HE UNFINISHE JAMES L. BARTON (|orncU Mnittecatt^ ffilibtarg Jltl)aca, New ^atk CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WFLLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1918 The^ate shows when this volume was taken, Cornell University Library BV 2060.B29 The unfinished task of the Christian chu 3 1924 023 021 086 THE UNFINISHED TASK OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH INTRODUCTORY STUDIES IN THE PROB- LEM OF THE WORLD'S EVANGELIZATION BY JAMES L. BARTON NEW YORE STUDENT VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS ' igo8 W Copyright by STUDENT VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS iyo8 CONTENTS PAGE I. The Meaning i II. The Obligation to Undertake the Task ... 19 III. Extent of the Task : Mohammedan and Nom- inally Christian Countries . ■ • ■ ■ 39 IV. Extent of the Task : Heathen Countries . . so V. Obstacles to be Overcome 79 VI. Successes of the Early Church 103 VII. Successes of the Nineteenth Century, I . . 129 VIII. Successes of the Nineteenth Century, II . . 151 IX. Adequacy of Available Resources 167 X. Shall We Finish the Task? I93 INTRODUCTORY NOTE This is one of the series of text-books published by the Student Volunteer Movement for "the use of voluntary mission study classes in the institutions of higher learning in the United States and Canada. It grew out of the Author's experience as the leader of mission study classes at the Northfield Student Conference in 1905 and 1906. While not intended to be an exhaustive study of the problem of the world's evangelization, it is admirably fitted for the use of mission study classes. The " unfinished task " of the Christian Church and the need for men and women qualified to under- take the work is set forth so clearly that any student who is undecided as to his life work ought to be helped in reaching a conclusion by a careful study of the volume. Dr. Barton was for many years a missionary in Turkey; since 1895 he has been one of the corre- sponding secretaries of the American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions. In this capacity he has had an excellent opportunity to observe the work of missions in the principal countries of Asia Cornell University Library The original of tliis 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/cu31924023021086 THE MEANING THE MEANING It is of prime importance that we have a clear un- derstanding of the task of " the evangelization of the world." Some have taken it to mean the complete Christianization of all races and peoples on earth. Others have thought that it means giving every per- son upon earth an opportunity to hear at least one address or sermon upon some vital Christian theme. And some have assumed that when this is done the preacher's obligation terminates and the responsibility for the conversion of the individual is left to himself and his God. The " evangelization of the world " is rightly inter- preted by neither the one nor the other of these views. Christ not only told his disciples to go into all the world and preach His Gospel, but He added, " teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have com- manded you." The proclamation of the Gospel mes- sage was to be accompanied and followed by sober in- struction that would eventuate in true Christian living upon the part of the people to whom it was preached. The disciples were to " make disciples " of all nations. For years they had been under the direct tutelage of the Master Himself, observing His life, listening to His words, receiving His warnings and rebukes, asking Him questions, and witnessing His sufferings. It took years for Christ to make into genuine disciples the THE UNFINISHED TASK twelve whom He carefully selected for that purpose, and even then one of them failed. It would be pre- sumption for the disciples to assume that they could accomplish more in this respect than the Master was able to do when upon earth. Humanly speaking, what would a single address of Christ have accomplished in changing the lives of the disciples? Even with them it was first the blade, then the ear, and after that the full corn in the ear. Any plan that contemplates the evangelization of the world must involve the following: I. The Mastery upon the Part of the Missionaries of the Language Spoken by the People who are Sought No people can be easily reached in their religious life through the medium of any tongue except that of their childhood. The missionary who goes to a strange people with the Gospel must carry it in the language of the country and even in the dialect of the people to whom he directs his effort. Business can be done with foreign races through the medium of the Eng- lish language and, undoubtedly, there are not a few among other races who have become so familiar with our language that they easily think and live in it. To such our tongue has become almost natural. These are but few compared with the great multitudes who know only their own vernacular, and to reach these the missionary must master their tongues. This ne- cessitates the preparation of grammars and lexicons in all of the languages of the people to whom the Gos- pel is to be preached. Nor can this be a superficial piece of work, for the missionary must show himself a master in the language of the people, that they may readily understand, and, at the same time, believe him a THE MEANING to be master also of his theme. To preach in English to people who do not know English, or in a vernacular so incorrect that no one can understand what is meant, is not to preach the Gospel of Christ. The world can be evangelized only after hard, grinding, scholarly work upon the languages that the world speaks and understands, and the quicker these tongues are mas- tered the sooner will the task be accomplished. 2. The Establishment of Christian Schools of all Grades In many if not most of the mission countries the state of education is so low that it is imperative that the missionaries establish schools of the simplest grade, in which both intellectual and moral training begins with the children and continues up to and through the college and theological seminary. The efforts of the preacher will be hampered if his hearers are grossly ignorant. It is one of the marvels of our Christian faith that it can be understood in a measure and some of its richest blessings appropri- ated by the most degraded. From their standpoint the little beauty that they see is marvelous and the bless- ings they receive supremely great. It is impossible, however, to expect that foreign missionaries can be sent out in sufficient numbers to constitute, unaided, the direct agency for reaching all men. The supreme strength of Christianity lies in its self-propagating powers. Whosoever heareth must say to others, " Come." Christ spent most of His time with His dis- ciples, either teaching them orally or by example. The missionary must prepare the means which the Lord may use in the conquest of the world. He, like our Lord, must gather his disciples and train them that they in turn may go out to preach and teach. The 3 THE UNFINISHED TASK Christian native worker must be trained ere he is quahfied to go forth as an apostle. High quahties ol leadership are indispensable to the true disciple, and these usually come through the grace of God acting upon men intellectually and morally trained. Through the school the missionary can, with great rapidity, multiply himself in educated Christian workers. It is usually true, moreover, that the native worker, properly trained and equipped, is able to ap- ply the gospel to the needs and hearts of the people with an effectiveness seldom possible to the foreigner, and it is natural that this should be the case. Further- more since the homes are to be reached, girls also must be trained and set to work among the women. The work of effective evangelization demands the or- ganization and conduct of Christian schools of all grades for both boys and girls, to prepare men and women who shall be the direct evangelizers of their people. Let it not be understood that education is in any 'de- gree a substitute for evangelization, or that peoples can be Christianized by schools. At the same time it must be remembered that the world will never be evan- gelized solely by foreign missionaries, but by preach- ers from every race preaching in their own tongue, and these can be prepared intellectually for that high service only through the agency of properly equipped schools of every grade. In countries where education is inefficient or altogether lacking, the missionaries themselves are compelled to organize and conduct these schools, while elsewhere, as in Japan, the bulk of edu- cation may be left to trained native teachers, the missionaries carrying on only the theological train- ing. THE MEANING 3. Right Living and Practice Supporting Sound Preaching It is a debatable question whether Christ's words were of more importance than His life. All are agreed that both are essential and together complete the Gos- pel message of salvation that He came to earth to teach. The words interpreted the life, the life demon- strated His oral teaching. This twofold method of proclaiming the Gospel of Christ is as essential to the modem missionary as it was to the Master Himself. The missionary is located in the midst of an extensive non-Christian population numbering, it may often be, from one hundred thousand to one million or more souls. His purpose is so to exalt the Christ that these people will be drawn to Him, but because he is a stran- ger and a foreigner they are suspicious of him and mis- understand his motives. His words, even if well un- derstood, have little weight at first. Without doubt, the first part of the Gospel message to make a pro- found impression upon the natives is conveyed to them by Christian acts of kindness, sympathy, and love. They may not altogether understand what they see and experience, but they will not be slow to at- tribute it to the religion of the missionary. If life and acts meet with their approval they will approve also the religion that lies behind them, and then they are ready to listen to the exposition of the religion which makes the life of its followers beautiful. While it is the daily Christian living of all mis- sionaries that impresses the people with the superior- ity of the religion of Jesus Christ, perhaps no special phase of Christian philanthropy appeals more em- phatically than does the work of the missionary phy- sician. It would not do to have all missionaries phy- sicians, lest it be supposed that Christianity is but a S THE UNFINISHED TASK new way of treating disease and its temples but dispensaries and hospitals. An occasional physician among a larger number of direct evangelistic workers and Christian teachers, preserves the balance between Christian philanthropy and the life of the spirit. The Christian orphan asylum, schools for the blind, homes for outcast widows, refuges for victims of the opium habit, asylums for the fallen, all are indirect means by which some of the essentials of Christianity are dem- onstrated to the people with an emphasis that words alone can never convey. Through these and other agencies opposition is broken down, prejudice re- moved, friendly relations established, and a way to their hearts opened for the preaching of the Word. An atmosphere is created that is favorable for a di- rect evangelistic appeal and a call to repentance. The missionaries are everywhere and always preachers, but they must be able to speak in a great variety of tongues and in a multitude of forms, as did Christ Himself, and thus only can the Gospel most directly and surely reach the hearts of the people and command their full approval and surrender. This form of teaching by the missionary is caught up and repeated by the con- verts, multiplying in geometrical ratio the influence of the Gospel message. 4. The Preparation and Dissemination of a Chris- tian Literatwe In no country and among no race has Christian civ- ilization and the institutions of the Gospel been propa- gated and established without the help of a Christian vernacular literature. This is of great value even where the percentage of illiteracy is high, because it provides material for the few readers to use in the in- 6 THE MEANING struction of others. At the same time, the printed page penetrates regions far beyond the oral preacher's bounds and in secret tells its story to all intelligent questioners. Without the Bible in whole or in its essential parts, no permanent work of evangelization could be carried on. There is always a demand for spiritual nourishment and unremitting warning and instruction; and all this is provided in the Word of God and in a properly prepared Christian literature. For its permanent results, not the least valuable por- tion of religious literature is the periodical, attracting attention by its recurrence, repeatedly appearing and speaking with no uncertain sound. It would be most inadequate to attempt to Christianize a people by the aid of Christian literature alone, yet, as an interpreter of Christian living and as a silent preacher of the re- ligion of Jesus Christ, the printed page is the most powerful auxiliary the Christian physician, pastor, and worker can possess. In addition to these forms of literature and the great variety of books that a Christian community de- mands for its best intellectual and moral development, there is always a demand for the preparation of texts suited to the needs of schools of all grades, except where, in the higher educational institutions, the stu- dents have made such progress in the use of the Eng- lish language that English text books are available, which is now the case in most if not all of the mission collegiate institutions. While the preparation of text books for use in the schools may not at first appear to have a vital place in the work of evangelizing a people or a nation, second and deeper thought makes it plain that Christianity can never become an estab- lished religion in any land until the people have intelli- 7 THE UNFINISHED TASK gently grasped and accepted its principles and until all Christian institutions are under the leadership of trained and intelligent natives. This is but one phase of the educational process which is to secure native Christian leadership and as- sure the stability of the church. Evangelization im- peratively demands a general educational as well as a Christian literature. 5. The Organization of Self-Supporting, Self-Direct- ingj Self -Per petuati'^g Christian Institutions The missionary cannot give himself to preaching alone, in the commonly accepted use of that word. There must be begun, as soon as a few converts are gathered together, a system of organizations that shall become permanent institutions in the country. The missionary is not to remain forever the spiritual father and guide of the people whom, under God, he has been instrumental in bringing into the knowledge and salvation of Jesus Christ. If this were the case he would be compelled, as soon as he had gathered a church of a few hundred members, to expend his whole time and energy in ministering to that flock alone, leaving the multitudes about him still unreached. The contributions of the home churches would go to pay his salary with little hope that even in a thousand years enough missionaries could be sent out to pro- vide pastors for one native church to every one hun- dred thousand souls in heathendom. Thus attempted, the task would be hopeless of accomplishment. As soon as the missionary is instrumental, under God, in organizing a church, he seeks to secure as its leader from among the natives a trained and con- secrated pastor who shall be supported by the church itself. When the church is organized and the pastor 8 THE MKANIMG ordained over it, the missionary is again free to ex- tend his efforts into new regions, and the work mul- tiphes in extent and influence and the working force upon the ground steadily increases even though the number of missionaries remain the same. Marvelous are the possibilities of enlargement with such a method. In some countries like India and Africa bands of consecrated native workers have spread themselves over large districts, and in their track, with wonderful rapidity, are being gathered Christian congregations which in due time become foundations for Christian churches. Moreover it is important for the sake of the native churches themselves that they should support their own pastors. If the pastor is thoroughly consecrated and ready to live like his people, a church of from 75 to 150 members, by giving even less than a tithe, can abundantly support their spiritual leader. Hundreds of native churches are doing this to-day, gaining spir- itual and numerical strength and independence there- by, and every native church, while usually requiring some aid at first, should have the privilege of support- ing its own native pastor as soon as its financial con- dition will permit. Such a self-supporting congre- gation, with its native pastor, has already become a finished product of missionary work and is in turn a centre of influence and a dynamic agency for the ex- tension of the Kingdom of God, and since the church is self-supporting, the funds supplied by the churches at home are released for aggressive operations in the regions beyond. The same principle applies to schools and native teachers. They should also become self-propagating. The essential spirit of the religion of Jesus Christ is missionary. Whoever accepts Christ must preach Him THE UNFINISHED TASK to Others. The churches organized in mission fields are not true churches of Christ unless they are ag- gressive in Gospel propagation. The lay members should be taught that upon them rests a real respon- sibility for the conversion of their own people. There are Zulu churches in South Africa from which every Sabbath there go out into different sections of country about, from ten to thirty men who freely give them- selves to preaching the Gospel of Christ to the best of their ability, and the same method is employed in native churches in many other mission fields. In nearly all of the older missions of countries like Turkey, India, Ceylon, Japan, etc., native missionary organizations, officered by leaders in the native churches, and supported by funds contributed by them, have been formed for the purpose of organizing and conducting aggressive missionary operations either among their own people near at hand or in countries more remote. These societies select, send, direct, and support missionaries from among their own number who, in co-operation with the missionaries from Chris- tian lands, are pushing forward the battle line in the conflict with evil. As the native churches increase in membership and wealth, and multiply in numbers and in spiritual power, the possibilities for evangelization that lie in these principles of self-support, self-direc- tion, and self-propagation, are too vast for us to real- ize fully. In touch with such forces the missionary labors, inspiring, instructing, directing, and leading. 6. The Organisation of a Redeemed Christian So- ciety A religion that does not have direct and positive influence in the elevation of society in all its forms is of little value. True relig^ion may be expressed in ar- 10 THE MEANING tides of belief and be manifested in forms of worship, but its intrinsic worth is revealed in its reforming power in the lives of men. If it does not reform and transform, it is utterly deficient. One of the glories of Christianity is that it applies in practice to all the activities, experiences, and aspirations of men and exerts a vital influence upon every phase of human society. It is a part of the work of the missionary as an evangelizer to apply this gospel to men's needs and make it regnant in their daily relations. The im- mediate effect of this appears in a multitude of ways, of which we can enumerate but a few. a. Profound changes are wrought by the altru- istic principles of Christianity. Out of the selfish- ness of pagan society come falsehoods, cruelties, strife, and hatreds, appearing in countless forms, bringing continual suffering, and breeding constant evils. In the midst of such conditions the Chris- tian preacher proclaims a righteousness that compels a man to love his neighbor as himself. Fine-spun theological theories fall to the ground in the face of such needs, for the fruits of the spirit are not neces- sarily confessions of belief, but love, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance. Confes- sions are secondary to right living and pure social re- lations. Right living alone is not Christianity, but if true Christianity dwells in the hearts of the people, right living will speedly appear as the fruit thereof. b. The glaring impurities in the lives and cus- toms of the people must be overcome. Wherever one travels in the Orient he is constantly confronted by the immoral condition of society. Immorality is alto- gether too prevalent in our own country, but here it exists in spite of our religion, while in many coun- tries in the East it is attached to and is a part of II THE UNFINISHED TASK religious observances. This is true of Hinduism in India and of Mohammedanism in the Levant. In other countries, w^hile not fostered by the direct teach- ings of religion, vice and immorality stalk abroad un- rebuked and are often even encouraged by those who should be spiritual leaders. With no restraint from religion or popular sentiment, the moral evils in society have multiplied a thousand fold and often intrenched themselves in social and religious customs that defy reform. Christianity, demanding purity of life and thought, can have as its goal nothing short of the com- plete subversion of such conditions. It has for its task the construction of a clean and pure minded society, at the centre of which shall stand the Christian home and family. c. The degraded condition of womanhood and the low regard in which women are held by nearly all of the non-Christian people of the world, are, in a large degree, responsible for many of the social evils that prevail among them. No society can be pure and un- selfish that looks upon its women as a degraded class, mentally, morally, and socially inferior. The exalta- tion of woman is the first and most important step towards social reform. Moreover, if the women of any nation or race can be Christianized, educated, and refined, they will constitute a natural and sufficient force for the conversion of the men. It would be folly to attempt to Christianize a race and leave the condition and needs of its women out of account. Christian schools for girls are as important as churches for men. Nothing is more essential than Chris- tian missionary women visiting in the homes, bringing there the truths of the gospel, and flashing into these confined lives something of the joyous radiance of the gospel of liberty, equality and enlightenment. Any 12 THE MEANING plan of evangelization that is not in a measure directed to the elevation and enlightenment and Christianiza- tion of the women, must prove a failure, for, without this, society cannot be redeemed. d. Industrial reform is also necessary to the re- organization of society. Lack of thrift, laziness, in- difference and consequent poverty — physical, mental, and spiritual, — characterize many of the races of Africa, India and the Islands of the Seas, and are in- variably found in the widest areas among non-Chris- tian peoples. Christianity gives birth to a new im- pulse, a new life. Christ told His disciples that He came to bring life, a more abundant life, into the world. An awakened man must be given scope for the exer- cise of his newly discovered powers, and to these con- ditions and needs the missionary cannot be indifferent, but must in part direct his own energies into activi- ties in this direction, which means the fostering of industries that produce an active, self-respecting, prosperous society, able to support its own institu- tions. Such phases of social reform, with many others that might be named, aire absolutely essential to the organization of a permanent Christian society that shall become in itself an evangelizing, dynamic force. Its strength lies in the fact that it has its source and foundation in the Spirit of God operating in the hearts of individual men. The Conversion of Individual Men and Women This subject demands little discussion. Any plan of evangelization will fail that is not directed toward this essential objective. Individuals must, one by one, be led to see the inadequacy of their own re- ligion or lack of religion, and turn to Jesus Christ. 13 THE UNFINISHED TASK This presupposes repentance and regeneration. It is the new birth through the Spirit by which " all things become new," and without which there can be no genu- inely reformed society. The leaders of all this work must be sincere children of God and followers of our Lord Jesus Christ. At this end all efforts must aim and in such results must all endeavor be consum- mated. All this and much more is evangelisation. No one process can be separated from the rest ; and everything points to the bringing of every living being into the Kingdom of God. The mastery of the vernacular, the instruction given in the schools, the organization of Christian institutions, the creation and distribution of a vernacular Christian literature, the support of native organizations by the people themselves, the up- building of a reformed society, are all means and forces operating for the genuine conversion of every individual. They constitute a far-reaching system for permanent operation, which is never to cease so long as men need Christ, and so long as God's love is poured forth upon the world. What then do we mean by "the evangelization of the world " ? No better definition has ever been writ- ten than that given by Mr. John R. Mott in his " Evangelization of the World in this Generation." It is : " To give to all men an adequate opportunity to know Jesus Christ as our Savior and to become His real disciples." Every word of this definition is important. To carry it out, the means enumerated above are employed. The missionary becomes all things to all men in order to save some. When mis- sionary forces are properly distributed over the whole world and Christian institutions have been organized and put into aggressive operation, and the forces of a 14 THE MEANING Christian society are at work, then will the gospel message, in the languages of the people, proclaimed in terms that are intelligible to all, reach every soul. This message will come, not once but repeatedly, not in oral address alone, but by the printed page, through the example of Christian living, and in a multitude of forms. When these means of grace are so organized and distributed that they are within the reach of all men, then will the world be evangelized. All men will not at once accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and enroll themselves as His real disciples, but the respon- sibility of refusal will rest with them, provided a rea- sonable opportunity of knowing Christ has been af- forded. We have no choice but to organize our forces, es- tablish in all parts of the unevangelized world our Christianizing centres, build up and equip our Chris- tian institutions, until every soul has a fair chance to know and accept Christ as Redeemer and Lord. To accomplish this, we have but our own generation; and if we fail, the generation for which we alone are responsible will have passed on without knowing its Savior and we will have lost our opportunity. When evangelization has been accomplished, effort must not cease. The greater part of the United States is now evangelized. There are few indeed who do not have abundant opportunity to know Christ and to accept Him. Still many stand aloof. For building up and strengthening the spiritual life of Christians and for pressing the claims upon others, the Gospel is still preached and eflforts are continually being made to bring all into real discipleship. But when the evangelization of any country has been accomplished, the need of more foreign missionaries in that land will have ceased. Each country will produce IS THE UNFINISHED TASK its own evangelizing force. Our task in all mission lands is to bring about the conditions that will make it possible for every soul to learn of Jesus Christ and to become his true disciple. Then we can stay our hands and leave the Christian people of those coun- tries to complete the work. America was once a needy missionary ground for Christians in Europe, and Great Britain was evangelized by missionaries from Rome. We have no option but to push our Christian operations among the non-Christian people of the world, that the time may speedily come when we can stay our missionary effort while the forces of right- eousness organized and established in every several land subdue the forces of evil in their midst. i6 THE OBLIGATION II THE OBLIGATION Never before has the subject of the evangelization of the world been so widely and carefully considered as during the last decade. Whatever the reason, a new interest in those who dwell in the remoter regions of the earth has been waked, and thousands are study- ing conditions in order to transform them. This new awakening of interest in non-Christian peoples has its basis in religion, and the efforts made to ameliorate their conditions find their primary and fun- damental motive in Christianity. It is fair to ask if all or a main part of this new activity is due to fa- naticism or impractical idealism. It is not difficult to effect a movement of people in masses through a sen- timental impulse that is operative for a time and then dies away. If this modern interest in missions has no permanent motive, it is unworthy the attention of thoughtful, earnest men and women. If it is based upon sound reason as well as sane religion, then it should command the attention of all sincere Chris- tians. In answering the question: "Why evangelize the world ? ", a question of real interest to every Chris- tian man and woman, it is necessary to survey briefly the foundation of foreign missions. Whatever may have been the arguments used a century ago when little was known of the non-Christian races, matters little to us to-day. We are compelled to consider the 19 THE UNFINISHED TASK subject from the twentieth century standpoint and reason from the broadened knowledge of to-day. Em- phasis upon Christian truth has shifted not a little from generation to generation. We will deal not so much with theology as with practical conditions and simple Christian truths. Let us briefly consider some of the reasons why Christians of to-day should interest themselves in the subject of evangelizing the world. The reasons given here are not exhaustive. They are fundamental, however, and cannot fail to be sugges- tive. The answer falls into three distinct heads: i. Because self interest demands it; 2. Because the people of the world are in need of what Christianity alone can give them; and 3. Because loyalty to our religion demands that Christians engage in a world evangelizing effort. I. Because Self Interest Demands the Evangelisa- tion of the World This is not an argument that appeals to the highest in man, but it is one that has weight in influencing most of our acts. It is assumed in diplomacy that a nation has no right to maintain an aggressive attitude towards another nation except for the protection or promotion of its own interests. It is taken for granted that all commercial and industrial corporate activity, is for the promotion of the interests of the members of the corporation. No question is raised when an in- dividual launches extensive and costly enterprises for the purpose of increasing his own wealth; not only does no one criticise him, but the reasons for his action are considered fully adequate. There are many who cannot conceive of an individ- ual, corporation, or state putting forth effort or mak- ing sacrifice for anything whatever, except the pro- 20 THE OBLIGATION motion of self interests. They cannot imagine an altruistic purpose or an effort or sacrifice that aims merely at the good of another. Perhaps this spirit is more general than we know, although we are con- vinced that it is not widely prevalent. Even among iprofessing Christians and in the management of the affairs of the Christian church and especially in the conduct of denominational activites, we find astound- ingly selfish ends pursued by professedly Christian people and organizations. To all these classes the ar- gument of self interest may appeal when all other ar- guments for the evangelization of the world have ut- terly failed. Some of the selfish interests conserved by foreign missions are the following: a. The missionaries open remote countries to secu- lar trade. It has been said that trade follows the flag. This is true, but, more than this, the flag fol- lows the missionary. In almost every non-Christian country in the world, the missionaries are and have ever been, far in advance of the flag. American mis- sionaries were in Turkey years before diplomatic and consular relations were opened between that country and the United States. Africa was crossed and re- crossed by missionaries before the flag of any civil- ized nation had been officially raised on that continent. Missionaries were the pioneers in China, preceding by decades the advent of the Ministers or Consuls of their governments, and to-day they have penetrated into the remote interior of countries where their na- tions' flags are never seen, save where they float over the simple homes of patriotic missionaries. In no instance is the missionary sent out for the purpose of preparing the way for either the merchant or the government official. This effect of his work 21 THE UNFINISHED TASK is purely incidental and does not enter into his plans. In fact, missionary work in a country is often hin- dered by the impression that gets abroad that the missionary is there to stimulate trade or to prepare the way for foreign domination. It is inevitable, how- ever, that Christian civilization will always be a pro- moter of commerce, and commerce will always demand the consul. b. The missionaries protect our own civilization from the evil influences of the far East. The great development of channels of communication has made the world small and brought all nations and races into close relations with one another. Whether or not the question is raised, " Who is my neighbor ? ", the whole world has become one compact neighborhood of which we are all members. We cannot withdraw if we would; exclusiveness is impossible. When one section of the world starves for want of br6ad, the rest of the world sufifers. When one section is at war, no part is exempt from the indirect effects of the dis- turbed conditions. When one part lies in the dark- ness of moral degradation, this darkness casts its shadow over the whole. Conditions are such to-day that to an ever increasing degree the solidarity of hu- manity is a practical fact of politics, thought, and morals. If one race is degraded then are all races in their measure degraded with it, and if one race is exalted so also are the others exalted with it. It is therefore imperative, in order to preserve our own boasted Christian civilization in its intelligence and purity, that we strenuously exert ourselves to im- prove the social, intellectual, and moral condition of all races. Among the millions of emigrants who are crowd- 22 THE OBLIGATION ing to the shores of the United States from the less favored nations, there are many who do not know our standards of civilized living, and these can always be more cheaply, easily, and effectively influenced for righteousness in their own countries than after landing on our shores. Many of the Christian workers to-day among the Armenians, Syrians, Greeks, Bohemians, Chinese, Mexicans, Japanese, and other foreigners in this country, were trained for that service in foreign mission institutions, and, in many cases, without these trained native leaders little could be done for the moral and religious uplift of the foreign peoples in our midst. To protect society from the irreligion and the lower standards of morality which many of these bring, we must first establish in the countries from which they come the institutions of the Gospel. The stream must be purified at its fountain head. Ex- perience shows that we must save the non-Christian nations in order to save the Christian. c. Missionary work begets in the worker the high- est type of spiritual life. There is no distinctively Christian work, however small, that fails to return to the one who labors, some adequate measure of per- sonal reward. One may help to support a church at home in order that he and his family may enjoy the privileges of worship and that the moral tone of the town in which he lives may be kept high. One may engage earnestly in Christian work in his own state or among people of his own nation from patriotic motives and in order that the standard of education and character be not lowered by the influx of the il- literate and irreligious. These lower motives may be the only impulses that lead many to personal sacri- 23 THE UNFINISHED TASK fices and efifort for Christian institutions among the people close at hand, bound to them by a community of interests. The danger of taking up foreign missionary work chiefly under the impulse of the lower motives is more remote. It is true that we have an interest in com- mon with all peoples and races, and it is equally true that there is a place in foreign missions for self in- terest to manifest itself, but, at the same time, there is no other form of Christian effort that is so gen- erally entered upon only under the highest impulse that can move men to action, that is, loyalty to Jesus Christ. This is presented as the supreme motive with the widest field for its activity, towards this we rise, and ofttimes work begun through lower motives de- velops in the worker that which is highest and best in the Christian life. For an individual or a church to exercise this su- preme motive in systematic effort and sacrifice, devel- ops in both the highest type of spirituality. It is a privilege for any one to lose sight of self and personal interests and to make sacrifice. Only by so doing can a man fully demonstrate his allegiance to Jesus Christ, who gave all that He possesed for a lost and rebel- lious world. Only thus can the Christian life most clearly embody itself in human character and the church become the true body of our Lord upon earth. Thus alone is fulfilled the promise of Christ : " He that loseth his life . , . shall find it." 2. Because the People of the World are in Need ofi What Christianity Alone can Give Them In countries like Japan, the need of Christianity is not so apparent to the casual traveler as in countries like Africa and the South Seas, but to one who re- 24 THE OBLIGATION mains for a length of time in any non-Christian land there is no reasonable doubt that the people lack most bitterly the blessings which Christianity imparts to all who accept it. The lack that is at first most ap- parent is external. The unclean and unsanitary condition of life is ap- palling to one who for the first time is brought into contact with the Orient. In so many cases the sub- stitution of ceremonial cleanliness in the place of mechanical or chemical purity, as in India, which makes the offal of cattle more pure than distilled Tvater upon which the shadow of a low caste man has fallen, leads to numberless customs that are vile from every standpoint of Christian civilization. Religious cus- toms, that not only make the suppression of conta- gious diseases impossible, but directly promote their extension, are common everywhere outside the reach of Christianity. The high death rate among infants and even among all ages and classes, the absence of provisions for the amelioration of physical pain, the heartless cruelty in dealing with the aged and the afflicted, strike the Christian observer with