GJacnell HtttnerottH Etbrarg iltliara, ^tto ^atk CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1S76 1918 Cornell University Library BV 2400.G57 Light in darkness, or, Missions and miss 3 1924 023 022 514 — — • DATE DUE ill ?_a fWMIr 1 tjjliiiiiiwni ^^^y GAYLORD PRINTED IN U.SA I Cornell University j) Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023022514 ! Oim LIBRA' ' AT.o^t DATE DUE -jiyQ?^ jaaH^ M**^" 1 DEMCO 38-? 97 LIGHT IN DARKNESS; OR, Missions and Missionary Heroes. AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE MISSIONARY WORK NOW CARRIED ON BY ALL PROTESTANT DENOMINATIONS IN HEATHEN LANDS, TAKING UP PRINCIPALLY THE WORK IN INDIA. BURMAH, SIAM, CHINA, JAPAN, POLYNESIA, EGYPT, SYRIA. ARMENIA. AFRICA, SOUTH AMERICA, GREENLAND AND LABRADOR. BEING A HISTORY OF THESB COUNTRIES NATURALLY, SOCIALLY, AND POLITICALLY, AND ALSO THE MISSIONARY WORK THAT HAS BEEN DONE IN THEM; THE RELIGIONS OF PAGAN AND HEATHEN COUNTRIES AND THEIR INFLUENCE, AS SHOWN IN THE CUSTOMS AND CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE AND THE IDOLS THEY WORSHIP. TO -WTHIOH IS ,A.X31D£13D THE ADVENTURES OF MISSIONARIES AMONG THE UNCIVILIZED RACES OF THE WORLD; THE PATH-BREAKERS AND STANDARD-BEARERS OF THE CHURCH MILITANT; THEIR APOSTOLIC ZEAL AND FAITH, THE PERILS WHICH THEY ENDURED, AND THE SUCCESS OF THEIR LABORS. BY REV. J. E. QODBEY, D. D., A.ND A. H. QODBEY. A. JsA. ILLUSTRATED WITH 300 FINE ENGRAVINGS SOLD BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. IMPERIAL PUBLISHING CO. ST. LODIS, MO. Entered according to Act of Copgress in the year 1892. by D. M. Vandawalkek and James H. Mason I, A. Hakter, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. PREFACE. JHIS book is a sketch of Protestant Missions throughout the heathen world. Its method is first to give some account of the various countries in which the Missionaries labor, with the condi- tion of their inhabitants, their customs and institutions, and, especially, the dominant relig- ious faith, where any definable religious faith is held. These things must be kept in view by the reader in order that he may rightly appreciate the struggle which Christianily is making with false religions and powers of darkness in unchristian lands. In the history of Missionary work we have given an account 'of the awakening desire for the conversion of the heathen, that began to stir the church at the close of the last century, and the rapid organization of Missionary Societies in the various Protest- ant denominations through the first half of the century current. In the. fields of Missionary toil we have made prominent the path-breakers — the standard bearers of the churches: for in the history of those who opened the work, its real character and the forces that opposed it are best exhibited. After the opening of the field a general statement of the present conditions of the work is given. The heroic devotion of a few distinguished leaders and the results they have achieved, we judged would be at onc3 more interesting and more profitable to the reader than extended details, or statistics showing what each church or society has accomplished. To detail all the work of tlie one hundred and thirty Missionary Societies now operating in heathen countriles IV LIGHT IN DARKNESS. would be an endless task. The principal actors and events have been noted and the results stated. This work gives no account of Protestant Missions in Koman Catholic countries; nor of work among the adherents of the Greek Church, or the Jews, In Bussia, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Spain, Brazil and Mexico, the Protestant Church has her Missions, and no inconsiderable results have been realized ; but to give account of these was not in the plan of the work. We have written only of Missions and Missionary heroes in heathen lands. In preparing this sketch we have used books on Missions by various authors, to whom we acknowledge indebtedness where their writings are referred to or quoted. To make the subject of Protestant Missions more familiar to the people at large, is our chief aim, for the accomplishment of which we have attempted to prepare a book which all, without respect to religious persuasions or predilections, may find interesting to read. How far we have succeeded in this under- taking a judicious public must now decide. J. E. GODBEY, A. H. GoDBEY. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE. Pantheon 16 Labarum 18 Martin Luther 20 Moravian Missionaries on their way to Greenland 27 Thomas Colve 29 Carey Meditating Missions 30 William Carey... 32 Adoniram Judson 37 Indian Idols 47 WildBeastsof India 51 A Brahmin 52 Vishnu on his Serpent Couch 56 A Yogee or Silent Saint GO Brahma 63 Brahmins Praying in the Ganges 67 Hindoo Woman 69 An Infant Victim of Superstition 71 A Child Committed to the Eiver by its Mother 72 Temple of Kali 74 Goddess Kali.. 75 Hindoo Woman and Cradle 77 Hindoo Suttee 81 War Elephants 86 Baber 89 Kuins Near Delhi 91 Kootub Minar ....._. 93 Pavilion of ]>ev*ran-khas 94 Gateway of the Taj 96 The Taj Mahal 98 Festival of the Serpents 101 Self-Torturing Fakir 102 Palm Leaf Book and Style 106 Madras 109 Hyder Ali and the Missionary 112 Traveling by Night 114 Indigo Factory 118 Mission Premises at Serampore .120 1 PAGE. Krishna Pal ; 122 Hindoo Family and Dwelling 125 William Ward 128 Hindoos carrying offerings to Idol8..130 Hindoo Devotee Leaping from a Precipice 131 Capetown 134 Henry Martyn's Study at Aldpen 136 Religious Beggars 140 Henry Martyn Translating the Bible into Persic 142 Indian Jugglers 147 Calcutta 149 Idols in the Temple of Juggernaut. ..155 Juggernaut 156 Car of Juggernaut 157 Hindoo of High Kank 163 Hindoo Girls 168 View in the Himalayas 171 Low Caste Hindoos 174 Parsee Christians Besieged by an Infuriated Mob 178 Sepoys 181 The Cow God 183 Siege of Delhi 185 Cawnpore 188 Tiger Hunting 189 The Nana Sahib ., 192 Massacre at Cawnpore 193 House of Massacre 195 Memorial Well at Cawnpore 197 General Havelock 199 Kuins of the Residency 201 Relief at LuCknow 203 The Rescued Garrison Taking Break- fast with Their Friends 205 Arrest of the King of Delhi 207 Perils of Dr. Butler 212 Nynee-Tal... '.„... 214 LIGHT IN DAEKNESS. PAGE. A Perilous Situation 216 Sheep-House Church 219 Miss Clara Swain 223 Mission Premises at Bareilly 226 Sick Brought to the Ganges 228 Bangkok ; 232 Bronze Statue of Buddha 234 Worship of Buddha 236 Tooth of Buddha 239 Karen Village.....* 245 Great Pagoda of Shway Dagong, Rangoon 248 Burmese Zayat 253 Journey on the Irrawaddy 257 Mrs. Judson teaching a class of Native Converts 260 Arrest of Mr. Judson 264 ; Mrs. Judson's Visit to her Hushand in Prison 266 Judson Begging Milk for his Babe...:. 268 Ann H. Judson 271 Graveof Mrs. Judson 273 Ko Thah-Byu 277 Ko Thah-Byu Preaching in a Karen ' ■ House 278 The Dying Boardman witnessing the Baptism of his Converts 279 Crucifying Karens 281 Ko Thah-Byu' Memorial HaU 283 Gilded Temple of Siam... 284 The White Elephant 285 Present King of Siam 287 Scene in Siam 288 Chinese Wall 290 God of Literature 291 Kite Flying 292 Salutations 293 Confucius 296 Temple of Confucius 299 Buddhist Priest on the l^tage 301 Service in a Chinese Temple 303 Adoration of a Celebrated Devotee. ..305 A Devotee Consulting the Sticks of Fate , 308 Chinese Temple of 500 Gods 310 Macao 318 Rob't Morrison and his Assistants Translating tbe Bible iRtO ChiBege..317 PAGE. Canton....'. 319 Opium Smoking 524 Chinese Court of Justice... 325 Chinese Tombs 326 Foochow p29 Ching BingTong Church 332 Young Sun in the Mission Cart 334 Chinese Gordon , 341 Buffington Institute 344 A. P. Parker 345 Anglo-Chinese College 347 Miss Dora Rankin 348 The China Mission Conference 349 Girls' Boarding School 352 Home Scene in Japan 354 Landing of Commodore Perry at Yeddo 356 The Mikado 358 Shintoo Temple 360 Japanese Idol 364 Part of Kiyote Class 366 U.S. Maolay 369 Buddhist Temple 371 Sintoo God of Longevity 373 Volcano of Mauna Loa 376 A Perfect Atoll 378 Bread Fruit ..379 An Island Forest 380 Fight with Typees 384 Tattooing a Chief 385 Human Sacrifice 387 Polynesian Idols 389 Mourning over a Dead Chief 391 Tombs of Chiefs ; 393 Captain Wilson's Escape and Eecap- ture 396 View in Tahiti 398 Natives of Tahiti 401 Williams Engaged in House Building..403 Dance of South Sea Islanders 407 Williams Preaching at Midnight 410 Mission Station 414 Charge of the Cat. 42(1 The Intelligent Chip 422 Vengeance on the Eats 426 Girdles Worn by Natives 427 Interior of a Samoan House 428 Fijiau "War Dance 430 UST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE. Samoan Canoe v431 Scene in the Samoan Islands 433 Mission School at Malua 436 Natives of the New Hebrides 438 Scenes of the Massacre of Williams and Harris 439 Murder of Gordon and Ms Wife 441 Kev. Hugh A. Robertson 442 Grave of Mrs. Paton and Son 444 King George 446 King Thakombau andhisSon 449 New Zealand Idol 451 Boasting an Old Slave 454 Hawaiian Women 458 Native Feast 461 Titus Coan 465 Great Sea Wave 469 Crater of Kilauea 476 King Kalakua 476 Island Boy and Idol 478 Bedouin Girl Selling Bread 480 Bedouin Girl Offering Water to Trav- elers 480 Maronite Patriarch 481 Syriao Writing 482 Oriental Plow ....482 Beyrout 484 Bobbing the House of Dr. Goodell at Beyrout 487 Latoof s Wife Besisting the Perse- cutor 488 Syrian Protestant College 493 Jaffa 495 Abeih Seminary 498 Mission School in Syria.. .......500 Armenian Girls 503 Armenian Excommunicants 507 Trebezond.. 512 Aintab 515 Koords ....523 A Village of the Koords .....525 Ezeroom 528 Plundering the House of Hacher 533 BobertCoUege 535 Mosul 537 Mohammed...... 538 Traveling in Koordistan 640 Types of Persians ,„.„,.. ,..„„..^% PAGE. Persian Boys in Orphanage 545 Persian Slave 547 View of Constantinople 552 Mardin 554 Yezedee 556 TheZab 558 Nestorians 561 Missionary Lady Among the Nes- torians 564 Nestorians Destroying Aged Parents 569 Natives of Madagascar 590 Blacksmiths in Madagascar 592 Malagasy Idol 493 Modes of Punishing Slaves 595 Antananarivo 600 Christians in Fetters 602 Place, of the First Martyrdom. 605 Horrible Torture of Christians 607 Audience at the Palace Antananarivo 610 MartjT Memorial Church 614 Guards at the Entrance of the Queen's Palace 617 Traveling in Madagascar 619 Sphinx Pyramids 622 Ruins at Karnak 623 Columns of Temple at Luxoor ....625 Cairo 628 Mission School, Cairo 632 Arabi Pasha 635 Egyptian Mother and Child 638 Beading the Bible to Egyptian Chris- tians '. 641 Torture of the Bastinado 644 Forms of Athor 648 Maharajah Dhuleep Singh 651 Interior of Kaffir Hut , 660 Hottentot Kraal 652 Types of South American Women.. ..665 Vanderkemp and the Kaffir Chief. 667 Kaffir Kraal ....670 BechuanaMea 676 Bechuana Funeral .....677 Robert Moffat 679 Africaner 681 Bechuana Prophetess 685 Kuraman Fountain... 688 Inhabited Tree ..691 Female Arcbitects 693 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. PAGE. Execution of High OflScers 695 Drakenberg Mountains , 699 Motito 701 Zulus 706 Fetiches 711 Palace of the King of Dohomey 714 A Gang of Fettered Slaves 716 Natives drinking Barrassa 719 Devil Making 722 Mtesa's Council Chamber 725 Eubago 727 Execution at Mwanga's Court 730 Trees and Climbing Plants 735 PAGE. A Patagonlan 738 Fuegians Taking a Whale's Carcass. .740 Allen Gardiner 741 Patagonian Funeral 742 Fuegian Settlement 745 Starvation Beach 747 -Massacre of Missionaries 750 Fuegians...., 752 Esquimaux Dog Sledge 754 Esquimaux 755 View in the Arctic Regions 759 Shipwreck on the Labrador Coast 763 TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PHEPAEATION OF THE CHUKCH. The Missionary Spirit Inherent in Christianity— Toleration of Rome— The Re- ligion of Jesus Aggressive, Exclusive, Intolerant— Its Weapons Spiritual —Policy, not Piety, the Motive of Constantine the Great— Causes of Corruption in the Church— Freedom of Conscience Asserted in the Reformation— Progress of Relig- ious Liberty — A Purer Church Prepared — The Doors of the Heathen World Opened— The Field as it Is To-day 15 CHAPTER II. PEEPARATION Ol? THE CHURCH— ORGANIZATION OF MISSIONAEY SOCIETIES. Earliest Missionary Movements— Effect of the Work Among the North Ameri- can Indians — Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts — The So- ciety for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge— Frederick IV. of Denmark — The Moravians — Missionaries to the West Indies— To Greenland— John Wesley and the Methodists— Bishop Coke— Carey and the Baptist Society— The London Missionary Society — The Netherlands Society— The Church Society — Adoniram Judson — He Causes Two Missionary Societies to be Organized in America— The Basle Society — Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church— General Movement 24 CHAPTER III. PEEPAEATIOSr OF THE CHURCH— 'WOMEN 'S FOREIGN MISSIONAEY SOCIETIES. Woman's Power in the Church— Condition of Heathen Women— Appeals for Help— Independent Organizations— Movements Among the Baptists and Congrega- tionalists— The Ladies' Wesleyan Missionary Society — The Woman's Union Mis- sionary Society — A Methodist Society in New York — Church Societies — The Meth- odists Take the Lead —The Movement Becomes General— Various Lines of Work. ..40 CHAPTER IV. INDIA-HEE PEOPLE AND RELIGION. Sketch of the Country — Products — Population— Prevailing Religion — Brahmin- ism — Its Origin — The Vedas — Various Extracts Illustrating the Teachings of the Vedas — A Revelation of Vishnu — Fatalism of Brahminism — A Debased Life its Result — Three Principal Schools of Brahmins— General Agreement — Transmigra- tion of the Soul and its Absorption in the Supreme Being — Renunciation of Action — The Yogee or Silent Saint— The Four Castes — Sacredness of a Brahmin — Four Stages of a Brahmin's Life — Religious Ceremonies — The Hindoo Cosmogony — The State of Woman— Murder of Infants — ^Blood-thirsty Kalee — Marriages — Duties of a Wife— The Widow's Lot— The *S'M«ee— The Dying Mother 4ft s 6 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. CHAPTER V. INDIA.— THE MOGUL EMriEB— THE EAST INDIA COMPANY. Sketch of the History of India — Invasion of Alexander the Great — Various Other Invasions— The Conquest of Tamerlane— Siege and Capture of Delhi — Terri- ble Slaughter— The Mogul Dynasty -Memorials of Ancient Glory — Ruins near Delhi— Kootub Minar— Pavilion of the Dewan Khass— The Taj Mahal— British Rule in India 83 CHAPTER VI. INDIA— THE DANISH MISSIONS. The First Missionaries, Ziegenbalg and Plutscho — Their Cheerful Piety — They Enter Upon the Work — Gross Immorality of European Residents — Opposition of th6 Romanists— All the Appliances of Missionary Work — Translating and Writing on Palm Leaves — Great Success— Death of Ziegenbalg — New Missionaries Arrive — A Time of Trial— The Mission Under Benjamin Schultze— Rapid Extension of the Mission - Christian Frederick Schwartz, the Great Missionary of South India — His Wonderful Devotion and Success— Influence with the Rajah — Goes as a Peace- maker to Hydor All — Wonderful Influence over the Natives— The Beautiful Death of Schwartz , 103 CHAPTER VII. INDIA— THE SEKAMPOEE BAPTIST MISSION. Zeal of the "Consecrated Cobbler," William Carey— Carey and Thomas Sail for India — Poverty and Trial — Living in the Sunderbunds — The Missionaries' Work at the Indigo Factories — Marshman and Ward Come to Calcutta^Opposition of the East India Company — Work Begun at Serampore — Translating the Scriptures — The First Convert, Krishno — Renewed Opposition — The Printing House — Burning, of the Mission House— The Effect of this Loss— The Field fully Opened— Educating the Natives— Marshman's Work in the Schools — Death of Carey — End of the Ser- ampore Mission 117 CHAPTER VIII. INDIA-HENRY MAETYN. College Life — Need of a Noble Aim — Influence of the Work of Brainard — Re- solves to Become a Missionary— Preparatory Work— Accepts Service as Chaplain of the East India Company — Meets Vanderkemj) at Cape Town— Meditations on Table Mountain — First Impressions on Seeing the Misery of the Heathen — Oratory in a Pagoda— At Dinapore — A Congenial Soul— A Great Trial— At Cawnpore — Teaching the Beggars— The Shadow of Death— Goes toPersia— The Vale of Shiraz — No Labor for God in Vain 132 CHAPTER IX. INDIA— ALL OPENED TO THE GOSPEL. Many Societies Engage in the Work — Alphonse Lecroix — Argument with a Brahmin— The Great Work of Miss Cook — The Worship' of Juggernaut — The Car of Juggernaut— Devotion of the Pilgrims to Pooree- Success in Orissa— The Work of Doctor Duff— Effect of the Bible in the Schools -Duff's Methods Followed by Other Missionaries— Persecution of the Native Christians— Faithfulness of Native Converts — Protestants and Catholics — The Power of the Word— A Remarkable TABLE OP CONTENTS. 7 Incident— Zenana Missions— The Welsh Missions— Gossner's Mission Among the Himalayas— Worlc of the Scudders in South India - John Anderson in Madras- Braid-wood's Work— Nott and HaU at Bombay -Among the Mahrattas— Various Societies Join in the Work 148 CHAPTER X. INDIA— THE SEPOY REBELLION. Corrupt Policy of the East India Company— The Sepoy Army— The Greased Car- tridges—The Out-Break— Massacre at Delhi— Heroic Defense of Willoughby andhis ^Men— General Uprising— Situation at Cawnpore -The Nana Sahib— The Siege of the Barracks— Terms of Surrender— The House of the Massacre— Defeat of the Na- na— Tlie Memorial Well— Sir Henry Lawrence at Lucknow— Disaster of ( hinhut— Siege of Lucknow Death of Sir Henry- On to Lucknow— Compliment of General Outram to General Havelock— Two Days Terrible Fighting to Gain the Residency- Saved— Midnight Retreat— Breakfast atDilkoosha Park • Siege of Delhi— The Cap- ture— The Last of the Moguls— A New Era 186 CHAPTER XL INDIA— METHODIST MISSIONS— DR. BUTLER'S EXPERIENCE. Rev. "William Butler, D. D., Sent to India by the Methodists— The Province of Rohilcund Chosen as the Scene ofhisLabors—Joel,the Native Helper— Begins Work at B areilly— Flight to Nynee-Tal— Perils Among the Heathen— Among the Hima- layas—Victims of the Rebellion— Safely Sheltered— Retreat to Almorah — With God Among the Mountains— The Gospel From English Cannon— New Recruits- The Sheep House Church— Return to Bareilly —Leadings of Providence— North India Conference —South India Conference— The First Lady Physician Missionary — How a Hospital was Secured— Miss Swain's Visit to the Nawab— The Outlook 209 CHAPTER XII. FARTHER INDIA— THE LAND-THE PEOPLE-THEIR RELIGION. Extent of Country — Population — Siam — Resources — Customs — Burmah Pro- ducts — Government — Origin of Buddhism— General Councils— Spread of Buddh- ism — Teachings of Buddhism— Effects of its Doctrines— Its Defects— Ridiculous Superstitions— What the System Offers to the Christian Teacher — The Shans — The Karens — Traditions of the Karens — Conjectures as to Their Origin 229 CHAPTER XIII FARTHER INDIA-BURMAH— FIRST MISSIONARY LABORS. Adoniram Judson, American Baptist —He is Turned From India to Burmah — Begins Work at Rangoon — Publishing Burmese Tracts— First Inquirer after Christ— A Comfort and a Light —A Series of Trials — ^Never Wavering — Teaching in Sublime Faith — Arrival of Helpers— The Zayat — Mrs. Judson's Account of the Work— The First Burman Convert Baptized 246 CHAPTER XIV. FARTHER INDIA-JTJDSON'S TOILS AND TRIALS. A New King — Fear of Persecution— Judson Resolves to Visit the King-^Em- barked on the Irrawaddy- Failure of the Petition for the King's Favor — Resumes Work at Rangoon — Again Visits the King with Dr. Price — Several Months at Ava— The King's Favor Secured— Removal to Ava — Mrs. Judson's School for Glrls^ War with England— The Missionaries at Rangoon Seized— Thrown into Prison — Facing Death — Seizure of Judson and Price— Heroism of Mrs. Judson — Her Devo- tion, to her Husband — The Deatlr Prison and the Lion's Cage — Terrible March to Oung-pen-lah— Mrs. Judson Follows— Judson Begging Milk for his Babe 256 8 LIGHT IN DARIOSTESS. CHAPTER XV. I'AETHER INDIA-I>r LABOES ABUNDANT. Services of Judson as a Translator— Goes to Maloun — Suffering From Fever— Sick- ness of Mrs. Judson — Permitted to Return Home— Judson and His Wife Seek Brit- ish Protection— Moonlight on the Irrawaddy— "Free, All Free"— At the British Camp— Respect Paid to Mrs. Judson— Judson Resumes Missionary Work— Self- Denying Fidelity— A Precedent for the Control of the Society— Judson Goes With Mr. Crawford to Ava to Assist in Arranging a New Treaty— Mrs. Judson's Death — Death of Little Maria— The Mission Reinforced— Judson Finishes His Greatest Work— Death of Judson 269 CHAPTER XVI. FAETHER INDIA— THE WORK AMON& THE KARENS. Ko-Thah-Byu, the Karen Slave— Taught hy Mr. Judson -Baptized by Mr. Board- man — Travels Among his People as a Preacher — Boardiian's Visit to the Karens - Story of the Prayer Book -Readiness to Receive the Gospel -Boardman's Last Vis- it—Witnesses the Baptism of Many Converts at His Death— Persecution of the Karens— Crucifixions— "Wonderful Spread of Christianity- A Great Anniversary - Ko-Thah-Byu Memorial HaU— Siam— The History of the White Elephant— Mis- sion Work in Siam — The Prospect 276 CHAPTER XVII. CHINA— HER ARTS, CUSTOMS, AND RELIGIONS. Early Civilization— Works of Art— Odd Customs— Government— Civil Service Examinations —Government Officers- Religion - Confucius— His Early Life— Suc- cess as a Ruler — Reputation as a Teacher— Confucian Classics— Teachings of Con- fucius— Only a Moralist— Woman's Place In Confucianism— Lao-Tsz, Probahle Source of His System— Taoism— Sayings of Lao-Tsz— Five Orders of Taoists -Tao- ist Doctrines— A Missionary's View of Taoism— Deems it Better Than Confucian- ism-Lack of Religious Conscience Among the Chinese— Schooled in Semi- Athe- ism 289 CHAPTER XVIII. CHBSTA-THE PIONEERS. , Robert Morrison Sent to China by the London Missionary Society— Begins his Labors at Canton— Adopts Chinese Dress— Discovers His Mistake, and Resumes European Costume— Employed as a Translator for the East India Company— Pub- lishes Various Books in Chinese — Milne Comes to Canton — Sails for Java with a Cargo of New Testaments — Baptism of Tsae-a-ko, the First Chinese Convert^Mor- rison Completes His Translation of the Bible— Dr. Gutzlaff and Mr. Medhurst Make a Tour of Investigation Through V arious Provinces— Encouraged by What they Saw— Death of Dr. Morrison— Anglo-Chinese College — Milne Goes to Malacca -Con- version of Leang Afah— The Opium War — ^Leang Afah's Tracts — His Sufferings For The Master's Cause— His Letter 312 CHAPTER XIX. CHINA-METHODIST CHURCH MISSIONS. Results of the Opium War— The Methodists Begin Work at Foochow — Trials of the First Missionaries— The First Church— Ching Sing Tong— The First Converts— Schools and Asylums— The First Episcopal Visit— Bishop Kingsley Ordains Native Preachers— Devotion of Native Preachers to the Work— Efforts to Malve the Native Work Self-Sustaining— The Woman's Board'Rejiders Efficient Aid— Chinese Con- ference Organized— Present State of the Work 327 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 9 CHAPTER XX. CHINA— SOUTHERSr METHODIST MISSIONS. Taylor and Jenkins Sent to China — Other Missionaries— The Tal-Ping Rebellion — The Great Leader, Hung Liew-Tsieun — Pretended Revelations — Calls Himself the Heavenly King — The Treaty of Tien-tsin — Progress of the Rebellion — Chinese Gordon— Shanghai Taken by Insurgents — TheMissionaries Flee— Work Resumed— Dr.Cunningham's Account of the "Long-haired Rebels" — Dr. Allen Alone— Christian Fellowship — Rev. A. P. Parker Goes to China — Other Missionaries Follow — Or- ganization of the Chinese Conference —The Women's Work — Other Missionary Societies — ^The China Inland Mission— Realities and Probabilities 337 CHAPTER XXI. JAPAN— THE COUNTRY AS IT IS. Extent of the Country — Climate, Scenery and Products- The Inhabitants — Mon- gol Invaders— Catholic Missions — Christianity Crushed Out — Centuries of Exclu- sion — Japan Opened to Foreign Trade by Commodore Perry — Revolution in the Government — Restoration of the Authority of the Mikado — Shintoism — Shinto Worship — State of Woman in Japan 353 CHAPTER XXII. JAPAN— PROTESTANT MISSIONS. Power of Example Where Open Christian Teaching Was Forbidden — Story of STeeshima — Organization of the Protestant Church in Japan — The Societies now in the Field— The Methodist Episcopal Mission— The Congregational Training School — Southern Methodist Missions — Beautiful Situation of Kobe — Retrospect and Prospect— Great Progress of Japan — Liberal Spirit — Need of Prompt Ac- tion 362 CHAPTER XXIII. POLYNESIA AND ITS INHABITANTS. Volcanic Islands— Coral Islands -Various Theories Respecting the Formation of Atolls —Fauna and Flora— Inhabitants — Their Intellectual Capacity— Original Con- dition — System of Government — Condition of Woman — Tattooing — Worship of An- cestors—Religion—Burial Customs— Infanticide — Rejoicing in a Kew Light. ... S75 CHAPTER XXIV. POLYNESIA— THE FIELD ENTERED. The London Missionary Society Chooses the South Sea Islands as its First Field of Labor — Captain Wilson— His Remarkable Experience— He Takes Out the First Missionary Ship- Hostility Encountered in Tahiti— The Morn Cometh— The Great Missionary, John Williams— His Conversion— Sent Out by the London Society— At Raiatea— Building a Tabernacle— War between the Heathen and the Christian— The Heathen Conquered and Converted by Love 394 CHAPTER XXV. POLYNESIA— ONWARD PROGRESS. Plague at Rurutu— Teachers Sent to Rurutu- The Island Rapidly Won to Chris- tianity—The Cross Planted -in Aitutaki— The Missionaries Hear of the Great Island of Rarotonga— Incidents of the Work— Great Respect for the Teachers — Mangaia Reclaimed— Atiu Conquered— The Chief, Romatane, Converted — Renders Import- ant Aid in Christianizing his Dominions— Rarotonga Entered— Great Success— Ter- rible Tale of a Cat : 409 CHAPTER XXVI. POLYNESIA— EXTENSION OP THE WOEK. New Missionaries Sent Out— Building a Chapel— Making Chips Talk — Attentive 10 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. Hearers— Attempt Upon "Williams' Life— Building a Ship— First Voyage — Venge- ance on the Rats — An Example of Desire to Know the Truth— Visit of the "Vin- cennes" — Williams Sails for the Samoans-Findsa Good Work in Many Places — Voyage Among the Islands 421 CHAPTER XXVII, POLYNESIA — WILLIAMS' LATEST LABORS. Stormy Voyage to Savaii — Influence of Fauea, the Chief — Death of the Chief, Tamatoa— The Evil Effects of a Cask of Whiskey— Williams Visits England— Re- turns and Resumes Work —Plans New Work Among the New Hehrides — Affecting Farewell— Murder of Harris and WiUiams— Great Grief at WiUiams' Death— The Scene of the Massacre— The Mission Chapel — Christianity Triumphant 432 CHAPTER XXVIII. POLYNESIA — WORK IN VARIOUS GROUPS. Struggle to Establish Christianity Among the Cannihals— Murder of Mr. Gordon and his Wife— Murder of Bishop Patteson— Final Success— The Erromangans as They Are To-Day - Present Condition of Tahiti— The Work in Tonga— King George— The Work in Fiji— The Conversion of Thakombau — His Influence for Christianity His Death— Ceremonies of Burial -All Fiji Christianized— Work in New Zealand— Bishop Selwyn, of the Church Society— Zeal of Mr. Turner, the Wes- leyan Missionary— Terrible Cannibalism— Present Condition of the Mission 440 CHAPTER XXIX. POLYNESIA — THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. Revolutions- Remarkable Providence in Preparing the Way for the Gospel — Overthrow of Idolatry — Oboodiah— The Call Answered — Conversion of Keopulani ^^^Native Feast — Death of the King— Encouraging Progress -A Great Revival — Organization of the Native Church — Titus Coan— Work at Hilo— Work in Puna — Results of the Revival— The Boarding School- Volcanic Eruption^ Crater of Kilauea — Mauna Loa — Church Building— Native Assistants— A Bloodless Revolu- tion 457 CHAPTER XXX. STRIA-ANCIENT CUSTOMS— MISSION WORK. Maronite Patriarch — Social Etiquette -First Mission — Asaad el Shidiak — Terri- ble Imprisonment— Excommunication — The Work Spreading— Atrocious Treachery —Syrian Protestant College— Various Societies — Present Opposition— Miss Taylor's Work— The Education of Girls 479 CHAPTER XXXI. ARMENIA— EARLY WORK. The Armenians— Work of the Bible Societies -Asaad el Shidiak— The American Board Sends Missionaries to Armenia— Early Interest— Opposition — The Persecu- tion Stopped— Renewed Persecution — Incidents — Harutun Anathematized— Or- ganization of the Evangelical Armenian Church A Brighter Day — Present Pros- perous Condition of the Missions— Revivals— Translation of the Bible 516, CHAPTER XXXII. ARMENIA— GROWTH OP THE CHURCH. Self-Support— Consolidation— Reform Party in the Armenian Church— Wanted a Better Preacher — Death of Dr. Goodell— Retrospect— Visit of Dr. Clark— Anglican Pretensions- Erzeroom — Sectarian Hindrances— Great Famine and Its Eflfects — Tiirkish Misrule— Despotic Power of the Priests— The Infl.uence of Protestantism on the Condition of Woman — Encouraging Prospects— Conclusion 520 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 11 CHAPTER XXXIII. PERSIA-COtTNTKY AND PEOPLE-EAELY MISSIONS. Extent and General Character of the Country — Its Mingled Population —Mo- hammed and Mohammedanism —First Missionaries — Hoclier and Rueflfer Among the Robbers — The Scotch Mission — Work of the American Board Among the Nes- torians —The Kestorian Religion — Asahel Grant's Experience as a Physician — The Influence of his Skill and Kindness— The Plain of Ooroomiah— Grant Prepares to Carry the Gospel to the Mountain Nestorians 536 CHAPTER XXXIV. PERSI4— PEEPAEATOEY JOtJRNEYS. Grant's Winter Journey — Lost in the Mountains —Perils of Waters — Koordish Rebellion — A Narrow Escape — Into the Mountains — Yezidees, or Devil Worship- ers — The Inhabitants of the Villages— Incursions of the Koords — Amadieh 549 CHAPTER XXXV. PERSIA-THB MOUNTAIN NESTOEIANS. Probable Origin of the Nestorians— Their Independence— Location of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel — Mosaic Rites — Into the Mountains — An Unexpected Wel- come— A Legend of Cruelty — The Patriarph — A Robber Chieftain — In the Lion's Den- Grant Visits America— Returns to Persia — Death of Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell — A Gathering Storm 560 CHAPTER XXXVI. PERSIA— THE STORM BURSTS. The Capacious Pashah of Mosul— The Koords and Turks Invade the Country of the Nestorians — Terrible Slaughter — Winter Upon the Desolated Land — Koordish Treachery — Schemes of the Papists— The Work Resumed — Death of Dr. Grant....575 CHAPTER XXXVn. PERSIA— NESTOEIANS AFTER THE STORM. Interposition of Foreign Governments In Behalf of the Nestorians— The Work at Ooroomiah Prospers — Hostility of the Patriarch — Increased Opposition— Self-Sup- port — The, Nestorian Mission Transferred to the Control of the Presbyterians — Its Present Prosperous Condition— The Circulation of Religious Literature 580 CHAPTER XXXVIIl. PERSIA— WORKING AMONG MOSLEMS. Rev. Robert Bruce Among the Persians— Great Famine — Petty Annoyances — Medical Dispensary at Bagdad- Opposition of The Roman Catholics- The Teheran Mission — New Mission Buildings Erected— General Influence of the Work at Hamadan , 585 CHAPTER XXXIX. MADAGASCAR-THB COUNTRY. The Inhabitants— Religion— Worship of the Dead— Government— Slavery— Mis- cellaneous Practices— Modes of Punishing Slaves— Early History— Pioneer Mis- sion—A Prominent Feature of the Work— Death of the King— Trouble at Hand— The Storm Lowering— The Storm Bursts — Books to be Given Up— Christians in Fetters— Time of Darkness— Boldness of the Native Christians— First Malagasy Martyr — Fearful Atrocities — Horrible Torture of Christians— Firmness of the Converts— Cessation of Persecution- The Dawn of Light— The Murder of Radama —Succession to the Throne of Ranovalona II— The Martyr Memorial Church— De- struction of the National Idols— Great Changes in favor of Christianity— Remark- able Growth— Touches of Shadow— Work of Other Societies— Jesuit Interference —French Barbarism— Conclusion 589 12 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. CHAPTER XL. AFRICA-EGYPT. The Coptic Bace — Their Antiquity and Character — Vestiges of Ancient Greatness — Religion of the Copts— Corrupted Christianity — Superstitions — Genii — Ghouls — Evil Eye — Charms — Extreme Degradation of the Egyptians — Woman's Condition — Moslem Oppression — Mohammedan University — Alexandria 621 CHAPTER XLI. EGYPT— MISSION "WORK. Moravian Missionaries — Discouraged by Hardships, they Abandon the Field — The Church Mission — Opposition of the Priests— Favor of the Patriarch to the Work at Cairo — Reverses— Defections from the Church of Rome— Miss Whately's Work — Successful Labors — Growth and Extension — Good Results — Miss Whately's Resolu" tion and Courage — The United Presbyterian Mission — The Missionary Boat — Lan' sing's First Tour — ^Work of Lord Haddo — At Luxor — The Bastinado— Egyptian Boatmen — Service in a Coptic Church — A Narrow Escape — Small Pox 629 CHAPTER XLIL EGYPT— GRO'WTH OF THE WOEK. Dr. Hogg at Cairo— Futile Opposition of the Patriarch — The Good Work of the Girl's School — Marriage of the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh — Work at Alexandria — Occupation of Asyoot — Persecution— Features of the Work — Revolt of Arab! Pasha — ^Providential Preservation— ^Present State — Conclusion 648 CHAPTER XLHI. SOUTH AFRICA- KAFFRARIAN" MISSIONS. Ko Religious Faith to Overthrow — A Sorcerer Tortured — Divisions of South Africa— The Kaffir Race — Hottentots — First Moravian Mission — John Theodore Vanderkemp — The Pious Boer, DeBeer — Serious Obstacles — Kaffiir Women — Gaika_ the Kaffir Chief, Deceived — The London Society's Work — Present State — Influence of Christianity on Morals — The Glasgow Society's Work — New vStations — The Training School — Work of Various Societies — Providential Deliverance — General View 65S CHAPTER XLIV. SOUTH AFRICA— MOFFAT AMONG THE BECHUANAS. Character of the Bechuanas— Their Women— Early Failures— A Perilous Under- taking — Crossing Orange River — Africaner and His Wrongs— Africaner Baptised — Arrival at Africaner's Town— Ebenezer— A Gloomy Outlook — The Lion Changed to ithe Lamb — Journey to the Coast — Moifat Goes to the Bechuanas -Death of Africaner — A Rain-Maker's Wiles— Courage of Moffat— Discouraging Features— At Kuruman— Drought and Locusts— The Day Breaketh— Moffat Visits Moselekatse In'the Matabele Country — An African Ossian— Mofl'at's Reception — Moselekatse's Speech — A Pompous Trial— A Hard Field — Progress of the Bechuana Mission — Present Situation 675 CHAPTER XLV. SOUTH AFRICA— AMONG THE BASUTOS AND ZULUS. The Basutos— The Mission at Mosiga— A Providential Opening— Chief Moshesh — First Mission Station— Conversion of Libe-Last Days of Moshesh— General Progress— Zulu Indolence— Persecution— Zulu Love of Evil 698 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 13 CHAPTER XLVI. WEST AFEIOAN MISSIONS. Character of the Country— Is the Negro a Product of the Climate— Keligions — Witchcraft — Unutterable Degradation— Funeral Eites— Slavery— Missions of the West Coast— Church Mission — The Rum Traffic— Influence of Crowther, the Native Missionary Bishop— Old Calabar Mission— Devil Making 709 CHAPTER XL VII. CENTKAL AFKICAN MISSIOX. The Univsrsities Mission— The Free Church Mission — The Waganda Mission — The Ukerewe Mission Destroyed— Bishop Hannington^A King Who Knew Not Joseph — Murder of Hannington — Cruelty of King Mwanga — Along the Congo- Bishop Taylor's Work— Self-Sustaining Missions— Picture of Africa 723 CHAPTER XLVni. SOUTH AMEEICA— PATAGOKIA. AND ETIEGIA. Degradation of the Puegians— Religious Tenets— Allan Gardiner— His Desire to Carry the Gospel to Savages— Great Perseverance— Continued Disappointments — A Ray of Hope — Renewed Effort — A Final Attempt — Starvation — Starvation Beach — Gardiner's Body Found — Success in Failure — Allan W. Gardiner — Massacre of the Mission Party — Continued Reverses— Final Success , 739 CHAPTER XLIX. GREENLAND AND LABRADOK. Among the Esquimaux — Egede's Mission — The Norse Settlement Destroyed — Moravian Mission — New Stations Founded — Present Situation — Hindrances — Labrador — First Mission— Jens Haven— His Success— Difficulties with Traders- Success at Last — A Noted Conversion — Steady Growth — Conclusion 754 LIGHT IN DARKNESS; OR, MISSIONS AND MISSIONARY HEROES. CHAPTER I. THE PREPARATION OF THE CHURCH. E live in an age wlien the missionary spirit is power- fully stirring the church. It is essentially the spirit of Christianity. When the apostles heard the Mas- ter's conunand, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature," they looked forth upon a world to be conquered, and their faith was to bring it into subjection to their King. The conquest was not, as now, of the enlightened over the barbarous. The Christian religion to-day moves outward from the centers of the world's power. Art, literature, philosophy, law, commerce, and even military power are its allies, and either the world's highest civilisation shall faU and the ages of darlaiess return, or the spread and triiunph of this civilization shall bear the name of Jesus to the ends of the earth, and erect Christianity upon the wrecks of every other form of religion, as the fulfillment of man's highest hope — a pleroma of all religious truth. The beginning of Christianity was ^vith the weak things of the earth. Judea had no place among the nations. She had no prestige, and no resource of power which the nations regarded. To be born "King of the Jews" was no great honor. The disciples of Jesus were contemptible, even in the estimation of their own people. They were, as the sacred history expresses it, "unlearned and ignorant men;" yet were they entrusted with a work to which no human resources were equal. The carrying out of the Master's command to them meant war upon systems deeply rooted in hereditary faith, supported by law, and beauti- fied by literature and art. The religion of Jesus was, by its very 4f4ms, at war with ey§ry other i:eligious system. It demanded acceptance 16 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. of all men. It claimed to belong, not to a nation or a race, but to the world. It "was to be the universal and only religion. Thus, if true to its claim, Christianity was committed to an irrepressible conflict with the ancient civiUzation in all its institutions. It contemplated nothing less than the conquest of the world, and that by forces which seemed to the world most contemptible. "The weak things of the world were chosen to confound the mighty, and things that were not, to bring to naught the things that were. " The Koman government was as tolerant of religious belief as any gov- ernment of to-day. All systems of faith and all religious cults found shelter under the scepter of Augustus. ' The subjugated nations, imder THE PANTHEON AT ROME. his sway, held their old faiths, built their temples, and worshipped as they wiUed. The Pantheon at Kome was in honor of every god, and ex- pressed equal respect for aU. Christiamty was intolerant. It con- demned all ; it proposed to overthi-ow all. Its watchword was Conquest. It was for this reason that the government of E.ome soon made war against Christianity. It was a struggle for self-preservation. Jesus Christ proposed the overthrow of aU institutions founded in heathenism. If Christianity triumphed, the Eoman empire must faU or undergo a most radical revolution. It was for this reason that the Emperors un- sheatbe4 t^he sword and stood in the path of the Nazarene. It was for THE PREPARATION OF THE CHURCH. 17 this reason that rulers, whose names had else gone down to posterity as mild and humane, are now chiefly remembered as the persecutors of the Church. But Christianity, though intolerant, was mild. Its weapons were spiritual. It condemned and denounced, but when assailed by force patiently suflfered. It was a moral levcn. Its methods of warfare were con\dction and conversion. It would make no compromise with systems Avhich it held to be false, but as it sought only a moral triumph it was prepared to trust and to bleed until there came in the very convictions and consciences of men a revolution which should bring deliverance. Tlie deliverance came. It was not piety but policy which caused Con- stantine the Great to inscribe the cross upon the banner that led the Ro- man legions. But he sickened at the slaughter that had marked the reigns of his predecessors and brought no relief from the increasing power of the Nazarene. He saw that the end must be submission; that the Christian faith must be at the foundation of the governments and the civilization of the future. It was for this reason that he emblazoned the cross upon his banner and inscribed it Avith the motto: In hoc signo vlnces. Constantino conquered under the cross. At the Milvian Bridge, under the walls of Rome, he gained the victory which placed Christianity at the foundation of civil government for all after time. Thus, in the first ages of its history, the power of Christianity was fairly measured with the most cultivated heathen faith and the highest form of heathen civilization, until the kings of the earth no more took council together against the Lord and against his Anointed, to break their bands qr cast away their cords. Not only its aggressive character was revealed, biit its invincible strength. In after time, when no longer forced to suffer under the sceptre of tyranny, but when she was herself able to wield the sceptre, the church forgot that the weapons of her warfare were not carnal but spiritual. The triumph of formal Christianity has always outrun the triumph of the Christian spirit in the hearts of men. When the church was confessed to be superior to the State in temporal power, and kings laid down their necks to the Pope, and the resources of kingdoms were laid under con- tribution, to the uttermost, to clothe church dignitaries in splendor and to build temples, as monuments of human pride, the Christian spirit was well night lost from the visible body of Christ. Authority and force were relied upon for the propagation of the religion of love and mercy. The aggressive character of Christianity and its condemnation of all other forms of religion, tended inevitably to bigotry and intolerance, where the spirit of the Master was wanting. It was the business of the Christian to 2 L-D THE LABABUM. THE PREPAKATION OF THE CHURCH. 19 fight against evil, to condemn error, and seek the welfare of the erring. To make war against sin only to rescue from ruin the sinner; is to act as no car- nal motive can prompt men to act; to exhibit a spirit which is not natural to man. The church, as an organized power, claiming to represent fully the Idngdom of Christ on earth, and invested with power to enforce her edicts and decrees, became the chief agent in perseciiting sincere faith. Presenting her doctrines as infallible she forbade freedom of conscience to men, and by her decrees incarcerated the human mind in a dungeon where the spirit of honest inquiry found itself, on every side, fenced in by dogmas and menaced by anathemas. All immoralities might be atoned for by due penance, but heresy was the sin unto death. The massacre of St. Bartholomew's, the dungeons of the inquisition, and the fires of Smithfield are witnesses how cruel the church can be- come when she represents the doctrine without the spirit of Christ. But the true Christian spirit was never quite extinguished from the church. If she shed the blood of the martyrs she also reared the martyrs. If upon the church must be laid the terrible charge of putting men to death for conscience sake, to her must still be accorded the glory of teaching men that for conscience sake they should be willing to die. There were pure hearts in the church in her greatest corruption, and the saving power of Christ was represented in the martyrs that meekly died for his cause, yet put to death by the church which claimed alone to represent his cause. The true spirit of Christianity began to triumph in the reformation. The reformation added nothing to the doctrinal teaching of the church, but was a protest against her tyranny and corruption, and cleared away from the essential truths of God's word the rubbish of superstition heaped about them for the ends of priestcraft. Protestantism brought forward a better phase of Christianity, more tolerant of honest convictions and more intent upon purity of life. Yet, two centuries elapsed before Protestant- ism bore its fruits in entire freedom of conscience. Such freedom, though asserted in the right of private judgment in interpreting the "Word of God, was not fully accorded in practice so long as tne various bodies of reformers waged bitter war with each other and the adherents of one creed denied or doubted the possibility of salvation to others who honestly held a creed in some points difiering from their own. The exercise of private judgment in the interpretation of God's Word resulted in many Christian sects. These sects or denominations had a great mission to accomplish in the providence of God. They were to bring the church to the true unity in Christ — a unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace, not to be coerced, not possible to spring from a common 20 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. consent in any dogmas or ritual, but only realized in the heart, or exhibited to the world in a spontaneous fellowship by the drawing of one spirit. The various denominations taught each other toleration; and while they afforded larger liberty in the search after truth, and pushed that search upon many lines, they learned to regard most of their differences as un- essential doctrines and rules. They aided each other to see that the MAimi' LUTHEK. chief thing in religion is the love of Christ in the heart, asserting its presence in the love of all men and in purity of personal life. They learned to cultivate the unity of the spirit; and their various organizations, being brought into brotherly fellowship and mutual co-operation in a common cause, gave to the world a proof of the Christ spirit in the church which no unity upon the basis of creeds or forms could have expressed. THE FKEPAKATION OF THE CHURCH. 21 It was not until the reformation had borne this fruit that the Protest- ant church was prepared for missionary labors among the heathen. It seems as if God in his providence fenced oif the heathen from the influences of Christendom until he had prepared a better type of Chris- tianity to introduce among them. When the church was ready to go forth to the work, uniting her various denominations in one spirit and in mutual co-operation; laying aside coercion, and appealing only to the reason and conscience for the establishment of the Christian faith, then the barriers which for ages had separated heathen from Christian lands were broken down. A multitude of influences began to conspire, from the opening of the nineteenth century, to give to the Christian nations an influence over the whole heathen world. The interests of trade began to operate to open India to the influence of Great Britain as early as the year 1600, when Queen Elizabeth granted the charter to the first East India Company, composed of a number of London merchants. From shortly after that time English settlements began to be made on the coast of Hindostan. The battle of Plassey in 1757 virtually established English authority over southern and southwestern India. But the East India Company found their schemes of despoiling the in- habitants of India, by fraud and tyranny, out of harmony with Christian teaching and influence, and so opposed as much as they dared the work of the first missionaries in that country. A hundred years after the battle of Plassey, in 1857, the Sepoy rebellion broke out. "When this rebellion was put down, the Mogul empire was overthrown and all India became subject to the Queen of England. The control of the East India Company over the political affairs of India ceased. Thus a vast field, embracing 250,000,000 of people, more than one-sixth of the human race, was open to missionary labor under the protection of English law and aided by English influence, which began everywhere to be felt in reshaping the laws, institutions and religious faith of the people. In 1839, China had but one port open to the outside world — the port of Canton. The first opium war in 1839 to 1842, opened Amoy, Ningpo, Foochow and Shanghai. In 1844 the United States effected with China a favorable commercial treaty, and France treated for religious toleration in the following year. In 1859, after the second opium war, the whole inte- rior was thrown open to the gospel and to trade. China is the largest empire on the face of the earth, and has a population estimated to ex- ceed 300,000,000, or almost one-fourth of the entire human family. Fifty years ago Christianity was proscribed in this vast empire, and to 22 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. profess faith in Christ was to become subject to the penalty of death. Now, in 1887, there is scarcely a Christian denomination that is not rep- resented in the mission stations and schools of China. That strongest of all strongholds of heathenism, with its institutions fixed and changeless for the last two thousand years, its hterature petrified, the character of its people crystalized in a scornful self-conceit, is so far yielding to the gospel of Christ as to justify the confidence in the fuU triumph of that gospel at no distant day. Francis Xavier, the great Catholic missionary, carried the gospel to Japan in 1549. But the arrogance of Catholic prelates soon drew down upon the church the condemnation of the Mikado, and in 1587 all Christian churches were ordered to be closed and all Christian people to leave Japan. This order was not, however, rigor- ously enforced, and for almost a century there was a remnant of Xavier's work still lingering in the island. In 1642 aU the Christians in Japan were put to death, and upon the spot where they were massacred was erected a monument with this inscription: "Henceforth let no Christian come to Japan, and let the Christian's God himseil' know that if he violates this order he shall pay for it with his head." After this the "Land of the Rising Sun," remained closed against all foreign l-elations rmtil intercourse with her people was opened by Commodore Perry in 1853-1854. England concluded a treaty with JajDan in 1858, and in 1859 the first Protestant missionary entered that island. The continent of Africa has been opened in this century to Christian infiuendes, and missionary stations dot her coasts. This land has been to Europeans a terra incognita. Little was known, or even guessed of its soil and products, its resources for sustaining human Mfe, or of the number of its inhabitants. But within the last forty-five years the ex- plorations of Livingstone, Gordon, and Stanley have thrown light over the "Dark Continent," and shown it to be possessed of a teeming popu- lation, and possessing the resources necessary to a high civilization. Africa is destined to be the scene, henceforth, of the most earnest enter- prise of civilized nations and of Christian laborers. Even the Turkish Empire is being penetrated everyw^here by Christian missionaries, and copies of the Bible in Turkish, Armenian, Bulgarian, Syrian, Kurdish and Persian are to be found in every city and village of Asiatic Turkey, contesting with the Koran, the faith of the people. South America, Central America and Mexico — countries embracing more than half the "Western Continent, must be added to the vast field opened to Protestant missions in the nineteenth century, and beyond aU these grand political divisions which we have named upon the two continents THE PEEPARATION OP THE CHTIRCH. 23 we must cast our eyes over tlie vast multitude of islands of the sea. Madagascar, larger in area than the whole of the British isles, the South Sea Islands, the East Indies, the Sandwich Islands and many others. In all these countries, and, indeed, throughout the whole world, free- dom of conscience is now allowed, and we may say, in a word, that all lands are now open to the trade of Christendom, and to the influences of intercourse with Christian people. Along with the opening of the doors of all heathen countries to the Christian missionary there has been a wonderful increase of the resources of Christian nations for pushing the conquest of the Redeemer's King- dom abroad. The easy and quick communication with every part of the world by means of the steamship and telegraph; the common commercial interests which are being developed among all nations; the prestige which Christian powers have everywhere obtained by virtue of their acknowledged superiority in all the arts that contribute to human wel- fare, and their military power, all contribute to make their subjects honored everywhere, and to recommend that religion which is the foun- dation of their superior civilization. "There breaks upon us, in our day," says Christlieb, "and grows more and more complete, the age of universal missions. No longer in partic- ular regions, but in all unchristianized parts of the world and among all races of men ; a»mong the highest civilized as well as the most degraded ; in colonies and independent heathen lands; even in the remotest coasts and islands, where hundreds of languages and dialects are spoken, the cross of Christ has been raised, and the lands of the church, once lost under the bloody tread of Islam, have been energetically called into new life by the light of the gospel." The power of Christendom is supreme. Though still but a handful, as compared with the countless hordes of heathendom, Chr'stians rule the world. Every dispute among heathen nations is arbitrated by Christian powers at their will. The heathen are helpless in the hands of Christian powers, and dependent for existence as nations upon their suf- ferance. Inarms, art, literature, law, inventions, commerce, the Anointed One holds aU power in his hands, and in this power he sits enthroned, stretching out his rod of iron over the heathen and saying: "Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little." The King in Zion also stretches out to the heathen the golden scepter of peace. His ministers are everywhere inviting the most degraded and barbarous people to become the subjects of his sway and receive the blessings of his reign. 24 LIGHT IK OAEKNESS. CHAPTEE n. PREPARATION OF THE CHURCH ORGANIZATION OF MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. HILE the hand of God was prepai-ing an open door to cany the gospel to the heathen, the spirit of God was arousing the faith and zeal of the church for that great work. A detailed account of the organization of all the missionary societies of the various Protestant churches would fill a volume. We can only note the beginnings of the great movement and some of the chief agencies in it. For more than two centuries preceding the era of missionary so- cieties the missionary cause found occasional, earnest apostles. The earliest Protestant missionaries were sent from Geneva to Brazil in 1557 and 1558. Gustavus Vasa, the king of Sweden, sent mission- aries to Lapland in 1559. Dutch missions sprung up in Ceylon and the Indian Archipelago as the result of the Dutch conquests early in the seventeenth century. The work among the North American Indians was important, for it gave evidence of what the gospel could do for the most barbarous people, and^ so, inspired hope of its triumphs everywhere. Thomas Mayhew was the first missionary among the Indians of North America. He began at Martha's Vineyard in 1643, and the Mayhew family supplied missionaries for Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket for five generations down to the year 1803. But John Eliot was the fii-st to obtain distinction as a missionary among the savage tribes of this coimtry. Eliot is called the "Morning Star of modern missions." He came from England in 1631 and settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He was a minister in Eoxbury, but became interested in missionary work among the Indians. He began to preach to the Indians in Massachusetts in 1616. His zeal won for him the title of "the Apostle of the Indians." He gave to the tribes, among whom he labored, a written language, for which he prepared a grammar, and into which he translated the Bible. Three thousand five hundred copies of Eliot's Indian Bible were published in Cambridge in 1663 and 1685. This Bible is said to have been the first book published in America. Eliot maintained fourteen mission stations, chiefly at his own expense, though his work was watched with interest PKEPAEATION OF THE CUUECH. L'5 and in a measure fostered by eminent Christians both in this country and England, of whom were Cotton Mather, of Boston, Eobert Boyle, of England, founder of the Boyle Lectures, and Richard Baxter, the great non-conformist divine. In England, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts was organized among members of the Established Church in 1701. Its constitution stated that its work should be the propagation of the gospel, and the promotion of Christian knowledge, throughout England and its colonies. Hence, it is hardly to be classed as a foreign missionary society. It gave some attention to the Indians, and to the negroes of the American colonics. It also sent missionaries to the convict stations in the Norfolk Islands and Australia, but did very litttle until the opening of the present century. The Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, organized about the same time, also an English society, was more active, but its work was equally confined to home fields. In Edinburg, a Scotch Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge was formed in 1709, and also a corporation for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England. Under the former of these societies the great Indian missionary Brain- ard labored ; the latter supported the work of the distinguished Dr. Jonathan Edwai'ds among the Stockbridge Indians. But it is to the little kingdom of Denmark that we must look for the most active missionary zeal exhibited during the first part of the eigh- teenth century. The knowledge of Christ first entered this country through the Danish invasions of England. After fifty-six battles by land and sea King Alfred gained a final victory over the invaders at the battle of Ethandmie in 871. The English king stipulated, among the terms of submission, that the Danes who chose to remain in England should receive Christian bap- tism, and some of the chiefs accepted the condition. At the time of which we write Denmark was among the most prosper- ous and enlightened Christian nations ; elevated by the power of Christianity from a state of fiercest barbarism. Frederick the IV. was on the throne, a wise and noble prince. He be- came the first royal patron of foreign missions. He was more than a patron ; the most extensive missionary work of the eighteenth century was projected by him. Dr. Lutkins was his zealous and pious chaplain, and fostered the missionary spirit of the sovereign. In the year 1705 King Frederick directed Professor Frank, of Halle, to select two students from the university to go as missionaries to the Province of Tranquebar, on the eastern border of the Carnatic, in Southern India. Bartholomew 26 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. Ziegenbalg and Henry Plutscho were chosen for the self-denying and peril- ous work. They reached Tranquebar July 9th, 1706, and entered upon their labors, beginning a work which was carried forward by worthy suc- cessors for almost a hundred years. Ten years after sending out the first missionaries, Frederick called a council of the most zealous churchmen in his kingdom, and organized a college for the preparation of missionaries and the direction of missionary work in all the Danish provinces of the East. Thus in 1715 was estab- lished the Halle-Danish Missionary Society. The field which these mis- sionaries from Halle occupied, under the protection of Denmark, ' became 1 refuge for the persecuted missionaries of all nationalities, ashelter under ivhich even English missionaries were glad to find refuge. What au example is here given of the revulsion and defeat of the hos- tility aimed at Christianity. The same nation which, during the eighth md ninth centuries, endeavored by fire and sword to force its barbarous [ites and worship of blood-thirsty deities upon England, became in the sighteenth century, a nation to which even English missionaries looked for protection. The last nation of Europe to adopt Christianity became the first :o send it abroad. Moreover, this work was the work of a king who felt :hat to be a patron and promoter of the Christian faith was no deroga- :ion of kingly dignity. Frederick's zeal for Christianity and for mis- dons was no transient impulse; no scheme of policy; nor had it any ele- ment of fanaticism; but it was founded in the deepest convictions and iirected by the soundest judgment. Among the promoters of Chris- ;ianity in the eighteenth century none deserve a higher place than Frederick IV, of Denmark. - We turn now to a people who, considering their numbers and resources, lave led all others in missionary labors. In the little province of Mo- ravia, in the southern part of Bohemia, dwelt a brave, earnest, self-deny- ng people, who were bitterly persecuted for their religion. Members of ;he community, fleeing for their lives, found their way to the estates of ;he pious Nicholas Louis, the Count of Zinzendorf, in 1730 to 1732. Prom him they obtained shelter and protection. ' And there, amid the Lusatian woods, a little town soon sprang up; and Christian David, the eader of the little flock, returned to Moravia to guide the remainder of lis people to the long-wished-f or shelter. But their foes were bitter and ngilant, so David found himself under the necessity of leading his peo- )le away in small bands, and with the greatest secrecy, and precaution 'or their safety. Nine times was this journey made through trackless 'crests and rugged hills — ^thehomeof wolves and bears — until all in safety ■cached the little settlement of Hermhut. PREPARATION Ol' THE CJ[URCH. 27 But a people, possessing su;li deep-rooted reKgious convictions, and such earnest piety as these Moravians, could not be content with having found a sheltering haven for themselves. They -wished, immediately, to carry the good news of salvation to others; and to do this, were ready to MOEAVEAN jnSSIONARIES OK THEIE WAY TO GEEENLAiTD. brave cold, hunger, neglect, persecution and death. No sooner did Christian David see his brethren well established in their new home, than he conceived the idea of carrying the gospel to those who sat in darkness. Two missionaries were sent first to the Isle of St. Thomas; and finding they 28 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. could not othcnvise have access to the slaves, who formed the greatei portion of the population, these two men announced themselves ready to become slaves in order that they might preach the joyful tidings of sal- vation to those negroes in bondage. Two other young men volunteered to go with Christian David to Greenland. They were Frederic and David Stach. When asked, at Copenhagen, how they proposed to live when they reached their destination. Christian David replied, "By the labor of our hands, and the blessing of God, we will build a house and cultivate the soil, and be dependent upon no one." He was told there was no timber for building; whereupon he retorted, "Then we will dig a hole in the ground and live there." These incidents show the dauntless spirit and indomitable determination of the early Moravians; disciplined in the school of hardships their hardy and indomitable cour- age has ever won the admiration of the Christian world. Within three years after the establishment of the settlement at Hermhut, five mission- aries were sent out, and the Moravian Missionary Society was permanently organized. This brave Moravian church, up to 1862, had sent out one- fiftieth of its mepibers as missionaries. Such zeal and earnestness are not to be found elsewhere in the history of missionary organizations. After the Moravian missions, the next movement worthy of special note was that of the Methodists under the Wesleys. John Wesley was a minister in the Established Church of England, who longed to bear the gospel to those who had it not. In 1732 he came to Georgia with Governor Oglethorp, for the purpose of Christianizing the Indians. A memorial church at Savannah, Ga., commemorates his labors in that country. He spent about two years in Georgia. On the voyage to this country he became acquainted with some of the Moravian missionaries, and was greatly impressed by their faith and ex- perience. Especially during a storm which threatened to engulf the ship Mr. Wesley wondered at the calm which these Moravians exhibited in conditions which so terrified him. He sought, soon afterward, to become more fully acquainted with their faith and manner of life ; and both his mind and his spirit, in after years, were, in a considerable measure, influenced by them. Wesley became a great reformer ; burning with zeal for the cause of God, and laboring especially to proclaim the gospel to the neglected dis- tricts, he traveled and preached throughout the British Islands. His whole work was a most distinguished exhibition of missionary zeal. Although his labors were confined to people of the English tongue and directed to arousing a vital faith and rekindling spiritual life in a corrupt and formal church. But to secure the best results of his PREPARATION OF THE CHURCH. 29 work, and to porpotiiatc it, Wesley organized the societi(!S which wore first called Methodists, and out of Avhich the Methodist Church arose. The first of these societies was organized in Fetter Lane, London, May 1st, 1738. The foundation of the first Mctho Gospel in India and Other Foreign Parts." Tlie management of this society was placed in tlie hands of a hoard of twelve directors. The secretary ^vas instructed to write to tlu^ English Baptist Society and propose a)i alliance of the two. The English Baptists Avisely thought the American Baptists should organize a society of their o^vn, and consetimaitly declined the oiler. Other local societies were formed in the Bajitist Ohurch in the United ADONIKAM .rUDSON. States in 1813; and on May 18th, 1814, representatives from these societies met at Philadelpliia, and formed " The General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of Amei'ica for Foreign Missions." The convention appointed a l)oard of managei's to control and superintend its work. Resolutions were at once adopted declaring Mr. Judson a missionary under the direction of the l)oard. The hoard also assumed the responsil lility of any debts contracted by ]Mr. Judson, as he had, during this time, been compelled to borrow from English 38 LIGHT IN bARKNESS. Baptists for his support. Mr. Judson was tlius the direct cause of the organization of two of the leading American missionary societies. The American Board was at first the organ of both Congregationahsts and Presbyterians; but in 1833 the Old School Presbyterians estabhshed a society of their own, leaving the other Presbyterian bodies to labor with the Board. A division of the work was made; the Presbyterians taking with them the Indian missions, and the work in Egypt, and also establishing new fields of labor for themselves. Another division was made in 1870, when the American Board was left entirely to the Con- gregational Church. In the division of labor the 39 fields of Turkey, Syria, Egypt and some other parts of the Orient were taken in charge by the Presbyterians. The Basle Missionary Society is the most important on the continent of Europe. No other collects annually so much money for the mission- ary work. It came into existence two years later than the Baptist society in the United States. The date of its organization being 1816. The Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church was perma- nently organized in 1819. The movement has an interesting and romantic history. It was in the same year that the Basle society was formed that Marcus Lindsey preached a sermon at Marietta, Ohio, which greatly moved John Stewart, a colored man in his congregation. Stewart was brought under deep conviction of his lost condition as a sinner. Shortly afterward he experienced the pardon of his sins. This colored man was praying in the field when he felt that the hand of God was upon him as one chosen to preach the gospel. Impelled by the conviction thaf he ought to preach, Stewart went to Goshen, where he found a number of Dela- ware Indians preparing for a dance. He entertained and pleased them by singing religious songs. After thus securing their attention, he preached to them, as best he could, the way of sa-lyation. From Goshen, Stewart went to the Wyandotte agency. Here^he met Jonathan Pointer, also a colored man, who had been a member of the Methodist Church, but was back-shdden and wicked. But Pointer spoke the Indian language, and Stewart insisted that Pointer should interpret while he preached to the Indians. At the first sermon only one Indian, an old woman, would hear. The next day the preacher had this womail and an old man for his congregation. At his iiext sermon eight or ten heard him. The interest grew. A great revival was the result, and during the meetings some celebrated Wyandotte and Turtle chiefs were converted. This revival, conducted by a negro, among the Indians, produced a great sensation throughout the Methodist Church, and turned the thouo-hts of Christians to the heathen people at home and abroad. Besides the PREPAEATION OF THE CHTTRCH. 39 Indians, scattered over the West, there were great numbers of foreigners "who linew not the gospel, crowding to our eastern shore. The people from some quarters began to petition for the organization of a missionary society. Rev. Nathan Bangs, D. D. , and Rev. Joshua Soule conferred upon the subject and decided that a society ought to be organized, which should be under the control of the General Conference, and Avhoso mis- sionaries should be, in all respects, subject to the discipline of the church. Local societies, in different places were already being organized, and in 1818 Rev. Laban Clark moved in the New York City preachers' meeting that a Bible and Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church be organized. At this meeting a number of pi'omincnt Methodists were present, and, after considerable discussion, a committee of three was appointed to draft a constitution. The constitution, when framed, Avas submitted to the consideration of a meeting of ministers and friends of the cause. At Forsyth Street Church, April 5th, 1819, it was vcvA, amended and adopted, article by article, and Bishop William McKendree was elected president of the new society, with Bishop Enoch George first vice-president. Bishop R. R. Roberts, second vice-president, and Rev. Nathan Bangs, D. D. , third vice-president. A board of thirty-one managers was then elected. But great opposition was now encoun- tered. A large portion of the Church felt no interest in the enterprise, or openly opposed it. Others were distrustful. The outlook was very gloomy. At times it was not possible to call together a meeting of the board. But there were others who stood • by the enterprise, and never doubted of its fhial success. Bishop Soule, at one meeting of the board, said: ' ' The time will come when every one who assisted in the organization of this society, and persevered in the undertaldng, will consider it one of the most honorable periods of his life. " Various auxiliaries were formed in the different conferences in the East, and the work of organizing them into a whole was finally completed in 1820, at the General Conference at Baltimore. Here the constitution was amended so as to form a distinct missionary society separate from the Bible cause. The work now began in earnest. Liberal donations were made, and nearly all the Methodist conferences fell into line at once. This society represented the whole body of Episcopal Methodists, until 1844, when the church divided into two ecclesiastical organizations. It is still the society of the Northern branch of the M. E. Church. In 1845 the M. E. Church, South, organ- ized a missionary society of its own. We have noted the beginning of missionary societies. To follow, in detail, the history of these organizations, as one denomination after another fell into line for the work is not necessary. The reader is referred 40 LIGPIT IN DARKNESS. to the Appendix at the close of this Tolumo for a tabulated exhibit of the principal noissionary societies, now in operation, and for the date of their organization. The English Baptist Society typed those which followed. The idea upon which they were established was well expressed by Carey, in that meeting at Kittering, when, having described India as a deep, dark mine, from which, such, as had the courage to venture might gather of redeemed souls, when no one else offering to descend into this mine, offered himself, saying, "Then I will go down," but, to his brethren, "You must bold the ropes." Holding the ropes is the business of the Missionary Society. This work is not solely for a few devoted individuals. It is a work for the whole church. The obligation rests upon the church, through her ministry, to "preach the gospel to every creature," and, in her organized work this duty should jBnd constant recognition. Under this view one after another of the Protestant denominatioias took up the work of foreign missions, as a duty not to be evaded or ignored. Every year, new societies were formed, until no church was found too inert or too feeble to respond to the general call. Every one is now sending its representatives into the field. . Eveiy one is aml)itious to bear some part in the great work of bringing the heathen world under the reign of Christ. As we write this, in the year of grace, 1SS8, there are one hundred and thirty foreign missionary societies of the A'arious Protestant churches, and the men and women they have sent forth are in every land and upon every island of the sea. CHAPTER m. PREPAEATION OF THE CHTIRCH— WOMAn'S POKEIGN MISSIONAEY SOCIETIES. ^N considering how God prepared the church for her great missionary epoch we must not fail to notice a special movement among Christian women. Woman's influence has always been very great m the church, and it would be impossible to exalt her to a more dignified or important sphere than that which she has always occupied. The home is woman's realm — • her kingdom where her power is weU-nigh supreme in establishing faith and mouldhig character. But it is principally for this cause that the problem of Christianizing heathen lands resolved itself, quicldy, when the trial began to be made, into the question whether woman in heathen lands could bo reached and brought imder the influences of the Christian teacher. PREPARATION OF THE CHURCH. 4] Such were the social laws in most heathen countries that male mission- aries were excluded from the homes of the nutives, and the native women, o:i the other hand, were excluded from those public assemblies where it was permitted to hear the teachings of the missionaries. Especially in India, which more than any other country, at the opening of this century, seemed to appeal to Christian nations for the l)rcnd of life, because there, the doors of entrance were thrown wide open, the state of woman was such, that the only hope of reaching her was through her own sex. This fact the missionaries in the field soon recbgnized and reported to the church at home. Men had preached the gospel to men; they had given the people the Word of God in their own tongue; they had scattered Christian books; it all availed little while the homes where life beginS; and mind and heart receive their first, but most enduring impressions, was not reached. Some of the foreign naissionaries were married, and had t:\ken their wives with them. It was found that the wife was, very often, the more efficient missionary of the two. So, the need was acknowledged of woman missionaries, and the call came to the church to send them forth. In any previous age of the church the organization of woman's missionary societies, and the employment of female missionaries under the authority of the church, and as a branch of regular work would have been impossible. But with the opening of the doors abroad came the re- moval of prejudices at home, which, else, would have restrained woman from entering upon the work to which she was called. Nearly two-thirds of all the members of the Protestant church are women. And these are in no i-espect inferior in faith and personal piety to the male members, but are rather their superiors in these elements, which constitute the real power of the church. It will be seen at once, therefore, what resources of influence are lodged in Christian women. They have ever been found in deepest sympathy with all that tends to the glory of God or the spiritual regeneration of our race. INDEPENDENT ORGANIZATIONS. Almost as soon as the churches began to organize missionary societies we read of special organizations on the part of the women of the church to aid the great work of Christianizing the heathen. Perhaps the earliest of these societies, of which any record can be found, was that organized by the ladies of the Baptist church, in Boston, in 1800. The constitution of this society is preserved. It stated, ' ' This society shall be composed of females (of no limited number) who shall feel themselves disposed to contribute their mite towards so noble a 42 LiGHt IN DARKNESS. design as the diftusion of gospel light among the shades of darkness and superstition. " The society met once a month, and two dollars a year was required of its members. Though originating chiefly among the Baptists, it is worthy of notice that this society was in truth a union society; for the 4th Article of its Constitution was as follows : "In order to accommodate persons of both denominations, separate lists of names will be kept, and subscriptions of those who request it ^^'i\l be devoted to the support of missions of the Congregational order, and those who wish otherwise, to the support of missions of the Baptist denomination." In 1802 the Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society was formed; in 1808 the " Cent a Week Society," and in 1811 the " Salem Cent Society." These societies multiplied in succeeding years. They Avere found to be very efficient in raising funds for the missionary cause. As early as 1812 we have mention of a "Woman's Foreign Missionary Society," at New Haven, Conn., belonging to the Congregational church. Under the leadership of this society auxiliaries sprang up rapidly until, in 1839, they numbered more than six hundred and eighty. The Methodist ladies of the city of New York organized a missionary society for the Methodist churches of that city and vicinity July 6th, 1819. The meeting was held in the Wesleyan Seminary on Forsyth street. Dr. Nathan Bangs presided at the meeting and aided in the organization. This meeting sent out an address to the churches, from which we take the following as expressing the sentiment which actuated those Christian ladies: " Shall we who dwell in ease and plenty, whose tables are loaded with the bounties of Providence, and whose persons are clothed with the fine- wrought materials of the Eastern loom; shall we, who sit under the droppings of the sanctuary, and are blessed with the stated ordinances of the house of God, thus highly, thus graciously privileged; shall we deny the small subscription solicited to extend the bare necessi- ties of life to our brethren who are spending their strength and wasting their health in traversing dreary mountains and pathless forests to carry the glad tidings of free salvation to the scattered inhabitants of the wil- derness ?" From the days of Joanna, the wife of Chuza, and other pious women, who ministered of their substance to the Lord, to the present period, female charitable institutions have experienced the peculiar smiles of a gracious Providence. We are not called to the more arduous employ- ments of active life; we are exempted from the toils and cares of official PREPARATION OF THE CHURCH. 43 statloBS in the church ; but God has, nevertheless, required of us that our all shall be devoted to his service. Let us imitate the pious Phebe, who was a servant of the church; Mary and Persis, "'who labored much in the Lord;' and those other godly women of the apostolic age whose memory still lives in the page of inspiration ; let us leave nothing unattempted that promises to promote the advancement of the Eedeemer's Kingdom." This New York society continued its work for more than forty years. But as the funds which it collected were not reported in the conference minutes to the credit of the various congregations from which they were gathered, the collections made by the ladies being outside of those pro- vided for in the discipline, the desire of the churches to have full credit for what they gave at length directed all their contributions into the regular channels, and this woman's society ceased. Rev. David Abeel, of the American Board, was a pioneer in organizing "woman's work for woman." As early as 1817 the American Board began to employ single ladies as teachers among the North American Indians ; and up to the year 1860 one hundred and four had been thus employed. Mr. Abeel advocated the organization of a woman's missionary society among the ladies of his English church, and at his suggestion the Society for the Promotion of Female Education in the East was formed in 1834. This society has its headquarters in London, is still in active operation, and has accomplished great good. The Ladies' "Wesleyan Missionary Association was organized March, 1859. Its center of operations is London. It is auxiliary to the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society. Its plan of action is confined to women and children. It affords help to orphanages and boarding schools and contributes to the support of schools in Italy, Ceylon Africa and Spain. The Woman's Union Missionary Society was organized in 1861. It is undenominational and has its headquarters in New York. In 1860 Mrs. Francis B. Mason, a missionary fi'om Burmah, came to the Bible Society with the sad story of woman's wants and miseries in heathen countries, and urging a special movement for their relief. During a visit to Boston her earnest appeals resulted in the formation of a society of nine ladies. A society was also organized in New York, and in February, 1861, the Boston society united with that of New York, and Mrs. T. .C -Doremus was chosen the first president. This society exhibited from the first a vigorous life. During the first year of its existence it sent a female missionary to Burmah, and aided in the support of female Bible readers in India, China and Japan. In the 44 LIGHT IN DAEKNESS. spring of 1862 it sent Miss Gomez to labor in the hospitals at Calcutta, and in July of the same year appointed Miss Britton as a teacher in the Zenanas of India. Miss Britton conducted her work with eminent suc- cess. She was, within a few years, aided by fifteen other ladies sent out by the society, and fifty more employed from India. They have also estabhshed at Calcutta an orphanage and a children's hospital. From Calcutta, as a center, work was also extended to Allahabad and Rajpore. In 1869 three female missionaries were sent by the society to begin work in Peking, China. In the same year a school was taken up by the society in Smyrna. Japan was entered by three lady missionaries in 1871, and in the same year a missionary was se;it to Athens in Greece. The report of this society in 1881 showed 43 missionaries sent out from America, 58 supported on the field, 12 mission stations, 84 schools; 171 Bible readers; 63 out stations: inLidia, 15;inBurmah, 6; in China, 13; inSiam, 1; in Syria, 6; in Turkey, 7; in Japan, 2; in Africa, 6; in Mexico, 4; in California, 1; in Paris, 1. The aggregate receipts of the society up to 1881, were $741,939.19. The value of its property in foreign stations, $40,000. INDEPENDENT SOCIETIES. The Woman's Board of Missions of the Congregational Church was organized January 18, 1868. The great work which was being accomplished by the "Woman's Union Society, which we have just noticed, awakened an interest on the part of a number of ladies in the City of Boston, who felt called upon to make some eifort to establish woman's missionary work within their own church. They received the encouragement of the American Board. A meeting of about forty ladies, members of the Congregational Church, was held at the Old South Church Chapel, on the first Tuesday of Jan- uary, 1868. Mrs. Winslow, of the Madura mission, and Mrs. Dr. Butler,, wife of a Methodist Episcopal missionary in North India, were present and addressed the meeting upon the miseries and needs of heathen women, showing how the progress of the gospel was hindered while they remained inaccessible, and what an effectual door was open to reach them through female missionaries. Missionaries abroad were caUing for the aid of women in their work, and women of piety and education were ready to go. Should they not form a society designed especially to to raise the means and send them, and to direct the attention of the church more fully to the special work to which Providence was calling Christian women ? It was resolved to proceed at once to the organ- ization of a society; a committee was appointed to draw up a constitution, PREPARATION OF THE CHURCH. 46 and a week later, attlie same place, the "New England Women's Foreign Missionary Society " was organized. The society was not to work independently, but in connection with missionary boards already organized, nor was it intended to confine its work to the Congregational church. The first article of the constitution was as follows: "The object of this society is to engage the earnest, systematic co-op- eration of the women of New England, with the existing boards for Foreign Missions, in sending out and supporting \mmarried female mis- sionaries and teachers to heathen women. " There was to be union of council, prayer and method of work in the operations of the society at home, but its treasurer was to keep a denominational account, crediting each religious body with the sums received from its members. In September of 1868, the constitution of the society was changed so as to extend its auxiliaries beyond Ne^\r England and to limit its work abroad to co-operation with the American Board, and the name of the society was changed to the ' ' Woman's Board of Missions. " The society reported in 1882 tvventy-one branches; fourteen hundred organizations; one hundred and one missionaries; eighty-one Bible women; twenty -two boarding schools; five homes containing one thousand pupils, and twenty-three village schools containing twenty-five hundred pupils. The society had collected since its organization, $940,000. " The Ladies' Board of Missions,^" in connection with the Presbyterian Church, was organized in the spring of 1868. Its first object was to aid the missions of the Presbyterian Church in New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado. Later, its plans we];e enlarged and the name of the society changed to the "Ladies' Board of Missions of the Presbyterian Chmxh." This society is doing a good Avork. " The Woman's Board of Missions of the Interior," a Congregational society, was organized in 1868. All these societies were, in a sense, independent of the church. They were not called into existence by any church action, nor were they governed by any laws and regulations laid down by the chm^ches. They were voluntary organizations of Christian women. They frajned their own constitutions and directed their own work or determined by their own choice how it should be directed. The societies which confined their work within denominational boundaries co-operated with the regular church boards as auxiliaries. The great number of societies which came into existence in this way — for we have only noticed a few of them, and, the great work which they 4:6 LIGHT IN DAEKNKSS. did — show the leadings of Providence in this woman's missionary move- ment, and how slow the church was to follow the manifest leading of the Divine hand; for, it was not mitil 1869 that the churches, as such, began to take action in organizing woman's missionary societies as a co-ordinate branch of their regularly constituted missionary work. THE FIRST CHURCH SOCIETY. The honor of organizing the first woman's missionary society under the direct sanction and support of the church belongs to the Methodists. "The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church," was primarily the fruit of the energy and zeal of Mrs. Parker, wife of one of the Methodist missionaries to India. Mr. and Mrs. Parker returned from India, March, 1869. They were deeply impressed with the need of a woman's missionary society, that should represent the whole Methodist Episcopal Church. Their experi- ence in the foreign field made them feel that heathen women could only be reached effectually through special effort in their behalf, upon the part of Christian women in the church at home. Mrs. Dr. Butler, wife of the founder of the Methodist Missions in India, and who was at this time residing in Boston, joined her influence with that of Mrs. Parker in arousing the Methodist ladies to undertake the contemplated work. In response to appeals to other women in the Western sections of the church, Mrs. Parker received the answer, "Let the women of the East start and we wiU f oUow. " Notice was sent to the Methodist Churches in Boston and vicinity calling for a meeting on Monday, March 22, at Tremont Street Church, at 3 p. m., for the purpose of organizing a Woman's Foreign Mission- ary Society. On the morning of the appointed day Mrs. Parker awoke to behold one of the most furious storms of the season, and she twenty-five miles from the place of meeting. Mr. Parker tried to dissuade her from going to Boston, saying "No one will be there and we had better go home." Mrs. Parker hesitated, as if recalling the sight of those soul- starving women of heathen lands, and the devoted missionaries over- taxed and breaking down under the burden resting upon them. Then, turning to her husband, she said, ' 'Edwin, you can do as you think best, but I must go to Boston." She found Mrs. Butler and seven other ladies present. These ladies then and there adopted a constitution and organized the Woman's For- eign Missionary Society. This society was intended for the whole church. It was independent of the church missionary society in its constitution and methods of PREPARATION OF THE CHURCH. 47 work; but it was, according to its constitution, to "seek its council and approval." The general conference of 1873 ratified the organization of the society and provided for its work in harmony with that of the gen- eral board. The whole territory of the church was divided into ten districts, each having its headquarters as a center of operations; and a paper called The Heathen Worncm's Friend was established as tho organ 48 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. of tho society. At present this society enrolls 113,259 members, ana reports collected the past year $191,077.59. We need not detail further the history of that movement which is contributing so much to missions at the present time. After the examjDle of the Methodist Church other Protestant denominations fell quickly into line in organizing general societies under their fostering care and direction. The importance of a separately organized "Woman's Work for Woman," was recognized, and within a decade after the Methodists led the way almost every denomination of Christians, of any strength, had joined in the movement. From the woman's missionary societies in the United States up to 1887, more than ten milhon dollars had been collected, and more than one miUion annually is now being raised by them. Nor is this woman's movement less prominent, when we regard tlie work which female missionaries are doing abroad. In the school where childi'en are taught, in the hospital where the sick are nursed, woman's services have been more acceptable and more efficient than the services of men. And most of all in reaching their own sex and carrying the gospel to heathen homes they have accomplished a work which men could not do, but which was the most impox-tant of all for the success of Christian missions. INDIA. CHAPTEE IV. HEE PEOPLE AND RELIGION. NDIA embraces the two great divisions of Hither and Farther India. Hither India is the great southern peninsula of Asia, washed on the east, south and west by the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. It has a sea-coast of 4, 000 miles. Its land boundaries are: upon the east, the hills which separate it from Burmah; on the north, the great Hima- laya Mountains, which separate it from Thibet, Tartary and China; and on the west the Suleimaun range, dividing it from Afghanistan and Beloochistan. The extent of the country from north to south is about 2,000 miles, and its greatest breadth 1,900. It contains an area of 1,577,698 square miles — about twenty-four times the extent of the state of Missouri. The river Ganges comes down from the snows of the Himalayas, flows seven hundred miles to the southeast, thence eastward four hundred miles, through the plain of Bengal, and turning to the southeast again and meandering for three hundred miles through a country but little elevated above the sea, goes out through many mouths into the Bay of Bengal. The Indus, rising in Thibet and flowing through the pass between the Himalayas and the Hindoo Kush Mountains, enters India on the north- west border, near which it flows for a thousand miles till it enters the Arabian Sea. The Brahmapootra Eiver enters India from Thibet, on the extreme northeast, and, flowing to the southwest, mingles its waters with the Gan- ges as it enters the bay. Five large rivers, four besides the Indus, give name to the Punjaub in the northwest. The Keistnah and the Godavcry are the great rivers of the southern peninsula. There are, besides these, many smaller streams, and the greater part of the country is well watered and possesses the conditions of great productiveness, although irrigation from wells is the chief reliance of the husbandman in large sections of country where the soil, when properly watered, proves luxuriously fi'uitful. The natural divisions of India are the plains of the Ganges, the plain of the Indus, the sub-Himalaya regions, an elevated table-land, lying 4 L-D ^ 50 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. between the basins of the Ganges and Indus, northward, and the penin- sular portion which extends southward. The peninsula has low lands near the coast, east and west, but inland rises abruptly into a vast interior plateau, from 2, 000 to 8, 000 feet above the level of the sea, bounded on either side by the eastern and western Ghauts mountains. The plains of the Indus are in a large measure arid and barren. The desert of the Indus is called, in Hindoo geography, " The Eegion of Death." It lies along the course of the Indus and the Ghara rivers for 500 miles. The plain of the Ganges is wonderfully fertile, and sustains a pop- ulation of 100,000,000 people. It embraces the provinces of Bengal, Bohar, the Doab, Oude and Eohilcund. Farther India is the southeast peninsula of Asia, touching India on the southeast by Burmah, and stretching away between the gulf of Siam and the China sea, and southward into the Malay Peninsula. It includes, besides this peninsula, Burmah, Anam and Siam. The productions of India are as varied as its climate, ranging from the flora of a trojpical to those of the arctic regions. Groves of palm boi-der the coast. The mango abounds in the interior. Rice is one of the principal articles of food, and is grown wherever the lands can be irrigated. Maize and wheat are the staple productions of the northwest. Opium is one of the chief articles of export. Cotton is extensively cultivated. The cmchona tree has been introduced and does well. The Lidia rubber is an important product. The country abounds in wild beasts, as the panther, tiger, leopard, woLf, jackal, and hyena, and in many kinds of deadly serpents. In IS 71 the total number of inhabitants known to have been destroyed by fhese creatures was 18,0T8, of whom 14,529 died from the bites of serpents. The population of British India, according to census taken by the British government, is 212,671,621, which is about one-sixth of the population of the globe. The population of the province of Oude is 473 to the square mile. The average population of the United States is but 26 to the square mile. Taldng the whole of India the population is an average of 135 to the square mile — more than five times the population of this country. The people of India are not one, but many, as respects race and nation- ality. Ninety-eight difierent languages are spoken in India. Yet, of the 212,671,621 reported at the last census, 212,483,274 were Asiatics. INDIA — PEOPLE AND KELIGION. 61 RELIGION OF INDIA. The religion of India is first the Bralmiin, ■which is the most ancient and widely prevalent. JSicxt, tlio Bnddhist, wliich is a modificatiou of Brahminism, introduced Ijy the great reformer, Siddartha, aft(;r\vards called the Buddha or Knowing One, who was bom about six hundred years before Christ; and IMohammedanisni, wliieh was introduced into the country under the Mohammedan conquests from tlio tenth to the twelfth century, and later, fostered under the ]\Iogul empire. Buddhism in its rise swept over India, became dominant, and flour- ished nearly a thousand years, but was at length driven out by the Brahmins and passed into Tlnl_)et, China and Cejdon. The Mohammedans are in number about 30,000,000. They are a j'l^JvJ'J^j^ off C-J '^ — "WILD BEASTS OF INDIA. foreign people in India, its invaders, hated by the native Hindoo and having' no influence o^'er Hindoo faith and life. It is the Brahmin reliiiion which lias done most to fix the character of the people of India and to establish their institutions. A few facts in regard to this system of teaching will prepare the reader lietter to understand the struggle which Christianity is maldng to-day with the powers of darkness in this vast empire. No man is known as the founder of Braliminism. It is the religion of the Brahmins, and the Brahmins are a caste, the highest and most digni- fied of the four castes into which the people of India have ))een divided from time immemorial. The teaching of Brahminism, even in the re- 52 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. raotcst timo, are wanting in that unity and individual character which would distinguish tho productions of any ono man. Brahniinism seems to Ijo older tlian any profane history. It had filled its mcasui'c and devi 'loped its civilization before tlie timo of Alexander tho Great. That con<|uer(3r, when he invaded India, found its temples and cities, its la^^'S and social condition as the Enghsh conquerors of our own time fomid them. A BRAIMLN. Tho Hindoos have no histmy, though they have a rich literature of poetry, pliilosophy and religion, running back to tho most remote antiquity. To the Hindoo, life has nothing -wforth recording, and human achievement deserves no memorial. They have no chronology. Tho Vedas are the oldest and most revered of their religious books. INDIA — PEOPLE AND KELIGION. 63 They are chiefly hymns to various deities, or more properly to the mani ■ fold manifestation of one God. Of the Vedas there are four — the Rig-Veda, the Yajur, the Sama and the Atharva. They arc all in ancient Sanscrit, but evidently "vviitten at different periods, extending over six or seven centuries. It is estimated by Professor Max Muller, who is regarded the best authority on this point, that the dates of the origin of these books, respectively, range from 1,200 to 200 years before Christ. The people of India are of the Aryan stock and came from Persia. They entered the country along the course of the Indus, and made their first settlement in the Punjaub, and there the oldest of the Vedas were composed. The last of the Vedas were written probably eight hundred years later, aiid after the people had built cities on the Ganges. THE VEDAS. The Vedas are dedicated to Indra, Varuna, Agni, Savitri, and Samna. The first of these was the god of the Atmosphere; the second, of Light; the third, of Fire; the fourth, of the Sun, and the fifth, of the Moon. The early faith of the Hindoos seems to have been of one god, going forth in all these elements of nature, and hence, under all these he was named, personified and adored. This doctrine is sustained by a study of the whole system of Brahminism. It is also well expressed in the Eig-Veda which is the oldest of all, for in it we read of the supreme god: "They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni; then he is the wcll-wingcd heavenly Garutmat; that which is One, the wise call it many ways; they call it Agni, Yama, Matarisvan." It will give the reader the best idea of the oldest of the Vedas and their teachings respecting the unity of god to produce a few quotations as found m MuUer's Ancient Sanscrit Literature: EIG-VEDA, "S. 121. In the beginning there arose the Source of golden light. He was the only horn god of all that is. He established the earth and this sky. Who is the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? He who gives life. He who gives strength ; whose blessing all the bright gods desire ; whose shadow is immortality, whose shadow is death. Who is the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? He who, through his power, is the only king of the breathing and awakening world. He who governs all, man and beast. Who is the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? He whose power these snowy mountains, whose power the sea proclaims, with the distant river. He whose these regions are, as it were, his two arms. Who Is the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? He through, whom the sky is bright and the earth firm. He through whom 54: LIGHT IN DAKKNESS. heaven was established ; yea, the highest heaven. He who measured out the light in the air. Who is the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? He to whom the heaven and the earth, standing firm by his will, look up. tremb- ling inwardly. He over whom the rising sun shines forth. Who is the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? Wherever the mighty water-clouds went, there they placed the seed and lit the fire, thence arose he who is the only life of the bright gods. Who is the god to whom we shall offer oursacrifice ? He who by his might looked over the water-clouds, the clouds which gave strength and lit the sacrifice ; he who is god above all gods. Who is the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? May he not destroy lis — he the creator of the earth — or he the righteous who created heaven. He who created the bright and mighty waters. Who is the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice? Some of the hymns of the Vedas express, as our own Christian hymns, the out-going of the soul after divine guidance and help — sentiments born of devout souls, and with which devout hearts beat in harmony everywhere. As Mr. MuUer says, the following hymn might be accepted as Christian, if only the name of Jehovah stood in the place of the name Verauna: 1. Let me not yet, O Yerauna, enter into the house of clay; have mercy! almighty, have mercy ! 2. If I go along trembling, like a cloud driven by the wind, have mercy! almighty, have mercy ! 3. Through want of strength and light, god, have I gone to the wrong shore; have mercy ! almighty, have mercy ! 4. Thirst came upon the worshiper though he stood in the midst of the waters; have mercy! almighty, have mercy ! 5. Whenever we men, O Verauna, commit an offense before the heavenly host, whenever we break thy laws through thoughtlessness; have mercy! almighty, have mercy! From such teachings in regard to the character of God, and such devout sentiments, we might expect to find the Hindoo rehgion the purest theism, and the worship of the people pure and simple. But these are only selections from much that is monstrous in their teachings and worship. So far from worshiping one God, the Hindoos Avorship all objects in nature, both animate and inanimate, and aU fantastic and mon- strous conceptions of the brain. All the elements of nature are deified. The country aboimds, and has, from unremembered time, abounded in idol temples, and the images of the gods found there are strange, grotesque monsters. The reader will not wonder at this when he reads the follow- ing description of Vishnu which I copy from the Bhagvad- Gita. INDIA — PEOPLE AND RELIGION. 65 A REVELATION OF VISHNU. " The mighty lord of creation, showed to the Son of Pritha his sov- ereign form, gifted with many mouths and eyes, with many wonderful appearances, with many divine ornaments, holding many celestial weap- ons, wearing celestial wreathes and robes, anointed with celestial perfumes, the aU-miraculous infinite deity, with his face turned in all directions. If the Hght of a thousand suns were to break forth in the sky at the same time, it would be similar to the brilhance of this mighty one. Thus did the Son of Pandu then behold the whole universe, so multifariously distributed, collected in one person of the god of gods. Thereupon the despiser of wealth, struck with amazement, and with his hair standing on end, saluted the god by bowing his head, folded his hands, and spoke reverently as follows: ' I hold all the gods in thy body, O god ! and crowds of different beings ; the lord Brahma on a throne of lotus-cup, and all the Kishis and celestial serpents. I see thee with many arms, stomachs, mouths and eyes everywhere of infinite form. I see neither end, nor middle, nor yet beginning of thee, O Lord of All ! of the form of All ! crowned Avith a diadem, bearing a club and a discus. I see thee a mass of hght, beaming everywhere, hard to look upon, bright as a Idndlcd fire or the sun, on all sides, immeasurable. I believe thee to be the indivisible, the highest object of knowledge, the supreme receptacle of this universe, the imperishable preserver of eternal law, the everlasting person. I see thee without beginning, middle or end, of infinite strength, with the sun and moon for eyes, mouths like a kindled fire, heating all the uni- verse mth thy splendor. For this r-pace between heaven and earth and every qiiarter of heaven are pervaded by thee alone. The trijole world is astounded, O Mighty One ! having beheld this miraculous and terrific form of thine. For these crowds of Suras turn to thee as their refuge; Some, affrighted, murmur with folded hands. The multitudes of INIa- harshis and Siddhas praise thee in most excellent hymns, crying ' Hail to thee ! ' Eudrus, Adityas, Vasus, and all the Sadhyas, Vishwas, the twin Ashwinau, and Maruts and Ushmapas, the crowds of Gandharvas Yak- shas, Asuras, and Siddhas behold thee, and are all amazed. Having seen thy mighty form with many mouths and eyes, O great-armed ons ! and many arms, thighs and feet, many stomachs and many projecting teeth, the worlds and I, too, are astonished. For since I have seen thee touching the skies (in height), beaming with divers colors, with open mouth, and large, glittering eyes, my inward soul is troubled, and I lose both my fineness and tranquihty, O Vishnu! I cease to recognize the regions of heaven and experience no joy, merely from thy mouths with 56 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. their projecting teeth, like the fire of death. Be merciful, O Lord of Gods ! habitation of the universe ! and all these sons of Daritarashtra, together with multitudes of kings, of the earth, Bishma, Drona, and yon son of a charioteer, together with our principal warriors, also, hasten to enter thy mouths, formidable with projecting teeth. Some are seen cHnging in the mterstices between thy teeth with their heads ground down. As many torrents of rivers flow down direct to the ocean, these heroes of the human race enter thy flaming mouths. As flics carried away by a strong impetus, fly into a lighted candle to their own destruction, even multitudes of beings, impelled by a strong impetus, enter thy mouths also for destruction. Devouring all inhabitants of the world. \ VISHNTT ON HIS SERPENT COUCH. fi'om every quarter, thou hckest them with thy flaming lips. Tilling the whole miivcrse with thy splendor, thy sharp beams burn, O Vishnii ! ' " The above description is intended to represent the universe god in whose body all things are contained, and of whose body all things are a part. The Supreme Spirit is the vital energy of all things, and dwells in all things. Thus any creature may be an object of worship if wor- shipped intelligently, i. e., notinreference to itself but the god within it. So Brahminism, beginning with the idea of one God, passed to the worship of air, fire, and water as manifestations of God; and having taken this step went forward, naturally, to the worship of every creature. INDIA — PEOPLE AND RELIGION. 57 Its first step was pantheism, God in everything; and its next was poly- theism, everything a god. DREARY FATALISM. Tlie corollary of such faith is a dreary fatalism. God in all things and all things God seems to confound the ideas of good and evil, right and wrong. In the Bhugvad-Oita Krishna exhorts Arjvnia to fight with those whom that warrior, being of a compassionate nature, was unwilUng to slay. He urges that what we call death is a thing indifferent. " Thou hast grieved for those who need not be gi'ieved for. The wise grieve not for dead or living. But never, at any time, did I, or thou, or these kings of men, not exist, nor shall any of us, at any time hence- forward, cease to exist. He who beheves this spirit can kill, and he who thinks it can bo killed, both are wrong in judgment. It neither kills nor is killed. It is not born, nor does it die at any time. Therefore, knowing it to be such, thou art not right to grie^'e for it. And e^'en if thou deem it born with the body and dying with the body, still, O, great-armed one! thou art not right to grieve for it. For to everything born death is certain, to everything dead regeneration is certain. There- fore thou art not right to grieve for a thing which is inevitable." Tliis fatahsm is not favorable to practical morahty but leads men to regard aU actions with like indifference, and helps to develop that listless, meditative character which distinguishes the Hindoo. The Hymns of the Vedas are for the most part sensual. This hymn to Pitu (food) is recited by a Brahmin when he is about to eat: 1. I glorify Pitu the Great, the upholder, the strong, by whose invigorating power Trita slew the mutilated Viritra. 2. Savory Pitu ; sweet Pitu ; we worship thee ; become our protector. 8. Since we enjoy the abundance of the waters and the plants, therefore. Body, do thou grow fat ! 9. And since we enjoy, Soma (an intoxicating drink), thy mixture with boiled milk or boiled barley, therefore Body, do thou grow fat! 10. Vegetable cake of fried meal, do thou be substantial, wholesome, and invig- orating. Body, do thou grow fat ! There are other hymns which are the grossest bacchanals, and from the earhest ages of their history known to us the inhabitants of India have been luxurious and licentious. Dr. Butler, who spent years in India, and who was well acquainted with Brahminism in its teachings and practice, says of the Vedas: "After a careful examination, from beginning to end, of this venera- ble and lauded work (the doors of which have so lately opened for the admission of mankind) with the remembrance in my mind of the long years when men have listened to the reiterations of its holiness, as the 58 LIGHT nsr dakkkbss. very source of all Hindoo faith — the oracle from which Vedantic philoso- phy has drawn its mspiration, the temple at whose mere portal so many millions have howed in such awe and reverence, with its interior too holy for common sight, containing, as it was asserted, all that was worth Imowing, the primitive original truth that could regenerate India, and make even Christianity unnecessary — ^well, with no feehngs save those of deep interest and a measure of respect, we have entered and walked from end to end, to find ourselves shocked at every step with the revela- tions of this mystery of iniquity and sensuahty, where saints and gods, male and female, hold high orgies amid the fumes of intoxicating liquor, with their singing and screaming, and the challenging by which they urge one another on to deeper debasement until at length decency retires and leaves them 'glorying in their shame.'" THKEE PRINCIPAL SCHOOLS. There are many phases of Brahminism. Three principal systems of philosophy modify it. And under these general systems are subdivisions and sects. To enter upon an explanation of these systems would be to detain the reader with the most abstract and subtle metaphysics, and to discuss questions about which the most learned in Hindoo literature have not been able to agree. Let this general summary suffice. The religious system taught in the oldest of the Vedas has been modi- fied by three principal schools of philosophy, known as the Sankhya, the Vedanta and the Nyaya schools. These three systems reach far back into their traditionary times, six or seven hundred years before Christ. It will serve no purpose to set forth their subtle differences. It is sufficient to say that the Vedanta system accepts one eternal and uncreated prin- ciple, and that this one eternal being is the only real thing in existence, and all besides, even the material world, is but an illusion. The Sankhya system teaches two eternal principles, spirit and matter; but both of these are one god. The Nyaya system teaches three eternal principles, atoms, souls, and god; or one god as supreme, matter as eternal and souls as individual and apart from god. All these systems, however, were originated by the Brahmins them- selves, and are all taught by them as orthodox. They aU agree that the highest good of man is to escape from connection with aU material things and return to god; and so they all represent the present existence as an evil. ' 'All, " says James Freeman Clark, ' 'are idealists to whom the world of sense and time is a delusion and a snare, and who regard the idea as the only substance. All agree in accepting the fact of transmigration, the cessation of which brings final deliverance. All consider that the INDIA — PEOPLE AND RELIGION. 59 means of tliis deliverance is to be found in laiowledge, in a perfect reality — as opposite to appearance." These systems are all held by Bralmiins who venerate the Vedas above all other sources of truth, and who observe the same common rites of Hindoo worship. TEANSMIGRATION OP SOULS. According to the doctrine of transmigration the soul was never created, and never dies. At the death of the body it passes into another body of a better, or it may be, of a lower order. It passes through worms, fishes, reptiles, birds, age after age, through immeasurable cycles of time. He who attains to the highest state of perfection escapes from these transmigrations and is swallowed up in the infinite spirit. The method by which this escape from further connection with matter is to be effected, is not by good works or virtuous deeds, but by an indif- ference to all temporal and material things, by which the soul strives to separate itself from the material. Yet in thus seeking to become free from matter two opposite paths are taken. Some afflict the body, enter the wddcrness, fast and meditate; others give themselves to all indulgence, act as the moment and as the occasion prompt; for action is nothing, and he who acts, aimless, never resisting the impulse to act, is still superior to the world, in his utter indifference. He moves, unresisting, upon the cur- rent, and asserts his superiority to all things in resisting nothing, Ijecause he cares for nothing. The Bliagvad^Gita says: "Renunciation of, and devotion through works are both means of final emancipation. " He who acts must not intend anything by so doing. He must have no motive, but must retire into himself and think only of himself. We read in the Bliagvad- Gita "The man who only takes delight in himself, and is satisfied with him- self, and is content in himself alone, has no selfish interest in action. He has no interest in what is done or what is not done in the world. Nor is there among all things which exist, any object of use to him." As to those who seek perfection by renouncing aU action, the God Krishna reveals to Arjuna as follows : " The devotee whose soul is sated with spiritual knowledge and spiritual discernment, who stands above all, whose senses are subdued; to whom a lump of earth, a stone and gold are alike, is called devoted. He who is of the same mind to friends, acquaintances and enemies, to the indifferent and the neutral, to ahens and relatives, to the good and bad, is greatly esteemed. A devotee should always exercise himself, remaining in seclusion and sohtude, restraining his thoughts and himself, without indulging hopes and without posses- sions, keeping a settled couch for himself in an undefiled spot, not too f!0 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. lofty nor too low, with a sheet and a sldn to cover him, and Kusha grass to lie on. Then, fixing his heart on one object, restraining his thoughts, senses and actions, seated on his couch, he should ^Dractice devotion for the purification of his soul. Holding his body, his head and neck all even and immovable, firmly seated, I'cgarding only the tip of his nose, and loolviug aroLUid in difiereut directions, the devotee shoidd remain quiet with passionless soul, free from anxiety, remaining under the vow of tlie Brabmachari, restraining his heart, meditating antl intent on me. A dc\'otee always exercises himself thus, and resti'aining his heart attains to that ti'anquility, the supreme extinction, "which is couioined with me." It will be seen that there is nothing to prompt to active goodness in INDIA — PEOPLE AND RELIGION. 