Friends were trying to dissuade one whose ancestors were not three generations out of cannibalism from going as a missionary to one of the savage islands of Polynesia. They recounted all the hardships and dangers to be encountered. “Are there men there?” asked the volunteer.“Men? Yes; horrible cannibals, who will probably kill you and eat you.”“That settles it!” was the sublime rejoinder. “That settles it! Wherever there are men, there missionaries are bound to go!”
Friends were trying to dissuade one whose ancestors were not three generations out of cannibalism from going as a missionary to one of the savage islands of Polynesia. They recounted all the hardships and dangers to be encountered. “Are there men there?” asked the volunteer.
“Men? Yes; horrible cannibals, who will probably kill you and eat you.”
“That settles it!” was the sublime rejoinder. “That settles it! Wherever there are men, there missionaries are bound to go!”
(2050)
MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE
On October 15, 1819, in the Park Street Church, Boston, a mission to the Hawaiian Islands was organized with the following members: Messrs. Bingham and Thurston, ministers; Messrs. Whitney and Ruddles, teachers; Thomas Holman, physician; Elisha Loomis, printer; Daniel Chamberlain, farmer, together with their wives, and three Hawaiian young men from the Cornwall Missionary School. These seventeen went forth to erect a Christian civilization upon pagan shores, for they represented the Church, the common school, the printing-press, the medicine-chest, and the implements of agriculture. They set sail from Boston October 23, 1819, and reached the Hawaiian coast March 31, 1820, after somewhat more than five months.—Pierson, “The Miracles of Missions.”
On October 15, 1819, in the Park Street Church, Boston, a mission to the Hawaiian Islands was organized with the following members: Messrs. Bingham and Thurston, ministers; Messrs. Whitney and Ruddles, teachers; Thomas Holman, physician; Elisha Loomis, printer; Daniel Chamberlain, farmer, together with their wives, and three Hawaiian young men from the Cornwall Missionary School. These seventeen went forth to erect a Christian civilization upon pagan shores, for they represented the Church, the common school, the printing-press, the medicine-chest, and the implements of agriculture. They set sail from Boston October 23, 1819, and reached the Hawaiian coast March 31, 1820, after somewhat more than five months.—Pierson, “The Miracles of Missions.”
(2051)
Missionary Giving—SeeCrowning Christ.
Missionary Good Sense—SeeDiplomat, A, and Missions.
MISSIONARY LITERATURE
There came into our office the other day a man who had only recently closed a very successful missionary pastorate of several years to become the minister of a large church which was not so strongly missionary. He ignored that fact, however, and began to employ his former methods, which included the observance of the monthly concert of prayer for missions. He made out his program, based on the missionary magazine of his denomination, and as he met one after another of those whom he had assigned to help him, he gave them their parts. One of the prominent members of the church he called to his study and said to him, “I want you to read such and such an article in your magazine and give us the gist of it at the next missionary meeting.” “My magazine,” replied the man. “I haven’t—I don’t take any magazine with that article in it.” “What, don’t you take the missionary magazine? Just look at it,” said he, laying it out before him. “Oh, is that it? Never saw it before. How much is it? Thirty-five cents? I guess if you are going to have this concert business every month, I might as well subscribe for it and have my own copy. Looks pretty good, too, doesn’t it? Didn’t know missions could be drest up so well. Cover looks like one of our regular magazines.”This pastor knows how to do it. Other wise pastors will mention the best missionary books; they will see that their people know of the latest missionary literature.—F. P. Haggard, “Student Volunteer Movement,” 1906.
There came into our office the other day a man who had only recently closed a very successful missionary pastorate of several years to become the minister of a large church which was not so strongly missionary. He ignored that fact, however, and began to employ his former methods, which included the observance of the monthly concert of prayer for missions. He made out his program, based on the missionary magazine of his denomination, and as he met one after another of those whom he had assigned to help him, he gave them their parts. One of the prominent members of the church he called to his study and said to him, “I want you to read such and such an article in your magazine and give us the gist of it at the next missionary meeting.” “My magazine,” replied the man. “I haven’t—I don’t take any magazine with that article in it.” “What, don’t you take the missionary magazine? Just look at it,” said he, laying it out before him. “Oh, is that it? Never saw it before. How much is it? Thirty-five cents? I guess if you are going to have this concert business every month, I might as well subscribe for it and have my own copy. Looks pretty good, too, doesn’t it? Didn’t know missions could be drest up so well. Cover looks like one of our regular magazines.”This pastor knows how to do it. Other wise pastors will mention the best missionary books; they will see that their people know of the latest missionary literature.—F. P. Haggard, “Student Volunteer Movement,” 1906.
