text:
Row, E.C
THE SELwoon
ORIGINAL PREflflCE..
, -[HIS book makes no pretension to be a full and detailed
history of the London Missipnary Society. A work, on a
scale worthy of the subject, is in preparation, and may shortly
be expected from the competent hands of the Rev. R. Lovett.
It is the hope of the present writer that such an interest in the
story he has tried to tell may be awakened by reading this
volume, as will lead many to study Mr. Lovett's history who
otherwise might not have done so.
To enumerate all the writers to whom the author has been
indebted for information regarding the various fields of labour
would be impossible. Not being able to name all, he adopts
the safer policy of naming none. In the Summary, however, will
be found a list of notable contributions to English literature
in connection with the work of missionaries of the London
Missionary Society.
Having thus somewhat arbitrarily disposed of his "authorities,"
the author indulges in the personal satisfaction of expressing his
sense of the kind courtesy and assistance of the Society's officers at
the Mission House, and especially of the Rev. George Cousins,
the Editorial Secretary.
Kensington, March, 1895
HE Second Edition of Mr. Home's Story having been for
some time out of print, and there being still a steady
demand for the book, it was decided early in H)04 to brint;
out a new edition which should continue the record of the
Society's work up to the curren't year. It was naturally the
first thought and hope of the directors that Mr. Home should
add to the very valuable service he had rendered at the time
of the Centenary by writing the required additional chapter
for his book. Unfortunately, the pressure of other engagements, and especially the absorbing claims of the Mission at
\Vhitefield's, made it quite impossible for Mr. Horne to accede
to their request. It therefore fell to the lot of the Society's
editor to undertake the duty.
It can never be an easy task to add a chapter to another
man's book, and in the present instance the task was made
exceptionally difficult by the brilliance of Mr. Home's original
achievement. No attempt has been made, however, to deceive the kindly reader into the belief that the same gifted
pen has been at work throughout. The additional chapter
at the end of the book is simply what it is styled-an Appendix.
The fact that the book was to be reprinted from the original
plates has prevented the making of any corrections or additions, had such been called for, in the body of the work. The
opportunity has been taken, however, to replace a few of the
more old-fashioned illustrations by others of a newer order.
August, 1904.
of the enterprise with a young man named Lewis, who had offered
himself for missionary service. In the year following, Carey's
celebrated Essay, and his sermon to the Nottingham Association
on attempting ar.d expecting great things from God, resulted in
the establishment of the Baptist Missionary Society.
It was inevitable that Carey's heroic spirit of faith and resolution
should bear fruit beyond the bounds of his own denomination.
The associations of Independent Churches began to give consideration to the great problem. Those of Warwickshire and
Worcestershire were among the first to pass earnest resolutions
urging the prosecution of the enterprise. Mr. Ellis, in his history
of the beginnings of the
London Missionary
Society, points out that
these Churches looked
for a movement within
their own membership.
Dr. Haweis, on the
other hand, was appealing to the episcopal and
Countess of Huntingdon communions. But
the greatness of the
cause was drawing together those who were
outwardly divided by
RE\'. JU!l:\ EYRE, M.A.
opinions of
Tbe unity of spirit, which exists
order and manner of worshii).
despite diversities of operations, was compelling very different
men to fall into line together, that they might the more effectmllly
wage the holy war. This was evident in I 793, when at a meeting
of ministers of several denominations it was resolved to establish
the Evangelical Magazine. Its object was defined as "to arouse
the Christian public from its prevailing torpor, and excite to a
more close and serious consideration of their obligations to use
rr.eans for advancing the Redeemer's Kingdom." In July, 1793,
the first number ..appeared. The principal editor was an episcopal
contain lofty mountains with deep and lovely valleys and glades.
Luxuriant tropical vegetation abounds on every hand. The wonderful fern-trees, the cocoa-nut groves, the pandanus, the orangetrees, bread-fruit trees, plantains, bananas, and numbers of other
trees and shrubs, both beautiful and useful, proclaim that Nature
here is rich and bountiful. And yet we can well understand
what a solemn and well-nigh awful hour this was, when the
missionaries were to begin their life among the unknown inhabitTrue, it was a blessing that they
ants in these savage tribes.
did not know some of the worst characteristics of those to whom
they had been sent. Only as they became more intimate with
them did the most vicious and horrible features of their life
become known. Physically a fine race of people, they were cursed
by the untold evils of a sanguinary idolatry. It was said of the
old king, Pomare, that with him the one sin was to fail to offer
sacrifices and perform religious ceremonies. Nothing else was
wrong. Murder, theft, licentiousness, cruelty of all kinds
Whenever a temple was built to the gods, its
pillars had to rest on the bodies of men and women who had
been offered in sacrifice to the deities. The same butchery was
perpetrated when a house was built, in order that prosperity
might attend its occupants. The altars were frequently drenched
in human blood, and, of course, other nameless sins followed in
the train. The huts of the people were wretched in the extreme.
Neither the men nor the women had much sense of shame.
It was among such benighted and savage creatures that the
early missionaries had to live and labour ; knowing little of
their language, isolated by the deep and wild sea from intercourse with any other island, relying only on the over-shadowing
care of God, and the great and glorious mission they were
pledged to pursue.
At the time of landing, the old king, Pomare, whom C1ptain
Cook had praised as a splendid specimen of a savage, was
still alive; but he was king no longer, his young son, Otu, seventeen years of age, having succeeded him. Pomare was among the
first to welcome the missionaries, and he and his wife, Idia, gave
them consistent protection so long as they lived. There was a
large bamboo house on the island which the natives had built for
Captain Bligh, who had visited them four years before, and was
expected to return. This house was now placed at the disposal
of the visitors ; the artisans among them soon rendered it
thoroughly habitable ; and seventeen out of the thirty missionaries
were settled in this dwelling. Then', after many tears and prayers
and tender farewells, the Duff sailed away to plant other missions
in the Friendly and Marquesas Islands, promising, however, to
return to Tahiti before finally sailing for England.
Twelve hundred miles to the west of Tahiti lies Tongatabu,
or Tonga, one of the so-called Friendly Islands. This name
was given to the islands on account of the native hospitality shown
to Captain Cook and his sailors. The latter would probably
have chosen a different name had they known then what was
subsequently discovered, that the natives were plotting how to
massacre them and seize their vessels at the very time when they
were entertaining them so royally. Indeed, savagery and duplicity
were the leading characteristics of the people of Tonga. ~ine
unmarried missionaries were .left on the island in the month of
April, I797 After settling one other missionary on Santa
Christina, one of the Marquesas Islands, Captain Wilson revisited
Tahiti, and then sailed home by way of China, arriving in London
July, 1798.
The story of the first mission to Tonga is of two-and-a-half
years of indescribable horror, relieved only by the faith and fortitude of the brave men who endured so much for Christ's sake.
For three of the nine missionaries was reserved the glory of
being the first martyrs of the London Missionary Society. Very
soon after the departure of the Duff, the peril in which they
were placed was discovered to the missionaries. They were
frequently ill-treated, their property was stolen, and more than
once they heard their murder planned by the people. To add
to their sorrows, one of their own number deserted them, and
became unfaithful to his Christian profession, joining the natives
in a life of immorality. The island was also overrun by released convicts from New South Wales, who incensed the people
against the missionaries. At last their sufferings culminated.
War broke out among the tribes. The protection that had
been afforded by the chiefs was withdrawn, and they were
exposed to the attacks of either side. Five of the missionaries
fled to the rocks by the shore and hid in the caves there. They
were pursued and stripped of all thei~ clothing, but their lives were
spared. Their brethren were less fortunate.
A band of
infuriated savages marched to the mission-house, where they
were sheltering ; and when the missionaries came peaceably
forward to meet them, they were struck down to the ground and
their brains dashed out with clubs. Later on a great battle was
fought. The conquerors celebrated their victory by a cannibal
feast. At length, surfeited with human flesh, they sank down in
sleep. Their opponents perceived their opportunity and returned,
when a horrible slaughter followed. Those who escaped sailed
away to a small island belonging to the conquerors, and put to
death every man, woman, and child they could find. Such was the
life of the people of the Friendly Islands a hundred years ago.
The five heroic survivors subsequently buried the bodies of their
brethren, and stayed on in daily peril of sharing their fate, until
in January, 18oo, a passing vessel afforded them the means of
deliverance. Amidst the tears of a few faithful native friends,
they sailed to Port Jackson, and the mission at Tonga was abandoned.
The missionary who single-handed had undertaken the establishment of a mission at Santa Christina was more kindly treated,
but in the end was compelled to abandon the work. The
extreme loneliness and isolation were manfully endured ; but he
became increasingly conscious that to successfully accomplish his
purpose he must have assistance in the work. By a curious
accident he was involuntarily blown away from the island in an
American vessel which he had visited. After being landed at
another island and working there some months, he returned to
England to consult the directors as to the more effectual manning
of the mission.
Meanwhile an attempt had been made to strengthen the missions
by seqding out the Duff a second time, with thirty more missionaries. In December, 1798, she sailed, and had made good pro-
gress as far as Rio Janeiro, when she was fired at and suhsequently
boarded and captured by the crew of a French frigate, the Buonaparte. The missionaries were subjected to great hardships. The
Duff, with all her goods, was taken away as a prize ; and it was
not until many long weeks of involuntary voyagings and perils
that the missionaries were landed at Lisbon and enabled to return
to London. Thus it happened that in God's providence five years
of loneliness and discouraging work had to be faced by the first
band of missionaries, amid almost unexampled hardships and
dangers, before their hands were strengthened by fresh helpers
from England.
The mission which had been planted at Tahiti, as it was the
strongest of the three, so at first promised to be the most successful. The skill of the artisans in various useful crafts elicited
great admiration from the islanders and their chiefs.
two Swedish sailors, who had been living for a long time among
the Tahitians, and who now acted as interpreters, the missionaries
were able to begin the preaching of the Gospel, and to explain
the object of their settlement to the people. The Swedes also
gave them considerable assistance in learning the language. At
first, too, the people seemed to have been inspired with such
regard for the missionaries, that they endeavoured to conceal
from them many of the brutal crimes and abominable practices
which prevailed. To acquaint themselves more thoroughly with
the language and life of the people, however, two of the missionaries went and lived in the houses of some native friends, and
tours of the island were made. The life and customs of the
inhabitants soon became known. Very faithfully and frequently
did the missionaries remonstrate with the chiefs, the priests,
and the people on the horrible practice of infanticide, as
well as on many other crimes that were all too common. But
their expostulations were in vain, and only served to offend and
incense those who were addressed. The first great trouble,
however, was occasioned at Tahiti, as on so many other fields of
labour, by the visit of a foreign vessel.
It was the habit of
traders to purchase native foods by giving in exchange muskets
and gunpowder. As soon as some chief had secured a supply of
missionaries in the sad time that was upon t:1em. The old war
broke out anew, with even more than the ancient fury. At last
Pomare warned the missionaries that he could no longer be
confident of defending them. Nine of the little band, consequently, sailed away from Tahiti, four single missionaries alone
remaining, and they were soon compelled to flee from the mission
house. King Pomare was defeated, and the rebels overran the
land. The mission houses were burned to the ground, implements and printing types converted into bullets and weapons of
war. All was desolation. An English vessel in Matavai was
seized by the rebels, and was only narrowly rescued by another
trader. The missionaries retired to the neighbouring isle of
Huahine, and in October, 18o9, they decided to withdraw from
the islands for a time, only Messrs. N ott aJtd Hayward remaining
at Eimeo (now commonly known as Moorea) and Huahine.
Twelve years of patient suffering and heroic constancy had
apparently ended in blank defeat and absolute failure. Nothing
whatever remained to show for the labours of these weary years.
A host of infuriated idolaters was holding a horrible carnival
of bloodand lust on the very site of the mission house, and
turning the possessions of the missionaries into rr{urderous implements of cruelty. Every Christian worker had be~n driven
away, and, so far as was known/ no sir:$le native hear~-- was 'even
favourably disposed towards the Christian message. - At home
the Directors were seriously debating 'the abandonment of the
misswn. Blood and treasure seemed to have been expended in
vain. Prayer and labour alike had apparently failed to produce
any impression. And yet, as it was the darkest hour of the
night, it was just before the dawn. When the decision to renew
the mission had been made, and Dr. Haweis and a few faithful
ones had gallantly supported the decision with generous gifts, a
prayer meeting was held to pray for the conversion of King Pomare and the triumph of Christianity. At the very time when
this was taking place in England, Pomare came to the missionaries at Moorea and asked for Christian baptism, declaring his
purpose to forsake idolatry and all its practices, and to become
a follower of Jesus Christ. This was in July, I 8 I 2. _
near and far. The pile was kindled ; and at a word from the
priest, the attendants brought out the idols and strewed them on
the ground. Taking up each god in turn and stripping it of its
ornaments and vestments, Patii rehearsed to the people its fabled
deeds and its ancient pedigree, and then consigned it to the
flames. As the fire fastened on the idols, the priest bade his
audience note how helpless these dreaded images were, and reproached himself that he had ever encouraged any to trust in
them. The people stood aghast, and anticipated some frightful
retaliation. But when no harm befel the priest, it soon became
evident that the power of this idolatrous superstition over these
natives was practically broken for ever.
The growing numbers of the Christians, and the influence of
their religion, could not fail, however, to incense and provoke
those who clung to the old habits and beliefs of heathendom. The
inevitable consequence was that more than one of the native
Christians was called to suffer for his convictions. Tahiti still
remained in heathen hands; and when human sacrifices were
offered to the idols, the fact that an individual had professed
Christianity was made the reason for dooming him to death.
Mr. Nott has told us how bravely and calmly some of these early
martyrs met their fate. One young man, when he saw himself
surrounded by the servants of the priest, and perceived only too
well their cruel errand, told them that though they killed his body,
Jesus Christ would receive his spirit; and secure in this confidence,
went to his death.
At this period, indeed, any one skilled to read the signs of the
times would have perceived many dark and anxious features in
the situation. The growing fury of the heathen party, the fierceness of the priests who saw their ancient authority menaced,
made a crisis inevitable. That there must be a terrible struggle
before any enduring peace could possibly be established, many
were convinced. The Christians, however, did nothing to provoke
it, save by quietly practising the manners of Christianity. Arrayed
against them was a force numerically superior, and animated by the
deepest passions of hatred and savage fear. They were men who
. would stick at nothing to achieve their end; lnd their leaders, thc.::
the battle in prayer, and when the morning came, began the
attack. An utter rout of the idolaters followed, and we are told.
how the prisoners exclaimed to their captors, " Spare me by
Jesus, your new God." When the chief of Tahaa, who had been
a prime mover in the rebellion, was led captive into the presence
of Tamatoa, he said, " Am I dead ? " but Tamatoa replied, " No,
my brother; cease to tremble; you are saved by Jesus." The
prisoners were afterwards entertained at a banquet, in proof of
the clemency of the religion of Christ.
It can truly be said that it was not the magnitude of the victory,
nor the valour of the Christians who won the day on both these
occasions against a vastly superior force, that produced such an
overwhelming effect upon the tribes of these islands. It was emphatically the humane and merciful disposition of the conquerors ;
the manifestation of the spirit of Jesus Christ. Henceforth these
bloody and merciless tribal feuds were to become a nightmare of
the past. Order, and peace, and concord arose steadily out of
the chaos, and Christianity and civilization advanced hand in
And here there should be mentioned a very striking fact, which
was repeatedly referred to by the earliest South Sea missionaries.
So long as the natives remained idolaters, they manifested no
anxiety to improve the outward conditions of their life. The
instruction of our artisan missionaries was absolutely thrown away
on them. They cared nothing for better dwellings, well-cultivated
gardens, or the hundred useful arts which the missionaries employed. But as soon as they became Christians, with the new
disposition to serve the living God, they awoke to all the higher
interests of life. The change in the outward appearance of the
islands was miraculous
Neat little cottages began to arise,
orchards and gardens to be planted. The whole standard of
decency and comfort seemed to have been instantaneously raised.
Henceforth there was a strong disposition among the natives to
master all kinds of industrial arts.
We have now traversed the first twenty years of the history of
the South Sea mission; and at this point we must interrupt our
narrative to introduce to the reader a new and deeply interesting
ironwork, little thinking at the time how invaluable this knowledge would be to him afterwards. In his youth he drifted away
from any positive sympathy with the Christian faith, or practice
of the Christian morality, but was recalled to the obligations of
the higher life when he was eighteen years of age, and afterwards
became a most earnest and devoted Christian. The new missionary movement attracted him irresistibly, and in 18r6 he left Eng-
land for the South Seas, arriving at Tahiti in the following year.
While to him does not belong the peculiar honour of those
pioneers who, after fifteen years of indomitable perseverance,
broke the neck of heathenism in Polynesia, yet his indefatigable
enterprise, his eager evangelistic spirit, were used by God at this
period to spread far and wide among the scattered islands the
influence of Christianity. Just as John Wesley rebelled against
the limitations of the parochial system, and said, "The world is
my parish," so John Williams was moved, by the sight of innumerable islands languishing in heathenism, to make this his motto :
"For my own part I cannot content myself within the narrow
limits of a single reef."
With John Williams there went out Mr. William Ellis, another
of the true heroes of the mission field. Mr. Ellis took out with
him a printing-press, and this invaluable auxiliary was duly
installed at Moorea, where King Pomare set up the first types, and
printed the first sheets, amid the most indescribable excitement
and enthusiasm on the part of his subjects. Many are the stories
of the zeal of the natives to possess themselves of the printed
books. The mortality among cats on the island is said to have
been extreme, in order that out of their skins might be made
bindings for the new volumes ! Thousands of natives gathered
from all the neighbouring islands with the object of seeing this
strange sight-" the printing of the Word." Success had brought
with it very considerable embarrassments. The lack of teachers
was painfully felt. No sight could be more pathetic than a large
number of these ignorant natives meeting together on the Sabbath
in imitation of the missionaries, and seeking, in their own uninstructed way, to help one another in the new faith. Their prayers
are said to have been infinitely touching-the human cry for
light, a cry not unheeded by the All-pitying Father to whom it was
addressed. King Pomare, we are told, would pray at the assembly
in Tahiti that every one might "stretch out his hands unto God
and say, Lord, save me ! Lord, save me ! " This simple prayer
indeed went up almost night and day from thousands of earnest
seekers after the true salvation.
Now that the mission was taking root in the affections of the
way to the beach. Here the natives were drawn up with clubs
and spears. He.told them he had come on a peaceful mission,
and protection was promised to himself and companions. Next
day, however, when several natives and their wives were landed,
they were abominably treated, and barely escaped back to the
ship with their lives. The mission was for a short time aban
doned; but later on two natives settled among the people, met
with a friendlier reception, and won another victory for Christ
and humanity. Meanwhile Mr. Williams and his native escort,
repulsed at Mangaia, resumed their evangelistic enterprise.
Several small islands were visited, and teachers settled on them.
But the great object of their search evaded them. This was the
famous island of Rarotonga, of which they had heard so much
at Aitutaki, but the way to which no one seemed to know. The
natives of the latter island had entreated Mr. Williams not to try
to find it, for the inhabitants were the most ferocious and bloodthirsty in Polynesia. These rumours, however, only served to
increase Mr. Williams' interest. After a five days' voyage across
the seas in the direction .where Rarotonga was supposed to lie,
the missionary had consented to the captain's request that the
expedition should be abandoned at a certain hour. Half an hour
before this time was reached the mountains of Rarotonga were
discovered. The vessel drew in to the shore. It was soon seen
that the inhabitants confirmed the worst opinion of the Aitutakians. The native missionaries, landed that night; were subjected
to nameless insults and persecutions. Next day they were removed to the ship. Then the splendid heroism of Papeiha shone
forth. He offered to stay in this strange and savage island alone,
provided only a comrade might be sent him later. The promise
was made, and the vessel sailed away, and Papeiha began singlehanded his work of Christianizing Rarotonga. In saying this,
however, we must not omit to mention that Mr. Williams had
brought back to Rarotonga from Aitutaki certain natives of the
former island, who had seen what Christ had done for the people
elsewhere. These gathered round Papeiha. In four months his
colleague arrived, and found that progress had already been made.
In twelve months idolatry was absolutely at an end, and the
Caro/ine Islands
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gelization, all who read their history will agree that even more
admirable qualities were displayed when very grave and sad difficulties arose to hinder, and sometimes almost to undo, their
former work. We must not suppose that those who professed
Christianity were suddenly and immediately emancipated from their
old animal passions and appetites. The work of moral redemption
is a patient and prolonged one, and there are periods of retrogression as well as of progress. Then, too, we must remember the
large number of unchristian inhabitants, who were still a most
dangerous element. There were minor chiefs only too glad to seize
any opportunity of disturbing the peace. When the native wars
in the Society Islands had ceased for some fifteen years, there was
an outbreak, caused very largely by the ambition of one man.
Tahiti and Raiatea were once again the scenes of bloodshed, the
only redeeming point being the Christian clemency of the victors.
The missionaries not only actively endeavoured to make peace
between the contending factions, but exerted every influence to
protect the Christian Churches, and foster the work that was inevitably thrown back for the time being. John Williams' beloved
island of Raiatea was especially demoralized by these struggles.
In the midst of civil disorders, King Tamatoa had died. This
had disheartened the Christians, and had precipitated the disturbances. The absence of Mr. Williams, moreover, on various
evangelistic tours, removed his inspiring personality from the
people when they needed him most. To deepen the shadows
there came an even graver visitation. By the partial civilization
of the islands, perfect security had been provided for foreign
traders. They could now come and go without fear, and the increased industry of the natives provided many useful products
which the foreigners were only too glad to obtain. But there is
no darker stain on the history of commerce than the persistent
efforts of the traders to purchase the native products with ardent
spmts. In this they were only too successful. Not only did the
unprofessing Christians. rejoice to traffic on these terms, the
plague soon spread to the Church members. The disease of
drunkenness swept over the islands. Nearly everywhere the work
was thrown back.
Some churches and schools were almost
emptied. Yet even then the missionaries could write home that
all those who remained respectable were Church members. But
for these little handfuls of true and faithful Christians, the whole
race might have gone back into savagery. Never before had the
missionaries been more sorely tried. Expostulation produced no
effect on the trader; but at last faithful and persistent appeals
began to tell upon the people. In some islands laws were enacted
forbidding any importation of intoxicating drinks. Temperance
societies were very generally formed. The chapels began to refill,
and the education of the people to go forward again.
During the years 1836 and 1837 both Mr. Williams and the
veteran missionary, Mr. Henry Nott, were engaged in England,
publishing the Bible in the Tahitian tongue, and many portions
in other dialects of the South Seas. Mr. Williams also published,
for English people, his well-known book Missionary Enterprises,
the success of which was phenomenal.
Large sums of money
were given in response to his appeals. A vessel, the Camden,
was bought, and in this ship Mr. Williams returned. There are
many people living to-day who remember the extraordinary ex
citement in London, when London Bridge and the shores of the
Thames were crowded with thousands of people to see the great
missionary sail to those strange shores with which his name was
so indelibly associated. Mr. and Mrs. Williams now took up
their residence in one of the Samoan islands. It was characteristic of them that they built their house among a tribe which had
been recently crushed in a native war. Conquered people were
greatly despised by surrounding tribes, and were consequently exposed to plunder and insult. Mr. Williams felt that his presence
would be a protection to the poor people ; and, to the amazement
of the more powerful tribes, he made his home among these. On
more than one occasion the presence of his son proved a protection to the natives in Mr. Williams' absence; for even those
savage warriors who were most greedy for plunder respected the
name of Williams, and spared the people for his sake.
Though his home was now established in Samoa, this devoted
evangelist could not conceive it to be God's will that he should
restrict himself to one island, when hundreds of islands seemed to
cry, "Come over and help us." The vision of the people, sunk in
idolatry and cruelty and superstition, filled his soul. He bade
farewell to his wife and children, for the last time, as it was to
prove, preached to his Samoan flock from the text, " Sorrowing
most of all that they should see his face no more," and in his new
vessel sailed away to carry the glad tiaings to the New Hebrides.
In these islands the struggle between the Gospel and the old
heathenism has been as terrible as anywhere. Few of the islands
to-day but are stained with the blood of some heroic Christian
Mr. Williams and Mr. Harris had taken a short walk towards the
native huts, when Mr. Cunningham was horrified by hearing an
ominous yell, and seeing Mr. Harris and Mr. Williams running
for their lives, closely pursued by the natives.
Mr. Harris
plunged into a stream, and was beaten to death by his infuriated
assailants. Mr. Williams ran for the sea, as if to try to swim to
the boat. The savages, however, followed him swiftly into the
waters, and attacked him so brutally that the waves were crimson
with his blood. They then dragged the bodies away into the
bushes, where they held a cannibal feast. No idea can be given of
the awful grief of those on board the Camden, nor of the terrible
sorrow of Mrs. Williams and her children. But indeed throughout all those islands to which he had devoted his life the news
spread anguish and despair. Then it was fully seen what Mr.
Williams had been to the Polynesians. The cry that went up
from those scattered islands was the orphaned cry of those who
felt themselves fatherless. "Alas, Wiliamu ! alas, out Father ! "
were the words that were frequently used to express their sense of
loss. Mysterious as the calamity seems still, it seemed even more
soto those who knew how much John Williams' unique influence
over the people was needed at this very hour. Roman Catholic
missionaries, on their contemptible errand of proselytising, backed
by the armed influence of France, were adding to the already
serious difficulties of the work. The days were anxious ones; and,
to our human conception, just the days when John Williams could
least be spared. But, possibly to show that we should lean not
at all on human instrumentalities, but on the arm of God, this
was the very time appointed for the removal of the " Apostle of
Polynesia." A very "humble stone" marks the place at Apia
where certain remains of the great missionary, sacredly and reverently collected by Captain Croker, of H. M.S. Faz,ourite, were laid
But if we seek
to rest amid an immense concourse of natives.
his monument, it is around his grave, where, in many an island to
which he first carried the gospel of peace, happy, contented, and
prosperous people live in the fear of God and the love of Christ.
