YALE UNIVERSITY

3 9002 07494 4456 v o l : VI N EW SERIES. SEPTEMBER 1895

FIELDA Missionary Magazine

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M Y S O R E : W E S L E Y A N MISSION PRESS.

1 99 5 .

Original Articles: p a c e ,C o u n tr y H in d u ism — B y R. A. H icklin g , Esq.,— Chick -

ballapore.............. — ............................ 337S o m e D is t in c t iv e F e a t u r e s o f t h e A m e r ic a n M a d u r a

M i s s i o n —By the Rev. James C. Perkins......................... 347The Year’s Reports:

T h e G o sp e l a m o n g t h e B h i l s . . . . , . . „ .............................. 3 5 4W e s l e y a n M is s io n , North Ceylon ................... 356■ W e sle y a n M is s io n , South Ceylon.............................. 357K ijr k u an d C e n t r a l In d ia n H i l l M i s s i o n . . . . . . . ................ 358Y o u n g M e n ’ s C h r is t ia n A s s o c ia t io n , Rangoon 359

Current Mission News: - .M is s io n a r y C o n f e r e n c e — C a lc u tta ................................................... 3 6 0W e s l e y a n —Visit of an Evangelist, Baptisms in the Cal­

cutta District, A new Boarding School at Madurantakanr,Prize Distribution at the Bangalore High School, Prize-giving at Honnali, Death of an Evangelist................ . . . . . 361 '

O t h e r In d ia n M is s io n s—The Hon. and Rev. Dr. Miller,The Rev. Dr. Hume, Death of a Baptist' Missionary,Deaths of American Missionaries, Deshera Meeting, An Industrial Exhibition, Sunday School Convention forSouth India, Indian Sunday School Union, Conversion of Parsees at Bombay, Glad Tidings from Muzafarnagar,Baptisms in Kalimpong, Tibetan Pioneer Mission.../..,., 362

Woman’s W ork for India’s W om en:Y o u n g L a d ie s F o r s a k in g t h e i r H o m e in M a d r a s ............. 364W o m e n ’ s W o r k in t h e N o t t h I n d ia C o n f e r e n c e o f t h e

M e t h o d is t E p is c o p a l C h u r c h ........................ 365Obituary:

T h e R e v . J oh n S c o t t . . . . ...................................... 367T h e L a t e M r s . S a w d a y ,............................ 369

Literature:Aré Foreign Missions doing any good ? The Development of the Missionary Spirit in Indian Christians, Plain Papers for Sensible Readers, No Millennium after Christ comes,Dreaming ........................................... 370

Editorial Notes:The Industrial Missions Aid Society, Zanana Mission Work,

The Place oí Hinduism in the Story of the World, The Salva­tion Army in the Panjab, The Wesleyan Conference and Missions, The Mysore Government and Infant Marriages. 376

______TO THE CORRESPONDENTS o f t h e HARVEST FIELD. '

C o m m u n ic a t io n s sh o u ld b e a d d re ss e d t o t h e E d í t o r , T h e R e v . H . G u l l if o r d , H a s s a n , M y s o r e P r o v in c e .

Books for Review should reach the Editor by the 10th and Correspon­dence and Items of News should reach him by the 15th of e&ch month. The writer’s real name and. address must accompany each contribution.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S , R E M I T T A N C E S , and Orders should NOT sent to the Editor, but to the M a n a g e s , H a r v e s t F i e l d , W e s l e y a n

iSion P r e s s , M y so r e C i t y ,

The H A R V E S T F I E L D

S EP TEMBER, 1895.--------- r> 2 a-------------

O R I G I N A L A R T I C L E S .

COUNTEY HINDUISM. *BY E. A. HICKLING, ESQ., CHIKBALLAPUE.

my work has lain now for a considerable time among the Hindus, at a distance from the larger towns, the most fitting title for my paper this evening seemed to be “ Count- ryHinduism.” My object is to describe the main features

of it as they appear to me, anew comer, and the manner in which I conceive that our work upon it can best be done. I cannot hope to tell you anything with which you are not already familiar; but if, by lay­ing myself open, to criticism, I provoke discussion, my. attempt will not bave been in vain.

By using the. term.“ 'Country-Hinduism” I do not mean to say that: the Hinduism of the. country, differing from that of the towns, is a vul­

* This paper was read at the Bangalore Missionary Conference in July,

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gar and perverted thing. On the contrary, to see real Hinduism it is necessary*to be at a good distance from those influences which make the English-educated young men give to it a Christian colouring, and use Christian phraseology concerning it.

It is the country cousin in India who maintains the standard of orthodoxy, and if Europeans who learned about Hinduism at old-fashion­ed missionary meetings are astonished at the “ New Hinduism,” the country cousin would be equally so. Nay; he would not stop at sur­prise ; he would give his enlightened brother a wigging; and valiant indeed is your English-speaking philosopher who dare oppose the dictum of peo­ple whom he so loudly declares to be ignorant.

The Hinduism with which I am to deal is that to which caste is an institution of unquestionably divine origin, to which idolatry is very precious, whose time is measured out in yugas, whose histories are the Puranas, and whose heroes are the noble Eama and the doughty Hanuman.

If I had been asked within three months of my arrival in the coun­try to write about India or Hinduism, I could have written much more and with far greater certainty than I seem to be able to do now. I seemed then to have gathered an immense body of knowledge, and if I had been well-off and ambitious, or the correspondent of an enterprising journal, I might have produced a guinea volume that would have got me great reputation. That exuberance of .wisdom, however, seems some­how to have abated, and I must confess to being still a student of India and Hinduism.

Itis a deeply interesting study, and for one who aspires to be a teacher of religion a very necessary one. Not that it is so necessary to know the number, names and characteristics of a set of books as to understand the spirit of the whole thing called Hinduism. One soon learns that, in almost all matters, the ways of the Hindus are not our ways, neither are their thoughts our thoughts. The determining forces of their deve­lopment have been different from ours, and the result is seen in a reli­gion and civilization of bewildering complexity, and a set of predilections and prejudices' quite different from our own. It is, therefore, most necessary that we should strive to get into sympathy with them, for in preaching it is of very great value to know what will be passing through the mind of our hearers, and how they will be looking at the same thing. By getting into thorough touch with Hinduism one also gets to feel instinc­tively what are the essentials that he must contend with and what are

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the things of minor importance that may be comparatively neglected. Each of us, no doubt, at the beginning of his preaching, seizqd upon the first glaring error and thundered against it; but a better acquaintance with things will sometimes teach us that these are but phenomena of that which is essential and lies deeper, and that we do better to con­centrate our energy upon the central positions.

Now, whatever the beliefs of India may be and whatever their origin, they certainly cannot be said to be the reasoned faith of the peo­ple to-day. Just as in some of those Sanskrit schools, which we find in remote villages, a succession of students has laboured through the centuries comparatively regardless of the outside world so long as they could receive and transmit 'the divine language, so it has been in the whole life of the people. Devoted to a gorgeously-painted and largely - fictitious past, they have almost entirely concerned themselves with the receiving, maintaining and transmitting of the traditions of their fore­fathers. It may fairly be said that chief among all the deities of India is ancient custom. By his edicts alone do the other deities wield their authority, and at his command all have to shape their beliefs or order then* lives, however learned they may be and however reluctantly they may do it. The people all, like children who have a very ugly father, .will not acknowledge any ugliness; nay, they will persist in seeing beauties where everyone else sees blotches, and cling to ancient custom all the more loyally the more they think that it is being attacked. The incompatible claims of warring gods have no inconsistency for them if they are acknowledged by this principal deity, Mamul (custom), and the fact that ceremonies and other things appear to be meaningless and mischievous is never dreamed of as a reason for giving them up or doubt­ing ancestral wisdom, but rather as a call to greater ingenuity in defence of them.

It is almost entirely this devotion to ancient custom that maintains Hinduism in such apparent massive strength to-day. As one goes round the country one finds the pujaries (temple priests), quite ignorant and almost as incapable of defending idolatry as the people themselves; and when one comes across a guru (spiritual teacher), one finds him no bet­ter able to justify caste than the other is to defend idolatry. The princi­pal consideration with them both is their own profit, and for the people’s spiritual needs they trouble themselves but little. And yet the phalanx of Hinduism is solid, while the zealously-advocated Christian doctrine attacking it on all sides seems to gain but small success. Hinduism stands—proud of its antiquity and of its unchangeableness.

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As very many Hindus are extremely vain of these characteristics in their religion, and many Europeans are deluded by them into false ideas of the true state of things, it is well to remember the real reason of this steadfastness. It is not the greatness of moral strength by which Hin­duism stands, but by the lack of it. There is all the difference between Hinduism and Christianity that there is between a pillar of coral and a living human being. The coral rock was once the abode of a multitude of lowly-organised creatures, each of which contributed its skeleton to the rock mass, and itself died. Firm seems the rock, and imposing, but it is dead, and while a good monument to the organism that once existed, it has neither the promise nor the potency of life.

When I was asked to write this paper it was suggested that I should deal with such objections as I find Hindus making to Christianity. I cannot say, however, that reasoned and thoughtful objections are at all common. I wish very much that they were. If any exception is taken to ourteaching, it is generally on some frivolous ground; perhaps a word quibble from some young Brahman new to the sweets of tarka (logic), perhaps a brutal irrelevancy from some Bangalore or Madras man. The fact is, that the people are compelled in their hearts, so far as we worthily preach it and they are able to grasp it, to acknowledge the gran­deur of our teaching. They have really just the one objection to us and our doctrine, namely, that we want to turn them from the ways of their forefathers and change “ the eternal laws of caste.”

I propose to state and examine some of the sinoerer objections that occur, and suggest how they may be met; but first I would like to trace one or two principles which seem to me to underlie the Hinduism that we have to deal with, which are responsible for its more obvious pheno­mena, and by recognising which we may do our most effective work.

The beliefs which operate in India to-day are not so much a reasoned faith as an atmosphere, and in this atmosphere there are two or three principal components. One of these is a more or less definite idea that human relations with the so-called gods are not necessarily moral. Another is the belief in the oneness of the Supreme Being with souls, and with the universe; and yet another is the belief in transmigration of souls. It is these which constitute the real “ Latent Hinduism ” and not that beautifully voiced and gentle faith which we have read of lately and which so evidently tuned its throat to the song of some wandering bird from Galilee.

Reverence seems to be one of the most marked characteristics of all Hindus. That which, in us, is often times mere wonder seems to

C0UNTKY HINDUISM. 341

shape itself in a Hindu as reverence. Some of us who have adopted the new locomotion know how easily the hands of the villager come together when first a bicycle bursts upon his sight, and it is very common to have people doing obeisance and even puja (worship) to the railway train on first seeing it. Then, again, some of us know by experience what extraordinary things the people will do when they think one has it in one’s power to do anything for them. It may be pretty safely said that the natural Hindu is ready to adore anything he does not understand, anything in connection with which there is an extraordinary tale, or anything from which he hopes to get the fulfilment of his desires. In this connection it may perhaps interest some who are engaged in Eng­lish education in Bangalore to know that there is a temple not far from the Yelahanka gate at which the pujari does good business about the time of the Matriculation examination. Before it students make vows of what they will do in case of success, and after the publication of re­sults the pujari is well off with the proceeds of their fulfilment.

It might be thought by some that a spirit, on the whole reveren­tial, like this, would be a great help to us. They might argue, from the ease with which it wastes itself on unworthy objects, of the joy with which it would welcome a truly great ideal or a loving presentation of Him who is alone the worshipful and divine, “ the fairest among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely.” It is just here, however, that the real character of Hindu reverence appears. Among their gods it is the one that can do most for his devotees who gets most worship. Amongst the incarnations it is the grotesque and not the human which attracts them. It is not the holiness of a saint but his uncanniness that im­presses them, and to tell them that a man never speaks or can hold his breath for half an hour together, will much more certainly awaken their veneration than to say that his life is full of noble deeds. Even in con­nection with that well-fed Jagadguru, on whom we gazed a few weeks ago, it was whispered about Bangalore as an undoubted proof of his sanctity that his food consists only of a few chillies and herbs.

