Notwithstanding all that England has done for the good of India, the
missionaries have done more than all other agencies combined.—LORD
LAWRENCE, in 1871.
... all this is very surprising when it is considered that five years
ago nothing but the fern flourished here; native workmanship taught by
the missionaries has effected this change; the lesson of the
missionaries is the enchanter’s wand.... I look back to but one bright
spot in New Zealand, and that is Waimate with its Christian
inhabitants.—CHARLES DARWIN, _Journal of Researches in Natural History
and Geology_.
EXTRACT FROM MISS BREWSTER’S DIARY.
For the first time since the lawyer’s call a week ago I sit down to
collect my wits after this whirl of excitement, and, like the old woman
in the nursery rhyme, ask myself if it can be that I am really I.
I am frightfully tired, and it may be childish to write this all out for
no one’s eye but my own. I cannot sleep, however, and I feel as if it
would be a relief and might cool the fever in my veins to calmly make a
record of some of the momentous events of these last few days. So many
things are crowding upon me that I fear my mind will be a chaos if I do
not attempt something like this to help me to quiet and arrange my
thoughts.
When Mr. Kilrain came with the cablegram and letters, I neither laughed
nor cried nor fainted. I was perfectly calm. I did not realize it in the
least, just as a girl never realizes what it all means when she kneels
before the altar as a bride, or when she stands beside the dead white
face that she has loved.
After the real meaning of the thing dawned upon me and I began to
comprehend that I, whose golden dreams had been quietly put aside
forever, was now actually to realize those dreams, to exchange prose for
poetry, and insignificance and uselessness for tremendous power such as
I had always longed for,—when the possibilities of it all came over me
and I saw that I could now actually build all my air castles on this
earth, besides doing many other things of which I have dreamed,—it gave
me at first a thorough ague fit, followed by a burning fever which
nothing could allay until I had seen my will written, signed, and
witnessed.
Every one thought it such an odd thing for me to think of at first.
Auntie said, “Wait and take time to think it over, dear. You are
laboring under a nervous strain now; wait and rest and enjoy yourself a
little while. Go to Hollander’s and order a fine outfit. I will help you
find a French maid, for you will need one, of course; then travel after
that, if you like. Take time to make up your mind. It isn’t possible for
you to know how to spend such an enormous sum wisely without great
thought.”
I could find no rest, however, until I had put beyond a peradventure the
danger of my dying and leaving nothing done towards carrying out all the
projects which have been so dear to me.
My will is made, and though I may change it next week,—doubtless I shall
change it more than once as I get more wisdom,—I know that it is in the
main as I shall let it stand.
Mr. Kilrain’s partner and uncle Madison start at once for South America
to look after my interests, and transfer my stocks and landed property
as soon as possible into our government and railroad bonds. I cannot
bear to feel that I am employing hundreds of people whom I do not know,
and who may suffer from the extortion of villainous agents and overseers
whom I cannot control. If I could go to South America myself, and if I
understood enough of business to administer my affairs personally, I
might, perhaps, do as much good by giving employment to great numbers of
people there, and treating them in a helpful Christian fashion, as by
anything that I can do at home.
But it would take me ten years at least to learn the language and know
the people and the business merely in its outlines. My lawyers say it
would require half a dozen of the shrewdest men simply to make
investments and oversee the overseers, and I can foresee that a woman
dependent on lawyers and agents is in no wise to be envied. So I am
determined to free myself from these worries as to the details of making
money, and devote my whole energies to making this fortune, which has so
strangely fallen to me, tell for good in the future of our country.
I am sure that nowhere else in Christendom can money be made to produce
such far-reaching results. Last night I lay awake for hours, planning
this work. My mind is made up. For the next few years I shall travel and
study, first, the resources and necessities of our own country, and
after that the social and economic questions in the Old World. Meanwhile
I shall begin to carry out some of my schemes at once, and not wait for
lawyers and trustees to squabble over my money after my death.
As I am planning to leave Boston soon, I determined to meet some of the
people whom I have chosen as trustees of certain funds. Accordingly I
invited five people of different religious faiths, the broadest-minded
and most public-spirited persons known to me,—Revs. P—— B——, A—— McK——,
E. E. H——, P—— M——, and Mrs. A—— F—— P——. Not one of them had an inkling
as to what it was all about, or knew who were invited beside himself.