This chapter may fitly close with some words of Mr. Charles
Darwin's, who in 1835 visited the South Sea Islands in the
CHAPTER Ill
Discovery and First Missions-Cruel Treatment of Hottentots-Dr. Vander
kemp-Opposition of Settlers-Bethelsdorp Institution-Death and
Character of Vanderkemp-Mission to the Bushmen-Heroism of the
Albrechts-Africaner the Outlaw-Destruction of the Warm Bath
Mission-Robert Moffat--Moffat and Africaner-An Eventful JourneyMoffat sent to Bechuanaland-Settles on the Kuruman-Progress at
Bethelsdorp, Pacaltsdorp, and Theopolis-Moffat among the Bechuanas
-Fighting and Confusion:.._Courage of Mary Moffat-Translation of the
Scriptures -Wonderful Results of the Mission-Moffat and the Matabele.
SOUTH AFRiCA
this was his fmal testimony. Dr. Philip has recorded the fact that
Vanderkemp was a great linguist, having considerable knowledge of
Greek, Hebrew, Armenian, Arabic, Persian, and Syriac. Although
he w~s only a few months in Kaffreland, he drew up a rough
sketch of the Kaffre language, and formed a vocabulary of about
eight hundred words. He was a keen metaphysician, and an
enthusiastic scientist. Chemistry, natural history, anatomy, and
botany were all subjects in which he was strongly interested. His
life and death for the welfare of the Hottentot races is certainly
a noble example of the consecration of singular talent to the in
terests of a people almost universally despised ; and who, but for
the efforts of Vanderkemp and others like him, might literally
have been extirpated. No man was more hated by those who
would not allow that anything ought to be done for the blacks in
South Africa against the whites. But, as Dr. Philip says, "the
head and front of his offending " was his hatred of oppression
and his uncompromising zeal in the cause of the oppressed. His
life bears out his own simple words regarding the Hottentots : " I
should not fear to offer my life for the least child among them."
While Dr. Vanderkemp was thus devoting himself to Bethelsdorp and the Hottentots, we must not suppose that the London
Missionary Society had lost sight of the other peoples of South
Africa. This was by no means the case. Two other missionanes, Messrs. Kicherer and Kramcr, had come out to South
Africa with Dr. Vanderkemp, and had intended to proceed to
Kaffreland. But they were diverted from their purpose by a very
interesLng circumstance. One of the truly Christian colonists
was a man named Florus Fischer, who lived among the Bushmen.
These degraded people had noticed with reverence Fischer's
simple religious observances, and had asked him why they could
not have teachers to show them the true worship. Fischer was
so touched by the circumstance that he took several of the
Bushmen to Cape Town, and there they arrived just as Kicherer
and Kramer, with a third missionary, Edwards, were about to set
out for Kaffreland. The result of the plea of these poor Bushmen
was that the missionaries went back with them into the country of
the 'Bushmen near the Zak River, 400 or soo miles north-east of
terror of South Af1 ica. It was also the place of refuge for
multitudes of natives who had been driven out of their ancient
lands by the steady aggression of the colonists. The western
portion of this district, or Great Namaqualand, seems to be a
most desert and desolate region, hardly watered at all, and scarce
affording sustenance for man or beast. Into this region, however,
in I 8o6, two heroic mtsswnaries, Abraham and Christian
Albrecht, penetrated as pioneers.
Their journey up to and
beyond the borders of the colony was one of terrible hardships
and privations. Several times death seemed absolutely inevitable,
now from the inhospitable character of the country, and now
from the wild beasts. Still they struggled bravely on, and finally
crossed the Orange River and settled at a spot called Warm
Bath, about 1oo miles west of the dreaded and notorious freebooter Africaner.
As the history of our missions at this period is intimately
associated with this famous chief, we must remind ourselves of his
very dramatic story. He belonged to a governing family of a
tribe which once was wealthy and prosperous, and roamed the
hills and valleys Ioo miles north of Cape Town. Driven further
and further out by the settlers, Africaner found himself an exile
from the home of his forefathers, and reduced to serve a Dutch
farmer. Even now all might have been well if he had been treated
with ordinary consideration ; for he was an excellent shepherd
and had been trained to military service on the commando
system. But his Dutch master seemed determined to drive
Africaner, and indeed all the other natives on his farm, to the
utmost limits of exasperation. For a long time the chief, and
such of his people who still lived around him, bore their wrongs
patiently. But at last rumours reached them of a plot which was
aimed at the lives and liberties of the whole clan. Summoned to
undertake some duty, they refused, and were called to answer for
their refusal at the door of the farmer's house. It was night, and
Africaner's brother, Titus, conet!aled a gun which he took with
him by holding it behind his back. When they appeared, the
farmer, in a storm of passion, struck Africaner to the ground. It
was his last act. Titus Africaner shot him down on the spot.
Entering the house, they told his wife no harm should be done to
her if she would yield up the guns and ammunition belonging to
her husband. This she did, and her life was spared ; but two
of her children, flying in fear, were caught and murdered by
Bushmen. Africaner rallied his tribe and led them across the
Orange River. There he practically declared war against the
white invaders, and the Cape Government set a price upon his
head. Such was the terror, however, that thi~ outlaw, in his fastnesses beyond the Orange River, inspired, that no commando dared
venture to attack him. The farmers consequently bribed the
chief of a native tribe to undertake the task of ridding the country
of this terror. The result was a series of bloody encounters
between Africaner and Berend, the Bastard chief. No scene in
South African history is more striking than one that occurred
years after, when Berend and Africaner, having both embraced
Christianity, met in peace and brotherhood, apd looked back in
horror at the savage and bloody history of the days of their warfare. All along the frontiers of the Orange River, Africaner's
name spread panic. Dr. Moffat tells us how chiefs of other
tribes confessed to him that, in dread of Africaner, they had fled
with their wives and children to the mountains or the glens, and
preferred the perils among wild beasts to facing the renowned
and ferocious marauder. Africaner's brother, Titus, was a man of
even fiercer and darker spirit than Africaner himself. We hear
of him that he was so destitute of fear that he would sit on a
jutting rock in a river, and when the hippopotamus opened its
terrible jaws to seize him, would calmly fire down its open throat.
Such were the two brothers whose proximity to the new mission
station founded by the Albrechts not unnaturally filled the hearts
of the missionaries with some alarm.
At the outset, however, Africaner was most favourably disposed
towards the new-comers ; for he learned that they represented
an English Society, and he had come to regard Englishmen as
protectors of the blacks. He sent some of his children to be
taught at Warm Bath mission station, and expressed himself as
being much gratified with the instruction. But dark days were
in store for the mission and its workers. In I8Io Abraham
~Aigoa Bay
"oN Elizabeth
Scale: English Miles.
dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table.'' The shot
told. The farmer stopped him, and ordered the servants to be
called in. "Young man," he said afterwards," you took a hard
hammer, and you have broken a hard head." Moffat's introduction
to Africaner's kraal was not encouraging. He found that bitter
hatred against Mr. Ebner existed among Africaner and his men ;
and Mr. Elmer seems to have cordially disliked the people.
Moffat's first house was built by native women in half an hour.
Poles were fixed in the ground, bent over in hemispheric fashion,
and then fastened down at the other end. These were covered
with native mats, and the habitation was ready for use. In this
hut Moffat lived six months, though the rain came through freely,
and the sun made it intolerably hot, and the snakes seem to have
regarded it as their property as much as the missionary's. Mr.
Ebner speedily left the kraal, after a violent dispute with the
Africaners, and Moffat was left in sole charge. He was soon
cheered, however, by the most gratifying alteration in the
character of Africaner and his brothers. The chief began to
give signs of an utter change in life. He became intensely
interested in the Bible, as well as in all forms of Christian work.
He used to take charge of the school, and watch most affectionately the progress of the children. At nights he loved to sit up
and talk with Moffat about the truths of the Bible. His fierce
and apparently untameable brother Titus, too, became strangely
subdued, and would sit listening for hours together to the conversation of Moffat and Africaner, and then say, "I hear what
you say, and I think I sometimes understand, but my heart will
not feel." Africaner would greatly mourn the evil and murderous
deeds of his former life. "What have I now of all the battles I
fought and the cattle I took but shame and remorse? " he would
say. During an illness of Moffat's, the once dreaded outlaw
nursed him with all the tenderness of a woman.
In the year 1818 Moffat persuaded Africaner to accompany
him to Cape Town. The expedition had its risks. Africaner
was still an outlaw ; a price was still upon his head, and the
farmers had not forgotten, nor forgiven, old injuries. But Moffat
calculated rightly on the effect that would be produced on tht:
their utmost at this period of weakness to crush out the institution. The natives were compelled to feel the loss of Dr. Vanderkemp's steadfast advocacy of their cause. They also lost heart,
and left the work of the station undone, so that their enemies
had an easy ground of accusation. In I 8 I 8, three years before
Moffat settled among the Bechuanas, Dr. Philip was sent out
with Rev. J. Campbell to inquire into the condition of the South
African missions, and to report upon them to the Society in
England. Dr. Phihp proved one of the noblest servants the
Society has ever had. His whole soul was set on fire by what he
learned as to the treatment of the Hottentots by the colonists,
and the inadequate protection afforded by the Government.
Very largely owing to his persistent and eloquent advocacy of
their rights, a better state of things was eventually brought about.
But not only did Dr. Philip make himself the mouthpiece of the
wrongs of the Hottentots, he valiantly addressed himself to the
task of cultivating in the Hottentots themselves a more indusBeing a man of a
trious, enterprising, and manly spirit.
thoroughly practical mind, he noticed as a grave defect that
there were very few encouragements to commerce among the
Hottentots, and consequently too many of them were content to
live in indolence. Even if the people received money, they could
not spend it without travelling fifteen or sixteen miles to do so.
Dr. Philip entered into negotiation with a truly Christian merchant, who opened a store in Bethelsdorp, and brought within
the reach of the people numerous useful as well as beautiful
articles. The effect was remarkable. The people began to
discover a purpose in cultivating the land, growing fruit, and so
on. By the result of their industry they were able to surround
themselves with a variety of serviceable possessions. From one
thing they were led on to another. When they had better
clothes, they soon began to feel the inconvenience of living in
mud huts; and, under the inspiration of the missionaries, they
began to build in stone and wood. The consequence was that
in a very short time the whole aspect of Bethelsdorp underwent
a change. Not only were the unsightly huts replaced in many
instances by decent houses, but the spirit of activity and industry
RO!lERT MOFFAT.
Their lives were such as one would expect from such people.
They were inveterate thieves, robbing the missionaries of the very
necessaries of life, and frequently reducing them to extremities of
need. They took a savage delight in destroying all the efforts of
the Moffats to improve the condition of this sterile and inhospitable region. Their hostility to the new faith was implacable.
They disturbed the worship by shouting, singing-and snoring !
They used to say frankly that they were quite sure the missionaries had done something wrong in their own country and were
afraid to go back, otherwise they would never endure such a life
as they were made to lead. Their superstitions had great power
over them. In that " dry and thirsty land where no water was,"
the prestige of so-called rain-makers was immense. One of the
most remarkable of these men was called in by the king, Mothibi,
in the early days of Moffat's settlement. This man did all he
could to impose upon the people, and delude them until, as he
hoped, rain should appear. He proposed to them all kinds of
difficult enterprises, promising them that if these were done rain
would follow. Now it was a young baboon that was to be caught
alive. When thil?' was procured and nothing came of it, he demanded the heart of a lion, and so on. At last the incensed
people began to plot his destruction, and he was only saved by
the intrepidity of Moffat, who went into th,e council, summoned to
deliberate on the method of the rain-maker's murder, and begged
tl;lat he might be sent away alive. Soon after this another council
was held by the people. Thi~ time the proposal was to compel
the missioflaries to withdra~. The chief with some followers
waited on them, and, with raised spears, warned them that they
must take their departure at once. Mrs. Moffat stood by her
husband's side holding a baby i'u her arms. The answer of
the missionaries fairly staggered the chief. They said, " If you
are resolved to rid yourselves of us~ you must resort to stronger
methods, for our hearts are with you." So overcome were the
natives by this calm resolution that'' the chief man said to the
others, "These men must have ten lives when they are so fearless of death; there must be something in immortality." They
went away, and the rnission continued.
The year 1823 proved a memorable one in many ways. At
that time the country round Kuruman was being overrun by
vast hordes of people known as the Mantatees, who seem to
have overwhelmed many tribes by sheer force of numbers, anti
SOUTH ArRICA.
and their use thus postponed for a long time. Yet, undeterred
by this accumulation of trials and disappointments, the missionaries steadfastly continued the work, and prayed for the dawn of
a brighter day.
journey to the Matabele king, Mosilikatse, the father of Lobengula. This famous chief had sent envoys to Kuruman to learn
the doings of the white men there; and subsequently Moffat
accompanied them back to their country. The journey in those
days was a very arduous and perilous one. All kinds of wild
beasts abounded. Indeed, the dangers of such expeditions are
well illustrated by some incidents in Moffat's life. On one occasion he walked right up to a lion, thinking it to be part of a rock,
and barely escaped with his life. On another occasion, looking
up, he saw a tiger-cat preparing to spring at him. Stepping hastily
back, he trod on a cobra, which instantly wrapped itself round
him. He had presence of mind to raise his gun, and just as the
venomous beast was preparing to strike its fangs into him he
shot it over his shoulder, and it fell dead. It needed a cool
head, a quick eye and hand, and a very bold heart to be a
pioneer missionary in these savage parts.
The king of the Matabele entertained Moffat royally, and the
missionary was struck with the perfect despotism of this man-a
despotism often cruelly exercised. After some sojourn with the
king, Moffat returned home; but he subsequently visited Mosilikatse's court on more than one occasion : and his great influence
with this chief became the means in future years of opening up
a mission among the Matabele.
In r838, the translation of the New Testament being complete,
Moffat and his wife went to Cape Town to see it through the
press. Finding difficulty there, they resolved to return to England
and have it printed in London. This they did, to the joy of
great numbers of people who had followed sympathetically the
course of their romantic and devoted life in Bechuanaland.
Their stay in England was prolonged beyond their intentions, for
Robert Moffat wrote his well-known book on " Missionary
Labours in South Africa," and travelled over the land, rousing
everywhere great enthusiasm for the missionary cause. They were
not to go back without helpers. Indeed, in 184o, and before Robert
and Mary Moffat were able to return, two young men sailed for
Africa to reinforce the workers at Kuruman. One of the two
was William Ross. The other was David Livingstone.
Its Population and Early Missions-William Carey- Mr. Forsyth at Chinsurah
-Hostility of Government- Mr. Ringeltaube in South India-" The
Land of Charity "-Ringeltanbe at Meilady-Spread of ChristianityRingeltaube's Disappearance-Work at Vizagapatam-Heathen Practices
-Anandarayer and his Story-Educational Work at Chinsurah-A
Start at Calcutta-Union Chapel-The First Girls' School in IndiaVil!age Work near Calcutta-\Vork in Madras-Rev. Richard KnillProsperity at Travancore-A Great Chapel-Mr. Hands at Bellary-A
Remarkable Conversion-A Start at Dangalore -Missionary SufferingsSummary.
more than fifteen centuries ago. Alike in its faith and order, it
suggests a compromise between Protestantism and Catholicism.
More than one pope has endeavoured to capture it, but the
attempts have never been wholly successful, and those who know
it best to-day speak of reforms that are advancing within it,
entered. The Christian message arrested him.
He listened
eagerly, and at the close of the service possessed himself of some
Christian books, with which. he set off across the hills back to his
native village. There he built a small hut, "which he set apart
to the worship of the true God<' This was the event which
decided Mr. Ringeltaube. In r8o6 he took passage to Tuticorin,
and began an evangelistic tour. He had written a letter at an
l;:!ar!ier date to the Directors, in which he said, " I am one of the
greatest cowards that ever went forth shod with the preparation
of the Gospel ; " but certainly the sacred enthusiasm that filled him
cast out the fear of dangers. He seems to have travelled more
than a thousand miles, preaching and baptizing as he went. He
passed through regions where the tiger and the wild elephant
have their home, while every variety of poisonous snake abounds.
His companions, however, seem to have suffered more through
fear of the Brahmins, the high, priestly caste in whose power
all the people practically lay, and who were, of course, fiercely
opposed to Christianity. Sometimes he would be ordered by
the magistrate to move on, or else the god of the place would
refuse to eat ! It was explained to him, at another time, that no
church could be built, because the whole country belonged to the
Brahmins. Indeed, the bane of Southern India has been the
despotism of this priestly aristocracy. Members of the poor
slave-castes must not approach nearer than ninety paces to a
Brahmin, but must cry out from a distance whenever a Brahmin
approaches. They cannot consequently enter the towns, but
have to do what work they can in the rice-fields. Everything
that the low-caste man touches is defiled. All the laws are
made in the interest of the Brahmins. Their crimes are most
leniently punished, but any crimes against them are dealt with in
the severest fashion. Indeed, Travancore is called the " Land
of Charity," because of the enormous revenues which the Brahminical priestly order receives. The theory is that in reality everything belongs to them; and whatever others use and enjoy, they
do so by the mercy and indulgence of the Brahmins. So great
is their love of dignity, that missionaries have been subjected to
great indignities because they did not leave the road on which
they were travelling and walk in the mud, or into the bushes,
when a Brahmin approached.
Finding that, at that time, no settlement could be made in
Trevandrum, the capital of Travancore, Ringeltaube betook himself to the province of Tinnevelly. In this part the Society for
the Promotion of Christian Knowledge had a number of native
agents at work, and some s,ooo Christian converts. Ringeltaube
entered into an arrangement by which he should help in this
work, and at the same time collect other congregations for which
the L.M.S. should be responsible. For a time he took up his
headquarters at Palamcotta. This was about sixty miles from
the town of Meilady, from which Maha Rasan had made his
pilgrimage in search of spiritual peace. In this latter place the
missionary soon had the satisfaction of baptizing forty persons,
among whom was Maha Rasan himself, the first convert. The
latter was then appointed catechist, and continued a faithful and
consistent worker till his death. He had to endure persecution too, and at one time was compelled to flee to the hills and
hide himself there for some considerable space of time. It is
exceedingly interesting to know that his grandson was ordained
to the native ministry in r866, and was for twenty years "the respected and efficient pastor of the church at Dennispuram."
At Meilady, Ringeltaube built the first L. M.S. chapel in this
province. He himself lived in a small native hut, and, we are
told, "the sole articles of furniture were a rude table, two stools,
and a cot " ; yet here he took in and trained two young men "of
piety and talent," to be the nucleus of a native ministry. His
work was interrupted by a war between the British and the
Travancore people in r8o8 and r8o9; but in r8ro he again
resumed work in earnest at Meilady, and soon six stations had
been formed in connection with this prosperous mission. In
r8ro he baptized more than zoo people, and in r8n he baptized
400 more, doing his best to select carefully those whose lives
bore witness to a change of heart. He tried also to associate
with the Christian communities all those who were sufficiently in
earnest to break with their distinctively heathen habits, and to
put themselves under Christian influence and teaching. Thus
invaluable helper of the missionaries, and their frequent companion in missionary journeyings. Their work consisted in
preaching to the English population as well as the natives,
translating the Scriptures into Telugu, and establishing schools.
In all these branches of work they were most assiduous, and yet
we have to chronicle the fact that thirty years passed before one
single convert was made. It must be left tQ others to criticise
the methods employed, and to contrast this barrenness with the
fertility of Travancore. No one would ever dream of accusing the
workers of lack of energy and earnestness. The school work
flourished. In 1827 there were over five hundred children under
instruction in twelve schools, and yet the positive spiritual result
seemed so small. Mr. Cran died in 18og, and Mr. Des Granges
in the year following. The scene when the latter lay dying was
very affecting.
Anandarayer, who was devoted to Mr. Des
Granges, was utterly overcome, and entreated the missionary to
" pray to Jesus " for His blessing upon all assembled. The
dying man did so; after which the Brahmin earnestly assured
him that he would not leave Vizagapatam, but would go on
translating the Old and New Testaments. "In the place where
you die, I will die," he said. He then knelt by the bedside, and
Mr. Des Granges passed away, with his hands on the young convert's head.
At the very time when this pathetic scene was taking place, the
Rev. R. May was passing on his way to succeed Mr. Forsyth,
near Calcutta. The latter's steady work had not produced
great results, but had doubtless prepared the way. Mr. .Ma:y was
an educational enthusiast. He went straight for the children.
He naturally argued that to bring different castes together in the
same class-room, and subject them to the same wholesome discipline, would, in itself, tell in the long run for the breaking down
of these barriers. Moreover, the child-mind was susceptible of
good Christian influences. Mr. May aimed at winning young
India for Christ Grants in aid of his schools were obtained
from the Government, and in the short period of four years he
was able to report that he had organized no fewer than thirty
schools, and had two thousand six hundred children under in-
ments of our missions were made, it passed into the hands of the
Free Church of Scotland. This was in 1849, and tens of
thousands must have received their first impressions of Christianity, and experienced the power of Christian influence, during
the years when our missionaries laboured at Chinsurah. We
have a larger field of work to occupy now~a ueld which demand's
steady concentration of purpose. Chinsurah was merely an outpost, from which it was hoped to attack the capital. To get a
strong hold on the metropolis is a powerful assistance to Christian
work among any people. Paul was eager to go to Rome. In
working for India, the Missionary Society was anxious to get a
footing in Calcutta.
In the autumn of x8x6, two missionaries landed at Calcutta to
undertake a twofold work-the provision of Christian worship
and instruction for the English population, and also the establishment of mission stations for the natives. These two were Henry
Townley and James Keith. They were both able men, and Mr.
Townley had been well known as a popular minister in London.
The little Freemasons' Hall, where they began to work, was soon
too small for the congregations that assembled. There were by
this time, in Calcutta, many educated Hindus who could understand English, and it was no uncommon sight to see a large
number of these assembling to listen to what the Christian
missionary had to say. The atrocious cruelties, that were ot daily
perpetration in India at this time, stirred the hearts of these
missionaries very deeply. The banks of the river were the scenes
.1f horrible sights. The sick and infirm were often carried there
when the tide was low, their mouths and ears filled with mud, and
thus left to a lingering death as the tide returned and crept up,
inch by inch, around them. Little girl-children also were frequently exposed to death in the same, or equally cruel, ways.
Widows were constantly drugged, or intoxicated, and then bound
upon their husbands' pyres, and thus destroyed ; while human
sacrifices to the various gods were by no means infrequent. These
were the fruits of Hinduism. Surely it was little wonder that a
deep sense of the urgency and responsibility of their work should
make itself felt in all their letters home, as well as in their
l'ILGRI.MS ON
T ilt-~
the L.M.S. for this special work. She not only personally
superintended the schools, but defrayed the entire expenses
connected with them. Her name was Miss Piffard, and her
brother, with similar devotedness and generosity, gave his
services to the mission; and for fifteen years, from 1825 to 1840,
laboured at his own charges in connection with our Society in
Reference has already been made to the fact that mission
stations, to the number of twenty-one, already existed in parts of
Calcutta, and in the neighbouring villages. This work among the
villagers has grown to be a very important and successful part of
our North India work, and it has been most attractively described
by the Rev. W. Johnson, B.A., in his interesting book, "City,
Rice-Swamp, and Hill." The village consists, as a rule, of a
cluster of thatched huts in the midst of watery fields. The
chapel is built of bamboos matted together for the sides, the roof
being thatched with the same material. Trunks of palm-trees
form the pillars. Instrumental music is in vogue, though it is of
a somewhat primitive order, consisting of a tom-tom and a pair
of cymbals. Despite the obvious deficiencies of this "band,"
the singing, we are assured, makes up for any lack of accuracy by
force of lung. The collection is taken partly on a plate, and
partly in a basket. The reason for this latter arrangement is, of
course, that where money is scarce, produce is freely given, and
eggs, rice, fruit, and so on, are put into the collecting-basket,
which one would imagine must be carefully carried, and must
sometim~s need quite a stalwart deacon for the purpose. The
peasant people arrive from the villages scattered about the ricefields, and the little chapel is crowded with a hearty and reverent
congregation. The story of how this work began in one of these
villages-Rammakalchoke--is so striking that it must be told
here. It belongs to the year 1825. At that time we had an
able and good missionary in Calcutta, by name Mr. Trawin,
whose wife su-perintended one of the first girls' schools in the
capital. At the market-place of Chitla, where the villagers come
in great numbers to dispose of their grain and fish, our missioniuies had built a rude shed, ancl were accustomed to preach
~ y
.... -
~~ o
, li
Knill, whose service in India was all too short, owing to his health,
and who afterwards did distinguished work in St. Petershurg,
was a man of very ardent temperament, and, at the same time, of
great tact and wit. He was a most intrepid missionary, and the
geniality of the man won him warm friends, even among those
who had no great sympathy with his work. Carrying with him
a letter of introduction to the captain of a regiment stationed at
Madras, the latter promised himself much amusement from the
society of a missionary, and boasted of his intention to corrupt
him by making him drunk. The evening for the feast was
Those who
arranged, and Knill accepted the invitation.
assembled to laugh at the missionary, however, found the tables
completely turned against them. Resolutely refusing their wine,
he began to entertain them with missionary stories, most interestingly related. Then he rubbed in an application. " Gentlemen," he said, "we are about to build a girls' school in Black
Town. I propose that you become the first contributors. Give
me something for a foundation stone." His pluck and earnestness won their admiration. Shortly afterwards, he returned to
Mr. Loveless's house, in the captain's palanquin, with fifteen
pounds in his pocket for the girls' school. The captain, too,
and many of the officers came to the chapel from that day.
In any record of these early years of the Madras mission, it
should be said that Mr. Loveless, like Mr. Forsyth, Mr. Townley,
andMr. and Miss Piffard, received no salary from the Society,
but gave his services to the mission. Mr. and Mrs. Loveless
would have Knill to live with them, and charged him so little,
that he says simply, "I was enabled, with my salary, to support
seven native schools." Such glimpses as these of the great
devotion and generosity of the missionaries are frequent all
through the history of the L.M.S.
After two years of incessant activity, Mr. Knill broke down
hopelessly. The doctors did not think he could live anywhere;
but he was resolved to try Travancore, and set out to visit Mr.
