網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

Missions.

the heathen. In Brazil, Peru, and New Granada, Jesuits, Franciscans, Dominicans, and Augustinians vied with each other in civilizing the wild tribes. In Mexico and California, as well as in the Portuguese possessions in India, the Jesuits were equally diligent. The inquisition was resorted to not only to restore heretics but to enforce conversion. It has been common for the Roman Catholic church to shield itself from blame in this respect by saying that it gave over the incorrigible to the secular authorities for punishment; but it is well understood that the secular authorities were under the control and did the bidding of the church. It is believed that in these days the church of Christ is learning again the spirit of Christ, and that persecution, formerly not unknown in any sect of the church, will hereafter be left to heathen powers.

In 1608 the French established prosperous missions among the Indians of North America. In the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries unsuccessful attempts were made to bring into the Roman Catholic church the Christian church of Abyssinia, which for more than 1000 years had maintained an independent existence. At last, in 1859, the king of Tigré in Abyssinia, with 50,000 of his subjects, united with the church of Rome. Roman Catholics now have considerable missions in China, Anam, India, in Senegambia, Natal, and among the Gallas in Central Africa, in some of the islands in Polynesia, and among the Indians of North America.

The

In beginning an account of Protestant missions it is proper to allude to the sending. of 14 pastors from Geneva by Calvin in 1555, at the request of Nicholas Durand, to join the colony of French Protestants whom he had persuaded to accompany him to Brazil. Durand joined the church of Rome, put to death three of the Genevan teachers, and drove others back to Europe, the Portuguese massacring the remaining colonists. In 1559 Gustavus Vasa of Sweden established a mission among his subjects in Lapland, which was maintained for some years. The Protestant settlers of New England had, according to their own account, for one of their aims in coming to this country, "above all, that of extending the Redeemer's kingdom in lands where Christ is not named." The charter granted to the Plymouth colony by the king recognizes this "worthy disposition" of the petitioners, and thanks God for the privilege of engaging in "so hopeful a work" as the "conversion of savages" to "civil society and the Christian religion.' In 1621 elder Robert Cushman, writing to England, reports the Indians as favorably disposed to religion and humanity, and some of the natives giving evidence, living and dying, of conversion to God. The charter given by Charles I. in 1628 to the Massachusetts colony declares that to win the natives of that country to the knowledge and obedience of the only true God and Savior of mankind and the Christian faith, in our royal intention and the adventurers' free profession, is the principal end of the plantation." The seal of the colony had as its device the figure of an Indian with a label in his mouth, on which was inscribed the Macedonian cry, "Come over and help us!" This object was kept in view, though the settlers were harassed by the hardships and struggles incident to their condition, and, as circumstances allowed, carried out in the lives of those first settlers, and it bore fruit in the Christian walk of converts. In 1643 Thomas Mayhew began labors among the Indians of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, and five generations of that family furnished pastors for the churches so gathered. In 1646 the legislature of Massachusetts passed an act for the propagation of the gospel among the Indians, and the same year the celebrated John Eliot began to labor among them. In 1649 the society for propagating the gospel in New England was formed in England, which aided in the support of Eliot, Mayhew, Bourn, and other missionaries among the Indians. A settlement of praying Indians was soon formed, and a church organized in Natick in 1661. Eliot traveled extensively among the Indians, and once preached the gospel to the famous king Philip of Pokanoket, who rejected it with disdain. He translated the Bible and other Christian books. His translation published in 1663 was the only Bible printed in America before the revolution. In 1675, through the labors of Eliot and others, 14 settlements of praying Indians had been formed, and 24 regular congregations, and there were as many Indian preachers. The converts adopted civilized and Christian modes of life, and became industrious and virtuous citizens. In 1733-45 Mr. Parks labored among the Indians of Rhode Island. They abandoned their dances and drunken revels, and crowded the places of worship. Sixty were received to the church. In 1734 Mr. J. Sargent, resigning the office of tutor in Yale college, labored with the Mohegans till his death in 1749. He found them "living viciously in miserable wigwams; he left them settled in a thriving town at Stockbridge with good houses." The great and good Jonathan Edwards labored 6 years among them. From 1734 to 1782 the Moravians labored with great patience and self-denial for the Indians in various parts of Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut. Of these missionaries count Zinzendorf, Christian Henry Rauch, and David Ziesberger are worthy of special notice. Many converts were made. From 1743-47 David Brainerd lived a martyr-life among them, teaching and converting many. The Rev. William Tennent, also John Brainerd, and a converted Indian, Samson Occum, and many others worked earnestly and successfully. The French and English war came, and the war of the revolution. The Christian Indians took no part in these, and were consequently suspected by each party of secretly sympathizing with their enemies. They suffered much from the belligerents, their settlements being broken up, their villages and farms destroyed. Reports of the work among the Indians excited great interest in England, and funds continued to be raised