Mr. Kilrain was there in obedience to my request. I wished him to see
that everything was done legally, and, besides, to draw up all the
necessary papers.
I fairly shivered with delight and excitement as they came in one by one
and I introduced myself to them, feeling very much like a young queen
who has just ascended a throne and summons her generals and wise
counselors to plan a campaign.
I had a dainty lunch served in a cosy little parlor, and as soon as the
servants were gone I began, rather tremulously, it must be confessed, to
make my little speech. They all knew, of course, that they were invited
to give me counsel on some philanthropic matter, but further than that
they were in the dark. As nearly as I can remember this is what I said:—
“You are all aware that I have asked the favor of your company to-day in
order to discuss a serious matter involving the expenditure of a large
sum of money. I wish to avail myself of the united wisdom of those
present to enable me to use for good and not for evil the enormous
wealth which has so suddenly dropped from the skies, as it were, into my
hands.
“I count myself as simply a steward, and know well that before my own
conscience, if before no other tribunal, I shall be called to account
for my stewardship.
“It is stated that one of the seven greatest sources of pauperism in
London is foolish almsgiving. I am perfectly aware that I may ‘give all
my goods to feed the poor,’ and do more harm by it than if I threw my
offerings into the Charles River.
“I am convinced that if I would help any man I must do it by giving him
the means to help himself, and thus to retain or gain his self-respect.
“My thoughts and affections go out most strongly to our own country, and
therefore most of my money is to be spent in it. I feel that by helping
to outline the new paths which multitudes are to follow here, I shall
best help the progress of humanity everywhere. But I am not so
narrowminded as to think it right to wait until we get all the
industrial schools and kindergartens that we need here, before we teach
the first elements of decency to our brothers and sisters in Africa and
every other stronghold of heathenism and savagery. My childhood was
spent with earnest people who were interested in the missionary work. As
a child, I read the ‘Missionary Herald,’ and gave my mite towards
building the Morning Star.
“But of late years I have lived in a society whose sentiment has been
more than half contemptuous of foreign missions. ‘Let us civilize the
heathen at home,’ they say; ‘let us do the duty that lies nearest, and
not meddle with what is none of our business.’
“I am tired of this prating and ignorant talk by would-be cultured
people who know nothing of the real results of missionary work. They
find no fault with actresses or sea-captains or Bohemians who choose
exile for gain or pleasure, but they are always ready to cry out against
the folly of one who goes to teach men the alphabet, and tell women that
they are something more than beasts of burden or mere child-bearing
animals.
“I am constantly meeting people who talk as if Buddhism contained all
that is of value in Christianity, and who actually scoff at any attempt
to disturb what they call the picturesque, simple faith of their carvers
of ivory bric-à-brac.
“I revere Buddha. I do not ignore the fact that in all ages God has not
left himself without a witness, and that many seers and prophets have
led the nations toward the light. But I prefer the sunlight to the
twilight, and what vision of truth has come to me I would pass along to
others. Especially do I long to help the women. Sometimes their
degradation and helplessness appeals so powerfully to my imagination
that I feel that I must give my money and my time without stint, until
selfish, indifferent Christendom is forced to remember what is the true
condition of two thirds of the world.”
I was trembling all over with nervous excitement, and, as usual, was so
absorbed in what I was saying as to quite forget to wonder what these
five people, so much older and wiser and more experienced than I, must
think of my sitting there and talking to them in this fashion. I am
dreadfully afraid it must have seemed conceited or audacious or
something of the sort. However, they knew nothing about me or my ideas,
and as it was quite necessary that they should understand my position
before they could give me any counsel, I proceeded to make it known.
“I am not content,” I said, “with most methods that have been used.
Sectarianism, bigotry, and ignorance have often perverted the best
results. The good souls who fear to send a preacher, no matter how
devoted, unless he preach exactly their ‘ism,’ seem to me to be
retarding by many years the consummation so devoutly to be wished. The
most Christlike men whom I know could not be sent out as missionaries by
the American Board. I believe there are hundreds of ardent young souls
who would be led to offer themselves for work in foreign lands if the
restrictions of creed did not stand in the way.