Mead, who was settled at Nagercoil, and had recently been
Mr. Mead had come to South India
bereaved of his wife.
to take up the work ~o strikingly begun, and so strangely
left, by Ringeltaube.
Nagercoil, where he and Knill now
established themselves, was only four miles from Meilady.
Colonel Munro, the British Resident, was, 'ortunately for the
mission, a great believer in Christian work, and his influence was
invariably given to help it forward. To what extent the people
were decided as to their attitude towards Christianity by the hope
of winning favour from the political authorities, it is difficult to
say. Certainly, however, the flowing tide was with the missionaries. The results were so large as to start inquiry as to their
In the course of two years from the time of
Mead's advent, 3,ooo people, mainly of the Shanar caste, placed
themselves under Christian instruction, and renounced their old
idolatries. The missionaries seem to have acted with great discretion. They did not discourage the movement; but they
carefully tested those who were candidates for baptism. The
rapid growth of the work demanded accessions to the native
mm1stry. New teachers and catechists were trained. The outstations were earnestly calling for instruction. It was a time of
grave anxiety, mingled with holy joy. One plan laid hold of the
reason and imagination of the missionaries. The little chapel at
Nagercoil must give way to a much larger structure. Then, as
the neighbouring villagers flocked in to learn the Word, they could
be assembled in larger numbers. But how to erect such a place
-that was the crux. The stones necessary were on the mountains, the trees in the forests. They could not be transported
to Nagercoil without very great labour. One day, Mr. Knill
noticed "a huge elephant feeding, with his keeper, near a temple."
The keeper told him that the elephant belonged to the goddess
who lived in the temple. "What does the goddess do with the
elephant?" "She rides upon him twice a year at the processions."
Mr. Knill ventured to think that this elephant had clearly not
enough to do. So he applied, through the Resident, to the
Queen for permission to use the animal, and was told that if he
would feed the elephant and pay the keeper, he might do so.
The goddess does. not seem to have been consulted. However,
the arrangement was excellent, and the elephant made no objection to drawing stones and wood for the Christian temple.
Mr. Knill laid the foundation stone, but left before the building
was finished. Indeed, it took some years to complete. It holds
z,ooo persons, and is invaluable for large representative assemblies
of Christians in South India.
Madras and superintended the printing ot the Canarese Scriptures. He had not been able to get permission to set up the
press in Bellary, nor was he able to do so for another seven
years ; but the work of translation had been perseveringly
prosecuted, and now at last he was able to offer the complete
Scriptures to his beloved Canarese. It is sometimes said that
the high-caste Indians are least sensitive to the Gospel. Yet
Mr. Hands' first convert was a Brahmin ; and he was succeeded
by "two Rajpoots who had been in the service of Hyder Ali and
Tippoo Sahib." It was in 182o that Mr. Reeve, associated at
this time with Mr. Hands, first heard a wonderful history of the
effect of a copy of the Scriptures on a young Hindu. This
man was servant to an Englishman who travelled considerably in
India. In a village called Matne this Hindu servant found a
mutilated Bible under a tree. The book contained the four
Gospels, and the reading of them created in the mind of the man
an intense desire to know more. At Seringapatam he received
from the Catholics a few books and tracts. At Poonah he had
so far experienced the truth of Christianity, that he made himself
a missionary to the servants of other European gentlemen. The
movement spread, and a Catholic priest was approached, who
conferred the rite of baptism on seventeen of the company.
Before this Christian Hindu left Poonah, thirty-four natives had
joined the little band of Christians. His next settlement was at
Mysore, and here he continued his missionary work. Now, for
the first time, he saw a complete copy of the Scriptures. Three
Catholics, one of whom had been a catechist, joined him in
Then persecution began. The
forming a Christian society.
Catholics roughly attacked and ill-treated this handful of worshippers. They were obliged to seek protection from the
authorities. Eight of their number remained firm through all
troubles, but he writes that twenty-three others would have joined
them, but held back in fear. Hearing of the Bellary mission, he
made known his whole history to the missionaries, and received
instruction and help from them. One very remarkable feature
in his work was that he had actually started a charity school, and
with his fellows had built a rude house of prayer, where they
might worship the true God. Thus, all unknown to the missionaries, who were labouring on in faith through apparently fruitless
days, the Gospel had been spreading in many places, and the
Spirit of God had been leading the minds of men into the
Away in the north-west corner of India lies the town of
Surat, and here for thirty years, from I8I6-1846, a singularly
active mission was maintained, mainly by two indefatigable
brothers, William and Alexander Fyvie. William Fyvie stood
to his post through all the thirty years : his brother died on the
field. Perhaps the greatest achievement of the Surat missionaries
was the translation of the Bible into the Gujarati language.
The translation. bore the names of Messrs. Fyvie and Skinner,
and was extensively circulated. Mr. Skinner, who died at Surat
in 1821, went to Bombay and learned printing, in order that he
might superintend the press department of the mission. He did
not live long to serve Christ thus, but his work was not lost. For
years the accounts of the publications that were issued from the
Surat press remind us of the Serampore reports, or, in another
field, the industry of Dr. Medhurst and Robert Morrison. In
1847, the Surat mission was transferred to the Irish Presbyterians ; and our workers settled elsewhere.
During the year 182o, two of our missionaries took up their
position at Bangalore, south of Bellary. The mission here did
not succeed very well at first, the missionaries apparently being
bent on establishing a project for which events were not yet ripe
-a great English college in Bangalore, with professors in theology, literature, science, and so on. Great rivers usually grow
from small sources, and increase in volume and power as they
progress. Instead of quietly setting to work at the somewhat
prosaic routine duties of missionary life, and seeking gradually to
make their way towards the great conception which they had
formed, they grew impatient, came home to collect funds, failed
to elicit a response, and gave up the work. In 1827 Mr. Reeve,
whom we have already met at Bellary, went to Bangalore, and a
real start was made. Mr. Reeve is well known for his monumental work, "A Canarese and English Dictionary." The mission,
China and the Chinese-Robert Morrison-Lands in China-Hardships of
his Position-Marriage and Commercial Appointment- Works at a
Chinese Dictionary- Translation of the Bible-Government Decree
against Morrison-Robert Milne's Arrival-Milne's Travels-The First
Chine,;e Convert-The Ultra-Ganges Mission-An Anglo-Chinese Col
lege- New Stations-Literary Work -Morrison visits England- The
Opium Trade-Morrison's Press suppressed-Morrison's Death-Mission
to the Mongols-The Mission stamped out.
struggled on, labouring amid untold trials at his Chinese dictionary, and even in his private prayers pouring out his soul to
God in broken Chinese, that h~ might master the native tongue.
So much of a recluse had he become, through fear of being
ordered away by the authorities, that his health greatly suffered,
and he could with difficulty walk across his narrow room. But
he toiled on. He has been criticised for timidity. It has been
But probably we
said he had fortitude but not enterprise.
cannot realize, as he did, on how delicate a thread his whole
mission was, as it were, dependent. It was jealousy for his great
work that made him so guarded in all his movements, and not
fear of the consequences to himself.
We get a glimpse of Morrison in one of his miserable habitations, trying to instruct three wild and unruly Chinese lads, whom
he had gathered there, partly to teach them, and partly to learn
from them. The lads evidently enjoyed the proceedings more
than Morrison did. They were absolutely ungovernable, and
ended up by slitting his coat, and using him so badly that he was
obliged to run out for assistance. This mild, studious, learned
English gentleman was evidently no match for a party of Chinese
street-lads, who had no sense of the shamefulness of maltreating
one who was acting a friendly part towards them. The scene is
slight enough; but it shows us how Morrison strove to establish
relations between himself and the people, and how his efforts too
often resulted. The fact is, he was admirably suited to do the
scholarly work of a mission, but he had not the popular gifts that
would have made him a successful teacher and preacher.
Relief came to him in r8o9 in a twofold way. First of all, he
was married to Miss Morton, the daughter of an English resident
at Macao; and, secondly, he was engaged by the East India
Company as Chinese translator with a salary of soo a year.
This post afforded him, what most he needed, some real security
that he would be allowed to continue at his work. He had now
a definite commercial appointment, and it was one which in no
way hindered the prosecution of the mission, which always stood
first in his thoughts. Indeed, it was a great advantage to him.
The daily work of translation for the Company assisted him in
their simple service of faith and love, a note was brought to them
to say that Mr. and Mrs. Milne had landed. It was a time of
singular agitation. Mr. Morrison used all his influence with those
in whose hands the decision lay as to whether Mr. Milne should be
allowed to remain. Five days after the new-comers had arrived, a
sergeant was sent from the Governor'to Mr. Morrison's house, who
summoned Morrison before his Excellency. The decision was
short and stern: Mr. Milne must leave in eight days. Not only
had the Chinese vehemently opposed his settlement, but the
Roman Catholics were not one whit behind them in urging that
he be sent away. From the English residents at Macao, Morrison
received no assistance either; for they feared lest, if any complications arose through Morrison, their commercial interests might be
prejudiced. For the present Mr. and Mrs. Milne went on to
Canton, where the Morrisons followed them ; and soon both
families were established in that city, waiting the next move of the
A word may here be said as to these new missionaries. Robert
Milne was, in many ways, admirably adapted to be Morrison's
associate. Not only did he thoroughly appreciate the peculiar
work that the latter was doing, but there was in his own lively and
eager temperament an element of enterprise less apparent in
Morrison. After six years of literary labours, the time had come
for a new move. The dissemination of the printed message had
to be attempted, and the planting of new stations faced. :-.filne
was an invaluable coadjutor from this point of view; and his brave
and cultured young wife was prepared to encounter any hardship and isolation, in the interests of the ext~nsion of the work.
To Milne the intense application to the language for the first few
months, the purely sedentary life, the sacrifice of the more active
business of preaching and visiting to the mastering of his task like
a schoolboy, must have been a trying experience. All Chinese
missionaries have sympathised with his amusing description of
what .he endured. "To acquire the Chinese," he writes, "is a
work for men with bodies of brass, lungs of steel, beads of oak,
hands of spring-steel, eyes of eagles, hearts of apostles, memories
of angels, and lives of Methuselah ! "
ary ardour. Throug'1 all that vast tract of country, and among
that innumerable population, there was not one solitary Protestant
missionary station.
Another accomplishment of Morrison's, in which he proved
himself emphatically a pioneer, was his establishment of a dispensary, where native diseases might be treated more humanely
and effectively than was customary in China. Indeed, Morrison
was profoundly stirred by the misery, the poverty, and the unnecessary suffering of the Chinese poor. These ignorant people
were constantly persuaded to expend their all on drugs and herbs
that were absolutely useless. The apothecaries of the place thus
throve, while the poor wretches who bought their medicines were
impoverished and often poisoned. Dr. Morrison sought out an
intelligent and skilful Chinese practitioner, and placed him at the
head of his dispensary. This man, who had learned the main
principles of European treatment, received great help from Dr.
Livingstone, a friend of Morrison's, who was much interested in
this attempt to alleviate the sufferings of the poorer Chinese.
As if his manifold activities in China were not sufficient to
occupy him, Dr. Morrison began to propound and formulate an
even more interesting and important scheme. This was, in brief,
to build at Malacca what he called an "Anglo-Chinese College."
Let us see what his object was in such a proposal. It was to
introduce the East to the West, and the West to the East; in
other words, to mediate between the two civilizations, and thus
to prepare the way for the quiet and peaceful dissemination of
Christian thought in China. The idea fired him with enthusiasm.
He wrote home, urging the friends of China to take it up. Here,
he said in effect, is a language which is the speech of something
like one-third of all our species. Tens of thousands of English
boys and girls are ~ducated to know dead languages. Surely
some may be found to learn this living one, and hence be enabled
to make known the Christian faith to the many lands where
Chinese is spoken. The college was to be open to all Chinese
students of European literature, and European students of
Chinese. Our missionaries, as they came out to the field, would
learn in the college the language in which they were to preach.
lation with new officials, some of whom had the slightest respect
for the calling of the missionary, and were inclined to assume
a high hand, until Morrison's threat to resign induced a more
respectful temper. The relations, too, between the English
traders and the Chinese officials were daily becoming more
strained. Morrison strongly disapproved of much of the correspondence which it fell to his lot to conduct with the native
mandarins. Clouds were gathering, which were to break in a few
years' time. There were grave faults on both sides. The
officiousness and tyranny of the mandarins were hard to bear,
but on the English rested the more grievous responsibility of
resolving to force a trade in opium on the Chinese people. War
would come later, and might would be on the side of England,
and right on the side of China. The whole future of missions
would be prejudiced by this awful mistake. The ports would be
opened to opium first, to Christianity second. No one can tell
how vastly the difficulty of evangelizing China has been increased
by this policy.
These, then, were dark days, full of sad apprehensions of
trouble to come. But they were not without light. On Morrison's visit to England, he had been able to leave a Chinese native
teacher, Leang-Afa, one of Dr. Milne's converts, to carry on what
work he could among the people. This man had already endured
much for his faith, and he proved entirely consistent and earnest
during the long period of Morrison's absence. Other native
Christians were baptized ; and the little Church grew, while at the
same time it was well known that many believed in secret, who
did not dare to challenge persecution and ostracism by public
confession. American missionaries were sent to help Morrison,
and more Christian publications were issued. It is a very touching and beautiful fact that this learned and cultured man
welcomed the arrival of the Americans, because they could
conduct the service for English residents, and set him free to
preach and talk to the poor Chinamen who could be gathered
together to listen to the Gospel. In 1832 Morrison could write:
"There is now in Canton a state of society, in respect of Chinese,
totally different from what I found in 1807. Chinese scholars,
of the great Lake Baikal, and near the boundary that divides
Siberia from Mongolia, Russian territory from Chinese. The
missionaries were the Rev. E. Stallybrass, the Rev. W. Swan, and
the Rev. R. Yuille. The mission was begun in the years r8qr8. When James Gilmour visited Selenginsk and Onagen Dome
in 187 r, he found the graves of Mr. Yuille, Mrs. Yuille, and two
of their children, and the two wives and one of the children of
Mr. Stallybrass.
These graves are almost the only outward
memorial to-day of this gallant attempt to evangelize the Buriats.
The mission was founded on Russian territory because of the
advantage which was supposed to be derived from the Imperial
patronage of the Russian Emperor. I.ts members had, perhaps,
better have thrown themselves on the tender mercies of China. Ir,
some obscure part of Mongolia they might possibly have laboured
undisturbed. In Selenginsk they owed existence to the favour
of the Russian Etpperor, and they had to disappear at the motion
of his hand. State patronage is always a perilous thing. It was
deemed auspicious that the Emperor assigned a grant of land to
the mission, and gave 7,ooo roubles for the erection of mission
buildings ; but it placed the station more in his hands than it
would have been had it heen independent of royal support and
The isolation of missionaries in the very centre of Northern
Asia was absolute. The Siberia of those days was evidently a
lonesome and dreary land for English men and women. As
Gilmour says : " No telegraphs there, and postal facilities very
meagre." To the Russians, too, they were objects of suspicion
and contempt. That any men and women should really care to
enter into loving and close relations with the despised Buriats
was inconceivable to the Russian mind. But the missionaries
sought t)1e society of the Buriats, and sought but very little the
society of the Russians. It was astounding. The Buriats, who
were Buddhists, found it equally difficult to understand this
intrest of the n1issionaries in them. Naturally impassive and
unemotional, the spectacle of men and women travelling half
ro0und the world in order to bury themselves in a remote corner
of Siberia, frequent dirty .Buriat huts, live among Buriats, and die
among Buriats, in order to teach them a new religion, was beyond
their c~mprehension. It is no wonder if with them, as with the
Russians, surprise ripened into suspicion, and they began to
suggest political motives where religious ones seemed insufficient.
An incidt:nt mentioned by Gilmour must be transcribed, as it
does som.e little justice to one of the many heroines of the mission
field. Here it is. "One of the missionaries, after spending
!Jate ef the Mission-Feeling against it-Action of Mr. Post-John WrayServices for the Slaves-Bethel Chapel built-Opposition-Mission in
Georgetown- Death of Mr. Post-Government Decree-Wray comes to
England-His Success-Cruelty of the Slave System-Wray moves to
Berhice-Hardships of his Position-Hostility of Planters-John Smith
arrives in Demerara-Great Success-Smith's Indictment of SlaveryGovernor Mnrray-Insurrection among thr Slaves-Smith protects the
Manager-Smith's Arrest-Cruel Vengeance on the Slaves-Trial of the
Missionary-Sentenced to Death- Dies in PrisoiJ-Attempt to stamp
out the Mission-Revival and Progress.
lfJ<ITISH GUIANA
to the docks, and found a ship that was to sail, with a cargo of
cotton, for England, in a few days. The captain assured him that
all the berths were choked with cotton-bales, and that he could
not take passengers. Wray replied that he did not want a berth,
but would sleep on the bales. He must go to England at once.
Tne terms were arranged. The missionary returned and announced the tidings to his wife. She at once consented to
remain with her infant child, and take charge of the mission in
her husband's absence. On June 16th, I8ii, John Wray sailed
for England. If Governor Bentinck imagined that he could
intimidate this young missionary, he had evidently reckoned
with the wrong man.
Six weeks among the cotton-bales was probably not the most
congenial position in the world ; but the voyage had to be made
somehow, and "the King's business requireth haste." After a
brief stay at Liverpool, Wray pushed on to London, and easily
enlisted Wilberforce and Stephens on his side. His case was
duly presented and enforced; and he soon had the gratification
of knowing that missionary work in Demerara, and other colonies
where slavery existed, was saved. By Government decree, on all
plantations where the planters offered no objection, the slaves
might meet at any hour between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Sundays,
and between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. on week-days. In six months
from the time of his sailing from Demerara, Wray was back again,
having secured his charter. Governor Bentinck naturally was
not cordial. He had been clearly beaten, and he did not accept
defeat manfully. For some time he made no formal announcement that the former proclamation was withdrawn. But his term
of authority was at an end. In April, I 8 I 2, he was superseded,
and the new Governor was entirely favourable to the missionaries,
and signalised his advent to power by issuing the royal proclamation which Wray had so dearly won for Christian missions a year
before. Mr. Davies now energetically pushed forward his project
for building a chapel in Georgetown. The Governor liberally
subscribed, and many planters, who had been at first suspicious
of the missionary. but who found. as they acknowledged, that his
teaching 'provided them with better workmen, gave freely towards
had not for many years been productive enough to pay expenses.
The condition of the slaves there bad been lamentable, many of
them having no clothing at all, and only the most miserable huts
to dwell in. With the awakening of the public conscience to the
condition of the slaves, the Government appointed commissioners
to assume the responsibility for these estates. When we mention
that Mr. Wilberforce and Mr. Stephens were among those
appointed, we shall understand that the outlook was more hopeful.
One of the first proofs that the deepest and truest welfare of the
slaves was to be studied was afforded by an invitation to Mr.
Wray to come to Berbice and start a mission. After laying the
new call before the Directors, Mr. Wray travelled to Berbice, about
seventy miles, to survey the land. The condition of affairs was
very deplorable ; the signs of past neglect were to be seen on every
hand. Still there were many earnest men who besought him to
come, and the slave population seemed disposed to welcome
instruction. Mr. Wray returned to Demerara with the conviction
that God had opened up a new field of work, and that if the
Directors consented it was his duty to go there. The Directors
did consent, and amid great lamentations on the part of the
Demerara converts, Mr. and Mrs. Wray took leave of Le
Resouvenir, and travelled to their new station of New Amsterdam,
Berbice. The little church they were leaving behind now numbered fifty-six members. Mr. Davies was progressing wonderfully
in Georgetown, where not only was the chapel crowded, but a new
work had been started in another district.
The change of sphere involved considerable sacrifice to Mr. and
Mrs. Wray. To begin with, the buildings, ev:en in the towns,
showed painful evidence of the poverty of the colony. The house
where the missionaries were first located had been a butcher's
shop. We are told it was a "hot, leaky, filthy place, infested with
noxious vermin, rats, scorpions, and centipedes." Yet for this
precious tenement they had to pay 1o a month. Fever was
naturally prevalent everywhere ; and as for the mosquitoes, poor
Mr. Wray was always their victim. There were some among the
planters who at once concluded that he had come to make his
fortune if he could, and offe1ed to put him in the way to do so.
As for teaching the slaves, they felt sure he would soon outgrow
that nonsense. There was at this time in New Amsterdam an old
Dutch clergyman, who was himself a slave-holder, and opposed to
the instruction of the slaves. He appears, also, to have objected
to John Wray using a bell to call the people together for worship;
that being a privilege of which he had the monopoly. After the
inspiration of large congregations in Demerara, the work at
Berbice was often discouraging ; and, to crown al!, the whole
system of slavery was verily a perpetual nightmare to a humanhearted Christian missionary. If a slave struck a white servant, he
was liable to have his hand cut off. The whippings at the carttail were so terrible that all sorts of horrible diseases supervened,
and the slaves became not unfrequently covered with festering
sores. Leprosy was not uncommon, and infectious diseases spread
with alarming rapidity. The grossest immorality prevailed ;
indeed, it was encouraged and practised by the whites. Some of
Mr. Wray's exposures of the licentiousness prevalent in Berbice
cannot be reproduced. Amid all this we must try to conceive
a growing fear among the planters lest the negroes, if instructed,
should not long brook the servitude they were subject to. This
created a constant bitterness towards any eager and resolute
missionary, whose heart was in the work of educating the slaves
and giving them spiritual instruction. A new Governor appointed
to Berbice, Governor Murray, sided strongly with the planters,
and expressed to Wray, in no l_l1easured terms, his disapproval
of teaching the slaves.
Wray declined to desist unless he
were forbidden, feeling sure that the commissioners would continue to sanction his work. Governor Murray did not dare to
interfere further, but he soon retired from Berbice to Demerara,
where his ill-advised action resulted in certain deplorable events,
to which we shall come later on in the course of our story.
One difficulty of Wray's new position was that a large number
of the slaves did not know English. They spoke Creole, and
consequently the missionary set himself to learn Creole, and as
soon as he had a good speaking knowledge of it, he began to
translate a catechism and other books into the Creole language.
His school grew, and the work all round was energetically pur-
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sued. Very gratifying, too, was the news from Georgetown, where
more than s,ooo people were now "learning or teaching the
catechism." No successor had yet been found for Le Resouvenir,
and Mr. Davies had to do all he could in the latter sphere as well.
Mr. Wray, too, was not above travelling the seventy miles between
his new station and the old one to encourage and strengthen his
former flock.
The days were full of incident, and the history of the mission
reveals many vicissitudes. Rumours of an insurrection: among
the slaves in West Berbice revived the hostility of the planters
to Christian missions. There was no evidence to show that Mr.
Wray's teaching had been attended by any concerned in the plot,
if plot there were. But his enemies were not over-scrupulous.
Domestic bereavements overtook him, two children being swept
away by fever. He himself and his wife were again and again
prostrated. These are some of the dark features. The bright
ones were the prosperity of the work, despite all obstacles ; the
determination of the slaves to learn while they could, even though
they were told that the colony was about to pass into the hands
of the Dutch, and that all slaves who could read would be
severely punished. The agents, too, sent out by the commissioners were warm friends to Mr. and Mrs. Wray and their work.
Many new districts were explored, and thousands of slaves
in other parts had opportunity of hearing the gospel. Neither
were the Indians forgotten. Steps were taken to open up communication with them in the hope of starting definite missionwork among them in the near future. In r8q John Smith and
his wife arrived to take charge of the Le Resouvenir station.
Mr. Wray was the first to welcome them. He had hardly returned
to his own station when another horrible tragedy occurred in connection with slave-punishment, which stirred him so deeply
that he made a second journey to England to obtain justice. A
poor woman named America, soon to become a mother, was
frightfully beaten. She barely recovered, and the child was dead
when born. No redress could be got at Berbice. Wtay had
tried that method before and failed. He was not going to risk
another failure. His soul was deeply stirred, and carrying the
tragic tale to England, he secured the punishment of the wrongdoer, by a fine of zs and three months' imprisonment. The
moral effect of such a result was far greater than the actual sentence. It made known that the slaves had a friend, and that he
would not carelessly sit by and see them abused.
The arrival of the Rev. John Smith introduces us to a new and
notable personality. Born in a little village near Kettering, he
vassed through an apprenticeship in London; and when his gifts
and desires alike seemed to incline him to the mission field,
he received a classical and theological education at Witham,
Essex, and endeared himself to all by his genial and enthusiastic
character, his industry, and his simplicity. The letters he wrote
home to the Directors reveal, in addition, great powers of observation, and a statesmanlike grasp of facts. Few more scathing
indictments of slavery have been penned than are to be found in
some of those communications from Demerara, in which Smith
sets down the actual conditions of life in that colony. From the
Governor he received precisely the same caution that Wray had
received years before : " If ever you teach a negro to read, I will
banish you from the colony immediately." This was to limit
the missionary's work considerably ; but he frankly accepted
the situation, and the welcome he received from W~ay's old
congregation at Le Resouvenir more than compensated him for
the frowns of the authorities. The congregation had inevitably suffered from the long absence of any recognised pastor.
Soon after Smith's arrival, however, a marked alteration was
noticeable. The chapel was once again crowded to its utmost capacity, and the craving of the people for instruction was
quite pathetic. The slaves would work with touching perseverance and eagerness, if they might get through their task in time
for the prayer-meeting. One of the planters told a slave, that he
found the best way to get anything done quickly was to tell the
negroes that if they did it they might go to pray afterwards.
" Me glad Massa know dat pray do all things," was the negro's
comment to the missionary. Indeed, the candid judgment of
the planter was usually favourable to the mission. The services
were marked by great devoutness and heartiness ; the negroes
came dressed in white, and prayed and sang with evident enjoy.
ment. After some months in his new sphere, Smith was able to
report that he had only heard one single complaint made by any
master or manager in consequence of religion. One master said
he had a slave who was too religious-" not satisfied with being
religious himself, he stays up at night to preach to others."
Smith asked him whether he had any other fault to find with him,
and the master answered emphatically "No," and declared he
would not sell him for 470. The missionacy very fairly concluded that religion had not spoiled this negro.