(2052)
MISSIONARY MARTYRDOM
A convert from Islam took advantage of the Ameer’s visit to Kandahar and crossed the frontier, unbidden and uninvited, to preach Christianity in Afghanistan. He was arrested, taken before the Ameer, and sent in chains to Kabul, but was murdered before reaching there. He was named Abdul Karim, and was at one time one of the workers at Bannu. Mrs. Pennell wrote that when he was taken prisoner and refused to repeat the “Kalima,” saying he was a Christian, he was taken to Kandahar. The Ameer questioned him, and on his again refusing to repeat the “Kalima,” and saying he had come to preach the gospel, he was ordered to be flogged, put in chains, and to be taken to Kabul, where he was to await the return of the Ameer, and unless he changed his mind would get due punishment.Heavily chained hand and foot, he set out with an escort for Kabul; that at the villages he was spat upon, and the hairs of his beard pulled out—and at length the poor, weary sufferer, at a village before reaching Kabul, was murdered. (Text.)
A convert from Islam took advantage of the Ameer’s visit to Kandahar and crossed the frontier, unbidden and uninvited, to preach Christianity in Afghanistan. He was arrested, taken before the Ameer, and sent in chains to Kabul, but was murdered before reaching there. He was named Abdul Karim, and was at one time one of the workers at Bannu. Mrs. Pennell wrote that when he was taken prisoner and refused to repeat the “Kalima,” saying he was a Christian, he was taken to Kandahar. The Ameer questioned him, and on his again refusing to repeat the “Kalima,” and saying he had come to preach the gospel, he was ordered to be flogged, put in chains, and to be taken to Kabul, where he was to await the return of the Ameer, and unless he changed his mind would get due punishment.
Heavily chained hand and foot, he set out with an escort for Kabul; that at the villages he was spat upon, and the hairs of his beard pulled out—and at length the poor, weary sufferer, at a village before reaching Kabul, was murdered. (Text.)
(2053)
Missionary Power—SeeGod in Missions.
MISSIONARY PRAYER
The late Joseph Cook is the author of this prayer in verse for the spread and triumph of God’s kingdom:
One field the wheeling world,Vast furrows open lie;Broadcast let seed be hurledBy us before we die.Winds, east or west,Let no tares fall;Wide waft the best;God winnow all.Heaven hath a single sun,All gates swing open wide;All lands at last are one,And seas no more divide.In every zone,Arise and shine;Earth’s only throne,Our God, be Thine.On every desert rain,Make green earth’s flintiest sands;Above the land and mainReveal Thy pierced hands.Thy cross heaven wins;Lift it on high;And in his sinsLet no man die.
One field the wheeling world,Vast furrows open lie;Broadcast let seed be hurledBy us before we die.Winds, east or west,Let no tares fall;Wide waft the best;God winnow all.Heaven hath a single sun,All gates swing open wide;All lands at last are one,And seas no more divide.In every zone,Arise and shine;Earth’s only throne,Our God, be Thine.On every desert rain,Make green earth’s flintiest sands;Above the land and mainReveal Thy pierced hands.Thy cross heaven wins;Lift it on high;And in his sinsLet no man die.
One field the wheeling world,Vast furrows open lie;Broadcast let seed be hurledBy us before we die.Winds, east or west,Let no tares fall;Wide waft the best;God winnow all.
One field the wheeling world,
Vast furrows open lie;
Broadcast let seed be hurled
By us before we die.
Winds, east or west,
Let no tares fall;
Wide waft the best;
God winnow all.
Heaven hath a single sun,All gates swing open wide;All lands at last are one,And seas no more divide.In every zone,Arise and shine;Earth’s only throne,Our God, be Thine.
Heaven hath a single sun,
All gates swing open wide;
All lands at last are one,
And seas no more divide.
In every zone,
Arise and shine;
Earth’s only throne,
Our God, be Thine.
On every desert rain,Make green earth’s flintiest sands;Above the land and mainReveal Thy pierced hands.Thy cross heaven wins;Lift it on high;And in his sinsLet no man die.