“Do not misunderstand me. I do not condemn creeds. Doubtless every one
who thinks must have some kind of a creed, however short it be. But in
the making of bequests, in endowments which are to help affect the
thought of future generations, it seems to me difficult to avoid
ultimate lawsuits, temptation to mental dishonesty, and infinite harm,
unless the founder works on the broadest principles and sees the work
begun in his lifetime.
“I have written my will this week and have devoted a very large sum of
money for the establishment of a fund, the amount of which I shall not
at present name, to be used as follows:—
“For the management and expenditure of this fund I have chosen five
trustees. These shall fill vacancies in their number as they occur from
death, resignation, incapacity, or whatever cause. One member, at least,
shall always be a woman, and as many as three Christian denominations
shall always be represented among the five trustees.
“The fund shall be called the ‘Christian Missionary Fund,’ and the work
shall be, so far as the trustees are concerned, entirely unsectarian,
though always distinctly Christian and Protestant.
“The fund shall be devoted to the following purposes:
“First, for promoting the spiritual and mental, and thus indirectly the
material, welfare of the most helpless and degraded people on the globe.
“Second, for promoting Christianity and education in lands like Japan,
where there is already an awakened aspiration for better things, and
hence the most immediate results may be anticipated.
“Third, for promoting such measures as shall diminish the slave-trade
wherever it exists, and for preventing the liquor traffic between
civilized and barbarous nations, for instance, such as is now disgracing
and desolating the Congo State.
“Any man or woman who applies to be sent out as preacher, teacher, or
agent, for promoting any of these ends, shall be accepted if he or she
give satisfactory evidence to the committee of being fitted to do
sufficiently helpful work in the positions to which they are assigned.
No acceptation of any creed shall be required of any applicant. After
being enrolled for the work, however, all shall be required to leave
detailed written statements of their religious beliefs. These are to be
kept on file for statistical purposes, together with the records of the
subsequent work of the candidates, their methods of labor, and the
results accomplished.
“Every woman employed by the trustees shall receive the same salary as a
man would receive for doing the same work. In sending out preachers and
pastors no distinction shall be made in regard to sex. All women
desiring to preach and to administer the sacraments shall be authorized
to do so if possessed of proper qualifications.”
In regard to that latter clause I had had considerable discussion with
auntie previous to convening the trustees.
“Isn’t that a little odd?” she asked. “I am afraid some clergymen would
be shocked at that.”
“Aunt Madison,” I said, “if it is desirable to have the sacraments of
communion or baptism celebrated at all, I can see no reason why they
cannot be done by a woman’s hand as well as by that of a man? If the
hand that made the bread does not desecrate it, why may not that same
hand break and pass it, provided it be done in a proper spirit? Is a
man’s hand any more sacred than a woman’s?”
“Oh, it isn’t that,” said auntie, fidgeting a little; “but it is the
words and the service which go with it, of course.”
“Certainly,” said I,—rather bluntly, too, I am afraid,—“and those words
consist of quotations from the words of Christ and Paul, and a prayer. I
see no reason why quotations and prayer uttered by a female voice may
not be just as acceptable to the Almighty as if spoken by a male voice.
(I hate those words ‘male’ and ‘female,’ but I thought it would help her
to see the absurdity of our conventional notions about such things.)”
“Well, dear, perhaps so, if you look at it that way,” she said; “but
what do you think the apostles would have thought of such a thing?”
“As a matter-of-fact,” said I, “the members of the early church, who ate
at one table, and had all things in common, and celebrated their Lord’s
death at the close of their meal in the simplest way in the world,
probably passed the cup from one to the other informally, and women as
well as men took part in what little service there was. It seems to me
in this age of common sense on other subjects it is time we had a little
more of it in religion.”
How saucy that appears as I write it. I wonder if I am getting
dictatorial.
I told the trustees, that, although their work as trustees was to be
entirely undenominational, and that they were to discourage any
sectarian work in whatever schools and churches might be established,
this was not to be interpreted to mean a refusal to send good men and
women, even if they held narrow sectarian views. I hold myself too
liberal to refuse to send any one who can do any good, even though he
hold mediæval views on eschatology. If a man can persuade a savage to
wash his face and stop beating his wife, I am willing to allow him his
cassock and crucifix and all the joys of a celibate High Churchism, so
long, at least, as he holds himself responsible to no other body than
the committee of my choosing. I have observed that a fair amount of
civilization, intelligence, and real Christianity can co-exist with a
very crude theology. So any good man who cares enough about helping his
fellow-men to work hard on a moderate salary, as an exile in a heathen
land, shall not be hindered from going until enough better men offer
themselves to take his place.