In r8r9 the number of Church members stood at ro7, an
auxiliary Missionary Society was started, the chapel was repaired
and altered, and the people raised no less than 2 30. The
question may naturally be asked how a slave-population had any
money to contribute. The answer is that most of the slaves were
allowed a bit of ground or garden, which they could cultivate in
their spare hours, if they were not worn out by a heavy day's work.
From the produce of these little allotments, this handsome sum of
money was largely derived ; and Mr. Smith reports that most of
the people were in favour of sending the whole amount to the
Missionary Society, saying they had a chapel of some sort, while
many people had no chapel at all! In rSzo, two influential
planters wrote a letter, expressing great satisfaction with the improvement of the negroes on the Le Resouvenir estate, "cordially
recommending" the planters in the neighbourhood of Clonbrook
to welcome a missionary into that district.
In 1822 Mr. Smith wrote home to England his powerful and
exhaustive description of the Demerara slavery system. The
main points in that splendid letter were as follows : In the colony
there are about 400 slaves to five whites able to bear arms.
The slaves live in huts, that only deserve the name of kennels,
and are turned out at six in the morning by the drivers cracking
their whips as they might at a number of horses or cattle. Work
goes on till six in the evening, and often half through the
night as well. The Sunday rest is not properly observed, as
The slaves work in
they are then employed in other ways.
g:mgs under a bl:1.ck " driver " Punishment consists in a man or
Chapel were ready to do their part. Reed said he was in ignorance of what was meant by this letter; but Mr. Smith sent word
to him at once that he was grieved to find the people meditating
mischief, and besought him to do his utmost to keep the peace.
Later on in the evening, while Mr. a[\d. Mrs. Smith were out on
the estate, sounds of tumult and angry cries were heard near the
manager's house. Inquiry showed that the slaves had risen.
Armed with cutlasses, they had surrounded Mr. Hamilton, the
manager, and were about to put him in the stocks. Mr. Smith
succeeded in prevailing upon them not to injure the manager,
who thanked him warmly for his interposition. On the other
estates similar scenes were being enacted. The military at
Georgetown were despatched wherever the revolt raged most
fiercely. On the Wednesday Mr. Smith received an evening
visit from his deacon Quamina. He expressed the hope that
Quamina had had nothing to do with the rising, but the man was
silent. He had, however, been largely instrumental in protecting
the manager of Success Plantation from hurt.
shortly afterwards he was compelled to fly to the bush, and was
shot down as a runaway slave, and his dead body gibbeted as a
rebel. On the Thursday, as Mr. Smith was writing full particulars to the L.M.S. Secretary, his house was surrounded by soldiers,
and he and his wife were marched off to prison, the reason given
being that when asked to take arms and defend the planters he
had refused, pleading that as a Christian minister he was exempt
from such service.
Leaving the two missionaries in prison, we must just note that
the insurrection was put down with great violence. The main
conflict with the troops was on a plantation called " Bachelor's
Adventure," when 200 negroes were shot. The prisoners were
executed in large numbers, or condemned to receive as many as
r,ooo lashes and to be worked in chains. So frightful was the
vengeance taken that the work of blood had to be stopped by
orders from England. And yet it was abundantly proved that, on
every plantation, the purpose of the blacks had been simply to confine the white men in the stocks until the new law was known.
"We will take no life," exclaimed the negroes on one plantation,
" for our pastors have taught us not to take that which we cannot
give." This had been the teaching of Smith ; and yet, as an
English clergyman boldly said, "he shuddered to think that they
were now seeking the life of the man whose teaching had saved
We have no space to record all the details of the trial of Mr.
Smith. Fortunately there is.no need. He has been amply vindicated by public opinion and the testimony of all who knew him
best. Many of the very slaves who were sworn as witnesses
against him confessed subsequently that they had lied, in the hope
of saving themselves ; and Paris, one of the authors of the plot,
declared that one of the prosecutors had prevailed upon him to
swear to certain false accusations against the missionary. The
evidence was abundant that Mr. Smith had earnestly and systematically discouraged all violence, and had counselled patient
obedience to their masters. He had ~ven offended many. of the
more ardent slaves, and had run the risk of being counted an enemy
of their freedom. But it was all of no avail. Those who tried him
were not over-troubled by scrupulosity. They accused him of
wilfully and deliberately instigating insurrection. There was no
particle of proof that he had done so. There was an enormous
mass of evidence that he had done directly the reverse of this.
Yet the court martial found him guilty, and on November 24th
he was publicly sentenced to be hanged by the neck until he was
dead ; this infamous sentence being followed by a recommendation
to mercy. Well might Mr. Brougham say, in his noble and
impassioned speech on the question in the House of Commons,
" If they had perpetrated this last act-if they had dared to take
this innocen~ man's life, one hair of whose head they durst not
touch-they must themselves have died the death of murderers."
Mr. Smith was now removed to one of the felons' cells in the
common jail. The air of the miserable room where he lay was
vitiated by the odour of stagnant, putrid water under the boards of
the floor. Here he was confined for seven weeks. He had been
ill before the trial, and now close and solitary imprisonment in
thi~ malarious room, as well as the indescribable mental suffering
ari~ing from his recent terrible experience, so aggravated the illness
them to speak what they felt. Women held up their little ones,
crying rapturously, " Free ! Free ! " The masters had in some
parts anticipated that the negroes, feeling their new power, would
indulge in measures of retaliation against them. Disturbances
were feared. The panic was perfectly groundless. Tens of
thousands of happy men and women, leading their little children
by the hands, and exulting in the strange new ~ense of libertythis was the spectacle which British Guiana presented; and no
slavebonds or slave-whips had ever created such a large measure
of content and peace as the Act of Emancipation.
The history that remains of our Guiana mission is a history of
hard work, for the most part of a routine character-teaching,
preaching, catechising, visiting. One of the most interesting
features was the growth of a native ministry. For this John Wray
had long laboured and prayed, and before he died he was permitted to see the first-fruits of his desire. Before 1834 closed,
two native teachers and catechists were solemnly set apart for
their sacred work, and proved exceedingly usefl!l helpers. In
1835 there were six principal stations, and from these mission
The. communicants
stations were being steadily founded.
numbered over six hundred, and six thousand people were under
regular instruction.
sent out to the so-uthern part of the island, and two to the
northern. They were immediately able to report a warRl we:come, an open door, and a most promising, if exacting, field of
enthusiasm which were the best of all evidences that they had in
reality made it their own. If the Churches of England first
taught the Malagasy the privileges of Christian discipleship, they
were soon to be taught in their turn lessons of faith and courage,
patience and fortitude. One of the old hymns used to speak
of those who
"Grow wiser than their teachers are,
And better know the Lord."
read her doom in the queen's eyes. She was taken out to die !
Starving to death, flogging to death, burning by a slow fire, crucifixion-these are but a few of the horrible methods by which
often venial offences were punished. Executions were spectacles
to see which adults and children repaired in great numbers. If
innocent people were not butchered to make a holiday, the
uopulace certainly took holiday to see their fellow-creatures
One more Malagasy custom must be mentioned, because it plays
a prominent part in our mission history. This is the ordeal by
poison. The use of the tangena, as it was called, was so shame
fully frequent that it has been computed that one in every ten of
the population drank it in the course of their lives, and that one
half of those who drank it died. Thus, Mr. Ellis says, three
thousand people perished every year, a sacrifice to this superstition ; for the belief, of course, was that while innocent people
survived the ordeal, it invariably p"roved fatal to the guilty.
At the time when the L.M.S. sent its first missionaries to
Madagascar, that is to say, in 18r8, the country was being ruled by
Radama, who is generally conceded to have been one of the most
enlightened, and, on the whole, one of the most humane rulers
that that land has known. He was a young prince of marked
intelligence, with the genius for government. Probably for the
first time in the history of the country, he had brought Imerina
and other tribes and clans of the Malagasy into nominal subjection to the one central rule. His army was fairly well disciplined
and organized; but apart altogether from the authority of arms,
Radama's personal character gave him a singular ascendency over
the people. His qualities of mind are clearly to be seen in the
sagacity with which he realized the importance of friendly relations
with England, and the introduction of European knowledge and
arts into Madagascar. Unlike many African chieftains, he did
not conceive that he had nothing to learn; but was profoundly
impressed with the advantages of the civilization of the whites.
It is deeply to be deplored that Great Britain in the treaty with
Madagascar, by which the latter undertook to give up the profits
of the slave-trade, pledged herself to supply the Malagasy with arms
As in other foreign mission fields, ignorance of the native language was at first a great obstacle to the work. The Hova dialect
had never existed in written form. There was no alphabet, no grammar, no vocabulary. The missionaries had first to learn to speak
Malagasy, then write it down and reduce it to parts of speech, so
that they could teach the pupils to ~ead and write their own language. But the work did indeed go on. The bright young
scholars were soon deputed by the king to open schools in adjacent villages; and so successful was this policy that a special
training institution for native workers was founded, under the care
of the missionaries. Soon it was reported that two thousand
were under instruction, and growing interest was manifested in the
public services, which the missionaries were now able to conduct
in the native tongue.
In 1826 the printing press was set up in the capital, Antananarivo, amid great rejoicing. New helpers also came to the aid of
the pioneer mission band, which had been thinned by death.
Two years later at the public examination of the schools, most
gratifying progress was observable. There were now thirty-two
schools and four thousand scholars. The principles of Christianity were explained as opportunity arose; and the beginning of this
year, 1828, was signalised by the printing of the first page of a
translation of the Gospel of Luke. The prospect was exceedingly
promising, but a heavy blow was in store for the mission. This
was the death of Radama in July, 1828, his constitution worn
out mainly by excessive indulgence in intemperance and licentiousness.
Still, he had consistently appreciated the public
benefits to be derived from the exertions of the missionaries, and
had afforded them powerful protection and advocacy.
The story of the struggle for the throne strikingly illustrates
the cruelty and callousness that characterize a heathen regime.
For one or two days the fact of the death was concealed, until
measures could be taken to effectually anticipate opposition by
the prqclamation of Rakotobe, the nephew of Radama and his
appointed successor. The delay was itself fatal to its object.
The pews was conveyed to Ranavalona, an ambitious and unscrupulous woman, one of the twelve wives of the late king.
queen, four of them were brave enough to insist that Radama himself had nominated his nephew, Rakotobe, as his successor. It was
enough. They were instantly speared to death; and all opposition
was seen to be useless. With a savagery that could hardly be surpassed, Ranavalona now determined on the extermination of all
possible rivals. Youn~ Rakotobe was the first to perish. He i~
of s:.~ccess. In May, I 8 3 I, twenty-eight of the first Malagasy converts were publicly baptized, and the native Church of. Madagascar began to be. One of the first communicants was a hero of
the subsequent persecution. At his baptism he took the name
of Paul, and having practised in his heathen days the arts of
divination, he was commonly known as Paul the Diviner. If the
Gospel had done nothing more in Madagascar than produce Paul
the Diviner, it could not be said to have failed.
The Church grew : and the character of its members was such
that it became a missionary Church. It was impossible to enjoy
the benefits of Christianity and not desire that others should do
the same. This aggressive spirit, however, was highly distasteful
to the Government ; and now that the impression of European
power, produced. by the French hostilities, had passed away, repressive measures were re-commenced against the native Church.
Orders were issued that no soldier, and no pupil in the schools,
should be baptized or take the Communion. This was the first
sign of the coming storm-the cloud no bigger than a man's hand.
Soon a second edict followed, to the effect that no native should
in future be baptized or receive the Sacrament. A third blow
aimed at the spread of Christianity was a proclamation by the
masters prohibiting their slaves from learning to read. At the
same time, it was easy to trace the bitter feeling of the authorities
against the Christian converts in the trifles that were made the
ground of serious accusations against them. Christianity, too,
was blamed for every misfortune, and the people's minds poisoned
by the suggestion that, but for the missionaries and their teaching,
most of their troubles would disappear.
Yet the school-teaching, at least, went on vigorously, and side
by side with it the distribution of Christian literature. It was
computed, about the year I833, that probably 3o,ooo Malagasy
could read. Large portions of the Bible had been translated,
and printed in the native tongue. Tracts, too, of various kinds,
were being extensively circulated. The readers in this land, it
should be remembered, had no other literature than that supplied
by the missionaries : thus the discussion of Christian truths was
general ; ~nd wherever one man could gather a few together and
ledge." It was not a difficult thing for a suspicious Government to acquaint itself with many crude statements of earnest
hut immature disciples, which could easily be construed into expressions of disloyalty and revolution. In nearly all lands where
despotism prevails, the teaching that there is but one Judge and
one King has aroused the fears and th~ animosities of the earthly
monarch, who fancies his or her prerogatives assailed. It was so
now. Evidence was secretly accumulated which went to show
that the missionaries were disseminators of revolutionary opinions.
Proofs were not lacking that the Christians were disobedient to
some of the settled customs and laws of the land relating to
idolatry. One young man was arrested for not observing an
idol festival. Ordered to drink the tangena, he survived, and
was proclaimed innocent. Such was the joy in the capital at his
deliverance, that large numbers of his fellow-Christians, in white
lambas, went out to meet him, singing as they went. The queen
saw the procession, and demanded the cause of it. She was told:
and her informant added, "You would be surprised at the love
of those pF:Gple for one another ; when any one of them happens
to be in distress, they all feel distress, and when any one is
happy, they are all happy; when any are poor and destitute, they
form a society to assist them." The queen was indignant. " I
am surprised," she said, "to see such things in my country.
Was it not I that ordered him to take the ordeal? and why do
they now make such an exhibition, as if they had overcome an
enemy? All this is intended for me, I suppose!" In this way,
and other ways, her mind was being prepared for the resolution,
which many of her advisers were only too ready to suggest, that
by one dread blow Christianity should be rooted out of the land.
The doctrines with which the Christians were credited, in the
accusations made to the queen, would be luJicrous, if they were
not so calculated to lead to disaster for the men accused of holding them. For instance, one wise counsellor, who had attended
a Christian service in the capacity of spy, returned to the queen,
and solemnly told her that J ehovah had been the first king of
the English, and Jesus Christ, the second; and that the missionaries taught the people to fear J ehovah and obey Christ;
Government, all their servants were made tu drink the tangena,
that it might be known whether or no they were guilty of disaffection. The murderous drug was prepared, and two of those
to whom it was administered died of the effects, while others
suffered cruelly. Later on, the infant child of one of the survivors
was suffocated by the express orders of the queen. These things
were harder for the missionaries to bear than if they themselves
had been called to suffer loss. The consolation which they had
at this time lay in the fidelity of the little native Church, the
members of which, though scattered and suspected, found the
Gospel doubly and trebly precious in these darkening days. At
night, on many a lonely hill, and in many a distant valley, groups
of Christians might have been found, who sang and prayed together, sometimes from dusk till dawn. Secret watchwords, too,
went from mouth to mouth, that they might not betray themselves
unwittingly to their enemies. Jeremiah xxxviii. 15 would be
quoted, "1f I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me
to death ? " to which answer would he made, " So Zedekiah sware
secretly unto Jeremiah saying, As the Lord liveth, that made us
this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee
into the hand of these men that seek thy life." In July, 1836,
finding that all effort to influence the authorities in their favour
was vain, and anxious no longer to be the cause of pain and
suffering to others, Messrs. Johns and Baker left the capital for
the coast. Before leaving, they gathered together many boxes of
Bibles, Testaments, hymn-books, catechisms, tracts, and buried
them in the ground ; and they might have said that they did so
"in sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection," for Madagascar would one day be as eager to receive the Bible as now it
was to destroy and dishonour it. The missionaries having now
departed, the native Christians were left to stand or fall alone.
That the storm which had been hanging over the Christians
was about to break was proved by the arrest of Rafaravavy, just
before the missionaries took their leave of the capital. This remarkable woman, whose rank and wealth gave her no small influence, had been for a long time a convinced believer in Jesus
Christ.' Some years before, she had been as zealous a promoter
message warned them that they were to suffer too, and that the
search for them had begun.
Under cover of evening these
women made their way to the capital, and having to pass the
place of execution, now so sacred, they prayed together and
parted, two of them fleeing into the forest, while Rafaravavy went
on to the city. Having secretly sought out four other Christians
similarly condemned, they determined to fly together, and at the
hour of midnight the five fugitives stole forth from thet city, and
began a journey westward. Making their way by unfrequented
tracks, they arrived in the evening of the following day at Itanimanina, nearly fifty miles from the capital, where Christian
friends afforded them for a time protection and hospitality. As
illustrating the character of two of these fugitives who had been
sold into slavery, their last act before their flight was to gather
together all their master's money, and belongings, that they had
charge of, and commit them to those who would safely restore
everything to the proper owners. The masters were, as may be
imagined, not a little surprised at such honesty in runaway slaves.
The search for them had now begun m earnest, and the queen's
soldiers were out in all directions. It was clear they must frequently change the place of their concealment. Sometimes they
lived in the forest or among the mountains by day, and slept in
some native Christian's house at night. Simeon, a devoted
Christian teacher, lay for days in a sort of rack for cooking
uten~ils, built over the fireplace, and frequently heard references
to himself and his flight, from those who would gladl~ have delivered him up. The house where Rafaravavy lay was once
entered suddenly by a party of soldiers. She had just time to get
under a bedstead and cover herself with matting. The soldiers
demanded her place of concealment, but not finding her in any
room or closet of the house, they finally left disappointed.
The privations and sufferings of these hunted Christians were
often extreme. Food was scarce, and they were continually exposed to the storms and winds, the heat or the cold. Now they
were caught in one of the bogs of the country, now in peril from
the brigands, and now almost fell into the arms of the soldiers.
But they were marvellously preserved. _The native Christians
possible stillness across the beach and entered the boat. They
pushed out into the bay, and were put on board the ship, which at
once stood off from Madagascar and sailed for Mauritius; while, with
mingled smiles and tears, the Christians prayed together and sang
a hymn of deliverance. In r839 they were present in England,
and some of them spoke at a densely-crowded meeting at Exeter
Hall in that year, evoking the utmost sympathy for their persecuted brethren and themselves.
Indeed that sympathy was sorely needed. When the Government discovered that the birds were flown, its fury knew no
bounds. A woman, who was wife to one of the refugees, was
ordered to be flogged until she betrayed her Christian associates.
The punishment was horribly severe, but she made no sign ; and
was beaten until she swooned throug;t pain and loss of blood.
Then she was sold into slavery, and ordered to drink the tangena ;
but she escaped and fled to the forest. The queen now issued an
order that the soldiers should seize every Christian they could
find, and, without trial, bind the.n hand and foot, dig a pit on the
spot, and there pour boiling water upon them and bury them. To
such lengths was the ferocitf of the Government prepared to go !
The Christians fled into the uninhabited waste places, and numbers of them never returned. Some of the letters received from
these hunted men arid women are exceedingly touching. They
asked for the prayers of fellow-Christians in England, and concluded with the words, "and so, farewell, till death."
In May, 1 84o, sixteen Christian fugitives, who had suffered
much while in concealment, were endeavouring to make their
way down to Tamatave in the hope of gaining ship and so escaping. Less fortunate than Rafaravavy and her friends, they were
captured and marched to the capital One of them escaped on
the way, but the rest were kept close prisoners, and, as they steadfastly refused to compromise O!..ners, it was clear that their lives
would be forfeit. While awaiting the day of execution, a young
man succeeded in loosemng his' bonds with his teeth, and he
too escaped and lived to ~ee the dawn of better days. In July
of this year another great council was held, and the queen
announced to the a~sembled multitudes that nine of these
prisoners were to be put to death. Among them were the aged Paul
the Diviner and an equally devoted native teacher called Joshua.
Some of them were too weak to walk to the place of execution,
and so were tied on poles and carried on men's shoulders. But
their faith was not weak. They were all observed to be engaged
in prayer. Some of them seemed full of joy and peace. On the
way, they exhorted the soldiers and the executioners to believe in
Christ. Thus they bore witness to the end and were faithful
unto death. It was noted that the place of execution was named
in the Malagasy tongue, " the village of God."
In the Malagasy "book of martyrs," if it is ever compiled, a
place will be found for two soldiers who about this time, hearing
that some of the people in the Sakalava district to the north-west
were desirous of hearing the Gospel, volunteered to go and teach
them. These two men went from the district of Vonizongo.
They fulfilled their mission and returned home ; were reported to
the authorities, captured, and sent to the capital for trial. They
freely declared the object of their mission to the Sakalava people,
and were in consequence sentenced to die, and sent back to their
own village to be executed. In the public market-place, on
Sunday, June 19th, r842, they were put to death. "Farewell,
beloved friends," they said to those around, " God will cause us
this day to meet with Him in Paradise." The fashion of their
death deeply affected the onlookers.
As this year, r 842, was passing away, another bloody outburst
was reported from the capital. The people of the city discovered,
one morning, a great poster affixed to one of the walls, announcing judgment thus-" Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for ye shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men,
neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in." The queen
was furious. The author was unknown, but a certain Raharo,
and others with him, were arrested. He was ordered to drink
the tangena and died, while two Christians, who tried to save him
from the ordeal, were not only executed, but their bodies were
cut into little pieces and burned. Such exhibitions of wrath
were planned to intimidate the people. They had the contrary
effect. Far and wide the Gospel spread. A way on the hills and
Priests appear at Tahiti-Complications ensue-A French Frigate-The
Queen protests-Samoan Teachers at Tanna-English Missionaries
driven out-Further Attempts in Tanna-A Beginning at Aneityum-A
Presbyterian Mission-Massacre at Futuna-Further Martyrdoms at
Erromanga-Story of the Sandwich Islands-Martyrdom in the Isle of
Pines-Evangelising the Loyalty Group-Pao, the Rarotongan-Great
Success-Appearance of French Priests-Mr. Macfarlane's workAction of the French- Story of Savage Island-The Lagoon IslandsHow the John Wi!!iams was built-The Missionary Ships-The Malua
Institution-Review of Mission Stations-Translations and Revisions.
But such action as was taken by the Roman See in the case of
Tahiti has deservedly exposed her principles and her policy to
the condemnation of the civilized world. Seldom has the contemptible errand of proselytising been pursued by baser methods
of intrigue, or involved the unfortun;,tte victim of a perverted
enthusiasm in more undeserved misery. Seldom has France lent
her authority to a less defensible mission than when she forced
the Romish Church on Tahiti by the menace of her ironclads.
One would gladly pass over the story altogether, if only to avoid
the scandal that must inevitably attach to the fair name of
Christianity ; but it cannot well be omitted from the chronicles
of our South Sea mission work. It appears that in June, 1833, a
decree, confirmed by Pope Leo XII., confided the task of
reducing the isles of the Pacific to obedience to the Papal See
to the Society of Picpus. Three priests of this Society, accompanied by an Irish catechist, by name Colomban Murphy, together
with an apostolic prefect, were appointed for this purpose. With
the exception of one priest, the missioners landed at Akena in
the Gambier's Islands in August, 1834. Meanwhile the remaining priest, Stephen Rouchouse by name, had been consecrated
Vicar Apostolic to Eastern Oceania, and, with six other labourers,
arrived at Akena in May, 1835 A move forward was now made.
Murphy was disguised as a carpenter, and sent in that character
to the Sandwich Islands.
Mr. Ellis has reminded us, with admirable force and point,
that at this time there were almost countless islands in these
seas where the very name of Christ was unknown, and where
the inhabitants were altogether debased by vice and superstition.
On such fields the victories of the Cross were to be won. The
true missionary's work lay there. But to none of these islands
did the new-comers direct their course. On the contrary, they
devoted their energies to destroying the confidence which the
natives, who were just emerging out of barbarism into civilization,
felt for those devoted men who had endured for their sakes indescribable suffering and peril for more than a score of years.
And such was the cruel urgency with which the Roman Catholic
missionaries pursued their purpose, th:lt, not content with spiritual
EXPANSiON IN POLYNESIA
stamp out the intruders. The missionaries soon found themselves in the perilous position of being the practical leaders of a
small party of natives against whom most of the island tribes
were leaguing themselves. The crisis now soon came. \Var was
formally declared against them, and they were helpless. There
was no way of escape open. All t'heir proposals of peace were
rudely rejected; and their handful of supporters began to desert.
At last came the eve of the unequal conflict. Forsaken by their
former friends, they had no alternative but to face the perils of
the treacherous and stormy seas in an open boat and with no
prov1srons. In the dead of night they went down to the shore,
only to find that a strong wind had set into the bay, and the
turbulent head-sea had made escape impossible. There was
nothing for it now but to await with calmness their apparently
inevitable doom. But when the morning broke, after a night of
prayer, they beheld, to their inexpressible relief, a ship! It was
the Highlander, on its way to Samoa, where they were landed in
February, 1843, after no more than six months of labours at
Tanna, into which, however, was crowded more of suffering and
suspense than is given to some men in a lifetime.
Two years elapsed before a fresh attempt was made. The
work had not all fallen to the ground. A Christian party
continued to exist on the island. Not only so, but they made a
point of meeting on the Sunday for prayer and religious conversation. Loss.es among their opponents tended to create among
the superstitious people a reaction in their favour. Calamities
were attributed to the expulsion of the missionaries, as formerly
In 1845, Mr.
they had been attributed to their presence.
Turner again visited the island, news having reached him of
the progress of Christianity. He was cordially welcomed by
many, and, at their urgent request, left with them three Rarotongan and four Samoan teachers. He wrote home to England,
indulging in very bright anticipations of the new mission. But,
alas for our best-founded hopes in dealing with a fickle and
superstitious people such as this ! In less than a year, one of
the teachers, Vasa, had been waylaid and brutally murdered
while returning from the bush, to which he had retired for
prayer ; and, but for the fact that a vessel arrived the next day
EXPANSiON JN PJLYNESL-1
would have shared h1s fate. "Cast down, but not discouraged,"
this was the feeling of these simple-hearted teachers who had
been rescued from almost certain death. So far from abandoning hope of reaching the hearts of the cannibals of Tanna, two
of them remained at the neighl;JOuring island of Aneityum,
awaiting an opportunity to return to the scene of their labour
and peril. In March, 184 7, an opening presented itself, and
they at once obeyed the call, and re-entered the island. Then
for four or five years they manfully stood their ground, in spite
I)[ countless discouragements and open and secret opposition.