overwhelm- ing force. One wonders at times how it is possible for men and women to become so callous of feeling and so cruel of heart. The only conclusion possible is that the religions of those people do not promote cleanliness, charity, kindliness, sympathy, and self- forgetful service for others. To understand this subject fully we need to inves- tigate and consider the almost universal unsanitary conditions in which the people of non-Christian coun- tries, especially the lower classes, live ; the disregard of the most simple principles of hygiene, and the or- dinary laws of health, and the painful insufficiency of medical knowledge; intemperance and the opium 25 THE UNFINISHED TASK habit; slavery; brutality and absence of human sym- pathy ; cannibalism and the evils that grow out of it ; and human sacrifices. Another need in non-Christian countries that ap- peals to the Christian is the intellectual. This does not mean simply inability to read and write. Most of the great scholars of China and India are profoundly ignorant of many practical facts of life. Their learn- ing draws them from the realities of life, often dis- courages logical thought, and does not stimulate to scientific investigation or incite to progress. It is too largely a fossilized learning that is valuable primarily as a specimen. Even these scholars, however, num- ber but a small proportion of the great masses of those who know not Christ. If the so-called learn- ing of the highest classes has done so little for them, what of the millions who compose the toiling multi- tudes? One is often astounded at the depths of ig- norance into which the human intellect can sink, and wonders if some of the beings in human form, whom he meets in the East, are endowed with that intellect which is common to man. Out of these conditions there come witchcraft and demonology with all their oppressive, degrading, and terrifying beliefs and practices; quackery, a part of the above but applied to the treatment of diseases; poverty, because of the lack of intelligent acumen and ability to create new opportunities or seize those that are created ; neglect of the poor and sick, and slavish obedience to evil customs, to break away from which there is not sufficient intellectual strength ; submission to the cruel oppression of tyrants made more intense by mutual hatreds, suspicions, and rivalries; inability to change these conditions, because of slavish depend- ence upon their own religions and customs; ill treat- 26 THE OBLIGATION ment of women growing out of a belief that they are of an inferior class and not worthy common respect; the absence of the home and all that' word implies in Christian lands. Most important of all, and most appalling of all, are the spiritual needs. To a large degree this is funda- mental to all that has gone before. While in the sac- red books of India and of China as well as in the Koran of the Mohammedans, there is much that is true, uplifting and even inspiring, these few grains of wheat in the midst of such a mass of worthless chaff, or even that which is positively evil, do not find lodg- ment in the hearts of the general followers of those faiths nor bring forth fruit in purified moral char- acters. The masses of the people do not feed upon the kernels of grain, but upon the chaff and husks, and these afford no moral nourishment. Mohammedanism may have produced some exalted moral characters; but they have been so rare that we point to them with wonder and regard them al- ways as an exception. At the same time we know that Islam has blunted if not destroyed the conscience of every people it has dominated. As a class the 230,000,000 who bear the name of the Arabian pro- phet to-day represent perhaps less true elevating moral principle and practice than any similar number of believers in any one religion. Hinduism offers no spiritual stimulus to any ex- cept the high caste, while it condemns to perpetual and irretrievable social ostracism, all who were so un- fortunate as to be born beneath them. The decora- tions upon its sacred temples are often too vile, to be reproduced and the story of the life of many of its gods cannot be told in a civilized language. These are the gods and these the temples of Hinduism, and 2^ THE UNFINISHED TASK out of this religion can come nothing that rises to a higher moral level. Confucianism has much that is commendable. Many of its precepts are worthy of honor in any race and in every age. These have had no little influence over the Uves and characters of some of the best men in China and Japan. Still one must remember that Con- fucianism is not a religion. It begins and ends with precepts. It commands no worship and inculcates loyalty to no divinity. Never since the world began have simple precepts, however wise and true, been able to keep a people moral and upright or to generate and develop purity of life and strength of character. Confucianism has its value if accompanied by a re- ligion, but it can never take the place of a religion. The moral character of Confucianists has not devel- oped and strengthened but has continually weakened. As we go lower in the scale the utter inadequacy of the non-Christian religions becomes baldly apparent. The cruelty, vileness, evil and abhorent practices which exist side by side with all of them, if not a part of the religion itself, preclude the necessity of argu- ing that they are inadequate to meet the needs of the physical, intellectual, and moral life of any race or people. They have all been faithfully put to the test and found to be woefully lacking. The Christian knows that in the religion of Jesus Christ the only true remedy exists. Under its sway the evils that have been mentioned gradually disap- pear. It not only changes the character of all who em- brace it, but it applies with equal force to every phase of human society. These facts are not mere theories or beliefs, but rest impregnable upon centuries of experience and observation as Christianity has strengthened its hold upon individuals and races. 28 THE OBLIGATION In the face of the facts, as we ohserve the awful needs of our fellow men in the non-Christian countries of the world and as we consider that we possess that which alone will meet those needs, and when we realize that we have it in our power to apply the remedy to the disease with the assurance of beneficent results, 'there is no ground for waiting to ask where the path of privilege and duty lies. The captain of a steamer who sees a signal of distress flying from some disabled ves- sel and does not make every effort in his power to carry relief to those who are in need, is degraded from his position and disgraced. The physician who hears the call of human suffering and does not re- spond to the limit of his power to alleviate pain and save life, or who knows a remedy for human ills and keeps it to himself, is cast out from his medical societies and loses standing with his profession. It is safe to declare that for the Christian there can be no standard of living lower than that which applies to secular matters illustrated in the physician and the sea captain. The cry of distress from the millions of fellow men in physical, intellectual, and moral de- spair, comes to the ears of the followers of our Lord Jesus Christ. Can the cry be unheeded without moral peril ? " Inasmuch as ye did it not " stands as true to-day as it was when it was uttered. 3. 'Because Loyalty to our Religion Demands that We Preach It While the thought that the children of Israel were to become the dominant race, is not consecutively developed in the Old Testament, there is no question that the teachings of the Scriptures made emphatic the conception that Jehovah was to become the God of the whole earth. He is constantly referred to as 29 THE UNFINISHED TASK the God of Gods, and the Lord of Lords. Abraham, as the representative of the people of Jehovah, was to increase until his seed filled the earth. The proph- ets caught visions of a world-conquest and spoke at times in no doubtful terms. Although they may not have had a clear conception of just what was meant by the supremacy of Jehovah upon earth, they were unhesitatingly confident that all other religions were finally to give way to the worship of the one true and supreme God. In a word, the religion of the Old Testament was imperialistic and the proph- ets had clear visions of a future conquest of the world. In the New Testament, the entire plan of a world conquest is unfolded with force and precision, a plan which Jesus Christ began to put in execution when He chose His disciples. In His own ministry, even while training His disciples, He constantly reached out to the regions beyond and He was never more moved than when conversing with the people of other races, like the women of Samaria and of Syrophenicia The coming of Christ Himself was a great foreign missionary movement, directed towards an entire world. He came not for His race or for the people of any one country, but for the world, and every allusion to His coming sets forth His universal mis- sion. There is no single doctrine upon which He so constantly dwelt and to which He so frequently re- turned, as that of His mission to all mankind. " Who- soever " was repeatedly upon His lips ; no classes were excluded and He turned aside to make strangers es- pecially welcome. It required no little time and pa- tience to raise His disciples to the thought that the gentiles also were to receive the Word of Life. Without taking up all the separate points in the 30 THE OBLIGATION life and teachings of our Lord that make this plain, we will refer to but two significant and comprehensive utterances. The prayer of Christ, as recorded in John 17, was offered under peculiar circumstances. He was about to separate from His disciples for the last time before His crucifixion, for His work with them as Teacher was completed and the hour had struck for a farewell. He knew better than any one else how weak they were and how imperfectly equipped for the colossal task He was committing to them, that of evangelizing the world. He knew, as no one else could, what fiery trials they were to meet and the storm of opposition that would burst upon them as soon as their Master was withdrawn. Under these circumstances one would expect that there under the shadow of the cross during those few last tender moments with them, He would have poured out His soul in prayer that they might have wisdom to carry out His plans for the world and strength to meet every opposition. Yet it is surprising to see how little He prayed for them and how quickly the words " the world " begin to have prominent place. Speedily the prayer as- sumed world proportions. The repeated petition for unity among the disciples was that " the world might believe" that Jesus came forth from the Father and that He was sent by the Father and that the Father loved the people of the world as He loved the Son Himself. To this world that had not known Him He was to send His disciples and through their united effort the world was to know of Him. This prayer is but an enlargement of the "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth" of His earlier ministry, and the disciple who, hearing it, decided that he was fulfilling his commission as a disciple by staying in 31 THE UNFINISHED TASK Jerusalem, and working and praying only for that city, would be a traitor to his Lord. The disciples of Jesus Christ had no option but to pray the world prayer and prove their discipleship by the world life. We but call attention to the great commission of our Lord recorded in some form in each of the four Gospels as well as in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Christ had arranged even before His crucifixion for a meeting with His disciples in the mountain of Galilee after His resurrection. He made appointment with the disciples and then, for fear that, in the excitement of the crucifixion and resurrection they might forget it, sent word by the women and the angel. Surely it was an important meeting in the eyes of the Lord, and one at which He wished every disciple to be present. There it was He met them, and the great message was the command to preach, to the ends of the earth, the Gospel He had taught them, promising, if they obeyed Him, to be with them in power. It is evident that this command made a profound impression upon all who heard, otherwise the record would not have been so repeatedly made. There can be no doubt that the disciples came down from that mountain profoundly impressed with the fact that they were to preach the Gospel of their ascended Lord to all nations, bearing witness of Him even to the uttermost parts of the earth. They could no more get away from the obligation laid upon them at that time than they could escape from their own personality; they were only to wait for equipment ere they must begin. It should be noticed that no distinction was drawn by Christ between the work in Jerusalem and the work at the ends of the earth. 32 THE OBLIGATION It was all a part of one work, and yet, no one might remain in Jerusalem and still be loyal to Jesus Christ, if he were able to go abroad. The disciples understood clearly the commands of Christ and began to preach in Jerusalem, at the same time scattering themselves abroad, east, west, north, and south, bearing witness to what they had seen and knew. No question seems to have been raised among them as to whether there was not work enough in Jerusalem or whether the Jews and the Gentiles did not already have a reasonably good religion of their own with which they seemed amply satisfied. No question was raised as to whether it was wise to disturb them in their beliefs, for they had heard the command of the Master saying " go," " bear witness," " preach my Gospel to every creature," and the re- sponsibility for what should come rested no longer with them, but with Him who gave the command. He had confidently believed that it was better for the world that it should know His Gospel, and that was enough for the disciples. Paul, separated by the Holy Ghost for the labor whereunto he had been called, was sent forth into Asia Minor where the work developed under his preaching with great rapidity. Travelling upon his first journey in a small circle, he returned to Jeru- salem, and upon his second journey covering a part of the same territory, he found everything highly prosperous and the churches increasing in numbers daily. Suddenly in the midst of this most successful work they were forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. Dazed by this prohibition, Paul essayed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus permitted it not. All of Asia Minor was closed 33 THE UNFINISHED TASK to him, at the moment when everything seemed most favorable for the spread of the Gospel, and Paul and his companions pressed on by Mysia and, almost in consternation, came down to Troas. We can easily imagine the frame of mind of the mighty Paul as he saw his work suddenly terminated by the very Spirit that had called him into the service, until, while wait- ing in Troas, the vision of the man of Europe ap- peared to him and, catching then the larger vision of the Christ and the world character of the message he had to preach, he decided at once that he was called of God not simply to preach in Asia Minor, but to go to another continent and preach to the world. Here Paul, who was not with Christ upon the Mount of Ascension, conceived the world wide character of the religion of Jesus Christ and immedi- ately acted upon the new impulse. Thus the Gospel crossed to Europe and foreign missions were actually inaugurated. The religion of Jesus Christ is pre-eminently mis- sionary. There is no other word that so completely characteiizes it. It is easier to conceive of a landscape without color, life without action, music without har- mony, than it is to conceive of a Christianity as it was lived and taught by Christ and his disciples, which does not reach out for the redemption of all men. It is impossible to understand how one can be loyal to Jesus Christ whose name he bears and whom he professes before men to serve, and at the same time deny the obligation to do all in his power to evangelize the world. Loyalty demands this and will be satisfied with nothing less. We have then three fundamental reasons for evan- gelizing the world, from which it is impossible to escape : 34 THE OBLIGATION (i) The protection of our own Christian civiliza- tion; (2) The overwhelming need of the world and our ability to supply that need; (3) Loyalty to our profession of love to Jesus Christ. 35 THE EXTENT: MOHAMMEDAN AND NOM- INALLY CHRISTIAN COUNTRIES Ill THE extent: MOHAMMEDAN AND NOMINALLY CHRIS- TIAN COUNTRIES Much has already been done in the way of world evangelization. How much territory remains to be conquered? To what countries should forces and money be sent in order to accomplish the task to which we have set our hand? These are important questions, and upon the answers much depends. The time has passed when we can send missionaries at haphazard into any country that has appealed to our sympathies and into almost any foreign city to which our attention has been drawn, and be sure that we are carrying on the Lord's work in the best and most eflfective manner. To-day, at the beginning of the second century of the modern missionary move- ment, we can see that there has not been an equitable distribution of missionary forces. During the first century there has been much hasty entrance upon fields already fairly well occupied, while regions of vast proportions and densely populated, have been largely overlooked. Owing to the unequal distribution of the work, the impression may have been made that the unevangelized portions of the world have been pretty well covered already, and that it but remains for us to maintain the present forces on the ground until they accomplish the task that has been set for them to do. But the fact is far otherwise and those who are planning to go out as missionaries, as well 39 THE UNFINISHED TASK as the missionary societies themselves, in massing and directing their forces abroad, ought to know where the greatest needs are, that the unevangelized world may be adequately covered. We cannot, in the space at our disposal, present an exhaustive account of the condition in all countries and in every section of them. Our statements must be in a measure general, with only enough of the specific to make them more vivid. In round numbers there are in the world to-day not less than 1,200,000,000 people who are generally recognized as in need of positive evangelical Christian instruction. This popu- lation is distributed as follows: Area, sq. miles. Population. Mexico 767,000 13,600,000 Central America . . 208,000 4,800,000 South America. .. . 7,637,000 37,800,000 West Indies 90,000 5,000,000 Oceanica S9,ooo 1,000,000 Malaysia 943,000 43,000,000 Japan 161,000 46,700,000 Korea 82,000 12,000,000 China 1,532,000 407,300,000 Siam, etc , 220,000 9,000,000 Burma 236,000 10,400,000 India 1,530,000 283,900,000 Ceylon 25,000 3,500,000 Persia 628,000 9,500,000 Turkey 1,157,000 24,000,000 Africa 1 1,500,000 160,000,000 Madagasgar 224,000 3,000,000 Russia 8,660,000 143,000,000 Thibet 700,000 4,000,000 Others 30,000,000 1.251,500,000 40 THE EXTENT Russia, Mexico, South and Central America are included in this list since they are in as grave need of missionary work as almost any country in the world. Among this vast population of 1,200,000,000 souls, there are now at work about 17,000 missionaries from all Christian countries, including ordained and un- ordained men, wives, and single women. This means upon an average one missionary to every 70,600 peo- ple, or one ordained missionary to every 218,000. We find, however, that there are now some 80,000 native Christian workers of both sexes in these vari- ous countries, who, taken together with the mission- aries, constitute a trained native and foreign working force of about 97,000, or an average of one Christian worker to every 12,400 souls. This, at a glance looks like a fair number of trained workers for the numbers to be reached. We must remember however, that the larger proportion of these are women, and so are restricted to work for women and children. We must also not lose sight of the fact that many men are teachers, physicians, printers, and industrial workers. Again, we take cognizance of the fact that these Christian workers are not evenly distributed over the non-Christian world. In the list given, not one is accredited to Russia with its 143,000,000. In some cities like Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Tokyo, and Shanghai, there is already a good force with the num- ber of Christian workers well in excess of one to every 12,000 of the native population, while in other sections of the same countries there are, for vast populations, none at all. So much has been said arid written abojit the num- ber of missionaries already sent out and the stations now occupied in countries wholly pagan a century ago, that many have come to the conclusion that the mission territory is already efficiently occupied. It is 41 THE UNFINISHED TASK well for the student of missions to pause and con- sider briefly a few of the yet unoccupied sections of the world. The Russian Empire Hitherto Russia has not been catalogued among the mission countries of the world. As a nation it calls itself Christian, although the membership of the Or- thodox Russian Church includes only about four- sevenths of the population of the country. There are in the country about eight million Roman Catholics, largely in Poland, and half as many more who are called Protestants or non-Conformists. These latter include a great variety of beliefs and practices. In addition to these nominal Christian populations there are over 40,000,000 Mohammedans, Jews and other races, which make no profession of Christianity and are called "heathen" by the Russians. Recent his- tory has made it clear that the Russian Church is sadly destitute of vital Christianity and is in need of reformation, to say the least, and many leading Rus- sians, deeply conscious of this, urge the sending of missionaries to that country for the sake of the mem- bers of the State Church. Hitherto the country has been closed to general missionary operations. The British and Foreign Bible Society has had free access to the country and, through their efforts extending over the last century, the Bible in Russian, as well as in many of the other languages of the country, has been widely distrib- uted. The Young Men's Christian Association has also inaugurated work there, but no Christian mis- sionaries of any denominational society have been permitted to enter the country. Under the influence of the Word of God freely circulated, independent 42 THE EXTENT Christian sects have sprung up, some of them fan- tastic and extravagant, while others, like the Bap- tist Missionary Union in Russia, have affiliated writh well established denominations. All of these sects, however, have been more or less persecuted and have been compelled to hear themselves called " heretic " by the State Church. Until recently, no freedom had been accorded the Orthodox Russian to change his religion, while it was regarded a misdemeanor, if not a crime, even to preach to him a simple Gospel. Upon Easter day 1905, however, a decree of re- ligious toleration was issued by the Emperor, assur- ing every one of the subjects of the Russian Empire " freedom of faith and worship according to the dic- tates of his own conscience." This declaration was followed by a series of provisions for carrying out the decree of general religious liberty, including ques- tions covering the baptism of children, the erection and opening of places of worship, the conduct of religious schools, the rites of marriage, and many other questions bearing upon religious freedom in be- lief and action. For more than a year the decree has been in opera- tion and there are many indications that it is the pur- pose of the government to permit a measure of freedom in religious thought and worship. Baron Uxkull, a convert from the Greek church says : " Meetings are not disturbed. Protestant services can be held in private houses, halls, and church buildings, without let or hindrance; street preaching is prohibited. The government presents no obstacles. In Odessa an Or- thodox church building has recently been rented to Protestants for purposes of worship." The Baron af- firms that the Christian preacher can now go any- where in the Empire as a teacher of the Gospel of 43 THE UNFINISHED TASK Jesus Christ and be free from interference so long as he eschews politics and socialism and devotes himself purely to preaching the Gospel of repentance and conversion. Others give the same testimony. They tell us that the Russian pepple are prepared to listen to Gospel preaching, and that the members of the Old Church are the most eager of all to listen and the most ready to respond. Over 80,000,000 of the people speak and understand the Russian language while the remaining 60,000,000 speak a great variety of tongues, the most of the Russian speaking popula- tion being familiar with one or more language other than their own. This vast country, occupying one-seventh of the land surface of the globe and possessing nearly one- tenth of its population, now seems to be opening to the Christian missionary. Baron UxkuU has recently been in the United States pleading for help to Chris- tianize his country. A field is here being opened large enough to employ at least 1000 missionaries to organize and set in motion the evangelizing forces already existing in the country. This would mean only one missionary to every 140,000 of the popula- tion and, if half of them were women, as they should be, it would mean but one ordained missionary to every 280,000 of the people — surely not an extrava- gant number. This movement should be largely interdenomina- tional so as to present to the people of Russia, not a religion represented by conflicting sects, but a united front moving forward under one common Christian impulse. Here is a new mission field calling for re- cruits and promising large returns for treasure and life devoted to the cause. 44 THE EXTENT South America South America comprises more than one-half of the American Continent and contains nearly one-seventh of the land surface of the earth. It covers over 7,000,000 square miles, nearly all fertile land and rich in natural products and in minerals. It is stated upon what seems to be good authority, that at least 6,000,000 square miles of the area of the continent is suitable for occupation. This is double the area of the United States. Its coast is accessible to the world and the interior of great areas can be reached through its many rivers, some of them the greatest on earth. Its arable territory is not annually covered for months by the deep snows of severe winters, and its great mountain system is confined to the western coast line. No continent in the world presents so many physical features that promise more of prosperity and wealth in the future, than does South America, and there can be no doubt that this vast and rich country will some day be occupied by a population as dense as that of any other grand division of the globe. While its territory is about twice that of the United States it has only about half its population. The average density of population for the entire country is only about six to the square mile. Of the 37,800,000 in the country, nearly one-half are resi- dents in the United States of Brazil. The general impression prevails, in some quarters at least, that South America is entirely Roman Cath- olic, and therefore not a legitimate mission field for the Protestant churches. Rev. J. Rockwell Smith, D.D., of Brazil says : " The Romanism of Brazil, af- ter 400 years of almost undisputed possession, has left four-fifths of the population of the country unable to read and write and forty per cent, of the births are AS THE UNFINISHED TASK illegitimate." Rev. Alan Ewbank, missionary of the South American Missionary Society, declares that in that country there are hundreds of heathen tribes. One may start from the north, and go down through the continent to the southern extremity, and travel all the way in virtually heathen lands, among people who do not know who God is. The whole of the southern part of the continent except a fringe around the coast is heathen. He adds, " In one of the parts that is usually marked upon maps as Roman Catholic, we have a missionary at work with hundreds of miles of heathendom about him. In whichever direction he looks, he can go hundreds of miles among people who worship absolutely nothing at all. They do not even worship the Virgin Mary." Senor F. de Castells of the British and Foreign Bible Society writes, " The 16,000,000 of Brazil speak Portuguese. In the heart of South America the ma- jority of the inhabitants are pure Indians and a very large percentage still use their native dialects. In the extreme south there are also large numbers of unre- claimed Indians. South America is a priest-ridden continent without family life, given up to domestic anarchy, to religious bacchanals, to the worship of grotesque images, to the practice of pagan or semi- pagan rites, and to the control of a most profligate priesthood. To the present time, nearly 7,000,000 peo- ple in that country still adhere, more or less openly, to the superstitions and the fetichisms of their ances- tors, having never submitted to any Christian ordi- nance, while perhaps double that number live altogether beyond the reach of Christian influence, even if we take the word ' Christian ' at its broadest meaning." Although South America is so accessible to all coun- tries and especially to the United States, there are 46 THE EXTENT now only about 250 ordained Protestant missionaries with some 440 laymen, wives and single women work- ing for the evangeUzation of the country. This gives one missionary for every 55,000, or one ordained evangelical missionary for every 152,000 of the popu- lation. Since the people are scattered so widely over a great extent of territory, it is impossible for one missionary to supply the needs of as large a number as is possible in densely populated countries like China and India. Even with the dense population of India, the missionaries consider one ordained man and one woman necessary for every 50,000 people. With only this number for South America there would be a demand at once for 500 more missionaries, one-half of whom should be ordained. It is not too much to ask that for the sparce population of the country there should be no less than one ordained missionary and one woman for every 25,000, which would de- mand 1000 additional missionaries at once for that country. We will look a little more specifically at some of the immediate needs involved. Brazil has an area of 3,200,000 square miles, a little less than the entire continent of Europe. It has a population of 14,334,000 of which 4,638,000 are of mixed blood, 2,098,000 negroes and 1,296,000 Indians. The Indian element predominates in the northern states. Under the republic, equality between all forms of religions prevails, although the government is Ro- man CathoUc. Practically the whole effect of the teaching of the priests for centuries has been to obht- erate the inherent distinctions between right and wrong and to confuse the minds of the people upon the fundamental principles of ethics. There is no system of education worthy the name. Eighty-four 47 THE UNFINISHED TASK per cent, of the population are reported as illiterate. For the Christianization of this entire population there are only about 60 missionaries of both sexes working in the Republic, and over one-third of these are in the city of Rio de Janeiro, the capital, with a population of only one-twentieth of the Republic. This leaves for all the rest of that country, only one missionary worker to every 365,000 of the population, or one ordained man to about each million souls. Whole states have not even one missionary, or even an or- dained native preacher. Not a single city is adequately provided with Gospel privileges. A missionary editor estimates that of the 38,000,000 of South America, 34,000,000 are unevangelized and that the same can be said of fourteen out of every sixteen of the popu- lation of Brazil. Peru, another republic of South America, has an area of 696,000 square miles and a population esti- mated at 4,600,000, besides an unknown number of uncivilized Indians. One per cent, of its population is negro, fifty-eight per cent. Indian, twenty-six per cent, mixed, two per cent. Asiatics, and the rest are white. There is a certain amount of religious toler- ance, although the State church is Roman Catholic. The chief cities are Lima (100,000), Callao (16,000), Arequipa (35,000), Cuzco (20,000). The only Pro- testant work carried on in Peru up to the present time is that accomplished by the colporters of the American Bible Society. Bolivia, still another Republic, lying upon the coast north of Chili, includes an area of 567,000 square miles and has a population of 2,300,000. One million of these are Indians and 50,000 half breeds. La Paz the capital of the Republic has a population of about 65,000. Education is at a low stage. The Indians 48 THE EXTENT are pure pagan. This is the least developed of all of the South American republics. For the evangeliza- tion of all this people there are engaged only four men and six women missionaries, one worker for every 230,cxx3, or one man for every 575,000 souls. We do not need to dwell longer upon this subject to make it clear that in South America there exists at the present time a great need for new and enlarged missionary eflfort. This is indeed a neglected conti- nent to which the attention of the world must eventu- ally be turned. Its populations are bound to increase and the country itself is to have constantly enlarging commercial and colonial importance. As to the intel- lectual, moral, social, and spiritual needs even of the avowed and recognized Roman Catholics, there can be no question in the minds of those who understand the situation. But what can be said of those who eschew Catholicism as well as of the great number of pure pagans represented by native Indian tribes as well as Asiatics? It can safely be said that at least nine-tenths of the people of South America are un- evangelized and at the present time forces are not in operation to give to this needy nine-tenths an adequate opportunity to become the true followers of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Mohammedans Since Islam occupies a position unique among the non-Christian religions, especially in relation to mis- sionary effort, we will here digress for a moment to consider the present claims of this religion upon the Christian world. No other religion offers the same obstacles or pre- sents the same demands. Its origin was partly an attempt to reform some of the evils of an effete Chris- 49 THE UNFINISHED TASK / tianity and it possesses in its teachings many of the. fundamental truths of our own reUgion. It is pre- eminently a missionary religion, is vigorously extend- ing its sway among heathen tribes, as in Africa, and also aspires to political control, dominating countries like Turkey, Persia, and Morocco, with a Mohammedan government. History has clearly demonstrated that Mohammedanism rests like a blight upon every coun- try, race, or individual that it masters. Its funda- mental principles are averse to general education, to the advancement of women, to the adoption of modern methods of government, to purity in society or in the family life, as well as to true piety. There is abundant evidence for these statements in the life of every Mohammedan tribe, race or country. There are, with- out doubt, noble exceptions, in the old Mohammedan races, that have risen above the evil influences that surround them, but these cases are so exceptional that they attract attention and, by their marked contrast to the lives of those about them, demonstrate with unan- swerable proof, the general rule that Islam, in its prac- tice, degrades and corrupts. It is conservatively estimated that there are no less than 230,000,000 Mohammedans in the world at the present time, and the number is continually upon the increase. 135,000,000 of these are in Asia, 60,000,000 in Africa and about 6,000,000 in Europe. 32,000,000 are under heathen governments, as in China and Africa, 44,000,000 under Moslem rulers, of which 18,000,000 are under the Sultan of Turkey, and 124,000,000 are under the rule or protection of Christian governments, as in India, Egypt, Tripoli, Russia, etc. There is no class of people to which missionaries are sent who are so bigoted and hard to reach as the followers of Islam. The very elements of divine truth, of which there is SO THE EXTENT much in their belief, seem to constitute barriers hard, if not impossible, to overcome. For this reason little, up to the present time, has actually been accomplished for these people, as it has been easier to gain a foot- hold and secure a sympathetic hearing among purely pagan races, than to obtain access to the minds and hearts of Moslems. Furthermore, the tendency and too often the practice of the countries ruled by Mohammedans, to make the conversion of a Moslem to Christianity a capital offense, has been so persist- ent that missionaries have been discouraged in their efforts to preach to them the Gospel of repentance and belief. Not until the first half of the last century, and that only in a most limited measure, have Mohammedans witnessed the practice of true Christianity. Up to the beginning of modern Missions, Moslems in Syria, Egypt, Armenia, Asia Minqr, Persia, Russia and Europe, as well as elsewhere, have seen only a corrupt and formal Christianity which offered no attractions, and confirmed them in their belief that the faith of Islam is superior to Christianity, so that the Moham- medans of the world have never yet had a fair chance to know Jesus Christ as their Redeemer and Lord and to become His true disciples. There is little missionary work carried on directly for the 230,000,000 Mohammedans in the world. A mere handful of missionaries have been sent out to work especially for and among Mohammedans. In Turkey there are 400 missonaries, but many of these do not speak any of the languages spoken by the Moslems, and all have special work for other races, such as the Jews, Syrians, Armenians, and Greeks. Not a single missionary speaks the language of the Kurds, a hardy, virile race, who number several mil- 51 THE UNFINISHED TASK lions and occupy the mountains that shelter the upper waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, extending into Russia, Persia, Asia Minor, and Mesopotamia. No missionary knows the language of the Albanians, another Moslem race dwelling among the mountains between Macedonia and the Adriatic Sea. Yet the Albanians number some 2,000,000 and have provided the Turkish government with some of its ablest and highest civil officers and military leaders. Through- out the Turkish Empire there are only two mission- aries commissioned to work directly for the Moham- medans. Arabia is largely under the nominal rule of the Sultan of Turkey. Its population numbers about 8,000,000 covering 1,000,000 square miles. Rev. S. M. Zwemer, D.D., F.R.G.S., says : " The present mis- sionary force in Arabia is utterly inadequate to supply the needs even of that portion of the field which they have occupied. There are only four points on a coast of 4,000 miles, where there are missionaries. There is not a single missionary over ten miles inland from the coast. No missionary has ever crossed the penin- sula in either direction." There are to-day, less than twelve missionaries for the conversion of a popula- tion of 8,000,000. In the two vilayets of Bagdad and Busrah there are two mission stations. Yet even here nothing has thus far been done for more than 1,000,000 Bedouins. Over 20 large towns and cities are acces- sible and yet there is not a missionary for any one of them. The North African Mohammedan states, Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, lie almost at our very door. These countries are variously governed and pro- tected and cover together an area of 750,000 square miles containing a population of about 13,000,000. 