61 the Hindoo faith, and little restraint against any sensuality or vice. The reader will also see that the minds of the most learned teachers among them were given up to a dreamy metaphysics. With this drsnltory sketch of the prevailing faith of the Hindoos to indicate its trend and its influence upon daily life, we pass to consider the caste system. THE FOUR CASTES. I have already spoken of the four castes into which all the people are ■ divided. The origin of caste is remote, but later than the first of the Vedas. It was also developed before the time of Menu, the law-giver, as the Institutes of Menu specify particularly the duties of the castes respectively. It was while the Aryan invaders of India were making their way from the Punjaub in the northwest, and slowly advancing in their conquest of the aboriginal inhabitants to their settlements along the Gan- ges. The word Sudra, which is the name of the lowest caste, means MacJc, and refers to the aboriginal inhabitants, who were reduced under their conquerors to abject slavery. For the Sudra there is no place in the religion of the Hindoos. He is ignored. He has no privileges, no promises, no place in the system. The Sudras were no doubt the first caste that was formed. On the other hand, the priests who shaped the _faith of the people, and who were conservators of all the learning known to them asserted privileges for thcmseh'es, and built up their own author- ity as they pleased, until they stood clearly defined as a sacred order and a privileged caste. There remained the body of the people who engaged in the common avocations of life, and these were of two classes, the soldiers, who, in that early age, as among all nations, were a dis- tinguished class; and after them the herdsmen, farmers and merchants. It was natural enough for the soldiers to assert for themselves special privileges, and to become a caste next in dignity to the Brahmins. Thus the divisions into Kshatriyas and Vaisyas took place, and the institution of caste was complete. The Brahmins, however, delighted to throw about everything a veil of mystery, and to secure the faith of the people in what they taught as revelations from God. It could not have been long after the Caste sys- tem was established that Menu lived, ja't Menu spoke of the constitution as having existed from the creation of man. Menu is revered by the Hindoo as Moses is by the Israelite, and the the laws of Menu stand next in age after those of the great Hebrew law- giver. The Institutes of Menu gives this history of the origin of caste: "In order to preserve the universe Brahma, the deity, caused the Brahmin to proceed from his mouth, the Kshatriya to proceed from his 62 LIGHT IN DAEKNESS. arm, the Yaisya to proceed from his thigh, and the Sudra to proceed from his foot. And Brahma directed tlaat tlio duties of the Srahmins should be reading and teaching the Vedas, sacrificing and assisting others to sacrifice, giving alms if they be rich and receiving alms if they be poor. And Brahma directed that the duties of the KsJitdrlyas should be to defend the people, to give alms, to sacrifice, to read the Vcdas and keep their passions under control. And he directed that the duties of the Vaisyas should be to keep herds of cattle, to give alms, to read the shasters, to carry on trade, to lend money at interest, and to cultivate land. And he directed that the Sudrus should serve all the three mentioned castes, namely, the Brah- mins, the Kshatriyas and the Yaisyas; and that he should not depreciate or make light of them. Since the Brahmin sprang from the mouth, which is the most excellent part of Brahma, and since he is the first-born and possesses the Veda, he is by right the chief of the whole creation. Him Brahma produced from his own mouth, that he might perform holy rites, that he might present ffliee to the gods, and cakes of rice to the Pitris or progenitors of mankind." SACEEDNESS OE THE BEAHMESrS. Thus it will be seen that the castes are in crrder of influence and chgnity, the Brahmins, or priests; the Kshatiyas, or soldiers; the Vaisyas, or merchants; and the Sudras, or slaves. The Brahmins are sacred in person and exempt from the penalties of corporal punishment, no matter what crimes they may commit. For in the laws of Menu it is wi'itten, "Never shall the king flay a Brahmin, though convicted of all possible crimes; let him banish the oflbncler fi-om his realm, but with all his property secure and his body unhurt." No greater crime is known on earth than slaying a Brahmin; and the king must not even form in his mind, therefore, the idea of killing a priest. In a religious sense the crimes of a Brahmin require less penance than the crimes of other men, for a Brahmin is of so much dignity as to be an object of veneration, even to the gods themselves. Menu says, "Of created things, the most excellent are those which subsist by intelligence; of the intelligent, manldnd; and of men, the priestly class; of priests, those eminent in learning; of the learned, those who know their duty; of those who know their duty, such as perform it virtuously; and of the virtuous, those who seek beatitude from a per- fect acquaintance with scriptural doctrine. The very birth of Brahmins is a constant incarnation of Darma, god of justice; for the Brahmin is bom to promote justice, and to procure final happiness. When a Brah- INDIA — PEOPLE AND RELIGION. 63 mill springs to light he is born above all the world, the chief of all creatures, assigned to guard duties religious and civil. TIio J>rahmin \vho studies this book, having performed sacred rites, is perpetually free from offense in thought, in Avord, and in deed. He confers purity on his living family, on his ancestors, and on his docendants as far as the seventh person, and ho alone deserves to possess the whole earth." The Brahmin reads and teaches the Veda, and there is such merit in the knowledge of these sacred books that it is said "he who can repeat the whole of the Eig-Vcda would be fi-ee from guilt, though ho killed the inhabitants of thi-ee worlds." The punishment of a Brahmin could only touch his property, never his person. Even when punished by fines his superiority to other men was to bo acknowledged. The law prescribed: "A Kshatriya, who slandered a Brahmin, was to pay a hundred _^(:mas. If a Yaisya sland- ered a Brahmin he was to pay two hundred panas, but a Sudra who committed such a crime was to be whipped. If a Brahmin slandered a Kshatriya he was only to pay fifty panas; if he slandered a Yaisya, _. twenty-five, and if he slandered a ^o Sudra, twelve. If a Sudi-a insulted a Brahmin he was to have his tongue slit; if he used reproachful language respecting the Brahmin caste he was to have a hot iron thi-ust into his mouth; and if he presumed to instruct a Brahmin in rcgai-d to his duty he was to have hot oil poured into liis mouth and ear; if ho struck a Brahmin he was doomed to suffer in hell a thousand years. FOUE STAGES OF THE LIFE OF A BEAIIMIN. The Brahmin's life, if he lived to be old, according to the laws of Menu, should be divided into four stages. In the first stage he was to bo a student, receiving instruction in the Vedas from his teachers. The second stage was married life, in which he should rear a family, give council in regard to public affairs, and give instruction in the sacred 64 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. books. During this period the Brahmins wore a white mantle, carried an ewer of water and a staff, a handful of Kusha grass and a copy of the Vcdas. When the Brahmin's hair is gray and he has a grand-child bom he enters upon the third stage. He is directed in the laws of Menu to leave his home and repair to the forest. His wife may accompany him if she will, otherwise he must go alone. He must take with him the conse- crated fire and the vessels and instruments needed for oflfering sacrifices. He must keep his desires under strictest control, must every day perform the five sacraments, must wear a black antelope skin or a dress of bark. He must not trim his hair or his beard, or his nails, and must bathe every morning and evening. He must spend the day in reading the Vedas. He must practice patience. He must be kind to all and must love every Hving creature. He must meditate constantly on the Supreme Being. He must expose himself to the worst effects of the elements. In the midsummer he must kindle four fires around him and sit in the midst with the sun overhead. In the rain he must stand unconcerned, without his mantle, while the clouds pour down their heaviest showers. In the cold season he must wear damp vesture. "He should increase the austerity of his devotion by degrees, until, by enduring harsher and harsher mortifications he has dried up his bodily frame. " During this third stage the Brahmin is called a Vanaprastha. After this he- enters upon the stage of Sannyasi. I quote the instruction for a Sannyasi as laid down in the Institutes of Menu: ' ' When a Brahmin has thus lived in the forest during the third portion of his life as a Vanaprastha, he should, for the fourth portion of it, become a Sannyasi, and abandon all sensual affections, and repose Avholly in the supreme spirit. The glory of that Brahmin, who passes from the order of Grihastha to that of Sannyasi, illuminates the higher worlds. He should take an earthen water-pot, dwell at the roots of large trees, wear coarse vesture, abide in total solitude and exhibit a perfect equan- imity toward all creatures. He should wish neither for death nor for life, but expect his appointed time, as a hired servant expects his wages. He should look down as he advances his foot, lest he should be defiled. He should drink water that has been purified by straining through a cloth, lest he should hurt an insect. He should bear reproacliful speech "svith patience, and speak reproachfully to no man. He should never utter a word- relating to vain, illusory things. He should delight in meditating upon the supreme spirit, and sit fixed in such meditation without needing anything earthly, without one sensual desire, and without any companion but his own soul. He should only ask for food once a day, and that should INDIA — PEOPLE AND RELIGION. 65 be in the evening, when the smoke of the kitchen fires has ceased; when the pestle lies motionless and the bm^ning charcoal is extinguished; when people have eaten, and when dishes are removed. If he fail to obtain food he should not be sorrowful; if he succeed in obtaining it he should not be glad. He should only care to obtain a sufiiciency to support life, and he should iiot be anx'aus about his utensils." As to the character of his thoughts, a Saunyasi should reflect on the trans- migrauor- of men, which are caused by their sinful deeds, or their down- fall into a region of darkness and their torments in the mansions of Yama; or their separation from those whom thoy love, and their union mth those whom they hate; or their strength being overpowered by old age, and their bodies racked with disease, or their agonizing dcpartm'e from this corporeal frame, and their formation again in the womb; or the misery attached to. disembodied spirits from a violation of their duties, and the imperishable bliss which attaches to embodied spirits who have abundantly performed every duty. "The body is a mansion, with bones for its rafters and beams; nerves and tendons for cords, muscles and blood for mortar, skin for its outward covering, and fUled with no sweet perfumes, but loaded with refuse. 'Tis a mansion infested by age and by sorrow, the seat of diseases; harassed by pains; haunted with the quahty of darkness, and incapable of standing long. Such a mansion of the vital soul should always be quitted with cheerfulness by its occupier." But let not the reader, from these rules and instructions, picture the Brahmin of to-day as a Yanajprastha or a Sanyasa of devout spirit or rigorous self-denial in his life. Very seldom, indeed, has a priest been found so devoted as to perform the devotions and chastening for the purification of his soul, recommended for the third and fourth stages in the book of Menu. Only now and then a hypocritical Fakir, who was more concerned to extort reverence from men than to ofler worship to God, was found to practice them. Their worship is not spiritual, but descends to the lowest fetichism. Mr. Leupolt, a Church missionary, says that ■ ' after riding all day in the most romantic and beautiful region of the Valley of Nerbuddah, charmed both with the waters and fields, and espe- cially the mountains, whose gorges seemed to lift the mind, irresistibly, up to the Almighty, he came across a Fakir, who was in a dark, dirty cave where he had dwelt alone for thirty years, worshipping an idol which ho had made himself, of cow-dung. " 5 XrD 66 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. DAILT CEREMONIES. The daily ceremonies of tiie Brahmin's religion are most supercilious and unmeaning, and often ludicrous. The Sacred Books thus instructs him in regard to his morning bath: ' ' He may bathe in water drawn from a well, from a fountain, or from the base of a cataract ; but he should prefer water which lies above ground — choosing a stream rather than stagnant water, a river rather than a small brook, a sacred stream in preference to a vulgar one, and above all, the Ganges. If the Ganges be beyond his reach he should invoke that holy river, saying, ' O, Gunga, hear my prayers ! for my sake, be included in the small quantity of water with the other sacred streams.' Then, standing in the water, he must hallow his intended performance with the inaudible recitation of certain sacred texts; next, sipping water, and sprinkling ■ some before him, the worshipper throws water eight times on the crown of his head, and lastly on the ground, to destroy the demons who war with the gods. During the performance of this act of ablution he must be reciting these prayers: ' O waters, since ye afford delight, grant us present happiness and the rapturous sight of the Supreme Being. Like tender mothers, make us partakers here of your most auspicious essence. We become contented with your essence, with which ye satisfy the uni- verse. Waters, grant it to us.' Immediately upon this first ablution he should sip water without swallowing it, silently praying. These ceremo- nies and prayers being concluded, he plunges thrice into the water, each time repeating the prescribed expiatory texts. He then meditates in the deepest silence. During this moment of intense devotion he is striving to realize that Brahma, with four faces and a red complexion, resides in his bosom; Vishnu, with four arms and black complexion, in his heart; and Shiva, with five faces and a white complexion, in his forehead. To this sublime meditation succeeds a sus- pension of the breath, which is thus performed: Closing the left nostril with the two longest fingers of Ms right hand, he draws his breath through the right nostril; and then closing the nostril likewise with his thumb, he holds his breath, while he internally repeats to himself Gayatri, the mysterious name of the three worlds, the triliteral monosyllable, and the sacred text of Brahma; last of all he raises both fingers oif the left nos- tril, and emits the breath he has suppressed through the right. This process being repeated thus several times, he must next make three ablutions, wi+h the following prayer: 'As the tired man leaves drops of sweat at the foot of a tree; as he who bathes is cleansed from all foul- ness; as an oblation is sanctified by holy grass, so may this water purify INDIA — ^PEOPLE AND RELIGION. 67 me from all sin.' He must next fill the palm of his hand with water, and presenting it to his nose, inhale the fluid by one nostril, and, retain- ing it for a while, exhale it through the other, and throw away the water to the northeast quarter. This is considered as an ablution which washes away sin He then concludes by sipping water with the following prayei 'Water ' thou dost penetrate all thmgs, thou dobt reach the deep recesses of the mountains; thou art the mouth of the universe; thou art sacrifice; thou art the mystic word, Yaslia\ thou art life, taste, and the immortal fluid.'" LIGHT IN DARKNESS. NO PROGRESS IN BRAHMANISM. It would weary the reader should we go on to detail the ceremonies of this morning purification until it is finished. That which we have quoted from the laws of Menu will serve as an illustration of the meaningless routine under which the Brahmin's life is bound. In all conditions, in all places, he has special ceremonies to perform. From this same code of laws we find the Brahmin represented as armed with almost omnipotent power. It is said that by his curses he can destroy armies in a moment; and that he can even create new worlds and new gods. "He who smites a Brahmin even with a blade of grass, shall be born an inferior quadruped through twenty-one generations. " The nearer we approach to the real life of the Hindoo priest, the more are we shocked at the hypocrisy, arrogance, and corruption which it presents. It is certain that Hindoo rehgion has made no progress during two thousand five hundred years. The ancient worship was purer than we find now among this people, and society and morals were in a better state five hundred years before Christ. The hand of decay has been upon the old Indie civihzation for more than two thousand years. The Hindoos have no great books in the language of the people. The Vedas, the Shasters and their great epics are in Sanscrit, which has been for ages a dead language. A listless climate, connected with a rehgion which led to despise action, held the common mind of India in a slumber- ous speU which only deepened as the centuries went by. HINDOO COSMOGONY. We have said that the Hindoos have no history. None of their ancient writers deemed it worth while to record the actions of men; only their speculations, their philosophies and pretended revelations were written. The Brahmins sought to shroud in mystery aU the past and give the charm of antiquity even to events not far removed from their own day. , The universe exists 4,320,000,000 years, as mortal men measure years, and this inconceivable period of time is one day in the existence of Brahma. At the end of this period Brahma falls asleep and aU life ceases. The night is as long as the day, all is dark and lifeless. But eternal torrents of rain pour down, the ocean overflows the land, and Brahma sleeps upon the coils of the great serpent Anwnta — eternity. At the end of the long night Brahma wakes and creates all things new. This is a cycle in the history of the imiverse and a day and night in the existence of its creator; a cycle of the universe is divided into four nSTDIA PEOPLE AND RELIGION. C9 T'uc/ft or ages. Thejr are called the tSatija, the Trita, the Dtoarper and tlie Kali Yuii's. Each of these ages is inferior to that whieli in'ecedes it. HINDOO WOMAN. They answer to the Golden, the Silver, the Brazen and the Iron ages, in Eomau mythology. 7ft LIGHT IN I>AEKNESS. Three hundred and sixty days and nights, each day and night measuring 4,320,000,000 years, constitutes a year in the life of Brahma. The whole life of Brahma is 100 years. At the end of this time, all the uni- verse is swallowed up in Brahma, and Brahma ceases to exist. But over Brahma is Brahm, to whom this duration of the universe and this life of Brahma is only a day. At the destruction of all things he falls asleep and sleeps as long as the former creation endured; he then awakes and creates a new Brahma, and the new Brahma creates again the universe. THE STATE OF WOMAN IN INDIA. To speak of the state of women in India is to disclose a picture of sorrow such as is found nowhere else on earth. For, although wherever man is a savage woman is a slave,> nowhere else is she so oppressed as in India. The Hindoo women are graceful in form and movement, and among the wealthier class their dress is very beautiful. But no matter of what rank or caste, there is a dark shadow over the Hindoo woman. Her deg- radation and sorrow are a load upon her existence from the cradle to the grave. The birth of a female child is a cause of sorrow in a Hindoo fam- ily, and in a vast number of cases the encumbrance is removed by murder. The practice of female infanticide is limited to no class, but pre- vails both among the rich and poor. At times, in certain tribes and towns, this horrid practice becomes almost universal. Ecv. "William Butler, D. D., relates that from a census, taken in one locality in India, the following facts were exhibted: ' ' In one tribe the proportion of sons to daughters was one hundred and eighteen to sixteen; in a second, two hundred and forty to ninety-eight; in a third, two hundred and thirty-one to sixty-one; in a fourth, fourteen to four; and in a fifth, thirty-nine to seven." The average in the entire locality was thirty-six daughters to one hundred sons. As it is found by the general census in all Chx'is- tian countries that the number of males and females born is nearly equal, nothing can be concluded from the great disparity shown here but that the female children have been murdered by their parents. The parents make no concealment of this fact. In some villages no girls at all were found, ' ' the inhabitants freely confessing that they had destroyed every girl born in their village. " MURDER or INFANTS. The murder of girl babies is generally perpetrated by their mothers. They are poisoned with opium or other narcotics, thrown into the river, carried off to the jungle and left to starve or to be devoured by "said beasts. Custom conquers all natural affection. The pictures sometimes INDIA — PEOPLE AND KELIGION. Yl dra^Yii of Hindoo mothers through rehgious motives, and led by n blind faith, oflPering their tenderly loved darlings in sacrifico to the gods, is hardly in harmony with the facts. There is no faith compeUing such sac- rifices, and it is only the absence of natural affection that suggests them. Before the authority of British law interfered, all over the land thous- ands and thousands of infants were murdered, with no aim or motive but to put them out of the way. It is true that the a^vful act of infanticide was justified as an act rehg- ious. This only makes it the more horrible to our thoughts, and assures us of its wider prevalence. As the Hebrews, in the days of their apos- tacy from the true rehgion, " made their children to pass through the fire mito Moloch," so these Hindoos offered their children to JTalee. AN IITFANT VICTEM OF SUPERSTITION. On the island of Saugor, near Calcutta, is the temple of their bloody idol. Kalee is a female divinity, the wife of Siva, the destroyer, the incarna- tion of fierceness and cruelty; she is represented as delighting in blood, and is the goddess of the Thugs, a sect who hve by plunder, and strangle their victims in honor of Kalee, putting their knees on the necks of the dying and uttering prayers to Kalee as the blood gushes from their throats. Kalee has a wild, insatiable thirst for human blood. "The blood of a fish or a tortoise will delight her for a month; the blood of a crocodile, three months; the blood of an antelope, twelve years; the blood of a tiger a hundred years; the blood of a man, a thousand years; and by 72 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. the ])lood of three men, slain in sacrifice, she is pleased a hnnth-cd thous- and years." To this horrid deity the mothers of India have oflFered their daughters through many ages of darkness and misery. Kalee is the most powerful deity of Bengal and from her, the metropolis of the country, Calcutta, has its name. Dr. Butler, in his great book, Tlie Land of the Yed-a, says : " So popular is she and her worship, that even the English Government cannot keep the public offices open during the term of the ' Durga-Poo- INDIA — PEOPLE AND RELIGION. V3 jah' holidays, from the 1st to the 13th of October, for all Calcutta then runs mad nj on this idolatry. I have seen her image, larger than tlie human form, painted blue, with her tongue represented as dripping gore upon her 'jMn, her bosom covered with a necklac- of human skulls, and her many arms, each bearing a murderous weapon, carried in prcjcession through the streets of Calcutta during these holidays, accompanied by bands of music and tens of thousands of f ran'^io followers. " On sea-girt Saugor's desert isle, Mantled with thickets dark and dwn, May never moon or starlight smile, N"or ever beam the summer sun! Strange deeds of blood have there boon done, In mercy ne'er to be forgiven; Deeds the far-seeing eye of heaven Teiled its radiant orb to shun. To glut the shark and crocodile A mother brought her infant here. She saw its tender, playfal smile. She shed not one maternal tear, She throw it on a watery bier; With grinding teeth sea-monsters tore The smiling infant that she bore — ■ She shrunk r ot once its cries to hearl Dark goddess of the iron mace, Plesh-tearer, quaffing life-blood warm, The terrors of thine awful face, The pulse of mortal hearts alarm — Grim power ! If human woes can charm, Look to the horrors of this flood, Where crimsoned Gunga shines in blood, And man-devouring monsters swarm. Skull-chaplet-wearer ! whom the blood Of man delights a thousand years, Than whom no face, by land or flood More stern and pitiless appears; Thine is the cup of human tears, The pomp of human sacrifice ; Cannot the cruel blood suffice Of tigers, which thine island bears. 74- LTGTIT IN DARKNESS. Not all bluo Gunga's mountain flood, That rolls so proudly round thy fano, Can cleanso the tinge of human blood Nor wash dark Saugor's impious stain, The sailor, journeying on the main. Shall view from far thy dreary isle, And curse the ruins of the pile Where mercy ever sued in vain! Only bloodthirstiness could create and worship such divinities as Kalee, A plea, and the justification of religion, were desired for those acts to which the people were inclined. Allowing to priestcraft all that may be TEMPLE OP K^VLI. predicated of it, such motives must still explam that form of religioD which is but the deification of huinan passions.. But not aU Hindoos are worshipers of Kalee, and there are some mothers amona: them who have tender affection for their children, who under the terror of some supposed chastisement of the gods, may seek to appease offended deities by the blood of their children. There is another cause for the murder of daughters. The practice prevail, especially among the Eajpoots, who are an aristocratic class, and who, whether rich or poor, sustain their dignity by the most expen- sive festivals and ceremonies on groat occasions. No occasion 'calls for more expense among these people than the marriage of a daughter. Not INDIA — PEOPLE AND RELIGION. 75 only must hor dowry be provided, but the festivities of the occasion, which continue for six days, must be on the grandest scale. All the relations must take part; and hired performers, priests and musicians must be employed. A single marriage thus swallows up a fair estate. The Rajpoots wiU not suffer the humiliation of abating the magnificences of these ceremonies, and yet the custom is felt to be a ruinous tax'. On the other hand, for a daughter to remain unmarried, is a crushing disgrace. The happiness of a-father is best assured when he has a son to officiate at his funeral rites. But a woman has no place in reHgious services and GODDESS KALI. is of no importance at all in any reUgious sense. The girls that are spared are generally the first-born. The interest of these, their good dowry and marriage, demands the destruction of their younger sisters. MARRIAGES. Hindoo parents begin to look for a husband for their daughter by the time she is five years old. She may be betrothed in marriage as early as seven years of age, but she may wait until she is ten. To pass her twelfth birthday without being betrothed is a great disgrace. The parents control the whole matter. The girl is not consulted. Menu, the ancient law-giver, lays this obUgation upon a father respect- 76 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. ing his daughter's marriage. "Responsible is the father who gives not kis daughter in marriage at the proper time. To an excellent and hand, some youth of the same class let every man give his daughter in mar- riage, according to law, even though she have not attained her age of eight years. " To neglect the marriage of a daughter beyond twelve years is, accord- ing to Menu, to commit a sin as great as taking the life of a Brahman for every month of such neglect. He also diminishes the bridal presents which he will receive at his daughter's marriage, and if she remain unmarried she is released from all obligation of respect or reverence for her father. The Hindoo maiden is not permitted to see the man to whom she is betrothed, nor to write to him. The laws of Menu- specify the qualities which a man will seek in a wife. As to relationship, ' ' She who is not descended from the paternal or maternal ancestors within the sixth degree of kin, and who is not known by the family name to be of the same primitive stock with his father or mother, is eligible, by a twice-born man for nuptials and holy union. " On no account should a wife be taken from a family ' ' that has omitted prescribed acts of religion," or taken one "that has produced no male children ;" or "in which the Vcdas has not been read" or which has thick hair on the body ;" or those which have been subject to hemorrhoids, to phthisis, to dyspepsia, to epilepsy, to leprosy, or to elephantiasis." A Brahman should not marry a girl with an unpleasant name. "Let him not marry a girl with the name of a constellation, of a tree, of a river, of a barbarous nation, or of a mountain or of a winged creature, a snake or a slave ; nor one with any name raising an image of terror. The names of women should be agreeable, soft, clear, captivatmg the fancy, auspicious, ending in long vowels, resembling words of benediction. DUTIES OF A WIFE. When a marriage is contemplated the mode of proceeding is as follows : The pundits are consulted, to avoid mistakes of consanguinity, and then the astrologers, who pronounce upon the carefully preserved horo- scopes of the boy and girl, whether they may be united with safety. These prehminaries all found satisfactory, the aid of the Brahman is sought to ascertain if the family god favors the union. The stars, the gods and men being a unit, negotiations are opened between the parents and relations as to the amount of gift and dowry, and when conclusions INDIA — PEOI'LE AND KELIGION. 77 arc reached here to their mutual .satisfaction, the astrolog(^r is again called in to aseertaiu and iiauKs a luclvy day wlien the agreciui^nt uiay ])e registered, and a l)ond for the dowry executed. This is done with diK; solemnity, and tlien the astrologer has again to ascertain and name a lucky day for the ceremoii}', A\hic]i is aece[)tc'd liy tlie parents, under their bond, to see to tlie consummation of tli' 'airement. Tliis is tlie usual method, sliglitl}' ^'aried in tlifl'erent localities. Wheu the betrothal is consummated, the Hindoo girl has no moi-e lib- erty. She is sliut up in the apartment of the ^vomen and is alloMcd to IIIMJOU ■\^0-\IA^ AM) ClIADLJi. see no man but her father and Ijrothers. Iler education noiv begins iov the duties of a ^\^fe. She is taught to cook and prepare the food which becomes her caste, and to keep all the household utensils from pollutitJU. These things are of supreme importance. She must learn the religious precepts, and the myths and legends concerning th(! gods. She can not read, and receives oral teaching from her mother in stories al)out the intrigues of gods and goddesses, only calculated to debauch the mind. When all things are prepared, the marriage is celebrated with great dis- play. The bride, however, is never seen, being borne from her home to 78 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. that of her hnsband in a palanquin with the curtains closely drawn. She is received there into the zenana, and the feasting goes on without, she having no part in it. The Hindoo woman's homo after marriage is gen- erally at the house of her father-in-law, and in the inner apartments, prepared especially for the women, and entirely excluded from the world. Even the view of the street or of the fields is hidden from the zenana. The wife now sees only her own husband or near kindred, and she serves her lord in the most abject slavery. She does not sit with her husband at the table, she does not entertain any stranger, she can give no aid or comfort to the sick and suffering. The court walls that enclose her dwelling are seldom passed by her during the remainder of her life. Even here, in her close confinement, she is the object of jealousy, and bears her oppressions, for the laws of Menu encourage her husband's snspi- . cions and teach him' to put no confidence in woman. The Shaster says: If a man goes on a journey his wife shall not divert herself by play, nor shall she see any public show, nor shall laugh, nor shall dress herself in jewels or fine clothes, nor hear music, nor shall sit at the window, nor shall behold anything choice and rare, but shall fasten well the house door, and remain private, and shall not eat any dainty food, and shall not blacken her eyes with powder, and shall not view her face in a mir- ror; she shall not amuse herself in any such agreeable employment during the absence of her husband." The Shasters continue: When in the presence of her husband, a woman must keep her eyes on her master, and bo ready to receive his commands. When he speaks, she must be quiet and listen to nothing else beside. When he calls, she must leave everything else and attend upon him alone. A woman has no other god upon earth but her husband. The most excellent of all good works that she can perform is to gratify him in the strictest obedience. This should be her only devotion. Though he be aged, infirm, dissipated, a drunkard or a debauchee, she must still regard him as a god. She must love him with all her might, obejing him in all things, spying no defects in his character, and giving him no cause for disquiet. If he laughs, she must also laugh; if he weeps, she must also weep; if he sings, she must be in eestaey." THE widow's lot. The condition of widows in India is very sad indeed. E^'cn the betrothed maiden, whose intended husband dies before the marriage, is counted a widow. The Hindoo woman, when she becomes a widow, is first of all struck with the most poignant self-reproach, lest her own neglect, so endless' INDIA — PEOPLE AND RELIGION. 7U and so strict are her duties, lias offcnclctl the gods tinil caused the death of her husband. She coiid^'inus liersclf for his death and knows that she is condemned by her own kindred and houseliold. The widow lays aside her jewels and her beautiful robes, wipes the vermilion from her brow, has her hair cut off, puts aside her Tcdi, which the husband put around her neck when she was married, and puts on a dark, dusky robe, which must be without seam or figure or fringe or ornament of any kind. She must never more indulge in any a'lorning, nor c\'cr suffer her hair to grow out, for Yuma, the god of death, binds in fiery chains the man whose widow indulges in such vanity. Tlius she, who suspects that she has caused her husband's death, must also fear constantly that her con- duct is inflicting torture upon him in the after-life. The Hindoo "widow must practice penance the rest of her days. She must never sleep on a comfortable bed; and must eat the coarsest food, and that but once a day, high caste or wealth being no immunity from such austerities. The widow of a Brahman must exceed all others in the severity of her self-affliction. The laws of ]\Ionu prescrilje for the widow of a Brahman, ' 'Let her emaciate her body l^y living voluntarily upon pure flowers, roots and fruit; but let her not, when her lord is deceased, ever pronounce the name of another man. " These rules are the same for the actual widow and the betrothed maiden, whose pros- spective husband has deceased. Before we pass from the subject of Hindoo widows we must notice the "si(fttf(?." ^^ Suttee'''' is an English corruption of the word '^Sati,^^ which means a virtuous wife. It is applied to the widow who burned herself upon the funeral pile of her husband or separately, if he had died at a distance. This practice is very ancient. It was common in the time of Diodorus Siculus, the Greek historian, who lived at the open- ing of the Christian era. It is not taught in the Vcdas nor referred to in the laws of Menu. But Menu, in giving instructions in respect to the manner in which widows should li^'c, shows that the custom was not known in his day. The practice ivas undoubtedly engrafted upon the old Vedic religion by the craft of the priests. In the Puranas, wdiich are among their latest writings, and of least authorit\', the rite of the suttee is enjoined as the highest act of devotion; an act by which a poor woman, who has never a soul to save, separated from her husband, and Avho is so far removed from the f a^or of the gods that she may not even hear a word from the Vedas — the priest being required to cease reading when- ever a woman comes near, and wait until she has passed beyond hearing — may gain immortality and the society of him she loved. Shall we wonder that woman, benighted and oppressed as woman in India has 80 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. been for ages, was stin-ed to grasp at the hope of life set before her in these words of the Puranas: "The Tfife who commits herself to the flames with her husband's corpse shall equal Arundhoti [the exalted wife of Vashista] and dwell in Swarga [heavenly bliss]. As ■ many hairs as are on the human body, multiplied by three-score and fifty lakhs, each lakh 100,000 years, so many years shall she live with him in Swarga. As the snake catcher forcibly draws the serpent from his hole in the earth, so, bearing her husband from lieU, she shall with him enjoy hap- piness. Dying with her husband, she purifies three generations — ^her father and mother's side and her husband's side. Such a wife, adoring her husband, enters into celestial felicity with him. Greatest and most admired; lauded by the choirs of heaven, with him she shall enjoy the delights of heaven while fourteen Indras reign." A system of religious teaching that so crushed the heart of woman, and then set before the crushed and woeful one this hope of bliss, made many a suttee. And we cannot but feel assured, that it was the purest wifely devotion, and the most sublime couragg in woman, that was thus lured to an end so sad. The Puranas give directions how the suttee shall be performed if the husband has died at a distance. ' ' If the husband be out of the coimtry when he dies, let the virtuous wife take his slippers, or anything else that belongs to his dress, and binding them, or it, upon her breast, after purification, enter the fire. " It is asserted in the Puranas: "She alone is loyal and pure, who burns herself with her husband's corpse." But there are circumstances which may exempt a widow from the duty of burning herself for her husband. If she expects soon to become a mother, or has recently borne a child, she is exempt; but may, in thirty days after the birth of her child, enter the fire. The body of a dead husband must be disposed of within twelve hours, and the widoAv, distracted with her grief, and having no time for reflec- tion or calm, must settle the question whether she will ascend the funeral pile with him. Once consenting, she may never recede from her pui'- pose. The preparation is hastily made. If she chance to live near the Ganges, she hastens to the sacred river to perform her purification. The priest stands by and reads the prescribed ritual. She then puts on her richest roljes and her jewels and again dons the bridal veil, for she is about to be united with her husband forever. But now the veil is thrown back, for she has done with the things of earth, and all men may look upon her face, if they will. The suttee mounts the funeral pile, and takes her place by her husband, and the fire is lighted. Sometimes the fires are first Idndled and then the woman leaps into the flames. Some- 6j>d Bl 82 LIGHT IN DAEKNESS. times a husband leaves several widows, who join in this immolation. A case is related of a Sookachura, near Calcutta, where eighteen wives burned themselves with the body of their husband. From before the birth of Christ these suttee fires were kindled in India. Millions upon millions of poor women have sought, through them, the open gate of paradise. But another light has risen upon India, and the suttee fires are gone out. We will close this sketch of the condition of woman in India, by quoting, from a source to which we owe many of the facts presented in this chapter. Dr. Butler's great book, Tlie Land of the Veda. It describes the closing scene of the woman who escapes widowhood. The highest happiness of the wife is to die before her husband. But even in this case, the shadow of the vaUey is made deeper and more lonely ^j the strange superstition of the gloomiest of all religions. Of the dying wife and mother we read: ' ' The usual means are tried to restore her. Superstition and astrology do their best; but she is sinking. Her symptoms arc reported to the Hukeem, the native doctor, and at last he pronounces that hope has fled. No time is to be lost now. If she is too far from the Ganges to be carried there before the ^'ital spark has fled, preparations are made for the burning of the body. Within a few hours after death it is laid upon the pyre and quicldy consumed. When the heap is cold, a small portion of the ashes and calcined remains, representing the rest, are taken and put into an earthen vessel to be carried to the sacred river; and the rest of the remains are left there to be, as I have so often seen them, tossed about by the hogs and pariah dogs, or scattered by the winds of heaven. "But, should the Ganges be not more than a few miles away, instead of being kept to bo buried at home, the dying wife and mother is laid on a charpoy — the light native bedstead — and raised on the shoulders of four bearers. She leaves her homo forever, unattended, however, by her husband; her eldest son instead goes with her, and they hurry her by the shortest route across the country to the sacred river. She is dying; the sun blazes upon her with its fierce rays, often as high as 138 degrees, and she is, of course, jolted and shaken by the runners; but they must go on, and she must bear it all. At length the river is reached — those banks where all Hindoos so much desire to die and now they lift her off, and lay her on her back on the brink, with her feet ' in the sacred waters,' and the bearers depart, for no restoration is ever anticipated; none there grow better and return. They think that it would be fitting in such a case to prevent it So the son takes his sta- INDIA — THE MOGUL EMPIRE. 83 tion by the dying mother, and every few minutes he wets her tongue with the sacred water, or puts the mud of the Ganges on her lips. "The sun sinks low in the heavens; the shades of night commence to fall, and the place begins to look very dreary, for the wolves and jackals which abound will come there to drink when it is dark; and the son, it may be a mere youth, timid and superstitious, thinks his mother is a long time dying. But he cannot immerse her till the heart ceases to beat; so he watches on, and wets her lips again. And there they are alone, far from house or friends, in ' the valley of the shadow of death' together. At length the last gasp is over, and his final duty is ready. He goes out into the water, and, taldng her by the heels, draws her down into the river, and floats her out till the water is above his own breast, and then with a final push he sends her from him as far as he can into the river, and then turns to the shore and makes his way home as fast as possible. She is left to her fate, no more to be thought of or protected. To her son, who thus deserts her — to her husband, who left her to die without his presence — it is nothing that the body of the mother and wife is rolling along with the current in the darkness, and that, most probably, within a few hours, and within a few miles of hei dwelling, it will strand upon a sand-bar, and be discovered by the vultures, who, with the jackals, will fiercely contend together during the nigbt, as they feast upon it, or that the sun of the next day will shine oe the gory and naked skeleton of the wife and mother to whom, by then gloomy religion, even the rest of the grave is thus denied!" CHAPTER V. INDIA THE MOGUL EMPIRE THE EAST INDIA COMPANY. 'WEi more chapter must be added to our description of the condition of India before the reader can fully appre- ciate the work of the Christian missionary in that land. Two important political revolutions must be noticed. The first is the establishment of the Mogul Empire, and its influence upon the country; the other is the reduction of Lidia under British rule. We have said that the Hindoos have no history of their own. The invasion of Alexander, the Great, 326 years before Christ, threw over it the first light of trustworthy history. A Greek historian 84 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. of the times described the country, its civilizatioii and customs, and by the gleam of light thrown upon the mysterious land at that early age, we see just such an order of things as was found prevaihng two thousand years later. The country was then divided, as it always has been, into petty kingdoms. There has never been, at any time, a Hindoo empire. The twentieth part of the population of the great peninsula never could be united against any invasion. INVASION OF ALEXANDER, THE GREAT. Alexander entered India by what is known as the Klyber Pass, the only great practicable thoroughfare by which an army could enter India. Having overcome the difficulties of the passage, the invader found him- self in the broad, fertile plains of the upper Lidus. Passing near its headwaters, he was met by Porus, one of the most powerful chiefs of the Punjaub. A desperate battle was fought near the river Hydaspes, now known as the Behut. Porus was defeated. It is related that when he was thrown from his elephant that the animal remained by the body of its master, defending it from every molestation tiU Alexander, seeing the fidelity of the creature, gave the body of Porus suitable burial. After this battle, the Conqueror marched eastward through the Punjaub dis- tricts, meeting with little opposition, as there was not sufficient time for the native princes to form a coalition against him; and singly, they could not match him. He crossed the Chunaub and Eaveh rivers, and on reaching the river Hyphasis, now the Sutlej, he embarked his army in boats and descended to Tatta, now Pattala, and from thence he returned to Persia. VARIOUS INVASIONS. Of the history of the country during the next 250 years, nothing very definite is known. In the legendary lore of the people, two princes, Bickermajeet and Chunderpaul, are famous; and it seems their power was considerable. As far as we can learn, the first ruled over a large part of the country during the first century before Christ; and the second during the first century of the Christian era. About A. D. 200, the extreme western and northwestern part of the country was overrun by the Persians. At that time, Afghanistan and Beloochistan wore con- sidered part of India. About 400 A. D. , the Altai, a tribe of Scythian shepherds, came down from the steppes of central Asia and settled in the country now known as Afghanistan. They are the ancestors of the Afghan race. They were at first very peaceable and quiet, and seemed to care nothing for supremacy of any sort. They employed themselves only in tending their flocks and herds, and evidently emigrated to that region in search of better pasturage. INDIA — THE MOGUL EMPIRE. 85 In 697 A. D., the Mohammedan power was extending its conquests in every direction. The Arabs, under the command of Khaled Ben Abdullah, invaded Hindostan, entering it through the Khj'ber Pass. They gained several battles, but finally received a crushing defeat at the hands of the Hindoos. Their general, Khaled Ben Abdullah, was cap- tured, and the Arab horde was glad to make peace on any terms. They were allowed to occupy the sparsely settled district of Pcsha^\Tir. They intemiarried, very largely, with the Afghans; consequently the Afghan of to-day is of mixed blood, and points with pride to his Arab ancestr}'. This mixed race now began encroaching on Hindostan. The restless Arab soon infected the more quiet Afghans. During the tenth centmy, Abistagy occupied Ghiznee. His son, Subactageen, founded an empire known as the Ghiznean Empire. During the reign of Subactageen\s son, Mahmoud, from 1001 to 1030, the Afghans invaded the country seven times, and overran it as far as the river Jumna. The Ghiznean empire was finally completely overthrown, A. D. 1189, by the Afghan, Moham- med Ghary, who stormed Lahore, and put to death the reigning prince. He continued to extend his conquests, and took the sacred city of Ben- ares, but was, at length, assassinated A. D., 1206. Cattub, who enjoys the distinction of being the first Mussulman king of Delhi, then became the head of the Afghan power. The Afghan supremacy lasted till the invasion of Timour. During this same time a Mohammedan power, known as the Kingdom of the BUamenee Sultans, was established in th( Deccan. Its capital was Kulberga. CONQUESTS OF TAMERLANE. During the latter part of the fourteenth centurj^, the Tartars, a M«a ■ gol race from central Asia, began a scries of incursions that ended in tL^ temporary subjection of nearly all of western Asia. Under the leader- ship of Timour, or Tamerlane, 1398, the Tartar hordes swarmed across the Indus, and moved eastward through the Punjaub. Several decisive battles were fought, and many prisoners were taken. At length the number of captives became so great that Tamerlane feared they would be dangerous to him in case of an insurrection. He accordingly ordered that the prisoners should be put to death. In obedience to this cruel mandate 100,000 unarmed prisoners were massacred in less than one hour. As Tamerlane drew near Delhi, he found a vast army drawn up to oppose him. The native princes had combined their forces to make a last stand against the ruthless ravager. Victory, long doubtful, seemed at length to favor the Hindoo forces; but at the fall of one of their chiefs, 86 I.IOHT IN DAEKNT]SS. the Hindoos became panic-sti-ickcii. The tide of victory turned in Tam- erlane's favor; tlie victory soon Ijocame an indiscriminate slaugliter; the I 'mi routed Hindoos fled in every direction, and -were mcrcik'ssly cut down. Tamerlane entered Delhi in triumph early in January, 1399, and seated INDIA THE MOGUI; EMPIRE. ,ST himself on the throne of the native emperor. All north India hastened to own his sway; the native princes bowed in abject submission before him; each pleading for mercy, and placing himself and his province at the dis- posal of the conqueror. The pohtic people, well knowing how to tickle the vanity of the Mogul marauder, made their elephants and rhinoceroses kneel before him and cry out, as if begging for mercy. Tamerlane was greatly pleased, and having seen how effective the elephants were in battle, caused a, large number of them to be sent to Samarcand in order that he might use them in his wars in the West. Delhi, at that time, was composed of three cities: Seyri, Old Delhi, and Jehan Penah. Seyri was a large, circular city, with a very strong wall. Old Delhi was a similar city, but larger, and laying southwest of the other. Strong walls connected the two cities; and in the space thus enclosed, was Jehan Penah, the largest of all. It was, like the others, very strongly fortified, and almost impregnable. It had, on tlie north- west, six large gates; and on the southeast, seven more. The entire city submitted to the conqueror, and peace and order were restored. On the morning of January 12th, all was quiet, and the people were once more at their respective occupations. The gates were open to admit those who had produce to sell. A number of Tamerlane's soldiers, congregated around the gates, insulted some of the people. This, the latter resented, and a tumult ensued. Tamerlane, hearing the uproar, sent some of his chief officers to quell the riot. But the emirs might as well ha\'o endeav- ored to dam a rasjing torrent with a bank of sand as to check the furious soldiery. About 15,000 of them rushed into the city with drawn swords. and began an indiscriminate massacre and pillage. By the next day Tamerlane's whole ai"my was within the walls, plundering, burning, and slaying. In a short time Jehan Penah was almost totally destroyed, Such of its inhabitants as survived, were sold as slaves. The amount of booty taken was almost incredible. From Jehan Penah the infuriated Tartars rushed, on January 15th, into Old Delhi. Here the people fortified themselves in the great mosque, and made a stubborn, but ineffectual resistance. The mosque was stormed, and its valiant defenders were put to the sword. The city was then at the mercy of the pitiless plunderers, who repeated in it the fearful scenes which had been enacted in Jehan Penah. All artisans, however, were preserved alive; the carpenters, painters, jewelers, and others, were given to the great emirs, or officers of the army. The masons were appropriated by Tamerlane himself, who sent them to Samarcand to erect a magnificent mosque at that place. Tamerlane and the main body of his followers then left Delhi, after having been but 88 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. fifteen days at the city. They found it the largest and most magnificent city in Hindostan; they left it a heap of smoking ruins, crimsoned with the blood of thousands of its inhabitants. Tamerlane found India peace- ful and prosperous; in a few short months he left it, devastated, and full of the seeds of anarchy and oppression. The city of Seyri had not been destroyed. It formed a nucleus for the new city of Delhi, which in after years sprang from the ruins of the old, like the phoenix from the ashes of its funeral pyre. Mahmoud, who was on the throne at the time of Tamerlane's invasion, held nominal power for fourteen years after the departure of the great Tartar. After him his son Syed, and Syed's son, grandson, and great-grandson, suc- cessively came to the throne, holding it till 1450 A. D. But the power of tho old empire had vanished, and these monarchs with great difficulty preserved any semblance of authority over a very small territory imme- diately around Delhi. THE MOGUL DYNASTY. In A. D. 1450, Beloly, an Afghan, seized the tottering throne, and he and his son and grandson managed to keep alive a faint relic of the empire's fallen glory, till A. D. 1535. In that year Zebire Addeen Mohammed Baber, usually called simply Baber, took possession of the empire, and thus founded the Great Mogul Dynasty. This name " Mogul" is merely a corruption of "Mongol." The dynasty is so called because the emperors were direct descendants of Tamerlane. The descent to Baber may be traced thus: Tamerlane, Miram Shah, Moham- med, Abu Syed, Omar, Baber. During the interval from the invasion o£, Tamerlane to the establishing of the Mogul empire, the empire of the Bhamenee Sultans, in the Deccan, had gone to ruin, and from its remains four new Shahys or kingdoms had arisen, viz.: the Adilshahy, having its capital at Bcjaporc; the Ahmedshahy, whose capital was at Beider; tbe Nizamshaby, whose capital was at Ahmednuggur; and the Cuttabshahy, established at Gol- conda. All these were ruled by Mohammedan princes. Baber was an active and energetic ruler, and began to strengthen the empire. But he lived only five years after his accession. His son Homayoun succeeded him. Homayoun began to extend the territory of his dominions, and soon Avas i-uler of a large part of Northern India. He subdued all Bengal, and then conquered Guzerat, and added that province to his domains. But in 1540, ten years after his accession, he received a crushing defeat at the hands of Shere Klian, an Afghan prince, and fled into Persia. Shere Khan seated himself on the throne thus vacated, and ruled with great ability for ten years. He continued INDIA — TYIK jMOGl!;; KSIPIKK. SO to enlarge the territor}" of the new empire, l.)ut was tinally killed at tlio storming of Calleiigfr, a strong post in tlie Ikmdeleuml. lie was sue- cceded by his son Sehni, who reigned nine years. During the reign of tliese two princes caravanserai s for tlio entertainment ( if travelers were establish- ed every ten miles ah >ng the higliway from lien- gal to the Indus. Thus the journey became a comparatively easy one. At the death of Selim, his cousin, Mohammed, slew the rightful heir to the throne and took pos- session. He, however, was driven out almost immediately l)y Ibrahim, who was soon driven a- waj' b}' Sekunder. These various changes took j^lace in less than two years. Sekunder then found himself forced to yield. Homaycnm, who had grown old in exile, returned from Persia at tlie head of a large and well equipped army, and succeeded in deposing Sekunder and obtaining possession of the throne he had been compelled to abandon twenty-two years before. He did not long enjoy his triumph, for he died at Delhi the year after he returned. He was succeeded by his son, the great Akbar. He, and his direct descendants, Jehangeer, Shah Jehan and Aurungzebe, 90 MGHT IN DAEKNESS. held the empire in uninterrupted succession for 152 years, from 1655 to 1707. Under them the Mogul empire increased till it covered the greater part of Northern India. Under Shah Jehan it was at the very acme of its glory and opulence. At his death his son, Aurungzebe, came to the throne, after MUing his brothers and near relations, in order that there might be none to dispute his claim. The Mogul empire was still at the height of its prosperity, but there were, nevertheless, unmistakable signs of decay and anarchy. The policy of Aurungzebe opened the way for much assassination and general lawlessness. At the same time there Avas gathering in the South a storm ultimately destined to burst in fury over the whole empire. The ]M: Jirattas, a tribe inhabiting about the center of the peninsula, had always proven sufficiently poM'crful to check the tide of conquest from rolling. further southward. This power had been gradually gaining in strength, and began to make numerous incursions in the dominions of the Great Mogul. Aurungzebe, active and energetic though he was, found himself sorely pressed to hold his own. During his entire long reign, he was involved in an almost continual sti-uggle for supremacy with the Mahratta hordes. Though he managed to hold them in check for the time, his effiarts were of little avail, for immediately after his death, the storm burst upon the empire. The Rajpoots and Sikhs acted in concert with the Mahi-attas, and the territories of the Great Mogul were rapidly diminished. During the i-eign of Mohammed Shah, who came to the throne in 1720, the Mahrattas, in 1735, took the city of Delhi, and plundered it. Four years later. Nadir Shah, the Persian cousin of Mohammed Shah, invaded Ben- gal; took Delhi, and ravaged the tjountry with fire and sword. Moham- med Shah was succeeded in 1747 by Ahmed Shah, who was blinded and deposed in 1753 by Alumgire. During these six years Delhi was taken twice and sacked; once by the Afghans, and once by the Mahrattas. The Mogul power dechned before the growing power of the Mahrattas until the close of the century, and in 1803 Shah Alum, the last actual pos- sessor of the once mighty throne of the Moguls, placed himself under British protection. MEMORIALS OP ANCIENT GLORY. We have sketched the history of a power which ruled northern India for nearly a thousand years. Wonderful monuments of art tell to our times the splendor of the Mohammedan emperors that ruled the gorgeous East. The memorials of their pride and oppression are scat- tered over the plains of the Ganges. Eleven miles southwest of the modern city of Delhi, lie the ruins of the ancient city of that name. Here broken columns, gateways, INDIA — TltV ]\r()«lTI, E\n>Il!R. n mosques, and tombs nro scattered over a vast plain twenty', miles in cir- cunxfercncc. It is the haunt of the wolf anmperor tliijuake. British KOOTLIi; MINAK. commenced in the glorious time of the great Sultan, tho mighty Iving of kings, the master of manldnd, the lord of the monarehs of Turlcistan, Arabia and Persia, the sun of the world and religion, of the faith and 9i LIGHT IN DARKNESS. of the faithful, the lord of safety and protection, the heir to the kingdoms of Suliman — Abu Muzeffa Altemsh Nasir Amin ul Momenin." The Mogul empire, as we have said, reached the zenith of its glory un- der Shah Jchan and his son and successor, Aurungzebe. Shah Jehan came to the throne in 1627. Three far-famed works commemorate his reign. The celebrated gardens of Shalimar, laid out in Alipoor, were his work. The cost is estimated at $5,000,000. They were about two miles and a half in circumference and adorned with all the beauty which exquisite art, united with that luxurious clime, could produce. INDIA — THE MOGUL EMPIRE. 95 Tho Dewan Khass, the most gorgeous audience hall in the East, was built by this monarch. This hall belonged to the Palace at Delhi. It was one hundred and fifty feet long and forty in width. The roof rested on colonnades of marble pillars. The white marble of the walls, pillars and pavement were inlaid "svith the richest and most profuse jc^velry, and wrought with exquisite designs in gems of amethyst, blood-stone, carnelian, lapis, lazuli, topaz and other precious stones. The whole resembled a rich woi"k from the loom in which the richest pattern was interwo^'en upon a pure white ground. The arches, which appear on the picture of this wonderful hall, were hung with the richest curtains of all colors. In the centre of the hall stood the Peacock Throne, of Shah Jchan, erected at a cost of $150,000,000. The throne was ascended by steps of silver, and at the summit rose a massive scat of pure gold and over it a golden canopy inlaid with jewels. "The chief feature of the design was a peacock with his tail spread, the natural colors being represented by pure gems. A vine also was introduced into the design, the leaves and fruit of which were of precious stones, whose raj's were reflected in mir- rors set in large pearls. Beneath all this glory sat the "Great Mogul." Inside of the hall, inscribed in black letters upon an alabaster slab is the Persian couplet, in the hyperbolical language of the East which is thus quoted in Moore's Lallah Eookh: If there be an Elysium on earth. It is this, it is this. The crown of the great Mogul equalled the splendor of his throne, the most costly work of pearls and diamonds estimated to be of the value of $10,350,000. But the most admired relic of the magnificence of the great Mogul is the Taj Mahal. This is also the work of Shah Jehan. It is a mausoleum built over the mortal remains of the beautiful Empress Moomtaj-i-Mahal, whom he devotedly loved. It stands three miles from the city of Agra, upon an eminence overlooking the river Jumna. It is the one piece of architecture which all pronounce perfect. AVe give our readers a picture of the Taj and the description of it given by the Eev. G. H. Smith. "We found ourselves upon the 25th of December, 1S80, in the great city of Agra. After breakfasting we took a guide, and at once pro- ceeded to visit the famous Taj Mahal of India. We had been often told that it was without a rival in the world, but were as totally unprepared for what awaited us as if we had never heard of the Taj before. A dusty road led out of the city gates, through the English compound, and finally through a wretched mud village. On our left are the red walls of Fort Akbar, and a mile farther down the river are tho lofty walls 90 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. of tliG Taj enclosure; above the trees we catch glimpses of its white domes and minarets. As we draw nearer mud gives way to stone — a fine, hard red sandstone — and, farther on, to marble. We pass between two large and beautiful mosques just before the gateway; then alongrow of empty bazaars line both sides of the street — before them natives are spinning silk, the bright red and green threads stretching down the long Htone corridors, where natives offer perfect miniatures of the Taj in ala- INDIA THE MOGUL EMriRE. 97 baster for a few rupees. We pass under a lofty red archway fretted with marble ornamentation, and find ourselves within an empty quadrangle, looldng like a drill-ground for soldiers. Upon the right, steps lead up to a beautiful gate-way, and upon the opposite side stands a handsomer portal, and much larger than the other, to which we were naturally attracted. It was ornamented with Arabic characters and arabesque work, both inlaid, and in deUcate tracery of the original stone. I doubt if there is a more beautiful entrance this side of Paradise. You mount the steps, and a scene is before you which cannot be described. One seems to have been transplanted into fairy-land. You stand on pohshed pavement, about you is the superb arch, and before you an avenue of trees paved with marble; in the center a crystal canal runs over a marble bed; and fountains are seen its entire length; at the end of this vista, ris- ing above the tufted plumes of the trees, looms up the graceful outline of that gem of the Orient, like the great white throne at the source of the river of the water of life, its marble as pure as the new-fallen snow. Here the extravagant imagination of childhood staiids before you in sohd realization, yet so perfect the proportions, so light and airy every form, that the whole structure looks as if it might have floated there by magic, and might at any moment disappear again. It stands upon a marble platform, fifteen feet high, whose four corners are graced with minarets, one hundred and thirty feet in height. In the center, sentineled by these stately minars, is the principal building, of octagonal shape, whose truncated angles are crowned with domes, supported upon Saracenic arches, and from every angle shoot up dehcate white pinnacles and tow- ers, slender and graceful, and above the whole swells out the central bahoon-shaped dome, like a white sphere cut from a cirrus cloud. As if we were in another world, we lightly stepped down and cautiously approached, Avondering if such a gem could be real. Passing under the thick shade of luxuriant shrubbery, passing a marble bath, half way down the canal, where naiads might come to bathe, we came to the steps leading to the platform. At its foot a dusky youth, in flowing costume, is seated, cloth in hand, ready to wipe the dust from your shoes. As you ascend you note the elaborate carving of the spotless stone. Stand- ing upon the platform you try to find something to mar the now almost intolerable perfection; but you scrutinize in vain. And yet the exterior of this building is chiseled and carved, in dehcate tracery, over its entire surface. It crystahzes into innumerable geometric figures of embroidery and filagree work, and the dazzling whiteness is relieved by a gorgeous display of brilliant' gems arranged into twining vines and deUcatoly- shaded flowers, and yet with such perfect taste as to disarm criticism. 7 L-D 98 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. The interior appears to ho dark, but when you enter the light streams in through perforated windows of trellised marl)le. Under the dome is a ,.^.W^iaplliiii,irT:«.iiiiB:B! 'liiil!l|llifiilii|!ii|i i , handsome octagonal railing; in the center is the cluious sareopliagus of Noo: .l/fehal, the " light of the harem." The walls, the lace screen, and INDIA — THE MOGUL EJVIPIEE. 99 the monument of death flash with gems of every hue. Here are seen the soft velvet petals of delicate flowers made of precious stones. The books tell us that almost every stone known to the lapidary is found here. The agate of various tints and shades, blood-stones and la-pis lazuli^ jasper, sardonyx, and jades, turquoises, chalcedonies and sap- phires; and it is said that once rubies and diamonds sparkled upon the royal casket, an offering of friendship from friendly rvilers of the Moham- medan faith, from distant Persia and more distant Africa. Around this central chamber are numerous alcoves, all empty and all handsome. Everywhere is to bo seen the same delicate finish, lavish display, and exquisite designs in polished marble, beautiful tracery, and tessellated pavement. It is beautiful to reflect that this superb structure, the handsomest building in the world, is a tribute of affection to woman's love. And this, too, is the more remarkable since it is the testimonial of one of the great Moguls, who was happier with the love of one woman than most of his countrymen are with half a score. It is customary for these mausoleums to be built during the intended occupant's life-time, and when completed it is used as a palace of pleasure and feasting. One can scarcely imagine the elegance of dress and sumptuousness of entertainment which would be befitting this jeweled house. But when death comes the scene of mirth is changed for one of mourning. The grand dome re-echoes no longer with music and laugh- ter. The stone colSn takes the place of the table of bounty, and wailing is heard instead of merriment. Then these marble halls arc silent and deserted, except when perchance a not-forgetful mourner leaves the busy city and finds her way to the sepulchcr of her lost mistress to drop a tear, a still more precious gem, upon her empty cenotaph. These Mohammedan sarcophagi are of solid stone. The body lies buried, in ordinary mold, just underneath the false casket. Thus all grief and honor is paid to a block of marble; the real tomb is un visited and for- gotten. It is customary to pray at these shrines of the illustrious devotees of Islam, but in order that a more commodious place might be near, an elegant and spacious mosque of red sandstone has been built upon one side of the handsome tomb, and, in order that the symmetry might be preserved, another structure, the exact counterpart of the mosque, has been erected on the other side, and the size, color, and position of these buildings have been so arranged as to bring into prominence the exquisite purity and beauty of the incomparable building in the center. Over the sacred Jumna your attention is called to the ruins of red 100 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. masonry which were the beginnings of a second Taj, or tomb. This one was to have equalled the other in beauty, and was to have been built by the Emperor for himself. And in order that the broad river might not seem to separate them in death, it was to have been spanned by a marble bridge, in keeping with these paradisaical surroundings. But death paralyzed the arm that had already won immortality, and the great Shah Jchan rests now, as a guest, in the death-chamber of his beloved wife, and by her side. And although this dream of the river, spanned by a marble bridge, can be seen only in imagination, yet it were better that the Taj should stand alone, imitated but not equalled, and only excelled by the mansions not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. " The Taj employed twenty thousand men for twenty-two years, and its cost is estimated at sixty million dollars. Its builder was called by the native writers Gestan Esau Nadir el Asur, the Wonderful of the Age. The Emperor called him Zurrier Dust, the Jewel-Handed. It seems he was not either a nativei.or a Mohammedan, but a Frenchman, whose real name was Austen de Bordeaux. The same wonderful architect built the palace at Delhi and the palace at Agra. Wc might fill a volume with the history of the Moguls, but our space will only allow of these sketches which serve to keep the reader in mind that the greatest relics of art found in India were the work of an alien race, and not of the Hindoos. We here would also place upon record the fact that the Brahmin religion had power to withstand intact the influence of Mohammedanism, though that was for almost a thousand years the rchgion of India's masters. When we add to this the fact that Brahminisra drove out from India Buddhism, which had its origin there and gained great prevalence for centuries, and that Buddhism had power to root itself in Thibet, China, Japanand Ccjdon, and to become the reU- gion of one-fifth of the human race, Ave may form some idea of the strength of that system against which the Christian religion has to contend among the Hindoos. BRITISH RULE IN INDIA. All India is now under the control of England, and the influence of the British government and English law are most important factors in the furtherance of Christianity in that land. The work of subduing Hindostan to the British rule was accom- plished by the East India Company, and constitutes one of the most remarkable chapters in history. Wc cannot give the detail of that history here. The briefest statement will suffice. ' The influence of the English power on mission work will appear as we follow that work. The East India Company was a corporation of London merchants, INDIA — THE MOGUL EMPIRE. 101 organized in the year A. D. 1600, under the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The company acquired great wealth and influence, and under various changes of its charter increased its power. Without indicating any pur- pose of conquest, and intent only upon trade, the company reduced one FESTIVAL. OF SERPENTS, INDIA. after another of the petty estates under its control. The divided condi- tion of the natives, and their vast inferiority to the English, especially in the art of war, made them an easy prey. There were many aspirants to the sovereign authority in the several States. The Company, by 102 LIGHT IN DARICNESS. espousing the cause of these native piiuccs and placing them in power, really made them their vass;ds, "Hdio reeognized their sovereignty as conferred by the Company's influence, and so rendered willing and liberal triJjute for the same. Under the ministry of Lord North, in 1773, the East India Companj^ obtained governmental po'wer, the governor of the compan}' being entitled Governor-general of India. Aljout 17i0 the French liegan to advance claims on India, which the English Company disputed. Cli\'e, M'ho was regarded a worthless clerk of the Company, developed into a very liravo soldier and skillful officer. Under his leadership, through a series of Ijattles, the English authority was advanced until at the battle of Plasse}^, in 1757, a complete and linal victory was obtained. The Great Moguls continued to hold the shadow of sovereigntj^, recog- nizing the East Intha Company, and in real subordination to it, until a century later, in 1S57, when the subduing of the great Sepoy rebellion, which we shall notice hereafter, removed from tlie throne the last of the Moguls. The East India Company was also at that time dissolved, and India placed dh-ectly imder the sceptre of Queen Victoria. A SELF-TUKTUlirNG FAKLB. INDIA — THE DANISH MISSIONS. 103 CHAPTER VI. INDIA — THE DANISH MISSIONS. iAETHOLOMEW Ziegenbalg and Henry Plutsclio were the first Protestant missionaries to India. They were sent out by Frederick IV. of Denmark, of whom we have already spolten as the founder of the Halle-Danish Mission. They were both students at the Halle University, when chosen by the King for the great work of introducing the Christian religion to the natives of Hindostan. They also had the honor, to be the first missionaries sent from Halle. They were both young. Ziegenbalg, who was appointed the leader of the enterprise, was but twenty-two. Both of the young men were regarded as eminently zealous for the cause of Christ. They were sound and strong men, physically, and added to the best intellectual culture strong wills and brave hearts. On the 29th of November, 1705, the missionaries set sail from Copen- hagen to their appointed field of perils and toil. The voyage was rough and the passengers generally grumbled about their great discomfort, but the spirits of these men, who thought not of their own ease or gain, made them cheerful and full of hope, as is testified by the sprightly notes of their voyage. When they entered the Spanish seas, they mentioned how the billows "received them very stoutly, the ship seeming as if it were carried through a deep vale between lofty mountains." In other parts of their voyage they describe, with all the enjoyment of novelty, "multitudes of fish gathering about their ship, the large ones marching in great pomp and state, accompanied by a great train of lesser ones. " In one place, where becalmed, they are visited with multitudes of birds, of so dull a nature that, of their own accord, they fly into their hands, or alight down near them and play with them. While passing near Ceylon they are greatly interested by seeing the wild elephants, with their ungainly motions, walldng on the shore. But there are other times in which the ship reels to and fro like a drunken man, while the narrow crib, the mouldy bread, the unwhole- some water, were cause, to the other passengers, of melancholy and misery. Still, amid their discomforts, themissionar'3S make this record: "Our precious time we passed both with great advantage and a dehcious entertainment of our minds, so that the same seemed rather too swift 104 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. than too long, under such useful exercises. Nay, we should consider it a small matter if it was our lot to live a seafaring life, for some years together, provided the Lord did grant us our health." Morning, noon and night, when the weather permitted, they joined in some act of wor- ship on the deck. Thus their time passed till they reached Tranquebar, July 9, 1706. ENTERING UPON THE WORK. Arrived at their field of labor, the missionaries had still . lofty barriers to pass ere they could efiectively bring themselves into contact with the natives. The only language known to them was high Dutch, while the natives spoke either a corrupt form of the Portuguese or the aboriginal Tamil or Malabarese. The first work of the mission- aries, therefore, was to master one of these tongues; for they rightly judged that much of the finer and more subtle element of conversation evaporates in the hands of an interpreter, and that even when ho succeeds in conveying ideas, he fails in carrying or inspiring sympathies. The Portuguese patois was first diligently studied. In its Indian mold it bore very little resemblance to the language of Camoens. When they found it was spoken only by the least influential classes of the people, they decided that one of them should acquire the Tamil language. Lots were cast to determine which should undertake this, and the lot fell on Plutscho. But Ziegenbalg also commenced to study the Tamil soon afterwards; and to prepare the way for those who should come after him, he made a grammar and a dictionary. The latter contains over 20,000 words, and has ever been regarded as of value by Oriental scholars. The difiiculties presented by a strange language were trivial compared with others that were thrown in the way of the missionaries. The European residents, by their grossly immortll lives, in which the vices of a false civilization were beheld in monstrous conjunction with those of heathenism, raised a mountain barrier between the teachings of other Christians and the native mind, and often drove these noble men to tears when it could not tempt them to despair. It was, indeed, a bitter trial, when reasoning with the heathen on the superiority of the Christian religion, to have their half-convinced hearers point to the lives of many who bore the Christian name, and to be asked if these were the fruits by which they hoped to commend their argument. Nearly a century before, Sir Thomas Koe, at the court of the Great Mogul, had mourned over the same thing. ' ' It is a most sad and horrible thing, " said he, ' ' to consider what a scandal there is brought upon the Christian religion by the loose- ness and remissness and by the exorbitances of many who come amongst thorn, who profess themselves Christians; of whom I have often heard INDIA — THE DANISH MISSIONS. 105 the natives who live near the port where the ships arriA'e, saj^ this in broken English which they have gotten: 'Christian religion, devil religion; Christian much drunk; Christian much do Avrong, much beat, much abuse others.' " Well did another writer say of the English treat- ment of the natives, that when an Englishman went to India, he left his religion and conscience behind him at the Cape. And, in addition to this, the East India Company for a long time were openly opposed to having missionaries in their territories. They feared the enlightening influence of Christianity would render the poor heathen less easy to entrap and plunder by their avaricious schemes, and that it would also put a check u^Don their own frauds and oppressions. A century after Ziegenbalg's arrival, in a memorial to Parliament, the company expressed ' ' their decided conviction that the sending of Chris- tian missionaries into the Eastern possessions is the maddest, most extravagant, most expensive, most unwarrantable project that was ever proposed by a lunatic enthusiast. " Not least among the difliculties these men had to meet were the opera- tions of Eomanist missionaries, who were first in the field, and who ^verc not slow to claim the right of occupancy from their connection with its earlier Portuguese possessors. The Protestant missionaries, who recog- nized Christianity only where they beheld conversion, had to cope, from the beginning, with an unscrupulous proselytism, which was mainly ambitious of numbers. Men were claimed as trophies to Romanism who ignorantly submitted to be sprinkled with water, under the name of bap- tism; and worse than this, in times of famine, when many of the poorer natives sold themselves as slaves, in order to procure food, the priests were the readiest purchasers; and these slaves were sometimes marched in hundreds to the baptismal font, and triumphantly enrolled as Chris- tian converts ! "With the immoral lives and grinding oppression of Europeans, on the one hand, and the false Christianity of Eome on the other, the Christian religion seemed to undergo the same treatment as its illustrious founder, and to be crucified between two thieves ! But these devout Danes were not to be discouraged. They began to preach even to the "twice dead" and case-hardened Europeans, with some eflfect; and they endeavored, by their purity of life, benevolence, and self-denial, to show, even to the most obtuse and stolid native heathen, that the truth of Christ, in its worJr of grace upon the human heart, exhibits, as its constantly renewing ' crev\entials, the mightiest and best of all miracles. And though they progressed but slowly at first, they were not in the least despondent, but pressed the work with great vigor. 106 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. ALL THE APPLIANCES OE MISSIONAET WOEK. One of the most rcmarkublo features in the mission of Ziegenbalg and Plutseho is, that while they were thus prosecuting an untried experiment, and wliiie the entire period of their hiljor only extended over sixteen years, their Christian sagaeity and energ}' anticipated and realized in suc- cessful operation nearly every movement and measure that has been employed oy missionaries during the century and a half that has elapsed since their time. They M'ere not trammeled by directions from home, I Hit ^vt're left entirely to their own indgnient. At first they had recourse, chiefly, to preaching, after the Oriental manner; but they soon found this did not gh'G them the intimacy with their hearers which they desired. They then resorted to friendly conferences and conversational teaching. Even the most direct addresses often failed to arouse their stolitl iiearers; so they then began the practice of catechising, 'and by PALM I.ICAF liOoK AND S'lTLE. taking ad\'antage of terms in conversation and of inthviduahty of char- acter, they found themsehcs aJjle to keep the native mind on the alert, and question truth into the mind, when other methods failed. Before teaching long, they fcmnd that the Hindoo religion, and its hold on the people, were far nior(; formidal)le than tliey liad ever dreamed of. They hud imagined that tlie natives, involved in ignorance and sup(>rstition, did ]ii)t have any strong ideas or firm belief in anytliing in particular. But they found that the national religion was deeply rooted and had a strong hold upon the masses of the people. It was no merel}' cobweb faJiric, to I30 deniolish(^d with a l)reath, but a strong '• man of sin, '' full of energ)^ and life, to l)o bound and cast out. So, with inereehble patience, and untiring diligence, they set themselves to stud}' the whole s,ysteni of Hindoo superstition, as it is found in their sacred books, and the writings of their poets, that they might discover in it the material of INDIA THE DANISH MISSIONS. 107 its own reputation, and that their own arguments might not be an igno- rant and misciiievous beating of the air. They also busied themselves in translating the scriptures. Much difficulty was met with in producing copies, at first, as they were compelled to have them written on dried palm leaves. This was both laborious and expensive. But after a time, English Christians supplied them wth a printing press, and a paper manufactory was erected. Of the latter, the Danish governor of Mala- bar bore half the expense. The whole of the New Testament, and a large portion of the Old, was translated into the Tamil language, and innumerable selections were scattered abroad in the form of tracts. Christian schools were estabhshed, which enabled the missionaries to get a hold upon the children, and, through them, upon the parents. Semi- naries for higher education were instituted, in which hopeful j'ouths should be trained and educated as ministers and teachers; evangelistic itinerations into remote towns and villages were undertaken; and manu_ factories of cotton were established for the employment of their converts who were outcasts, with no means of earning their bread, from the time they professed Christianity. Thus we see that, at the very first, this pioneer enterprise was singularly successful. RESULTS OF THE WORK AND GREAT SUCCESS. Pioneers can, as a rule, do little more than prepare the way for others. But in the first seven years the number of converts gathered into their various churches numbered two hundred and forty-six. Among these was a native prince, who, in his renunciation of rank and wealth, showed that he ' ' esteemed the reproaches of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of India ; also a native poet and a pundit, into whose hearts some seeds of the gospel had fallen and taken root, while the two were assist- ing the missionaries in their translations. The missionaries loved their work, and this will serve to explain their success. But their zeal got the better of their judgment at times, and caused them to overtask themselves. From six in the morning to ten at night, every hour was strictly devoted to missionary operations of some kind, with the exception of one interval, from noon to two o'clock, and another from eight to nine in the morning, which they devoted to refreshment and relaxation. But such was their economy of time, that even during meals, one was appointed for the express purpose of reading to them all the while out of the Bible. And in this course they per- severed to the end, though experience extorted from them the confession that " a country so hot as this did not permit too fervent an application of the head." 108 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. The result of this incessant toil was an overstraining of mental and physical strength, which is especially apt to shorten life in a hot climate, like that of Malabar. Ziegenbalg, the master spirit in this mission, died in 1Y19, when but 36 years of age. Plutscho left India the year following. Ernest Grundler, a most reliable man who had entered the work in 1709, died about the same time. A TIME OF TRIAL. These circumstances threw a cloud over the little Danish church in Tranquebar. But the young men who were left in charge exhibited great devotion and good judgment and pressed the work forward with unabated zeal. They hastened to complete the translation of the Old Testament, which Ziegenbalg had carried as far as the book of Euth. The work was finished in 1726, and in 1727 the Latin Bible was pub- lished in the Tamil language. The missionaries obtained the favor of the Rajah of Tanjore, who at first was hostile to them, and he gave them full liberty to preach in his territory wherever they might desire. After this came a series of trials and distress. First, a fire consumed many houses of the native Christians, and after that a tornado did them much damage. The hostility of English settlers continued, and evil disposed persons spared no efibrt to infuse prejudices into the minds of the natives against them. But they had also, during these years, encouraging words. King George I. granted them an audience. The Archbishop of Canterbury wrote to them encouragingly. The King of Denmark continued to favor them. At the end of twenty years after the mission was founded it had brought 678 persons to accept Christianity. Benjamin Schultze about this time took control of the mission. He reopened, in 1726, a school in Madras, which Ziegenbalg began in 1716, but which had been closed for some years. The new superintendent dis- played great zeal and efficiency. He labored incessantly in preaching, translating the Scriptures and establishing schools. In the single year 1729, he baptized 140 converts, and at the close of 1731, after ten years residence in Madras, 415 persons had been brought into the church by this ministry. In 1730 and 1732 respectively, two medical missionaries entered the field. Thus, at this early date, was the importance of this method of missionary work recognized. The work at Madras and in the province extended its effects to Bombay and Ceylon through the influence of the press. From 1730 to 1740 the mission progressed steadily; new laborers came INDIA — THE DANISH MISSIONS. 109 and new stations were planted along the Coromandel coast. Some churches were established under the charge of native pastors. There was the pure,, true Christian zeal among the converts, and the records of these times afford many examples of the triumphs of the Christian spirit and the Christian faith in the trials to which they were subjected. The converts in Tranquebar and neighboring districts were reckoned in 1T50 to number 8,000, and 1,000 more were in Madras and along the Coro- mandel coast. THE GEEAT MISSIONAET OF SOUTH INDIA. At this time one of the most distinguished men in missionary annab appeared in Tranquebar. This man was Christian Frederick Schwartz. He has scarcely a peer in missionary history. "His soul was like a star, and dwelt apart. After studying his life, we feel that his hame is hardly to be associated with common preachers of the gospel, but rather with those of primitive apostles and evangelists, on whom the inspiring influence had descended, 110 LIGHT IN DAKKNESS. and who united to those high gifts so heavenly a life, as made their minis- try and their moral power felt over whole kingdoms, and upon systems hoary mth antiquity, and deep-rooted in all the habits and worldly inter- ests of the heathen to whom they preached. " Schwartz was born in 1T26, at Sonnenburg, a little town in the old electorate of Brandenburg. His mother, when on her death bed, dedi- cated him to the life of a missionary, and charged her husband and her minister to respect this act of consecration. But young Schwartz, though not vicious, was rather vacillating about religious matters, at times seem- ino- utterly indifferent with regard to everything connected wit^ man's future condition ; and again, praying with more than ordinary earnest ness, that he might know andfoUow the right way. While he was pursuing his studies in the grammar school, at home, a lady who was watching his vacillating mood with great interest, put into his hands a religious book by Herman Francke. This work was the means of confirming him in Christian principles. He went to Halle in 174:6, to attend the literary school. Here Schultze, who had returned to Europe to make arrange- ments for a more extensive pubhcation of the Tamil Bible, became interested in him, and persuaded him to attend the theological university. He aho had his assistance in preparing the Tamil Bible for the press. Schwartz finally resolved to become a missionary, and informed his father of his intention. He was not opposed, and in order that he might have nothing to tempt him back, or vex him with worldly cares, he made over his share of his father's estate to his brothers and sisters. In 1T49 he and two others were ordained at Copenhagen as missionaries, and early the next year he sailed for Tranquebar as a representative of the HaUe- Danish Missionary Society. He landed at Tranquebar July 30, 1750. Other missionaries were in the field by this time, and the work progressed rapidly. Schwartz commenced immediately to study cai'ef ully the Tamil language, and to instruct the young, and prepare candidates for baptism. Within four months of his landing he preached his first sermon, taking for his text, " Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," and then began a course of missionary labors which extended through a period of forty-eight years, and which was fruitful in extraordinary results. Its influence is felt and owned to the present day in the singularly successful missions of Mysore and Tinnevelly. In the first year of Schwartz' labors 400 persons were added to the Tamil congregation. The fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the mis- sion came July 9th, 1Y56, and six years after Schwartz entered upon his labors. At this time there were eight missionaries in the field and 11,000 persons had abandoned idolatry and embraced the Gospel. INDIA — THE DANISH IVUSSIONS. Ill Schwartz spent a large portion of his time during his first year's resi- dence in India in mastering the mythological books in the Tamil lan- guage, that he might be better able to cope with his Brahmin antagonists, and more effectively expose the follies of their system; and his labors were not in vain. Bishop Heber estimated the number converted by Schwartz' direct labors as between six and seven thousand, while the number christianized by the agencies he directed was far greater. Before he died he could travel through districts and see along mountain sides little Christian churches, where, Avhen he came to India, was the den of the jackal or the lair of the tiger. He could look from his garden at Tanjore and see whole villages of Christians. Schwartz remained unmarried that he might devote himself full}- to his work; and everything he could spare from his income A\'as gi\en to purposes of charity or the aid of the missions. Orphans were supported, catechists employed, schools and other liuildings for missionary objects were erected at his expense. The natives could not fail to see the differ- ence between the conduct of this Christian man and that of the a^'crage European, and they thus learned to respect the principles of Christianity. The Kajah of Tanjore said to him: " Padre, I have confidence in you, because you are perfectly indifferent to mone3^" In 1Y58 the Danish missionaries resolved to extend their work into Bengal. With this view Kiernander went to Calcutta, where he con- tinued his work for thirty years. He removed to Chinsurah in 178S, and died there in 1799. In 1760 Schwartz visited Ceylon. In the fol- lowing year, accompanied by a brother, h« went to Madras and Cudda- lore, and in 1762 he went to Tanjore, where he was permitted to preach not only in the city but in the palace of the Rajah; and though he Avas always unsparing in his denunciation of heathen divinities, he continued to find a friend and patron in the Rajah. The latter said: " He makes out our gods to be doAvnright demons. We must keep him here to instruct this foohsh people. " The Rajah's overseer visited the missionary every morning to see and report whatever was extraordinary. Schwartz said to him one morning: " Tell the Rajah that you saAv me, and that I testify to great and small, that they should turn from dumb idols to the living God, and that, from my heart, I Avish that the king would, in this respect, set his subjects a good example." The Rajah never embraced Christianity, but neither he nor the populace could help feeling the deep- est respect for the man who, living in the simplest manner, refused all presents and bribes, when a wish would have brought them to his feet, and even the most acute of the Brahmins admitted the superiority of his form of Christianity to that of the votaries of Romanism. U2 INDIA — THE DANISH MISSIONS. 113 From Tanjore Schwartz went to Trichinopoly, where he became the chaplain of the English garrison. The officers soon found oifenses rap- idly diminishing through the influence of the good man, and were able to dispense with corporal punishment. Outside of the fortress Schwartz erected little preaching houses, thatched with leaves of the palmyra tree. In them he was wont to preach to or converse with any of the passers-by who were willing to hear. He obtained the favor of the commandant of the garrison, and with his aid a spacious church, sufficient to accom- modate two thousand persons, was built. This church was completed and opened in 1766. Schwartz was now within an English colony, and the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge took his work under its fostering care, and here for years Schwartz lived and labored on an income of £48 a year, "dressed in dimity, dyed black, eating rice and vegetables cooked in the native fashion, and living in a room of an old building, just large enough to hold himseK and his bed, and in which a man of ordinary stat- ure could not stand upright. His salary as chaplain was £100 per an- num. The whole of his salary Schwartz donated, the first year, to the mission. Afterward he retained one-half of his yearly stipend, but gave away most of it in charity. He obtained a greater influence over the natives than was possessed by their rulers. A difficulty having arisen between the Madras government and the Rajah, both sought his aid, but he declined to act for either. One of the grandest tributes ever paid to moral excellence was that given to Schwartz by Hyder Ali. This native ruler had become incensed against the British government of Madras. The English, know- ing his rapacity and ferocity, wished to send messengers to assure him of their pacific intentions, and to treat for peace. But the natives had no reason to place confidence in British assurances. The conduct of Warren Hastings and others was too fresh in their memories. So Hyder Ali replied to the British proposals, "Do not send me any of your agents, for I do not trust their words or treaties; but if you wish me to listen to your proposals, send me the missionary of whose character I hear so much from everyone; him will I receive and trust." Schwartz was accordingly entreated by the government to go to Seringapatam and endeavor to pacify the tyrant. An ordinary political mission Schwartz would have refused, but to go as a peacemaker, when the lives of thousands depended upon him, he could not refuse. It was a work of several weeks to reach the capital, where Hyder Ali held his reign of terror. Along passes where the jackal moaned and the tiger lurked, by narrow pathways that bordered 8 L-D 114 LIGHT IN DAEKUESS. on frowning precipices, over the giddy heights of the Ghauts, the meek missionary pursued his embassy of peace, and at length found himself in the presence of the man whose very name struck terror to the bravest hearts. What a meeting! The gray-haired missionary, calm, mtel- lectual, his blue eyes beaming with gentleness and kindness, pleading TRAVELING BY NIGHT. with him whose face showed courage, resolution, cruelty, and duplicity. Schwartz stayed the tyrant's hand for a time. When he started home- ward, he found in his carriage 3,000 rupees ($1,200). These he imme- diately devoted to charitable purposes. Hyder All's respect and INDIA — THE DANISH MISSIONS. 115 gratitude led him to send this message to all his officers between the capital and Tanjore: "Permit the Father Schwartz to pass unmolested, and show him respect and kindness, for he is a good man, and means no harm to my government." But the storm was only delayed, it was not averted. Provoked by the Madras Government, Hyder Ali entered the Carnatic in 1780 with an army of 100,000 men. Multitudes fled before him panic-stricken to Tanjore. Schwartz alone moved about unmolested "among the ranks of one of the most cruel and blood-thirsty armies that ever spread ruin on the earth." The authorities at Tanjore hastened to prepare for a siege. Hyder Ali was advancing rapidly. Neither city nor fortress was supplied with provisions. Yet there was plenty of grain in the country; but the people, having been cruelly deceived in former instances, would neither bring it themselves, nor allow their oxen to be used to bear it to the garrison; and yet the extremity was terrible. Multitudes of the soldiers and Sepoys looked like wandering skeletons; and every morning the streets were lined with the famished dead. There was only one man in all Tanjore whom the people would trust. Both the native ruler and the British authorities appealed to the venerable Schwartz to mediate for them with the people — to stand between the living and the _ dead. He at once sent out letters by his converts into all the rural districts, requesting the people to send in their oxen with provisions, promising to pay them with his own hand as soon as the siege was raised. That was enough. In one day a thousand bullocks, loaded with grain, were sent in, and the famine was stayed. Schwartz also purchased great stores of rice, when it was cheap, and stored it away, in anticipation of the war. The country was soon after- wards devastated, and famine followed Avar; Schwartz then threw open his rice granaries, and thus saved thousands from starvation. Hundreds were fed by him every day. The war continued about ten years and the mission suflered greatly, and yet through the fidelity of the missionaries the number of converts increased. A native Christian from Trichinopoly carried the gospel to TinneveUy, 200 miles distant. There Christianity spread rapidly. The Eajah of Tanjore, during his last years, kept away from the missionary, as the latter had reproved him so often for his various sins. But when on his death-bed, he sent for Schwartz, and asked him to take upon himself the guardianship of the young prince in such a manner as would have amounted to his administering the government during the prince's minority. Schwartz solemnly declined, as he did not wish to become entangled in worldly aflfairs; but he promised to see that the 116 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. young prince was properly educated, and suggested that the Rajah's brother, Ameer Singh, be appointed as regent during the prince's minor- ity. This was accordingly done. But no sooner was Ameer Singh in power than he shut the young prince up in a dungeon. Schwartz repeatedly remonstrated, but was put off with vague and insincere promises. He then appealed to the Madras government, and secured the young prince's removal, and a suitable education. Ameer Singh then proceeded to deny his brother's right to choose a successor, and claimed the throne as his own. The Madras government had twelve pundits to examine the Hindoo law upon the subject. They, bribed by Ameer Singh, decided in his favor, and the Madras government confirmed their decision. But Schwartz knew something of the law, and showed the government that the decision of the pundits was wrong, and wrote to the East India Company concerning the matter. The result was that the young prince obtained his rights. Under his protector's teaching he became one of the most accomplished princes of his day. Schwartz spent the last twenty years of his life in his own house, which he built two miles east of Tanjore, upon a piece of ground given him by the Rajah. Here he built an orphan asylum and gave his last days to the instruction of children, especially those of the poor, whom he gratuitously maintained. And here, on the 18th of February, 1798, surrounded by his flock, and in the presence of several of his larethren, the venerable missionary died in the seventy-second year of his age. A beautiful story is told of his last hours. His friends who were watching around his bedside thought him dead, and one of them began singing a beautiful chant. When he had finished the first verse, the voice of Schwartz suddenly rose, soft and clear, and sang the next verse, And then softly sank to silence, Silence kept forevermore. This history has been rightly pronounced more beautiful than the legend of the dying swan. Not churches only, but kingdoms, mourned the death of Schwartz. All Tanjore wept for him, like Israel at the death of Samuel. Men of the most opposite creeds followed his body to its resting place, and dropped hr nest and unbought tears in his grave. The moral grandeur of his character, looked upon in succession by two generations, had turned respect into veneration. And no one mourned more deeply or with better cause than the young King whom he had saved by his vigilance from an untimely death, and raised, by his intercessions, to the throne. On the day of the funeral, when the procession was about to move, the weeping monarch entreated that ho might once more be permitted to look THE SERAJVtPORE BAPTIST MISSION. in upon the venerated form, and, on the hd of the cofEn being raised, he covered the body with a rich cloth of gold. Every day for years after- ward he was accustomed to visit the grave alone, and bow with reverence before it. The East India Company, grateful to the man who had saved their dominions from Invasion and their soldiers from famine, mourned liis death as a calamity to India, and at their instance a noble piece of allegorical sculpture, from the chisel of Bacon, was sent out from England and erected in the church at Fort George. The Hindoos who were not Christians were long accustomed to place a lighted lamp near his sepulcher. Frederick Schwartz was, in many respects, the grandest of Protestant missionaries. CHAPTEE VII. THE SERAMPOKE BAPTIST MISSION. E have seen that the first church missionary society was organized by the English Baptists in 1Y93, and that WiUiam Carey, the ' 'Consecrated Cobbler, " as he was derisively called by Sidney Smith, was the cMef agent in its organization. Carey was also the fii-st to represent this society as a foreign missionary. He sailed from Dover, England, June 1.3th, 1793, accompanied by his family, and Mr. Thomas, who was to be his co-laborer. Twelve years before the death of Schwartz, Charles Grant, an influ- ential member of the East India Company, aided by the celebrated Wil- berf orce, had made strenuous efforts to secure the government's patronage, or, at least permission, in the eifort to christianize the native Hindoos. The effort only served to show how bitterly the Company were opposed to such a work. Three years before Carey was sent out. Parliament had been led to enact that : "If any subjects of his Majesty, not being law- fully licensed, should, at any time, repair to, or be found in the East Indies, such persons should be declared guilty of a high crime and mis- demeanor, and liable to fine and imprisonment." This law was in force when Carey landed in India. Every unlicensed European found in the country was compelled to enter into covenant Avith the government under heavy securities. Some time is required by a missionary to learn the language of the people tc whom he would t«ach the gospel. To this work Carey applied himself earnestly. The remittances sent him by the society at home were lis LIGJiT IX DARKNESS. not sufficient even for the most nieugre support, and he was, therc_ore, compelled to Avoi-k hard as a day lahorer for the support of his family. Pie lived in great p(>\erty for a time, and it is said, had many liitter reproaches from his wife for having engaged iu an enterprise so fanatical as the efibrt to convert the heathen. Under extreme pressure of poverty, Carey left Calcutta and abode for a time in the region known as the Sunderlnmds, almost a morass, thi'ough which Ihc Ganges passes by many mouths into the sea. Here, dwelling by the haunt of the tiger, in a district poisoned M'ith malaria and thinly inhabited, the resolute and patient missionary was daily pre- paring for his great career. The reader will remember that Kiernander, a co-laborer with Schwartz, THE SEEAMPOEE BAPTIST MSSION. 119 went to Calcutta and began mission work in 1758, which he pursued for forty years, returning to Chinsurah in 1 788. Kiernander-s work was confined to the Europeans. Carey was intent upon the conversion of the natives, and for this he was preparing. He apphed himself with extraordinary dihgence to the study of the native tongue. With the aid of an interpreter he soon began to preach in places ' of public resort. Finding a favorable opening in a new quarter, Carey left the Sunder- bunds and put himself under the care of Mr. Udny, the proprietor of an indigo factory in the districts of Mudnabatty. Mr. Udny Avas a warm friend of the mission, and for some years provided him with the means of subsistence. In order to escape molestation from the Company, Carey was returned in the reports of the district as being in the service of Mr. Udny. Mr. Thomas made a similar arrangement with the proprietor of a factory, sixteen miles further north. Each had abundant access to the natives, and for six years they labored at the f actoiies and preached through their respective districts as opportunity afforded. Besides those who dwelt in the villages in various portions of the districts, there were hundreds employed in the factories to whom they preached. But their labors produced no visible effects. They were sowing their seed by the wayside, and it bore no fruit. But new men now appeared in the field, and the plan of work was changed. In 1799 Marshman, Ward, Grant, and Brundson were sent to the assistance of Carey and Thomas.- The two latter soon fell victims to the unhealthy climate, but Marshman and Ward proved valuable assistants in the work. The long continued association of these three faithful men presents a history of vast and varied usefulness. Marshman and Ward, knowing the hostility of the East India Company, came in an American vessel, and proceeded directly up the river to Serampore, sixteen miles from Calcutta. This was a Danish settlement, and they felt certain of being well treated there. Marshman, as soon as he reached the land, knelt and thanked God that they had reached India. But the Company did not propose to be so easily foiled. Their opposition to misssionaries seems to have been especially bitter about this time. One of the direc- tors said that ' ' he would rather see a band of devils in India than a band of missionaries." The day after the arrival of these men, an order from the Governor-general was sent to Serampore, demanding that the Dan- ish governor should forthwith send the missionaries out of the country. But the governor was not to be intimidated; and at once determined to defy the British authorities, and allow the missionaries to remain under Danish protection. This exasperated the English officials exceedingly, 120 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. and they threatened to arrest any of the missionaries who might bo fomid in the territory of the Company. This caused Carey to abandon his position and join the others at Serampore. The Danish governor assured the missionaries that he would defend aiid support them to the utmost extent of his power. Moreover, Frederick VI, King of Denmark, on hearing the missionaries had taken refuge in Danish territory, informed them that he was well pleased thereby, and that ho would take them ' under his special protection. The governor was favorable to the plans of the missionaries. He aided them in securing a house for which $4,000 was paid; and in this these men established headquarters of their mission. Wo give a picture of this house as it fronted the river. Here they MISSIOIJ PREMISES AT SERAMPORE. established a school and chapel and prmtmg office. Here they began work which in a few years developed into a great establishment. OPENING THE MISSION AT SEEAMPOEE. The work now began in earnest. Ward had secured a printing press, and at once began the work of printing the New Testament, which Carey had translated into Bengalee. This was something the missionaries had long wished to see. Thomas, a few years before, had said, "I would give a million pounds, if I had them, to see a Bengalee Bible." Carey wrote, " "WTien I first entered on the translation of the Scriptures into the Bengalee language, I thought that if ever I should live to see it com. pleted, I should say, with Simeon, ' Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace. ' " In February, 1801, the last sheet of an edition of 2,000 copies of the THE SERAMPORE BAPTIST MISSION. 121 New Testament came from the press. Work on the translation of the Old Testament was at once begun, and the year 1809 saw the publication of the entire Bengalee Bible, in five volumes. Great things were now projected. Education was one of the chief objects of attention. Carey's motto, "Expect great things from God, and attempt great things for God," was applied in full force. In 1800 Marshman and his wife opened two boarding schools, which soon became the most popular in Bengal, and yielded a yearly income of £1,000, and thus defrayed a large portion of the expenses of the mission. A xvv- nacular free school was opened at the same time. Various stations were formed from time to time, in every practicable locahty. At these sta- tions schools were, as far as possible-, made a prominent feature. TEANSLATnSTG THE SCRIPTTIRES. In 1806, it was proposed to print the Bible in Sanscrit, and fourteen other Oriental languages, and the work of translating was begun. Carey had now entered upon the great work of his life — a herculean task for any man — ^the translation of the Bible into all the principal Ori- ental languages, and the printing of those translations at the mission press at Serampore. His natural aptitude for philology prepared him for this work, while his spirit of indomitable perseverance bore him through difficulties that would have withered the united energies of many common men. His singular control over his mental faculties and his power of concentrating them on some one object, so that nothing could divert him from his course, wrought like the faith which could remove mountains. Acting not from impulse, but from principle, he could turn from day to day to the same work at the same hour, without tedium or desire of change. It is no extravagant fancy that one who had been absent from India for many years might have returned and found him sitting cheerfully at the same labors, with the same dozing pundit before Mm. With much self-depreciating modesty, and with some truth, he once said to his son: "Eustace, if, after my removal, any one should think it worth his while to write my life, I will give you a criterion by which you may judge of its correctness. If he gives me credit for being a plodder, he will describe me justly. Anything beyond this will be too much. I can plod; I can persevere in any definite principle. To this I owe everything." Eustace Carey says of this: " But how few can plod! Many can devise a magnificent enterprise, but the plodder is the man who will rise to eminence, and, should he live sufficiently long to effect his designs, will make the world his insolvent debtor." We shall see by and by what were the results of this plodding. i2i; LIGHT IN DARKNESS. DESECEATING THE GANGES. On the 29th of December, 1800, Mr. Carey wrote: "Yesterday was a (lay of great joy. I had the happmess- to desecrate the Gunga by bap- tizing the first Hindoo, namely, Krishno, and my son Felix. Krishno \\'as distinguished for his piety and good sense. Being mot by a Euro- pean and asked what good he got by his profession of Christianity, he answered that he got nothing but much joy and comfort; it was the work of lo\-e. He was sorely persecuted by the Brahmins. His daughter, Golok, embraced Chi-istianity, and was forcibly seized and carried away by her idolatrous husband. As he was urguig her along and beating her, she cried aloud, in passing a police station: "I have heard of the love and suUe rings of Christ; these tilings have laid hold of my mind; I have become a Christian from choice, and am not willing to go with this man." Krishno's method with the heathen around him is thus described. A man says: " "Well, Krishno, you have left oif all the customs of your ancestors; what is the reason?" He replies : ' 'Only have patience and I will inform you. I am a great sinner. I tried the Hindoo worship, and got no good. After awhile I heard of Christ, that he was incarnate, labored much, and at last laid down his life for sinners. I thought, what is love like this ! And here I made my resting place. Now say, if any- thing like this love was ever shown by any of your gods. Did Doorga, or Kalcc, or Krishno, die for sinners? You loiow that they only sought their own ease, and have no love for any one. " Self-prompted, Krishno erected a house for God immediately opposite his own. This was the first nati-i'o place of worship in Bengal. In 1801, the first female was baptized. Early the next month two others followed her. Early in 1803, the first Brahmin was baptized. Before receiving the rite he trampled on his sacred cord, and then handed it to Ward. Caste had always been a seemingly insurmountable difficulty. The Cathohcs had not broken the caste of their converts. Of the Brahmin's cord, Ward said, "-This is a more precious relic than any the church of Rome could boast of." Marshman said, "The chain of caste is broken — who shall mend it?" Within a few weelts two other natives came and ate publicly with the missionaries. One of them had on one occasion dislocated his arm. Mr. Thomas had attended him KRISHNA I'M,. THE SERAMPORE BAPTIST MISSION. 123 till he got well, and had taken great interest in him. His earnest talks resulted as we have seen. But the new converts were destined to meet with persecution at the very first. The native populace were enraged at the disgrace thus brought upon their time-honored institutions. If a man lost his caste accidentally, he was an outcast, jyariali, and lower than a Sudra. But that a man should intentionally throw away his caste was a thing unheard of. Such a contingency had not been provided for. The day after this formal brealdng of caste, about two thousand people' assembled, seized the two converts, and vnth storms of execration and abuse, dragged them before the magistrate. Here the populace were again astonished by finding the magistrate disposed not only to protect the converts, but also to commend liiem for the step they had taken. The rabble was obliged to disperse. A few days afterward one of the converts was baptized, and the other in a few months followed his example. The number of converts steadily increased from this time, and a regular church was organized at Serampore. About two years after the first convert was baptized Carey wrote: "The Lord stUl smiles upon us. I some time ago baptized three natives and my son WilUam. Our number of baptized natives is now twenty- five and the whole number of church members thirty-nine." Again, in 1805, he wrote: "This year God has added to us thirty persons by baptism — twenty-seven of the natives and three Europeans. Several of the natives have gifts for preaching the gospel." During this year he published a grammar of the Mahratta language and opened a mission church at Calcutta. RENEWED OPPOSITION. About this time a new persecution arose against the missionaries. Dr. Carey and the other Baptist missionaries were forbidden to preach to th natives of British India, or sufifer the Hindoo converts to persuade their countrymen to become Christians. The opposition of the company to missions caused the subject to be discussed in the British Parliament, and in the public prints. Sidney Smith, in the Edinburgh Review of April, 1808, ridiculed in that keen, satirical vein for which he was so noted, the efibrts of uneducated artisans to grapple with the profound and subtle philosophy of the' Brahmins, and to convert to Christianity the devotees of a religion that had 'withstood the influences of other systems through so many ages. On the other hand, Kobert Southey, the poet, though a zealous church- man, -vigorously defended the missionaries, and to the statement that they were "low-bom, low-bred mechanics," made this answer, which should be recorded to his eternal honor, " These low-hred and low-horn 124 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. meduinics, as they are called, have translated the whole Bible into Bengalee, and have by this time printed it. They are printing the New Testament in the Sanscrit, the Orissa, Mahratta, Hindostani and Guzerati; they are translating it into Persia, Telinga, Karnata, Chinese, the language of the Sikhs and of the Bm-mans; and with four of these languages they are going on with the Bible. Extraordinary as this is, it will appear more so when it is remembered that of these men, one was originally a shoemaker, another a printer at Hull, and the third the master of a charity school at Bristol. Only fourteen years have elapsed since Thomas and Carey set foot in India; in fourteen years these 'low- born and low-bred mechanics ' have done more towards spreading the knowledge of the Scriptures among the heathen, than has been accom- plished by all the world besides." The missionaries after a short time were permitted to go on with their work on condition that all that they printed in their house at Serampore should first be submitted in manuscript to the Governor of that place and by him to the Governor-general of India. This was a great relief, and the missionaries saw in it government recognition and protection of their work in the future. They observed a day of prayer and thanks- giving for this triumph. In 1809 a spacious chapel was built at Calcutta. The mission house at Serampore rapidly developed into a great establishment. Eleven years from the time it was opened it is thus described by Mr. Ward, who superintended the printing. The extract is taken from a letter written by him to his cousin in 1811. THE PRINTING HOUSE. "Could you see your cousin in this printing house, surrounded by forty or fifty servants, all employed in preparing the Holy Scriptures for the natives of India, you would, I am sure, be highly pleased. One man is preparing the Book of God for the learned Hindoos, in the Sanskrit language; another for the people of Bengal; another for Hindostan; another for the inhabitants of Orissa; another for the Mahrattas; another for the Sikhs; another for the people of Assam; another for the Mussul- men in all parts of the East, in the Persian and Hindostanee languages; others for the Chinese; others for the Talingas; and others are soon to begin in Cingalese, Tamil and Malay languages. "As you enter the office you see your cousin, in a small room, draped in a white jacket, reading or writing, and at the same time looldng over the whole office, which is one hundred and seventy-four feet long. The next persons you see are learned natives, translating the Scriptures into the difi'erent languages or correcting the proof-sheets. You walkthrough THE SEEAMPORE BAPTIST SUSSION. 