How different all this-is from that glory of holiness which, in God, is to the Christian the chief compelling cause of his worship and adora­tion ; and that yearning activity of noble love which in His creatures commands the Christian’s regard and veneration ! How can we wonder that the presentation of a God perfectly divine, and of a Christ ideally human, should fail to call forth their enthusiasm or kindle their love ! The faot is, that the people have no proper idea of the truth that religion is a thing entirely concerned with righteousness. Though here and

COUNTRY HINDUISM.

there a mantra (prayer) and here and there a precept seem to point to there once haying been some such notion of religion, it is safe to say that 'worship now-a-days with the object of getting set right with a righteous God is very uncommon.

At this assertion I can imagine the educated Hindu assuming that Very superior air which he has been learning lately from Mrs. Besant, and pitying the uninstructed missionary who does not know what high moral teaching Hindu books contain. I am not, however, greatly con­cerned, just now, with what may be contained in books, but with the faith in which the people are living and with which they are making shift to satisfy their souls. I am prepared to assert that even if the body of Hindu moral precepts could be gathered together out of the wilder­ness of magic and philosophy and romance in which they stand so scat­tered and forlorn, and could be made the basis of a propaganda by Hindu preachers, such teaching would find no more acceptance with the people than ours appears to do at present. Between the Hindu morali. ty, however, and the Christian there is all the difference that there is between the leose stones that have rolled among the river sand, and the strong rock that towers up from the ribs of earth. The rock is a funda- inental, necessary, and stable, while the stones are incidental and un­certain and do nothing to make the sand in which they are embedded more reliable for the rearing of a structure that must stand. Without a moral foundation, and constant jealous care for all righteousness, Christianity could not endure—it is inconceivable ; but though you took from Hin­duism the free moral element that it has, there is no reason why it should cease to flourish. The exaltation of caste above every other obligation lias, no doubt, had a principal share in conducing to this, and its fruit is known to us all—degradation of conscience, and utter absence of moral courage. It seems to me, therefore, that one of the most pressing needs in our preaching is, that it be full of the reiterated fact, illustrated and enforced in every way, that our relations with God are entirely on a moral basis, and that when we are right in that respect He will take care for the rest. No man can get rid of the fact of sin and of his personal' responsibility for it by any theory of soul or the universe, neither can he 3>y rendering his mind vacuous and holding his breath get cleansing to ihis soul. Not by metaphysical ingenuity nor by physical self-multilation can the peace of God be gained, but by the removal of that which alone has robbed man of it—sin, the wilful contravention by man. of .the wilt of his righteous Father God.

COUNTRY HINDUISM. 3 4 3

Here, however, comes a difficulty which is by no means so small as many people think, and strange to say it is in connection with a doc­trine which has had a pompous new name given to it lately by a great man and an honourable, and which we are assured that we also have got to learn. More or less perfectly the ideas of the Yedantis seem to have penetrated the whole mass of the people. The key word of their doctrine is “ One only, without a second; ” not one God immanent in a universe from which He is really distinct, but one substance, one thing in which, men and all they see or are conscious of are mere phenomena. It is a most ancient doctrine, and one might almost say that it is innate in the overwhelming majority of Hindus. Strictly followed out it leaves no room in the universe for a God, a real God; and the Madras Hindu has asserted in so many words that “ Hinduism has never degraded itself so far as to believe in a personal God.” The many gods of the Hindu are so many temporary conveniences to enable him to get along some- how with a curious but unavoidable set of phenomena, and to keep alive that feeling of reverence which he feels ought not to be allowed to die.

It is a belief wonderfully attractive to some sorts of mind and has those who uphold it more or less thoroughly among all classes. It is interesting as an illustration of the complacency with which men regard their own work. They think that they must have solved something, if they have worked hard enough or reasoned with sufficient ingenuity, even though they reach a position in the end which, to say the least of it, is as difficult as that with which they started.. In the very rea­soning out of itself Adwaitism disproves itself, and failing in one job it fails in all. The Yedanti sacrifices the whole fair universe, rich with, unspeakable possibilities, to his own inveterate desire to philosophise. Too proud to confess that man can never hope to understand the mystery of creation and the conscious soul, he prefers to reason a creator out of existence and then produce a god of his own, avidya ( ignorance), to account for facts which he cannot gainsay. Thus it comes about, that when we speak of God to large numbers of Hindus the contents of tha t word are very difterent in their mind from what-they are in ours.............

The worst bearing of this doctrine, however, is that which it- has upon morality. Where there is no real God,- there cannot be any real thing called conscience, or any foundation for a true heart-religion.-Of course, an ingenious and learned German has discovered that-this doc­trine is the natural source of the very highest morality, for when you know and feel that you are your neighbour, -you cannot do' that which would harm him. How very clever! and how very German! Yet surely

3 4 4 COUNTRY HINDUISM.

it would not do to put that doctrine into practice, for if you are your neighbour bis goods are yours as well, and where is the harm of .appro­priating one’s own? Bhagavan, in the Gita, also urges as a reason why Arjuna should rise up and smite his Mth and kin the doctrine that when one thinks one kills another, or when one thinks another is killed, one only deceives oneself, for the one does not really kill neither is the other really killed. They are both parts of the great one, and how can it kill or be killed ? Thus, it is plain that pantheism has the double effect of silencing the voice of conscience, and stifling that in the human heart which cries out for God, for the living God.

Pitiful are the evidences of the struggle which this was compelled to cause. The people must have something to adore, so hero-worship and idolatry have been supplied to patch up the wound in the heart of the nation. The people must have something to keep them in hand and prevent things from falling into utter disorder, so the doctrines of trans­migration and caste have been supplied to regulate the morals of the community. It seems as though the Eternal God and His laws had first been argued away, and then, when faith would not die, had their places supplanted by idolatry and caste.

It seems to me, therefore, that it must be a very important and con­stantly reiterated part of our preaching thatthere isarealGod, and a holy God, and that all the relations with Him that we need be anxious about are those concerned with right and wrong. Prom the lack of these two beliefs all other evils that we lament take their rise, and I feel sure that work done persistently and prayerfully on these lines will pay in the truest sense. I have no faith in attacking idolatry as .idolatry, or caste as caste. They are very deeply grounded in the people’s affections, but are only indica­tions of that which is deeper. Affections may be supplanted, but they cannot be argued away. These people love their idols because they have lost faith in the truly spiritual and divine, and if we argue at all, there is not so much need to persuade them out of idolatry as to argue them into belief in,a Eather God, truly near, trulygood, and so tender that in man’s need He spared not His best beloved that man might be redeemed. These people cling to their caste with all the greater tenacity because they believe that it is the. one thing needful, and we need, to devote much of our strength in insisting upon the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Only when they appreciate the fact that they are sinners, will they.feel the need of a saviour, and when they have reached that point there is none other to whom they can turn but to Him who laid down His life on Calvary.

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As I have said, sensible and reasoned objections to our teaching are not very common in my experience. Now and then, however, people turnup who appear to think, and their objections, of course, are relevant according to the standard of their intelligence. In answering them we may get a great deal of help at times from various native sources, for in this, as in every country, men with higher aspirations and sound ideas of our relationship to God have never been entirely lacking. Not that Hinduism, however, had much to do with these aspirations. They are like beautiful flowers which have found earth enough in some cranny of a rock to live and lift their timid heads. These are not latent in the hard rock that grudgingly granted them a little earth, but in the seed, and that was borne from far upon the bosom of some heaven-directed bird.

The fact that isolated individuals saw certain truths and voiced them seems to have been a matter of some interest to the people but not of much real concern. Yemana, for instance, whose jpadyams (verses) we in the Telugu country find frequently so useful among the common people, and who spoke out so manfully against idolatry, has gained such reputation that in some quarters he has been recognised as a person distinctly worthy of worship. And now we find here and there ugly images of the god Yemana. However, his sayings and those of similar men are valuable to us, for the people to get a notion that if some man in­heriting the same traditions as themselves has ventured to say the thing there must be something in it. Wherever material is found for replies in native books it should be used. It saves time, curtails needless argu­ment, and is in every way satisfactory.

First, usually comes the amusing and somewhat irrelevant objection to ourselves personally that we are meat-eaters; and before proceed­ing to explain why, it is useful to suggest to the objector that he should first of all clear up the question why his favourite hero Rama in a pre­sumably better yuga (age) than this, was a meat-eater. When a persis­tent pantheist appears, it is well to remind him of some of the things that Ramanujacharya said about men like him. If an objector to the incarnation turns up, it is best before entering on a discussion to point out that the fact of it is admitted by many of his own people, and that it would be well to settle with them first.

Some will come up and object to our teaching of John iv., 24,* saying that we want to take away the god they have got and give them ■vacuity. It is then that we find the terrible lack of spiritual grasp, which

* “ God is a spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”'

4 4

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I have mentioned before, and this objection needs to be dwelt upon, and patiently taught away. Another man will want to know why we want to take away the idol which to him is an under official, so to say, of the great God, just as Amildars are appointed by the Maharaja to bear authority in taluks. For this sort of man it will generally suffice to ask him whether the Maharaja ever sent to his taluk a bull, or a snake, ora monkey, to represent him. Sometimes one will come who avers that the idol is to him only a thing to remember God by, like a knot tied in his cloth, and he asks why he should give it up ? One needs to ask this man one or two questions in return, such as, why the “ life-giving ” ceremony has to be performed to his “ rem inderw hy the water which has been poured over it should be drunk, and so on. Arguments about idolatry, however, are at best unsatisfactory, and we can only expect a change by the positive teaching of that which can replace* it.

The principal objection, however, and the one which we most wel­come, is one that can only be made by those who have got beyond the mere elements. They say, “ All religions tell people to do what is good and to leave what is bad. Yours only does the same. To what purpose is there so much noise ? ” When this objection turns up, we may freely grant that no religion has been so foolish as to inculcate the doing of that which is positively and entirely bad. The objector, however, clearly shews that he does not know what the centre of Christian teaching deals with. We are not here to proclaim a mere morality, nor merely to awaken slumbering consciences, nor to lead men from the obscene and grotesque to pure and accurate thinking. We are the bearers of a mes­sage to all mankind for as many as are prepared to receive it, that while the supreme being is truly a just God, He is also a Saviour. And what does the doctrine of a Saviour mean ? It means that while God has made known His holiness He has also made provision whereby sinful man may attain unto it. To tell a man to give up the bad and cleave to the good is one of those easy things that anyone might say, but the evil is easy and the good is hard, and to make the difficulty greater the burden of previous sin and evil habit is upon the soul. For this state of things Hinduism offers and can offer no remedy. It finds men miserable rather than sinful, but, powerless to help them, it turns them away into the howling wilderness of karma, bidding them work out their own salva tion. There, in their despair, they cry to every stone to save them, or losing heart take refuge in a stolid fatalism. How different with Christ! Bright with divine glory He touches each one in his misery and says, u Child! if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that be-

lieveth.” “ I am come that thou mightest have life.” “ I even I am He that blotteth out thine iniquities.” He gives him in his heart depths the assurance of forgiven sin, the proof of it in holy desires and activities. He leads the soul out of the howling wilderness to the green pastures and the places where still waters flow, and crowns his mercies with the gracious assurance, “ I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Christ not only tells men what to do, but He shews them how and helps them to do it. If there is any fall or failure, it is not through any change in Him or unwillingness to complete His work of redemption, but because the conditions of continued stability have been broken by His child. Christ lives and is prepared to come to every soul that will hear His voice, as once He came to Galilee. He bids men of every clime arise from their deadness, whether it be of pantheism, atheism, non-morality, or sin in any form. He comes that men may have life, true life, even life for evermore; and He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. These are the things which India needs to know and to realise, and when she has done so she will be found, like Mary, sitting at the Mas­ter’s feet.

SOME DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THE AMERICAN MADURA MISSION.*

BY THE REV. JAMES C. PERKINS.

N this sketch I can only hope to mention features of our work which distinguish it from some missions, not from all. Mission methods have been so changed and im­proved by the experience of many years’ work in India,

that there is not so very much difference in the general outline of the work, and yet each mission may have emphasised some special features concerning which it may be of general advantage to write.

B o a r d i n g S c h o o l s .