Others were sent to join them and strengthen their hands ; and
it seemed as if a real impression were being made at last, when
the old enemy attacked them-disease. This time it was smallpox, and three teachers succumbed in quick succession. Only
one of the teachers survived, and he was one who had gone
back from Aneityum to Tanna in March, 1847, Pita by name.
Alone, or almost alone, in strong Christian convictions, he had
They denow to bear the scorn of his heathen opponents.
manded his expulsion. A few friends rallied round him; but
the fury of h1s savage enemies was growing. Four women of the
native Christian party were barbarously murdered. He would
not thus expose others to such a fate. So once again he said
farewell to Tanna, and withdrew.
Still the Christians on other islands did not despair of Tanna.
It happened that, in 1854, some of the Tannese visited Aneityum,
and saw the marvellous changes consequent on the triumph of
Christianity : especially this one, that the inhabitants now
walked freely and fearlessly about without arms. The visitors
determined to embrace this miracle-working religion, and begged
that teachers might accompany them to their district of Tanna,Juakaraka, on the south-east side.
Two Aneityum teachers
volunteered to go, and thus this stronghold of cannibalism was
occupied again by Christian evangelists. It would not be easy
to exaggerate the pertinacity and intrepidity of men and women
like these. Three other Aneityum teachers followed, and took
up their station twelve miles off, at Port Resolution Bay. "It
should be added,'' wrote the Deputation who reported the settle-
All the latent savagery of the natives was called forth in April,
I847, when a boat, with two white men, drifted on to the island.
One of the whites was at once killed and eaten. The other was
only saved by the gallant protection of a Samoan teacher, named
Mose. Shortly after, the captain and the rest of the crew made
their way to the shore. They were all murdered. Amid such
revolting scenes the teachers had to live and work, thankful for
any slight influence they might exert in restraining the passions of
those among whom they dwelt. Disease further thinned their
ranks, and their lives were repeatedly in peril. The years I 8 5 I
and 1853 were marked by some progress; and at the end of the
latter year, things looked far more promising than they had done
before; the Christian station at Erakor seemed a veritable centre
of light in a land of gross darkness. In November, I853, teachers
were left at Lolopa, and were received with enthusiasm. The
Deputation wrote hopefully, even confidently, to the Directors,
of the prospects of the work at V ate. Nineteen days later, the
little company was massacred, and their bodi.es devoured by the
cannibals of Lolopa. Disease had swept away several teachers at
Erakor ; and the island of which such glowing hopes had so
recently been entertained was abandoned. Yet work had been
done that survived the abandonment. In I858, when the
mission was recommenced, a considerable number was found
confessing Christianity. They had kept up the forms of worship
for four years. New teachers were now introduced, and sin~
then steady progress has been made in the knowledge of Christian
truth, and the practice of Christian morality, at V ate. Thus on
foundations of sacrifice and consecration is the Church of Christ
being builded in the South Seas, as it has been builded everywhere.
Following the line of extension, we must now carry our readers
to the Loyalty Islands and their neighbours, New Caledonia and
the Isle of Pines, which have been, as it were, the gateway to
New Guinea. The good ship Camden, which; in her four or five
years' service in the South Seas, did such memorable pioneer
work, carried Samoan evangelists to the Isle of Pines in 184o,
and to .New Caledonia, the large adJoining island, in 1841. During the latter voyage, two teachers were left on the island of
EXPANS/Od IN POLYNESIA
the evangelistic fire has burned, and who have carried on the
gospel to their neighbours on the great island of New Guinea.
.Mare was not one of the numerous islands where the blood of
Samoan evangelists was shed. The chief, to whose care the
teachers were first committed, lived and died a heathen; but
there was a certain rude honour in the man, and he never betrayed his trust. He defended the Christian pastors through a
season of much unsettlement and frequent fierce conflicts. The
cold-blooded murder of three natives by a party of Europeans
provoked savage retaliation; and when, later on, parties of explorers in search of sandal-wood invaded Mare, the island was
the scene of many a horrible deed of butchery. At such a time
there were those who would have gladly struck down the Samoan
teachers at no more than a signal from the chief; but the old
man kept faith, and the missionaries worked on in safety. When
the chief died, his sons turned eagerly towards the teachers, and
the regeneration of Mare began. The work prospered wonderfully, Christianity laying a strong hold upon the inhabitants of
one side of the island, while the heathen party clung tenaciously
to their ancient customs and practices on the other side. It
must be recorded that Mare has had its martyrs. In the attempt
of the Christians to convert their heathen brethren, two Mare
converts were butchered and devoured by the cannibals among
whom they courageously ventured. At the end of the year 1854
two L.M.S. missionaries, Messrs. Creagh and Jones, settled at
Mare, and were enabled to carry steadily forward, and consolidate, the admirable work done by the Samoan teachers up to
this time.
When we turn to the story of the Lifu mission, which has been
very fully and graphically written by the Rev. S. Macfarlane, we
are introduced at the outset to one of the most remarkable
native missionaries, Pao the Rarotongan, the "apostle of Lifu,"
as Mr. Macfarlane calls him. Pao had made some voyages in
whaling vessels, was naturally of a bold and ardent spirit, to
which considerable native shrewdness and sagacity were added;
and, after a few months at our Rarotongan training institution,
he was lf!ft at Mare to become acquainted with the work of
1 I I F J;,\J\i,ll L
Society's report for 1890 will find that in the Tokelau, Ellice,
and Gilbert groups we have some two thousand Church members and eleven thousand native adherents. As early as I858,
the Revs. G. Stallworthy and G. Gill had visited the Tokelau
islands and left teachers there. Many years passed before they
could be revisited ; and in the meanwhile thP. Peruvian slavers
bore down upon them and carried off large numbers to be sold
into slavery. Disease also had been busy, and the population
had thus greatly diminished. Yet the work of the teachers had
endured through all these afflictions, and a considerable number
of the people had professed Christianity.
Meanwhile a most
remarkable event had led to the evangelisation of the Ellice
group, lying to the north-west of the Tokelau Islands. We have
seen how, on previous occasions, winds and waves have conspired
to spread the GosiJel among the islands of the sea. But there
is no more wonderful instance of this than the one we must now
relate. In I 86 I, nine people from the island of Manihiki, of the
Penrhyn group, set out to sail some thirty miles, in a curious
boat made of two canoes lashed together and covered with a rude
awning made of cocoa-nut leaves. They were not provisioned
for a lengthy voyage, and it remains a marvel how they survived
for eight weeks, and travelled I500 miles! They caught two
sharks and a sea bird, or they must have perished of hunger ;
rain, too, relieved them of thirst. Four of the party were members of the Church ; one of them, Elekana by name, was a
deacon. Driven at length on to an island called Nukulaelae,
which lies about sixty miles from the main group of the Ellice
islands, they were wrecked on a reef, and three of them were
The other six escaped, were kindly received, and
sought to repay their hosts by telling them of Christ. After
some stay, Elekana went on to Samoa; and in 1865, Mr. Murray
sailed for the Ellice group, taking with him several teachers, of
whom Elekana was one. They found, on landing, that the
Peruvian slavers had been here, too, on their diabolical errand.
With characteristic cunning, and a villainy that was simply fiendish,
they had promised the islanders to take them where they might
hear about God and Christ. Trusting in these promises, the
wretched natives went on board the slave-ship, and were immediately clapped under hatches, and carried away across the
sea. Some islands had been almost depopulated. Such raids,
however, only presented a new motive for entering on these fields
of labour, and affording the natives the counsel and protection of
white missionaries. It must be said that to a few of the islands
news of the Gospel had come, and some knowledge of the
changes that had taken place elsewhere in Polynesia.
In one
the singular. discovery was made of a little chapel within which
an English Bible was suspended in a cotton handkerchief. Here
service was regularly held.
The Bible was brought out and
opened before the person appointed to conduct the service. He
could not read it, of course; but in the best way known to him,
he sought to lead the thoughts of the people to the true God.
We cannot wonder that such simple and pathetic efforts to find
God had been rewarded. The history of the mission thus begun
has been singularly interesting and encouraging. In 187o, Mr.
Whitmee, with the aid of Christian interpreters from the Ellice
group, planted Samoan teachers upon the Gilbert group, lying
still further north. Here again, the Gospel laid swift and firm
hold upon the people. From the earliest times the voluntary
offerings nearly sufficed for the sustenance of teachers; and with
real devotion the natives built substantial chapels on the various
islands. For some time the custom has been to visit the stations
annually from Samoa; but it seems probable that an English
missionary will be stationed permanently among these scattered
mission stations.
~TEAMS Hl P
wrecked off Danger Island. All on board were saved, but the
good ship went down into the deep waters, and lies there still.
Captain Turpie sailed 400 miles, in an open boat, to Samoa, to
seek help from thence for the shipwrecked mariners on Danger
Island. Mear:while, the children had kept faith ; year by year
as the money was needed for geFJeral expenses, repairs, and so
on, it was collected. But now, for a new vessel, there was a
greater demand than ever before. Eleven thousand pounds is
not easily raised in pence and small silver, but it was all found
somewhere: and, by the end of r865, the secondJohn Williams,
clipper-rigged and with racing spars, was ready to sail forth on
her short and ill-fated career. A year later, and she was lying a
hopeless wreck on- the reefs of Niue. Once more, however, all
on board were brought off alive. The delay caused by this
disaster was necessarily very serious to many of our stations that
needed constant supervision; but the best arrangements possible
were made until the third John Williams could be built. In
October, r868, she was launched, and for a quarter of a century
has proved nobly equal to the great task she was built to do.
To-day, however, our work has spread itself over a vaster area;
stations are multiplied, and require to be frequently visited;
currents and winds are fickle things out there ; and hence it has
been wisely decided to rely on steam instead of sail. The raising
of funds for the new steamship, the fourth John Williams, and
her launching and trial trip are of such recent date that they are
remembered by all. Captain Turpie has taken charge of the new
ship for her first voyage; 1 after which he proposes to retire and
to deliver the command to Captain Hore, whose work in Central
Great will be the sorrow
Africa we have yet to chronicle.
among the South Sea Islanders when Captain Turpie says goodbye to them ; for he has been in and out among them, through
cloud and sunshine, for nearly forty years, honoured and loved
by all. The seventeen thousand pounds necessary to pay for the
steamship has not been all raised as yet by the children, but so
much has already been found as to leave no doubt that the total
sum will soon be in hand, the result of the indefatigable efforts
of our great armyof juvenile collectors.
1 After safely taking her to Sydney, Captain Turpie was invalided, and
Captain Hore succee<;led him,
thoroughly bad has always been very small; while the heroic
constancy and earnestness of the great majority has been abundantly demonstrated.
The institution at Rarotonga, founded for the same important
purpose of training a native ministry, is even older than that at
Malua, having been started as far back as the year r839- The
Rev. Aaron Buzacott, who was at that time one of our mis-
expedition to New Guinea, the harm done was not great. The
Rev. S. Creagh, of Mare, took his place. At the latter island the
Rev. John Jones worked with praiseworthy devotion for no fewer
than thirty-nine years, and was then, at a few hours' notice,
compelled by the French authorities to leave the island. It is
some little consolation to be assured that they cannot as easily
undo the work of those thirty-nine years ; and that the memory of
this greatly beloved minister will long be held in affectionate
remembrance by the people from whom he was so wantonly
separated. The French Protestant Missionary Society has done
its best, here as elsewhere, to repair the damage done by its
Government, by sending a representative to take up the work
which Mr. Jones is no longer allowed to do.
At Lifu, despite all hindrances, the good work goes on, and
the last report announces that, with the exception of one year,
the contributions to the L.M.S. are higher than ever before. In
concluding our account of the Christianisation of these islands,
let it be said that much of the most stahle and necessary work
does not lend itself to description. We cannot chronicle here
the plodding, patient, per-severing labours, year in and year out,
of many of our most valuable and valued workers.
When a
Church is once founded, it follows much the same course, as a
rule, as a Church in England or elsewhere. It has its seasons
of revival and of apathy, of ingathering and of winnowing. But
it remains through all a centre of light, and faith, and service in
In some of
the particular district where its members dwell.
the groups the number of English missionaries was appreciably
diminished, this being regarded as the first step towards the
true goal-throwing the whole burden and responsibility of the
work upon the people themselves. For this the South Sea
Islands are not yet ripe.
The translations and revisions of the Scriptures have been
many. The Samoan Bible has been revised by competent committees not once, nor twice. The Rev. Aaron Buzacott, a missionary of distinguished character and attainments, revised the
whole Rarotongan Bible. The Rev. W. G. Lawes continued the
work, so memorably begun by the Samoan teacher Paulo, of
translating the Scriptures into the Mohe language for the inhabitants of Niue. The Rev. S. Macfarlane translated and revised
the New Testam<;!nt for his people at Lifu. Mr. Creagh and
Mr. Jones did the same for the natives of Mare. This does not
exhaust by any means the list of similar labours; but the reader
will see that it represents an immense amount of work and careful study. The languages into which these translations were
made had never been reduced to writing before. For many of
the words in the Bible the native tongue contained no accurate
equivalent. The task was, in every case, a prodigious one. The
gain to the work, for all years to come, cannot possibly be exaggerated. We may rest assured that a faith and life built up
on the careful interpretation, and especially on the consistent
practice, of the truths of the Scriptures, will resist the power of
all alien influences to disintegrate and to destroy it.
David Livingstone-Among the Bakwena-A Lion Story-Sechele-Lake
Ngami and Sebituane-The Slave-trade-Journey to Loanda-To the
Mouth of the Zambesi-Later Travels and Death-New Missions and
Old Ones-Tragedy among the Makololo-Mission to the MatabeleAdventures at Shoshong-Sekhome and Khama-Khama's Chieftainship
-Robert Moffat Retires- The Kuruman Institution-Missions Independent-The Tanganyika Mission-Difficulties on the Way-Deaths of :vir.
Thomson and Dr. Mullens-More Losses-The Good News and the
Morning Star-Further Deaths--Murder of Mr. Brooks -Prospects of
need have had no fears. In the splendid history of African exploration there is one name facile princeps-David Livingstone.
He was attracted to the L. M.S., as so many others have been,
by the catholicity of its basis ; it existed "to send neither Epis-
village two half-caste Portuguese who were raiding in the neighbourhood for slave purposes. Shinte was astonished at and
delighted with the magic lantern, and Livingstone had to show his
Scripture slides to hundreds of natives, and repeat, again and
again, the story connected with them. Pushing on now-Livingstone very feeble from fever-they entered the country of another
great chief, Katema, after which food became scarce, and the
difficulties of travel very great. The Chiboques threatened war
with the invaders, but were induced to barter instead, and given
the advantage in the bargain. Then " dense forest and wet,"
Livingstone's fever becoming very violent. To add to his bodily
ills, his riding ox threw him, and he fell on the back of his head,
being also badly kicked on the thigh. He was now "almost
reduced to a skeleton." The men too-or some of them-began
to fear failure, and a mutinous spirit showed itself among the
Batoka. A show of force, however, quelled them : and, on
Livingstone entering his tent, and '' lifting up his heart to Him
who hears the sighing of the soul," the head-man came to say,
" Do not be disheartened : we will never leave you." Then the
others followed. They were all his children, and would die for
him, they said ; so they journeyed on in peace. There were other
perils and discomforts, but at last they made Loanda, Livingstone afflicted now with chronic dysentery, and terribly depressed.
The Makololo were utterly overcome by the sight of the sea.
"All at once the world said to us, ' I am finished ; there is no
more of me,' " was their exclamation. At Loanda, too, they went
to see the Roman Catholic worship, and were surprised at the
ritual. "We saw the white men charming their demons," was
their comment as they came away.
Many friends now pressed upon the great missionary the duty
of recruiting his health by a voyage to England. The Forerunner
was just going with mails, but Livingstone declined all overtures to
leave his faithful Makololo body-guard so far from their home. The
reward of honourable men does not often come as it came in this
instance to the explorer. The Forerunner was lost with all hands,
save one, off Madeira. Livingstone's precious diaries, maps,
letters, all went down with her. It took him six weeks of seden
tary labour to repair the loss; but he just sat down and did it.
It was his way. The march back to Linyanti occupied well-nigh
a year.
Livingstone had now more opportunity to note the
bearing of the geographical and other facts he had observed. He
practically solved the problem as to the great river systems that
had their rise in Central Africa.' At last, amid extraordinary
demonstrations of welcome from his greatly loved Makololo, and
not least from Sekeletu, the missionary and his 'braves," as they
called themselves, marched back into Linyanti; and the way to the
interior, which he had set out to make, was an accomplished
Eight weeks of rest from travel, no more-rest found in doctoring, preaching, and writing letters and despatches ; then the indefatigable pioneer set out again to follow the great Zambesi to
its mouth. On November 3rd, I855, he resumed his travels;
after ten days the Zambesi was reached, and new country entered
upon. The famous Zambesi falls were often spoken of among the
people, and Livingstone pronounced them to be probably the
most marvellous in the world. The great river pours itself into a
narrow fissure, from which five columns of smoke arise-" smoke
that sounds," the natives call it T)1e river is a mile broad, and
leaping down 320 feet, it is contracted into a space of fifteen or
twenty yards of hard basaltic rock. Livingstone called the place
At the junction of the Loangwa and
the "Victoria Falls."
Zambesi rivers, the exploring party was seriously threatened by the
savage tribes on the banks. It seemed as if the travellers must
inevitably be destroyed. "It seems a pity," writes Livingstone
calmly in his diary, " that the facts about the two healthy longitudinal regions should not be known in Christendom. Thy will
be done." Then the same evening follows a pas~age which is
indeed in its simplicity sublime. The necessity of retreat had
forced itself upon him ; the discomfiture of all his plans- and
they were anything but selfish plans. "But Jesus came and said,
All power is given unto Me in Heaven ana in earth. Go ye,
and to, I am with you
therefore, and teach all nations
alway, even unto the end of the world.' It is the word of a
gentleman of the most sacred and strictest honour, and there is
appeal, ~'ear after year, in the heart of London, from the grave of
David Livingstone.
On his return to England at the end of 1856, Livingstone had
an important interview with the Directors, the object of which was
to consider plans for new missions to the interior. "The end of
the geographical feat is but the beginning of the missionary
enterprise," the explorer had said, and the words were well
weighed. The outcome of the conference in question was a
"double-barrelled " resolution, pledging the Society to start one
mission among the Makololo, and one among the Matabele.
Livingstone undertook to introduce the new missionaries to
Sekeletu and the Makololo. Had he been able to do so, one of
the greatest disasters in the Society's history might have been
averted. As Robert Moffat was a persona grata with Mosilikatse,
the Matabele king, it was decided to ask him to introduce the
new missionaries to that capricious despot, and spend a year in
establishing a Matauele mission. The Directors were fully aware
of the severe demand thus made upon the veteran missionary.
In the fourteen years that had passed since his return from
England, Moffat's labours had been truly herculean. He had
given to the Bechuanas the Bible in their own tongue. In
this colossal work he had received invaluable assistance from
the Rev. Wm. Ashton, who, after fifty-three years of noble
work, is still labouring in Bechuanaland. The Bible so translated was printed at the Kuruman press. A Sechuana hymn- .
book was also prepared and printed.
The importance of
this great work of translation will be understood when we remember that Livingstone said that, in the Sechuana tongue,
he made himself understood among all the tribes he passed
It is thus, with various dialect modifications, the
language of the interior. The inevitable cares and anxieties
of the pastorate of his people, and the supervision of the training of native evangelists, Moffat had fully assumed. For fortyone long years of arduous, though well-beloved labour, he had
served Christ and humanity in South Africa. Only a year or
two before, he had paid another visit to Mosilikatse, and had
pleaded with the hard, and now decrepit, old chief to accept
proving a thorn in the side of many of the native tribes. Boundaries were imperfectly marked out, and still more imperfectly
observed. That mysterious word, too, " protectorate," the precise
content of which has never been defined, came to be used as
signifying the relation of England to certain native races. In
1856, and the years following, the action of the Boers in many
directions caused much anxiety to Moffat and his fellow-workers.
These most uncomfortable neighbours were known to cherish
from fever." The survivors now prepared to fly from this place
of pestilence. Then followed " the imkindest cut of all "-the
Makololo took advantage of the weakness of the affiicted missionaries to plunder their goods, and Sekeletu was foremost in this
abominable work. At length, robbed of nearly all their possessions, and racked with fever, they began the toilsome journey
back to Kuruman on June 19th. Mrs. Price could not use her
feet. Slowly the little company made its way, day by day, until
the plain of Mabahe was reached; and there, on July 4th, Mrs.
Price breathed her last, and was buried by her broken-hearted
husband under "the only tree on the whole of the immense plain
of the Mabahe." Many missions have been opened by the sacrifice of human life, but perhaps none with such a holocaust as
this. Near the Zauga River, Mr. Price, with the two orphan
children, was met by Mr. Mackenzie, who was on his way to
join the Makololo mission whkh had thus untimely ended. Mr.
Price was spared to be one of the most valuable servants of the
Society on a variety of African fields.
The Matabele party consisted of Revs. Wm. Sykes, T. M.
Thomas, anrl John Moffat, together with Dr. Robert Moffat.
They made their way to Mosilikatse's camp, and he received
them cordially enough ; but it was soon evident that he was
susp1c10us. Numberless vexatious delays arose as to the settlement of the missionaries. At last, however, the king gave way,
an:d the necessary houses were erected, Moffat working with
characteristic skill and vigour, with the saw and the anvil, in all
the preliminary work. S1x months of steady labour followed,
and then Robert Moffat preached for the last time to Mosilikatse
and his men, adjured him with affecting earnestness to stand by
the missionaries, and, with deep feeling, turned his back on
Matabeleland and returned to h1s beloved Kuruman. There is
not much to be told of the Matabele mission. The main features
have been the stolidity of the people, and the fortitude and devotion of the workers. Mr Sykes continued to work there, year
in and year out, for twenty-seven years. In all that time he could
scarcely count one convert. At first there was only one stationthat at Inyati, which Moffat founded. Now there is a second at
Hope Fountain, and here Mr. Carne~ie, who married Mr. Sykes'
daughter, has laboured for twelve years. The Rev. W. A. Elliott saw
seventeen years of service at Inyati, and the Rev. C. D. Helm has
already been nineteen years at Hope Fountain. Lastly the Rev.
Bowen Rees, after some service in Central Africa, has been .at work
for the last eight years at Inyati. Th~se things deserve statement.
The men whu can work on year after year, in an apparently
barren spot, in faith that the hour of awakening will come, are
not few. Matabeleland has had many such : and this fact is in
itself the assurance that some day there will be a great upheaval
there of ancient superstitions and usages, and a time of reaping
for the faithful husbandmen. Even now, when the power of
Mosilikatse's son, Lobengula, is broken, and the cruel and arbitrary autocracy at an end, it seems probable that a better day
is dawning for the Matabele, and that truth and freedom will go
hand in hand. For even in this hard field of labour there have
been martyrs. The blood of confessors has been poured out to
fertilize the soil where the good seed has been planted. Mr.
Carnegie tells of two who were faithful unto death. One was
condemned by a "witch-doctor," bound, and thrown to the
wolves. To the last he was undaunted, looking beyond those
who could kill the body to One who could save the soul.
Another-a young man-was clubbed to death in the missionary's
presence, because he refused to go back and live as a heathen in
his native town. Such lives and deaths as these are surely, as
Mr. Carnegie says, "the true fou-ndation on which the future
church of the country is to be huilt."
The two partie; of missionaries destined for the Makololo and
Matabele countries found that their routes diverged at a place
called Shoshong. After the tragic close of the former mission, the
Rev. John Mackenzie was requested to begin work at Shoshong,
which he did in 1862. Livingstone had preached here to the
Bamangwato, and a native teacher from Kuruman had, for a
time, been employed here ; but these efforts had not been sustained, and a Hermannsburg Lutheran missionary devoted part
of his .time to the station. Mr. Price, who afterwards married
Miss Elizabeth Moffat, had been destined at the same time to
The gold fever was many degrees worse than the African fever.
The scramble for "claims" had begun.
Events were in motion
in many districts which led to bloodshed and war afterwards
On the other hand, Moffat had seen native tribes saved from
destrpction, and, under the influences of education and Christianity, give promise of real capacity and character. The work of
MAP s::OW!NG OLD
alone in the mission. Yet there had been many bright evidences
of good that was being done. The sympathy of the people during this sad succession of losses was very genuine and cheering.
At Ujiji, our stores at the Mission House were loyally and honourably guarded, until new workers arrived in Febr~ary, 1883.
Meanwhile, in England, the construction of two vessels for Lake
Tanganyik; was going on. The Good News was a two-masted
screw steam-yacht, 54 feet long. Mr. Goodwin, of Liverpool, a
maril)e architect, gave his services as designer of the vessel. She
was made in such sections as could most readily be transported
being seriously ill. Captain Hore sailed with the others to the
south end of the Lake, where the building of the Good News
began. Communication with the Ujiji and Uguha workers was
kept up, and in this way the sad news soon came to Captain
return, Mr. Brooks' time of furlough had come, and he set out
for the coast. He had proved himself an excellent artizan missionary. The region near the coast was at this time considerably
disturbed : German annexation had provoked reprisals among the
Arabs. They did not distinguish between English and Germans.
All white men were alike to them. Into the midst of these exasperated people Mr. Brooks and his party innocently made their
way. On January 21st, 1889, he and sixteen of his African
porters were massacred by an armed body of" coast-men." This
is the only instance in which the L.M.S. has lost a missionary in
this mission through the violence of the people. Many have been
threatened and assaulted; but hitherto the most hostile tribes
have respected the persons of unarmed men on a mission of
peace. Mr. Brooks lost his life, not in any outbreak of hostility
against our mission, but at the hands of those who conceived that
they were striking a blow at Germany in protest against an annexa
tion which they resented. His was the eleventh death in connection with the founding of our Central African Mission. We may
well say that the main cost of missions has to be paid for in
human life. We have traced thus in detail the opening experi-
ences of this notable enterprise, that the reader may realize some
of the difficulties, dangers, and hardships of such a work.