52 THE EXTENT There is a little missionary work done in each one of these countries, but mostly for the Jews who comprise a minor part of the inhabitants. Almost nothing is done for the great mass of Mohammedans. Morocco, the largest of the states, is under a Moslem Sultan, and comprises nearly one-half of the aggregate population of the four states named. In the Moslem mind, Mo- rocco ranks next to Arabia as an orthodox country, and the Sultan-Sharif is to the Western Mohammed- ans what the Sultan of Turkey is to those in the East. In this country medical work has proven itself to be an especially effective means of access to the people. Without mentioning in detail the different Moham- medan countries in which little has yet been done for any class of people and even less for the Moslems, we reproduce the table, prepared by Dr. Zwemer, showing the large regions still wholly unoccupied by missionaries who have the conversion of the Moslems in view. Moslem Population. Afghanistan 4,000,000 Baluchistan 500,000 Sulu Archipelago and Mindanao. . 250,000 Southern Persia 3,000,000 Southern, Western and Central Arabia 3,qoo,ooo Egyptian Soudan 10,400,000 Bornu (Lake Tsad) 5,000,000 Wadai (Central Africa) 2,600,000 Baghirmi (Central Africa) 1,500,000 Sokoto and feudatory states 14,000,000 Sahara and French Soudan 10,000,000 Bokhara region 2,500,000 Russia in Caucasus 2,000,000 Khiva 700,000 S3 THE UNFINISHED TASK Moslem Population. Russia in Central Asia 3,000,000 Siberia, East and West 6,100,000 China (unreached sections) 10,000,000 Estimated total of wholly un- 78,550,000 reached Moslem populations. This constitutes over one-third, of the entire Mo- hammedan world. Owing to the aggressiveness of the Mohammedans there is the greater need that Christians move at once and in force. Islam is increasing in numbers in India, Burma, the Malay Archipelago and especially in West Africa, Uganda, the Congo Free States, the Soudan, and Northern Abyssinia. In Burma the census shows an increase of Moslems of thirty-three per cent, in the last decade. Pastor Wtirtz of the Basel Mission, in a recent pamphlet sounds the alarm of a " Mohammedan Peril " to the native church as well as to many pagan districts in West Africa. The situation on the Gold Coast is alarming. In one village a native preacher and his entire congregation went over to Islam. The Rhenish Mission in Sumatra has resolved that its chief task now is " to occupy, in time, those heathen dis- tricts which are in danger of falling into the hands of Islam." At a conference held in Cairo, Egypt, in April 1906, at which 60 delegates were present from missions in Moslem lands, representing several different foreign Mission Boards and organizations, after discussing the religious situation and needs of these various countries, the following action was taken: " The great needs of more than two hundred million Mohanwnedans and the present problems of work 54 THE EXTENT among them, laid upon the hearts of missionaries in several countries, led to the assembling of this Confer- ence of delegates from missions in Moslem lands, which has been sitting at Cairo from the 4th to the 9th of April, 1906. . " We have been presented with a series of compre- hensive reviews of the whole Mohammedan world, of its ethnic, social, religious and intellectual conditions, of missionary work thus far accomplished, and of the tasks and problems still presented by it to the Christian church; we have considered, though too briefly, some of the chief methods of missionary work among Mo- hammedans in preaching, literature, medicine, and up- building of converts. " These outstanding facts as to the great needs of the Mohammedan world, the first fruits of its evan- gelization, and the openings for a great advance in bringing the Gospel to Moslems, have been borne in upon us as a strong call from God to His Church in the present day. Coming from many Mohammedan and Christian lands, and dealing with varied aspects of Islam, we unitedly and urgently call upon the Christian church, as represented by her missionary agencies, for a fresh departure in the energy and ef- fectiveness of her work among Mohammedans. We ask that it may be strengthened and promoted, ( i ) by setting apart more special laborers and by giving them a specialized training; (2) by organizing more effi- ciently the production and distribution of literature for Mohammedans; (3) by systematic common ar- rangement for the fresh occupation of important cen- tres, and the more effective working of those already occupied, and for forestalling the entrance of Islam into territories, so far, pagan." Dr. George Adam Smith says " the great work to 55 THE UNFINISHED TASK which the providence of God summons the church in the second century of Modern Missions, is that of evangelizing the Mohammedans." To the shame of Christendom, the field is almost a new one and prac- tically unoccupied. These facts are sufficient to demonstrate that for this generation there is an abundant field for mission- ary effort and sacrifice. Not less than 200,000,000 fol- lowers of Mohammed are now living in regions re- mote from all Gospel privileges and with no hope of ever hearing of Jesus Christ unless a new and decided advance is made in the form of a largely increased number of volunteers backed by new and generous gifts of money. 96 THE EXTENT: HEATHEN COUNTRIES IV THE EXTENT : HEATHEN COUNTRIES Africa. The population of Africa is variously estimated to be from one hundred and forty to one hundred and sixty-five millions. Next to India, it has the largest missionary force, and in proportion to its population is, with the exception of China, the best supplied of any of the great missionary fields. Assuming that the population is about 160,000,000, there is an or- dained missionary for every 133,000. Like India, the southern part of Africa is by far the best provided for. In Cape Colony, Cape Town, and Natal, the missionary Boards have concentrated their forces. The representatives of these Boards together with the Christian workers connected with independent institu- tions occupy this section of the country in force, al- though there are even here great regions filled by native populations for which' little or no Christian work is being done. Including the ordained missionaries, wives, and sin- gle women, there are about 3,200 missionaries now working in the great Dark Continent. Much has been accomplished in this country, yet there is to-day hardly a mission station that is not contiguous to unoccupied territory, and each of these stations is face to face with the problem as to how, with its present force and means, it can maintain the work already established, and respond to the urgent needs that encompass it on S9 THE UNFINISHED TASK every side. Often these unoccupied fields extend into enormous blocks of territory in populous regions which are as yet wholly untouched by missionary influ- ence. Professor Wilson S. Naylor gives some interesting facts from which we draw. In Portuguese East Af- rica, south of the Zambezi River, there is an irregular territory averaging 200 miles in width and 500 in length without a missionary. North of the Zambezi and also in Portuguese territory, lies another block 300 miles wide by 500 long, without a missionary. Then, starting from Tete, on the Zambezi, and ex- tending westward far within the Congo basin, there is a stretch of country 300 miles wide by 1500 long, with no missionary. In the very heart of the conti- nent, a region bounded on the west by a line through Luebo, on the Kassai River of the Congo basin, on the east by a line beyond the great lakes, on the north by one through the center of the Victoria Nyanza and on the south by the southern end of Lake Tangan- yika, offers a field 600 miles wide by 1,200 long, with- out a missionary. In the central Soudan, one of the most densely pop- ulated portions of Africa, are great states comprising a territory larger than the states of New York, Wiscon- sin, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky, Montana, Nevada, Col- orado, Kansas, and Oklahoma, with only a handful of missionaries. Taking the parallel of latitude that would touch the northern bend of the Niger as the northern limit and another that would touch the north- ern bend of the Congo as the southern limit, and mod- ifying these boundaries at either side of the continent so as to omit the mission stations on the West Coast and on the upper courses of the Nile, we find a terri- tory about equal to that of the United States and far 60 THE EXTENT more densely populated, with hardly a dozen represent- atives of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Since the establishment of a station by the United Presbyterians of America, and another by the Church Missionary Society and the United Soudan Mission, this territory is about in the same condition that the United States with its 85,000,000 of people would be, with one small group of missionaries in Maine and another in Texas with no Gospel influence between. One taking his stand at the north bend of the Congo with his back to the southern portion of the continent and looking toward the horizon east, northeast, north, northwest, and west, would have one-half of the con- tinent and more than one-half of its population in the line of his vision, with not a single mission station in- tercepting. If all of Africa and its population were divided equally among the present force of African mission- aries, each would have a parish of 3,600 square miles and 50,000 souls. A similar division among the native workers would give each one a parish of 700 square miles and 8500 people. Various reasons are given why these regions have not been occupied hitherto. First, the opposition of the coast tribes. These claimed the privilege of being middlemen between the white traders and the natives of the interior, exacting a " commission " on all trading activities and making every effort to prevent the white man from going into the interior, lest his influence and direct contact should cut off their source of in- come. Second, governmental opposition. The Portuguese government, within their sphere of influence, have naturally favored Roman Catholic Missions and have thrown many hindrances in the way o5 Protestant 61 THE UNFINISHED TASK work. Portuguese officials have often been openly hostile. The same reason is given for the lack of progress in the Congo Free States. The Treaty of Berlin which constituted the Congo State, requires that religious liberty shall be granted throughout the country, but while the government professes to deal impartially with all sects and societies, a government ruling made some years ago permits no new station in territory already occupied. The plea is constantly oflfered by the officials, that wherever the Protestant missionary seeks to enter, Roman Catholic mission- aries already occupy the territory. Under cover of this plea no new stations in that country have been permitted for many years. The French possessions in Africa are considered by some to be even more diffi- cult for Protestants to enter, because of the partiality of the French government toward Catholics. This accounts in a measure for the fact that the French possessions are largely without Protestant mission- aries. Third, the Soudan is unoccupied by Protestant forces, partly at least, because this region has but recently been opened to unrestricted foreign communi- cation. Africa east of the great lakes is unoccupied partly because of the greater attraction of the lakes be- yond. Missionaries have constantly passed beyond the coast region into the interior and to-day find it difficult to reach these coastal natives, whom the traders have diligently cultivated and corrupted. These deterrent influences have for a time kept back the missionary, but there is no reason why they should continue to do so; none of them are sufficient for allowing the vast population of Africa to remain without an opportunity to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The truth re- mains that the fundamental reason for the unoccupied 62 THE EXTENT fields of Africa is the lack of men and money to man the field and extend the work. India Virtually, India is a continent. It covers an area of about a million and a half square miles, which is equal to about one-third of the size of Europe. Its popula- tion, about 294,000,000, which is nearly one-fifth of the population of the world, is more than twice that of North and South America combined, although its ter- ritory is only about half that of the United States. Of the entire population, nearly 3,000,000, or about one per cent., are registered as Christian. Working for this population of India there are about 1,500 ordained foreign missionaries, a proportion larger than that in any other country and comprising one-fifth of the ordained missionary force of the entire world. In addition there are nearly 500 unordained men and 1300 single women. All told, in the Empire, there are over 4,300 missionaries, including wives and single women, that is, almost one-fourth of the total world missionary force. In spite of this, which would seem to imply an adequate occupation of the field, there is but one missionary worker for nearly 70,000 people and only one ordained missionary for every quarter of a million. Two-thirds of the Christian population of India are to be found in the Madras Presidency and the Native States connected with it, and more than one-half of the Christians of India are in the Tamil and Malay- alam speaking districts, including the Madras Presi- dency. In spite of the fact that in this district 2,000,000, out of a total population of 42,000,000, are Christian, there are large areas entirely destitute of a Christian worker or even of a Christian believer. 63 THE UNFINISHED TASK In the Bombay Presidency with a population of 25,000,000 there are 219,000 Christians and yet the government census shows that there are more than thirty provinces or taluks, each containing a popula- tion of over 50,000, without a single Christian and unoccupied by any mission. In Sindh, with a popula- tion of over 3,000,000, no Mission Board whatever is making any effort. Cutch, with a population of half a million, has no missionary and only one native Christian worker. In Bengal, where there are more people than in all South America, of the 278,000 Christians of all denomina- tions, about half are found in one district. In the district of Bihar, among a population of 21,000,000, there are only a little over 4,000 native Christians, with foreign missonaries at the ratio of one to one million. A missionary writes " Quite half the pro- vince has never even heard the sound of the Gospel." In North Bengal there is only one ordained mis- sionary to every two millions of the population. In the five native states under Chutia Nagpur, with a total population of 583,000, there has never been a native Christian worker or evangelist. Bogra with nearly one million population has no missionary. A mission- ary writes that there are at least half a million people in that district that have never heard the Gospel. A missionary from Allahabad reports that in the Tehri Garhwal state there are 2456 villages with but 13 Christians and no missionary work in the whole dis- trict. In the Gorakhpur division, four large districts with nearly two millions of people are without a single resi- dent Christian worker. The superintendent of the only mission working in the Moradabad district, which is one of the most fully occupied in the province of Oudh, 64 THE EXTENT writes that, with the present force, only about one- fourth of the non-Christian element of the district can be reached. There are two thousand villages of that district untouched by the Gospel agencies now at work. The same writer says that there are fifty thousand vil- lages of one hundred and five thousand in the Provinces in which the Gospel has not been preached for a year past, and in many thousands of villages has never been preached at all. In the Punjab the same destitution prevails as in the Central Provinces. Among the largest of the Central Indian States is Gwalior which has from two to three millions who are entirely beyond the reach of the Gospel as it is now preached. Kashmir with three millions of souls has, all told, only 200 native Chris- tians. Another missionary writes that from Karachi, in the district of Haidarabad, one must travel 350 miles in a direct line due East before reaching another mission station. Northwest from Haidarabad one would need to travel 500 miles before arriving with- in the sphere of another Mission Board. Along the south bank of the Sutlej River in the populous state of Bahawalpur there is no resident missionary, al- though it is on the main line of the railway to the Punjab. There are three and a half millions of people in that district of whom not one-tenth can be reached by the existing method of evangelistic work. A missionary writing from India says : " As I write, I lift my eyes and without rising from my chair, I see, separated from us only by the Indus River, a town of 9,500. Travel northwest only 20 miles by road and you will arrive at Shikarpur and be in the midst of 50,000 people. Travel on 10 miles thence and you will be in another town of 6,500. Or, start from Sukkur by rail, journey about two and a half 65 THE UNFINISHED TASK hours and you will be in the garden of Sindh, in- habited by 14,500, all hiding themselves from the pres- ence of the Lord God." The whole area of the dis- trict is 8,000 square miles, and the population is 1,018,000, and in it all there is neither mission school nor Christian institution of any kind. This is enough to indicate that there are in India vast unoccupied and needy fields which cannot be reached in this generation by existing forces. It is estimated by missionaries on the ground that after fully allowing for the utmost increase in the existing missionary agencies, there are in India one hundred millions of people who cannot hear the Gospel message in their lifetime. At the Decennial Missionary Conference held in Madras in" 1902, representing all the Evangelical Mis- sions working in India, the combined missions gave utterance to the following opinion regarding the need of a larger missionary force for India: " There is scarcely a part of India which is not now accessible to wise,, patient and zealous missionary effort. . . . Although modern missionaries have been at work in India for more than a century, the fact remains that the number of foreign missionaries at present engaged in the work is not only wholly in- adequate to enable them to avail themselves of the opportunities that press upon them, but also far below what the resources of the Christian church can well afford to maintain. The body of foreign missionaries and native preachers at present at work is deplorably inadequate for the regular visitation of even a small proportion of the inhabitants, and the majority of vil- lages are not regularly visited at all. " It is thought to be anything but an extravagant estimate of the needs of the country, if we ask that 66 THE EXTENT there be one male and one female missionary for every 50,000 of the population. This would mean the doubling of our present numbers. Since there are now nearly 5,000 foreign missionaries in the Empire, if this most deliberate request were complied with, it would mean the addition of 7,000 new foreign mis- sionaries to the present working force." China The Chinese Empire covers a territory about one- eleventh less than that of all Europe except Russia. It is more than one-third as large as Africa, equalling in area that of the United States. China proper is about one and a half times the size of that part of the United States lying east of the Mississippi River and as large as ten United Kingdoms. It is the most pop- ulous country in the world, having an average popula- tion of 272 to the square mile, India having a popula- tion of only 214 to the square mile. It is also the largest empire of the world except England and Russia. Dr. Arthur H. Smith says, " The first impression which the traveller receives on visiting China is the vast numbers of its people. The teeming millions ap- pear like a hive of bees, like a nest of ants, like a swarm of insects in the air. We have already refer- red to the various guesses at the possible population of the Empire, and there is no reason why, if that figure is insisted upon, we may not consent to the es- timate of four hundred millions as a total. But these words convey no definite idea to any mind, and are much less efficient than a computation of the inhab- itants to a square mile, which vary from a relatively small number in the mountains and sparsely settled regions, up to five hundred, eight hundred, and in 67 THE UNFINISHED TASK some exceptional districts perhaps more than twt» thousand. A part of the great plain of China is cer- tainly one of the most densely populated sections of the planet, a fact which has important bearings on many of the problems which concern the future of the empire. This incomputable number of human beings are related to one another in a way elsewhere unex- ampled." This is without question the most important mis- sionary country to-day, both because of its great size and population, as well as of the place it is rapidly assuming in the political and commercial world. China is advancing to the front with great rapidity and is just beginning to be conscious of her strength. It has a great centralized government made up in large part of a people with marked racial character- istics and possessing unusual ability in many different directions. Already a strong empire, daily discover- ing new sources of power within herself, the influence of this vast country will be felt in increasing measure in commercial, industrial, intellectual, and political life of the future. The Christian world must decide whether or not China's coming power shall be ani- mated by the teachings of Jesus Christ. The inhabitants of the country are variously esti- mated at from 350,000,000 to 437,000,000. Perhaps it will be fair to regard 400,000,000 as about the popu- lation of the Empire. This vast concourse of people is scattered over an area of some 4,277,000 square miles. For these 400,000,000 distributed throughout China proper and her dependencies, there are now at work about 864 ordained foreign Protestant missionaries with about 740 unordained men, 1148 wives and 1081 unmarried women, making a total of about 3,833 68 THE EXTENT Protestant foreign Christian missionaries in the entire country. This affords an average of one foreign worker to every 1,120 square miles, or to every 104,000 Chinese. Or it gives one ordained missionary for every 5,000 square miles, or to every 463,000 Chinese. But investigation shows that 63 of these mis- sionaries are located in the city of Canton, 67 in Peking, 70 in Foochow, and 136 in Shanghai, thus concentrating 336 of the missionary force in four cities of the Empire. It is safe to estimate that this nearly one-tenth of the foreign missionary force in China reach directly or indirectly less than 10,000,000 of China's population, leaving all the rest of that vast Empire to be evangelized by the remaining nine-tenths. These four cities have not all the missionary force they require, for each one is calling for reinforcements. If the needs there are so great, what must we say for the 390,000,000 souls dwelling in the largely unreached portions of the interior provinces ? Prof. H. P. Beach tells us that missionaries reside in only 405 different cities, towns and villages, of which 306 are walled cities. As there are over 1,000 walled cities in the Em- pire, we readily see at a glance the great proportion still unreached. The largest number of missionaries in any province are in Kiangsu which, with a population of 13,980,235,^ has 375 missionaries, or about one to over 37,000 people. Shantung, with 38,247,900, has one missionary to every 140,000 Chinese. Hunan, with a population of 22,169,673, has one missionary to over 170,000. Hupei, with a population of 35,280,685, has one missionary to every 168,000, while Honan Province, with a population of 35,316,800, has only one missionary for every 392,000. » These figures of population are taken from the Statesman's Year Book. 69 THE UNFINISHED TASK When we remember that under the head of "mis- sionary" we have here numbered ordained, unor- dained, wives, and single women, it is made doubly manifest how utterly inadequate is this number of missionaries for the evangelization of China. In the Province of Shen-si, out of 88 walled cities with a population of 8,450,000 only two of the cities are yet occupied. Another province with 56 walled cities has missionaries in but two of them. Nine other provinces are reported to be equally unsupplied. These figures are sufficient to make it clear that China is woefully destitute of a sufficient missionary force to win that land for Christ in this generation, or in any generation. Only a beginning has been made; it remains for us to possess the land. A Chinese Christian in the " Missionary Review of the World," writing upon the subject of " Obstacles to Christian Missions in China," places as one of these obstacles " The Paucity of Workers." Upon this sub- ject he says : " When it is remembered that for every year of evangelistic effort in China there have been at least a hundred years of idolatry and ignorance, for every church or chapel there are hundreds of temples and monasteries, for every missionary there are thou- sands of bonzes or priests, and for every convert thou- ands of idolaters, the Christian Church in Europe and America might well stand appalled, and, in their de- spair, exclaim that China is a veritable Gibraltar, the reduction of which is only possible by enlisting an army greater than what the world has ever seen or read of." If China were to be supplied with missionaries in proportion to the call that has come from India, namely, one man and one woman for every 50,000 of the inhabitants, we would need for China, in order to 70 THE EXTENT occupy the field, 16,000 foreign missionaries, or an in- crease of 13,000 new workers. At the Nashville Student Volunteer Convention, the Mission Boards of North America called for 1,000 new missionaries each year for the entire world and many thought the call extravagant. Yet in the face of the appalling needs of this one Empire alone, even such a call seems most inadequate, and in the face of the needs of the whole world, it seems but playing at missions. Tibet Tibet is called one of the integral parts of the Chinese Empire. This country, of which so little is known, occupies a high tableland between the Kwen- lun mountains on the north and the Himalayas upon the south, covering an area of about 650,000 square miles and with a population estimated at 6,000,000. While nominally under a high commissioner appointed by the Peking Government, the government is actually in the hands of priests or Lamas, who have per- sistently combined to keep all foreigners out of the country so as to maintain the power they possess over the people. Lhasa, the capital, a city of some 60,000, was visited by an Englishman in 181 1, but from that time until 1905, no foreigners have been permitted to penetrate so far into the country. In 1895 complica- tions arose between the British Government and the governor of Tibet and an English expedition pene- trated to the very capital and published reports of their observations and discoveries. Various attempts have been made by the Roman Catholics to send their missionaries into the country, but in every instance they have failed. At the present time the Moravian Brethren occupy three stations in what is called little Tibet upon the border, whence they 71 THE UNFINISHED TASK are ready to penetrate into the forbidden territory as soon as the way opens, though every effort upon their part to do so has hitherto proven ineffectual. These three stations, which will be a point of departure when the doors of Tibet proper swing open, have a mission- ary force of some twenty souls, a number wholly in- sufficient to meet the needs of a country of that size with a population of 6,000,000. If all are able to enter at once it will constitute a missionary force of only one person to every 300,000 or one man to about 700,000. Tibet alone should command a missionary force of not less than 100 ordained men, with an equal number of single women, to enter the land as soon as the way is open. There are many indications that that day is not now far distant. French Indo China French Indo China, with an area of about 256,000 square miles and a population of about 18,230,000, consists of five states, Annam, Cambodia, Cochin- China, Tongking and Laos. The whole country is under a governor-general and each of the states has at its head a functionary bearing the title of Resident- Superior or Lieutenant-Governor, according as the state is a Protectorate or a direct French Colony. Annam is a Kingdom under a protectorate, occupy- ing the most of the eastern portion of the Indo-China peninsula east of Siam and south of Burma. It covers 30,000 square miles of mountainous country and has a population numbering 6,124,000. The country produces an abundance of rice, sugar, spices, and tropical fruits. The people, generally a quiet and inoffensive race, are somewhat akin to the Chinese in language and in many of their customs, but they THE EXTENT also partake of many of the Malay characteristics and evidently form a link between the Malay and the Mon- golian races. Their native religions are Buddhism, Confucianism and Spiritism. There are no Protestant missionaries in the country. Cambodia lies south of Siam and includes princi- pally the valley of the Cambodia River, one of the most fertile regions of southern Asia. It covers an area of 37,000 square miles, possessing a population of 1,103,000, composed of Malays, Chinese, Annamites, and several indigenous races. There are no Protes- tant missionaries in the country. Cochin-China with an area of about 22,000 square miles, lies east and south of Cambodia. It has a pop- ulation of 2,969,000 composed of Annamites, Cam- bodians, and Chinese, with some Malays and Indians. For the most part the people are Buddhists, with a considerable number of demon worshippers and a few Mohammedans. The country's great product is rice, of which much is exported to China. There are no Protestant missions in the country. Tongking lies between the Chinese provinces of Kwangtung and Yunnan on the north and Annam on the south and west. It is divided into fourteen prov- inces with an area of 46,400 square miles and an esti- mated population of 10,000,000. Hanoi, the chief city, an aggregate of many villages, has a population of 150,000. No protestant missionary work is carried on among this people. Laos contains 98,000 square miles. The northern limits of the Laos tribes have not yet been fixed but they are said to form the majority of the population as far north as the southern part of the Chinese prov- ince of Yun-nan. The soil is fertile, producing rice, cotton, indigo, totracco, and fruits, and bearing teak 73 THE UNFINISHED TASK forests from which the logs are floated down the Me- kong to Saigon. Gold, tin, lead, and precious stones are found. The natives do not welcome foreigners and the country is well nigh inaccessible. The people of the Shan stock are called by the Siamese the Lao people, called by the French, Laos. The origin of this people is clothed in mystery, though there is a theory that they were the aborigines and, being crowded into the mountains by the Chinese when they appeared, were given the name, Shan (mountain). They call themselves " Tai " which means free. These Shan or Laos races are variously estimated at from five to ten millions, though their northern regions have not yet been explored. They have overflowed into Eastern Burma; they have followed the eastern valleys and become the Siamese and Cambodians, and have also frequently mingled with other mountain races of quite a different stock. In bearing they are manly and have considerable pride of race. Missionary work among the Laos of Siam has been carried on successfully by the American Presbyterian Board since 1867. Apart from this one mission, no other Protestant work is carried on for this sturdy people. In all of the states of French Indo China consider- able mission work is done by the Roman Catholics, It is due in some measure to their opposition that Protestant societies have gained so little fodthold in the large population numbering from twenty-seven to thirty millions. Another and probably the true reason for not entering this country is that there have been so many inviting fields more open to the missionary and more easy of access, that those equally needy races have been almost entirely neglected. 74 THE EXTENT Conclusion As was stated at the outset, only the briefest survey has been given of the unevangelized portions of the world. There are other regions possessing each a population of from 500,000 to several millions in which no missionary is at work to-day and where the people are living and dying without God and without hope in the world. This survey is ample to demon- strate the fact that there is still a crying need for more men and more money in order to bring to these people the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. There are undoubtedly to-day living in the grossest sin, and even savagery, remote from any form of Christian in- struction and shut away from every ray of Christian hope, not less than 600,000,000 human beings, great numbers of whom would quickly respond were one sent to carry the message. " How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How shall they beUeve in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent ? " We might add to this inexor- able logic of Paul, "How shall men be sent if there are not men ready to go ? " 75 OBSTACLES TO BE OVERCOME y OBSTACLES TO BE OVERCOME The evangelization of the world is not an easy task. The ef3fort would not and should not command the devotion of so many able and consecrated men and women, if the work to be done and the difficulties to be overcome were not such as to demand unusual strength of body, mind, and faith. In the past, occa- sionally, young people have entered upon foreign mis- sionary work without giving due consideration to the difficulties and hardships they were to confront. These have sometimes given up in discouragement when face to face with the practical problems in the field. The great majority of foreign missionaries, however, have confronted these conditions with calmness and determination and have won in the conflict. The missionary movement is in a large measure a campaign of conquest ; not of arms, but of righteous- ness and of life. A commander of an army who should start upon a campaign of the most vital impor- tance without first considering the hardships, perils, difficulties, and cost of such an expedition, would be wholly unworthy of his position. The chances are that his efforts would ignominiously fail. In the Christian conquest of the world it is well to weigh carefully the many difficulties that confront the missionaries in various lands, in order that the cam- paign may be wisely planned and also that no one 79 THE UNFINISHED TASK enlist in the service who is not ready to meet and overcome all obstacles. These things are simple facts that must be considered for two reasons: First, that those who give themselves to missionary work may know from the outset what is to be met and overcome, and Second, that we may properly judge of the progress the work has already made. Hindrances, difficulties and even hostilities con- front, in some measure, every missionary in the for- eign field, although they do not exist in the same de- gree in all countries, nor are all of them found in any one country. Let no one think that here are enumer- ated all of the difficulties he will be called upon to face in his missionary experiences, if he enters upon that work. Those mentioned are largely general and have existed from the beginning in a marked degree in most mission countries. Happily many of these diffi- culties are less to-day than they were a century ago. I. Hostile Climates In all tropical countries the climate is hostile to the white man. There are some temperaments that cannot endure continuous heat, and many a missionary who set out in apparently excellent health has been compelled to give up and come home, while others have laid down their lives in their endeavor to con- quer. In the attempt to open certain sections of Africa, sometimes entire mission stations have suc- cumbed to the severity of the climate with its attend- ant tropical diseases. In not a few of those stations to-day there are many more missionary graves than there are living missionaries to carry on the work, and some of the early stations have had to be abandoned for others in more healthful localities. 80 OBSTACLES TO BE OVERCOME Few missionaries can expect to have the same vigor and maintain the same mental and physical activity in a tropical country as at home. It is impossible to prevent occasional fever with malaria. The mission- aries are and must be surrounded at times by plague, smallpox, cholera, and other tropical diseases, nor with every legitimate precaution, can they fail occasion- ally to suffer from these diseases. A missionary in India, well-known to the writer, had cholera three times one season. He is still one of India's most vigorous workers. His father also a missionary, died of the same disease that year. While this chapter is in preparation, a letter is received from a young mis- sionary in Armenia who writes of her recovery from smallpox. During the term of severest heat it is impossible for the missionary to remain each year in the low dis- tricts and continue his various forms of activity. The heat compels a temporary withdrawal to some elevated position. In a less measure the natives are affected by these tropical conditions. The unsanitary and hostile conditions of the tropics present a most serious obsta- cle to the prosecution of missionary operations in those countries, yet the progress made in overcoming them has been marked and substantial. 