for its advancement. Dr. Luesden informed Cotton Mather that the example of New England awakened the Dutch to seek to convert the heathen in their East Indian possessions. Referring to it, bishop Burnet says: "The church of England, moved by the example of the dissenters, whose labors they admired, formed the society for promoting Christian knowledge.' Some members of this society in 1701 formed the society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts, which was sanctioned by William III. It began mission work in India in 1727, and has had missions in Delhi, Poona, Ahmednuggur, Kolapore, the Nizam's dominions, Bangalore, Cuddalore, Tinnevelly, Arcot, Madras, Madura, and Calcutta. The mission of this society in Tinnevelly district has had great success in recent years, 23,654, from July, 1877, to the end of June, 1879, having asked Christian instruction. In 1883 this society had 629 ordained missionaries, 1382 native catechists and helpers, 128,768 baptized persons, 28,540 communicants.

In 1705 Frederick IV., king of Denmark, sent Ziegenbalg and Plutschau to Tranquebar, on the Coromandel coast, to convert his heathen subjects. So averse were the natives to having foreigners acquire their written language that the king put their teacher in prison, and loaded him with chains. Ziegenbalg himself was imprisoned four months. Persevering amid great discouragements the converts at his death numbered 355. In 1711 the translation of the New Testament into Tamil was finished. Grundler, Schultze, and Dahl continued the work after Ziegenbalg's death; and the rajah of Tanjore, who had forbidden Ziegenbalg to enter his territory, was so won by their consistent lives that he threw open his kingdom to the gospel. The work was, however, retarded by the wars of the English and French between themselves and with the native princes; and the immoralities of European residents and travelers prejudiced both Hindus and Mohammedans against Christianity. In 1728 Schultze removed to Madras and formed the Vepery mission. In 1750 Christian Frederick Schwartz arrived in India. He labored 48 years at Tranquebar, Trichonopoly, Tanjore, and in Ceylon. During 10 years in Trichonopoly he baptized 1238. The simplicity and earnestness of his life won the confidence and respect of heathen and Mohammedan princes. The English government sent him to negotiate a treaty with the haughty and powerful Hyder Ali. Hyder had said: "Let them send me the Christian; he will not deceive me." When near death the rajah of Tanjore committed to his guardianship his adopted son and heir, Serfogee. Serfogee, when king, erected a monumental slab to the memory of Schwartz in the church where he had been wont to preach, in which groups of children and native men, and Serfogee himself, are represented as mourning his death, while he is depicted as looking at the

cross.

In 1708 a Danish mission was sent to Greenland. In 1709 the Society for promoting Christian knowledge was formed in Scotland, and by it David Brainerd was sustained among the Indians. Through the influence of Hans Egede, Frederick IV., of Denmark, established a seminary at Copenhagen to train missionaries for Greenland. It was here that count Zinzendorf was first impressed with the duty of spreading the gospel, and when he returned to Hernhutt the Moravians seemed at once inspired with a wonderful zeal in the cause of missions. They looked upon it as the great business of the church, and claimed that every member should contribute to its support. One in 50 of the entire membership devoted themselves to labor in the foreign field. From 1732 to 1853 they had stations in the West Indies, Greenland, among North American Indians, and in Labrador, South America, Australia, and Thibet; and the whole number of missionaries engaged during those years was 2,300, exclusive of native assistants. In 1883 they reported 99 stations, 324 missionaries, 1575 native helpers, 26,901 communicants, 79,021 baptized adults, and an income of $98,640.

