VOL. XXXIII. No. 3.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
“To the Poor the Gospel is Preached.”
MARCH, 1879.
_CONTENTS:_
EDITORIAL.
GENEROUS GIFT 65
CALL TO GO FORWARD 65
MR. ARTHINGTON’S OFFER 66
NEW RECRUIT FOR MENDI MISSION 69
SUNDAY-SCHOOL CONCERT: Gen. C. B. Fisk 70
WILDERNESS AND SOUTH COUNTRY: Rev. E. Corwin, D.D. 70
ITEMS FROM THE FIELD 74
GENERAL NOTES 75
OUR QUERY COLUMN 76
THE FREEDMEN.
SOME FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Rev. Jos. E. Roy, D.D. 78
CENTRAL SOUTH CONFERENCE: Rev. S. S. Ashley 80
GEORGIA—Atlanta University—Revival among the Students 81
ALABAMA, FLORENCE—Christmas Festival, &c. 82
LOUISIANA, NEW ORLEANS—Straight University and Central
Church—Week of Prayer and Work of Grace 82
TENNESSEE, NASHVILLE—Fisk University—Day of Prayer 84
TENNESSEE, MEMPHIS—Woman’s Work—Cottage Meetings, &c. 84
THE CHINESE.
SUMMARY OF MISSION WORK: Rev. W. C. Pond. 86
AFRICA.
CHRISTMAS AT AVERY STATION 87
CHILDREN’S PAGE.
LITTLE SALLIE 88
RECEIPTS. 90
NEW YORK:
Published by the American Missionary Association,
ROOMS, 56 READE STREET.
=Price, 50 Cents a Year, in advance.=
American Missionary Association,
56 READE STREET, N. Y.
* * * * *
PRESIDENT.
HON. E. S. TOBEY, Boston.
VICE-PRESIDENTS.
Hon. F. D. PARISH, Ohio.
Hon. E. D. HOLTON, Wis.
Hon. WILLIAM CLAFLIN, Mass.
Rev. STEPHEN THURSTON, D. D., Me.
Rev. SAMUEL HARRIS, D. D., Ct.
WM. C. CHAPIN, Esq., R. I.
Rev. W. T. EUSTIS, D. D., Mass.
Hon. A. C. BARSTOW, R. I.
Rev. THATCHER THAYER, D. D., R. I.
Rev. RAY PALMER, D. D., N. Y.
Rev. J. M. STURTEVANT, D. D., Ill.
Rev. W. W. PATTON, D. D., D. C.
Hon. SEYMOUR STRAIGHT, La.
HORACE HALLOCK, Esq., Mich.
Rev. CYRUS W. WALLACE, D. D., N. H.
Rev. EDWARD HAWES, Ct.
DOUGLAS PUTNAM, Esq., Ohio.
Hon. THADDEUS FAIRBANKS, Vt.
SAMUEL D. PORTER, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. M. M. G. DANA, D. D., Minn.
Rev. H. W. BEECHER, N. Y.
Gen. O. O. HOWARD, Oregon.
Rev. G. F. MAGOUN, D. D., Iowa.
Col. C. G. HAMMOND, Ill.
EDWARD SPAULDING, M. D., N. H.
DAVID RIPLEY, Esq., N. J.
Rev. WM. M. BARBOUR, D. D., Ct.
Rev. W. L. GAGE, Ct.
A. S. HATCH, Esq., N. Y.
Rev. J. H. FAIRCHILD, D. D., Ohio
Rev. H. A. STIMSON, Minn.
Rev. J. W. STRONG, D. D., Minn.
Rev. GEORGE THACHER, LL. D., Iowa.
Rev. A. L. STONE, D. D., California.
Rev. G. H. ATKINSON, D. D., Oregon.
Rev. J. E. RANKIN, D. D., D. C.
Rev. A. L. CHAPIN, D. D., Wis.
S. D. SMITH, Esq., Mass.
PETER SMITH, Esq., Mass.
Dea. JOHN C. WHITIN, Mass.
Rev. WM. PATTON, D. D., Ct.
Hon. J. B. GRINNELL, Iowa.
Rev. WM. T. CARR, Ct.
Rev. HORACE WINSLOW, Ct.
Sir PETER COATS, Scotland.
Rev. HENRY ALLON, D. D., London, Eng.
WM. E. WHITING, Esq., N. Y.
J. M. PINKERTON, Esq., Mass.
Rev. F. A. NOBLE, D. D., Ct.
DANIEL HAND, Esq., Ct.
A. L. WILLISTON, Esq., Mass.
Rev. A. F. BEARD, D. D., N. Y.
FREDERICK BILLINGS, Esq., Vt.
JOSEPH CARPENTER, Esq., R. I.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, D. D., _56 Reade Street, N. Y._
DISTRICT SECRETARIES.
REV. C. L. WOODWORTH, _Boston_.
REV. G. D. PIKE, _New York_.
REV. JAS. POWELL, _Chicago_.