125 the office, and see, laid out in cases, types in fifteen languages. Hindoos, Mussulmen and converted natives are all busy — some composing, others disti-ibuting, others correcting. You next come to the presses and see four persons throwing off the sheets of the Bible in different languages; and on the left are half a dozen Mussulmen, employed in binchng the Scriptures for distribution, while others are folding the sheets and deUvering them to be placed in the store-room tiU they can be made up into volumes. The store-room, which is one hundred and forty-two feet long, is filled with shelves from side to side, upon which are laid, wrapped up, the sheets of the Bible before they are bound. You go forward, and in a room adjoining the office are the type-casters, busy in preparing the HINDOO TAMILY AND DAVTELLING. types in the different languages. In one corner you see another party, busy in grinding the printing inl?:; and in a spacious, open place. Availed around, you see a paper mill and a number of persons employed in maldng paper for printing the Scriptures in all the languages. " BURNINa OF THE MISSION HOUSE. The burning of this great establishment, March 11th, 1812, was, for a time, a paralyzing blow to the Scrampore Mission. Great quantities of printed matter, fonts of type in thirteen languages, two thousand reams of paper, and many valuable manuscripts were destroyed. The loss was estimated at $60,000, which at that time was, as respects purchasing value, perhaps three times that sum to-day. 126 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. A great cause is often aided by events which seem at first disastrous. The very reverses of an enterprise which depends for success upon the sym- pathies of a people, and which needs only to be considered to eHcit such sympathy, turn to its advantage in bringing it prominently before the world. The fires that consumed the Mission House at Serampore flashed a liffht over all Christendom which aided the cause of missions. Hun- dreds of thousands of Christian people had their attention directed to the work which a few men had accomplished, in the brief space of twelve years; and that, too, with little help from the church at home; for the great publishing house had been built up without any direction from the Missionary Society, and almost entirely by the wisdom and energy of Carey and his companions. The next morning after the fire Carey walked through the ashes of the building, with tearfxil eyes viewing what seemed to be the utter loss of years of toU. "How unsearchable are the ways of God," he said; "in one short evening the labors of many years are consimaed." And then he added, "The Lord hath laid me low that I may look more simply to him." When Dr. FuUer, president of the Baptist Missionary Society, heard of the destruction of the printing house at Serampore, he began, immedi- ately to caU vipon the church for aid. Fifty days afterward he announced to the Society all the money raised and contributions coming in from every quarter in such abundance as called for a pubhcation to stay the voluntary ofi'erings of the people. THE FIELD FULLY OPENED. In 1813 a new charter was granted the East India Company which much increased the privileges of the missionaries, and in 1814, by a mod- ification of that charter, all restrictions upon missionary labors among the natives were vsdthdrawn. The field was now, at last, fully opened. And work began to be extended with great activity. The older missionaries still devoted most of their time to the printing house at Serampore; but the younger men and native helpers preached to the people abroad and established churches and schools wherever they could. Stations were established at Agra and in various other parts of the country. By the year 1815, there weresix stations in Bengal, in charge of European missionaries,, and four in charge of native laborers; there was one in Surat, one in Amboyna, and four in the upper provinces. The next year they established missions at Allahabad, the chief city of the northwest Provinces, and at Benares. The Church Society THE SERAMPOEE BAPTIST MISSION, 127 began work at Benares the same year, About this time Dr. Andrew Fuller, the president of the Baptist Missionary Society, died. He left no one who was his equal in zeal or ability, to direct its affairs, and diffi- culties began to arise between the society and the managers of the work at Serampore. A missionary society, none of wliose members perhaps were ever mis- sionaries abroad, undertaldng to direct the labors of veterans in the actual work in mission fields has certainly a most responsible and difficult work to perform. Such a society surely cannot afford to be dictatorial. Look, ing to it that they guard the work against self-seeking men, and men of bad, moral character, they should certainly allow much personal liberty in methods of work to men who have had long experience in that work. The mission property at Serampore had been originally built up almost entirely by the labors of the missionaries, and after it burned and was rebuilt by the contributions of the church, these men enlarged the prem- ises, and the business with their own means. They also contributed from the income of the house, to sustain their work in other parts. The prop- erty was held under the Danish government, and in the name of Carey and his companions, as trustees for the mission. It was mostly their (nvn property, and purchased with their money. They had given it to the society upon condition that they should be permitted to hold it as trustees. They never claimed that it was their own, yet they felt that they had cause to complain of the arbitrary temper of the Society, and when, on the other hand, they desired aid from the Society in sustaining some of their work elsewhere, it was refused. These unfortunate difficulties continued for many years, until the death of all the senior missionaries. In the meantime the Society turned its attention to the negroes in the West Indies. But Carey and his brethren pushed forward their work with vigor' They had sustained all their missions, without aid, for twenty years, and they were little disturbed by being refused the small aid which they asked. They attempted great things for God and expected great things of God, and their expectations were not disappointed. God put money in their hands. It is said that during the whole time of their work at Serampore they received each, upon an average, $6,000 a year. EDUCATING THE NATIVES. In 1816 Marshman began extending his educational work. An insti- tute was founded for the support of native schools, and a Normal school opened for the instruction of native teachers. As the greater part of the teaching in the various schools had to be done by natives, it may readily 128 LIGHT nsr DARKNESS. be seen that this last step was one of great value, as it raised the stand- ard of education. But up to this time Christian doctrines "were not taught in the native schools. This has been censured by some; but the missionaries thought best to omit this line of instruction, for fear of arousing the jealousy of the natives. The schools at this period were quite prosperous, over 10,000 pupils attending them. Two years later another advance was made. Marshman prepared a paper entitled "Hints for the Extension of Schools among the Natives." His efforts aroused others, and as the result, the Calcutta Book Society was formed. Its success was far greater than he had expected. Within twenty miles of Serampore forty-five schools were established, with an aggregate of two thousand native children, receiving instruction in then- own tongue. But a still grander work was begun at Serampore itself. was organized in which A college native youths of all classes might re- ceive instruction. Lectures on mathematics, medicines, ethics, theology and other branches, were given with the purpose of raising the standard of cultiva- tion throughout the commimity. In tliis the movement was suc- cessful. The general moral tone of the community was also im- proved. The best work of the college, however, was the training of young men for the Christian ministry. Instruction in various languages was given; but the extensive study of English literature was omitted, as the teaching of the masses of the people had to be done in the native vernacular. The study of Sanscrit was accordingly substituted for that of English, as the various Hindoo dialects arc based upon that ancient language, the oldest of all known languages, except, perhaps, the Maya. By the year 1822, the entire Bible had been translated and printed in six Oriental languages, and was being translated into some others. The Now Testament had been printed in fourteen different languages and was ■Wn^LIAM WAED. then going through the press in thirteen others. Marshman had mastered the Chinese, had translated and published the Bible in that tongue, and had also translated and published the works of Confucius in English. THE SERAMPORE BAPTIST MISSION. 129 In 1823 the Serampore mission suffered a sad loss in tiie death of Mr. Ward. He died at the age of fifty-three. Twenty-three years of his life had been devoted to missionary hibors. His death was an incalculable loss to his colleagues. Marshman "paced the room in silent dismay." The two survivors toiled on together for ten years. In 1833 Carey died, after a missionary career of forty years. His humility and lowli- ness of spirit are shown by this epitaph, which he directed to be inscribed on his tomb: A wretched, poor, and helpless worm, On Thy kind arms I fall. But ere he died, 213,000 volumes of the Divine word in whole or in part, in forty different languages, had been issued from the press at Serampore. END OF THE SERAMPORE MISSION. "I have not a single wish ungratified," said Carey at his death. He had desired to see his church organized for work in heathen lands; God made liim the instrument to accomphsh this end. He had desired, him- self, to bear the gospel to India; the Lord had opened the ^Y^.y and made him a chosen vessel of his grace to those who sat in the region and shadow of death. In India he did a work which none have surpassed — none equalled; and this was the "consecrated cobbler." But when God puts his spirit upon a man he becomes great in that true greatness which only appears grander in each succeeding age. The proud, and unbehev- ing'ones, had scoffed at the ambition of the young cobbler to convert the Hindoos, and had their laugh only to find their pride turned to their shame. So do the scoffs of the ungodly cease. " The mists continue but for a night; God's stars shine on forever." The government's appreciation of Carey's learning and worth is shown by the fact that it gave him the pi'ofcssorship of the Bengalee tongue in the college at Fox-t William, and bestowed on him other offices. These he accepted, as they gave him increased advantages for the prosecution of his work. The income, which varied from $(!,000 to ii^T, i>00 per annum, ho devoted entirely to the purpose of the mission. It Avas by this means and by Marshman's schools that the mission was principally supported duiing the long period of indifference manifested by the churches at home. One feature of Carey's character has hitherto been unmentioned. His love for flowers amounted to a passion. When but a poor boy, he was often found wading in the swamps or searching among the hedgerows for some rare plant to increase his floral wealth. And when grown old and his hair white with years, he was ever seeking some addition to his 9 L-D 130 LIGHT m DARKNESS. collection. Ho would send Hindoo idols to friends in England in exchange for some lovely specimen of English flower. Before he died, Ms collection of European and tropical plants was the richest and rarest in the East, and was one of the finest in the world. In a letter to a scientific botanist near Sheffield, who had sent him a package of British seeds, he said, ' ' That I might be sure not to lose any part of your valuable present, I shook the bag over a patch of earth in a shady place, on visiting which, a few days afterwards, I found, to my inex- pressible delight, a hellisperennis of our English pastures. I know not that I ever enjoyed, siuce leaviag Exu-ope, a simple pleas- ure so exquisite as the sight of this EngUsh daisy afforded me; not having seen one for thirty years, and never expecting to see one agaia." James Mont- gomery has thus beautifully ex- pressed the f eeUngs of the self- exiled missionary in seeing again this modest flower of his native fields: Thrice welcome, little English, flower 1 My mother country's white and red, In rose or lily, till this hour, Never to me such beauty spread. Transplanted from thine island bed, A treasure in a grain of earth, Strange as a spirit from the dead, Thine embryo sprang to birth. Every morning before beginning his daily labors, Mr. Carey would spend an hour in his garden in prayer and meditation; and in his last illness he was borne out into it daily as long as he had strength enough to allow his being moved. When too weak for this, some favorite plants would be brought into his apartment. He was filled with an intense love for the beautiful. Qarey'? de^tb wa^ tli§ final bjow to the Serampo^e wission. Margh, HINDOOS CAOlRYrNG OFFEBINGS TO AN IDOL. THE SERAMPOEE BAPTIST MISSION. 131 man survived but four years longer. His last years were embittered and saddened by the coldness of the church at home, and by the dissensions before mentioned. A committee had been appointed to adjust these difficulties, but the faithful man did not see its woi'k accomplished. He hved on, a short time, like some giant, stonn-beaten oak, wliich has long stood the buffetings of the tempests and remains alone, towering far above the smaller trees of the forest. At length he fell, and in two days the Serampore Mission was no more; for in two days after liis interment the difficulties were satisfactorily settled, the Calcutta and Serampore mis- sions were consolidated, and the church at home had awakened to the importance of the work, and taken all under hor immediate super- intendence. Carey, Marshman and Ward form a ti'iumvirate of whom the Baptist Church may well be proud. No human eulogies can do them justice. No man can estimate the extent of their influence. God only can tell how great the good accompUshed, or how far their work extended. In time its effects may be felt in every part of the earth, and until eternity shall it endure. msroOO DEVOTEE LEAPLSfG FROM A PEECIPIOE. 132 LIGHT IiN DAKKNESS. CHAPTER Vm. HENET MAETTN. N pursuing the history of missions in India, thus far, we have omitted to mention one name which is too dis- tinguished in missionary annals to be passed without a special tribute. The life of Henry Martyn was brief, and his work was not confined to Hindostan, but its record seems to belong here, rather than elsewhere. He was born at Truro, Cornwall, England, February 18th, 1781. His father was first a common laborer, but had, by industry and his tact for business, obtained the place of chief clerk to a Truro merchant. Young Martyn was sensitive and retiring, but proud and ambitious, and impetuous of temper. He possessed talents and application, and on going to St. Stephen's College, Cambridge, he soon obtained the honor of a scholarship. He was now only formally reliffious. But his father's death seems to have turned his thoughts to man's highest duty. He sought food for his reason and his soul in the Christian religion. He found favorable influences to direct him in the ways of true wisdom. Rev. Charles Simons was in the prime of his ministry at Cambridge, and to him Martyn became much attached. He made rapid progress in his studies, and graduated early and with the first honors. LIFE NEEDS A NOBLE AIM. Not until ho graduated at the university did he realize fully that life, to be life, must have some high and noble aim above the honors and _ rewards of earth. He speaks thus of his graduation: "I obtained my highest wishes," he said, "but was surprised to find I had grasped a shadow." His graduation had been the object of his former struggles — the goal of his ambition. Now that he had reached it, he felt, for the first time, that his life was yet without purpose and a void. Martyn had been preparing himself for the law, but he soon resolved to devote his life to the ministry, and when he had fully determined upon this, he felt called to bear the gospel of salvation to the heathen. Carey's work in India had much influence in turning his thoughts in this direc- tion. But he was especially influenced by reading the "Life of David Brainard " and his work among the North American Indians. The read- ing of this book marked an era in his life. Years afterward he wrote in HENRY MAETTN. 133 his journal " Kead Brainard. I feel my heart knit to this dear man, and really rejoice to think of meeting him in heaven." Thus the influences dehvered by holy lives are perpetuated. Brainard, the meek, self- denying, tender missionary, who dwelt in the forests with savages, that he might teach them of Christ, in his obscure toil was dcUvering influ- ences, which, half a century later, were destined to be mighty for sancti- fying the life of a kindred soul, and inspiring it with missionary zeal. Brainard preached again to the heathen through Henry Martyn. RESOLVES TO BECOME A MISSIONARY. Mr. Martyn offered himself to the Church Missionary Society for work in India. The Society promptly accepted him, and he was ordained in Ely, October 22nd, 1803, being then twenty-two years of age. He had fixed upon Brainard as his model, and a remarkable change had passed over his spirit. He was subdued, gentle, earnest, but bold and unfalter- ing in reproof; as tender as a father, but oftentimes a stem preacher. His soul was filled with divine love, and his mind was awed under a sense of his great obligations. Martyn desired to obtain some experience in work at home before he went abroad as a missionary. He, therefore, began to assist Mr. Simons at the university as his curate, and to serve also the parish of Lolwirth, a small village at no great distance. While very earnest in his work in these stations, his especial effort was to have his own soul elevated above all care, ambition and carnal aims, and prepared for the fiery trial that was to try him among the heathen. None could, at this time, go to India without license from the East India Company, unless they sailed in foreign ships and put themselves on their arrival under foreign protection, as the Baptist missionaries at Serampore had done. Such was the hostility of the Company to missionary work that Martyn could not obtain a license to go as a missionary. But he was offered the place of chaplain in the service of the Company. By this means, at least, he would be able to reach the desired field, and the way might afterward be opened for him to preach to the native Hindoos, for this was his heart's desire. But now a special trial, the last to beset his devotion, arose. There was, in Cornwall, a lady whoni he ardently loved. If he went to Hin- dostan he must bid her farewell. He hesitated long. But the love of souls was the strongest love of Henry Martyn's heart, and it triumphed against all others. He accepted the offer of the Company and sailed to India as their chaplain. 134 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. DISTRESS AND COMFORT AT CAPETOWN. Olio circumstance of tlio voyage must not be omitted. After tlie ship left San Salvador and was steering her course toward Africa, the passen- gers on board learned what had been carefully concealed from them before, that the soldiers which the ship carried were sent out for the capture of the Cape of Good Hope. Soon as the ship landed at the Capo the soldiers began their work. Martyn contemplated with feelings HENRY MARTYN. 135 of horror this attack upon the almost helpless people of the Cape, but, as soon as he could, went ashore and labored with the wounded and dying. In a miserable hospital he found almost two hundred men gory with wounds. He sought with the utmost earnestness to point the poor men to Christ, and when he could leave them for a little while he would retire to a clump of trees near by, where was his place for private prayer. At Capetown Martyn met the famous African missionary, Vander- kemp. He asked him if he had ever regretted leaving his native country to preach the gospel in that benighted land. " No," said the old man, " and I would not exchange my work for a kingdom." One extract from Mr. Martyn's journal here will give the reader a better insight to his character and how he held communion with God in nature, than anything I can write. "Rose at five, and began to ascend Table Mountain at six. * * * I went on, chiefly alone. I thought of the Christian life, what up-hill work it is; and yet there are streams flowing down from the top just as there was water coming down by the Kloofi", by which we ascended. Towards the top it was very steep, but the hope of being soon at the top encouraged me to ascend very lightly. As the Kloofi" opened, a beautiful flame-colored flower appeared in a little green hoUow, waving in the breeze. It seemed to be an emblem of the beauty and peacefuiness of heaven, as it shall open upon the weary soul when its journey is finished. One might be said to look around the world from this promontory. I felt a solemn awe at the grand prospect, from which there was neither noise nor small objects to draw off my attention. I reflected, especially when looking at the immense expanse of sea on the east which was to carry me to India, on the certainty that the name of Christ should, at some period, resound from shore to .shore. I felt commanded to wait in silence, and see how God would bring his promises to pass. " Henry Martyn arrived at Madras April 22d, 1806, and by the middle of May was in Calcutta, and had seen something of Hindoo life. He vsTote of it " The veil of the covering cast over all nations, seems thicker here ; the fiends of darkness seem to sit in sullen repose in this land. "What surprises me is the change of views I have here, from what I had in England. There my heart expanded with joy, with the hope of the speedy conversion of the heathen, but here the sight of the apparent impossibility requires a strong faith to support the spirits. " But, like all true missionaries, when Martyn saw the forces of error and sin against which he was to contend, he patiently bowed himself like the strong man, with faith in God, to overturn the temple of idols. isn LIGHT IN DARKNESS. ^U Calcutta he became an inmate of the home of Rev. David Brown, at Aldcen, near the city. He had on his ground a beautiful pagoda, com- manding a most enchanting view. This he appropriated to the missionary as his study. Martyn was delighted with it, and thus speaks of it : "The habitation assigned me by Mr. Brown, is a pagoda in his grounds. IIENTtY JtAnTYN'S STUDY AT ALDEEN. on the edge of the river. Thither I retired at night and really felt some- thing like superstitious dread at being in a place once inhabited, as it were, by devils, but yet felt disposed to be triumphantly joyful, that the temple where they were worshipped was become Christ's Oratory. I prayed aloud to my God, and the echoes returned from the vaulted roof. HENET MAETTN. 137 Oh ! may I so pray that the dome of heaven may resound 1 I like my dwelling much, it is so retired and free from noise; it has so many recesses and cells, that I can hardly find my way in and out." The building as it now stands, has been partly "washed away by the river, as shown in the illustration. The English people of Calcutta were charmed with the culture, the talent and the refined spirit of the young chaplain, and greatly desired his settlement there as a permanent minister. But his missionary zeal could not be cooled. His face was toward the millions of heathen that he saw about him. He sought and obtained an appointment to Dinapore. There, after more than a month's voyage in a budgero he arrived on the 26th of November. As ho looked out from his boat he saw throng- ing the shore, the sable multitudes among whom he was to labor as almost the sole representative of the religion of Jesus. AT DINAPORE. Here he applied himself with diligence to learn the Hindostanee language, though his duties as chaplain only required him to attend to the spiritual wants of the Europeans. He established a school for natives and began the work of translating the Bible into the native tongue and the preparation of religious tracts for circulation among the people. In the two years and a half which Henry Martyn spent at Dinapore he learned to speak the native language fluently. He also put into that language the New Testament and made considerable progress in translat- ing it into Persic. He also translated the book of Common Prayer into the native vernacular. He established and maintained five schools. All this was done in spite of European indifierence and native hostility, and while performing most assiduously his duties as a chaplain. Martyn's native version of the New Testament was approved as unsurpassed, but his Persic version was much injured by the caprice of his assistant, Sabat, an Arabian, who had professed Christianity. Sabat's violent temper was a great trial to the missionary's patience, and when the work was done it was found to contain a great many elegant idioms, which were in harmony with Sabat's literary taste, but which were not under- stood by the common people. A CONGENIAL SOUL. For some time Henry Martyn found no devout soul among the few English residents at Dinapore capable of sympathy with his zeal for Christ. But after a time some new-comers arrived in whose congenial society he found Christian fellowship and solace. Among these Mrs. 138 LIGHT IN DAEICNESS. Sherwood, an accomplished and pious lady, has given us a picture of the missionary, as she and her husband first met him. "I perfectly remember the figure of that simple-hearted and holy young man, when he entered our budgero. He was dressed in white, and looked very pale, which, however, was nothing singular in India; his hair, a light brown, was raised from his forehead, which was a remarkably fine one. His features were not regular; but the expression was so luminous, so intellectual, so afiectionate, so beaming with divine charity, that no one could have looked at his features and thought of their shape or form — the out-beaming of his soul would absorb the atten- tion of the observer. There was a very decided air, too, of the gentle- man about Mr. Martyn, and a perfection of manners which, from his extreme attention to all minute civilities, might seem almost inconsistent with the general bent of his thoughts to the most serious subjects. He was as remarkable for ease as for cheerfulness; and in these particulars this journal does not give a graphic account of this blessed child of God. I was much pleased at the first sight of Mr. Martyn. I had heard much of him from Mr. Parson; but I had no anticipation of his, hereafter, becoming so distinguished as he certainly did. And if I anticipated it little, he, I am sure, anticipated it less; for he was one of the humblest of men. " A GEEAT TRIAL. We have mentioned that Mr. Martyn was devotedly attached to a lady in Cornwall whom he would have persuaded to accept his hand and accompany him to India, but for whose sake, though so dear to him, he would not forego his purpose to be a missionary. With this lady he continued correspondence, and while at Dinapore once more renewed his proffer of marriage. But the suit was declined. It was a hard trial for the lonely man, but we mention it here only to record that which he himself recorded in reference to the matter. " Since this last desire of my heart is also withheld, may I turn away forever from the world, and henceforth live forgetful of all but God. With thee, O God, is no dis- appointment. I shall never have to regret that I have loved Thee too well. At first I was more grieved at the loss of my gourd, than of the perishing Ninevites all around me ; but now my earthly woes and earthly attachments seem to be absorbing in the vast concern of com- municating the gospel to these nations." About this time Mr. Sherwood was ordered to Cawnpore, where he removed with his family, and this made the lot of the missionary the more lonely and sad. While Martyn was engaged at Dinapore he heard from England of the HENRY MARTTN. 139 death of his two sisters, who fell victims to consumption, and the same disease began to manifest itself in his own system. Early in 1809 he was ordered to Cawnpore, which was a considerable distance inland. He made the journey in the hottest season of the year, over desert sand and through tangled jungles. His resolute spirit bore him through, but he fell fainting "VYhen he reached the house of Mr. Sherwood, at the place of his destination. He was attacked by a fever, and for many weeks his recovery was doubtful. AT CAWNPORE. When able to be out of doors, the devoted man began his labors upon the same plan he had followed before. At Dinapore he had built a chapel, but at Cawnpore he was obliged to conduct religious services in the open air. He preached to the regiment unsheltered, under a tropical sun, while at almost every service soldiers sunk to the ground overcome with heat. But the preacher's kindness and sympathy opened for him a new field. He soon found himself known to a crowd of beggars and mendicants. Encouraged by his gentleness these miserable creatures thronged about him with most importunate pleas for help. At length he appointed stated times in each week when they should visit him for alms. Then he began to associate Christian instruction with his contributions of char- ity. By this simple arrangement he found himself each week addressing from five hundred to seven hundred persons, the most miserable of the miserable, the scum and refuse of the Hindoo race. Mrs. Sherwood took a lively interest in- the chaplain's work, and ren- dered him all the aid she could. She attended the meetings and con- tributed to the poor beggars. Mr. Martyn gives an account of one of these meetings to illustrate his manner of proceeding. TEACHING THE BEGGARS. "After requesting their attention, I told them that I gave with pleas- ure the alms I could afford, but wished to give them something better, namely, eternal riches, or the knowledge of God, which was to be had from God's word; and then producing a Hindostanee translation of Gen- esis, read the first verse, and explained it word by word. In the begin- ning, when there was nothing, no heaven, no earth, but only God, He created without help for His own pleasure. But who is God ? One so great, so good, so wise, so mighty, that none can know Him as he ought to know; but yet we must know that He knows us. When we rise up or sit down, or go out. He is always with us. He created heaven and earth; therefore, everything in heaven, sun, moon, and stars. Therefore, how 140 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. should the sun be God, or moon be God ? Everything on earth, there- fore Ganges also — therefore, how should Ganges be God? Neither are they like God. If a shoemaker make a pair of shoes, are the shoes like him? If a man make an image, the image is not like man, its maker. Infer, secondly, if God made the heaven and earth for you, will He not also feed you? Know also that He that made heaven and earth can also destroy them — and will do it; therefore, fear God who is so great, and love God who is so good." Such is the outline of his first address to them. The wiser part of his HENBY MAETYN. 141 strange audience applauded it and commented much thereupon; but when he attacked personal sins the people often manifested quite another temper, as Mrs. Sherwood shall tell us: " "We of ten went on Sunday evenings to hear the addresses of Mr. Martyn to the assembly of mendicants, and we generally stood behind on the cherbuter. On these occasions we had to make our way through a dense crowd with a temperature often rising above ninety-two degrees, whilst the sun poured its burning rays upon us through a lurid haze of dust. Frightful were the objects which usually met our eyes in this crowd; so many monstrous and diseased limbs and hideous faces were displayed before us and pushed forward for our inspection that I have often made my way to the cherbuter with my eyes shut, while Mr. Sherwood led me. I still imagine I hear the calm, distinct, and musical tones of Henry Martyn, as he stood raised above the people, endeavoring; by showing the purity of the divine law, to convince the unbelievers that by their works they were all condemned; and this was the case with every man, the offspring of Adam, and they therefore needed a Savior who was willing and able to redeem them. From time to time low mur- murs and hisses would arise in the distance, and then roll forward till they became so loud as to drown the voice of this pious one, generally concluding with hissings and fierce cries. But when the storm passed away, again might ,he be heard going on where he had left off, in the same steadfast tone, as if he were incapable of irritation at the inter- ruption. " Such were the people with whom he had to deal. Let no one say the missionary leads a life of ease. Shortly after his arrival in Cawnpore, Martyn received the informa- tion that competent judges approved his Hindostanee New Testament. But the Persic version needed much revision. He commenced at once to perform this arduous task. His work was performed chiefly at the house of Mrs. Sherwood. Often while he was surrounded by his lexi- cons and other books, which might assist him in mastering the difiicult idioms of the language, Mrs. Sherwood's little child would steal into his retreat, and seating herself on one of the folios he was using, would gaze lovingly at the pale-faced scholar; and rather than wound her feelings by displacing her from the needed volume, he would turn with a smile to other labors. THE SHADOW Or DEATH — ^MAETYN GOES TO PERSIA. But ere long consumption began to make such rapid progress that it was positively necessary for him to leave Cawnpore. Return to Eng- land he would not, as it would most hkely result in the entire cessation of his work. He therefore concluded to try a trip to Persia, as it would 142 UGHT m DAEKNES8. bring a change of climate, and also allow him greater facihties for the revision of his Persic Testament. In October, 1810, he descended the Ganges to Calcutta. The missionaries there and at Serampore, alarmed at the great change in his appearance, were miwilling for him to leave; yet it seemed the only thing to be done. So, after a brief sojourn with IIENRY MAETYN TEAJ^^SLATING THE BIBLE IN PEKSIO. them, on the 17th of January, 1811, he bade them a sad farewell, and turned his face toward Shiraz. Five months were consumed in his passage from the mouth of the Hoogly to Shiraz, the celebmted seat of Peysiau learning. That part of HENET MAETYN. 143 his travel whicli was conducted on land exposed his enfeebled frame to the most violent extremes of temperature, in which, by day, he was con- sumed by a heat that sometimes reached 120 degrees in the shade, and in a few hours afterward he was chilled by a cold that made his lips col- lapse and his teeth chatter as if in an ague fit. There were seasons of such insupportable heat, that he could only steal from the night a few hours troubled rest, or pursue his journey by having a wet towel folded around his neck and head. At rare intervals, he could find shelter in some caravanserai, erected for the benefit of travelers. THE VALE OF SHIRAZ. There is scarce a lovelier place on earth than the Vale of Shiraz. Tlie richest flowers bloom through the long summer, and the air is loaded with perfume. The finest fruits abound and the fields are covered with heavy crops of grain. The Persian rose becomes a tree and is weighed down with its great, blushing blossoms. It is the favorite home of the nightingale, and it is said tlie sweetness of the bird's song is only fully known to those who have heard it in this luxurious valley. The city of Shiraz was at this time the place of Persian learning and refinement. It had been the abode of the Persian monarchs and was adorned with many elegant mosques, bazaars, caravanserais, and other public buildings. The houses were mostly of stone, and the adjoining fields were laid out in 'vineyards and flower gardens. It was grateful to the weary traveler to find himself in this far-famed city, after so much suffering and toil. It was a place of clear skies and pure air and the most beautiful scenery. Under the genial climate the sinking system of the weak, but tireless man was l^raced for his last work of Christian faith and love. The scholars of Shiraz confirmed the judgment of the critics of Cal- cutta that Martyn's translation of the New Testament in the Persic tongue needed much revision. He, therefore, at once, set about malcing an entirely new translation. He was among the most learned men of Persia, and one of these, Mirza Said Ali Khan, he emj)loyed to assist him. This man was the very opposite of the fiery Sabat, to whose ill- temper and whimsical taste the faults of the previous work were due. Martyn had now a meek and docile assistant, obUging, patient and schol- arly. The work of the new translation was begun in June, ISll, and completed the 24:th of February, 1812 ; and by the middle of the following month a translation of the Psalms was completed. / Even while engaged in these labors, Mr. Martyn found time to teach the doctrines of Cbristiauity to ^e people, ^or tlus purpose he had a 144 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. booth in a garden where he received all who desired to visit him or com- mune with him. The natives were Mohammedans and Soofeeists, and their teachers often engaged with the missionary in arguments. So effectually did he answer these disputors that aU Shiraz was stirred up against him. A single soldier of the cross was sapping the foundations of a false faith, and that in the presence of its most learned representa- tives. It was felt that a special effort was called for to confound and crush the Christian. He was skilled in debate; they would meet him on his own ground. The chief professor of Mohammedan law challenged Martyn to a debate. The challenge was accepted. The result was to provoke the people gener- ally to further inquiry respecting the doctrines and character of the Chris- tian stranger. Aroused by the interest which Martyn's teachings pro- voked, the president of the MoUahs issued a treatise supportingthe claims of Mohammed and the Koran. Martyn repHed with a treatise which so completely sifted the claims of Mohammedanism and so strongly supported the Christian religion that his antagonists were glad to declare a truce and end the contest. NO LABOR FOR GOD IN VAIN. Though the missionary saw no visible results from his controversies with these Persian Mohammedans, his labors were not fruitless. In 1819, a gentleman, who was spending a few weeks in Shiraz, was invited to a party, when the conversation turned upon the subject of rehgion, and he was called upon to give an account of the Christian faith. Among the guests was a person who took but little part in the conversation, and who appeared to be intimate with none but the master of the house. The gentleman says of him, ' 'He watched every word that I uttered, and once, when I expressed myself with some levity, he fixed his eyes upon me with such a pecuhar expression of surprise and reproof, that I was struck to the very soul, and felt a strange, mysterious wonder who this person could be. I asked, privately, one of the party, who told me he had been educated for a Mollah, but had never officiated; that he was a man of considerable learning, and much respected, but lived retired, and seldom visited his most intimate friends. He had come on this occasion expecting to meet an Englishman, as he was much attached to the Eng- lish nation, and had studied their language and learning. This increased my curiosity, and I determined to call on Mohammed Rahem (for that was his name). I did so a few days afterward, and found him reading a volume of Cowper's poems. This circumstance led to an immediate discussion of the writers of Enghsh poetry, and of European literature ia general. I was perfectly astonished at the clear and accurate concep- HENKT MAETTN. 145 tions he had formed upon these subjects, and at the precision Avith -which he expressed himself in English. " After a two hour's conversation, the subject of religion was brought up, and Eahcm avowed himself a Chris- tian. The Englishman was astounded. He soon found that with the exception of a few who secretly cherished like sentiments, he Avas the first to learn the Persian's secret. He then inquired, ' ' And whence came this happy change ? " The Persian answered, "In tlie year 1811, there came to this city an Enghshman, who taught the religion of Christ with a boldness hitherto unparalleled in Persia, in the midst of much scorn and iU-treatment from our MoUahs, as well as the rabble. He was a beardless young man, much enfeebled by disease. He dwelt among us for more than a year. I was then a decided enemy to infidels, as the Christians are termed by the followers of Mohammed, and I visi- ted the teacher of the despised sect, with the declared object of treating him with scorn, and exposing his doctrines to contempt. Although I persevered for some time in this behavior toward him, Ifoundtliat every interview not only increased my respect for the individual, but dimin- ished my confidence in the faith in which I was educated. His extreme forbearance toward the violence of his opponents, the calm, and yet con- vincing manner in which he exposed the fallacies and sophistries by which he was assailed (for he spoke Persian excellently), gradually incUned me to listen to his arguments, to inquire dispassionately into the object of them, and finally to read a tract which he had written in reply to a defense of Islamism by our chief MoUahs. Need I detain you longer? The result of my examination was, a conviction that the young disputant was right. Shame, or rather fear, withheld me from avowing this opinion. I even avoided the society of this Christian teacher, though he remained in the city so long. Just before he quitted Shiraz I could not refrain from paying him a farewell visit. Our conversation — the memory of it will never fade from the tablet of my mind — sealed my conversion. He gave me a book; it has ever been my constant compan- ion; the study of it has formed my most delightful occupation; its con- tents have consoled me. " "Upon this," says the English narrator, "he put into my hand a copy of the New Testament, on one of the blank leaves of which was written, 'There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth' — Henry Mar- tyn." Thus the seed sown by the wayside had at last borne fruit. Mr. Martyn endeavored to secure an opportunity to present his trans- lation to the king, but in this he failed. The effort only brought upon him the hatred and abuse of the officers of the court. The king would not see him and the vizier coldly sent a message to him that no Englishman IOl-d 146 LIGHT IN DAEKNESS. could be admitted into the royal presence without a letter of introduction. Mr. Martyn's journey for this purpose had brought him to Tabreez. There he lay ill with a burning fever for many weeks. The English ambassador and his wife cared for him kindly till he recovered. He then concluded to visit England, and accordingly set out overland for Con- stantinople, a distance of 1,200 miles. His manuscripts he left in the care of the English ambassador, Sir Gore Ouseley. He afterward pre- sented the New Testament to the king, who this time, publicly expressed his appreciation of the work. Sir Gore afterward carried the manuscript to St. Petersburg, superintended the printing, and put the work into circulation. Mr. Martyn's journey was a most trying one. He had imderestimated its difficulties, and overestimated his own strength. His escort was com- posed of a set of inhuman wretches who seemed, so far from having any sympathy for him, to be trying to huiTy him to his death. Alternately burning with fever and shivering with ague, at times almost frantic with agony, he was forced to pursue his journey on horseback at a rate which would have tried the strength of a strong man; in some instances he was raised from a pallet on which he lay prostrated by fever, to face the fury of a tempest. His shattered system could not bear the strain. By the 16th of October he had reached Tocat, twenty-five miles from Constanti- nople. There he died, suddenly, whether by plague or fever, is not certainly known. He was but thirty-one years of age, and his career as a missionary and chaplain had lasted but six years. Claudius James Rich, English Resident at Bagdad, placed a monument over Martyn's grave, which says: "as he was returning to his native land, the lord here called HIM TO his eternal JOY, A. D. 1812." The monument was erected in 1823. All England mourned his death, for his career had won the admiration of all Christian hearts. Lord Macaulay, then in his youth, wrote, Here Martyn lies ! In manhood's early bloom, The Christian hero found a Pagan tomb ! Religion, sorrowing o'er her favorite son, Points to the glorious trophies which he won. Immortal trophies I Not with slaughter red, Nor stained with t«ars by friendless orphans shed ; But trophies of the Cross ! In that dear name. Through every scene of danger, toil, and shame. Onward he journeyed to that happy shore, Where danger, toil, and shame are known no more. ?. ■"4 ^ — u* > : INDIAK JUGGLERS. U7 148 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. CHAPTEE IX. AT,T. INDIA OPENED TO THE GOSPEL. [EIE work of such men as Carey and Henry Martyn could not but command the respect of the whole Chris- tian world, and operate, mightily, to destroy the prejudices against missions among the heathen; The new charter granted the East India Company, in 1812, as already noticed, removed all restrictions from the mission work in India. This action of the government was not in advance of the common sentiment; nine hundred long petitions had been sent up to the Parliament, praying for it. This was the opening of anew era of Christian activity in behalf of this benighted land. The church began to recognize what an opportunity was now given her under the protection of British law, and backed up by the rapidly advancing influences of English civilization, to win a new empire for Christ. One after another, the missionary societies of England and America pressed into the field. From this time forward missionary operations in India began to move on a broad scale. The various denomi- nations of Protestantism sent out their bands of picked men, as cohorts in the great army, mustering against "the powers of darkness." It is impossible to follow in detail the work of these denominations. We can only give a hasty sketch, noticing its principal centers and most prominent agents. The Baptists, having transferred their headquarters to Calcutta, con- tinued a successful work, and have maintained it until the present. The first to follow the Baptists was the London Missionary Society, now laboring both in the north and south of India with great success. We can notice only their pioneer work. In 1816 this Society established a mission in Calcutta, the " City of Palaces," the metropolis of Hindostan. The movement was pushed with vigor; stations were occupied rapidly. Within five years twenty- one stations had been planted in the city and vicinity by this Society alone. In 1836, the work was extended to the city of Berhampore. In 1837 a school for higher education was opened at Bhowanipore. ALPHONSE LACROIX. There was a Swiss missionary, Alphonse Lacroix, who had been at work at Chinsurah, who connected himself with the Calcutta mission under the 150 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. London Society, in 1827. This man became too conspicuous a figui'e among tlie missionaries to be passed without special notice. Lacroix had great facility in adapting himself to the native mind and manners of the Hindoos. He soon acquired abiUty to speak to them fluently in their own language. He sought all opportunities of securing a hearing for his Master's cause; he being ready, upon any occasion, and in any presence, to preach or argue for the establishment of the Christian faith. Oftentimes Lacroix encountered the Brahmins, who were always proud of their theological learning and their skill in argument; and many a time were the conceited Brahmins put to confusion in the presence of their own people by the shrewd, keen logic of this missionary. As an ex- ample of what we state, and as illustrating a Brahmin's reasoning, we give a dialogue which took place between Lacroix and a Brahmin in the custom house at Calcutta. ARGUMENT WITH A BRAHMIN. Lacroix. — Pray, Brahmin, do you acknowledge that God is the Master, not only of his irrational, but also of his rational creatures, and that he has given them laws to keep ? Brahmin. — Certainly, he is their master, and has not only given them laws, but has prepared a place of bliss for those who keep them; and he has said, moreover, that those A^ho do not obey them shall be surely punished in this life and also in the next. L. — Very well; I am happy to hear you say so, but I am sorry to hear you say God is the author of sin, because that is untrue, and I hope to prove it to be so. Let me, therefore, put this question to you. Is God possessed of supreme wisdom, or not ? Br. — O yes, God is supremely wise. Who ever doubted that ? L. — There is a man present who not only doubts whether God be wise, but who positively asserts that he is not. Who that man is you will presently ascei"tain. Tell me, what would you think of one who spent much money and took great trouble to build a house for his own residence and that of his family, and who, the moment the house is ready, would himself put fire to it and completely destroy it? Br. — I have never heard of such a man ; but if such a man ever existed, he must have been a mad-man. L. — WeU sir, consider whether you do not ascribe to God an equal want of understanding, when you say, that he has given laws to men to keep, and has prepared a heaven for those who keep them, but Avho him- self prompts them to break those very laws, and thereby renders them liable to the fire of hell ! Br. — You may say so, to a certain degree. ALL INDIA OPENED TO THE GOSPEL. 151 L. — I have not done yet, for I wish, before all these people, to sift this subject to the bottom. So you hold that God is pure and holy; that is, that he loves that which is good and right, and hates murder, theft, adultery, injustice, and such like things ? Br. — Certainly I do. L.^Now if God be pure and loves holiness, and hates sin, how is it possible that he should prompt men to do that which he hates ? Would you, Brahmin, for instance, instigate a robber to plunder your house and kill your wife and children ? Br. — ^Not I! How could I instigate a man to do things which I so utterly abhor ? L. — No more will God ever induce men to commit sin, which is so utterly opposed to his nature. Br. — If you have anything more to say, say on. L. — ^Yes, I have a great deal more to say. Tell me, Brahmin, is not God just? Br. — God is just; all pundits will say so. L. — But by your saying that God is the author of sin, you make him unjust to the utmost degree ; for you say that he punishes the wicked, while, according to your tenet, man has no demerit, for God causes him to sin. What would you say of me, if I ordered one of my boatmen to go and fetch my umbrella, and if, on his bringing that article to mc, I beat him unmercifully, and say : "O, you wicked man, why did you bring this umbrella to me V Br. — ^I would say that you were very unjust indeed; for you punished your boatman for doing what you yourself ordered him to do. L. — Now apply this to God punishing sinners. Is it not very unjust for him to punish them for what they never would have done of their own accord, but did only because he caused them to do so ? Br. — God is full of love and mercy, for he feeds men and beasts, and supports all. L. — Now let me tell you that when you say God is the author of sin, you make him the most unmerciful of all beings ; for you well know that every suffering which men endure in this hfe and the next, is occasioned by sin. If, therefore, God causes men to sin, is he not inflicting upon them the greatest injury imaginable, and does he not show himself to be their greatest enemy? What would you think of a man who would secretly put poison in your food, and thus cause you to die amidst the most intense pain and agony ? Br. — How can you ask such a question? That man would bo most cruel to mo, and I do not believe I have such an enemy. 153 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. L. — Well, sill is that poison, and when you say God is the author of it, you make him most cruel, and more unprincipled than even your worst enemy. Are you prepared to acknowledge this? Br. — I am not prepared to assert it, and yet I am not convinced, for when I am sinning I am doing it Avith the members which God has given me, and therefore it appears to me that ho is the author of the sin. L. — I grant that it is God who has given you your mind, your speech, and all your faculties; but why has he given them to you? Certainly not tliat you should use them in sinning, but that you should perform liis service and glorify him. Suppose, Brahmin, that on leaving home this morning, you had given a rupee to your servant for the purpose of pur- chasing some necessary article for your family, and that on your return you find that, instead of fulfilling your orders with that rupee, your ser- vant had spent it in drinking or other evil practice. Would you not hold him to be very guilty ? Br. — Most certainly I woiild; and not merely that, but I would punish him in a way that he would long remember. L. — But if the servant told you, "Master, lam not to blame, for it was you who gave me the rupee which I spent in evil practices," would you not then at once declare your servant innocent ? Br. — Innocent indeed! No! I would tell him, "You good-for-nothing fellow! was it to get drunk with it that I gave you that rupee? Was it not to buy provisions? But yet I am not wholly satisfied, and if you wiU not be quite angry, I wish to ask one question more. Why does not God prevent men from sinning? He could easily do it, as he is omnipotent. L. — Tell me, would you like to bo a stone, a tree, or a horse, rather than man ? Br. — No, not I. I prefer being a man, for the Shasters say that the state of man is the highest to which any being can attain on the eai-th. L. — This is so far correct, but why is a man superior to the brutes or inanimate things ? It is because he has a rational soul, and a free will, which inferior creatures have not. If therefore, God did, by mere force and compulsion, prevent men from sinning, it would be tantamount to making them like stones, or trees, or horses, which have no wiU of their own, but act only as they are moved; and you yourself. Brahmin, said this moment, that you preferred being a man, to such a mere machine. Br. This will do, sir, I beg to take leave, as I see it is time for me to go to my dinner. This dialogue will serve to illustrate the various peculiarities of the Hindoo system of theology. On careful examination the system proves guilty of suicide. Mr. Lacroix constantly found himself assailed with ALIj INDIA OPENED TO THE OOSPEL. 153 peculicar theological questions of every sort. But he was "instant in season out of season," and his questioners always found themselves "worsted in their bouts with him. Few missionaries were ever so useful in that particular sphere of work. It is worthy of note that each of the great missionaries of this early period seemed providentially fitted for some special department of the work. Thus, Dr. Carey's great work was in translating the Bible into various tongues; Marshman, though eminent as a translator, was in his best sphere when superintending schools, and educational enterprises; Ward was the business manager, and general supervisor of the printing department; Lacroix, like Zicgenbalg, Plutseho, and Schwartz, was particularly useful as an itinerant preacher. His tact, ability and energy readily opened the way for him, and he found little difficulty in obtaining a patient hearing. In this he was successful beyond almost any other man. He died in 1859. AN IMPORTANT MOVEMENT. The Church Missionary Society began its work in India in the same year with the London Society. It also made Calcutta the center from which its operations were directed. This Society has done an important work. In ISSO they had five native congregations, and a cathedral mis- sion college in Calcutta. The Society had also, at that date, a mission in Krishnagar, embracing both native Christians. One special feature of the work of the Church Missionaiy Society must be noticed. This was the establishment, in 1822, of a school for girls. This was a very important movement, and its date marks the beginning of a new era in mission work. The earliest effort on behalf of Hindoo women was in 1819. A circular was distributed in that year among the friends of the Baptist Mission, advocating the formation of a school for females. Nothing of the Idnd then existed, and out of forty milllom of women under British rule in Bengal, not four hundred could read and write. Wot one in one hundred thousand. The distribution of the circulars resulted in the formation of the ' ' Calcutta Female Juvenile Society for the Education of Native Females. " Its progress was very slow in the beginning. During the first year of its existence it had but eight pupils. GREAT WORK OP MISS COOK. In the year 1818 a society known as the "Calcutta School Society" was formed, its directors being two-thirds Europeans, and one-third natives. Its object was to benefit and improve native schools. They applied to the British and Foreign School Society for a teacher to super- intendent a school for the training of native female teachers. Accord- 154 LIGHT IN DAEKNES8. ingly Miss Cooke was sent out in 1821. But the native gentlemen on the Board of Directors were not prepared to undertake any general sys- tem of female education; accordingly the Church Missionary Society began the work, and took Miss Cooke as their representative. The idea was scorned by almost everyone in the country. But Miss Cooke went diligently to work to acquire the language. January 25, 1822, she paid a visit to a boys' school, under the control of the Calcutta School Society. The Church Missionary Society thus records the result: "Unaccus- tomed to see a European female in that part of the town, a crowd col- lected around the door of the boys' school. In the crowd was an interest- ing looking little girl, whom the pundit drove away. Miss Cooke desired the child to be called, and by an interpreter asked her if she wished to learn to read. She was told in reply, that this child had, for three months past, been daily begging to be admitted to learn to read among the boys, and that if Miss Cooke (who had made known her pur- pose of devoting herself to the instruction of girls) would attend next day, twenty girls could be collected. " She accordingly returned next morning, in company with a friend, who spoke Bengalee well, and found thirteen girls. She at once began her work. Female relatives of the girls came about the building, peeping through the lattice work to see what was going on. They would not enter into conversation with Miss Cooke untn they had covered their faces to prevent their being recognized. They were greatly surprised at Miss Cooke's object, but told her, "Our children are yours; we give them to you." It was evident that many women were anxious to learn, but were deterred by the deeply-rooted prejudices of the Hindoo upper classes. But the way was at length opened, and within a month two more female schools were established, one being in grounds of the Church Missionary Society. In the three schools were an aggregate of between fifty and sixty girls. Two years later a "Ladies' Society for Female Education in Bengal" was estabhshed, under the patronage of Lady Amherst. By the close of 1825, there were thirty schools with 400 pupils. At this time Eajah Boidenath Roy gave £2,000 for the aid of the work. This sum was to be devoted to the erection of a central school and a dwelling house for the European female superintendent. Lady Amherst laid the foundation stone of the school on May 18, 1826. Miss Cooke took possession on April 1st, 1828. The other schools were then gradually abandoned, and operations con- centrated on the central school. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel followed soon after the » two former. It has a large organization in Calcutta, and a very flourish- ing mission in ChotarMagpore, of more than 11,000 members. AliL INDIA OPENED TO THE GOSPEL. 155 In 1821 the General Baptist Missionary Society sent out Mr. Laccy and established a station at Cuttack, the capital of the province of Orissa. In 1824 Mr. Lacey was joined by Mr. Sutton. They labored six years to make the first convert. Mr. Sutton translated the entire Bible into the language of this province, and also constructed an Oriya grammar and a dictionary. TJirough his agency the Free "Will Baptists in America were instructed to organize a missionary society at home and to send laborers to assist in the work in Orissa. 158 LIGHT IN DAKICNESS. WOESIIIP or JUGGERNAUT. The greatest temple of Juggernaut in uU India is situated at Pooree in this province of Orissa. We give a picture both of the temple and the idols. The reader will sec the dome of the principal edifice rising above two lower ones. This dome is two hundred feet high. In the main building arc Juggernaut and his brother, Bullub-pudra, and his sister, Soob-hoodra. In the two adjoining buildings the dancing girls perform for the enter- tainment of this Juggernaut family. Great quantities of food are daily brought before the gods, but it is held to be quite sufficient for them merely to see it and smell it; the Brahmins take caro of it afterward. llllll|llll|ll|llllll|llilll|lll|!|illlllllll|{llllllll|i ■ JUGGEENAUT. The enclosure is six hundred and fifty feet square, and the wall twenty feet high. The interior of the enclosure is most jealously guarded from profanation by the intrusion of strangers. The idol, Juggernaut, is a most uncouth image, as little resembling any living creature as could be well imagined. His hands and feet are made of gold, and the Brahmins dress the image in very rich Cashmere shawls and jewels, but at night the shawls and jewels and Juggernaut's hands and feet are taken ofi" and locked up, to prevent their being stolen. The car of Juggernaut is a platform thirty-four feet square, forty- three feet high, and mounted on sixteen great wheels. The upper part is covered with cloth, with alternate stripes of yellow and red. Six ALL TKDIA OPENED TO THE GOSPEL. 157 heavy ropes, throe hundred feet in length, are fastened to the fore-part of the car, and by these the people draw it. Our readers have heard of devotees casting themselves under the wheels of this car as it is being drawn along, tMnldng to obtain eternal happiness by maldng their lives a sacrifice to this idol. This is sometimes done, but not frequently, as Juggernaut was never regarded as taking special delight in blood. CVE OF JLTGGEENAUT. The festival of Juggernaut continues eight days, during which time the car is drawn about two miles. It is drawn a little distance and then a halt is made, and some part in the festival is enacted, and a Brahmin relates to the people the actions of their god, Avhich are little else than the most obscene and licentious conduct. The priest seems to exhaust the resources of language to relate foul things of Juggernaut, and 158 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. according to the filthiness of the recital is the applause which it calls forth. The East India Company (I record it to their shame), when the country was under their control, levied a tax upon the natives for the privilege of entering the town of Pooree at the celebration of the great feast of the idol. Yet the annual festival brought to the city hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. Great numbers of these perished going and returning. The plains were strewn with their bones, and dogs and vultures gathered there to feast on the dead. Mr. Lacey states that he counted ninety dead bodies of pilgrims in one place, and his colleague one hundred and forty in another. The pilgrims leave Pooree after having spent all their sub- stance, and at the beginning of the rainy season, when at every step' they sink in the wet sand. Exhausted by fatigue and hunger, they fall and perish, or sit down to rest, and rise up no more. The old man, faint, just turns aside to rest, Bethinking he "will rise again refreshed ; He rises not. Nature can bear no more — Exhausted. Ere the setting sun, his bones Are left to whiten where the pilgrim died. But Pooree is a sacred city to the Hindoos, and to die within ten miles of its precincts is deemed a sure passport to eternal happiness. Hence, many sick seek the vicinity of this city as a place to die, and the weary and fainting pilgrims are wont to yield to death more passively here than elsewhere, which, in some measure, accounts for the vast number of human bones which are scattered here all over the fields. The effect of the worship of Juggernaut is very debasing, and the peo- ple of Orissa are especially degraded by it. One of their own poets rep- resents their character well in the following lines; The children are robbers, the old men are robbers, The Jogeys and Gooroos, they are all of them robbers; They are robbers in the village, and robbers in the town, And none beside robbers of women are born. In this province of Orissa, also, the Meriah sacrifices were of frequent occurrence when the missionaries began their work. Large numbers of children were stolen and nourished up to be slaughtered as offerings to Kalec. SUCCESS IN ORISSA. Orissa was one of the hardest fields in all India. But the work there has amply repaid the toil. In 1821, when Mr. Lacey began to teach these people, there was not a native Christian in the province, and as we have stated, ho and his colleague, Mr. Sutton, labored six years to win the first convert. But in 1880 the "General" Baptist Society had six Ar.T, INDIA OPENED TO THE GOSPEL. 159 churches and ten chapels, under the care of sixteen missionaries, and reported 991 natives in actual communion in the church, 1, 800 baptized since the beginning of the mission, and 2,822 persons holding the Chris- tian faith; for, in heathen as in Christian lands, recognition of the truth of Christianity outruns practical conformity to it. We must add to these figures another very important factor, the influ- ence of the press. At Calcutta a press was established in the service of the mission in 1838', and published an edition of the Old Testament and several editions of the New, with many smaller portions of Scripture and tracts. In 1846 a missionary college was established, and later a book room has been opened. The American Free-Will Baptists began work in the northern part of the province in 1836. In 18Y9 this Society had in Orissa five congrega- tions and 4Y8 communicants, 453 pupils under instruction, and seventeen young natives in training for the ministry. WORK OF DOCTOR DUFF. The Church of Scotland was slow to enter India, but their first repre- sentative, Dr. Alexander Dufi", achieved a distinguished work, and placed his name among the most illustrious in missionary history. He was sent out in 1829. He was a highly cultivated scholar, and a man of strong will and independent thought. The society that sent him did well to leave him untrammeled by any instructions. It is worthy to be remarked that the most successful missionaries have been such as were thrown upon their own judgment when they -had reached the field, and were left free to follow the leading of Providence. Schwartz, Carey, Judson, and Dr. Dufi" are examples. Dr. Duff was left to choose his place and his mode of work. He first gave his attention to understand the condition and spirit of the people and the channels into which the influences then at work, and to be continued, would direct them in the future. After due study of the field, he resolved upon a movement alto- gether new. It was to establish a great English school for the natives. Up -to this time the efibrts of missionaries had been directed altogether to teaching the natives in their own language, and the most experi- enced missionaries, and the English ofiicers and people, as well, deemed Dr. Duff's plan chimerical. To draw the Hindoos to Christ through the English tongue seemed an undertaking too great to be accomplished by any man. Dr. Duff not only proposed English schools for the natives, but he would make the Bible a principal classic in those schools; though, to avoid prejudice, the missionaries hitherto had not ventured even to teach 160 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. the Bible in the schools tli, 49th N. I., and 8th L. C, were disarmed. May 23d, atPoshawur, the 21st, 24th, 27th, and 1st N. I., and the 5th L. C, were disarmed. May 23 J, at Allyghur and Mynpoorie, the 9th N. I. mutinied, opened thejaU, and went to Delhi. On the same day the 5th N. I. mutinied at Umbal- l.i'.i. May 25th, at Mudaun, the 55th N. I. mutinied. May 29th. at M'jsscrabad, the 16th and 30th N. I., with a company of Gwahor Artil- lery mutinied, and went to Delhi. May 31st the troops at Luclmow mutinied, and fled toward Seetapore, but Avere pursued and dispersed by Sir llcnry Lawrence. The same day the Sepoys at Bareilly mutinied an I turned out of prison three thousand prisoners. Thus the movement went on, until everywhere the work of burning and massacre was begun. THE SEPOT KEBELLION. 187 From station to station the revolt spread until, by the 10th of June, all North India from the mouth of the Ganges to the Indus was in a flame. The Sepoys had watched their chance for uprising. They had seized upon a time when almost aU the English soldiers were absent from the country. The European army numbered just 45,522. But 21,156 of these were at Madras and Bombay, in the south, leaving just 24,366 for the cast, Center and west. Two-thirds of these were on the Western frontier and in Burmah. In the entire valley of the Ganges there were only two half regiments, one with Sir Henry Lawrence, at Lucknow, and the other at Cawnpore. The means of inter-communication or conveyance were very poor. There was but one made road in India, the Grand Trunk, from Calcutta to the Punjaub. The mutinous Sepoys began to rendezvous at Delhi and Lucknow, expecting to crush the little band imder Sir Henry Lawrence, at the latter place, and the little force at Gawnpore, forty-three miles -distant, under command of Sir Hugh Wheeler. Delhi was seized as the Capital of the government, which was to be established, and Mohammed Suraj-oo-deen Shah Gezee was proclaimed King. Mohammed had a nominal sovereignty and a royal income under the government of the honorable Company. This rebellion exalted him for about four months to fall with no fame, except to be known to history as the "last of the Moguls." On the 8th of June the little band of English soldiers, at Meerut, for whose coming the gallant WUloughby had hoped in vain in his desperate defense of the magazine, united with the soldiers from Umballa, under com- mand of Sir Henry Barnard, advanced to Delhi, and strongly fortifying their position, constituted the nucleus of an army, before which the city was doomed to fall. The chief straggles of the brief, but terrible, conflict came at Cawnpore, Lucknow and Delhi. It is not needful to our purpose to detail the history of the massacrees, at many unprotected stations, such as Bareilly, Neemuch, Azimgurh, Sultanpore, Jhansee and a multitude of others, as we purpose only to show the bearing of the struggle and its results upon the further progress of Christianity. CAWNPOEE — THE NAKA SAHIB. Close to the city of Cawnpore was the palace of Bithoor, where resided the Nana Sahib, the adopted son of Bajee Eao, the Peishwa of Poonah, the last monarch of the Mahrattas. The government refused to recognize his title to royal dignity but allowed him to inherit the estate 188 LIGHT IN DAEKSTESS. of Bajee Eao, and his yearly allowance of $400,000. Nana Sahib was p.inbitious and had vainly striven to secure from the government recogni- lion of royalty. Yet he affected great com-teousness and kindness to the English at Cawnpore, and gave them splendid entertainments at his palace. "He had a nod," says Butler, "and a kind word for every Englishman in the station, hunting parties and jewelry for the men, and THE SEPOY EBBELLION. 189 picnics ana cashmere shawls for the ladies. If a subaltern's wife required a change of air the Maharajah's carriage was at the scrAaco of the young couple, and the European apartments at Bithoor were put ni order to receive them. If a civilian had overworlicd himself in court, he had but to speak the word, and the Maharajah's elephants were sent to the Oude jungles for him to go tiger hunting; but none the less did he ever for a moment forget the grudge he bore to the English pcoph-."' Sir Hugh "VATieeler was in command at Cawnpore. He had four Sepoy regiments and three hundred English soldiers. The wives and children of the officers at Lucknow were at Cawnpore, and other women and children who had fled there for shelter from the nearest stations. TIGER HtWTING. The whole number was about five hundred and sixty. There were also about a hundred and forty European civilians in the city. The news of the massacre in adjacent stations had caused Sir Hugh Wheeler to make some preparation for an outbreak, although he still ianisted his Sepoy regiments and the friendship of the Nana Sahib. Ho took position in two low barracks in the open ground and threw up around them a mud wall. On the night of June 6th the Sopoy cavalry mutinied and left the city, taldng two horses each. The 1st N. I. left before day, and in the morn- ing between eight and nine o'clock the 58th N. 1. also left the city, taking 9.11 the ammunition they could cany. 190 LIGHT IN DAKKNESS. It was the purpose of the mutineers to proceed at once to Delhi, and they made a day's Journey in that direction, encamping at Kullianpore. But the Nana Sahib intercepted them and turned them back to Cawnporc, with the purpose of murdering all the Europeans in the station. Early the next morning the Nana announced his purpose to attack the city at once. At the news all the Europeans fled to the barraclcs. No time could be taken to carry anj^thing "with them, either provisions or clothing. The barracks were designed for only two hundred soldiers, yet into this close and miserable quarter more than one thousand persons, the greater number of whom were women and children, were crowded, in the hottest season of the year. The defense around this place was a mud wall four feet high, three feet thick at the base, and twelve inches at the top. TfHE SIEGE BEGUN. The Nana opened the attack with two guns from the northwest, and with musketry from all directions. The number of guns was increased daily until on the 11th there were playing unremittingly, day and night, three mortars, two twenty-four-pounders, three eighteen-poimders, one or two twelve pounders, as many nine-pounders, and one six-pounder. For twenty-two days the little company of Europeans made a gallant defense. "Without sufficient provisions for a single week, without shelter almost, in -the heat of midsummer, men, women and children were crowded together, exposed to the iron hail of death. The struggle was desperate, for the Europeans could only expect indiscriminate massacre if they were forced at last to surrender. Crowded together as they were, the women and children were scarcely less exposed to the shot of the enemy than the gunners themselves. But as days passed, amid constant wounds and death, the women learned to endure in silence and face with desperate firmness the end of the struggle. They gave their stockings for cartiidges, did what they could for the wounded, and almost stripped themselves bare of clothing to bandage the wounds of fathers and husbands and brothers. One of the barracks had a thatched roof. On the mght of the 8th the enemy succeeded in setting this on fire, and by the light wliich it gave they poured in their shot upon the men and women struggUng to remove the wounded and the provisions. Prom this time forward the sufferings of the women were terrible. With the heat of the sun from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty degrees by day, they crouched along the shelter of the mud wall. Two wells were in the enclosure. Into one of these they were forced to throw the dead, for there was no place and no time to bury them. The other weU was exposed to the THE SEPOT KEBEIJUON. 191 enemy's fire, so that it was at the greatest peril of life that one could draw water from it, for it was necessary to draw up the bucket from a depth of sixty feet. Famine and disease were soon leagued with the murderous Sepoys against the Christian band. FEROCIOUS ASSAULT— THE NANa'S TREACHERT. The 23d of June was the hundredth anniversary of the battle of Plassey. Nana Sahib had given out that on that day the final assault should be made on the barracks, and that that anniversary, a century from its estabhshment, should witness the utter overthrow of the English power. Early in the morning of that day the Nana's forces were advanced on all sides. But the efibrt to carry the barracks by assault was vain. The conflict was desperate, but brief. At every point the assailants were driven back vsdth heavy loss. It became apparent to Nana Sahib that the English could only be conquered by famine. But he had heard that a band under General Havelock was marching to the rescue from Benares, and he feared delay. In this situation, the monster resolved to secure by treachery what he could not obtain by arms. He suspended the bom- bardment and offered negotiations. The Nana offered to accept a sur- render and to furnish boats and provisions and send the whole company to Allahabad. The terms of capitulation were signed. On the 27th of June all was ready for the removal of the Europeans from Cawnpore. The boats were ready and provisioned. The soldiers, with the women and children, were marched out of the barracks at eleven o'clock in the morning. They marched down to the river. The boats were there, but instead of floating, were drawn up upon the sand. But the English began to lift the ladies and children into them. Suddenly there was the blast of a bugle, and the Sepoys rushed upon the disarmed and helpless band. The boats were instantly fired. A masked battery began to sweep with grape the narrow ravine into which the Enghsh were crowded. Five hundred marksmen sprang from concealment among the trees and poured in upon them their deadly fire. Only four persons escaped, two officers and two privates. One boat, with its pitiable freight, succeeded in pushing off. A native, and an eye-witness, thus relates the fate of those who were in this boat: " Some little way down the boat got stuck on the shore. The infantry and guns came up and opened fire. The Sahibs returned the fire with their rifles from the boat and wounded several of the Sepoys on the^ bank, who, therefore, drew off towards evening. At night came a great rush of water in the river which floated off the Sahib's boat, and they passed down the river; but owing to the storm and the 192 UQHT m DASKNESS. dark night they only proceeded three or four koss. In the meantime intel- ligence of the Sahib's defense had reached the Nana, and he sent off that nio-ht three more companies, and surrounded the Sahib's boats, and so took them and brought them back to Cawnpore. There came out of THE NANA SAHIB. that boat sixty Sahibs and twenty-five mem Sahibs (ladies) and four children. The Nana then ordered the mem Sahibs to be separated from the Sahibs to be shot. The Sahibs were seated on the ground and two companies placed thomselvcj over against them, with their muskets ready 13 L-D 193 194 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. to fire. Then said one of the mem Sahibs — the doctor's wife: "I will not leave my husband; if he must die I will die with him." So she ran and sat down behind her husband and clasped him around the waist. Directly she said this the other mem Sahibs said, "We will also die with our husbands." Then their husbands said, 'Go back;' but they would not. Whereupon the Nana ordered his soldiers and they, going in, pulled them forcibly away, seizing them by the arm; but they could not pull away the doctor's wife, who there remained. Then just as the Sepoys were going to fire, the padre (chaplain) called out to the Nana, and requested to read prayers before they died. The Nana granted it. The padre's hands Avere unloosened so far as to enable him to take a small book out of his pocket, from which he read. After the padre had read a few prayei'S he shut the book, and the Sahibs shook hands all round. Then the Sepoys fired. One Sahib fell one way, one another, as they sat; l)ut they were not dead, only wounded; so they went in and finished them off with swords. " THE HOUSE OF THE MASSACRE. From the terrible scene of carnage at the river the women who escaped were led back to the town and confined in a small, one-story house, soon to become one of the saddest memorials of history, and known as the "House of the Massacre." Here the ladies from the boat, mentioned in the story just given, joined them the following day. The house con- sisted of two rooms, each twenty by ten, and five windowless closets. Two hundred and one ladies and children and five men were here con- fined for nineteen days in the mid-summer heat, and awaiting their fate, which imagination could not depict in colors too terrible. On the 15th of July General Havelock was within a day's march of Ca:wnpore. The Nana knew well the pevU. of a battle with trained English soldiers, and especially with soldiers fired with the spirit [of vengeance, as were those. But it seemed best to trust his great supe- riority of numbers and meet Havelock on the open field. But to turn triumph into mourning, should the English take the city, he ordered the murder of the ladies. It was near sunset on the evening of the 15th of June. The Sepoys, hardened by the previous horrors, were still unwilling to execute the order. The widows of Bajee Eao, the Nana's stepmothers earnestly remonstrated against the horrid purpose. It was no use. " The Nana," says Butler, "found his agents. Five men — some of whom were butchers by pro- fession — undertook the work for him. With their knives and swords they entered, and the dpop was ft^steoed behind them. The screams and THE SEl'OY REBELLION. 195 scuffling within told those without that the journeymen -were executing their master's will. The evidence shows that it took them exactly an hour and a half to finish it; they then came out again, having earned their hire. They were paid, it is said, fifty cents for each lady, or one hundred and three dollars for the whole, and were dismissed." Tho door was then locked for the night. On the next morning, when the door was opened, it was found that a dozen women or more had escaped death by falling down in the comers, until covered up with the dead bodies of their wretched sisters. At sight of the butchers they fled as by one accord and leaped into a well within the enclosure. Scavengers were called in, and by the heels and the hair HOUSE OF THE MASSACRE. . of the head, they dragged the poor, pale corpses of the once beautiful ladies and tumbled them also into the well. When the Nana went forth on the morning of the 1 6th, to meet Havelock's desperate and gallant band, not a living European remained at Cawnporc. DEFEAT OF THE NANA. The conilict of that day was terrible, but brief. The Nana had now to meet, not a band of women and children, nor sick and starving soldiers. They were veteran troops, under a most skilful and brave commander, a ba,nd that would have no thought in that terrible crisis, but victory or death. The Nana's numbers were greatly superior, and he led them in person, well knowing what concerns hung on the issue of that day. He 196 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. charged the even advancing line of red uniforms and sparkling steel, with desperate fury. With clenched teeth and unfaltering step Havclock's men advanced. The shot of the Sepoy grew random and reckless. Panic ensued and the Nana Sahib turned to precijiitate flight. "He reached Cawnpore at night-fall, on a chestnut horse drenched in perspir- ation and with bleeding flanks. Ho made no pause, but sped on to his jiahice at Bithoor, mounted his harem upon his fleetest steeds, gathered such ti-eusures as he could, and, with such of his kindred and servants as would follow, fled toward Lucknow. "On the 17th of July, at daybreak, the English army reached Cawn- pore. They passed the walls of the roofless barracks pitted with shot and blackened with flame, and came to the 'Ladies' House,' and as they stood, sobbing, at the door, they saw what it were well could the outraged earth have hidden — the inner apartment was almost anlde deep in blood ! The plaster, all around, was scarred with sword-cuts — not high u]0, as where men had fought, but low do'wn, and wround the cor- ners, as if a creature had crouched there to avoid the blows. Fragments of dresses, large locks of hair, broken combs, with three or four Bibles and Praj^cr-Bopks, and children's little shoes, were scattered round. Alas ! it was thirty-six hours too late ! The well beside the house held all that they had marched and fought so hard to save." Havelock's soldiers filled up the Avell, leveled the earth above it; placed over it a rude monument of wood, and cut in the wood with their knives, '■'■Ihelieve in tlie resurrection of the iody^ The ground above this well is now a'fair garden, kept with care as a sacred spot. The well, itself, is enclosed by a beautiful gotliic shrine, and surmonutod ))y a marble statue of the angel of resurrection, from the chisel of Marochetti. At the angel's feet, around the rim of the stone covering the Avell's mouth, is this inscription: "sacked to the perpetual memory of a great cojvipany of christian people, chiefly avomen and children, cruelly massacred near this spot, by the rebel, nana sahib, and thrown, the dying avith the dead, into the well be- neath, on the xvth day of july, mdcccla^i." On the door outside of the enclosure are graven the words from the one hundred and forty-fifth Psalm, "Our bones are scattered at the grave's month as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the t^arth." What the English soldiers witnessed at Cawnpore suggested the fate f»«ysvfc..: MEMOIilAIi WELL AT CAA^TSfPOEE. 197 198 LIGHT :n darkness. impending over Luclcnow, forty-tliroc miles distant. One day the weary band rested. Tlie day following they marched to Bithoor. But the Nana had already put the Ganges between him and his foes. His purpose was to harass Havelock's march toward Lucknow vmtil the Europeans there should meet the fate of those at Cawnpore. The English took sixteen giins, and a number of elephants and camels at Bithoor, blew up the magazine and returned. The Nana quickly collected twelve thousand men. There was but one road to Lucknow, and the Sepoys occupied every point of defense along the way. The rains were falling rapidly, nevertheless, the English commander began his march. He crossed the Ganges on the 21st with fifteen hundred men, many of them too sick and faint for service. He met two strong bands of the enemy and gained two victories that day. But the little progress made at sucli cost led Havelock, who had lost many of his best ofiicers, to resolve to fall back near Cawn- pore and wait reinforcements. At Lucknow Sir Henry Lawrence, who was a brave Christian soldier of thirty years' expei'ience in India, had just been made the Governor of Oude, lately annexed to British Lidia. Sir Henry saw the impending peril from the moment the rebellion began. On the 31st of Ma}', a day appointed for the uprising, the Sepoys seized every station and city in the kingdom of Oude, except Lucknow. The Governor occupied the " Residency," and spared no cfi'ort to fortify and provision it and to lay up ample stores of ammunition. He collected into this fortified place all the European civilians of the city, with a few picked native soldiers, upon whose fidelity he thought he could rely. An old fort, "Muchee Bawun," a third of a mile west of the Residency, was also fortified. Meantime the little band of English hoard nothing from any quarter but the triumph of the Sepoys and the murder of the English. DISASTER OF CHINHUT. On the 29th of June Sir Henry became aware that the city was about to be invested for a siege. He feared the result, and resolved by a bold stroke to terrify and scatter the approaching army. He took with him a part of his force, six hundred and thirty-six men and cloven guns, and advanced to meet the enemy. At Chinhut, seven miles from the city, he came upon the enenjy fifteen thousand strong, with six batteries, and thoroughly prepared for fight. He had no idea of encountering such a force. The surprise Avhich the general had planned for the enemy was turned into a surprise of his own army. The rebels promptly opened upon the little band. Their cavalry outflanked them, and it seemed for a while as if not a man could escape to the city. But the gallant band tSM SEPOY REBELLIOK. 199 turned half face about and charged with the bayonet, and so chocked the advancing Sepoys. But so terrible was the struggle tliat only aljout two hundred and thirty-four escaped to the Eesidency, leaving behind them most of their guns. This sad event spread a deep gloom over the mind of Sir Henry Law- rence,, but he set himself to fortify his position for a desperate struggle. Meantime the city was besieged by an army that constantly increased until it finally numbered fifty thousand. THE SIEGE BEGUN DEATH OE SIE HENRY. The situation in which aflairs now stood was: Sir Ilcnry Lawrence besieged at Lucknow, Havelock awaiting reinforcements at Cawnpore, and an Enghsh army besieging Delhi, more than four hundred miles distant; but of the state of Delhi or the presence of an Eng- hsh army there, there could be no knowledge at the other two cities. While Havelock waited at , Cawnpore he made various efforts i to send messages to Lucknow. j The messengers were hired] natives, who bore, in Greek, con-| cealed in a quill, .the amiounce- ment that an Enghsh force was at Cawnpore, and would soon march to their relief. Three of these messages were received at Lucknow and two answers safe- ly returned. But the month of July passed, and General Havelock was not -ready to march. At Lucknow terror and misery increased from day to day. The provisions dwindled until a bottle of wine sold for §35 in gold, or its equivalent in India,n coin, a ham for $37, a bottle of honey for $j!2, a cake of chocolate for $15, and an old flannel shirt, well worn by a soldier who had digged to countermine the enemy, sold for $22. On the 4th of July the saddest event of the siege occurred. Sir Henry Lawrence was struck by a shell that carried away hie thigh. He died in two days. He had heard of the fate of the ladies at Cawnpore. His GEISTERAL HA^^^LOCK. 200 LIGHT m X)AEKNE8S. last charge to his officers "vvas, "Save the ladies; never surrendea-." It is said that ladies hearing of the woeful fate, the outrage and murder of their sisters in other stations, pl'cdged their husbands not to let them fall alive into the hands of the Sepoys. This same thing was done by ladies elsewhere. At Jhansee a wife had extracted the promise from her husband to save her from the most dreaded of all horrors, and when the crisis came, and the Sepoys rushed forward for their victims, she sprang to her husband, saying "Now, Charley, now — your promise." He kissed her, and insttmtly put the pistol to her head, then turning like a fury iipon his foes, sold his life as dearly as possible. ON TO LTJCKNOW. Havelock began his march to Lucknow on the 4th of August, with fourteen hundred sound and well equipped soldiers. But now the country on either side the road was almost a lake of water, and the Sepoys were waiting at every available point of defense. His first day's march was fought out with loss. But to increase the difficulties, the cholera broke out in the army, and in that malarious country threatened almost to annihilate the brave band. The Genei'al led his troops to Munghowur, the most elevated position he could secure, and awaited the ravages of the foe that he could not resist. He wrote to his vsdfe, " I have everywhere beaten my foes, but things are in a most perilous state. If we succeed in restoring anything, it will be by God's special and extraordinary mercy. I must now write as one whom you may see no more, for the chances' of wac ai-e heavy at this crisis. Thank God for my hope in the Savior. We shall meet in heaven." Havelock lay at Munghowur ten days or more. There was no hope in a further advance. Twenty thousand Sepoys disputed his progress. There was nothing to do but fall back again upon Cawnpore. He recrossed the Ganges on the 13th, but Nana Sahib had crossed before him, and undertook to cut him off. A hard-fought battle was the result, and another great defeat of the Nana's army. Reinforcements came at last. Lieutenant-General Sir James Outram, with two thousand men from Calcutta, arrived at Cawnpore, September 15th. Outram Avas Havelock's superior in office, but he so admired the noble struggle which that gallant officer had made, that he at once placed him in command and took his station as a subordinate, issuing on the 16th the following order: "The important duty of first relieving Lucknow has been intrusted to Major-General Havelock, and General Outram feels that it is due to THE SEPOr EEBELLION", 201 this distin^ished officer, and the strenuous and noble exertions which he has already made to effect that object, that to him should accrue the honor of the achievement. General Outram is confident that the great end for which General Havelock and his bravo troops have so long and gloriously fought, will now, under the blessing of Providence, bo accom- plished. The General, therefore, in gratitude for and admiration of the EUINS OF THE EESIDElSrCY. brilliant deeds in arms achieved by General Havelock and his gallant troops, will cheerfully waive his rank on the occasion, and will accom- pany the force to Lucknow in his civil capacity as Chief Commissioner of Oude, tendering his military services to General Havelock as a volunteer." 202 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. On the 20th of September General Havelock set out for the third time for the relief of Lucknow. He sent a messenger to bear the words that he was coming and would reach the city in three or four days. The message was borne safely and was delivered on the 22d. Havelock fouo-ht two battles on his march, and on the 23d was five miles from Lucknow, and could hear the cannonading around |^the Resi- dency. He fired a royal salute from his guns in the hope that the besieged might hear and understand that help was near. The next day began that o\'cr-mcmorable struggle, Havelock's march through the city of Lucknow to the Residency. The distance was but two miles but it took two days to accomplish it. Every step of the way had to bo fought against an army of Sepoys outnumbering the English twenty to one. They had cut deep, treqches across the s, eets dnd barri- caded the house, and poured their shot from coverts on either side, and from the roofs above. At every turn cannon were mounted to sweep the streets mth canister and grape, and at every street crossing a storm of musketry assailed them. The first day's march brought them to the Kaiser Bagh, the king's palace garden, where they stopped for the night. Early the next day the march to the Residency was resumed. One of the English officers says: "About cloven o'clock A. M. the people in the Residency could distinctly perceive an increased agitation in the center of the city, with the ^ound of musketry and the smoke of guns. All the garrison was upon the alert and the excitement among many of the officers and soldiers was painful to witness. About half-past one p. m. they could see many of the people of the city leaving it on the north side, across the bridges, with bundles of clothing on their heads. Still tlieir deliverers were not yet visible. SAVED. "At four p. M. a report spread that some of them could be seen, but for a full hour later nothing definite could be made out. At five o'clock volleys of musketry, rapidly growing louder and ncai-er, were heard, and soon the peculiar ring of the Minie ball over their heads told them their friends could be only a gunshot from them now. They could see the Sepoys firing heavily upon them from the tops of the houses, but the smoke concealed them. Five minutes later the English troops emerged where they could actually l)e seen fighting their way up the street, and though some fell at every step, nothing could withstand the headlong gallantry of the men. The T8th Highlanders were in front, led by General Have- lock. Once fairly seen, all doubts and fears regarding them were ended and then the garrison's long pent-up feeling of anxiety and suspense 204 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. burst forth in a succession of deafening cheers. From every pit, trench and battery, from behind the sand-bags piled on shattered houses, from every post still held by a icw gallant spirits, rose cheer on cheer, and even from the hospital, many of the wounded crawled forth to join the glad shout of welcome to those who had so bravely come to their assist- ance. "Such was the joy of veteran soldiers when, after months of terrible conflict and suffering, and the dread of a universal massacre, at the last they saw their deliverers. "But the' scene when the women came forth to meet Havelock, and the Highlanders when they reached the Residency, cannot be described. How the ladies embraced these gallant men! How the rough soldiers, covered with mud and black with powder, caught up and kissed the little children, and how all shook hands and wept and rejoiced that they were saved." The Sepoys had prepared six mines to blow up the Residency, and it was reported by General Outrani that in forty-eight hours help would probably have come too late. But Havelock's coming by no means ended the siege of Lucknow. His forces joined with those already in the Residency relieved the fear of any immediate danger. But there was nothing to do but to remain and defend themselves against the besiegers. The number of Sepoys increased until by the last of September it was estimated to have reached a hundred thousand. Havelock, himself, had now to await relief. Relief had been sent from England, and Sir Colin Campbell, with the first five thousand men who arrived at Calcutta, marched with all haste for Lucknow. He reached the city on the 16th of November. His march through the city to the Residency Avas perilous as Haveloek's had been. He was three days in accomplishing it. As soon as the Resi- dency was reached, the place was evacuated. MIDNIGHT RETREAT. The strength of the English army had encamped at Dilkoosha Park, five miles away. The garrison must be led out secretly to join them. The business was entrusted to Havelock, and perfectly executed. No suspicion was excited among the Sepoys that any change was going on. The lights of the Residency were kept burning and the enemy was directing his desultory night fire against it as usual, when, at midnight, on the 22d of November, the four hundred and seventy-nine women and children and the soldiers who had been so long shut up in this quar- ter, were led out and passed through the city. And when the morning THE SEPOY REBELLION. 205 sun arose they found thenaselves in the fresh and green park, among their friends, and not one of their number missing. Preparations had been made for them and the clear sunlight, the gi'een fields, clean talilc cloths. and nice bread and butter and milk for breakfast, made the ladies feel that fuU rehef had come at last. But there was one circumstance to create sadness in the general joy. General Havelock had, that momiag, to be lifted from bis horse and 209 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. liiid ujwn a litter. Ho now lay in his tent, dying. His son sat by him, reading to him from the word of God. He had just learned how the Queen had heard of his illustrious service, and made him a Baronet with a pension of £1,000 a year. He felt that God had been gi'acious to him, and said, ' ' I die happy and contented. " On the 24th he passed away. SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF DELHI. The little English army had steadfastly held its ground before Delhi from the early part of the rfl)ellion. Aljout the middle of August Brig- adier Nicholson arrived with one thousand European trooi:)S and fourteen hundred Sikhs. This raised the strength of the besieging army to nine thousand seven hundred men, of whom four thousand six hundred were English. September 4th, a heavy siege train from Ferozepore arrived with thirty to forty guns, mortars, and howitzers, and large supplies of ammunition. On the Cth came two hundred rifles and one hundred artillery-men from Mecrut, and forty-five troopers of the 9th Lancers. On the Yth arrived the 4th Punjaub Infantry; on the 8th the Jheerd Rajah's levies and the Cashnierian Dograhs. On the 11th nine 24 pounders opened upon the Cashmere bastion, ten other batteries were soon moved forwards, and on the evening of the 13th two breaches were made near the Cashmere and water bastions. At day break, on the 14th, the troojos moved to the assault. At some points the native soldiers were repulsed, but the English troops were uni- formly successful, and before night were in possession of the whole line of the enemy's fortifications, from the water bastion to the Caboul gate. The following day Avas occupied in seeming this position and in battering the magazine, in which a breach was made by evening. On the following day the Jumma Musjid was carried by storm and two hundred and sixty pieces of artillery captured, and by the evening of the 20th the capture of the city was complete. The King and his sons fled to Homayoun's toml), but were discovered and seized. The two sons and the grandson of the -Emperor were executed. The Emperor himself, now bet\veen eighty -five and ninety years of age, was put upon trial for treason. Nineteen clays the trial proceeded in the great Dewanee Khass. Mohamracd Suraj-oo-deen Shah Gezee was adjudged a traitor and sentenced to banishment. His favorite wife Zeenat Mahal accompanied him. He died at Rangoon in 1861, the last heir of Tamer- lane and the last of the ]\Ioguls. Thus vanished forever from the earth the last vestige of a power which had flourished for eight hundred years. In the Dewanee Khass, the Hall of Audience, unrivaled iu its magnifi- THE SEPOY REBELLION. 207 ccnce in those days when the "gorgeous East showered on her kings barbaric pearls and gold," the Feringheo Conqueror drained the cup to the health of Queen Victoria, and the triumphant English army shouted, " God save the Queen." Dr. Butler, the Methodist missionary, Avrites: "On Christmas day, 1857, 1 attended Christian worship in the Dewanee Elass, the first ever celebrated there. A crowdecl wdience made its halls resound with the 208 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. unwonted strains of Christian hymns; and there that day, the Gospel was preached, and prayer offered in tliat blessed Name so long blasphemed beneath that roof. As I stood among that throng, and remembered where I was, and what had been said and done, and what was then trans, piring, I realized that I was beholding one of the most wondrous victories ever consummated by the glorious Son of God over the enemies of him self and his holy religion. They had distinctly joined issue with him upon this very ground; and here he was in his Almighty providence, vic- torious in the utter overthrow of the wealthiest, most powerful and implacable foes of his divinity and atonement. " The fall of Delhi broke the strength of the rebellion. A sufficient force had arrived from England to enable the government tcj assume the offensive. The cities which the Sepoys had taken one by one sur- rendered to the English armies. It is needless to follow the Nana. A few weeks later found him with a little handful of his household, wandering in the jungles of Oude, a fugitive froin British vengeance. None of the band ever returned. Famine, fever and suicide ended them. We quote again the graphic lan- guage of Butler. " The Nana Sahib wore that great ruby, which was so noted for its size and brilliancy. The priests had told him that it was an amulet, which secured to him a charmed life. He trusted in it, no doubt, to the very last. It was probably in his turban when he wandered up that deep ravine to die alone; and if so, there it lies today, for no human hand will ever penetrate these pestilential jungles to gather it. The eagles of the Himalayas alone, as they look down from their lofty height for their prey, are tlie only creatures that will ever see the burning rays of that ruby, as it shines amid the rags of the vagrant who perished there long years ago. " After the rebellion was put down England considered it no longer to her interest or for the good of India that political and territorial jwwer should be granted the East India Company. Therefore, on the 2d day of August, 1858, the Company avus declared extinct; and on the 1st of November a proclamation was made throughout India that her Majesty offered a free pardon to all who had participated in the rebellion, sdve such as might be convicted of wanton nmrder. A NEW Era. The formal annexation of India to the British crown was the beginning of a brighter era in the history of the Christian missionary in that country. The East India Company had always been in spirit opposed to the work. They had united with the natives in oppressing the native a METHODIST MISSIONS* 209 converts. To obtain the favor of the heathen, people they had preferred them to Christians in all places of emolument and trust. A converted Hindoo was an outcast among his own people, and could hardly obtain any place in the Company's service above that of a slave. But during the rebellion the native Christians had, without exception, stood firm in their allegiance to the English government. As soon, therefore, as the war was over, and the Honorable Company abolished, and officers set over affairs in India who justly represented the govern- ment of Queen Victoria, there was no moi-e pandering to native preju- dice. The native Christians, who were capable, were everywhere in demand for honorable and lucrative positions. The institution of caste was also discountenanced as far as could be done. The customs of the English nation were everywhere fostered, and all encouragement given to influences calculated to remold the religious faith of the people after that of their English rulers. The natives themselves confessed the beneficent sway of a Christian race, and owned that their conquerors were their benefactors. The ambitious and aspiring among them began to look to the English civiliza- tion and religion as destined to rule the country in the future, and to seek to conform to them as the open path to influence. In short, since 1858, in no heathen country in the world has Christianity had so many influences to recommend and advance it as in India, and in none has it made more rapid jprogress. CHAPTEK XI. METHODIST MISSIONS DR. BUTLER S EXPERIENCE. KHROUGH the rebellion the missionaries of the various churches suffered greatly, arid not a few were put to death. We cannot detain the reader to give accounts of these severally. A history of the opening of the jNIethodist mission will conduct us through the perils incident to that brief but terrible struggle, and whUe it continues the forward movement of our history and shows how the work developed, will also serve to illustrate the common experience of other missionaries. The Methodist Episcopal Church began work in India just before the IttL-D 210 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. breaking out of the Sepoy rebellion, the history of which we have sketched in the preceding chapter. Rev. William Butler, D. D. , with his wife and two younger children, sailed from Boston on the 9th of April, 1856. Ho was direpted to pro- ceed iirst to England, and learn from the secretaries of the Enghsh Missionary Societies where he might locate a mission of his church, without interference with the work of others. After due inquiry, Rohilcund, in the kingdom of Oude, was chosen. It lies between the 25th and 30th parallels of north latitude. It is chiefly in the plain of the Ganges, though it crosses the Terai, and embraces a part of the lower spurs of the great chain of mountains on the north. It extends four hundred mUes from cast to west, and one hun- dred and fifty miles from north to south. Mr. Butler landed in Calcutta on the 23d of September, and received a most cordial welcome from that place. ' Dr. Duff, especially, expressed his gratitude that the Lord Avas sending more laborers into the great harvest of India. From Calcutta Mr. Butler proceeded to Agra, thence to Lucknow, and from that place to Bareilly, having secured from the American Presbyterian Church, at Allahabad, the assistance of a native convert named Joel. Joel and his wife, Emma, were both very faithful and devoted Christians, and proved worthy laborers in the missionary field. The little company arrived at Bareilly in January, 1857, and began their work just ten weeks before the great rebellion broke out. Mr. Butler thus describes the order of their labors: "On the Sabbath we had two services — at 11 o'clock, in the Hindostanee language, con- ducted by Joel, at which our family and a few natives attesnded; after this service we had our class-meeting, led by myself, six persons (Mrs. B. , Joel and his wife, and Isaac and Mariah) being present, Joel trans- lating for me what had to be said in Hindostanee. In the afternoon I held a little English service, at which a few of the oflioers and civilians attended. On Sunday evening, also, we had a Hindostanee service, and an English one on Thursday. " For a few weeks our liiissionary was lost in his new employment, unconscious of the dangers that gathered around him. But the murder of all the Europeans at Meerut, the capture of Delhi, and the massacre which followed, and the news of the general uprising, fully aroused him to the peril of his situation. Under direction of an English officer, Mr. Butler and his family sought refuge at Nynee-Tal, about the middle of May, leaving Joel in possession of his house at BareiUy. A sketch of the journey to Nynee-Tal will illustrate the mode of travel- ing in India, as well as the perils to which the missionary was exposed. METHODIST MISSIONS. 211 IN PERILS AMONG THE HEATHEN. "Wo i-cachcd the Terai — a belt of deep jungle, about twenty miles wide, around the Himalayas, reeking with malaria, and the haunt of tigers and elephants. The rank vegetation stood in places like high walls on either side. "At midnight we reached that part of it, where the bearers are changed. "The other palanquins had their full complement of men; but, of the twenty-nine bearers for whom I paid, I could only find nine men and one torch-bearer; and this, too, in such a place! Parkncss and tigers were around us. The other palanquins were starting, one after another, each with its torch, to frighten away the beasts, the bearers taking advantage of the rush to extort heavy ' hacJcsheesh.'' "All but two had gone off, and there we Avere with three doolies and only men enough for one, and no village where we could obtain them, nearer than twelve miles. "What to do I knew not — I shall never forget that hour. At length I saw there was but one thing to be done; I took the two children and put them into the dooly with Mrs. Butler; a bullock-hackery laden with furniture, was about a quarter of a mile ahead, with its light fading in the distance; desperation made me energetic; at the risk of being pounced upon, I ran after the hackrey, and by main force drove round the four bullocks and led them back, sorely against the will of the five men in charge of it. But I insisted that they must take Ann, our servant, and me, with what little baggage we had with us. I put her and the luggage up, the driver grmnbling all the while about his heavy load and the delay; I then turned around to see Mrs. Butler off, but her bearers did not stir. I feared they were about to spoil all. They were exhausted by extra work, and might have even fairly refused to carry two children with a lady; and to have taken either of them on the hackery was impossible. I dreaded the bearers would not go. Delay seemed ruinous to the only plan by which I could get them on at all. "If the men refused the burden and left, they would take with them, for their own protection, the only torch there was, which belonged to them, and we should have been left in darkness, exposed to the tigers and the deadly malaria, Mrs. C. and Miss Y . 's bearers had laid them down, and were clamoring for larger 'backsheesh;' my men looked on. The hack- ery-driver turned his bullocks around, and, out of all patience, was actually putting his team in motion. But, in spite of urging, there stood my men. It was an awful moment. For a few minutes my agony was unutterable ; I thought I had done all I could, and now everything was on the brink of failure. I saw how ' ' vain " was ' ' the help of man, " and I turned aside 212 LIGHT IX DARKNESS. into the dark jungle, took oJf my hat, and lifted my heart to God. If ever I prayed, I prayed then. I besought God in mercy .to influence the hearts of these men, and decide for me in that solemn hour. I reminded him of the mercies that had hitherto followed us, and implored his inter- ference in this emergency. My prayer did not last two minutes, but how much I prayed in that time; I put on my hat, returned to the light, and looked; I spoke not. I saw my men at once bend to the dooley; it rose, •3 -^%' ^'•- t"*^^!^'^ w? ^^-■■' ■'-•'- —' -Kr- ■-■ and otf tlicy went instantly, and they never stopped a moment, except kindly to push little Eddie in, when, in his sleep, he rolled so that his feet hung out. "Having seen them off, I turned around, and there were two dooleys. I could do nothing with them, so left them for the tigers to amuse them- selves with, if they chose, as soon as the light was withdrawn. I ran after METHODIST MISSIONS. 213 the hackery and climbed up on the top of the load, and gave way to my own reflections. I had known what it was to be 'in perils by the heathen,' and now I had had an idea of what it was to be in ' perils in the wilder- ness.' But the feeling of divine mercy and care rose above all. "The road was straight, and what a joy it was to see the dooly-hght grow dim in the distance, as the bearers hurried forward -with their pre- cious burden. We moved on slowly after them, owing to the rugged road, the swaying furniture, and the wretched vehicle; but we were too grate- ful for having escaped passing the night in the miasma and danger of the jungles to complain, though every movement swung us about till our bones ached. "We were ten hours going those fifteen miles. At last day broke, and our torch-bearer was dismissed. Hungry and thii'sty our souls fainted in us, indeed. But at last we reached Katgodan, and found the mother and babes all safe. They had slept soundly the whole distance, and at day- break were laid safely down at the door of the travelers' bungalow. It was twenty-two hours of traveling and exposure since we had tasted food, and when it was served up, it was indeed welcome. " AT NYNEE-TAL. The next day they reached Nynee-Tal, a sanitary resort upon the side of the Himalayas, 7,1)00 feet above the plain below, nestled .