On every desert rain,
Make green earth’s flintiest sands;
Above the land and main
Reveal Thy pierced hands.
Thy cross heaven wins;
Lift it on high;
And in his sins
Let no man die.
(2054)
Missionary Preaching—SeeText, Power of a.
MISSIONARY RESULTS
Charles Darwin, the scientist, described the Terra Del Fuegans as the most degraded specimens of humanity he had ever seen. He considered them beyond the reach of civilization. The missionaries carried the gospel to them, and Darwin, seeing the change wrought, said with great frankness and willing publicity, “Truly the missionary’s message is a magician’s wand.”
Charles Darwin, the scientist, described the Terra Del Fuegans as the most degraded specimens of humanity he had ever seen. He considered them beyond the reach of civilization. The missionaries carried the gospel to them, and Darwin, seeing the change wrought, said with great frankness and willing publicity, “Truly the missionary’s message is a magician’s wand.”
(2055)
Rev. Egerton R. Young, a missionary among the Indians of Canada, tells of an obdurate old man whose heart had been touched by the missionary whose ministrations had brought his child back to health:
He attended an open-air meeting standing at first a quarter of a mile off. At the next meeting he drew a bit nearer, then nearer still. Six weeks later he was among the circle kneeling at the foot of the cross, making his confession. “Missionary,” he said, “I was a fool, but now I have got the moss out of my ears, and the sand out of my eyes, and I see clearly, and I hear all right. I am so glad I came.”Was it not of such scenes as these that the prophet was thinking when he wrote, “The eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopt.” (Text.)
He attended an open-air meeting standing at first a quarter of a mile off. At the next meeting he drew a bit nearer, then nearer still. Six weeks later he was among the circle kneeling at the foot of the cross, making his confession. “Missionary,” he said, “I was a fool, but now I have got the moss out of my ears, and the sand out of my eyes, and I see clearly, and I hear all right. I am so glad I came.”
Was it not of such scenes as these that the prophet was thinking when he wrote, “The eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopt.” (Text.)
(2056)
SeeEvil Turned to Good.
MISSIONARY SACRIFICE
San Quala was one of the first converts among the degraded Karens. From the lowest state the gospel raised him, with a rapidity that no civilization ever knew, to a noble Christian manhood. His first impulse was to tell others of Jesus. He helped to translate the Bible into the Karen tongue, for fifteen years guided the missionaries through the jungles, and then himself began to preach and to plant new churches. Inone year he had formed nine, with 741 converts; in less than three years the nine had grown to thirty, with 2,000 converts. He did his work without salary, and when the English Government offered him a position, with large compensation, he at once declined, tho his poverty was such as prevented him from taking his wife with him in his missionary tours.—Pierson, “The Miracles of Missions.”
San Quala was one of the first converts among the degraded Karens. From the lowest state the gospel raised him, with a rapidity that no civilization ever knew, to a noble Christian manhood. His first impulse was to tell others of Jesus. He helped to translate the Bible into the Karen tongue, for fifteen years guided the missionaries through the jungles, and then himself began to preach and to plant new churches. Inone year he had formed nine, with 741 converts; in less than three years the nine had grown to thirty, with 2,000 converts. He did his work without salary, and when the English Government offered him a position, with large compensation, he at once declined, tho his poverty was such as prevented him from taking his wife with him in his missionary tours.—Pierson, “The Miracles of Missions.”
(2057)
SeeSacrifice for Religion.
Missionary’s Gallant Action—SeeCourage, Christian.
Missionary’s Liberation—SeeIntervention, Divine.
MISSIONARY TESTIMONY
Mr. Darwin was not regarded as a Christian, but he had the greatest respect for good in Christianity, and was candid enough to acknowledge it. This is the way in which he answered some shallow critics of foreign missionaries:
They forget, or will not remember, that human sacrifice and the power of an idolatrous priesthood; a system of profligacy unparalleled in any other part of the world; infanticide, a consequence of that system; bloody wars where the conquerors spared neither women nor children—that all these things have been abolished, and that dishonesty, intemperance, and licentiousness have been greatly reduced by the introduction of Christianity. For a voyager to forget these things is a base ingratitude; for should he chance to be at the point of shipwreck on some unknown coast, he will most devoutly pray that the lesson of the missionary may have extended thus far.