EDGAR KETCHUM, ESQ., _Treasurer, N. Y._
H. W. HUBBARD, ESQ., _Assistant Treasurer, N. Y._
REV. M. E. STRIEBY, _Recording Secretary_.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
ALONZO S. BALL,
A. S. BARNES,
EDWARD BEECHER,
GEO. M. BOYNTON,
WM. B. BROWN,
CLINTON B. FISK,
ADDISON P. FOSTER,
E. A. GRAVES,
S. B. HALLIDAY,
SAM’L HOLMES,
S. S. JOCELYN,
ANDREW LESTER,
CHAS. L. MEAD,
JOHN H. WASHBURN,
G. B. WILLCOX.
COMMUNICATIONS
relating to the business of the Association may be addressed to either
of the Secretaries as above; letters for the Editor of the “American
Missionary” to Rev. Geo. M. Boynton, at the New York Office.
DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
Should be sent to H. W. Hubbard, Ass’t Treasurer, No. 56 Reade Street,
New York, or, when more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices,
21 Congregational House, Boston, Mass., 112 West Washington Street,
Chicago, Ill.
A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.
Correspondents are specially requested to place at the head of each
letter the name of their Post Office, and the County and State in which
it is located.
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
* * * * *
VOL. XXXIII. MARCH, 1879. No. 3.
* * * * *
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
We have told our friends that for the last three months our receipts,
in common with those of our sister societies, have been less than for
the corresponding months of the preceding year. January did better,
but we would still have had some anxieties if there had not come to
us from an aged friend, who had given us no reason to expect so large
an offering, a check for _ten thousand dollars_. The letter which
accompanied the gift, referred to his observance of our efforts to
reduce the debt and our success in that direction, but asking us to
expend this money, the savings of a lifetime, in carrying on our work.
It was a gift from the Lord by the hand of His servant, and again, as
often before, we are called to make record of His faithfulness who has
promised to help those who are in His work. Should not this generous
gift strengthen our confidence that God has yet other treasures with
which He will enable us to commend His love to the despised, and to
preach His gospel to the poor?
* * * * *
THE CALL TO GO FORWARD.
We thank our friends for their noble efforts to conquer the Debt. As
we feared, however, the help thus given has diminished the supplies
for our regular and pressing work. We have wrought with only one hand
on the work and with the other held a weapon. But now that the debt is
well nigh vanquished, we must gird ourselves not merely to repair the
neglected gaps, but to push forward along the whole length of the wall.
THE DEBT PROVIDED FOR.
Relying upon the payment of the money pledged, our actual indebtedness
is reduced to only $6,440. Against this amount our Executive Committee
has set apart our remaining Iowa lands, which at a low valuation fully
balance it, as a sinking fund, to be held for this purpose only. _The
debt is thus provided for_, and we have no more pleas to urge for its
extinction,—save as we suggest for this last time, there is a noble
opportunity just now for some generous friend to step in and claim the
honor of giving the finishing stroke to this Goliath, so setting free
those lands again to aid our current work. We praise the Lord that we
can now turn from this accomplished effort to other
DEFERRED AND URGENT WORK.
The debt effort has enforced an economy in field work that has been
rigid—nay, hindering. For example, one of our higher institutions
has become so full that while it has accommodations for only 40 girls
it has 60 in attendance, and one of the recitations must be held in a
bed-room. Another instance is found in one of the brightest towns in
Georgia, where we have planted a church and opened a school. The place
is so near our Atlanta University that its pupils can readily supply
it with both teaching and preaching force; but for the lack of a few
hundred dollars to erect a cheap, and yet adequate building for school
and church, both are hindered in growth and usefulness, and if the
means be not soon furnished, might as well be abandoned.
Our industrial schools suffer for want of funds. The colored students
are so poor that unless aid can in small amounts be furnished them,
either by facilities for work or by help in money, many of them must
abandon the effort for an education. These items as to school and
church work are but samples of what come to us from all parts of the
field. But there are other calls of special importance. No State in
the South is growing more rapidly than Texas. A generous friend of the
colored race has purchased an eligible lot of eight acres in Austin,
Texas, and given it to us as the site of a colored institution. He and
other friends have added gifts amounting to nearly $10,000, towards
the erection of a substantial building. We shall begin the structure
this spring, but will only enclose it, unless the means are furnished
to complete it. We will make no debt. We hope—nay, we plead—that the
money may be speedily forthcoming to finish this building and prepare
it for immediate use.
The noble offer of Mr. Arthington, of Leeds, England, to which we call
attention below, opens another avenue for the efforts of the Freedmen
in the Evangelization of the land of their fathers. The proposed
mission lies in tropical Africa, and is desolated by the slave trade.
It thus appeals to our deepest sympathies as the life-long opponents of
slavery, and to the millions from whom we shall select the missionaries
who were themselves its victims.
In view of these facts, we press our appeal on the hearts of our
friends. Let us go forward in the work so well begun, and let us enter
the new fields opened to us in the providence of God. We ask not merely
for special gifts for special objects, but also for the regular work so
well in hand, and needing so greatly the means of enlargement.
* * * * *
MR. ARTHINGTON’S OFFER TO THE A. M. A.
The name of Robert Arthington, Esq., of Leeds, England, has already
become familiar to all good people who are interested in the
evangelization of “The Dark Continent.” His gift of £5,000 each to the
Church Missionary Society and the London Missionary Society, of £1,000
to the (English) Baptist Missionary Society, and his offer last year
of a similar amount to our own American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions, all for the founding of new evangelizing agencies in
Equatorial Africa, have been among the most marked events in the recent
history of Christian giving. These various gifts and offers have all
been parts in the prosecution of a wisely comprehensive plan, which his
subjoined letter clearly sets forth, and in furthering which he has
now come to our Association with an offer of _three thousand pounds_
($15,000), and a plan for our occupation of an important territory with
an efficient mission.