- by the shore of a beautiful lake, commanding a vast prospect of the South, while behind it, the great mountain range rose to a height ol 21, 000 feet above the mountain gorge in which it stood. It was a grate- ful retreat for the missionary. Mr. Butler found here a little house of four rooms, furnished, and promptly rented it for $^25 for "the season." Dr. Butler wrote immediately to Dr. Durbin of the Missionary Board, "What awaits us, we know not; but should anything happen to us, tell our beloved Church that we had prepared ourselves through grace for all results, and that our last thoughts were given to our mission, in the confident hope that the Methodist Episcopal Church would do her part faithfully in redeeming India. Beyond this we have no anxiety, except for our poor children. Doctor, you will think of them if I fall? We need now, .0 how much ! the prayers of God's people." VICTIMS OF THE REBELLION. On the 31st of May the Sepoys at BareiUy, mutinied and murdered all the Europeans whom they could lay hands on. Joel, who was leftin charge of Mr. Butler's house, escaped. The house and its contents of hbrary and furniture were burned. Even the few weeks' labor of Mr. Butler at BareiUy had not been without fruit. His- first native convert was a 214 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. young woman named Mariali. She pei'islicd on that tci-riljle 31st of May. It was the Salihath and Joel had just preached to a little congre- gation from the text, ' ' Fear not, little flock, for it is yom- Father's good plcasm-o to give you the kingdom" (Luke, xii-32). They were engaged in the closmg prayer when startled by the outbreak. In a letter written afterward to Mr. Butler relating the scenes of that Sabbath at BarciUy, METHODIST MISSIONS. 215 Joel says, "I saw Mariah running through the trees, but before any of us could reach her, a Sowar (mounted Sepoy), caught sight of her and turned, and with his tulwar he struck her head oif." The company that escaped to Nynee-Tal consisted of eighty-seven men and one hundred and thirteen ladies and children. The position was strongly fortified by nature, and the eleven miles of precipitous road which led down to the plain was, in some places, only wide enough for two men to pass between the crag and the cliff, so that a few men could defend the passes against a strong force. In this moun- tain refuge Mr. Butler remained until the fall of Delhi. It was a most fortunate escape, for the missionaries were especially marked by the Sepoys as objects of vengeance. Mr. Butler says, " Of tlie missionaries of various societies, within the circle around our frontier, the following sufiered a cruel death at the hands of the Sepoys, in the cities named: Rev. W. H. and Mrs. Haycock, and Rev. H. and Mrs. Cockey, at Cawnpore; of the English Gospel Propagation Society. Eev. J. E. and Mrs. Freeman, Rev. D. E. and Mrs. Campbell, Rev. A. O. and Mrs. Johnson, and Rev. R. and Mrs. Macmullin, at Futty- ghur, of the American Presbyterian Mission. Rev. T. Mackay, at Delhi; Baptist Missionary Society. Rev. A. R. Hubbard, and Rev. D. Sandys, at Delhi; English Gospel Propagation Society. Rev. R. and Mrs. Himter, at Sealcote; Scotch Kirk. Rev. J. Maccallum, at Shahjehampore; Clergy Society." "The mission property destroyed was estimated at the value of $34i,400. Of this heavy loss, by far the greater portion fell upon the English Church Missionary Society, and the American Presbyterians. The former lost $160,000 and the latter $130,000." SAPELT SHBLTEEED. The little band of Europeans and our American missionary, safely sheltered in their mountain fastness at Nynee-Tal, remained as if under the hollow of God's hand until the 4th of August, when orders were given to convey the women and children immediately to Almorah, thirty miles back into the Himalayas. A strong force was advancing to attack Nynee-Tal, and was encamped upon the plain only a day's march from the foot of the mountains. So "well defended by nature was Nynee-Tal, so fortified was every pass that led to it, and so superior was European skill in the arts of war to that of the natives, that there was no great fear of the place being 216 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. captured. But it would be necessary for all the men to go down to defend the passes, and they feared to leave the ladies and children at the mercy of the Mohammedans in the Nynee-Tal bazar. KETREAT TO ALMOKAH. The way to Almorah was over a mountain path from four to six feet wide, and passing often along the margin of great precipices. It required three days to make the journey. The ladies Avcrc carried in a chair by four men. Gentlemen gcnerallj^ made the journey mounted upon one of the ponies, which, reared among the momitains, clambered the steeps almost as securely as a goat. Mr. Butler relates his ex- perience of this mode of travel in their hasty flight to Almorah and we transcribe a part of his story how he made the first day's journey alone, for he had remained behind to secure some provisions and clothing: to bo sent after his family. "The daylight began to decline and my little ponj- showod symptoms of misteadi- ness. The heavy rains had softened the edge of the path, and rendered it liable . „ to give way under verv A rERILOUS SITUATION. f moderate pressure, so that caution was doubly necessary. At one place that looked doubtful, I dismounted, and had not gouQ many yards, when one of the hind feet of the pony sank, which caused him to stagger, and in a moment he went hastily over the precipice. The jerk on the reins caused one of the bit buckles to give way, which was a great mercy, as it gave me an instant in which to turn round and lay some pressure on the reins as they flow through my hand, and I was thus enabled in some degree to METHODIST MISSIONS. 217 arrest his downward progress before he went too far to be recovered. ' ' There he clung, the poor brute, Avith merely his nose above the edge of the precipice, and he eagerly holding on to the bank, like a man standing on a ladder. Beneath him sloped down the declivity for several hundred feet, till the mist terminated the view; what was beyond that limit I could only infer by the roar of the river beneath, which sounded very deep, indeed, so that had the poor fellow missed his hold, or taken one roll, his doom was certain. In an emergency how I'apidly one can think! "Thei'cwas no help within many miles, and a few minutes would decide his fate. To get him straight up would have required twenty men's strength. I got his head around on one side; he seemed to understand my object, and slightly shifted one foot, while I held him as fast as I dared by the rein. He then dug the other foot into the ground, and soon I had the gratification of having him right across the hill, and then, by a little mancBuvering, I moved him, step by step, till I got him up. He was not much hurt, and after a little while I mounted, but had not pro- ceeded half a mile, when he trod on another soft edge. I felt him stag- ger, and Just had time to free my foot from the stirrup and pitch off in the mud of the road, as he went over the bank. There I hung, half-way in the path, my legs dangling over the margin. Having scrambled up I saw that he had dropped down about twelve feet on a heap of sharp stones, and on going down to him found his hind shoes torn off, and he lamed and much injured. I managed to get him up again to the path, but now, alas, he was worse than no horse at all. " Mr. Butler relates how he labored to lead his crippled pony forward, making about a mile an hour, until after midnight he reached the bung- alow, where his company were camped. WITH GOD AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. But even this distressful night among the mountains, where the soli- tude was awful^ and the danger from the prowling tiger was not less than from the precipices, the servant of God experienced a siibhme joy. The memories of his home in America, the peace and happiness of a Christian land, came upon his mind; and then he thought he was an humble agent in God's hand to make even this dark heathen land such as that which now seemed so sacred to him. While indulging such thoughts, and when he had gained the last point for such a view, the clouds parted and the moon lit up the peaks of the great Himalayas, clad in everlasting snow, wrapped in a silver veil, and towering,- ethereal and dream-like, in the awful silence. The vision seemed to him a world 218 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. tibovo all earth's darkness and peril and pain, lighted by the glory of God; and his heart took hold anew upon the Christian's hope, and a flood of sweet and holy joy came upon him. From his " munitions of rocks " Mr. Butler wrote to the correspond- ing secretary of the Methodist Missionary Board, in New York, ' 'Believe me, this is one of the last terrible efforts of hell, to retain its relaxing grasp on beautiful India, and the issue will be salvation for her millions ! Don't be discoui-aged for us. If the sufferings aimmd, so do the conso- latiims. But if I am cut off (which is not improbable), rememher my mis- sion and sustain it. Farewell, Doctor. Again, let me beseech you, remember my mission and sustain it, for India is to be redeemed !" The attempt to capture Nynee-Tal failed utterly. The English soldiers, aided by a few native Ghoorkas, fell upon the Sepoys as they were encamped at the foot of the mountain, took them by surprise, and utterly routed them, with heavy loss, while the English themselves had only one man killed and two wounded. So the band at Nynee-Tal passed the time securely until the last of September, when the joyful news reached them of the victory which crushed the head of the rebellion. Dr. Butler thus graphically describes the occasion: THE GOSPEL FROM ENGLISH CANNON. "I was sitting that afternoon, writing, in a very pensive mood, when the sudden roar of a cannon, from the little fort near our cottage, brought me to my feet, and a brilliant hope flashed across my heart. I snatched my hat and ran up the hill, while peal after peal thundered out, making the grand Himalayas reverberate. At last I gained the summit, and stood till I counted the royal twenty-one. I needed no one to tell me what it meant. Our commanding officer had just received the message which announced that Delld had f(dlen! " After the fall of Delhi the Sepoys had to be followed up through all Northern India, and the cities they had taken recaptured. Rohilcund, the field chosen for the Methodist mission, was the last portion of the country to bo reoccupied by tlie English, and it was not until the 5th of May, 1858, that Bareilly was taken and the way opened for the mission- ary's return. NEW RECRUITS. "While the terrible scenes of the rebellion were being transacted in India, two other Methodist missionaries, ignorant of all that was trans- piring, were on the deep maldng the voyage to join Mr. Butler at Bareilly. Revs. Pierce and Plumprey landed at Calcutta, September 21. METHODIST jriSSIONS, 210 They hoard of Mr. Bntlor's rci'ugc at Nyncc.-Tiil, find succeedfd in con- veying hull a message to tell of tlieir arrival. lu March, folhnving, these two missionaries Adth their families set otit for Nynee-Tal. Mr. Butler met them at Meerut and accompanied them. Joel, the native helper, "was fonnd after the i-ehellion at jVllahahad. He had had an experience of manifold perils. After the capture of Bareilly, neither he nor Mr. Butler had heard from each other. It ^\'as with inexpressible joy that Joel learned how a kind Pnnidenco had sheltered the Methodist missionary, and he hastened to join him again, more than ever impressed that Christiaiiity A\'as the hope of India, and more coiis(HTatecl than ever before to th(^ work of teaching the faitli in Christ. THE SHEEP-HOUSE f:UURCH. The sheep-house chapel deserves a place among our illustrations; it was the first chapel of the Methodists in India. SHEEP-HOUSE CHDRCH. It was a sheep-house which stood on the hill-side, at Nynee-Tal. Two or three days were occupied in fixing it up. It was cleaned out and fresh clay carried in and beaten down for a floor. Dr. Butler white- washed it. Brothers Pierce and Humpreys made the betiches, and Joel leveled the ground outside. The entire cost of fitting it up was four dol- lars and sixty cents. It was not formally dedicated, but when it Avas ready for use Mr. Butler shut the door and made the Sheep-house Chapel his closet for a little season, while he fervently prayed God's blessing 220 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. upon the work, and that He might deign to record His name even in that humble place by sending His Holy Spirit in answer to the preaching of His Avord. For several months the missionaries used their chapel until Colonel Eamsey, observing their zeal, and recognizing the good they were accomplishing, built them a chapel at a cost of $2, 500, all the money being given by the Colonel and his friends. RETURNED TO BAREILLY. On the 28th of August Mr. Butler returned to Bareilly. He found there only the blackened walls and the ashes of the house he had left fifteen months before. He had left a choice library, which, with his fur- niture, was all consumed. Some of his old friends, the ofiicers, with whom ho had made acquaintance on his first ai'rival, had returned safely, after their hard service, and hard-fought battles. These encouraged Mr. Butler to begin work at once, and a subscription for the purpose was started in less than twenty-four hours. On Sunday after arriving at Bareilly, Mr. Butler was called upon to preach to the soldiers, their chaplain being sick. The drum was placed for his pulpit, and the soldiers formed in a hollow square. Mr. Butler says: ' ' My emotions almost overwhelmed me when I looked at my laudi- ence. For who were the men that stood around mo ? These were Uave- locJis heroes! The illustrious warriors who first relieved the garrison at Lucknow." But it seemed better to Mr. Butler to avail himself of the opportunity of planting a mission station at Lucknow, and he hastened to that city to accomplish his purpose, and there made the first purchase of mission property for his church. LEADINGS OF PROVIDENCE. In 1860 an orphanage at Lodipore for boys and one at Bareilly for girls wore established. In this case, as in so many great movements, the missionaries in the field were left to follow their own judgment ■ under the openings of Providence, without instructions from the church at home, or the advice of a missionary board. The pay of a common laborer in India was six cents a day, and the laborer found his own house and provisions. It was impossible, under such conditions, for the poorer people to lay up any pi-ovision against a season of want. A drouth in 1860 brought famine to many of the poor of Eohilcund. A large number of children, whose parents had perished, were thrown upon the care of the government. Mr. Butler's heart waa drawn out toward these children, and he saw an opportunity, by a Chris- METHODIST MISSIONS. 221 tjan act, to do a great work for the Christian cause. Ho resolved, if possible, to establish, at once, an orphanage and school, avIktc the poor, distressed children might be cared for and trained for hnppy and useful Christian lives. The government officers encouraged the movement^and offered the children to the missionary's care. It Avas resolved to take one hundred boys. and one hundred and fifty girls. This step toward the education of girls was of the utmost importance. Up to this time all efforts to establish schools for girls, or to induce women to attend public worship, in Eohilcund, had been almost fruitless. This fact seemed to place a barrier in the way of the missionaries, which cut them off from any hope of real success in their work, until it could be removed. There was little to be expected even from their efforts to lead the men to embrace Christianity, if the women could not be reached. The young man who became a Christian, had to give up the thought of mar- riage; for, as marriages are made for Hindoo girls by their parents alone, no heathen women could be expected to marry a Christian. A change began to be made, as year after year the girls taken into the orphanage, and educated and grown up into womanhood, became intel- ligent Christians, and, manifestly, so far superior to their heathen sisters. These girls went forth from the schools to be married to native converts and establish Christian families as centers of civilizing and Christianizing powers. NORTH INDIA CONFERENCE. Thus "William Butler established the work from which has arisen the North India Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Thirty years ago the work was begun. The report of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church for 1886 gives for that Conference: Value of churches, $102,404 ; parsonages, $122,443 ; value of orphan- ages, schools, hospitals and book rooms, $156,550; 23 missionaries, IT assistants, 32 Eurasian and European assistants; 282 native workers, 41 native ordained preachers, 129 native unordained preachers, 203 native teachers, 11 foreign teachers; 3,527 members, 3,102 probationers, 1,183 conversions during the year ; one theological school with 65 students ; eight high schools with 1,091 students; 559 day schools with 13,Y61 stu- dents. The net gain of membership in. this mission was more than thirty-three per cent during the year. SOUTH INDIA CONFERENCE William Taylor, now missionary Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in Africa, began in November, 1871, to hold special religious ser- vices at Bombay. His ministry was attended with the best results. Many •222 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. conversions followed. He first organized his converts into societies and afterward received them into the Methodist Episcopal Church; but with the understanding that they were to be '■^ self-supjiortlng, and without distiiiction of language, caste or color. " Mr. Taylor secured some native preachers. He sent to America for laborers. But he was independent of the Church Missionary Board in his work; and the ministers whom he called from the United States only received from the Board the expenses of their voyage. After their arrival they depended wholly upon the native church for support, or upon the labor of their hands. This work grew rapidly, and in a short time was organized into the South India Conference, which, in 1886 reported 1,888 members and probationers; 28 foreign missionaries, .56 native unordained preachers; 5-1 Sunday Schools, and 2,881 scholars ; 29 churches valued at $302,426; and 15 parsonages, at $77,325. THE FIRST LADY PHTSICIAN MISSIONARY. To the Woman's Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church belongs the honor of having sent out the first medical lady who ever went as a missionary to the East, Miss Clara Swain. This lady was born at Elniira, New York. She was gifted with a very sprightly mind, cxhiljitcd an earnest piety from her childhood, was well educated, and afterward graduated from the Woman's Medical College in 1869. In response to a request from the missionaries at Bareilly for a lady physician to bo sent them, Miss Swain was chosen. She arrived at Bareilly January 20th, 1870. She thus describes her fu'st experience, and the success of her work: ' ' As I came out of my room the next morning after my arrival at Bareilly, I found a group of native Christian women and children sittmg on the veranda, anxiously awaiting my appearance. I began my work at once among the women of the Christian village and in the families of the household servants living in tlie mission compound. Very soon it was voi(;cd abroad in the city and adjacent villages that a lady doctor had come from America and would go to visit any family that might desire her services, and any sick person coming to the mission-house would receive attention and medicine free. Accox-dingly, men, women and children came. "Not many weeks passed before I began to be called. to attend patients in their homes. ' ' Within three months I attended the sick in fifteen difTerent families in the city, five of which were high-caste families. Mrs. Thomas, or one of the native Christian women who understood English, always accom- BfEXnOUIST MISSIONS. 223 panied me and acted as interpreter. On Marcli first I began teaching a class in medicine, consisting of fourteen girls from the orphanage, and three married women. In 18Y3, April 10th, thirteen members of the class passed their first examination in the presence of two civil surgeons and Eev. Dr. Johnson, of our mission, who granted them certificates of prac- tice in all ordinary diseases. Not long after these girls graduated they were all married, except one, who proved to be a leper. She was sent to the Leper Asy- lum, in Almorah, in the Himalaya mountains, under the charge of Eev. Mr. Buddan, of the London mission. Lepers are much more comfortable in the mountain air than when subject to the heat of the plains. Most of the class married native ministers and teachers, who were sent out into the village, to work. Their wives here had ample opportunity to use their medical knowledge. Some of them are doing a good work, while others make more intelligent women and mothers for having the advantage of medical laiowledge. HOW A HOSPITAL WAS SECURED. "As my practice increased I found my room in the mission-house too small and inconvenient for our morhing clinics, and the homes of the poor where I was called to attend the sick were so utterly destitute of comfort of any kind, that what little I could do for them seemed of very little use. I longed for a clean, comfortable place to offer them. Our need of a hospital each day grew more urgent, but just where we could purchase suitable grounds to build, and whether the Society could furnish the means necessary, were the two questions that needed first to be answered. The most convenient and suitable place for our buildings, JUSS CLARA bWAIX. 224 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. and adjoining our mission premises, was owned by a Mohammedan prince. Wo had supposed that the purchase of this property was impossible. We were advised, however, to see if this could not be obtained, or at least land enough for our buildings. Through the advice of Mr. Drummond, commissioner at Bareilly, Mr. Thomas decided to make personal inquiries of his highness, the Nawab, who lived in the city of Eampore, about forty miles from BareHly. MISS swain's visit to the nawab. "Through his highness's prime minister we gained permission to have an interview with the prince; also a promise to lay our dak^ or in other words, to make arrangements for our trip to Eampore, if we would notify him the day we wished to go. " Our party consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, myself, and a native Christian gentleman, who was formerly of the Mohammedan faith, and understood something of their royal etiquette. Informing the prime minister of the day we wished to go, he had everything in readiness for us. Twenty-four horses, a grand old carriage, coachman, two grooms and outriders, were supposed to be necessary for these four humble people, who were to have their first experience with Eastern royalty. Wliat a condescension for this King, who made his boast that no Christ- ian missionary dared enter tlie city of Eampore. We left home at 5 o'clock in the morning, changing horses every six miles. As we drew near, three cavalrymen came to escort us into the city. Passing through the gates, his highness' subjects made bows and sala/imSy and the children cried, ' Long life and prosperity. ' "We were driven through the main bazaar for about two miles to a house just outside the city, which is kept by his highness for the enter- tainment of European visitors and travelers. Here we found everything necessary for our comfort. Breakfast was awaiting us, and servants stood ready to give us any assistance we might need. Mr. and Mrs. Parker, of Moradabad, who had been apprised of our intentions, were also awaiting us. ' ' His highness, on receiving the- news of our arrival, sent messengers to say he would not be able to see us until the next day, as he was especially engaged in his prayers. We were not sorry, as it gave us more time and preparation for our anticipated interview. For our enter- tainment he sent two music boxes, which played very sweetly, and his trained men to perform for us. One man lifted a camel, another per- formed wonderful feats in rope-walking and climbing a pole. Then came a play — a burlesque upon English officials. They were well skilled METHODIST MISSIONS. 225 in their jjuofession, and not only showed their power of imitation, hut their keen appreciation of the foibles and defects of others. To us it was not merely a source of amusement, but afforded us a valuable lesson. After dinner two fine carriages and horses were sent by his highness to take us for an evening drive. "The next morning, early, the carriages were sent for us. We took our seats, and were first driven to several palaces and gardens, then came at last to the royal palace. As we entered the gate five royal elephants, beautifully caparisoned, made their salaams to us by lifting their trunks and touching their foreheads in a very graceful manner. We were helped from the carriage and escorted into the presence of his highness. He arose and greeted us in a very friendly manner. His cordiality served to relieve our embarrassment as we took the seats which were assigned us, and entered into a friendly conversation. After a few minutes the prime minister then arose, advanced to his highness, and whispered something into his ear, to which he gave assent. The prime minister then told Mr. Thomas to make his request known. Mr. Thomas said he wished to procure, upon some terms, the estate adjoining the mission premises belonging to him in Bareilly, for the purpose of establishing a hospital for women and children. Before Mr. Thomas had time to make further statement his highness said, ' Take it ; take it; I give it with pleasure for such a purpose.' We were not aware that it is the custom of a Mohammedan prince never to sell any real estate which formerly belonged to his father's inheritance. If they consent to part with any of it, it is presented as a gift. Neither were we prepared for so generous a gift, and were not a little surprised when the announcement was made. We did take it ivith thankful hearts, not only to the Prince of Rampore, but to the great King of the universe, who, we believe, put it into his heart to give it to us. " Upon the property thus given to the mission were erected a dispensary and hospital. We give on the next page a picture of the Methodist jMission premises at Bareilly. The large tiled building on the left is the mission house which was Miss Swain's place of residence, and in the rear of this build- ing was the orphanage. The large house on the right, with a bell tower, is the school house. Bareilly is a city of one hundred and twelve thou- sand inhabitants. Miss Isabella Holmes went out to India in the same ship with Miss Swain. She devoted herself to teaching, making Lucknow the center of her work. In this city she estaljlished a boarding school for girls. ^ This school increased rapidly. The first year twenty-five students were 15 L-D ' METHODIST MISSIONS. 227 enrolled, but eight years after, In 1879, the number was one hundred and thirty-two. As the field opened Miss Holmes extended her work. She opened a number of schools which she placed under the care of assist- ant missionaries. She has proven one of the most devoted women ever sent out by the church, working with great energy and judgment, and with most gratifying results. Miss Fannie Sparks went to India in 1871 and was employed for six years in the orphanage at Bareilly; for five years as its superintendent. Then she returned home to recruit her health. While in the United States she addressed a great number of missionary meetings and her work did much to inspire an increase of zeal in the woman's work. She sailed again for India in November, 1878, and resumed charge of the orphanage at Bareilly. ■ The Methodist Church has since sent out many female missionaries to India. They are doing service in the schools, hospitals and zenanas, and though engaged in more quiet spheres of toil are surpassed by none in their courage, devotion or eflSciency. THE OUTLOOK. The fact that all India is under the control of England, the first Chris- tian nation of the world, is of itself a promise that the Christian faith shall soon take the place of all its old superstitions and idolatries. Mission- aries are in every part of the country, and already their converts are numbered by hundreds of thousands. All things suggest to intelligent Hindoos that the future welfare of their country is identified with Chris- tianity, and that in aiding the Chi-istian cause they shall find the readiest path to influence under the existing government. The sti'ong hand of English law has suppressed the bloody rites once practiced, and the heathen gods are shorn of their power. Their temples still remain and their devotees lament their dying glory. But the light of the "Sun of Righteousness " is rising on this empire of darkness. At Calcutta still stands the Kalee Ghat — the bath of Kalee— and there is the temple and the dreadful idol. But the heathen mother may no longer ofier her babe as a sacrifice to Kalee. Yet it is only the power of Christian law that restrains her, for still thousands upon thousands come to worship the bloodthirsty divinity. They ofi'er her the lord of beasts, pour out blood in pools before her, pour warm blood upon her tongue, and wallow themselves in blood, that they may ofier more acceptable prayers. These things may still be seen in the metropolis of India. But there also, overlooking this place of heathen worship, is a beautiful and costly Christian temple, the memorial church erected to the memory of one of the purest and most devpted of missioQ^riea to India, Bishop Reginald 228 LIGHT m DARKNESS. Heber, and the author of that most popular of all missionary hymns, "From Greenland's Icy Mountains." There, every Sabbath day, a refined Christian congregation meet to worship the only living and true God; and, as the rich, mellow light falls upon the bust of Heber and Ughts up the benignant face, his lips seem still to speak to the worshippers: Shall we whose souls are lighted With wisdom from on high; Shall we to men teenighted The lamp of life deny ? Salvation, O ! Salvation, The joyful sound proclaim, Till earth's remotest nation Has learned Messiah's name. SICK BROUGHT TO THE GANGES. FARTHER INDIA. CHAPTER Xn. THE LAND — ^THE PEOPLE THEIR RELIGION. ARTHEE. India is the general name applied to the great Indo-Chinese peninsula, lying between the Bay of Bengal and the China sea. The area of the country is about 180, 000 square miles, or seventeen times the extent of the state of New York. Its population is variously computed from 25,000,000 to 30,000,000. The whole country is divided into the three king- doms, Burmah, Siam and Anam. Of late years, however, the French government has blitained possessions in Anam, while Great Britain, which for some time had held a large strip of territory along the Bay of Bengal, taken from Burmah, has extended her authority over the whole Burman Empire. SIAM. Siam is the largest of the three divisions. It occupies a position between Anam'on the east, and Burmah on the west, and extends from the Hima- laya mountains, on the north, to the Gulf of Siam, on the south. It has a sea-coast of about 800 miles. The Cambodia river flows through its entire length from north to south. There are several smaller rivers. Tlie val- leys of these rivers are wonderfully fertile, but the native methods of cultivating the soil are exceedingly rude. Bangkok, near the mouth of the Meinam river, on the Gulf of Siam, was once the most important com- mercial city of the East, except Canton and Calcutta, but at the present day oppressive duties and restrictions have almost destroyed its commerce. The government of Siam is monarchical in form. The power is lodged in the hands of two kings, called respectively the First Bang and the Sec- ond King. Of late years the Siamese kings have been noted for their culture and education, and their readiness to adopt Western customs. In 1875 th« FirstKing announced that he would make no laws without the consent of the grandees of the kingdom; thus a monarchy, which had 229 230 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. been absolute and most rigorous, took a milder character, and one which gives promise of a constitutional government ere long. The dwellings of the Siamese consist of poor huts, the sides and roofs of which are covered with leaves. But the grandees live in palaces, cov- ering acres of ground, and built of white bricks, ornamented with gold, silver and glass, with gildings, carvings and pictures. Beautiful grounds with shady walks and beds of flowers surround these elegant dwellings, and there are separate apartments for thewives and servants of the nabob. The whole premises are enclosed -with a high wall. Among the common people few have more than one wife, but the rich have scores and even hundreds of them. The first wife taken is always mistress of the house, and the rest are subject to her authority. The wife is seldom seen with the husband, and then is never seen by his side, but following at some distance beliuid. Tlie wife is not permitted to eat with her husband. She waits upon him as a servant while he eats, or in humblest posture waits his orders, crouching upon her knees and elbows. Social distinction is represented by numbers. The number five is given to the lowest slave; the next grade above him is number ten, and so the numbers go up. The Second King, Avho is, indeed, a viceroy, is number 100,000, while the First King has no number, being above all numerical representation. An annual service of three months is paid to the chief ruler by all his subjects; besides he has many slaves, captives taken hi war. criminals condemned to death, but pardoned by his clemency, and people who FAETHER INDIA — PEOPLE AND RELIGION. 23i under stress of poverty, have sold themselves to him; or children whc. have been sold by their parents. Some large towns are composed entirely of the King's slaves, and it is estimated that he owns one-third of the whole population of his kingdom. SIAMESE ETIQUETTE. The etiquette of the Siamese demands the most servile obeisance to superiors. Formerly any one going into the presence of his superior crawled into the house on his hands and knees and knocked his head against the floor. No. 5 paid homage to No. 10. The son had to ap- proach his father in an attitude of the utmost humility. This order of things has passed away in Siam. These servile ceremonies were abol- ished in 1873 by the now reigning king. The Siamese burn their dead and wear white robes for mourning. They are excessively fond of jewelry. Paint and jewels are often the only dress of the children. The women wear short hair; the men shave the head, except a tuft of hair in the crown. As to the general character of the people, they are indolent, dishonest and ignorant, but mild, peaceable and respectful to the poor and aged. The people of Anam are much like the Siamese in their general char- acter, but rather inferior to them, as being even more indolent and dis- honest. The general features of the two countries and of their people are so nearly the same that we need give no special attention to the An- amese; besides, there is no missionary work among them worthy of notice. BUEMAH COUNTRY AND PEOPLE. Burmah lies to the northwest of Siam. Its natural productions are abundant, but agriculture is in a low stage. Garden vegetables, fruits and crops are cultivated in the poorest manner, and the people subsist, for the most part, upon wild fruits. Mangoes, oranges, pine-apples, custard-apples, figs, papaws, bread-fruit and the plantain grow almost spontaneously. The country has much mineral wealth, but it is yet undeveloped, for the people know little about mining. The domestic animals used are the horse, the ox and the buifalo. The ox is used as a beast of burden in the north, and the buffalo in the south. The medium of exchange is lead, silver and gold, but the country has no" system of coinage, and these metals have, therefore, to be weighed whenever they change hands; and as the weighing costs three and a half per cent, of the value of the metal weighed, this metallic exchange is very inconvenient. Recourse is generally had to a system of barter. 232 FARTHER INDIA — PEOPLE ANX> RELIQION. 23& The government of Burmah wiis the most despotic of despotisms, worse even than that of Anam or Siam. The will of the emperor was absolute law, and he held in his hand the power of life and death over his servile subjects. There was under the king a court to try cases, that his majesty might bo saved the trouble, but as the court charged ten per cent, for all property involved in trials, cases were not often brought before it. As the British government has now taken possession of all Burmah, we may expect a rapid progr&ss of the country toward a better state, and that every aid will be given, hereafter, to the establishment of Christianity. We judge it important to this history of missions, to give here an epitome of the doctrines and teachings of Buddhism, as Buddhism is not only the religion of Farther India, but also of several other countries which we must notice hereafter. BUDDHISM — ORIGIN. At the end of the seventh century before Christ, there reigned at Kapilvastu, on the borders of Nepaul, in India, a wise and good Idng. He was the last of, the Solar race, celebrated in the epics of India. His queen was Maya. She became the mother of a prince who was named Siddartha, afterward called the Buddha, or hnowing-one. The young prince was distinguished for his intelligence and early piety. The father, who thought only of a throne and kingdom for his son, grieved to see him, in early youth, turn away from the palace to meditate in the forest, and to seek the knowledge of the supreme spirit after the manner of the Brahmins. The young Siddartha is represented as deeply afflicted to behold the miseries of mankind and absorbed in searching for a way of redemption. He marked that all about him was changing, dying. But something, he thought, must be immutable and eternal; that something, he conceived, to be the law existing behind all the varying forms of matter, and all fleeting illusory things; the absolute, eternal law of things. ''Let me see that," he said, "and I can give lasting peace to mankind. Then shalll be their deliverer." One night, impelled by anguish of soul for _ the sorrows of the world, and an unconquerable yearning to find that knowledge by which the world's sorrows might be healed, while his father and his beautiful wife entreated him to stay, the good Siddartha rose up from his bed and fled away to the wilderness to be a hermit, and to devote his life to study until he should solve the great mystery, and know "what is that great good for the sons of men which they should 234 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. do under heaven all the days of their life. " "I will never return to the palace," he said, " until I have attained the knowledge of the divine law, and so become the Buddha." He first studied with the Brahiipins; but from them he learned nothing to satisfy him. They could not enable BRONZE STATUE OF BUDDHA. him to enter that true peace which they called ' '■Mrvana. " He was now twenty-nine years of age. For six years he practiced the rigorous dis- cipline of the Brahmins, not because he hoped to obtain any good by this, directly, but as a preparation for study, that hia passions might be FARTHER INDIA — PEOPLE AND RELIGION. 235 subdued and his mind made clear. He then became satisfied that perfec- tion was not to be reached by the path of self-affliction. He resumed his former diet and a more comfortable mode of life; still, however, " acquainting himself with wisdom," intent to find the truth. At last he found it. He saw the eternal laws of things. He grasped nature's secret and became the Buddha. After a week of constant meditation, lost to all about him, the vision came. He was sitting under a tree with his face to the east, and had not moved for a day and night when he attained that knowledge which was to save mankind. The Buddha now entered upon his work of teaching mankind. He expected persecution. He recognized among men three classes; those who were on the way to truth and did not need him; those who were wedded to error and would not hear him; and those who were tossing in doubt and anxiety, still looking for the hght; these last the Buddha went forth to aid. It is agreed that the Buddha died at the age of eighty, and the time is fixed at 543 B. C. Immediately after his death a council of his followers assembled to fix the doctrines and discipline of Buddhism, for Sakya-Muni had written nothmg. The world had received his teachings only orally. The council sat for seven months, and as the result of their communing and dehberation they were able to commit to writing all the teachings of the Buddha. Upali gave all his precepts upon morals and discipline. Ananda gave all his doctrines, and Kasyapa was able to announce all the philosophy and metaphysics of the system. A hundred years later a general council was called to correct abuses and errors which had crept into the system, when ten thousand false teachers were cut off. About two hundred years later a third general council was held and sixty thousand schismatics were driven from the order. SPREAD OF BUDDHISM. After the third great council, Buddhism having become the religion of India, missionaries were sent to other lands. The sacred histories in the hands of the Buddhists give the names of these missionaries and record their successes. Such is, in brief, the history of the rise of Buddhism as gathered from the Buddhists' histories. Whatever glamour religious sentiment has thrown around that history, the following facts must be confessed: Buddhism took its rise from some great teacher, about the beginning "f the sixth century before Christ. It began in India, and for a time ■^vanced with wonderful rapidity, becoming under the great Buddhist 236 LIGHT m DARKNESS. emperor, Asoka, the state religion of the empire. It had a great mis- sionary zeal, and, although Brahminism rallied and drove it out of India, it went to the Burman Empire, Anam, Siam, Ceylon, Tliibet, China, Japan, and, in short,, to all eastern Asia, and became the religion of the K"^ '^•-e- majority of all the Mongol nations, and has to-day the largest following of any heathen religion, and nearly twice as great a following as Brah- minism, And it is an interesting fact that while Buddhist books give the FARTHER INDIA — PEOPLE AND RELIGION. 237 names and I'olatc the actions of their groat missionaries tlio relics recently discovered in some of their topes coniirm the record. TEACHINGS OF BUDDHISM. What, then, are the essential teachings of Buddliism? Siddartha saw and felt, and even magnitied the evil that is in the world. He sought to find a way to escape this evil. The hope of escape through self-affliction and countless transmigrations of afflic- tion and toil did not satisfy him. Of the life which lay beyond he knew nothing. Of the eternal world of absolute being, he knew nothing. Man must find happiness here and now; not in another sphere or another life. How was happiness to be found? By understanding the order of that system to which we belong and acting in harmony with it. Sid- dartha said, " If I can understand the eternal laws of nature I can save mankind. " Here, then, is the basis of Buddhism — knowledge of nature's laws and conformity to them. It looks to the present and seeks to make life pleasant. In this, however, it has not adopted the motto of the epicurean, "Eat, drink and be merry." It recognizes the spiritual life. It does not believe that death ends all. It even holds the doctrine of transmigra- tions and of Karma, a law inherent in nature to bring upon man the consequence of every act he may perform. But to find the way of living right, and so to rest from fear of the future is what Buddhism proposes; and this way of right living cannot be one which increases man's afflic- tions in the present state; for the eternal, unchangcaljle laws of nature are now asserting themselves, and in that which conduces to the highest good here, point tbevay to the highest good hereafter. This system, tner afore, has its morality; and, indeed, it belongs to it, for the reasons already shown, to teach morality rather thiui theology. Its morality is kindness. This life is full of evil; let us, therefore, make it as tolerable as we may. The doctrinal basis of Buddhism is thus announced: 1. All existence is evil because all existence is subject to change and decay. 2. The source of this evil is the desire for things which are to change and pass away. 3. The desire and the evil which follows it are not inevitable; for, if we choose, we can arrive at Nirvana, when both shall wholly cease. 4. There is a fixed and certain method to adopt, by pursuing which we attain this end without possibility of failure. 238 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. In the way of eifort to attain the true good or to enter into Nirvana, eight steps are prescribed: 1. Right belief, or correct faith. 2. Right judgment, or wise apphcation of that faith to life. 3. Right utterance, or perfect truth in all we say or do. 4. Right motives, or proposing always a proper end and aim. 6. Right occupation, or an outward life not involving sin. 6. Right obedience, or faithful observance of duty. T. Right memory, or a proper recollection of past conduct. 8. Right meditation, or keeping the mind fixed on permanent truth. Buddhism has five commandments which apply to all men, viz. : 1st, do not kill; 2d, do not steal; 3d, do not conunit adultery; 4th, do not lie; 5th, do not become intoxicated. Besides these, it has five com- mandments for the novices, to direct them in their exercises, viz. : 1st, do not take solid food in the afternoon; 2d, do not visit dances, singing, or theatrical representations; 3d, do not use ornaments or perfumery in dress; 4th, use ho luxurioxis beds; 6th, do not accept gold or silver. These precepts have been commented upon and expounded by Budd- hist writers through hundreds of volumes, and they have been made texts for teaching in regard to every duty the priests have desired to enforce. The spirit of Buddhism is mild and humane. It struck at the institution of caste, asserting the common rights of all men. It rec- ognized the equal claim of all men to religious privileges. It admits all classes to its priesthood. It teaches kindness and respect for the poor and the aged, and builds asylums for the suffering. It abohshed human sacrifices and all sacrifices of blood. Its innocent altars are crowned only with flowers and leaves. It enjoins the erection of houses for travelers, and the planting of trees for the use of those who may come after. SOME EFFECTS OF BUDDHISM. Of Buddhism in Burmah, Mr. Malcom, a Baptist missionary, says: "I saw no intemperance in Burmah, though an intoxicating liquor is made easily from the juice of a palm. "A man may travel from one end of the kingdom to the other without money, feeding and lodging as well as the people. " I have seen thousands together for hours on public occasions, rejoic- ing in all ardor, and no act of violence or case of intoxication. ' ' During my whole residence in the country I never saw an indecent act or immodest gesture in man or woman. * * * I have seen hun- dreds of men and women bathing, and no immodest or careless act. FARTHER INDIA PEOPLE AND RELIGION. 239 " Children are treated with great kindness, not only by the mother but the father, who, when unemployed, takes the young child in his arms and seems pleased to attend to it, or sits unemployed at his side. I have as often seen fathers caressing female infants as male. A widow with male and female children is more likely to bo sought in marriage than if she has none. The aged are treated with great care and tenderness, and occupy the best places at all assemblies." The Buddha himself was wont to say: "My law is a law of grace for all." He taught men to seek their highest good in patience and kindness, iir refraining from sensual excesses, and in doing good to others. He purposed and accomplished a great reform upon Brahminism. Although Buddhism seems to afford no deiinite teaching of God or a future state, it has nevertheless a definite worship. The Buddha is re- garded as a manifestation of God, and is an object of worship to his followers. To him splendid temples are built in all Buddhist lands. In Ceylon is a sacred relic of Buddha. It is kept in six cases. The outer case is solid silver, five feet high; the others are costlier, inlaid with gems. The last of these cases contains a piece of ivory or bone about two inches long, said to be a tooth of the Buddha. This relic was once preserved in a magnificent shrine in India. It was conveyed to Ceylon A. D. 311, where it is still an object of universal reverance among the natives. Other relics of the Buddha are preserved in mag- nificent topes, some of which were built 250 years before Christ. tooth of btiddha. The forms of Buddhist worship and the ceremonies of Buddhism are strikingly similar to those of the Roman Catholic Church. They have monasteries for both sexes, and monks bound under the three vows of celibacy, poverty and obedience. Their priests practice celibacy; they pray in an unknown tongue, chant, burn incense, use rosaries and can- dles, after the Eomish fashion. Father Hue, in his ' ' Recollections of a Journey in Tartary, Thibet and China," says: "The cross, the mitre, the dalmatica, the cope, which the grand lamas wear on their journeys, or when they are performing some ceremony out of the temple, the ser- vices with double choirs, the psalmody, the exorcism, the censer sus- pended from five chains, and which you can open or close at pleasure; the benedictions given by the lamas by extending the right hand over the heads of the faithful; the chaplet, ecclesiastical celibacy, religious retirement, the worship of i^he saints, the fasts, the processions, the lita- 240 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. iiies, the holy water — all these arc analogies between the Buddhists and ourselves." Father Bury, a Poi'tuguese missionary, wrote of the Buddhists in China: "There is not a piece of dress, not a sacerdotal function, not a ceremony of the Court of Rome, which the devil has not copied in this country.'' Apropos to this testimony of the similarity between Buddhist and Eoman Catholic ceremonies, is the story of a Chinaman who attended a Catholic Church service in San Francisco, and as he came out, said: " Him belly good; ioss house same." The spirit of Buddhism, however, is that of Protestantism rather than Romanism. It places great stress upon the exercise of the individual judgment, enjoins no servility to the priesthood, and teaches no saving efficacy in ceremonies or sacraments. It is the friend of reason and of individual liberty. DEFICIENCY OF BUDDHISM. But Buddhism has a fatal defect. It is negative rather than positive. It views existence as an evil, and only seeks to mitigate that evil. It teaches sympathy for all creatures as our companions in suffering, but sets before men no inspiring aim. It has a hell — ^rather we may say, a thou- sand hells — ^but no heaven. Its ideas of the misery to be entailed by evil actions are vivid, but Nirvana is vague and undefined. Evil is positive and palpable; the only good to escape that evil as far as we may. Its worship is the worship of an ideal, and not a communion with a present Deity and a present help in time of need. Hence Buddhism, while it has thrown off an oppressive priestcraft and abolished bloody rites and driven many terrors of superstition from the human mind, has left man comparatively without motives to goodness, and especially has it failed to supply him with any aspirations toward a high and shining goal. It has thus given no impulse toward a higher civilization, and in its reign of more than two thousand years, has organized no tolerable social state nor a single good government. Even with its universal sympathy it can make little effort for the public weal, because it lacks the inspiration of life; for this life at best is evil, and yet it sees no bright vision of ahfe to come. Though tender, it is sad, and even selfish from its very sadness, as the chief thing for every one, is to find for himself the rest Nii'vana. And yet Nirvana is not a heaven of glory and joy, but oblivious annihila- tion, for man can only escape from misery by escaping from existence. Such is Buddhism in its last statement and divested of all the perver- sions and monstrous superstitions which, in its long history, have clustered around it :. the slow accretions which the corruption and ignor- ance of its priests have added to it. FAETHER INDIA — PEOPLE AND RELIGION. Six VARIATIONS OF BUDDHISM. Perhaps in no country is Buddhism found so pure as in Burmah. It is much more corrupted in Siam, while Anam can scarcely be considered as having any religion at all. He who studies Buddhism to-day in the teach- ings and practices of those who profess it, will find endless diversities of doctrine and practice, and he who describes the Buddhism of Thibet will contradict the statements of another who writes from the standpoint of Ceylon, while Burmah and Cliina present difierent types or developments of the system first taught by Siddartha. Can we wonder at this, when we consider into what a variety of sects and theological systems Christi- anity itself has been divided in a shorter period of time? How difierent would be the presentation of the doctrines of Christianity from the stand- point of the Greek, Roman Catholic, or Protestant churches respectively, if compared ? And in our numberless theological books how little would one learn of the life, manners, and teachings of the founder of Christianity. Truly he would find certain common articles of faith to identify all the variations of Christianity as ramifications from the same parent stock; but there would be found a vast diversity in the current teaching and paraphernalia of Christianity in various countries, and under its various sects. We have attempted to state that which belongs essentially to Buddhism as first taught. It is an interesting question by what means Buddhism was driven from India, its birthplace. That it once prevailed extensively there is testified by its innumeral)le topes and temples. Many of these temples were hewn from solid stone at wondrous cost, and these marvels that attract the eye and excite the wonder of strangers who visit India to-day are the work of the Buddhists. There is no record, so far as known in Buddhist or Brahmin literature, of a conflict in India between these two systems. Yet some force has expelled Buddhism from India. It has left its mark, however, in the modified faith of the Brahmin as much as in its rock-hewn temples, while Brahminism has with equal clearness made its impression by modifying the system of religion struck out by its great reformer. As we have referred to the gross superstitions which have gathered upon the system taught l)y Siddartha, we will close this reference by citing a few of the endless absurditities which the Buddhists relate of their great founder. RIDICULOUS SUPERSTITIONS. Holding the doctrine of transmigration, the priests teach that the Buddha had during the immeasurable past lived in J:00,000,000 of worlds and in this world he had had five hundred and fifty births. He had lived 16L-D 242 IIGST W fJAEKNESS; the life of an ascetic eighty-three times; of a monarch, fifty-eight times; of a tree, forty-three times; religious teacher twenty-six times and so on, passing through more than fifty different life-forms. He was man, prince, priest, noble, gambler, serpent, fish, rat, jackal, crow, pig, dog, kite, hare, and many other things. He might have entered Nirvana and been at rest; but at some remote period he resolved to forego this, which is the highest of all good, that he might at some time become the Buddha and rescue mankind. The long sought opportunity came to him as Siddartha — the ever prosperous one — the son of the king of Agra. At the conception of the Buddha, "The ten thousand world-systems trembled at once, and were all illumined with preternatural light. The blind from birth received a power to see; the deaf heard the joyful noise; the dumb burst forth into songs; the lame danced, the crooked became straight; those in coLfinement were released from their bonds; the fires of all the hells (one hundred and ninety-six) were extinguished; the diseases of the sick were cured; bulls and buffaloes roared in triumph; horses and asses and elephants joined in the acclaim; Mons sent forth the thunder of their voices; instruments of music unstruck sent forth their sound; the winds were loaded with perfume; birds paused in their flight; the waves of the sea became placid and its waters sweet; the whole sur- face of the ocean was covered Avith flowers; the sky was covered with a floral canopy and flowers were showered from the heavens. " As soon as he was born he sprang upon his feet exclaiming, "Now am I the noblest of men. This is the last time I shall ever be born!" "The dwellers in ten thousand worlds shielded him with umbrellas twelve miles high; they sounded his praise with conch-shells one hun- dred and twenty-six cubits long, the blast whereof reverberated for four months and a half; others brought harps twelve miles long, and deluged him with golden caskets, tiaras, perfumes and no end of gifts." The same day that gave birth to Siddartha, was born his wife, his horse, his attendant and his chief disciple; and that same day sprouted from the earth the tree under which he sat meditating when he became the Buddha. They tell how Siddartha, or Gautama, as he is called by the Brahmins, lived at the palace with his beautiful wife and in the enjoyment of every sensuous delight, attended by forty thousand princes and knowing nothing of suffering or evil in the world. But one day, while the prince was riding in his chariot, he saw a decrepit, palsied old man, pale, trembling, with gray hair and broken teeth, tottering along, stooping upon his staff. The prince inquired of FARTHER INDIA PEOPLE AND RELIGION. 243 an attendant if the man had been born so, and if there were many such creatures in the world, and it was answered him "He was once young as we are, your highness, and there are many such in the world." "If that be so," thought the prince, " life is not a thing to be desired." And all his thoughts of pleasure were banished, and he returned, in sadness, to his palace. To prevent the young prince from being again harassed by such a scene, the Idng, his father, set guards upon all the roads to the distance of eight miles from the city. "Four months later, proceeding along the same road he saw a leper, full of sores, with swollen body and legs — a disgusting sight — and again returned to the palace more fully convinced than ever that the world is vain and empty. The distressed king placed guards upon all the roads to the distance of twelve miles from the city. "After four months the spirits, whom no guards could keep away, placed in the way of the prince a dead body, green with putridity, which carried his disgust and loathing to the highest pitch. "His father extended his guards sixteen miles around the city." After this there came to Siddai-tha another vision. He saw k recluse, calm, tranquil, and full of inward peace, and learned from this vision that by the life of an ascetic the ills of existence might be overcome. They tell how under this conviction Siddartha stole from his palace at midnight, and mounting his horse, how the horse carried him four hun- dred and eighty miles before morning, jumping rivers a quarter of a mile wide. How Siddartha cut off his hair next morning Avith his sword and threw it up sixteen miles high, where it hung on the Lord-knows- what, until the ruler of the fourth heavenly region took it and deposited in a heavenly pagoda where it is now an object of worship to celestial beings. Tremendous was his fight with the powers of darkness duz-ing the twenty-four hours before he became the Buddha. The devil came against him mounted on an elephant a thousand miles high; he had five hundred heads and as many flaming tongues. He had a thousand eyes and a thousand arms with each of which ho wielded a different weapon, and he led an arxuy mounted on bulls, bears, lions, buffalos, boars, tigers, panthers and dragons, extending one hundred and sixty-four miles in every direction. Siddartha whipped the whole crew. Raindrops as big as palm trees fell, ploughing up the earth, but to the valiant prince they were like water-lilies. A hundred burning moun- tams hurled on him through the air turned to garlands of flowers. Eight pages arc given in the sacred history to the description of this 244 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. battle. "Wind, rain, rocks, weapons, charcoal, sand, mud, darkness — Siddartha triumphed against all, and at the end of the fight saw the mystery of the universe and became the Buddha, or knowing one. Let this suffice to give a hint, both as to the good and evil side of Buddhism. The system offers some things to the Christian teacher; the common rights of all men, the exemption from bondage to a priesthood, the right of individual judgment, the rejection of sacraments as possessing saving efficacy, and the doctrine that upon each one's personal effort his welfare depends. These doctrines Christianity accepts. It accepts also its compassion for all creatures, its tenderness and sympathy. It is for Christianity to fill up the void in this system with definite teaching of God and a future life, the atonement for sin and the presence of God through the Holy Ghost, to hear, regenerate, succor and save all that trust in Him. THE SHANS. North of Siam and Burmah dwell the Shans, ruled by petty chiefs, called Isamhioas. If united, they would be one of the most poweiiul of the Indo-Chinese races, but their divided condition makes them tributary to cither one of the kingdoms which may lie next to them. Being thus dis- organized, and being in nothing especially distinguished in their religious institutions from their neighbors, being Buddhists, they require no special notice. They speak the Siamese language, and are acquainted with writing. Such civiUzation as they have is after the Chinese type. THE KARENS. We must not close this chapter without noticing especially the Karens, or wild men. They dwell chiefly between the Sittong and Sal wen rivers, but have villages and colonies scattered more or less across the country, from the Bay of Bengal to the China Sea. They are truly a strange people. Their origin is a mystery. Some believe them to be descend- ants of the Jews. The chief argument of those who hold this view is that Farther India is the Ophir of the Scriptures. Josephus speaks of Opliir as cmrea chersoiiesus, and this has been supposed to refer to the peninsula of Malacca. Hence it is inferred that in the time of Solomon, when his ships were bringing "apes, gold and peacocks " from Ophir, a colony of Jews were settled in this country, and have ever since re- mained. Some characteristics of this race and of their belief serve to support the theory of their Jewish descent. They have, with Jewish pertinacity and vigor, preserved their race and faith against the influence of sur- FARTHER INDIA — PEOPLE AND RELIGION. 245 rounding nations. They are not Buddhists. They believe in one God, an infinite eternal spirit; of their God they have no images, nor an}' idols. All attempts to force idolatry upon them have failed. They have prophets and elders whose functions are civil rather than religious. They have no written literature. They claim to have had once a book which was a revelation of the true God. But a hog tore up the book. Some have seen in this a remnant of the Jewish hatred of swine, though the Karens eat swine. They believed that the sacred book would be brought to them again; that wliite men would come across the sea and bring it. So their prophets taught, and such was their faith in this that they hailed the appearance of white men as heaven-sent messengers; and when pressed into the army by the Burmese in their war with the KAUEN VILLAGE. English^ they either fired into tlie air, deserted to the English, or stood at their posts, refusing to fire, and so died by the bullets of the friends for whose coming they had waited so long. Rev. Mr. Kincaid, long a missionary among the Karens, thus writes of this peculiar people: " When America was inhabited only by savages, and our ancestors in Britain and Germany were dwelling in the rudest tents or huts, clothed with the skin of beasts, and in dark forests of oak, practicing the most cruel and revolting forms of heathenism, the Karens stood firm on the great truth of one eternal God, the Creator of all things, and the only rightful object of adoration. From age to age they chanted songs of 246 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. praise to Jehovah, and looked, as their songs directed, towards the set- ting sun, whence white men were to come with the good book, and teach them the worship of the hving God. Buddhism, claiming to embody all science and literature, and all that pertains to the physical and moral world, propounding a system of morals admirably adapted to carry the understanding, while it fosters the pride and arrogance and selfishness, so deeply seated in fallen humanity — reaching back in its revelations, through illimitable ages, and obscurely depicting other worlds and sys- tems, and gods rising and passing away forever — surrounding itself with pagodas and shrines, -svith temples and priests, as imposing as pagan Rome, and having a ritual as gorgeous as Rome papal — ^has failed to gain an ascendancy over the Karen race. Arbitrary power, surrounded by impe- rial pomp and splendor, has neither awed them nor seduced them from their simple faith. The preservation of this widely scattered people from the degrading heathenism, wliich darkens every part of this vast conti- nent, is a great and unfathomable mystery of God's' providence. They have seen the proudest monuments of heathenism rise amongst them, many of them glittering in the sun like mountains of gold, and in their construction tasking the energies of an empire; still they chanted their unwritten songs, and looked toward the setting sun for the white man to bring the promised book of Jehovah." The reader Avill no doubt be moved with sympathy for the Karens, and with a desire to know how they received the book of the true God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. CHAPTER Xm. BUEMAH — FIRST MISSIONARY LABORS. |0 the great Baptist missionary, Adoniram Judson, be- longs the honor of planting Christianity in Burmah. We have already related in our chapter upon the or- ganization of missionary societies, how he sailed for India February, 1812, as a missionary under the Amer- ican Board, and how the change of his views upon baptism caused him to become a Baptist, and how the news of this change, with his connection with the Bap- tist Church, caused the American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society to be formed. Difficulties encountered by Judson in India turned his attention to Bur- BUEMAH ^FIEST MISSIONARY LABORS. 247 mah. He arrived at Rangoon July 14th, 1813, guided, as the sequel proved, by the hand of God. Judson was not, however, the first to attempt missionary work in Bur- mah. Felix Carey, the son of the distinguished William Carey, founder of the English Baptist Missions, and Mr. Chater had come to Burmah in 1808. In 1810 they were joined by Eevs. Pritchett and Brain, of the London Missionary Society. The latter soon died. In view of a threats ened war, Pritchett left for another field. To escape the dangers of war, which had then broken out, Chater left for Ceylon in 1811. Carey went to Serampore upon business in 1813. So that at Judson's arrival, Mrs. Carey only remained of the former missionaries. Not a single convert to Christian- ity had as yet been made in Burmah, nor was there any perceptible result of missionary labors. JUDSON AT RANGOON. Judson at once began work in the deserted mission house an Ran- goon. This toAvn is situated on a river of the same name, about thirty miles from the sea. The river is one of the mouths of the Irrawaddy. The harbor is excellent, but the town is situated on low and marshy ground, and docs not present a very attractive appearance. In the rainy season it much resembles a neglected swamp. Rangoon is second only to Ava in importance. The mission house which Carey and Chater had occupied was built by the English Baptist Society, and was as pleasant, perhaps, as any house in Rangoon. Judson Avrote of it: "It is large and convenient, situated in a rural place, about half a mile from the walls of the town. We have gardens enclosed, containing about two acres of ground, fuU of fruit trees of various kinds. In the dry season our situation is very agreeable. We often enjoy a pleasant walk within our own enclosure or in some of the adjoining villages." The Buddhists have at Rangoon one of their largest pagodas, the great Shway Dagong. It is said by their priests to contain a few hairs from the head of the Buddha. It is a mammoth structure, surrounded by temples. For three years Mr. Judson devoted himself to the study of the Bur- man language, thrown upon his own resources for support, disconnected from the Society that sent him out, and not yet assured of any support from the American Baptists. To learn the language was no easy task. The books of the Burmans were only dried palm leaves strung together, and covered with indistinct scratches, without punctuation, capitals, paragraphs or breaks, and letters run together so that a sentence appeared as one long word. BUHMAH — JflRSt MrsgrtNARr LABOHS. 249 In 1815 Mr. Judson received the cheering intelligence that tlie Ameri- ican Baptists had organized a Missionary Society and would support his efforts in Burmah. Sorrow followed rejoicing, for a little while later Mr. and Mrs. Judson were called to bury their only child, Roger "Wil- liams. The grief of such bereavement is most deep when it comes to solitary Christian parents in a strange and heathen land. Early in 1816 Mr. Judson commenced preparing a tract in Burmese, entitled ' ' Summary of Christian Doctrines. " At the same time he began suffering a great deal with his eyes, so much that he was scarcely able to read. In the midst of the despondency which this caused, he was glad- dened by the news of the arrival of the Rev. Geo. Hough and wife, in Calcutta. Judson was on the point of going to Bengal for the improve- ment of his health, when this news, reached him, ])ut he immediately abandoned the project, and soon grew better. He had just commenced negotiating with the English missionaries at Serampore for the printing of his tract and some other works in the Burmese language when he heard of the arrival of Hough, who had been brought up a printer. Hough was delayed at Calcutta, and while there, the Baptist missionaries gave the Burman mission a press, and a font of Burman type, with com- plete printing apparatus. The press arrived at Rangoon about the 1st of August. On the 6th of the same month, Judson wrote to Dr. Bald- win, and after stating what had been accomplished, and his hopes for the future, requested that still others be sent to the work. October 16th, Hough arrived at Rangoon, and on the I7th of November, Judson and Hough sent a letter to the secretary of their Society, urging the Society to stand by them, and aid them to the utmost. In a little while Judson's tract was printed, as well as a catechism he had prepared; and soon afterward the gospel of Matthew was also printed. This was a great advantage, as the cunning Burmans were constantly asking for the sacred writings of this new religion. Judson was now able to satisfy their demands. Meanwhile they became more interested, till at last, March 7th, 1817, Mr. Judson wrote to the Board of Managers as follows: FIKST INQUIRER AFTER CHRIST. "I have this day been visited by the first inquirer after religion that I have yet seen in Burmah. For, although in the course of the last two years I have preached the gospel to many, and though some have visited me several times, and conversed with me upon the subject of religion, yet I have never had much reason to believe that their visits originated in a spirit of sincere inquiry. Conversations on religion have always been of my proposing; and though I have been sometimes encouraged to 260 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. hope that the truth had made some impression, never until to-day have I met with one who was fairly entitled to the epithet of ' enquirer." "As I was sitting with my teacher, as usual, a Burman of respectable appearance, and followed by a servant, came up the steps and sat down by me. I asked him the usual question, where he came from, to which ho gave me no explicit reply, and I began to suspect he had come from the government house, to enforce a trifling request, which in the morn- ing we had declined. He soon, however, undeceived and astonished me )jy asking, ' How long a time wiU it take me to learn the rehgion of Jesus ?' I replied that such a question could not be answered. If God gave light and wisdom, the religion of Jesus was soon learned; but with- out God, a man might study all his life long, and make no proiiciency. 'But how,' continued I, 'came you to know anything of Jesus ? Have you been here before ?' ' No. ' 'Have you seen any writings concerning Jesus?' 'I have seen two little books.' 'Who is Jesus ?' 'He is the Son of God, who, pitying creatures, came into this world and suflered death in their stead. ' 'Who is God?' 'He is a being without beginning or end, who is' not subject to old age or death, but always is.' I cannot tell liow I felt at this moment. It was the first acknowledgement of an eternal God that I had ever heard from the lips of a Burman. I handed him a tract and catechism, both of which he instantly recognized, and read here and there, making occasional remarks to his follower, such as, ' This is the true God — this is the right way,' etc. I now tried to tell him something about God and Christ and himself, but he did not listen with much attention, and seemed anxious only to get another book. I had already told him two or three times that I had finished no other book, but that in two or three months I would give him a larger one which I was now daily employed in translating. 'But,' replied he, ' have you not a little of that book done, which you will graciously give me now ?' And I, beginning to think that God's time was better than man's, folded and gave to him the first two half-sheets, which contained the first five chapters of Matthew; on which he instantly rose, as if his business was done; and having received an invitation to come again, took leave. Thi'oughout his short stay he appeared totally different from any Burman I had ever met with. He asked no questions about customs and manners, with which the Burmans tease us exceedingly. He had no curiosity, and no desire for anything, but ' more of this sort of 'm.-iting.' " Thus it was nearly four years after his arrival in Eangoon before any particular interest was aroused in Judson's teaching by the natives. The person mentioned above read eagerly the books he had received, but did not call again for nearly a year, and then Mr. Judson was not at home. BURMAH — FIRST MISSIONARY LABORS. 251 His long absence was duo to the fact that he was appointed governor of some villages in Pegu, at a considerable distance from Kangoon. But during this time other inquirers appeared, sometimes singly; sometimes in groups of two or three. They wished to learn, but were anxious that their visits should not be known to the civil authorities. A SERIES OF TRIALS. In the fall of this year Mr. Judson sailed for Chittagong in order to improve his health, and secure the aid of some Arracanese converts in translating. But he was blown out of his course by adverse winds, and so hindered in various ways that he did not reach Eangoon again for eight months. While he was away, Mr. Hough was summoned to the court house on a charge which really referred to some Portuguese priests and there imprisoned. His release was obtained, with great difficulty, by Mrs. Judson. Then cholera broke out, sweeping off the natives by thousands. European traders, one after another, left the country, till only one ship was left in the harbor. Then Mr. and Mrs. Hough embarked, and sailed for Calcutta, taking the press witli them. Thus Mrs. Judson remained alone in the midst of these fearful scenes, deter- mined not to leave until she could ascertain the fate of her husband. Word was brought to Rangoon that neither Mr. Judson nor the vessel in which he had sailed had reached Chittagong. Nothing was known of his whereabouts by his friends in Burmah. But in a few days after the departure of Mr. Hough Mr. Judson returned. Amid many discouragements Judson never lost heart or faltered in his faith of success. He never was tempted to look for another field. He had judged his direction to Burmah providential, and the question of abandoning the work was never entertained. He wrote: "If any ask what success I meet with among the natives tell them to look at Otaheite, where the missionaries labored nearly twenty years, and, not meeting with the slightest success began to be neglected by the whole Christian world, and the very name of Otaheite was considered a shame to the cause of missions; but now the blessing begins to descend. * * * * If any ask again what prospect of ultimate success, tell them, as much as there is an Almighty and faithful God, who will perform his promises, and no more. If this does not satisfy them beg them to let me stay and make the attempt. * * * And if we live twenty or thirty years they may hear from us again. " September the 19th, 1818, Mr. Judson was greatly comforted by the arrival of two new missionaries sent out from the United States, Messrs. Coleman and Wheelock. They were f uU of missionary zeal and entered 253 LIGHT IN DAKKNESS. earnestly and gladly on their work; but both had a short career. Mr. ^Vheelock was attacked with bleeding from the lungs soon after his arrival. After suffering some time he resolved to go to Calcutta for rehef, but he was really in the last stage of consumption. On his way to Calcutta he threw himself overboard and was drowned. Colman was also threatened with pulmonary disease, but in feeble health stood to his post for a few years. TEACHING IN THE ZAYAT. About this time a zayat was l)uilt to be used as a chapel. It consisted of two rooms, one of which was presided over by Mr. Judson, the other by his wife. ' The zayat fronted full upon the highway. And to arrest the passers the missionary was wont to sit repeating the words of God if he might only now and then cause some weary, heavy laden soul to pause a moment to catch some faint thought of the heavenly message. Wi4;hin clean mats were spread upon the floor inviting any who would to sit down awhile and rest, and hear the strange teacher. At the door he sat repeating, " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come j-e to the waters." We will let Mrs. Judson draw for us the picture of the teacher in the zayat. "The sunlight fell aslant upon the fragile frame- work of a Burmese zayat; but though it was some hours past mid-day, the burning rays were not yet level enough to look too obtrusively beneath the low,pi"oject- ing eaves. Yet the day was intensely hot, and the wearied occupant of the one bamboo chair, in the center of the building, looked haggard and care-worn. All day long had he sat in that position, repeating over and over again, as he could find listeners, such simple truths as mothers are accustoined to teach to infants on their knees; and now his head was aching, and his heart was very heavy. He had met some scoffers, some who seemed utterly indifferent, but not one sincere inquirer after truth. "In the middle of the day, when the sun was hottest, and scarcely a European throughout all India was astir, he had received the greatest number of visitors, for the passers-by were glad of a moment's rest and shelter from the sun. "The persons of almost every description were continually passmgand re-passing. They seemed each intent on his own business, and the mis- sionary was without a listener. The thought of his neglected study table at home, of his patient, fragile wife, toiUng through the numerous cares of the day alone, of the letters his friends were expecting, and which he had no time to write, of the last periodicals from his dear native land lying still unread; and every little while, between the other thoughts, came real pinings after a delicious little book of devotion, which he had BURMAH — FIRST MISSIONARY LABORS. 253 slid into his pocket in the morning, promising it his first moment of leisure. Then he was, naturally, an active man of quick, ardent temperar ment, having such views of the worth of time, as earnest American men can scarcely fail to gain ; and it went to his heart to lose so many precious moments. If he couldonly do something to fill up these tedious inter- vals! But no; this was a work to which he must not give a divided mind. He was renewing a half-tested experiment in way-side preaching, and he would not suffer his attention to be distracted by anything else. While his face was hidden by his book, and his mind intent on self -improve- ment, some poor passer-by might lose a last, an only opportunity of hear- BURMESE ZAYAT. ing the words of life. To bo sure his own soul seemed very barren, and needed refreshing; and his body was weary — ^wearied well-nigh to faint- ing, more with the dull, palsying inanity of the day's fruitless endeav- ors, than with anything like labor. Heavily beat down the hot sun, lighting up the amber-like brown of the thatch as with a burning coal, while thickly in its broad rays floated a heavy golden cloud of dust and motes, showing in what a wretched atmosphere the delicate lungs were called to labor. Meantime a fever-freighted breeze, which had been, aU the hot day, sweeping the effluvia from eastern marshes, stirred the glossy leaves of the orange tree across the way, and pai-ched the lip, and 254 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. • kindled a crimson spot upon the wan cheek of the weary missionary. " ' God reigns,' he repeated, as though some reminder of the sort were necessary. ' God Almighty reigns, and I have given myself to Him, soul and body, for time and for eternity. His will be done!' Still, how long the day seemed ! How broad the space that bhstering sun had yet to travel before its waiting, its watching and its laboring would be ended. Might he not indulge himself just one moment ? His hand went to his pocket, and the edge of a little book peeped forth a moment, and then, with a decided push, was thrust back again. No; he would not trifle with his duty. He would be sternly, rigidly faithful; and the blessing would come in time. Yet it was with an irrepressible yawn that he took up a little Burmese tract prepared by himself, and saw every word as familiar as his own name, and commenced reading aloud. The sounds caught the ear of a coarsely-clad water-bearer, and she lowered the vessel from her head and seated herself afar ofl", just within the shadows of the low eaves. Attracted by the foreign accent of the reader, few passed without turning the head a few moments to hsten. Then catching at some word which seemed to them offensive, they would repeat it mock- ingly and hasten on. Finally the old water-bearer, grinning in angry derision till her wrinkled visage became positively hideous, rose slowly, adjusted the earthen vessel on her head, and passed along, muttering as she went, • Jesus Christ ! No nigban ! Ha, ha, ha!' The heart of the missionary sank within him, and he was on the point of laying down the book, but the shadow of another passer-by fell upon the path, and he continued a moment longer. It was a tall, dignified-looking man, lead- ing by the hand a boy, the open mirthfulness of whose bright, button- like eyes was in perfect keeping with his dancing little feet. The stranger was of a grave, staid demeanor, with a turban of aristocratic smaUness, sandals turning up at the toe, a silken robe of somewhat subdued colors, and a snow-white tunic of gentleman-like length and unusual fineness. " ' Papa ! papa !' said the boy, with a merry skip, and twitching at the hand he was holding, ' look, look, papa; there is Jesus Christ's man. Amai! how shockingly white!' " 'Jesus Christ's man ' raised his eyes from the book, which he could read just as well without eyes, and bestowed one of his brightest smiles upon the little stranger, just as the couple were passing beyond the cor- ner of the zayat, but not too late to catch a bashfully pleased recogni- tion. The father did not speak or turn his head, but a ray of sunshine went down into the missionary's heart from those happy little eyes, and he somehow felt that his hour's reading had not been thrown away. " He had remarked this man before in other parts of the town, and had BUEMAH — FIRST MISSIONARY LABORS. 255 striven in various ways to attract his attention, but without success. He was evidently known, and most probably avoided; but the child, with that shy, pleased, half-confiding, roguish sort of smile, seemed sent as an encouraging messenger. The missionary continued his reading with an increase of earnestness and emphasis. A priest wrapped his yellow sashes about him and sat down upon the steps as though for a moment's rest. "Then another stranger came up boldly and with considerable ostenta- tion seated himself on the mat. "He proved to be a philosopher from the school then recently dis- banded at Prome; and he soon drew on a brisk, animated controversy. The missionary did not finish his day's work with the shutting up of the zayat. At night, in his closet, he remembered both philosopher and priest; pleaded long and earnestly for the scoffing old water bearer; and felt a warm tear stealing to his eye as he presented the case of the tall stranger and the laughing, dancing ray of sunshine at his side." THE FIRST BURMAN CONVERT BAPTIZED. Two months after the zayat was opened the first Burman convert was baptized. It was a happy day for Judson. For eleven years mission- aries had labored at Rangoon, eight men having been at difierent times to the field and yet bread cast upon the waters had not shot up a single fruitful stalk. But here was an intelligent Burman who had been instructed, who understood, believed and embraced the gospel and claimed the experience of salvation through faith in Christ. The baptism of Moung Nau was performed in a pool over whose quiet waters looked forth a statue of Buddha. It seemed to be a prophecy that Jesus of Nazareth should ere long triumph over Buddha in that dark land. Moung Nau was baptized on the STth of June, 1819, and on the 4th of July the missionaries celebrated the Lord's supper with the new convert. For years the church had been watching Judson's work. When the news of this first conversion reached America it was glad tidings to many pious hearts. It is said when it was announced by the minister in one of the Baptist churches in New Hampshire, an old deacon sprang to his feet exclaiming, "I have a brother in Burmah! I have a brother in Burmah! " 256 LIGHT IN DAKKNE88. CHAPTER XrV. JUDSON S TOILS AND TRIALS. iHE work at the zayat was for a little while encouraging. Two other converts were baptized in November. But about the close of the year a change was observed. Scarcely any came to the zayat and the people shunned the Christian teacher. It was due to two causes, curiosity was subsiding and the fear of persecution arising. A new king had come to the throne, the grandson of the former monarch. He had manifested a cruel disposition in that he had killed three uncles to clear his way to the throne. The Bunuan kings, as already stated, hold the lives of their subjects at their own caprice. Religious persecutions had occurred in Burmah before. The Kalans, a sect of the Burmans, had been proscribed and put to death under former kings. The people believed that a profession of Christianity would cost them their lives. Judson feared it RESOLVES TO VISIT THE KING. Judson felt that the time was come, when the royal favor must be se- cured, and he therefore resolved to go and see the king. So taking with him Colman and his first convert, Moung Nau, who acted as steward, ten oarsmen, a headman, a cook, and an Englishman, who had charge of the fire-arms, he embarked on the Irrawaddy, December the 22d, 1819. Amarapura, the capital of the empire, wag 350 miles from Rangoon. Judson took the Bible in six volumes, covered with gold-leaf, and each volume enclosed in a rich wrapper, as a present to his majesty, and some rich clothes as presents for other dignitaries. On the twenty-seventh day they reached the ruins of the ancient city of Pahgan, where, eight hundred years before. Buddhism had l)oon pro- claimed the religion of the empire. There are here some splendid ruins of great interest to the antiquarian and the missionary. It was here that Ah-rah-han, the first Buddhist apostle of Burmah, had preached his atheistic doctrines under the patronage of Anan-ra-tha-men-zan. Eight days afterward they passed Ava and came in sight of Amara- pura. Having arrived there, they were put under charge of the prime minister, and introduced to the emperor. JUDSON S TOILS AND TRIALS. 257 FAILURE OF THE PETITION. It was at an unfavorable season, as the celebration of the late victory over the Cassays was then being hold. Having heard their petition for religious toleration, the emperor took one of their tracts, looked at it a moment, then tlirew it down and walked off to view the celebration. Col- man was examined as to his medical abilities, by the emperor's physician. Having ascertained that ho possessed no groat secret which would secure the king from disease, and make him live forever, the physician dis- charged him. Thus all their hopes were overthrown. Overcome with fatigue and despair, the missionarii^s returned to their boat. Early in JOCllNEY ON THE ffiRAWADDY. the morning, Mr. Gouger, an Englishman, came to the boat and told them he would make an eflfort in their behalf, as he was particularly acquainted with the prime minister. He went with them to the house of the latter, but all his efforts were in vain. Accordingly, January 29th, they commenced their retnrn to Rangoon. They were mot on February 11th, at Pyoe, by Moung Shwa-Gnong, one of the converts, who had come hither professedly to visit a sick friend. When told of the result of their efforts, he was discouraged, but seemed to have great faith in the ultimate success of their plans. When told that the missionaries would probably leave Rangoon, he IYl-d 258 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. replied, " Say not so ; there are some who will investigate, nothwithstand- ing ; and rather than have you quit Rangoon, I will go to the Mangan teacher and have a dispute. I know I can silence him. I know the truth is on my side." Judson reminded him that the Mangan teacher had a pair of iron fetters and an iron mall as offsets to his tongue. Seven days afterward they reached Rangoon, and calling their three disciples together, announced their intention of leaving the place, and establishing a mission between Bengal and Arracan. Thereupon two of them said they would go also, that they might be where preaching was to be had. The third, Moung Byee, could not leave on account of -his family. In a day or two he came with his brother-in-law, Moung Myat-yah, and bogged them not to go till there were eight or ten converts, and one who could act as teacher for the rest. He told them there were several who were inquiring after the now religion, and that they would gain by staying. All three were very far from being intimidated by the conduct of the emperor. At this Mr. and Mrs. Judson decided to remain, and Mr. and Mrs. Colman went to Chittagong, in order to found a mission which should be a place of i-efuge in case of persecution. Colman com- menced work at Cox's Bazaar, an unhealthy place of two thousand inhab- itants. Here he died of jungle fever two years later. Mrs. Colman then Avent to Hindostan. Led by the earnest entreaties of the friends at Rangoon, Mr. and Mrs. Judson determined to remain as long as they could. They soon had the happiness of seeing the fruit of their devotion. A number of inquirers began to visit the zayat, and by the middle of July seven more persons had been added to the little native church, and so the number increased to ten. On the 16th of July was baptized Moung Shwa-Gnong, a native teacher of ability and influence, and a man who proved of much value to the work afterward. At the same time was baptized the first female convert, Mah Men-la. She was an educated woman of sprightly mind. Mr. Judson was very diligent in his work of translating the Scriptures and preparing other religious books for the use of the mission when he had time for the necessary labors. The first part of Acts, the Epistle to the Ephesans, the Gospel and Epistles of John had been finished by the summer of 1821. At this time, the state of Mrs. Judson's health continuing very poor, it was resolved that she should visit her native land. She sailed August 21, 1821. Stopping awhile in England, she arrived at New York, September 25, 1822. Though in feeble health, Mrs. Judson was very active while at home in promoting interest in the cause of missions, and \xGv visit gave a now impulse to tho wovk. judson's toils and triaib. 259 THE king's favor OBTAINED. December 18th, 1821, Eev. Jonathan D. Price, who was a physician as well as preacher, joined Mr. Judson at Eangoon about the same time Mr. and Mrs. Hough arrived from Calcutta, bringing the printing press. The emperor, hearing of the medical missionary, sent for him. Mr. Price, being a stranger, and without experience in dealing with Burman dignitaries, desired Judson to attend him. He was very reluctant to leave Rangoon but it seemed unavoidable. Accordingly, Judson and Price, leaving the station in charge o£ Mr. Hough, set out for Ava, August 28th, 1822, reaching it one month later. They were immediately introduced to the emperor, who was very gracious to Dr. Price, inquiring particularly after his medical attainments, but took no notice of Judson for three or four days, except as interpreter. The prime minister, whose acquaintance Judson had made at Ava, recognized him at once, conversed with him on religion, and encouraged him to remain at Ava. After Judson had been there about four days, the king took notice of him, saying, after some questions to Price, "And j'^ou in black, what are you? a medical man, too?" "Not a medical man, but a teacher of religion, your majesty." Having made a few inquiries about the religion, he asked if any had embraced it. Judson replied, "Not here." "Are there any in Rangoon?" "There are a few." "Are they foreigners?" "There are some foreigners and some Burmans. " Mr. Judson felt that he had reached the crisis of his work. Would the monarch show favor to Christianity among his own subjects? The king was silent for awhile, but Judson remarked that he did not seem displeased. Presently his majesty began to ask many questions about religion, astronomy, geogra- phy, etc. , and he and his courtiers appeared much pleased with some of the answers. The missionaries' remained at Ava several months. The emperor built a house for them, and afterward Mr. Price built a house for him- self. Judson also selected a lot for a house, but when he desired to pay for it this conversation occurred: ' ' Understand, teacher, that we do not give you the entire owning of this ground. We take no recompense lest it become American territory. We give it to you for your present residence only; and when you go away we shall take it again." Mr. Judson told him that when ho went away, another teacher would take his place; to which the woongyee replied, "Very well, let him also occupy the place; but when he dies, or when there is no teacher, we will take it," 260 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. EEMOVAL TO AVA. Mr. Judson returned to Rangoon, leaving Dr. Price at Ava. He was much pleased with the result of his visit and trusted that he would be able to pursue his missionary labors now, without hindrance, since the king's favor was secured. December 6th, 1823, Mrs. Judson returned, bringing with her Mr. and Mrs. Wade, as missionaries. Being thus re-inforced and understand- ing the great importance of the royal favor, Judson resolved that he and MRS. JUDSOX TEACHING A CLASS OF NATIVE CON\TCBTS. Mrs Judson should leave the others at Eangoon and go up to Ava to est:i)'[ish a new mission. With the going to Ava opens a chapter of unusual hardships and peril in the history of the missionaries. The journey up the river occupied them six weeks. Whenever they left the boat they were an object of great curiosity to the inhabitants of the numerous villages on its banks. Some of them would run a little distance ahead, then stop and turn around, in order to get a good look JtTDSON's TOILS AND TRIALS. 261 at the strange foreign woman in her novel dress. Arriving at Ava, they were received by Dr. Price; but the walls of his newly-built brick house were so damp that Mrs. Judson was seized Avith a fever in three hours. They then decided to remain in the boat till a house could be built on Mr. Judson's lot. It was completed in two weeks, and was close to the river. It had three small rooms and a veranda. They immediately moved in and commenced the work of instruction, holding meeting every evening, and Mr. Judson preached every Sunday. Mrs. Judson opened a school for such girls as were willing to learn. She commenced with only three, two of whom wore given to her by their father, for their mother was deranged and unable to take care of them. This .scheme of establishing schools proved one of the chief means of building up the native churches. Mr. Judson was received rather coldly in Ava. All the officers with whom he had been acquainted had been turned out, and with the new ones he had neither acquaintance nor interest. Even the king did not notice him as much as before. Prince M. and his wife would not con- verse on religion. Price had gained but little in royal favor. There were rumors of war with the English government, and all foreigners were regarded with suspicion. WAR WITH ETIGLAND — THE MISSIONARIES SEIZED. About fhis time the seat of government was formally removed from Amarapura to Ava. The king, who had resided at Ava for two years, went to Amarapura, and returned from thence in great pomp and state, accompanied by his family and all the great nobles and princes and rulers of the realm. He took possession of his new palace, and estab- lished his government at Ava. Shortly after, an order was issued that no European should enter the palace, and in a few days news was brought that an English fleet had az-rived in the river, and that Eangoon had fallen into their hands. The war originated in the fact that some Burmese, who were obnox- ious to the king, had escaped to Chittagong, and had there been protected by the English goverment. Enraged at this, the king had raised thirty thousand troops and put them under the command of a famous warrior named Bandula, rashly and confidently thinking that with this force he could bring the English to terms. The English, on learning his inten- tions, instead of waiting for Bandula's attack, had sent Sir Archibald Campbell, with six thousand European and Sepoy troops, to bombard Eangoon. Of course, all thia placed the missionaries in great danger, and stopped their work entirely. As soon as the English transports 2G2 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. arrived in the river, Hough and Wade, with all other foreigners, were hurried to prison. Mr. Wade shall tell the rest: " An hour or two afterward the blacksmith came, bringing a rough, heavy chain. It consisted of throe links, each about four inches in length, and pounded together so close as to completely prevent it from bending any more than a straight bar of iron. This was designed for Mr. Hough and myself. He was first seated, his leg laid on a block, the ring placed on his ankle, and pounded down close with heavy blows. The other ring was put upon my ankle in the same manner. Our situ- ation afforded no convenience for lying down, and, of course, allowed us no sleep, or even rest. "The next day the guard of the prison was considerably strengthened, and enjoined to keep us close; all communications with our servants, and things without, was cut ofi'. Shortly after, orders from the ray-woon were conununicated to our guard through the grates of the prison, viz. , that the moment the shipping should open tire upon the town, they were to massacre all the prisoners without hesitation. This blasted all our hopes. The guards immediately began sharpeniiig their instrumerfts of death with bricks, and brandishing them about our heads to show with how much dexterity and pleasure they would execute their fatal order's. Upon the place which they intended for the scene of butchery, a large quantity of sand was spread to receive the blood. Among the prisoners reigned the gloom of silence and death — the vast ocean of eternity seemed but a step before us. Mr. H. and myself threw ourselves down on a mattress, expecting never to rise again, and calmly waited to hear the first gun that should be fired on the town, as the signal for our cer- tain death. " In the meantime an account of our real situation, which we had used various moans to conceal, reached the ears of our afflicted wives. Their feelings can be better conceived than expressed. Who can tell with what agony of soul they listened to hear ths first gun, the messenger which would relate a tale more sad and a^vful than death ilself could relate. At length the fleet arrived, and the attack commenced. The first ball thrown into town came with a tremendous noise directly over our heads. Our guards, filled with consternation and amazement, seemingly unable to execute their murderous orders, slunk away into one corner of the prison, where they remained perfectly quiet, until a broadside from the Liffey, which made the prison shake and tremble to its very foundations, so effectually frightened them, that like children, they cried out through fear and openly declared their intention of breaking down the dooi". They soon found means to break open the door, which being done, they jcdson's toils and trials. 263 all went out, but took the precaution to secure the door again, by fasten- ing it with rattans on the outside." FACING BEATH. About an hour later, during a cessation of firing, forty or fifty armed and furious natives rushed into the prison. Mr. Wade says, ' ' We were instantly seized, dragged out of prison, our clothes torn from our bodies, and our arms drawn behind us with a cord, so tight that it was impos- sible to move them. I thought mine would have been cut entirely to the bone; indeed, we were treated just as they would treat criminals, whom they were about to lead to the place of execution. We were now put in front of several armed men, whose duty it was to goad us along with the points of their spears. After making an exhibition of us through nearly every street in the town, we were at length brought to the Yongdau, or place where all causes are tried, and sentences are passed. Here sat the dispenser of life and doata, surrounded by other ofiicers of the town. He ordered us to be placed before him in a kneeling posture, with our faces to the ground; to which we submitted in the most respect- ful manner. On one side of us was a noisy rabble, crying out all together, 'Let them be put to death !' Theories of the multitude pre- vailed. The executioner, who stood on one side with the knife in his hand waiting the decision, was ordered to proceed." Here Mr. Hough begged for permission to go to the frigate bearing the Enghsh flag and request them not to resume firing. Just then the cannon roared again, and the frightened officers hid themselves. The missionaries, who were prone on the ground, with their necks bared for the executioner's stroke, were permitted to rise. They were hurried to the outskirts of the city, where Mr. Hough's proposal was received and accepted. Meanwhile, the rest were thrown into a wretched dungeon, to be put to death if Mr. Hough failed. But the next morning the Enghsh landed, drove the Burmans f ron the dungeon, and rescued the prisoners, who had been in jail tAvo days and three nights. During this time, Mrs. Hough and Mrs. Wade, though not arrested, were greatly persecuted, and sufi'ered much from anxiety. The converts were all obliged to con- ceal themselves in the jungle. Moung Shwa-ba, however, remained with the ladies, till all three were obliged to disguise as Burmans and flee from the infuriated mob. Miraculous indeed, was the escape of all. Rangoon being now deserted, was occupied by the English; but the rainy reason commencing, and supplies being scarce, a fatal fever broke out among the troops. Accordingly, Hough and Wade went to Calcutta to remain till the war closed. They continued their studies there, and 264 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. published a Bnrman dictionaiy, compiled from the works of Judson, Colman, Carey, and the assistants of the latter. The news of the fall of Rangoon reached Ava seven days after its capture ; ancl "the next morning," writes Dr. Price, "twenty-five gold boats, each mounting a small piece of artillery, and well provided with muskets, started with orders to raise the whole country, if necessary, to drive out the insidious banditti, who had thus come, unawares, upon an unoffending town. SEIZURE OF JUDSON AND PRICE HEROISM OF IVIRS. JUDSON. A few days after this Judson and Price were summoned to appear in secret council chambei', and subjected to a most rigid examination, in re- gard to their business and their relations to the Eng- lish. A little later they were arrested, in company' with other foreigners, cast into prison, and heavily loaded Anth irons. Now began a long sea- son of trial to the faith- ful missionary and his wife. Mrs. Judson gath- ered up the manuscript, a part of the New Testa- ment, which her husband had been preparing, and bm^ed it. She was in a delicate situation, but feeble as she was, wallced nearly two miles eveiy day to the prison, to comfort her poor hus- band, whom she now expected soon to be put to death. She entreat- ed for him as only a wife could, applying to the jailor, to the governor of the North Gate of the palace, to the king's sister, and the queen, for some mitigation of his suf- ferings; for the midsummsr boat, his miseraljle food, the fetid air and lack of exercise, were tolling rapidly upon his health. At length, after AEREST OP MR. JUDSON. JUDSON'S TOILS AND TRIALS. 265 months, she obtained permission to remove him to a separate room in the yard, and there she built a little bamboo house for him, and then the hus- band and wife were permitted to talk with each other in their own Eng- Esh tongue. We might relate touching examples of Mrs. Judson's efforts to cheer up her husband, Avhile ho was thus a prisoner. One day she conceived the idea of making him a mince-pie, such as he had eaten in America — ■ such as he had when he lived at Plymouth and Bradford. With buffixlo beef and plantain she made something to look like an American mince- pie. She was not able to go to the prison that day, and sent the pie by the hands of a servant. When Mr. Judson saw it, the memories of his native land, and the thought of his poor wife's tenderness for him and her simple efforts to impart what comfort she could, quite overpowered him. He bowed his head upon his knees, and wept like a child. There came a time when Mrs. Judson could no more come to the prison. Her visits ceased for twenty days. Then she came in extreme feebleness, wearing the Burman dress, which the governor's wife had given her, and bearing in her arms her new-born babe, pale, puny little thing. Onr readers can conceive better than we can describe the sacredness and the mingled joy and sadness of that interview. It was a comfort to the parents to know that the little infant was, at least, unconscious of the dan- ger that surrounded them. Mr. Judson wrote some lines addressed to his infant daughter, of which the following are a part: Why ope thy little eyes ? What would my darling see? Thy sorrowing mother's bending form? Thy father's agony ? Wouldst see the dreadful sight, Which stoutest hearts appal ; The stocks, the cord, the fatal sword, The torturing iron mall ? No, darling infant, no, Thou seest them not at all ; Thou only markst the rays of light, Which flicker on the wall. IN THE DEATH-PRISON AND THE LION'S CAGE. Two months later the news came to Ava that Bandula, the leader of the Burman army, had been defeated, and that the British had left Rangoon and were advancing on the capital. All the I prisoners were now put into the inner prison, and loaded, each with five pairs of fetters. . 260 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. Their situation was most distressing. More than a hundred were crowded into one room, without any ventilation, except through the- cracks of the boards. They daily expected death. One evening it was * V *. * reported to them that they would be led out to execution at three o'clock that night. It was a night of terrible agony, but the report proved false. JUDSON'S toils Am> TRIALS. 267 The prisoners had a friend in the governor of the North Gate. Although Mrs. Judson had been f orlndden to ask favor for the prisoners, she came to the governor, and entreated with such earnestness that he was moved to tears. "I knew," he said, " you would make me feel. I, therefore, forbade your application. I do not wish to increase the suffer- ings of the prisoners. When I am ordered to execute them, the least that I can do is to put them out of sight." Three times he was ordered by the queen's brother to execute the white prisoners, but he still refused. After lying in the death-prison more than a month, Judson was attacked by fever. A year before the war the king had received from a foreigner the present of a lion, in a cage. The lion was a great favorite with his highness. But when it was found that the lion was the symbol of Great Britain's power, and that the British standard bor-e upon it the figure of a lion, the queen's brother felt sure that the lion was a demon to bewitch the king. So he resolved to put him out of the way. So the lion was also taken to prison and his cage placed close against the prison wall. The queen's brother did not dare to have the lion killed, but unknown to the king he gave orders that he should not be fed. Day by day the beast pined and roared in his prison until he died. Mrs. Judson entreated the governor to let her poor, sick husband occupy the hon's cage, as a little relief from the terrible crowd and heat. She obtained her request. Mr. Judson thanked God for the lion's cage, but the devotion and persistence of his wife sought for him a better quarter. She selected a spot, opposite the prison gate, in the governor's enclosure, and persisted in asking permission to build on it a bamboo hut. When the hut was built the artful woman would not let the governor rest for her importunity to let her husband come to the hut; and we are glad to record, to the honor of the governor's kind heart, that her importunity prevailed. TERRIBLE MARCH TO OUNG-PEN-LAH. One morning, only two or three days afterward, the governor sent for Mrs. Judson in great haste. She was much alarmed. But when she came it seemed that the governor only wanted to consult her about some little affairs. He was agreeable, and seemed inclined to detain her with his talk. As she returned home, a servant came to tell her that Mr. Judson and all the prisoners were gone, she knew not whither. Mrs. Judson ran from street to street, enquiring, but could learn nothing, except that the prisoners were gone. The governor had detained Mrs. Judson by his talk that she might not see the removal of her husband, and that he might not hear her entreaties. The prisoners had been sent 268 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. S'ovcruor said to her, "You can do nothing for to Amarapura. The your husband; take care of yourself." Early the next morning Mrs. Judson toolc little Maria, now three months old, and two Burman children, whom she had adoi^tcd, Mary and Abby Hasseltinc, and her faithful Bengalee Cook, and started do\vn the river to seek her husband. She reached Amarapura, and found that the prisoners had been carried fom^ard, four miles, to Oung-pen-la. She made her way, with her babe, to that place, reaching it at nightfall. She slept in a room half -filled with gi-ain until morning. Mr. Judson bad suf- fered cruel treatment from the time he was taken from the bamboo hut. He was stripped almost naked, and his feet More so mangled by the stones and burnt by the hot sand over which he had been driven, that for several days he was unable to stand. The day after her ar- rival the little ■ Burman girl. Mar}', took the small-pox. Then the little babe took it. Mr. Judson was unable to stand upon his feet, and his fever continued. JUDSON BEGGIiSrO MU^K POR MS BABE. At IcUgth Mv. JuclsOU could get upon his feet. There was need of his help. ]\Irs. Judson's health had given way. The little babe, deprived of its natural nom-ish- ment, was threatened with starvation. Mrs. Judson obtained the sympar thy of the jailer, and secured to Mr. Judson the privilege of helping her. Day by day he took little Maria and went round to the Burman mothers of the village asking here and there that they would nurse, for a little while, his poor babe, that she might not die of starvation; but his steps were tottering and painful, for the fetters were upon his limbs. IN LABORS ABUNDANT. 209 CHAPTER XV. IN LABORS ABUNDANT. IIILE the prisoners at Oung-pen-la dai y expected to be led out and offered as sacrifices, the news came that the war was at an end. The services of Judson were in immediate demand as a translater, to aid the Burmans in arranging a treaty with the British government. He was there- fore taken from the prison at Oung-pen-la, carried to Ava under guard, kept in prison there for two days, then guarded to the lioat and takt'u to the headquarters of the Burman army, at Maloun. The boat was small and without a co\'er, and so crowded that he could not lie down. Three days he sat up, without rest, exposed to the scorching sun by day, and the chilly dew by night; his only suste- nance being a bag of refused, l)roken and mildewed rice. AT MALOUN. When Judson arrived at Maloun he had a violent fever, and was almost helpless. But there, a little bamboo hut was prepared for him, and as he lay helpless and almost senseless, papers were brought to him to translate and explain, until he became unconscious and insane. "WTicn conscious- ness returned, he was lying alone in a little room, made by suspending a mat from the projecting eaves of a cook house, and of his insanity had only a vague memory of lieing in tlie prison at Oung-pen-la, as he thought, and of the solemn entrance of the priest, with slit>ven crown and yellow robe, to take out the prisoners and burn them alive. About six weeks Judson remained at Maloun, and then, because of the advance of the English from Prome, was hurried back to Ava. SUTTEEINGS OF MRS. JUDSON. Meantime Mrs. Judson had almost suffered death from fever. Her hair had all been shaven off, and at times all hope of her rccoveiy was given up. Her Burmese neighbors came to see her die. They even said: "She is dead, and if the King of angels himself should come, he could not save her." Judson was led past his own house at night but not permitted to enter, though he begged, threatened, and sought to bribe the guard. The sec- ond day afterward the governor of the North Gate having become secu- rity for his good conduct, Judson was set free. With a throbbing heart 270 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. and a fleeter step than he had been wont to practice for two years, the freed prisoner hurried to his home. "The door stood invitingly open, and without being seen by any one, he entered. The first object which met his eyes, was a fat, half-naked Burman woman, squatting in the ashes beside a pan of coals, and holding on her knees a wan baby, so begrimmed with dirt, that it did not occur to the father that it could be his own. He gave one hasty look and hurried to the next room. Across the foot of the bed, as though she had fallen there, lay a human object, that, at the first glance, was scarcely more recognizable than the child. The face was of a ghostly paleness, the features sharp, and the whole form shrunken almost to the last degree of emaciation. The glossy black curls had been shorn from the finely-shaped head, which was now covered with a close-fitting cotton cap. The whole room presented an appearance of the very extreme of wretchedness, more harrowing to the feelings than can be told. There lay the devoted wife, who had followed him so unweariedly from prison to prison, ever alleviating his distresses, without even common hireling assistance. He knew, by the very ar- rangement of the room, and by the expression of sheer animality on the face of the woman, who held his child, that the Bengalee cook had been her only nurse. In the treaty of peace, Burmah ceded Arracan and the Tenasserim, two provinces on the coast, to Great Britain. It was also stipulated, that the missionaries should be set at liberty, and all the property taken from them, returned. The Burman government realized that Judson might be made of great benefit in the future, and sought to keep him at Ava; but the memory of all they hadsufiiered, and the thought of a home among English people, and under protection of the English government even there, in iar off Burmah, made all pursuasions to remain at Ava useless. MOONLIGHT ON THE lERAWADDY "FREE, ALL FREE." Mr. Judson describes the feelings with which they left Ava and floated down the Irrawaddy to the English camp at Yandabo. 'Tt was on a cool, moonlight evening, in the month of March, that, with hearts full of gratitude to God, and overflowing with joy at our prospects, we passed down the Irrawaddy, surrounded by six or eight golden boats, and accompanied by all we had on earth. * * * y^Q now, for the first time for more than a year and a half, felt that we were free, and no loflger subject to the oppressive yoke of the Burmese. And with what sensations of delight, on the next morning, did I behold the steam- boat, the sure presage of being within the bounds of civilization." It is said that Mr. Judson was wont, in after years, to speak of his IN LABORS ABUNDANT. 271 highest experience of earthly joy as " floating down the Irrawaddy with his wife and children in his arms, free — aU free." AT THE BRITISH CAMP. At the British camp the Judsons wore highly honored. Their history was pretty well known and all felt an admiration, especially for the courage, rare judgment, and wifely derotion of Mrs. Judson. Sir Archi- bald Campbell, the General, came to meet them at the landing. He had prepared atentf or them near his own, and larger than that which he occupied; and a few days later, when he gave a state dinner to the Burman am- bassadors, attended with as much parade and dignity as the English camp could put on, the General conducted Mrs. Judson to the table, and seated her by his side. The lady describes the con- fused and alarmed looks of the Burman officers when they saw her there, so much respected and honored, for some of them had treated her very cruelly. JUDSON RESUMES MISSIONARY WORK. After a little rest, and the settlement of the treaty at Yandabo, Mr. Judson went to look after the mission at Kangoon. The Peguans had possessed the place. They were old enemies of the Burmans and hoped in the present calamity of the oppressors to gain their own independence. Everything was in confusion. The mission house was destroyed and the converts scattered; and it was manifest that some other place must be chosen as the center of future labors. Everything suggested that the - headquarters of the mission should now be established within the British provinces, for in them would be found the same Burman population which had hitherto occupied them, aud the missionary work would be greatly facilitated by British influence and protection. Mr. Crawford, the civil commissioner, desired Judson to accompany him to select a site for the EngUsh capital. He did so, and the site was chosen at what was before known as Point Kyailcanjee, on the Salwen river, and there a AKN H. JXIDSON. 