I told my guests that I wished to begin the work at once. Without
stating whether or not they were the trustees referred to in my will, I
asked them to assume for the next three years the responsibility of
disbursing two hundred thousand dollars annually in the way I had
specified. I shall keep the money in my own hands so that they need not
be troubled about investments, and shall pay the amount in installments,
as they call for it.
I requested them to do exactly as they thought best, without any more
reference to me than if I were dead, except when they came to any
misunderstanding in regard to the interpretation of my wishes as
expressed above.
I shall have accurate reports of their proceedings, and thus be able to
rectify any point that is left obscure, or that is capable of abuse.
I requested that my name should not be made known in connection with all
this.
When I had finished there was a pause; then Dr. H—— in his genial way
began—But I can write no more to-night.
(Extract from an editorial in the “Church Inquisitor.”)
It is with feelings of mingled interest and alarm that we report as the
most notable of recent events in the religious world the announcement of
an enormous bequest for foreign missionary work.
“Why alarm?” may be asked. But a careful reading of the provisions of
the bequest which we publish in another column will assure the reader
that the conditions under which it is given are unprecedented and allow
possibilities so dangerous as to create great anxiety in the minds of
those who are well grounded in the faith and zealous for the maintenance
of pure doctrine. As it is needless to say that in matters of such
moment we hold that the most stringent regulations and careful scrutiny
should be exercised, it is evident that the utter abolishing of all
tests, allowing the teaching of the most dangerous heresies by
Unitarians, Universalists, Spiritualists, Christian Scientists and what
not,—and this to be done in the name of Christian Missions,—is
startling, to say the least.
It will be readily seen that to the mind of the untutored savage unable
to distinguish genuine Christianity from that which is spurious, and as
likely to accept the one as the other, the danger of confounding the two
to the discredit of all true piety will be great, if the restrictions
laid down in the bequest are to be binding.
To be sure, the men and women sent out by this fund must be presumed to
possess a fair amount of intellect and moral character, though how their
spiritual condition is to be ascertained before hearing a statement of
their creed we fail to see. Doubtless something may be done in the way
of building up schools and supplementing the work of those whom our
Board sends to preach the gospel. For this we rejoice and give thanks.
Knowing the genuine Christian character of some members of the
committee, we are led to hope that they will deem no one fit to send out
as a proclaimer of the doctrines of Christianity who holds the evidently
loose views of the framer of this singular bequest. As only one of the
trustees is a Unitarian, and as Unitarians are proverbially indifferent
to foreign missions, it seems to leave considerable ground for the hope
that none of that sect will apply, or, if applying, will be sent.
The donor’s name is withheld, but it is shrewdly surmised to be the late
Mr. Albert Danforth of Springfield, formerly a noted Free-thinker, but
who is said to have had a deathbed repentance and to have attempted to
appease his conscience by bestowing his vast wealth in the manner
described. In this case why his name should be withheld remains a
mystery.
It will be noticed that another peculiar feature of the bequest is that
one trustee at least shall always be a woman. In the course of time
there is nothing to prevent all of them being women, as four of the five
appointed are known to be in favor of female suffrage. As the late Mr.
Danforth, among his other radical notions, held the same unscriptural
view of woman’s functions, the promotion of “women’s rights” views by
the endowment in question is to be feared.
It is, perhaps, well enough to pay women in the mission field the same
sum as that given to men for the same work, though this possibly would
be too attractive an allurement for some unworthy persons who might
assume the sacred duties in question for the sake of the loaves and
fishes. But what seems especially unwise as well as wholly unscriptural,
and of which we feel compelled to assert our disapproval, is the
provision that women shall be permitted to administer the holy
sacraments. See Corinthians i. 14, 34, and xi. 3, 7.
There seems to be no serious objection to women preaching to assemblies
of their own sex where male missionaries cannot be admitted; but that
such an extreme step should be taken as to desecrate and turn into a
farce the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper by allowing them
to be administered by a woman, is something that we must deplore.
Were it not that most of the trustees appointed represent the new school
of thought, which seems to rely more on reason than on the Written Word,
we should wonder at their being able to satisfy their consciences if
they accept responsibilities encumbered by such restrictions.