2. Barriers Maintained by Language Probably there exists no more formidable barrier to the progress of missionary work than that most natural and ever present difficulty, the vernacular languages. The first step in the Christian conquest of any land is the conquest of its language. This barrier must first be converted into the very agent by which the country is to be evangehzed, for the THE UNFINISHED TASK conquest of the language must precede the conver- sion of the individual speaking it. This difficulty was greatest when many of these tongues were not yet reduced to writing. Since that has been accomplished, it now remains only for the missionary to conquer for himself the language spoken by the people. Such a conquest involves cultivating the ear to discriminate the various sounds of the language and to interpret those sounds into thought. At the same time the tongue must be trained to utter the same sounds and use them to convey thought to others. It is possible for one to understand a language quite readily and not be able to use it himself. It is one process to train the ear, and quite a different process to train the tongue. Both must be educated to ac- curacy and precision. It is also essential that the eye be trained so that the written language of the people shall speak and be made to speak. This threefold process of learning a language may not be very difficult in a tongue like the Spanish and modern Greek, but in a language like the Chinese where some S,ooo distinct characters, signs and sounds demand mastery before the missionary can be said to have made a fair beginning, one is almost appalled at the task. These languages have also their various dialects and complicated idioms which make the task much more difficult. When the difficulties of the language barriers are abstractly considered it seems that they are almost sufficient of themselves in some countries to prevent the success of missionary work. Yet the miracle of Pentecost is repeated to-day many fold throughout the world, and millions of people of hundreds of tongues hear the Gospel preached in the language in which they were born. 82 OBSTACLES TO BE OVERCOME Captain Brinkley, the editor of the " Japan Mail," a well-known linguist in the languages of Europe as well as in Japanese, once told the writer that in his judgment one could master all of the languages of Europe, including Russian, as easily if not more eas- ily than he could become proficient in the use of Jap- anese. To know Japanese thoroughly one must know Chinese also. These two are probably the hardest ton- gues the missionaries have to conquer. Other lan- guages like the Arabic, the Persian, the Turkish, the Marathi, and the Tamil of India, all require intel- lectual ability and great perseverance, before they yield and become the efficient tool of the missionary who would use them to forward his work. Another linguistic difficulty is to make the language of paganism speak the thoughts of the Kingdom. Words and phrases to express entirely new ideas must often be created and adapted and taught the peo- ple in order to bring to them the knowledge of spirit- ual things. 5. Prevalence of Sin The natural sinfulness of the people to whom the missionaries go, compels them to rise in direct oppo- sition to the preaching of the Gospel of Christ. Chris- tianity at once reveals and condemns sin. It is but natural that the sinner should rise in self-defense. As Christianity is presented to any people it can brook the presence of no custom or practice that is contrary to honesty, truthfulness, unselfishness, and purity. If it demanded only an intellectual accept- ance and did not interfere with the practices of the people, the conflict would be far more easily won. But since it demands the abandoning of sinful cus- toms, the forsaking of evil habits^ and the adoption 83 THE UNFINISHED TASK of new ways of life that comport with the teachings and practices of Jesus Christ, sin with its thousand forms rises up in violent opposition. It institutes methods of persecution, devises countless forms of attack, inaugurates riots and indeed stops at nothing, so long as there is a prospect that the progress of the Gospel can be stayed or its promotors banished from the country. Wherever the missionary goes, he is confronted with the barrier to progress that sin has erected in the hearts and lives of the people. Here lies the real battle ground. The conflict is often more difficult and discouraging because of the insidious methods of at- tack and the persistence of the opposition. Let no missionary ever expect to be free from this giant op- ponent. It will often face him where he least expects, and it always seeks to catch him unawares. The bat- tle that is waged is one between sin and righteous- ness, and it is a battle that calls for tact, courage, persistence, and faith. If the opposition of sin should cease in any land we would have reason to fear that pure Christianity was making no progress. When sin is driven to the wall it will always make the most desperate resistance. 4. Tenacity of Old Religious Beliefs and Customs While Orientals are conservative in everything, they are pre-eminently so in their religious beliefs and practices. Whether the religion centers in a person, as Islam, or in a system, as Hinduism, or whether it has been transmitted by tradition, like the cruder forms of nature worship, it is supremely difficult to persuade a person, much more a people, to accept a change. The struggle of a religion to maintain its dom- 84 OBSTACLES TO BE OVERCOME inance, is well illustrated in the history of Christianity itself, not only by the inquisitions of the Catholic Church, instituted to prevent its adherents from chang- ing in any measure their beliefs and practices, but also in the many theological controversies of our own generation. If these things take place among enlight- ened Christians, what should we expect from the less educated peoples of the far East? The very life and habits of most of the non-Christian peoples of the world have grown up about their religion. Customs have become fixed. To change a fixed custom is, to most of the people of the East, an undebatable proposition. " It is not our custom," is regarded by them as a final statement to which there can be no reply. To change one's religion is to change practically everything. In countries like India, one who changes his faith becomes so conspicuously peculiar that he is compelled to withdraw from the society of his own kith and kin. To most nations Christians become a peculiar people, set apart from the world about them. Such entire changes of thought and habit are so funda- mental that they are brought about slowly and with the utmost difficulty, for they transform the social life and customs of a nation as well as its religious opinions and beliefs. It was well said of Paul and his associ- ates " They turned the world upside down." 5. Superstition Outside of Christianity, the religion of the masses is largely superstitious. Fear is a dominant non- Christian religious principle. The gods are vindic- tive and must be placated, or evil will follow. The Chinese build their houses, construct their roads, till their fields, and make their journeys, only after con- 85 THE UNFINISHED TASK suiting the spirits of the earth or air. To fail to do this is to invite disaster. The Hindu prays to his multitudinous gods, and offers his sacrifices in order to keep them friendly. If he fails in his duty, dis- ease, famine or death, and perhaps all three, may come upon him and his family. These people know this is all true, for they can relate many occurrences that prove it beyond a doubt! It requires courage for one who is in the direct succession of fifty generations of such superstitions and has heard the accumulated traditions of unnumbered cases of the afflictions of those who dared defy the anger of their deities, to accept Christianity and shape his life and practices accordingly. While positive belief in Jesus Christ may not be wanting, the break from the old superstitions may easily be incomplete. In some countries more than a generation of Christian training is required to ehm- inate in a large degree the principal superstitions of the old faiths. It is thought by some that only in the second and third generation of those who have been reared in Christian influences and under Christian instruction, can we expect to find these superstitions wholly eliminated. One must not be disheartened to find professing Christians of the first generation quietly, and it may be secretly, observing some of the rites of their ancient faith. Long estab- lished superstitions constituting a part of one's re- ligious beliefs, are cast out only by constant effort and unwavering faith. 6. Deef^ Seated Prejudices If modern Christianity could have entered all mis- sion fields as a religion represented by the mission- aries alone, the task of conquest would have been far 86 OBSTACLES TO BE OVERCOME easier. In nearly all of the sea ports to which traders from Europe and America had resorted, there was a general feeling that Christians were licentious, drunken and brutal, for the ships that visited them were from Christian countries, and the people con- cluded that the acts of the visitors must represent that religion. Japan had her experience with the Jesuits 300 years ago, resulting in decrees of extermination against Christianity and all Christians. Owing to the polit- ical machinations of that body, it was sincerely be- lieved by the Japanese, and not without cause, that Christianity was a religion highly dangerous to the welfare and political integrity of the state. It is hard to convince the Chinese to-day that the religion of Jesus Christ is not responsible for the in- iquitous opium trade forced upon that country by England. It is not strange that many of them should declare that China does not need such a religion. Many of the acts of the East India Trading Company, the forerunner of English rule in India, made im- pressions upon the people of India highly unfavor- able to the state religion of England. So, too, the conditions in Africa have in some respects been ren- dered most unfavorable, owing to the operations of the Portuguese and Belgians in the slave trade and in their cruel oppression of the natives. When the Christian world stands appalled at the acts of these so-called Christian nations, what must be the effect upon the native races! It is most natural that they should attribute this cruelty to the influence of Chris- tianity. The Mohammedans have received their impression of Christianity entirely from their observations of the Oriental churches in the Levant and neighboring 87 THE UNFINISHED TASK countries. The intrigues, formalism, dishonesty, deceit and selfishness displayed by Russia and prac- tised by some of the Oriental churches in Turkey, Persia, and Egypt, have led the Mohammedans to be- lieve that Christianity is inferior to Islam. The mis- sionary has all of iJiese prejudices to contend with as he attempts to propagate pure Christianity through- out the world. 7. Oriental Duplicity The Oriental is indirect and, by custom if not by nature, a concealer of his real thoughts. Common politeness demands falsehood in many social condi- tions. In multitudes of cases the truth is spoken in such indirectness, that, by every mode of Anglo- Saxon interpretation, it amounts to falsehood. To disagree with one whom you respect, or to state that which is disagreeable to hear, shocks the sensibilities of the Oriental mind. There may be a common agreement that it is wrong to lie, but as between the Anglo-Saxon and the Oriental there is place for wide disagreement in judgment as to what consti- tutes a falsehood. ' This is a matter of long and per- sistent training. A convert of the East, who would not waver if confronted with the alternative of martyrdom or the denial of his faith in Christ, might appear to yield to the simplest temptation to falsify. These appar- ent inconsistencies of character are difficult to recon- cile upon any other ground than that the judgment of these people demands generations of training in order to be reliable upon questions of veracity and honesty. And this laxity must be overcome before the Church of Christ in the East can come into its fullest heritage. 88 OBSTACLES TO BE OVERCOME 8. Ignorance of the Masses Many a missionary is for a time discouraged by the poor material he has upon which to work. In Japan, where the upper classes were the first to be- come interested in Christianity, the case was differ- ent, but in countries like the Pacific Islands, Africa, India, China, and some others, the missionaries reached at the outset largely the lower laboring classes, or at the best, rude and ignorant peoples. Some of these were so low in the scale of humanity that the advisability of attempting to educate them was a question for discussion. Moreover, whatever might be said of the low mental condition of the men of the lower castes and classes of India, China, etc., much more could be said of the condition of the women of those same people. It has been the fate of missionary operations and probably the plan of God, that for the most part, the poor and ignorant are the first to listen to the Gos- pel and the quickest, to respond. To educate such people into self-respecting and self-governing Chris- tian communities, seems an impossible undertaking. The process is necessarily slow and laborious. Schools of the simplest form and of the lowest grade mark the beginnings of the process. With infinite patience and continuous persistence, the work of ed- ucation has developed in order that the dead weight of gross ignorance may be removed and the aid of en- lightened trained native leadership secured. While much has been accomplished in the line of education and in the training of native Christian leadership, every missionary in most countries is still confronted with the almost hopeless ignorance of those whom he hopes to reach and bring into the Kingdom. 89 THE UNFINISHED TASK p. Fjelf Interest of Native Leaders Seldom does open oppositon to missionary work originate among the common people. They gener- ally hear the Word gladly. Even our Lord Himself was most violently opposed by the high priests and the Pharisees. Paul had the same experience. The native religious leaders are quick to see that the in- troduction of a new religion and its acceptance by the people, is sure to interfere with their own occu- pation and curtail their influence. Under the impulse of self-preservation they set themselves against every such movement. These cannot be taken into partner- ship, because their interests are purely selfish. In Catholic countries and in other lands in which the Catholics have considerable strength, the opposition and persecution organized by the Catholic priests often far exceeds in violence and force all of the hos- tility of the native religions. This is eminently true of the beginning of the work in the Turkish Empire. Catholicism was there more violently hostile to the modern Protestant missionaries than were the Mo- hammedans or the ancient churches. In Japan dis- turbances are usually caused by the priests of the Shinto or Buddhist temples. In India the one body to be reckoned with and which will in all probability be the last to yield, are the Brahmans who have for so many generations enjoyed the proud distinction of " The twice born " and so commanded the rev- erence and almost the worship of the people. To all such the prevalence of Christianity means for them- selves complete loss of prestige and power. It is but natural that all such should violently array themselves against the entrance of Christianity into their coun- try. This opposition must necessarily continue to the very last and be at times violent and vindictive. go OBSTACLES TO BE OVERCOME The Gadarenes urged Christ to depart from their country because his presence interfered with their illegitimate business of keeping swine. Self-interest will always oppose Christianity. 10. Poverty of the People The people of the United States know nothing of the extremities of poverty. The first and most per- sistent impression made upon the traveler in the East, is that of the extreme poverty, even beggary, of the people. It is said that 100,000,000 of the people of India never have more than one meal of victuals a day in the most prosperous times. In time of famine mil- lions border upon starvation. The same general con- ditions prevail among the coolie classes of China, while the majority of the people of Japan are wholly dependent upon at least a normal yield of the crops of any given year to provide their scanty sustenance. A single poor harvest precipitates a famine. The economic conditions that prevail in every Ori- ental country are such that the majority of the peo- ple are and must remain hopelessly poor. Since they are Orientals, most of them are highly improvi- dent, having little thought for the morrow, abund- antly satisfied if the wants of the day are measurably met. In all these countries there is wealth, but it is unevenly distributed, and those who possess it have little compassion for those who starve. As the work of the missionary is for the most part among the ignorant, it can also be said that it is largely among the poor. It is the poor who have the Gospel preached unto them, because they are ready to listen. By far the great majority of the converts in the work of modern missions are from the poorer classes, the common laborers, and even the beggars. 91 THE UNFINISHED TASK Whenever a famine afflicts a mission field the mem- bers of the churches are great sufferers. If we bear in mind the fact that it is the prime object of the mis- sionary to estabhsh such self-supporting Christian institutions as the church and school, it is easy to see how discouraging is this extreme poverty of the people among whom he works. Nor is the difficulty made lighter by the fact that, because of the poverty of the membership of the churches, the wealthier classes assume that Christianity is only for beggars and outcasts. This is indeed a dark picture, but it is not all dark. The genius of the Gospel of Christ is displayed in mighty power through its ability to arouse in the im- provident and in the lowliest of peoples, a new spirit of hope, and to give them an ambition for better things. It presents a challenge and a test wherein the success of Christianity in accomplishing marvelous re- sults has already made a profound impression upon the so-called higher classes, and while physical distress caused by extreme poverty presents to all missionaries one of their most trying problems, at the same time it affords an opportunity of exhibiting the supreme power of Christianity to lift and exalt a people who are, like the Master, despised and rejected of men. II. DifUculty of Understanding the East A hundred years of trade, commerce, travel, and missionary work, have not succeeded in completely breaking down the barriers that separate the customs and habits of the Orient and those of the Occident. In spite of it all, East is still East and West is still West. The Oriental's method of approach to prac- tically every subject and his process of reasoning are widely different from ours. 92 OBSTACLES TO BE OVERCOME Witfi US Speed is everything. It has almost become the ritual of the West, a fact which is incomprehen- sible to the man of Asia whose favorite proverb is, " Never do to-day what can be put off until to-mor- row," and who has also a warning message " Look out for the man who hurries or moves quickly, the devil is in his acts." To all of these peoples, " to- morrow," " by and by," " some other time," are the ordinary dates set for doing things. A missionary who had spent the most of his life in the East said in his last years, that to him the most restful experi- ence he had in the United States, was watching an express train pass at full speed ; it was " something doing" that he himself did not have to push, an ex- perience he had never enjoyed in his 40 years in Asia. The people of the East lack standards of right and purity, and great is the difficulty of impressing upon them the fact that a common standard applies to all classes. When the merchant bases the prices of his goods, not upon their cost or value, but upon the wealth of the purchaser, it is hard to explain that the son of a man of wealth or rank must attain the same standard of scholarship for a degree or for promotion that is demanded for the son of a peasant. Such universal standards are not understood in education or in morals, and will not be for generations yet. In logic, from our standpoint, the East is far astray. An educated Hindu will accept, without doing the least violence to his intellect, two separate and mutu- ally exclusive propositions. He will declare his be- lief in both, and pity you that you think him illogical. It is yet a debatable question whether any Westerner has ever actually come to understand the mental op- erations of a true Oriental. A missionary of long experience in Japan once said 93 THE UNFINISHED TASK to the writer that he doubted whether a single Amer- ican missionary in Japan understood even in a re- mote degree the Japanese people and their methods of thought. If this is measurably true of the Japa- nese, it is equally true of the Chinese and the people of India. But in spite of this difficulty, the East has never been so well understood as to-day. 12. Isolation Necessarily the missionary's Hfe is an isolated Ufe. In only a few great missionary centers like Tokyo, Shanghai, and Calcutta, where the number of for- eigners is necessarily large, can the missionary ex- pect to be able to mingle freely with people of his own race. The great majority of missionaries are located in districts remote even from most of those of their own mission, and dependent for companion- ship almost entirely upon the natives. In some in- stances they are located upon islands, as in the far Pacific, or in remote interior regions, as in many dif- ferent parts of China. There are many missionaries in India and Africa and China so situated that single families live in the center of great districts without any white companionship. These missionaries must find resources in them- selves for recreation. There is no source of human inspiration to which they can turn in times of spirit- ual depression or discouragement. They must meet alone the many and often exceedingly trying prob- lems that arise and, in cases of overwhelming emer- gency, they are compelled to face the crisis alone. We never realize how dependent we are upon external cir- cumstances for spiritual stimulus and mental vigor un- til we find ourselves cut off from every source of such inspiration. But in addition to deprivations such as 94 OBSTACLES TO BE OVERCOME these, the missionary is surrounded by numberless! influences that tend to deaden spiritual life and to foster mental lethargy. It is imperative that the mis- sionary find and utilize new intellectual and spiritual stimuli to counteract these deadening and destructive influences. In the case of single women who are al- ways far more alone than the married woman with her family interests, the strain of isolation is often so severe that health gives way under it. At the same time, it is true and should be so understood, that to the majority of missionaries who have spent years in such isolated positions, the very contact with the people and the evidence of God's presence among them is in itself satisfying and stimulating. Few of these would will- ingly change such work for a life in open ports where foreigners swarm and Western evils are rife. There are few able-bodied, sounded-minded and spiritually strong men and women who cannot overcome the strain of isolation, and convert that which seemed so formidable at the first into a source of satisfaction and joy. While the trial at the beginning may be se- vere, the reward of victory is blessed. jj. Unchristian Foreigners The missionaries in the open ports of the East are always confronted by the evil influence of their un- christian fellow countrymen. It is a strange com- mentary upon our religion that so many who at home passed for respectable people and who were even, in some instances, connected with Christian churches, soon enter upon lives of immorality and shame when living in an Oriental port. It is known by the natives that these people are of the same country and race as the missionaries and they naturally ask why it is that Christianity does not restrain them from acts that the 95 THE UNFINISHED TASK natives know to be in open violation of Christian prin- ciples. It is impossible for the missionary to explain the reason even to himself, much less to others. Some of these foreign residents are engaged in lo- cal mercantile or professional enterprises, some are travelers making but a brief stay in the place, while others hold official positions as representatives of our government. It is true that all of these foreign resi- dents are not of the class named. There are many noble examples of Christian living among them, and yet, in justice to the facts, it must be said that by far the larger proportion of such residents exert an in- fluence that is directly opposed to the spiritual uplift of the people and that is calculated to annul what the missionary is attempting to do. I venture the state- ment that the unchristian attitude of fellow country- men in the ports of the East offers more trying ob- stacles to the success of missionary work than even the open hostility of the native populations. 14. The Limitations of Men and Money Every missionary is convinced of the fact that he can do but a fraction of what urgently demands to be done on every side. His zeal prompts him to enter every open door and seize every favorable opportunity for the conquest of the land. He soon finds that this is not within the limits of human possibility. Many a missionary has broken down his health or even sacri- ficed his life in the attempt to do the work of two or three. Few can hold themselves within reasonable bounds of effort when they see opportunities pressing and eager congregations pleading in vain for the Gos- pel. They call for reinforcements, but the call brings no response. The only alternative is to throw them- selves into the work at a fatal pace, trusting that God 96 OBSTACLES TO BE OVERCOME will in some way give them strength to hold the posi- tion until help shall come. Much of this useless sacrifice of missionary health and life might be saved, were funds sufficient to en- gage a proper number of native helpers. In these days of Mission Colleges and Theological Schools, native young men and women are being equipped to do much that the missionaries were compelled to do a genera- tion ago. Through the employment of the native worker, a missionary can often multiply himself many times over. Here also the help from America fails. The need is set forth in terms of tremendous emphasis. The native worker is at hand if only funds are pro- vided to meet his expenses while at work. The mis- sionary divides his own already too meagre allowance in hopes that the needed funds will come from the home land. Hope deferred makes sick the heart until at last the extra helpers are dismissed, schools and preaching places are closed, printing presses are shut down and the missionary, impoverished and nearly broken hearted, almost gives up in despair. Such bit- ter disappointment is harder to bear than all of the de- fiant opposition of hostile governments and peoples, in whatever form that defiance may appear. It is an awful waste to permit able, educated, and consecrated missionaries to break themselves down in attempting to hold the field and enter the opening doors, while we refuse to re-inforce them or to supply the funds needed to permit them to secure help upon the field. 75. Apathy or Hostility at Home This is really a part of our last point. It is this apathy at home, unresponsive to the call for rein- forcements and for money, that sends many a mis- 97 THE UNFINISHED TASK sionary to an untimely grave from overwork, too often aggravated by disappointment and a broken heart. Face to face with unprecedented opportunities for advance, the missionary says to himself, " Surely the Christians at home will eagerly respond as soon as they know the need and the opportunity here." Let- ters are written and appeals are sent far and wide. The courageous missionary holds on until at last it dawns upon him that the church at home has little in- terest in his work, and in fact would not be really con- cerned were he compelled to retreat or even should he fall at his post. He knows of lavish expenditures of money at home for ornate houses of worship, mag- nificent organs and expensive choirs, and cannot un- derstand why the church is not willing to add a trifle to its missionary subscription to maintain the work already done or to seize a new opportunity for Chris- tianizing the world. If it were only apathy, he could bear it easier, but he knows that many pastors cf Christian churches in good and regular standing not infrequently express doubts as to the wisdom or need of evangelizing the world, and many a church member regards him as a fanatic and the work to which he has given his life, visionary. The missionary, who went forth at the call of God to represent the Church of Jesus Christ among the hardships and perils of heathenism, finds himself not only deserted by a large body of the church but evenly openly attacked by those who should be his most earnest supporters. We have every reason to believe that these condi- tions are changing for the better, but there is still enough of indifference and of hostility in the church to-day to make the heart of the missionary heavy at times, even if it does not paralyze his arm. Every one 98 OBSTACLES TO BE OVERCOME who enters this foreign work must expect to be buf- feted and wounded in the house of his friends. The difficulties here enumerated are present to-day in most mission countries and must be faced in whole or in large part by every foreign missionary. It is true that they are slowly decreasing, in numbers and in seriousness. The persistent, unwavering, conquer- ing force of the modern missionary movement is winning the day. But let no one enter upon this life and work with the idea that there are no foes for him to face. The task is such that the keenest, the most consecrated and the ablest men and women are demanded for its accomplishment. It is not a work that can be carried out by the timid or the weak. It can only be entered upon with the spirit of victory even though this may cost unceasing struggle and repeated disappointment. Yet in some respects the difficulties of the foreign field are no more numerous or more formidable than are those at home, and we must also not forget that the compensations for foreign missionary service are probably unsurpassed in any work to which the Father calls His children. These compensations are increasing while the obstacles are being removed and the difficulties diminished. 59 SUCCESSES OF THE EARLY CHURCH VI SUCCESSES OF THE EARLY CHURCH We have been considering the meaning and scope of the task that has been given to the Church and the conditions which confront those who undertake it. The field is tremendous in its proportions, demanding for the service many more volunteers than have yet offered themselves, and calling for much more sacrifice on the part of those who support missions than has yet been made. Judged from every human standpoint, the task is impossible. Those who would undertake it must stand appalled before its magnitude, and if the work were to be assumed and carried through by human strength alone, it were better not to attempt it at all, for the result could only be absolute failure. There is no mere human plea which can call into this service the great army of men and women that it demands, and even if the men and women were ready, the money necessary to send them to the fields, and to provide equipment and support while engaged in the work, would be a far greater sum than human appeals alone could ever hope to raise. It is natu- ural therefore, when we are face to face with this sit- uation, that we should ask, " what assurance have we that our efforts will succeed ? " Without some such assurance, one enters upon so vast an undertak- ing almost with hopelessness. But if the assurances of success are ample, then have we every reason for 103 THE UNFINISHED TASK taking up the task and carrying it to completion, what- ever the sacrifice that may be demanded of us. Every behever in Jesus Christ as the Redeemer of the world has the assurance that His Kingdom is to prevail. Everyone who is ready to make known to all men the Gospel He taught to His disciples, has the distinct promise that He, to whom all power in heaven and on earth was given, will be with His disciples in His work. No one can doubt for a moment that hu- manity united with divinity must succeed in the ac- complishment of any task, however great. In the promise of His presence alone there is absolute as- surance of final success. But the promise does not stand alone, for throughout the New Testament, as well as in many sections of the Old, there rings out with all the clearness of divine utterance, the assur- ance that the kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. It is impossible for one to read carefully the Word of God without having the assurance thrust upon him together with that other assurance that whoever en- ters upon this work is to have special Divine guidance and strength, and that defeat is impossible. These are well-known facts in the Christian life and experience, and should be enough in themselves to make every Christian know that success is assured in the work of world evangelization. Yet, because we are not always content with the simple promises of God, but wish to see, as did the people of Palestine at the time of our Lord, some sign which revealed His power, so we look for a sign and a proof that the promises of God are to prevail in the work of world evangelization. Let us consider therefore the signs and proofs that present themselves in what has actually been accomplished from the day of our Lord until 104 SUCCESSES OF THE EARLY CHURCH the present time, in this world-wide work of evangel- izing all mankind. The disciples had only promises. We have the promises plus evidence which is indis- putable. Advance Made by Christianity During the First Three Centuries It is surely evident that what the disciples of our Lord achieved during their brief career, and what the weak and scattered and undisciplined church accom- plished during the first three centuries of its existence, can be done by the modern church, united in its efifort and aggressive in its purpose. It may be urged that the disciples performed miracles and, through the per- formance of miracles, rapidly and miraculously ex- tended the power of the Christian church. But the miracles performed by the disciples were no whit in advance of those performed by the modern missionary among pagan peoples. There is no modern physi- cian, who, through the proper and legitimate practice of his profession, does not perform daily miracles upon the diseased. His works are as astonishing and sur- prising to them as were any of the miracles performed by Peter, James and John, and the other disciples. This represents only one phase of the wonders of mod- ern science which become in the hands of the mission- ary the means of attracting the attention of the people to whom he goes, and impressing upon them the fact that outside of their own life and mental vision there is a great world filled with things of which they never dreamed, a world that is opened to them through the missionary of the cross. In order to understand fully the import of the ac- tual growth of the Kingdom of God during the first three centuries of the Christian era, it is necessary 105 THE UNFINISHED TASK to understand the limitations under which the work of extending that Kingdom was inaugurated, and to lay proper emphasis upon the conditions that con- fronted the disciples after the crucifixion of their Lord, when they turned their faces out to the world with the story of redemption learned from their Master's lips. Only through an understanding of these conditions, can we grasp the magnitude of the victory they won. Let us consider for a moment the hold which Jesus Christ Himself had obtained upon Palestine. He had passed His life for the most part in the two districts of Judea and Galilee. Though in each district He had a period of popularity, it is a well-known fact that that period quickly passed. He was compelled to fly from Galilee because of rising opposition, and although re- ceived in Judea with cries of " Hosanna," they were quickly turned to cries of " crucify Him." His own race turning against Him, brought about His cruci- fixion. Neither as a Redeemer nor as a Rabbi, had He made a distinctive impression upon the Romans, so they were ready to respond to the demands of the Jews and consigned Him to the cross. He had not inspired, even in His disciples, the spirit of absolute loyalty. One of the twelve had betrayed Him to the Roman soldiers. Another one denied Him when he saw his Master's popularity depart. They all left Him at the moment of greatest peril and need. Such was the condition at the time of His crucifixion, not an aus- picious one for the inauguration of a movement that was to impress upon the whole world the fact that a man who had been driven out of Galilee and cru- cified at Jerusalem, betrayed by His race and violently put to death by the officials of His own government, was the Redeemer of man, whose kingdom should be an everlasting Kihgdom. io6 SUCCESSES OF THE EARLY CHURCH Under the influence of Pentecost, the weakness and indecision of the disciples was speedily changed into an attitude of bold aggressiveness. No' further ques- tion remained in their minds of the divinity of Him whom they were to preach as the Savior of the world. They had seen Him ascend into the heavens and had experienced the power of the Spirit. This made them ready to preach and to die, if need be, for Him whom they had forsaken a little time before. The odds against these disciples were very great. What was the ground of hope in their hearts that they could accomplish the mighty task which they were taking up ? Could they expect that the Jews, so many of whom had seen our Lord and had joined in the demand that He be put to death, would now ac- cept Him and become His disciples ? Was there any hope that the Romans in their pride and power would for a moment recognize Him, whom they had cruci- fied, as the Redeemer of the world? Was there any ground for expecting that the Greeks with their su- perior learning, would give ear to a message based upon the historic facts that gathered about the life of Jesus Christ? Let us look briefly at a few of the definite obstacles which presented themselves to the disciples at that time, and which they must needs over- come. I. Jesus Christ was a Jew. It was well-known in Jerusalem, through Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, that He was of Jewish parentage and brought up in connec- tion with the Jewish synagogue. As a Jew He had been rejected by His own people. It could not be ex- pected that the Jewish leaders either in Jerusalem or elsewhere would accept the authority of such an one. Naturally those at a distance would ask " why should we recognize as the Messiah one who has been seen 107 IHE UNFINISHED TASK and talked with by the Rabbis of Jerusalem, whom they have absolutely rejected as an impostor and passed over to the Roman authorities for execution ? " It could not be expected that a Jewish Messiah would have any influence upon a Roman or a Greek. Neither of these races would look to the Jewish race for religious leadership, nor would the ofifer of leadership from that quarter receive even a respectful hearing on the part of either the Greeks or the Romans. 2. Not only was Christ Himself a Jew, but the disci- ples were also Jews. As Jews they must go to these other races as well as to their own people and proclaim a Jewish Messiah. The very fact of their race rela- tions would necessarily militiate against their influence, if it would not close, for even a hearing, the doors of other leading races of that country. The Jewish race was at that time moving rapidly toward its de- struction as a nation and its subsequent dispersion to the ends of the earth. These facts were fully recognized by the other nations and it was indeed no time for the exaltation of Jewish leadership either in government or in religion. There were many Jews in Rome. Dtiring the life of Christ under Emperor Augustus, much jealousy, dislike, and suspicion had developed against them, and anti- Jewish feeling suggested strong measures on the part of the government for their repression. Under the Emperoir Tiberius, they had been summarily ex- pelled from the city, and a similar decree, issued 20 years after Christ's death, again banished them from Rome. These were not favorable conditions for ex- pecting that a Jew preaching in the streets of Rome would receive a hearty welcome. It would be nat- ural to suppose that the Romans would look upon the 108 SUCCESSES OF THE EARLY CHURCH Hisciples and their religion as only another sect of the despised and hated race. 3. The disciples were not men of repute or influ- ence. They could not command a hearing because of their renowned scholarship, nor expect a reception in any city, not even in Jerusalem, because of a noble birth. They were for the most part poor, unknown countrymen — fishermen and others without much edu- cation quite unheard of until they became attached to Jesus Christ as His disciples. Ey,en then, their reputa- tion had not been such as to commend them to either the Rabbis or the Romans. Paul, who joined the body later, was an exception to the general rule, for he had all the training of the schools, but the entire body of disciples who inaugurated this work of world evan- gelization, soon after the death of our Lord, had no ground for entering upon this task with any expec- tation of success through their own repute, even in Judea or Galilee. Much less could they expect a hearing on that ground in the regions beyond. 