272 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. towii was laid out and called Amherst. Sir Archibald Campbell, however, considered Maulmain, twenty-seven miles further up the river, the better point for a military fortification. He accordingly made it his headquarters; the population, in consequence, gathered there, and it was in a short time made the capital of the Tenasserim provinces, instead of Amherst. SELF-DENYING FIDELITY. After the treaty of peace signed at Yandabo, it was desired that a commercial treaty should be established. Mr. Crawford was appointed to conduct the negotiations. He had become intimately acquainted with Judson, and having the highest confidence in his ability desired his assistance. Judson, hoping that he might secure some privileges to Christian missionaries in the new treaty, consented to serve on the embassy to Ava. We note this fact because it was the occasion of testing Mr. Judson's deep devotion to the missionary work and his thorough loyalty to the Missionary Board. He felt that as a servant of the Board he had no right to engage in any work which did not look directly to the advance- ment of the mission. And even when with the hope of doing something in this way, he went on the embassy to Ava, he turned over to the Mis- sionary Board the very liberal pay of 5,200 rupees which he received for services. And his conduct in this matter determined the rules which governed missionaries sent out afterward. The missionaries were sei'vants of the Board, sent out for a special work, and dependent on the Board for a support. They had no right to make the influence thus given them in heathen countries a means of serving themselves for gain. Whatever seemed important to the cause of Christianity might receive their attention, but any special compensa- tion for special service should be considered as paid to the Board, and so turned over to it by its agents. Thus, Mr. Judson, upon his own motion, set a precedent in this matter by which he desired the Mission- ary Society to establish its rules thereafter, that such complications and misunderstandings as had disturbed the Serampore mission, in India, under Carey's management, might not arise again. It is to the honor of Mrs. Judson that she was not altogether satisfied about her husband's serving for the British government, and entertained some fear lest he should be turned aside thereby from the simple work of saving souls, and that her last message to him was a caution against' such 9, course. IN LABORS ABUNDANT. ST3 THE GREATEST TRIAL. Three months after her husband's departure to Ava, Mrs. Judson was stricken down with fever. She anticipated a fatal result. "" The hard- GKAVE OF MKS. JUDSON. ^Mps through which she had passed had broken her constitution. Mr. Judson was informed of her sickness but it was not represented, as 274 LIGHT m DAEKNES8. serious. It may, therefore, be imagined what were his feelings when receiving a note from Amherst, dated October 21st, and hastily opening it he read these lines: My Dear Sir : To one wlio has suffered so much, and with such exemplary forti- tude, there needs but little preface to tell a tale of distress. It were cruel indeed to torture you with doubt and suspense. To sum the unhappy things in a few words Mrs. Judson is no more. We do not need to pause in this narrative to offer any special tribute to the memory of Ann Hasseltine Judson. Her name is "as ointment poured forth" in ail the churches. And aside from her pure and sublime devotion to the cause of her Savior, her intellect and culture, her clear judgment, her cheerful fortitude, and her devotion as a wife, inspire admiration for her in all who know the story of her life and work. Just when the poor woman began to see the end of hardship and perils she was called away. In the absence of her husband, a few native Chris- tian women attended her and performed the last offices of affection to the dying. To these she spoke in the vague, half-consciousness of her delir- ious and failing mind. "The teacher" — that is what they called Jud- son — "the teacher is long coming; and the new missionaries are long coming; I must die alone, and leave my little one; but as it is the will of God, I acquiesce in His will. I am not afraid of death, but I am afraid that I shall not be able to bear these pains. Tell the teacher that the disease was most violent, and I could not write; tell him how I suffered and died; tell him all that you see; and take care of the house and things until he returns." On the bank of the Sal wen, at Amherst, the stranger visits the grave of Mrs. Judson. One of Mr. Judson's letters, after his return, begins: ' ' Amidst the desolations death has made, I take up my pen once more to address the mother of my beloved Ann. I am sitting in the house she built, in the room where she breathed her last, and at the window from which I see the tree that stands at the head of her grave, and the top of the small, rude fence which they have put up to protect it from incautious intrusion." Just six months after the mother, little Maria died and was buried by her side under'the hopia — the hope tree. THE MISSION REINFORCED. "We cannot spare the space to follow Judson's career to the end of his long service in Burmah. What wo have related will be sufficient to ac- quaint the reader with the character of mission work in that country. Soon after the death of Mrs. Judson the new missionaries, of whom she had spoken in her sickness, came. Mr. and Mrs. Wade arrived IN LABORS ABUNDANT. 27^ November 23, 1826, and on the 7th of April following, Mr. and Mrs. Boardman. Meantime it had become evident that Maulmain was to be the principal town of Tenasserim, and so the missionaries proceeded there to establish their headquarters. Here arrangements were made for preaching to the English, the Burmans, and the Karens. A girls' school was established by Mrs. Wade and Mrs. Boardman. Mr. Boardman also opened a school for boys. JTODSON FINISHES HIS GREATEST WORK. After this, Judson went again to Rangoon to revive the mission there. Here, by direction of the Board, he applied himself to finish the transla- tion of the Bible into Burmese — a work which was onerous to him, for he loved most to be traveling and preaching; but, with self-denying toil, he now shut himself up from other work until the great task was done. January 31st he wrote: "Thanks be to God, I can now say I have 'attained.' I have knelt down before Him, with the last leaf in my hand, and implored His forgiveness for all the sins which have polluted my labors in this department, and His aid in future efforts to remove the errors and imperfections which necessarily cleave to the work; I have commended it to His mercy and grace ; I have dedicated it to His glory. May He make His own inspired Word, now complete in the Burman tongue, the grand instrument of filling all Burmah with songs of praise to our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! Amen." From the time the British acquired possessions in Burmah the mission- ary work moved forward with great success. The Propagation Society entered the field and planted many churches and schools along the Irra- waddy. It also penetrated up the Rangoon and towards Mandalay. Judson continued his labors till 1850. On the 12th of April of that year he died on ship-board, and his body was buried in the Bay of Bengal, three days' sail from Burmah, toward the Isle of France. His work is his highest eulogy. His name shall be held in everlasting remembrance. The one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Adoniram Judson occurs August 9 of the present year (1888). In commemoration of the event it is proposed to erect a "Judson Memorial Church" at Mandalay, the capital of Upper Burmah, and in sight of the pi-ison-pens of Oung- pen-la and Ava. :7(i LIGHT IN DARKNESS. CHAPTER XVI. THE WORK AMONG THE KARENS. UEESfG the Burman and English war (1824-1826) a Bur- mese convert in Rangoon bought a Karen slave. He was-, ignorant and stolid, had been a robber, and had com- mitted murder. His Burman master presented him a tract, from which he obtained his first ideas of the Chris- tian religion. Afterward this man, whose name was Ko- Thah-Byu, was transferred to the family of Mr. Judson, and W'is taken by him from Amherst to Maulmain. Jud- son found Ko-Thah-Byu willing to learn, though his progress was very slow. Judson also had the pleasure of seeing the results of his instruc- tions in the increasing thoughtfulness of his pupil; Ko-Thah-Byu became a sincere seeker after Christ. We have spoken of Mr. Boardman's arrival at Amherst shortly after the death of Mrs. Judson. By Mr. Judson's advice he went, in the spring of 1828, to Tavoy to establish a work among the Karens. He took Ko-Thah-Byu with him, and soon afterward baptized him. This first convert among the Karens was afterwards known as the " Great Karen Apostle." He was full of zeal for the conversion of his people. Almost from the time of his baptism he began to make excur- sions into the country to preach the gospel. He generally brought back with him some of the people whom he had persuaded to come and see and hear the great teacher, Mr. Boardniim. Ko-Thah-Byu was a preacher of great power to the more ignorant of his people. He was rude and ha'd Irat few ideas, but he had a sound Chris- tian experience, and out of his own heart drew the most forcible pictures of man's natural sinfulness and the way of salvation through faith in the atonement. No preacher ever accomplished more for the Karens. He traveled far and wide, and was an important forerunner to the mission-. aries who followed. He served Mr. Boardman as interpreter on his fii'st preaching tour. The following story is related of the conduct of the Karens at the first village which Mr. Boardman visited: As soon as the 'people saw him they all ran away and hid in the thick- ets, for they took him to be a tax collector. He sat down with his Bur- man companion and patiently waited for the people to return. After a while a few of the men mv;stered up their courage and came forth, and WORK AMONG THE KAEENS. 277 asked what was wanted. On learning their real object, and that the missionaries were not government officials, they became very glad, and at once asked if the strangers had at last brought God's book for the KO-THAH-BYU. Karens. Twelve years before Boardman's arrival, an Englishman had given a Karen prophet a book, telling him it was the white man's sacred book. The Karens, being totally ignorant of letters, could not ascertain 278 LIGHT IN nARKNESS. the true character of the book. Accordingly, they wrapped it in muslin and enclosed it in a basket daubed with pitch. Thus it was carefully preserved till the arrival of Mr. Boardman. Upon Mr. Boardman ask- ing that the book be produced, the prophet returned to his village, and in a few days came, bringing the basket, and followed by a numerous Iraiii. All listened with great anxiety for the verdict. The volume proved to be an Episcopal prayer-book, bound with the Psalms. Upon hearing the decision of the missionary, and his purpose in coming among them, the people were greatly pleased. The old seer at once declared his duties were ended, and cast away the insignia of his office. KO-THAH-BYU PREACHING IN A liABEN HOUSE. Tavoy, ^^here Mr. Boardman established his headquarters, is so thickly embowered in trees that it resembles a grove more than it does a city. It contained at that time fifty Buddhist monasteries, and about 100 pagodas, the largest of which was 100 feet Mgh. The whole city resounded with the tinkling of the mjrriad breeze-rung beUs that swayed among the treei?. Mr. Boardman had considerable difficulty in securing a suitable place for the establishment of his mission house, but finally secured the lease of the groimds of an old ruined pagoda. WOEK AMONG THE3 KAEENS. 279 DEATH OF BOAEDMAN. Having established himself in his new quarters, his first trip was to visit the village of the old chief who had brought him the prayer-book. He was there warmly welcomed. He continued in the evangelistic work for three years, oftentimes in peril in the Avilderncss, where it was doubtful which were the more merciless — the tigers or the robbers. In 280 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. 1821 he and his family were in groat danger during the Tavoy rebellion. The insurrection was soon put down, and the good work went on. But the exposure to which Mr. Boardman was subjected during the first day's siege brought on an incessant cough. Early in 1830 he went with his wife and children to Maulmain for a change of air; but it was of no avail. Shortly after reaching it his youngest child died. Finding he was not improving, he returned to Tavoy, where he Avitnessed the bap- tizing of eighteen converts by Moung Ing, a Burman ordained preacher. Mr. and Mrs. Mason had now arrived at Tavoy. Anxious to visit his beloved Karens once more, Boardman was placed in a litter, and the entire party set out. On the third day they reached the chapel which the Karens had erected at the foot of their native mountains. Here Mr. Mason baptized thirty-four female converts. Forty-six Kerens had been baptized within two months. Mr. Boardman met his disciples that evening for the last time. Early the next morning the party started on the return journey. A little after noon on the next day, Mr. Boardman died. He was buried near a ruined pagoda at Tavoy. Three British officers in the Indian service, placed over his grave a slab bearing the following inscription: " ASK IN THE CHKISTIAN VILLAGES OF YONDER mountains: WHO TAUGHT YOU TO ABANDON THE WORSHIP OF DEMONS ? WHO RAISED YOU FROM VICE TO MORALITY? WHO BROUGHT YOU YOUR BIBLES, YOUR SABBATHS, AND YOUR WORDS OF PRAYER? LET THE REPLY BE HIS EULOGY. " Mason took up the work as Boardman left it, and labored with great success for more than forty years, entering upon the work in 1831 and continuing till his death in 1874. He translated the entire Bible into Sgau Karen, finishing the arduous task in 1853. From the time Mason entered upon his work the conversion of the Karens was rapid. Scarcely any period of revival in the churches of Christendom record such wonder- ful triumphs of the Gospel. There were a number of faithful mission- aries whose labors were cotemporary with the work of Mason. There were, also, some very efficient native helpers. BITTER PERSECUTIONS. At times the poor Karens were sorely persecuted, for some of the Burman rulers were exceedingly hostile to the Christian religion, and exhibited their hatred in pursuing the Karens more relentlessly than they did their own people who embraced Christianity. Hundreds of families were driven from home, and left to wander with- WORK AMONO THE KARENS. 281 out food or shelter. Some were crucified and then placed on rafts and turned adrift, that they might be tantalized by the sight of water all about them, while they suffered from fearful thirst; others, after cruci- fixion, had sharp sticks, t^vo feet long, driven down their throats; scores were hunted down like wild beasts. Yet in all this they scarcely ^ever faltered. In the midst of one of these seasons of persecution, one Karen chief asked a missionary for some books. He had just been released from prison; and on being told he would lose his life if me Burmans 283 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. found the books in his possession, he ropHod, " Should so much sooner get to heaven." As late as the year 1851, the Burmese viceroy of Rangoon told Mr. Kincaid he would instantly shoot the first Karen whom he found able to read. But the saying that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church," was fulfilled in the progress of the Gospel among this heathen people. The examples of devotion and of heavenly hope that were exhibited by the Karen martyrs illustrated the saving power of their religion and attracted to it more general regard. Besides, in dispersing the Christians and compelling them to flee to distant places for safety, the knowledge of Christ was the more spread abroad. A GREAT ANNIVERSARY. In 1878, the fiftietn anniversary of the baptism of the first Karen con- vert, Ko-Thah-Byu, was celebrated at Bassein, by the dedication of ' ' Ko- Thah-Byu Memorial Hall," the picture of which is here given. This hall was built for a church and school. It measures 131 feet on the south front, 131 on the east, and 104 on the west. It has a splendid audience room 66 by 38 feet, with a fine gallery. Along the east side is carved in Karen, ' ' Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." On the west, "These words * * * * thou shalt teach diligently to thy children. " This building cost fifteen thousand dollars, all of which was raised by the Karens. It represented twenty thousand native Christians. On Gospel Hill stands Ko-Thah-Bjoi Memorial jHall, confronting Shwa-Note-Tau pagoda on the opposite hill with its shrines and fanes. The Karen churches are now mostly self-sustaining. Burmah has taken her place alongside of Christian states in contributing to send the gospel to the heathen. In the contributions to the Baptist Missionary Union in 1880 there were only two states, New York and Massachusetts, that outranked Burmah. Massachusetts gave $11,312.72; New York, $39,409.78; Burmah, $31,616.14, and of this amount the Karen churches gave $30,000. The government administration report for British Burmah for 1880- 1881 pays a glowing tribute to the Baptist missions in that country. It reports four hundred and fifty-one Karen Christian parishes, most of which supported their own church, parish school and native pastor; besides which many of the churches contribute considerably to mission- ary work. The report adds: " Christianity continues to spread among the Karens to the great advantage of the commonwealth; and the Christian Karen communities are distinctly more industrious, better WORK AMONG THE KARENS. 283 educated, and more law-abiding than the Burman and Karen ^-illag('.s around them. The Karen race and the British government owe a great debt to the American missionaries, who have, under Providence, wrought such a change among the Karens of Biu'mah." England has, within the past tvv'O years, extended her authority over the KO-TIIAH-BYU MEMORIAL HALL. whole of Burmah, and the entire country is Ijeing rapidly brought under the influence of Christianity. SIAM. Wc have spoken of Siam as the largest and most populous division of Farther India. The country is divided into forty-one states, each under the rule of an officer called the Phaja. The population is estimated generally at 8,000,000; among whom are a great many Chinese. The religion of the people is Buddhism. Siam is noted for the beauty of its Buddhist temples. They are built amid the most beautiful natural scenes, and adorned with sweet-toned bells so hung as to be swayed and rung by the wind. Their varied silver notes ever mingling, rising and falling as the breezes swell or fall, make a weird music which blends fitly with the sound of waving trees and splashing waters. Bangkok, the capital of Siam, is the Venice of the East, finely situated GILDED TEMPLE OF SLAJM. 281 WORK AMONG THE KAEENS. 28^ for Irado, and commanding a region of wonderful fertility. It is near the mouth of the Meinam river. THE WHITE ELEPHANT. Siam is called the "Country of the White Elephant," because here the wirite elephant is found and worshipped. The people of Burmah also wor- ship the white elephant, but it is in Siam that he is most venerated. The sldnofthis creature is nearly white; rather of a light, sandy color; and foreigners have irreverently suggested that this pecuUarity is the result of a species of leprosy — a suggestion which seems very profane to a devout 286 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. Buddhist. Ho sees in the sublime equanimity of the white elephant a soul far advanced upon its journey to Nigbcm, or I^irvmia, the state of eternal rest. This is its last manifestation in the flesh — the end of its long and weary transmigrations. The white elephant has his palace adjoining that of the king. His home is a lofty hall, gilded from top to bottom; its dome supported by gilded pillars. His bed is covered with rich crimson silk. His trap- pings are of cloth of gold studded with large diamonds and other precious stones. His eating and drinking vessels are of gold, inlaid with costliest gems. A tall, black velvet curtain hangs before his apartment, to con- ceal him from profane eyes. He has his secretary of state and officers of the household, to receive with clue honor nobles and princes that may_ come to do him reverence. Kich presents are brought, and placed out- side the velvet curtain, on rich carpets, and the devout offerers wait beside them. The noblest and greatest of m.en must wait a time with patience before they are privileged to behold the worshipful beast. "When the cur- tain rises, men fall prone upon their faces before his awful majesty. MISSION WORK IN SIAM. But little missionary work has been done in Siam. The Baptists en- tered the country in 1832. Mr. Jones, the first missionary, began a translation of the Bible into Siamese in 1834, and finished it in 1843. It is said to be a very excellent work. The efforts of the Baptists in Siam were, however, almost exclusively in behalf of the Chinese. Dr. Dean organized among them, in 1837, the first Chinese church in all Asia, and to them the work is still confined. They have at this time (1887) fifty- two stations in Siam; eighteen churches, two of which areself -Sustain- ing; one at Kinliwa, and the other at Swatow. They have 1,41:3 members. The American Presbyterians began missionary work among the natives of Siam in 1840. Up to the present theirs is the principal work, though but little has yet been effected. The Wesleyan Methodists have just begun work in Siam. THE OUTLOOK. Except Japan, no field is now more inviting. The whole country which, fifty years ago was closed against foreigners, is now fully open to trade with foreign nations and open also to Christianity. The late Kings of Siam have been educated men. The present king is an astronomer, and next to the Mikado of Japan, the most progressive monarch in Asia. He is favorable to Christianity and has gi-anted land and given money, to further missionary enterprises. In a public document the government beai's testimony to the benefits WORK AMONG THE KARENS. 287 conferred upon the country by Christian missions. It says, "The American missionaries have always been just and upright men ; have never meddled in the government nor created any difficulty with the Siamese; have lived with the Siamese just as if they belonged to the nation." Siam feels throughout her extent the influence of Western civilization. She is connected by telegraph with Christian countries. PRESENT KING OF SIAM. This also must be noted, that, in the history of the relations between this country and Christian nations, there has been no circumstance to preju- dice her people against Christianity. It seems highly probable that the present king may declare in favor of Christianity. Ho is now thirty- three years of age, a man of good character, a scholar, a friend of mis- sions, and anxious to advance all the interests of his country. Recently, 288 LIGHT IN DAKKNESS. upon the death of his wife, the king sent to a missionary for a copy of the New Testament, and the person sent on this mission, and who was the king's elder brother, stated as the reason for the request- he made that the king had lost faith, in his own religion. Dr. Pierson, author of the "Crisis of Missions," remarks upon this circumstance, "It might cost the king liis crown or even his head, to espouse the Christian faith ; but wliat meaning lies enfolded in the fact that this disconsolate mon- arch flies to the Christian's Bible for the solace in his bereavement that his pagan creed is unable to supply ! How much nearer may Siam be to becoming a Christian nation than many of us think ?" BCKNE IN SIAM. CHINA. CHAPTEK XVn. HEK AKTS, CUSTOMS AND RELIGIONS. HINA is the most ancient and the most populous empire on the face of the globe. Its territory is estimated to be one tenth of the land surface of the earth, and its population one-fourth of the human race. Before the most powerful Western nations came into existence China had many arts which the former have but recently discovered. The Chinese invented the mariner's compass eleven hundred years before Christ. They had the greatest canal in the world four hundred years before any canal was known in Europe. They were the first to make artesian wells and to use chain-pumps; the first invent- ors of gun-powder and of the art of printing. Their penal code is two thousand years old and their civil service examinations, which ^ve of the United States have j ust begun to imitate, they have practiced for twelve centuries. When our barbarian forefathers were wandering about the northern coasts of Europe, ignorant of letters or any of the fine arts, the literary Chinaman, dressed in silks and satins, was lounging on his sofa and drinking tea from painted porcelain cups. The Chinese have been from immemorial time an energetic, toiling nation. The great wall of China is fifteen hundred miles long, from fifteen to thirty feet high, and broad enough for six horsemen to ride aljreast on the top of it. It traverses lofty mountains and sweeps along the brink of dizzy precipices. This wall was built two hundred years before the Christian era. The Grand Canal, built by Kubla Khan, in the thirteenth century, 650 miles long and varying in width from 200 to 2,000 feet, is but the great artery for the most extensive system of navigation and irrigation ever wrought out by the skill of man. There are four hundred canals traversing the map of China. 19 L-D 289 290 CHINA — CUSTOMS AND EELIGIONS. 291 THE GOD OF LITEBATDEE. China has the largest bridge in the world — her structure at Lagang, over an arm of the China Sea. It is five miles long, built entirely of stone, has 300 arches YO feet high, and a roadway 70 feet wide. The parapet is a balustrade, and each of the pillars, which are Y5 feet apart, supports a pedestal on which is placed a lion 21 feet long, made of one block of marble. The Chinese have a venerable literature, and even their most ancient records testify of a still more ancient civilization. There are records graven on the rocks of Hung-Shan which were written, it is supposed, two hundred and fifty years before the call of Abraham, and which commemorate a great engineering work. One of their books Avas composed by their emperor, Wun Wang a century before the reign of David. The lexicon of their language dates l)ack almost to the Christian era and the imperial library of eighty thousand volumes was old when the great Alexandrian library was burned. CONTRARIETIES. In customs the Chinese seem contrary to the whole world. As com- pared with ourselves they appear to take the opposite way in everj^thing. Their compass needle points south instead of north, and they say west- south and eastnorth instead of southwest and northeast. They are very fond of fireworks, but i)refcr to have them in the dajtime. The family name is first and the given name afterward. A Chinaman would say Smith John and not John Smith. In getting on their horses they mount on the right side. Their old ' men fly kites and walk on stilts while the little boys look' on. It is a sign of respect to keep the hat on, and the seat of honor is at the left hand. Visiting cards are painted red, and are four feet long. The Chinese think that the seat of the understanding is the stomach. Their boats are drawn by men and their carriages run with sails. A married woman, while young and pretty, is the slave of the household, but when she becomes old is the most honored and influential of the family. The piece of furniture which a man most values in his house is his coffin, which he provides first of all and keeps in the best room. The Chinese wash their faces in hot water and their clothes in cold water. In salutation they shake their own hands and not 292 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. the hands of others. White is worn for mourning and brides dress in scai'let. They use mats for beds and blocks of wood for pillows. They plaster their houses on the outside. A son presents his father a coffin as a mark of affection, and when he presents it he says, ' ' May you live a thousand years." When a man dies his bodyjs often kept in the sitting-room in its coffin for two years. The Chinese ahvays have feasting and music at their funerals. They prefer to eat green fruit to ripe. They cannot bear the taste of milk, butter or cheese, but are very fond of castor-oil, snails, and almost all creeping things. There is scarcely anything to be found that they will not eat. They shave their eyebrows, while the hair on the back of their heads is allowed to grow down to their feet. In building a house the roof ■ is put on before the lower part is finished. They begin at the top and go downward. The farmer's plow has but one handle, and the carpenter's saw cuts two ways — different ^^^at each end. A man, in saving a house, always backs himself out. Instead of sajdng ' 'Good morning,'' the Chinaman says ' ' How old are you ? " They like to wear their finger nails four inches long. We blacken our shoes and the Chinese whiten theirs. In eating we take soup first, they last. Their men ride sidi'wise, and their women astride. They launch ships sidewise, I'ing bells from the outside, and turn their screws in the opposite direction to what we do. Their soldiers wetir petticoats and carry lanterns and upibvelhvs, Their detect- KITE FLYING. CHINA — CUSTOMS AND RELIGIONS. 293 ires sound a tom-tom at night to glva thic\'os notice that they are coming. But we will not draw out further this catalogue of drolleries. There are other points in whicli strange contradictions appc^ar. Jealous of learning, and the arts, they still venerate tlie past and oppose innovations. Possess- ing a high degree of civilization, they have held the same institutions for twentj^-five hundred years. Encouraging home industry, they have still shut off foreign trade. GOVERNMENT. The government of China is an absolute monarchy. There is no written constitution. The will of the emperor is supreme and the lives of his subjects at his caprice. This principle prevails from the dragon throne down to the lowest officer. Every man in China is subject to the will of his superior, without appeal. Even parents have the power of Ufe and death over their children. The old patriarchal rule seems to have originated and typed the govern- ment of the empire, and the sentiment that the emperor should rule as a father, and that every governor of a province should ex- ercise a fatherly over sight of his subjects, is the chief influence to restrain from tyranny. But it cannot be other- ■^^ wise than that a gov- ernment so divided salutation. among a great number of rulers, each absolute in his sphere, and ruUng without any written constitution, must be weak for resistance of foreign powers or the suppression of internal strifes; and that it must also be, in a great measure, incongruous, that being permitted in one place which is opposed in another, according to the wills of the subordinate rulers. The poHtical history of China shows that the country has had its share of invasions, revolutions and rebellions. Twice the country has been subdued by the Tartars, and the Tartar dynasty now holds the throne and rules not over-loyal subjects. CXVIL SERVICE EXAMINATIONS. All civil offices in China are the reward of literary attainment. The officers are called mandarins, and are of nine orders. They are chosen from three classes of learned men, who may be called bachelors, licen- 294 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. tiates, and doctors. All persons may compete for the first degree, ex- cept boatmen, barbers, and actors; these classes are excluded. Those who have attained the first degree may compete for the second, and those of the second for the third. Candidates are examined by the governors of their own towns, and those who are thus approved undergo a second examination, in which the majority are rejected. Those who pass are admitted to compete for the lowest degree. Once in three years an officer makes the circuit of the towns in a district and examines for the first degree. The pupils are shut up, each in a little room by himself, and furnished with paper and pencils and a subject on which to write. About one competitor out of twenty-five succeeds in obtaining the lowest degree. Three years later there is an examination for the degree of licentiate, held at the principal city of each province, at which a small number of bachelors are promoted; and three years later these are examined for the doctor's de- gree. The examination for this degree is hold only at Peldn, where about three hundred are chosen out of fi^o thousand. These are capable of receiving the highest offices, but they are enrolled in order and await their chances. When a vacancy occurs it is filled by lot from the few senior names. These examinations for the public service are conducted with scrupulous thoroughness and impartiality. All who propose to compete in them are obliged to commit to memory the whole system of Confucius, to know all his moral precepts, and to become famihar with all the traditional wisdom of the land. GOVERNMENT OFFICERS. The machinery of the government is carried on by the aid of several boards or councils, which may be described as follows: The four princi- pal ministers of the emperor compose what is called the Interior Council Chamber. Two of these councilors are Tartars and two are Chinese. Next to the Interior Council is the Chief Council of State, composed of a number of assessors, who are chosen from the Han Lin, or Imperial College. The details of government are carried on by six boards which are : 1, the Board of Mandarins, which takes cognizance of the conduct and administration of the civil officers; 2, the Board of Revenues, which regulates fiscal matters ; 3, the Board of Rites and Ceremonies ; 4, the Military Board ; 6, the Supreme Tribunal of Jurisdiction ; 6, the Board of Public Works. There is also the Too-cha-yuen, or office of censors. This body consists of forty or fifty members who are sent to various parts of the empire to preserve a general oversight and report any mis- conduct of the officers. They are also expected even to admonish the CHINA — CUSTOMS AND RELIGIONS. 295 emperor himself if it should seem to be required. These censors have; often displayed great fidehty in the discharge of their duties. It is no small thing to admonish an absolute sovereign of his faults. It is related of one of these censors that when he went to tell the emperor of some faults, he took with him his coffin and left it at the door of the palace. Sung, the commissioner who attended Lord Macartney, reproved the emperor for his attachment to play-actors and his use of strong drink, and told him that by these things he was degraded in the eyes of his subjects. The emperor was enraged at the reproof and asked the faith- ful and courageous censor what punishment he deserved for his inso- lence. "Quartering," said Sung. "Choose another," said the empe- ror. "Let me be beheaded," answered Sung. "Choose again," said the monarch. This time Sung asked to be strangled. The next day the emperor appointed Sung governor of a distant province, afraid to punish him, but desiring to have the keen-eyed and faithful censor as far from him as possible. There are eighteen provinces of the empire, each governed by a vice- roy. These viceroys govern vrithout any written guides, each according to his own judgment, with no restrictions except that once in three years each one is bound to make a full repo;^ of the aifairs of his province and to give an account of his oiun faults, and if he omits to do this faithfully or faults are discovered, he is removed from office and probably put to death. This is the theory, but it is evident that the practice under such a system must be very imperfect. Local authorities are supreme in their spheres, and these often issue edicts of their own out of harmony with the practice elsewhere, and even the edicts of the emperor are by the connivance of local authorities disregarded for personal gain. This statement will prepare the reader to understand how Christian mission- aries accomphshed so much in China, even while the teaching or embrac- ing Christianity was declared by the emperor to be a capital offense. EELIGION — CONFUCIUS. Three systems of religion prevail in China — Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Each has been influenced by the other two. They blend without serious antagonism. An intelligent Chinese favors all, and the common faith is a mingling of all. Of Buddhism we need give no further account, as it has been considered in connection with Farther India. Confucianism is, however, the religion of the state, if it be proper to call it a religion; for the great Chinese sage taught nothing. definitely of God or a future world. Yet, no teacher has such authority and influence 296 IjIght in daricnkss. in China over the ruling classos. All ei\'il officers must be thoroughly road in his teachings, and no one can ol:)tuin office who does not venerate him as the great Master. Confucius is the patron of the state. Confucius was born 551 B. C; the same year Cyrus ascended the throne. About the same time Xerxes was invading Greece; the Jews had just returned from the captivity in Babylon; he was contemporary with the Hebrew prophets Ezekiel and Daniel. His ancestojs wore eminent statesmen and soldiers of the kingdom of Loo, then an independent kingdom, now a part of the Chinese province of Shantung. His father was a military officer, dcccnded from the Shang dynasty, and was over seventy years old when Confucius -svas born. He died before his son was three years of age. The mother of Confucius strug- gled with poverty, and it is said that, as hor son grew up, he did all he could to aid her, and cxn exhibited toward her the most profomid respect. Confucius ^vAs married at the age of nineteen. He had but one son, and ho died in early man- hood, leaving an only son. From him a large posterity — seventy thousand, it is siipposed — -have descended to the present time. When ho was twenty-three, Con- fucius' mother died. The ten succeeding years he spent in the study of the ancient writings, and of nnisic, and in teaching. He attained great reputation as a teacher, and the sons of many eminent men were sent to his school. Disciples began to gather about him, and soon many thousands were willing to acknowledge him as their Master. At the age of fifty-one he was made chief magistrate of a district. Here he put into practice his ideas of good government. His wise administra- tion brought about a great reformation of manners among the people. The king observing his efficiency as a ruler, pronr oted him to the office of Minister of Penal Law. Such was his faithfulness in executing the laws, CONFUCIUS. CHINA — CUSTOMS AND ERUGIONS. 297 it is said, that all violations of the law ceased, and the people paid willing and cheerful obedience. One of his biographers says: "Dishonesty and disoluteness were ashamed and hid their heads. Loyalty and good faith became tlie claaraotcr of the men, and chastity and docility those of the women." It is told that the ruler of the adjoining kingdom of Chi, seeing the great prosperity of the kingdom of Loo, under the administration of Confucius, resorted to a strategt'm to separate Confucius from his sove- reign. He sent beautiful women and fine horses to the king of Loo to seduce him from wisdom and virtue to a life of carnal indulgence. The plan succeeded. Confucius strove in vain to restrain the monarch, and then bade farewell to his king and native country. He wandered about for thirteen years in the neighboring states, teaching disciples, whom his fame everywhere attracted. lie returned to Loo when eighty-eight years of age, broken in spirit and almost despairing of the reformation of man. Five years he continued literary pursuits, and when he came to his death showed no fear and uttered no prayer. CONFUCIAN CLASSIC;S. Confucius was a student of the five books called King {King means a web or the warp of cloth), whicli he edited and left in their present form. The sacred books of China are now : A. The Five Kings: {a) Ylh-King (changes). (S) Shoo-Kmg (history). (c) Siis-King (odes). (d) Le-Ki-King (riches). (e) Oli^un Ts'en (spring and autumn; annals from B. C. Y21 to B. C. 480). B. The Four Books: {a) Lun- Yu. Analects, or Table-Talk of Confucius. (5) Ta-JTio. Great Learning; written by Tsang-Sin, a disciple of Confucius. (c) Chung- T-ujig, or Doctrine of the Mean; ascribed to Kung-Keih, the grandson of Confucius. (d) Works of Mencius. These constitute the Chinese classics with which all the mandarins must be well acquainted. They are books edited by Confucius or written by him or his followers. Confucius did not find his people without a religion, but of what char- acter that religion was we can obtain but a vague idea. The credible history of China goes back of the times of Confucius near eighteen hun- 298 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. dred years, to the reign of the Emperor Yao. "In his time," says Dr. Baldwin, "and during the reign of Shun, sacrifices were offered to Shang-Ti, to heaven and earth, to hills and rivers, and to the gods of the land and grain. It is still a matter of great controversy as to who was the object of the worship paid to Shang-Ti. The characters com- posing this name signify 'Upper Ruler' or 'Supreme Euler.'" He adds that many of the missionaries ' ' consider it probable that the early worship of Shang-Ti was really worship of the true God. Many others, however, seriously doubt or positively disbelieve that God was ever worshipped by the Chinese under this name; while many others, waiving the question of the early usage of the name, are satisfied that it. is now, and has been for centuries, identified with the chief god of the Taoist pantheon, and is not, therefore, a suitable designation for God at this day." CONTUCIANISM. Whatever religious beliefs prevailed in his time, Confucius delivered no views in regard to them, though he seems to have regarded them with respect. There appears to be nothing in his teaching concerning man's relation to God. He acknowledged that he did not comprehend the gods, and thought it best not to teach anything about them. He is credited with saying, " Tlie part of wisdom is to attend carefully to our duties to men, and, while we respect the gods, to keep aloof from them." He has nothing to say of the creation of the world or the origin of man, nor does he claim to know anything of the destiny beyond. Yet Confu- cius participated in the religious ceremonies of his people, at least in the worship of- ancestors; but it is doubted whether this was meant for any- thing more than a compliance with custom to avoid offense. It is said of him tliat one of his disciples asked what were his views about death. He answered, " While you do not know life, how can you know about death ? " And to another, who inquired of him if the dead have any knowledge, ho replied, "You need not wish to know whether they have knowledge or not. Hereafter you will know it for yourself." Yet we cannot think of Confucius as an atheist, while we find among his teachings such precepts as these: " Worship as though the Deity were present." ' ' If my mmd is not engaged in my worship it is as though I worshipped not." Ho is also reported to have said, "He who offends Heaven has none to whom he can pray." From a few of his sayings the reader may gather a general idea of his moral teachings, and the manner in which ho delivered them. 300 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. "If in tho morning I hetir uhoiit tho rigiit way, and in the evening I die, I can be happy. " ' ' Grieve not that men Itnow not you, grieve that you know not men. " " To rule witli equity is lilce the north star, wliich is fixed and all the rest go round it.'' "The essence of knowledge is, having it, to apply it; not having it, to confess j^our ignorance. " " A man's life depends on virtue; if a bad man lives it is only by good fortune." " Some proceed blindly to action, without knowledge; I hear much and select the best course. " " The good man is serene, the bad always in fear." ' ' A good man regards the root; he fixes the root and all else flows out of it. The root is filial piet}'; the fruit brotherly love." ' ' There may be fair words and an humble countenance where there is little real virtue. " "Faithfulness and sincerity are the highest things." " Wlien you transgi-ess do not fear to return." "Learn the past and you will know the future." " What you do not wish done to yourself do not do to others." Confucius laid great stress upon justice in rulers. It is related of him, that he once found a woman mourning beside a grave on the side of the T'ae mountains. One of his disciples asking the woman the cause of her trouble, she replied ; ' ' My husband's father was killed hei'e by a tiger, then my husband also; now my son has mot the same fate." Confucius asked her why she did not remove from a place so dangerous. She re- plied: "There is here no oppressive government." The sage turned to his disciples and said: "My children, remember this; oppressive gov- ernment is fiercer than a tiger." The following sayings of the great Chinese teacher give some sugges- tions of his personal temper and conduct. "At fifteen years I longed for wisdom. At thirty my mind was fixed to it. At forty I saw clearly certain principles. At fifty I understood the rule given by Heaven. At sixty everything I heard I easily understood. At seventy the desire of my heart no longer transgressed the law." He describes himself as "a man, who, through his earnestness in seeking knowledge, forgets his food, and in his joy for having found it, loses all sense of his toil, and thus occupied, is almost unconscious that he has reached old age." Again he says: " Coarse rice for food, water to drink, the bended arm for a pillow — ^happiness may be enjoyed even with these; but without virtue both riches and honor seem to me like the passing cloud." "I daily CHINA CUSTOMS AND RELIGIONS. 301 examine myself in a three-fold manner: in my transactions with men, if I am upright; in my intercourse with friends, if I am faithful; and whether I illustrate the teachings of my master in my conduct." It is related of Confucius that being, on a certain occasion, reproved for a trifling fault, he said: "I am a happy man; if I have a fault men observe it. " Confucius was not a teacher of religion. He certainly did not go beyond the religious teaching of his day. He did not add to it; the best that can be said is that he did not take from it. He found the five books entitled '■'■King'''' akeady very ancient in his time. It is said they had fallen into much neglect. He edited them anew with comments and explanations. He taught his disciples to venerate them. It is said that he placed them upon an altar and dedicated them to BUDHIST PlIIEST ON THE STAGE. Heaven, and returned thanks for having had life and health granted him to finish them. The five books of "J5r//;f/" are not without rehgious teaching. The}' refer to a multitude of objects of worship, but no definite system can be dra-^vn from them. Confucius made no attempt at this. He gave atten- tion to the political and ethical wisdom of the ancients which he crystal- lized in his prece]ots and organized into action. woman's place in CONFUCIANISM. Confucius assigns to woman a low place. Man is supreme in authority over the woman and her highest virtue is obedience and reverence to him. Wlien she is young she must oliey her father and brother; when she is married she must obey her husband, and when her husband dies she must obey her son, if she have a son. She is allowed no i^laco or con- 303 MGHT IN DARKNESS. sidcration in any public affairs. Her solo business is to prepare food and tilings needful for her husliand, and she sliould not be known beyond the apartments. No orders or instructions must proceed from her and she can undertake nothing at her own choice or pleasure. If left a widow she must not think of marrying a second time. It is estimated that there are in China 1,560 temples of Confucius. No idols are found in those temples, nor is the image of Confucius erected there as an object of worship. But there are tablets, tables and altars where the government oiEcials statedly perform, with much ceremony and punctilliousness, certain services in honor of Confucius, presenting to him offerings of grain and fruit and flesh, and chanting odes in his honor. LAO-TSZ. Contemporary with Confucius was another great Chinese teacher, who has exercised even greater influence over the popular noind. This man was Lao-Tsz. While the personal history of Confucius is very fuU and specific, that of Lao Tsz is very vague. He is reputed to have been the son of a peasant and born B. C. 601. He ^vas of the town of Kec in the Idngdom of Tsao, and was the librarian of Chao, the royal city, he died about 579, and was thirty-eight years contemporary with Confucius. Marvelous stories and absurd traditions are connected with his birth and personal character. He is said to have taken nine steps at his birth, from each of which sprang up a lotus flower. ' ' His left hand pointed heavenward, the right hand earthward." He said, " In heaven above and earth beneath, the Tao, or Logos, is alone to be honored." "His hair was white and was seven feet long. His eyebrows were like north stars, green in color and adorned Avith purple hairs five inches long ; his mus- tache and l)card were white and pure as silk ; his cars were even in height with the croAvn of his head ; the eyes like the light of the sun, the pupil of which was square, Avith green nerves ; the nose had a pair of bridges in the form of a divided horn ; his breath of purple color, and fragrant like the L;ui flower ; his tongue was- long and like to embroidery ; his mouth a pearly fountain, full to the brim, its flavor sweet and fragrant and constantly pouring out excellent discourse ; his voice as golden pearls ; the sun temple like a horn ; the moon temple an abyss ; a golden countenance of pearly beauty ; a dragon's forehead most majestic, with the graceful look of the phenix ; the arms reached to the knees ; his body had green hair ; his back a belt of stars. Over the heart was an impression of a coin ; the fingers had the Yin and Yang (dual principles). He was twelve feet high (eight feet four inches, English measure). CHINA — CUSTOMS AND KELIGIONS. 303 The whole body had the fragrance of flowers, his visage was Uke porce- laine, his walk hke the step of a tiger." The subject of these traditions was, in truth, a venerable man and teacher of great wisdom for one of his time. He gave himself exclus- ively to religion and the study of the invisible and sj^iritual. Some rep- resent him as originating the system which he set forth. It is generally behevcd that he originated nothing, but that ho occupied the same rela- tion to religion that Confucius did to the ethical system which he taught. He found his people behevers in the Tao, and worshippers of earth and heaven and ancestors. Such faith existed two thousand years before his time. Grounding himself upon the common faith, Lao Tsz elaborated his system. TAOISM. Tao is the spiritual force from which all things which are manifest have n evolved. The Tao is inexhaustible and incomprehensible and was SERVICE IN" A CHINESE TEMPLE. efore the gods. It is present everywhere and all things return into it. It is without desires ; all things proceed from it and all flow back into it again. The Taoist seeks to enter the Tao as the Buddhist seeks to enter Nirvana, and by much the same path. He renounces action. ^'Not to act is the source of all power, " was the constant teaching of Lao Tsz. To be wise, one must renounce wisdom; and to be good, he must renounce justice; and to be learned, one must renounce learning — that is to say, he must cease from active struggle or anxious desire for those things and find the highest good always in a passive state, without action or aim. According to this system of teaching everything proceeds from its opposite, and all things are alike needful. The good man and the 304 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. bad man are equally necessary to each other. To desire aright is not to desire. The saint can do great things because he does not attempt to do them. The unwarhke man conquers. He who submits to others, con- trols them. By the negation of all things we come into possession of all. By not acting one identities himself with the Tao and thus becomes all- powerful. He retires into the infinite and unconditioned being, and so thwarts and escapes all struggles of the finite. In the Taote King, the great text-book of Taoism, written by Lao- Tsz, it is said that " he who knows the Tao need not fear the bite of serpents nor the jaws of wild beasts, nor the claws of birds of prey. He is inaccessible to good and to evil. He need fear neither rhinoceros or tiger. In battle he needs neither cuirass nor sword. " The system of Taoism cannot be clearly defined. It is exceedingly elaborate. Consisting of a system of philosophy of the absolute and un- conditioned, as already indicated, it has also a system of morals and a system of magic. SAYINGS OF LAO-TSZ. The morality of Taoism is generally represented as a selfish prudence, and not as positive goodness or sympathy. Yet Lao Tsz has left some precepts which the best of men admire. We give a few of his sayings to illustrate the manner and spirit of his teachings: "The sage puts himself last, and yet is first; abandons himself, and yet is preserved. Is it not through his having no selfishness ? Thereby he preserves self-interest intact. " " By putting away impurity from the hidden eye of the heart it is possible to be without spot." "He that humbles himself shall be preserved entire. He who is self- exalting does not stand high." " Not looking upon objects of lust keeps the heart from disorder." "The good I would meet with goodness; the not-good I would also meet with goodness; virtue is good." " The faithful I would meet with faith; and the not-faitlif ul I would meet with faith." " Judge not your fellow-men. Be chaste, but do not chasten others. Be strictly correct yourself, and do not cut and carve other people. " "I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize, namely: Compassion, economy and humility. Being compassionate I can be brave; being economical, I can be liberal, and being humble, I can become the chief of men. But in the present day men give up compassion and cultivate only courage; they give up economy and aim only at liberality; they give up the last place and seek only the first. It is their death. CHINA^ — CUSTOMS AND RELIGIONS. 305 Compassion is that which is victorious in the attack and secure in the defense. When heaven would save a man it encircles him with compas- sion." "He who knows the light and at the same time keeps to the shade, will be the whole world's model. Being the whole world's model, eternal virtue will not miss him, and he will return home to the absolute. He who knows the glory, and at the same time keeps to the shame, Avill be the whole world's valley, eternal virtue will fill him, and he will return home to Tao." The reader who compares the teachings of Lao-Tsz and Confucius will hardly fail to give to the former the higher place. While Confucius i]iy ADORATION OF A CELEBRATED DEVOTEE. delivers terse apothegms, full of worldly wisdom, Lao-Tsz sets forth great principles for the guidance of human life. FIVE ORDEES OF TAOISTS. • The Taoists are divided into five principal orders. The first order is called Tsun.g-2Ien. They are those who reside in the temples and lead a recluse and ascetic life. They cherish a dreamy, fan- tastical temper of mind, meditate on incorporeal things, and seek to grasp the Tao. When they attain to the liighest state which mortals may thus reach, they will be al)le to "float upon clouds, and roam to distant places. " They seek to enter Tao as the Buddhists seek to enter Nirvana, and they have more sympathy and afliliation with the Buddhists than with the other orders of their own sect. The second order is Lii^Men, a priestly class, who never marry. They wear blue robes, and large hats made of bamboo leaves. They live in temples and attend upon idols, take regular orders and study 20L-D 306 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. litanies. They subsist chiefly on vegetable food. They beg from door to door. They collect money and build temples, many of them very costly. They are ignorant and profligate in character. The third order is called Kiaw-Men. This is an order of great influ- ence, and claims to represent uncorrupted Taoism. It sprung from Chang-Tao-Lin, in the first century of the Christian era. This man was first a recluse of the first order described. He held a civil oifice for awhile, but resigned it and went away into the romantic mountains of Lung-Hu, in the province of Kiang-Si, to indulge his love of meditation. Here he collected a thousand disciples whom he taught in magic. Later he claimed that Lao-Tsz made him a teacher of heaven and invested him with the appliance for his high commission in books, swords, seals, charms, and other things. With these he began to work miracles at the salt well of Sz-Chwen. Afterward he returned to Lung-Hu, and there he established his house, which still flourishes. A large and beautiful district in the southeast of the Ejang-Si province was set apart for their maintenance. Twenty-four palaces were erected for twenty-four overseers. A fine temple for the Pope and a palace and treasury for his private use. They live in great splendor and are in high repute. They are called upon -to ofler sacrifices for the royal family and the empii-e, to pray for rain and for fair weather in times of famine and flood. They are sometimes sent to exorcise demons from distant provinces. Members of the family have been called to reside at Peking, by invitation of the emperor, that they might be at his service. The fourth order is called Fali-Men. These are, for the most pan;, astrologers and conjurers and fortune tellers. They claim to have power over evil influences and are employed to select sites for houses and places for burial. They are considered experts in telling the favorable- ness or unfavorablencss of the Fung-Shui (the spirit of the place.) The fifth order is called Ko-Men. This order is in every to^ra. They hang out signs to indicate their business and have in each town a head man or overseer. Lr one town are frequently two or three hundred who are regularly licensed to recite prayers. These are responsible to the chief and he to the magistrate and the county overseer. The inferior assistants have charge of a certain number of families. They hold them- selves ready to go at call to pray for the sick or dead. For serving the people they are entitled to so much per day but are required at certain times to perform sei'vice for the officers of their district. The services of these Ko-Men axe in constant demand. CHINA — CUSTOMS AND RELIGIONS. 307 TAOIST DOCTRINES. The Taoists hold the doctrine of a creator of all tllillg^;. The Tao-Tah- Kin, the famous book of which Lao-Tsz is the author, says: "Tao is the hidden element of creation. Creation A\^as predicted by it and dependent upon it." This Tao seems to be impersonal, for the same author tlius speaks of it: "Before the heavens and the earth existed there was a something complete in chaos, silent and solitary. It stood alone and changed not. It circulated everywhere without danger. It may be con- sidered as the mother of the universe. Its name I know not. It is designated Tao. If a name is forced for it we call it Great — OTeat, we say it is ever-going; ever-going, we say it is far off; the far-oflf Ave say returns. Now, therefore, Tao is great, a king is great. In the midst of the universe there are four great and the King is one of them. Man receives his law from the earth, the earth r('ei'i\'es its law from Heaven, Heaven receives its law from Tao, Tao rccei\'es its lavv from Self."' In another of the sacred books, the Tsin Tsin, it is said " The Great Tao is without form and heaA-en and earth exist by it. " Yet to this Tao is attributed the fostei-ing care of a gracious providence, for it is said "All things wait upon it for existence and it refuses none. " "It loves and nourishes all creation and does not lord it o\er them." As to the order of creation the Taoists have various theories. They believe in an evil spirit of great power as the chief of devils. Their ideas of the creation of man are vague, but the}^ hold that there was once a golden age in Avhich man was greater and nobler than now. They reject, however, the doctrine of the natural depravity of man. Man is born good, or rather neutral, neither good nor bad. It is the Avisdom of this world, the knowledge of good and evil, Avhich corrupts man and leads him to ruin. They believe that man has a soul, a spiritual immortal nature, and hold various views about its mode of being and destiny in the future. They hold to a heaven and also to purgatory. It can hardly be said that they believe in hell, for they hold that those in purgatory or in the nine hades shall at last be released. Their sacred books describe a scene in which barefooted genii, Avitli all the hosts of gods, genii and holies, pros- trate themselves before his awful presence. They state the condition of the lost who have suffered long cycles of punishment. The Emperor of Heaven listens, and is moved with compassion, and gives a commission to the barefooted genii to release them. He descends to them and breaks the glad news, a glorious light shines into their dark abode and 1 ly the fiat of the Pearly Emperor they are borne into heaven, where they suifer no more. The Taoist preachers exhort the people to repentance, but this repent- 308 CHINA — CUSTOJIS AND RELIGIONS. 309 ance is expected to bo indicated in more money paid to the temples and for prayers. Prayers and sacrifices have always been made by them. A missionary's view. In reference to the influence of Taoism, Dr. Hart, superintendent of the Centi'al China Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Churcli, holds this language: "Taoism has aflbrded a sinuous outlet for the religious and supersti- tious feelings of the people. Confucianism is too formal uiid irreligious to, in any considerable degree, meet the wants of the masses. Famines invade the land, plagues come with revengeful fuiy, sickness and deatli cover the land, wailing and distress seize upon millions of homes. The souls of the more reverent sorrow for a ))aliu, for some talisman, for their woes. Such thoughts, though ))uried deep in their spiritual natures, begin to germinate in their sorrows and bereavements, and where shall they find noui'ishment for growth ^ Surely not in atheistical Confucian- ism! Ancestral worship is too confined for all their sorrows. Confu- cianism offers no penances for the religious convictions of distressed souls; no hope of a bettef future inspires longing souls after immortalit}-. A M'ail of despair is thrown l)at'k from the lofty heights of its pliiloso- phy; no promised land of beauty peers through its mists; no rivt'rs of living waters flow onward to the ocean of eternity; there are no green mountains packed with fairy-like gorges to encourage the fainting trav- eler in his journey. Taoism, on the other hand, echoes, with smothered voice though it be, whispers from the spirit world. In its religious philosophy there is a beyond, fairer and more perfect than the presi'ut. She undertakes to smooth man's thorny path on earth, and promises him, if obedient to her teachings, a world of blessedness. She attempts to meet or minister to the Chinaman's wants from birth to death. Charms of every description ai"e in vogue, worn upon the person, posted in the houses, upon their doors, in their streets, by the roadsides. Litanies of hundreds of prayers, of supposed divine eflicacy, are everywhere used for sick, dying and dead. Holy mountains filled with spiritual influ- ences are ready for the ascetic-loving ones panting for seclusion from a wicked world. Idols and temples to meet the fancy of the learned and ignorant, rich and poor, devout and irreverent, are everywhere; priests for every emergency. Tracts are scattered by oath-bound hands over the land. Every portent and sign is made use of to excite and rouse the people to religious reverence. What China could have been without Taoist philosophy and its religious rites is impossible to say. Its mould- nio r.lQMT IN DAltKNERS, ing influence has been more negative tlian positive. Tiie corruptions and superstitions of the people have had quite as much to do in shaping its course as it has had in moulding their beliefs. It has been a medium through which a fear and respect, to some extent, for the spirit world has been maintained. In some of its developments it has led the people into the greatest absurdities. Its past and present influence among the people cannot be gainsaid. All the national gods are under its magical wing ; nearly all the sacrifices of the land, divinations, exorcism, arc held CHINA — CUSTOMS AND EELIGIONS. 311 as its patrimony. Her influence, from the ' dragon throno' to meanest hovel, is recognized and felt. "But this religion, native to the soil, although a shade tree to every door, is sere and ready to decay. Its weird and grotesque growth stands palsied in the true education and religion. A greater than Lao-Tsz is speaking to hundreds of thousands of China's sons. Her classics, lit- anies, hymns, are silent in the presence of the truer and purer philosophy of Christ. Her day is at hand, and her sons will cut it down and bury it out of sight forever. " THE OUTLOOK. Yet we can hardly hope that the progress of Christianity shall be rapid in China. There is no country on the globe where the forces to oppose the true rehgion seem so formidable. It is often supposed that the most barbarous people are the most diiEcult to win to Christ. It is not so. Barbarism exists only with the lack of arts, literature or stable government. The civilization that attends Christianity wins the admi- ration and even reverence of savages and they acknowledge its superior- ity at once. No more rapid conquests for the cross were ever made than were won by the Wesleyan missionaries among the cannibals of the South Seas! They found ignorance and savagery, but there was no learning, no government, no organized rehgious systems to contend with. But China is the strongest of all heathen nations. She has the oldest government in the world and her people are wedded to that which is ancient and venerable in her history; jealous of innovations and proud of their institutions. They have religious systems, supported by a ven- erable literature, costly temples, worldly-wise priests, and under these systems the character of the people have been shaped through the centu- ries; and what is more unfavorable, that character is little inclined to respond to the gospel. It is a semi-atheistic character which has little religious conscience. Confucianism is not a religion, but a system of social ethics. Buddhism, as we have shown, scarcely deserves to be called a religion, for it has no definite teaching of God and no hope of eternal life. And Taoism bewilders the mind with endless doctrines and traditions and has no clear voice of duty or of promise. The result is that the Chinese conscience is weak. A Chinaman is reported to have said to a missionary who sought to impress upon him the claims of Christianity, "Confucius, he good Joss; Buddha, he good Joss; Jesus, he good Joss; me no care." That utterance well expresses the indifler- ence of the Chinese mind toward religion, and this indifi'erenoe so crys- tallized in Chinese character is one of the greatest obstacles with which the true religion has to contend in this, the strongest of all strongholds 312 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. of pagan error. But for the reasons given there is the more need that the whole power of Christendom should be especially directed to Chris- tianize China. It is destined, surely, to yield, and if the last, it will be the greatest conquest of the cross. CHAPTER XVni. CHINA THE PIONEERS. iHE London Missionary Society was the fii"st Protestant agency to respond to tlic claims of China upon Christian nations. In 1806 two missionaries, Messrs. Brown and Morrison, were appointed to work in China, and directed to turn their attention to the study of the Chi- nese language, under the instruction of Yong-Sam-tak, a native teacher, then in England. Some acquaintance ^'^P^ with medicine was also thought necessary in preparing for the mission; and because age is especially venerable in China, Dr. Vanderkemp, then in South Africa, was desired to go with the young men, and introduce them in the new field. But Vanderkemp could not think it his duty to leave Africa, and Mr. Brown declined the mission. So the enterprise of introducing Protestantism into China devolved upon Robert Morrison alone. Fortunately, as Morrison was preparing for his work, a harmony of the Gospels and the Pauline Epistles in Chinese were found in the British Museum. A manuscript Latin and Chinese (Uctionary, was also obtained from the Royal Asiatic Society. And thus Morrison was comparatively well furnished, with the aid of his native teacher, to make good progress in his studies. Providence seemed to favor the pious purposes of the church toward China. The same truth will be manifest as this history proceeds in the opening up of many other lands to the light of the gospel. On the 31st of January, 1807, Mr. Morrison sailed for Canton, by way of America. Mr. Madison, our Secretary of State, gave him a letter to the consul at Canton, which afterward proved of great service to him. Canton was at this time the only Chinese port open to foreigners. Here Morrison arrived on the 4th of September, 180T. The missionary secured a lower room, in a retired place, and bowed Mmself like the strong man to embrace the columns of that idol temple '7hich he sought under God to overthrow. He gave himself with ear- 313 314 LIGHT IN DAHKNESS. nestness and prayer to obtain that knowledge of the Chinese language, character, and religion, necessary to success in his struggle with theii- false faith. A lamp of earthenware afforded him light, while a volume of Matthew Henry set before it on end served as a screen to shade the student's eyes. He adopted the Chinese dresc, allowed his hair and nails to grow untrimmed, ate with chop-sticks, and went about in the stiff and club-like Chinese shoe. He did not, i^owever, long continue this, for Canton being open to the world abroad, and foreigners in their native dress being daily seen on her streets, the Chinese were not favor- ably impressed by a man who adopted habits unnatural to Iiim, and the Europeans were also less inclined to associate with him. He, therefore, soon returned to the dress and habits of an English gentleman. He secured more comfortable apai'tments, and, with the best advantages at command, pursued his studies. He wrote to the Society, "Your mis- sionary sits here to-day, on the confines of the empire, learning the language of the heathen; and would go onward, believing that it is the cause of Him, who can and will overturn every mountain of difficulty that may oppose the progress of the glorious Gospel. MORRISON AS A TRANSLATOR. The decline of Morrison's health caused him to leave Canton for a time and go to Macao, a Portuguese settlement. He returned across the estuary of Canton, after three months, only to find it unsafe there, all Englishmen, for the time, being compelled to quit the place on account of a misunderstanding with the Chinese government. He, therefore, took refuge again at Macao. Here he devoted himself to the study of the Mandarin and Canton dialects, and about the close of the year 1808 was married to Miss Morton, the daughter of an English gentleman then on a visit to Macao, and the same day was appointed translator for the East India Company at their factory in Canton, upon a salary which made him independent of the Society's funds. The new situation did not turn the missionary from his main object nor embarrass him in its pursuit. He found his duties as ti-anslator only aided him in acquiring a practical knowledge of the Chinese language, while it gave him time for work on his Chinese dictionary and for evangelistic work among the heathen. He held secret meetings in his own room where he read the gospel to a few of the natives and explained to them the new religion. During the year 1809 a Chinese grammar was prepared for the press, and also a part of the New Testament, but the author hesitated to print them at the time. CHINA— T>tJ5 PIONEERS. 315 BAPTISM OF TSAK A-KO. In 1810 Morrison published a translation of the Acts of the Apostles; but the work cost ten times what it should, it being prohibited under the law, and those who did the work making the fact the occasion of their exorbitant charge. When a copy of the work was sent to the Bii)le Society, the committee voted M(n'rison the sum of five hundred pounds to aid him in the circulation of the Chinese Scriptures. Mr. Morrison sent his grammar to Bengal to be printed in 1811, l)ut the work was not done until 1815, A\-h('n the book was put through the press at Sorampore, at the expense of the East India Company. In the same year, IMl, our missionary published a tract on redemption, and in 1812 the Gospel of Luke. Upon receiving a copy of this work the Biijle Society contributed to its circulation another five hundred pounds. About this time the Chinese government issued an edict against Christianity, forbidding the printing of Christian books and the preach- ing of the gospel, under pain of death. Mr. Morrison avoided, as far as he could all public exhibition of his work but steadily cariied it forward. And the directors of the Missionary Society, to aid and comfort the brave and devoted man, sent Mr. Milne to Canton. After five months at Canton INIilne sailed for Java with a cargo of New Testaments. Two thousand Testaments, ten thousand tracts and five thousand catechisms "which, in spite f)f the opposition of the government. Morrison had carried through the press. This cargo of books Milne dis- tributed among the Chinese of Java, creating great interest among them. In 181:1 Mr. Morrison published the New Testament complete, in Chinese, whereupon the Bil)le Society voted him a donation of one thousand pounds. The East India Company also undertook the publica- tion of his dictionary, a Avork which was completed in 1822, at a cost of about $60,000. This was a j^earof successes; for this year was baptized, after seven years' toil, the first Chinese convert, Tsae A-ko, aged twenty- seven, who after long instruction and trial presented his confession of the Christian faith in these words: ' ' Jesus making atonement for us, is the blessed soimd. Language and thought are both inadequate to exhaust the gracious and admirable good- ness of Jesus. I now believe in him, and rely on his merits for the remission of sins. I have many defects, and without faith in Jesus, should be eternally miserable. Now, that we have heard of the forgiveness of sins through Jesus, we ought, with all our hearts, to rely on his good- ness. When I reflect, and question myself, I perceive that, from child- hood till now, I have had no strength — no merit — no learning. Hitherto, I have done nothing to answer to the goodness of God, in giving me 316 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. existence in the world, as a human being. I have not recompensed the kindness of my parents, my relatives, my friends. Shall I repine? Shall I hope in my good deeds? No, I entirely cast myself upon Jesus, for the remission of sins, and pray God to confer upon me his Holy Spirit. " Remember Tsae A-ko, the first convert to Protestant Christianity in the great Empire of China. He was faithful till his death, whick took place in 181S. During the summer of this year, by the indiscretion of a native, who was engaged in cutting luotul types for the dictionarj', the attention of the local government was attracted to Morrison's work, and the person in whose hands were the blocks for printing the New Testament, fearing that he would be punished for engaging in a business prohibited by the laws, destroyed the larger part of these types. But the resolute mis- sionary proceeded at once to repair the loss, and he was encouraged both by England and America, for the British Bible Society sent him a thousand pounds, and the Tract Society seven hundred, while four hundred was sent from America as a private donation, from a few friends. TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE COMPLETED. "We need not follow the history of Dr. Morrison in all his literary- labors, which were unabated. Enough has been given to indicate the method of his mission. He relied chiefly upon the press to disseminate throughout the great Empire of China a Imowledge of the way of salva- tion. In November, 1818, he completed his greatest work, the transla- tion of the entire Bible into Chinese, and received another thousand pounds fi-om the Bible Society. We give a portion of the letter which the translater wrote respecting his work. "By the mei'cy of God, an entire version of the Scriptures into Chinese has been brought to a conclusion. Mr. Milne translated Job and the historical books; the rest of the Old Testament was wholly my own transla- tion. Of the New, I translated the four gospels, and from Hebrews to the end. The other books of the Now Testament I edited with such abbreviations, as in my conscience, and with the degree of knowledge of the Chinese language whicli I then possessed, I thought necessary. "I always stated, explicitly, that the Chinese manuscript, in the Brit- ish Museum, a copy of which I procured, was the foundation of the New Testament in Chinese, which I completed and edited. "As to opinions which natives may give of the work, the following things should be considered: China has much ancient literature, which has, for many centuries, been the constant study of the learned, who have wrought up the language to an elegant degree of conciseness and classi- CHINA THE PIONEEKS. 317 ical allusions. In consequence of this, they are extronioly fastidious in ivspect to style, and loathe whatever is not classical Chinese. The ' vul- gar talk ' of the Chinese which the literate despise, does not mean low, expressions, but common language, in distinctionfrom an elegant, vulgar classical and recondite style, intelligible only to persons of education. The learned of China think that every respectable book ought to be writ- ten in a sort of Latin, and not in the vulgar tongue." 318 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. It will be seen from this statement of Dr. Morrison that no translation of the Bible could be made, adjusted to the capacity of the common peo- ple, which Avould be respected by the learned. He states that he had not attempted the classical, literary style in his work, but had sought to deal faithfully with the text and give a clear expression to the original. In 1820 Dr. Morrison opened a dispensary at Macao which was well patronized, and promised to do much good, but which he was forced, afterward, to discontinue for want of funds. About this time the missionary began to pass through a series of trials. The first was the death of his wife in 1821, and the second, a difiiculty between the EngUsh and Chinese, which compelle'd the former to aban- don their factory at Canton._ Morrison went to Malacca in 1823, and in 182-t visited England. In 1826 the distinguished missionary was married to Miss Armstrong at Liverpool, and shortly afterward returned to China, where he labored as before, chiefly in the circulation of Christian books, as the hostility of the government presented a barrier to oral instruction. OTHEE PIONEERS. In 1830, E. C. Bridgman, sent by the Ameiican Board, and David Abccl, sent by the American So:unan's Friend Society, arrived in Canton. They Avere of groat assistance to Morrison, and the work went on with renewed vigor. Several pious Englishmen and Americans aided them. A printing press was brought from New York, and in 1832 a monthly magazine, called the Chinese Rejwsitary, was established. Bridgman was its editor. In 1831, Dr. Karl Grutzlaif, of the Netherlands Missionary Society, undertook to penetrate the interior of China. The prejudice against foreigners was great; Canton was still the only open port; but, adopting the Chinese dress, and announcing himself as a " Son of the Western Ocean, " who had come in contact ' ' with the civilizing influence of the celestials," he boldly went to Tien-tsin, in the capacity of physician. He remained there a month, and then pushed into Tartary. Here he Avas often in imminent danger of his life; Ijut, undeterred by the dangers of his enterprise, he continued for several years to A'isit different portions of the empire, and to distribute very large numbers of Christian bbolis. The publication of his travels astounded the civilized world. Many did not believe his story. The London Missionary Society sent Rev. W. H. Mcdhurst, A\^ho had for a number of years been at work in Batavia, to make a voyage along the coast, and ascertain if China was really pene- trable. The voyage was made in the fall of 1835, and proved quite sue- 320 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. cessful. Some opposition from the mandarins was occasionally encoun- tered; but, on the whole, the missionaries felt much encouraged. They made several short inland expeditions, and distributed about eighteen tliousand volumes. The emperor continued to issue his manifestoes against "foreign barbarians," "white devils," &c., but the missionaries coolly went on with their voyages, journeys and distributions, undismayed by the threats of the "Son of Heaven." But, in order that the printing establishment might not be again molested, it was removed to Singapore. In all these movements Dr. Gutzlaff was especially prominent. in 1835, Rev. Dr. Parker, an American missionary and physician, established a dispensary at Canton. The institution was much patronized by the populace, and thousands were relieved. Parker soon had several students under him. One of these learned well, and became an expert. Such work as this did much to allay the suspicion with which all foreign- ers were regarded. DEATH or MORRISON. Dr. Morrison was called to his reward August 1, 1834, after some months of declining health. His last sermon was on the first three verses of the fourteenth chajitor of John, and entitled "Heaven, the Believer's Home," but when the sermon was written he was too feeble to preach it. He continued, how- ever, until the last, to call his servants and dependants together regularly for a service in Chinese. On the last Sabbath of his life on earth he as- sembled about a dozen for prayer. He exhorted the little band with much fervor, though in extreme weakness, and before another Sabbath dawned upon that far heathen land the soul of Roijcrt Morrison was with his God. Just a few days before his death he had received an appointment as Secretary for the English Legation. But his work Avas done, and he was called to a higher station in the Court of the King of Kings, to whose seiwice his life had been given. Dr. Morrison lias justly been counted as one of the most efficient and successful of Protestant missionaries. Yet few that labored so long among the heathen witnessed so little fruit in the Avay of direct conver- sions to Christianity. Only two or three converts Avere made in his entire work of more than tAventy-fivc years. But ho A\rought for the future, and the testimony of all Avho have studied the movements of the Chris- tian Avorld against the poAvcrs of darkness is, that ho Avrought Avisely. ANGLO-CHINESE COLLEGE. We must not omit to mention among the monuments of his Avisdom and zeal, the Anglo-Chinese College at Malacca. Malacca Avas one of the CHINA — THE PIONEERS. 321 first English settlements in the East, and contained about twenty-five thousand population, four thousand of whom wore Chinese. The foun- dation stone of the college was laid in 1818, Dr. Morrison contributing one thousand pounds to the beginning of the enterprise. It was to be a fort cast up against the Walled Kingdom, a place where Chinese students might be taught not only the sciences and literature of the West, but especially the Christian faith. It was a scheme to furnish native mis- sionaries to China. Morrison prepared the weapons which others were to use. He broke up the fallow-ground and scattered wide the seed which the latter rain shall make fruitful in a glorious harvest. In 1814, the same year that Morrison baptized the first Chinese con- vert, Mr. Milne went over to Malacca. Here he could carry forward his work of preparing Chinese books unmolested, besides having access to a larger Chinese population, from which he hoped to win converts. He carried over with him some printers from Canton, and established the Oliinese Magazine, the first number of which was issued August, 1815. The same year Mr. Milne was joined by Mr. Thomas, who came out to establish a Malay mission in Malacca. In the year 1816 more than usual attention was paid to religious instruction by one of the Chinese printers in Mr. Milne's employ. It was not long until he declared himself ready to profess Christianity and take up the cross. As this man became prominent in the work after- ward, we give here the reference to his baptism as contained in Milne's journal: LEANG ATAH. "Novembers — At twelve o'clock to-day I baptized, in the name of the adorable Trinity, LeangKung-fah, commonly called Leang Afah. The service was performed in a room in the mission house. Care had been taken by previous conversation and prayer to prepare him for this sacred ordinance, and finding him still steadfast in the faith I l^aptized him." To show the reader in what manner the missionaries tried and received those who professed faith in Christ we give the questions and answers which were propounded by the minister and returned by the candidate for baptism on this occasion: "Q. Have you truly turned from idols to serve the living and true God, the Creator of heaven and earth? A. This is my heart's desire. "Q. Do you know and feel that you are a sinful creature, totally unable to save yourself? A. I know it. "Q. Do you really believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of the world; and do you trust in Him alone for salvation ? A. This is my heart's desire. 21 L-D 322 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. "Q. Do you expect any woiidly advantage, profit or gain by your becoming a Christian? A. None; I receive baptism because it is my duty. " Q. Do you resolve, from this day till the day of your death to live in obedience to all the commandments and ordinances of God, and in justice and righteousness before men? A. This is my determination, but I fear my strength is not equal to it. " We do not know at what time Af ah returned to Canton but we find from the history of Dr. Morrison's work that he ordained him an evan- gelist before leaving China in 1823. Af ah is represented as devout and zealous, of a sprightly mind and well informed. Besides these quali ties, he was inflexible in his devotion to Christianity and bold and active in his propagation of it. His capacity and spirit may be fairly judged by the following letter which he wrote to the London Society: " I thank the Lord for his wondrous mercy, in converting my whole family. Having been made a partaker of this great grace, my chief happiness is in obeying the precepts of the Lord, and in loving others as myself ; the greatest expression of which is to teach them to know the true God, and the grace of our Lord Jesus, in redeeming the world. The men of my country are deovted to the worship of idols, ignorant of the true God, and of the preciousness of the soul ; hence my heart is stirred up to learn the true way, that I may teach it to them, and thus not ren- der nugatory the grace of God preserving me, and providing a salvation for aU mankind. " I have a partial knowledge of the gospel, but the field of inquiry is unlimited; the more thought that is bestowed upon it, the more profound it appears. I therefore entreat the Lord, by his Holy Spirit, to open the perceptions of my mind, if perhaps I may learn the art of repressing pas- sion, in demolishing excesses, correcting self and admonishing others. "But although learning the principles be easy, carrying them into practice is difficult; therefore I entreat all the teachers in your honored country to pray for me, a simple disciple, that the Lord may increase )oay knowledge, and help me to instruct others. " But the people of the middle country (China) are divided into many sects, and pride occupies their hearts, so that their speedy converson will not, I fear, be accomplished. I can only study the truth, practice it and set an example that will move men's hearts, praying the Most High Lord to convert them. The Chinese are glued fast to ten thousand forms of idols; the root is deep, and the stem strong; to extricate it .suddenly will not be easy. Therefore I hope tha^ all believers in the Lord Jesus, in your CHINA — THE PIONEERS. 323 honored country, will increase in benevolence till all nations become one family, and the gospel be spread throughout the whole world." During Morrison's absence in England, he composed a volume in Chinese, a sort of commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews; also an essay on the Christian rehgion, in which he pointed out the necessity of a savior; and directed his countrymen to the Bible, which had been trans- lated for their use. He also drew up and puljlished an account of his experience. A little later he put into circulation a number of tracts. Through Afah's work Morrison was encouraged. In 1832 he wrote, "I have been twenty-five years in China, and am now beginning to see the work prosper. ' ' By the press we have been able to scatter knowledge far and wide. Agang has been engaged with the Hthographic press, and Af ah in print- ing nine tracts of his own composition, besides teaching his countrymen daily, three of whom he has baptized this year." During 1832 sixty thousand tracts and ten thousand prayers and hymns were issued, and Afah was zealous in their distribution. This activity of the Chinese preacher continued until it was arrested by the troubles of the Opium War. THE OPIUM WAE. Would that we could pass by this war, which has fixed an eternal blot upon the pages of English history. But truth and the proper presenta- tion of the conditions under which Christian missionaries Is'oor in China, demands at least a brief statement of this shameful affau-. One of the chief articles of trade which the English imported to China was opium, produced in their possessions in India. The Chinese, more than any other people, have proven susceptible to the seductive influ- ences of this drug. Opium smoking was rapidly becoming a national vice, and one which English traders were not slow to foster for their own gain. Tlie Emperor of China, recognizing the terrible efiects of the opium trade upon his people, took measures to suppress it. In 1828 severe prohibitory laws were enacted against the trade, by the Chinese government. The English were much provoked, and sought to evade and resist the law in many ways. Efibrts were even made to intimidate the Chinese by military demonstrations. But these failed of their object. In 1838 the Chinese government made the use of opium a capital ofiense, and the next year seized and destroyed, at Canton, opium to the value of $20,000,000. It was thus the "opium war "began, in which a Christian government, at the point of the bayonet, forced upon the poor Chinese a trade which has brought upon the people miseries, which, for generations to come, if it continue, must far outweigh the bene- 324 MGIIT IN DARKNESS. fits which can come to them from the work of Christian missionaries. This unjust treatment on the part of the greatest of Christian nations has done much to impress upon the whole population of China a distrust of all Christian teachings, a prejudice to which many a missionary must be content to offer himself as a martyr ere it is removed. While the Chi- nese authorities were being vexed by the wicked con- duct of the British government, the Christian mission- aries were regarded as accessory to their wrongs. On August 20-21, Afah undertook to use the occasion of the triennial exam- ination of students at Canton in order to distribute religi- ous tracts. The remainder of the story shall be rclat- cdin his oan ii words: "Lcang Afah respectfully writes to all those who love and behove in Jesus, wishing them happiness. "For three oi four years I have been in the habit of circulating the Scripture lessons, which have been joyfully received by many. This year the triennial examination of literary candidates wa? held in Canton, and I desired to distribute books among the candidates. ©PTOM SMOKING. CHINA THE PIONEERS. 325 "On the twentictli of Auyui;t, thcroforo, .accompanied by Woo Achang, Chow Asan and Leung Asan, I distributed more than five thou- sand volumes, which were gladly rocoivcd without the least disturbance. The next day we distributerl _five thousand more. On the tlurd day, after several hundreds had li.'ca circulato,. CHINESE TOMBS. with four hundred copies of the Scripture lessons, and the blocks, which were taken to the office of the chief magistrate. "On the 8th of September I fled, with my wife and daughter, to Kiang-mum, a large town west of Macao. The next day the magistrate sent two government boats and a hundred men to my residence to seize all my family, male and female, but not finding us, they seized three of my kindred, and sealed the doors of my house. On learning this I fled to Chih-kan, a more secluded seaport, in the same direction, where I re- mained several days. METHODIST CHURCH MISSIONS. 327 "At length my money was all expended, and I dared not return to Canton, lest I should fall into the hands of the police officers. I there- fore made an effort to go to Macao, which, by the gracious protection of God, I reached in safety. When I met Mr. Bridgman the sorrow of my heart was so extreme that I could not refrain from weeping bitterly. He told me, however, that Mr. J. R. Morrison had made arrangements with the chief magistrate, and for the consideration of eight hundred dollars had obtained the liberation of the printers and the cessation of the prose- cution; but the lieutenant-governor insisted on my being apprehended, upon which Mr. Bridgman took me in a fast boat on board the English ships at Lintin, where I was kindly entertained. " Thus situated, I call to mind that all who preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus must suffer persecution; and, though I cannot equal the patience of Paul or Job, I desire to imitate the ancient saints, and keep my heart in peace." CHAPTEE XIX. METHODIST CHtTECH MISSIONS. SHE results of the opium war were not all against Chris- tianity. It may be mentioned as a favorable circum- stance that the treaty which was concluded in 1842, opened four additional ports to foreign trade. These were Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo and Shanghai. ]n 1844 the United States secured by treaty, even greater privileges than were granted Great Britain, and the year following France stipulated for the toleration of the Christian religion in the five ports. The opening of the new ports and the guarantee of religious freedom in the consular cities offered opportunities which the missionary soci- eties were not slow to improve. They promptly sent forward their agents in the confidence that soon the greatest of heathen nations would be open to the gospel. But the war, while it had coerced a more liberal policy on the part of China toward the outside world, had increased the prejudice against for- eigners. " Foreign devils " was the common application given by the proud Chinamen to Europeans and Americans, and "devil-ships" was the designation apphed to aU square-rigged vessels, even by custom offi- cers in official reports. 328 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. A great number of restrictive regulations encumbered missionary effort. Tiie missionary was hated even more than the tradesman. His presence in the country was an offense, and the native who gave him aid was ostracised and despised. Yet the missionaries found the way, in spite of all this, to make pro- gress, and to open work in many places besides the treaty ports. They had more reason to regard the local feeling of the people in any place than any general law, and by a cautious, conciliating course, they felt their way to new points. The most common method was to make a prelimi- nary visit to the point in view. If favorably received, they repeated the visit in a short time. Then they sent a native assistant to the place, who would open a school. If this movement was encouraged, the mis- sionaries followed in a short time and cstabhshed their work perma- nently. Several of the American boards had commenced operations in China before the breaking oat of the opium war. The American Board, of Commissioners, the Baptists, North, the Episcopalians and the Presby- terians, North, all entered the field between 1830 and 1838. After the war the British and Foreign Bible Society sent missionaries to China in 1843; the Church Missionary Society, in 1844, and the English Baptists, in 1845. Six societies joined the forces in China in 1847. These were the Methodist Episcopal, North, the Seventh Day Baptists, the Amer- ican Baptists, South, the Basle Mission, the English Presbyterian, and the Ehenish Mission. Among many churches which are even more prominent in the prosecu- tion of missionary work in China, we will set before our readers a brief sketch of that done by the American Methodists, as illustration of the work at this period. M. E. CHURCH MISSION. The Methodist Episcopal Church, North, chose Foochow, the capital of the Fokien province, as their place of beginning. The city is situated on the Min River, thirty miles from its mouth. It had, at that time, something more than half a million inhabitants, and has nearly doubled its population since. The population of the province is about twenty- eight millions. Judson D. Collins and M. C. White were the first missionaries sent to Foochow. Theyreached their destination on the 4th of September. The April following they were reinforced by Rev. Henry Hickok and wife and the Rev. Robert S. Maclay. The first of these was, however, attacked by disease before his arrival, and soon compelled to quit the work for which his heart longed. METHODIST CHURCH MISSIONS. 329 The missionaries were received with little opposition. They brought a small supply of tracts, the work of Mr. Medhurst, -which the natives seemed quite eager to read. Within a year two schools, one for boys and one for girls, had been opened, the boys' school beginning with eight and the girls' school with ten pupils. A mixed school was also opt aed 'by Mrs. White, and a Sunday school was organized, March 4th, fcst six months after the first missionaries entered Soochow. Mr. Collins gives the following account of the opening of this Suncl»v 330 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. school: " I had appointed half -past nine as the time for the children to come, but most of them were present by eight o'clock. I observed that the day was a new era in their lives and that they had no correct notions of its sanctity; they were far more boisterous and noisy than was proper. By gently rebuking them, and placing a trusty person over them they were, in a good degree, kept in order. At the time appointed I went in company with Brother White to the school-room. All were quiet. We sung in Chinese the long meter doxology, to the tune of Old Hundred. The Lord's Prayer was then read in Chinese and explained, and, aU kneeling down, Brother White led our devotions in the use of the Lord's Prayer in English. The second chapter of St. Matthew's gospel was then read and explained, the boys being frequently questioned individ- ually, in regard to their understanding of it. They seemed interested through the entire service. We closed at eleven o'clock with the Lord's Prayer." A lai'ge portion of the city of Foochow is without the walls. This part of the city is called Nantai. Here the missionaries rented a little room large enough to hold fifty persons, and used it as a place for dis- tributing tracts and as a chapel. They also used the audience-rooms, which they found everywhere connected with the restaurants. The Chinese are very fond of hearing public discourses and it was not difficult for the teachers of the new religion to obtain an audience. TRIALS AND TROUBLES. The years from 1850 to 1856 sorely tried the new mission. Mr. Hickok had first been appointed superintendent, but was forced soon to abandon the work, as we have stated. Mr. Collins succeeded him as superin- tendent but his health rapidly failed and he left China in April of 1850. He undertook missionary work among the Chinese in San Francisco and died there May 18th, 1852, in his thirtieth year. The same year that Mr. Collins left China the Board sent out Rev. Isaac W. Wiley and wife, Rev. James Colder and wife, and Miss M. Seely, the latter soon after her arrival becoming the wife of Mr. White. But within a couple of years Mrs. White's health compelled her return and her husband returned with her. There arose, also, inharmony among the missionaries regarding the duties and powers of the supcrintendency, a question that has more than once disturbed Methodist missions. Mrs. Maclay and Mrs. Colder were both in feeble health, and as the Tai Ping rebellion was then on foot and Foochow was threatened by the insurgents it was thought best for them to remove to Hong Kong. This left none in the field but Dr. Wiley and wife, and they both were in feeble METHODIST CHXmOH MISSIONS. 331 health. During the year Mrs. Wiley died, Dr. Wiley returned homo and Mr. Colder withdrew from the Methodist Episcopal Church. Thus everything connected with the mission had gone adversely, save that a number of those sent out had proven faithful unto death, and the faithful Maclay remained. It was certainly a dark hour. Eight years had passed since the open- ing of the work. Of twelve missionaries, disease and death had left but Maclay and his wife, and there had not been as yet a single convert to the Christian faith. Mission history is full of such examples of discour- agement, and as full of triumphs following, as the result of fidelity to the work and faith in God under such trials. At this crisis of trials the Missionary Board said to the Church in their report, ' ' Let us hold fast our faith in the China mission, and trust in God. " Rev. Erastus Wentworth and wife, and Rev. Otis Gibson and wife, were sent to the aid of Mr. Maclay. The former arriving June 18th, and the latter August 13th, 1855. Mrs. Wentworth died in less than four months after her arrival. But with the coming of the new mission- aries the work took a new turn. FIRST CHITKCH BUILT. This year the missionaries built their first church. It was situated on the main street, leading to the south gate of the city, and about three- quartei'S of a mile without the city wall. It was a neat and solid structure of stone and brick, and crowned with a cupola, in which was placed a bell. It was called "Ching Sing Tong"— " Church of the True God," which title was carved on a slab of porphyry over the door, to be read by the thousands daily passing by. This house was filled to its utmost capacity at its dedication. The year following a much more commodious and elegant church was built, containg t^vo audience rooms, one for Chinese and one for foreign- ers, of whom there was a considerable number at Foochow, who were interested in the mission. This second church was called "Tienang" — "The Heavenly Rest." THE FIRST CONVERTS. On Saturday, July 14th, 1857, a memorable scene took place at the Tienang church. It was the baptism of Ting Ang, the first Chinese con- vert. Tmg Ang was a tra,desman. He was forty-seven years old, had a wife and five children, and a large circle of kindred. He had been a reader of Christian tracts, and a hearer at the church for two years. He proved a true convert and a faithful professor. On the 18th of October, following, his wife and two of his children were baptized, and before the MOIIT IN DARKNESS. year closed, tliirtccn adults had rccciNc d baptism. The Chinese converts wore organized into a class after the Methodist fashion, with Mr. Gibson as their loader, and two native stewards. A Sunday School was also established under the conduct of natives. Thus the first Methodist Episcopal Church in the Chinese Empire was organized, with its class- meetings, quarterly-meetings and collections. From this time forward the mission prospered. Schools were opened. 'illllliilllilllillllllilirMii't 1^ 111* lill i::;f;;feti**!||!ijyil[ \ both for boys and girls. Also a fomidling asylum, to saA'o the lives of female children, thousands of whom were cast away every year. In 1869 some new missionaries arrived, among whom were Stephen L. Baldwin, and the two Misses Woolston, who have rendered such distinguished service. This year also a new church of thirteen members was organ- METHODIST CHURCH MISSIONS 333 ized at Toching (Peach Farm); six native helpers were licensed to exhort. September 29th, 1863, the first annual meeting of the missionaries was held. The statistics reported at this meeting were, six male missionaries, eight females, eleven native helpers, eighty-seven members, $30,11.5 worth of mission property. At this meeting a course of study for native help- ers was established, committees of examinations appointed, and the appointment of preachers and teachers announced for the year, as at an annual conference. The second annual meeting convened September 28, 1863. The results of the year may bo summed up as follows: Four new chapels, four new appointments, three new classes of church members, two day schools, and two Sunday schools added. The translation of the New Testament carried to the end of First Thessaloniaus, and the printing department, mider the management of Mr. BalchvJn, had more than doubled its issues, haviiig put out 21,902 copies of books and tracts, containing an aggre- gate of 887,490 pages, each page in Chinese being equal to two in EngUsh. The year following five new chapels Avere added to the work, and there was reported an increase of twenty-four new members. The year 1864 was equally prosperous with the preceding, although the Church at this time suffered severe persecution. The church which Mr. Martin had built within the walls of Foochow was torn down. Mr. Martin himself died, and another missionary and his wife were com- pelled to return to the United States. FIRST EPISCOPAL VISITATION. The ye^r f 86.5 is remarkable in the history of the mission for the first Episcopal visit for its inspection and arrangement. Bishop Thompson came and tarried seventeen days. The superintendent's report for 1866 declares it to have been the most successful year the mission had ever had, and the same statement is repeated in his report for the year following. This year work was opened at Kukiang, an important city in the Kiang Si province, and missionaries were also sent to occupy Peking, the capital of the empire. Dr. Rejd, who has given us an excellent his- tory of the mission, says of the Peking province: "The field comprises all China north of the Yangtsc, an area half as large as the United States, and containing a population of 200,000,000, nearly all of whom might be addressed in the Mandarin, or court dialect. This is also the dialect of Thibet, Mongolia and Manchuria. The great plain lying northeast of Peking forms the richest and most productive part of the empire, girt about by mountains in which are buried inexhaustible su[)- 334 LIGHT IN IJARKNESS. piles of coal and iron, with lead, silver and gold in abundance. It is traversed on its whole eastern part by the Grand Canal, and is the grandest mission field on earth." In 1869, Bishop Kingsley visited the mission. He divided into three parts and appointed Dr. Maclay superintendent at Foochow, Mr. Hart at KuMang and Mr. Wheeler at Peking. He took steps to makfc itie churches self-supporting by requiring them to raise aU they could for the support of their pastors, and providing that the Missionary Board should appropriate to each according to the needs of the case, in order that the METHODIST CHUKCH MISSIONS. 335 pastors' salaries might be paid. Bishop Kingsley judged that the mis- sion needed a large reinforcement, and it was his opinion that young men especially were needed, and so by his advice seven young men were sent out in 1870. Bishop Kingsley also ordained seven native deacons, and four of those he ordained elders. This same year, through a scheme which had been laid to drive for- eigners from China, the missionaries in various places suffered persecu- tion. At Tientsin about one hundred native Catholics and several Prot- estants, and twenty-two foreigners, were massacred. For a little while the missionaries felt the most painful anxiety, looking every day for an outbreak for the murder of all foreigners. But in a little while this fear subsided, as everything moved on quietly. The Methodist missionaries in China adopted the same system of itinerating which characterizes their work at home. The preacher, mounted on horse-back with saddle-bags, went from place to place making his circuit of four or six weeks, and preaching at different points. He needed to carry with him a good sup- ply of tracts, and also often had to furnish his own bed; and so the mis- sionary cart, a sort of baggage wagon driven round after the circuit rider, became a common feature of the work. In 1871 there were developments in regard to the spirit of the Chinese converts, and especially that of the native preachers, which were of a most interesting and encouraging character. Sia Sek Ong had been re- proached by his countrymen as hired to preach the gospel for " foreign rice." He at once cleared himself of this charge by resolving to depend solely on his work for a living, and he accordingly refused to receive any aid from the missionary funds. A meeting was held to consider this matter, when the whole assembly enthusiastically iieclared in favor of self-support. Sia Sek Ong was asked if he did not regret the step he had taken a year before, and replied: " I have not the thousandth part of a regret. I am glad that I did it, and I expect to continue in this way as long as I live." A certain one asked: " ^Vhat will you do if suppHes fail and your family suffer?" He replied: " They won't fail. But if they do — if I come to where there is no open door — I will look up to my Savior and say, ' Lord, whither wilt thou lead me ?' " Two other native preachers, Li Cha Mi and Sing Mi Ai, joined Sia Sek Ong and renounced their claim on the mission funds. In 1873 the working force of the mission was increased by the addition of fifteen new laborers, eight male missionaries, four of whom were mar- ried, and three ladies sent out by the Woman's Board. The female missionaries were most efficient helpers in China. There, as in India, polygamy is coiQnjon f^ncj woman's conditiQO is much depressed. 336 LIGHT IN DARKNESS Great numbers of female children are annually destroyed by their parents, and the education of women was altogether out of harmony with Chinese ideas. Yet the faithful women found ways, by dint of that patient per- sistence for which woman is distinguished, to make some progress against the common sentiments and customs of the natives. The taking care of castraway girls in the foundling hospital commended Christianity even to the dullest heathen. These girls, as they came of suitable age, were transferred to the school for girls, and in course of time educated Chinese women, issuing fi-om the mission schools, began to recommend female education to their sisters, by the evident superiority secured thereby. The two sisters, Beulah and Sarah H. Woolston, both graduates from the Wesleyan College, at Wilmington, Delaware, devoted themselves earnestly to the work of teaching. For some time but one Chinese girl came to their school. Their rci:)ort for 18H1 says: "During the year we have made many efforts to induce the Chinese to place their girls in school, but with little success beyond promises for the future." In 1863 fifteen girls are reported, and in 1866, twenty-seven. Thus slowly the work advances. We will not pursue further the progress of this mission, but close this brief sketch with a summary of its present condition. CONFERENCE ORGANIZED. The Foochow mission was erected into conference by Bishop Wiley in 18T7. Besides this conference there are at this date, 1887, three mis- sions. The Central China, under Rev. V. C. Hart; the North China Mission, under Rev. Hiram H. Lowi-^ , and the West China, under Rev. Frank D. Gamewell. The aggregate i-eports from the woi^k for 1SS6, gave 73 societies, 25 foreign missionaries, 21 assistants, 31 native workers of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, 8 foreign -workers, 2,665 members, 1,483 probationers; 53 churches, estimated to bo worth $35,472; 47 parsonages worth $82,433; and $12,450 in orphanages, schools and hospitals. They have sixty-five Sunday schools with 2,130 children, six high schools with 207 pupils and two theological schools with 54 pupils. The work of the West China Mission has suffered temporary suspen- sion on account of the anti-foreign riot which broke out at Chung-King, July 1, 1886. The riot resulted in the destruction of all the property occupied by foreigners in and near the city. The Methodists have secured from the Chinese government damages to the amount of 22,000 taels, or $28,000, which is about eight per cent, less than their actual loss. Our own government would do well to emulate the Chinese in this respect, for the poor Chinamen have suffei-ed greatly from riots in our country. SOUTHERN METHODIST MISSION. 331 CHAPTER XX. SOUTHERN METHODIST MISSION. |HE Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in China, was opened in 18i8. Rev. Charles Taylor, M. D., and Rev. Benjamin Jenkins, both of the South Carolina Conference, sailed from Boston to Shanghai the 24th of April. Dr. Taylor reached his destination in May, 1848, but Mr. Jenkins was detained at Hong Kong by the sickness of his wife, and did not reach -.^ Shanghai until May, 1849. Dr. Taylor went to work promptly. In two weeks he was domiciled ia a Chinese house which he had rented. A year later he bought a piece of ground and put up a small house for his family, and a few months aftei-ward he purchased an adjacent lot and built a chapel capable of seat- ing one hundred and fifty persons. With the use of Dr. Morrison's books and aided by native teachers, the two missionaries acquired the Chinese language as rapidly as possible. The first public seiwice was held in the chapel in January, 1850. Liew, Mr. Jenkins' Chinese teacher, prof essed to bo a convert to the "Jesus doctrine," and desired to be baptized. After what was considered suf- ficient delay and trial, he and his wife were baptized in January, 1852. Two schools had been opened for Chinese children, and every prospect for the mission was encouraging, when Mrs. Taylor, on account of failing healtli, sailed for her native land the 5th day of February, 1853, leaving Dr. Taylor still standing to his post. It was some relief to the trials of Mr. Taylor that Rev. W. Gr. E. Cunnyngham aiTived at Shang- hai in October, to assist him in his work. But in November Mr. Jen- kins, on account of his wife's failing health, started to return to the United States. Mrs. Jenkins was not spared to see her native land. She died at sea. In 1853, three additional laborers Avere sent to China, These were the Rev. D. C. Kelly, of the Tennessee Conference, the Rev. James L. Bel- ton, of the Alabama Conference, and the Rev. J. W. Lambulh, of the Mississippi Conference. Dr. Jenkins returned with them, having mar- ried again. THE TAI-PING REBEIJUON. Just about this time the great Tai-Ping rebellion began to attract attention, a brief sketch of which it seems important to give. 22L-D 33S LIGHT IN DAEKNTESS. We have already related bow Leang Afah, one of the first native con- verts, excited the hostility of the Chinese officials by circulating his books at the literary examinations at Canton. It was at this examination that Lcang Afah's tract, " Good Words to Admonish the Age " fell into the hands of a young student, Hung Liew-tsicun, one of the Hakkas (strangers), a rude hill race, held in very low esteem by the Punti, or in- dwcllers of the Kwangtung province. There are conflicting statements, however, about the native ability and scholastic attainments of Hung Liew-tsicun, some representing him as a superior scholar, and others as a disappointed student, who, failing to obtain his degree, felt embittered against the existing order of things. It is suggested that if he had passed his examination at Canton, he might have merged into a Chinese official, zealous to uphold the institu- tions which he afterward attempted to overthrow. From Leang Afah's tr?ct, in 1834, the Hakka student got the suggestion of these religious views which he afterward propounded. He was also, for a few months, in 1846, with Mr. Roberts, an American missionary at Canton, receiving instruction. It is even said that Hung Liew-tsieun desired baptism at the missionary's hands, but was deemed unprepared to receive it. Hung claimed that during a long sickness he had a heavenly vision and a revelation which harmonized with the things which he read in Afah's book. He began to be a teacher, and fixed on his door post his proclamation of "The noble principles of the Heavenly King, the Sov- ereign King Tsu(ni. " He thus relates the beginning of his work after the vision: ' ' I took the picture of Confucius which was in the school- room, also the idol images in the house, and cast them all away, and frequently spoke to my father, Ipi'others, friends and relations, teaching them a knowledge of the truth. Among them were some who listened, and immediately believed. Some heard and opposed; some heard and knew it was true, but did not dare obey, some who at first did not believe, afterward, perceiving the truth, obeyed as those who believed at first. Those believers whom the Holy Ghost converted united and destroyed many images; but those who did not believe — whose hearts the devil hardened — persecuted us. Six or seven years ago we heard that a foreign brother was at Canton. At this I rejoiced. I left the school-room, gave up my teaching, and three of us went to various places, where we taught these things the same as we did at home. Then I perceived the truth of that Scripture, ' A prophet is not without honor save in his own country.' From Canton we went to Quang-si several times. Many there believed and worshipped the true God. " He thus relates how the persecutions against him began: "At the SOUTHERN METHODIST MISSION. 