We may hope that the first fatalities have been the most numerous, and that now, with healthier sites, and more suitable buildings,
the wtlrk may go forward with less o( suffering and loss to those who
undertake it. But if it should not be so-if in God's providence
more lives must even yet be laid down out yonder, in the evangelization of the tribes that inhabit the districts surrounding Tanganyika-there are hundreds more to be found in England willing
to run the risk for the sake of bearing the message of life to
Central Africa, hundreds who would count it an honour to sleep
side by side with the gallant men whose graves lie here and there
in the neighbourhood ofTanganyika.
The disturbances that resulted in Mr. Brooks' death, and that
grew into serious conflict between the Germans and the Arabs,
joined to strife at the southern end of the Lake, cut off our mission
from all communication with England through the greater part of
1889-90. It was a most anxious time; but it passed, and when
the first news arrived, it was found that all was well. Changes
have taken place since, and some losses. Mr. and Mrs. Swann
have in all lost three children, and Dr. Mather's brave wife
passed away and left him in loneliness. Since then Mr. Swann
has accepted an important post under Government, and enters,
like Livingstone, on an influential civil office in which he hopes to
be of material service to that mission cause in which he has
worked hard and suffered much. Our three stations at Urambo,
Fwambo, and Niamkolo are now effectively manned, and the missionaries write confidently of the prospect of the work.
Duff's 'Vork in India- Movement in Calcutta-Mr. Lacroix- The Bhowani
pore Institution-Mr. Boaz in England-Changes in the Law-Panic
among Hindus-Nundo La! Doss and his Story-The Almora Mission
-Bhowanipore Native Church-Our Missions in the Mutiny-Peril at
Benares-Zenana Work-Success in Cuddapah-Missions in GootyJohn Hay at Vizagapatam-Work in Bangalore-Persecution in Travan
core- Remarkable Developments-" Upper Cloth" Riots-Medical
Work-Growth at Quilon and Trevandrum-Native Preachers-Me
shach's Story-Summary.
preachers and catechists, and supplying funds for various missionary agencies.
Mr. Hill resigned in 1833. There were
difficulties following his resignation, which were only gradually
removed under the energetic and valuable ministry of the Rev.
T. Boaz, who began work at the end of 1834. Mr. Boaz had so
much to do with the foundation of our celebrated Bhowanipore
[nstitution that we may here introduce the story of the events
that led to the erection of this great building, and the organization of our educational work there.
At the time of which we are thinking, the most eloquent
preacher in Bengali was generally acknowledged to be the Rev.
A. F. Lacroix, a native of Switzerland, who, after working in
India for some years under the auspices of the Netherlands
Missionary Society, became, in 1827, an agent of the L.M.S.
Mr. 'Lacroix' mastery of the vernacular was perfect, and he was
money-box, put them into his hand. It was the first contribution. The motto of the Bhowanipore Institution might well be,
"A little child shall lead them." In two years the indefatigable
collector had travelled all over the United Kingdom, and had
got his five thousand pounds. In r85o the foundation-stone of
the Institution was laid, but so slbw was the work, that not till
1854 was it opened. The cost was nearer seven thousand pounds
than five thousand. It is a noble building, with library, lecturerooms, class-rooms, house for Christian students, and so on.
Mr., now Dr. Boaz, who had worn himself out over the work,
may well have rejoiced at such a notable consummation of his
While the building was in progress, certain striking events had
taken place, which belong in part to the history of India
generally, and in pa~t to the history of our mission in particular.
Up to the beginning of the year 1 851, the law was that any
Hindu who lost his caste had to forfeit his property. As any one
who embraced Christianity was at once deprived of his caste
privileges, he was reduced by a single act to the rank of a pauper,
and thrown destitute on the world. There was great excitement
in India when this native law was altered in r 8 5 r, and it was
enacted that no one who became a Christian was to suffer in
consequence the loss of his property. The agitation against the
reform was confined to violent language; but there is little doubt
that this just alteration in the law wa~ one of several causes which
eventually resulted in the Mutiny. Six young men, most of whom
were Brahmins of high caste, who had possibly been deterred
from open confession by the extreme renunciation involved in so
doing, took the opportunity of publicly embracing Christianity.
The missionaries at the Institution adopted a bold course with
them. They insisted on their explaining the step they were
taking to their relatives. The urgent solicitations and threats of
the latter overcame their resolution in the case of three; but
other three came forward, stood firm, and were subsequently
baptized. Nothing could exceed the fury of the parents and
relatives. They adopted every possible expedient to terrify or
cajole the young converts. In more than one case, at this time,
myself. You are no more my son. You are dead to me." Thus
son and father parted, never to speak to one another for seven
years. Nundo La! Doss was baptized in 1857, and became a
powerful and devoted native preacher. His story is typical of the
terrible struggle through which the Hindu has to pass who would
declare himself a Christian.
It was in the year 18so, as the Bhowanipore Institution was
beginning to rise from its foundations, that the Rev. J. H.
Budden and his wife travelled northward to Almora, and
started a mission at this station in the hill country, near the
sources of the Ganges. Mr. Budden had previously laboured at
done, and the little sanctuary, with its brick walls and straw roof,
became the home of the native Christian Church. This Church
by solemn resolution pledged itself to maintain the cause, as
far as it possibly could, without being a burden to the Bengal
Auxiliary. To this principle of self-help it has been loyal ever
since. Mr. Joseph Mullens, afterwards the honoured secretary of
some time, and had again and again been deeply moved in her:
motherly heart by the sight of little girls being taken away in the
midst of their bright, early maidenhood, to a solitary and cheerless
life, and a husband of whom they knew nothing. Sometimes
dark stories of the sufferings of th~se young wives came to her
ears. In r86r, on her return from a visit to England, she set
herself earnestly to work to gain access to the zenanas, that she
might seek to help, and teach, and comfort those who passed
their lives there. In this she was successful beyond her anticipations. English ladies were permitted to go where the male
missionaries could not The truth flashed upon the mind of the
Church. Here were 125 millions of Hindu women. a large pro-,
portion of whom passed their days in the seclusion of the zenana.
The field was not closed, but open-to Christian women ! It has
always been an article of the creed of every people that the
mothers make the nation. To educate and Christianize the
makers of the Hindu nation was the work that thus opened out
before the women of our Christian lands. Almost immediately
the wives and daughters of our missionaries began to visit the
zenanas in the towns where they were situated. This movement
became a recognised feature in our Indian campaign. Latterly
medical assistance for these women has been afforded wherever
possible, by training lady missionaries in medical knowledge.
The Zenana and Medical Mission has as its object to supply
spiritual light, and bodily healing, to the wives and mothers of
India. No one can estimate the influence that is being exercised
by this army of cultured and loving English women over their
sisters, who live in the dark and lonely apartments of Hindu
homes. To their advocacy, also, must be largely attributed the
progress of the movement in India in favour of raising the age at
which it shall be legal for girls to be taken from their homes and
married. Mrs. Mullens lived but a short time after the inauguration of tpis new method of work,-dying in Calcutta at the end
of r861. Her best memorial is that great tree, with far-spreading
branches, which has sprung from the tiny shoot she planted, a
little more than thirty years ago.
Surveying now, very briefly, our missions to the south, in the
district, powerfully affecting the population. The~ converts were
reckoned by hundreds, where, on other fields, they were reckoned
by units. The movement, moreover, proved to be progressive.
In 1881 the number in the mission was just about three thousand, while at the present time th,e two stations of Cuddapah,
and Nundial, have a community of no fewer than ten thousand
native converts, and, as Mr. Sherring says in his "History of
Protestant Missions in India," they "are yearly receiving augmentations on a scale which bids fair speedily to alter the religious
aspect of considerable tracts of country."
A further alteration in the method of working this fruitful and
interesting mission was made in 1881, when Gooty was selected
as a second centre instead of Nundial. Any one carefully noting
the position of Gooty on the map will see that this brings our
stations of Bellary, Gooty and Cuddapah well into line, and with
Belgaum on the west and Madras on the east, forms a belt of
missions across this southern portion of Central India. Gooty
is ninety-six miles from Cuddapah, and forty-eight from Bellary,
the three missions covering a line of three hundred miles, for the
Cuddapah mission stretches far to the east, and the Bellary one
to the west. To form some idea of the immense areas included
in these mission fields, we may say that the Gooty mission alone
includes 7oo towns and villages, besides hamlets. At this mission, on account of its central position, a Training Institution for
Teachers and Catechists has recently been opened, and is already
full. There are some three thousand native adherents under
Christian instruction at the Gooty mission, and there is every
prospect that the villages around will undergo a similar transformation to those around Nundial. Of the three great centres,Belgaum to the west, Bellary in the interior, and Madras to the
east,-it may be said that while the definite re~ults in conversions
afford no parallel to the great movements in the villages, yet the
persistent, sterling work of our missionaries has told. Strong
communities have been built up, and the educational work done
has been enormous. There are at the present time in our schools
at these three towns some three thousand scholars ; while every
mission station is an aggressive evangelistic centre, from which
--- -
- --- -
-- ------- - -----.
PROCR!cSS IN INDIA
capital. The place was then in the occupation of the British, and
for five months Dr. Lock hart ministered to the diseased and the
dying in the hospital there. During the time of war, little work
could be done in China itself of an aggressive missionary char-
From a Pltl'to by
W. BLACKBALL Oxford.
pressed feelings favourable to Christianity. No reliance, however, could be placed on these assurances, for they were cruel and
unscrupulous men for the most part, and the Tai-Pings disowned
them absolutely.
AB the horrors of war were to be seen both within and without
the city. As the siege went on, men and women began to die of
self; the ravages made by the flames were repaired ; and once
again our missionaries had opportunity to gather their converts
round them, and recommence the work which had been greatly
disturbed during these troublous times. The end of this year
saw a notable accession to the missjonary ranks in China. This
was none other than Mr. Griffith John, who reached Shanghai in
September, 1855
The time of deliverance of the Shanghai missionaries from the
miseries of war was the time when new complications threatened
to disturb once more the city of Canton. Here, for the last few
years, Dr. Hobson, our medical missionary, had laboured with
splendid devotion. He had treated 25,ooo patients every year,
while the now venerable evangelist, Leang-a-fa, still pursued his
mission to his countrymen, preaching the Gospel, and writing and
distributing tracts. The little Church-historically the first Protestant Church in China-grew by slow but sure degrees, and
from time to time some member was found, whose earnestness
and talent fitted him for the work of native teacher. In the year
1854, Dr. Hobson secured some more commodious premises in
Canton for the purposes of his hospital work, and the prospect
was becoming daily brighter; The place that was now to be a
missionary hospital had been a gaming hell. Dr. Hobson rejoiced that it was henceforth to be devoted to more sanctified
uses. Scarcely, however, had it been opened than the mission
was called to mourn the death of Leang-a-fa, who having finished
his course, and kept the faith, passed tranquilly away. The same
year in which this good and faithful servant died, thus leaving
the mission sensibly poorer, there was a long-prayed for, a longexpected accession to the Church, as if God had intended to make
up to them for the one whom He had taken away. Some fifteen
members, whose sincerity had been tested through many months
of preparation, witnessed a good confession in the presence of a
large crowd of people who seemed much affected by this unique
spectacle. Thus opened 1856, a truly eventful year; for at the
end of it the mission was once again without European oversight,
Dr. Hobson having been obliged to fly to Hong Kong with his
family in consequence of renewed hostilities between England
and China. The members of this little flock were left as sheep
without a shepherd to meet all the terrible eventualities of war.
The spirit of hatred of England and the English naturally revived. Even in Hong Kong, to which Dr. Hobson had escaped,
deeds of vengeance were plotted against the English, and one
such deed almost met with success.
Some Chinese bakers
poisoned the bread supplied to the mission. Dr. Legge, Dr.
Hobson, and Mr. Chalmers, with their families, all partook of it,
and suffered severely in consequence. Mercifully, however, all
of them subsequently recovered.
At the beginning of r857, the venerable Dr. Medhurst died.
He just lived to land in England, having been induced somewhat against his will to seek renewed health by a visit to his
native land. He died the day after his arrival, and in him China
lost a true friend, and the L.M.S. an invaluable worker. For
nearly forty years he had laboured in the Indian Archipelago and
in China. He was the very soul of the movement for effective
revision of the Chinese Bible in the mandarin dialect, and he
lived to see the great work completed. But not only was he
deeply interested in acquainting China with the Christian scriptures, he was concerned that England should be acquainted with
Chinese thought. He began the work, which Dr. Legge so
admirably pursued, of translating notable Chinese works into
English. Among others he gave to the English public several of
the writings of the leader of the Tai-Pings. He wanted England
to understand the effect that Christianity had had on this native
Chinese leader. He regarded Hung-Sew-Tseuen as a preparer of
the way for Christ, by breaking down many time-honoured prejudices and superstitions. On one occasion when Dr. Medhurst
was preaching to a crowded congregation at Shanghai against
idolatries, he was startled to see a tall, fine-looking man rise up
and begin to address the people. " That is true ! that is true ! "
he exclaimed, " the idols must perish, and shall perish. I am a
follower of Tai-ping-wang. We all of us worship one God and
believe in Jesus." Then he went on to exhort the people, with
intense earnestness, to cease from idolatry, which was only the
worship of devils. The address created a profound sensation
aspect of the mission for almost the first time in its history assumed a really influential appearance.
The island of Hong Kong, being now an English colony, was
protected from many of the calamitous effects of the war. But
the dangers of others were brought home to its members in a very
tragic and striking way. A member of this Church was to be the
first Protestant Chinese martyr. His name was Ch'eii. He lived
in a town called Pok-lo, about a hundred miles from the coast
opposite Hong Kong. There he had met with a colporteur, and
had become a convert to Christianity. In 1856, he crossed to
Hong Kong, held conversation with Dr. Legge, was received into
the Hong Kong Church, and then returned to his home at Pok-lo.
Next year he re-appeared at Hong Kong, bringing with him a
native convert. , Again, in 1858, he returned, and this time
brought two converts. In 1859 he brought two more. In 186o
he came to Hong Kong with no fewer than nine converts. On
this visit he told how, with an aged convert named Ch'an, he had
destroyed several of the public idols of the villagP., and nobodyhad interfered with him. I11 I 86o, Mr. Chalmers visited the
village. A great work had been going on there, and after much
care and instruction, fortyjour candidates were baptized. Sixteen more were admitted to the Church in January of the following
year, thus making eighty-jive in all. In May of this year, Dr.
Legge and Mr. Chalmers visited Pok-lo and the neighbouring
village, and such was the impression produced that upwards of
forty converts were admitted to the Church. In October of this
year, however, Dr. Legge received intelligence that the native
Christians were in peril, in consequence of the excited feeling
against foreigners and foreign teaching and customs. Dr. Legge
at once got an escort, and went off to Pok-lo, where he received
what he was bound to regard as satisfactory assurances from the
native authorities. It seems, however, that the governor of Canton was instigating them to take severe measures, and rewards had
been offered for the heads of those who had aided the foreigners
to introduce their teaching into China. On the 13th of October,
a few days after Dr. Legge's return, Ch'eii was suddenly seized
and , carried off by a band of ruffians. Taking him to a village
not far away, they hung him up all night by the arms and feet to a
beam. Then after two more days of torture and insult, finding
him still firm in the faith, they took him to the side of the river
and demanded his recantation. He steadfastly refused to deny
his Lord, whereupon he was put to death and his body flung into
the river. Proclamation was now made of the intention of these
desperadoes to burn the villages where the Christians were. The
brethren consequently fled in several directions, so~e to Canton,
some to Hong Kong, and some into the interior. In course of
time the opposition died down, and many of them returned. In
1863, two chapels were erected in villages just outside Pok-lo, the
cost being gladly defrayed by the native Christians. Thus Ch'eii,
the first Chinese martyr, had rest from his labours, and his works
followed him.
It may be added that in the following year, 1861, Dr. Legge
published the first volume of his translation of the Chinese classics,
and, working steadily on at this great undertaking, he completed
the translation in seven volumes. The whole work is a monument of his untiring industry and scholastic ability, and by its
means, more than by any other perhaps, the thought of China has
been presented to the West. Space must also be found for a single
word as to the educational work at Hong Kong. Our schools
there have steadily grown to be an important factor in the life of
the island. The scholars in them far outnumber those in all our
other Chinese schools put together.
As Amoy was less troubled by the war than many other parts,
it will be possible, later on, to tell the story of the remarkable
development of the mission there in a connected manner. For
the present we must return to Shanghai. In 1857, Dr. Lockhart
left for England, his retirement being a great loss to the mission.
Griffith John, with either Mr. Edkins or Mr. Muirhead as companion, made several lengthy excursions into the neighbouring
country, in some of which adventurous journeys they were roughly
handled by the people. To make their way at all into the interior
they had to assume Chinese dress, appending the pigtail to their
hair in dexterous fashion so as to conciliate the_ popular sentiment. 1<'-:-r a time it ~'!ems to have had the desired effect. But
- r-:-
"caudal appendage " more securely to his own hair, and he had
cause to envy the prudence of Griffith John. Indeed, he thought
his qwn hair must have come away, scalp and all. To make
matters worse, "a man came out of a coffin shop and gave me a
years were quiet and busy ones. The training institution was
invaluable in giving a superior education to those who were
suitable for employment as native assistants. These men were to
be seen at various villages during the week, talking with inquirers,
and preaching to the peoole. One man, it is reported, has been
instrumental in bringing fourteen of his immediate relations into
the Church.
Another convert is a villager, and has been
appointed by his fellow-villagers to preside at an idolatrous
festival. He feels he must now take his stand; and so publicly
The feeling in the village runs
declares himself a Christiai1.
strongly against him, and he is pressed to yield. "Just this
once," urges his wife, "and then I will not ask you to do so
again." But he is resolute; he bears all the ostracism uncomplainingly. "Indeed," says one who knew him, "he is a wonder
and example to us all."
In 186o, Mr. Lea reported to the
Directors, that it was felt wise to establish a mission at the
city of Chiang-Chiu, among its 15o,ooo inhabitants. ChiangChiu was 25 miles from Amoy, up the Chiang-Chin River. The
people were reported to be friendly in the suburbs, but in the
city itself the evangelists often had much to suffer from the mob.
However, in I86I, a house was obtained in the city, and the
work began. It was a case of ploughing on rocks for some
years. Still the Church did grow and root itself; until, in 186 5,
came a wild visitation. One of the last marauding outbursts
of the now decaying Tai-Ping host was to sack Chiang-Chiu.
There was a heartless massacre in the city, but most of the
The city was soon
Christians escaped in time to Arhoy.
re-captured and rebuilt, and Mr. Macgowan, who tells the story in
his thrilling little book, "Christ or Confucius: which?" says that
the tone of the people was far more subdued after this tragic
In one of the busiest parts of the city, near the
mart where "merchants most do congregate," a large sanctuary
was built, and Christian work went forward with a will. Whereas,
in 1859, two native converts were beheaded in Chiang-Chiu for
preaching in the streets, and any open Christian work was liable
to bring swift and severe suffering upon the doer, Mr. Macgowan,
writing thirty years after, could truly speak of Christianity as "an
a mile out of the city. Yet here for eight years the work went on,
until the place became altogether too strait for those who crowded
to worship within its walls. Then the way opened to better things.
An opium smoker, in great need of money, offered a site in the
very centre of the city, and right opposite the temple of the city
It was clear that to build a Christian church there would
excite vehement opposition; but the native converts were not afraid.
The building was begun, and in time completed.
Soon after it
was finished, a mob assembled, mainly composed of the lowest.
and vilest people of the place, and tore the Christian sanctuary
to pieces.
Application for protection and compensation was
made to the mandarin, and he took up the case warmly. The
building was restored ; and for many years now a notable work
has gone on in this town. A second church has been built, the
old one being used as a school. The church is self-supporting.
In 1889, Mr. Macgowan was able to report that "in the country
of Gracious Peace " there are now eleven churches, nine of which
are self-supporting, one partially so, while the remaining one is
assisted by the voluntary contributions of one of the native
Churches in Amoy.
We must not leave Amoy without one further record.
1870 work was begun in a new district. This was the important
market town of Pholam, some thirty miles from Amoy, up the
North River. We have only space for the general statement that,
whereas the town had an evil name, and was renowned as a
haunt of opium smokers and gamblers, the Church soon took
deep root, and grew rapidly. The early members were men and
women of character ; and the Church has become indeed a light
\n a dark place. In 1889, in addition to the central church, there
were four other churches in the surrounding districts, busily and
earnestly at work. Such has been the wonderful extension of
Christianity in the neighbourhood of Amoy.
The year 1861 will always be memorable in the history of our
Chinese mission, on account of two main devdopments which
date from this year.
Northward went Mr. Edkins,.-:.who was
quickly joined by Mr. J<;mathan Lees,-and established himself at
fien-tsin, right at the gates of the famo"Qs northern capital, Pe-
king. Westward into the interior went Griffith John, and passing
Nanking, he followed the great Yang-tse River soo miles beyond the
southern capital, until he reached a place where three huge cities
meet. These cities are Hankow and Han-yang on the northern
side of the river, and Wu-chang on the southern, and together
they form, as Dr. Mullens said when visiting them, the finest
missionary centre in the world. Right in the heart of the empire,
they are the meeting-place of many provinces. Through them
there pours continually a great river of human life-men from the
utmost parts of the land, and of every variety of faith and order.
No cities had suffered more from the ravages of the war than
these. Hankow, it was said, had been reduced in population
from a million and a quarter to eight hundred thousand. The
surrounding country had been plundered and desolated again and
again. Just here, Mr. John truly felt, was a unique position
which Christian missionaries ought at once to occupy. Leaving
then the northern mission for a later chapter, let us briefly review
the rise and progress of our work at Hankow, and its sister
The mission b~gan in a room of Mr. John's house at Hankow,
but, in the following year, a site was procured, and a capital
building erected for worship, in a central position. There was
comparatively little difficulty in managing matters so far; but
when Mr. John endeavoured to "go and do likwise" at Wuchang, he was opposed by all the irritating duplicity and venomous
hostility of which the mandarins at their worst are capable.
Finding it impossib.le to purchase a piece of land in his own
name, he persuaded one of his native assistants to conclude a
bargain on his own account. Even then, when the discovery was
made that a chapel was to be built there, means were invented
for endless delays and complications. The mandarins evidently expected to tire Mr. John out. They may be forgiven their ignorance
of "Welsh fire." The conflict resolved itself into one of earnestness and endurance, and the Christian missionary won handsomely.
The chapel and adjacent buildings, in a good position, are there
to attest the fact. The cost, some soo,, was nearly all defrayed
by the European community of Hankow, whose sympathy and
help Mr. John had vigorously enlisted for his work. All this
preliminary arrangement of the lines to be occupied during the
forthcoming campaign, was barely concluded in three years.
During that time Mr. John's colleague at Hankow, Mr. Wilson,
had died; but sensible progress had been made. Forty-two
members were reported at the end of 'r863.
Mr. John was greatly aided in his work by two native assistants.
No single feature has been more characteristic of all the L.M.S.
missions than the importance attached to the training of a native
ministry. These two men were well chosen. One Lo HiangYung had entered Mr. John's household, as a coolie, for fourteen
shillings a month, in order that he might enjoy the privilege of a
Christian home, and opportunities of learning Christian truth.
Mr. John saw his worth, and after due training he became an
invaluable rural evangelist, full of manly courage and robust faith.
Shen Tsi-sing was an assistant of superior intellectual calibre, and
equal consistency. He was evangelist for twenty-five years, a
valued friend of Mr. John's. His literary ability made him of
first-rate importance in writing tracts, as well as in translating the
Chinese literature for the missionaries. He had also considerable
gifts .as a preacher, and was accustomed to meet inquirers for
personal conversation day by day. The converts of course were
by no means all residents at Hankow. Many of them came from
districts far distant from that city. When it seemed clear to the
missionaries that they were sincere, they received the rite of
baptism, and departed home with such Christian writings as might
assist their faith. Many of them were heard of no more; but
from time to time bright gleams of light would flash out of the
dark interior, evidences that those who had found Christ at Hankow had taken Him with them to their native town or village, and
there had led relatives or neighbours to rejoice with them in the
knowledge of a Father's love.
In r866, a hospital was added to the mission premises at
Hankow. Once more the European community in the city gave
generously for its erection. There was no doctor available on the
staff of, the L.M.S., but Dr. Reid, of Hankow, volunteered his
services, which, it is needless to say, were as thankfully accepted
this time there were some two hundred members of the mission.
In 1874 a large new hospital was opened at Hankow, and in 1875
John Kenneth Mackenzie arrived from England to take charge of
this branch of the work, Dr. Shearer having retired.
No better illustration could be given at once of the perils of
pioneer work in China,. and of the circumstances that lead to
expansion, than the visit which Mr. John and Dr. Mackenzie
paid to the village of Hiau-Kan. The journey was taken at the
instance of a convert named Wei, a cultivated and well-to-dQ
Chinaman, who had made occasional visits to Hankow and had
become a devoted Christian. Wei not only led thirteen of his
acquaintances to join the Church at Hankow, but he entreated
Mr. John to visit his native village. The day was fixed; b1,1t, on
the Sunday previous, Wei arrived in Hankow with the story that,
as he and his friends were worshipping God in the village, they
had been attacked, the house pulled down, and the furniture
broken. Notwithstanding this report, the missionaries decided to
go. All went well untii they came within two or three miles of
Now curiosity changed to hostility, and covert
Wei's village.
opposition to open attack, The little party of Christians was
pelted with stones and clods of earth. Mr. John was struck in
the mouth with- a hard lump of clay, and had another nasty
wound at the back of the head, so that he was almost fainting.
The native Christians loyally endeavoured to protect the persons
of their teachers. A mob of a thousand men had now assembled,
and the word was passed to hustle the Christians into the river.