In 1789 William Carey, a Baptist minister, endeavored to reawaken in England an interest in the subject of missions. In 1792 the English Baptist Misssionary Society was formed, which sent Carey and Thomas to Calcutta. The East India company forbidding their going in the company's ship, they left it and went in a Danish vessel. Obliged for a time to support themselves by superintending an indigo factory, they preached and taught among the native employes and in the neighboring villages. Marshman and Ward also were sent, but, owing to the hostility of the company, were obliged to proceed to the Danish settlement at Serampore, where the Danish governor, who had previously enjoyed the ministry of Schwartz at Tranquebar, gave them and Carey also his protection. In 1816, 700 natives had been baptized, and 10,000 children had received Christian instruction. The same society in 1797 established a mission in Dingapore, another in 1804 in the Jessore district; also in Chittagong, in Dacca, in Barisal (where in 1873 there were 4,600 converts and 40 native teachers and preachers), in Agra, Allahabad, Benares, and Delhi. In the mutiny of 1857 two missionaries and their families at Delhi were massacred, but after the siege the mission was renewed, and made great progress. The society sent missionaries to the West Indies and Africa. The missions in Jamaica have become self-supporting since 1842. It has missions also in Norway, Italy, and China, and reported, in 1881, 70 European missionaries, 12 lay, 97 native ord., 274 evangelists, 112 stations, 38,397 church members, 172 teachers, 15,079 scholars, and an income of $303,612. The General Baptists formed a distinct society, sent a mission to Orissa, India, in 1822; in 1883 had 7 ord. Europeans, 19 European women, 22 native preachers, 1,175 communicants, 3,064 Christian adherents, and an income of $42,000.

Missions.

The London missionary society was formed in 1795. Their mission in the Society islands, established 1797, was without apparent success until, in 1816, king Pomare II. embraced Christianity. In 25 years the islanders had relinquished idolatry and cannibalism, had learned to read, had made great improvement in social habits, and many of them lived the Christian life. French Catholic priests reached the islands, but were not allowed to remain. The islands were soon after this seized by the French government in the interest of the Roman Catholic missionaries. In 1807 this society sent Dr. Morrison, the first Protestant missionary, to China, who translated the New Testament and, with the aid of Dr. Milne, the Old Testament into Chinese. It established missions also in the Indian archipelago, in Mauritius, in Southern Africa, where Moffat for 52 years with great success taught Christianity and civilization, beginning in the kraal of Africaner and extending his labors to several native tribes, and where Livingstone began his unprecedented career as a missionary and explorer. Their missionaries sent in 1820 to Madagascar were the instruments of introducing Christianity there. They were expelled for a time, but the "praying ones," as the converts were called, continued to increase during their absence, notwithstanding a terrific persecution in which the queen is said to have slaughtered as many as 2,000 of her best subjects in a single year on account of their adhesion to Christ. After her death the missionaries were invited to return, and religious liberty was enjoyed. Half a million of people have renounced idolatry, and 60,000 have confessed Christ. In 1883 this great society had 152 ordained European missionaries, 383 ordained native ministers, 4,436 native preachers, 86,422 communicants, 313,727 native adherents, 101,317 pupils. Its missions are in China, India, Madagascar, Africa, West Indies, and Polynesia.

The Church missionary society was formed in 1799. Finding none in England to engage in the work, they for a time employed Germans. William Wilberforce was one of its warm supporters, and its first mission was naturally to the west coast of Africa. It had to struggle against the intrigues of the slave traders and a most unpropitious climate, but after the transfer of the colony to the government of England the Sierra Leone mission became stable and successful. Their mission in the Tinnevelly district has received great accession, within two or three years, 11,000 heathen having sought instruction preparatory to baptism in 1878. The society had in 1883, 181 stations, 222 European ord. missionaries, 49 lay and women miss., 9 Eurasians and 240 natives ord., 17 Eurasians and 3,075 native teachers and helpers, 37,443 communicants, 188,899 Christians baptized, 68,905 scholars. Income $1,126,157.