339 commencement of our preaching the officers and soldiers admitted, that the preachers were good men, and did not fight us, only wishing, as they said, to drive out the thieves. But soon we were hidicted, and two of om' number, "Wong and Loo, persecuted unto death; and fighting began merely because we taught men to love one another, and do good. Soon tens of thousands of the people were assembled as a Aving of protection. Daily we published the true doctrine, and daily we increased in numbers, and those with whom we fight, have to submit. The fame of our success daily extends." The Heavenly Eang, as Hung styled himself, appointed over the mingled ruffian crowd, that gathered to him, five Wangs or soldier sub-kings, and commenced his march from Wooswen northward in January, 1851. The unemployed, the adventurers, the ruffian element, and such as were lured by the hope of plunder, gathered to his standard. A motley crowd, variously armed, and augmenting in numbers daily, they made their desultory march through the country, making long halts and meeting but little resistance, until after more than two years they entered the city of Nanking, the second metropolis of the Chinese Empire, where, until the rebellion and his life ended together, the "Heavenly King" lived in the practice of licentiousness and excessive tyranny. THE TREATY OF TIEN-TSIN. During the first years of the rebellion, China became involved again in difficulties with several foreign nations, in regard to the rights of foreign citizens upon her soil, the ill-treatment which foreigners received at the hands of Chinese officials, having caused their respective goA-ernments to interpose for their protection. These difficulties came formally to an end in October, 1859, when atTien-tsin treaties Avcre signed with the English, French, American, and Russian governments respectively. As respects Christianity the treaty provides as follows: The Christian religion, as professed by Protestants and Roman Catholics inculcates the practice of virtue, and teaches man to do as he would he done by. Persons teaching or professing it, therefore, shall alike he entitled to the protection of the Chinese authorities; nor shall any such, peaceably pursuing their calling, and not offending against the laws, he persecuted or interfered with. By this treaty the last barrier to Christianity in any part of the Great Chinese Empire was thrown down, except such as existed in the preju- dices of a people, who felt that in the beginning of their experiences with Christian nations, they had not found them obeying and exemplifying its teaching, "Do as you would be done by." Yet there were acts for which China had reason to thank Christian nations; for after the treaty of Tien-tsin was concluded, England lent her 340 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. aid to the Imperial goTernment, to put down tlie rebellion. And more recently the aid which the people of China received from Christian nations, during the prevalence of a great famine, has contributed to give to those people a better opinion of Christianity. PROGEESS OF THE REBELLION. Ten years had passed and the rebellion fed upon the vitals of the empire, when it began to encounter the opposition of British arms. Iii 1860 the rebels took the city of Soochow, and began to lay waste the Kiangnan district. An attack upon Shanghai was repulsed by an allied force of English and French troops. An agreement was entered into with the rebel leader by the English admiral, Hope Grant, that the city of Peking should not be molested nor the trade upon the Yangtse inter- fered with for a year. As soon as the year closed, in 1862, a more deter- mined effort was made to capture Shanghai. Then it was that the allied forces took the field against the Tai-pings. Sir Charles Stanley was in command, and for nearly a year, witla his little Ijand of men, he contended against the rebels with ill success. The Tai-pings overran the country and laid it waste to the city walls. CHINESE GORDON. Captain Charles George Gordon, afterward known as Chinese Gordon, was summoned from Peiho to Shanghai in May, 1862, to aid in de- fense of the city. One of Captain Gordon's letters about this time con- tains this paragraph: " We had a visit from the marauding Tai-pings the other day. They came close down in small parties and burned several houses, driving in thousands of inhabitants. We went against them and drove them away, but did not kill many. They beat us into fits getting over the country, Avhich is intersected in every way with ditches, swamps, etc. * * * You can scarcely conceive the crowd of peasants who come into Shanghai- when the rebels are in the neighborhood, upward of fifteen thousand, I should think, and of every size and age. Many strapping fellows, who could easily defend themselves, come running in with old women and childi'en. * * * The people on the confines are sufiering greatly, and arc, in fact, dying of starvation. It is most sad, this state of affairs, and our government really ought to put the rcbelUon down. Words could not depict the horrors these people suffer from the rebels, or de- scribe the utter deserts they have made of this rich province." In the spring of 1863 Gordon was put in command of the Ever-victori- ous Army, and here won his first great distinction as a commander. In thirty-three engagements with the rebels the- "Ever-victorious Army" 80UTHEUN MKTIIOUIST MISSION. 34] made good its title, and in about t^\'o years the rebellion was brought to an end. The missionaries at first supposed that Hung Licw-tsioun was sincere and that he was almost a Christian in faith. But later developments caused them generally to regard him as an ambitious impostor and a man who only sought his own promotion, and who, when opportunity was offered, knew no restraints upon his passions. The same year that the new missionaries were sent out, A'iz., in 1S53, Dr. Taylor, learning that there was no hope of his wife ever being aljle CHINESE GORDON. to join him in China, returned to the United States. Dr. Cunnyngham was for a time left alone. Meantime Shanghai was taken by a band of insurgents and all missionary operations broken up. THE WORK RESUMED. Soon after the arrival of the new missionaries the work was resumed. Dr. Cunnyngham began to preach in the chapel, Mrs. Cunnyngham opened a school, and the rest gave themselves diligently to the acquisi- .142 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. tion of the language. It was soon proven that the climate was wholly unfit for Mr. Belton and his wife, and thoy returned home in 1855. The former died in less than a month after his arrival at New York. There were now but four missionaries of the Methodist Church South left at Shanghai, and Cunnyngham and Jenkins alone had sufficient knowl- edge of the language for efficient work among the natives. Dr. Cunnyng- ham taught daily in the schools — there was one for boys and one for girls — and preached regularly four times a week, besides occasional sermons and exhortations, as the circumstances of the hour suggested. He also devoted himself earnestly both to studying and translating. Mr. Lambuth entered into the work with an ardent spirit studying, distriliuting tracts and Testaments and preaching as best he could, often two or thi^ee times a day, as he went from place to place. In 1856 Mis. Kelly, with great sorrow, recognized that the climate would soon bring her to the gi-ave if she remained. Dr. Kelly returned with her to the United States. She ched soon after. Dr. Kelly himself has been, until the present, a most earnest advocate of the cause of foreign missions. He is at this writing the Treasurer of the Missionary Board of his church. Mrs. Jenldns also was instructed by her physician to return home. Mr. Jenkins remained. In 1859 Rev. Y. J. Allen, of the Georgia Conference, and Rev. L. M. Wood, of the North Carolina Conferisnco, were appointed to China. Mrs. Jenkins had already returned. At this time the mission had eleven native converts, one of whom was Liew, who proved not only an exem- plary Christian, ]jut a faithful and effective ^ircachcr; and during this year he was entrusted with the most important work of opening a mission at Soochow, ninety miles northwest of Shanghai. "VVe ha-^-e spoken of the eiibrt of the Tai-pings to capture Shanghai in 1860. Dr. Cunnyng- ham thus writes of their attack: "The 'long-haired rebels' — the genuine Tai-ping insurgents — have at last made us a visit. They came holding out the hand of friendship, and calling us 'brethren;' they left muttering curses and threats of ven- geance. They approached us through the smoke and flames of burning villages, laden with spoil and stained with blood of innocent men, women and children. Their retreat was marked by the most revolting cruelty and beastly outrage upon the helpless towns through Avhich they passed. For days before they reached Shanghai, the western horizon was dark with the smoke of burning houses, from which the people were flying in the wildest consternation. So numerous are the dead bodies now lying in the open fields, that the land is fiUed with stench." Dr. Cunnyngham, in the same letter, tells of the high hopes that were SOUTHERN METHODIST MISSION. 343 at first enlciiaincd that the Tai-pings were at least semi-Christian in faith, and full of sincere religious zeal. He says that in the last three or four years they had greatly degenerated, and that their leader now ' 'claims to be head over all things — even asserts the blasphemy that he is one with the Almighty. " A more perfect acquaintance has led to the conclu- sion that the whole movement of Hung Liew-tsieun was that of the mad- dest ambition, and that from the first day he began to teach "the noble principles of the Heavenly King, the Sovereign King Tsieun," until the day of his death he never abated one jot fi'om his claim to be the divine sovereign of the word. Ho sought to deceive the missionaries, hoping to gain foreign aid thereby, and he came well-nigh succeeding. England hesitated for a time, whether to take the part of the rebel leader or that of the imperial government. A GLOOMY PERIOD. The mission had not emerged from the confusions of the Tai-ping rebellion Avhen the civil war broke out in our own country. This had more to do in retarding the work than any difficulties in Cliina. It stopped, for years, the supply both of men and money, to the mission. At this time the mission came very near being annihilated. Dr. Cun- nyngham and J. W. Lambuth both returned to the United States in 1861. Dr. Jenkins severed his connection with the mission in 18(13. Mrs. Wood died in ISGi, and was buried at Shanghai. Mr. Wood took his motherless children and returned to his native land. For a time the fate of the mission depended upon the fidelity and judgment of Y. J. Allen and Lambuth. Cut off from all resources at home, and thrown upon his own efforts for support, he still held the field. He managed to obtain employment in the service of the Chinese govern- ment, and entered upon that course of study in the Chinese classics which has made him one of the most distinguished Chinese scholars among all the missionaries in the empire; and obtained for him the dignity of a mandarin. While thus engaged, he continued to care for the mission, and was most successful in his efforts, demonstrating that which wo have often remarked in the history of missions, that tbe most eminently suc- cessful laborers were those who were left to their own judgment and efibrts, to plan and labor as circumstances seemed to suggest, and to follow, as they were presented, the openings of Providence. Lambuth returned from the United States in 1865 and resumed work with vigor. It must be recorded as an instance of true Christian fellowship that, although the war between the States arrayed the Northern and Southern Methodist Churches in opposing sections, the drafts already in the hands ?>^ LIGHT IN DARKNESS. of the Southern Methodist missionaries in China, and which their own church could not pay, were endorsed and honored by their Northern brethren; and so aid, for a season, was given to the mission. At the close of the war, in 1865, the whole South was prostrate, con- quered and despoiled. Years were required before her churches at home could be rebuilt and her church machinery fuUy set m motion. There was little to spare for any foreign movement. Allen and Lambuth labored and hoped, and under their labors the good cause made progress. To these two men, more than any others, is due the success of the mis- sion in China. Before they received any reinforcements from home they had extended their work to Nantziang and Soochow. Liew, the BtrPFINGTON' INSTITUTE, SUCHOW. native preacher, who had begun at Soochow, had finished his course, maintaining a spotless character, and dying in the Christian's faith and peace. Dsau, another native preacher, had taken his place. A second, Ying Kang Sau, was doing evangelistic work as far as the Great Lake, a hundred miles from Shanghai. Two Bible women were visiting from house to house, reading the Word of God, and talking and praying with the mothers and children. The press was not neglected, while the work of translating and of printing went on. A paper, the Okinese Christian A&oocate, had been established, and fifty thousand copies were distributed in one year. Dr. Allen had also established a paper, semi-religious, called the Oliinese Globe Magazine, whicli had grown from ten to thirty-six pages and nOUTIIEUN IMKTIIODIHT MISSION. 346 obtained a cii-culation of ninety thousand copies during tlio year. Two boarding scliools and a day school ■\v(!rc oi)cncd. Br. Lambutli was during this time superintendent of the mission. His special effort was in the way of evangelistic work; his chief reliance the preaching of the word and the circulation of the Scriptures in the native tongue. THE MISSION RE-INFOEOED. In 18T4 the Ecv. A. P. Parker, of the Missouri Conference, joined the little band in China. He was the first m'^v recruit for fifteen years. His coming inspired new courage in those Avliohadl)orne the burden so long. Mr. Parker began his work at Sooeliow and has continued there ever since. He has cliarge of the churcli in the city and has been for some years president of the Buffington Institute, a school established in 1878 by the gift of Mr. Bulfington, of Lexing- ton, Kentucky, and since fostered by his son. and enlarwd from donations from tjie church. In this school Dr. Parker assumes en- tu'e control of Cliinese boys, who are bound to him for a term of six to eight years, thus mak- ing him responsible for them both as a teacher and as a father. The results of this method of work have been most satisfactory, as it brings his pupils most completely under the influence of their Christian'teachers. Dr. Parker has done an excellent work and attained to distinction as a scholar in Chinese classical literature. In 18Y6-T, Bishop Marvin visited the China mission in order to make a careful inspection of the work, and especially to ordain the native helpers. Four natives were ordained, named respectively, Dsau, Dzung, Yung and See. Dsau and Dzung were ordained elders. 346 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. It was a time of great rejoicing to Lambuth and his coadjutor, Allen. The former had been in the work twenty-three years, the latter seventeen. They, only, had withstood the climate, the toils and hardships of the mis- sion to see at last this fruit of their labors. Dr. AUen said: "I have inexpressible pleasure in this hour. As Simeon of old waited for the promised consolation of Israel, so have we waited in long patience and prayer for this event, to-wit: the coming of our chief pastor, and the setting apart of these native brethren to be ordained with the mercies of God in China. Thank God, my eyes have seen it." It must be recorded as a just tribute to. the zeal of Mrs. Kelly, the mother of Dr. D. C. Kelly, in the cause of missions, that Dsau was con- verted through her instrumentality. He had come to America with Mr. Lambuth in 1861, and was for some years an inmate of the home of Dr. Kelly in Nashville. Mrs. Kelly was deeply interested in seeking to lead him into the light of salvation through Christ. Her labors and prayers were not invain. Dsau professed faith in Christ as his personal Savior, and was baptized by Bishop Andrew. In 1877 the Rev. W. R. Lambuth, M. D., the son of the missionary, who had been sent to the United States to be educated at the Vanderbilt University, returned to China to engage in missionary labors, taking with him as his companion in labors and in conjugal bonds the daughter of Dr. Kelly. The Kentucky Conference sent out C. F. Eeid in 1879, and the year following Rev. W. W. Royal, of the Virginia Conference; the Rev. R. H. McLain and the Rev. G. R. Loehr, of the North Georgia Conference, went to reinforce the little band of missionaries. From this time forward the work began to be pressed vigorously. "We cannot make mention of each new laborer that entered the field. Dr. Allen was superintendent of the mission. He turned his attention especially to schools. As yet only the low class of Chinese were being brought into the mission schools, and for a long time these had to be fed and clothed at the expense of the mission, and even a small sum had to be paid to their parents to allow them to attend. Dr. Allen, whose intercourse with the Chinese officials and the higher classes of the people had assured him of their appreciation of the supe- rior knowledge of foreigners, conceived that a school of high grade would receive patronage from the wealthier people. He devoted himself, there- fore, with much earnestness to the scheme of establishing at Shanghai an Anglo-Chinese College. His views were heartily endorsed by the church at home, and the means for inaugurating the enterprise, were promptly raised. The Anglo-Chinese College was opened for students in 1882. SOUTHERN MB:TII0DIST MISSION. 341 The result demonstrated the correctness of the founder's view. As miiny students as could be accommodated were ready at once to enter the school and pay all the expense of tuition. ORGANIZATION OF THE CONT'ERENCE. In the fall of 1886 Bishop A. W. Wilson visited the mission in China and organized the China Conference. The meeting for organization convened at Shanghai, November ITth, and continued to the 2-J:th. Bishop Wilson took the chair, and Rev. A. P. Parker was elected secretary. It now became necessary that those ministers who had been laboring AJfGLO-CmNESB COLLEGfE, SHANGHAI. in the mission should separate from their conferences at home in order to be organized into a conference in China. In answer to the question, " Who are received by transfer from other conferences ? " the following names were announced by the Bishop and placed upon the minutes : Young J. Allen, D. L. Anderson, W. B. Bonnell and G. E. Loehr, from the North Georgia Conference ; C. F. E,eid, from the Kentucky Con- ference ; A. P. Parker, from the Missouri Conference ; C. J. Soon, from the North Carolina Conference. Soon was the only native preacher among them. He had been educated in the United States and connected 348 LIGHT IN DARKNISSS. with the North CaroKna Conforoiico, as ahovo stated. Besides those ministers and Bishop Wilson, our picture of the China Conference includes W. H. Park, Medical Missionary, and Eev. Mr. Denny, who was traveling with Bishop Wilson. THE women's work. The Women's Missionary Society of the M. E. Cliurcli, South, began work in Cliina in 1878, when Miss Locliie Eankin -was sent out — the first female missionary sent by the M. E. Chin-ch, South, to labor among the heathen. Miss Laura Haygood superintends the work at Shanghai at this time. Besides the Clopton boarding school under her care, as;jisted hy Miss Muse, she has twelve day schools in differ- ent parts of the city, taught by native feachers. At Nantziang the Women's Society have the Louise Home and Pleasant College, a girls' boarding school, midcr care of Miss Lochie Eanldn. There is also a boys' school at this place, a good church, a street chapel and -a parsonage. Li connection "with the work at Nantziang, wo record the first instance in the history of the mission, of the death of a mis- sionary, engaged in the work. Many had left the field, because mss DORA EANiQN. of falling licalth, some had died while returning home, or after arrival, but Dora Rankin was the first to fall at the post of toil. She was a sister of Lochie Rankin, already mentioned. Her childhood home was Milan, Tennessee. At the age of seventeen she engaged to teach, -with her sister Lochie, in the Lidian mission school at New Hope Academy in the Lidian Territory. At the end of the year Lochie was sent by the Woman's Society to China as their first mission- ary. Dora remained a year longer at New Hope, then followed her sis- ter, and by her side she labored until her work was done. She died the 10th of December, 1886, at the Trinity Home in Shanghai. Beautiful in person and in character, fciwcnt in 1i"t' devotion, and most gentle and 350 LIGHT IN DAKKNES8. loving in spirit, yet possessed of the self-denial and courage of the loftiest heroism, Dora Rankin had won the admiration of the little missionary band to which she belonged, and also of the church at home. The super- intendent wrote of her, truly: " She was a grand missionary. Her life was heroic; she feU at her post, successful, triumphapt." Memorial services for Miss Eankin were held in many of the churches at home when the news of her death reached them, and the heart of the church was the more bound to the China mission by the generous sacrifice of that young life and the treasure enshrined in a foreign grave. At Soochow two sisters from Missouri labor together. Miss Mildred Phillips, M. D. , is engaged in the hospital under direction of Dr. Park, and Miss Lou Phillips has charge of a school. The medical missions in China receive ready patronage from the natives, and are doing a most important work. They strike at one of the strongest superstitions of the country, fung-shui, which is held to be a spiritual power presiding over all man's interests. Especially over health and life is the fung-shui supposed to rule, and the practice of medicine among the Chinese is therefore little else than necromancy or magic. The practitioner performs the most absurd agencies and methods to render the fung-shui favorable and eflfect a cure. The great suc- cess of foreign physicians, who rely solely upon remedies which the peo- ple can understand, and especially the great sldll of the foreigners in surgery, is attracting the attention of the natives and making the practice of medicine a rational thing to the "Chinese mind, and so overthrowing a dominant superstion which operates in many ways to shut out the light of the gospel. OTHER SOCIETIES. In following the history of the Methodist missions in China, we have, as before stated, passed by work which was far more extensive, that which was given being intended only to illustrate the general character of the work. There are at present more than thirty missionary societies at work in China. The China Inland Mission, an undenominational work, is the most extensive that is carried on by any single society. It was organized in 1865, and is under the direction of J. Hudson Taylor. It is enlisting the university students from Cambridge and Edinborough. It is unde- nominational, and is expected to be chiefly self-sustaining. It is organ- ized on the following principles: 1. It is unsectarian, but evangelical, representing exclusively no branch of the church, but welcoming friends and workers from aU denominations. SOUTHERN METHODIST MISSION. 351 2. It has no inflexible educational standard of qualification, insisting only on a fair measure of ability and acquisition, with good health, good sense, and consecration. 3. It is conducted as a work of faith, incurring no debt, asking no aid, fixing no salaries, but distributing funds as they are sent in. 4. It requires workers to identify themselves with the people for whom they labor, in dress, queue, etc. 5. It magnifies dependence upon God as the sole patron of missions. This mission now employs about thi'ce hundred missionaries, which is, perhaps, equal to the whole number employed by all the other societies together. REALITIES AND PROBABILITIES. Forty-two years ago there were but six native Protestants in China. At the present time the number of actual communicants in Protestant churches is estimated to be about 30,000, and the number of adherents at least half a million. "We can not regard this as slow progress, and everything promises more rapid advancement in the future. The native superstitions and the prejudice against foreigners are giving wa^-. The building of railroads and telegraphs, the establishment of schools where the Western sciences are taught, the superiority in arms of the Western nations, and the readiness of the Chinese to be taught by them in mili- tary matters, are all so many influences to break all the cords that hold China to the past and to introduce her among the most enterprising and progressive nations of the civilized world. Those who have been longest in China and have observed most closely the changes taking place, are most confident of the speedy evangelization of the empire. Dr. Allen, the Methodist missionary, is enthusiastic in his hope for the speedy Christianizing of the Middle Kingdom. He has just returned to the United States and is visiting and address- ing the churches at home in regard to the work to which his own heart and life are devoted. Some of the missionaries who have been longest in the field and are better prepared to judge, believe that within the next fifty years China will be made a Christian nation. JAPAN. CHAPTEE XXI. THE COUNTRY AS IT IS. ,HE empire of Japan is a chain of islands lying north- east of China, and extending from 45 degrees latitude, north, to the 2tl:th parallel. The length is 1, 600 miles, and the greatest width 200. The principal island is Niphon, 900 miles long and from 100 to 200 miles wide. Next in importance are Kiushiu and Sikok on the south, and Ycsso on the north. These four prin cipal islands, and about 3,800 smaller ones, makeup the empire which the natives call Niphon, ' ' the Land of the Rising Sun. " The entire area of the coinitry is estimated to be 160,000 square miles. Its population was reported in the census of 1882, at 3i, 300, 000. Yesso is as large as Ireland, but has a very sparse population, not exceeding 200,000. The two principal islands south of Niphon are more thickly inhabited. The surface of the country is highly picturesque. Two-thirds of it is mountainous, and the effects of volcanic fires and ocean waves are every- where visible. Fujiyama, on the island of Niphon, is the loftiest mountain, lifting its summit 12,000 feet above the sea. It is an extinct volcano. There are thirteen other lofty peaks, and extensive mountain ranges from 6,000 to 8,000 feet high. Many short, swift rivers flow down from these mountains to the sea, and offer unsurpassed f acihties for irrigation, which the people have by no means neglected to improve. The land is, for the most part, exceedingly fertile, and the productions of the country are varied, but chiefly such as belong to the temperate zone. The climate is mild, but subject to considerable extremes of heat and cold. Violent storms and earthquakes are of frequent occurrence. In the southern portion of the country snow occasionally falls, but quickly melts, and the verdure is almost perennial. THE INHABITANTS. The aboriginal inhabitants of Japan, the Ainos, do not now hold the countiy. They are of a distinct type from all their neighbors, the 23L-D «5» 354 LIGHT IN DAEKKESS. Chinese, Coreans, or Thibetans. They strongly resemble the North American Indians, and their language seems to show affinity to that of the IH--1V". Lii^^-- J^Rs 9f? .v.^,;^ -■*$ Esquimaux. They are believed to be of Aryan stock. They are reduced to a small remnant; about 30,000 of them are in the island of Yesso. Tbo dominant race is of Mongol origin, and it is believed that \hm THE COUNTRY AS IT IS. 355 occupancy of the country antedates, by many centuries, the occupancy of China by the same aggressive people. In the year 661, B. C, according to Japanese history, Jimmu came down in a boat from the skies with his retainers, and conquered the country from the Ainos. The date no doubt marks the time when the Mongol invader came over the sea and subdued an ignorant and helpless people. Jimmu was the first Mikado. From him descended the Mikados in unbroken succession for twenty-five centuries. They ruled the country alone for eighteen hunrlred years, until A. D., 1184. Dur- ing this long period the Mikado was: the supreme ruler. Sometimes the succession fell to a female. Jingu Eogu was empress in 270, A. D., and is said to have conquered Corea, 'eading the armies of her country in person. But from about 550, A. D , a succession of infant Mikados gave opportunity to rich families to increase their influence, and there arose, in consequence, the Daimios, or feudal lords, who virtually divided the government of the country. In 118i, one of these Daimios, Yoritomo, having served the Mikado in crushing some of the nobles, turned his arms against his master and compelled him to yield the political power into his own hands, leaving the Mikado only that supremacy in religion which had always been accorded him as of divine descent. Thus the country came to have two rulers, one ecclesiastical, the other civil, and each holding absolute authority in his sphere. The Mikado resided in his palace at Yeddo, the present Tokio, shut from profane sight and worshipped as a god. Yoritomo assumed the title of Shogun — "Ruler" — which his successors retained for seven centuries. The Shogun first resided at Kama Kura, and afterward moved to Tokio, and there the two dignitaries ruled, as it wer(\ side by side. This state of things continued till the opening of Japan to foreign intercourse in 1853. CATHOLIC MISSION. In 1542 a beginning was made toward the introduction of Japan to the Christian world. A Portuguese ship bound for Macao, was driven from her course and cast upon the island of Kiushiu, at Bungo. The first two strangers who set foot on shore were Antonio Mota and Francisco Zee- moto. The Japanese were glad to welcome them, and to trade with the ship. This was the beginning of a trade between Japan and Portugal which rapidly increased. Trade was later established Avith the Dutch, and Japan would perhaps have taken her place among Christian countries two centuries ago had it not been for the insolence of Roman Catholic priests, and that Qod in his provideijoe closed the door of this nation 356 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. against missionary labors, until a better form of Christianity could be introduced. Francis Xavier, the founder, with Loyola, of the Order of Jesuits, came to Japan with a band of missionaries in 1549. The new religion was readily received. In no country were converts made more rapidly. Xavier left the country for China in 1551, and died the following year. His successor is reported to have baptized 30,000 Japanese, and in a few years the Christians were numbered at 600,000. CATHOLICISM CRUSHED OUT. But it was not long until the lofty pretensions of Koman Catholic pre- lates aroused the jealousy of the Shogun. Inflated by their success. LANDING OF COMMODORE PEEKY AT YEDDO. they put on all the dignity of high officials, and disdained the customary i-espect to Japanese dignitaries. Open persecution of the Christians began in 159Y, when twenty-six of them were executed on the cross. From time to time the opposition to Christianity and to the foreigners grow more bitter, and at length, in 1637, the destruction of all that remained in the country was decreed. At Shimabara, on the island of Kiushiu, the Christians made their last stand for defense, but their forti- fications were captured and all, to the number of 30,000. wero put to death, and over the common grave a monument was reared with this inscription : ' ' So long as thd siM shall warm thd earth, let no Christian, he so hold THK COUNTRY AS IT IS. as to come to Japa7i, and let all I'noio, that the King of Spain himself, or the Christiari's Ood, or the Oreat Ood of all, if he violate this com- mand, slmll jpajj for it with his head.'''' Thus the door of Japan was closed against foreign countries, and remained closed for more than two hundred years. FINALLY OPENED. In 1853, Commodore Perry, with a fleet of American vessels, arrived at Tokio, and forced a commercial treaty with Japan. The treaty was concluded Avith the Shogun, whom the Daimios or feudal lords intro- duced as the Tycoon or "Great Lord." In introducing him by this name, it was intended to secure an available flaw in the treaty if they should afterward see fit to annul it ; and it was further hoped that making him party to such a treaty would so diminish his reputation with the peo- ple who were opposed to intercourse with foreigners as to array against him the Mikado himself. In the strife which followed, the Shogun was murdered, and his successor forced to abdicate. The murder erf some foreigners, especially the Secretary of the United States legation, brought military force to bear, in order to enforce the treaty. The Japanese saw that the commercial world had claims upon them which they were bound to respect ; they were also awakened to the superior military power of the nations with which they had to deal. Their country had for a long time been torn with strife, as leading families of the Daimios contended for mastery. The necessity of consolidation and harmony among them- selves was clearly seen. In the emergency the Shogun abdicated, and the Daimios, 264 in number, surrendered their feudal rights, and the Mikado again became supreme ruler. The Mikado's party had been violently opposed to the treaty with the foreigners, and it was thought that, when he gained the entire control of the country, the treaties w,ould be abolished and the foreigners expelled. But the Mikado seems to have learned enough of the power and influ- ence of foreigners to deter him from any effort to contend with them in arms. He even made larger concessions than the Shogun had made, and sought to utilize for the benefit of his own people the lessons which the foreigners had taught, thus showing himself a wise and progressive ruler. Never has a nation started so suddenly from sleep as has Japan since her ports were opened to the Christian world. From his awful seclu- sion, where he was worshipped as a god, the Mikado has come forth in a pair of English boots, as the leader of his people, alert for the true development and progress of his country and people. 358 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. He attends public ceremonials, receives visitors, and rules like tlie monarclis of European countries. He is intelligent and energetic, and is doing all he can for the good of his country and people. The Mikado has sent legations to all the leading Christian nations to inquire into everji-hing which pertains to the interests of government or the Avelfare of the people ; and aU the arts and improvements of "Western civilization arc being introduced into the Land of the Rising Sun. The Japanese, as a people, are bright and intelligent, volatile, adven- turous, generous. They love the open air, have a high appreciation of the picturesque in scenery, and are exceedingly cleanly in their dwell- THE MIKADO. ings. They are not much bound to customs or traditions, or held by any strong ties to the past, and we may safely say that there is not upon the face of the earth a people who are making such rapid progress to-day as the Japanese. SHINTOISM. The ancient religion of Japan is Shintoism. Of this it is not impor- tant that we give any general account. JSTo one is known as its author or founder. It has never had a prophet or historian. Its best exposition is in the Kojiki, which is called the Shinto Bible; the Manyoshin, contain- THE COUNTET A3 IT IS. 359 ing specimens of ancient poetry; the Nihongi, a history of Japan; the Norito, a liturgical work; and the commentaries which have been writ- ten on these books. From these books little can be gathered resembling a system of philos- ophy or religion. There is no account of creation and no attempt at explanation of good and evil. The Kojild abruptly commences the Shinto cosmogony by the state- ment: "At tlae time of the beginning of heaven and earth there existed three hashira-kami (pillar gods). The name of one god, or kami, was Ame-no- waka-mushi-no-kami, (god of the middle heaven) ; the second was named Taka-mi-wuskubi-no-kami, (the high procreating god); the name of the -third was Kami-mi-musubi-no-kami, (the ineffal)le protecting god). ,These three, existing single, hid their bodies (died). Then when the young land floated, like oil moving about, there came into existence, sprouting upward like the ashi, (rush), a god named Umaji-ashikabi- kihoji-no-kami, who was succeeded by another, called Ame-no-toko- tachi-no-kami. These two chief gods, existmg single, hid their bodies, and were followed," etc. And so the story goes on without rhyme or reason, suggesting no principles or truths. The story of the beginning of the human race, touched with a Chinese gloss, is that Isanagi, the male, andlzanami, the female, descended from heaven and stood together on an island. Without speaking, they turned their faces in opposite directions and traveled round the world. "VMien they met, the female spoke first, saying, " How joyful to meet a lovely man ! " The male spirit, offended that the woman should be first to speak, turned away and again traveling in opposite directions they made the circuit of the world. On their second meeting, the woman, taught a lesson of modesty and submission, was silent and the man exclaimed, " How joyful to meet a lovely woman ! " Thus ended the first courtship of the first pair from whom descended the human race. It appears that Shintoism first taught men to worship the controlling force of nature, of which the most conspicuous objects of nature were accepted symbols. In its later developments it added the worship of ancestors. The Mikado has always been held as an object of worship on account of his traditional divine descent. The following five points are represented as embodying the tenets of Shintoism: " 1. Adoration or preservation of pure fire, as the emblem of purity, and the instrument of purification. 2. Purity of soul, heart and body to be preserved; in the former, by obedience to the dictates of reason and 360 LIGHT IN DAllKNESS. the law; in the lattoi", by abstinence from ■whatever defiles. 3. Obser- vance of festival days. 4. Pilgrimages. 5. Worship of the Kami, both in temples and at home. " rhe Shinto temples and shrines are plain in style, but of the finest vfKidLs, finished with the greatest care and skill, but destitute of paint or THE COUNTRY A3 IT 18. 361 gilding, or ornaments. Within the temples arc no idols or images. Tho only symbols are the tamajiro and the go-lici. The first is simply a mirror. They say that when the Smi-Goddoss sent Amatorasn to reduce to order the contending deities who were disturbing the carlh, she gave him a mirror and said, " Look upon this mirror as my spirit; keep it in the same house and on the same floor with yourself; and worship it as if you were worshipping my actual presence. " Perhaps the f act that tho mirror is the most perfect reflector of the sun gave -the cluo to its sym- bolic meaning. The Go-hei (august offering) is simply a slender wand of wood fi-om which hang two long pieces of paper notched so as to appear twisted. The practice still prevails among the Ainos and some of the hill tribes of Burmah, of placing such wands in the ground to woo the spirits. The origin of the practice is not known. Shintoism has never exerted a very great influence upon the minds of the Japanese. It has ever been wanting in the elements necessary to control the conscience and inspire enthusiasm. Since the Mikado has been restored to supreme power efibrts have been made to revive Shinto- ism as the state religion, and state officials make it a point to defend it ; but it has little prospect of obtaining any controlling influence. The religion of the great mass of the people is Buddhism. This religion was introduced into the empire A. D. 552. It rapidly obtained the ascendant over Shintoism. In 1S68 there were 97 Shinto temples in Japan, while the number of Buddhist temples was 29(3,900. Woman holds a higher place in Japan than in other eastern countries, but does not receive the respect accorded to her in Christian lands. The Japanese have always been tolerant in matters of religion, and arc free to investigate any system presented to them. Both as respects the laws of the country and the temper of the people, the Gospel is unop. posed, and there is not in the whole world a more inviting field for thp Christian missionary. 302 UGHT IN DARKNESS. CHAPTEE XXn. « PROTESTANT MISSIONS. T was the Sabbath day when Commodore Perry anchored his squadron in the bay of Yeddo. He spread the American flag over the capstan of his yessel and laid upon it the Bible. The One Hundredth Psalm was read, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ve lands," etc., and then the crew sang the hymn: " All the people that on earth do dwell, Sing to tlie Lord with cheerful voice ; Him serve with mirth, His praise forth tell, Come ye before Mm and rejoice." This was the first Protestant Christian service ever held in Japan. The notes of that Christian hymn floated over the peaceful waters as wooing that fair Land of the Rising Sun to join the happy Christian nations in their praise to the only Savior of men. The way being opened by the commercial treaties of 1854 and 1858 with the United States and England, Protestant missionaries promptly began their work in Japan. An ordained missionary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, three of the Presbyterian Board, and three of the Reformed Church of America, all from the United States, entered the field in 1859. The edict against Christianity, which was recorded upon the monu- ment of the massacre at Shimabara, was still unrevoked. Christian teaching was not allowed, and any profession of Christianity on the part of a native would have been punishable ynth. death under the law. But the Japanese recognized the superior civilization of the "West, and showed a ready disposition to learn of foreigners. Teachers from Chris- tian lands found ready access to the schools, and their services were soon in demand, and it was seen by the churches of Christendom that the people of Japan might be reached by many other ways than by direct preaching of the "Word, and they sent forward their agents to prepare the way for that brighter day which was soon to dawn. Christian character and life are powerful teachers, although the tongue be withheld from any profession of faith in Christ or declaration of his saving power. . An instance of such influence will find appropriate record here. An American, ji fervent Christian, was engaged through a Japanese PROTESTANT MISSIONS. 363 consul to go to Japan as a teacher. He was assigned a position under the strictest injunctions not to teach Christianity or say anything in the presence of the boys of his school to bring the religion of their fathers into disrepute. . The obligation was kept, but all the dignity and purity of Christian life daily appeared in his temper and conduct ; and while his instructions impressed his pupils with his superior knowledge, his character impressed them still more with the superiority of that religion which, though unmentioned, they knew he devoutly held. Unknown to the teacher forty of his pupils, young men, assembled in a grove and signed a covenant to abandon idolatry. The action of the students became known, the school was broken up, and many of the young men imprisoned, but they persisted in their purpose. It was not long until liberty of conscience was granted. Twenty-five of the young men were afterward gathered into the Eayoto training-school and fifteen of them became preachers of the gospel. STOET OF NEESHIMA. Professor Neeshima is the native president of this Kiyoto training- school. The story of his conversion to Christianity and his education in this country will interest our readers. It has just been furnished us by our friend, the Rev. W. B. Palmore, a Methodist preacher from Mis- souri, now traveling in the far East. We give the history in his own words: "About forty years ago there lived in the city of Tokio a young boy who was brought up in accordance mth the ancient customs of his people, taught to read the Chinese literature, and trained in the ancient methods of war as then practiced in that country. Though taught the heathen systems around him, he was inwardly convinced that they could not give him the help and hope he needed. As the Christian religion was then strictly prohibited, he had never heard of the gospel, but a shadowy conviction of the presence of Him who is not far from every one of us, had dawned upon him and awakened strange aspirations after something better than his own country could give. "While in this state of mind a friend brought to him a little book called the 'Story of the Bible,' written by a missionary in China. He read this with peculiar interest. When he learned that there was but one living and true God, who rules over all, it was to him a new and won- derful revelation. 'This,' said he, 'is the God for whom I have been looking.' And vague as his knowledge was he determined to know more of this new and better religion. " He also learned of America from a little book prepared by Doctor 364 LIGHT IN DAKKNESS. Bridgcman 5 and akJiough tlio poaalty v\ us death to become a Christian, or leave his native land, he decided to go forth like Abraham of old, trusting in God alone. ' ' He left Yokohama at night, lying flat on the bottom of a sampan. "\^^lcn the policeman hailed the boat as it was passing out from the shadow of the Bund, asking, ' Who is it V the l)oatman, sitting upright, answered, 'It is I.' Thus escap- ing ho wont to Hakodate and there became the teacher of Father Xlcolai, the present Rus- sian bishop. After waiting for some time he escaped from there without detection and was carried by an American schooner to Shanghai, China. At this port he providentially seciu'cd passage to Boston, 0:1 a vessel o^mied by Alpheus Hardy, of that city. He was taken on board as a servant, and it was agreed that he should receive no wages nor money for any other purpose. " Wlien he left Japan he com- mitted himself to the care of the Supreme Being, of whom he had but a dim conception, but he knew nothing of the nature of prayer. At Hong Kong he sold one of his swords for a Now Testament, thus exchanging a carnal weapon for the sword of the spirit. This became his cou- jAPAHESE IDOL. staut companioii on his long voy- He thus learned of the Ioao of God in Christ and began to pray. Every night he was accustomed to. ask, in the simplicity of his heart: ' Oh, God, please don't cast me away into miserable condition. Please let me reach my great aim. ' "When the vessel reached Boston he was kept on board for ten weeks and the severest tasks allotted to him. At length the captain told Mr. Hardy of the young wanderer, and on hearing his history and the object of his visit, Mr. Hardy took him as a servant, but sooa accepted him as age to America PROTESTANT MISSIONS. 305 a charge sent from God, and adopted him as a member of his family. So at last this poor, friendless Japanese boy, who had stolen away from his own land like a wicked criminal, had been divinely guided and was now given one of the best Christian homes and the sympathies and help he needed. "He was first sent to Phillips Academy, then to Amherst College, and afterward to Andover Theological Seminary. Dm'ing all his course of study he was regarded as one of the most faithful scholars, as well as a consistent and active Christian. "During his college days the Japanese embassy visited America, and he was invited to become their interpreter, and also to accompany the commissioner of education on an inspection of American and European schools. He accepted this proposal for a short time, and thus obtained information that was valuable to him in perfecting his future plans. He also made for himself many warm friends among the members of the embassy, and they have since become some of the leading officials in the present government. ' ' Havinaj completed a ten years' course of study, he was ordained, at Boston, on the 24:th of September, 1884. At the meeting of the Ameri- can Board, just before his departure, he gave up the set speech which he had prepared and pom'cd out his heart in a direct appeal for money to found an institution in Japan like those where he had been educated. He did not resume his seat at once, but stood waiting for a response. The Hon. Peter Parker, of Washington, arose and promised $1,000. Others promised smaller sums until the amount reached $5,000. ' ' On reaching Japan he found that all had changed. With inexpres- sible joy he began to tell his people not only what he had seen and learned, but also the blessed tidings of salvation, and multitudes came to hear the new and wonderful message. At the home of his parents, in Annaka, the largest temple was opened for his use, and soon that could not hold all the eager crowd which assembled to see and hear him. As the result of a few days' eflbrt several persons were enlisted as soldiers of the cross, and there is now a large and self-supporting church in that village. The chosen field for his future work was the ancient capital of the country, the sacred city- of Kioto. Through the aid of friends in the government he secured a piece of ground adjoining the palace garden, and has now established a boarding school for girls, a complete training school for young men, and a theological seminary. Seven of the ablest missionaries of Japan are associated with him, and, with efficient native helpers, they have made that ancient and celebrated city a center of Christian efibrt and influence as it formerly has been of pagan supersti- PROTESTANT MISSIONS. 367 tion. He has met all discouragements, and even strong opposition on the part of infidels and heathen, by untiring zeal, unquenchable faith and a deep humihty. And God has crowned his work with the most blessed results. "This college year opened with an attendance in the English and scientific course of 164, and in the theological department of 23. The girls' school is also very flourishing, and has all the students that can be accommodated. " Although the Gospel could not be openly preached in Japan from 1S53 to 1872, yet the word of God was not bound. Religious books had been printed and put in circulation, and some of the people had obtained knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. FIRST PROTESTANT CHURCH. Memorable are the scenes and circumstances which led to the organiza- tion of the first church in the empire. It was in the year 1872, and during the week which was being observed throughout Christian lands as the week of prayer, an English meeting was held in Yokohama. A num- ber of Japanese attended who had been instructed by the missionaries in private classes. The lesson was read from the Acts of the Apostles, telling how the Spirit of God was poured out on the people on the day of Pentecost. These natives hearing the Scriptures read and expounded fell on their knees and prayed God to pour out His Spirit on Japan. The prayers were characterized by intense earnestness. Sailors and captains of men-of-war, Enghsh and Americans, who were present, said : "The prayers of the Japanese take the heart out of us." It was resolved by the missionaries to go forward and organize a church, and in March, 1872, a society of twelve Japanese who came forward and pro- fessed faith in Christ was organized at Yokohama. Henry Loomis, agent for the American Bible Society in Japan, and one of the most distinguished missionaries in that field, has furnished Us an account of the growth of this first native church : "The first Protestant church organized in Japan celebrated its fifteenth anniversary this year, 1887. The exercises were attended by a large aiid intelligent audience, and the contrast between the condition of things at the founding and now seemed to partake almost of the miraculous. Then eleven persons (mostly young men), formed the nucleus of Christian growth in Japan. Not only was there no sympathy among the people, but it was well known that a public avowal of the Christian faith involved danger, if not death. Now Christianity heis feecon^e i^ot; opiy popular, but a veal power in the 308 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. land. There are already more than 16,000 church members, 193 churches, 256 pastors and evangelists, and 169 preparing for the min istry. Mne different churches have been the outgrowth of work done by mem- bers of this congregation, and in many other places there is a promise of other and similar organizations. Fifteen preachers and evangelists have been sent out from this flock, and among them are some of the most active and efficient workers in the country. The whole number received upon pro- fession has been 736, and thirty-one by letter. The present membership is 441." VAEIOUS MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. At present there are twenty missionary societies at work in Japan. Of these the American Board stands in the front. It began work in 1869. The centers of their work are at Kioto, Kobe, Okayama and Osaka. Their report for the year ending April 1, 1885, is thirty-one churches, of which twenty-six are self-supporting. There are 3,465 communicants, 866 had been added by profession during the year ; three new churches had been built, and the contributions from the churches amounted to $10, 269 (Mexican money). The Oospel News had been published weekly by the missionaries from 1875 to 1885, after which three religious periodicals, two monthlies and one weekly were started at Tokio and the News was discontinued. The American Presbyterians opened work at Yokohama in 1859, at Yeddo in 1869, at Kanazawa in 1879, and at Osaka in 1881. Their labors have been very successful but the results cannot be definitely stated, because, for the past eight years the American Presbyterians, the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the Reformed Church of America have labored together and are united in one body. The United Church of Japan consists of five Presbyteries united in one Synod, which n:3cts biennially. The third session of this assembly was held in Novern )er, 1885, at Tokio, in a building which had been erected for Buddhist worship. The roll numbered 71, twenty-five of whom were Japanese ministers, thirty-six ruling elders, and ten foreign- ers. The body organized a Board of Home Missions. The United Church of Japan promises to draw into its organization other denominations than those which we have mentioned as constitutinsr it originally. A mission of the Southern Presbyterian Church has united with it, and the German Reformed Church is about to follow the example. In no country where the Protestant churches are laboring for the sal- vatipn of tbo heathen, ai-e tho laborers so united in tvue Christian fellow- PROTESTANT MISSIONS. 369 ship as in Japan ; and nowhere does a more fervent evangelical spirit characterize the Avork. The same year that the American Board entered the field, 1869, the Church Missionary Society of England established a station at Naga- saki. In 1874 work was begun in Tokio, Osaka and Hakodate. Their report for 1886 speaks of their work as " on a small scale in comparison with the American societies." In 1884: their congregation at Toldo be- came self-supporting. The mission- ary at Nagasald, in the island of Kiu- shiu, Mr. Hutchison, in his report, says : ' ' When I compare my former experience in China with the present here, I am amazed to find that in the two years during which I have been left practically alone in IGu-shiu I have been able, with every satis- faction as to the individual cases, to baptize more people than during the seven years of similar solitary work there. " At Osaka the society has two churches and a theological school. The station at Hakodate, in the northern island of Yezo, reports forty- six members scattered about over the island. THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL MISSION. The Methodist Episcopal Church sent missionaries to Japan in 1872. Four men, with their wives, were the first company, but during the same year another missionary and his wife joined them, Dr. R. S. Maclay, who had formerly served in the Chinese mission at Foochow, and who was their superintendent, an office which he still holds, and in which he has rendered eminent and acceptable service to the church. Dr. Maclay rented a house at Yokohama for residence, and there, on the 3d of August, 1873, the first missionary meeting was held. Bishop Harris presiding and appointing the preachers to their work. The ap- pointments were made to Yokohama, Tokio, Nagasaki and Hakodate, thus occupying the three great islands from the beginning. During the first years the missionaries, of course, made the study of the language their chief work. In 1874 Miss Schoonmaker was sent out by the Woman's Board, and opened a school for girls in Toldo. She had, during the fij:«t year, but eight or ten pupils, and the hostility of the natives to the work 24 L-D REV. R. S. MACLAY. 370 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. found various pretexts to drive the school from point to point, so that it was compelled to change places five times. At length Miss Schoonmaker succeeded in renting a part of the house of a Buddhist priest, where she opened a girls' boarding school. The school opened with five boaiders and twelve day pupils and went for- ward prosperously. The third year of the mission a number of day-schools were opened and classes were organized, stewards elected, quarterly meetings held and the machinery of Methodist church work generally put in motion. So rapidly did the work develop that in 1884 a conference was organized, Dr. Maclay having all the time served as superintendent until this time. After this, according to the economy of the church, the work was subject to the direct control of the bishops through the annual conferences. At present there are in the Japan conference of the Methodist Episco- pal Church five districts, viz. : East Toldo district; West Tokio district; and Yokohama district, on the island of Niphon; Nagasald district, on the island of Kiushiu, and IIok-Kaido and North Hindo district, embrac- ing the northern extremity of Niphon and the southern part of Yesso. The conference has two theological schools, seven high schools, and ten day schools. It has fifty-four Sabbath schools with 1,992 scholars; sixteen churches and chapels, and thirteen parsonages. It has also property in orphanages, hospitals and a printing house valued at $59, 800. The number of church members is 1, 754, four hundred and fifty-eight having been added to the church during the past year — a much more rapid growth than has been experienced by the home conferences. CONGEEGATIONAl TRAINING SCHOOL. The Congregationalists are doing a very fine work in Japan, especially in the matter of training native young men for the ministry. This is wise policy in the mission work in all countries. That work cannot remain in the hands of foreigners. If the natives' are converted the native character will soon type and control the church, and if native preachers cannot be raised up worthy to be entrusted Tvath the high functions ofithe ministry there can be no permanent success achieved. The Congi-egationalists have at Kioto the large training school for young ministers to which we have formerly referred, and over which Neeshima is president. A traveler from the United States recently visited this school and found more than a hundred young men, gathered from the best class of Japanese, under instruction. On being asked to address the school, he inquired who would be his interpreter. To his surprise, he was answered, PROTESTANT MISSIONS. 371 " You nood no interpreter ; speak to these students as you would speak to college students at home." They aU understood English. The American Baptists are worldng at Yokahama, Tokio, Sendai an(^ BUDDHIST TEMPLE. Kobe. They have seven churches. Their report for 1866 shows 107 members baptized during the year, and states that not only the Baptis<^ missions, but all other missions, are prospering in Japan. 372 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. SOUTHERN METHODIST MISSION. The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1886, appointed three missionaries to Japan. They were J. W. Lambuth, D. D., Rev. W. R. Lambuth, M. D., O. A. Dukes, A. M. They landed at Kobe, on the 25th of July, ate their first meal from their hands, and slept the first night on tables. But they had all learned to bear hardness as good sol- diers of the cross, for they had been in the service of the China mission until appointed by the church to this new field. J. W. Lambuth had been the first superintendent of the China mission of the M. E. Church, South, and had served there thirty-two years. During all this time his wife had been a faithful helper, whose services were not less valued by the church at home than those of her husband. She now, in vigorous health, entered the new field. W. R. Lambuth, M. D. , was their son. Born in China, his whole life had been spent there, except the few years at the Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, Tenn., where his education was completed, and from whence, on his return to China, he had taken as an helpmeet in his labors, Daisy, the daughter of Dr. D. C. Kelly. Daisy Lambuth is well known to Southern Methodists for her zeal in the mission work. So deeply is she impressed with the need of more laborers in Japan, that she oflfers to support a missionary at her own expense. Kobe is situated upon the northern shore of the Japan inland sea, and has easy communication with many important towns in one of the best settled and most delightful portions of the empire. Bishop A. W. Wil- son visited the place in September, after the missionaries came. He formally inaugurated the work and was highly pleased at the prospect. Kobe is a city of 80,000 inhabitants, and is the center of a railway line. It is the most healthful port, at all seasons, in Japan. It commands the inland sea, and all coasting vessels make it their port. It is one of the treaty ports and is in weekly communication with America, England and China. There is railroad connection with Osaka, twenty miles to the northeast. This latter place has a population of 300,000, and is the wealthiest city in Japan. The Southern Methodists congratulate themselves at having chosen so wisely their center of operations in the Sunrise Kingdom. KETEOSPECT AND PROSPECT. The revolutions which have transpired in Japan since Commodore Perry opened intercourse with the country, have been a maiwel to all Christian nations. Within the short space of thirty years we see a nation passing from feudalism, disturbed by constant strife, to a govern. SINTOO GOD OP LONGEVITy- 373 d74 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. nient unified under the sway of the emperor in perfect harmony, thus accomplishing, at a single step, what it required other nations three hundred years to reach. Japan, awakening from her sleep, has sent her great men to search out what is most excellent in all other lands, with the purpose of adopting at once the highest civilization. Their public school system was taken from the United States, and they have already taken a step in advance of us in making education compulsory. The Code Napoleon of France is their guide in law. They have the finest mint in the world, and their government currency, which seven years ago was at a discount of seventy per cent, is now at par. And, most wonder- ful of all, it has been provided with the full and hearty concurrence of the emperor that in 1890 the empire shall cease and the country pass under a constitutional government. The Mikado of Japan traces his succession in direct line from the first emperor, Jimmu, who reigned more than five hundred years before Christ, and whose descendants, through a hmidred and twenty-two gen- erations to the present time, have received divine honors. Yet this " Son of Heaven," who now occupies the throne of Japan, has deigned to come forth from his seclusion, put on English boots, attend public assemblies, receive visitors, interest himself in all public aflPairs, and now proposes to abdicate, that a constitutional government, after the style of western nations, shall be established in Japan. But Christianity will not possess Japan without a struggle. Shintoism is the national religion, and since the overthrow of the Shogunate and the establishment of the ancient authority of the Mikado, especial efibrts are made to revive the national religion, and the oiBcers of the government treat Christianity with disdain. The Buddhists also are making great efibrts to revive Buddhism, and with some success. But the most inaus- picious fact is that the Japanese colleges and univcrsitities arc mu-series of atheism. All the phases of modern infidelity find followers and learned advocates among those who are intrusted with the work of higher edu- cation in Japan. It is yet doubtful whether, in the next fifty years, Japan shall become in the best sense a Christian country or a nation of infidels and atheists. The doors of access are fully open ; the Japanese are looking to Christian countries for the wisdom that shall guide their future. The people are plastic ; it is the church's crisis of opportunity, and what is done must be done quickly. POLYNESIA. CHAPTEE XXm. POLYNESIA AND ITS INHABITANTS. PREAD before you the map and cast your eye over that part of the Pacific Ocean which lies between 20 degrees north latitude and 30 degree south, and from the groat Malay peninsula almost to the coast of California. You see before you the division of our globe generally known as Polynesia, or many islands. Polynesia is considered under five principal divisions. Malaysia comprises Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Celebes and other islands in the neighborhood of the Malay peninsula. Australasia includes Australia and groups of islands adjacent. Micronesia comprises a vast number of small islands to the north and northeast of Australia, while the groups to the east constitute Melanesia, and that section which is sometimes called especially Polynesia, from the vast number of islands that here dot the ocean. It is especially of this latter section of what is known by the general name of Polynesia that this history of missions leads us to speak. The section consists of many groups of small islands, together with a great number scattered about singly. The more important groups are the Sandwich, Navigators, Marquesas and Society Islands, each group containing eight islands. Besides these, the Paumotu, Friendly, New Hebrides and Charlotte groups. Southeast of Australia, which is about as large as the United States, lies New Zealand, as large as Great Britain, and to the north the still larger island of Papua or New Guinea. About fifteen hundred miles east of Australia are the Fiji islands — two hundred and twenty-five in number. Those are for the most part very small, but about eighty of them are densely populated. South of Japan lies a group of twelve hundred islands, some of them very large. These are the Philippines, the largest of which is Luzon. S75 376 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. VOLCANIC ISLANDS. Some of these islands are volcanic in their origin and some are coralline. The volcanic islands rise much higher above the sea than the others, and are often distinguished as "the high islands." They consist of basalt and other igneous formations. The principal of these are the Friendly Islands, one of which, Otaheite, or Tahiti, has a mountain rising 10,000 feet; the Marquesas also are very high, as are the Samoan or Navigators Islands, and the Sandwich Islands. Hawaii, one of this latter group, has several active, and several extinct craters, ranging POLYNESIA AND ITS INHABITANTS. 377 from 13,000 to 16,000 feet high. Manna Kea and Manna Loa arc among the most active volcanoes of our times. While we Avrite this history an eruption of Mauna Loa is going on. The mountain is vomiting forth a flood of lava which flows twenty miles and falls into the ocean. Within the last ten years it has sent out its burning floods as far as Hilo, fifty miles away. On East Maui, one of these islands, is the vast crater of Haleakala, thirty miles in circumference. It is the largest volcanic crater in the world, but has long been extinct. Several active volcanoes are found in the Malay Archipelago. In Java and Sumatra within the last few years several terrible eruptions have occurred, together with violent e irthquakc-;, which have destroyed thousands of lives, submerged large tracts of land and lifted others from beneath the sea. CORAL ISLANDS. The islands of coralline formation are low and generally small. They are destitute of any consideraljle elevations, and though various in form have many characteristics in common. Almost all of them are sur- rounded by a barrier reef ranging in distance from half a mile to thirt}- miles from the shore. This reef rises near the surface and its presence is indicated by a ring of feathery foam around the island. There is, however, almost uniformly some deep open passage by which a shij) may cross the reef and find, lying around the island, a sheltered harbor. There are a large number of islands called Atolls, a name given by the Maldive islanders to circular coral reefs rising above the sea and enclosing a lagoon. These circular reefs are covered with a luxuriant vegetation, and may be several miles in breadth. The lagoon within may be Init a small pool or a great basin of placid sea twenty or thirty miles in breadth. We give in the picture a representation of the perfect atoll. Upon the inner circle of the reef and around the margin of the lagoon is the favorite home of the native, sheltered from the storms of the great sea without, while the great basin within, engirdled with its strong barriers fringed with palms, appears the very symbol of f ruitfulness and repose. Various theories have been advanced in regard to the formation of the coralline islands. Coral is the work of polyps, there being many species of these, each forming difierent varieties of coral. The substance of coral is carbonate of lime. It is not formed by any design of the little creatures that build it, but is the stony frames of these polyps that have their brief life and die clinging where they were born, and thus ago after age by slow accretions their dead frames build the submarine for- 378 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. csts that are rooted in uiifathomed depths and wear their coronal of verdure above the flood. It has been proven by tests that the coral reefs reach down into a deeper sea than the plummet can sound. I h, . ,!'.&' I*' V'*. I'j ; But the coral polyp cannot live at a greater depth than one hundred and twenty feet, hence the theory most popular in regard to the col-al islands is, that all this part of the ocean was once very shallow, and that POLYNESIA AND ITS INHABITANTS. 37fl it has slowly increased in depth, the earth sinking down; meantime the coral polyps ever building keep their structures towering still near the surface. Another theory is that these islands are partly volcanic, partly coral- Une ; that subterranean fires have lifted great mountains near the surface of the deep and upon the summits of these coral polyps have begun to build their s.trange and mighty structures. In this view coral- polyps have only completed the work which, in the Sandwich islands and other volcanic groups, was completed without their aid. FAUNA AND FLORA. That these islands were never connected with the continents seems to be proven by the fact that very few animals are found upon them. There are no large animals of any kind in Micronesia. It is not known whether rats are indigenous or were introduced by passing vessels. They are now almost incredibly numerous upon some of these islands. In some quarters the missionaries found it necessary to have some one keep the rats off the table during meals, just as we keep oflT the flies. While there are but few quadrupeds among these islands rep- tiles are numerous and there are great numbers of birds of brilliant plumage. The vegetation is tropical, and in BEEAD-FExnT. ^^^^ ^f ^^^ iskuds luxuriaut, almost equalhng the jungles of India or the forests of the Amazon.^ The accom- panying picture represents a forest on one of these islands. Of food-supplying plants, the most important are the bread-fruit tree, the cocoanut palm, the banana, the taro, and a species of yam. Of the bread-fruit, there are several kinds which ripen at different seasons of the year, and so enable the natives to subsist with very little labor. The sugar-cane is indigenous, and is now extensively cultivated ; rice, millet, wheat, ginger, pepper, indigo and most tropical fruits are grown. The cocoanut palm is common and valuable. The banana is especially valued fgr the great amount of fruit which it produces. The ground which in the course of a year would produce thirty-three pounds of wheat or a hundred pounds of potatoes, will yield four thousand pounds of bananas. With such bounteous provision for food, and a climate of perpetual summer, the native has little to do in order to provide for natural wants. r>-----'yi-»"77: % 880 POLYNESIA AND ITS INHABITANTS. 38 i INHABITANTS. A few of the islands are uninhabited, but most of them have a con- siderable population. The people are clearly of two distinct races ; those of the more easterly islands have long, straight hair, very glossy, and bright copper skin. Their features are like the Malays. But on the islands which dot the sea from Fiji to the eastern part of Java, the natives are of quite a diifcrent type, having large frames, black skin and crisp hair, with more of the general characteristics of the negro. Again, upon other islands are found a population ■svhich is a mixture of the two races referred to. Of the origin of these races, nothing is known cer- tainly. They are supposed to have come from Asia. The didccts of the copper-colored race are sufficiently alike and all sufficiently resemble the Malayan language to justify the belief that they have descended from the Malays. The darker race speak a totally different language. It is, however, probable that they also came from Asia. On the island of Ceram is a race much resembling that Avhich is scattered through the western part of Micronesia. It is probable that the inhabitants of these islands, including both races referred to, set out from the neighborhood of the Malay peninsula ; for, although they are now found many thousands of miles away, islands are so thickly strewn over all the equatorial sea that canoes would serve as a safe means of transportation from one to another at certain seasons of the year. The perfection to which the language of the Polynesians has been brought is a maiwel. Eude savages as they are, their dialects are remarkably rich and flexible and expressive, adjusted to express the nicest distinctions in ideas. These dialects are spoken according to the strictest rtdes and the most perfect grammatical principles. INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY. In intellectual capacity the South Sea Islander is, in many respects, the equal of the European. In depth of thought and profundity of re- search he is far inferior. But in wit, quickness of perception, tenacity of memory, ingenuity, thirst.' for laiowledge when its value is perceived, appreciation of the useful, precision and force of speech, or in eloquence, the European is in no way superior. They have a very strong apprccia- "^ion of the humorous, and are. always . ready for a laugh, being, in this - spect, totally unlike the average Asiatic. They have numerous strik- ag proverbs and similes. Their native good sense may be illustrated by the two following anecdotes related by a missionary: "I was standing one day by Tamatoa when the fishing canoes returned with a quantity of salmon. These were deposited iq his presence, and 382 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. one of the domestics, by his master's order, began to set apart a number for the various chiefs, according to the usual custom. While he was doing this a petty chief took a large fish from the pile, on seeing which the servant immediately seized it, muttering something in a very growl- ing tone of voice. Tamatoa noticed this, and asked the man why he did so. 'That fellow,' he replied, 'refused to give me some bread fruit the other day, and now he comes to take our fish ! ' Tamatoa then or- dered him to select two of the fiinest salmon and give them to the chief. The man grumbled, and, very reluctantly, obeyed the order. Shortly afterward Tamatoa again called his servant, and said : ' You foolish fel- low, do you not perceive that by this act the selfishness of that man will be reproved, and he will be ashamed to refuse you anything the next time you go ? ' I immediately turned to the king," adds the missionary, "and said, 'Why, you are as wise as Solomon, for he says, "If thine enemy hunger, give him bread to eat ; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink ; for thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head." ' ' True,' he replied, ' that's the way to conquer people.' " ' ' An American whaler, commanded by Captain Chase, often stopped at Raiatea for supplies. On one of his visits his vessel was wrecked on the rocks of Rurutu. The natives assisted him to rescue a large part of his property, not taking a single article. This was at a Christian settlement. Captain Chase left his property in charge of one of the native teachers, and, going over to Raiatea, told Mr. Williams, one of the missionaries, to sell it for him whenever a good opportunity presented itself. Soon afterward another whaler called at Tahiti, and, hearing of Captain Chase's misfortune, determined to get possession of the oil, thinking it would be easy to deceive the ignorant natives. Landing at Rurutu the captain showed to the native in charge a paper, to which he signed Captain Chase's name. The paper was an order that the oil be turned over to himself. No sooner had the native seen the order than he said in his broken English: 'You a liar; you a thief! You want to steal this property. You no have it.' The captain was greatly enraged, and began a great bluster and bravado ; but the native took him by the hand and led him up to his house, and placed the paper by a specimen of Captain Chase's writing, thus proving the order a forger^-. The dishonest captain, seeing himself completely foUed, could do noth- ing but leave in disgust. The keen-eyed native could not be imposed upon." ORIGINAL CONDITION. As regards social customs, and their moral status, they were, before the advent of missionaries, sunk in the lowest depths of infamy, vice POLYNESIA AND ITS INHABITANTS. 383 and degradation. Little was known of them, except that they were rapacious and cruel, and that any vessel was not safe in their hai-bors. The inhabitants of the Fiji and some other groups, were notorious for their cannibalism. The inhabitants of nearly all dwelt near the sea- shore ; few sought the interior, unless on account of some bloody war they were compelled to seek a place of safety. But since their Chris- tianization, they cultivate all parts of their islands. The voyages of Captain Cook first made these islands known to Europeans. This emi- nent navigator visited different groups, and did a great deal to increase the knowledge of Europeans concerning the isles of the Pacific. He was finally Idlled by savages of the Sandwich islands. From his being the first white person to visit the islands, the inhabitants of some groups for a long while called all whites, "Cookees," taking his name for the name of the people. Many a vessel was plundered, and many a sailor met the fate of Cook before the savages had the gospel preached to them. The systems of government in the various islands are much the same, though each group has some peculiarities of its own. In almost all the chieftainship is hereditary and despotic ; but in some cases, if a chief became excessively tyrannical, he was put to death, and his son made chief in his stead. In some localities the chiefs are elected. They are noted for their physical superiority — so much so, indeed, that some of the early explorers thought the chiefs must be of a distinct race. The chiefs always select the women of finest physical appearance for their wives, and choose some of the best nurses to be found to care for their children. Like all savage races, they pride themselves on their physical ability, and look on the whites with a good deal of contempt, though always ready to acknowledge their mental superiority. If anyone is awkward in the performance of a feat of physical exercise, they will •sometimes say to him, "How stupid you are ; you must be an English- man." Thieving was very common ; but in some localities the laws against thieving from each other were so severe that it was seldom practiced. They did not hesitate, however, to rob any stranger, or any of their enemies, when it was in their power to do so. Wars were very frequent and were well adapted to prove that ''the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty." Their usual weapons were the spear, club and sling. In the use of these they obtained great skill and dexterity. Mr. Williams has seen a chief hurl his spear through a ring four inches in diameter, from a distance of 80 feet. Though cannibalism was practiced by comparatively few of the 384 LIGHT IN DAEKKESS. different tribes, their wars were attended with great atrocity and cruelty. The vanquished were often thrown into huge fires built for the purpose. The victors spared neither age nor sex. Women often went forth to battle with the men, to carry reserved weapons, and carry off the heads of the slain. They would sometimes assist their husband by laying hold of any opponent with whom he was sti-uggling, and dragging him to the earth. In this they were in a certain degree safe, as a bold warrior considered himself disgraced by fighting a woman, and Avould not strike one if he could avoid it ; thus he was often put hors de camhat ere he fully realized his danger. It was not often, however, that Avomen took so active a part in the fray. POLYNESIA AiND ITS 1>AUKNF,S,S. (lays of the inlcrinont, the }-i'la(.i\'os l)clifvclessings wore in store for us; then I should have saved my children, and they would have been among this tappy group, repeating these precious truths. But alas ! I have destroyed them all, I have not one left." Then turning to the chairman, who was also a relative, he stretched out his arm and exclaimed, "You, my brother, saw me kill child after child, but you never seized this murderous hand, and said, ' Stay, brother, God is about to bless us; the Gospel of salvation is coming to these shores. ' " Then he cursed the gods which they formerly worshipped, and added, "It was youths' 39i LIOHT IN DARKNESS. infused this savage disposition into us, and now I shall die childless, although I have been the father of nineteen children." After this he sat down, and in a flood of tears gave vent to his agonized feelings. " This scene," says the relater of the story, "occurred in my own place of worship. I saw the man, and heard him utter these expressions. He was an arioi of the highest rank, and the laws of his class required the destruction of all his children. " CHAPTER XXIV. THE FIELD ENTERED. ' S soon as the organization of the London Missionary Society was effected, the question arose as to what locality should be chosen as the field in which the labors should begin. Various wore the ideas upon this subject; but, at length, the Society asked Dr. Haweis, the Chaplain of the Countess of Hunting- don, to prepare a memorial upon the subject. This, he ac- cordingly did. The address was delivered in Surrey Chapel. We make one extract from it : " The field before us is im- mense ! O that we could enter at a thousand gates ! — that every limb were a tongue, and every tongue a trumpet, to spread the joyful sound ! ^Aliere so considerable a part of the habitable globe on every side calls for our efforts, and, like the man of Macedonia, cries, 'Come over and help us,' it is not a little difficult to decide at what part to begin. " As the Soci- ety was then in its infancy, and its means limited, it A\'as deemed advis- able that the work should commence in the field which presented the fewest difficulties ; for should the first effort meet with very marked opposition, it was feared the result might be a serious decline in mission- ary zeal. Dr. Haweis, after describing and discussing, at some length, the character of the climate, peojjle, teligion and go\'ernment of various heathen lands, expressed it, as his opinion, that of all the heathen world the South Sea Islands presented fewer difficulties in the way of the spread of the gospel than any other. Yet, as we have already seen, the inhalji- tants of those islands were, perhaps, the most degraded human beings in the world. But their very vileness made them the more ready, when the work began in earnest, to embrace the truths of Christianity. Among them Christianity had no civilization to overthi'ow. Being, by nature, keen-witted and observant, it was tliought they could not fail to mark THE FIELD ENTERED. 395 the vast superiority of Cliristians ; and their anxiety to learn would make them quite willing, after their attention was once gained, to listen to the new religion. So, in accordance with Dr. Haweis' suggestion, the Board of Directors unanimously resolved that their mission work should begin in the South Seas. Of the large number of candidates who offered them- selves, twentj^-five were selected. They set sail for Tahiti in 1797, in the charge of Captain Wilson. CAPTAIN WILSON. This man, who seems to have been providentially raised up for the management of this great enterprise, was originally a captain in tho British army. He was in service in India during the contest between the French and English for the possession of that country. In the army he proved to be invaluable on account of his skill and energy. At length, however, he was captured by the French ; but, on learning that they proposed to deliver their prisoners to Hyder AU, the cruel and implacable rajah of the Mysore, he determined to attempt to escape. He accordingly leaped, in the night, from the Avails of the prison, which were forty feet in height, and reached the ground without sustaining any further injuries than a few bruises. He set out in the din^'tion of the nearest English garrison. In his flight he came to the Coleroon, a a larsro river famous for the innumerable number of alligators in its waters. No native dared plunge into this ri^er. Ignorant of this, Wil- son boldly plunged in, and swam the stream in safety. Thinking his dangers were now over, he took less precaution for his safety. On ascending an eminence to secure a xivw of the country, he was seized by some prowling troopers of Hyder Ali. Thus he fell into the power of the very man to escape whom he had run siieh risks. Immediately after his seizure he was interrogated by one of the chiefs in the party as to the manner in which he had escaped from the prison at Cuddalore. He accordingly detailed his escape and his adventures till that time. The chief listened in astonishment till Wilson spoke of his swimming the Coleroon; but when he heard that, exclaimed: "That IS a lie ; no man ever swam the Coleroon ; for shoidd one but dip his fingers in its waters he would be immediately seized by alligators." Being jiaally convinced of the truth of Wilson's narrative, the party gazed at each other in silent wonder and said : " This is God's man ! " But their admiration for his pluck and his remarkable escape did not prevent them from treating him with excessive barbarity. He was imme- diately stripped and driven on foot, and shoeless, to Seringapatam, the capital of the bloodthirsty Hyder Ali. This distance of five hundred mues he traveled under the burning rays of a July sun. On arriving nt 396 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. his destination he -was loaded with thirty-two pounds of fetters, and thrust, along with other prisoners, into a horrible dungeon. The prison- ers were kept on the very coarsest and scantiest food — usually the half- boiled sweepings of the rice granaries. At times Wilson's hunger ^v as so CAPTA7X WILSON'S ESCAPE AND RE-CAPTURE. great his jaws would involuntarily snap when his food Avas brought to him. The fearful miseries of the prison destroyed great numbers of his fellow-prisoners, but he still survived. Often a corpse would be THE FIELD ENTERED. 397 unchained from his unn, in tlio morning, tiud a living sufferer put in its place. Wlien, nearly two years later, Hyder All was at length subdued, and the prison doors thrown open, of the seori'S who had been confined in that noisome dungeon, only thirty-two were left. The ivar being over, Captain Wilscm engaged in mercantile pursuits, for a time, and met with good success. He still was preserved by some mysterious providence. While at Bencoolen, every other European in the ship he commanded died ; jet the disease left him unhurt ! He, then, having a comfortable fortune, determined to return to England and settle down to enjoy the remainder of his life in (luiet. During all these years Wilson had been a notorious infidel. On the homeward voyage he fell in with a returning Baptist missionary, Mr. Thomas. They had frequent discussions upon the character and claims of Christianity. Captain Wilson seemed such a hopeless case that Mr. Thomas one day remarked to the captain of the ship that he "should have much more hope of converting the Lascars to Christianity than Captain Wilson." But, strange to sa)-, after a variety of intei-esting incidents and experiences, Captain Wilson became a Christian. After some years spent in retirement and enjoyment at home, a muuber of the EoaiKjdlciil Magazine^ containing some views on the proposed mission to the South Sea Islands, fell into his hands. His symi)athics were at once aroused, and he determined to offer himself for the work, asking no pecuniary compensation. Thus, Tjy a long series of provi- dential circumstances, a man of great energy and sagacity Av;is raised up to superintend the inauguration of a Axork that a\ as to prove in future years so successful in turning the heathen from darkness unto light. THE FIELD ENTERED. The Society bought the ship Duff^ and placed Cajjtain Wilson in charge of the first expedition. The operations \\ere begun under- favora- ble auspices, and on an extensive scale. Of the twent3'-five missionaries first sent out, apart were stationed at Tahiti, a part at the Marquesan, and the remainder at the Friendly Islands. This first voyage of the Duffyi'jtS every way successful. After a time it was detei-mined to reinforce the mission, and the Duff was sent out with thirty additional laborers. The subject of foreign missions was rapidly arousing great interest in England. But the second voyage of the Duff ended in disaster. The vessel was captured l)y the privateer Buotuiparte ; all the mission property was lost, and the mis- sionaries themselves were compelled to return to England. Simulta- neously with thig disaster the island work met with rc\'crscs, also. The 3-98 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. MarquGisan mission failed, and was finally abandoned. At Tongataboo, various disastei's occurred, and some of the missionaries were killed. The remainder abandoned the island. At Tahiti' the natives became hostile, and the missionaries nearly all tied for their lives. Only a few- remained. Some of those who left returned after a short absence, and VIEW IN TAmTI. found they were simply tolerated ; nothing more. They labored unceas- ingly for sixteen yearn ; yet no spirit of inquiry manifested itself among the natives. The wars of the natives were numerous and destructive ; their idolatiy showed no signs of weakening. All seemed in vain, At THE FIELD ENTERED. 399 length an \inusuivlly destructive war broke out, and the missionaries were driven from the island, and lost all means of communication with it. The cause seemed totally lost. THE MORN COMETH ! News of these various reverses reached England. The directors of the missionary society became discouraged. It was finally proposed to abandon the field altogether. A few earnest spirits opposed this. Dr. Haweis argued against it, and backed his opposition with £1,000 — a tell- ing argument. Rev. Matthew Wilks said he " would rather sell the clothes from his back than that the mission should be given up, " and in'oposed "that a season of prayer for the divine blessing be o) (served. "' This rekindled, a little, the rapidly dying zeal. Letters of encourage- ment were written to the missionaries at Tahiti. But ere the vessel which bore them reached Tahiti, the news was brought to England that idolatry was overthrown, and the people were by scores embracing Chris- tianity. As a proof of the fact, the vessel which brought the news brought also the rejected idols of the people. Verily, "Before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. " How was this great change so suddenly effected ? In the answer we find another instance of the mysteries of God's providence. When the missionai'ies fled from the island, they left behind them two native ser^•- ants, who had, unknown to their employers, received some serious impressions of the truth and importance of the gospel. They began praying together, and were soon joined by others. At length, the war being over, the missionaries ventured back to the island. To their great astonishment, they found a large number ot pu-re aetiM^ or "praying people, " among the islanders. The seed was bearing fruit ; the mission- aries had nothing to do but comply with the incessant demands for instruction ; the spirit of inquiry was thoroughly aroused ; and before long the entire population, almost to a man, cast away their idols, destroyed the maraes, and embraced Christianity. The work soon spread to others of the surrounding islands. JOHN WILLIAMS. In 1817 there arrived at Raiatea, the most important of the Society Islands, a man destined, under the providence of God, to be a distin- guished agent in spreading Christianity over Polynesia ; a man "who Avas a born leader, qualified for every good work, and ready to prosecute the work and extend it in every direction ; to superintend the operations in every part of the field, while taking an active part in preaching and teaching, and instructing the imtiyeg in various useful and profitable occu- 400 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. pations ; a man who, while keeping a watclif ul eye upon the various pro- jects in the whole Hold, could yet give careful attention to the minutest details of station work ; a man firm, yet kind, who made the natives feel that he was master of the situation, jet preserving peace and harmony without any semblance of assumed authority, making himself universally beloved by every ago and both sexes ; in short, a man pre-eminent in all those qualities needed in a foreign missionary. John Williams Avas born in London, in 1Y96. He was apprenticed to an ironmonger in his youth, with the idea of learning the mercantile rather than the mechan eal part of the business. But he had a natural taste for mechanical work, and while he did not neglect his duties as a salesman, he employed all available opportunities in keenly watching all processes in the manufacture of the various articles, and thus he, in time, learned a great deal about mechanical appliances, and became quite expert in many departments of that handicraft. "We shall see by and by how useful all this proved to be to the missionary. During this period of his life Williams manifested a decided aversion to religious matters. The teachings of a pious mother were soon forgotten. He was not vicious, but did not wish to be troubled about religion. He would stay away from church as much as possible, feeling religion to be a species of unpleasant restraint which might do for the " solemn old fogies," but Avas entirely unsuited to an active, merry, cheerful lad like himself. His chief aim was to have a good tijne, as far as he could, con- sistently witli the proper discharge of his duties as an apprentice. This soon led him into bad company. He began associating "witli a set of dis- solute youths who would soon have made him as wicked as themselves. HIS CONVERSION. But God had otlicr plans for Williams. He siddeuly experienced a great change. It ivas due, primarily, to a "word in season" from his master's wife. One Sunday afternoon he stood loitering on a street corner, waiting for some of his scapegrace companions. They had agreed to go with him to a neighboring tea garden to have a jolly time together the whole afternoon. His friends were not punctual, and he was ^^ecom- ing much irritated, when his master's wife came by on her way to the Tabernacle, and observed him loitering on the corner. She, with some difficulty, persuaded him to go with her. The sermon that afternoon made a deep impression upon him, and was the means of changing the entire current of his thoughts and feelings. He soon afterward l)ct!une a in nnber of the church, under the pastoral care of tho famous Matthew Wilks. The Tabernacle congregation, of THE riELD ENTEllED 401 which he became a member, fai' excelled all other coiigregalioiia in Lou- don in missionary zeal. Williams soon became deeply interested in mission matters, and when the London ISIiswionary Society, in ISIO, called for more laborers for the South Seas, he promptly volunteered. Recognizing the natm^al ability of the young man, the society glatlly ac- cepted him. Surrey Chapel, London, on the 30th of September, 1816, witnessed a pleasing and memorable, yet solemn scene. Nino young men were, by the Rev. Dr. "Waugh, ordained as missionaries. Of the nine the two youngest wore John Williams and Robert MorrAT. Little did the NATIVES OF TAHITI. assembled audience suspect what gi*eat good would be accomplished by these two men. Dr. Waugh addressed each one of tiie nine briefly and earnestly. To Williams he said: " Go, my dear young brother, and if your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, let it be with telling poor sinners the love of Jesus Christ ; and if your arms drop from your shoulders, let it be with knocking at men's hearts to gain admittance for him there." On November 1 7th, Williams, witli liis young Avife, Mary Chauner, set sail, and on the same day of the following year he landed on the shores of tlie lagoon of Eimeo. 20 L-n . 402 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. He found the work in Tahiti and vicinity progressing favorably. Numbers of islands had cast away their idols, and many of the people had become earnest Christians. Williams then concluded it would be wasting his time and opportunities to stay in these localities, and thought best to seek new grounds. He spent ten months in Tahiti learning the language. This task he accomplished in a different manner from that usually employed. Instead of poring over grammars and dictionaries and acquainting himself first with the forms of words, he mingled freely with the natives, and thus readily acquired the idiom and pronunciation of the language. Thus in ten montlis he bcc:imo more proficient in the language than many who had been in the work for years. But having acquired the language, he became more anxious to labor in a more exten- sive field. AT KAIATEA. Taraatoa, a chief of Raiatea, earnestly besought him to go to that island, as it was the largest and most central of the Society grouj), and the very stronghold of idolatry in that part of Polynesia. Accordingly he went to that place, and began to work diligently. Various were the means he used to impress upon the poor natives the need and the superiority of Christianity. His motto was, " Tlie mission- ary does not go to barbarize himself, but to elevate the heathen ; not to sink himself to their standard, but to raise them to his. " Accordingly he showed no disposition to conform to the customs of the natives in any particular, not even in the matter of dwellings ; for as soon as possible after his arrival he began the construction of a house upon the European plan. The natives lived in low, one-roomed huts of grass or reeds. He, on the other hand, erected a neat little cottage of several apartments, and well ventilated ; furnished it Avith French sashes and green verandahs well shaded. In front of the house he laid out a pretty garden, sloping toward the sea. The natives, when not assisting, gathered around in silent wonder, noting with admiration the different stages of the work. But the effect of his work did not stop here ; the natives were aroused to imitation. In no long time houses and neat little cottages sprang up all around. And as Mr. Williams had planned and executed all the various details of the work, it impressed the natives greatly witli the intellectual superiority of Christian races. And it was no small gain for the moral status of the community when the natives were thus led to sleep in separate apartments. All became eager and anxious to learn, because they readily recognized the great advantages that Christianity brought. Weapons of war were cast away; many idols were thrown into the fire; maraes either burned or devoted to Christian worship; light, airy struct- THE FIELD ENTERED. 403 urcs wcro erected for use as schools; young and old alike flocked around the missionary, eager for instniction; and in the schools might be seen the veteran warrior or the priest, Avhose hands were formerly stained in the blood of human sacrifices, sitting on the same bench with the little child, and patiently spell' ng for hours at the same lesson book. The WILLIAMS ENGAGED IN HOUSE-BUILDING. missionaries, in reducing the language to writing adh(n'ed, as far as possible, to the phonographic method, and spelt each word exactly as it was pronounced, as simply as possible. The natives were quick to learn the use and sounds of letters, and having done this, could readily spell 401 LIGHT IN DARKNESS.' any word in their knguago. As tliuy had a very extensive vocabulary, and a very flexible language, the missionary found it necessary to intro- duce very few words, as almost every necessary idea found ready expres- sion. A few proper names, or names of animals or objects unknown to the natives required modification before their introduction, in order to be comformable to the genius of the language. No two consonants can come together in a word, except n and g. Nor can any syllable or word end in a consonant. Having to obscrv^o this rule, many of the names which they did introduce became so modified that they bore little resem- blance to the original English. Sometimes, indeed, the missionaries preferred to introduce a word from some other language than the English. Thus, horse, as the native language has no s, would have become horeta, but by taking the Greek Jiippos, and by dropping s and one of them's the word would become lu'po, Avhich would be much more readily recognized by a foreigner than horeta. BUILDING A TABEKNACLE. Tlic erection of houses 1)y the natives was soon followed by the erect- ion of a large tabernacle for public worship. It Avas capable of holding several thousand. The pulpit, posts and chandeliers were all ingeniously carved and ornamented. The whole impressed the natives still more with the superiority of their missionaries. As they gazed in silent won- der on the beautiful and well-lighted tabernacle, some were hoard to exclaim, '■^Au Britanite e! aufenua marau ore!'''' "O England! the land whose customs have no end ! " But the reader must not suppose that in the short space of a few months the entire people embraced Christianity. Many of the idols were burnt. There was a large Christian element in the population, and all were willing to learn in regard to things of this world ; but there remained for some years a very large heathen element in the island. While these heathen were not so sunken in their abominations as form- erly, they Avere by no means ready to follow the example of their fellows. They remained apart from the Christians, and often reviled them as god- burners. Various circumstances led to a war between the parties, and it may be ol)served here that into scarcely an island of Polynesia was Christianity introduced without a war. The war in Kaiatea, which resulted in the Christianization of all its inhabitants, with those of Tahiti, originated and Avas conducted us follows: WAU BETWEEN HEATHEN AND CHRISTIAN. Pomare, the principal chief of Tahiti, had embraced Christianity. ^ At this some of the heathen portion of bis subjects became nmch enraged, THE riKI.D KNTKIiKD. 40.'» and broke out in open relu'llion. They ^\•{'l■^• especially angry at liis burning idols. Accordingly they proceeded to disown his authority, and make ■vvar on the Christians. Pomare called upon Tamatoa, the great chief of Raiatea, for aid. Tamatoa at once Avcnt with a small band of his Christian followers, and the insurrection was speedily quelled. The captives ins'tead of being sacrificed to the idols, as was formerly the invariable custom, were led into the presc^nce of Pomare, who at once pardoned and dismissed all of them, saying as ho diT(niT IN DAKKNESS. Tlio aslonjslicil .strMncfors, ]>cn]ix iiii \umn <() loiini iiioro, of lliis good ]icws, Wit n:iil ()nc(: iiiorr, tind at IciigUi arrived at Ilaialcii. ILix; llioy AVon(l('i'('(l iiiiich at everything they saw ; the niissioiiarics, tho iialivcs in Eunipcau cdslumc, the neat, white eottages, the well-kept gardens, llie variouw useful arts, — all eomhined io fill them with admiration and snr- WILLIAMH I'lilCACinXl; AT inDNIOIIT. prise. They attended worship on tho Sahbath, and listened hol)erly and attentively. They at once plaeed themselvca under instruct ion, and made rapid progress. Within three months Anm-a and his wife could read, write and spell well. ONWARD PROGRESS. 411 At length they became anxious to return to Rurutu and carry the gos- pel to their fellows ere they perished in their sins. At this time a vessel belonging to Mr. Birnio happened to touch at Uaiutea. She carried the first cargo of produce ever shipped from the South Seas. It was loaded with cocoanut oil, contributed by Christian natives for the spread of the gospel. King George IV, hearing of the object of the oil, ordered the duty upon it to be remitted, thus enhancing its value £4:00, making the total proceeds of the first nati^-e contribution for missions, £1,800, or $8,811. TEACHERS SENT TO RURUTU. The missionaries informed the captain of Annra's wish, and he at once kindly volunteered to take the chief to his old home. Tlie cliief then objected to returning into the " land of darkness Avithout a light in his hand," meaning thereby a teachcn- to instruct and assist him. A infcting was called, and volunteers for the work asked for. At once two of the best men arose, and said : " Here we are ; send us.'' Accordingly Mr. Williams, with a solemn and impressive serA'ice, ordained them as mis- sionaries. The different members of the church attested their interest in the work by joyfully making contributions for the support of their two missionaries. ' Money Avas then unknown among them, but each brought some article of food or clothing, or some necessary utensil. The mis- sionaries supplied them with some copies of the Gospels, and some ele- mentary instruction books, and sent them on their way. A crew with a boat was sent with the ship, in order to bring back a report of how tlie enterprise fared. In a little more than a month the boat returned, laden with the idols of Rurutu. Great was the rejoicing in Raiatea. Having been blessed with success at the very outset, the Raiateans were the more wilhng to undertake other missions. The meeting of rejoicing they held at this time was noted for the enthusiasm and gladness that animated every speaker. Twelve months later, when the visiting committee sent out l)y the London Society arrived at Rurutu, they found a ' ' large place of worship, 80 by 36 feet, wattled, plastered, well floored and seated, built by great labor, under the direction of the two native missionaries, who performed a great part of the work with their own hands." Not a trace of idolatry remained in the island. The spears of the people ' ' had not been beaten into pruning hooks, but formed into staves to support the balustrades of the pulpit staircase." THE CROSS PLANTED IN AITUTAKI. Having made all necessary preparations, Mr. Williams and wife bade farewell to their colleagues at Raiatea, Mr. and Mrs. Threlkeld, and 112 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. sailed for Aitutaki. Here they informed the nali\e.s of what had taken place at Kaiatca and Tahiti, and that they had brought teachers for them. The teachers were received with delight, and promised the best of treat- ment. The natives were very anxious for Mr. "Williams and wife to leave their child with them, and promised to make him a king if they did so ; but they, not being anxious for ivgal honors for the familj'-, respectfully declined. They heard the natixcs here speak of several other very populous islands in the neighborhood, especial] y of Earotonga. They were thus led to renewed efforts for the spread of the gospel. The condition of their health was such that they had seriously contemplated returning to England, but by the visit to New South Wales they were so much improved that they determined to remain. During their visit to New South "Wales they received letters from Papeiha and Vahapata, stating the dangers to which they had been ex- posed, and the partial success with which they had met. Faaori, a Raiatean, had landed at Aitutaki, and was at once formally delivered up to the gods. He derided their folly in worshipping such hideous mon- strosities, and asked them why they did not worship the true God. They replied that they did not know him ; they wished for light, and would gladly receive it. He told them the teachers had brought them the true light, and that they should receive it. Whereupon they promised that if Mr. Williams would visit them they would burn their idols, destroy their maraes, and worship the true God. There were also several Raro- tongans there who had become Christians, and who were very anxious to return to their own country with teachers and spread the gospel at home. Numerous fabulous stories were told of this island of Earotonga, but as Cook had not said anything whatever of it in the account of his explo- rations, its existence was long doul^tod by Mr. Williams. It was said to be a large and populous island, divided into twenty-nine districts. The presence of several Earotongans at Aitutaki removed all doubts as to the existence of the island, and made the missionaries anxious for its discov- ery and christianizaition. Messrs. Threlkeld, Williams and Bourne, after a consultation upon the subject, decided the latter two should hire a ves- sel at the first opportunity, carry an additional force to Aitutaki, make a diligent search for Earotonga, and endeavor to christianize the entire Hervey group. Accordingly four missionaries and their wives were selected from the church at Eaiatea, and two from Tahaa. They Avere completely equipped for the work by the contributions of the natives. "Wlien the party ar- rived at Aitutaki great numbers of canoes crowded around. The mis- ONWARD PKOGKESS. 413 sionMrics W(^ro ruthor cuut iuus, iiiul would ii(;t allow the luilivcs on lioard till iissurod of their i)acific intentions. Seeing their hesitancy, some na- tives shouted, " Good is the Avord of God ; it is now well with Aitutaki ! The good word has taken root at Aitutalvi ! " Sonio held up tlicir spell- ing books as a proof of what they said ; others held up their hats (for the Christian natives always adopted the European head-dress in order that they might be readily distinguished from their heathen neighbors). At length the chief came alongside, and the missionaries learned with joy that the maraes were burned ; the idols either destroyed or in the possession of the teachers ; that not a sJiujle idolati'r remained on the island; and a large chapel two hundred feet in length had been erected, and they were awaiting Mr. Williams' arrival in order that he might dedicate it. What changes in a few short months ! On landins;, the missionaries found numbers of small, neat cottages built, and others in process of erection ; bedsteads ^vere made, and neatly hung with white native clotli ; everything wore an air of tidiness and comfort. Yet eighteen months Ijefore tills people had bi-en one of the most savage and debased in the whole gi'oup, addicted to cannibalism and lasciviousness. INCIDENTS OF THE A\ORK. Tlie missionaries staid here some dajs, looking o\cr the work that the Lord had so graciously aceomplislied through the instrumentalily of Papeiha and Vahapata. The following is a specimen of many interesting incidents that occurred: "While walking through the settlement we saw two grim-looking idols in a more dishonorable situation than they had been wont to occupy, for they were sustaining upon their heads the whole weight of the roof of a cooldng house. Wishing to make them more useful, we offered to purchase them of their former Avorshipper. He instantly propped up the house, took out tlie idols, and threw them down ; and while they were prostrate on the ground he gave them a kick, saying, "There — your reign is at an end." On receiving two fish-hooks for his gods he was highly delighted. What a revolution of sentiment and feeling ! A few months before, this man had been a deluded Avorshipper of these same senseless stocks !" Papeiha told Mr. Williams tliat the Avork Avas for a time much hindered by the constant wars, and the indifference of the people. At length he and Valia[)ata made a tour of the island, staying a few days in each place, and preaching Aviiercver they had an opportunity. In the district, of Tautu,.in the presence of a great assembly, they had a In'icf )ju( decisive debute Avith an old priest, who averred, "Te-erui made all 4U LIGHT IN DAllKNESS. lands ; ho made Aitutaki, and after he had made it he gave it its present form by moulding it with his hands. '' The teachers denied this, affirm- !:.;j^ God made all things. The priest reasserted his statement. Said the teachers, "Who was Te-erui's parent?" "O, Tetareva." "Whence camo Tetareva?" "From Avaiki." "Where is Avaiki?" "It is I. ^EJr 1 ■• ,f < F '■CO/ -IT— 'i-,^: -^CjM -isK^. "SET- _ -■S^'m J Ijcncath ; Tetareva climbed up from it ; and because he arrived at the top he was called by that name." "This land, then, was made before Tetareva arrived T " Most certainly. "- " How can Te-erui be the maker of a land which you say was made before oven his parent, Tetareva, came u[) from beneath?" This nonplussed the priest; and the missionaries ONWARD PROGRESS. 415 proceeded to explain to the assembled multitude the Biblical account of creation, the fall of man, and the true God. The people listened earnestly and said, " This must be the truth." A great change in their manner toward the teachers appeai'ed; and soon the great work was accomplished. Numerous other interesting and important incidents occurred, but we have not space for them here. One more of Aitutaki will suffice. The people began to have great respect for their teachers, whom they at first called " two logs of driftwood, cast on sliore by the waves of the ocean," when they found a vessel in their harbor one morning which had called on purpose to inquire after the teachers' welfare. Wlien they finally brought their idols and laid them down at the teachers' feet, the work of building a house for worship began. Papeiha and his com- panion had learned the art of plastering from their teachers; but when they undertook to instruct the Aitutakians in the art, an amusing scene took place. To obtain lime, it was necessary to burn coral. The people entirely mistook the object of this, and exclaimed, "Oh ! these foreigners, they are roasting stones ! they are roasting stones ! come, hurricane, and blow down our bananas and bread fruit, we shall never sufl'er from famine again ; these foreigners are teaching us to roast stonc's. " When they found the stone reduced to lime, they were so pleased at its extra- ordinary whiteness that they whitewashed their hats and garments, and strutted about as proud as peacocks, admiring each other exceedingly. But when the teachers mixed some "roasted stone" with sand, and began the work of plastering, their curiosity was still further aroused. And when they found, the next morning a beautiful, white, hard surface, their wonder and admiration were indescribable. Such interest do the commonest arts of a civilized race excite in savages. MANGAIA RECLAIMED. These people earnestly endeavored to dissuade Mr. Williams from going to Earotonga, telling him it was peopled by cannibals of the most ferocious description. After considering the matter for some days, Mr. Williams decided the effort should be made, and set sail according]}-. But after searching some six or eight days in vain, he abandoned the task, and steered for Mangaia. Here the natives were exceedingly shy, and but one could be induced to come on board. Papeiha at length leaped into the sea and swam ashore. Some others followed. During the night they were fearfully abused, and their reception was so discour- aging that the missionaries sailed away, leaving " Ephraim bound unto his idols." Some months later two teachers were .sent, and were kindly 416 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. rccc'ivL'd ; iiiul the people soon abandoned their idolatry. An cpidcniie liad destroy ctl many of them, and as their appealsto then- gods produced no effect, they concluded the scourge Avastho work of the strange god of the teachers, whom they had treated so shamefully. Thus in various strange ways does the Lord open the way for his work. ATIIT CONQUERED. On leaving Mangaia, the missionaries sailed to Atiu. Mr. Orsmond had sent two teachers thither a few months before. They had been plundered by the natives, were suffering from want of food, and were sadly discouraged. The chief, a tall, athletic, fine-looking man, came on board, and was heartily welcomed. The missionaries had on board a chief f roin Aitutaki, who at once interested himself in his brother chief- tain, and began to try to persuade him to abandon idolatry, by telling him of the great changes that had taken place in the neighboring islands. The chief of Atiu remtiined on board over night. The next day was Sunday, and Eonia-ttme, the chief of Atiu, listened attentively to the worship of God. In the course of the sermon Mr. Williams read and commented upon Is. 44314-18. It made agreatimprcsion upon Eoma-tanc ; for they have two words, vxxo and -iioa, widely differing in meaning, 7)ioa meaning sacred, and -ikxo the reverse. Now from their tciboo system, no sacred object can be used as food. As everything pertaining to the gods is the superlative of iiuia, and everything pertaining to food is the superlative of «(?