This they nearly succeeded in doing, but at the last Mr. John
and Dr. Mackenzie made a rush for it, and escaped up the river
bank and got away across country. During the melee Wei was
very quiet, only saying, "It is me they hate"; and once to the
people, "Do you think that ten thousand such actions as these
are going to knock the cause of Jesus into nothing?" These
experiences of the missionaries were in due time reported to
the English consul, and measures were taken to prevent their
repetitiOn. It was not long before Mr. John paid another visit to
the village, when he had a very different reception. Stages were
erected, from which he preached to many hundreds of people i
Another Kabary and further persecution-The Eighteen Martyrs-Their
Execution-Minor Penalties-Rabodo's Story-Mr. Ellis visits Madagascar-A visit to the Capital-Fresh Outbreak of Persecution-Death
of Ranavalona I.--The Mission Re-established-Pathetic Scenes-Memorial Churches-Assassination of the King-Population of MadagascarRanavalona II.-A Christian Coronation-Burning the Idols-Great
Extension of Christianity-The Chapel Royal-Difficulties of the WorkFrench Attack on Madagascar-Death of the Queen-Discouragements
and Encouragements.
lighted. Amid the fire they were heard to cry,-" Lord Jesus,
receive our spmts. Lay not this sin to their charge." The
ferocity of the executioners stood out in dark contrast. In the
hour of mortal anguish the woman-sufferer became a mother ;
the babe was thrust back into the flames. They were dying thus
when a sudden burst of sunshin'e wrought a rainbow on the
clouds, and one end of the bow seemed to rest so marvellously on
the burning pile, that some of the onlookers fled in terror. The
final testimony concerning this remarkable scene, borne by one
who remained to the end, is this : " They prayed as long as they
had any life. Then they died; but softly, gently. Indeed, gentle
was the going forth of their life, and astonished were all the people
around that beheld the burning of them there." We may say of
them, as was said of one who, in another age and among a professedly more enlightened people, suffered the same fate, that
they "passed through smoke and flame to their rest."
The fourteen who remained were certainly Malagasy nobles, in
all but the name. For them was reserved the equally appalling
fate of being hurled over the precipices of Ampamarinana, on the
western side of the same mountain. The vast crowds who saw
them carried to their death seem to have been greatly moved by
the spectacle. The Queen had devised the most convincing
object-lesson in the power and reality of the Christian faith that
could possibly have been presented to her people. The pilgrimage of shame which she had intended became a triumphal procession, in which those she had hoped to terrify and overawe
sang hymns of victory and peace. The details of the final scene
vary somewhat in different reports.
Clearly, however, the
prisoners were bound with cords, and when thus helpless, lying
at the precipice's edge, were offered liberty and life at the price
of apostasy. They refused. It has been said that they were then
swung out over the cliff, and with the knife held ready to cut the
ropes, were again offered pardon if they would renounce the
faith. It was a needless delay-a refinement of cruelty. They
had made peace with God, and were ready. Another report
simply recounts that, after the first steady refusal to listen to
overtures of dishonourable peace, they were, one by one, pushed
religion; but the Queen insisted that he was too young to understand what he was doing.
The nature of the persecution, now in progress, may be learned
from a private letter addressed by one of the sufferers to the Rev.
David Johns. It will be seen from this letter that many died for
Christ in Madagascar who were not burned at the stake or flung
over precipices : delicate women, worn out by cruel labour in
chains, and stronger men sent into exile in distant parts, where
fever found an easy prey in their worn and exhausted systems.
The writer of this letter fled from his home by night, and was
sought by the Government through four years and a half. A
price was set upon his head, but he succeeded in remaining concealed. "Very great was the persecution which drove us into
the wilderness," he says. His family and servants were seized
and declared forfeit to the Queen. Their sufferings we will let
him tell in his own way. "They bound my wife, Rabodo, and
flogged her from morning until night to make her tell who were
her companions. She fainted, and they left her to recover a little,
and then flogged her again. But she refused to give up the
names of any, so that they were astonished, and said, " She a
Chrz"stian indeed I" Failing to get her to tell wbo were her
associates, they put a heavy iron ring round her neck and round
each ankle. They also fastened these rings together by heavy
iron chains from the neck to the ankles, and then bound her to
four more Christians. Five others were also bound together, and
there was a third party of sixteen also bound together. Every
Sabbath day for seven months they placed these three parties
before the people, that they might see how they were punished
for keeping holy the Lord's day.
At the end of the seven
months they separated them, and sent five to the east ; of these
two died, and three still remain. The other party of five they
sent to the north; of these four died, and one only remains; and
the sixteen they sent to the west, of these five died and eleven
remain. My wife, Rabodo, was among those they sent to the
west. She was left in bonds and died. . . . . . . . . Yes,
she died in her chains, but her works do follow her.
My children they have sold into slavery, and my property ther
precious are the riches in Christ, and in Him light are the
sorrows of earth." This is but one account of very many that
DEVELOPMENTS fN MADrlGASCAR
period, taking all the country over, the Christians were probably
fully four times as numerous as they were at the beginning. Thus
does our God compel even the powers of darkness to serve the
kingdom of light. After due enquiries had been made, Mr. Ellis
was able to send a detailed statement to England, and appeal for
1o,ooo towards the erection of the churches. In a few months
6,soo was announced, and ultimately no less a sum than
1 3,ooo was contributed for this purpose. The work of clearing
and levelling the plots of ground was undertaken with the greatest
eagerness by the people themselves. Nearly the whole congregation might have been seen on one occasion, armed with spades
and picks, and carrying baskets of rubbish or earth away on their
heads. The first band of missionaries had already arrived, and
were busy organizing churches, and erecting chapels in various
parts of the city. School buildings were once more opened, and
filled with children. Before a year had passed away, twelve missionaries had either arrived at, or were on their way to, the capital.
Mr. James Sibree had gone out to act as architect of the Memorial Churches. After spending four years in this important
work, he then returned to England, studied for the mission field,
was appointed to Madagascar, and has lived to do invaluable work
there, and to write several books which have contributed not a
little to our knowledge of the people, and of the progress of
Christianity among them.
The good work was suddenly jeopardized by a revolutionary
movement. Dissatisfaction had been increasing for many months ;
and at length a conspiracy was formed among a number of influential men. At the beginning of May, 1863, several of the
king's ministers were seized and put to death, and he himself was
soon at the mercy of the revolutionists. His mind had practically
given way before this period, and he was quite helpless to offer
resistance. On the 12th of May a body of men forced an
entrance into the hapless monarch's bedroom and strangled him.
His wife, Rabodo, was declared queen of Madagascar; but
certain constitutional demands were first made of her. The
agreement of certain representatives of the nobles and the people
was i:o be necessary in all matters of life and death ; or for the
all that could be spared, shouldered the weighty package, and set
off to carry it three hundred miles back again, for the benefit of
his Christian friends and neighbours in that distant and obscure
On April 1st, 1868, Queen Rasoherina died. At this time
we had z8 schools and about 1,7oo scholars. Our fourteen
missionaries had associated with them seven ordained native
scarlet umbrella in illustration of his rank. It was now an mconvenient distinction, for the umbrella alone would have
betrayed him. He was promptly seized, red cloth, umbrella,
silver chains and all, and submitted to the ordeal by fire. He
came out of it badly-more accurately, did not come out of it at
all. Kelimalaza was not. The officers returned, and reported
his end. Straightway orders were issued to all similar idoltemples. The Queen was resolved to keep no such images.
Then ensued a great conflagration. The flames ascended in
every village : Imerina province, and the province of the Betsileos,
were literally cleaned out of idols. Superstition had received its
last shock. The heavens did not fall : the bits of carved wood
were all consumed ; and the heart of the people rejoiced in
emancipation from the baseless fears to which they had been
subject for centuries.
The excitement in Madagascar over this revolution-for it was
nothing less-was intense. When the last symbol and sign of the
ancient superstition had disappeared, there was an eager movement of the people towards the missionaries and the Christian
preachers. It was clearly providential that in April of this very
year, the Rev. Robert Toy and the Rev. George Cousins started
training classes for native converts who seemed likely to prove
good teachers and preachers. Such men were needed; every
village was calling out for them. In the following year the
Theological Institution was opened by the Queen. In this field,
as in all others, it was the policy of the Society's leaders to
attempt the evangelization of the people through the people.
Some idea of the enormous expansion of the work at this period
may be gathered from the fact that whereas in 1869, before the
destruction of the idols, the various adherents to Christianity
numbered some 37,ooo, at the close of 187o they had increased
to about a quarter of a million I The congregations had increased from 148 to 62 I. Rough chapels of grass and mud and
rushes were being erected everywhere. There was a pathetic
eagerness for instruction.
The Queen took the deepest interest in the provision of places
of worship, and competent teachers, for her people. Our
missionaries were at first seriously afraid lest she should adopt the
fatal policy of endowing a State religion by providing money out
of the public funds. The bearings of the question were, however,
carefully explained to her by the missionaries ; and, to their satisfaction, she strongly supported the idea that voluntary contributions should be solicited from the strong churches in the
capital for the evangelization of those districts where the people
were too poor to erect their own chapel and support their own
teacher. In 186g, the Queen had resolved to build a chapel to
adjoin the palace. This "Chapel Royal" was some eleven
years before it was completed, but a congregational church now
meets within its walls ; and many of those wealthier Malagasy
who worship there contributed very generously towards the movement for the extension of Christianity among the villages.
Another very important move followed. Up to the present
the Mission had only had one centre-at the capital. It was
now time to organize the work around several centres. Ambohimanga to the north, and Fianarantsoa, the chief town of the
Betsileo province, were similarly occupied. Since that time many
other advantageous positions for work among outlying districts
have been adopted. The Rev. G. A. Shaw began an important
and successful mission at the seaport of Tamatave in 188o; while
in 1875 an attack was made on the heathen tribes called Sihanaka,
lying away to the N.N.E., and in 1877 aggressive work was begun
among the Sakalava.
Nothing could be further from the truth than to suppose that
the tens of thousand~ of people who now flocked to the Christian
meeting-houses were Christians. There are always multitudes of
people who will bow down to any golden image a king or a
queen may set up. No-law was passed that the people were to
become Christians : no royal command was issued. But the force
of the Queen's example, and the public burning of the idols,
combined to create the belief that they were expected to be
Christians. The letters of our missionaries at this time show how
painfully they often felt the absence of a higher motive in vast numbers who were now willing to profess Christianity. One thing,
however, they were determined to do. So far as was possible, they
ters at the China Foreign Office was notorious for his strong antiforeign views. Nothing short of absolute necessity would have
-constrai"ned his prond spirit to stoop to solicit English aid. But
a day came when his little boy of nine years of age shot himself
accidentally in the chest. Dr. Dudgeon was sent for, and, thanks
to his skilful and careful treatment, the life of the boy. was saved.
The minister afterwards showed the utmost friendliness to our
missionary, and erected a handsome tablet in the hospital, commemorating in pompous Chinese fashion the cure of his son and
the ability of the phys.ician. Not long after, one of the four
Chinese Prime Ministers of State sustained a somewhat serious
concussion. Recourse was at once had to the same skill that had
saved the Foreign Minister's boy. The Emperor himself was
most anxiously interested in this latter case; and when Dr. Dudgeon's treatment proved once more successful, he was overwhelmed
with kind gifts and thanks, and a second tablet was erected in the
hospital to apprise all corners of the services rendered to the State
by the English medical missionary. Both missions, at Tientsin
and Peking, made steady and satisfactory progress, until an event
occurred in 187o which sent a thrill of horror through the civilized world. On the 21st of June of that year, Tientsin was in
the hands of a ferocious mob, whose avowed intention it was to
extirpate the Europeans, and the native Christians. To such
purpose did they prosecute their work of blood that some twentytwo European Christians, and from sixty to a hundred natives, were
brutally murdered ; houses and churches were committed to the
flames; and other nameless outrages were perpetrated. The fury of
the mob wreaked itself mainly upon the Roman Catholics. Most
terrible of all the crimes was the wholesale massacre of the Sisters
of Mercy; whose house was burned, while they were butchered
and flung into the flames. The French Consul, and some guests
at the Consulate, suffered in like manner, the Consulate also
being burned to the ground. The native Christians who escaped
were plundered and cruelly ill-treated; while the Chinese Governor, if not avowedly favourable to the murderers, at least made no
sign of desiring either to hinder the work, or to punish the evildoers- The outbreak was not unexpected_ On the contrary1 for
many weeks it had been threatened ; and again and again the
missionaries and the foreign representatives had urged upon the
authorities the duty of taking strenuous measures to protect the
Viceroy, Li-Hung-Chang, for help. The application was acknowledged, but no more came of it. A long period of waiting succeeded, during which prayers were earnestly offered by the native
Church that God would give guidance and help to His servants
in this matter. What followed has been very simply told by
Mackenzie himself. On August rst, at the daily prayer-meeting,
this all-important necessity of the work had been very prominent
in the prayers, and the subject spoken about was, "and it shall be
given you." As the prayer-meeting was breaking up, a courier
arrived from the Viceroy, asking Mackenzie to come at once and
see his wife, Lady Chang, for she was at the point of death. The
case was one of extreme danger, as both Dr. Irwin, of the Foreign
settlement, and Mackenzie recognised at once; but after many
days of anxious work, she recovered. The fame of the cure spread
through Tientsin, and grew until the case was pronounced to be one
of miraculous healing. The immediate result was the friendship
and gratitude of the Viceroy, who began to manifest great interest
in English medical work. So impressed was he by its value, that
he set apart an entire wing of one of the temples for the purpose
of Dr. Mackenzie's work, and here patients were treated, while a
native evangelist spoke to those in the waiting-room the message
of the Gospel. The Viceroy bore all the expense of this work at
the temple. Dr. Mackenzie, however, was not satisfied to have
a hospital so far from the mission station, and hence plans were
drawn out for a building to be erected in the mission compound.
The response to the appeal for funds was most generous. Many
of Mackenzie's wealthier patients gave large sums, while the
poorer ones seemed eager to contribute what they could. The
Viceroy, moreover, though Mackenzie thought him a fan.atic in
the matter of his religion, gave the scheme his hearty patronage
and support. While the doctrines of Christianity were inconceivable to him, he more than once publicly expressed his appreciation of the spirit of Christianity. Accordingly, when the time
came, towards the end of r88o, for the new hospital to be opened,
the Viceroy, with many other high State officials, went down to
the mission compound and performed the opening ceremony;
afterwards expressing his great gratification at the building and all
its modern appliances. The whole of the money needed for its
erection was contributed from Chinese sources.
During these two years, Gilmour, still making Peking his base
of operations, took his customary journeys tQ the great plain,
and renewed his mission to the wandering Mongolians. On more
than one such trip, his brave young wife went with him, and
shared the fatigue and discomfort of the life and the ~ork. The
suspicious nature of the Mongols caused Gilmour to forsake
many simple methods of physical and spiritual refreshment. For
instance, he liked to g3 away to some quiet spot in the early
morning, that he might secure a period of meditation. But
when he found that the Mongols muttered among themselves,
suspecting him of trying to take away the luck of the land, he
abandoned the habit, preferring to win the confidence of the
people even by the sacrifice of his personal profit and enjoyment.
Then, too, he naturally liked to make notes, and write up his
diary from time to time; but this excited great distrust. They
concluded he was making a map of the country, so that he might
lead an army against the inhabitants. So Gilmour quietly gave
up this innocent indulgence, and patiently pursued the conventional Mongol life-only healing their sick, and speaking, wherever he could find a listener, of the unsearchable riches of Christ.
Thus, in r 88o, he concluded ten years of his singular missionary
experiences; but he was not able to report that all his self-denying
labours had led one Mongol to accept the Christian faith.
In r88z Gilmour was compelled to bring his wife to England.
For more than twelve months, she had been suffering severely from
the strain of the life. It was in the following year that he wrote
his fascinating and realistic book, "Among the Mongols," about
which the reviewer in the Spectator said, "Robinson Crusoe has
turned missionary, lived years in Mongolia, and written a book
about it." As this review contains an admirable condensed account of Gilmour's life among the Mongols, we may quote a
considerable extract.
" Mr. Gilmour, though a Scotchman, is apparently attached to
the L~ndon Mission, and seems to have quitted Peking for Mon,
from sin. Such appeal could not be wholly in vain, nor was it.
It happened, one night, that he had gone in to visit a priest, of
whom he had hopes, and had found him alone. The conversation at once turned to the one subject on Gilmour's heart.
Presently a layman entered, known to both the speakers. The
matter was briefly explained to him, when, almost immediately,
he spoke up and said that, whether the priest would join him or
not, he was quite determined to become a Christian, for he had
long been "a scholar of Jesus." " I was lying flat on the platform," writes Gilmour, "and the two men were crouching on the
floor. I could just see dimly the bottom of their skin coats, but
the place was beautiful to me as the gate of Heaven, and the
words of the confession of Christ from out the cloud of smoke
were as inspiriting to me as if they had been spoken by an angel
out of a cloud of glory." So the missionary went on, from place
to place, and tent to tent, his poor feet causing him indescribable
suffering. Often the snow lay deep on the plain, and sometimes
he had to suffer much from thirst; but he wrestled on, and at
last, worn out in body and spirit, got home after many a" terrible
march," bringing with him one golden memory of the hour when
Boyinto, the Mongol, made confession of his faith. Boyinto, as
we have seen, was baptized at the end of the year 1884.
It was home, certainly, and to his wife and boys, that Gilmour
painfully made his way from the plain, but it was home with the
shadow of a great coming sorrow upon it. The gallant young
wife, who had borne Up so bravely and faithfully, amid many
difficulties, had sorely overtaxed her strength, and even the restful sojourn in England had not availed to entirely restore her.
She had returned to Peking with her husband, better for a time,
but soon to grow weaker, until it became evident to all, in 1885,
that she was not long for this world. There was much spiritual
movement in the Peking Churches, and the missionaries were
busily engaged, Gilmour bearing his full share. His wife rejoiced
in all the good tidings of growth and progress; but she could not
stay to learn how far, or how deep, it was to extend. In September of this year she died, and, soon afte:, the two motherless lads
b<; sent away, and Gilmour was once more alone.
understand why he had come : but they felt the brotherly spirit
and earnestness of the man, and the sense of sympathy opened
the way for conversation.
At last, towards the end of March, 1888, the long-looked-for
event occurred-the event which, in Gilmour's thotght, was to
for a courier arrived from China with the terrible news that Dr.
Mackenzie was dead, and that Dr. Roberts was appointed to
succeed him at Tientsin. Of all who were sufferers by the loss of
Kenneth Mackenzie, no one was called upon to suffer more than
Gilmour, who, just as his life's hopes were being realized, was left
once more alone in Mongolia. "My faith is not gone," he writes,
"but it would be untrue to say I am not walking in the dark. I
shall do my best to hold on here, single-handed." So Dr. Roberts
returned southward to Tientsin, and Gilmour said farewell, and
then quietly turned to his old work and his solitude.
Mackenzie was dead. Indefatigable in caring for everybody's
health but his own, he had worked on when he was physically
unfit, because the mission was short-handed at the time. Then
he was compelled to take to his bed, and in a week he was gone.
Not only a skilful and beloved physician, but a man with a
passion for evangelization, he was mourned by all, high and low
alike. "I never thought Chinamen could be so affected," wrote
one who stood by his graveside, and saw the great concourse of
people, and the evident grief that showed itself in their faces.
The coffin was covered deep in flowers, while "among these last
gifts of love glittered the Sta..r and Ribbon of the Double Dragon,
conferred upon Dr. Mackenzie by the Emperor a few years previously," Scarcely had the grave closed over him, when the
authorities laid claim to the hospital building and to the large
fund which had been accumulated by Mackenzie's self-denial, and
which was about to be devoted to the sustenance of a medical
missionary in Mongolia. Everybody had believed that the Missionary Society owned the building erected on its own compound, and that Mackenzie had the disposal of the money. The
fund in question had been accumulated through many years.
The Viceroy paid a liberal sum for every Chinese medical student trained by Mackenzie. The latter refused to accept the
money personally, but devoted the surplus, after paying all
expenses, to this Mission Trust Fund. Thus the legitimate
reward of Mackenzie's labours was now claimed by the Chinese
officials, and a court of law awarded the claimants both the
mission buildings and the fund. The only grace shown to the
Character of New Guinea-Lifu and the Mission-Landing at Darnley-First
Trials-Second Expedition- Mataika's Story- The First MartyrsSerious Losses-Mr. Chalmers and Mr. Lawes-Pioneering-Training
New Guinea Teachers-After Ten Years-Tragedy at Kalo-K01xo's
Story-Progress and Extension-Heroism of Native Teachers-Prospects
and Summary.
GULF of
i::z.7 ...
9 -
30 -
"That will do," said Tepeso; "wherever there are men, missionaries
are bound to go." Tepeso was one of the first native missionaries
to New Guinea to lay down his life for the people. He, his wife
and child were all swept away by fever.
The next morning the Surprise stood out from Darnley Island,
leaving on the beach the first of the eight teachers to begin his
work. His name was Gucheng, and one can well understand the
tears of his wife as she realized now the task to which they stood
committed. "Oh, my country ! " she was overheard to cry ;
"why did we leave our happy home? Would that I were back
at Lifu again ! " Then lier husband gently comforted her, and
reminded her of what Christ suffered for us, and how it behoves us to take up the cross. And so they stood on the shore,
and watched their comrades sail away across the sea, and then
turned to their dangerous and lonely work on Darnley Island.
Between Darnley Island and the mainland there are two very
dissimilar islands lying quite near to one another-one, very
rocky, Dauan Island; the other, low and fertile, Saibai Island.
The next movement of the expedition was to plant teachers on
these islands-a work that was accomplished without much difficulty, the chiefs appearing genuinely cordial. As Dauan and
Saibai Islands are quite near to the mainland, it was decided
subsequently to leave there two of the remaining teachers, with
instructions that as soon as an opening offered they should move
on to New Guinea proper and establish themselves there. If this
movement were carried out, we should have a mission st:ttion situated between the two important rivers, the Baxter and the Fly.
Two teachers still remained, whom it was proposed to locate at the
mouth of the Fly River. A sudden change in the fortunes of the
expedition, however, prevented the accomplishment of this purpose. As Mr. Murray and Mr. Macfarlane, with the two teachers,
were making their way to their destination, a boat met them, and
a letter was handed out which contained the news that two
teachers and their wives had fled in terror from Dauan, and that
they believed that their comrades had been murdered. Thus
early were the prospects of the New Guinea mission clouded;
but the darkness of the situation was relieved by the simple
impolitic, to leave the Lifuan pioneers without visitation and encouragement at their difficult outposts, Mr. Murray agreed to
take temporary supervis-ion of the new stations, and to continue the
work of extension; while Mr. Macfarlane went to England to confer
with the Directors. Making his headquarters at Cape York, the
northernmost extremity of Queensland, and only eighty miles from
New Guinea, Mr. Murray formed his plans. In company with
Mr. Wyatt Gill, who was on his way home to England, and had
brought some Rarotongan evangelists for the work, a fresh expedition was made. On Darnley Island, Gucheng, the teacher, had
done well. In a few brief months this brave fellow had practically stamped out the custom of strangling infants at the birth,
and had done other effective foundation work. On the previous
voyage, a teacher named Mataika had been left with Gucheng on
Darnley Island, the understanding being that some means of
transport would be found later to convey him to Murray Island,
his appointed sphere of work. As no such means appeared,
Mataika began to grow impatient, and being, as Mr. Murray says,
"a John Williams in a small way," he began to devise methods
of his own. There was good timber in the bush, and he was not
without tools. Was it not possible to construct some rude form
of canoe that would suffice to cross the thirty miles of sea to
Murray Island? He set to work, and with Gucheng's help, and
that of a friendly islander or two, he dug out the heart of a single
tree, fixed some side-boards to keep out the wash of the waves,
and so sailed; and in this strange fashion, after two days and a
night on the deep, arrived at Murray Island with four companions.
He received the welcome he deserved, and hiring a boat, returned
to Darnley Island, shipped his possessions, and, with his wife,
crossed again to Murray Island and settled down to his work.
All this Mr. Murray learned on his expedition. He succeeded
this time in planting four teachers at Katau on the mainland,
two at Bank's Island, six at Manumanu, and two at Bampton
Island near the mouth of the Fly River.
The next two years were comparatively uneventful, save that
three or four of the teachers, or their wives, died of fever, the
first-fruits of Death's great harvest from the ranks of these gallant
healthier spots to recruit. After two years and a half even Mr.
Lawes was compelled to retire for a. time to Cape York, and informed the Directors in doing so that he considered Port Moresby
an unfit residence for Europeans. It must not be supposed that
no progress had been made. The smaller islands were already
yielding to the faithful and earnest labours of the Lifuan teachers.
At Murray Island, led by the energetic Mataika, the people had
erected a rude chapel, the first place of worship built for the mission. Of Dauan and Saibai Islands the celebrated Italian explorer and naturalist, Signor D' Albertis, had something to say.
After speaking of the reverent behaviour of the natives during
religious service, he says, " I am not capable of judging of the
influence of the teachers in (sic) a religious point of view, but from
the benefit derived from their moral influence the result is very
satisfactory. The advance of the natives of Saibai in civilization
is proceeding very fast, and the. L.M.S. may be proud of two
such teachers as Elia and Lochat, who are eminently qualified to
reform the wild tribes, and to prepare the ground for future settlements." And this was after no more than four years' work.
A great and much-needed impulse was given to the mission in
1877 by the arrival of the Rev. James Chalmers, from Rarotonga,
bringing with him a new staff of Rarotongan teachers. Mr.
Chalmers was in every way suited for the pioneer work necessary
in opening up new ground. Associated, as he was to be, through
so many years, with Mr. Lawes, no happier choice could possibly
have been made. During all his adventurous journeys among
the cannibal savages of that strange land, he has made it his
invariable rule to go unarmed; and, if the epigram may be forgiven, he has proved that in such work as this to be unarmed is
to be unharmed. "Tamate," Chalmers' native name, is a passport among the tribes all along the coast, and in many of the
inland regions. Both he and Mr. Lawes have suffered repeatedly
from fever ; but their lives have been spared, and through all
their arduous experience they have never faltered; while it has
been given to them, perhaps more than to most pioneers, to see
the fruits of their labours in the marvellous growth of the mission
to which their lives have been cons<:crated. It may be said here
a severe blow to Mr. Chalmers and the mission was the break
down in health of Mrs. Chalmers, who retired to Sydney in
September, 1878, and died there from the effects of her sufferings
in New Guinea. Her loss was greatly felt by all who knew ber.