The Wesleyan Methodists engaged in mission work as early as 1786, when Dr. Thomas Coke went to the West Indies. In the conduct of missions there and in America he crossed the Atlantic 18 times. He died in 1813, on his way to the East Indies for the purpose of establishing a mission. His five companions of the voyage began a mission in Ceylon, which afterwards extended its labors to the continent. There was no regularly organized Wesleyan missionary society until 1817. It has since carried on missions in Spain, Portugal, Africa, India, China, Australia, in the Fiji islands, where "cannibalism, war, and murder ceased wherever they penetrated,” and in the Friendly islands, where the once hostile tribes are united under the native convert king George, who is Christian preacher as well as king, and among the negroes of the West Indies, where they have been very successful. This soc. had, '83, 462 stations, 526 missionaries and assistant missionaries, 10,625 catechists, local preachers, and teachers, 91,276 full church-members, 103,801 scholars.

The church of Scotland formed a missionary society in 1824, and began its work in 1829 by sending Dr. Duff to Calcutta. At the disruption of the Scotch church its missionaries joined the Free church. This has missions in India, South Africa, Australia and Syria, and among the Jews at different points. It had, 1883, 37 European and 13 natives ordained, 412 native helpers and teachers, 4,443 communicants, 14,541 scholars, and an income of $389,180. The State church of Scotland has missions at Calcutta, Madras, Sealcote, Darjeeling, and Bombay; income 1883, $140,112. It had 12 European and 4 natives ord., 98 catechists, etc., 415 communicants. The United Presbyterians of Scotland had in 1883, 55 miss. and 8 medical missionaries in the West Indies, Spain, Old Calabar, South Africa, India, and China; 11,519 communicants, and an income of $182,674. The Presbyterian church of Ireland had in India and China in 1883, 13 European and 10 natives ord., 50 helpers and teachers, evangelists, 370 communicants, 1,710 baptized natives, and an income of $54,505. Many other societies in Great Britain, local or limited in sphere, do very useful work.

The China Inland mission. Mr. J. Hudson Taylor having been for several years in China, returned to England impressed with the immensity of the Chinese population, their deep spiritual needs, and the utter insufficiency of existing agencies for their evangelization. He sought without interfering with other enterprises to devise some way by which more could be accomplished. The Chinese inland mission was inaugurated by the sending of Mr. James Meadows from England to China in 1862. The principle adopted was that the missionary should go out without guaranteed support, trusting in God for what he might send. Mr. Meadows was followed by several others, and in May, 1866, by Mr. Taylor himself, taking his wife and four children, and accompanied by a party of thirteen new missionaries, means having come unsolicited sufficient to meet the heavy expenses involved." They reached Chin-Kiang, a free port on the Yangtse-Kiang,

66

Missions.

in May, 1868, but were driven away by a mob, and their defeat became the "laugh of tea-house and restaurant." They removed to Yang Chau, a city of 300,000 people, reaching there June 1, and after a few weeks the whole party were near being burned alive in their own hired house by an infuriated mob, instigated by the literary class. Yet they were wonderfully preserved, notwithstanding the authorities of the town failed to succor them, and a few months later were in quiet possession of their premises in Yang Chau, 'mobs and mandarins having found that they were ruled by principles more potent than the fear of mobs." These missionaries, accompanied by native helpers, and preaching and distributing Scriptures and tracts, have traversed 30,000 miles through new provinces. They had, in 1883, 1,100 church members, occupying 60 stations, and had about 102 native laborers engaged as colporteurs, evangelists, pastors, and Bible-readers. For 14 years the work was performed by unsalaried officers, but as correspondence became heavy, in 1875 one salaried assistant secretary was employed, and in 1876 another. A number of graduates of Cambridge university have joined this mission.