«, the verses referred to were well adapted to impress the chief. He soon became astonished at his own folly. Often during that night he would spring to his feet and stamp the floor, declar- ing his astonishment at the fact of his having been deceived so long. He soon embraced Christianity, and i-endered gxeat assistance in evangel- izing Mitiaro and Mauke, two small islands in his domain. At both he addressed the people, telling them what he had done, and urging tbcm to do the same. He introduced native teachers, and insured them kind treatment. Thus the first vessel that visited these two islands brought Christian teachers. The good influence of Roma-tane was the , moans of opening the ^vay, and in no long time the people cast away tlioir idols and turned to the worship of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The work progressed equally well at Atiu ; and soon the entire Ilcrvey group, with the exception of the undiscovered isle of Rarotonga, w;'>s Christianized. This isle the missionaries were now anxious to find. On mentioning it to lioma-tani', he at once exclaimed that ho knew the island well ; that it was but a day and a half's sail from Atiu. ONWARD PROGRESS. 417 RAROTONGA ENTERED. Accordingly the missionaries obtained the direction from him, and with Papeiha, Vahineino, and some natives of Rarotonga, set sail. ThcA' met with contrary winds which drove them hither and tliither for se\'cral days, till the captain said the search must be abandoned, or they anouIcI all starve. Mr. Williams said they would continue the search till 8 o'clock (it was then very early in the morning), and if it were not then found, the search would be abandoned. This was a time of great anxiety. Mr. Williams kept sending a native to the mast-head. At 7:30, as the native was ascending the mast-head the fifth time, he electri- fied all with the shout of "Teie, teie, taua fenua nci ! " "Here, here is the land we have been seeking ! " It proved to he the largest and most beautiful island of the entire Hervey group. The honor of its dis- covery belongs justly to Mr. Williams. The chief, Makea, a tall, hand- some man, came off to the ship, and spent the greater part of the day. The teachers and their wives landed, and, with the aid of the nati\'es they had brought, began to talk with the people. During the night they were terribly abused by a powciful chief from the interior, who wished to carry off one of their wi\cs to complete his harem. He had only nineteen wives. Tapaireu, the cousin of INIakca, pleaded and argued for the teachers, and at length showed fight. She was a woman of great intrepidity and immense influence. Had it not been for her efforts the dawn of light u[)on benighted Karotonga would have been extinguished in hopeless darkness. E\'en Mr. Williams was discourag('(l by such an ill-boding reception, and in'oposed to aljandon the attempt. But the devoted Papeiha hero came to the rescue, and proposed to remain alone at Rarotonga, if the missionaries Avould send him a certain one of liis coadjutors, whom he named, from Raiatea. He left all his property, and went on shore with only the clothes he Avorc, and his native Tes(a- ment, and a bundle of elementary bcjoks. Thus he was almost alone in the midst of the heathen. The little band of Christians brought from Aitutaki, six in number, promised to )>g steadfast to their faith, and to assist Papeiha to the extent of their power. GREAT SUCCESS. Four months later, Tiberio, Papeiha's colleague, arrived at the island, and found a number of additions had already been made. Twelve months from its discovery Messrs. Tyerman and Bennett visited the island, and found the entire populati.on'ha.A renounced idolatry, and were then build- ing a house of worship, six hundred feet long ! Grroat was the rejoicing at Raiatea when the jnissionaries returned with STl-d 418 LIGHT IN DAKKNESS. idols hanging from the spars of the vessel, or piled on the deck, or stowed in the hold. A meeting of thanksgiving was held, at which the demon- strations of joy were far greater than when Eurutu cast away her idols. The idols of the diiferent islands were publicly exhibited, and then sent to England to testify to the power of the gospel ; and here we may note the peculiar effect conversion had upon different persons. The chief Rama-tane begged that his idols might not be sent to England, as he was ashamed for any one to know what fools they had been ; Pomare wished his sent, that the English people might the better understand the degrar dation from which Christianity had rescued them. Shortly after the arrival of Tiberio, Mr. Bourne visited Earotonga, aiid was greatly pleased with the progress that had been made. He wrote of it thus : "Two years ago Earotonga was hardly known to exist, was not marked on any of the charts, and we spent much time traversing the ocean in search of it. Two years ago the Earotongans did not know that there was such good news as the gospel. And now, I scruple not to say, that their attention to the meaias of grace, their regard to family and private prayer, equals whatever has been witnessed at Tahiti and the neighbor- ing islands. And when we look at the means, it becomes more astonish- ing. Two native teachers, not particularly distinguished among theh- own countrymen for intelligence, have been the ' instruments of effecting this wonderful change, and that hefore a single misslona rij laid set foot on the island.'''' Nowhere else in the history of missions can we find record of such great results produced by native teachers, alone and unaided. The history of work in the South Seas is the history of work performed largely by natives. Thus we see a great woi-k had already been accomplished ere Mr. Williams settled at Earotonga. But still brighter days were in store for this beautiful place. TEKKIBLE TALE OF A CAT. Before we close this chapter we give one ludicrous incident which wiU show the superstition of the people, and their fear with regard to objects with which they were unacquainted. Up to the time of the arrival of missionaries in Earotonga, there were no cats upon the island. "We are told by Mr. Williams that "A favorite cat had been taken on shore by one of the teachers' wives at the first visit ; and not liking his new companions, Tom fled to the mountains. The house of the priest Tiaki, who had just destroyed his idol was situated at a distance from the settlement; and at midnight while he was lying asleep on his mat, his wife, who was sitting awake by his side, musing on the strange events of the day, beheld with coustcriiatidn two fires glistening in the * ONWARD PROGRESS. 419 door-way, aiid heard with surprise, a mysterious voice. Almoi^t petrified with fear she awoke her husband, and began to upbraid him for his folly in destroying his idol, who, she declared, was now come to be avenged on him. ' Get up and pray, get up and pray,' she cried. The husband arose, and on opening his eyes beheld the same glaring lights, and heard the same ominous sound. Impelled by the extreme virgcncy of the case, he commenced, with all possible vehemence, vociferating the alphabet, as a prayer to God to deliver them from the vengeance of Satan. On hearing this, the cat, as much alarmed as the priest and his wife, of whose nocturnal peace he had been the unconscious disturber, ran away, leaving the poor people congratulating themselves on the efficacy of their prayer. On a subsequent occasion, Tom, in his perambulations, went into the district of the Satanees, (idol worshippers, in distinction from those who had embraced Christianity); and as the marae stood in a retired spot, and was shaded by a rich growth of ancient trees, Tom, pleaswl with the situation, and wishing to be found in good company, took up his abode with the gods ; and, not meeting with any opposition from those within the house, he little expected any from those without. Some few days afterward, however, the priest, accompanied by a num ber of worshippers, came to present some offering to the god, and, on opening the door, Tom very respectfully greeted him with a mc-e-ow. Unaccustomed to such salutation, the priest, instead of returning it, rushed back with terror, exclaiming, ' Here's a monster from the deep ; here's a monster from the deep ! ' Upon this the whole paily hastened home, collected several hundred of their companions, put on their war caps, brought their spears, clubs and slings, blackened themselves with charcoal and, thus equipped, came shouting to attack poor Tom. AfTrighted at this formidable array of Avar, Tom immediately sprang toward the open door, and darted through the crowd of terror-stricken warriors, who fled with the greatest precipitation in all directions. In the evening the brave conspirators against the life of a cat, were entertaining themselves and a company of spectators with a song and dance, when Tom, wishing to see the sport, and bearing no mahce, came to take a peep. No sooner did he present himself than the terrified company fled in consternation, and the heroic warriors of the district again armed themselves, and gave chase to this unfortunate cat. But the 'monster of the deep,' being too nimble for them, again escaped their vengeance. Some hours after, when all was quiet, Tom, being disturbed in his residence with the gods, unwisely determined to renew his acquaintance with men ; and in the dead of night returned to the house, and crept beneath a cov- y^*^^ Ji • j> i\ ! EXTENSION Oh' THE WOKK. 421 erlet, under which a whole fomily was lying, and there fell usleep. Unfortunately his purring awoke the man under •sshose cloth he had crawled, and who, supposing that some other monster had come to dis- turb them, closed the doorway, awoke the people of the house, and pro- cured lights to search for the intruder. Pooi- Tom, fatigued with the two previous engagements of the day, lay quietly asleep, when the Avar- riors, with their clubs and spears, attacked him most valiantly, and thought themselves singularly brave in putting an end to this formidable monster." CHAPTER XXVI. EXTENSION OF THE WORK. N lS2rt Mr. Pitman and wife were sent out to join the force already at work in Polynesia. They Avere advised by Messrs. Tyerman and Bennett to settle at Rarotonga, as the people of that island were then in sore need of a resident missionary. Mr. Williams, then at Raiatea had determined to make Rarotonga his headquarters, but so busy was he in extending the work to other islands, that he found no way to accomplish his purpose. Mr. and Mrs. Pitman went to Raiatea, and spent a short time there, accompanying Mr. Williams to Rarotonga in May, 1827- They landed in the midst of an immense throng of people who had assem- bled to welcome them. A few days afterward they attended service, when twenty-five hundred or more of the natives crowded around to shake hands. As the strength and sincerity of their affection were " expressed by the severity of the squeeze or the violence of the shake," the missionaries Avei-e by no means sorry when this trying ceremony was ended. They were then installed in the houses of the native teachers. Two or three dajs later a great throng of nati\'es came, bearing fourteen immense idols, the smallest of which was about fifteen feet long. Some of these were torn to pieces on the spot ; some were reserved to decorates the new chapel, and one was sent to England to be placed in the Mission- ary Museum. The revenue ofSccrs, fearful lest it should be made a vehicle for smuggling, took it to pieces and then put it together again ; "but, not being so skilled, in making gods as in protecting the revenue, they did not su:cceed in making it so handsome as it was when it was an object of adoration for the deluded Rarotongans. " 422 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. BUILDING A CHAPEL — MAKING CHIPS TALK. Soon afterward the erection of a chapel one hundred and fifty feet long by sixty wide was begun. During the building a heavy timber, in fall- ing, struck ]\Ir. Pitman on the head and came near ending his missionaiy career. The chapel, when finished, had in it not a single nail or piece of iron work of any sort ! An amusing incident occurred during its erec- tion which A\'ill serve to show how mysterious all writing appears to the ordinary savage. Mr. Wilhams. came to his work one morning without his square. Picking up a chip,, he wrote upon it a request that Mrs. "Williams would send it to him, and, handing the chip to a chief near by, asked him to cany it to Mrs. Williams. Says Mr. Williams : "He was a singular looking man, remarkably quick in his movements, and had been a great waiiior; but in one of the numerous battles he had fought 'JCHELSTTELLIGENT CHIP. ho had lost an eye. Griving mc an inexpressible look with the other, ho said : ' Take that ! She will scold me and call me a fool if I carry a chip to her.' 'No,' I replied, she will not ; take it, and go immediately, for I am in haste.' Perceiving me to be in earnest, he took the chip, and asked, ' Wliat must I say ? ' I replied, ' You have nothing to say ; the chip will say all I wish.' With a look of astonishment and contempt he held up the piece of wood, and said, ' How can this speak i Has this a mouth? ' I desired him to take it immediately, and not spend so much time talldng about it. On arriving at the house, he gave the chip to Mrs. Williams, who read it, threw it away, and went to the tool-chest, whither the chief, wishing to see the result of this mysterious proceed- ing, followed her closely. On receiving the square from her, he said : 'Stay, daughter; how do j^ou know this is what Mr. WUliams wants?' EXTENSION OF THE WORK. 423 'Why,' she replied, 'did you not bring me a chip just now? ' 'Yes,' said the astonished warrior, 'but I did not hear it say anything.' 'If you did not, I did,' was the reply ; ' for it made known to me what he wanted, and all you have to do is to return with it as quicldy as possi- ble.' With this the chief leaped out of the house, and catching up the mysterious piece of wood, he ran through the settlement with the chip in one hand and the square in the other, holding them up as high as his arms would reach, and shouting as he went : ' See the wisdom of these English jpooplo ; they can make chips talk ; they can make chips talk ! ' On giving me the square he wished to know how it was possible thus to converse with persons at a distance. I gave him all the information in my power ; but it was a circumstance involved in so much mystery that he actually tied a string to the chip, hung it round his neck, and wore it for some time. During several following days we frequently saw him surrounded by a crowd, who were listening with interest while he narrated the wonders which the chip had performed. " As the population of this island was very large, the missionaries deemed it best to establish two stations. Mr. Pitman took charge of one, and Mr. Williams of the other. Papeiha and Tiberio had made little progress in teaching the natives to read. The instruction had been given through the medium of the Tahitian language, as the missionaries wished to make it, if possible, universal in the islands. But the Rarotongans made so little progress that their teachers concluded they were the dullest of all the South Sea Islanders. At length Mr. Williams prepared some ele- mentary books for them, in their own dialect, when, to his surprise, they improved rapidly, and soon became more proficient than any of their neighbors. Thus it was found that the only sure way of progress in the different islands was to teach the people directly through their own dialect. ATTENTIVE HEAREES. It is interesting to observe what care the people took to remember whatever was preached to them. One would remember the text ; another, the heads of the sermon ; others, some special ideas or illustrations on one or more of the heads. In the afternoon they would reassemble, and one of them, acting as leader, would call, first for the text, then for the various heads, and so on, till they had well reviewed the entire discourse. Lawless acts on the part of the more evilly-disposed of the people came in time to give the chiefs some trouble, and they were perplexed to know what to do with the offenders. Formerly might made right, and under such a code aU cases were easily and summarily dealt with. A man who stole was certain to be robbed iu his turn, or else to be killed. -I2J: I-IOIIT IK DAKKMCSS. The cliiefs came to the missionaries foi- advice. The result was the framing of a code of simple laws, the executors of which were the chiefs. Trial by jury ivas introduced a little later. Mr. "Williams and Mr. Threlkeld had framed a similar code for the people of Kaiatea. ' ' Certain lewd fellows of the baser sort " were much displeased at the restraint l)laccd upon them by the laws, and plotted to kill Mr. Williams. He was in total ignorance of the plot, and went aliout his Avork as usual. Various providential circumstances foiled them for two or three days in succes- sion. At length, during dinner one daj', Mr. "Williams was much annoyed by a fantastically-dressed fellow without, who kept crying, "Turnout the hog, let us kill him; turn out the pig, let us cut his throat." Mr. "Williams arose and was just going out to ask the man to cease his noise, when one of his deacons, breathless with running, met liim, pushed him back into the house, and exclaimed : "Why do you go out I Why do ^^ou expose your life ? You are the pig ho is calling for ; you will be dead in a moment." He thCn informed Mr. W. of the con- spiracy, which the latter had escaj^ed as if by a miracle. One feature of heathenism that gave the missionaries some trouble was polygamy. They finally settled it as far as their church members were t'oneerned, by requiring each applicant for membership to select one of his wives and be married to her publicly. The others he was required to put away, but still to support. At Rarotonga the chief set an exam- ple to his people in this respect. Thus the evil was gradually eradicated. But in the making of laws for the people at large, the missionaries acted only as advisers, assuming as little authority as possible. BUILDING A SHIP. As the work at Rarotonga was now progressing favorably, Mr. Wil- liams was anxiovis to visit the Navigators' Islands, and take steps for their Christianization. But he had no vessel and there was no telling how long it Avould bo ere the Society could furnish him one. But the indom- itable man was not to be balked or delayed. Though he knew but little of ship-building, and the natives nothing whatever, he set diligently to work to build a vessel suitable for the accomplishment of his project. Wishing a pair of bellows, he made one of goatskin. The rats destxoj^ed it in a single night. No more goatskin was to be had' ; so he put his wits to work, and constructed a pair of bellows out of wood, on the same principle as the common pump. Iron was scarce, but was indispensable for anchors and rudder pintles. These he constructed out of the remains of a pick-axe, an adze and a hoe. His stock of cai'pentcr's tools was v;'ry limited ; he had no saw, but in spite of all obstacles he succeeded, KXTENSTON OF THE WORK. 425 a ill fifteen weeks, in building a litlld ncsscI of ciglil}' Ions' luuxlen. Iliiving no na.ls or spikes, ho put it all together with Avooden pegs. For cordage he used the inner bark of trees, twisted 1)}^ a rope machine made by him- self. For sails he used the little mats of native cloth, sewino- them together till a sheet of suificient size was formed. This was tlicn quilted to render it strong enough. As soon as the vessel was completely I'iggcd Mr. Williams took a short trip in her, and soon found her cxrvj way seaworthy. The natives, howcA-er, being unacquainted with the manage- ment of other vessels than their canoes, let the foresail go in a stiff breeze, and thereby broke the mast off short, twenty feet from the deck. The vessel was got to land with considerable diihcult}-. FIRST VOYAGE — HATS. "When the damage Avas repaired, Mr. Williams went to the island of Aitutaki, one hundred and seventy miles distant. Tlie chief, Makca, aecompanied him, and was much surprised by all the various nmnoeuvci-s nocessar}^ in handling the vess' 1. But when out of sight of hind he began to be much afraid he would never get l)ack. He had never seen any land but his own isle. On returning to Rarotonga, ]\Ir. Williams took a cargo of pigs, cocoahuts and cats. All of these were much needed. During their various wars the cocoanut trees had all been cut down. The only pigs in the place were of a very small, delicate and unprolific breed. The cats were especially welcome, as the island was overrun with rats. They were so bold they would climb on the table while the n:issionaries were at their meals, or creep under their pillows at night in search of a comfortable place to sleep. Everything that could l)e eaten 1 )y them was quickly devoured. One night Mrs. Pitman left her shoes on the floor, and the rats ate them for supper. This was the sti-aw that broke the camel's back. The people turned out, armed with sticks, and provided with baskets, five or six feet long. In an hour they filled thirty of these baskets with dead rats. Soon after tliis there arrived at Rarotonga two more laborers. These were Mr. and Mrs. Buzacott. This Avas an important addition to the work, as Mr. Buzacott Aras an excellent trained meclianic. He took ■'he station vacated liy Mr. Williams, Avho Avas tiicn preparing for a trip to the Navigators' group. At the same time letters from Raiatea informed the missionaries at Rarotonga of the prosperous condition of the avoiIc in the former place, and of the death of Tuahine, one of the most valuable of the native assistants. His loss Avas keenly felt hy all. Mr. Buzacott brought a quantity of iron with him, and Mr. Williams Avas thus enabled to strengthen his vessel very materially. 426 IJGHT IN DARKNESS. AN INCIDENT. " Ono evening," says Mr. Williams, " as I passed from Mr. Buzacott's station to Mr. Pitman's, my attention was arrested by seeing a person walk toward mo on his knees in the center of the pathway, shouting, ' Welcome, servant of God, who brought Ught into this dark island ; to you are we indebted for the word of salvation.' The appearance of Ms person first attracted my attention ; his hands and feet being eaten ofFby a; disease which the natives call kokoai, and which obliged him to walk ATSNGEANCE ON TII15 EATS. upon his knees ; )3ut, notwithstanding this, I found that he was exceed- ingly industrious, and not only kept his kaiuga in beautiful order, but raised food enough to support his wife and three children. The substi- tute he used for a spade in tilling the ground was an instrument called the ko, which is a piece of iron-wood pointed at one end. This he pressed firmly to his side, and leaning the weight of his body upon it, pierced the ground, and then scraping out the earth with the stumps of EXTENSION OF THE WORK. 427 his hands, he would clasp the banana or taro plant, 'place it in the hole, and then fill in the earth. The weeds ho pulled up in the same way. In reply to his salutation I asked him what he knew of the work of salvation. He answered, ' I know about Jesus Christ, who came into the world to save sinners. ' On my inquiring what he knew aljout Jesus Christ, he replied, ' I know he is the Son of God, and that he died pain- fully upon the cross, to pay for the sins of men, in order that their souls might be saved, and go in happiness to the skies. ' I inquired of him if all people went to heaven after death. 'Certainly not,' said he, 'only those who believe on the Lord Jesus, who cast away sin, and ivho pray to God. ' ' You pray, of course, ' I continued. ' O yes, ' he said, ' I very frequently pray as I weed my ground and plant my food, but always three times a day, beside praying with my family every morning and evening.' I asked him what he said when he prayed. He answered, ' I say, O Lord, I am a great sin- ner ; may Jesus take away my sins by his own good blood ; give me the righteousness of Jesus to adorn me, and give me the good spirit of Jesus to instruct me, and make my heart good, to make me a man of Jesus, and take me to heaven when I die. ' ' Well, ' I replied, 'that, Butere, is very ex- cellent, but where did yoii obtain your knowledge?' 'From you. to he sure ; who brought us the girdles woi;\ hv kaiives. news of salvation but yourself?' 'Ti-ue,' I replied, ' but I do not recol- lect to have ever seen you at either of the settlements to hear me speak of these things, and how do you obtain your knowledge of them?' 'Why,' he said, 'as the people return from services, I take my seat by the wayside, and beg a bit of the word from them as they pass by ; one gives me one piece, another another piece, and 1 collect them together in my heart, and by thinking over what I thus obtain, and praying to God to make me know, I understand a little about his word. ' " This person had never been in a house of worship in his life ! One of the most important results of the work in Earotonga was the elevation of woman. In that island her condition had been worse, if possible, than in any other in Polynesia. But in one year's time a great change had been effected. Women were neatly dressed in garments of the European style, and were respected and well treated. -tliS I.IOHT IM DARKNKSS. NmiKTOus intcicsling incidciils occuiicd iit Rarotonga duiing the work there, ))iit si):ice does not iwhiiit of ii further detail. A month after Mr. Biizacott's arrival, Mr. Williams sailed to Tahiti, where he was gladly welcomed. Thence he proceeded to Eaiatea, ^vhich he had not seen for a year. He found the people in some troul le, as there were certain ques- tions in dispute betAveen Tamatoa and the other chiefs. These Avere soon amicably arranged, and another great missionary meeting was held, and the various rejected idols exhiliitcd as trophies. Such meetings served to keep up a healthy missionary spirit in the Raiateans. After this Mr. Williams conveyed Messrs. Pritchard and Simpson to the Marquesan Islands, as the directors of the London Missionary Soci- ety had determined to re-establish the mission there. This voyage, and During this time INTERIOR OF A S.\MOAN HOUSE. the organization of the work, occupied about a year there was consideralile trouble at Rarotonga. Some of the heathen na- tives became invoh'ed in lira^ds aliout land. ^V Avar broke out, the chapel at jVIr. Pitman's station a\ as burned, and much of the mission- aries' property was stolen. The storm blew past after a time, and the damage done was speedily repaii'ed. VISIT OF THE "VINCENNKS." As soon as Mr. Williams returned to Raiatea he began making prepa- rations for the voyage which he had so long desired to take. Ho was supplied with a good stock of liardware by Rev. ]\Iessrs. East & James, of Birmingham. Mr. Barff, one of the most efficient missionaries at Tahiti, consented to accompany him. At this juncture they were visited EXTENSION OF THE ■\VORK. 429 by the United States frigtite Tincennes, Captain Finch, and the British frigate Seringaj^atain, Captain Waldegrave. Tlie officers of tliese two vessels were much interested in the "svorli. Those of tlie latter vessel, which remained longer tlian the other, attended the great feast of the natives, held just before their missionary meeting, and also attended thc^ meeting. The people, having no coin, always made their contributions in produce, which the missionaries sold to passing vessels, transmitting the proceeds to England. The officers were much surprised at the knowledge and eloquence of the native speakers, and accused Mr. Will- iams of preparing their speeches for thein. He assured them such was not the case ; and accordingly they calh'd together the natives next day, and examined a number of them. The}' were very agreeably surprised at the result. The speech of one old priest is especially noteworthy. When asketl if he believed the Bible was the AA'ord of God, he Avorked his fingers, opened and shut his mouth, waved his arms about, shook himself, and then said, "Sec, I have hinges all over me ; if the thought grows in my heart that I wish to handle anything, the hinges in my hand enable me t(j do it ; if I want to utter anything, the hinges in my jaws enable me to do so ; and if I desire to go anywhere, here are hinges to my legs to enable me to walk. Now I perceive great wisdom in the adaptation of my body to the various wants of my mind ; and when I look into the Bible, and see there proofs of wisdom Avhich correspond exactly Avith those a', hicli appear in my frame, I conclude that the Maker of my body is llic author of that book." williajnis sails roil the samoans. Taking seven ti'achcrs Avith hiui, jNlr. Williams left Rarotonga, and after visiting the other islands of the Hervcy group, and obtaining a few additions to his corps of teachers, he sailed for the Sauioan group. Touching at Mangaia on the Avay, he fcjund the native teacher's had been received by the people, and Avere doing a good Avork. He Avas just in time to preveiit a Avar, as the heathen party Avere making preparations to destroy all Christians. By visiting the heathen chiefs and reasoning Avith them the danger Avas averted. Leaving the Hervey Islands, the party steered for the Savage Island, so called by Captain Cook from the fierceness of its inhabitants. After some attempts to gain their favor, the missionaries concluded they Avere so suspicious and savage that it Avould be useless to leave any teachers there. So, after getting tAVO youths on board to be taken to the Society Islands to be trained, tlie vessel was headed for Tongatabu, an island south of the Fijis. This island hadbeeu occupied by native missionaries 430 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. sent by the London Missionary society. They had labored for some time with small success ; but at length the people seemed wilUng to be instructed. Just then, Wesleyan missionaries, Messrs. Turner, Cross, and others, arrived at the island, and the work was turned over to them. Under their direction the work progressed rapidly. They gave the visitors a cordial welcome. After a consultation, it was agreed that the latter should leave the Fiji Islands to the Wesleyans, as the language of the Fijians was similar to that of the Tongatalmans. As the latter had l)rought two native teachers for the Fijians, it was determined the teachers should proceed to the Fijis, and labor there till the arrival of the Wesleyans to take charge of the work. They were then to continue FIJIAN WAR BANCE. their labors under the direction of the Wesleyans. The Sunday after Messrs. Williams and Barff's arrival, they attended the services of the Wesleyans, and were greatly pleased at the favorable condition of the work. On Monday a native came to them and told them he was from the Navigators' Isles, and was a person of considerable influence there ; that he had been absent eleven years, and was anxious to return ; and as he had heard of the intention of the missionaries, he promised, if they would take him with them, he would do all in his power in favor of the new religion. He had not at that time become a Christian. His name was Fauea. He proved to be of very great value to the missionaries. EXTENSION OF THE WOKK. 4.3] Leaving Tongatabu the little vessel was headed for the Vavau Isles, where Mr. Orsmond had sent three native teachers a short time previously. Two of these had backslidden ; the third went to Tongatabu, and proved very useful. Mr. Piatt, the successor of Mr. Orsmond, had selected another teacher for the work. On the way the vessel became entangled in a labyrinth of shoals and reefs. The wind was high, and the part}^ was for a considerable time in great peril, but finally got through without injury to the vessel or themselves. Stopping at Lefuga, they found an excellent work pvogresf^ing there under the management of Mr. Thomas. Finau, the chief of the Vavau Islands, was at Lefuga, and the missionaries soon learned it would ))c useless to try to establish a mission in that group, as Finau was a ferocious despot, and bitterly opposed to Christianity — so much so, indeed, that he told the missionaries he would kill any person in his SAMOAX CANOE. dominion who embraced their religion. They, therefore, determined to take their teachers to the Navigators' group. This island of Lefuga is the largest of the Hapai group. The entire group was under the control of a chief of commanding presence, ajreat intelligence and noble character. His name was Taufaahau. From his boyhood he had despised the whole system of idol worship, and had wished for light. When he heard that missionaries were at Tongatabu, he went thither, placed himself under their instruction, and soon after embraced Christianity. He then returned home, uprooted idolatry in his own island, and then went through the remainder of the group exhorting his people everywhere to follow his example and embrace Christianity. Thus the good news of salvation reached the Hapai Islands. Finau, before mentioned, had endeavored, but in vain, to ■induce Taufaahau to abandon Christianity. His overtures were com- pletely ignored. 432 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. CHAPTER XXVII. WILLIAMS LAST ,LABOES. N the Ainaige to tlio Navigators' group Fauea told the missionaries he was certain they would be well received, were it not for one Tamafainga, who pretended to be inspired by the gods. He was a most ferocious man, was universally dreaded by the people, who dared not disobey him in any particular. If he opposed the missionaries, their cause was lost. Fauea was much concerned over the matter. It also caused no httle anxiety among the missionaries. After a stormy voyage, they anchored to the leeward of Savau, the largest of the group. Great numbers of canoes at once came off to the vessel. Fauea asked several questions of the people, and received satis- factory answers. Then he asked with a perceptible tremor in his voice, " Where is Tamafainga ?" "Oh, he is dead, he is dead I he was killed ten or twelve days ago !" At this piece of news, Fauea, frantic with joy, rushed toward Mr. Williams leaping and shouting, "The devil is dead; the devil is dead! our work is done; the devil is dead!" The death of this man was no doubt a providential circumstance for the mis- sionarit's. From the manner of the natives toward Fauea, the mission- aries discovered he ivas a chief of considerable importance. At the time of the vessel's arrival, a destructive war was being waged to avenge the death of Tamafainga ; for, though he was heartily detested by all, custom required that his murderers should be punished. Very many of the nativ(^s espoused the cause of the laticr, and thus a destruct- i\e war was occasioned. The chief, Malictoa, was sent for, and though he was favorably disposed toward tlie ne^v religion, he was bent on finishing the war, as he would be eternallv do so. fauea's usefulness. disgraced should he fail to The people received the missionaries with great kindness, and brought them a store of provisions. The latter soon realized what a benefit Fiuiea was to them. His speeches and influence, and uncommon good sense disarmed all opposition. At the same time, he aided the mission- arii-'s much with his advice. Still, it must be admitted that his action may have been prom^ited throvgh a desire for the tcmi)oral benefits Cliiistianity ^voul<| confer upon his people. But with the way tbu:? WILLIAMS' LAST LABOKS. 433 opened, the rest was made comparatively easy, and the native teachers were soon vigorously at work. During these various voyages, which occupied two years, a fearfui plague ravaged Earotonga, and carried off hundreds. Mr. Buzacott and Mr. Pitman were both prostrated by it, but at length recovered. The epidemic soon ran its course ; and, on the return of the vessel from the Navigators' group, the island was once more in a prosperous condition. DEATH OF TAMATOA. After visiting Rarotonga and Tahiti, Mr. Williams returned to his old station of Raiatea, and spent a year at work there. During the year the SCENE IN THE SAMOAN ISLANDS. old chief Tamatoa died. Mr. Williams visited him frequently during his last illness. Just before he died he charged those about him to remain firm to the Gospel, to maintain the laws, and be kind to their missionary Then stretching his arms toward Mr. Wilhauis, he said: "My dear friend, how long we have labored together in this good cause ! nothing has ever separated us ; noA\r death is doing what nothing else has done ; 'but who shall separate us from the love of Christ?' " 28 L-D 434 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. ''Thus died Tamatoa, once the terror of his subjects, the murderer of his people, a despotic tyrant, and a most bigoted idolater !" During this year considerable trouble was made by several young chiefs and some evil-disposed persons of the heathen party, who banded together and made various exorbitant demands, and disputed the author- ity of the elder chieftains. In September, 1831, Mr. Williams went to Earotonga to assist in the revision of the New Testament in the Rarotongan tongue. He found Papeiha's station, Avarua, even more prosperous than Mr. Buzacott's or Mr. Pitman's. Shortly after his arrival several young chiefs resumed some of the heathen practices which they had long abandoned. They soon repented, however, and promised to do better. No more trouble was had in this respect. Soon afterwards a terrible hurricane swept the island. A thousand houses were destroyed, and a great number of cocoa- nut and bread-fruit trees blown down. Great waves rolled in from the sea, sweeping everything before them. Mr. Williams' little vessel was lifted up bodily, carried several hundred yards inland, and deposited m a grove of chestnut trees. All its stores, masts, rigging, &c., were scat- tered over the intervening low land. Mrs. Wilhams narrowly escaped being killed by the falling of the house she was in. The consequent exposui-e and excitement caused the premature birth of her child. This was the seventh child she had lost thus. With the aid of the natives the vessel was got afloat and repaired. On returning to Raiatea, some time afterward, Mr. Williams found that a captain of a whaling vessel had sold the natives a cask of whiskey. Many had returned to their former state of degradation. Scarcely one hundred could be found in the whole island who had refrained from the accursed stuff. Stills had been established throughout the island, and drunkenness and debauchery reigned supreme. Many of the natives, however, were already thoroughly ashamed of themselves, and upon Mr. Williams' arrival a meeting was called, and it was voted by a large majority that the stills must be destroyed. In two days the work was accomplished, and the people were soon reclaimed. Soon afterwards Mr. Williams paid a second visit to the Navigators' Isles. On this occasion he fomid the people everywhere anxiously awaiting the arrival of teachers. He visited each of the islands, and was astonished at the extent to which the interest in Christianity had been aroused. Once, in crossing the reef of an island he had never before seen, he was suddenly astounded by the shout, "We are sons of the Word ! We are sons of the Word ! " Soon- schools were established, chapels were built, idols were burned, and the scenes of Raiatea and WILLIAMS' LAST LABORS. 435 Karotoiigii repeated. Upolu wHvS riitide the eoiik'r of ()i)t'ratiou.s. From tluit point native teachers were sent out, and proved as efficient among the Samoans as they had been among other Polynesians. VISITS ENGLAND. Two or three years were thus spent by Mr. Williams in this new field. Then his vdfe's health began to fail so rapidly that he determined to visit England. This he accordingly did, arriving in his native land June 12th, 1834. Nothing he could have done could have excited greater in- terest in the cause of missions. He traveled through the country lectur- ing and telhng in a simple way the story of his work and that of his co-laborers in the field. For months he spoke almost daily to great audiences in different parts of the kingdom. EverAAvherc ho was warmly welcomed. The merchant looked with pleasure upon the man who had been the instrument in God's hands of so changing the character of the Polynesians that one hundred vessels were sheltered in Tahitian harbors every year, and a great trade opened with countries which, before, ves- sels scarcely dared to visit. ■ Captains of vessels bore unanimous testi- mony to this fact. Everywhere, a vessel, its cargo, or its vrcw were safe, for three hundred thousand savage and warlike pagans had, as if l)y the touch of a magic wand, been transformed into as many quiet, ijeaee-lov- ing, intelligent seekers after truth. Scientific men looked in astonish- ment upon the man who, in the midst of his arduous labors, had found time to collect a vast amount of useful knowledge ; who had discovered important islands before unknown, and had christianized them ere an- other European visited their shores ; and who, during all -his labors in England, with incessant demands upon his time, managed to write his " Missionary Enterprises," pf which one good bishop wrote in a moment of enthusiasm, that "no book of equal interest had appeared since the Acts of the Apostles." And still he urged on the completion of the work, that no cluster of islands in the South Seas should be left without the gospel. All denorainations were kindled with fresh zeal ; and by the time he was ready to return he had at his disposal the Camden, a mag- nificent vessel, of ample size for every purpose of the mission. On April 11th, 1838, he sailed down the Thames, followed by the benedic- tions and prayers of thousands of eveiy age and sex. With him he car- ried five thousand copies of the New Testament in Rarotongan. This he and Mr. Buzacott and Mr. Pitman had translated. WORK RESUMED. By the latter part of 1838 Williams was again sailing from island to island, landing stores here, teachers there, and missionaries yonder. i36 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. Everywhere he was greeted with glad shouts of welcome. On visiting the Samoan Isles he found that, out of a total population of sixty or sev- enty thousand, nearly fifty thousand were already under Christian in- struction. Instead of rude reed huts, neat white cottages dotted the islands. Instead of maraes filled with idols, spacious chapels loomed up through the trees. Instead of the war cry, the shrieks of victims, or the groans of the dying, there resounded the songs of Zion. Seeing the work already so prosperous, he determined not to delay, 437 but, with Upolu as a new base of operations, to lay the foundation for a more extensive work. He looked with longing toward the distant New Hebrides, fourteen hundred miles away. The inhabitants of this group were noted as being the most vindictive and cruel in all the South Seas. It was, then, with no little anxiety that he looked forward to this new project. He seems to have had some foreboding of coming ill. The same feeling manifested itself among the natives. His last Sabbath at the Samoan Isles was one of unusual lamentation and weeping. All classes mourned bitterly. Mr. Williams took for his text, ' ' And the v all wept sore, and fell upon Paul's neck, and kissed him ; sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more." Viewed in connection with what followed, it seems as much a prophee\' in the case of Williams as in the case of Paul. But little did any one imagine how soon the dark tragedy would be finished. Mr. Thompson shall tell us the remainder. MURDER OF HARRIS AND WILLIAMS. "His reception by the first two islands of the New Hebrides, though somewhat shy, was favorable, and made them skirt with greater hope the fatal shores of Erromanga. As they sailed onward in their boat many of the people kept pace with them on shore, and appeared to encourage their landing. Fish-hooks, looking-glasses and other things were cast on shore, to bespeak their friendship ; and, as their jealousy seemed to be rapidly melting away, it was at length agreed that some of the boat's company should land. Mr. Harris, a gentleman who had come to the South Seas in search of health, and was about to return to England to offer himself as a missionary to the Marquesas Islands, was the first to wade on shore. He was received with apparent Idndness. A cocoanut was brought to him and opened by one of the savages. Water was brought to Mr. Williams on his landing, and, encouraged by this sign of hospitality, he sat down near the beach, and distributed portions of clotli among the people. One thing awakened some uneasy apprehensions— the fact that no women were seen ; for they are generally removed oul of sight beforehand when there is premeditated mischief. It was noticed, however, that children were playing near at hand, which was hailed again as a favorable omen. They proceeded inward from the shore, Mr, Harris being foremost, Mr. Williams next, and Mr. Cunningham and Captain Morgan following. Turning aside into the bush, Mr. Williams began to repeat with one of the boys the Samoan numerals. Suddenly there was an alarm of danger from the boat, which Mr. Cunningham and Captain Morgan had just time to reach. Mr. Harris, closely pursued by 438 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. savages, was seen to perish as he was fleeing to the boat. And now every oyii was turned to Mr. Williams. He was running directly through the bush toward the shore, apparently intending to swim till the boat should take him up, and pursued by an Erromangan with a heavy club, and by many others at no great distance. Still, he was mitouched when he reached the beach, and a few more steps would probably have saved him ; but, stumbling into the surf, he was stricken on the head by his pursuer. As often as he rose above the water ho was stunned by new blows. In a few moments other savages came up to complete the work of death ; and his whole body was soon not only mangled with clubs, but transfixed with arrows. The savages glutted themselves with vengeance, and did not cease to strike un- til the blood of the missionary could be seen, even from a dis- tance, reddening the foam of the waves that were dashing on the shore. With what helpless agony was all this witnessed from the boat! With what despairing anguish were the tidings received in the ship j Moving nearer the shore, they endeavored to scare the mur- derers away, that they might at least recover the inanunate bodies, which lay stripped and white upon the beach ; but NATIVES OF THE NEW HEBEmES. gvcu in this attempt they were unsuccessful. The bodies were carried into the interior, into which an attempt at pursuit would only have been an addition of victims ; and it was not until a ship of war had been brought from Sydney to enforce the demand, that they could have the melancholy satisfaction of bearing the bones of the murdered missionaries to Samoa for sepulture. "What sorrow the intelligence of this tragedy carried through the f:/^v«iV^ Williams' last labors. 439 Christian isles of the Pacific, it would be difficult to describe. The Society, the Hervey, the Samoan groups, each became a Bochim, and each man mourned as if he had lost a father. The very heathen, in many instances, shed unfeigned tears. The pathos of some of the scenes, ii.iri" " p i ^p i p. » si s p 3_B L as narrated by Mr. Prout, exceeds all the arts of fiction. ' Alas ! Wilhamu, "Williamu, ' exclaimed one of the most venerable of the Samoan chiefs, weeping and beating his breast, ' Our father, our father ! He has turned his face from us I We shall never see him more.' He that no LIGHT IN DARKNESS. brought us the good word of salvation is gone !' And when the tidings reached Britain they were at first scarcely believed. The death of WiUiams, at the early age of 43, and at the very moment when he was opening the gate to another densely populated portion of the Pacific, made his life seem like a glorious drama not acted out ; or rather like Providence stopping his own greatest Avork, and commanding the chariot wheels of a world's redemption to move backwards." A mission station now stands where "Williams perished, as shown in the picture. The station is thus described : " Mr. Gordon has built the cottage on the high land. Close by the house he has erected a small chapel, and has a fine beU at one end which echoes from hill to hill and calls the tribes to their little Zion. At the foot of the hill on which the chapel stands is the stream in which Mr. Harris fell, and the beach where Mr. Williams ran into the sea. Down the hill, below ]Mr. Gor- don's study window is the spot where the oven was made in which Mv. ^Villiams' body was cooked. Over in another direction is the place where the body of Mr. Harris was taken. Inland is a grove of cocoa- nuts underneath one of wiiich the skull of Mr. Williams was buried. Here the remains of the martyr rest and form part of that palm which waves its foliage in every breeze, emblematic of the Christian hero's •triumph. "^ CHAPTER xxvnr. WOEK IN VARIOUS GROUPS. 1 PON the death of Williams the other missionaries aban- doned for the time the attempt to establisli a mission in Erromanga. But before six months had passed, a band of brave Samoans undertook to carry the gospel to the ferocious Erromangans. They remained on the island a year, enduring terrible privations and abuse. Some of their number sank under their hardships ; at the end of a year the remainder were glad to escape with their lives. In 18i9 four native Erromangans were tal^en from their island and placed under a three years' course of training in the mis- sionary institution in Samoa, and then were returned to their island. Bishop Selwyn and Mr. Geddie, from Aneityum, made these native teachers occasional visits, and encouraged them in their work. But lit- tle progress was made. WORK IN VARIOUS GROUPS. 441 THE GORDONS JIURDERED. In 1857 the Synod of the Prc'sl)V'tcriiiu Cluivch in Nova Scotia sent out the Eev. George N. Gordon tu the work in the New Hebrides. He \\'as a man of great physica. superiority, and afraid of nothing. Witli Iiis heroic and accomplished w^ifo, he landed in Evromanga in June, IS.-m . For a time all Avent well. School houses Averc erected, and Mr. Gordon was kept busy preaching, teaching and traublating. Then his wife A\'as prostrated by fever. In 1861 a. hurricane sAvept over the island. ]Mea- sles broke out and carried off the people by hundreds. The superstitious natives believed the missionaries wt'rc the cause of these disasters. Aroused by this, and by the niisreiiresentations of a^'arici()us traders, who saw that the spread of Chrisli mitA meant the destruction of tin ii MTTKDEli OF GORDON AND HIS ^^•^FB. own infamous trade, they fell upon Gordon and his wife and cruelly murdered them May 20th, 1801. The little Ijand of converts gathered the mangled remains of their teachers and buried them on the south side of a river flowing into Dillon's Bay, near the spot Avhere Williams and Harris had fallen twenty-two years before. Bishop Patteson soon after- ward visited the spot, and read the burial service over their graves. Bishop Patteson was a missionary of the Church of England. No purer and more faithful soldier of the cross ever labored for the redemp- tion of Melanesia. Gentle, earnest and indefatigable, for ten years after Gordon's death he sailed from island to island, bearing the tidings of salvation. Villainous traders, in order to reach the natives, painted their vessel to resemble the bishop's, and so f omrd means to phmder the natives •L42 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. ( ,f Nakupa. Shortly afterward the bishop himself arrived at Nakupa and went on shore. An hour afterward might have been seen a boat tossing idly on the waves. In the bottom, a palm leaf on his breast, and five ghastly spear womids in his body, lay John Coleridge Patteson, Bishop of Melanesia, a martyr to the traders' treachery. The news of the death of Gordon and his wife caused great grief among the converts in neighbor- ing islands and among friends at home. But his aged mother was at once ready to give another son to the cause ; and accordingly his brother, JamesDouglass Gordon, after completing his theological studies, sailed for Erromanga in 1864, and took up the work at Dillon's Bay, where his brother had fallen. In ISQ'J he was joined by James McNair, from Scotland. Mr. McNair died in 18T0, and was bviried by the side of the mur- dered Gordon. James Gordon, after a few months' residence in the island of Santo, took up his abode at Potinia Bay, on the north- east coast of Erromanga. Here, EL,. . .a„K ... ..__rs,.>,. p.jj.jy .j^ -,. g^2, he also feH by the tomahawk of a native while in the act of revising his translation of the Acts. Thus five missionaries, and the wife of one of them, died to give the savage Erromangans the gospel. FINAL SUCCESS. Was the work to be abandoned ? No. Two months after the murder of James Gordon, Rev. Hugh A. Robertson, another brave Nova Scotian, landed at Aneityum. His faithful wife accompanied him. He had been four years and a half the resident agent of the New Hebrides Cotton Com- pany at Aneityum. He had thus been enabled to see heathenism in all its vileness, and knew well the dangers he would encounter. A whaling station at Dillon's Bay would afford him some slight protection. Here ho took up his residence. His house was surrounded by a strong stock- ade to prevent any sudden attack. The few native Christians stood by him firmly. Some idea of the character of the people he was dealing WORK IN VARIOUS GROUPS. 4 1." with may be gained from the fact that just before his arrival seven i)i(i- fessed native Christians of Dillon's Bay had gone over to Potinia Bay and shot down several persons in revenge for the murder of their mission- aryi Such is Erromangan honor. Of the seven, two were native teach- ers, and in other respects they were consistent Christians, but they con- sidered they must avenge the death of their missionary or be disgraced. Such was the success of Mr. Robertson's eiforts that ten years after his arrival he could point to 600 regular attendants on public worship, and 190 communicants ; and when he left, in 1SS3, for a brief visit to his native land, there were left behind him thirty-three native teachers carry- ing on the good work at as many diflferent stations throughout the island. He had in June, 1880, dedicated the Martyrs' Memorial Church, at Dillon's Efay, near the spot where "Williams and Harris fell. A large and attentive audience tilled the house. In the assembly were the sons of the man who murdered John Williams. The second of them, Daniel Usuo, led in prayer. Five years before, he had threatened to kill Mr. Robertson ; but the Lord had prevented him. At the present day, the greater part of the Erromangans are Christians. Schools are located throughout the island, and the people are already liberally contributing for the support of the gospel in other islands. They have paid for the printing of a large number of copies of different portions of the New Testament. Thus, Erromanga, the great stronghold of Satan in the New Hebrides, has at length been vanquished by the sword of the Spirit, and the Word of God. In 1868 Mr. Paton landed on the island of Aniwa in this same group, and found every inhabitant a heathen. Now the island does not contain a single heathen. Mr. Paton labored in it for a time, and then traveled from island to island establishing stations. Again and again the ferocious savages plotted to murder him ; but his life was preserved. At one time a furious attack was made upon him in Tanna, where he was, at the time, with Mr. Johnson, one of his coadjutors. Johnson was killed. Mr. Paton took refuge with a friendly chief. He remained several days in doubt as to his fate. Finding the heathen still bent on his destruction, he hid one night in a fig tree, and under the shelter of darkness escaped to sea, and went around to the other side of the island, whence a passing vessel, two months later, took him off. Mr. Paton lost his wife and child in the first three and one-half years of his work. Missionaries are now comparatively safe in any of these islands, though only sixteen of the thirty are thoroughly mider Christian control. In the remainder of the group is a cannibal population of TO, 000 ; but many of these are asking for missionairies, and are anxious for the light. Mr. Paton still superin- 444 LIGHT IX DARKNESS. tc'iuls the work, going fi-oni island to islimd, and establishing stations whenever practicable. There are now twelve ordained missionaries and one medical missionary connected with the New Hebrides Mission. Three are supported by the Presbyterian ChmTh of Canada, two by the Free Church of Scotland, one by the Presbyterian Church of Tasmania, three by the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, Otago and Southland, and four by the Presbj-terian Church of Australia. PRESENT CONDITION OF TAHITI. Of the present condition of Tahiti, a Avriter in the Ohnsticm Gxmr- t/ / 1 in, say fi: "It is now wholly under the rule of the French, whoso in- lluencc has Ijcen predominant in the island since 1844. The population, which is under 10,000, is of a most mixed character; every jsland in (HiAVES OF MI!S. I'ATOX AXD StIX. the Pacific is represented, and Europeans, Chinese and half-breeds, come in to add to the confusion of the race. For some years there has been full religious toleration, but whatever favor the government has for re- ligion is given to the C'atholics, for whom it built a cathedral. Catholics and Protestants have worked side bj' side in evangelizing the people, but Protestantism has nine adherents where Catholicism has one. ' 'And yet the priests iisc every artifice to gain converts. They use the Protestant Bible, and make their sciwices as much like those of the Protestants as possible, and even promise the natives not to ask for con- triliutions ; but they fail to get many hearers, except Europeans. French rule is said to ha more stable than native rule, but is much more costly, and has a tendency to increase immorality. The Europeans And Chinese WORK IN VARIOUS GROUPS. 445 show an utter disregard of the marriage tie. ymiday has l)ccoiiie, under Frcneh rule, a day of dissipation, and a large opium trade has de\" eloped. The most moral, religious and law-abiding inhabitants are the natlocH. Says a South Sea missionary, 'It is truly wonderful, tlie strong hold which true religion exerts over the native population. Notwithstanding the many influences at work, the great indifference of the foreign residents to religion, the eagerness for temporal gain, the baneful example of others, those again who scoff at religion, and ridicule all the means of grace — there is much true godliness among the natiA'cs ; they ol^serve family worship ; read, love, and strive to follow the teaching of the Bible ; attend the house of pi'ayer and seek to serve the Lord, and are trusting upon Christ for eternal life. I have been thrown much among them, preached to them, assisted them in various Avays, and I can truly say that it is siu'- prising that so many are servants of the true God, while there is so much evil that surrounds them.' " WORK IN TONGA. We have before referred to Tongatabu, and of Mr. Williams' visit to the Wesleyan Mission there. Tongatabu means ''Sacred Tonga." The entire group of the Friendly Islands is now generally designated Tonga. Mr. Turner, Avho Avas on the island at the time of Mr. Williams' visit, had gone originally to New Zealand. He had Ijcen so cruelly treati'd there, and had been so unsuccessful, that he had left the islands and fled to Tonga. There he found his brethren just on the pinnt of aljandoning the field for being discouraged by lack of success. He persuaded them to remain, and threw in his lot \vith them. Soon everything changed m tlieir favor. The people ever} where incjuired anxiously after the light, and readily abandoned their idols and jdaced themsehes under Christian instruction. Soon they were sending out missionaries to the remainder of the group ; and before long they Avere assailing that stronghold of can- nibalism and degradation, the Fiji Islands. The work in their own islands rapidly spread. Such was the eagerness of the peoi^lo to learn that the entire missionary force of the island often sat up all night to prepare books for them. Ten years later the heathen party became so hostile in their demonstrations as to seriously endanger the mission. This was the de\- il's last effort to regain his power. In a few years more the work of the missionaries was practically complete. The people are a very superior race, and are the most advanced of all the Polynesians. They have al- ways, since their c\'angelization, contributed liljerally to the support of the gospel. As much as twelve years ago they gave from $1.5,000 to $20,000 annually. Their ruler for a number of years past is King George. He became a 'A6 LIGHT IN DAKKNESS. Christian when quite young, and remained steadfast, in spite of the bitter persecutions of his heathen neighbors. He has given his people a constitutional government, with good laws and api^ointments, and has made them to bo recognized as a Christian nation. Some years since a British cruiser visiti'd Tonga. "When the commander saw King George come alongside in his royal canoe, and dressed as a British officer, he said, "He is every inch a king ; give him twenty-one guns." In 1850 the Wesleyans organized the Australasian Conference, with its headquarters at Sydney, New South Wales. Tonga, with the other island missions, was incorporated into this conference. This conference grew so rapidly that it soon became necessary to divide it into three. Tonga then became a part of the New South Wales and Queensland Conference. In 1881, at the request of King George, it ceased to be garded was as o re- a mission, as there in all Tonga, not a heathen or an idol It then became possessed of equal rights in church matters with other colonial districts. Two years later King George suggested that Tonga should be changed from the New South Wales Conference to the New Zealand Conference. A committee was appointed to go to New Zealand and inquire into the advisabil- ity of the matter. They decid- to the General Conference held in New Zealand became much dissatisfied. The people there peti- tioned the king to allow the church to be reorganized. After a consulta- tion with Eev. Mr. Baker, premier of the kingdom, and a former Wesleyan minister, the king sent for Eev. J. B. Watkin and, appointed him the first minister of the Tonga Free Church. In three weeks 11,000 adherents of the Wesleyan Church, twelve ordained native ministers, 800 local preachers, 600 school teachers, TOO class leaders, and over 5,000 members seceded to the new church. Not having churches of their own, they met for worship under the banian trees that grow in their islands. ed against it. KI>fG GEOEGE. At this the Tongan delegates WORK IN VARIOUS GROUPS. 447 Later advices say that King George has closed the Wesleyan College tit Tonga, and that the Wesleyan adherents arc in consequence emigrating to other islands. What action the Wesleyan General Conference will take in regard to this secession is uncertain. The present year will most likely see the matter settled in some way. Some conflicting reports have come in of late. The general tenor of them is that Mr. Baker, the Prime Minister, is using every possible means, and great cruelty, to compel the Wesleyan adherents to abandon their church and Join the native church. It is to be hoped that the stories told of his barbarity are false. WORK IN FIJI. The first missionaries to the Fiji Islands were sent from Tonga in 1835. They found the most degraded cannibals in all Melanesia. The religion of the people was in keeping with their own moral degradation. Their gods excelled them in their own worst qualities. ' ' Mothers have been known to rub a piece of human flesh over the hps of their children in order to imbue them early with a taste for blood ; while in one of the favorite games of the children, the whole pro- cess of a cannibal feast was, by imitation, gone through. To such an extent was this crime indulged in, that death by natural means was of rare occurrence, and from the same cause an old man was seldom to be seen on the islands. " For years the missionaries toiled amid the most horrible and revolting scenes, and with but little prospect of success. But the workers toiled on, and at length were rewarded with success which is almost unparalleled, even in the South Seas. The most influential of the chiefs was converted and became a Christian example to his people. Thakombau's profession of Christianity was sudden. The drums which were ordered beat for the assembling of his family with his retainers for Christian worship, had been beaten but ten days before for a cannibal feast. Besides, the chief was growing old. It seemed almost unbelie\'- able that the proud and savage chief should now be clothed with the graces of a Christian character. The missionaries were cautious and gave him a long probation. It was in 1854 that he professed to accept Christ. It was not until 1857 that he was baptised. But there had been no reason in that time to distrust him. He heard the word with all docihty, and under severe tests proved his faith and devotion. The Lord made his way to prosper. Having attained undoubted su- premacy over all the chiefs of the Archipelago, ho was in 1870- titled Tui Viti. King of Fiji. But he gave all his influence to advance Christi- 44 S LIGHT IN DARKNESS. auity, and Lo was, indeed, a man of superior ability. He recognized the w 'If are of his people in improving their agriculture and trade. But there were cal^als which sought to thwai't Thakombau's plans, and to diminish his influence, therefore he resolved to put himself and his country under the protection of a Christian government, able to protect all their inter- ests, and in 18 T5, therefore, he ceded the sovereignty of the islands to the British Crown, and Fiji became a British colony. Tliakombau was from this time forward a private citizen, living on liis own island of Bau and giving all his influence in favor of the British government. For eight years he lived a life blameless and full of good ^vorks. He died in the early part of the year 1884. ins DEATH AND BURIAL. Two days bcfin-e his deatli Thakomban said lo an attendant, "Faith is a good thing — a groat thing ; it is Ijy faith that we are saved. Saved ! Oh ! salvation is the one thing." After a while he repeated the verse of a Fijian hymn, beginning, " ^Ve wlio arc oJie in .Fesus, What gladness do we feel!" About midniglit before lie died he reuieiubered that in the grief of his friends and househokl famil}- prayers had not been held and he said, '' W.' have not had prayers yet, have we ? ' Well, we'll have them now, and I 'will conduct them," and he immediately prayed in his fervent and simple style. During the remainder of the night he spoke often of his faith in Christ. " Be thou faithful mito dea,th," he was heard to say, "and I will give thoc^ a crown of life. Early the next morning it was seen by his attendants that he would not live through the day. But when the morning came he prayed, ' ' Lord, be gracious to Thy servant. Help me this day. Give me Thy Holy Sjtiritfor the sake of Jesus Thy Son, our Savior." His last audible prayer was, ' ' Hold me, Jesus ! Hold me, Jesus ! My faith in Thee is firm. " He then called Mr. Langham, the missionary, and said, ' ' Gome and let us have prayers together." His sons and daughters knelt around the bed and while they prayed the soul of Thakombau passed away. Making mention of his death, the Fiji Times, a secular paper, said : For many years he acted as a class-leader in the Wesleyan Church, which in him now loses one of her most distinguished members. Since his conversion and hap- tism he had led a worthy life; and tliough eminent before for tyranny, licentious- ness and disregard of human life, lie has since been free ffom re'proach, chaste in I'liiuluct and eonsidcrato of the interests of his people. Though haughty with a iiiiist patrician pride, and stern as a rock, he could be good-hearted and kind, especially to little children. WOEK IN VARIOUS GROUPS. 449 That Thakombau's funeral might be observed Tvith the ceremony becoming his rank, his body was kept three months in his house in a great black coiEn packed with near a ton of lime until a British man-of- ^var could come to the island. The Mlrmida rode into the harbor on the tirst of May with long black streamers floating from her yard-arms in mourning for the chief. When the master of the house dies the Scottish highlander says, " The roof -tree has fallen;" but the Fijians say, "The house-wall has fallen," for it is their custom not to carry the corpse out at the door but to break down the wall of the house. So they did with Thakombau and bore him to the summit of a green hill where they had made his grave. The crew of the Miranda marched in procession ; the gov- ernor delivered a funer- al oration at the grave, while the minute guns of the ship pealed forth the solemn laiell that mingled with the wail ing of the waves. . "Now," says Gordon Gumming, "the noble dead rests in peace on the green hill beyond the mission garden, once the foulest spot on the island, which he assign- ed to the foreign teach- ers with a contemptuous permission to settle there if they mxist stay on the isle — now a sweet, sunny center of home-life and a theological school, surrounded b}- a pleasant garden. In the center of a neatly-fenced enclosure lies a raised mound, surrounded and strengthened by large slabs of stone placed upright in the ground. This marks the burial place of Thakombau and Iiis faithful wife, the most notable of all links which bind the Fiji of to- day with the utterly extinct Cannibal Isles of thirty years ago." Of the present condition of Fiji, Miss Gumming writes : "I often wish that some of the cavillers who are forever sneering at Ghristias- 29I.-D KDfG THAKOMBAU AND mS SON. 450 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. missions coald sec something of their results in these isles. You may pass from isle to isle and everywhere meet the same cordial reception by men and women. Every village on the eighty inhabited islands has built for itself a tidy church, and a good house for the native teacher or min- ister, for whom the village also provides food and clothing. Can you realize that there are nine hundred Wesleyan churches in Fiji, at every one of which the frequent services are crowded by devout congregations, that the schools are well filled, T.nd that the first sound which greets you at dawn and the last at night is that of hymn-singing and the most fervent worship from each dwelling at the hour of prayer ?" At present ninety- eight and one-half j^er cent, of the whole population of Fiji attend Wes- leyan worshijJ. On the island of Ngau — population two thousand — seven hundred are pledged to teetotalism, four hundred of whore abstain from tobacco also. In the Bau circuit, in a population of 11,508, there are 11,328 who attend services. There are in that circuit 140 Roman Catho- lics, constantly decreasing there as elsewhere. The missionary contri- butions of Fiji last year were more than $20,000, and yet James Calvert, the man who surprised them at their cannibal feast by the story of the cross, is living still, hale and hearty, with boundless faith in the power of the gospel to save the world. WORK IN NEW ZEALAND. In New Zealand the Church Missionary Society has been the chief laborer, though good work has also been done by the Wesleyans. The first Protestant missionary was Rev. Samuel Marsden, a British chaplain from New South Wales. He established a mission on the east coast of North Island in 1814. He was sent out by the Church Missionary Society. The Wesleyans followed in 1818, sending out the Rev. Samuel Leigh. The Catholics entered the field in 1837, and the Presbji;erians in 1841. In 1842 thei-e arrived a young man destined to play a promi- nent part in the work. This was George Augustus Selwyn, who was born at Hampstead, England, in 1809, graduated at Eton in 1831 and was consecrated bishop of New Zealand in 1841. Rev. James Bickford, of the Wesleyan Methodists, tells us of his work : ' ' The Episcopal Church in its earliest history in New Zealand was represented by missionary ministers and catechists, who were sent out and supported by the Church Missionary Society in England ; but in 1842 Bishop Selwyn arrived as their ecclesiastical superior. He was then a young man: Combining in his own person the qualities of an athlete, an ecclesiastic, and a preacher, he threw himself at once with character- istic energy, devotedness and authority, into the work of his extensive WORK IN VARIOUS OKOUrS. 451 diocese. The first years of his episcopacy heteiycd an ambition to estab- lish in New Zealand a hierarchy in all its integrit}' ; a desire which he took no pains to conceal. A spirit of dissension was naturally evoked ])y the exclusive claims which he assumed. This was productive of mihappy eiFects upon the minds of the native converts. As in most cases, the lessons of experience soon sobered the bishop's views. As far as he could, consistently with hisecclesiasticalti"ammels,he learnt to recognize the value of other Christian churches, and to his credit let it be said that he was never known to| be guilty of an act of dis- courtesy to any of the minis- ters of the non-Episcopal communions. His career of twenty-six years in New Zealand was one of hard and incessant toil. His journeys, while roads and bridges were yet unknown, were performed on foot, and almost every nook and cranny of the island be- came familiar with his pres- ence. His talents, his fortune and his great powers were dedicated to the church of his choice in this great prov- ince." * * * ""■ The Times of December 19th, 1849, thus faithfully describes him: "A Chris- tian bishop and an accom- plished scholar, standing among the rude huts, the ill-fenced orchards, and the straggling flocks of an infant colony, as the representative of learning and religion, and inviting the generous and adventurous to follow him across the globe. When a man of high position, wealth, or acquirements rises upon a platform, or sits down in his library to urge his countrymen to go off to the colonies, he NEW ZEALAND IDOL. -A52 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. exposes himself to the objection that he is recommenJing to others what he will not do himself. Bishop Selwyn says, ' Come!'" TURNER IN NEW ZEALAND. The (litiicultios and dangers of the work among the New Zealauders may Ijcst l)c shown by an account of Mr. Turner's work. The story is from " Our Missionary Heroes and Heroines" by Eev. Dr. Daniel Wise : ' ' Nathaniel Turner was an Enghshman, and a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. After enlisting under his Lord's banner, he heard a voice in his heart bidding him carry the good tidings of the Gospel to some heathen land. The Wesleyan Missionary Society approved him ; but its treasury being $50,000 in debt, Mr. Turner was told to wait till money enough could be found to send him out. About that time a Mr. Leigh, a missionary in New South Wales, who had visited New Zealand for his health, came to England. The sad condition of the New Zealand- ers had touched his heart, and he implored the committee to start a mis- sion among them. When he found they had no money, he obtained permission from the Wesleyan Conference to beg articles of manufacture which might be as good as money to missionaries who could barter them among the natives for land, building materials and food. It was an odd thing to do, yet he succeeded. He begged an immense number of axes, razors, fish-hooks, pots and kettles, with prints, calicoes and much other goods. These were shipped at once, and a message sent to the waiting Mr. Turner, saying: 'Prepare to go to New Zealand!' Mr. Turner knew full well that the New Zealanders were fierce savages, to whom human fiesh was the daintiest of dishes. Nevertheless he gladly obeyed the order, and Miss Anna Sargent, to whom he was betrothed, undis- mayed by the prospect of a long and dangerous voyage, or by the possi bility of being killed and eaten by cannibals, consented to become this missionary's bride ; and thus it came to pass that on the 3d of August, 1823, this heroic pair landed at the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, where the members of the Church Mission received them very kindly. The Wesleyan Mission, the site of which had already been selected by Mr. Leigh, who had begged the pots, kettles, etc. , in England, was at a place called Wangaroa, forty miles away. ' ' A schooner carried them and their goods to Wangaroa Bay. It was a romantic spot. The mission house, scarcely yet finished, was in a lovely sequestered valley, twelve miles from the harbor. Pine-clad hills and mountains rose in sombre majesty behind it, and a winding river, the Kaio, added to the freshness and verdure of the delightful vale. But, WORK IN VARIOUS GROUPS. 453 alas ! for their comfort : it was tlie rainy season. Tlie roof of the mission dwelling was little better than a sieve. Mr. Leigh was sick. To keep dry he had for some time slept in an empty cask, and he was now forced to leave Wangaroa in the schooner which had brought Mr. Turner, to seek a passage to Van Dieman's Land by the first vessel that might touch at the Bay of Islands. But, with three assistaiit missionaries, Mr. and Mrs. Turner kept up their spirits. After selecting a better site for a mission house, the little band, aided by some hired natives, erected a cottage with a wooden frame which Mr. Turner had brought from Sidney. This necessary task soon gave our missionaries a taste of the treatment they were likely to receive from the savage people they had come to teach. The chief, George, pretended to be friendly at first. After o few days, however, he drove off the native workmen, and said to Mr. Turner : 'That house you are building is mine. I will knock it doAvn. You missionaries shall go away.' Upon this three of the dark-cy^cd, thick-lipped natives seized the spades with which the missionaries were leveling the ground. The furious creatures began to utter loud, savage cries, which were kept up for some time by different parties, both day and night. One day the chief brought Mr. Turner a pig for which he had been previously paid, but he now demanded his pay a second time. Mr. Turner, after some delay, gave him an iron pot he had asked for. This peace-offering, instead of winning him, angered him still more. He seized an ax and a frying-pan, and broke the pot in pieces against an anvil. Mr. Turner withdrew to a short distance. The chief raised his loaded musket and threatened to shoot him. God's hand restrained the monster. Yet he went near the missionary, half frantic with rage, and pushed him violently around, saying as he did so : ' You want to make us slaves ; we want muskets, powder and tomahawks. You give us nothing but prayers. We don't want to hear about Jesus Christ. If you love us, as you say you do, give us blankets-' " " After this he went to the house and said to Mrs. Turner and a white servant girl she had brought with her, ' I will kill you as I did the peo- ple of the Boyd.'' The Boyd was a ship which George and his men had captured by stealth, and whose crew they had killed and eaten. The chief's threat so frightened the servant girl that she ran screaming toward Mr. Turner. Fearing that his wife had been murdered, ho hastened to the house, where he found her braving the chief with undaunted courage. By and by the fury of this cruel savage suddenly abated. Then, placing his hand upon his breast, he said, ' When my heart rests hero, then I love Mr. Turner very much. But when my heart rises to my throat, then I could kill him in a minute.' This outbreak of the chief's rage made the mis- 454 MGHT IN DARKNESS. sionaries fully aware that their lives were iii momentary peril. No human help was nigh to protect them. But they trusted their Master in heaven, and Ho kept their souls serene and peaceful. The next morn- ing Mr. Turner was told that a neighboring tribe had killed a slave, and were about to eat his body. With a courage amounting to rashness this heroic man, unarmed and unattended, went over the hills and found the i: ^ 'in .t V JT ,*i? f' KOASTING AN OLD SLA^i:. chiefs sitting near a lai-gc fire. When within their hearing, he asked, 'What are you roasting?' Looking somewhat ashamed, they were silent, while he wont to the fire. There, O disgusting spectacle ! he saw the slave's body roasting between two burning logs. Seeing Ms disgust, the chiefs said, by way of apology, 'That man was old and troublesome ' Mr. Turner, aided by his brother missionaries, who had joined him, WORK tN VARIOUS GROUPS. 456 after much talk succeeded in securing the partly roasted body, and put- ting it under ground. It was a daring thing to do, since he was com- pletely in the power of men who had never been controlled except by brute force, or superstitious fear. "Eef using to be disheartened by the almost daily annoyances and thefts to which they were subjected by these ungrateful cannibals, our missionaries gave themselves to the study of the language. In less than six months they were able to teach children some of the sweet words of Jesus. Within a year they built two Wesleyan chapels with their own hands. They were rough buildings, but they sufficed for preaching places and for school rooms. After these were dedicated to Christ, Mr. Turner finished his cottage. While moving into it he was robbed of a case of tools, which, after a search was made, was found in the hands of a chief named Te Puhi, and some of his followers. "Te Puhi, vexed at being caught stealing, led a band of armed followers to the old mission house next morning. After yelhng outside, they entered the dwelling. One of them seized a bundle of linen. Mr. Tur- ner tried to take it from him, but was struck on the arm with the flat side of a weapon called a mare. Had the savage used its edge the mis- sionary's arm would have been broken. Fortunately, the old chief George, in a fit of good nature, came to Mr. Turner'.«i relief, and threat- ened to kill the man who hai struck him if he did not let the missionary . alone. Te Puhi's party then left the building, and went to the newly finished cottage. But Mrs. Turner was there with her servant, and she bravely stood at the door and barred them out. That was a day of severe trials to the missionaries, but their faith kept their hearts strong. At evening prayer they thanked God for restraining tho savages, who, hke wild beasts of the forest, had thirsted for their blod. They said, very firmly, ' We will trust in our God, and praise his natvo forever and ever.' ' ' noble souls ! no wonder that one of the cloiefs of tie Waugaroa tribes, speaking to a visiting chief of this little band, said: " 'We have tried all we could to make them afraid, but have failed. ITiey are a courageous tribe.'' Yes, they had the subhme courage of Christian faith, and among them all not one had a braver heart than the gentle wife of Mr. Turner. "For some months after the dedication of the chapels they were less annoyed. They had good congregations, attentive listeners, and numer- ous children in their schools. Stiil, not one convert as yet rewarded their diligent labors. By and by a change for the worse came over the spirit of those savages. In March, 1825, Ahudu, a chief, broug'">ian ifiCt LIGHT IN DARKNKSS. Mi'ined bund to the mission house, spoke fiercely to Mr. Turner, and brandished his weapon over him as if intending to cut off his head. After a while he and his party left, carrying off a favorite young dog. Missionary White went after them and recovered it. Then Te Puhi, who wanted the dog, set upon Mr. White with his spear. Mr. Turner and Mr. Hobbs ran to the rescue. Te Puhi then assailed Mr. Turner, aiming at his head with his spear. The missionary received the blow on his left arm. The spear broke. Te Puhi thrust the longest part of the blunted weapon at Mr. Turner's side. The good man fell senseless to the ground. By this time Ahudu had thrown Missionary White down near the fence. Both would have been murdered if some friendly natives had not run up and rescued them. As it was, Mr. Turner was thought to be dead when borne into his house. Happily he recovered, but was so injured by the spear and the shock that it was several days before he was able to leave his bed. " Shortly afterward the savages captured a whaler, and massacred some of the crew. This offended a neighboring chief, and a war resulted. For some time the missionaries were in great peril, and finally left the island. Turner went to Tonga and labored there for a season, returning after a few years to New Zealand. By that time the natives were ready to listen to the gospel, and great changes soon came over the islands.^ The English were establishing colonies in tbe group, and soon far out- numbered the native population. They found the land well adapted for sheep raising and farming, and soon their settlements were to be found all over the islands. There was no use in the Maorics opposing the on- ward strides of eivilization, so they soon accepted the situation. To-day the natives are nearly all Christians. They are, however, a compara- tively unimportant portion of the population. The islands, are well peo- pled, and contain some large and handsome towns. According to the census of 1881, the population of the four largest cities, with their suburbs, was as follows: Dunedin, 42,802; Auckland, 39, 966; Well- ington, 20,563, and Christchurch, 30,Y19. The total population of the islands was 534,032, of which 44,099 were Maories. There are now over 1,500 miles of railroad and over 4,000 miles of telegraph lines in the countries. The executive power is vested in a governor appointed l)y the British Crown. The legislative power is vested in the Legislative Council, whose forty-five members are appointed by the Crown for life, and in the House of Kepresentatives, whose ninety-five members are elected by the people for three years. Four of the representatives are natives, and are elected by the natives. There were, in 1882, 17 colleges or high schools, with 140 teachers and THR SANDWICH ISr,ANr)S. 457 1,900 pupils; 911 public government schools, with 2,2r>i tcuchers and s7,l 7l» pupils. Besides there ai-e a number of reformatory schools and orphan- ages, and 71 native schools. The expenditure for public instruction was $1,410,112.44. The former abode of cannibals has thus become the site of a prosperous English colony. In the Caroline, Marshall, Ladrone and Gilbert Islands, north of the equator, the work of evangelization has been carried on ])rincipally by the American Board. Many of the missionaries sent there have been natives of the Sandwich Islands. Of the work in this latter group we shall speak in the next chapter. CHAPTER XXIX. THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. JHE Sandwich Islands are ten in number. The cliain lies from southeast to soutiiwest, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Situated on the highway of commerce between America and China the Sandwich Islands are the most important, commercially, of all the Polyne- sian groups, and are becoming more and more a central emporium of trade between the East and the West. These islands Avere first discovered by Captain Cook in 177S, and were named in honor of the Earl of Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty. The largest of the group is Hawaii, which lies at the southeast extremity of the chain, in latitnde 20, north, and longitude 155 degrees west. It is 100 miles in length and 78 in breadth, and contains an area of 4, 850 square miles. Maui lies 24 miles northwest of Hawaii, and contains 750 square miles. Then follow Kaui, having 780 square miles, Molokai and Lanai with 170 square miles each, and other smaller islands." The Sandwich Islands are fertile, producing good pastures, sugar cane, bananas, yams, and other vegetables and the cereals commonly grown in warm climates. Good harbors are few. The most important is Honolulu in Oahu. The total population of the islands is estimated at 100,000. The hand of God prepared the way for the gospel in the Sandwich Islands in an extraordinary manner. In the beginning of the present century, Ka-mo-ha-me-ha, the most powerful chief of Hawaii, subdued all the chiefs of his native country 4r,s LIGHT IN DARKNESS. and extended his conquests and authority to the islands adjacent, until all were brought into submission to his sway. Thus was established the kingdom of Hawaii, and the Kamehameha dynasty. The new king wrote to George III. August 6th, 1810, deshing formally to aclniowledge tlio Khig of England as his sovereign and to place the islands under British protection — an offer which was accepted. THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 459 Kamehamoha I. died in 1819 and was succeeded by his son Liholiho as Kamehaineha 11. A SPECIAL CALL. Their religious system was a galling yoke upon the poor superstitious natives. Kamehameha H resolved to throw off this yoke and abolish the talyw. The idolatrous party raised the standard of rebellion against the king's authority, but were defeated. Their defeat led them to renounce and destroy the gods for whom they had fought. The idols were de- stroyed and the temples demolished. Thus, in a brief space, the who^o religious system of the Hawaiians was overthrown and the way prepared for a new faith to enter the Sandwich Islands unopposed. Elsewhere the hand of God was also directing events for the conversion of this heathen people. In 1809 an American vessel brought to New Haven, Connecticut, a Ha\7aiian youth, named Oboodiah. He was fifteen years of age. He saw the beautiful college buildings in New Haven, and learned something of their purpose. He understood that the instruction imparted there was the source of that civilization, which to him appeared so splendid and dazzling. One day Rev. Edward W. Dwight found Oboodiah weeping at the entrance of the college because there was no one to instruct him. We need not say that the heart of the good man was moved for the poor heathen, and that from that day Oboodian had an instructor. Some time after, Eev. Samuel Mills, one of the founders of the American Board, took Oboodiah to his father's house. Afterward he was taken to Andover, where he embraced Christianity and entered into the experiences of a life in Christ. The converted Hawaiian was being educated under the auspices of the American Board, in view of returning as a missiotiary to his native land. But the purpose was never realized, Oboodiah died in 1818. Nevertheless, this youth was made an instrument, under the Divine Providence, of turning the thoughts of Christians in America- to the Sandwich Islands as a field to which the Master was calling missionaries. THE CALL ANSWERED. The American Board responded to the call. The first company of missionaries sailed from Boston the 23d of October, 1819, and reached Kailua on the west side of Ha^^aii on the 4th of April, 1820. Kailua was then the place of the king's residence. The missionaries knew nothing of the revolution that had swept away the old reMgion of Hawaii. "They expected on their landing," says Dr. Anderson, one of the secretaries of the Board, "to see the temples stand- ing ; to witness the baleful effects of idolatrous rites ; to be shocked by 460 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. day A\'Rli the sight of huiiuiu siiciificcs, und alarmed at night with the outcries of devoted victims. They expected to encounter a long and dan- gerous opposition from the powerful priesthood of paganism. They expected to hear tlie yells of savage warfare, and to witness bloody batr ties before idolatry could be overthrown and the peaceful religion of Jesus Christ established. The first information from the shore was that Kamehameha had died, and that his successor had renounced the na- tional superstitions, destroyed the idols, burned the temples, abolished the priesthood, put an end to human sacrifices, and suppressed a rebel- lion, which arose in consequence of these measures ; and that peace once more prevailed, and the nation without a rehgion was waiting for the law of Jehovah." The missionary band consisted of Eevs. Hiram Bingham, and Asa Thurston, ordained missionaries. Dr. Holman, medical missionary, two school teachers, a printer, and an agi-iculturist — aU married men. They had with them throe Hawaiian assistants. The first stations occupied wvvq Kailua, on Hawaii, Honolulu, on Oahvi, and Waimea onKamai. They found the people without a written language. To reduce the langviage to written form ^vas tiie first great step in the plans of th^ missionaries. In two years this work was accom plished, and the printing press put into operation. Liholiho, or Kamehameha H., was a sprightly man, of pleasing address, favorable to the missionaries and the new religion, glad to see the superstitions which he had renounced succeeded by a milder faith ; but in personal character the king was dissolute, and by no means inclined to accept the restraints of practical Christianity. But the influence of the missionaries reached the king's counsellors, and so did much to shape his own sentiments and direct his conduct. Ka-a-hu-ma-nu, the favorite wife of Kamehameha I., was associated with Liholiho in the government. This position she held until her death. Slio proved docile to the instructions of the new teachers, and was bap- tized in 1825. CONVERSION OF KEOPIILANI. Kcopulani, the mother of the king, was held in great veneration by the people. It had been so under the reign of her husband, Kamehameha J. " In the days of paganism, so. sacred was her person, that her presence did much to awe the enemy. In early life she never walked abroad except in the evening, and then all who saw her prostrated themselves to the earth." But this woman had followed the custouis of her country and had two liusbands. Hoapili, one of her husbands, was appointed in 1823 gov- 462 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. ei'iior of Maui. " They took with them, as a domestic chaplain, Pu-aa-i-ki — better known as Blind Bartimeus. He was the most spirit- ually enlightened native on the islands. They also took Taua, a teacher from the Society Islands. At this time the missionaries had received considerable reinforcement. The London Missionary Society had sent two native chiefs, under the conduct of Mr. Ellis for the purpose of inaugurating a mission among the Marquesas group. They were attended by the Rev. Daniel Tyerman, and George Bennett, Esq., deputies of the London Society. These, landing at Hawaii on their way, the two native cliiefs and Mr. ~ Ellis were induced to remain. The American Board also sent out a new company of missionaries in 1823. Keopulani secured the appointment of two missionaries, Messrs. Stewart and Richardson at Lahaiua. About this time Keopulani made this public declaration: "I have follo^ved the custom of Hawaii in taking two husbands in the time of our dark hearts. I wish now to obey Christ and to walk in the right way. It is wrong to have two husbands, and I desire but one. HoapiH is my husband, and hereafter my only husband." This Avoman gave every testimony in her life of genuine conversion. She died in Septem- ber, 1833, having been admitted to membership in the church. She charged that none of the old heathen ceremonies should be permitted at her funeral. Her funeral was that of a Christian. It was attended by more than three thousand people. The missionaries made it an impres- sive occasion. ' ' The spectacle was transient, but the influence of that death and burial has never ceased to be felt by the Hawaiian nation." . DEATH or THE KING. A succession of events now took place which opened a more effectual door for Christianity in the Sandwich Islands. The . king, LihoHho, or Kamehameha II., accompanied by the queen and a suite of natives, sailed on a visit to England about the close of the year 1823. While in Eng- land the whole comjiany had measles, and both the king and the queen died. The news reached the island in 1825. Kaahumanu, of whom we have spoken as associated in the government, and of a favorable disposi- tion toward Christianity, now after the death cf the Idng, acting as regent, wrote letters to the several islands, and sent her salutations to the chiefs of the people and the missionaries, announcing the national bereave- ment and proposing a season of humiliation and prayer, and exhorting the people to look for comfort to the " good word of God." The funeral and all the memorial services observed on the occasion were strictly Christian, and made s, deep and general impression in favor of Christian- THE SANDAVICH ISLANDS. 463 ity. It was agreed that the young Prince should be under the instruction of the missionaries, and that Kaahumanu, assisted by her Prime Minister, should administer the government. The Prime Minister Avas especially attached to the Christian cause, and used all his influence, not only to discourage all idolatrous practices, but also all immorality. He was active to foster Christian churches and schools. ENCOUBAGINa PROGRESS. In 1825 there was a revival at Honolulu. More than one hundred natives were baptized, and among the number was Kaahumanu. The same year the Prime Minister instituted a prayer-meeting in Oahu. Special religious interest was also manifested at Lahaina, Kailua and Hilo. A very marked change was observed as taking place among the people of Hawaii. Mr. Bishop made a tour of three hundred miles upon the island. In the entire journey he saw but one drunken man, although only two years before drunkenness was a prevailing vice, and whole vil- lages soonied abandoned to it. ' ' At the dedication of a large church at Kailua more than four thousand persons attended, the occasion being such a day of rejoicing as had not been before witnessed on the island. At Kowaihae, to the north of Kailua, the audiences twice numbered upwards of ten thousand. In the course of a tour through four of the islands for the purpose of visit- ing the schools, two hundred and twenty-five schools were visited, in which were being taught 10,200 children." K^iahumanu ruled the country with great prudence. She had been of a tjTannical and revengeful temper. All the people marked the change which Christianity had effected in her character. They called her " the new and good Kaahumanu." She conducted the government through an eventful and critical ordeal. She died in 1832. A GREAT REVIVAL. In the year IBST the infant church in the Sandwich islands experi- enced a remarkable revival. There were, at the time, seventeen mis- sionary stations under the superintendence of twenty-seven ordained missionaries, with sixty helpers. A knowledge of the Christian religion was general. There needed only that the preachers should earnestly call the people to repentance and personal consecration to the service of God. With common consent the ministers turned their efforts in that direction, and the churches prayed for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. There was a wonderful answer to these labors and prayers. Dr. Young relates : "The evidences of the Holy Spirit's presence were everywhere visible. They were seen in the immense congregations that gathered to hear the +64 LIGHT IN DAKKNESS. Word ; in the melting down, even to tears, of old, hardened sinners, "vho had, till then, resisted the truth ; in the interest in divine things awakened among the yomig, many of whom were fomid in the sugarcane or banana groves praying and weeping ; and they were seen in the improved spiritual condition of the members of native churches, respecting whom the testi- mony is borne that ' for their ardent feeling and uniform activity in reli- gion they would be ornaments to any church in the United States.' " As the result of this gracious visitation, 20,297 persons were, after careful examination, admitted to church fellowship during the years 1839-41. The total admissions from the beginning of the mission were, up to this time, 56,300. ORGANIZATION OF THE NATIVE CHUECH. In 184:8 it was decided that the Sandwich Islands needed no longer to be counted among foreign missions. Christianity was as fully the relig- ion of these islands as of any other country. There was no heathen religion, no heathen worsliip. Christian churches and schools were everywhere. The Christian Sabbath was observed. There was a good Christian literature, and the native churches were self-sustaining. Under these cii-cumstances the American Board made arrangements for closing its work and withdrawing its agents. The church on the island was organized for its own support and control under the title of the Hawai- ian Evangelical Association. Some of the missionaries chose to remain and minister to the ehurches they had built up. These were, therefore, released from their engagements yn\h. the Board. Others were with- drawn and sent to other fields. TITUS COAN. Among those who chose to remain was Kev. Titus Coan, a sketch of whose labors will close this brief notice of the evangelization of the Sandwich Islands : Born at Killingworth, Connecticut, in 1801, the son of a farmer, Titus Coan was, in his youth and early manhood, a farmer and school teacher and officer in a military company. Ardent and full of enei'gy, and possessed of a sprightly mind and an excellent physical constitution, he had eminent quahfications for the work to which he was afterward called. He was licensed to preach in 1833, and served for a time as supply of a church in Rochester, New York. He was sent by the Amer- ican Board on an exploring expedition to Patagonia, and after his return Mas appointed to missionary work in the Sandwich Islands. He landed at Honolulu with other missionaries June 6th, ISS."), where the missionaries were in counsel. He chose Hilo, in Hawaii, as his place and reached it about the middle of July. THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 4() AT KILO. Hilo is situated on a beautiful crescent-shaped harbor, the beach of which is composed chiefly of fine volcanic sand. .Three streams of water run into it in different places, and the mouth of the harbor is protected by a lava reef, one mile from the shore. The western side of the harbor is sufficiently deep to admit ships of any size. The land is covered with beautiful vegetation of various sorts ; and back of the city, in the distance, are the volcanic mountains, Kea and Loa. When Coan arrived the city had but one framed house, all the others being of stone and mud with thatched roofs. The framed house was a two- story building belonging to Rev. Samuel Goodrich who left in the fall, and Mr. Coan took possession of the house. In three months he had made sufficient advancement to be able to preach. He now commenced work as a traveling preacher. His district was a belt cue hundred miles long, lying along the northeast and southeast coasts of Hawaii. Its width was from one to three miles, and more in some places. Next to this belt is an almost impenetrable for- est of from ten to twenty- five miles in width; then comes a more open but jungly and mountainous district, with a fair sprinkliiag of wild animals. And last, but not least, are the two volcanic cones, Kea and Loa, the first of which is extinct ; the latter, as already stated, is one of the most active on the globe. The shore belt, which is the only inhabited part of the country, contained at this time about 15, 000 or 16, 000 natives. Foreigners were few. Mr. Coan began to make the rounds of his field several times every year. As at this time there were no horses or other means of conveyance in Hilo, his journeys were made on foot. He often ran risks on these expeditions. His chief diffi- 30L-D TITUS COAN. 4rV>G LIGHT IN DARKNESS. culty lay in crossing the gti-eams, which are swift, treacherous and liable to sudden changes of rising in a few minutes from tiny rivulets to formidable torrents. With the assistance of the natives, however, and aided by his indomitable pluck, he managed to overcome all obstacles. Various means were devised for crossing these streams. Sometimes a rope would be thrown across and fastened to trees on both sides, and Mr. Coan would throw himself into the stream and drag himself over by means of the rope. Sometimes he would mount the back of a native, who would wade the stream, the increased weight enabhng him to secure a hotter footing. He once crossed a torrent in this manner only fifty feet above a cataract -±26 feet high. A suigle false step on the part of the native would have hurled both into destruction. He never stopped for the streams. His appointments ^vcve sent out twenty, thirty or even fifty miles ahead, and a failure in one would disconnect the whole chain. There were about eighty streams of various sizes in the district, and none of them Avere bridged. As to the natives, to whom Coan preached, open idolatry was almost unknown to them, but ignorance, superstition and vice were prevalent ; and, as a consequence, the stronger oppressed the weaker. All the lower classes were the property of chiefs, who could at will drive off their cattle, hike away their household goods, or otherwise abuse their poor subjects. As time passed, Mr. Coan purchased ahorse to use in liis journeys, butthis did not aid him materially in crossing the streams. Sometimes, also, at the end of a trip, he would take a canoe and return home by sea ; but even in this way he often ran great risks. In fact, he was constantly in peril, both by land and sea ; but he took his life in his hand and pressed onward in the work. Such was the work in the Hilo District. WORK IN PUNA. The Puna District was also put into the hands of Mr. Coan. It is a belt averaging three miles in width, and is almost a dead level. It has a rich volcanic soil, very porous and full of cracks and fissures, which drain off all the water, so that there are no streams above ground. Rain falls are abundant, and the rapid drainage of the surface makes numer- ous subterranean springs and fountains which burst out along the sea- shore. But farther inland the country is broken and mountainous, full of caverns and lava bubbles, and sloping up gradually to the great cone of Mauna Loa. These highlands are for the most part covered with for- ost and jungle. Next to Puna lies Kau, on the border of which are several villages, containing 600 or 700 people. These villages were under the chai-ge of Mr. Forbes, but as he had to cross an old lava bed THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 467 about fifteen miles wide to reach them, Mr. Coan took them under his care. He made his first tour, in the Hilo and Puna districts, in the first six months of his "work on the island. In the fall of the next year, he set out on foot to make the tour of the island. Great interest was manifested by the natives he preached to on this trip. He preached in Puna very often three, four and even five sermons in a day. Occasionally, when there were several villages close together, the people of the first, after hearing him preach, would follow him to the next, and so on, thus getting the benefit of several sermons. Often, in the more thinly settled districts, or where the villages were remote from the road, the people would bring their aged, sick, or infirm, down to the wayside, and request to have the gospel preached to them. This request Mr. Coan could never refuse to answer, as he alwaj-s con- sidered it might be the last time for some of them. And too often it proved to be the case. During this thirty days' tour many converts were made ; among them, the High Priest and High Priestess of the volcano. The former had been guilty of many atrocious crimes, but now seemed truly penitent. This trip aroused such interest among the peojjlc that many moved to Hilo temporarily, in order that they might hear the Word more fully. The population of Hilo was thus for about two years increased to 10,000. " Little temporary cabins and sheds dotted the hill- sides everywhere. The great native house of worship, 85 feet by 200, was filled to overflowing ; hundreds were compelled to remain outside. After a few Sundays of this, a large number of natives provided them- selves with ropes and axes, and going up into the forest three or four miles, began cutting down trees suitable for framing timber, and dragging them to town. Being asked what it was for, they replied that they were going to build another and larger house of worship, so that all could have the privilege of hearing preaching. • Their plan was that the Hilo people should meet in the morning in the larger house, and the Puna and Kau people in the smaller house. In the afternoon they were to exchange places. They finished the house in about three weeks from the beginning of the work. No floors were put in either house. The ground was pounded hard and covered each week with dried grass on which the people sat. If a large crowd was present, the people were made to stand in compact rows till all were arranged, when the word was given to sit down. The men were seated apart from the women. Mr. Coan kept up his tours through the country still, however. Such a religious awakening is rarely seen anywhere. All Hawaii was astir. The fame of this revival spread among the other islands of the group. Their inhabitants were puzzled to know what it could mean. Many said 468 UGHT IN DARKNESS. the Hawaiians were thorough hypocrites, and professed to be disgusted with the proceedings. The work continued, however, and a large propor- tion were found to remain faithful. Many of the meetings resembled the old-fashioned Methodist camp meeting. Some of the foreign inhabi- tants wore converted as well as the natives. November Tth, 1837, a great calamity overtook the people of Hilo. In the evening of that day a strange sound was heard on the beach followed by a wild wail from the natives. Rushing out to see what the matter was, Mr. Coan found a gigantic sea wave had rushed in upon the shore sweeping everything before it. About 200 people were carried off by the retiring waters, and were being tossed to and fro by the surging waves. The strongest ones by desperate efforts reached the shore, but the weaker were carried out to sea. Twelve were picked up by the boats of a whaling vessel which lay at anchor in the harbor. Thirteen were drowned. This disaster had the effect of making the survivors still more serious. The wave came almost like a thunder-clap ; it was totally unexpected. RESULTS OF THE REVIVAL. Three thousand or more were converted during these meetings. Mr. Coan kept a pocket record of all professed converts in order to tell how many returned to their old ways of life, and how many remained faithful. Out of this pocket list 1705 were selected for admission into the church. The rest Avere allowed to remain awhile in order to prove them more fully. Tliose who had been chosen were admitted into full connection on the first Sabbath in July, 1838. The house Avas crowded and the baptismal ceremony ^vns performed Avith great impressiveness. The converts were seated in roAvs along one side of the house, and, Mr. Coan passed up and down between the roAvs sprinkling them ; a large portion of the assembly Avere in tears. It was a day long remembered in Hilo. Mr. Coan kept an account of all members so that he would knoAvjustAvhat had become of each one. He also kept an account of births, deaths, mar- riages, etc. During the first five years that he spent in Hilo, between 7, 000 and 8, 000 were received into the church. "Whenever any members removed to other places, he would write to the pastor in that place to look after them, and report to him occasionally and tell him how they were con- ducting themselves. The Creed or Confession of Faith was the Bible. Doctrinal differences were allowed to play as little part as possible. They were merely required to keep all the precepts of the Bible. The use of tobacco and stimulants was discouraged as far as possible, though not absolutely prohibited. A large number of the natives abandoned the us« of those articles, and stuck to their good resolutions. Mr. Coan 470 UGIIT IN RARKNESS. taught thorn as far as possil^lo by precept and example histead of b}' restrictions and penalties, for he believed it to be the bettor way. A BOAKDING SCHOOL. In 1S3S, Mrs. Coan began a boarding school for girls. The natives built a house for the purpose. The school opened with twenty pupils, varying from seven to ten years in age. The natives engaged to bring in weekly supplies of provisions. This plan was kept for awlaile, but "was superseded by another. A tract of land was set apart for tlie school, and was cultivated by the natives. Occasionally little presents Mcro made by strangers, but, for the most part, it was sustained by the people of Hilo. The scholars were taught the rudiments of necessary book knowledge, and trained in domestic duties. Most of them became mem- bers of the Hilo church, and "were noted in after life among their com- panions for their neatness, industry and piety. This school was broken up in 1846. Mr. Coan, for a time, had the supervision of the common schools as a part of his regular work. There were about fifty of these, with some two thousand children. He had to see that they were sup- plied with slates, slate-pencils and books. As he went his rounds he examined them whenever he had time, in order to see what proficiency they had attained in their studies. Another branch of the missionary's duties was attending the sick. But this involved so much work that he could not give the necessary attention to all of his patients. However, with the aid of his medical library and medicine chest, he performed the office of physician to the best of his ability until 1849, when Charles H. Wetmore was sent out to fill the place ; thus Mr. Coan was relieved of a great responsibihty. Also the care of the schools was taken by Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox. Hilo was a stopping-place for ships, especially whaling vessels. The missionaries had always received the sons of the sea as hospitably as pos- sible, and looked after their welfare spiritually as well as bodily. Much good was done iu this way. Mr. and Mrs. Coan did their part in this work also. Some evil efieets, however, seemed imminent from a visit paid to the island in 1840, just after the great revival. Charles Wilkes, heading an United States exploring expedition, arrived in the bay. He had with him quite a corps of scientific men who were to make researches in their respective departments. An expedition was to be made to the top of Mauna Loa, and observations were taken from that point. A large number of natives were required to act as bearers, in order to transport provisions, instruments and mateiials for a house to the top of the mountain. But this involved worldng on Simday, which THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 471 filmost dcmoi-alizod the natives, who had been taught that the Sa1)1)alh miTst be strictly observed. Some died of the fatigue and exposure involved. The work went on for three months, during which time there was a large falling off in the congregations. It took years to restore matters to their former state. Most of the Christians, however, remained Urm, but the trip had an evil influence on efforts for the conversion of others for a long while afterward. Still, it afforded our missionaries the opportunity of making the acquaintance of many distinguished scientific men. Occasionally national ships entered the harbor of Hilo. Probably four thousand of all kinds visited the harbor during Mr. Coan's residence there. Si;r\'iccs were held on Sunday afternoons for the benefit of sea- men and all English-speaking residents or visitors. An old stone house was fitted up as a library. In these ways much good was done ; many were converted. VOLCAJSriC feEUPTION. In 1S40 a great eruption took place from Mauna Loa. This mountain is probably the largest volcanic cone in the world. Prof. James D. Dana estimates that it is one hundred and twenty-five times as large as Vesuvius. Besides the crater at the top, it has on the eastern slope the great crater called Kilauea. This latter is the largest active crater in the world, being about seven and one-half miles in circumference, and from seven hundred to twelve hundred feet deep. The largest extinct cratei- is that of Haleakala in East Maui, one of this same gi-oup of islands. It is about thirty miles in circumference and eighteen hundredfect deep. Its floor is studded ^\'ith extinct cones varying frcnn four hundred to six hundred feet in height. Viewed from the top of the crater, they look lilcc heaps of sand di'opped from a dump-cart. The wall of the crater is broken down on one side, so that visitors can have access to any pai-t of the floor. This crater, as indeed are all the Sandwich Islands' craters, is formed of lava. In this respect it differs from Vesuvius, which is a mountain of ashes and cinders, with tufa mixed. From the nature of the materials, Vesuvius has the steepest slope, lava cones having a more gradual slope than those formed of cinders or tufa. The Sandwich Islands seem to he entirely of volcanic origin. In times of great eruptions lava, steam and sulphurous gases burst out from various places ; in fact, they may appear anywhere on the mountain. The eruption above mentioned was first noticed on May 30th. It burst out about 1,500 feet below Kilauea, and pniNUL'd its way under ground about four miles, breaking oat in the hot: > a of an old crater and after consuming the vegetation growing t'l 'I'j, \. .t o.i underground two miles more, when it again broke out. So it went, breaking out at THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 4-T.T diiferent spots till within ten or twelve miles of the sea, when it Inu'sl forth and continued on its way to the sea on the surface. It entered the sea at Nanawale in a stream a mile wide, pouring over a perpendicular clijff thirty feet high. The turmoil was terrific. The waters were heated for a great distance, and this circumstance, combined with the poisonous gases, killed vast numbers of fish. Dense clouds of steam arose, obscur- ing everything in the immediate vicinity. This was on Juno 3d, five days after the eruption began, and about seventeen miles from Hilo. It continued to pour into the sea for three weeks, and the torrent of lava completely cut off all communication between the two portions of Puna. Such clouds of steam arose at, the spot that the sun and stars were obscured, while the brilliant light on the mountain could be seen one hundred miles away at sea, and was so bright that fine print could be read at midnight at a distance of forty miles. The whole length of the stream was about thirty miles. No lives were lost, and only a few small hamlets destroyed. The inhabitants of these walked off with their mova- ble property and erected their grass huts in new quarters. Numerous have been the eruptions from Mauna Loa during the present centuiy. Besides the eruption of 1840, notable eruptions occurred in 1843, 1852, 1855, 1868, 1880 and 1887. Of these the, most notable is pei'haps that of 1880. The eruptions are by no means limited to the craters, but are liable to burst forth from any part of the mountain. That of 1856 broke out near the summit of the mountain. Mr. Coan says : " Day after day, and night after night, we could trace this stream until it entered the deep forest, when the scene bj' day would often be made beautiful by the vast clouds of white vapor, rolling up in wreaths from the boiling streams and water basins below. In the night-time the spectacle was one of unrivaled sublimity. The broad and deep river of lava, moving resistlessly on through the f estoono( I forest trees, would first scorch the low plants and fallen timbers of the jungle, until they took fire, when suddenly a roaring flame would burst forth, covering perhaps a square mile, and rushing up the hanging vines to the tree-tops, leaping in lambent flashes from tree to tree, would make a light so gorgeous, that, for the time being, night was turned to day. " Tliis eruption lasted fifteen months, and caused some little anxiety, as it headed directly for Hilo. It stopped, however, when seven miles away. But the great eruption which broke out November 5th, 1880, is the most celebrated in Hawaiian history. It burst forth from the side of the mountain, and 12,000 feet above the sea level. Says Dr. Coan : " The glare was intense, and was seen at a great distance. Brilliant 474 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. jets of lavii were thrown high in the air, and a pillar of blazing gases mounted thousands of feet skyward, spreading out into a canopy of sanguinary light which resembled, though upon a larger scale, the so-called ' pine-tree appendage ' formed over Vesuvius during its erup- tions by the vei'tical column of vapors with its great horizontal cloud. ' ' Meanwhile a raging river of lava, about three-fourths of a mile Avide, and from fifteen to thirty feet deep, rushed down the northeast flank of the great dome, and ran some thirty miles to the base of Mauna Kca Tliis stream was composed mostly of aa, or scoria. It hardened and ceased, but a stream of palioelioe^ or field-lava, was now sent off to the southeast toward Kilauea. The roaring furnace on Mauna Loa remained in full blast. Down came a river of lava in several channels, flowing in the direction of Hilo. This divided itself in places and reunited, leaving islands in the forest. This stream crossed the flow of 1855-56, followed its southeast margin and fell into our great upland forest in a column from one to two miles wide. There was the sound as of a continuous cannonading as the lava moved on, rocks exploding under the heat, and gases shattering their way from confinement. We could hear the explo- sions in Hilo ; it was like the noise of battle. Day and night the ancient forest was ablaze, and the scene was vivid beyond description. By the 25th of March the lava was within seven miles of Hilo, and steadily advancing. Until this time we had hoped Hilo would not be threat- ened ; but the stream pursued its way. By the first of June it was with- in five miles of us, and its advance, though slow, was persistent. It had now descended nearly fifty miles from its source, and the action on Mauna Loa was unabated. The outlook was fearful ; a day of public humiliation and prayer was observed. But still the lava moved onward, heading straight for Hilo. One arm of the stream was now easily accessible on its northern margin, and two more were moving in the deep jungle so far to the south that visitors had not the time or the patience to penetrate to them. It now began to appear that should these streams unite, no trace of Hilo or of Hilo harbor would remain. Some of our people were calm, others were horror-stricken. Some packed their goods and sent them to Honolulu or elsewhere, and some abandoned their houses. "The northerly wing of the stream now hardened, clogging the channel in which the lava was taking its way to the center of the town. But this check gave additional power to the southeast wing, so that on the 26th of June a fierce stream broke out from the great lava pond and came rushing down the rocky channel of a stream with terrific force and uproar, exploding rocks and driving off the waters. Hilo was in trouble. We were now in immediate danger. The lava, confined in the water THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 4^5 channel of from fifty to a hundred feet wide, advanced so rapidly that by the 30th of June it was not more tlian two and a half miles from us." Still nearer it came. Young and old visited it. It was but a fev/ minutes' walk from the village. Scores bore away trophies and memen- toes in the way of cups, vases, canes, &c. , formed of the molten lava. Nearer and nearer. It was finally agreed that in three dajs it would be pouring into Hilo harbor. On the 10th of August it was one-half mile from the town. On that day the action began to abate. In two days more ' ' the great red dragon lay stifiened and harmless at the bor- ders of the village. The relief was unspeakable. By this eruption one hundred square miles were covered to an average depth of twenty-five feet — enough to cover the State of Connecticut to a depth of six inches. CHURCH BUILDING. Late in 1840 the great meeting house in Hilo was blown down. The natives immediately determined to build another, and providing themselves with axes and ropes, went up into the forest and cut and dragged timbers for the new house. When the frame was erected, it was covered with thatch, holes f teino- left in the walls to serve as windows. No floor "was laid. There were at this time about fifty meeting houses of this kind in the district. Their size, of course, varied according to the population. The one we have just mentioned had a capacity of about 2,000. Others held from 1,000 to 600, and so on down to 150. This large church lasted about sixteen years. It was then determined to replace it with a more durable one. The first design was to build it of stone, but so many diflSculties were found in the way of the execution of this plan, that, after a year's hard work, the idea was given up, and it was built of timber. This afterwards proved to be the best ; for the violent earthquakes which occasionally visit the islands destroy stone walls, but do not damage frame buildings so much. The building of the house occupied nearly a year and a half. It was finished in the spring of 1859. When it was dedicated there was a debt of $G00 on it, which which was paid by a collection taken up at the time. The total cost was about $13,000. Several thousands more were spent in painting the house, purchasing a bell, and keeping the building and grounds in order. The natives willingly undertook each duty that fell to them. They also had greatly improved religiously. Mr. Coan, when he first" arrived, was greatly troubled by the coldness and formality of their prayers. The revival, however, almost completely revolutionized this state of affairs. 