The region which he carefully describes and commends to our care lies
north and east of the Victoria Nyanza Mission of the Church Missionary
Society; west and south of which lies the Tanganika Mission of the
London Society; west of this the region which he has asked the American
Board to occupy, and the Baptist Mission still further toward the
western coast. These five divisions nearly cross the continent between
10 degrees north and 10 degrees south latitude. Of course they are
large tracts, and only five starting points for evangelizing effort.
We have felt that there was a special claim on our Association, which
has from its beginning been so intimately associated with the African
race, and which has so long kept up its mission on the West Coast, to
consider prayerfully and intelligently the proposal to enter into the
far-reaching plans of this steward of the Lord. It is not a matter
for hasty decision. The conditions which he imposes in regard to the
liquidation of our debt we believe will be fully met before we can do
more than consider and plan. The Executive Committee have appointed
a sub-committee consisting of four of its members, with three of its
officers, who will study into the matter with all care and report. The
result of their investigations, with a map of the region, may be looked
for in the April number of the MISSIONARY, to which, in connection
with the valuable letter of Mr. Arthington in this, we ask the careful
attention of all who are interested in the evangelization of Equatorial
Africa.
We print herewith a large portion of
=Mr. Arthington’s Letter.=
In your thirtieth Annual Report, page 15, you indicate a desire, on the
part of your Society, to enter on some suitable field for missionary
enterprise in Eastern or Central Africa; and again, in the thirty-first
Report, I find in the first pages of the volume a similar desire
expressed for extension, so as to bring the African Continent within
the range of the mighty power of the Gospel—Christ risen again, in all
his reality set forth as the power of God unto salvation to every one
that believeth.
If your Society can so enter into the scheme I am about to propose as
to assure me that the debt of your treasury—see the 31st Report—is
extinguished, and that your members adopt the proposal of it
prayerfully in all faith, I am impressed that I should be glad in the
Lord to offer to your Society towards the carrying it into execution
the sum of _three thousand pounds_.
The unevangelized region of Africa to which I would call your earnest
attention, and invite you to accept as a field for missionary labors
(to be conducted with all energy in the Spirit—very judiciously fixing
your positions for holding forth the word of Life so as to command the
whole area, and diffuse throughout it the light of the Gospel—you
and a great multitude of true believers continually standing on the
watch-tower of the church and fervently praying, “Thy kingdom come!”)
is situated and extends from the 10th parallel of north latitude to the
point southwards where the 40th meridian crosses or cuts the river Jub
(or Godschob), west to east from the right (east) bank of the White
Nile to the said 40th meridian, and from the parallel of longitude of
that point on the Jub southwards west and east from the White Nile to
the right (west) bank of the Jub, down to the 3rd parallel of north
latitude, and from the 3rd parallel of north latitude down to the 1st
parallel of north latitude, west and east from the 35th meridian to
the Jub. We thus avoid Somali Land, which is not at present eligible
as a mission field. The territory south of the parallel 1 degree north
latitude, it is hoped, some other society will evangelize. West of the
35th meridian, from 3 degrees north latitude and southwards, appears
suitable for the Church Missionary Society of England, in connection
with the Victoria Nyanza district.
The general object of this method of arrangement is to assign the whole
of Africa, so far as not Mohammedanized, to different sections of
the Christian church, that they may see that their several areas are
evangelized. You would thus have a great and highly promising field
for missionary labor, the most important and interesting people of
which are: 1. The decayed Christian Remnants (remnants of the ancient
Abyssinian church), Wolawo and Cambay, Muger and Gurague, and the
places Euarea, Kaffa, Susa, Tuffti, Kullu and Doko. 2. The great and
wide-spread Gallas tribes. 3. Dinkas. 4. The inhabitants of the Berri
country. 5. The Latookas. 6. Fatiko and the Madi country.
The great interest and importance of the Christian Remnants and of
the Gallas tribes is well known. The Berri people it is especially
desirable should be early instructed in Christian truth. They are
situated not very far to the east of Gondokoro, outside of the traders’
route. They have never been reported, I believe, but as a fine people
comparatively, and are mentioned in Werne’s work, published many years
ago.
The Latookas will appear interesting when we peruse Sir Samuel Baker’s
account of them, and see “The Albert Nyanza,” 1866, vol. 1, pages
204-6, in which he writes: “One of the principal channels, if not the
main stream of the river Sobat, is only 4 days’ march, or fifty miles,
east of Latooka, and is known to the natives as _the Chol_.” See also,
for accuracy of the places, Sir Samuel Baker’s “Ismailia,” the map.
The east bank of that stream (the Chol) is occupied by the Gallas. The
Gallas (in their attack on the Latookas) were invariably mounted on
mules, &c., “the cavalry of the Akkara,” &c. In a note to me, dated
August, 1878, Sir Samuel Baker says: “The Berri country has never been
visited by Europeans; although it is not far from Gondokoro, it lies
out of the way of traders’ routes. It would be comprised between north
latitude 5 degrees 20 minutes and 6 degrees 50 minutes, and commences
in east longitude about one degree east of Gondokoro, which is
absolutely correct on the maps.” “Fatiko is a small district situated
in 8 degrees north latitude, in the Madi country. You will find all
places laid down with extreme accuracy in the maps in my last work,
‘Ismailia.’”