4. These disciples of no renown were to preach as the Savior of the world, one who also was of hum- ble birth. His parents were unknown outside of the little mountain village of Nazareth, where they were classed among the humble, common workmen of the village. There was nothing in the birth of Christ or in His training or in the associations that He formed during His brief career, that gave Him a name which would command attention anywhere, not even in Jeru- salem. The lowly disciples had only a lowly Lord to preach. 5. More than this, the Christ whom they were com- missioned to proclaim as the Savior of men was dead. They might have gone with some courage to preach 109 THE UNFINISHED TASK a living Christ who yet, through some strange change in human affairs, might become a ruler and prove himself to be the master of men. In the history of the Roman Empire, more strange events than that had already taken place. Men might be found who would listen to the story of a man who believed himself to be born a king and who expected ultimately to come into the full possession of his kingdom. But when these disciples began to preach the kingship of Jesus Christ and were confronted with the question as to where their Lord was, their one reply must be, " He is dead." Upon the receipt of such a reply, curiosity and interest would be turned immediately into ridi- cule and contempt. We can almost see the curious crowds disappear with a sneer upon their faces at the foolishness of a body of men who proclaimed as Mes- siah and king one who was already dead. 6. Not only was Christ dead, but He had been cru- cified by the Romans and the Jews. That could only mean to the Romans that the one whom the disciples were exalting as Lord was actually a criminal, proven so before a Roman tribunal, who bore in his death upon the cross the penalty of his crime. Not only were the disciples proclaiming as the Redeemer of men, one who was dead, but one who had been proven to be a criminal. While in the first instance those who would be bold enough to preach such a Gospel might be regarded with contempt, under these circumstances and in the face of this fact, they must appear to be little less than madmen. Who in all that land would for a moment give heed to the preaching of such a Gospel that exalted a man with such a history to the position of Lordship of the world ? 7. The Gospel which these disciples were commis- sioned to preach, set forth a religion which could but no SUCCESSES OF THE EARLY CHURCH be hateful to the Romans and, in fact, to the entire Eastern world. Students of history well know the moral condition of Rome and of the Romans at that period in the history of the Empire. Rome had given itself up to the sensuality and vice that went hand in hand with wealth and power. There were no re- straining influences. The darkest crimes were com- mitted by those who sat upon the throne, with no voice raised in protest. The proud Roman would brook no restraint to the full exercise of his passions. The influence of the Roman army and the Roman of- ficials throughout all the Empire had developed much of the same spirit in other races. The whole world seemed at that time to have gone mad with desire to satisfy the human passion for power and display and for the gratification of lust. To such a world the dis- ciples were to go with the Gospel that began with a blessing upon the pure in heart, the peace maker, the poor in spirit. They were to preach not the Gospel of blessing to the strong, but a Gospel filled with blessing to those who do not resist, proclaiming the largest reward to those who serve, and the greatest joy to those who suffer. Every phase of the Gospel of Christ was directly opposed to the existing life of the world. The preaching of the disciples must necessarily aim with keen rebuke at the evils of the times, and especially at the wickedness in high places. What opportunity could that little handful of men expect to secure for a hearing among a people mad with passion for wealth and power and whose life was a life of continual sin and shame! We can imagine only anger as the return for the preaching of the disciples. 8. The disciples were to preach their religion as the supreme and only religion. If the Gospel of Jesus in THE UNFINISHED TASK Christ which the disciples were to proclaim to the world had been so framed as to be classified as one religion together with many others, it might have been posible for the Romans to have accepted it. It is re- ported that a place in the Pantheon was offered to the Christians in which they might place the image of their Lord, that those who wished might come and worship Him. This was in accordance with the spirit of the times. The religions of conquered people were brought to Rome, and, provided there was nothing in these religions contrary to the State religion, the images of strange gods were set up and worshipped with fullest liberty. This same liberty would have been freely accorded to the Christians, but Chris- tianity admitted no such partnership. The disciples were instructed to proclaim that there was no other name under heaven given among men through which salvation could be obtained; that there was only one God, and He the father of the Lord Jesus Christ ; that it was not possible to have Christ worshipped with other gods, or His image set up with other images; that His religion must stand as the supreme, the only religion, and that all others must recognize His superiority. Arnobius justly calls Rome "the worshiper of all divinities." The Romans had embraced the idea that gods of other nations were also gods, who, if badly treated, might harm the Roman power. It was held therefore to be their duty to honor all deities. Augustus declared to the Alexandrians that he spared their city in honor of the great Serapis. Paganism was at the height of its power with no visible signs of decay. The temples stood in all their splendor and were visited by thousands. Feasts and sacrifices were celebrated with great pomp, the altars had many sup- 112 SUCCESSES OF THE EARLY CHURCH plicants, the oracles were continually consulted and numberless sacrifices offered. Everywhere religion was intimately interwoven with the organizations of the State. To overthrow the religion of Rome was to strike at the organization of the government. To declare that the religion of the Romans was false was to make open attack upon the State itself. It seemed preposterous to expect that under such conditions, and with a declaration appearing to the Roman and to the Greek wholly unreasonable, the disciples could expect a hearing, much less obtain con- verts. Hitherto, one religion had not been exclusive of other religions. Now, under the teachings of the disciples, that regime was to be changed, and one re- ligion, and that the religion of Jesus Christ, was to be proclaimed as the only true and complete religion for men. With these presumptions against them, the disciples set out upon the colossal task of evangelizing the world. They must have understood then far better than we now understand what forces were arrayed against them. Compared with what they had to meet and did meet and conquer, the strongest opposition to-day sinks into insignificance, and as a part of the colossal struggle carried through by them we are compelled to take note of the continuous and violent persecutions. Persecutions The persecutions of the early church may be di- vided into three periods: First, the period from the death of Christ to the reign of Trajan, when persecution was permitted but not legal ; Second, from the reign of Trajan to the accession 113 THE UNFINISHED TASK of Decius, when persecution was legalized but de- pended largely upon the individual views of the local governors ; Third, from the accession of Decius to the promul- gation of the first edict of toleration by Constantine, whan persecution was legal and general. During this third period the Empire had become alarmed, regard- ing the suppression of Christianity as essential to its own existence. The story of the persecution as told in the Acts of the Apostles is familiar to all. That was primarily a Jewish question. The first imperial attack upon Christianity was made by Nero. This most cruel and sweeping onslaught upon Christians seems to have been made not because the Emperor feared the new religion but because he wished to divert attention from himself. While thousands of innocent men, women, and children were put to death at the command of Nero, by means of the most cruel torture that could be devised, there was no charge made against their religion. They were a despised sect, composed probably largely of Jews, and they had few if any open defenders. The efifect of this persecution was to assure the consuls and proconsuls of the entire Empire that they were at liberty to treat the Chris- tians as they pleased. As yet Christianity was not an illegal faith. By this act of Nero it was placed under the ban not of law but of general sentiment, as a result of which however, one by one the Apostles suf- fered martyrdom. At the close of the first century the number of Christians, in spite of the persecutions, had become so great that throughout the Empire they could not be ignored. It was also apparent that they could no longer be classed as a sect of the Jews. Christianity 114 SUCCESSES OF THE ESRLY CHURCH With its teachings and practices seemed to be threat- ening even the foundation of the Roman State, and the great Emperors of this period, Trajan, Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius, organized and carried into ef- fect a legal system of open persecution. Trajan recognized in Christianity a religion repugnant to the beliefs and practices of the Roman Empire and in 99 A. D., he promulgated a law that might be used by local governors against the Christians. When the crowds in the theatres shouted, " To the lions with the Christians," it became legal for the local ruler, if he thought the peace of the district demanded it, to yield to the demands of the multitude. Hadrian in turn issued an edict that perpetuated that of Trajan. Up to this period the worst enemy of the Christians was the mob spirit, which might break out at any time into open violence. Under Decius the government itself became persecutor. This Emperor counted the Christians in the cities the worst enemies of his Empire, and regarded it as his patriotic duty to sup- press them, for, setting out to arouse the old Roman spirit by a vigorous emphasis upon the deification of the Emperor, he met at once the opposition of the Christians who refused to worship him as a god. This aroused his fear, and in 250 A. D., he issued his edict of extermination, and persecutions began. Hor- rors were multiplied everywhere, and although the edicts were originally directed only against the officers of the church, the persecutions extended in many places to the humblest members. This period of per- secution was suddenly terminated by the death of the Emperor in 252. After a respite, the fires of persecu- tion were again lighted by Diocletian, who was per- suaded that the total destruction of Christianity was necessary for the preservation of his kingdom. I IS THE UNFINISHED TASK Christians were found in the army, in the department of administration, and even in the palace. By an im- perial edict issued in 303, persecutions began with great violence. The edict ordered all Christian serv- ices to cease, all churches to be razed to the ground, and all copies of the Christian Scriptures to be sur- rendered and burned. All Christians in office or in the army were ordered to sacrifice to the gods. In many places the wildest fanaticisms and the basest forms of hatred were let loose and the Christians suffered un- speakably. This persecution extended over the entire empire except in the northwestern part where Con- stantius Chlorus contended himself with the destruction of the church buildings. The severity of these per- secutions was somewhat abated, but not discontinued entirely, until all hostility was brought to an end by the decrees of toleration of Constantine. We see from the above that from the days of Nero to the conversion of Constantine, the Christian church was subject to more or less persecution from the Roman officials. At all times permissive, and at other times violently and officially aggressive, persecution, oppression, and even death awaited all who bore the name of Christian. Many wholly escaped, yet multi- tudes were forced to martyrdom, while the great mass of the church were compelled to live in uncertainty and fear, enduring nameless hardships and indignities. In the face of these conditions, undoubtedly knowing well the fact that local sentiment was bitterly against them, the disciples began to preach the Gospel of Christ. At Pentecost with boldness they began to preach to a company of men representing at least fifteen different countries extending from Rome to the Tigris and from the Black Sea to Arabia. Al- though outwardly circumstances seemed to promise 116 SUCCESSES OF THE EARLY CHURCH only persecution and defeat, no longer did the disciples reveal hesitation or doubt. Boldly they proclaimed salvation through the name of Jesus Christ alone, and their message was rewarded by the public confession of 3,000 and a little later 5,000 men. Judging by or- dinary methods of reckoning converts, it is safe to assume that there were not less than 15,000, includ- ing women and children, who there acknowledged themselves believers in the Messiahship of the Nazarine. Records of the growth of the church in those earlier days are very meagre, yet there is sufficient evidence to show that it was rapid. Local opposition culmi- nated in the martyrdom of Stephen. Soon the number of Christians was numerous enough in Damascus to warrant Saul, the persecutor of the church, in making the journey from Jerusalem for the purpose of stem- ming the Christian tide. These very persecutions however scattered the followers of Christ, who con- tinued to preach, wherever they went, the new Gospel they had learned to love. The Jews had been undoubtedly a proselyting race. Christ tells them at one time that they compass heaven and earth to make one proselyte. Josephus says, " Many of the Greeks have been converted to the observance of the laws. Likewise among the mass of the people there has been for a long time a great amount of zeal for our worship; nor is there a single town among Greeks or barbarians or anywhere else, not a single nation to which the observance of the Sabbath as it exists among ourselves has not pene- trated." This reveals the fact that the missionary spirit was already among the Jews and, as soon as they accepted the Messiahship of Christ, they began almost by instinct to preach their new-found faith. 117 THE UNFINISHED TASK We are offered only the glimpses of the progress made at Jerusalem and Syria during the first few years of the Christian church. We know that Philip preached in Samaria and that " the multitudes gave heed with one accord unto the things that were spoken by him." Then followed closely the conversion of the Eunuch of Ethiopia, a man of great authority, who after his baptism "went on his way rejoicing," un- doubtedly to speed the gospel in Ethiopia. Peter then pushed on through Azotus to Cesarea Philippi, preach- ing the gospel to all the cities through which he passed. Saul's conversion added to the working force of Da- mascus, and Peter made Joppa a center for his power- ful preaching, and a company of brethren was soon formed, to which Cornelius the Centurion and a great number besides were later added. Through the con- version and baptism of the Centurion and his house- hold the disciples caught the larger vision of the gos- pel for the Gentiles as well as for the Jews, and the scope of their efforts was greatly enlarged. Antioch became an important center of Christian operations, having received the word at the hand of the fugitives from the Jerusalem persecution. It is reported that here " a great number turned unto the Lord " and Barnabas was sent down from Jerusalem to organize them, from which place he went on to Tarsus to look up the recently converted Paul. It seems that Antioch, the capital of Syria, early became almost, if not quite, as prominent a center for the new church as Jerusalem had been, with prophets and teachers in considerable numbers, including a foster brother of Herod the tetrarch. Here the foreign mis- sionary movement had its origin. In 115 A. D., under the leadership of Ignatius, Christianity had made such headway in Antioch that the Emperor Trajan visited 118 SUCCESSES OF THE EARLY CHURCH the place for the purpose of staying its progress. In the fourth century it was the possessor of a magnifi- cent golden church reared by Constantine and was the seat of an important theological school. Be- fore the year 400, Christians were reported to be in the majority in the city with a population of fully 200,000 souls. Starting from Antioch, which was destined to figure so largely in the history of the future church, the new faith, under the preaching of Paul and Barnabas, crossed over to the island of Cyprus. We have little record of the results of this tour except that the pro- consul became a believer. From here Asia Minor was entered and the seeds of the Gospel planted. It is unnecessary to trace in detail the missionary move- ments of the first century. The glimpses given us in the Acts of the Apostles as well as in the Epistles show that progress was rapid. Peter wrote to converted Jews who lived in at least five dififerent provinces in Asia Minor, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. We have no record of Paul's laboring in any of these except Galatia and Asia. Tradition reports that Peter and John were active in missionary work in Asia Minor. Pliny, the governor of the provinces of Bithynia and Pontus on the Black Sea, wrote to the Emperor Trajan in 112 A. D., and 113 A. D., asking what measures he should pursue to suppress Christianity in his district. According to his reports there were Christians in that region prior to the year 100. Prof. Ramsay concludes from the letters which Pliny wrote from Amisus, an important seaport upon the Black Sea in the extreme northeast of Asia Minor, that there were Christians in Amisus not far from the year 70. In seeking counsel from the Emperor regarding the 119 THE UNFINISHED TASK subject, Pliny says, " Indeed, the matter seems to me a proper one for consultation, chiefly on account of the number of persons imperiled. For many of all ages and all ranks, aye, and of both sexes are being called and will be called into danger. Nor are cities only permeated by the contagion of this superstition, but villages and country parts as well." He also speaks of the temples being almost deserted and the cus- tomary rehgious rites interrupted and the sale of food for sacrificial beasts greatly interfered with. This un- intentional testimony by an opponent to the marvelous spirit and power of Christianity during the first cen- tury of its history and in a remote province is clear cut and conclusive. There is every reason for believ- ing that in other directions from Jerusalem similar progress had been made in the early missionary efforts of the new church. Twenty-one years after the resurrection of Jesus, Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke landed upon the shores of Europe with their Gospel message. Thes- salonica, Corinth, Athens and finally Rome, became each a center for the new movement for the conquest of the world. It is impossible to find accurate state- ments regarding the numbers of those who in Southern Europe, during the first century of the Christian Church, openly professed Christ as Savior, but the letters of Paul to the Corinthians and to the Romans, as well as scraps of contemporaneous history show clearly that the numbers were not small. Tac- itus in speaking of the burning of Rome under Nero, in 64 A. D., while Paul was still living, says, " Hence to suppress the rumor he (Nero) falsely charged with the guilt (the setting fire to Rome), and punished with the most severe tortures the persons commonly called Christians, who were hated for their enormities. SUCCESSES OF THE EARLY CHURCH . . . Accordingly , first those were seized who con- fessed they were Christians, next, on their information, a vast multitude were convicted not so much upon the charge of burning the city as of hating the human race." Tacitus speaks of the Christians who were seized as " a vast multitude " even at that early date. Before the year loo, Flavius Clement, the cousin of the Emperor Domitian, was executed as a Christian and his widow was banished, thus showing that the faith was even then taking hold of those of high estate. It was about this time that the Catacombs at Rome were begun, showing beyond a doubt that there were large numbers in that city who even after these severe persecutions bore the name of Christian. We cannot command space to follow the marvelous growth of the Christian church in all directions dur- ing the first three centuries of its history. Most of the details of that growth have never been written, or if written, have not been preserved. There is little doubt that during the first century Abgarus, king of the Armenians, residing at Odessa, openly accepted Christianity as the religion of his court. Two hun- dred years later Christianity became the national re- ligion of the Armenian nation. The Roman Emperor Caracalla spent the winter of 216 A. D., at Odessa, and, by sending to Rome in chains the Armenian ruler Abgar Bar Manu, sought to retard the Christian ad- vance. Bardaisan, a noble-born citizen of that city, made bold confession of his faith in Christ and went into Armenia spreading the faith. The Emperor him- self tells us that Christianity had then spread in Par- thia. Media, Persia, and Bactria. An Armenian na- tional council was called about the year 302, when some 190,000 citizens and 150,000 soldiers were bap- 121 THE UNFINISHED TASK tized, and Gregory the illuminator was made bishop of the national Armenian church. It is well known that within loo years after the death of the apostles there was a large and prosperous Christian community in Alexandria, Egypt, with church buildings of their own. There were then twelve city parishes with pastors, and a Christian school in the city. The founder of this school was Pantaenus, who went upon a missionary tour to India leaving his school in the care oi the brilliant Clement. The Emperor Hadrian, 1 17-138, writing to the Coun- sul Servanus from Alexandria takes note of the pres- ence of Christians there and sho-Ovs that they were numerous and powerful at that time. Clement and Origen were products of the Alexandria Church dur- ing its first three centuries. In 235 A. D. a church council in Alexandria was attended by twenty bishops. Cyrene, the capital and chief city of Libya in North Africa, became early identified with the Christian movement. Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus in carry- ing his cross. Representatives from Cyrene were at Pentecost, and eight years later Lucius of Cyrene was among noted Christian workers at Antioch. Without doubt Nubia became well indoctrinated with Christian- ity during the first century of the Christian era. Christianity was early carried into northern or pro- consular Africa, which centered in Carthage. To- wards the close of the second century there was in every city and town in that region a well organized ecclesiastical life with hundreds of churches and mem- bers. Tertullian writes that in 202 A. D. in the cities of Africa, the Christians and pagans were about equal in number, a marked advance which had taken place in spite of fierce and repeated persecutions. The churches of North Africa flourished and produced 122 SUCCESSES OF THE EARLY CHURCH many noted Christian leaders like Cyprian, Arnobius, Augustine, and TertuUian, who was the son of a cen- turion in the service of the proconsul at Carthage. The officials complained that Christianity continued to spread in town and country and among all classes of people, including all sexes, ages, and conditions, even those of high official position. About the middle of the third century, Christianity had made such progress in Mauritania and Numidia, that under Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, there was called a church synod which consisted of 87 bishops. During the first three centuries, Christianity pene- trated well into Spain, France, and Germany. There is some evidence that Paul himself preached in Spain. About 185 Irenaeus speaks of " churches that have been planted in Spain " and early in the next century TertuUian speaks of " all of the limits of the Spains " as believing in Jesus Christ. In 254 Cyprian, of North Africa,, wrote a letter to the Christians in Spain in which he mentions those in Leon, Astorga, Merida and Saragossa, places in the northwestern, southwestern, and eastern parts of the country, show- ing how widely the faith had been disseminated. About the year 305, a church council was held in Elvira, near Granada, attended by 19 bishops and 24 other ministers from various parts of Spain. The letter from Cyprian shows that the Christians were having a hard struggle with heathenism, but also that the Churches had been long established, were well provided with excellent buildings, and numbered among their membership men of wealth and public prominence. One of the bishops to sign the decisions of the council was Hosius, who became later one of the most distinguished churchmen of the Roman Em- pire, special counselor to Constantine, and probably 123 THE UNFINISHED TASK the President of the Council of Nice. The most emi- nent Christian minister Spain has ever produced was born before 300 A. D. Among the early triumphs of the Gospel upon the continent of Europe, north of Italy and Greece, must be mentioned the entrance of Christianity into Lyons and Vienna in the second century. Irenaeus, a dis- ciple of Polycarp of Smyrna, himself disciple of St. John the Apostle, was a great Christian leader before the year 200. He mastered the Celtic language so that he might more effectually reach and influence the people of Gaul. In 177 there was a severe perse- cution of the Christians about Lyons, showing that they were even then numerous enough to attract gen- eral attention. This persecution that swept Lyons and Vienna extended to Autun, 100 miles to the north of Lyons. A missionary pastor in Paris suffered mar- tyrdom in 270 A. D., probably representing a large number of Christian leaders about whom we have no autheiitic record. There is no doubt that Christianity crossed to the British Isles long before the arrival of the English. At the beginning of the Christian era the Celtic race occupied all of British Europe. It is possible that among the troops of Claudius that conquered Britain, there were Christian men. Although in 185 A. D. there seemed to have been no knowledge that Chris- tianity had reached the Britains, yet by 208, Tertullian says, " Places in Britain, not yet visited by Romans, were subject to Christ," so that by the beginning of the third century missionaries of whom we have no spe- cific knowledge had carried the gospel of Christ ex- tensively among the Britains. In 314, five British delegates attended a Council at Aries. Forty-five years later the churches of Britain had a still larger delega- 124 SUCCESSES OF THE EARLY CHURCH tion at the Council of Ariminium. There is a mass of legend about the Christianization of the British Islands and but little authentic history. It is beyond question, however, that, by the end of the third cen- tury, Christianity had penetrated to many parts of that country and that the Church of Christ had been well established there. We have then, as established facts about which there can be no question, that within 300 years from the death of our Lord, in the face of conditions that from our human standpoint predicted only failure, and under persecutions that threatened to crush completely the infant church, Christianity spread rapidly and with great vigor from Jerusalem, through Syria, north across Asia Minor, into Persia and Media, south into Egypt, across North Africa, into Southern Europe, extending from Constantinople across to Spain and reaching northward over Gaul into Germany and Great Britain, culminating in 313 A. D. in the decree of Constantine the Great, granting to all Christians in the Roman Empire not only free religious worship and the recognition of the state, but also reparation for previously incurred losses. Imperial edicts fol- lowing in succession up to 323 completed the revolu- tion, and the Roman Empire became the defender of the faith and a nominally Christian state. Practi- cally within 300 years, that little handful of disciples, which had gathered in Jerusalem in disappointment and almost despair after the ascension of their Lord, had set in motion forces that had led to the general evangelization of the then known world-. In spite of obstacles thrown in their way and barriers erected to stay their victorious progress, the church had steadily extended its borders until Emperors with their armies had been compelled to recognize the Galilean as the supreme conqueror. 125 SUCCESSES OF THE NINETEENTH CEN- TURY VII SUCCESSES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY From the time of Constantine down to the begin- ning of the last century, although Christian activity was spasmodic, yet there were periods of great effort resulting in a continual progress toward the conquest of the world. In the fifth century St. Patrick, one of the first and most eminent missionary leaders, achieved great victories in Ireland. After him, Columba crossed to Scotland, established there his famous monastery, and made it a center for the evan- gelization of that country as well as Britain. Before the end of the sixth century, through the efforts of Pope Gregory, Augustine and his forty monks, all England was won for Christ. At the same time, the heathenism of Central Europe was being overcome by missionaries from the South and West. Charlemagne was also laboring to convert the Saxons and to turn back the advance of the Saracens across the Pyre- nees. The gospel triumphed in Scandinavia in the ninth and tenth centuries. The evangelization of the Slavs was begun by Cyril and Methodius in the ninth century, and in 938 King Valdimir of Russia chose for himself and his subjects the Christian religion, deciding in favor of the Greek Church as the national form. The crusades in the 13th and 14th centuries, although military in form and character, were 129 THE UNFINISHED TASK animated with the missionary purpose of winning Syria for Christ. Thus we reach the Reformation period, which was largely involved in theological con- troversy, giving little time and attention to the ex- pansion of the Kingdom abroad. At the beginning of the last century the religious condition of the world, so far as it relates to Christian- ity, may be quickly summarized. Christianity was the avowed religion of the most of Europe and a part of the Turkish Empire, as well as of the colonies in America. The religion of the Greek, Armenian, and Russian churches, however, was primarily a formal one from which the true spirit of Christ had departed. The Catholic church, centering in Rome, was much involved in political questions and had practically ceased to carry on an aggressive Christian propagan- dism for religion itself. The missionary efforts of the Catholic church were closely connected with the political and commercial ambitions of the countries from which the missionaries were sent, a spirit which characterized the Portuguese missions in Ceylon and India, and the early French missions. Protestant Chris- tianity was confined almost entirely to Great Britain, the United States, and some minor sections in Northern Europe and it was only within the Protestant Church that the spirit of modern missions appeared during the i8th century and at the beginning of the 19th. At this time the great Asiatic world was practically closed to foreign aggressions and especially to the foreign missionary. In India some missionary work had been carried on by the Danish Missionary Society, but the Indian government under the control of the East India Trading Company, was strongly opposed to the advent of Christian missionaries, and every 130 SUCCESSES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY effort was made to keep them out. China was en- tirely unaffected by the white man from the West, and little was known of the interior of the country. Its language was strange, its people not understood, the religious and social wall of exclusiveness that sur- rounded the Empire more impregnable than the great wall along the North that shut out the Tartar invaders. Japan not only gave no encouragement to the men of the West but their presence was actually pro- hibited by law, and the Japanese themselves were for- bidden to go abroad or mingle with foreign peoples. European sailors, shipwrecked upon the coast of Japan, had suffered death because of this intense hatred of foreigners. Japanese law forbade the build- ing of seaworthy vessels, in order that their people might not be tempted to cross the sea. The Japanese who should be so unfortunate as to reach a foreign shore, was forbidden to return to his home under penalty of death. Christianity was a prohibited re- ligion, regarded by the Japanese as subversive of the State. Such were the conditions that prevailed even past the middle of the century. Africa beyond its northern coast was a great un- known. All the maps of the continent marked the interior as unexplored. An English and Dutch Colony had been started in the south, and occasionally at some point along its coast a foreigner had landed, but so far as the great continent was concerned, the world was in profound ignorance. Nothing was known of the tribes of the interior and the country was considered impenetrable, with wild savages and deadly fevers, all intensely hostile to the white man, and presenting barriers beyond which he could not pass. Even of the northern fringe of the conti- 131 THE UNFINISHED TASK nent along the Mediterranean Sea and the delta and lower length of the Nile River, knowledge was slight, and the great continent was a vast unknown. Turkey. More was understood of Turkey, although the interior of the country was still a terra incognita. Constantinople was little visited. Jerusalem was perhaps less unfamiliar, but the interior of Asia Minor and the upper waters of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, including Armenia and Kurdistan, extend- ing east into Persia and south into Arabia, were practically unknown, as were also the people who inhabited those extensive regions. Far more was known of the ancient history of these regions than of their modern conditions and needs. The Pacific Islands. Perhaps less was known of the Islands of the Pacific than of the great countries already mentioned. At some of these islands, traders had touched to gather and bring away stories of savagery and barbarism. Not infrequently vessels had been cast upon their shores and but few had sur- vived to tell the story of the cannibalism which they found. Many of these Islands were inhabited by the most savage of races and the farthest removed from civilization. This was in substance the condition of the world near the beginning of 1800. No missionary work of any extent or continuity was being undertaken, and so far as human wisdom could judge, all Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands were closed to the Christian religion. There seemed little possibility of success in an effort to evangelize these nations, for the task presented was colossal and the grounds for hope, aside from the promises of God, entirely wanting. The real modern missionary movement may be said to have begun in 1792 when the Baptist Missionary 132 SUCCESSES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY Society of England was organized under the leader- ship of William Carey. This was quickly followed by what was afterwards known as the London Mission- ary Society, which was formed in 1795. The Church Missionary Society, representing the established Church of England, was organized in 1799. The formation of these three strong aggressive missionary organiza- tions attracted much attention in the Christian world. There followed in 1810 in the United States the for- mation of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, followed by the American Bap- tist Missionary Union, two years later. The organ- ization of these five great missionary societies, suc- ceeded by others in order, began the modern missionary movement which we are briefly to trace. When these Missionary Boards were organized there were no precedents to follow in modern missionary work. Every step taken had to be taken in the dark and against tremendous odds. Methods of communi- cation between the countries were slow, laborious, and uncertain. Transportation between different parts of the countries to be reached was still more difficult and perilous. The missionaries must necessarily be pioneers in every respect. As one reads the story of the earlier missions in Africa and in parts of Asia, he must be profoundly impressed with the great sac- rifices which the missionaries made in learning the countries, the people, the climate, and the local condi- tions. India It was some years after the organization of the societies, before funds and men were secured to make their first advance upon the citadels of the East. The first country, naturally, to attract the attention of the 133 THE UNFINISHED TASK English missionary societies, was India. The Amer- ican Societies followed in their lead. Although Ziegenbalg and Pliitschau, representatives of a Danish Missionary Society, had landed in India in 1705, fol- lowed by Schwartz and some others, little of perma- nence had been accomplished by them. Carey arrived at Calcutta in 1793 and secured a footing only with greatest difficulty because of the opposition of the English authorities. Henry Martyn, sent out by the Church Missionary Society, arrived there in 1807, Judson and Newell in 1812, and the Wesleyan Mis- sionary Society of England began work in 1813. It was not until this last named year that there was a weakening of the prohibitory stand taken against mis- sionary operations by the East India Company. The missionaries found the country politically in great turmoil. It was not possible for them to carry on work except under the protection of the EngUsh forces, commanded by the East India Company, and this company, even after prohibition was removed, was far from friendly. Gradually this opposition ceased as the successive English officials became im- pressed with the value of the missionaries in main- taining order and in elevating the intellectual and moral condition of the people, and in later years many of these officials gave unstinted testimony to the value of that work in the Indian Empire. With consider- able rapidity, new missionary societies were added to the numbers already mentioned, and missionary sta- tions were opened in the interior. Within fifty years, all of the large cities were oc- cupied. The work met with a setback at the time of the Sepoy Rebellion in 1857 and some of the mis- sionaries lost their lives, but the mutiny resulted in the transfer of the supreme power in India from the 134 SUCCESSES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY hands of the East India Company to the direct con- trol of the British Parliament. From that time to the present, the missionaries have had the fullest liberty, and, for most of the time, the co-operation of the British government in the conduct of their work, espe- cially in their efforts toward education and industrial reform. It is impossible to trace in detail the steps of this great religious movement in India. Missionary so- cieties have invested more than ten millions of dol- lars for the advancement of Christian work among the 290,000,000 of India, Burma and Ceylon. This money has gone into the purchase of land and the construction of churches, chapels, colleges, school buildings of all kinds, hospitals and printing presses, missionary residences and a multitude of other build- ings connected with every form and phase of the Christian enterprise. A large sum also has been in- vested in the same way by the native Christians and the government has given subsidies for the erection of school buildings, hospitals, and Christian institu- tions. In the meantime, the Bible has been translated into some seventy of the more important languages and dialects, making it available for the great mass of India's dense population. At the close of 185 1 there were reported to be 91,000 native Protestant Chris- tians, though of this number only about 15,000 were communicants. The remaining 76,000 had separated themselves from their old religions but, though fac- ing persecutions as Christians, were not as yet ready for baptism. At that time there were 339 foreign missionaries reported in the country and only 21 na- tive pastors. This may be called the result of half a century of missionary effort in the country. 