4 70 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. NATIVK ASSISTANTS. Mr. Coan had native assistants whom ho sent out in pairs all through the district. These aided him a great deal in keeping the sick or the backsliders in view. The natives gave him much trouble at times to know where they were. They are of a fickle, unsteady disposition. Sometimes a man will spend nearly all his property in building a fine house, and then Ica^e it and go to a remote part of the island. Most of them dislike staying long in one place. Often "when removing, a man "\rill take out a church letter at the church he is leaving and neglect to hand it in at his new home ; as he often changes his name, it is very ditlicult to keep track of him. In l.'~i41, after applying a strict discipline and cutting off !5.53 persons from chirrch membership, Mr. Coan still had 6,4:03 members in his church at Hilo. In 1849 he reported under his charge twenty-five places of worship, all supplied with houses by the vol- unta]y contributions of the people. In 1865 he wrote that some of the churches were doing nobly in con- tributing for new church edifices. In 1870 the Hawaiian Christians had church property valued at $250,000. Tlie same year over $30,000 were collected for religious purposes, Mr. Coan continued his work in HUo until his death, December 1 st, 1882. He was then in the eighty- second year of his age. Few missionaries were more laborious than Titus Coan; icw hare labored with moreprudence and success in the Master's cause. The church in Hawaii has been for many years not only self-sustaining but has engaged actively in missionary work. In 1853 they sent mis- sionaries to the Marquesas Islands, and it is chiefly by the Hawaiians that this group of islands has been reached. But the native population of Hawaii is fast dying out and foreigners are beginning to control the country. Great numbers of Chinese arc there. They are warmly welcomed and it is said are making good citizens. They are far more industrious and frugal than the natives, and much superior to them in business capacity. Many Americans are emi- KING K.VLAlwVUA. THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 477 grating to the country and the American ministers control the church, although they constitute only about one-sixth of all the preachers engaged in the work. A BLOODLESS REVOLUTION. King Kalakaua has of late years grown very dissolute and negligent of the interests of the government. He is addicted to drinking and gambling, and is very corrupt in his social life. He has borrowed large sums of money which he has thrown away at the gaming table. There seems to be little hope of his reforming. This conduct has at last brought about a revolution. In the early part of July, 1SS7, a mass meeting was held at Honolulu in which resolutions were adopted demanding of the king that he dismiss his cabinet aiid form a new one under the advice of parties whom the meeting named, and that the new cabinet, thus formed, revise the constitution of the government. The king submitted \vitli()ut resistance. The new cabinet was composed entirely of Americans and Englishmen. The Premier, William L. Green, who is also minister of Foreign Affairs, was an American planter and commission agent who had lived several years at Honolulu. Godfrey Brown, the Minister of Finance, was the son of an old English resident. C. W. Alsford, the Attorney General, was a Canadian. L. A. Shurston, the son of an American Missionary, was appointed Secretary of the Interior. A new- constitution was framed, and after being endorsed by the Supreme Court was signed by the king. This constitution vests the real go\x'rning power in a legislative assembly. The king draws a .yearly salary and affixes his name to public documents as may be required of him. The native dynasty is virtually overthrown, and a rej^ublic established in its stead, by a revolution in which there was neither bloodshed nor strife. Thus has passed away the sway of the native power in Hawaii. ISLAND BOY AND IDOL. 478 BIBLE LANDS. CHAPTER XXX. STRIA. fRIA and Armenia are the two principal provinces o Turkey in Asia. They are much larger than the ancient provinces of that name. Syria, as it is to-day, ini'ludes ^ '*'.'^<*Y' i ancient Syria, Palestine and portions of the country immediately to the north of them. The inhabitants are a mixed people. Bedouins are numerous in the desert and sterile parts of the country ; elsewhere the population is a promiscuous array of Turks and descendants of the ancient inhabitants. A considerable portion arc nominally Christians ; but they have little of Christianity, except the name and a few ceremonies. The spirit of Christ is not in them. Tlie spiritual head of the church is the Armenian Patriarch. Their religious cei'emonies are somewhat similar to those of the Greek church. The Turldsh, Arabic and Bedouin inhabitants are Mohammedans. A considerable sect, called Druses, live in the neighborhood of Mt. Lebanon. They are a very hardy, independent race, supposed by some to be descended from the ancient Moabites, who emigrated from Hauran about the time of the Crusades. What their tenets are it is difficult to ascertain. Very few of them really know themselves. They reject the name of Christians, and also of Mohammedans. Their creed seems to bo a mixture of Mohammedanism and Paganism. The sect originated with a caliph of Egypt, Hakim by name, but their own name is taken from a zealous follower of Hakim, El Drvisi. Hakim they worship with divine honors, bcheving him to be the tenth and greatest incarnation of God. They remained independent until 1835, when they Avere subdued by Ibra- him Pasha. They have always been bitterly hated and savagely perse- cuted by the Maronites, a sect of so-called Christians who recognize the Pope of Rome as the head of the church — Syrian Roman Catholics. The Maronites have a local Patriarch of their own, and are wholly distinct from the Armenian church, which has but few adherents in Syria, its stronghold being in Armenia. 479 480 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. ANCIENT CUSTOMS. The manners and customs of the people, as in all other Oriental coun- tries, ha've changed but little for centuries. One vaa.y go through the land and see thorn ploughing with the same rude, primitive plough that was used by the patriarchs of old, viz. : a sharpened stick, shod with iron, and fastened to two rude handles. It can at best scratch the earth SBLLINS BREAD. BEDOUIN GIKLS. OFFERING WATER TO TRA\rELERS. but two or three inches in depth. "With such shallow cultivation crops arc necessarily scanty, and the excessive taxes and occasional droughts keep the mass of the people extremely poor. The primitive mode of threshing grain is still in vogue iu many places, viz. : a threshing floor, where the grain is cither trodden out by oxen or crushed out by havhig a heavy roller dragged over it by the same patisnt beasts. SYRIA. 481 The traveler may still see in use ox-gouds probably of tlic same pattern as the one used by Shamgar in slaying six hundred Philistines. Thoy are eight or nine feet long, furnished at one end witli a goad, and at the othei- with a spade-shaped weapon, used in eleaning the jolough-share. In cueumber or melon patches are often small huts or lodges for pro- tection from the sun ; some one is stationed in them in fruiting time to Iveop watch and guard the fruit from robbers and the incursions of A\'ild animals. But during the remainder of the year the lodges are empty and deserted, thus illustrating the meaning of the passage : ' ' And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers. " Many of the people are shep- herds. They lead their flocks out of their folds in the morning, and return at night. If by any chance two flocks are mixed, each shepherd has only to call aloud and his own sheep will follow him ; nor will they f oUow any other. Cases have occurred where a man claimed a sheep that belonged to another. The judge sent each one out and com- manded each to call the sheep, which immediately followed its rightful owner. Furthermore, many sheep are named, and the owner can call to his side any one he chooses. "The sheep hear his voice ; a stranger wiU they not follow ; and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadcth them out. " When traveling, a man usually places a vessel of M^ater by the bolster upon which he lays his head at night, just as ^\'as done in the days of Saul, whose spear and cruise of water David carried away from the side of his bolster. Even in the matter of making their reUgion conspicuous, the people have not greatly changed. The Mohammedans, lilve the Pharisees of old, love to pray on the house-tops, "and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. " 31L-D MAEOOTTE PATEIABCH. 482 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. Their houses are of the same pattern that has been in use for thi'ec thousand years, chiefly of one story, and almost invariably flat-roofed. Letting a sick man down through a hole in the roof is thus seen to be qmto practicable. Their books, before the advent of the missionaries, were mere rolls of parchment, written in columns, and unrolling from right to left ; as fast as you unroll at one side you roll up at the other tUl j'ou reach the end, when you turn over and read the other side in the same manner. Thus a volume is a "roll of a book" and "written within and without." Dr. Hartley tells us that ' ' the Armenian brides are A'ciled during the marriage cere- mony, and hence deceptions have occurred in regard to the person chosen for a wife. I am iirformcd that on one occasion a young Armenian at Smyrna solicited in marriage a younger daughter whom he admired. The parents of the girl consented to the request, and every arrangement was made. ^Yhen the time for solemnizin";- the marriage arrived, the elder daughter, who was not so beautiful, was led by the parents to the altar, and the young man vv'as unconsciously married to her. And it came to pass that in the morning, behold it was the elder STEIAO WBITING. OEIEiSrTAI, PLOW. daughter ! The deceit was not discovered till it could not be rectified, and the manner in Avhich the parents justified themselves was precisely that of Laban, ' It njust not be so done in our countiy, to give the younger before the first-born.' It is really the rule among the Ai-menians that neither a younger brother nor sister be married till their elder brother or sister have preceded them. It was in conversation with an Armcniau at Smyrna that this was related to me. I naturally exclaimed : ' Why, that is just the deception that was practiced upon Jacob. ' ' What decep- tion?' ho replied, for he was ignorant of th@. Old Testament. Upon SYRIA. 483 giving him a relation of Jacob's marriage, he assented to it at once as a circumstance no way impossible." Oriental nations are noted for the prof useness and shallowness of their greetings. The people will, to this day, fall on each other and kiss each other, though anything but friendly at heart, thus reminding one of Joab's treachery toward Amasa. Their salutations are meaningless, because their hearts are cold ; thus greetings come to be mere formalities, and are as devoid of meaning and feeling as occidental commonplaces con- cerning the weather. In Syria if you meet a friend in the morning, he says, "May your morning be happiness." You answer, "And yours be peace." He asks, "How is your condition!" — "If it please God, you are happy." — " Thank God, lam happy." — "And how is your pleas- ure?" — "That God give you peace." On leaving, he says, "By your permission, I depart." — " Go in peace." — " And God give you peace. "In travehng, you salute a man with, " May God be with you." He replies, "And God keep you." You stop at a person's door, and he , says, " You are welcome ; do me the favor to walk in. " You answer, ' ' May God increase your bounty." He replies, "And God give you long life. " From such cus- toms one may better understand the treachery of Judas, or the question of Joram, "Is it peace, Jehu?" For another form of salutation is to ask, "Is it peace?" and your friend replies, "It is peace." We may see, also, why the Savior placed special emphasis upon his farewell to his disci- ples. He wished them to understand that his greeting was not after the cold, formal manner of the world, which says, "Go in peace," or "Peace be with you," and only speaks from the lips, and not from the heart. "Peace I leave with you ; my peace I give unto you ; iwtas the world giveth, give I unto you.'''' One more noticeable thing is that Christ wanted his apostles to be polite ; for he bade them to salute a house whenever they should enter it. Politeness is a Christian duty that is much trampled upon by some ministers and so-called evangelists. FIKST MISSION WORK. Mission work in Syria was first begun by the American Board, which, in 1818, took steps to commence Avork in Western Asia. The first mis- sionaries appointed were Eevs. Phny Fisk and Levi Parsons, who sailed for Palestine in the fall of 1819. After a short stay at Smyrna to stud}' modem Greek, they made an extensive tour through the territory of the " seven churches of Asia," Mr. Parsons bqgan work in Jerusalem in 1821, but his health failed, and he died early in 1823, at Alexandria, in Egypt. Mr. Fisk proceeded to Malta to await further instructions, as the country was in a very unsettled condition. He was there joined by 4=84: LIGHT IN DARKNESS. Eevs. Jonas King and Joseph Woltf. They set out in 1823 for Jerusa- lem, via Egypt. On the ITth of November, 1823, Eevs. "William Good- ell and Isaac Bird arrived in Beirut. The other missionaries had temporarily left Jerusalem in order to escape the heat. Fislv and King Of li %5. f '* >.>f y It. /jolt •"he^> I revisited Jerusalem, and in 182iwent to Damascus and Aleppo to make arrangements for prosecuting their Arabic studies. Thence they went to Beirut, returning to Jerusalem in 1825 ; but the disorderly state of STKIA. 485 a Shirs there made it unsafe for them to remain, and they were compelled to retire to Beirut, where Mr. Fisk soon afterward died. From the beginning Beirut has been regarded as the central station Here the missionaries began work. They applied themselves with al' diligence to the acquisition of the languages spoken by the different races, and in 1S24 their wives began the work of teaching. At first the school had but six pupils ; but by the end of the first year the number had increased to fifty. Soon it was necessary to employ assistants ; and within three years from the beginning of the work there were thirtecr schools with six hundred pupils, cnor one hundred of whom were girls. This last feature was especially encouraging, in view of the degradec* condition of woman in the country. ASAAD EL STIIDIAK. But the progress of Protestant truth aroused tlie jealousy of the Maronite priesthood. Tne patriarch issued a proclamation against the work. The missionaries answert'd it. Then Asaad El Shidiak, atalentec' Mai'onite, who liad been in the employ of several prominent dignitaries undertook to combat the doctrines of the missionaries. His first article, for some unknown reason, was not published. Early in 1S25 he appUed to the missionaries for a position of teacher of Arabic ; but as none wat then needed, his offer was declined. But Mr. Kingarri\'e(l from Jerusa lem about this time, and employed Asaad to teach him Syriac. Fisk then employed him as an aid in the acquisition of Arabic. Mr. King soon after took his departure from Syria, and on leaving published a farewell letter, which Asaad aided in putting in good style, and preparing for extensive circulation. Asaad conceived the idea of replying to it, and began a course of research with a view to that end. While so engaged the truth dawned upon him, and he became an advocate of the religion he had attacked. This drew upon him persecution, threats of ex-commu- nication, and the like. He was then engaged by Mr. Bird for a year. After this he was, says Dr. Young, ' 'induced to pay a visit to the Patriarch at Alma. There he remained, or rather was detained, for several weeks, during which time he was engaged in daily discussions on the Christian religion. Watching his opportunity, he effected his escape from the con- vent, at midnight, and made his way over the dangerous mountain paths to Beirut, where he was welcomed by the missionary brethren. The excitement in the convent, when his escape became known, may be imag- ined. An attempt to recapture the fugitive by means of a Turkish sherifl failed. Then came his elder brothers, followed by his mother and a younger brother. The ordeal was a trying one, but Asaad stood firn? 486 LTGHT IN DARKNESS. The next device proved more successful. It took the form of a friendly letter from the Patriarch, 'begging him to return home, and relieve the anxieties of his mother and family, and giving him full assurance that he need not fear being interfered with in his freedom. He was thus ap- proached on his weak side.' He consented, though warned of the risk he thus ran, and next day he was escorted by four of his relations to Hadot. A fortnight had not elapsed before twenty or more of his rela- tions assembled to convey him by force to the Patriarch, his second eldest brother being the ringleader. Asaad's expostulations and the mother's tears wore alike in vain. He recognized in the proceeding the fuMllment of the words, ' The brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and a man's foes shall be they of his own household.' ' He was first taken to the convent of Alma, and then to Canobeen. The place where he was destined to wear out the remainder of his miserable life, wa.s in one of the wildest and least accessible recesses of Lebanon. On his arrival there, he was subjected by the orders of the Patriarch to the most cruel treatment, ^"^^ith a heavy chain around his neck, the other end of which was attached to the wall, he had to lie on the bare floor. Daily he was severely beaten. He was put upon short allowance, and denied all access to books and writing materials. A cousin, having found access to him, made known his miserable condition, and his relatives in consequence relented. By their assistance he again managed to escape from the con- vent, but was captured )>y soldiers, who had been sent in search of him, and by them was brought back. ' On his arrival,' saj-s a priest, who was with him, ' ho was loaded with chains, cast into a dark filthy room, and bastinadoed every day, for eight days, sometimes fainting under the opera- tion, until he was near death. He was then left in his misery, his bed a thin flag mat, his covering his common clothes. The door of his prison was filled up with stones and mortar, and his food was six thin cakes of bread a day, and a cup of water. ' When he died, or how, is not defin- itely known. When Ibrahim Pasha, in 1832, captured Acre, Mr. Tod, an English merchant, procured from him ten soldiers, and searched the convent, but Asaad could not be found. The Patriarch. asserted ho had died two years bef o)-e, and, though this was doubted, nothing could be learned. All that is certain is that Asaad died a terrible death, a martyr to Papist or Maronite intolerance, bigotry, and cruelty. " Such was the spirit which the missionaries had to meet. EXCOMMUNICATION. The mission was reinforced in 1827 by Eev. Eli Smith. The same year, witnessed the organization of the Syrian Evangelical Church. At SYRIA. 487 its first communion there were present representatives of the Armenian, Greek, Maronite, Abyssinian, Latin, Lutheran, Episcopalian, and Con- gregational churches. About this time the Greeks threatened an atttack on Beirut, and the city was deserted by the majority of its people. A force under Abdallah Pasha hastened to the relief of the city, but the Greek na^y had gone. The opportunity being good, the soldiers began an indiscriminate pillag- ing. Dr. Goodcll ■would have been robbed of everything, a n d p o r- haps killed, had not some of his Turldsh friends hastened up and posted themselves at the door of JNIrs. Good- ell's room, and refused to allow the rabble to enter it. Dr. Goodell piled as much of his property as possible in there, and thus saved something from t h e horde. Shortly after this, Mr. Bird took his fam- ily to the mountains, and was kindly received by Sheildi Latoof and his son, Naameh. Whereupon the enrag- ed Patriarch launched at Latoof and his fam- ily the following sen- tence of excommunication, because they had sheltered "that decci^cMl man, and deceiver of men, Bird, the Bible man :" ' ' They are accursed, cut off from all the Christian communion ; and let the curse envelop them as a robe, and spread through all their mem- bers like oil, and break them in pieces like a potter's vessel, and wither them like the fig tree cursed by the mouth of tlie Lord himself ; and let the evil angel reign over them, to torment them by day and by night, asleep and awake, and in whatever circumstances they may be found. EOBBINQ THE HOUSE OF DR. GOODELL AT BEYUOUT. 4S8 LKillT IX DaRKXHSS. "We permit no one to visit theiii, or (uiiploy llieni, or do them a favor, or give them a sahitation, or converse with them in any form ; but let them be avoided as putrid members and as hellish dragons. Beware, yea, beware of the wrath of God ! " A similar document was sent to Eh-heden, the home of Latoof, and read before the people. In consequence, when Latoof's daughter and wife went to the oven, which Latoof owned conjointly with Sheik Bootrus, to bake bread, they were attacked by. Bootrus' retainers, who sought to drive them away and beat them severely. Latoof, hearing their screams, ran out and was knocked down b3' a club. The plucky women prevented their assailants from doing him further violence. SYKIA. • 489 Tlio li'oublo did not end here. Tlio piTscciitioii was so hitter tlmt Latoof Hiially yielded to the Patriairir.s demands. IVotsotlie (spirited Naameli. When summoned before the Patriarch, and questioned as to his course, he turned questioner, and so cut the Patriarch ^Y\th his keen retorts and searching questions that the Patriarch, enraged, threatened to serve him as he had done Asaad El Shidiak ; whereat tlic fearless Naameh coolly defied him. The Patriarch would not revoke his curse of the famil}^ unless Naameh sultoitte;!. As the latter would not, the whole family refused to acknowledge the Patriarch. The next year the country Avas in such an unsettled condition, and so great was the difficulty in olitaining proper supplies, that the mission- aries, with four of the conveits, rcmo^'cd, temporaril}', to Malta, A\here they employed themselves for a year or more in the translation and printing of portions of the scriptures and of various tracts. Tims they prepared the way for still greater Avork when tiiey should return. They set out for their fields in ls;;0, Mr. Bird and Mr. Whiting, a new comer, going to Syria, and Mr. Goodell to Constantinople, Avhilo Mr. Smith set out on a tour among the Armenians in Turkey. Two years later the mission press Avas removed from Malta to Smyrna. In the same j-ear the mission sustained a serious loss in the death of Gregory Wo rta))et, one of their earliest converts. He had originally been an Armenian monk. At the time of his death he Avas living at Sidon, Avhere lie Avas greatly respected by the people. A zealous Maronite once drew hlni into a controversy upon the dificrences between Protestantism and Poperj'. Wortabet thereupon published a pamphlet upon the subject ; and so able Avas his statement of the ease that his opponents could not answer. He abandoned his monastic vows when he became a Christian. THS WORK SPREADING. Dr. Dodge and Mr. Smith in 183i visited the country east of the Jordan, entering districts until then unseen by Protestant missionaries. Anti-Libanus Avas also visited by Mr. Smith. His journals containing the record of his travels were lost at sea in 1836. Nevertheless ho rendered much valuable assistance, in 1838, to Dr. Edward Robinson, who was then preparing his ' ' Biblifal Researches in Palestine and the Adjacent Regions." Work was begun at the Druse village of Abeih in 1835. Mrs. Dodge succeeded in gathering there a small school of girls. The young Sheikhs attended Sabbath services and took much interest therein. About this time Mohammed All extended his authority over the Druses. Their dislike of the Moharomedan yoke made them the more susceptible to 490 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. Christian influences. They had, moreover, become thorouf]jhly dissatis- fied with their own religion, and wei-e desirous of renouncing it. The entire tribe of Jebal Druses would readily have professed Protestant Christianity if the missionaries would have received them. But the mis- sionaries were determined there should be nothing superficial in their work. No one was received into the church until he had shown through an extended period his sincere desire for salvation, and a knowledge of the duties and obligations of Christianity. A single case will serve to illustrate this, says Dr. Young. "Among the more earnest of the Druses was one named Kasim, who was cast into prison by the governor of Beinit and severely beaten for his adherence to the Christian cause, and his refusal to adopt the Moslem faith. He remained steadfast, and de- clared his readiness to die, if need be, at the stake rather than abjure his Christian profession. He was often heard by his fellow prisoners in the watches of the night calling upon Jesus Christ to help him. At length, after seventeen days imprisonment, on the representations of the mis- sionary to Suleiman Pasha, who was next in power to Ibrahim, and moved by the daily entreaties of the prisoner's wife, Kasim was set at liberty. '"' * * Notwithstanding the ordeal through which he had passed, two years elaped before the rite of baptism was administered. His wife and their six children were baptized at the same time ; and the admission of liis brother and his brother's wife followed not long after." The work prospered exceedingly, and the missionaries soon found it necessary to increase their corps of assistants. Services were held every Sabbath, and the natives on Sabbath evening conducted a prayer meet- ing. The schools also were in a flourishing condition, and books and tracts were being distiibuted everywhere. But in the midst of this prosperity the work was suddenly brought to a temporary halt by the efforts of the Eiiropean powers to wrest Syria from Mohammed Ali and restore it to the Porte. The missionaries -hoisted the American flag over their property and then fled from the city, which was immediately bom- barded and nearly all destroyed ; but the mission property remained un- hurt. As soon as order was restored the schools were reopened and a number of new ones established. But scarcely had the work been re- sumed when it was again checked by a civil M^ar between the Druses and the Maronites. The war Avas occasioned by the attempts of the latter to crush out the former. The Turks refused to interfere till the Maronites had been totally defeated and many of their villages destroyed. Two years later, in 1842, the Turks marched an army into the country and compelled tjie whole Druse nation to become, at least outwardly, Moslem. SYRIA. 491 Two years afterwards a large number of the people of Hasbeiya, adherents of the Greek church, openly seceded from that body, and announced their adherence to Protestantism. When it was rumored that an effort would be made to force them to recant, " seventy-six adult males entered into a solemn covenant to stand by each other to the last. " Says Mr. Smith : " The affecting solemnity of the scene I leave you to imagine. I have been many years a missionary, and have witnessed a great variety of heart-thrilling events ; but this is one of the last that I shall ever forget. * * * * At sf)me future day, A\hpn the gospel shall have triumphed here, it will be cherished and admired as the first declaration of independence against ecH'losiastical tj'vanny and traditionary superstition . " These new converts wore bitterly persecuted. But the work went steadily on, though the half-governed country was almost continually torn by wars and petty conflicts, now occasioned by one sect and now by another. The persecution of the new converts was at times extremely cruel, yet nearly all stood firm. They were deeply in earnest and anxious for growth in grace. ATROCIOUS TREACHERY. The various petty wars of the people usually attracted but Uttle atten- tion from the outside world. But in 1860 a war broke out between the Druses and Maronites which, by its cruelties and atrocities, sent a thrill of horror throughout all Christendom. Each side suffered terribly, but the losses were heaviest upon the side of the Maronites. Says Dr. Young : "In the neighborhood of Sidon hundreds of unarmed men and defenceless women and children were butchered. At Deir el-Kamr more than a hundred • houses, along with a school-house belonging to the mis- sion, were burned to the ground. Of the flourishing town of" Zahlch nothing remained but a vast collection of roofless houses, with blackened, shattered walls. Shops, magazines, dwellings and churches all shared in the common ruin ! At Hasbeiya the Turkish officer in command of the castle threw open the gates and offered to the entire Christian popu- lation protection against the Druses if they would dehver up their arms. The unsuspecting Christians fell victims to this treacherous invitation. After they had been confined nine days in the castle, and were almost starving, the traitorous Turk opened the gates and admitted the Druse army, who, with imprecations and savage yells, rushed upon the vmarmed crowd and literally hewed in pieces, with axes and swords, more than a thousand helpless and defenceless victims. One of the Protestant breth- ren, Shahin Abu-Bokarat, after exhorting his fellow-sufferers to commit themselves to Christ, sank under the Druse axe while on his knees in 4f)2 LIGHT IN DAKKNES8. prayer. Twenty-six villages in tlio vicinity were liurned, and the whole province was laid desolate. At Daniaseiis ' the slaughter continued sev- eral days, and the slain were estimated at five thousand. The whole Christian quarter of the city was plundered of its great wealth, and the houses and churches were laid in ruins. ' Rasheiya and Deir Mimas were also burned. Many other Maronite and Greek villages shared a similar fate. The progi'ess of the work of destruction was only arrested by the arrival of ships of war and a detachment of the French army at Beirut. " The sufferings of the people aroused the sympathies of Christians in Britain and America, and contriljutions and supplies were promptly for- warded, and were distributed l>y the missionaries, who were kept busy for a considerable time relieving the Avants of the miserable people. Thus the war which seemed at first the death-blow to .the mission work eventually proved instrumental in promoting it. The people learned the benevolence and the Christian spirit of the missionaries, and were inspired with a very deep respect for Protestantism, and l)ecame anxious to learn more of this religion of goodness and mercy. Thus the cause of Christ was advanced, and good brought out of a very great evil. SYRIAN PROTESTANT COLLEGE. Early in 1861 an enterprise was begun which has done and is still doing more for the advancement of Christian learning and the general enlightenment of the people than perhaps any other one agency. This is the Syrian Protestant College at Beirut. It was at first separate from and independent of the Board. The work on the building was not begun for about ten years after the enterprise was planned. During that time $130,000 for the erection of the college and its endowment was raised. This money was secured chiefly by the exertions of Rev. Daniel Bliss, D. D., who has ever since been president of the institution. The corner- stone was laid December Tth, 1871. The college is doing a grand work in preparing native pastors, teachers and physicians, for future useful- ness. It has a faculty of thirteen teachers with eight assistants. Some- thing of what has been accomplished may be learned from the fact that already it has no less than eighty native medical graduates practicing medicine in diflerent portions of Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine and Egypt. Its religious influence is very great. The Turkish government is hostile to it, and to Protestant education in general ; for it reads in the growth of education and civilization the downfall of Mohammedanism. A hos- pital known as St. John's Hospital is managed in connection with the col- lege, and seiwes as a f r lining school for those practicing medicine. SYRIA. 493 During the past year 595 indoor, and 6,009 outdoor patients wvn; treated. The number of pupils in attendance was 165. In 1864 the translation of the entire Bible into Aral^ic was completod by Dr. Van Dyck. The work had been commenced and can'ied to an advanced stage by Dr. Eli Smith, who was an accomphshed linguist, but had been stopped by his death in 1857. March, 1865, saw the entu'o Arabic Bible in print. It was a time of great rejoicing for the missionaries. The Orient had after a lapse of centuries, received back the sacred book it had given to the world. A vast number of other works have since l)(>cn translated, chiefly of a religious and educational character. This is doing much to 494 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. scatter the gross darkness that envelopes the land. At Abeih is also a school or seminary for the training of young native ministers. Upon the union of the two great branches of the Presbyterian Church in America in 1870, the work4n Syria was, after prayerful consideration, turned over to the Presbyterians, and the American Board withdrew from the field. The work has still gone on with great success. The last ten years have boon years of marked prosperity. Various societies and organizations have been formed among the natives for the promotion of Christianity. Conventions have been held, from which much good resulted. The work is in a flourishing condition, and the field is one of which the Presbyterians may well be proud. The native teachers and preachers have always been of great value in the work. One old man who was totally blind and extremely poor, was yet anxious to do something for Christ. Aided by his son, he kept a school of from twenty to thirty children in his own house, and preached to them daily. But he was especially anxious to aid in the circulation of the Scriptures ; so, blind though he was, he jjrocured a little boy to lead him, loaded his donkey with Biljlcs and tracts, and went from village to village sowing the seed of the Word. He was wont to say that he was "old and must work fast, in order to redeem the time." OTHER SOCIETIES. Other societies have done much good ^ork in Syria. Their efibrts have been chiefly educational, and for the most part among the non-Mohamme- dan races. Mohammedan bigotry and intolerance have always been too pronounced to permit of extensive evangelical work. The missionaries can visit Marointe or Druse villages in safety, and find the people ^v\ lling to hear them ; but among the Mohammedans such methods are of little use. They are reached most readily by medical missionaries ; yet tlie physician often finds it best to lot the sick come to him, instead of himself visiting them. The Church Missionary Society entered the field in 1851, establishing- its headquai-ters at Jerusalem. From that point it reaches the surround- ing villages. Since the occupation of this post it has extended its opera- tions to other prominent towns and villages. Its central points are Nazareth, occupied in 1852 ; Jaflia, the ancient Joppa, and Nablous, on the siteof the ancient Shechem, in 1ST6 ; Salt, near or upon the site of Ramoth- Gilead, in 1873, and Gaza, one of the chief Mohammedan strongholds in Palestine, in 1878. The policy of the Society has e\ er been that mentioned above, as the arousing of much opposition among the ignorant and fanatical Moham- medan population would be fatal to the interests of the mission. "All 496 LIGHT IN DAEliNESS. things aro right, but all things are not expedient. " Hence the sctiool and the press have hitherto liccn preferred to more open and aggressive agencies. It is to bo hoped that Turldsh supremacy in the Holy Land is almost over, and that the way Avill soon bo perfectly free from all manner of oljstruction, and the kingdom of Christ be supreme in the land from whence it sprung, and the country shall no longer bear the name of "the hardest of mission fields." Who knows but that, in the providence of God, this very land may be the scene of the complete overthrow of Mohammedanism — that it will first give way in Palestine'? It seems not unlikely. Something is being accomplished in India among Mohamme- dans ; but nowhere is there a better apparent opportunity of reaching them than in Palestine. The Druses, who have many points in common with them, are ready always to listen to the Gospel ; and it may be that thi'ough the Druses the Mohammedans are yet to be reached. But at present lively opposition is being aroused to the missions, in Syria. Many mission schools are being closed, and Mohammedan schools opened. But it is apparently the last struggle of Satan for his hold upon this beautiful, sacred land. It is his attempt at a compromise by compe- ting with Christianity in educj ing the people. Previous to the opening of mission schools, by Bishop Gobat, nothing whatever was done for the education of the people. It is a point gained when Mohammedans are willing to patronize schools of any sort. Much good is being accomplished by means of Bible women. The first one who was employed in Jerusalem was treated very coldly and rudely, even by people who were regular attendants upon divine services. The Greek, Latin, and Moslem women, whether high or low born, scorned the idea of a woman being able to teach them anything. But now aU is changed. "The Bible woman is welcomed wherever she goes. She is the much-valued friend of her poor, degraded, ignorant sisters, hardly one of whom is able to read, and they delight to hear her read to them from the Bible, of God's love and goodness, and of Jesus' wondrous work for their redemption." In Haifa, Mr. Hall was at first cursed and pelted with stones by the Greek and Latin women. They would not let their children attend school, nor their husbands come to services. The poor Bible-woman was equally badly treated, and almost ga^'e up in despair. Yet constant efibrt and earnest pra^^er wrought such a change in eighteen months, that the females were more numerous than the males in the services, and num- bers who were afraid to attend the meetings, warmly welcomed the Bible woman. Few cojiics of the Scriptures aro sold, as the cost is compara- tively high, and ^ery few persons are able to read. SYRIA. 497 In the Jaffa district considerable interest lias of late been manifested among the Alohannnedan population. The spirit of inquiry grows among the Moslems. Many visit the missionary to engage in con\-crsation or disputation upon the respective doctrines of Christianity and Mohamme- danism. The Greek Patriarch endeavors, as far as possible, to keep away all adherents of the Greek church. At Nablous the Moslems do not attend church, but frequently visit the mission-house and the book depot. In Salt and in Hauran, they also manifest much interest; but as long as apostasy remains a capital offense, open professions of Christianity will be few. The last repoi'ts of the Church Missionary Society show a total of 1633 baptized Christians at the various stations, and 1665 pupils in school, 340 of whom are girls. There are 63 native Christian teachers. Thus the Word of God is slowly but surely making its way in spite of all opposition. The Lebanon Schools Society began operations in 1853. It is chiefly managed ))y the Scottish Free Church, though several denominations con- tribute to its support. In oixler not to interfere with the mission work of the American Presbyterian church it contines its operations to an exten sivc district north of the Damascus road. In 1S61 a training school for boys was established at Sook-el-Ghurb. It continued at this place for thirteen years, being removed in 1S74 to Shueii', an important Maronitc village, twenty miles north-east of Beirut. This point continues to the present the central station. Dr. Wm. Cfuslaw has been in charge of tlic training school since its removal. A girls' training scliool at the same point is in the care of Miss Mary Dobbie. The Bible and the shorter Catechism are tlie principal lesson books used. Besides these two schools at the central station, a considerable number of day schools arc supported throughout the district. Much good is being accomplished, and a small church membership has been collected. Honesty is being inculcated into the Syrian mind. The Maronite district of Kesrouan, north of Shueir, is as yet unopened. The people will allow no schools, and have driven out the colporteurs, who endeavored to gain a footing there, but in spite of this opposition a few Bibles and Testaments have found, their way into the hands of the people. The earnest representations of C. G. Frey, a Christianized Israelite, led in 1809 to the formation of the ' 'London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews." It is an undenominational society, and carries on operations wherever the Jews are to be found. At first its work was confined to London ; but it soon concluded the world was its field. Palestine was one of earliest foreign fields entered. Here the 32L-D I! IS LIGHT IN DARKNESS. ^v'ork met with much opposition, not from the Jews themselves, but from the enemies of the Jews. The Maronite Patriarch, the Greelc: Pa- triarch and the Moslem authorities all did their best to check the work. but the Jews themselves were interested from the fii'St, and the work has gone on in spite of all opposition. The cross is surely making its way among God's own peculiar people, and the day may not be far distant SYBIA. 499 when the long scattered and abused Israelites shall possess in peace the land of their fathers, and own that Christ is their king. We have not space for the details of this work, nor of the work of several other minor societies which labor in the Syrian field. Among them we may mention the "British Syrian Schools and Bible Mission," the work of the "Deaconesses Institution" at Kaiserswerth in German}^ the "Tabitha Mission School and Medical School" at Jaffa, under the care of Miss Walker-Arnott, and ' 'Miss Taylor's Mohammedan Girls' School" at Beirut. This last has an interesting history, and its results have been so important that we must give our readers the benefit of it. MISS Taylor's work. Miss Taylor had been laboring at Bhamdoun, on Mt. Lebanon, from 1865 to 1868. In the latter year she went to Beirut for her health. She tells us the story of the beginning of the work thus : ' 'Two weeks after found me a guest in the house of the Rev. James Robertson, Missionary to the Jews in Beirut. A few days after I was conversing on the toj) of their house with JNIr. Robertson and Mr. Fraser, wlio was at that time engaged in teaching English in the American P. S. College there. Mr. Robertson put the question, 'What I meant to do in the future,' statijig at the same time, that if I could find work in Beirut, which no one else was doing, he would bid me God-speed ; but that if I put my foot into anything of other people's work, he would certainly say, go homo. Looking down on the Moslem houses that surrounded us, and the poor, neglected children that met our eye (duty having called Mr. Robertson away), I spoke my thoughts to Mr. Eraser : 'Surely no one would find fault with me if I tried to teach these dirty, neglected children !' When Mr. Robertson rejoined us his answer to the above was, 'In that I bid you God-speed. There is no one specially working among them.' So in February, 1868, I began w'ork among these girls. " She went with two children to consult Dr. Van Dyck in regard to their eyes. On returning with them to their homes she re- marked to the women and girls who gathered ai-ound, "What a lot of fine girls! Why don't you go to school?" They replied that there was none for them ; but they would all come if she would open one. She asked, "How many?" and was told "fifteen or twenty, or more." Said she, "Bring me fifteen to-morrow and I will begin a school among you." "Very good," they replied, hardly believing their ears." But the next day a number came, and Miss Taylor opened school under some mul- berry trees in front of her dwelling. That is how the work was begun. In order to understand the difficulties to be encountered, the reader '>00 LIGHT IN DAin^NlOSR. must reinombor that this av:is iu a Mohamujotluu couiuiuuity, and that the Moslem religion has ever regarded woman as a more creature, and has kept ever her in ignorance. She had been degraded by ages of the gross- est darkness and the vilest oppression, till she herself believed she "was inferior to man. That a Mohammedan -woman should read was a thing almost unheard of. Such were the influences with which IMiss Taylor had to contend. All her pupils, young and old, had to begin with the al- phabet and clean faces. Their dirtiness was shocking. Their language at times was fearful ; for having no inlding of higher tilings, and little idea of I'ight and wrong, they used language and spoke of subjects that were shockingly indecent. But Miss Tajdor accomplished a gi-eat work. r=j ca* MISSION SCIKHIL IM SVUIA. Her little school soon multiplied. Soon afterwards she established a boarding school, and was compelled to employ assistants. Ten years after the beginning of her work sha was astonished to find the Moslem Effendis themselves establish a school for girls next door to hers. Imagine what a revolution in popular sentiment must be required to convince the bigoted Moslems of the advantages of sending girls to school. It may be readily seen that Miss Taylor's work had^made a favorable impression. She gladly welcomed this innovation, and iu order to encourage it closed her own day school and concentrated her efforts on the boarding school. Tlie Effendis had been greatly impressed at the advancement made by the girls when they had attended tlio exam- SYRIA. 501 illations in the fall of 1878. Miss Taylor tokl the Effeudis Low pleased she was at their new undertaking, and even volunteered to procure them aid from Scotland. This astonished thcna yet more. Christian gener- osity was something they could not understand. As the result of this beginning, schools for Moslem girls are becoming tolerably common in Palestine. The following instance which is related by Dr. H. H. Jessup Avould Ije quite ludicrous, were it not that it brings to view a dark picture of the low estimate of woman in many Oriental countries : " Xot long since I was conversing with several of the aristocratic IMohammodans of Bey- root, who were in attendance at the commenocnicnt of the BejToot Protestant Medical College. The subject of the education of girls was introduced, and one of them said, ' We are beginning to have our girls instructed in your Protestant schools, and Avould you believe it, I heard one of them read llic other day ' (probably liis own daughter), ' and she asked a que-; ion about the c:);istruction of a noun in-eeeded by a prepo- sition ! I never heard the like of it. Tlio things do distinguish and understand Avhat they read, after all ! ' Tlu^ others replied, ' Mashallah ! Alashallah ! ' ' The^rill of Clod ])e done ! ' " Tlie following serves as an illustration of the gradual breaking down of Moslem prejudice : " Some ten j-cars ago an influential Moslem Sheikh in Beyroot brought his daughter, AVaiiidy (only one), to the seminary to lie instructed, on condition that no man should ever see her face. As ]\Ir. Araman was one of the teachers, and I Avas accustomed to make frequent visits to the school, she was obliged to wear a light veil, Avhich she drew adroitly over her face whenever the door was opened. This went on for months and years, until at length in recitation, she Avould draw the veil aside. Then she used to listen to public addresses in seliool without her veil, and finally, in June, ISl! r,v she read a composition on the stage at public examination, on ' The V.iluo of Education to the "Women and Girls of Syria,' her father, Sheikh Said el Ghur, being present, with a number of his Moslem friends." One other feature of Miss Taylor's work deserves notice, viz. : Bible classes for women. Syria is often stricken with famine, epidemics, or war. On such occasions the missionaries render the most needy all the assistance in their power. On one occasion, when some women had come to Miss Taylor for their daily supplies, she invited them to remain and see how their girls were taught. Some did so, and became interested, and were induced to return on Sunday. Thus a Bible class was begun. *As in the case of the girls, Miss Taylor had to begin 503 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. at the bottom. Soon she had a great number in attendance, and in time they made very creditable progress. Taken all in all, Miss Taylor has done a great and lasting Avork for her sex in Palestine; and when woman in the Orient reaches her proper position, the complete Christianization of the people will be easy. CHAPTEE XXXI. ARMENIA - EARLY WORK. E have already spoken of the Armenians. They are descendants of the ancient Armenians, and number between two and three millions, in Turkey. They speak a language rather different from that of the people around them ; but long intercourse with other people has destroyed much of their distinctive nation- ality. They are nominally Christians ; but ignorant of true religion. The Bible among them was in the ancient Armenian, and was consequently understood by few, except the priests. Moreover, copies of it were extremely rare and expensive. Under such a condition of things the mass of the people would natdrally be at the mercy of a priesthood who were not over-scrupulous, and extremely ignorant. They had forms and ceremonies, but were without the spirit of Christianity. Thus it may seen that the work to be accom- plished among them was, as among the Nestorians and in the Greek Church, one of reformation. Tlie British and Foreign Bible Society and a Russian Bible Society, in 18i;->, l)ecame interested in the cause of the benighted Armenians, and circulated among them a large number- of copies of the Scriptures in the ancient Armenian tongue. But no gi-eat good could be accomplished till the Bible was placed in the hands of the common people. This task was accomplished by the preparation of a version in modern Armenian, which was published in 1823. The effect of this work was wonderful. People who sat in darkness saw a great light. Everywhere a spirit of inquiry manifested itself. The people talked with each other about the truth which had been so long hidden from them. Many understood and accepted the true terms of salvation ere any missionary settled among them. We have spoken before of Mr. King's "Farewell Letter," which ARMENIA — EARLY WORK. r,(»:; Asaadel Shidiak vindertook to answer, and which resulted in his con-s^er- sion. This letter was circulated widely througliout Armenia, and aroused still further the spirit of inquiry. The people, the priests, and the bishops were all convinced that the church had bocome very corrupt and needed reform. A school for promoting the study of the Word and the cause of reform was established under the control of Pcshtimaljian, a remarkably able man, and one well acquainted with the literature of his nation and the theology and history of the Romish and Eastern churches from the earliest times. The opening of the work in Armenia ^ya,f^ much more auspicious than in Syria. One of the regulations of this school was that no priest should receive ordination until he had finished a ARMENIAN" GHILS. certain prescribed course of study ; and this rule was faithfully adhered to. This school after^vards furnished many converts. The representations of Messrs. Smith and Dwight, spoken of elsewhere, determined the Aaiierican Board to , begin work among the Armenians. Rev. Wilham GoodcU, then at Malta, was sent to Constantinople in 1831 ; but a disastrous fire compelled his removal to a small town fifteen miles up the Bosphoi'us, where he spent nearly a year in laboring with some success among the Greeks. Early in the following year he was joined in Constantinople by Dr. Dwight and by the Rev. William G. Schauffler, who had come out as missionary to the Jews. Goodell and Dwight concluded to make the capital their head-quarters, as there was, in the city, a very large body of frank and intelligent Armenians, many Mi LIGHT IN DARKNESS. of whom were tired of the rituiil and ceremonies of their church, and had found that they had no scriptural support. The missionaries, however, said nothing against the Armenian ritual, as they believed that question would in time settle itself. EAKLT INTEREST. One of Peshtimaljian's students, Hohannes Sahakian, and Senakerim, who was a teacher, became much interested in the New Testament, and determined to consecrate themselves to the cause of Christ, whatever He should require them to do. Having become acquainted with the mission- aries, they, and also Sarkis Vartabed, a fine scholar, and one of Peshti- maljian's teachers, went and joined themselves unto the missionaries — Sahakian as a translator, and Senakerim as a school-teacher. There was no separation from the Armenian church, nor did the missionaries deem it prudent to establish any church organization of their own. Such a course would have aroused a storm of opposition, and possibly have summarily ended the work. They deemed it best, therefore, to labor for the improvement of the Armenian church, and stress personal piet}' until such a time as sepai-ation should become unavoidable. They deemed that such a course would give them so large a following that when sepai-ation was forced upon them they would still be able to remain and prosecute the work. The sequel proved the wisdom of this idea. It was no easy work for the missionaries to gain a follo\\nng in Asia Minor. A high school was opened at Pera, a suburb of Constantinople, in 1831, and placed in the care of Sahakian. The same year three new missionaries came out with their wives, and were appomted to different localities. One was sent to Smyrna, and met with little opposition ; but the other two were much persecuted. In the case of one who was sent to Trebizond the American minister had to procure an injunction from the Grand Vizier of the Porte ere the poor man could settle in peace. Many Armenians in this locality were adherents of the Komish church, though they had a Patriarch of their own. This Patriarch denounced the missionaries and their work, and warned his people not to receive the Bible. Thus it will be readily seen that had the missionaries came preaching a new church instead of reforming the old one, their success would have been postponed indefinitely. So the providence of God is seen in the calling of the then undenominational American Board to labor in this particular field. Yet even at this time good results appeared. Turks and Armenians began establishing schools for their children, and Azim Bey declared they were incited to it by the example of the missionaries, as were the Syrian Mohammedans by the example of IVIiss Taylor. Schools for girls were ARMENIA— EARLY WORK. , 50.') among the innovations. One had bee u established by the missionarios at Smyrna. The national pride of the Amienians was aroused by one of the wealthier of their number, and they paid back to the missionaries what had been expended upon it, and took charge of it themselves. Some became anxious for religious instruction, and visited the mission- aries frequently. One priest introduced the Bible into his school, read and explained it daily, and selected twenty of the brightest youths in his charge for the critical study of the New Testament. Thus there was much variety in the treatment of tlie missionaries and their efforts. OPPOSITION. In 1837 the vicar of the Armenian Patriarch, aided by some rich bank- ers, endeavored to break up Sahakian's school and have him banished. The first was accomplished, but the second failed ; for a prominent banker in Ha^ss Kioy, in remodeling the school under Der Kcvork. made Sahakian superintendent, and Dcr Kc\orl5; one of the principal teachers. Further still, the Armenian Synod adopted this as the national school. In mending the horn they had killed the ox. But they con- tinued their prejudicial campaign till the banker withdrew his pati'onage, when Sahakian and Dcr Kevork were dismissed, and were again employed by the mission. This act, while it weakened the direct work among the Armenians, strengthened the missionary force. Other persons were becoming interested, notably two young teachers at Broosa, who were in a short time soundly converted. One of them, Serope, had a large number of pupils in his charge, and gave them daily instruction in the Bible. As the result, several promising youths were placed in his charge to be educated for the priesthood. In 1832 Dr. Goodell left a translation of "The Dairyman's Daughter," at Nicomedia. By its perusal two priests were aroused to dilicent Biblical study. They felt their own shortcomings, and labored so earn- estly and persistently, that'in 1838 there were sixteen converts in the viUage. They afterwards went to the capital and were placed in charge of a village chm*eh on the shores of the Bosphorus. Now began a systematic persecution. Some high officials determined to destroy Protestantism, root and branch, in Turkey. To touch the sub- jects of a powerful foreign nation they did not dare ; but active measures were taken toward Armenian proselytes. Stepan, a tolerant Patriarch, was supplanted by Hagopos, a stern bigot from the interior. Sahakian and Boghos were imprisoned and then banished by an imperial firman to Cesarea. This grieved the mild Stepan, who was deposed soon after. Boghos was extremely ill, but the merciless guards hurried forward in 506 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. spite of all protestations. The Cesarean Armenians, on learning that the teachers -^'ere banished because of their "receiving the Bible as the only fufallible guide in religious matters, said the Patriarch might as well banish them all, for they were all of that opinion." Soon after this Der Kevork was similarly treated. The Greek Patriarch announced he would excommunicate all who would "buy, sell or read the books of 'Lutherc- Calvinists.' " The imperial government ordered the several Patriarchs to guard their flocks from "infidelity and foreign influence," and if it had dared would have expelled the missionaries. A company of fanatics in Mt. Lebanon, spurred on by papal priests, gathered and burnt all the copie? of God's Word that they could lay their hands on. One went to a Greek school and seized all the psalters and burnt them also. A Maronite monk on Mt. Lebanon advised a man to shoot his brother for becoming a Protestant, and Avhen the man objected, told him that the Pope and the Council of Trent had sanctioned the massacre of St. Bartholomew ! PERSECUTION STOPPED. But an unforeseen event turned the tide. War broke out with Egypt, and in the humihating peace that Turkey was forced to, one of the condi- tions was that all Christians should be released from prison or recalled from exile. Even the head and strength of the Protestant adherents, Sahakian, was recalled, despite all eflbrts of the Patriarch to have him detained. Changes in the revenue system crushed the Armenian bankers. The Gi'eek Patriarch was deposed ; Hagopos was compelled to resign, and the tolerant Stepan was nominated by the fallen bankei's and elected by acclamation, and recognized by the Turkish Government. Soon after- wards the Sultan cUed and was succeeded by his son, Abd-ul-Medjid, a youth of seventeen, who at the outset pledged himself to grant complete religious freedom to his subjects. Obstructions being thus removed, the spirit of inquiry manifested itself more strongly than ever. The people would sit at the feet of the missionaries for hours at a time in order to learn of the truths of the gospel. Sometimes the missionaries were kept as much as ten hours a day in talking directly to the people. Attempts were still made at gen- eral persecution, but they only served to increase the spirit of in- quiry. Individual persecution was continued, but proved of no avail. The gospel was spreading everywhere. One of the most remarkable cases was that of an Armenian, named Hosvep. He belonged to one of the highest families in Constantinople, but was extremely vicious, and was sunken in drunkenness and debauch- ery. "But his very excess of iniquity," says Mr. Dwight, "seemed all at ARMENIA EARLY WORK. 507 once to strike him with terror, and he resolved to lead a religions life. At that time he had never yet heard the pure gospel preached, and being entirely ignorant of God's righteousness, he went about to establish his own righteousness. In order to atone for his sins and pui'ify his heart, he retired to a distant monastery, with the confident expectation that such a seclusion from the world would, as a matter of com-se, bring peace of mind and sanctity of character. Not finding his hopes realized in this respect, he Avithdrew entirely from the society of men, and li-\'cd a time as a hermit, in the midst of an uninhabited wilderness. He soon found, however, that even by this mode of bodily infliction, his soul was not " ARMENIAN EXCOMMUNICANTS. purified, and there was nothing to meet his great sense of want." Then he turned CathoUc, to see if that would aid him, and went to Constanti- nople. There he heard the Gospel preached by the missionaries, accepted the message, and found peace. Then he began laboring for the conver- sion of his brother, fi bigoted Catholic Armenian, who bitterly opposed Protestantism, and who one day answered Hosvep's entreaties by spitting in his face. To this Hosvep said, " It is of no consequence; you will ona day learn to do better. " And ere long his faith was rewarded by his brother's conversion. The brothers were now objects of persecution. Their former acquaint- "lOS LIGHT IN DARKNESS. ances reviled and tormented tliciu. Some of the rougher ones came sud- douly upon Hosvcp's brother and threatened him ; the fright brought on a hemorrhage, which ended in death. Yet the very one who was most prominent in tliis piece of cruelty, afterwards came under conviction and was soundly converted. He mourned the act' we have just mentioned, and denounced himself as a murderer. The press was at work. During the year 1842 forty different works and 44,000 volumes and tracts were issued from the Smyrna press. The demand for Bibles and Protestant literature was svuh, that eight or ten booksellers in Constantinople kept them constantly in stock. Thus they were distriliutcd by merchants and traders throughout the empire. KEXEWED PEESEC'UTION — INCIDENTS. But apostasy from Mohammedanism was still punishable with death. A young man Avas ])eheadod in the summer of 1S43, for professing his l)olicf in Christianity. All the efforts of Sir Stratford Canning to pro- cure a pardon were of no avail. Sir Stratford exerted himself strenu- ously in the cause of religious liberty, and received a promise that the disgrace should not be repeated ; but at that very time a death warrant was being prepared for a Greek in Asia Minor, l)ecauso he would not embrace Mohammedanism. Such shameful trifling was imbcarablc; and Sir Stratford, backed by several of the European po^vers, peremptorily demanded and obtained from the Sultan a A\'rittcn pledge, that "no per- son should be persecuted for his religious opinion in Turkey." Yet for a time the pledge was a dead letter. A period of persecution set in, lasting till 1846. Mattcos, a former pupil of Poshtimaljian, had ))eeomo Patriarch of Constantinople, and used his utmost power to root out Protestantism. Both in the city and provinces its adhc^rents were <'xcommunicated, and all manner f)f means ^vorc used to starve or abuse them into sulmiission. Some were imprisoned; same were banished; sonic were bastinadoed ; some turned as homeless wanderers into the streets ; everywhere tiiey met with abuse and insult. ' ' During the perse- cutions in Constantinople and vicinity, twelve of the Evangelical Christ- ians were seized by the Turkish police ofEcers, and thrown into prison. This was done on pivfrnse of crime, and really to vex those of 'that way.' They remained in prison one night, and were then liberated. The enemy meant it for evil ; but God overruled it for good. The twelve brethren were confined in one room, and they spent most of the time in singing and prayer, 'and the prisoners heard them.' Four times in the course of the night did the Turldsh officer in command send for one of them to come up to his room, to answer questions in regard to this so-called 'new ARMENIA EARLY WORK. 50 D way;' and he heard more aljout the Gospel that nigh.t, than ho had hi all his life before, though it was known that, like the jailer at Philippi, he had truly repented of his sins. Their fellow prisoners "were of difl'ercnt nations, and among thc^m weressomc noisy and blasi)heming Greeks, who ridiculed these evangelical men, and told the Turkish prisoners that they were infidels. The Turks replied to the Greeks, ' These men are good men, and you are the infidels ; for these men have prayed to God several times in the course of the night, but we have not seen you pray once.' The Greeks said: 'We pray in our hearts.' ' No, ' replied the Turks, ' we cannot believe that you pray in your hearts, so long as you utter so many blasphemies with your mouths. Look at these men whom you call infidels. They not only do not utter blasphemies, but all their words are good words. You are infidels, and tliey are good men.' " Another case where Satan o\'crshot the mark was tliat of a }'oung man who, on a Sunday, .took with him several ('\ il companions and went to a field where some of the converts Avcre wont to meet, in order to chastise thc^ni. As the^^ drew near, the leader, who wasthcirespeeialoljjcct of hatred, called the young mtm by name, and holding u[) a New Testament, asked, "Is there anything wrong in this book that you Avisli to prevent us from reading it f The young man, astonished, dropped his stieli, became a seii- ous inijuirer after the truth, and ere long was mereilessl}- persecuted by his former wicked companions. An Armenian priest near Ai-abkir was suspecti^l of turning Protestant, and was threatened by the Catholic Bishop. But ho continuetl to read his Testament and tracts, and preached Protestantism to his people. lie was seized and carried l)efore the Ijishop, who ordered him to i)reacli no more. Ho insisted that ho must, when the enraged Bishoi) struck him inthefac^e. The priest meekly turned him the other side and received another blow. He Avas loaded wdth chains and sent to prison. On lacing brought before the bishop a sec(Hid time, he drew forth a Testament and began to prove llis preaching was in accordance Avitli its teaching. The furious bishop exclauned, ''Will you dare thus to teach me," and beat him with a heavy stick. Then he called a council of the city priests, and after hearing all the evidence, they decided their comrade Avas crazy! After the priest had returned to the village the bishop sent another priest and a rich Armenian to bribe him to recant. The bishop told them to offer as much as might be necessary. They ofiered him 2, 000 piastres. Whereat the priest replied, ' 'If you will believe and embrace the Gospel with all your heart, I will beg 2,000 piastres for you.^^ The bishop, ter- I'ibly enraged at the loss of this (tvv^c//.') priest, said, "If any man will kill that priest I will pardon his sin. " r)10 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. CASE OF HAKUTUN. One more remarkable case is that of Harutun, an elderly priest of Nic- omedia. "He had been a steadfast believer for twelve years previous to 1846. In the spring of that year he prepared a confession of his faith, in which he affirmed the Holy Scriptures to be the only infallible rule of faith and practice. This document not being considered satisfactory by the bishop, by whose request it had been drawn up, he was brought to the church on the Sabbath, when the bishojD, after reading the same, 'immediately pronounced him excommunicated and accursed. ' His cler- ical robes having been torn from his shoulders, he was driven with great violence out of the church. On his still refusing to sign a paper of re- cantation, he was thrown into prison, from which, after thirteen days, he was conducted to the bishop's palace with the view of securing his signature to the Patriarch's creed. To this, however, he declined to at- tach his name, when not only his beard, but all the hair of his head was shaven off. To a priest this was regarded as a most humiliating pro- cedure. Harutun was then led back to prison by a circuitous route, in the course of which he was accompanied by a mob carrying a long pole, to the end of which was attached his clerical cap and ).)card. As tlity went along they shouted, 'Behold the cap of the accursed H:u-utun.' After Ijeing sii))jected to many indignities, he reached the prison, from which he wrote to a native brother, 'I entered the prison with a joyful heart, committing myself to God, and giving glory to Him that He had enabled me to pass through fire and sword and brought me to a place of repose. ' The governor of the prison, out of pity, having released the good old man, his first act on his return home, was to go down on his knees, along with his wife, and give thanks to God for his deliverance and for the grace received." His piety, gentleness and patience won him many friends, even among the bigoted Moslems. The enemy were much chagrined at losing him, and used every possi- ble means to draw him back. Lidividuals of the party opposed to the Protestants had frequent interviews with him "in which they used every argument ingenuity and flattery could devise. He was told that he might believe what he pleased, and act as he liked. All they wanted of him was merely to appear in church ; or if he could not do that, simply to say he was with them in heart. They also promised him if he would join them again that a rich and influential Armenian of Constanti- nople would give him a monthly stipend ; and if he pleased he might also go to this individual's house and live at his ease, having an abundance to eat and drink." This offer was refused. " An anathema was soon pro- nounced against him in which he was called, and afterwards styled. ARMENIA — EAKLY WORK. 511 'Tchick Harutun,' which was equivalent to saying, ' Harutnn is no longer ; he is a nonentity.' In allusion to this phraseology ho said to his persecutors, ' You pronounced mo a nonentity — a thing of utter naught. Of what use can a thing of naught bo to you ? Why give yourself so much trouble to secure one to your party who is no longer in existence ? I am dead — dead to you, dead to the Armenian nation ; dead to th(^ Armenian church. And pray of what u.se can a dead man be to you V Let Christians learn hence how to silence the tempter ; by being of no more account in his service than a dead man." We have paid special attention to the persecutions of this period, because they were more bitter and long continued, and because the results were more important than at any previous or subsequent time. We shall see what was effected by them. The excommunications closed the shops of many of the converts. Some of the younger ones, having no employment, went to the mission seminary and engaged in Biblical study and research ; and thus they became fitted to Avage uncompromising and aggressive war on the false doctrines of the land. This they did ; and thus the excommunications indirectly strength- ened the Protestant cause. ORGANIZATION OF THE EVANGELICAL ARMENIAN CHURCH. But the most important result of the excommunications was a step the missionaries were compelled to take, though they did it reluctantly. This was the establishing of the Evangelical Armenian church. They had avoided even the appearance of proselyting, and preferred not to establish sectarian differences. They had simply tried to ehnate the standard of Christian character among the Armenians. E\'cn when the Grand Vizier ordered that the "Protestants " be allowed to reopen their shops, the persons implied refused to recognize the name, and claimed they were still Armenians. But the action of the Patriarch forever settled what should be their future policy. On the 21st of June, IS-tC, an Armenian festival, the Patriarch declared all who adhered to evan- gelical principles were forever cut off from the Armenian church, and ordered that this anathema should bo road in every church in the Turkish empire on each anniversary of its issue. The die was cast. There could be no retrogression. So on the first of July, a meeting was held in Constantinople, a plan of organization was read, and confession of faith, covenant, and rules of discipline were adopted. At the reading of each article all responded, "We do beheve." The missionaries, as I'epresentatives of Protestant Evangelical churches, publicly recognized them as a true church of Christ. Thus, 512 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. with thirty-seven men and three women, was cstab]Lshcd the First Evangelical Armenian Church. One of Peshtimaljiun's former pupils, Apisoghom Khachadurian, was elected as their first pastor, and entered upon his duties within a week. He died, however, a few months later from the effects of an exciting missionary trip to Mcomedia. His loss was keenly felt, as he was one of the ablest and best in the little company. Jm lliil I'lflfl ill kill III '^' Liii: "l\'JW\ 'liiii, II I' Before the close of the next year, 1847, there were five other churches formed upon the same plan. They were at Aintal), Nicomedia, Ti-ebi- zoad, Adabazar and Erzroom. At Adabazar the pastor was a brother of < lie one just mentioned. The total membership was small, representing a Protestant community of about one thousand ; but there were quite a ARMENIA — EAKLY WOKK. 5K') number who ntill adhered to the Armenitm church a\1io had warm sympa- thy for the new movement, despite episcopal and patriarchal denuniia- tions. As might bo expected from such a condition of affairs, the new churches grew rapidly. The Patriarcli's action and tlieir cons('(^ucnt step placed them more prominentl}^ than ever l^efore the public notice. People came in crowds to see and hear. Many who came through curiosity remained as anxious seekers after truth. Revivals occurred also in the boys' seminary at Bebek, and in the girls' school. The missionaries began to be greatly encouraged. Two years later, in 1850, Sir Stratford Canning obtained from the Sultan a firman giving to the new enterprise " all the stability and permanency that the older Christian communities enjoyed in Turkey." Practically it was of no value till Sir Stratford, as Lord Redcliffe, three years afterward returned and insisted on its fulfillment to the letter. Let this champion of reli- gious toleration be ever remembered as one of England's noblest repre- sentatives in the East. A BRIGHTER DAY. The tide was turning. Everywhere Protestants were inquired after, in order that their customs or tenets miglit be known. People began to find that they were trustworthy, and ' ' as honest as a Protestant " became a proverb in a land where cheating, lying, stealing and knavery of CA'cry sort were taken as a matter of course. Prof. Von MiUigen, of Eobert College, says that during the Crimean war bread was made for the sick in the hospitals under the direction of the American missionaries. It was raised with yeast, and was sweet and hght, whereas the Turkish bread was sour, being raised with leaven. This sort of bread became very popular among the people, and was known as Protestant bread, and was incidentally helpful to the spread of American and Christian ideas among the people. Those who could make such sweet and light bread for earthly food could be trusted to give the bread of everlasting life to the souls of men. In 1853, Mr. Powers, in taking a retrospective view of the trials and progress of the mission, wrote : "The reformation now in progress among the Armenians may be dated back to 1833 — ^just twenty years ago. At that time the whole mission to the Armenians consisted of two families, occupying a single house upon the shores of the Bosphorus ; now the whole force of the mission, consisting of American missionaries, native preachers and help- ers, amounts to over one hundred persons, occupying some twenty dif- ferent posts. "Then, the missionary was without fi'iends, and almost universally 33L-D 514 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. looked upon as an enemy to the truth, an inlidel, a pest, whose Influence was evil and only evil ; now, he is surrounded by friends, and his char- acter is no longer assailed. "Then, the missionary found himself in a moral waste, surrounded by those who, for their vices, were snares and traps unto him ; now, a little garden is springing up under his fostering care, adorned with plants of righteousness. ' ' Then, not an individual was known in whose piety the missionary had sufficient confidence to invite him to the Lord's table ; now, there are fifteen regularly organized churches with three himdred and fifty-one communicants. "Then, the first formal sermon had not been preached. It was not till five years afterwards, in 1838, that, with all quietness and avoidance of publicity, in an upper chamber, the first regular and formal preaching service in either of the languages spoken by Armenians was commenced. Now, no less than fifteen chapels are open every Lord's day, where the Gospel is preached with the same formality and fearlessness as in more favored lands. ' ' Then, there was no toleration for Protestantism ; and some of us wiU never forget the extreme delicacy of our position as Protestant mission- aries, the jealousy with which our movements were watched, the efFoi'ts that were made for our expulsion from the country, and the emban-ass- ments and trials we encountered for years while groping our way by the guidance of hints and caution ; now, the Eoyal Charter of Eights, secur- ■ ing to the sultan's subjects the free toleration of religious opinions and worship, places us and the cause of truth on firm vantage ground. " In view of all that has been accomplished in this dark land for the revival of a pure Christianity, we can only say, ' This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. ' " The next year witnessed other steps in advancing the Protestant cause. The indefatigable Lord Stratford de Eedchffe obtained a decree making Protestant testimony equal to any other as evidence in court. This remains practically useless. Soon afterward the same man, backed by the English government, immediately upon the closing of the Crimean war, obtained another firman securing religious liberty ; for the former one had been sometimes ignored. And even at that time Turkish intol- erance yielded stubbornly and slowly. Persecution gradually died out ; but to this day Protestants are annoyed by petty vexations and grinding oppression. Every possible subterfuge is used to hinder the cause of Christ. But violent persecution was gone, and a great advance was made. The ARMENIA EARLY ^VOUK. 61f, interest hud spread to over 100 towns and villages. Training schools foi native preachers and helpers were in operation at Constantinople, Aintab, and Tocat. The working force in the field consisted of twenty-six mis- sionaries, twenty-eight assistant female missionaries, thirteen native I! U preachers, and sixty-four lay-helpers; thirty -eight free schools were in operation, and at Constantinople, there was a girls' boarding school. At Aintab, one of the most important stations, was a Protestant commmi.ty 516 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. of 2,0U0, two hundred and sixty -eight of whom were communicants. The rapid growth of the work required a division of the field the follow- ing year, and a further suljdi vision was made four years later, making three portions, known as the Eastei'n, Central and Western. KEVIVALS. A gracious revival spread over much of the field during 185!>, and lasted for a considerable period ; and what is better, its results wei'e per- manent. It first manifested itself in the boys' seminary at Bebek ; and then it spread to the girls' boarding school, and to a number of impor- tant stations. In April, 1861, Dr. Dwight, writing from Marash said, "This place is indeed a missionary wonder ! Twelve years ago there was not a Protestant here, and the people were proverbially ignorant, barbarous, or fanatical. Six years ago the Evangelical Armenian Church was organized with sixteen members, the congregation at that time being 120. On the last Sabbath I preached in the morning to a congregation of over 1,000 and in the afternoon addressed nearly or quite 1,500 people, when forty were received into the church, making the whole number 227." Mr. Leonard, writing near the same time from Cesarea, said: "Here are some noble exemplars of faith and piety, who search the scriptures daily, and adorn their doctrines by a godly life. I have often wished I might introduce some of our American friends into our teachers' meet ings on a Sabbath afternoon, or to the Sabbath school at the intermission of public worship, where nearly the whole congregation remains, exhib- iting a zeal and aptness in the discussion of religious truths, scarcely surpassed in the most favored churches of New England. " As Cesarea was one of the most important and influential stations, these particulars were encouraging. TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE. Dr. Goodell and Panayotes Constantinides had been laboring for a considerable time in the translation of the Bible from the Hebrew and Greek into the Tui'kish language, as written and spoken by the Ajrmeni- ans. The latter had been an earnest and efficient helper in the work of translation for thirty years. The translation was completed and the re- vision begun. "But his strength failed him on the way, and when there was but little further to go, he laid himself down aiad the angels carried him to his home in heaven." Tliis was in March, 1861. Dr. Goodell pressed on and completed the work before the close of the }'car. The same year witnessed the beginning of another important work. Dr. Schauffler, who ha4 for twenty-nine years labored in connection with "the mission, left it ARMENIA — EARLT WORK. fill and put himself luidcr the dircition of t!ie American and British Foreign Bible Societies, in order that he might devote his time and attention to the translation of the Bible for Turkish Mohammedans. He had al- ready nearly completed the translation of the New Testament. These translations of Goodell and Schauffler, though not perfect, have re- mained the basis, if not the standard, of later work. No new translations have been attempted ; but in IS 73 a committee was appointed to revise the entire work. They completed their task in 1880. The committee consisted of two missionaries of the American Board, one of the Church Missionary Society, one native Armenian pastor and three Mohamme- dans. This Bible has remained in great demand ever since its publica- tion, and has outsold all other publications, although many useful and instructive books have been translated and printed. At this time the mission was called upon to mourn the loss of Dr. Dwight, who had labored faithfully in the field for thirty jears. In the latter part of 1861 he came to the United States in the interest of mis- sions, and was killed in a railway accident at Shaftesbury, Vermont, January 25, 1862. Di-. Anderson says of him : "He was made to be a leader in the Lord's host. There was in him a rare combination of sound common sense, piety, resolution, firmness, candor and courtesy ; and withal an honest simplicity, a godly sincerity and a practical tact, that seldom failed to secure for him a commanding influence. ; and the mis- sion of which he was so long a member was sufficiently eventful to give full exercise to all his power." During 1862 the Bebek seminary and the girls' boarding school were closed. The missionaries had learned what many educators in our land are beginning to learn ; that a large city is a poor place to prepare young men for the care of village churches, or struggling charges. The schools were closed at the metropolis, in the hope of their being re-opened at Marsovan. FAITHFULNESS OF CONVERTS. In every case the converts gave strong evidence of their change of heart in their daily walk. The missionaries were as careful here as those of the Syrian mission, and received none into full connection until fully satisiied of the genuineness of their conversion. The effect of this change of heart upon the daily life of the converts may be illustrated by a single instance. "Among the converts, at Aintab, was a jeweler, who had gained a comfortable subsistence for his family. But after he received the truth of Christ, he felt constrained to quit his trade, and seek a sup- port in some other way, because the jewelers would not allow him to carry on his trade, unless he would be a partaker of their sins. 'They Til 8 LIGHT IN DARKNESS. had a, custom that when a person came to buy or pay for an article, and did not know its value, the jeweler would tell him it was worth so much (perhaps twice its value,) and send him round to ask the rest ; and they, having an understanding to aid each other in cheating the ignorant, would all say it is worth so much ; and he who should be honest enough in such a case to tell the truth, would make enemies of all the trade, and they would soon find a way to get rid of him. In this country people are not free to follow what 1)usincss they choose, as in America. Every trade has its regulations, and no man can work at any trade without permission from its chief. ' The man in question had embraced a religion which ad- mitted of no such deception, and he abandoned his occupation without know- ing what he should do. He had not made the discovery which many in the American churches seem to think they have made, that one can embrace the Christian religion, and still practice deception in trade, by taking advantage of the ignorant, and getting twice as much for articles as they are worth." The natural result of sucli conversions was that a man's foes were they of his own household. General persecution might be prohibited, the law might proclaim religious liberty, but it could not stop those petty perse- cutions from one's own friends and relatives, wdiich are more trying than any others. A young man at Trebizond said to Mr. Bliss : ' ' Seven years my father has been trying in every way to hinder me from reading or obeying the Gospel, and though I have endeavored to soften his heart toward me by the most dutiful conduct, it has been utterly without effect." "He then added, as a specimen, that a few mornings ago, as he was sit- ting in his room, studying the Gospel, his father came in and began to upbraid him, in the most violent manner, for not having been to church tiiat morning, it being a week day. From words he proceeded to blows, the son all tliB while making no reply, but saying, ' Hear me, father, why do you l)eat me V The violence of the father's anger having abated a little, he called in a priest and half a dozen other influential men to remonstrate Avith his son. After abusing him severely, the priest asked him, ' Why do you leave me to run after foreign priests ? Am I not a priest?' The son replied, 'If you are a priest, where are the fruits of your ministry ? How many men have you ever gained over to the service of God V At these and similar searching questions the priest was silent, and the interview ended. Another father at the same place, after having severely beaten his son, and burnt his Testament, told him, unless he gave up reading that book, he would turn him out of his house. 'Very well, father,' replied the son ; ' if you wish me to leave you for the Gospel's sake, I am ready to ARMENIA — EARLY WORK. .01 'J go. ' At this the father relented and dropped the conversation. Thus religion not only embitters ungodly relatives, but teaches a child in what spirit to answer a persecuting father." Turkish fanaticism manifested itself again. Mr. CoiBng, one of the missionaries at Aintab, paid a visit in the fall of 1860 to the Taurus Mountains, in search of a suitable summer retreat. Adana, their main station, was uncomfortably hot during the summer months. He selected Hadjin, a town of 20,000 inhabitants, and set out with his family in 1861 to occupy the place. Their departure was the occasion of much regret on the part of the Protestant population. 'Nearly the whole population, 1,500 in number, stood on both sides of the road, to bid them farewell,' and as they passed sang, 'How sweet the tie that binds Our hearts in Christian love ; ' and also an original hymn, expressive of their feelings on parting with the mission family. More than a hundred persons accompanied them during that afternoon, returning the next day. After a perilous moun- tain jom'ney, they were kindly welcomed at Hadjin. But soon Turkish and Armenian fanaticism became so violent, and they were persecuted so bitterly, that they were compelled to return to Adana. MURDER OF MR. COFFING. Six months later, Mr. Coffing and his Armenian servant, while on their way to attend the annual meeting of the mission at Aleppo, were fired upon by two Mohammedan robbers, who were concealed in a thicket three miles from Alexandretta. Mr. Coffing died next morning, ]\Iarch 26, 1862, and his servant, March 30th. The United States consul at Bei- rut, assisted by foreign officers, succeeded in having both robbers arrested. One was executed, but the district Pasha assisted the other to escape. He was, in consequence, removed from office. These things had a salutary effect upon the Turkish authorities. They found that not even American missionaries could be attacked with impunity. As a result, when the missionaries revisited Hadjin some years later, they found an open and promising field. Mr. Coffing's widow removed to the spot and established a flourishing high school for girls. She had remained alone at Marash, conducting a school there, up to the time of her removal. Her school at Hadjin had proved a great educational and Christianizing agency. The year 1864 found in the field seventy-nine foreign male and female laborers, 204 native workers, forty-seven churches, and 1,913 communi- cants, and many thousands of copies of the Bible in circulation. 520 LIGHT IS DARKNESS. CHAPTER XXXn. AEMENIA GEOWTH OF THE CHURCH. BOUT this time Turkish fanaticism took on a new form. Alarmed at the rapid spread of knowledge, and the gen- eral intellectual advancement of the people, and the liberty which had been secured for converts to Christianity, the Mohammedan leaders began to persecute the people. Dr. C. G. Pfandcr published a comparative view of Moham- medanism and Christianity which brought matters to a climax. Turkish convei-ts were arrested, spies were set to watch the missionaries, and efforts were made to suppress Pfander's book. The printing presses were seized, and the book store closed. The American consul and the British ambassador protested, and as no liooks of a controversial character were found the store was rc-opened and the converts released, thus crushing the anti-Christian movement. But the fears of the Turks were aroused, and for a time the missionaries had almost no intercourse with them, few books could be circulated, and few of the natives attended preaching. SELF-SUPPORT. A proinising feature of the work at this period was the beginning of self-support. Some congregations assumed at once the support of their pastors. Others went further, and formed missionary societies. Some of these societies engaged directly in evangelical woik, the members visiting weekly such Armenians as did not attend Protestant worship and reading to them the New Testament ; others undertook the whole or partial support of Bible readers in the outlying villages. One at Diar- bekir sent one of its own members each week to read the Bible in a village near the city. In the matter of prompt paying they would put to shame many congregations in our own country. Another gratifying feature was the interest the adults took in Sabbath schools. Sometimes a Sabbath school would be three-fourths adults. A national head, to represent the interests of Protestant Armenians, was supported at Con- stantinople, all the churches contributing something. New churches were organized, and new pastors were ordained and placed in charge. The missionaries were much cheered by the success that crowned their years of patient working and waiting. ARMENIA — GKOWTH OF THE CHURCa. 521 ORDINATION SCENE. Rev. Frederic "Williams describes tlie scene of an ordination at Pcr- chenj thus. The pulpit was under a large mulberry tree: "Aroimd the pulpit sat the council ; lay and clerical delegates, representing most of the evangelical missions in this part of Turkey ; then the regular Protestants of Perchenj, Harpoot, and the villages about, to whom it ■was a 'festa,' as Avas evident from their dress. Outside these were the partially committed ones, who, though they did not dress up for tlie occa- sion, seemed to have taken the day for it ; and again, outside that com- pany, were men drawn in by the interest of the occasion from their work, with their field-dresses on, tools in hand, leaning on their long-handled spades, bending forward to catch question and answer, wholly uncon- scious of the picturesque finish they gave to the scene. ••■ * * It was very difficult to count the audience, at least from where I was. If I could have exchanged places with the boys and hung among 11 ic mulberries, perhaps I could have succeeded better. Nothing in all the exercises seemed so natural as the way the boys took to the trees. We judged there were, in the forenoon, about seven or eight hundred, and in the afternoon six or seven himdred. To the last everything was quiet, and all went ofi" pleasantly." CONSOLIDATION. With the growth of the more important stations, and the increase of ability and willingness to support themselves, a desire for self-government and consolidation sprang up. Steps in this direction were taken as early as 1857, when the churches at Nicomedia, Adabazar and Bardizag formed themselves into the Bithynian Association. Seven years later the five Protestant churches in Bithynia were organized, with a Presbyterian constitution, into ' ' The Union of the Evangelical Armenian Churches of Bithynia." The territory of this union extends from Constantinople eastward about 250 miles, and from the Black Sea southward about 100 miles. The first Presbyterial meetings were held in 1876. A year after the formation of this union the Harpoot Evangelical Union sprang into existence; the "Central Evangelical Union" was organized in 1868, and the " Cilicia Union " a little later. One good efifect of the formation of these unions was a marked strengthening of the willingness of the people to support their own institutions. Their long dependence on foreign support had kept manj^ churches weak and listless. It was necessary to cultivate, a spirit of self- reliance. This was done as much as possible, and with gratifying and often astonishing results. Says Dr. Young: "The church in Shepik, the poorest and feeblest in the field, which for thirteen years had paid fil'D LIGHT IN DAKKNESS. almost nothing for preaching, and was supposed to be a permanent pen- sioner on missionary bounty, all at once raised enough for the support of the preacher, besides nearly $200 in gold for the building of a house of worship. A blind preacher from the Harpoot seminary had been the means of this unexpected result. He was known as John Concordance (Hohannes Hamapapar), on account of his wonderful readiness in quoting Scripture, chapter and verse. He was sent to Shepik, and hearing the complaints of the people about their poor crops and poverty, replied : ' God tells you the reason in the third chapter of Malachi, where He says, ' Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me. ' ' Then, taking for a text, 'Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, ' &c., he inculcated the duty and privilege of setting apart at least a tenth of their earnings for God. The people were convinced, and after paying half their crops, according to usage, to the owner of the soil for rent, and a tenth to the government for taxes, as they must needs do, they gave another tenth to the Lord's ' storehouse ' — a room they had set apart for receiving the tithes. And the sermon of this blind preacher and the example of these poor people have Avrought wonders in the land. This estimable man died in 1869, Armenians vicing with the Protestants in attencUng to the burial services. Both classes were genuine mourners at his grave. His influence in regard to the consecration of one-tenth of one's income to the cause of Christ has been extensively felt, all the more as he is said to have conscientiously practiced what he preached." REFORM PARTY IN THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. The Armenian Church, which had long been but little different from the Eoman Catholic, had, by degrees, come to I'ealize its imperfections. There had sprung up a reform party, which, while it did not separate from the church, endeavored to approach the Protestant doctrines and forms of worship. Many of the people were tired of empty ceremonies, and of being priest-ridden, and desired more freedom of thought. They imagined their church had originally been pure and free from the super- stitions and false doctrines which then characterized it. They resolved to restore it to its pristine purity. To this end they published in 1866 a A^ew Prayer Book, containing ' ' a Creed, a Ritual for Baptism, the Lord's Supper, Ordination, etc. , forms for daily prayer in the churches, and hymns and songs. Judged by the standard of the New Testament, the book contained not a few errors of doctrine, and sanctioned many superstitious practices, yet it was a decided improvement upon the books in use in the Armenian Church. " But the book was not adopted by any of the Armenian Churches. However, its publication caused no AfiilENIA — GROWTH OP THE CIIUKGH. 528 little stir and excitement in the capital, and aroused much inquiiy, thereby advancing the cause of Protestantism. During 1806 the Harpoot Evangelical Union began mission work among the Armenians of Koordistan. The religion and manners of these Kooi'ds are described in the history of the Persian mission. The Union at the time had a dozen small churches, with hardly 600 members. Yet they undertook to educate seven of their young men as missionaries to their brethren in Koordistan. Converted pagans, Mohammedans and converts from false forms of Christianity, shoAv much greater zeal in spreading the gospel than the Christians in so-called Christian lands. The apparent indifference of the latter to the spread of their religion often causes the heathen to doul)t its genu- ineness. The work begun by those people prospered, and when they began to lose interest, the encouraging reports from that field aroused them to greater acti-sdty. The reflex action of their labors was appar- ent in the greater prosperity and more rapid gro's\i;h of their own churches. A widespread revival drew in many from the ranks of the "orthodox Armenians." In places the missionaries would be kept far into the mght, like Williams in the South Seas, conversing with those who were earnest seekers after truth. In one place, Ilooeli, -^^'liere three years before there was not a single Protestant, the attendance icooitDs. upon services swelled to 400. A large number of these were members of the church. WAlfTED A BETTER PREACHER. Their unwonted prosperity and their rapid growth turned the heads of the good people of Hooeli, and like many in our own land, they came to the conclusion they ought to have a 1 letter preacher. They also, in the same manner, concluded a college graduate was the proper sort of a man for them ; so, contrary to the advice of Mr. 'Wlieeler, they called in succession two of the abler of the graduating class of the missionary training school. To their astonishment and mortification the calls were not accepted. Their own preacher, who resided in the mean- time at Harpoot, ten miles .distant, had accepted a call from another church, and some of the members had come with donlceys to remove him and his family to their new home. "These were quietly sleeping in his 52i LIGHT IN DAKKNESS. house, expecting to start on the morrow, v/hcn at midnight nine of the principal men of Hooeli roused him from sleep and began to beg pardon for their rejection of him, saying, 'Come, get your goods in readiness and go with us.' It seems that they took their failure to secure the oth- ers as a rebuke from God for their pride ; and having met to pray, sent these nine men to ask pardon of Garabod in person, while others wrote letters asking his forgiveness, and begging him to come back. Both parties then appealed to the missionaries, who declined to interfere, ad- vising them to pray and decide the matter tliemselves. They agreed to accept the preacher's decision as God's will, and he, after prayer and re- flection, decided to return to his old people. In the meantime twenty of the women of Hooeli, impatient at the delay, met also for prayer, and were with diflaculty prevented from going in a body to take their old pastor home. But the brethren kcj;)t them back, and when at length he reached the village no other preacher ever had such an ovation in all that region." i DEATH OF DR. OOODELL — RETROSPECTn^E. During 1S67 the mission was called upon to mourn the death of Dr. Goodell, who liad been one of the most prominent and useful of all those connected with the Armenian mission. Failing health had compelled his retirement from active labor two years before, and he jiad returned to the United States. He had been in the Armenian field ever since 183:2, and thus his active missionary life covered a period of forty-three years. On his retiring from the work the foreign residents of Constantinople gave him a substantial token of their appreciation and attachment. He had made himself lieloved by his friends, and respected and honored by his ene- mies. He was a man of rare ability and usefulness, and withal a fine preacher. But his most important work was the translation of the Bible. In the work of translation he has had no peer in the Armenian field. Dr. Young compares him in this particular with Carey and Morrison, whose best work was in translations. A retrospective view of the work at Aintab, as given by Dr. Schnei- der, will doubtless prove interesting to the reader, and will serve as an example of the progress made in some other parts of the field. In 1868 he wrote: "I preached my first sermon in Aintab, to a company of twenty -five or tliirt^^, in the year ISiS. Now the average audience is near one thousand, and often rises to twelve or fifteen hundred. Then there was a church of only eight members, now there are two ch arches, containing 373 members. Then the entire community of Protestants numbered only 40 souls, while at present there are 1,900, small and great. In the beginning, next to nothing was done in the way of self-support and ARMENIA — GROWTH OF THE CHURCH. 625 general benevolence.', while now, these communities pay the salaries of their pastors and school teachers, and all their other expenses. Besides this, nearly $600 in gold Avas given for genci-al benevolence, and more than $900 toward a second church edific(\ All this in a community Avhero a day-laborer receives thirteen and a half cents a day, and a mason ^ t or carpenter thirty-two cents. In view of their poverty, and the exactions of the Government, this is extraordinary liberality. More than one-half of the male members of these churches give a tithe of their income to benevolent objects. * * At first there was no school through the Avcck or r>2f! LIGHT IN DARKNESS. on the Sabbath ; now, there are seven common schools, with nearly four hundred pupils, and a Sabbath school, averaging a thousand, and at times sixteen hundred. More than a score of pastors and preachers have been trained at Aintab, most of whom are still in the ser- vice, and a large number have been sent forth as teachers and colporteurs into the surrounding regions. Finally, when the Gospel was first preached, at Aintab, the Protestants were despised and persecuted, ^vhile now they are not only recognized as a regular community with rights and privileges, but they have at-quired themselves a name, respect and influence." One encouraging feature of the frequent revivals in the Armenian field is that their elTects have in every case been permanent. In this respect they diff'cr from some which occasionally occur in our own land. Further, the missionaries and native pastors have always guarded care- fully the docu's of the church, and receive none into membership who do not give evidence of being soundly converted. VISIT OF DR. CLARK. Dr. N. G. Clark, one of the American Board's secretaries, paid a visit to the field in ISTl, and was greatly pleased at the indications of pro-, gress he met everywhere. He found Protestants not merclj'' tolerated, but in some places actually in demand. He gives the following interest- ing incidents of his tour, while between Adana and Aintab : "The first night out we encamped a little distance from a village that bears the name of Missis, built on the ruins of the ancient Mopsnestia, a place of some note in t.ie early history of the Church. As we were setting up our tent, two Armenians from the Aallage accosted us with the question : "Are you the men that are bringing light into this dark land?"' On being as- sured that we were just those very men, they gave us a hearty welcome, and did their best to assist us in every way, remaining till dark and com- ing again in the early morning. This they did as a labor of love, and to receive some words of counsel and cheer. They were Protestants, but not church members, who had come here for busihess^one from near Antioch, and the other from the neighborhood of Harpoot. Here, where no preacher of the truth had ever been stationed by us, these men were faithful to the light they had, spending the Sabbath together in studying the scriptures and in prayer, and speaking to all who would listen of the gospel of Christ. One of the men had formerly been keeper of a drinldng shop. One day, while plying his trade, he called out to a passer-by to come in and drink. The xcply, 'I cannot, I am a Protestant,' arrested his attention, and eventually led him to give up his wicked trafiic, for an honest calling." ARMENIA GROWTH OF THK CHURCH. ii'J ( It is to be feared there are many in our own land who do not think that Protestantism and liquor selling are incompatible. Would that they would follow the example of these Armenians! But to continue with Dr. Clark: " On another day we met a party of laborers coming down into Cilicia from Eastern Turkey, whom we at first mistook for Koords. But coming nearer, Mr. Trowbridge recognized them as Armenians, and at once asked them if there were any Protestants among them. ' Oh, yes, ' cried several ; and in proof they drew Testaments from their bosoms. " All false forms of Christianity are unanimously opposed to common people possessing the Bible ; so the possession of a copy is often enough to distinguish a man as a Protestant. "We had hoped to reach Hassan-Beyli for the Sabbath, but the distance proved too great, and as it was three hours off from the main road, we had to give up a visit to this mountain eyrie — now a center of Christian influence, a few years ago a nest of robbers. But they would not let us off. Tuesday morning, by six o'clock, we were surprised to see half a dozen of those stalwart men, who had left their mountain crags, three hours before, to come down and exchange Christian salutations. As I looked at them, I could not but wonder at the work of grace manifest in them. After words of grace through an interpreter, on mounting my horse, I took each by the hand, while the grasp tightened, and e}^es flashed and fiUed at the words, ' Christ, Hallelujah, Amen.' " An illustration of the fact that the circulation of the Bible only spreads Protestantism may he found in an incident of Mr. Pierce's work. While stationed at Erzeroom he chanced, when on a tour, to penetrate the mountain fastnesses and to reach a village where no missionary had ever been. But while the people had never seen a missionary, they had obtained the Bible and some hymn books from a colporteur, and in con- sequence Mr. Pierce found on his first visit a community of forty or fifty Protestants. TrulJ^ ' ' the entrance of Thy word giveth light ; it giveth understanding to the simple." ANGLICAN PRETENSIONS. Trouble arose in 18T2-Y3 in Central Turkey owing to the schemes of the Church Missionary Society, led by Bishop Gobat. Says Dr. Young, "It is the old story. Instead of carrying the Gospel to regions still lying in heathen or semi-heathen darkness, the ritualistic section of the English Church prefers building on other men's foundations, and appro- priating the fruit which has been sown in tears by others. One of the missionaries states that ' this English type of Protestantism differs little from the old chxirch (Armenian), ' that ' it furnishes a refuge for unworthy 628 LIGliT IN DARKNESS. Protestants ' and that ' some "will doubtless join it for pecuniary reasons. ' " The various methods used were, as they have been elsewhere, intriguciy, niisreprcauutation and falsehood -with regard to the aim and character of American missionaries, ■wholesale bribery, the prostitution of religious rites and ceremonies — in short, every foul means except open violence and intimidation. At length matters reached a cuhninatiou, At a time when the missionary force was weaker than it had been for years, the pastor of the church at Diarbekir, who had been gained over by the Ritualists, and had in turn gained over the larger pai-t of his congregation, declared himseK publicly in favor of Ritualism. This crippled tlie work of the missionaries iu that part of the field, for the AKJtENIA — GROWTH OF THE CHURCH. 520 pastor and people claimed to own the church, and it was Ijcst to let thcni alone ; for in Turkey a controversy in the courts is very tedious, and is hkely to be decided in favor of the party with the largest pocket-hook. As the missionaries would not in this case fight fire with fire, there was no help for the matter, and they resigned themselves to the situation. But in other parts of the field High Churchism was not so successful. The CiUcia Evangelical Union took a firm stand on the question, aiid Eituahsm was compelled to retire beaten. Its schemes failed, and the right triumphed. Those who had left other churches to follow after it soon repented of their step, and were glad to come into the Unicjn on the same basis as the other churches. The native pastors proved too staunch and incorruptible for Eitualistic overtures. The missionaries had nothing to do with the defeat of the movement, and were glad to see the native pastors able and willing to fight their own battles, whether with High Church corruption or Armenian fanaticism, or Mohammedan bigotry and intolerance. Nor was this the only attempt at disorganizing the Armenian Evan- gelical Church. Canon Tristram afterwards made a brief tour of South- ern Armenia, and reported a widespread desire on the part of all old Armenians to ally themselves with the Church of England. This state- ment, it is needless to say, was almost totally without foundation. SECTARIAN HINDRANCES. Other sects, besides the Church of England, have recently been sow- ing discord in the field. Kecent reports represent that the Baptists and Christians have entered the land with their peculiar views of baptism, and instead of working among those who are not converted, they prefer to draw away those who are akeady Protestants and weaken the churches built up by the years of labor of the American Board. The agents of the American Board complain that their work in the region of Samokov has been brought to a standstill by the intrusion of the Baptists. "In one instance the preacher was led to receive baptism from Baptist agents at Constantinople, and returned to distract a little com- munity just getting on its feet." In the Western Turkey Mission the church at Bardesag has suffered from similar intrusion. Mr. Pierce writes that "for several years the Campbellites and Baptists have left no stone unturned to induce members of our churches and congregations to accept their peculiar views of bap- tism. In one way and another they have succeeded in rebaptizing and