The linguistic aids for the evangelization of some of the tribes or
populations—say Gallas, Dinkas, Christian Remnants, People of Euarea,
Kaffa, Susa, &c.—already exist, I believe, in considerable degree.
The proffered gift, then, if accepted by you, should be regarded as
a nucleus to which the Church of Christ around you shall pour its
offerings, and I think that two thousand pounds of the amount should
be specially applied towards the purchase and perpetual maintenance of
two river steamers, _one_ to navigate the Sobat and command the mission
to the Dinkas—to such of the Gallas tribes as are their neighbors on
the east, between them and Euarea—to the Gallas tribes on the Chol
branch of the Sobat (east or right bank), and to the Latookas west
or south-west (of the Chol), if accessible from that river; and the
_other_ steamer to navigate the Godschob (called the Jub at its mouth)
and command the missions to the Christian Remnants, Wolawo, &c., and
to the Gallas, who are to be found in large numbers in the country
west of, and up to, the right or west bank of the Godschob. And it is
understood that the people of the Berri country shall claim a place
amongst your earliest evangelistic efforts. Fatiko, with the Madi
country and Lake Samburu and population, are included in the area, but
need not claim a first place in your labors. Possibly the Gallas on
the upper course or waters of the Ozi—if geographers are right as
to the position of the source of this river—may be reached from the
Jub (Godschob) or from the Sobat. Your staff of missionaries for this
work, so full of promise of great results, should be a well-chosen
band, some of them men skilled in some of the arts, say two in the use
of scientific instruments, and they should be most thoughtfully and
prayerfully selected.
I ask that two or three of your very best and ablest men—men of large
hearts, of enterprise and great faith, with several of the best maps
before you—will study the description of the area I have delineated,
and if it is not in any point perfectly clear, that you will at once
ask for the missing details.
I really desire a thorough and permanent occupation of the field.
Yours most truly, in the Lord Jesus Christ,
(Signed)
ROBERT ARTHINGTON,
Leeds, England.
January 10th, 1879.
* * * * *
A NEW RECRUIT FOR THE MENDI MISSION.
It will be remembered that Rev. Floyd Snelson was compelled to return
to this country, after a sojourn of about a year in our African
mission, on account of the rapidly failing health of his wife. He has
resumed the care of the Midway Church in Georgia, from the pastorate of
which he was taken, against the wishes of his people, for the foreign
work.
It was deemed necessary to make good the vacated place as soon as
possible. In accordance with the expressed judgment of the missionaries
on the field, the first want was of a man specially adapted to take
charge of the saw-mill and other industrial interests at Avery Station,
of which Mr. Jackson has had charge as well as of the church and
school. Inquiries were instituted at once among our higher institutions
for the right man, and we think we have found him.
Elmore L. Anthony was born a slave in Allen County, Kentucky, June
8th, 1848. Early in the progress of the war he ran away to join the
Union army, but being rejected as a soldier on account of his youth,
he returned to his old master, who was a stock trader, preferring, if
he must be a servant to anybody, to serve him. In 1863 he left again,
and soon after entered the regular army, where he served three years.
He was promoted to be a sergeant, and while at Fort Duncan, in Texas,
was detailed to be superintendent of laborers, having the oversight of
over two hundred men. He says that he got on well in the army, simply
because he was perfectly temperate and sober. He bears testimonials
from his officers as to his moral character and faithfulness.
In 1870 he made his way to Berea, Ky., and entered the primary class.
He has been there ever since, teaching during the last six years in
his vacations; and was a member of the senior class when he came, at
our call and by the advice and hearty commendation of the president
and faculty of the college, to give himself to work in Africa. That
he held, nearly from the beginning quite to the close of these years,
the trusted position of janitor of the Ladies’ Hall, is no small
evidence of the confidence which has been reposed in him. He is a man
of stalwart frame, has been medically examined and pronounced perfect
in health. He seems to us admirably adapted to the place as our “man of
affairs,” competent at the same time to fill a gap in school as teacher
when needed, and while not a preacher in any sense of the word, yet of
such honest purpose to do good that he will be no less a missionary for
that. He sailed the 13th of February _via_ Liberia.
* * * * *
THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL CONCERT.
GENERAL CLINTON B. FISK.
It was a happy thought on the part of somebody to prepare a
Sunday-school Concert exercise, which should embody so much valuable
information and afford so great pleasure and holy joy, as does that
of the Jubilee Concert exercise, prepared by the Rev. G. D. Pike on
substantially the same basis as that first introduced by Rev. A. E.
Winship, of Massachusetts.
It was my good fortune on Sunday, January 12th, to participate in the
exercises of a concert, conducted in accordance with this exceedingly
well arranged programme, in the Sunday-school of the Congregational
church at Stamford, Conn., Rev. G. B. Willcox, D. D., pastor. It was
a glad day in that, to me, the most attractive of all New England
villages. If any other town in the East can furnish a roll of better
men, women and children than those who adorn the beautiful Christian
homes of Stamford, then I want to go there and attend a Jubilee Concert
exercise.