First I would mention station boarding schools. The Madura Mis­sion still retains the old system of station centres with resident mission­aries in charge. There are eleven such stations in our Mission, and leaving out Madura and Pasumalai, where our higher educational nstitutions are located, we have nine out-stations where we endeavouri to have boarding schools. The Mission makes an appropriation for each of those schools, and as many as possible are kept in session,

SOME DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THE AMERICAN MADURA MISSION. 347

*T h is paper w as read at th e K od a ik a n a l M ission ary C on ference in M ay.

occasionally one or two being closed on account of the absence of missionaries. We feel strongly that we cannot over-estimate the value of these schools. Form three to four years the most promising children of our congregation are taken out of the degrading surroundings of village life and kept on the mission compound. There they are subjected to all the influences for good that emanate from an active, earnest and, as we hope, spiritually-minded body of Christian workers. From the early hour when the morning song of praise wakes the day’s life until the evening bell summons to slumber, the influences that surround the child are decidedly Christian. There they learn to read and love the Bible, to pray, to sing the songs of the Christian, to be clean and neat, to restrain and govern their little spirits.

Some of the pupils go on to our higher institutions of Pasumalai and Madura. Many go no further educationally, but return to their villages ; but they return how changed from the wild little creatures of a few years before ! The missionary in his tours of inspection about the different villages very often detects a clear voice singing correctly amid a chours of discordant sounds, or his eye is attracted by some unusual neatness amid great slovenliness, and after the service to hisinquiry, “ And who are you ?” the answer invariably comes, I am .I attended the boarding school when a child.” Then again, how well they answer the Bible lessons given to the congregations ! On a recent visit to a certain village, where quite a number of the congregation have been in the boarding school, the missionary on the second round of questions felt it desirable to pass by several with the remark, “ I know you are up in the answers to these questions, and I will examine only the members of the congregation who have not been to the boarding school.”

Every scholar who has passed the 4th or 5th standard is so far above the ordinary villager as to command the respect of even hie Hindu neighbours, and easily becomes one of the important factors in his own community.

Some of us are so impressed with the power for good in our board­ing schools, that we make every endeavour to get children from the villages, not waiting for them to apply to us but constraining the parents to send their children, even though from many we get but small fees and from not a few no fees. This results, of course, in large schools, and takes far more money than is appropriated by the mission or obtain­ed by Government grants. The largest of our station boarding schools has 120 boarders with 25 day scholars in addition.

3 4 8 SOME DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THE AMERICAN MADURA MISSION.

It is true warnings may be found in the reports of Mission Con­ferences against pauperising our young Christian community, and we must confess that more than one child comes simply to be supported ; but after careful thought and the experience of nine years in a country station situated in an educationally backward district, the writer says with his whole heart, “ Let them come; let them come for rice, for clothes, for support, for anything you please, provided the missionary, his family, and the advanced and able force of agents on the mission compound can have the golden hours of three or four of the most im­pressionable years of a child’s life.

If they want higher education, let them pay for it, and draw the lines concerning fees as tightly as is deemed desirable except in the case of a choice few ; but give a wide latitude in regard to primary education.

It is impossible to pauperise people who are so .very poor as many of our village people are. The little child of eight or ten years of age can obtain a few annas by picking cotton, pasturing cattle or doing other labour, and it is not a surprising fact that the parents, many of whom do not make more than five rupees a month, fail to see the neces­sity of educating their children, when it means not only the loss of the child’s wage, but also the actual out-go for the payment of school fees. Still with all this, no child whose father is able to pay fees is allowed in the boarding schools. Children of mission agents, village officials, arti­sans and farmers are required to pay fees.

Exceptions are made, however, in the case of girls. The education of women is so against the spirit of the Hindus that we are obliged to make concessions in these country districts in order to fill our girl’s boarding schools.

I must be careful not to give you the idea that we have no village schools, for there are 149 primary schools in the different villages of our Mission, but the instruction to be obtained in them is not to be compared with the steady and efficient drill of the boarding school under the immediate supervision of the missionaries.

Again, in the case of thé accession from the Hindus of a large number of families, the writer has found it a wise step to get a number of the children, representing the different families, into the boarding school, even though a village school is established in the place at once» knowing, however difficult a matter it may be to teach and bring forward the adults, their children educated in the boarding schools will become a balance wheel to the work of the whole congregation.

SOME DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THE AMERICAN MADURA MISSION. 3 4 9

Another advantage which can be mentioned without enlargement is the fact that with the continuance of a good boarding school is a yearly transfer of the best pupils of the 5th standard to our higher institutions of Pasumalai and Madura, and the consequent yearly provision of men leaving those institutions ready for work on the catechists’ or teachers' force. It has been noticed that the closing of the boarding schools of a station for three or four years on account of the absence of a missionary lias resulted six or eight years later in a dearth of mission agents for the station.

P a s t o r s .

Another distinguishing feature of our work may be observable in connection with our native pastors.

Foreign money goes into almost every branch of our mission work* but for many years ;the salaries of the pastors have been paid entirely 'with funds from the natives, the only exception being the few annas per Sunday that goes into the collection from the missionary’s family, and in the ease of one of our Madura churches situated near the railway whose pastor occasionally receives a donation from a European traveller interested in missions. So we can practically say that our pastor’s salaries are paid from native funds. It is not to be inferred from the statement that all the salary comes from the immediate church over ■which the pastor ministers, though our constant aim is to get as much as possible from that church; but he has charge of several village con* gregations and their contributions together with that of the centre church make up the required amount. Some of our centre churches pay their pastors’ salaries without the aid of adjacent village congregations, but many are obliged to look for aid from these sources. We find the small village congregations more willing to contribute to the support of the pastor, who administers the Lord’s supper to them, performs their marriages and baptises their children, than to thecatechist who preaches to them.

In some unaccountable way, the idea seems to have been grounded into them that it is the duty of the Mission to provide for the salary and ■wants of the catechist, while they will do what they can towards orna­menting the church and paying for the pastor. For example, there is a little congregation of 40 adults in a certain village where the missionary can get to-morrow, if he wishes, Rs. 100 towards a tower for the church or Rs. 50 toward seats, but only Rs. 2 monthly for the pastor of the centre church, and not a pie for the catechist—a man, by the way, for whom they have the greatest respect.

3 5 0 SOME DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THE AMERICAN MADURA MISSION.

However, be that as it may, we feel that something has been ac­complished when we are able to say that no one of the 22 pastors in. our Mission is supported by foreign funds.

S u p e r in t e n d in g P a s t o r s .

Last year, with a view of placing more responsibility upon our pastors, the Mission established what is known as the office of Superin­tending Pastor. The mission district is divided into five parts and over each part a superintending pastor is appointed. His duty, in addition, to his former pastoral work in relation to his field, is tot our over it two or three times a year, thoroughly inspect the work, confer with other pastors and agents of the field, and to be ready to bring in the results of his inspection, and any matter upon which he or the people of his field wish action, to a general mission meeting. At such meeting the super­intending pastors have the right of voting on the questions brought up. There is one limitation placed upon the character of the questions which, the pastor may bring up, namely, no action can be taken which affects the disposition of funds sent from America.

The scheme is so new that we are not able to report upon its effi­ciency. It is an effort to give a more important and more honourable part in the government of the Mission to our native pastors. Hereto­fore the pastor had no vote in the general management of the Mission. Once a year at our September meeting, when all the agents of the Mission are gathered in Madura for conference and prayer, the pastors had a day with the missionaries, when important questions touching tha work were presented and discussed; but no action was ever taken as the result of such discussion; and though the missionary might be more or less influenced by the argument, the pastor’s part ended with the presentation of his views. Now, with this new office of “ inspecting pastor,” voting power is given to five of our pastors. It is a tentative measure, and if it proves successful, we shall increase the number of pastors and make the districts smaller.

The mission felt that something must be done to interest the pastor in the general work of the station and mission, many of the latter feel* ing that upon the missionary must be thrown all responsibility for failure or success of the station, and upon the Mission the faults and, virtues of the general policy, while the pastor goes free. Then they had no incentive for original thought and enterprise concerning missiont management, for as a pastor once said, “ What is the use of my bringing in plans concerning the general work; I have no power to vote, and the Mission decides everything without the pastor.”

SOME DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THE AMERICAN MADURA MISSION. 3 5 1

Perhaps many of our sister missions are in advance of us in this xespect, but the above is an endeavour to strike a mean between giving €qual power with the missionary to the pastor, such as is given by the Methodist Episcopal Church in the north of India, and in giving no power or only a nominal power in general mission management.

This whole question of participation in mission management by our native brethren is now kept prominently before our Christian commu­nity by the Christian Patriot and other organs of the native church, and our best men are thinking seriously upon the subject and wondering how long must it be ere they are deemed strong enough to take a man’s part in the government of the church in India. Mere nominal power will not answer, for they will soon detect the fact and immediately throw off all responsibility ; and the responsibility is the very thing which is to make them ready, though they be unready when we place it upon them.

There is some weakness to be detected in our native force, and any scheme proposed will be attended with certain evils, but let us go for­ward hoping that the good will outweigh the evil.

C o n c e n t r a t io n of W o r k .

Another feature of our work is concentration. When the Madura Mission was first established some sixty years ago, a part of the Mission was in Madura, a part in Ramnad, and a part in Madras. What a waste of powder, shot and shell! We were firing all over the Madras Presidency, and, if I can judge by the Mission Reports of those early years, hitting very few. One of the secrets of success of great com­manders is their power of concentrating all their forces at a given -point at the critical moment. The children of this world are wiser than the children of light. It is a principle of good generalship to spread your­self over no larger field than you can securely and safely hold.

We who now represent the Mission, think that it was a wise move on the part of our predecessors, when they abandoned the work in other places and concentrated all their forces in the Madura District» with stations at easy distances from one another, so that the missionaries fmd agents of the different stations can help and work into one another’s hands.

There is a uniformity in the work and a unity of mind and purpose among the missionaries, not easily attainable when the mission is scat­tered over large tracts of country. The difficulty of obtaining unity of action when widely separated is every clearly demonstrated by the history of a mission in another part of India. There a large work is

3 5 2 SOME DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THE AMERICAN MADURA MISSION.

parried on in and about two different centres about 250 miles apart. But there is sometimes friction between the missionaries, largely due, in my opinion, to the great difference of conditions acting on the two places, the missionaries of one section failing to see the causes working and influencing the other section. Do not get the idea that the work is unsuccessful, for it is not; but I do not hesitate to say that it would be far more successful, did the missionaries all see with one eye, and all power and force were well concentrated in either of the two places.

We have followed the same principle in bringing near together our higher institutions of learning. The College, the Normal School, the High School and the Theological Seminary are at Pasumalai, two and a half miles from Madura, where are located the female Normal School, the Training Institution for Bible-women,j and a Hindu High School.

It is certainly a great advantage to the students of our Theological Seminary to be in constant contact with the students of the High School and College. They thus see the eagerness, the perseverance and faith­fulness of those who are seeking for the rewards of this world and are thus stimulated to more faithfulness in their own preparation for a higher calling. The whole spirit of the place is scholastic and cannot but be beneficial, and on the other hand we cannot hope that the daily ex­ample and conversation of 20 or 30 young men, who have devoted their lives to the preaching of the gospel, will have a salutary effect upon the students of the secular branches of learning.

Again, the power and moral effect of all these institutions—the students, their professors and their families—upon the Hindus of Madura are not be under-estimated, and it would be largely lost, were the Col­lege in one part of the district, the Theological Seminary in another, and the Normal schools in a third.

I am sorry to have to admit that there is so much power in num­bers and I would infinitely prefer to work by the “ still small voice,” but we must take human nature as we find it, and even in our district work, after the Christian worker has almost brought a little band of villagers to take the decisive step, that separates them from Hinduism and brings them into Christianity, it is often not taken until the itinerat­ing band of workers—catechists, pastors, and missionaries, with music and song, the sciopticon and preaching—come to the village, and then courage rises and the step is taken.

The same general conditions are found in cities and towns. So we deeix: this concentration of our educational institutions a gain of power.

45

SOME DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THE AMERICAN MADURA MISSION. 353

3 54 THE YEAR’S REPORTS.