They forget, or will not remember, that human sacrifice and the power of an idolatrous priesthood; a system of profligacy unparalleled in any other part of the world; infanticide, a consequence of that system; bloody wars where the conquerors spared neither women nor children—that all these things have been abolished, and that dishonesty, intemperance, and licentiousness have been greatly reduced by the introduction of Christianity. For a voyager to forget these things is a base ingratitude; for should he chance to be at the point of shipwreck on some unknown coast, he will most devoutly pray that the lesson of the missionary may have extended thus far.
(2058)
F. A. McKenzie, the well-known foreign correspondent of the LondonMail, says, in the LondonChristian World:
A stranger stopt me, one day. “I can not understand,” said he, “why you, a newspaper man, should advocate missionary work; it is not your business. Why do you meddle with it?”“I do so because I am a Christian imperialist,” I replied. “The white man’s civilization is the best the world has seen, and the white man’s civilization is rooted in Christianity. I know that every missionary is an active campaigner, not merely for a new theology, but also for a new life, based on the foundation-stone of our civilization—the cross. I want the white man’s ideas to triumph not for the glory of the whites, but for the betterment of woman-life and child-life throughout the world.”
A stranger stopt me, one day. “I can not understand,” said he, “why you, a newspaper man, should advocate missionary work; it is not your business. Why do you meddle with it?”
“I do so because I am a Christian imperialist,” I replied. “The white man’s civilization is the best the world has seen, and the white man’s civilization is rooted in Christianity. I know that every missionary is an active campaigner, not merely for a new theology, but also for a new life, based on the foundation-stone of our civilization—the cross. I want the white man’s ideas to triumph not for the glory of the whites, but for the betterment of woman-life and child-life throughout the world.”
(2059)
Missionary Work—SeeSong, Effective.
Missionary Work Admired by Atheist—SeeAtheist’s Gift to Missions.
MISSIONARY WORK AT HOME
Whitefield found himself in the presence of what seemed an urgent and overwhelming call to preach. Here were the Kingswood miners, a community ignorant, vicious, forgotten, who, beyond all others, needed the care and teaching of the Christian Church, and yet were left completely outside, not merely of its agencies, but even of its very remembrance. When Whitefield was setting out for America some wise and keen-sighted friend said to him, “If you have a mind to convert Indians, there are colliers enough in Kingswood.”—W. H. Fitchett, “Wesley and His Century.”
Whitefield found himself in the presence of what seemed an urgent and overwhelming call to preach. Here were the Kingswood miners, a community ignorant, vicious, forgotten, who, beyond all others, needed the care and teaching of the Christian Church, and yet were left completely outside, not merely of its agencies, but even of its very remembrance. When Whitefield was setting out for America some wise and keen-sighted friend said to him, “If you have a mind to convert Indians, there are colliers enough in Kingswood.”—W. H. Fitchett, “Wesley and His Century.”
(2060)
MISSIONARY WORK, VALUE OF
Belle M. Brain tells the following in her book, “The Transformation of Hawaii”:
A visitor to the Hawaiian Islands a few years ago said to King Kamehameha V: “Really now, don’t you think things are in a worse condition than before the advent of the missionaries?”“I leave you to judge,” answered the king. “Since you have come into my presence you have broken the ancient law oftabuin three ways. You walked into my presence instead of crawling, you crossed my shadow, you are even now sitting before me. In the old days any one of these things would have cost you your life.”
A visitor to the Hawaiian Islands a few years ago said to King Kamehameha V: “Really now, don’t you think things are in a worse condition than before the advent of the missionaries?”
“I leave you to judge,” answered the king. “Since you have come into my presence you have broken the ancient law oftabuin three ways. You walked into my presence instead of crawling, you crossed my shadow, you are even now sitting before me. In the old days any one of these things would have cost you your life.”
(2061)
MISSIONARY ZEAL
If all Christians had the willing zeal of these poor South Sea islanders, the world would soon be converted to Christ:
On one occasion Mr. Williams explained the manner in which English Christians raised money to send the gospel to the heathen, and the natives of Raralonga exprest great regret at not having money that they might help in the same good work of causing the Word of God to grow. Mr. Williams replied: “If you have no money,you have something that takes the place of money; something to buy money with”; he then referred to the pigs that he had brought to the island on his first visit, and which had so increased that every family possest them; and he suggested that, if every family in the island would set apart a pig for causing the Word of God to grow, and, when the ships came, would sell the pigs for money, a large offering might be raised. The natives were delighted with the idea, and the next morning the squeaking of the pigs, which were receiving the “mark of the Lord” in their ears, was heard from one end of the settlement to the other.—Pierson, “The Miracles of Missions.”
