is also a school under their control, but partly sup- ported by the mission. There are two other Bap- tist churches which grew out of our work. Lagos has a population of about seventy-five thousand. At Abeokuta, 150,000 population, we have three churches, all small, but far from each other in that large city, under native evangelists, all own- ing their own buildings, and partly self-support- ing. At Oyo, the capital of the Yoruba country, 60,000 population, we have a church and two or three out-stations, with two or three evangelists, and missionaries, Pinnock and Mrs. Pinnock, in charge. At Ogbomoso, in the central north border of the Yoruba country, 75,000 population, we have three churches, a day school, a theological train- ing school, all with buildings. At Saki, 40,000 inhabitants, in the northwest part of the country among the mountains, we have one church, a day school, and an industrial school. We have good mission houses for the missionaries to live in at all these places. We have churches under native evangelists at Ede, on the railroad, 40,000 in- habitants; at Ejigbo, 10,000 inhabitants, near Ogbomoso, and stations at a number of other villages and towns.
The African Mission. 145
Our policy is to raise up self-supporting and self-governing native churches, owning their own buildings, a trained native working force of or- dained preachers, evangelists, and teachers. We start churches to doing something for themselves as soon as possible, and follow a plan by which they assume an increasing part of their support each year. Missionaries we must always have, but their work must be to direct and teach native churches, train native workers, start new work, and have a general oversight over the churches, but not to lord it over them. The missionary is often of assistance to them against persecution and oppression. He has an influence over both white and black people which cannot well be dis- pensed with, and the encouragement his presence gives to the native Christians is very great. Also the medical work must be largely in his hands.
In 1884 we had 166 members in the whole mis- sion. Now there are over 1,000 members. Then we had very few baptisms. Twenty-live baptisms in a year filled us with rapture. Now we often have over two hundred baptisms in a year. I remember that in 1887 there was but one baptism. Now, in addition to our own work, there are a good many Baptist churches in Lagos, Ibadan, and elsewhere, some under the fostering care of our Lagos church, and some under the fostering care of other Baptist churches in Lagos, but all self- supporting. There are four or five ordained preachers in and out of the mission, and thirty
10
146 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
or more unordained evangelists. Our missionary force remains nearly the same with the passing years. The new missionaries only about make up for our losses.
We are thankful for what has been accom- plished, but wish it might have been more. Our present success could not have been attained but for the foundation work done by faithful mis- sionaries who have long since gone to their re- ward, or have had to give up the work.
"Don't give up Africa," said the sainted Nannie David, and every missionary before and since re- peats the plea. However, Africa may compare with other nations in importance, her people surely need the gospel, and need it badly. How- ever great the cost in life, health, and means, far greater than in most other countries. "Don't give up Africa."
The African Mission,
1. Missionaries —
(1) Foreign, 11.
(2) Native, 45.
2. Church Statistics—
(1) Churches, 21.
(2) Members, 1,098.
(3) Church buildings, 27.
(4) Sunday schools, 22.
(5) Sunday school scholars, 678.
(6) Out-stations, 20.
The African Mission, 147
3. Schools —
(1) Day schools, 6.
(2) Industrial School at Saki.
(3) Theological Training School at Ogbonioso, 20
students.
4. Medical — Dispensary and physician at Ogbomoso.
5. General —
(1) Work opened in Liberia, 1846; in Yoruba, 1850.
(2) Residences for Missionaries owned by the Board, 7.
(3) Nine self-supporting churches.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE ITALIAN MISSION.
It seems to be the almost universal verdict of those who live in Italy that the Papacy has been "weighed in the balances and found wanting." Eomanism is incompatible with civil and religious liberty or with intellectual and material progress. Can an institution be divine which subverts the primitive doctrines of Christianity, bitterly perse- cutes His followers, substitutes human for divine authority, withholds the Word of God from mil- lions, enslaves the mind and conscience, sells pardon for sin, grants indulgences, worships im- ages and saints, teaches a corrupt system of mor- als, and opposes every free political and religious institution in the world? Moreover, if Baptist doctrines are needed in Protestant America and England, where there is an open Bible and free- dom of speech, what shall we say of Italy, where ignorance and superstition are denser, persecution stronger, and error more pernicious?
The Gospel in Italy,
Although dominated for centuries by a falsified form of Christianity, Italy has had many who
(148)
The Italian Mission.
149
vMfy
150 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
have gloriously upheld the truth against all obsta- cles. As we emerge from the darkness of the Middle Ages we see, here and there, lights shining in the spiritual gloom that enveloped the whole peninsula. Notable among them were Arnold of Brescia, Savonarola, the Duchess Eenata, Ver- gerio, the Marquis of Vico, Bernardo Occhino, Aonia Paleario, and Vittoria Colonna, whose deeds adorn the pages of church history and add luster to the otherwise shameful record of Italy's spiritual degeneracy. During the Eeformation, there were flourishing congregations of evangel- icals in Lucca, Modena, Florence, Genoa, Milan, Padua, and Turin. In Venice, the Bible and the writings of Luther and Melancthon were translated into Italian and freely circulated until thwarted by the Inquisition. Naples at one time had more than 1,000 Evangelicals from the best families, whose conversion was due to Juan Valdez, a high- born Spaniard and imperial secretary and cham- berlain, who retired to Naples where his remark- able spirituality and piety united to rare graces of mind and person, gathered an elect circle of Christians around him, afterward dispersed by the Inquisition.
More recently, even before modern Italy was made, much was done toward "making Italians" by evangelizing them. To the Waldensians, more than to any other church, belongs the honor of leading in this work. They were not "Beform-
The Italian Mission. 151
ers before the Keformation," as some claim, but adopted the distinctive theology of the Beform- ers, especially that of Calvin. It is nevertheless true that by their efforts, not always successful, to extricate themselves from errors which in the lapse of centuries had arisen in the church and especially by their exhortations to a diligent study of the Bible, they became a shining light in a dark place, and thus prepared the way for those who, in the sixteenth century, labored to deliver their fellow countrymen from the power of their spiritual oppressors. The Waldensians, owing to their long existence and the adhesion to them of many French or Swiss protestant residents, are the most numerous body of Evan gelicals, having churches in every part of the peninsula. Besides, there are Methodists, Bap- tists, Wesleyans, and Plymouth brethren at work in Italy. The British and Foreign Bible Society and the Scotch Bible Society, the Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A., as well as the Salvation Army, contribute to the evangelization of the country. In Eome, especially, one sees many signs of the progress of the gospel. In 1870, the Evangelicals were not allowed to preach nor could a copy of the Bible be sold. Now there are between fifteen and twenty churches and preaching stations, two theological schools, and four newspapers, several schools for boys and girls, an orphanage, two printing presses, several book stores, colporteurs, Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. buildings, depot of
152 Southern Baptist Foreign Missions.
the British and Foreign Bible Society. Outside of the city there are many agencies for the promo- tion of the truth. The statistics for the Evangel- ical work (1897)