The preparation at Stamford was complete. ALL, from the excellent
pastor up to the oldest deacon, and down to the youngest child, took
part. The able and enthusiastic superintendent, Mr. Junius Smith, is
a born missionary, and he led his Sunday-school host into the work
with great earnestness. The church was filled at an early hour of the
evening, and when the great throng sung that sweetest of all Jubilee
Songs, and one which has stirred the hearts of the best people on two
continents, “Steal away to Jesus,” that wonderful, weird, plaintive
melody fell upon my ears with _almost_ the effect with which the
Jubilee Singers have a thousand times rendered it with their matchless
voices and marvellous power. Hon. Oliver Hoyt, one of Connecticut’s
wisest and best senators, impressively invoked the Divine blessing. The
facts in relation to the organization, successful progress and grand
achievements for the Master of the American Missionary Association
were admirably brought out by the tersely-prepared exercises. The
pastor, superintendent, teachers and scholars all had their part and
_did well._ Rev. G. D. Pike, whose head and heart are crammed full of
well-devised plans for the up-lifting of the Freedmen, and through the
uplifted Freedmen of America the redemption of Africa, made one of his
most forcible pleas in behalf of the Association. The writer of this
imperfect sketch followed with an exhortation in his Methodist way. The
collection was taken and a happy day closed.
The Sunday-school Jubilee Concert exercise, if generally used, will
be instrumental in _fixing facts_ in the minds of young and old. I
bespeak for it the examination of Sunday-school superintendents, and I
most heartily bespeak the generous consideration of all good people in
behalf of the American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
THE WILDERNESS AND THE SOUTH COUNTRY.
A Discourse on the Duty of the American Churches to the Despised and
Outcast Races.
PREACHED IN THE INTEREST OF THE A. M. A. TO THE 1ST CONGREGATIONAL
CHURCH, JACKSONVILLE, ILL., BY THE PASTOR, REV. E. CORWIN, D. D., DEC.
22, 1878.
Joshua xii. 8: “In the mountains and in the valleys, and in the plains
and in the springs, and in the wilderness and in the south country.”
We owe nobody an apology for following the example of the Great Teacher
in the latitude and longitude he allowed to himself in the use of Old
Testament texts. I honor by following a Divine example when I use
this passage from Hebrew history as marvellously suggestive of our
broader heritage and of our responsibilities as a people coming into
fuller possession of a goodly land; in the mountains and valleys of
the Atlantic and Pacific seaboard; in the vast plains of the interior;
in the springs and great river sources of the lake region; in the
wide reaches of wilderness, comparatively worthless but for their
exhaustless resources of mineral wealth; and last, but not least, in
the sunny south country.
If, with emotions of patriotic pride, Joshua, the great captain, could
speak of the wide extent and the varied resources of that goodly land,
into the possession of which he was leading the descendants of a
whole nation of fugitive slaves, how much more, with devout gratitude
and patriotic pride, may we dwell upon _the wonderful resources and
the wide reaches_ of a free empire in which there are forty million
sovereigns, and on whose territory you might place, in patch-work,
three hundred and twenty-eight states as large as Palestine, and
have scraps enough left over to cover the two dwarf sisters of the
Union—Delaware and Rhode Island! Corresponding most nearly in area
with Maryland, five Palestines might find comfortable quarters in
the single State of Illinois; yet so wonderful was the fertility of
that land, now comparatively barren and desolate, that it at one time
sustained a population so dense that if the vast territory of the
United States were thus thickly settled, it should have not merely
forty millions of inhabitants, but one thousand one hundred and forty
millions. Who doubts that such a population might be sustained on the
fat valleys of the interior and the plantations of the south country,
even though the waste places of the wilderness were left out of the
account as utterly unfit for the dwelling-places of men? And, as though
this vast heritage of ours were not enough for a free and industrious
people, God has over many portions of the land practically doubled its
area; piling its resources of wealth layer upon layer; rivaling and
redoubling the riches of the surface soil by the exhaustless stores of
coal, iron and copper, lead, silver and gold, treasured up for the use
of many generations; for there is the hiding of His power who is the
bountiful God of Providence.
But my purpose is only so far to hint at the resources of this most
favored of lands, as to make the marvellous facts a basis for the
proposition that ability is one measure of our responsibility for the
hearty and liberal doing of what we can for the highest development of
this whole land. And let us never forget that a great, civilized and
Christian State is made and measured, not by its physical resources
merely, not by its accumulated material wealth, but chiefly by the
mental and moral stature of its inhabitants. _The best products and the
richest resources of any State are in its crop of men._ If these, even
on a sterile soil and under frowning skies, are liberal, large-hearted,
industrious, patriotic and pious, they make of the desert a paradise,
and amid the clefts of the rocks there may be rootage for great ideas.
If everywhere, for a single generation, such a populace could have
and hold possession of this planet, the old alien orb would shine so
that the shortest-sighted angel could see it without a telescope,
and the inhabitants of other worlds might intelligently covet it as
a dwelling-place for the society which it would afford. But wealth
without good society is worthless. That city might be a hell upon
earth in which there were no churches and schools, though every man
had a gold mine in one corner of his cellar and a diamond mine in
another. Mexico, with its mountains streaked with silver, has but few
attractions as the family residence of a man who cares to live out
more than half his days, or who esteems it no luxury to live among
an ignorant, bigoted and revengeful people. California to-day, with
all its discovered treasures, could not be so safe or so attractive
a place of residence as it was before those discoveries, but for
the better class of enterprising, intelligent, honest, law-abiding
citizens, who have come into possession of that land. Nor are political
institutions, however desirable, of much practical worth, except
as they are worked by men of moral principle, not for the selfish
advantage of the few, but for the protection and enriching of all.