On one occasion Mr. Williams explained the manner in which English Christians raised money to send the gospel to the heathen, and the natives of Raralonga exprest great regret at not having money that they might help in the same good work of causing the Word of God to grow. Mr. Williams replied: “If you have no money,you have something that takes the place of money; something to buy money with”; he then referred to the pigs that he had brought to the island on his first visit, and which had so increased that every family possest them; and he suggested that, if every family in the island would set apart a pig for causing the Word of God to grow, and, when the ships came, would sell the pigs for money, a large offering might be raised. The natives were delighted with the idea, and the next morning the squeaking of the pigs, which were receiving the “mark of the Lord” in their ears, was heard from one end of the settlement to the other.—Pierson, “The Miracles of Missions.”
(2062)
SeeCourage, Christian.
MISSIONS
Carlyle, in his life of Cromwell, says that he ranks the foreign missionary and his convert with the greatest heroes in history. It is in his story of Kapiolani. These Christian teachers in the South Seas brought the queen to faith in God, and to the new ideas of home, school, government and social progress. But the people still worshiped the gods whose home was in the crater, whose column of fire was on the sky. So the missionary and the queen told the people that they would dare the native god. They made their way to the foot of the mountain. The people shrieked, wept, implored, but these two walked bravely on. They stood on the edge of the crater, breathing the sulfurous gases. The queen hurled stones into the abyss and shouted her threats and denials. When they came down, in safety, superstition was dead. Carlyle says that a Christian missionary slew a cult in that hour, and that the event will always rank in history with Elijah at Baal and the Christian convert who cut down the sacred oak of Thor for Germany. But foreign missions have produced scores of heroes and heroines like these. The history of missions is a sky that is ablaze with light that will shine forever and forever.—N. D. Hillis.
Carlyle, in his life of Cromwell, says that he ranks the foreign missionary and his convert with the greatest heroes in history. It is in his story of Kapiolani. These Christian teachers in the South Seas brought the queen to faith in God, and to the new ideas of home, school, government and social progress. But the people still worshiped the gods whose home was in the crater, whose column of fire was on the sky. So the missionary and the queen told the people that they would dare the native god. They made their way to the foot of the mountain. The people shrieked, wept, implored, but these two walked bravely on. They stood on the edge of the crater, breathing the sulfurous gases. The queen hurled stones into the abyss and shouted her threats and denials. When they came down, in safety, superstition was dead. Carlyle says that a Christian missionary slew a cult in that hour, and that the event will always rank in history with Elijah at Baal and the Christian convert who cut down the sacred oak of Thor for Germany. But foreign missions have produced scores of heroes and heroines like these. The history of missions is a sky that is ablaze with light that will shine forever and forever.—N. D. Hillis.
(2063)
SeeAdvice to Missionaries.
Atheist’s Gift to Missions.
Barbarism.
Bible Fruit.
Bible, Testimony to.
Calls and Conveyances in the East.
Catholic Foreign Missions.
Child Religion, Changes Wrought by.
Christianity, Practical Proof of.
Confessions.
Conversion.
Christian Honesty.
Cruel Greed.
Cruelty, Chinese.
Death-bed Faith.
Deceit with God.
Demonology.
Diplomat, A, and Missions.
Embellishment of Preaching.
Enlightenment.
Expectorating.
Faith and Support.
False Inference.
Fidelity, Christian.
Following Christ.
Functions and Gifts in the East.
Gestures and Use of Hands in the East.
Harvest from Early Sowing.
Heathen Receptiveness.
Heathendom.
Husband and Wife, Relations Between.
Ignorance.
Ignorance, Palliations of.
Impression by Practise.
Inadequacy of Non-Christian Religions.
India, Medical Opportunities in.
Intelligence Outdoing Ignorance.
Investment Return.
Knowledge Comparative.
Living the Gospel.
Medical Missions.
Miracles, Evidential Value of.
Persistence in Missionaries.
Prayer for Common Needs.
Proof.