And now, as I look back over the lines of this paper, I question whether the points given are entirely distinctive, and even if so, whether worthy to be followed, but the thought arises we are all, whatever our race or name, loving and following the same blessed Master, endeavour­ing as far as in us lies to set up His kingdom first in our own hearts and second in the world. And if our methods are not the wisest, we must remember that only a little skill but great devotion and great faith is asked by the Leader commanding against the forces of darkness and evil in this land. One of Napoleon’s veterans, when asked by a newly- arrived recruit, “ What is to be a soldier ?” answered, “ What is to be a soldier? To march, to load, to fire, to die, if need be, without a word; the little corporal does the rest.” Wherein differs the calling of a soldier of Christ? Courage, a little skill, a world of faith, and the Lion of the tribe of Judah does the rest.

THE YEAR’S REPORTS.

THE GOSPEL AMONG THE BHILS.One of the most interesting signs of the times is the interest taken in the

evangelisation of the hill tribes of India. They are found in all hilly regions. T h e y are in a very primitive state of culture, and are accessible. The Church Missionary Society has been working for many years among one of these hill tribes in Raj put ana—the Bhils, and the Rev. C. S. Thomson has issued a very interesting and instructive report of his work.

B e g in n in g of t h e M is s io n .

“ The Mission to the Bhils dates from 1880 and was begun in the following way:—The Revd. E. H. Biekersteth, now Bishop of Exeter, had a daughter who was married to Captain (now Colonel) Rundell, a British officer attached to the Mewar Bhil Corps stationed at Kherwara. Whenever Mrs. Rundell wrote to her father, she had so much to tell him about the natives that he offered to give the C. M. S. £ 1,000 to send out a missionary for three years to begin work among them. The offer was accepted, and shortly after the first missionary left England to start the Mission.”

T h e B h i l s .“ P h y s i c a l T y p e .—The features of many of the Bhils bear the impress of

R&jput birth and extraction. The men are slender and vary greatly in the co­lour of their skin. Any gradation may be observed from the man who is almost a pure Rajput in physique and complexion to the black and- stunted forest Bhil. They are obviously a cross between the aboriginal and the Rajput. Their mean height is about 5 ft. 6 in. The bulk of them have smooth faces with slight

THE YEAR’ S REPORTS. 3 5 5

moustache, and long, straight, black hair. Their face has an amisable but timid expression. Their forehead is of fair height. They are not muscular, but can walk long distances without weariness.”

“ P e r s o n a l A p p e a r a n c e .—Their general appearance is not uggestive of much wealth. Many of them wear nothing but a dirty rag roun dbheir fhead and a piece of cloth round their waist. They have no covering for their eet. The women bedizen themselves with trashy and heavy jewellery. Their dress is an indigo blue or red cotton shawl, a dingy red spotted petticoat and a bodice. Some of the young women are particularly good looking, but they soon lose their beauty and appear old in consequence of the hard life they have to live. The children are kept without dress till eleven or twelve years old. Many of them are bright and loveable.”

“ N a t u r a l D is p o s i t io n .—They are suspicious, lazy, addicted to drink and ■without any national aspirations. Murder troubles their conscience no more than a cat killing a mouse is troubled with the thought that she may be cruel. They have, however, their redeeming qualities. They show great kindness to women and respect for their elders, and are very hospitable. They never gam­ble and will not beg.”

“ L a n g u a g e .—The dialect spoken by the Bhils in Rajaputana and the Ma- hikantha is mainly a corruption of Gujarati. There may be in the speech of the forest tribes of Central India a considerable percentage of non-Aryan words, since the Bhils of that part represent the tribes least modified by Aryan in­fluences. So far, however, as I have been able to find out, the language is, even there, principally a corruption of Gujarati, Marathi and Hindi.”

It will interest our lady readers ’to learn that the weight of a complete out­fit of jewels for a Bhil woman is 19 lbs.

T h e R e l ig io n o f t h e B h i l s .

“ Some Bhils call themselves Hindus, some Muhammadans and some noth­ing at all. Those that claim to be Hindus are great sticklers for caste, and are the more particular because they can rightly claim to have so little. Among them religion seems to have originated in the dread of diseases and of evil. They do not seem to have the least conception of any supernatural power except the power of evil. The angry deities they propitiate by sacrificing goats and buffaloes. They entertain a strong belief in ghosts, omens, witchcraft, fatalism and actively malignant spirits. They retain the customs of other aboriginal tribes in worshipping the spirits of the departed. They have no temples, but worship either at shrines at the foot of trees or at memorial stones erected to their deceased ancestors. At the shrines they offer clay horses which are a com­posite kind of beast—half-horse, half-camel. The Bhils seem to lack the first elementary conditions which make the better life possible. They appear to have no intuitive perception through the conscience that there is a fundamental differ­ence between right and wrong, and natural piety'seems to be entirely absent. Yet they have some idea of another world. In the next life, they say, there is a great ball of fire, which every Bhil must face as soon as he dies. If, however, lie has on his arms the prescribed brands, he will not be burned but will be allowed to pass on.

“ Bhagatism, which is an aping of Brahmanism, is fast losing its hold up­on the people. There are at least three reasons for this: (1) the Bhils who be­came Bhagats were led to believe that by so doing they would secure various temporal blessings above and beyond those of other people—they have not, of course, got anything of the kind; (2) many of their spiritual guides are either immoral men, or money-grabbers, or both; (3) these teachers, without an ex­ception* are ignorant men. They have nothing definite to teach their disciples except the ceremonials as practised by the Brahmans. If they, in their teaching venture beyond this, they fall at once into the ridiculous. For example, one of

3 5 6 THE YEAR’S REPORTS.

them told me some time ago that it took God seven days to make the world. It took three and a half days to make the mountains and the rivers, the cattle, the trees and men, &c., and the whole of the remaining three and a half days were occupied in making a peacock.”

T h e M is s io n .

The centre of the mission is at Kherwara, about 50 miles from Udaiapur and 106 from Ahmedabad. A little map attached to the report shows the posi­tion of the central station and the seven out-stations. Educational and medical work is carried on; but it is slow, up-hill work, beset with difficulties. There is no desire to secure the education of the children.

T h e C h r is t ia n C o m m u n it y .

“ There have been altogether twenty-four baptisms. We had to wait nine years for the first convert. Our last baptisms were on Christmas Day, when we had the joy of receiving a man, his wife and two children into the Christian Church. Twenty-four baptisms after fourteen years’ labour is not a very large number. Our numbers might have been very much larger had we been willing not to look very closely into the motives of the enquirers. The great cry among the Bhils is not for religion but for bread. In this work one does need to under­stand the art of dealing with men. We have been most cautious in receiving applicants for baptism. To some extent the lethargy and indifference of the people account for such small results. We find, too, the plurality of wives a hindrance to the progress of the gospel. A Bhil who may have as many wives as he can afford to buy (and the more he has the less he has to do) thinks it hard that he should have but one wife and have to work the harder on that account. One very great difficulty is to find wives for our young men among their own people. We have had one marriage and one death in the Mission. One of the converts is not at present in communion with us. This man is separated from us simply because we have insisted on his keeping himself and living out of the mission .compound. Now that we have got a start in the way of agents, we do not allow converts to live beside us, but require of them to remain at their own homes. We do want true and manly independence, and we must inculcate into the minds of our people that slavish dependence on missionaries is entirely an­tagonistic to the spirit of Christianity. It is really a serious problem how to get new converts to stay -with their friends and earn their own living. If we continue to insist on each individual being quite independent of the Mission our numbers probably will remain small,but, at the same time, will be of more sterling worth, whilst, on the other hand, if we are prepared and willing to give converts plenty to eat and to wear and nothing much to do, we may increase our numbers to any extent, but it would be at the expense of the Christian name. Up till recently our plan was to have the Christians with us to give them daily instruction, to help them to get a truer conception of the gospel and to fit them for work for Christ. One felt that in a new mission and for any lasting movement the thorough instruction and discipline of a few were of greater moment than the baptism of many who might be scattered and uncared for. This was the method of the Founder of the Kingdom. In carrying out this system we have had to be careful not to pauperise our converts. We are now placing them at our out- stations as agents, and we must continue to stir them up to mental and moral activity and to a sense of their responsibility and duty to their own people.”

WESLEYAN MISSION, NORTH CEYLON.The report is a record of a year’s very successful work, and is written in a

cheery and stimulating style. The figures relating to the Christian community

THE TEAB’S REPOETS. 3 5 7

■are—Members, 1,131; on trial, 535; in junior classes, 291; total number of Chris­tians, 2,389. This is an increase of 57 members and of 27 on trial. There are many indications of increasing spirituality and of aggressive earnestness on the part of the Christians.

E v a n g e l is m .

“ As in previous years every form of evangelistic effort has been tried dur­ing the year, and each has proved, in its way, effective. Outdoor and indoor preaching, day and Sunday school teaching, lyrical preaching, the big drum, and the fiddle, compound meetings and gatherings in the houses of our friends, the prison, the hospital, the dispensary, the police lines, preaching to the many, talks with the few, every method, every available plan, every available person has been used. The variety of our agencies and methods was never so manifest, the need was never so evident, the success, thank God, was never so great.”

The result has been a large number of adult baptisms—105, the largest number ever recorded. In addition 70 infants were baptised.

“ Many of these baptised are the fruit of several years’ labour. Their cases are full of interest. Eliza, who was baptised at Wannarponne, is one of six for whom prayer is requested in the Women’s Auxiliary Quarterly Paper; two of them are now Christians, four are still to follow. Elizabeth, of Karisal, is the fruit of home mission work. Point Pedro reports a case very similar, but full of interest, as shewing how ‘after many days’ fruit appears. Trincomalee had its triumphs at Nilavelly and Muthur. These have brought persecution and opposition, but the converts stand firm. Batticaloa reports the conversion of a> prisoner under sentence of death; of the cook in the boarding house, converted, through the efforts of the students there, themselves but recent converts; of a* husband led to Christ by his Christian wife. Kalmunai gives a striking instance of an old lady converted in spite of the fact that the devil by inducing deep sleep tried to prevent her from hearing the word. These are specimens, and so the work goes on. One sows and another reaps. Where we hoped much, we get little; where the soil appeared desert, God causes water springs to arise, and the desert -blossoms as the rose.”

E d u c a t io n a l W o r k .

Sunday schools have received special attention, and the result is an increase •of 966 scholars, the total number being 6,597—5,162 boys and 1,435 girls.

In the day schools there are 7,163 boys and 2,211 girls, an increase of 327 boys and 155 girls. The boarding schools are doing a work for the cause of Christ which can hardly be over-estimated.

There are many other activities—a newly-opened medical mission, industrial schools, soldiers’ and sailors’ home, the press, &c. All have been worked with vigour and success.

WESLEYAN MISSION, SOUTH CEYLON.The three districts into which South Ceylon is divided, viz., Colombo,

Kandy, and Galle, have issued a united report, which shows that good progress has been made in all the districts. The work is carried on in four languages—» English, Portuguese, Sinhalese and Tamil. There were 131 adult baptisms, of which 44 were administered in the Colombo District, 64 in Kandy, and 23 in Galle. The churches have increased in piety and zeal, and there are now 2,693»

3 5 8 THE YEAR’ S REPORTS.

members in the three districts, an increase of 91. The churches raised Rs.17,625 2& cents, for local work, and it is pleasing to record such a resolution as this:—

“ Thatthis Quarterly Meeting while offering its thanks to Almighty God for His blessings on this circuit and while acknowledging its sincere gratitude to the "Wesleyan Missionary Society for its long-continued aid, undertakes the respon­sibility of supporting its minister from the beginning of this year without any aid from the Missionary Society.”

When churches can take full financial responsibility there is every hope of increased interest being taken in all branches of church work.

The institution for training workers does not report a good year. Candidates are too few and below the standard.

The press has turned out a large amount of work; but there is a complaint of a great dearth of Sinhalese Christian literature.

All the districts appear to be full of heart and hope, and we trust that missions, in Ceylon have entered upon an era of continuous prosperity.

KURKU AND CENTRAL INDIAN HILL MISSION.This is quite a new mission, and we believe this is the second report. It

naturally deals with pioneer work, and there is not yet much harvesting. The mission is undenominational and its affairs are managed by a General Council, whose office is at 10, Drayton Park, Highbury, London, N.