13s THE UNFINISHED TASK The progress made during the last half of the cen- tury is most striking. The latest obtainable statistics of mission work in India show that there are 1,461 or- dained foreign missionaries, with 418 male missionaries not ordained, 1,131 wives of missionaries, and 1,336 un- married missionary women, making a total of 4,346 for- eign missionaries in the country. These missionaries reside in 1,846 different centers and have associated with them as pastors, preachers, and teachers, 31,931 trained native workers. While the missionaries re- side in 1,846 different centers, missionary work is carried on by native forces in 8,082 different centers, the work being supported by nearly 498,000 native communicants, members of Protestant Christian churches. There is an added constituency of nearly 657,000 who are not yet members of Protestant churches, but are under training as candidates for membership. In addition to this direct evangelistic work, statistics show that there are over 420,000 In- dian children and young men and young women in the mission schools in the country. Of these schools 374 are higher educational institutions, and in these alone there are nearly 35,000 Indian youth, being trained for leadership among their people. In addi- tion, there are 139 mission industrial schools, with 541 hospitals and dispensaries, which minister to over 2,000,000 patients annually. The Indian official census of 1901 taken by govern- ment officials reports a Christian population in the Empire of 2,923,241. This includes the Roman Cath- olics and all who bear the name " Christian." These figures show an increase, in the preceding decade, of 640,000, a growth four times as rapid as that of the whole Indian population. It is an interesting fact that in the ten years the Protestant native Christians 136 SUCCESSES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY showed an increase of nearly fifty-one per cent. Christianity has now reached the point in the country where, among all the religions, it stands fifth in point of numbers. In the meantime, a Christian community has been formed in each of the great centers, which partakes of something of the character of the missionary body. It is the most intelligent of any religious community, and the most industrious and progressive of any re- ligious body in the country. Several weekly papers owned and edited by Indian Christians are published, with frequent literary productions in the various vernaculars. Many Christians of high rank hold po- sitions of influence and power. One of these has been a member of the Viceroy's council and another a member of the Legislative council of Bengal. There are Christian students in all of the Universi- ties, in some of which are to be found conspicuous teachers and professors who believe in Jesus Christ. Bishop Thoburn tells us that in London at King Edward's coronation as Emperor of India, twenty of the native Indian churches were represented. Six of these representatives were ruling princes. The In- dian Christians ai. not only organizing themselves r-i.to Christian communities for missionary help and support, but they are forming missionary organiza- - ins for the aggressive propagation of Christianity among their own people. Only recently the Chris- tiai.^ of all denominations have united in forming a National Missionary Society of India. This society '.:. to work in harmony with the foreign missionary movement in the Empire, and has for its object the enlisting of Indian youth, who shall volunteer to give their lives for the propagation of Christianity in the country, and also the securing of money from the 137 THE UNFINISHED TASK Christian native churches to support the movement. No money for the work of this society is soHcited out- side of India. It is an interesting fact that this inter- denominational Indian Missionary Society, writh a pur- pose to evangelize the Indian Empire, met and adopted its constitution in the Pagoda where Henry Mar- tyn, a hundred years ago, prayed and worked for In- dia's evangelization. When we remember that the first Hindu convert was baptized in 1800, that most active opposition to the missionary work was maintained by the East In- dia Company until 1813, and that not until 1833 did the British government declare itself neutral regard- ing the introduction of Christianity, and when we also bear in mind the facts of the natural barriers to the progress of Christianity in that country, we cannot but see in these results the hand of God. Turkey Missionary work did not begin in the Turkish Em- pire until 1815, when the first missionaries were sent to Smyrna, Beirut, Constantinople, and Jerusalem, The first one, Mr. Jowett, who went out in 1815, was from the Church Missionary Society of England, fol- lowed in 1819 by Messrs. Fiske and Parsons, mission- aries of the American Board. These were all des- tined for Jerusalem, but none of them made their resi- dence there for any length of time. For some years, political disturbances, caused by a war between Tur- key and Greece, proved a great hindrance to the progress of the work. The missionaries were not only ignorant of the conditions of the interior of the country, but the many dififerent languages spoken by the various races they were attempting to reach, pre- sented barriers hard to overcome. The country was largely unexplored and some of SUCCESSES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY the races, like the Kurds who occupied the region of the upper Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, were almost in a savage condition. Severe opposition was pre- sented by the ecclesiastics of the Greek and Armenian churches and the dominant Mohammedan race unre- lentingly enforced their inexorable laws against the acceptance of Christianity by a follower of Mo- hammed. For twenty-five years after missionary work began, it was an offense punishable with death for a Mohammedan to profess Christianity. There were no modern educational institutions in the country. The printing press was practically unknown and the percentage of illiteracy was high. The women of Turkey occupied a low social position, and even the Christian races had imbibed many of the Mohamme- dan principles in this regard. The country was there- fore practically without a literature in the modern language of the people, without schools, without any attempt at modern medicine or surgery, and with only an Oriental Christianity which had long ceased to have vitality, except as a political organization, while Mo- hammedanism was avowedly hostile to every step of Christian progress. Gradually the missionaries occupied the seaports and penetrated into the interior. They found a warm welcome from the masses of the Armenian people, but met with much hostility from their ecclesiastics. Schools were established at all of the great centers and were quickly patronized and substantially sup- ported by the Armenians and Greeks. As the senti- ment of the country changed, and the people began to realize that women were better than servants or slaves, these schools, which at first were for boys alone, were enlarged to include girls, and became in their turn centers of influence in this regard. No attempt was made to form a separate Protestant 139 THE UNFINISHED TASK Church until, through the opposition of the officials of the Old Gregorian Church, the "Evangelicals" were excommunicated, and, in order to maintain any standing in the Empire, they were perforce organized into the " Protestant Church of Turkey." The Bible was translated into all the languages of the country and widely published. A general Christian literature was created and scattered broadcast. The minds of the people, alert from the beginning, were stimulated to greater activity. In spite of the opposition of the government and the strife which always prevails be- tween subject and ruling races, there has been a con- tinual growth and development of Christian institu- tions and a spread of evangelical ideas. There has been little attempt in late years to sepa- rate Evangelicals from their old church relations and unite them with the Protestant body. Evangelical ideas are already entering the old churches and have led to radical reforms. The people are demanding an educated and morally upright clergy. They are demanding the sermon in their Sabbath services and are recognizing the fact that the essence of religion is not primarily in form but in spirit, and that Christianity demands Christian living as well as con- fession. The influence upon the Mohammedans has been ex- tensive. Christian literature prepared in their lan- guage is sold among them in large quantities. In 1904, on the press at Beirut, there was printed in Arabic over fifty million pages of Christian literature, and the Bible in both Arabic and Turkish has a large and constant sale. Christian colleges have been estab- lished in various parts of the country and are filled with the best class of students of all nationalities and 140 SUCCESSES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY religions, although the attendance of the Mohammed- ans is less than that of other faiths. These colleges include Robert College and the American College for Girls at Constantinople, the International College at Smyrna, Anatolia College at Marsovan, Euphrates College at Harpoot, Central Turkey College at Aintab, the Girls' College at Marash, St. Paul's Institute at Tarsus, and the Syrian Protestant College at Beirut. In addition to these, there are in hundreds of other towns high and boarding schools training both boys and girls, religiously, morally, and intellectually. Mohammedans, Armenians, and other races, inspired by the evidences of success, have also opened high grade schools of their own. Mission hospitals and dispensaries are now in all of the leading cities of the Empire and the Syrian Protestant College at Beirut has a medical department which trains native phy- sicians for the entire country. Although the press of Turkey is still most rigor- ously censored, yet the American and the Presbyterian Boards issue regularly Christian periodicals which have a wide circulation among all classes. The sta- tistics of the professing Protestants represent but a mere fraction of the Christian converts in that coun- try during the century. The reforms which have been instituted in the Old Churches and among the Mohammedans are more important evidences of progress than the mere number of those who have be- come Protestant. The triumph of the work in Tur- key consists in a changed conception of religion, in a recognition on the part of Mohammedans of what true Christianity is, and in an acceptance of the mod- em school, as known in Christian nations, as the foun- dation for all genuine education, x On the whole, Tur- 141 THE UNFINISHED TASK key is very well occupied with mission institutions, although Arabia is even to the present time woefully destitute. The Pacific Islands At the beginning of the century little was known of the Pacific Islands or their people, nor was there any conception of how the work among them could be begun and carried on with any hope of success. Although the English missionaries who in the early part of the century landed at Tahiti in Eastern Poly- nesia, in the South Pacific, labored for twelve years amidst great discouragement before they saw their first convert, that achievement was followed by what might be called a religious revolution. Island after island, and group after group of islands, in rapid suc- cession, threw away their idols and embraced Chris- tianity. Dr. Anderson in speaking of this work says, " In less than twenty years Christianity had become the only religion in most of the numerous islands, west- ward through the space of nearjy three thousand miles. Never was there seen an overthrow of idol- atry more extensive or more rapid and complete." One of the first groups to be reached was that of the Sandwich Islands, to which missionaries were sent by the American Board in 1819. Those who ar- rived found the natives in a most favorable condition for the beginning of Christian work, and seventeen years after the commencement of the mission, when the Gospel had been generally preached among the people, there was a remarkable outpouring of the Holy Spirit and a marvelous religious movement. More than a fourth part of the adult population of the main islands was at that time added to the church, and since that time there has been continuous progress, 142 SUCCESSES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY until the islands have become practically Christian. In speaking of the growth of the Kingdom in East- ern and Central Polynesia, Dr. Anderson, quoting from the London Missionary Society's Report in 1868, goes on to say, — " Sixty years ago there was not a solitary native Christian in Polynesia'. Now it would be hard to find a professed idolator in the Islands of Eastern and Central Polynesia where Chris- tian missions have been established. The hideous rites of their forefathers have ceased to be practised, their heathenish war songs are forgotten, and their cruel and dissolute tribal wars, which were rapidly de- stroying the population, appear to be at an end. They are gathered together in peaceful communities. They live under recognized codes of laws. They are con- structing roads, cultivating their fertile lands and en- gaging in commerce." The writer adds that a large proportion of the people attend public worship and more than half of the adults are members of the Christian church. " They are educating their chil- dren, sustaining their native ministers and are send- ing their own sons as missionaries to the heathen lands further west." The Fiji Islands number about 80. The people were all originally cannibals and the islands were justly dreaded by seamen. Mission work was com- menced there in 1835 and within 30 years it was re ported that one hundred thousand, or about half of the entire population of the islands, had the Scrip- tures in their own language and in 1870 at least one- half of the population regularly attended church serv- ice, while twenty-two thousand were members of the church. Their churches were supplied by earnest na- tive preachers and the schools of the islands were in charge of native teachers. 143 THE UNFINISHED TASK A similar story might be related of the work in the New Hebrides, where races of the fiercest sav- ages, even cannibals, have been brought to a Chris- tian civilization and made followers of the meek and gentle Christ The work is not yet entirely complete, but enough has been done to demonstrate the civiliz- ing power of the Gospel, its ability to transform even the most primitive savagery, and to overcome every obstacle in the form of human opposition and degra- dation. Japan The Empire of Japan was first entered by Fran- cis Xavier in 1542. As the direct result of his ef- fort, Christianity as preached by him and his follow- ers spread rapidly in the country. The persecution of Christianity, which terminated in its extermination in the islands, covered the period from 1617 to 1638. From 1638 until 1872 it was a crime for a Japanese to profess to be a follower of Jesus Christ, and dur- ing that period every effort was made by the govern- ment to stamp out all traces of Christian belief. In 1853 Commodore Perry entered the harbor of Yedo and through his efiforts a treaty was signed between Japan and the United States which opened two ports to American trade. The first Protestant missionaries of the modern movement went to Japan in 1859, l^ss than 50 years ago. It was still a crime for a Japa- nese to become a Christian or even to have in his possession a Christian book. One young Japanese was even thrown into prison for teaching a mission- ary the language. This ban against Christianity was officially removed in 1873, although for a year previous to that date it had been practically a dead letter. The first Chris- 144 SUCCESSES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY tian church in the Empire was organized in 1872. There was a general movement of missionaries to- ward the Empire, for Japan was then attracting the attention of the entire civilized world, and the coun- try was making rapid progress toward the reorgan- ization of its constitution and government upon a modern basis. This constitution was promulgated in 1889 and the first Imperial Diet assembled in 1890. Unlike many other countries, Christianity has made its greatest progress in Japan among the higher classes. The Samurai, or old military class and re- tainers of their feudal lords, were men of marked intelligence, and of great personal prowess, and of a high sense of honor. They were quickly interested in the schools which were soon established by the missionaries, and, being thrown out of employment when the old feudal system was broken down, .they turned their attention to education and to literary and professional pursuits. Some of the leading Samurai early professed Christianity and through their efforts it rapidly spread. This accounts in a large measure for the fact that the influence of Christianity in the country is far out of proportion to the number of re- corded Christians. The Doshisha established at Tokyo in 1876, under the leadership of Mr. Neesima, a converted Japanese who received his education in the United States, ex- erted an unusually wide influence through its earlier students who were largely from among the Samurai class, and many of these have from their student days taken positions of marked Christian leadership among their people. Schools at Tokyo, Sendai, and in other parts of the country, have reached men of ability with their Christian education, while the direct preaching of the Gospel has been persistent and powerful among 145 THE UNFINISHED TASK the common people. The earHer missionaries were greatly hampered by the restrictions put by the govern- ment upon their residence in the interior, but they were able to travel under certain conditions and to reside, temporarily at least, in the interior cities. These dis- abilities have now been entirely removed and mission- aries are free to live and work in any hamlet of the Empire. During the period of popularity, or until 1890, Christianity made marvelous progress. To be a Christian was to accept a religion which was increas- ingly popular among all classes, and there was dan- ger at one time that the government itself would de- clare Christianity to be the national religion. A reaction occurred in 1890, which was most fortunate for the vitality of the church. Under that reaction there was a sifting out of the unworthy membership of the churches. Previous to 1890 the annual increase in the membership in the Protestant churches had been nearly 6,000. This number dropped to about 1,000, while the net increase in church membership practi- cally stood still for several years. Meanwhile the sift- ing and readjusting continued, and those members who remained firm to their belief and those who openly accepted baptism under these circumstances were truly converted Christians, followers of Christ, not because it was popular to do so, but because of the belief of their hearts. The period of unpopular- ity continued for about ten years; since then the progress of Christianity seems to have been upon a normal basis. The Japanese government adopted modern educa- tion, and established universities with preparatory and normal schools of all grades, to such an extent that there was no need of the missionaries spending much 146 SUCCESSES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY time and strength in purely educational work. The main effort of the missionaries along educational lines is to join with the Japanese in training an efficient, devout, native ministry, and in maintaining schools for girls and young women. The strength of the work in Japan consists in the aggressiveness and in- dependence of the native Christian leaders within the Japanese churches. The Christians are ready to sacri- fice for the advance of Christianity among their own people. They have organized missionary societies managed hy themselves and supported by their own contributions. These societies are not only carrying on aggressive work in their own Islands, but they are reaching across the sea to China and Korea and are there conducting foreign missionary operations. Denominationalism in Japan is reduced to the mini- mum. The Japanese rejoice in great interdenomina- tional movements. To them, Christianity means far more than a sect or a name. They are eager to sink denominational differences out of sight and to unite for aggressive evangelization. Christianity is no longer held in disfavor by the leaders of Japanese thought, but is recognized as a supreme and conquering religion. The Bible is taught in some of the government schools, not as a religious text book but as an English classic, and also as a basis for inculcating Christian morality. There is an eagerness on the part of the Japanese to investi- gate Christianity and to understand its principles, and many who begin the study of the Bible, simply to dis- cover what Christianity is, end by accepting it as a personal faith. At the present time there is full liberty to preach Christianity in every part of the Empire, and the re- ligious freedom of Japan is equal to that of the United 147 THE UNFINISHED TASK States or England. There is a general intellectual acceptance of the truths of the principles of Christian- ity as taught by Jesus Christ and His disciples. Every opportunity is open to the Christian worker for preaching to the people, both in the class room and in groups of students eager to study the Bible, as well as in the street preaching places and in the pulpit. The Empire is open; Japan is ready to listen and to respond. Never in the history of the world has a na- tion within half a century advanced practically with- out bloodshed, from paganism and many forms of barbarity into a civilization, with a modern repre- sentative government, and the intellectual progressive- ness and religious liberality that are its concomitants. The victory won by the Gospel in Japan in the last last half century is not surpassed by that won in any nation from the day of Christ until the present time. SUCCESSES OF THE NINETEENTH CEN- TURY II VIII SUCCESSES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY II China China is without doubt the greatest mission coun- try in the world, because of its great populations, its unity as a race, the unusual ability of its people, and the future possibilities opening before the nation. Until the beginning of the last century the 400,- 000,000 of China were practically shut out from the western world. Foreigners had no treaty rights in the country until 1842. Previous to that time there had been trading with the Chinese upon the part of Great Britain, France, Portugal, and some other coun- tries, but it was an irregular and unprotected trade. The treaty-making period between and including 1842 and i860 were years of turmoil and conflict with west- ern nations, which were not calculated to give the Chinese a favorable impression of the religion of Jesus Christ which these nations professed. The various treaties were completed in October, i860, by the ratification of the so-called treaty of Tientsin, which granted toleration to Christianity, permitted the residence of foreign ministers at Peking, and offered freedom of travel throughout the land. The missionary history of China begins in the ac- tivities of various early Roman Catholic priests, who met with varying degrees of success, but finally in the 17th century all the missionaries were banished by or- der of the Emperor and their followers were severely 151 THE UNFINISHED TASK persecuted. In 1795 the attention of the London Mis- sionary Society was called to China, but the East In- dia Company, then occupying an important trading post at Canton, showed itself antagonistic to any ef- fort at Christianizing the country, while the Chinese themselves manifested a hostility to the religious teachers from the West. The London Missionary So- ciety did not withdraw its efforts, however, and in 1806 through the sympathetic co-operation of a New York mercantile house, the first Protestant mission- ary, Robert Morrison, was sent to that great Empire. He reached Canton September 7, 1807, and was per- mitted for a time to reside among the factories of the East India Company outside of the walls, but in the end was compelled to retire to Portuguese pro- tection in Macao, which in later years, until the whole country was opened, became a center for missionaries. Other bases for advance were established later by other Boards in Malacca, Batavia, Singapore, Borneo, and Bangkok, but little impression was made upon the Chinese. Their language was mastered only with great difficulty, owing to the lack of proper books for teaching it to foreigners, and any native of the country who gave his services to the missionaries for this purpose was condemned to death. The second missionary to China arrived at Canton in 1813, but did not remain long in the country. In 1829 the American Board of Commissioners for For- eign Missions sent two missionaries to Canton, fol- lowed in 1833 by S. Wells Williams, whose name is now so inseparably associated with the planting of mis- sionary work in China. The American Baptist Mis- sionary Union began work for the Chinese in Bang- kok in 1833, and in 1838 the Presbyterians did the same from Singapore as a base. The missionaries de- 152 SUCCESSES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY voted themselves with great zeal to learning the lan- guage, acquainting themselves with the characteristics of the Chinese people and preparing a Christian liter- ature in the vernacular. In 1842 at the close of the first opium war between England and China, five ports in that country were open to foreign residents and the island of Hongkong was ceded to the Brit- ish, and this period marks the beginning of rapid ad- vance in the number of missionaries sent to China, as well as in the number of interested societies. The Chinese, however, revealed a great dislike to foreigners, and of this feeling the literati were the lead- ers. The opium wars naturally did not allay the old feeling of hostility and hatred, and after a generation of effort for the Chinese there were almost no con- verts to Christianity and the feeling against foreign- ers seemed as intense as at first. Except to gain a foothold in the land, prepare the beginnings of a Christian Chinese literature and secure some knowl- edge of the people and the country, little seemed to have been accomplished. And yet foundations had been laid, the situation mapped out and preparations consummated for subsequent advance. The progress made could not be measured by the numbers of the converts to Christianity. It is reported that after 40 years of effort and sacrifice the number of Chinese Christians could be numbered upon the fingers of two hands. As soon as these early preparations had been com- pleted, active, aggressive operations were undertaken and vigorously prosecuted, so that in 1877 13,000 Chinese Christians were reported, in 1890 there were 37,000, in 1898, 81,000, and in 1900 there were 113,- 000 communicants in the Protestant Churches of China. In spite of the massacres and martyrdoms IS3 THE UNFINISHED TASK of 1900, statistics presented to the Shanghai missionary conference in 1907 show a total of 178,000 Protestant Chinese Church members. There had been in the meantime, a rapid increase in the number of mission- aries engaged in the Empire as well as in the support- ing societies. The statistics for 1900 show that at that time there were at work in China, 2,785 Protest- ant missionaries, of which 1,188 were men and 1,597 women, including the wives of missionaries. In 1904 this number of missionaries had increased by 322, so that the aggregate of missionaries in the country was 3,107, 1,374 being men and 1,733 women, which gave one male missionary to every 145,000 men in the Em- pire. During the four years, immediately following the Boxer uprising, when so many native Christians suffered martyrdom, the number of native Christian workers rose from 6,388 in 1900 to 8,313 in 1904, an increase of 30 per cent, which number became 9,904 in 1906. In 1900 there were missionaries in all except one of the 19 provinces of the Empire and in 1904 every province was occupied, the smallest number in any province being 36 in Yun-nan, and the largest num- ber, 416, in Kwang-tung and Hongkong. The mis- sionaries are distributed in the 19 provinces in 765 centers, occupying 405 different cities, towns and vil- lages. Three hundred and six of these occupied places are walled cities of important official rank. Of the 1.553 walled cities in the country, one in every five is occupied as a mission station. In addition to these 405 places occupied as permanent residences of for- eign missionaries, there are 5,100 out stations in which systematic Christian work is carried on largely by resident native Christian leaders in chapels or regular meeting places. In a word, there are to-day, in China, 154 SUCCESSES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY more than 5,000 different cities, towns, and villages, in which Christian work is being regularly done. In 1900 there were in the various missions, 1,819 Christian day schools with 35,412 pupils. In 1904 there were 2,100 schools with 43,275 pupils. In the four years the number of pupils had increased 22 per cent. At the present time, under the impulse of the new movement in China, the number of pupils in mission schools is increasing with great rapidity, while the Chinese themselves are introducing mod- ern science and modern teaching into their own insti- tutions. There are now in China some 60,000 pupils in the various missions schools, one quarter of which are in collegiate and high schools. It was thought by many, that Christian missions had received their death blow at the time of the Boxer outbreak when so many Christians suffered martyr- dom, but the figures given above show that there was an immediate rebound and the Christian institutions in the Empire are now taxed to their utmost capacity to meet the demands of the new conditions. No mis- sion board working in the country is able to man its fields properly and provide the funds needed to enable the missionaries to enter all of the doors that seem to be thrown wide open. The number of com- municants rapidly increased after 1900, so that by the close of 1904 all losses in 1900 had more than been made good. Professor Beach concludes a masterly statement of the present condition in China by re- ferring to the situation as " the greatest opportunity that has ever allured the church to the conquest of an open and impressible Empire." Every province is open and practically every section of the Empire is ready for the occupancy of either the missionary or the educated Christian Chinese worker. iSS THE UNFINISHED TASK Significant in the face of present conditions is the fact that Yuan Shih Kai, Viceroy of the capital prov- ince, and the most powerful official in China, has be- come a champion of progress almost unparalleled in the history of China. In addition to general works of reform, he has published two significant books. "A Text-Book on Patriotism" shows the necessity of radical political, intellectual, and moral changes in China if she is to maintain herself as a nation. The second book, "Christianity in China," discusses with tolerable accuracy and unconcealed sympathy the his- tory of the entrance of Christianity into the country. Emphasis is laid upon the non-political and non-ju- dicial character of the missionaries and their work, declaring that they should be treated with all the cour- tesy and decorum of civilized etiquette, for they have come to China to persuade men to the practice of virtues, and therefore are entitled to great respect. The full significance of such a work from the pen of one of the most influential officials in the empire, can- not be estimated. The superintendent of education for the province of Fukien, who takes the place of the literary chancellor in the old system of education, has expressed his desire that the mission colleges at Foochow should be brought into such relations with the government, that it might have some share in the work these institutions are doing for the youth of that great province, and the local Chinese papers have reported that the govern- ment is ready to grant graduates of these colleges full recognition. The recent decrees from the throne or- dering general education in modern science and lan- guages but demonstrates the fact that the country is passing through an intellectual revolution. Such facts are sufficient to demonstrate that great is6 SUCCESSES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY changes are taking place in China. Probably no other country of its size and importance in the history of Christianity has been turned in so brief a period from universal hostility to the missionary and the Christian religion, to a general willingness to accept and listen to the teacher from the West, and the China of to-day witnesses to a Christian victory over what appeared to be insuperable obstacles. Africa Explorations in Africa began in the isth century when the Portuguese landed upon both the East and the West coast. In the 17th century the Dutch gained a foothold in South Africa and in 1768-73 James Bruce penetrated into the interior of the continent and discovered the Blue Nile. About the time Carey was entering upon his mission work in India there was a more general movement towards explorations in Africa, and among the first explorers were two mis- sionaries of the Church Missionary Society, Messrs. Krapf and Rebmann. For 24 years following 1849, David Livingstone, a missionary of the London Mis- sionary Society, conducted a series of exploring ex- peditions unsurpassed in intrepidity and interest. Every missionary landing upon the coast and push- ing into the unknown regions toward the center of the continent, became a genuine explorer. His re- ports added to the literature of the subject and his experiences prepared the way for many to follow, but these efforts cost so dearly that Africa has been called, not without reason, " The White man's grave." It is reported upon good authority that of the more than 700 explorers who attempted to penetrate the mysteries of the Dark Continent, about 550 laid down their lives there. Many of these were missionaries, 157 THE UNFINISHED TASK seeking strategic points for mission stations or at- tempting to plant them amid a hostile climate and peo- ple. In addition to these twin foes of missionary operations, must be added the slave trade, which for generations before the missionaries came had cursed the land. With this the Moravians struggled in the middle of the 17th century in Cape Town, and with it the missionaries of the Church Missionary Society were brought in conflict in Sierra Leone in 1820, nor has the evil been wholly done away up to the present hour. The missionary siege of the continent may be said to have begun with the Moravians in their first ef- forts in 1736, renewed and made permanent in 1792. The London Missionary Society began work in 1798, the Church Missionary Society in 1804, the Wesley- ans in 181 1, the American Baptist Missionary Union in 1821, the Basel Missions in 1827, and the Amer- ican Presbyterian, the Methodist, and the American Boards in 1833. The earlier movement was towards South Africa, which was more or less under the con- trol of the Dutch and the English governments, but the East and West coasts were not neglected, and mission stations were opened, and abandoned and opened again, as new recruits offered themselves to take the place of those who had fallen. Gradually more healthful places for residence were secured and remedies for some of the deadly African diseases were discovered. Mission stations finally picketed practi- cally the whole coast line, and extended inland at the south, following up the great rivers. Wide stretches of unexplored areas were passed over to plant the Gospel and its institutions upon the shores of some of the great lakes of the interior, and each of these stations became the base for aggressive operations 158 SUCCESSES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY both for exploration, and evangelization, and Africa is to-day crossed and recrossed by the trail of the mis- sionary. Over 100 different missionary societies and organ- izations are working for this vast country, maintain- ing in the field over 3,200 missionaries, of whom nearly 1,200 are ordained men, 650 unordained men, and the rest unmarried men, and wives. These are located at over 1,050 different centers and are reaching by their efforts over 6,000 other points. Already there are some 300,000 communicants in the churches or- ganized, with an outside constituency numbering fully 600,000 souls. There are more than 200,000 African pupils in the Christian common schools with about 4,000 in schools of higher grade. With increasing rapidity Christian forces represented by the missionary and the trained African workers, are penetrating into yet unexplored regions and are estabUshing work among peoples hitherto unreached. Africa is no longer an unknown land. Its territory is for the most part well mapped, its great races un- derstood and their languages reduced to writing. Of its 600 languages and dialects, the Bible has been translated in whole or in part into nearly 120. The last half century marks more intellectual and religious progress in Africa than was recorded by all the pre- ceding centuries of the Christian era. Day has be- gun to dawn upon the Dark Continent. Korea Until less than a third of a century ago Korea was closed against all the world. In 1876 a treaty was concluded with her neighbor Japan, but for six years longer no foreigners except Japanese were al- lowed any intercourse with this " hermit nation." IS9 THE UNFINISHED TASK Then in 1882 a treaty with the United States was signed, and two years later a representative of the Methodist Episcopal Church entered the country and the same year the Presbyterian Church appointed a missionary to Korea. Previous to the signing of these treaties, the old Korean law had pronounced death upon all foreigners as well as upon all Koreans found guilty of harboring them, and the only work done had been by the missionaries of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, who, from their position in Man- churia, became interested in the seclusive people and translated portions of the Gospel of Luke into their tongue, and eventually completed the entire New Tes- tament, and through contact with Korean merchants along this Manchurian border the Scriptures in part and other Christian literature found an entrance into the other sections of the country. The 12,000,000 people of the peninsula are now receiving Christian instruction at the hands of not less than eight Ameri- can and four British Missionary Societies. The Koreans were found to be quiet, patient, warm- hearted and generous, although capable of intense anger and savage ferocity when driven to extremes. From the Oriental standpoint the Koreans were well educated and possessed a considerable degree of cul- ture. The missionaries commenced the practice of modern medicine and surgery, and familiarized them- selves with the vernacular. The Koreans responded with great eagerness to the educational operations which were early inaugurated. Prospective native workers were selected for special training, and the foundation rapidly laid for an educated native min- istry. Missionary work in Korea has been in progress for only 24 years, during which time the country has been 160 SUCCESSES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY precipitated into repeated political upheavals through the jealousy of Russia and Japan and the conser- vatism of China. Of the achievements of this com- paratively brief period, Dr. Vinton, a Korean mis- sionary, says : " Fifteen years ago the Christian com- munity in Korea was comprised of two congregations worshiping in the city of Seoul, with something more than sixty baptized believers. Services were possible only upon a foreign compound, baptism might be ad- ministered only in the face of prohibitions, itineration throughout the country was subject to many restric- tions, persecution even to death was the expected lot of many who abandoned the ancient faith. To-day Korea has more than fifteen hundred worshiping con- gregations each Sabbath. " The Gospel is now free in Korea and its preaching unhindered. All restricting ordinances have been re- moved. The official world is indifferent, not hostile. Persecution is mainly a matter of the family and the neighborhood. The recent war has even turned a mighty tide of inquiry toward that which seems the only unchanging thing amid all that change. Men and women in the villages and in the cities, throughout all the peninsula, those of the lowest rank and those of the highest, even to the very palace itself, have been coming these latter months, in such numbers as never before, to ask seriously after the Way of Life. It is an astonishing fact, that in all Korea the new in- quirers could not have been less than ten thousand in number for the summer months of 1905, and for the months of the autumn another ten thousand. " The propagandism of the Korean Church is a true home missionary work. In perhaps all the larger and in many of the smaller congregations, societies are organized for this end, and are in most cases the spon- 161 THE UNFINISHED TASK taneous growth of the people's own impulse. Fre- quently a group of churches are so affiliated as to cover the territory of a county or a province. Their officers are native leaders, their collections are sys- tematically gathered and cared for, and they pay salary and expenses to some among themselves who are qualified to go out and tell of Christ's redemption in the villages before unreached." These are the fruits already gathered of the wide and recent seed-sowing of the Gospel in Korea. , Conclusion It is impossible to recount in detail the great ex- tension of Christian work during the last century in countries like Madagascar, Burma, Assam, South America, Ceylon, and Persia. Enough has been writ- ten to demonstrate beyond the possibility of a doubt that the effort to evangelize the world springs not from a merely human impulse and is not sustained by merely human power. The victories won during this last century of modern missions, demonstrate " the power of God and the wisdom of God " in as marked a de- gree as is revealed in the Acts of the Apostles or in the development of the early church. Most of this growth and conquest has taken place before our own eyes, since it is the product of the last generation of Christian effort. We have over- looked, it may be, the significance of the facts, because the reports have come to us in our magazines from month to month and even in the columns of our daily press. It is here that the modern Acts of the Apostles is written and we have failed to read it aright because it was not surrounded with the glamor of the earlier apostles or accredited with the inspirational value of 162 SUCCESSES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY their writings. Nevertheless, after reading this mod- ern story, written in every tongue and appearing in every form, we can have no doubt that Christianity is moving to complete and final victory. The mo- mentum of the advancing Kingdom is too great for human opposition to resist ; success is too sure to allow of a moment of doubt. 