Propriety.
Propriety, Observing the Rules of.
Rapport.
Religions Contrasted.
Religious Infractions of Propriety.
Rescue.
Reservation.
Reward, Thousandfold.
Sabbath, Observing the.
Sacrifice.
Shut-in Missionary Work.
Song, Effective.
Speech and Missionaries.
Statesman on Missions.
Surgery in Korea.
Tabooed Topics in the East.
Testimony Indisputable.
Way, The Right.
MISSIONS A SUCCESS
The Christian Centurysays there are yet a few intellectual provincials that scoff at the missionary enterprise, but their ignorance isso coming to shame them that their dolorous and caustic voices are not often heard. No one but a moral agnostic, a medieval race-hater, or a dogmatic religious quack could be cynical about an enterprise that shows such amazing success as does the missionary propaganda. Here are some figures that show the growth of thirteen years:
The Christian Centurysays there are yet a few intellectual provincials that scoff at the missionary enterprise, but their ignorance isso coming to shame them that their dolorous and caustic voices are not often heard. No one but a moral agnostic, a medieval race-hater, or a dogmatic religious quack could be cynical about an enterprise that shows such amazing success as does the missionary propaganda. Here are some figures that show the growth of thirteen years:
The grand total of receipts for the great cause is seen to be a total of nearly $30,000,000, and the number of workers employed to be more than 114,000. In each case the numbers have about doubled in the thirteen years, while the number of stations has increased in a like proportion. The total of actual communicants in the churches has more than doubled, while that of the adherents has fallen but little below the same rate of increase. As the missions grow older and the life of the communities about them is elevated, the number of church-members will advance in an increasing ratio over that of adherents. The total number now in the Christian communities in the foreign field reaches practically 7,000,000.
The grand total of receipts for the great cause is seen to be a total of nearly $30,000,000, and the number of workers employed to be more than 114,000. In each case the numbers have about doubled in the thirteen years, while the number of stations has increased in a like proportion. The total of actual communicants in the churches has more than doubled, while that of the adherents has fallen but little below the same rate of increase. As the missions grow older and the life of the communities about them is elevated, the number of church-members will advance in an increasing ratio over that of adherents. The total number now in the Christian communities in the foreign field reaches practically 7,000,000.
(2064)
MISSIONS AND COMMERCE
Commenting on the work of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Dr. N. D. Hillis says:
What if the American News Company should send a shipload of books to Borneo? The people can not read. What if they send a shipload of typewriters to western Africa? The people can not write. What if you send a cargo of sewing-machines to the Hottentots? Well, they do not wear clothes. Wealth comes through selling manufactured goods. But savages do not want these conveniences. Now, think of what this American Board has done. Once they sent out a band to civilize a South Sea island. In the band were six carpenters, two blacksmiths, two bricklayers, one architect, two tailors, two shoemakers, two weavers, two farmers, one physician, four preachers. In forty years after they landed, one ship a week unloaded its cargo at that port—that tells the whole story. Since then the trade from New England ports alone has yielded enough profit to merchants in a single year to pay for the entire missionary enterprise.
What if the American News Company should send a shipload of books to Borneo? The people can not read. What if they send a shipload of typewriters to western Africa? The people can not write. What if you send a cargo of sewing-machines to the Hottentots? Well, they do not wear clothes. Wealth comes through selling manufactured goods. But savages do not want these conveniences. Now, think of what this American Board has done. Once they sent out a band to civilize a South Sea island. In the band were six carpenters, two blacksmiths, two bricklayers, one architect, two tailors, two shoemakers, two weavers, two farmers, one physician, four preachers. In forty years after they landed, one ship a week unloaded its cargo at that port—that tells the whole story. Since then the trade from New England ports alone has yielded enough profit to merchants in a single year to pay for the entire missionary enterprise.
(2065)
MISSIONS APPROVED
Jacob A. Riis says that he once “growled against foreign missions, like many others who know no better.” He writes that now he has learned that “for every dollar you give away to convert the heathen abroad, God gives you ten dollars’ worth of purpose to deal with your heathen at home.”
Jacob A. Riis says that he once “growled against foreign missions, like many others who know no better.” He writes that now he has learned that “for every dollar you give away to convert the heathen abroad, God gives you ten dollars’ worth of purpose to deal with your heathen at home.”