“ The missionaries are chosen without any restriction as to denomination, provided that the Council are satisfied of their firm belief in the essential doc­trines of the Evangelical faith, and of their fitness for the work. They go out in dependence upon God alone for the supply of all their needs, with no guaran­teed salanr, and understanding that the Mission itself never goes into debt, but can only with them ask God in prayer for the money, and distribute among the missionaries the funds that it receives from time to time. As stated in our Constitution, they have gone out to those poor degraded hill tribes, determined to live among them as simply as possible.”

The work is carried on at six stations, south of the river Tapti, chiefly in the Marathi and Urdu languages. Kurku is spoken by the hill tribes, and the missionaries are striving to reduce it to a written language. A good map accom­panies the report, and shows the nature of the country occupied.

Mrs. Baxter, of Drayton Park, visited the mission during the year and "writes an interesting account of what she saw and did.

These hill tribes are in a very primitive state of civilization, and many in­stances are recorded of their superstition.

T h e T r e a t m e n t o f B a b ie s .

“ The first time I found out any thing about them was one day when I was in the village. A woman called me into her house to see a baby that was i l l ; the poor little thing was nearly starved to death. They were feeding it thus :— Some cold milk in a brass lota and a piece of rag rolled up into a ball, very dirty and smelling quite sour. They kept dipping it in the milk and squeezing the drops out of it into the child’s mouth. I took a cup and teaspoon down for them and showed them how to feed it, but the poor child died. Since then I have bought feeding bottles and lent several out. Whenever a mother dies leaving a

THE YEAR’S REPOETS. 359

baby a few days or weeks old it is so sad; for when I have asked them, ‘ Now, what about the baby ? ’ they say, ‘ Oh! it will have to die too. We cannot save it,’ and so the poor thing is slowly starved to death.”

T h e C r u e l t y o f H e a t h e n is m .

“ A poor woman fell into a large vessel of boiling sugar—there are many sugar refiners in Bhaisdehi—no one tried to drag her out, although, of course, she was alive then (she died an hour afterwards), because she was of too low a caste !! A policeman had to order some one to take her out. They sent for the Fletchers, and he sent some one to a rich man’s garden near the place to fetch some big cool leaves to soothe the poor dying woman’s agonies. The own­er, however, refused, for she was of too low a caste. So Fletcher went himself and cut what he needed, and no one dared to forbid him. What a barrier Satan has set up in this caste ! ”

A V i s i t t o a R a ja .

Mrs. Charles gives the following description of a visit to the King of the Kurkus:—

“ Arriving at the top, we were met by the Raja, who was dressed in gold tinsel; the whole place was illuminated with torches and sounding with music. He took my husband’s hand and led' us to two chairs arranged for us on the right hand of his throne, which was a beautiful cushioned seat covered with rich velvet. He then seated himself on his throne and the crowd sat in a semi-circle round him on the ground. Then began the performances of the night. They opened with presentations to the Raja in the shape of cocoa-nuts, artificial flow­ers, &c., which he received, gracefully. This was followed by the singing of dancing girls, and then a farce by buifoons. My husband then asked the Raja if he mighb present him with a Testament, and say a few words. He readily agreed, and himself silenced the people. As he took the book, he read his name and John iii., 16, which he had written in it, and from which my husband spoke -as the Lord gave him utterance. The Raja became interested at once in what he said, much to the dislike of the Hindu saints, Mohammedans, and Brah­mans, who tried, in every way they could, to confuse my husband, but the Raja kept on silencing them while he himself asked questions. How I thanked "God for such a wonderful opportunity of spreading His precious word to such a. mixed assembly! Many times a Brahman or Mohammedan would turn to me -and whisper:— ‘ Mem Sahib, ask the sahib to stop, it is getting late, and we want the dancing.’ I was only too thankful to see the Raja so interested. We do hope that he may read the Word of Life. When my husband was quite tired he prayed, and told the Raja we could not stay to witness dancing in which we took no pleasure, assuring Mm that God could give him pleasures far beyond such as those. Whereupon he rose and dismissed the people, who came down murmuring against us. It was after 11 p.m. When we were leaving, he asked my husband to see him next morning privately, that he might ask some ques­tions on religion ; but next morning, he sent word that his child was ill, and so requested my husband to see him. at some other time.”

There are now 16 missionaries, men and women, on the field, under the superintendence of the Rev. A. Muller. The head quarters of the mission in India are at Ellichpur, Berar.

YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, RANGOON.The first report of this young association shows what an energetic man.

•can do. Mr. Gardiner went to Rangoon from Madras, where he had been con-

3 6 0 CURRENT MISSION NEWS.

nected with the Y. M. C. A. In Rangoon he soon got people to assist him, and he succeeded in starting a branch association, which has now 40 members. The meetings held have been chiefly devotional.

C U R R E N T M I S S I O N N E W S .

HISSIONABY CONFERENCE.

C a l c u t t a .—The Missionary Conference of Monday evening was not large owing no doubt to the absence of many missionaries from Calcutta, but the paper and discussion were none the less enjoyed by those who were present. The paper on the late census in relation to the religions of India was read by Dr. K. S. Macdonald and presented more or less fully the results of the last census for a large part of India in those matters to which missionaries are na­turally most drawn. But interest centered chiefly in two points—the remark­able inaccuracies of the returns where they touched upon the different Christian denominations in this part of India ; and the extraordinary increase of Muham­madans in Bengal during the past ten years. An amusing instance of the former was the classing of the Church of Scotland and Presbyterians as separate bodies. In the paper and in the discussion which followed a number of probable reasons were advanced accounting for the great increase among the Muhammadans and one or two inclined to the opinion that in view of the glaring inaccuracies in the letums concerning the Christian population, not much reliance could be placed "upon the census as a whole. On the other hand it was held by several that though the census contains blunders so obvious as to be simply ridiculous, yet it is probable that the grand total of the Christian denominations would be found to represent pretty accurately the number of Christians in Bengal, that Hindus are not found to be confused with Mussalmans or Mussalmans or Hindus withCliristians,and that probably the results given can be depended upon as approxi­mately correct, and that there can be no reasonable doubt of the vast increase of one and a half millions in the Muhammadan population since the last census. One of the startling facts brought out was that in Bengal, winch is not looked upon as a Moslem stronghold, are living one third of all the followers of the prophet in India. A new problem is thus presented to missionaries—the prob­lem of Christianizing these millions who speak a language of their own, and ■who, up to the present time, have as it were almost escaped attention.—Indian Witness.

CURRENT MISSION NEWS. 361

WESLEYAN.V i s i t o f an E v a n g e l i s t .— -Mr, and Mrs. Cook expect to reach Ceylon in

September. They will stay in the island three months. One month will be given to the Jaffna District, and two months to the three Sinhalese Districts. It is not yet certain where he will begin, certain steamer arrangements not being exactly known. Mr. Cook’s plan is not to hold single services in a large num­ber of places, but to hold an eight or ten day’s mission in convenient centres. Experience has taught him the wisdom of continuous work,-~Ceylon Church Record.

B a p tism s in t h e C a l c u t t a D i s t r i c t .—-On 16th July a young Hindu, about 20 years of age, was baptised at Kemia by the Rev. W. A. Chettle. At Rani- ganj, on the 17th instant, three men, inmates of the Leper Asylum, were baptised. —Indian Methodist Times.

A N e w B o a r d in g S c h o o l a t M a d u ra n ta k a m .— This was opened recently amidst great rejoicing. A feast was held, when “ a mound of rice, six feet long and three feet in height,” entirely disappeared. Mrs. Little, of St. Thomas’ Mount, opened the building in a bright and sympathetic address. There are eighteen children in the school.

P r i z e D i s t r ib u t i o n a t t h e B a n g a l o r e H i g h S c h o o l .—The Mysore Resident, Mr. Lee-Warner, presided at the meeting when the prizes were dis­tributed to the pupils of the Bangalore High School. The report was read by the Principal, the Rev. E. W. Thompson, m. a . Mr. Lee-Warner made a very appropriate speech in which he spoke highly of the educational work done by missionary bodies in all parts of India. The moral discipline of mission schools was commended, and the pupils were exhorted to have the courage of their convictions.

P r i z e - g i v i n g a t H o n n a l i .—The new school-roonj that has been built this year at Honnali, in the Shimoga circuit, through the energy and efforts of Mr. Dumbarton, was the scene of an interesting gathering on the 7th of August. The children were assembled to receive their annual prizes, and it was a pleasant sight to see their happy expectant little faces in such a neat and comfortable building. Most of the leading Government officials were present, and the Amil­dar presided. The report stated there were 50 girls ii} attendance, and that the Deputy Inspector had given an excellent account of the school. The prizes came chiefly from our unwearied friend Mrs. Wiseman and from a friend of Miss Beauchamp’s. The childrerj who had regularly attended the Sunday-school re­ceived a booklet as a reward. The Amildar returned thanks to Mrs. Wiseman and to the Wesleyan Mission for the interest they took in female education.

D e a t h o f a n E v a n g e l i s t .—The Rev. T. Little writes in the Madras Church Record an appreciative notice of Mr. J . Srinivasa Rau, an evangelist, who died in the Royapetta Hospital on the 10th of July. He says, “ Our deceased brother was bom in 1840 at a village near Srirangam and belonged to a highly respectable Hindu fainily, one of his family connections being the well-known Sir T. Madhava Rao. His early training and surroundings were purely heathen, withr

46

362 CURRENT MISSION NEWS.

out any mixture of Christianity. He gave himself to the earnest study of the Hindu Vedas and all Puranie lore, in which subjects he soon became renowned. Aided by a gift of money from a wealthy friend he entered on a life of travel, in the course of which he visited almost every holy place in India from Hardwar to Cape Comorin, practising the art which he was supposed to possess of exorcis­ing devils. In 1875, however, as he was on his homeward way from one of his distant tours, he attended a meeting of the famous Bishop Taylor of California, and was then and there arrested by the truth, convinced and converted. Shortly afterwards, in company with two or three other Brahman converts of Bombay, he was baptised by Mr. MacPherson of the American Marathi Mission. Em­ployment was found for him with a mercantile firm in Bombay from whence he removed to Madras and there entered into evangelistic mission Work, in which he continued to the end of his life, labouring successively in the city of Madras, at Negapatam, Conjeeveram, Royapettah, Madurantakain, and lastly, at Saida-- pet in the St. Thomas’ Mount Circuit. His knowledge of the religions and languages of India particularly fitted him for preaching to the Hindus—a work in which he took a special delight. His ignorance of English was a defect which he never was able quite to overcome, but on the other hand he had some know­ledge of Sanskrit, and was sufficiently well versed in Tamil, Kanarese, Telugu, Marathi and Hindustani to be able to preach fluently in all of them.”

OTHER INDIAN MISSIONS.T h e H o n . a n d R e v . D r . M i l l e r . —We are glad that the Madras University

has again elected D r . Miller as its representative on the Madras Legislative Council.

T h e R e v . D r . H o m e .—We congratulate the Rev. R . A. Hume, m .a., of Ahmednagar, that he has received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from his alma mater, Yale University.

D e a t h o f a B a p t i s t M is s io n a r y .—The Rev. Angus McKenna, who has been a missionary for forty years in Bengal, died in the General Hospital, Calcutta, on the 5th of August, aged sixty ;two years.

D e a t h s o f A m e r ic a n M is s io n a r ie s .—The Methodist Episcopal Church has had to mourn the loss of several workers recently. The Rev. A. and Mrs. Kullman both died of cholera on the same day, July 27th, at Asansol, Burdwan. Mr. Kullman had been in the country two years and a half and Mrs. Kullman arrived in Calcutta in January of this year. The cholera is said to have been caused by dirty tank water having been placed in the milk. The Indian Wit­ness gives a pathetic account of the illness and death of both, who were buried in the same grave. The same mission has also lost Mrs. Madden, of the Sea­man’s Rest, Bombay, who died on August 5th.

D a s h e r a M e e t i n g .—The annual meeting will begin at Lucknow on Sep­tember 25. Several missionaries will conduct the meetings. Guests will be provided for at the rate of Rs. 1-4 per day for board and lodging. The Rev. W. A. Mansell, Reid Christian College, Lucknow, should be communicated with.