The missionary interest in the United States during the 17th and 18th centuries had been expended in efforts to Christianize the Indians, and evangelize its own wide newlysettled regions. In looking for the origin of the foreign missionary work in America we find three young men in Williams college withdrawing one summer afternoon in 1807 to a retired field, telling each other their impressions concerning the condition of the pagan nations, and kneeling there to implore divine direction as to their duty. They converse privately with ministers on the subject, sometimes venturing to allude to it in a prayer-meeting. In 1810 they with others unite in an appeal to their "revered fathers" of the general association (Congregational) at Bradford, Mass., who, recognizing their impressions as a "divine intimation of something great and good in relation to the propagation of the gospel," proceeded to constitute the American board of commissioners for foreign missions. Its first missionaries to foreign lands were Newell, Judson, Hall, Nott, and Rice; all of whom were, on their arrival at Calcutta, ordered by the East India company to return in the vessels which brought them. Judson and Rice having on shipboard changed their views in regard to baptism, united with the Baptists and left the American board. Hall and Nott went to Bombay, and were ordered to return, but after much discussion and negotiation with the East India company and the home government were allowed to remain. Thereafter India was open to American missionaries. Newell on being sent from Calcutta went with his wife to the Isle of France, where she died. He went ultimately to Bombay. In the East Indian field the American board has since conducted with success missions in Ceylon, Ahmednuggur, Madras, and Madura. In 1817 the Rev. Cyrus Kingsbury commenced labor among the Cherokees. The work was extended to the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, Seminoles, Dakotas, Sioux, Ojibwas, Ottowas, Iroquois, Cayugas, Walla-Wallas, and Nez Perces. Between 1817 and 1860 the American board expended among the Indians $1,100,000, and the laborers employed were more than 500. Other societies have done much. The work has been greatly thwarted by successive removals of the tribes, the sale among them by government agents of intoxicating liquor, and prejudice awakened by the fraudulent dealings of white men. Yet some of these tribes are recognized as civilized communities, and compare favorably with the white people about them. Ten thousand of the Indians are members of Christian churches, and 75,000, including women and children, conform to the customs of civilized life. In some instances, while Christians were turning their thoughts towards foreign lands, events in those lands were preparing the people for the coming of missionaries. Vancouver in his four visits to the Sandwich islands had given the people some thoughts on the folly of idolatry, and had told them that missionaries would some time come to teach them, to whom they must listen. Kamehameha I. was so far influenced that in his last sickness he forbade the customary offering of human sacrifices. Reports reached the people of the cessation of idolatry in the Society islands and of the great improvement in the condition of those islanders. Five Sandwich Islands youths who had gone with American shipmasters to America were receiving a Christian education, and one of them had written to his father describing the advantages of the Christian religion. The people also had become restive under the restrictions of the taboo system, and had noticed that foreigners incurred no risk by their non-observance. The mother of the new king Liholiho first broke taboo, and many of the chiefs, and at length the king, did so also, and afterwards destroyed the idols. It was the presence of the Sandwich Islands youths in America that induced the American board to send a mission to those islands; and in 1820, when the people were breaking taboo and burning idols, the missionaries, wholly uninformed of these events, were on their way from Boston. They found a nation open to instruction. The details of the work among them are of remarkable interest, and those islands are now, in the usual sense of that term, a Christian people. There are now 12,360 members in 57 churches, most of them having native pastors.-In 1820 the American board began mission work in Turkey, sending Parsons and Fisk to Smyrna. In 1831 Goodell, having carried an Armeno-Turkish translation through the press at Malta, reached Constantinople. A succession of able laborers, male and female, have continued the work to the present time through numerous cities and villages of both European and Asiatic Turkey. In 1827 the Maronite patriarch, in his decree of excommunication against the missionaries, by which the people were forbidden to deal with them in any way, stated that