In considering _the claims of the American Missionary Association_ to
our prayerful interest and our liberal benefactions, these preliminary
thoughts have practical force as applied to moral science; for it is
distinctively the aim of this Association to lift society as a whole
by lifting at the lower stratum. Its work is confessedly not with the
most promising material, out of which the most may be made in the
shortest time, but with the most degraded, unpromising and despised of
the outcast races. _This is the great alchemist among our charities;
seeking to transmute the baser metals into gold._ For the transmuting
of character the mission of Christ was a witness to the universe
that the last might be first, and that the lowest might be lifted to
the highest position of honor and glory, as the result of the Divine
condescension, the deep down-reaching love of the Son of God. He
came not to honor the lordly, but to lift up the lowly. For gaining
influence and establishing his kingdom he sought out not the ruling
classes; but, himself despised and rejected of men, he knew how to
condescend to men of low estate. He dispensed his largest blessings to
the despised and the outcasts, who, conscious of their vileness, felt
their need of salvation. Not unfaithful to the self-satisfied Scribes
and Pharisees, he came especially to seek and to save those who felt
themselves to be lost sheep of the house of Israel. Read the record
anew, with this thought in mind, and see if his special aim was not to
seek and save the lost, in the sense of the despised and abandoned, who
were, perhaps, without hope for themselves, and whose case might have
been regarded as desperate by others.
We are not the true followers of Christ if we are wanting in the
Christ-like spirit, and seek not to save the despised and outcast races
who dwelt in the wilderness and in the south country. Do you tell me,
_as an excuse for neglecting_ them, that the Indians, instead of being
the noble red men, such as the sickly sentimental fancy of the poet and
the moralist too often paint them, are, for the most part, ignorant and
vile, dirty and degraded, lazy, mean, treacherous and revengeful? My
familiarity with the better class of frontiersmen prepares me candidly
to admit it all as a statement of fact. But I draw from those facts a
very different conclusion than that they are not worth saving. All the
more do they need to be saved. I might, without encroaching upon the
regions of romance, tell, by the hour, tales of horror, as they have
been related to me by reliable witnesses, that would make the blood
fairly curdle in your veins. And if I had the gift of eloquence I might
so vividly depict those horrors that you would find yourselves, right
here in the house of God, clenching your fist and threatening vengeance
upon wretches so base, upon savages so merciless, upon mockeries of
manhood so gross and beastly.
But let me remind you that an intelligent Indian might with more
eloquent tongue inveigh against the crimes of those who profess to
be better than savages. He might truthfully speak of the perfidy of
those who break the faith of treaties almost before the ink is dry in
which the plausible yet one-sided contract is written. He might with
indignant sneer point to the great army of vagrants claiming better
blood, as filthy and vile, as dangerous and degraded as the worst
savages were ever charged with being. But in saying all this he has not
made out his case. No criminal can make even a plausible defence in any
court by the plea that he is no worse than the worst men he can find
in society; though, somehow, quite respectable sinners do seem to gain
some comfort from this sort of scavenger’s logic.
It is absurd to suppose that ignorant and brutal savages should be so
much better than civilized men that there should not be found in every
tribe, as there are with us in every community, a dangerous class,
selfish enough to plunder and murder those who have never wronged them,
and desperate enough to take any risk and to commit any crime. It were
most surprising if it were not so. All the more, then, I insist upon
their need of saving. With all the stronger emphasis I urge that this
nation cannot afford, on its undefended borders, any more than it
can afford in its strong centres of population and of well organized
police, to be indifferent to the needless multiplying of such a class.
Has our civilization much to boast of if it admits that there is no
better way for forty millions of people to deal with four hundred
thousand Indians than to exterminate them? If it were not true, as it
is, that it costs more to kill them than to civilize, convert and by
moral forces control them, what less than savages are we if we adopt
the creed of the worst class of frontiersmen as the creed of the
churches; that the best thing we can do with the savage is to kill him;
and that there are no good Indians but dead ones?
Let us be intelligent enough to know, and candid enough to confess,
that in estimating their possibilities of social, industrial and moral
development, we have taken too much account of the exceptional cases
in which they have made trouble, and not enough of the many tribes
that, for long years, have lived in peace, grown thrifty, maintained
self-control, cared for the education of their children, and honored
their profession of religion. What this and kindred associations have
successfully achieved among the Indians alone, entitles them to the
gratitude of the nation, and the liberal support of all who have faith
in the Christ-like work of saving the lost.
I have not time to speak at length of the work of the Association
among the Asiatic immigrants upon the Pacific coast. Many of you know
how honestly and earnestly I contend that in many respects this serf
population that is sweeping in upon our Western border is a most
undesirable element, morally, socially and politically. But by as much
as they are, in the mass, vile and degraded, the worst sort of stuff
out of which to make American citizens, by so much the more are we
bound not to outdo them in violence that would dishonor a savage, and
in intolerance and prejudice that is worse than heathenish. Here, too,
the argument of this discourse finds its fullest illustration. It is
the strongest proof of the bounty of our religion that its brightest
trophies are secured and its grandest victories achieved upon the most
hopeless fields, and in saving the very chief of sinners.