(2066)
MISSIONS AS SOCIAL SAFEGUARDS
The influence of a Christian mission in safeguarding a community is set forth in the following:
“During the great dock strike September, 1889, which shook London to its center, the strikers—gaunt, grim and desperate—were marchingen massepast the mission premises, when a socialistic leader, who stood watching, turned to Mr. George Holland (a notable promoter of London missionary work), and said, ‘Do you know what keeps these men from sacking London?’ ‘What do you mean?’ was the reply. ‘Only this, it is the influence of such missions of mercy as yours.’ All thoughtful, observant men know that this witness is true.”
“During the great dock strike September, 1889, which shook London to its center, the strikers—gaunt, grim and desperate—were marchingen massepast the mission premises, when a socialistic leader, who stood watching, turned to Mr. George Holland (a notable promoter of London missionary work), and said, ‘Do you know what keeps these men from sacking London?’ ‘What do you mean?’ was the reply. ‘Only this, it is the influence of such missions of mercy as yours.’ All thoughtful, observant men know that this witness is true.”
(2067)
Missions, Medical—SeeRenewal.
MISSIONS, REASONS FOR
In the Peninsular war, for every Frenchman killed there was sent out by England the weight of a man in lead and eight times his weight in iron, not to speak of the cost in blood and treasure. In the Indian wars in this country it has sometimes cost on the average a million dollars to kill an Indian, while an average expenditure of $200 was spent in converting them. There is no lack of money nor means to compass the evangelization of the world within thepresent century if there were but the spirit of enterprise to dare and undertake for our Redeemer. Talleyrand boasted that he “kept his watch ten minutes ahead of the rest of mankind.” The Christian Church should surpass rather than be surpast by others in her enterprise. The time will come when disciples will look back to this age of missions with as much surprize as we now look back to those days when a learned prelate in the House of Lords, and a defender of orthodoxy too, could calmly argue against sending missionaries to the Orient! or as we contemplate with amazement speeches against the suppression of the slave-trade that have no interest to us except as fossils and petrifactions of an antediluvian era!—A. T. Pierson,Missionary Review of the World.
In the Peninsular war, for every Frenchman killed there was sent out by England the weight of a man in lead and eight times his weight in iron, not to speak of the cost in blood and treasure. In the Indian wars in this country it has sometimes cost on the average a million dollars to kill an Indian, while an average expenditure of $200 was spent in converting them. There is no lack of money nor means to compass the evangelization of the world within thepresent century if there were but the spirit of enterprise to dare and undertake for our Redeemer. Talleyrand boasted that he “kept his watch ten minutes ahead of the rest of mankind.” The Christian Church should surpass rather than be surpast by others in her enterprise. The time will come when disciples will look back to this age of missions with as much surprize as we now look back to those days when a learned prelate in the House of Lords, and a defender of orthodoxy too, could calmly argue against sending missionaries to the Orient! or as we contemplate with amazement speeches against the suppression of the slave-trade that have no interest to us except as fossils and petrifactions of an antediluvian era!—A. T. Pierson,Missionary Review of the World.
(2068)
MISSIONS, SUCCESSFUL
In the course of his cruising in the South Seas, Lord Byron (a cousin of the poet), landed on an island of which he thought he was the discoverer. Suddenly a canoe appeared. Instead of containing armed savages, its occupants were two noble-looking men, clothed in cotton shirts and very fine mats. They boarded the ship and presented a document from a missionary stating that they were native teachers employed in preaching the gospel to the people of the island. Lord Byron then went ashore. In the center of a wide lawn stood a spacious chapel, and neat native cottages peeped through the foliage of banana trees. On entering a cottage, he found on a table a portion of the New Testament in the native language.This story of Lord Byron’s surprize visit was told at an overflow meeting in Exeter Hall at the anniversary of the Bible Society in 1836. When the speaker had concluded, a stranger arose and introduced himself to the audience as the missionary who had discovered the island, had made Christianity known to its people, and had translated the very portion of the Scripture which Lord Byron had found. It was John Williams, the heroic missionary of the London Missionary Society, whose noble work had drawn those savages from cannibalism and idolatry to the worship of the true God.