CUBKENT MISSION NEWS. 3 63

A n I n d u s t r i a l E x h i b i t i o n .— The Christians of the North-West Provinces and Oudh are holding an industrial exhibition at Cawnpore on September 25. All exhibits should be sent to the Secretary, care of the Rev. R, Dutt, Cawnpore.

S u n d a y S c h o o l C o n v e n t io n f o r S o u t h I n d ia .—A convention of Sunday School workers will be held in Bangalore, Oct. 1—3, The Rev. J. A. Macdonald, the provisional Secretary, will be present, and many other speakers will address the convention.

In d ia n S u n d a y S c h o o l U n io n .—Though the Union has sustained a heavy loss in the death of the late Secretary, Dr. Phillips, yet the work is to go for­ward. The Rev, J. A. Macdonald, of the Christian Literature Society, has been .appointed provisional Secretary and he is carrying out the arrangements made by Dr. Phillips. His address is 23, Chowringhee, Calcutta.

C o n v e r s io n o f P a r s e e s a t B o m b a y .—The Bombay Church Missionary Gleaner gives an interesting account of the conversion of two Parsees—a brother and sister, who had been led to Christ partly by the influence of a Roman (Catholic ayah, but chiefly through reading the Bible.

G -la d T id in g s f$ o m M u z a fa r n a g a r .—The Rev. Daniel Buck in the Indian Witness says he has baptised 549 Chumars up to, date, and hopes to baptise 1,000 by the end of the year.

B a p tism s in K a lim p o n g .— Dr. Ponder informs us that in the Kalimpong Guild Mission there have been a total of 57 baptisms (25 male and 32 female) for the four months, January to April, inclusive. The number of baptised ■Christians now on the roll is 1,-ilO,—St. Andrew.

T ib e t a n P i o n e e r M is s io n .—-We have received a circular from Miss Taylor in which she describes the present state of the mission. All her workers left her, except Mr. Jansen, and he succumbed to an attack of enteric fever. Her faithful servant Pantso was also ill for a long time. These events took place at Gnatong, where there is a detachment of British soldiers, who were very kind and helpful to Miss Taylor. Many text-cards and Gospels have been given to the Tibetans who frequent Gnatong. A station sixteen miles from Gnatong has now been occupied by Miss Taylor, who asks for women workers. The mission is conducted on the same principle as the China Inland Mission, and great hardships have to be endured. Miss Taylor’s address is—Tibetan Pioneer Mission, Yatong, Tibet, ma Darjeeling, India.

WOMAN’S W ORK FOR INDIA’S WOMEN.

YOUNG LADIES FOBSAKING THEIE HOME IN MADEAS.Considerable excitement has been

caused in Madras by two young ladies leaving their home and taking refuge in a mission house. Miss Dawson gives the facts of the case in the Baptist Missionary Review which we repro­duce:—

As so many strange reports are cur­rent regarding the case of the Hindu young women who left their home and came to us with tbe object of confessing themselves Christians, perhaps it will be of interest to missionary friends to know the facts of the case. The young women—aged about eighteen and twenty respectively—have been under instruc­tion for many years and have always been very interested and interesting pupils. Four years ago they expressed their faith in Christ as their personal Saviour, and ever since have looked forward to the time when they should be able to come out and live as Chris­tians. Last year they began to' study the Acts of the Apostles and the ques­tion of baptism presented itself to them. They were very distressed at not being able to make this public confession of their faith, and from that time have been growing more and more anxious to come out from their people and join themselves to the Lord’s people. We never encouraged them to leave their home, but insisted that they should tell their friends that they wished to be Christians. In April last they spoke to their mother about it, but of course did not gain her consent. Up to this time they had refused all offers of marriage, because, as they said to me, worship­

ping an idol was part of the marriage ceremony and they could never do that. In June the parents were arranging a marriage for the elder girl, and matters were pushed forwards without any re­ference to her wishes. This brought things to a climax and they said the time had now come and they must get away. On Monday afternoon, the 8th instant, they effected their escape, with the help of a hired carriage which we had sent them at their own request, as they had absolutely no other course of getting away. In about half an hour they were followed by their mother and sister, and the rest of Monday and many hours on Tuesday were spent in in­terviewing their relatives and friends, who used every variety of persuasion 5 entreaty, promise, threat and abuse, to all of which they had but one answer, “We have come of our own desire and will not go back.” On Tuesday night, as a crowd was collecting, and as the family and friends had settled therh- selves in our drawing room, announc­ing their intention to remain, we thought it advisable to send for the Deputy Commissioner of Police, who lives close by. Some police were in attendance (by order of the Deputy Commissioner on application from us), but we did not want to have the people ordered out, so sent for the Deputy Commissioner, thinking he would manage the matter better. He did not come for an hour and a half, and then arrived in com­pany with the eldest brother of the girls who had disappeared from our house as soon as we sent for the Deputy Com­missioner. He did not ask why we

w o m a n ’ s w o r k f o e In d ia ’ s w o m e n . 3 6 5

had sent for him, but before reaching the house loudly called out that we were charged with decoying and unlaw­fully detaining ¡minors, and said he was not going to have missionaries go to Hindu homes and decoy their women and girls away, and at once ordered all the police off the premises. He said that if there was a breach of the peace out on the road the police might inter­fere, but all protection was withdrawn from the house. He then turned and

walked away. At once the men rushed into the house and took possession, and there was no alternative but for the girls to go, which they did, weeping bitterly. They are gone from us, God knows why, but the matter is not ended. For the present, however, this is all we can say, and we ask the earnest pray­ers of all who read these lines on be­half of these two young women.

H. D a w s o n .

WOMEN’S WORK IN THE NORTH INDIA CONFERENCE OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

The Women’s Foreign Missionary So­ciety publishes a separate report, which contains the minutes of the conference of lady workers and the detailed re­ports of the different stations. The conference lasted four days, and the business appears to have been as well performed as if the gentlemen had done it. The workers including the married ladies appear for a regular course of examination, and thus render them­selves more efficient. There is a host of workers all diligently employed, and great good has been accomplished. We cull some incidents from the report.

S e l l i n g G i r l s .

In connection with the Naini Tal bo­arding school it is said, “ Two bright Hindu girls were brought to us through the influence of a relative, a Christian, one about thirteen years of age, the other about eight. They came with their mother and a little brother. Both were bright, intelligent children and seemed delighted with all our Christian ways, and fell into line so completely that after a week or so one would have thought they had always been with us. The older girl is still here, but their mother’s heart failed her after leaving the girls and going back to her lonely home. She returned and took the younger away with her,, saying she

would bring her back next year. The bright little boy, whose big hungry eyes we shall not soon forget, begged that he might be allowed to stay with his sis­ter and learn to read too, saying he would be a Christian when he cculd. But the mother felt she had done a great thing in giving up a marriageable daughter. And so she had as she saw things, for she could have sold her for what seemed to her a large sum of money. She felt that she was making a great sacrifice through the influence of her Christian relative. God grant that the girl may be a great blessing to her and that she with her other children may soon come into the light of the gospel. This custom is the greatest difficulty we have to contend with in our hill schools. Girls are sold by their parents when they are twelve or thir­teen, and often as young as eight or ten years old, and if the parents are hard up for money to pay their land tax or to buy cattle, the future of the little girl does not have much weight. She is sold to whoever will give the greatest sum for her, even when they are pretty sure she will have a hard, sad life. Often when they are thus bought they are sold again and are considered but a piece of property. Many times could we have had little girls if we could have bought them.”

The report of the Pauri orphanage in Garhwal, shows the practice is pre­valent there also. “ Onelittle girl who

366 w o m a n ' s w o r k f o b In d ia ’ s w o m e n .

was stolen away by her heathen parents nearly two years ago and was sold by them to a man with a wife and two childBen, was rescued from the fate that awaited her, by her sister Mrs. Piyari Lawrence, and has,come back recently. The sister writing to me said, ‘ I would rather she would die than to go back home again.’ ”

G i r l s a r e s t i l l r e g a r d e d a s

OF NO ACCOUNT.

The report of the Bareilly orphanage says, u This year three babies have been taken into the Orphanage. One little waif was picked up in a field, where it had been thrown to be devour­ed by dogs, or to perish in any way that fate might decree. It was a girl ! What did it matter what became of it ! But the poor little one had had such rough usage and been so nearly starved that when the spring fever attacked her she had no strength to resist it, and after a short time she left us to be with Him who said, ‘ Suffer little children to come unto Me.’ The other two are do­ing well.”

To the Gonda Boarding school “ a poor, emaciated little girl was brought half clad. Two Brahmans had found her in some tall grass, evidently for­saken by her parents and left to die. We almost despaired of her life at first, as she was too weak to sit up or walk long at a time. Now she is able to walk about nearly all day and we hope she will become a bright and shining light for our blessed Master.”

A BLIND BlBLE-WOMAN,

“ She came to us from the Woman’s Home in Lucknow. There she learned to read the Bible by means of the raised characters. She was formerly a resi­dent in our Mission in Budaon and there learned much of the Bible which has enabled her to do good, faithful work while with us. She returns to Lucknow while another blind woman takes her place for six months. We are thus giving even the blind women an opportunity to work for the Master,”

H ig h e r E d u c a tio n ,

The higher training of women is well looked after, and Miss Thobum’s col­lege at Lucknow has had a successful year. " At the last University Exa­mination two of our four Entrance can­didates were passed, and three of the five were sent up for the First Ai ts. Of these two are continuing their course of study for the B.A., and one has en­tered the Calcutta Medical College. Six girls from the Middle Class have enter­ed the Agra Medical School. Two who had taken Kindergarten training went out as teachers ; also one from the Entrance class and one from the Mid­dle. There are eight students in the present Entrance class. The new col­lege class is small owing in part to the unusually rigid University Examina­tions of last April, but the next class is expected to be larger.”

T h e H o m e f o r W o m e n a t L u c k n o w .

“ Our ‘ Home for Homeless Women’ has been most encouraging in its re­sults this year. During the year thirty- six new women have been received and we have had an average number of thirty-five in the home; most of these have been new converts or seekers for the truth and young in years, so they have yielded readily to instruction and it has been a great pleasure to see the change in their faces and manner as the light of truth more and more enter­ed their hearts. We have been blessed with very good health in the Home, th ough one of our blind women has died of consumption ; but she left us a clear testimony of her assurance that when she closed her poor sightless eyes on earth she would be permitted to see the King in his glory. A goodly number of our women were happily married dur­ing the year and we trust will live use­ful happy lives in their new homes. We have had seven baptisms and all through the year there has been the evident presence of the Spirit of God to quicken aud purify and give, peace. Our hearts vvere cheered a few weeks ago by the return to us of a woman who rather than work as we wished her to do, left pur Home to return to her heathen village far away. Upon her re-

OBITUAKY. 367

turtt after a little more than a year she said, ‘ Let me come back to live with Christians, for it is only here I can be safe and hear of God. I will work at anything, but I cannot go back to my former bad life and heathen relations.’

It is indeed very encouraging when we hear these remarks from different wo­men who are with us and it is indeed a great joy when they so plainly show the love of Jesus in their hearts and every-day lives.”

OBITUARY.

THE EEV. JOHN SCOTT.The name of John Scott will always be prominently associated with Wes-

ley an Missions in South Ceylon, for during nearly forty years he was one of the foremost workers in the field. His comparatively sudden death from angina pectoris will be a great shock to many in Ceylon who knew and admired the man.

Mr. Scott sailed for the East more than forty years ago in company with the Rev. R. Stephenson, b . a ., late of Madras, and arrived in Colombo in 1855. Of his previous history we know but little. In his early years of mission work he was associated with men like Daniel Gogerly and Robert Spence Hardy, who were learned in all the lore of the Buddhists. He made his way by his ability and character to the front rank, and when Mr. Spence Hardy retired from the work, Mr. Scott was appointed to the chair of the South Ceylon District, which position he held for a great number of years, to the satisfaction of the churches and the Home Committee. He saw the work extend in every direction, a well- trained staff of native helpers gathered around him, and a very large number of the youth of the land reading in mission schools.