But the work of the Association among the Aborigines of the wilderness
is as nothing to their more important mission, and their more signal
success among _the colored people of the south country_. Here is
a population vastly more numerous and more dangerous if left in
ignorance; for, wisely or unwisely, they have been invested with the
right, and in some places they freely exercise the power to vote.
Admit, now, all that may be said of the utter unfitness of the great
majority of them to exercise this privilege of freemen. Yet since,
beyond recall, they have the right, and in some way must be counted as
a very important factor in the forces that are to shape our destiny, we
can no more afford to let them remain in ignorance, than we can afford
to let the same class grow up in ignorance and vice among us, with so
little sense of their responsibilities, and with so little self-respect
as citizens, that they can be bought like cattle by the highest
bidder. The more debased, indolent and ignorant they are, the greater
the danger to our free institutions, and the stronger the motive
for seeking to elevate, educate and save them. They constitute more
than one-tenth of our population. If directly or indirectly we were
accessory to the placing of so dangerous a weapon in their hands—a
weapon, as respects their own interests, liable to kick back—we are
bound to help fit them so to exercise the right that they shall not
be the ignorant tools of corrupt and crafty men in either party as
ignorant and unprincipled as themselves. This the A. M. A. is striving
wisely to do in accord with the sentiments and sympathies of many of
the former slave-owners, who in good faith accept the situation, and
sincerely desire the temporal and spiritual well-being of the colored
people.
But its highest aim and ours is such a spiritual elevation of the
colored people as shall carry all the most salutary influences into
their social, political and domestic life. Our honest and intelligent
aim is to lift them out of their degradation by bringing them to
Christ. Our work among them is with no sectarian, as it is with no
partisan political purpose. We propose to help make them intelligent
and worthy Christian people. There our responsibility ceases. As to
parties and sects, they must learn wisely to choose for themselves.
Whatever the shading of their creed, we do care that they should be
sincere in their love to God, close in their following of Christ, and
honest in all their dealings with their fellow-men. We do care that
their moral training shall be such that their religion shall mean not
emotion merely, but character; not noise and bodily exercise, which
profiteth little, but practical godliness, which leads one to earn an
honest living for himself and his household, and suffers the neighbor’s
chickens unmolested to roost low; not a religion of the lips and the
tongue alone, but of the head and the heart controlling the life.
Nowhere is a mere profession of godliness of much account, if virtues
tried and true are not the proofs of an intelligent love and a sincere
devotion. No creed can be accepted as a substitute for character.
Christ must be wrought into the life or we are not true Christians,
and the more completely self-deceived we are, the greater will be our
surprise, when, by and by, he who is infallible in his judgment shall
say, “I never knew you.” The cross worn upon the neck, or perched upon
the steeple-tops, or set up at every crossing, is at best a mocking
reminder of our impiety; if ever so loudly we profess to be saints,
and yet live as though our religion were a polite theory with which to
compliment our Maker, and to befool our fellow men, and not a thing of
practical worth, to help one stand fire in the conflicts of temptation
and in the furnace of affliction. Such a genuine religion, warranted
to keep in any climate, is wanted everywhere alike; in the East and
the West, the North and the South country. The lofty and the lowly,
the honored and the despised, the respectable and the degraded, we and
everybody, need it. It is the only kind worth propagating. For it, and
it alone, of all the world’s religions, has vital force and saving
power enfolded in every root-fibre of doctrine, and in every seed-germ
of truth.
* * * * *
ITEMS FROM THE FIELD.
GREENWOOD, S. C.—School fuller than ever before; boarding-school
overcrowded. Mr. Backenstose is compelled to make arrangements in
neighboring families for students.
ORANGEBURG, S. C.—“Our school has 196 pupils enrolled. We have a large
normal class. Six are teachers now. We have some who have begun in
music, and this week we have resolved to form a choir. Can you help us
with a musical instrument? _We greatly need_ one for the church. Our
organ has been injured by taking it back and forth to church.”
MACON, GA.—Pastor Lathrop has printed on his “Gospel Press,” (given
him while a Home Missionary in Wisconsin by a lady at the East), a
stirring pastoral address. It includes a warm greeting, notice of
services and invitations thereto; also of the Lewis High School and
the Sunday-school, enforced by appropriate Scripture. We quote one
paragraph:
“No sectarian gospel will be taught from this pulpit. The pastor
heartily believes, and endeavors to preach, the broad, liberal, helpful
Gospel of ‘peace on earth, good-will toward men,’ through our Lord
Jesus Christ. This gospel of the ‘Prince of Peace’ does not agree
with quarreling among Christians, or strifes between churches. ‘If My
kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight,’ said the
Master. Our great aim will be to show how this glorious gospel and this
blessed Jesus will help _every_ needy heart to bear _all_ its burdens;
how every soul may be freed from the bondage of sin, and filled with
love, meekness, temperance, patience, purity, righteousness, and joy,
‘which the world knows not, neither can give nor take away.’”
TALLADEGA, ALA.—Some recent conversions and cases of special interest
in religious things are reported in the college. One student, at least,
has declared his desire to go to Africa some day, if the Lord shall
open the way.
SELMA, ALA.—A happy work of grace is reported from the Burrell school,
resulting in a considerable number of conversions.