163 ADEQUACY OF AVAILABLE RESOURCES IX ADEQUACY OF AVAILABLE RESOURCES Hitherto we have been considering the past and its significance. We have traced the great movements of the Kingdom as it has extended over the earth and put its stamp upon men and nations. It is now time to consider the future. The study of the past is of little avail save as the principles learned are applied to what lies ahead. We look backward for both in- formation and inspiration, — information, to direct our movements, and inspiration to furnish the motive power. Assuming the recognition of our responsi- bility for the evangelization of the world, let us enter upon the consideration of the resources, now at the disposal of the church, which were not available at the beginning of the last century of modern missions. Needs, opportunity, and adequate resources constitute a responsibility from which none can escape. At the beginning of the second century of modern missions, the duty is laid upon us, as a heritage from the past, to continue the work so well begun. We face problems different from those met by the pioneers of this movement a century ago. Their labors, sacri- fices, and successes constitute for us a legacy of experi- ence of priceless worth. Moreover, commerce, science, and the thousand influences of civilization have vied with each other in rendering missionary work more eco- nomical and more effective. All these assets are at the disposal of the missionary societies for planting the 167 THE UNFINISHED TASK Kingdom of God in every land and for making it speedily possible that every man know Jesus Christ as a personal Savior. If in the face of what appeared to be insuperable obstacles, the missionary efforts of the last century were so successful, what may we not expect when we now have largely upon our side the allied forces of commerce, science, and wealth, as well as the per- fected institutions of the church! Of the more im- portant resources, developed for the most part during the last century and now available for the use of the missionary of the Cross, we will enumerate a few. T. Facilities for Travel and Communication Before the middle of the last century, and even much later than that, a considerable proportion of the time and strength of the missionaries was given to reaching their mission fields and in getting from place to place within the field. The first missionaries of the American Board to the Sandwich Islands sailed from Boston, October 23, 1819, and the first letters received from them arrived March 10, 1821. The mis- sionaries arrived at their destination around Cape Horn, March 30, 1820, after a trying voyage of over five months. India, Burma, and Ceylon were reached only by sailing vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, requiring from five to eight months, and it took from fifty to seventy days to get to Turkey and Syria. The hardships and strain of such a voyage sometimes proved more than the missionaries could endure and not a few consecrated souls died at sea and lie buried in its depths, or arrived at their destination too worn and broken for efficient service. Compare these slow sailing vessels with their lack of accommodation, their hardships, perils, and loss of time, with the modern 168 ADEQUACY OF AVAILABLE RESOURCES Steamships fitted out with every comfort. India, Cey- lon, and China can be reached now in complete com- fort and safety in less than four weeks of travel, while one can arrive at Constantinople or Honolulu in ten days from Boston. To most people now the voyage, instead of a strain and even an imperiling of health, proves a restful, recuperating agency, at the end of which the missionary is better fitted for his work than when he started. In earlier days, when a missionary had landed in his field, as for instance in Bombay, India, there lay before him the most trying experiences in traveling over the country in order to reach the interior. Many a missionary gave up his life under the hardships of these overland journeys. When the American Board sent a deputation to India in 1854 to visit its missions there, they were some ten days upon the extremely difficult road leading from Bombay to Ahmednagar, and it took many weeks of perilous and almost fatal journeying to bring them to Madura, in the Madras Presidency. The trip from Bombay to Ahmednagar is now made in one night on a comfortable railway train, and to Madura inside of two days, with the same ease. Livingstone was months in pushing his way from Cape Town up through the wilderness, with peril of beasts, savages and African diseases, to Victoria Falls upon the Zambesi. After he had arrived it took him more than six months to get word of his great dis- covery back to England. Recently John R. Mott made the same journey inside of four days, surrounded by modem comforts. A few months ago a British sci- entific society held a meeting at Victoria Falls and an address delivered upon that occasion was cabled to London and appeared in the papers the next morn- 169 THE UNFINISHED TASK ing. In many countries at the present time the mis- sionaries do much of their traveUng in the field by rail or by boats propelled by steam or naphtha power, with a minimum loss of strength, and at greatly di- minished cost. The construction of new railroads in Africa and China, as well as their extension in other countries, adds materially to the resources of the mis- sionaries, and in many sections where no railroads exist, the construction of good wagon roads is making the countries safe and travel easy and economical. Facilities for communicating with the missionaries have increased in an even more remarkable manner. There are few indeed to-day who are not reached by the Postal Union. Five cents carries or brings a letter of substantial size, in one month or six weeks, from nearly all of the missionary stations of the world. Seldom is a letter lost, and the service is constant. As we compare this with the uncertain and irregular service of even fifty years ago, when it was almost impossible to write missionaries in the remoter fields and receive a reply in the same year, we more easily realize what the developed postal service means foi missionaries. Perhaps the most surprising advance is in the cable and telegraph system that now penetrates to most remote sections of the earth. There are com- paratively few missionaries anywhere at the present time to whom a cable message could not be sent and a reply obtained within two days, and from many of them a reply could be had upon the same day. Every mission board is actually in hourly touch with prac- tically all of its missionaries, to whom it can speak at will and from whom it can hear at once, in case of an emergency. Funds can be sent by cable at any time to almost any point in the mission world, if an occasion arises to make the speedy transmission of 170 ADEQUACY OF AVAILABLE RESOURCES money imperative, and the mission boards employ a special cable code which reduces the expense to a minimum. Steamships, railroads, cable and telegraph lines and the Postal system have not only brought closer to- gether the great countries of the world, but they have opened up the interiors of each country to the knowl- edge and access of civilization. There is no longer a great, remote and unapproachable world to which the missionaries go. To the young men at Williams- town in 1806, India, Burma, and China seemed almost as remote as the moon is to the youth of to-day. Science and invention have, during the last sixty years, brought the remote non-Christian nations to the very doors of the Christian church and holds them waiting there to receive the Gospel of Christ at our hands. 2. Experience and General Knowledge Probably no great enterprise involving such an out- lay of money and life was ever entered upon under conditions of so much ignorance concerning the needs and practical methods of work. The missionaries knew little of the people to whom they were to go, the languages spoken by them, the country in which they dwelt, or the religions they professed. The wonder is that there were any results whatever, apart from the knowledge and experience gained by the pioneers. There was a vast world to conquer before the people themselves could be approached with an effective mes- sage, for it was imperative that the missionaries master the languages spoken by the people, know their re- ligious beliefs and practices, become conversant with their social life and able to share their thoughts and experiences. In addition to this, ignorance of the climatic con- 171 THE UNFINISHED TASK ditions, of the prevailing diseases and how to guard against them, as well as many other practical matters of common knowledge to-day, impaired or completely destroyed the influence and even the life of the early missionary. There are in Africa, India, China and other countries thousands of missionary graves filled by able and devout men and women, who, instead of a few months or years of halting labors, might have spent a long life of usefulness in the work, had they but known how to guard their health and strength for longer service. Each missionary added to the fund of common knowledge, each untimely death erected a new sign-post of warning, and every suc- ceeding missionary became the heir to all that had been gained by his predecessors. At the present time there are medical schools in England, in which tropical diseases and their remedies are made a specialty, and where missionary physicians prepare for work in the tropics. Books by the hun- dreds are written upon the religions of the East, and any one who will, may study at home the customs, life, and characteristics of almost every race on earth. Even the languages spoken by the leading non-Chris- tian races can be studied by the prospective missionary before going to his field. There was the same ignorance of practical methods of conducting the missionary campaign. How work should be opened and carried on was left largely to the predilections, ■ and often prejudices, of the in- dividual missionary. It is but recently that there has been any suggestion of a science of missions. The ineffectual and wasteful plan of making missionaries the pastors of native churches was followed in all missions until well past the middle of the eighteenth century, and even at the present time there is in some 17a Adequacy of available resources iquarters a reluctance to surrender the old error. For beginning the work there was no better method, but in all organized missions it is a mere waste of energy and men. The place of education in the work of Christianizing a nation did not appear in clear light to the missionary pioneers. And long years of ex- perience were required to teach the value of trained native leaders and the morally enervating effect of a persistent use of foreign funds in the support of natives and native institutions. It is not strange that such should have been the case, since precedents were yet to be established, and values were yet to be es- timated by experiment and observation. For a cen- tury this work has been going on, until now we can say with certainty that there is a true science of mis- sions. It would be presumption to say that everything has been settled, but we can aiBrm that much has been established in regard to effective missionary policy, so that now the new missionary is compelled to give but little time and strength to experiments, and can concentrate all his energy upon work that is ef- fective and productive. Waste has been reduced to a minimum and the knowledge and experience of the past is given a maximum effectiveness. J. Changed Sentiment Among the People Them- selves The original modern missionary enterprise did not generally meet with favor either from the people them- selves or from their rulers. It goes without saying that the missionaries were not understood, and East- ern peoples are inclined to be suspicious of all for- eigners among them. They can imagine no motive but selfishness to prompt the missionary's coming, and conclude that if he is to prosper it must be at their ^7Z THE UNFINISHED TASK expense. Such prejudice was but slowly overcome. Undoubtedly the native rulers feared, and that not entirely without reason, judging from past experi- ence with the Jesuits, that the missionaries had politi- cal designs which they were attempting to carry through under the guise of religion. This was equally true even of European officials over colonies in the East, most of whom were openly hostile. In China, at the beginning of the century, the mis- sionaries were not permitted to enter upon any direct missionary work and were even put under surveil- lance to see that they did not communicate with the Chinese. No Chinaman could safely associate with a missionary. The same was true of the beginnings in Japan, even as late as i860. Livingstone met with much opposition in Africa, not only from the natives themselves but also from the European Colonial rulers who wished no missionary work carried on among native races. In all countries where the Roman Cath- olics had influence the opposition to Protestant mis- sionaries was persistent in the extreme, and this was especially true in Turkey and in countries that were nominally Catholic. Fully a generation of mission- aries passed away in most of these countries before the spirit of opposition began to give way to indif- ference and finally to approbation. In some countries like China even three generations of missionary resi- dence, service, and sacrifice became necssary in order to break down the fear and hatred of the people and the rulers. At the beginning of this the second century of modern missions there is not only the fullest liberty for the missionary to enter nearly every country in the world, and practically all parts of all the leading countries, but he is even sought for by the people 174 ADEQUACY OF AVAILABLE RESOURCES themselves and by their rulers. The imperial com- mission, sent by China in 1906, to investigate the commercial, educational, and religious conditions of the United States and England, said emphatically in public that China needs and desires more mission- aries. The attitude of Japan towards missionaries, as ex- pressed by Marquis Ito, Count Okuma, Baron Mae- jima and others, is too well known to require repe- tition here. British officials in India, Africa and other English colonies have repeatedly stated in the most public manner their high appreciation of the work of missionaries. Sir Augustus Rivers-Thompson, Lieutenant Gov- ernor of Bengal, India, has said : " In my judgment. Christian missionaries have done more real and last- ing good to the people of India than all other agencies combined." Sir Peregrine Maitland, Governor of Cape Colony, has said : " I have relied more upon the labors of the missionaries for the peaceful government of the na- tives than upon the presence of British troops." The Lieutenant Governor of New Guinea has said : " The government owes everything to missionaries." The King of Siam said: "American missionaries have done more to advance the welfare of my country and people than any other foreign influence." Many other quotations might be given from such men, as well as from the people themselves, substan- tiating this statement. No longer must a missionary give much thought or strength to meeting opposition. Those who have gone before have fought over this ground and won. Some of them lost their lives in the conflict. The modem missionary for the most part enters a country that 175 THE UNFINISHED TASK wishes his presence and is consciously in need of the work he comes to do. 4. International Treaties and Local Laws At the beginning of the century the United States had treaty relations with but few of the so-called mission countries. Diplomatic relations with Siam were not begun until 1833, and our first treaty with China was negotiated in 1844. Japan had no treaty relations with the United States or England until 1855, and American missionaries had been in Turkey several years before a treaty was signed between that country and the United States. In most countries which the early American mis- sionaries entered, they remained only on sufferance, as there was no provision for the residence in these countries of American citizens, either for mission work or for any other purpose. In the case of misunder- standings regarding the personal rights of the indi- vidual or the status of the property he had leased or purchased for the purposes of his work, there were no treaties to which reference could be had or pre- cedents to which all parties could appeal. Every case was new and consequently all decisions were uncer- tain. It might be expected that difficulties must arise under these conditions, the settlement of which was made far more complicated because in most instances there was neither American Ambassador, Minister or Consul. The missionaries were compelled to do the best they could themselves, with the aid of friendly representatives of other nations. In many cases they became, through the force of their position, the un- credentialed representatives of the nation. European missionaries were on the whole better protected by precedents and treaties. 176 ADEQUACY OF AVAILABLE RESOURCES To-day the United States and the European nations have clearly defined treaties with all of these coun- tries, making provision for the residence there of their citizens and providing for all questions touching per- sonal and property rights. These treaties, in which the " most favored nation " clause appears, are not made for the sake of the missionaries, but are planned to cover the cases of all American or European cit- izens, whether missionary, traveler or merchant. Missionaries can now travel and reside with all freedom in every province of China, and in every vil- lage of India, Japan, Ceylon, and Burma, in all parts of Persia and the Turkish Empire, except the Hedjaz, and some sections of Arabia, as well as throughout the most of Africa. At the same time the laws of nearly every country have come to recognize the presence of foreigners and provide for their protection in the quiet pursuit of their legitimate business. The work of the mission- ary is recognized as legitimate, and in the pursuit of it he is protected in most cases by the laws of the country, which also give him full privilege to travel freely without let or hindrance. Under these changed con- ditions the missionary's lot is made easier and many of the uncertainties of his position at the beginning of the century are entirely removed. Time and strength that he was once compelled to devote to such matters can now be given to the regular work. 5. Assets in Literature When modern missions began, not only were the missionaries ignorant of the languages spoken by the people they hoped to evangelize, but in many cases those languages had not been reduced to writing, and in others there was little literature except what was 177 THE UNFINISHED TASK embodied in their ancient books of religion. No one could be so inexperienced as not to know that a people could not be civilized or Christianized without the aid of a Christian literature, and in all of these countries, if such there was to be, the missionary must produce it. How colossal the task before them requires but a little thought to grasp. In every case modern gram- mars and dictionaries had to be prepared and in many instances characters with which to write the language, had to be invented or adapted. This was true in the case of nearly all of the languages of Africa and the Pacific Islands. Moreover, most of these languages had few terms of spiritual significance, so that, in a large degree, even the older tongues had to be adapted in order to qualify them to convey moral and spiritual ideas. The people had necessarily to be taught this new feature of their own tongue. To this task of preparing a Christian literature, and more especially rendering the Bible in the vernacular of the people, the early missionaries bent their ener- gies. The British and Foreign Bible Society, with headquarters in England, was organized in 1804, and the American Bible Society, with headquarters in New York, was organized in 1816. Both of these agencies early turned their attention to the mission fields and co-operated with the foreign mission boards and the missionaries in their effort to put the Bible, in whole or in part, into the hands of the nations of the East in their own vernaculars. At the present time these and other Bible Societies have agencies in every great mission center of the world, and through their efforts, and with the help of the missionaries, the Bible has been translated and printed in over four hun- dred different languages and dialects, which include the languages spoken by far the greater proportion of 178 ADEQUACY OF AVAILABLE RESOURCES the non-Christian people of the entire world. This work of translation is now practically finished and the Bible, as well as a great number of other religious books, is now available in all mission lands for the uses of the missionaries and the awakened Christian communities. In addition to the marvelous work accomplished in the way of Bible printing, must be mentioned an equally large literature in the line of school books of all classes and grades, general books of great variety, and a periodical literature that circulates everywhere among both Christian and non-Christian native popu- lations. Christian publishing houses controlled by mission boards and other independent establishments are sending forth hundreds of millions of pages an- nually, the larger part of which is paid for by the people who make use of it. The fact that there are now in all these countries a large number of inde- pendent native printing establishments, many of them under Christian auspices, shows how fully the people are patronizing the press. Christian periodicals and books in all mission countries circulate widely among the non-Christians and exert a silent but potent in- fluence for Christ. The American Tract Society, as well as other similar organizations in other countries, is doing much to enlarge and strengthen this depart- ment of mission work. The facts given above are sufficient to show what an advance has been made in the last century in this department of mission work. During the period a taste for a vernacular literature has been created and, through a great number of societies, the means are now available for meeting the demand. No longer must a missionary toil, except in the rarest cases, to reduce to writing the tongue of the people he would 179 THE UNFINISHED TASK lead to Christ. He finds at his hand a literature created and a people ready to patronize the Chris- tian press. Into the hands of the new missionary to-day is placed at once this mighty, educating, civiliz- ing and Christianizing agency, which he has only to employ. 6. Educational Institutions In no mission country was there any attempt at modern education a century ago. For the most part the people were in dense ignorance, with only now and then one who was able to read and write. In the Turkish Empire, for instance, the few schools that did exist in 1820 were ecclesiastical and for the purpose of training young men for the church. Among the Mohammedans the bulk of learning consisted in read- ing the Koran in the original Arabic, not an easy task for boys whose native tongue was Turkish. The school systems in India were of the same type, and in China, almost to the present time, the highest educa- tion consisted entirely in acquiring a knowledge of the writings of Confucius and other ancient classics. The modern sciences, history, European languages, geography and in fact almost all that we consider fundamental in an educational system found no place in the few scattered schools of the East and the Far East. The missionaries early concluded that there could be built up no permanent Christian . civilization without general modern education that should trans- form the provincials of the East into citizens of the entire world. This does not mean that education in itself can take the place of Christianity in transform- ing a people. It does mean that without an educa- tional system, culminating in the higher institutions, permanent reforms cannot be wrought, 180 ADEQUACY OF AVAILABLE RESOURCES It required in all these countries at least a full gen- eration of missionary effort to arouse in the people themselves the desire for an education. Then another full generation passed before this system of schools could be built up into real colleges. Perhaps no phase of the missionaries' labors seemed more discouraging at the outset and perhaps none now appears more prom- ising. One by one academies and high schools de- veloped until, under the leadership of masters of men like Hamlin, Bliss, Wheeler, Wilson, Miller, Tracy, Washburn, Thoburn, Neesima and many others, col- leges sprang into existence in Constantinople, Ar- menia, Syria, India, Ceylon, China, Japan, and Africa. These have been for both men and women, and from the day of their organization their popularity and power have increased. These institutions, found at the present time in every great capital and every lead- ing political or commercial center of the Orient, are filled with the brightest boys and girls the countries can produce. Reports from these colleges for 1906 speak almost without exception of overwhelming num- bers of students beyond the capacity of the buildings and faculty to care for. With the recent declaration of China in favor of a modern education, almost the last stronghold has yielded. These influential, powerful and well organized col- legiate institutions, with their many connected the- ological seminaries, constitute one of the strongest forces for breaking down the prejudices of the Orient and opening the way for the adoption of Christianity. The missionary who enters upon work to-day has as his mighty ally the whole system of modern education already established in the East, not alone those con- trolled by the missionaries but many others under the control of the educated natives or even directed by 181 THE UNFINISHED TASK the government. These schools form a direct means of approach to the intelligence of the peoples of the East. There are to-day over 1,000 mission higher educational institutions in which some 60,000 pupils are studying under positive Christian influences. ;'. Trained Native Force The missionaries alone can never evangelize any great country. They can organize, direct and lead the work, but the true evangelizers must always be the native Christians themselves. During the first half century of modern missions almost everything depended upon the missionaries. There were few schools in which to train native workers and there were few native workers to train. All this has been greatly changed, through the agency of the colleges and seminaries as well as the numerous schools of all grades now established in every mission country. By degrees a great and effective force of native Christian men and women has been trained for skilled service as pastors of the native churches, evangelists to their own people, teachers in schools of every grade and class, and in fact, leaders in every department of Christian work. The latest statistics show that in all mission lands there are now no less than 80,000 of such trained native laborers. Some of these are teach- ers in village schools of low grade, while others, bear- ing university degrees, are professors in mission col- leges and theological seminaries. Among this num- ber are men who rank not one whit behind the mis- sionary in intellectual ability, while many of them far surpass the missionaries in ability to reach the people through their own vernacular. These native workers outnumber the missionaries five to one, and are increasing far more rapidly; in 182 ADEQUACY OF AVAILABLE RESOURCES some missions of the American Board there are now more than twenty-jfive native workers to every or- dained missionary. Were it not for these men and women there would be required four times as many missionaries as we now have, and even then the work would not be so well manned as it is to-day. This great force, the product practically of the last gen- eration, contains the leaders in the native army of conquest. More and more the responsibility for the work is passed over to them as they are made to feel that upon their ability, eflfort, and consecration must depend in a large measure the advancement of the kingdom among their own peopled: This asset in trained and devoted men and women, with hearts on fire for their work, cannot be over-estimated. 8. Churches Established Without going back over the story of the days of small things, we need but glance at the Christian force now seen in every mission country, operating through the many large native Christian churches, with their own native pastor supported entirely by themselves, and representing not only the finished work of mis- sions but also representing a new center of influence sending out its lines into the surrounding territory. The native membership of these churches now num- bers a million five hundred thousand souls. In cities like Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Okyama, in Japan, and in Peking, Shanghai, Hankow, Foochow, in China, and in practically all of the cities in India and Tur- key as well as in many parts of Africa and other mission countries, the native church of Jesus Christ has already become a well recognized Christian force. Many of these churches are no longer a burden upon the missionaries for their direction nor upon the 183 THE UNFINISHED TASK churches here at home for their support, bui. as in the case of more than one hundred native churches in Japan, support their own trained native pastor, conduct their ovsrn affairs, and constitute a mighty aggressive force in the attempt to evangehze the world. Every true church organized becomes a new force in itself. These churches also maintain the Sunday-schools, young people's societies, and the various organiza- tions that give to the churches of this country influence in their own community. They are living, working, life-giving forces, constantly increasing in numbers and deepening in experience and spiritual life. They also have their own missionary organiza- tions for both home and foreign work, officered and supported by themselves. Some of these na- tive missionary societies, such as the one in Turkey for work among the Kurdish speaking people of Ar- menia, have been an aggressive Christian force for more than a generation. Of these societies, some plan only for the extension of the work among their own people at home, while others are sending missionaries to other countries. A native interdenominational mis- sionary society is extending Christian work into the neglected portions of India; the churches in Ceylon have a society which sends missionaries to the main- ,land, and the Japanese Christians are supporting mis- sionaries in China and Korea. These are entirely new forces that can be relied upon for constantly increas- ing efficiency as the work progresses. p. Other Organisations In addition to the regular missionary societies which arc usually catalogued as prosecuting this work, there 184 ADEQUACY OF AVAILABLE RESOURCES are now many other organizations co-operating with them for the accomplishment of the common purpose. We should note, first of all, that the denominational boards organized to carry on missions abroad have rapidly increased during the last generation. There are also many private missionary enterprises, of per- sonal origin for the most part and of doubtful support, casting in their influence to the same end. But beyond these are the great international so- cieties with powerful constituencies and well estab- lished plans of co-operation with all the old organiza- tions. The first of these are the great Bible Societies, such as the American Bible Society of our own coun- try and the British and Foreign Bible Society of Eng- land. These have grown into mighty proportions dur- ing the last century and are now in a position to render the greatest service to the cause, printing and putting into the hands of all the races of earth the Bible in their own vernacular. Then there follow the great tract societies, such as the American Tract Society of New York and the Christian Literature Society of England, and many others of the same class, whose purpose it is to print and circulate wholesome Christian literature in the languages spoken by the people. The Young Men's Christian Association has de- veloped in recent years an extensive foreign depart- ment by which in a peculiar manner the young men of this country are reaching the young men of the East. They support secretaries in non-Christian lands, who co-operate with the missionaries upon the ground in building up a permanent and united work. All of these different organizations are working i8s THE UNFINISHED TASK together in close co-operation, each adding strength and encouragement to all the rest, and all together representing the allied forces of Christendom as they move en masse to the conquest of the world. 