Failing health led him to relinquish the work in Ceylon in 1889, but under the direction of the Missionary Committee he took charge of the English work in Calais, and in 1891 he came to Bombay to supply a vacancy that had been unexpectedly caused and which required a man of experience to fill. His work, however, was soon done, and for two years he was in England under the direc­tion of the Missionary Committee. He became a supernumerary only at the last Conference. His death was unexpected, for when he was attacked with hi« fatal illness he was preparing to move to another house. He died in London on the 6th of July, in the 64th year of his age and the 41st of his ministry.

A memorial service was held in Knight’s Hill Chapel, West Norwood, con­ducted by the Rev. G. W. Olver, b .a ., one of the Foreign Secretaries. Dr. Jenkins gave an address from which we extract the following passages :—

“ John Scott belonged to a distinguished race of missionaries. He arrived at Colombo, in South Ceylon, in the year 1855. Colombo is to us Methodists

368 OBITUARY.

the classic ground 6f the East. On this spot the fathers of our Indian Missions planted their first church, founded their first school, and established their first press. Mr. Scott sat at the feet of Daniel Gogerly, the Gamaliel of the Sinhalese churches, and of Robert Spence Hardy, one of the most luminous expositors of the Buddhistic philosophy. In the society of these eminent men, aiid of the scarcely less eminent native ministers whom they had raised up, the young missionary laid the foundations of a character which, for quiet strength and breadth of sympathy, has made the name of John Scott a household possession in the district of South Ceylon. When his leaders died he inherited their policy and became himself a leader. He reverenced the fathers of the Mission, but he followed them not blindly. There were three objects upon which they had set their mind—an educated native ministry, a flourishing vernacular literature, and a network of preaching stations. Associated with these there was another, ming­ling with them and pervading them—the education of the native youth. As the Sinhalese work expanded, the old methods of procedure needed revision ; suc­cess gave the missionaries a new horizon, and Mr. Scott surveyed it with an eye that allowed no change to escape it. He modified his policy to keep the work abreast of the revolution that was taking place in the Sinhalese mind, and of the social movements consequent upon the tide of emigration which set in some years ago from the Indian Continent to the Southern Province of the Island. His relation with the Sinhalese churches was a very happy union. The con­verts found in him a true pastor, the students a sympathetic teacher, the native preachers a brother and a friend. His European colleagues honoured his ad­ministration with confidence and zeal. It is well known that the South Ceylon missionaries have been engaged from time to time in the good fight of controversy with their Buddhist opponents, and that in every field these opponents have been beaten. Mr. Scott was a master in discussing the claims of native faiths. He had an acute mind, a discreet judgment, and an excellent courage. John Scott bore the brunt of the anti-Christian influence of Buddhism for thirty - three years; it was not the endurance of apathy or insensibility; it was the triumph of faith. His faith was preserved in its simplicity during all that strain because he walked closely with God. His advocacy of the gospel was two-fold, both equally eloquent and convincing: the impression of his example and the testimony of his lips. He kept the faith and the faith kept him. He was a man of independent spirit. He held his opinions with an almost obstinate firmness, but this was because he formed them with deliberation and firmness It is the great distinction of men like John Scott that they live on in the work they have left behind. He yet speaks in Ceylon in the measures which he helped to pass, in the men he trained for missionary service, in the families that reverence the memory of his teaching and his intercourse, in the esteem of the Sinhalese population, and even of the priests, who opposed his preaching but admired his life.”

OBITUARY. 369

THE LATE MBS. SAWDAY.To the list of those who have laid down their lives in the service of Christ

in India, we have to add the name of Sarah Curnock Sawday, who died on July 4th, 1895. Though her death occurred in England, it was distinctly caused by her long residence and devoted service in India, during a period of seventeen years.

She was the daughter of the late Rev. George Curnock, a Wesleyan minis­ter, well-known throughout Methodism as a most hard working and useful preacher, and for many years the Conference precentor. She was therefore sur­rounded with religious influences from her childhood and early gave her heart to God. In 1877 she came to India, and was married to the Rev. G. W. Sawday on November 27th of that year. With the exception of a brief residence in Mysore City, the whole of her missionary life was spent in Tumkur.

From the outset she threw herself heartily into every form of Christian work. The women of the native church claimed her first attention, and in all their sickness, poverty and other trials, they ever found in her a ready and sympathetic friend. She visited them frequently in their houses, counselled and encouraged them in their Christian life, and held a mothers’ meeting for them week by week. By introducing the making of woollen caps among those who had learnt to knit in Hassan, she enabled them to add a very appreciable sum to their household income every month. The boys in the orphanage also received a large share of her thought and attention. Only those who have had to deal with famine orphans can realise to what a state of emaciation and weakness the human body can be reduced, and how the awful effects will con­tinue for years. To these poor waifs, Mrs. Sawday behaved like a mother, and in nursing the sick and caring for the weak she manifested the most Christ-like spirit. Her special affection was bestowed upon crippled boys, and she spared no pains in teaching them to earn their living by such occupations as tailoring.

But a woman’s virtues are best seen in her home life and here Mrs. Sawday excelled. Those who visited Tumkur could always rely upon a most hearty welcome and unstinted hospitality. The quiet cheerfulness and unvarying kind­ness of the hostess acted as a tonic. It needed but a short acquaintance to per­ceive. how devoted she was to her husband and children. In her care for them she entirely forget herself, and often, when physically unfit, would be found busily attending to her household duties. Her diligence was remarkable. From early morning till late at night she quietly glided from one duty to another, carrying out most thoroughly Mr. Wesley’s rule for a helper, “ Be diligent. Never be unemployed a moment. Never be triflingly employed.”

Constant labour and the climate told considerably upon her health, which was naturally most vigorous, but bereavement and separation from her children did more. On her return from England at the end of 1888 she had to leave her two eldest children behind. None but those who have passed through it, can understand what a severance like this means. It is by far the hardest thing in a foreign missionary’s life. In 1891 a baby girl died, and the first break was made

47

3 7 0 LITERATURE.

in the family circle. In 1898 the home was again brightened by the birth of a child and about six weeks afterwards Mrs. Sawday hurried off to England to see her little ones there. During her absence the baby was called home to God. On her return, in anything but good health, she had to nurse Mr. Sawday, whose health had now become seriously impaired. Thus it will be seen that trial followed trial, the culminating one being the return of Mr. Sawday to England in the early part of 1894. There surrounded by her children the last year of Mrs. Sawday’s life has been a very happy one.

The illness, which has terminated so useful a career, came on without much previous warning. From June 23rd she had attacks of most acute pain, but it was only a few days before her death that the cause was discovered to be abscess of the liver.

The intelligence of her death produced the most deep and genuine grief throughout the Mysore District but especially in Tumkur, where she was so much beloved. On Sunday morning, July 28th, a memorial service was held, and the chapel was filled by a congregation, many of whom were in tears. The brief record of Dorcas’ life afforded a suitable subject for meditation. Like Dor­cas, Mrs. Sawday’s life was full of good works ; many sorrowed at her death, and oui’ comfort lies in the glorious hope of a joyful resurrection. Many prayers have ascended for Mr. Sawday and the five motherless children. May God’s grace and consolation abound to them!

D. A. R e e s .

L I T E R A T U R E .

Are Foreign Missions doing any good ?—We gladly welcome a new and enlarged edition of a little book we bought when it was first published. It is written by an Indian missionary of long experience, but his observations are not confined to this country alone. The new edition contains two parts— the first dealing with the social and the second with the spiritual results of foreign missions. The authorhas gather­ed the opinion of honest and impartial men who have visited the countries of which they speak and know whereof

they affirm. A candid perusal of the book cannot but convince the honest reader that foreign missions are doinga vast amount of good. The book may be had at the Church Mission House, Egmore, Madras, at the low price of 8 as. We are glad to see that thirty thou­sand have been issued, and we trust it will have a still wider circulation.

The Develop})ie?it o f the Missionary Spirit in Indian Christians, by the Rev. W. G. P e e l .—Mr. Peel is secretary of the Church Missionary.

LITER ATURE. 371

Society in Bombay and Chairman of the Bombay Missionary Conference. He therefore knows the state of the Indian Christian Church and what is needed to infuse additional life and vigour into it. The publication is a paper that he read befoi-e the Bom­bay Missionary Conference in July last. The first part of the paper deals with those causes that arrest the develop­ment of the missionary spirit. These are, alas ! many. Among those enumer­ated are (i) the fact that many Chris­tians are unconverted, (2) the deaden­ing influences of heathenism, (3) the great temptations to which Christian children are inevitably exposed, (4) the inveterate forcc of old habits, (5) the evil example of Europeans, (6) the desire that others shall “ go and tell ” the glad tidings, (7) the fact that all workers are not “ filled with the Holy Ghost.” All these causes are at work and constantly at work. We need to be 011 our guard against them all, and for this it is necessary that we should watch and pray. If the teachers are lacking in spiritual development, we cannot expect the native churches to respond. Both workers and Christians need the quickening and transforming power of the Holy Ghost. To remedy the present state of the church, Mr. Peel quotes the opinions of several experienced missionaries, and shows how in some places the missionary spirit has been wonderfully developed. He urges upon missionaries and pastors the necessity of understanding the nature of the missionary spirit and expounding and enforcing it upon their congregations. Many admirable suggestions are given. The congregation should be interested in every scheme put forward, and

should be urged to give, even if the amounts are small. The whole congre­gation should occasionally go out as singing bands to help in out-door ser­vices. Missionary associations should be started, and frequent meetings held for the purpose of giving information about the spread of the work. The press should be employed to give informa­tion. Special prayers should be offered for the conversion of the heathen. These hints are very valuable and timely. Many have so much preaching to non-Christians that when they meet with their own people they are in dan­ger of so conducting the services as to ignore the great world outside. If every congregation has its band of voluntary workers and its missionary association, a more healthy missionary spirit would prevail. We trust Mr. Peel’s paper will have a wide circulation. Nothing is said about the cost of the pam p h let,

which can be had from the Church Mission House,Bombay.

Plain Papers fo r Sensible Readers, by the Rev. J. A. SHARROCK, B.A.— This is a booklet, sold for quarter of an anna, and published by the Reli­gious Tract Society, Madras. It con­tains three short and pithy papers on idolatry, vedantism, and the atonement. The main arguments are plainly put, and should carry conviction to serious readers. We are not quite sure whether the author is quite correct in represent­ing the jivâtma as the same as para- mâtrna plus ignorance. The paper on the atonement should be helpful to Hindus who find that doctrine a stum- blingblock. We should like to see a good treatise on the subject suitable for Hindus. The want is crying.

É72 EDITORIAL NOTES.

No Millennium after Christ comes, by J. E. D a v is , B.A., Cocanada.— This little book is written with the pur­pose of showing that Scripture plainly read and fairly interpreted teaches the coming of Christ atthe end of all things. The author has studied the subject for himself and gives the public the benefit of his conclusions. We fear that some­times far more thought and time are spent in trying to make plain matters of secondary importance than in pro­claiming the fundamental truths of the gospel. The price of the book is 4 as.,

and we commend it as an impartial study of the question.

Dreaming, by James A lex. Mac­d o n a l d , Hon. Associate of-the Society for Psychical Research.—Mr. Macdon­ald has gathered together, a lot of in­teresting dreams, and argues that the state of the dead is somewhat similar to the state of one dreaming. During sleep, he asserts, the spirit has the power of visiting distant places. The interesting book is published by the Christian Litera - ture Society, and may be had at their depots in Madras and Calcutta.

E D I T O R I A L N O T E S .