* * * * *
GENERAL NOTES.
The Freedmen.
—Senator Windom has introduced a bill providing for the colonization
and distribution of the colored people of the Southern States in new
States and Territories as they may select. Some interest and sympathy
with the project has been expressed by prominent colored men, though we
think the great majority of the most intelligent of them are persuaded
that by patience and industry they can conquer peace and a place for
themselves anywhere.
—Henry M. Stanley, the explorer, was present at the recent meeting of
the Conference on the Civilization of Africa, and said that he would
lead the Belgian Exploring Expedition, which is soon to start for
Africa.
* * * * *
The Indians.
—The Board of Indian Commissioners held its regular yearly meeting for
the preparation of its annual report in Washington last week. Besides
the members of the Board there were representatives of the religious
bodies interested in the management of Indian affairs through their
missionary operations among the different tribes, and also because many
of the Indian agents are appointed on their recommendation. From the
tenth annual report of the Board to the President, it appears that more
than one-half of the Indians have discarded the blanket and donned a
civilized garb; that about one-half have moved out of their lodges and
wigwams into houses, the number of which has increased nearly threefold
in ten years; that the number of pupils in Indian schools has more
than doubled; that nearly one-sixth of the Indian population can read;
that the number of acres of land cultivated by the Indians is about
five times as great as ten years ago; that the production of wheat has
increased nearly fivefold, of oats and barley nearly fourfold, and of
hay nearly ninefold; and that the Indians own about three times as
many horses and mules, six times at many cattle, seven times as many
swine and about seventy-five times as many sheep as they did ten
years ago. The Board remarks: “This exhibit of results is certainly
encouraging, and presents a strong argument against any radical change
of policy.” The Conference urge three measures upon the President and
Congress: 1. That courts of law be established on Indian reservations,
with jurisdiction in all cases where both parties are Indians. 2. That
common schools be provided for Indians the same as for white children,
under some regular system. 3. That the homestead law be so modified
that an Indian may select his homestead within the limits of the
reservation to which he belongs.
—The joint committee, consisting of three Senators and five
Representatives, to whom the question of the transfer of the Indians to
the War Department was submitted, being equally divided, have made two
reports. Congressional experts have been trying to decide which of the
two should have precedence as a _quasi_ majority report.
Senator McCreery and Representatives Scales, Hooker and Boone favor
the transfer. Their report claims that the present system actually
prevailed even before (in 1848) the Indians were given in care of
the Interior Department, as the War Department neither appointed nor
supervised the agents, but only received their reports. All past evils
are therefore traceable to this system. The peace policy in 1868 was a
confession of its failure. The army control will be better, because of
the high character of army officers, and the system of accountability
to which they are subject, because it will cost less money and avoid
wars.
Senators Sanders and Oglesby, and Representatives Stewart and Van
Voorhes report against the transfer, because of the abuses when the
management was in the hands of the War Department down to 1849; because
the Indians and the army officers agree in personally disliking the
proposed transfer; because of the progress in civilization already
made; on the ground of economy and appropriateness; and because not
one-third of the Indians need military supervision in any form. They
ascribe the failures of the past to the unwise recognition of the
tribal relation, exclusion from the protection of civil law, and of
landed rights. They recommend that the Indian Bureau be made a distinct
department, with a Cabinet officer at its head, and that the President
be authorized to transfer temporarily the control of hostile tribes.
The proposal to transfer was rejected by a vote of 101 to 88.
* * * * *
The Chinese.
—The Committee on Education and Labor has introduced a bill, which
has been passed in the House, forbidding the master of any vessel to
bring more than fifteen Chinamen at any one time to the United States,
under a penalty of $100 fine for each passenger, and imprisonment for
six months. We hope the Senate will have the good sense to refuse its
consent to such action, which is a slight upon the Chinese Embassy
here, and may easily lead to a withdrawal of the privileges to American
citizens in the Flowery Land, which it was thought worth a good deal of
effort to obtain.
* * * * *
OUR QUERY COLUMN.
We print with great satisfaction the two following answers to the
question about the training of nurses. The first tells what is being
done in Le Moyne Institute; the second lays down foundation principles.
Training for Nurses.
I note with interest the “query” in the January MISSIONARY relative to
the training of nurses. It is but one of many indications of a rapidly
growing dissatisfaction with the present system of education in this
country. More and more it is coming to be the feeling that education,
in its true sense, is not designed, as has been thought in the past, to
fit people for “higher positions,” but rather to fit them to make the
most of life in the positions they do occupy, and which must, in any
event, be filled by some one. To satisfy this most reasonable feeling,
more of the things that pertain to practical life must be thought and
talked and taught in our schools. It is no doubt a serious question as
to how a safe transition can be made from the present highly artificial
system to one that will have a more practical bearing on the every-day
life of the masses. In this case advice of a similar nature to that
which Horace Greeley gave about resumption will prove, at least,
the most reasonable. The best and only way to make the change is to
_change_.
But for the query. At Le Moyne School, where we have one almost
continuous daily session from 9 A. M. to 3 P. M., at least an hour
of this time each day must be given by the pupils to some branch of
practical or industrial knowledge. We cannot wait for all the desired
appliances in this work, or to have a beaten track pointed out to us.
We are beginning with such appliances as are at hand, and we expect to
learn from our own experience as well as from other sources; but at any
rate in time to _earn success._