10. Increased Wealth of Christians During the century under consideration the wealth of the world has wonderfully increased. Fifty years ago a millionaire was rarely to be met, but now a millionaire no longer attracts even passing notice, for we are talking of billionaires. The possessor of a paltry million dollars is hardly considered a man of wealth, he is only " fairly well to do." During the period of rapidly increasing wealth there has been a marked increase in membership in the evangelical churches in this country as well as in Europe, and as the Christians of these two continents have been by no means the least enterprising, it is reasonable to infer that they possess their due pro- portion of the wealth. John R. Mott estimates that in the United States the Christians possesses not less than $13,000,000,000. In 1898, Robert E. Speer es- timated that the Christians of America alone possessed not less than $20,000,000,000. However this may be, we need no figures or arguments to prove that enor- mous wealth in the United States is held by mem- bers of evangelical churches. When we contemplate the fields to be evangelized and the number of mis- sionaries needed to accomplish the task, we can find no grounds for delay by reason of the material pov- erty of the churches. One needs but to look upon the magnificent buildings in which so many churches worship, the expensive homes in which so many of its 186 ADEQUACY OF AVAILABLE RESOURCES members dwell, and the general appearance of pros- perity that pervades the evangelical communities, to be led to the inevitable conclusion that no longer can the church or its leaders say, " silver and gold have I none." We are aware that the evangelization of the world does not depend upon money alone or even upon men and money. Without the Spirit of God both of these agencies would ignominiously fail. And yet we are also aware that it has seemed to be the plan of God hitherto to test the faith of the Church by its readiness to sacrifice life and wealth for the advancement of His kingdom. We have never seen the work of evan- gelization go on without some corresponding sacrifice of wealth. There is to-day in the churches of this country enough wealth to set evangelizing forces in operation for the speedy conversion of this world to Christ, were it only measurably consecrated to that purpose. The key to the mighty flood gates of meas- ureless blessings might be found in a new consecra- tion of Christian wealth to the redemption of the world. It may be that God is only waiting for this. It is evident to all that the work halts because of the selfishness of the Church. But do we not see signs of the dawning of a new day in which Christian wealth shall in full proportion be consecrated to the service of Jesus Christ who gave all that He possessed, even His life, for the salvation of the world? II. Student Christian Federation This modern movement centering in the highest edu- cational institutions of the world is so well under- stood that it is necessary here only to allude to it. 187 THE UNFINISHED TASK No longer is the missionary cause carried upon the hearts of a few isolated students widely scattered over the world and unconscious of each other's purposes and hopes. The Student Volunteer Movement, great in its purpose as well as in the reach of its influence, exhibits a force in operation for the evangelization of the world, of which the young men under the hay- stack at Williamstown in 1806 did not dream. Individual movements like that at Williamstown may prove to be of great efficiency, and have sprung up at different times and in different institutions dur- ing the century, as at Andover, Oberlin, Yale, Oxford and other educational institutions. Such revival efforts have been characterized by far-reaching re- sults both in this country and abroad. But the force and influence of the isolated movement is marvel- ously increased when it is linked with a federation including thousands of students and reaching most of the leading universities. We now have this fed- eration, well organized, and powerful, preparing itself for a great world advance. Its leaders and its mem- bers represent the best brain and consecration of the student world. The numbers are increasing and already the colleges of the Far East are falling into line. It is of far-reaching significance for the Chris- tian conquest of the world, when the recognized future leaders in every department of life and activity, the student body, band themselves together for that pur- pose. Under this leadership the allied forces of evil must go down and in their places truth and righteous- ness triumph. 12. General Christian Co-operation It is a significant fact that the last half century has accomplished more in the way of co-operation 188 ADEQUACY OF AVAILABLE RESOURCES among Christians than was achieved during the pre- ceding eighteen centuries of Christian history. In fact, previous to the last great century of modern missions the general tendency of Christian bodies was to separation and differentiation, not to combination. Modern missions have done more in bringing denom- inations together than has any other agency. For a generation or more in some countries missionaries of various denominations have met together for protracted conference and prayer over questions of common in- terest. In India for half a century there has been held a decennial missionary conference in which all denomi- nations at work in India participate, and where de- nominational differences are forgotten. As a single denomination and as soldiers fighting under the one banner of the cross, the 4,000 missionaries in India have together planned and prayed for a common cause. In Japan there have been held three conventions in which missionaries of the denominations at work in that country gladly participated. China has witnessed the same triumphant rising above denominational dif- ferences and this year has held the greatest inter- denominational missionary convention ever held in a mission field, the Centennial Missionary Conference at Shanghai, celebrating the opening of the second century of missionary work in China. Under the impulse of these union movements abroad, the denominational mission boards of all North America began some thirteen years ago to hold joint conferences in which representatives of all evan- gelical denominations upon the North American con- tinent meet annually to discuss all phases of foreign missionary work, including questions of comity and co-operation at home and abroad. Out of this con- ference grew the greatest interdenominational mis- THE UNFINISHED TASK sionary gathering ever convened, the Ecumenical Con- ference held in New York in 1900. Denominational barriers are crumbling and we see the various bodies, which bear the same general name or support the same general belief or polity, drawing constantly to- gether. The tendency of the times is to minimize denomi- national differences and to magnify their harmonies. Energies that were wasted a few decades ago in eccle- siastical quarrels and rivalries are now directed to the positive work of evangelization. This is true upon the field abroad as well as in the churches at home. Christianity is placed ahead of denomination and more and more men are coming to see that the Kingdom of God is greater than any one church. Through this federation of missions and churches, strength is conserved, waste is diminished and the Kingdom gains power. Who can estimate the value of such co-operation in the evangelization of the na- tions ! In this the Church in finding a new asset and one of the choicest and most effective of them all. We need but to glance back over the catalogue of the present special assets of the Church to find in the survey a new courage for the task before us. Surely it cannot be said that the evangelization of the world falters because there are no resources with which to accomplish the task. 190 SHALL WE FINISH THE TASK? X SHALL WE FINISH THE TASK? It is essential that we carry this study one step further and attempt to get the situation clearly before us, as it exists to-day and as it relates to this vital question of the evangelization of the world. We are not dealing with a vague and impractical theory, but with matters that have a direct bearing upon the life and thought of every Christian man and woman. No one, conversant, even in a measure, with the great problems that gather about the supreme duty of the Church of Jesus Christ to evangelize all nations, can lightly turn away and say, " These matters do not interest me." As well might the man of intelligence claim that he has no interest in questions that attract and hold the attention of the intellectual world, or the athlete hold that he cares nothing for physical exercise. Foreign missions is the expression of spir- ituality in its greatest fullness and power, and, as such, commands the attention of all who have part in the Christian life. Let us glance briefly at a few of the fundamental points already established, which we need carefully to consider at this time. J. The Needs Abroad There can be no question as to the present needs. No serious-minded person accepts for a moment the proposition that the people of the East, as individuals, 193 THE UNFINISHED TASK as families, and as nations, do not need that which the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that alone can give them. Not only is mission literature filled with state- ments of this need, but we read it in the reports of travelers and of residents abroad, as well as in the daily press. There is a general consensus of opinion that all nations need the civilizing, enlightening, sav- ing power of Christ. But even if the reverse were true, as far as popular opinion is concerned, it should make no difference to the Christian who is under the marching orders of his Commander, who said " Go, and preach My Gospel to all men and all nations." If Jesus Christ recognizes a need, that should be suffi- cient for you and me. He certainly would not have issued a command that He knew would call for so much of sacrifice and suffering had He not been con- scious of a vital need, urgent and imperative in its demand. The soldier in the ranks may not under- stand the need of many of the movements of the army or of his own company, but that does not excuse him if he disobeys orders. We who have enlisted under the banner of the cross must not question the com- mand that calls for an immediate and sweeping ad- vance. 2. Opportunity While the question of opportunity alone should not be permitted to decide the matter for us, still it must have large place in this stage of missionary work. To those five young men, a century ago, at Williams- town, there was apparently no opportunity given for preaching the Gospel to the heathen. They saw only the need, yet persisted until, six years later, the op- portunity came. Seeing the need, and feeling that they possessed that which would supply the need, 194 SHALL WE FINISH THE TASK? they made the opportunity. The task is greatly sim- plified for us, because, while we are recognizing the need, there are also opening upon every hand unlim- ited opportunities. Never in the history of missions have these oppor- tunities for carrying out the command of Christ been so many and so measureless. The great mission boards are calling for men and women to fill important places in the mission fields, in some of which the ground already gained is in peril of being lost merely for lack of workers. Every mission country in the world raises to the Christian churches one mighty cry for more missionaries. Even the neglected natives in many of these countries, with almost a wail of de- spair, plead for more missionaries in order that they too may have the blessings of the Gospel. " Oppor- tunity " is written across the councils of the Socie- ties; the word is caught up and reiterated by the missionaries of every land; and is even echoed by the partially enlightened peoples of the East who are straining their blinded eyes to catch a glimpse of the Jesus of Nazareth passing by. No one can study present conditions in any country and not be im- pressed with the fact that the field is abundantly white to the harvest. 5. The Remedy While we acknowledge the need and recognize the opportunity, we are, at the same time, absolutely con- vinced that we possess that which will afford the necessary help. With this assurance wanting, we would have nothing to offer. In the Gospel of Jesus Christ alone is there an ample remedy for the sins of the world. It would be fatal for us to doubt at this point. As well attempt to extinguish a great fire THE UNFINISHED TASK with hand-grenades filled with naphtha as to attempt to heal the diseases of a sin-laden world with a gos- pel that offers no salvation from sin. Armed, how- ever, with that Gospel which points all men to the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world, the follower of our Lord Jesus Christ has the as- surance that he possesses the remedy capable of heal- ing the broken hearted, arousing the palsied intel- lects, creating a new society, and breathing the life that comes down from heaven into races that are dead in trespasses and sins. The needs recognized, the opportunity seized, and the remedy applied, together constitute the great movement of redemption advanc- ing to the salvation of mankind. Founded on such a faith, the various mission boards have been organized, and their missionaries have gone even to the ends of the earth, and the more this work is extended the more fully is demonstrated the fact of the overwhelming need, the boundless opportunity, and the effectiveness of the remedy in the hands of the Christian Church. However much ground there may have been for doubt a century or even a half century ago, it is eliminated to-day by the array of unquestioned facts which have come out of the ex- periences of the past. Every mission board is con- vinced of a need which is far beyond its ability to meet, and of opportunities for entering open doors of which it cannot avail itself through lack of mission- aries and want of funds. With them it is now largely a question of men and of money. Several of the largest and oldest organizations are unable to secure a sufficient number of properly trained men and women, ready to go where the need is greatest, even though the money is in hand. The primary need is for more properly equipped candidates for this work, 196 SHALL WE FINISH THE TASK? although at the same time, there is also an over- whelming demand for more money. At the present time everything conspires to make it easy for a young man or woman to decide to take up this work. It no longer requires the indomitable purpose and untiring persistence that was necessary a century ago. Perhaps the way is too easy now, — de- manding too little sacrifice. No longer is the candi- date for missionary service dependent upon the needs and opportunities of this work and his own abilities alone, but he has at his command new and measure- less resources for sustaining both his courage and his work, and for multiplying the powers he may con- secrate to it. We have seen in the last chapter how greatly the resources at the service of the missionaries of this generation surpass those available a generation or more ago. A candidate for missionary appointment is often discouraged, and surrenders his purpose be- cause some one tells him there are not in the treasury of his board sufficient funds to send him out. If the needed money is not in the treasury of the board, there is no doubt that it is in the pockets of men and women who form the board's constituency. The only trouble is, a sufficient quantity of money is not conse- crated to the work. This condition constitutes a need, an opportunity, and a challenge for the mission- ary candidate to begin his first real work at home. If he has the push, energy, and determination for the work abroad, he will give no rest to the members of his denomination — who have money for every- thing but missions — until the financial hindrance to his going abroad is removed. Any board will prob- ably welcome new money raised by a worthy candi- date for missionary appointment, and when the fund 197 THE UNFINISHED TASK becomes sufficient for the purpose will send him forth with joy to his chosen field. It is a reflection upon the consecration and energy of a candidate to acknowl- edge that he was kept at home because there were no funds to send him out. It should be borne in mind, however, that it will always be necessary to raise more than the mere salary. In addition to what is called " salary " there is the cost of outfit, expenses of the journey out, money for a house, and funds to sustain the work under his care. The right kind of candidate, with the help of God, can himself remove that obstacle. There is probably no appeal that more fully takes hold of Christians than that of a missionary candidate ready to go to a needy field but detained here until the money to send him can be raised. What Constitutes a Call? Study without a purpose is time and strength dissi- pated. Inspiration that leads to no action is an in- jury. To suppress a righteous impulse is to commit a great sin. In the study of missions it is not safe for the Christian student to turn away from the theme and straightway forget. No one who is hon- est with himself and with his God can fail seriously to ask what significance this subject has for him. If it has no significance and if it fails to lead him to solemn inquiry as to his personal relations to the great mod- ern Christian conquest of this world, then he ought to review his own Christian life with keen anxiety, and even with agonizing prayer, lest perchance he find that he is lacking in that spirit of Christ without which no one can be His true disciple. The recogni- tion of a real need and a manifest opportunity and ability to meet that need constitute for every true man or woman a distinct call to service. The more urgent 198 SHALL WE FINISH THE TASK? the need and the more clear the opportunity and abil- ity, the louder the call. If the need and the oppor- tunity are manifest and the response to the call in- adequate to meet them, then the call more persistently demands the most careful consideration of all who are cognizant of the needs. None of us can escape it. Every young Christian is confronted with the ques- tion of the form which his expression of loyalty to Jesus Christ shall assume.- When pursued to its last analysis, the sum total of our Christianity is expressed in terms of loyalty to Him whom we profess to ac- cept as Redeemer and Lord. To profess to be His follower and at the same time openly to indulge in acts of disloyalty, is to disgrace our profession by acts that speak so loud that our profession is not heard. Not to act when allegiance to Christ demands action is as truly disloyal to Him as to reveal one's self openly hostile. The soldier who refuses to obey or- ders is classed as a mutineer as much as he who acts in direct opposition. We cannot shield ourselves or satisfy our consciences by doing nothing. Did not Christ Himself say, " Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me " ? Every sincere Christian is desirous of living a life of loyalty to Christ. There are many times in the life of all when the question as to how that loyalty shall be expressed becomes a most vital one. The Christian young man or woman desires so to invest his life that it shall become a real asset in the ad- vance of the kingdom, and if he is true to himself and to Christ he will wish to make it accomplish most for the advance of the kingdom of God on earth. Anything short of this would be to fritter away, in a measure at least, that most sacred of all treasures en- trusted to our care and demanding investment at our 199 THE UNFINISHED TASK hand. Our loyalty th^n is, in no small .measure, tested by the investment we make of our one life. All of us face this question and must settle it for our- selves. The question arises then: Is every one who does not become a foreign missionary, in a measure disloyal to the Master? Let us consider this subject a little more at length, in various replies to the two questions which must confront every serious and loyal follower of Christ, — "Why should I oflEer myself to foreign missionary service ? " and " Why should I re- main in this country ? " I. Why Offer Myself? The most needy fields for Christian work are un- questionably abroad. The uncounted millions wan- dering in the deserts of moral degradation, unguided and untaught, present a need unparalleled in any other parts of the world. Re-read those chapters on the unoccupied fields, read the pitiful appeals of the mis- sionaries of India, China, and Africa for reinforce- ments, and try to grasp the enormous extent of this overwhelming need. There is less than one ordained missionary upon the average to every 500,000 of the inhabitants of mission lands, while in the United States one out of every 450 of its entire non-Roman Catholic population is a minister of some Christian church. There are comparatively few in all Europe and the United States living outside the sound of one or more church bells calling to prayer and worship. For every Protestant church member in the United States there are, upon the average, only two and one-quarter persons who are not church members. This does not mean that in our great cities and upon our western frontiers, as well as in the rural districts, even of New England, there is not great need for Christian service. But we are now considering the question of the widest and greatest need for consecrated Christian service. 200 SHALL WE FINISH THE TASK? a. Opportunities in the Mission Field Every missionary is overwhelmed with the oppor- tunities all about him for the investment of every talent he possesses. If he is a teacher, he can give himself to teaching bright, eager students in num- bers exceeding his ability to accept. If he is a preacher, he can have a parish numbering from 25,000 to ten times that number, many of whom are already eager to hear the message of the Gospel. If he is a doctor, he can settle in the midst of countless numbers of God's suffering children who have never felt or known the kindly touch of the skilled physician. If he is a writer, he can have an eager audience limited only by the number of those who as yet can read, an audience that is rapidly increasing in all mission lands. If he is an organizer, he can have under his care great populations covering wide territory, in which he is to organize a future Christian society. If he is a master of men, he can gather and mass his native agencies, lead them out into the wider fields, and set them to work for Christ. If he is a pioneer and desires to penetrate into new regions and lay new foundations for Christian institutions, there still re- main vast unreached territories to be taken possession of for Christ. Whether a man has but one of these special talents, or all of them together, the mission field presents an opportunity for the fullest exercise of his powers. 2- Urgency We are called upon to consider the needs of the present generation of those who are without Christ in the world. We who are living now are called upon to carry Jesus Christ to living men and women across the seas. Our time for this service is limited. More- THE UNFINISHED TASK over, the most fruitful period in which to enter a country for Christian work is when the doors of that country are opened and when opposition has ceased. If Christians do not advance, reaction is sure to fol- low, and the way is made harder, if it is not entirely blocked. As we survey the mission fields to-day we note many conditions inviting immediate missionary effort. The present situations in China and India are well-known cases, while the Soudan and the Mo- hammedan world demand the special attention of Christians because of the urgency of the missionary question among them. It must be understood that we are not at liberty to delay the decision of this mat- ter, under the assumption that it makes little differ- ence. Eternal destinies of men and of nations will be decided favorably or adversely by the decision of the men of this generation. For you and me the time to settle this question is now. 4. Personal Ability to do the Work Demanded Most fortunately for the candidate this is not a question he has to decide. The various mission boards are constituted for the purpose of assuming the re- sponsibility of settling this question for all who apply for appointment. Altogether too frequently, in order to quiet a persistent conscience or to drown the voice of God calling to service abroad, the student declares that he is not qualified to go to a foreign country for missionary work. He is not very strong physically; did not take a high mark in Latin or Greek, and so concludes he could not learn a foreign language ; is not a good public speaker; has met quite a good many foreigners, Chinese, Italians, etc., and was not con- scious of loving them ; is not inclined to teaching and so would probably fail in a mission college or theolog- SHALL We finish THE TASK? ical seminary. These and many other reasons for not applying to their mission board are given by young men and women who are about to enter upon their life work. There can be no doubt that in many cases the reasons given are sincere and adequate. But it is also true that in many cases these conclusions are reached with so little basis of actual knowledge of the facts in the mission field that they are practically worth- less. The mission boards have ways of their own for getting at the qualifications as well as the disqualifi- cations of candidates. At the same time, they know the conditions abroad and the demands made there up- on the missionaries. It is perfectly safe to leave the decision of this part of the question to them, after frankly stating all doubts. If they do not think the candidates qualified, they will tell them so. 5. DisquaMcations If one is in doubt in regard to personal questions affecting his going abroad, it is often most helpful to confer freely with a secretary of his mission board. It is taken for granted that not all Christian young men and women ought to enter upon foreign mission- ary service. When reduced to the last analysis, only a small minority of the great Christian student body of this country will go to the foreign field Because of the peculiar conditions under which that work is carried on and the special demands upon the mission- aries, a great number of those whose hearts are really in the work must remain in this country. A few of the more common disqualifications for foreign mission- ary service are: — I. A poor physical constitution, or some special dis- ease. This is a matter that can usually be settled by 203 THE UNFINISHED TASK physicians, even though at their best these are fallible and liable to error. 2. Marriage engagement or marriage to one who for physical reasons or otherwise is not qualified for the work. 3. Debts. It is practically impossible to pay debts of any considerable proportions from the support gi-een the missionary upon the field. To attempt so to do often entails a burden too severe to be borne. These should be paid before going to the field. 4. Absence of scholarly habits or ability, evidenced in most cases by unusually low marks in school. Low marks do not always indicate inability; they may be due to severe exertion in paying the way through school. There are also places in different mission fields for men and women who may make up for low scholarship by certain desirable traits. 5. Age so advanced that it would be practically im- possible to master a foreign language or adapt one's self easily to the new and often trying conditions in the mission fields. 6. Inability to work pleasantly with others. If one finds it impossible to get along pleasantly with most classes of people, he will have a hard time on the mission field. 7. Dependent relatives whose future care and sup- port must come upon the candidate at no distant day. 8. Absence of an earnest desire and purpose with God's help to carry to men and women in poverty, dis- tress, and sin, the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and to do it with the self-sacrificing spirit of the Christ, consecrating to that service all that God has entrusted of talents and strength. This catalogue need not be prolonged. These are some of the principal things that keep missionaries at 204 SHALL WE FINISH THE TASK? home. Some of them are simply questions of fact well known to the candidate and liable to be quickly learned by the mission board when application for appointment is made. All these questions, as well as many others, require most prayerful consideration by every student volunteer as well as by all who contem- plate the work of foreign missions. What, Then, Constitutes a Call? 1. Complete consecration to the service of God in whatever field He may lead. It is impossible for one not in this attitude to receive a call. This is con- dition demanded by God Himself for the beginning of the consideration of one's future field and work. 2. Recognizing Jesus Christ as the Master of one's life, and placing loyalty to Him as the supreme Chris- tian duty and privilege. 3. A conviction of the need and opportunity abroad and the urgency of that need. This may come through reading and study or through the voice of an- other in conversation or in public address. 4. A conviction that by devoting his life to the service one may be able in some measure to meet that need. This conclusion is reached only after a careful study of the situation and of one's own qualifications. 5. A determination, God helping, to go, if He opens the way. This step leads to the application, and, if it is not God's purpose. He will close the way. One errs who waits for some miraculous call to the for- eign service. In extending a call God makes use of our reason, judgment, and common intelligence. The fundamental basis of every call, the great facts of missions, the vital truths of our Christian faith, and the ability and qualifications of the candidate, — these together, if given full consideration, will solve the S[uestion pf ewtry call to mission service* 205 INDEX Abgar Bar Mann, 121, Abgarus, 121. Abyssinia, Northern, 54. Acts of the Apostles, modern, 162. Afghanistan, Moslem population of, S3- Africa, 131, 200; Belgians in, 87; climate of, 80; explorers in, 157; ignorance in, 89; mission- aries of, 6r; missionary forces in, 59, 61 ; missionary societies in, 1 58, 159; missionary statis- tics of, 159; missionary success in, 157-159; native church in, 183; opposition of Coast Tribes in, 61; Portuguese in, 87; Ro- man Catholics in, 61; unoccu- pied portions of, S9-63. Albanians, 52. Algiers, 52. Allahabad, 64. American Baptist Missionary Union, 43. '33, 1S2. IS8. American Bible Society, 48, 178, 185. . . American Board of Commission- ers for Foreign Missions, 133, 152, 183, 169. . American Tract Society, 179, 185. Anderson, Dr., quoted, 142, I43- Annam, 72, 73. Antioch, 118, iig. Arabia, 52, 142; Moslem popula- tion of, S3i Moslems in, 51. Arequipa, 48. Ariminium, Council of, 125. Aries, Council at, 124. Armenians, 139. Arnobius, quoted, 112, 123. Asia Minor, Gospel in, 119; Mos- lems in, Si- Athens, 120. Augustine, 123, 129. Augustus, 108, 112. B. Baghirffli, Moslem population of, 53- Bahawalpur, 65. . , .. Baluchistan, Moslem population of, S3. Bangkok, 152. Baptist Missionary Society of England, 133. Bardaisan, i2z. Basel Missions, in Africa, 158. Beach, Professor, quoted, 69, 155. Bengal, 64. Bible, demand for, 7; in Japan, 147; translation of in India, 135. Bihar, 64. Bliss, 181. Bogra, 64. Bokhara region, Moslem popula- tion of, 53. Bolivia, 48. Bombay Presidency, 64. Bornu, Moslem population of, 53. Boxers, 154, iss- Brazil, 47. Brinkley, Capt., guoted, 83. Britain, Christianity in, 124. British and Foreign Bible Society, 42, 46, 178, i8s. British Government, co-operation of, 135- Buddhism in Annam, 73. Burma, 54, 135- C. Cairo Conference, action of, 54- SS- Call, meaning of, 20s; to service, 198; what constitutes a mis- sionary, 198. Callao, ^8. Cambodia, 73. Candidates for missionary service, 196, 197, disqualifications of, 203-20S; personal ability of, 202-20;}. Cannibalism, 26, Canton, 69, 152. Cape Colony, 59. Cape Town, 59, 158. Caracalla, hostility of, 121. Carey, William 133, 134- Catholics, Roman, 48, 49, 74. 151. 174; in Africa, 61; in Russia, 42; missions o^ 130; opposition ofj 9"- . „ r Centennial Missionary Confer- ence, 189. 207 INDEX Ceylon, 135. Charlemagne, 129. China, 87, 130, 174, 200; area of, 67; coolies, in. 91; distribution of Protestant missionaries in, 68, 70; education in, 180, 181; ignorance in, 89; missionary- statistics of, 153-155; missionary success in, 1S1-157; Moslem population of, 54; native church m, 183; poTfulation of, 671 present conditions in, 1 55-1571 sacred books of, 27; scholars of, 26; superstition in, 85. Chinese superstition, 85-86. Christian Literature Society, 185. Christianity, ig, 122, 123, 199; a missionary religion, 34; at be- pinning of 19th century, 130; at Odessa, 121; early advance of, 105-121; early spread o'f. 125; growth to crusades, 129; to reformation, 129; in Britain, 124; in France, 123; in Ger- many, 123; in Jai)an, 144J in Mauritania, 123; in Numidia, 123; in SiJain, 123: need of, 24-29; prohibited in Japan, 131; toleration in China, of, 151. (Christians, in Egypt, 122; of first century, 114; wealth of, 186. Church, early, success of, 1 03- 125. Church Missionary Society of England, 61, 133, i34. 138; in Africa, 157, 158. Churches, establishment of, 183 ; native, 8-ro; self-supporting, 9. Claudius, 124. Clement, 122. Climate, hostile, 80, 81. Cochin-Chin a, ^3. Colleges, Missionary, 181. Columba, 129. Communication, facilities for, 170. Confucianism in Annam, 73; moral failure of, 28. Confucius, 180. I Congo Free State, 54, 62. Constantine, decrees of, 116, 125. Constantinople, 132. Constantius Chi orus, x 1 6. Consuls, and Missions, 22. Converts, early, 117. Co-operation, Christian, iSS-igo. Corinth, 120. Customs, evil, 26; religious tenacity of, 84, 85. Cutcb, 64. Cyprian, quoted, 123, Cyrene, 122. Cyril, 120. Cuzco, 48. Danish Missionary Society, 130, 134. De Castells, Senor F., quoted, 46. Decennial Missionary Conference, Madras, appeal of, 66, 67, Decius, 115. Demonology, 26. Diocletian, Z15. Disciples, as missionaries, 33 ; Jews, 108; obstacles in way of, 107-121; unknown, log. Diseases, tropical. So. Doshisha, 145. E. East, difficulty of understanding, 92-94. East India Trading Company, 87, 130, 134, 138, 152. Education. 89^ and Evangelization, 3, 4; in Japan, 147; in Tur- key, 140, 141. Educational institutions, i So- 1 82 ; in India, 136. Egypt, 5 ; early Christians in, I22J Moslems in, 51. Egyptian Soudan, Moslem popu- lation of, S3. Elvira, church council in, 123. Emigrants, 22, 23, Europe, converts in, 120 ; first missionaries to, 120; Moslems in, SI. Evangelization of the world, 8, 14, 187, 193; available re- sources for, 167-190; de- manded by, loyalty to one*s re- ligion, 29-34: need of world, 24-29; self-interest, 20-24; doubts regarding, 98 ; meaning of, 1-16; obstacles to, 79; scope of, 11-16; task of, X13; obliga- tion, 19-35- Ewbank, AJan, quoted, 46. Famine, 91, 92. Fiji Islands, 143, Flavius Clement, 121. Foochow, 69. Foreigners m America, 23, 9$, Francis Xavier, 144. French Indo-China, 72, Gorakhpur, 64. Gospel, exclusive, iii, 112; hate- ful to Romans, no; influence of, 92-94; the remedy in, 195. 208 INDEX Governments, opposition of, to missions, 6i, 62. Gregory, 122, 129. Gwalior, 65. Hadrian, quoted, 122, 1x5. Haidarabad, 65. Hamlin, iSi. Heathen Countries, 59-75, Hindu Superstition, 86. Hinduism, moral failure of,^ 27. Home, absence of, 27; Christian, 12; hostility and apathy at, ^ 97-99- Hon an, 6g. Hosius, Bishop, 123. Hunan, 6g, Hupei, 6g. Ignatius, 118. India, 50, 54, 59, 91, 130 200; area of 63; educational institu- tions in, 136; ignorance in, 89; missionaries of, 63, 189; mis- sionary advance in, 133-138; missionar^/^ statistics of, 136, 137; native church in, 183; opposition in, go ; population of, 63 ; Sacred Books of, 27 ; scholars of, 26 ; unoccupied portions of, 63-67. Institutions, Christian, 92; edu- cational, 180-182: organization of. 8. Intemperance, in non-Christian countries, 25. Irenaeus, quoted, 123, 124, Islam, 88; fundamental principles of, 50; missionary religion, 50; origin of, 49. Ito, Marquis, 175. Japan, 91, 175; Bible in, 147; Christianity prohibited in, 131; education in, 147; ignorance in, 89; Jesuits in, S7; missionary conventions in, 189; missionary success in, 144-14S; native church in, 183 j opposition in, 90; prejudice m, 87; present progress of Christianity in, 145; religious freedom of, i47- Jerusalem, progress at, 118, Jesus Christ, a Jew, 1 07 ; al- legiance to, 24; as foreign mis- sionary, 30-32 ; belief in, 86 ; 209 crucified, 109, no; loyalty to, 190; loyalty of missionary can- didate to, 205; prayer of, 31; religion of, 28; teachings of, 84, 87; unknown, 109. Jews, 42, 117; missionary spirit among, 117, Josephus, quoted, 117. Jowett, Mr., 138, Judson, 134. K. Karachi, 65. Kashmir, 65. Khiva, Moslem population of, S3. Kiangsu, 69. Korea, missionary success in, 159, 162. Korean Church, missionary spirit of, 161, 162. Koreans, characteristics of, 160. Kraapf, 157. Kurds, SI, 139. L. La Paz, 48. Language, 177. 178; Chinese, 82; difficulty of, 81-83; Japanese, 83; mastery of, 2-3. Laos, 73. Lhasa, 71. Lima, 48. Literature, Christian, 8; in China, 153; in Turkey, 140, 141; preparation of Christian, 6; re- sources in, 177-180. Livingstone, iS7> 169, 174. Llamas, 71. London Missionary Society, 133. 152; in Africa, iS7» 158; report of, 143- Lucius, of Cyrene, 122. Lyons, Christianity in, 124. M. Madras Presidency, 63. Maejima, Baron, i75> Maitland, Sir Peregrine, quoted, 175- Malay Archipelago, S4. Marcus Aurelius, 115. Martyn, Henry, 134, 138. Medical Missions, in Turkey, 141. Methodist Episcopal Church Board, in Korea, 158, i59. Methodius, 129. Miracles, 105. Mission countries, difficulties in, 99; knowledge of, 171; popula- tion of, 40. INDEX Missionaries, ro. So; daily life of, 5: distribution of, 41; first, 169; foreiRn, need of, is; isolation of, 94, 95; of Africa, 6i; oppo- sition of foreign governments to, 61-62; personal rights of, secured, 176; Roman Catholic, 62; scarcity of, 9S; work of, 11. Missionary movement, force of, ?9, 99: origin of, 118. Missionary policy, better princi- ples of, 172, 173. Missionary societies, native, 184. Mohammed, followers of, 56. Mohammedanism, 39, 88; moral failure of, 27; origin of, 49-50. Mohammedans, 49, 139, iSo; ad- vances of, 54 ;_ in Russia, 42; number and distinction of, 50, 54; preiudice of. 87, 88; un- reached, 53, 54. Moradabad. 64. Moravians, in Africa, 158. Morocco, 52. Morrison, Robert, 152. Mott, John R., quoted, 14, kCg, 1S6. N. Natal, 59. National Missionary Society of India, 137. Native Christian worlcers, 97, 182- 183; self interest of, 90, Naylor, Wilson S., qMotud, 60. Neesima, 145, 181. Nero, persecutions of, X74, 120. Newell, I3opulation of, 53. Samurai, 145. Sandwich Islands, 142. Schools, Christian, 3, 8g; as evangelizing agencies, 9; for girls, 12; in Japan, 143. Schwartz, 134. Scriptures, translation of, 178, 179- Sepoy Rebellion, 134. Shanghai, 6g, 189. Shantung, 6g. Shen-si, 70. Shikarpur, 6s. Siam, ICing of, quoted, I7S- Siberia, Moslem population of, 54. Sindh, 64. Singapore, 152. Slave Trade, 158. Slavery, 26, Smith, Arthur H., quoted, 67-68. Smith, George Adam, quoted, 55. Smith, J. Rockwell, quoted, 45. Society, Christian, 13, 15; organ- ization of, zo. Sokoto and feudatory states, Mos- lem population of, 53. Soudan, 54, 60. South America, area of, 45; population of, 45; Protestant missionaries in, 47. South American Missionary So- ciety, 46. Southern Persia, Moslem popula- tion of, S3. Speer, Robert E., quoted, 186. Student Volunteer Movement, 187-188; convention of, 71. Sukkur, 65. Sulu Archipelago and Mindanao, Moslem population of, 53. Sunday-schools, 184. Syria, Moslems in, si; progress of missions in, 118. Syrian Protestant College, Beirut, 141. Tacitus quoted, 120. TertuUian, quoted, 122, 123, 124. Thoburn, Bishop, quoted, 137. 181. Thessalonica, 120. Thibet, 71; area of, 71; attempts to introduce Christianity, 71, 72; population of, 71. Tiberius, 108. Tientsin, treaty of, isi. Tongfcing, >3. Tracy, 181. Trade and missions, si. Trajan, iij, 118, 119. Travel, facilities for, 168-170. Treaties, international, 176-177. Treaty of Berlin, 62. Tripoli, 50, S2. Tunis, 52. Turkey, 31, 132. I74; Christian literature in, 140, 141; education in, 140, Z41 ; medical missions in, 141; native church in, 183: Protestant Church in, 140; re- forms in, 141. Turkish Empire, 138-142. U. Uganda* 54. Unevangelized populations, 39-73. United Presbyterians of America, 61. United Soudan Mission, 61. Uxkull, Baron, quoted, 43, 44. V. Vladimir of Russia, 129. Vernaculars, 177-178.^ Vienna, Christianity in, 124. Vinton, Dr., quoted, 161. W. Wadi, Moslem population of, 33. Washburn, 181. Wealth of Christians, i86._ Wesleyan Missionary Society of England, 134. Wheeler, 181. Williams, S. Wells, 132. Williamstown, 194. Women, condition of, 12; ig- norance of, 89; ill-treatment of, 26, 27. . Workers, native, 4, 8, 9, 23, 64, 134. Wiirtz, Pastor, quoted, 34. Y. Young Men's Christian Associa- tion, 185; in Russia, 42. Yuan Shih Kai, 136. Ziegenbale, 134- Zulus, missionary spirit of, 10. Zwemer, S. M., quoted, 32, 53. 211