The memory of this English lady, who behaved with such quiet
and composed serenity amid the frenzied cries of the cannibals
who had had an affray with the crew of the Magic, and who
urged her husband not to flee away by night, even though the
friendlier natives insisted that they would be murdered before
morning, is cherished by many who knew and loved her in the
South Seas.
The breakdown of the attempts to discover really healthy
settlements led to at least one most important resolution. The
South Sea Islanders were evidently not well fitted, physically, to
evangelize New Guinea. But at such stations as Katau, Murray,
Darnley, Dauan, and Saibai, the New Guinea converts were
already beginning to show promise of enlarged intelligence and
deeper conviction. Why not train them to be missionaries from
the very cradle of their religious life? The experiment was
decided on. Mr. Macfarlane got together a number of the
brightest lads, and put it to their parents whether they would
spare them to be educated on Murray Island for this great work.
Nearly a hundred were thus gathered and put to school, with a
view to their becoming teachers in their turn, should future days
prove them to have the capacity and the consecration. Thus the
Murray Island Institution was established. To-day a similar
institution is in active work at Port Moresby, and a considerable
number of New Guinea evangelists are settled as teachers and
preachers among their fellow-men. This policy of evangelizing
a people, through their own members, is recognised increasingly,
to-day, as the soundest and best. The lines of the Murray
Island Seminary, or "Papuan Institute," as Mr. Macfarlane
called it, are worth noting. An industrial school was part of
the programme ; the curriculum was to include training in a
variety of useful manual arts. Miss Baxter again gave generously
towards the Institution buildings, as well as guaranteeing a hand. some annual subscription for maintenance. Mr. Robeit Bruce, a
NEW GUiNEA
eventually proved too small, and was sold, the Harrier being
bought to serve in its place. Unfortunately the Harrier was
wrecked, and the problem as to the best kind of vessel for this
difficult mission is evidently not easily solved. Much anxiety
had been felt by our missionaries as to the political future of the
country. It was, of course, perfectly natural that they should
prefer to work under the protection of the British flag ; and the
contiguity of the island to Australia made the colonists there
anxious for the same outcome of events. At the 'same time it
is impossible not to feel sympathy with the position of those who
insist that England has already undertaken obligations to the
full extent of her capacity to discharge them. However, in
r8S4, the British flag was hoisted at Port Moresby and a great
many stations along the coast, in token of British protection.
Holland and Germany are our neighbours there, and, we may hope,
will continue to work side by side with England for the benefit
of the native races. It was a relief to those interested in the
mission to know that it was now in no danger from the intrusion
of a foreign power unfriendly to Protestant teaching. When the
ceremony of hoisting the flag and proclaiming the protectorate
was performed, either Mr. Lawes or Mr. Chalmers accompanied
the presiding officer and translated the proclamation to the
people. The natives received it with every demonstration of goodwill. If Tamate and Misilao were satisfied, they felt it must be
all right!
In the same year, by decision of the Directors, it was determined to strengthen the eastern section of the mission by the
appointment of two English missionaries. More than one such.
had been sent out previously, but had been compelled to retire
before the devastating hand of fever. After a quarter of a
century of arduous and successful work in the South Se~s, the
Rev. Samuel Macfarlane was about to retire. Evidently the
whole burden could not be allowed to rest even on the broad
shoulders of Mr. Chalmers and Mr. Lawes. The Rev. Albert
Pearse, of Raiatea, offered to move to New Guinea, and the offer
having been accepted, he, in I887, settled at Kerepunu, a little east
of Kalo, where the massacre of I 88 I took place. The Rev. E.
station at Murray Island was given up, as it was too far from
the mainland to be convenient. Mr. Chalmers and Mr. Savage
moved westward from Port Moresby, and made their headquarters at Motumotu; while Mr. Walker, who arrived to
strengthen the mission, took up his position on the island of
Suau, near the eastern extremity of New Guinea. When Mr.
Abel joined him in 18gi, a further movement was made to
Kwato, an island which it was felt was even more suitable for
the eastern headquarters of the mission. In the same year an
event occurred which was a striking and happy evidence of the
unity of our South Sea missions. The people of Niue had determined to present a boat for the purposes of the New Guinea
work. The proposal was enthusiastically taken up, and a "beautiful little lugger," the Niue, the cost of which was sso, arrived
at K wato, and was received there with great delight, not only as
a useful auxiliary, but as a token of the sympathy with which the
Niue Christians were following the work of extemion in New
Guinea. Very energetically and prosperously have Messrs. Walker
and Abel worked at Kwato. They had swamps to reclaim as well
as people; stores, boat-sheds, dwellings, chapels, to build; but
they have been so successful that the report truly says, "the
station is now a credit to the mission, and a remarkable illustration
of what can be done by energy and determination well directed."
While these changes had been going on in the organization
of the mission, the gallant band of teachers from the South Sea
Islands had passed through many losses, and had been recruited again and again. The Report for I 894 contains the
tragic statement, that since the mission was established twenty
years ago, over one hundred and twenty have died of fever, or
been poisoned and massacred in New Guinea. And yet more
volunteers had only to be asked for, and there was a quick, glad,
eager response.
"Those who are living and working in the
island to-day," is the testimony borne to them, "are just as ready
to die, if need be, as those that have passed away." In 1887,
Tauraki, the Rarotongan teacher at Motumotu, was murdered.
He was a splendid specimen of a South Sea Christian, and
suffered death because of his devotion to the natives among
Cornelius Rahmn-Foreign Secretaries of the Society-Home SecretariesTreasurers-Translations of the Bible--Other Literature-Native Writings-Character of the N alive Ministry-Testimonies thereto-Liberality
of Native Christians-Examination of the Society's Finance-The
Forward Movement-State Endowments-Do we Anglicise ?--Customs
in Native Churches-Statistics of Results-Present-day Opportunities.
FINAL chapter may be bestowed on some general tabulating of results, and chronicling of certain facts which
cannot very well appear in the main body of the narrative. All
we have been able to do has been to take a cursory glance at the
principal fields of labour, and to review, all too briefly, the more
striking incidents of the history. It is perhaps not too much to
say, that in every field some of the best work has been done by
men whose names have never become prominent, and by steady,
persistent, humdrum methods which do not lend themselves to
description. In the early days of the Society's history there were
men who spent their lives among many tribes and peoples, holding
a sort of roving commission, and exercising an influence that cannot be estimated with any accuracy. Such was Cornelius Rahmn,
a Swede by birth, who accompanied Mr. Stallybrass to Siberia in
the first instance. Feeling drawn to evangelise the Calmucks, he
proceeded to Sarepta and to Astrakhan. Thence he struck out,
and wandered about among the Choshote Calmucks on the
Achtuba River. Driven by ill-health to return, he peregrinated
next among the Derbet horde of Calmucks. But the censure of
the Russian Government had been incurred, and his work was
stopped. He returned to St. Petersburg and began a mission
to the Swedes, Finlanders, and Germans of that city ; and pursued this work with success until recalled to London by the
Directors to assist in the Foreign Department of the Society.
Ultimately the Swedish king appointed him pastor of the
Swedish Church in London, and chaplain to the Swedish and
Norwegian embassy.
Such in barest outline is the story of
Cornelius Rahmn-name unknown to us now-and his attempts
to preach the Gospel to the Calmucks on the north-west shores
of the Caspian, in the second and third decades of this century.
Such missions are rather meteoric than .planetary, and we cannot
consequently assign them any definite place in our present
missionary history. If it
is with sorrow that we
are unable to record the
doings of a host of good
and true missionaries
abroad, we must regret
that so many gallant
workers at home, whose
zeal contributed very
much to the Society's
success, must share a
similar fate. Any history, however, would be
seriously incomplete that
said no word of those
DR. 'f!DMAN.
who have had the main
direction of affairs.
We have seen that the Rev. John Love
was the first Foreign Secretary.
He held office only five years,
and his successor, the Rev. John Eyre, for an even briefer period.
In 1803, the Rev. George Burder, whose portrait appears in our
opening chapter, was appointed to this all-important post, and for
twenty-four years he discharged its duties with great efficiency.
The Rev. William Orme stayed but two years; and then the
Rev. William Ellis, whose work in the South Seas and in Madagascar we have become acquainted with, occupied the positiOn
until 1841.
Before the completion of that period, he had
associated with him the Rev. Dr. Arthur Tidman, one of the
greatest and wisest officers the Society has ever had. From 1841
until his death in r868, he was an honoured leader and counsellor.
With him, after Mr. Ellis's retirement, was, first of all, the Rev.
Joseph John Freeman, one of the early Madagascar missionaries,
and subsequently the Rev. Dr. Mullen,s, who became sole secretary at Dr. Tidman's death, and rem"ained so until he fell in
the heart of Africa, on one of those missions of counsel and
sympathy in a peculiarly difficult emergency, which he so frequently and bravely undertook. To him succeeded in r88r the
present beloved Foreign Secretary, the Rev. Ralph Wardlaw
Thompson, who is worthy to stand by the side of the very first
of his predecessors. Mr. Thompson has paid visits to many
fields, and has more than once undertaken negotiations of a very
delicate character with conspicuous success. Thus in the post of
Foreign Secretary there has been a constant succession of men.
The post of Home Secretary, however, has not always been
filled. Mr. Shrubsole discharged the duties for three years, and
the Rev. John Eyre for five. Then for eight years the post was
vacant. There was again an interval of three years between the
secretaryship of the Rev. S. W. Tracey, and the Rev. John Arundel.
The latter entered upon the office in 1819, and retired in 1846.
His successor was the Rev. J. J. Freeman, at whose death in
r8sr the Rev. Ebenezer Prout, whose name is still well known
throughout the missionary constituency, accepted appointment,
and continued at the post for thirteen years, when he retired.
The Rev. Robert Robinson was Home Secretary for nearly
twenty years. Then in r885 he was succeeded by the Rev. E. H.
Jones, on whose retirement, in 1892, the Rev. A. N. Johnson,
the present secretary, was appointed. The treasurership of so
great a Society is an arduous and often an anxious post. The
L. M.S. has been conspicuously favoured in its treasurers. Mr.
Hardcastle's regime has been already described. His successor, W.
A. Hankey, Esq., held the purse-strings for sixteen years; and in
r 832 Thomas Wilson, Esq., consented to serve the Society in this
capacity. Sir Culling Eardley Smith, Bart., was treasurer for the
nineteen years following, until his death in r863. Mention of
name of John Hay will ever be associated with the great work
of revision; one might almost say, of re-translation. The Rev.
John Hands, of Bellary, translated a large portion of the
Bible into Kanarese, and the Revs. E. Lewis and E. P. Rice
have had considerable share in the revision. The Gujarati version-spelt "Sujerattee" by the early missionaries-by Messrs.
Skinner and Fyvie has already been mentioned. Passing now
to Madagascar, the principal translation into Malagasi was made
by Messrs. J ones, Griffiths and J ohns, and completed just prior
to the outbreak of persecution. The Rev. W. E. Cousins has
been notably associated with the revision. In Africa Dr. Mof~
fat's Sechuana Bible, in the preparation of which he was assisted
by the Rev. W. Ashton, was completed in 1858. Translations
of parts of the Scriptures have been made into other dialects of
the interior. In Polynesia our missionaries have been very busy.
John Williams led the way in the preparation of the Rarotongan
and Samoan versions. In the former he was assisted by the
Revs. C. Pitman and A. Buzacott. Dr. Wyatt Gill can claim to
have taken out to the Pacific the first Rarotongan Bible issued
by the Bible Society. He, with the Rev. George Gill, was responsible for a revised version of it. The Samoan translation
owes very much of its value to the unwearying labours of Rev. G.
Pratt, while Dr. Turner carried four editions through the press.
To the brothers Lawes the inhabitants of Niue are largely indebted for their Bible, the name of the Rev. George Pratt being
also honourably associated with the work. In 1885 the Lifuan
Bible was completed by the Rev. S. M. Creagh, assisted by the
Rev. J. Sleigh. Mr. Creagh also did much good work of a
similar order in Mare. The Tahitian Bible was due mainly to
Henry Nott, while Messrs. William Howe and Thomas Joseph
made a careful revision of it. Finally, the Motu New Testament
for New Guinea, begun by the Rev. James Chalmers, and completed by the Rev. W. G. Lawes, was issued in 18gr. Portions
of the Scriptures have also been translated for Murray Island,
Sabai Island, and Kerepunu. Such a splendid record as this
deserves the gratitude of all who believe in the power of the Bible
to tell its own story and make its message understood by those
who are able to read it.
evangelists are the "heroes and martyrs of the nineteenth century " ; and none can read the sad but splendid story of the New
Guinea martyrdoms without feeling how true the saying is. Many
of our Chinese pastors and preachers have been real saints.
Leang-Afa's story has been told. It could be paralleled, if not surpassed, in other provinces. "There are single converts," said Mr.
Arnold Foster, "who are worth all the money England has ever
expended on missions in China." To appreciate that fact we may
need a new standard in economics ; but that it should be said at
all shows the impression which some Christian converts make on
those who know them best.
A chapter might be written on the
sermons, addresses, and prayers of these earnest, but often raw,
disciples. Some of Pomare's sermons are still extant.
show considerable powers of description and imagination, powers
that appear to be corn monly possessed by the islanders. Dr.
Macfarlane has rescued from oblivion the striking illustration of
the leading whaling boat as applied to the first attempt to gain a
hold on New Guinea. It shows a picturesque style of speech; a
faculty of making ideas forcible by ineans of illustration. One of
the Hong Kong native preachers must have possessed altogether
unusual eloquence, according to Dr. Legge's account. He does
not appear to have had that remarkable spiritual gift which persuades men. But he had great dramatic power, and in a sermon
on Job so wrought upon the feelings of his audience, that imitating the preacher, they were seen to be all stretching hands.'
down to grasp some potsherd to scrape themselves withal ! And
yet the Chinese are by no means easily moved.
Examples of similar powers of speech could be given in abundance. But for the work which most needs to be done it is not
so much the practised orator who is wanted, as the holy, consecrated man who will teach the people, and whose influence will be
habitually exercised to purify and elevate their common life.
When such men are found, they obtain a hold on the affections of
the people which is unique, and are powerful for good among
In some fields the European missionary has thankfully
confessed that not a tithe of the conversions has been due to
hi~; the most effective. work has been accomplished by native
ing body of men. Many of them in their own islands were men
of property and influence, but have given up all those advantages
to assist in spreading the gospel, which they had themselves received from the missionaries, among the savage and benighted
inhabitants of New Guinea. Nor in doing this can they be said,
to be influenced by mercenary motives or hope of profit. The
London Missionary Society pays them 2o a year each, not a
very magnificent sum for the services of two people, a man and
his wife, both fairly educated. They are not permitted to trade
with the natives except for articles necessary for their subsistence,
such as an occasional pig, yams, cocoa-nuts, and the like. Many
of these men have
proved their devotion
by the sacrifice of their
lives, and have died
either by the club of
the savage native, or
from the scarcely less
deadly influence of the
climate in some of the
localities where stations
were at first formed.
Nor can they even look
forward to a posthumous fame as an incentive to their work or as
a reward for their zeal.
They die by violence or disease, and beyond the narrow circle of
the missionaries or theit fellow-labourers nothing more is heard of
If New Guinea is ever evangelized it will in a
great measure be due to the devoted efforts of the humble native
As for the rank and file of adherents, it must be confessed that
they are usually ignorant, and frequently untrustworthy ; but Mr.
Mateer's testimony seems to be generally confirmed by workers
in other fields, "The great body of our Church membets are personsof whose Christian experience and life and genuine conver-
any departure from what is customary, except where decency demands it. The lady missionaries designPd the upper-cloth for the
lower caste women of Travancore on this ground. Similar necessity
has imposed similar duties on missionaries and their wives in
other fields. But the ideal aimed at has been to design a dress
that would be suitable to the climate and the occupations of the
wearers, rather than to introduce any European fashion. When
we turn to consider the difficulty of dealing with ancient tribal
customs to which the teaching of Christianity is inimical, very
large liberty has been wisely conceded to the missionary, who has
to deal thus with social and moral problems. Of course the most
crucial of all such questions is polygamy. The frightful evils
incidental to the system are denied by none ; at the same time
opinions have differed widely as to the true course for the convert to
pursue who, in his heathen days, contracted engagements to many
wives. Some missionaries have required their converts to make
choice of one wife, but to maintain the others, and recognise the
legitimacy of the children. Some have permitted their converts
to continue in polygamy, and have looked forward to the system
dying out with a passing generation. The Society has prudently
made no hard and fast law on the subject. Similarly the system
of church life most suitable to the character and needs of the
converts of any one field has been left for the missionaries to
determine. Only the purity of the churches has been jealously
guarded. Often chiefs of immoral life have sought membership;
and, for the sake of the influence that would thus be gained over
their tribes, the temptation to admit them has been great. But it
has been resisted. Substantially all our missionaries have held
by the admirable definition of Barrowe that "a church is a
company of faithful men and women, wholly surrendered to
Jesus Christ, walking forth in faith and obedience." To realize this
has been the effort of our workers everywhere. The form of
church ordinances naturally varies under different conditions. The
elements used in the Lord's Supper in our Polynesian Missions
were not bread and wine which were difficult to obtain, but the
ordinary "bread and wine of the country," that is, the pure white
yam and cocoa-nut milk. Thus the ordinances of the Church
quered new peoples. have yet no braver and more enterprising policy
to pursue than to evacuate the conquered territory, leaving the
inhabitants to resume the discredited habits and manners of their
old civilization, and still to suckle their children in a creed outworn!
Yet the opportunity is unique. Thi!'\ readiness to receive us and
our message may not always continue. Disappointment at delay,
resentment at the deaf ear we apparently turn to their entreaties,
may beget quite another spirit. Hinduism or Buddhism may
come, as they have come ere now, with an evangelistic zeal which
the disciples of Christ may envy, and these poor suppliants of
our pity may be lost to the Church for long years, if not for ever.
In the hope that the story of our past success and our present
opportunity may arouse a deeper enthusiasm and consecration for
the future, these pages have been written. In the Acts of the
Apostles there are recorded no more signal triumphs of the
authority of Christ than have been achieved through the instrumentality of our missionaries and native evangelists. They have
proved a thousand times the living power of the Lord Christ.
\Vitness the men whom with a word He gaineth,
Bold who were base and voiceflll who were dm11 b ;
Battle, I know, w long as life remaineth,
Battle for all, but these have overcome.
What is this psalm from p\tiable places,
Glad where the messengers of peace have trod?
\Vhose are these beautiful and holy faces,
Lit with their loving and aflame with God?
out in 1895, and even to-day we are seventeen short of the goal.
But enough has been done for thankfulness, if not for glory.
An increase of its staff of missionaries from 196 to 279 in twelve
years is a result for which any Society might well be grateful to
Almighty God.
"Take one step forward and secure that step," says Browning,
Unfortunately, we can hardly claim as'yet that the forward step
has been secured. \Ve have our eighty-three additional missionaries; but we are far from having made adequate provision
for their maintenance. It is only by dint of Special Appeals,
renewed with distressing regularity year after year, that the
staff is maintained at the pres~nt level, whilst the work all
round the field is sadly crippled and contracted for lack of
Let us see, however, what progress can be reported from the
mission fields as the fruit of these ten eventful years. And first
we turn to INDIA. To attempt to tabulate the progress of ten
years in India is an impossible task. The hoary East moves
not in decades, but in centuries. Yet even in ten years a change
has come over the spirit and attitude of India towards Christ.
In spite of a strong re-action towards neo-Hinduism, the claims
of Christ to be the supreme Teacher and example of .the race
are more widely adrr.itted than ever. "It seems to me," writes
a missionary, "that thousands have really accepted Christ and
His teaching, and are trying to carry it out while still remaining
under the shelter of Hinduism."
We may well rejoice that under such circumstances the L.M.S.
has been able to add nearly forty new workers to its staff in
India since the beginning of the Forward Movement. The
growth of the work has been fairly proportionate to this increase
of staff. In North India, a notoriously hard field for missionary
effort, the numerical growth has been but small. But in the
Southern field (including Travancore) the number of the Society's
adherents has increased in ten years from 69,000 to 95,000, and
the church members from 8,joo to n,soo.
Most of the new workers have gone to strengthen old positions.
Only four new stations, indeed, have been opened during the
period, and it is interesting to note that three of these (Kachwa,
Jiaganj and Jammalamadugu) are medical missions. At the
fourth, Attingal, work is being carried on among the poorest
and most ignorant section of the community in a thickly populated district of Travancore.
But it is chiefly to the old-established centres that we must
look for signs of the times in India. There, among the out-caste
and low-caste millions living within reach of the Societv's influence, a work is going on which promises within a few g~nera
tions to revolutionize the life of the country. Men who for
centuries have been denied all opportunity to fit themselves for
any rise in the social scale are seizing on the Gospel as a message
of hope both for this present life and for that which is to come.
" They belong to a class of Indian society that has for years
been down-trodden," writes a Telugu missionary ; "but every
year now witnesses their advancing liberation from ancient
superstition and vices, and their entrance upon a new and
higher type of life. And, notwithstanding their poverty and
illiteracy, and the evil entail of past centuries, they make rapid
progress, for their minds are open to receive the light."
There are now more than zo,ooo people of this class in conn~c
tion with our Telugu mission alone, and their ranks are being
largely added to every year.
The pity of it is that so many fields which are white already
to harvest have to be left unreaped for lack of workers. There
are districts to-day in South India where the people, after promising to give up their idols and renounce their superstitious
practices, have gone back to heathenism because no teachers
could be sent to instruct them in the truth. At the present time
there is a community of Shanars in the Salem district, numbering
at least 50,000 souls, who have asked for teachers and are willing
to put themselves under Christian instruction. The open door
is before us, in this and many other places. How long it will
remain open, if we are unable to take advantage of the opportunity, no man can say.
In CHINA the past ten years have been "years of transition"
in no merely conventional sense. It was not to be expected
that China would move forward with the same rapidity as her
island neighbour, but' there can be no doubt that a very effective
stirring of the dry bones has been going on.
A bare list of the places occupied by the L.M.S. during the last
ten or twelve years will be enough to show that the Society has not
been neglectful of her opportunity. In the South we have advanced to Ting Chiu and Hui-An; in the Central Provinces to
Hiau Kan and Tsao Shih, and to Heng Chow in the far interior
of Hunan; in the North to T'sang Chow, Wei Chen 1 and
Wei Chen had been worked for some years as an independent mission
before it was taken over by the L.M.S. in r8qq.
Tung An. All these represent the occupation of new fields for
There could be no more inspiring theme than the story of
these extensions. Any one of them could furnish materials for
a chapter to itself. We must confine ourselves, however, to the
mission which has aroused the most. widespread interest among
Irish "fresbyterian Church in I90I. It is chiefly in the country
districts to the south-west of Tientsin that the mission in North
China has expanded during the last decade. The Chi Chou
mission was started nearly twenty years ago, but at the time
of the Centenary the converts in the whole of this district numbered only 350. Since that time strong and extensive missions
have been built up at T'sang Chow and Wei Chen, in the same
neighbourhood, and by the year I899, before the terrible Boxer
outbreak harried the Church, the converts of the three missions
were nearly I ,zoo in number.. In 1900 the missionaries had to
flee for their lives, the native preachers were almost all killed,
the mission houses and chapels were destroyed, and a great
company of native Christians suffered martyrdom for their
faith. The mission is only just recovering from the shock of
that year of blood ; yet the Church is stronger to-day than ever
it has been, both in numbers and influence.
By the goodness of God our missionaries escaped with their
lives from the fury of the Boxers and reached the coast in safety,
after many perilous adventures. Unfortunately, some months
later the Rev. J. Stonehouse, after passing safely through the
dangers of the siege of the Legations in Peking, was shot by
robbers whilst engaged in carrying relief to the village Christians
tn the neighbourhood of Tung An.
During the present year (October, I<)O.), to June, I<)04) a
special Deputation, consisting of the Revs. George Cousins and
William Bolton, have been engaged in a tour of inspection through
the whole of the Society's Chinese missions. Their report has
not yet been issued, but there can be little doubt that it will
call attention to the greatness of the opportunity set before the
Christian Church in China at the present time, and will urge the
need of stronger efforts in many directions.
The first convert of the CENTRAL AFHICAN MISSION had been
baptized at the close of I8<)o. Ten years ago there were barely
a dozen members of the church. To-day the church numbers
over sixty, whilst the regular weekly congregation!:! reach an
average of nearly 5,000. Judged by ordinary standards, it is
not a large return for all the strength and money and life which
have been expended on the mission; but the work of preparing
the ground and sowing the seed has been faithfully carried on,
and the organization of the mission to-day is a very different
thing from that of ten years ago. Then there were only two
mis<>ion schools, with about a hundred scholars ; now the schocls
number more than thirty, and the scholars well over 2,000.
elementary education and for books has sprung up ; the congregations at the Sunday services have largely increased; and
where the missionaries had laboured for a generation with no apparent result, converts have now been gathered in by the hundred.
Altogether there are now nearly 300 church members in connection with our Matebele mission, and more than 2,500 adherents.
Passing to MADAGASCAR we find a very different record. When
the story of the mission up to the time of the Centenary was
written, there was no anticipation of the momentous political
changes which were so soon to come about. For several years
the island had been under an ill-defined French protectorate,
and in r895, after a short but costly campaign, France made
herself absolute mistress of the country.
What this change
has meant to Madagascar, and particularly to the work of the
L.M.S. in the island, it is impossible to tell here. For a time
it seemed as if the mission would have to he abandoned altogether.
Gradually, however, the clouds have lifted. and rays of light have
appeared on the horizon which a few years ago seemed wholly
dark. For this happier result we are indebted, under God, in
the first place to the friendship and co-operation of the Paris
Missionary Society, which for a time took over a considerable
section of our work ; and in the second place to the Deputation,
consil"ting of the Rev. R. Wardlaw Thompson and Mr. Evan
Spicer, who visited the island in I 8q7, and were able to convince
the authorities of the good faith and loyalty of the Society in
working under the new political regime.
There are many features in the new order of things over which
every lover of liberty and progress must rejoice, as there are
other features which cause regret and apprehension, It is well,
for many reasons, that it should no longer be regarded as a
fashionable thing to be connected with the Christian Church,
and that such attachment should rath

subset: commoncrawl