The Industrial Missions ¿ id So­ciety.— We have received from Mr. H. W. Fiy a copy of the prospectus of this society and also a private communication with regard to it. The society is to be established, and a strong and well-di­rected effort made to ensure its success. Several influential persons have already agreed to join the Council, while Mr. Crossley, of Manchester, has associated himself with Mr. Fry as a founder of the society. Several schemes have al­ready been submitted and are being considered. If the society is to be successfully carried on, well-consider­ed, carefully-thought-out, and feasible schemes must first be presented. If these prove a success, confidence will be produced, and a wide field of useful­ness will be open to the society and great good will accrue to missions. If on

the other hand the schemes should fail, this would effectually prevent the forma­tion of a similar society in the future. We would therefore strongly urge upon all missionaries the necessity of at first refraining from all schemes of doubtful success, and of very carefully consider­ing all plans forwarded. The society is in no great hurry to begin work, and therefore those who have crude plans under consideration will have time to mature them before submitting them to the society. Mr. Fry will visit India in a few months to personally inspect certain plans that have been proposed. Meanwhile all communications should be addressed to Mr. Fry, at 28, Spring Field, Upper Clapton, London, N. E-

Zanana Mission W ork.— On an­other page we publish Miss Dawson’s

EDITORIAL NOTES. 373

account of the incident that has caused considerable discussion and aroused some passing opposition tc zanana mission work in Madras. ' The facts of the case are simple. Two young ladies above the age when persons are legally able to form their own conclusions on religious questions, were convinced of the truth of Christianity, and in order to avoid a marriage that would unite one of them for life with a non-Christian they left their home and took shelt­er with the missionary ladies. They came in a hired carriage that had been sent by those ladies at the, request of the two young women. We doubt whether this was wise, though it was undoubtedly done with the best of motives. There was the usual scene of relatives seeking to get the girls back. We cannot understand the action of the Deputy Commissioner of Police. He at first granted police protection and then suddenly ordered the police away, with the result that the girls were seized and carried off by their relatives. His conduct certainly requires explanation.

The case has raised the ethics of the whole question of zanana mission work, and it is not easy to balance conflicting duties. The Rev. T. E. Slater wrote to the Madras Mail a letter in which he says “ that individual conversions or baptisms are not the immediate aim of zanana teaching... Teaching is theosten- sible and avowed object of the za!nana system of education, and, indeed, of all missionary education in this country, and most missionaries would, I am sure, be bold enough to declare it. Such teaching all educational mission­aries regard as an end supremely worthy in itself.11 Mr. Slater urges that everything should be done fairly

and openly. If education leads to the conviction that Christ and His religion must be embraced, then action must follow. The Rev. J. Duthie holds that teaching must be the supreme aim of the zanana missionary, but it must be teaching with the object of bringing.the pupils to Christ. That must be the prime aim, though there may be others also. We think the two views are not so wide apart as they seem. Baptism should not be the sole aim of mission toil. A change of heart, a reception of Jesus Christ as the satisfier of man’s need, loving union with Him—these are the fruit of mission work. To pro­duce these, teaching, exhortation, prayer are absolutely necessary. When these are wrought, open confession cannot long be hid.

The Hindu has been urging the peo­ple to cease permitting zanana visitors to come to their houses, and we have no doubt that many doors will be closed for a time. The position of a zanana teacher is, as Mr. Duthie points out, a peculiarly difficult one, because she is for the time the guest of the hus­band or father of the pupils. Ought zanana missionaries to say at once,“ My aim in coming to teach these pupils is to lead them to accept Jesus Christ” ? If they were to say so, we suppose very few doors would be open. Ought they then to say, “ I am willing to teach these pupils, because teaching is in itself a worthy object. If the women are enlightened and able to read they will then of themselves be able to study‘the Christian religion and accept it or not” ? We think most mission­aries would feel that by such a declara­tion they would be prevented from urg­ing their pupils to accept Christ. If

3 74 EDITORIAL NOTES.

they did so, and conversions followed, parents would feel that they had been betrayed. Is not the true course to be adopted something of this kind, “ I am willing to teach the pupils, because I believe all truth is good and desirable in itself ; but I believe a complete edu­cation requires the training of the soul as well as the mind. F or this purpose I shall require permission to teach the Bible to the pupils in addition to other subjects. I regard this not as a ‘ bait,’ but as a subject that is essential to a complete education” ? If such a position is assumed by the teacher and accepted by the guardian, we cannot see how the guardian can complain if the teach­ing of the truth produces its legitimate result—conviction and conversion.

As to whether pupils, when of age, should be urged to leave their home, we think that as a rule this should not be done. If the pupil voluntarily, with­out persuasion, and after giving infor­mation to the guardian that she is going to leave, departs from the home, we do not see that the teacher is to be in any way blamed. Each case must be judged on its merits. No step that would break up the home should be taken without veiy serious consideration. Better leave them with their Saviour in the zanana, than wreck the happiness of a home, and perhaps of the person herself. The desire to leave home and the carrying out of the desire should be left to the pupil herself, except in very special cases. When once the step has been taken, the pupil should be protect­ed at all costs.

The Place of Hinduism in the Story o f the World. — In the August number of the Christian College Ma­

gazine Dr. Miller notices some of the strictures that have made upon his lecture. The criticisms that were made on the fundamental principles of his lecture--that Hinduism teaches the “ omnipenitrativeness” of God and the solidarity of man—are not in the slight­est degree referred to. We could wish that a fuller discussion of those points were forthcoming. We rejoice, how­ever, that Dr. Miller has so abundantly vindicated his position as a faithful missionary loyal to Jesus Christ and His teaching. We felt that Dr. Miller had been misrepresented and treated in a way that was unworthy of the follow­ers of Jesus Christ. He was charged with undervaluing confession of Christ, and it was said »that he regarded it as quite unnecessary for Hindus to be baptised. Dr. Miller’s position is that in the case of the individual, conversion should precede baptism. Every bap­tism “ that takes place before Christ has ‘ revealedHis secret’ to the person baptised, and ‘ established His ideal in him’, is a weakness to the church and not a strength, and is a new means of leading astray those who from a distance are feeling their way with some honesty and earnestness towards the light.” We do not think any one' will ques­tion the truth of this statement. Dr. Miller demands the open confession when the person is ripe for it. His words are, “ None can say more strongly than I habitually say that the man who holds back from joining the body of believers when he knows that the Divine voice summons him to do so, is incurring fearful guilt and fearful peril.” There are some who urge baptism Iso persis­tently as to make people believe that baptism is the principal thing in be­

EDITORIAL NOTES. 375

coming a Christian. Dr. Miller rightly contends that “ it is the change of mind and heart which leads, but leads only in due time, to baptism that is the all­essential thing.” In proof of his posi­tion that he has never undervalued baptism, Dr. Miller declares that more persons have become Christians and joined the church through the influence of the Madras Christian College than from all the other Protestant Colleges in South India. He is very careful to say that he does not on that account affirm that God is not using those col­leges for His own purposes. He has repeatedly stood by his students, and rejoiced in their faithfulness, when he found then ready to take the solemn step of baptism in obedience to a Divine call. All this shows that Dr. Miller is a loyal missionary, as those who know him best have never for a moment doubted. In thoroughly testing those who have come for baptism, he may have seemed to some to undervalue the rite ; but it was only to be certain that men that had not received the Divine call were not baptised. A missionary well acquainted with Dr. Miller once said to us, “ In the matter of baptism, Dr. Miller has never made a mistake.” He meant to say that all those whom Dr. Miller had said were worthy to re­ceive the rite had been found faithful. How many of us have baptised those over whom we have lamented that we were led to administer the rite ! Let Dr. Miller insist upon Hindus being brought face to face with Christ and acting in obedience to the Divine call, and we need not be anxious about the baptisms. We are sorry that Dr. Miller has felt compelled to answer the calum­nies that have been published against him, but we rejoice at the manly and

Christian statement of his position that has been called forth.

The Salvation Army in the Panjab.— Apparently the Salvation Army has recently begun operations in the Panjab, and the Rev. R. Bateman, who has been a missionary of the Church Missionary Society for twenty- seven years, writes an account of the beginning of its work in the Panjab Mission News. The Army has occu­pied two stations already well supplied with missionaries-Amritsar and Dodha, passing by the many places which “are in a state of almost virgin Christless- ness.” We quote Mr. Bateman’s ac­count of the way they make converts.

“ I find ( on Sunday, June 30th) a party of Salvationists travelling from Amritsar to Dodha, 31 miles. They stop to change ckkas half way at Fath- garh. Asked the reason of this Sab­bath-breaking by the pastor who en­tertained them there, they informed him that, as a result of the said rural agent’s preaching in and around Dodha, 130 persons had abjured Hinduism and become Christians, and that it was an urgent necessity that 70 of these should be drafted into Amritsar and Umballa for training. This was reported to me as excellent news, knowing that Dodha was the last' place where their agent would be likely to obtain a favourable hearing on the subject of religion. I avowed myself utterly incredulous, and Iwent toDodha to seethe Salvationists and to put them on their guard against the glowing reports of their represen­tative. They, however, had returned to Amritsar, taking with them many ekka and wagon loads of men, women and children, collected chiefly from the Christian village population in the neighbourhood. Their 'rigorous agent was at home, and I asked him whether it was true' that 130 Hindus had be­come Christians. After a good deal of fencing with the question he said that it was true. I happen to know that it was as big a lie as it would be easy to

3 76 EDITORIAL NOTES.

tell, and I told my friend so to his face. The Salvation Army officers do not know Panjabi, and doubtless believe their agent, and they repeat his lie to the grevious injury of our common cause. I cannot hold them blameless. As an instance of their blind confidence in this man, 1 note that he wrote to one of our agents, whom we should not be sorry to lose, offering him a salary which, when quoted to a Salvation Army officer, he, the officer, declared to be unwarranted. But instead of sus­pecting that the writer had thus offend­ed, he disputed first the writing of such a letter at all; secondly, the authenticity of it; and when shown his agent’s sig­nature at the bottom, he took refuge in the theory that the overworked warrior had hurriedly signed what a less re­sponsible person had written. He could not be led to take a serious view of a palpable piece of double dealing on the part of the man who had been the means of the conversion of x 30 Hindus in the course of about as many hours.”

The Salvationists have drawn away a score or two of unsuspecting Chris­tians from the Church Mission, and “ four malcontent ex-agents,” who were dismissed for bad conduct, and who are described as converts from Hinduism, which they never were. These tactics are similar to those adopted in Travan- core and elsewhere, and we are sorry for them. We know the publication of these facts will not lead the Army to alter its policy ; but the supporters of missions ought to be informed of them.

The Wesleyan Conference and Missions.— We are glad that the Wesleyan Conference has shown its interest in, and marked approval of de­voted service to, missions by electing

the Rev. J. Brown, of Calcutta, and Dr. Wenyon, of China, into the Legal Hun­dred—the hundred members of the Conference that have legally all power vested in them. We congratulate the brethren on the honour done to them and through them to mission work. We were pleased to see that the Rev. J. Hutcheon, M.A., a former missionary who did valuable service in the Mysore, also received a similar honour. The session devoted to foreign missions was a very enthusiastic one. The proposal to raise £ 50,000 to cancel the debt and strengthen existing missions was heartily adopted, and contributions amounting to nearly £ 4,000 were pro­mised in the Conference itself. Nearly £ 20,000 have been already raised. This enthusiasm at home will stimu­late and cheer to no ordinary degree the workers on the field.

The Mysore Government and Infant Marriages.— Some time since we stated that in spite of the Regulation forbidding infant marriages some per­sons had brought about marriages amongst children, and that the Mysore Government had not taken action. We are glad that in two cases the parties have been prosecuted and fined. There is apparently another case, where a wealthy and influential person has bro­ken the law, and no steps have yet been taken to prosecute the parties. We trust the Regulation will be im­partially carried out amongst all classes, for in these matters the wealthy are often greater sinners than the poor.

Printed at the Wesleyan Mission Press, Mysore.-—1695.

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Drafts issued at the Exchange of the day on. tlièii: Branch Offices, and approved English Cheques and Drafts purchased.

Sovereigns, Bank Notes, and Foreign Monies of all kinds bought and sup­plied at favourable rates.

Current Accounts kept, and Interest allowed, when the Credit Balance doe# not fall below Rs. 1,000.

Deposits received, available at any time for remittance to England. Rate of interest, on application.

Pay, Pensions, and Interest, Civil or Military, collected; and every des­cription of Ba/nkirig Businoss and Money Agency transacted. ,,

Telegraphic Transfers or Remittances nude expeditiously at best rate of -exchange without charge for Gotymission, and payable at their offices in any part •f the World. * '

CHIEF OFFICE FOR INDIA.13, ESPLANADE ROAD, FORT, BOMBAY.

Calcutta : Old Court House Rangoon ; Phayre St.