"they are unwearied in their efforts;" that "they go about, manifesting a zeal in compassionating their neighbors;" that "they have opened schools and supplied instructors, all at their own expense;" that "in their outward works they appear as men of piety;" and that "the evil grows day by day." This truly, though inadequately, describes the work and the workmen for 60 years past; and though there has been much persecution, the results are equal to the work. Christopher R. Robert, a merchant of New York, erected a college in Constantinople and left property to sustain it. It has 250 students, of 13 nationalities. The native converts of Aintab have contributed largely towards founding a college which is in operation in that city. There are four theological seminaries in Marsovan, Kharput, Marash, and Mardip. Though the work has been directed chiefly towards the regeneration of various lapsed Christian sects, yet there is abundant evidence that indirectly thousands of Mohammedans have been convinced that there is a Christianity, which makes man kind and true, though it would be death to them to adhere publicly to it. They listen often to Christian preaching, their children attend the schools, and individually they sometimes show great enlightenment; but very few Mohamme dans have dared to take a stand on the side of Christ. It is the view of the missionaries to "increase knowledge and conscience, to inculcate saving truth, to promote piety, and to leave forms and ceremonies, however vain and hurtful, to be disposed of by the people themselves when they should become Christians at heart." The trials and exposures undergone in caring for the sick and wounded during the recent Russo-Turkish war, and in distributing to the hungry in the famine, made a deep impression on the people. Throughout the Turkish empire, "despite oppression, misrule, and anarchy," says the last annual report of the American board, "the leaven of the gospel is doing its work." Of the agencies involved we may note the existence of 113 churches, with 7,700 members; nearly 500 pastors, preachers, and teachers; 30 colleges, seminaries, and high schools. attended by 1500 youth of both sexes in nearly equal numbers; 300 common schools, with over 16,000 pupils; and an educational and religious literature amounting in 1884 to 11,000,000 pages.-In 1830 the rev. Jonas King entered the service of the American board as its missionary in Greece. He was already on the ground, having been sent by the ladies' Greek committee of New York with relief for the suffering in the struggle for independence. Dr. King preached the gospel in the parlor, in the street, in the school-room. He endeavored, through the teachings of the ancient Christian fathers, whom they revered, to lead the Greeks back to the simple truth of the gospel. He greatly improved the condition of the. schools, translating school-books and providing slates and other aids, of which they had been destitute. His work was appreciated by parents and children, and in most cases by the government, but he was repeatedly brought to trial by the ecclesiastics, and often was in peril of his life. He, however, gained religious toleration for Greece. He was joined by the rev. Elias Riggs in 1833.In Nov., 1835, rev. Justin Perkins and Dr. Grant, with their wives, reached Oroomiah for the purpose of laboring among the Nestorians of Persia. They were well received, bishops, priests, and deacons attending their schools, and inviting the missionaries to preach in their churches. Dr. Grant acquired great fame by his surgical skill, especially by successful operation for cataract, and gained access to wild mountain regions among Koords, where Christian travelers probably never had gone before. There are now 1152 members in the reformed Nestorian church, 18 ordained native pastors, 45 preachers, and 90 teachers and other helpers.-The mission to West Africa was commenced in 1834, the rev. J. L. Wilson and wife, with a colored woman, arriving at cape Palmas in that year, and from the first was undisturbed and effective. That to the Zulus in South Africa was begun in 1836. It met with many interruptions from sickness, death, and war. Its 15 native churches have had much to contend with, and some relapses into old customs are reported. Yet a good degree of desire is shown to make the gospel known to their heathen neighbors.-In Feb., 1830, the rev. Elijah C. Bridgeman, missionary of the American board, reached Macao, to establish a mission in China, and in 1834 was joined by Dr. Peter Parker. In 1835 Dr. Parker established an eye infirmary, which was supported wholly by foreign residents. With the exception of a few pupils under Dr. Bridgeman's instruction, it afforded for a time, through conversation and books, the only opportunity of making known religious truth. He had soon three Chinese students in medicine and surgery under instruction, and a hospital under his care sufficient for 150 patients. In four years he had treated 6,450 cases. This institution was favorably viewed by the government and gratefully appreciated by the people. Through it much Christian truth was dispensed. The treaty of China with the United States in 1861, known as the Tientsin treaty, stipulated that the principles of the Christian religion are recognized as teaching men to do good, to do to others as they would have others do to them; any person, either citizen of the United States or Chinese convert, who, according to these tenets, peaceably teaches and practices the principles of Christianity, shall in no case be interfered with or molested." Thenceforth mission work was much extended in China. The American board has two great mission centers in China, the Foochow, Shanse, and the North China missions. It has 25 missionaries, 7 medical missionaries, 39 female assistants, and 25 churches. Of the micsionaries of different names who traveled through the famine-stricken district in n. e. China bearing food to the hungry, five fell victims to their over-exertions. This self-sacrifice revealed the Christians, whom the Chinese had been taught from childhood to despise, in favorable

« 上一頁繼續 »