In the course of his cruising in the South Seas, Lord Byron (a cousin of the poet), landed on an island of which he thought he was the discoverer. Suddenly a canoe appeared. Instead of containing armed savages, its occupants were two noble-looking men, clothed in cotton shirts and very fine mats. They boarded the ship and presented a document from a missionary stating that they were native teachers employed in preaching the gospel to the people of the island. Lord Byron then went ashore. In the center of a wide lawn stood a spacious chapel, and neat native cottages peeped through the foliage of banana trees. On entering a cottage, he found on a table a portion of the New Testament in the native language.
This story of Lord Byron’s surprize visit was told at an overflow meeting in Exeter Hall at the anniversary of the Bible Society in 1836. When the speaker had concluded, a stranger arose and introduced himself to the audience as the missionary who had discovered the island, had made Christianity known to its people, and had translated the very portion of the Scripture which Lord Byron had found. It was John Williams, the heroic missionary of the London Missionary Society, whose noble work had drawn those savages from cannibalism and idolatry to the worship of the true God.
(2069)
MISSIONS, TESTIMONY TO
Edgar Wallace, the war correspondent of the LondonDaily Mail, writes in the highest terms of what he saw of the Kongo Balolo missions. He said in part:
“No battle I have ever witnessed, no prowess of arms, no exhibition of splendid courage in the face of overwhelming odds, has inspired me as has the work of these outposts of Christianity. People who talk glibly of work in the mission field are apt to associate that work merely with house-to-house visitations and devotional services and the distribution of charity. In reality it means all these things plus the building of the houses one visits, building of the church for the devotional services, and the inculcation in the native of a spirit of manliness which renders charity superfluous.Somebody told me there was difficulty in getting men and women for the missionary work in Kongoland. Speaking frankly as a man of the world, I do not wonder. I would not be a missionary in the Kongo for five thousand pounds a year. That is a worldly point of view, and it is not a high standpoint. It is a simple confession that I prefer the “flesh-pots of Egypt” to the self-sacrifice that the missionary life claims. Yet were I a good Christian, and were I a missionary hesitating in my choice of a field, I would say, withDesdemona, “I do perceive here a divine duty.”
“No battle I have ever witnessed, no prowess of arms, no exhibition of splendid courage in the face of overwhelming odds, has inspired me as has the work of these outposts of Christianity. People who talk glibly of work in the mission field are apt to associate that work merely with house-to-house visitations and devotional services and the distribution of charity. In reality it means all these things plus the building of the houses one visits, building of the church for the devotional services, and the inculcation in the native of a spirit of manliness which renders charity superfluous.
Somebody told me there was difficulty in getting men and women for the missionary work in Kongoland. Speaking frankly as a man of the world, I do not wonder. I would not be a missionary in the Kongo for five thousand pounds a year. That is a worldly point of view, and it is not a high standpoint. It is a simple confession that I prefer the “flesh-pots of Egypt” to the self-sacrifice that the missionary life claims. Yet were I a good Christian, and were I a missionary hesitating in my choice of a field, I would say, withDesdemona, “I do perceive here a divine duty.”
(2070)
A singular tribute to missions was that exprest to me by the editor of a North China newspaper: “Broadly speaking, it is a fact that the only white man who is in China for China’s good is the missionary. It never occurs to the average business man here that he has any obligation to the Chinese. Yet only on that ground can he justify his presence.”—William T. Ellis,Men and Missions.
A singular tribute to missions was that exprest to me by the editor of a North China newspaper: “Broadly speaking, it is a fact that the only white man who is in China for China’s good is the missionary. It never occurs to the average business man here that he has any obligation to the Chinese. Yet only on that ground can he justify his presence.”—William T. Ellis,Men and Missions.
(2071)
Mistaken Spiritual Judgment—SeeIllusion, Spiritual.
MISTAKEN VIEW OF CAUSE
In winter, when millions of city dwellers breathe the air of ill-ventilated dwelling-houses, lung infections are more frequent than in midsummer, when ventilation is enforced by the horrors of stagnant heat. But the coincidence of frosts and catarrhs has decided the bias of the popular hypothesis, and in sixteen different European languages the word cold has become a synonym of an infection which the absolutely conclusive evidence of physiological facts proves to be a result of vitiated warm indoor air, and tobe curable by cold outdoor air. In other words, the best remedy has been mistaken for the cause, and as a consequence catarrhs are considerably more frequent than all the other disorders of the human organism taken together.—Felix Oswald,North American Review.
In winter, when millions of city dwellers breathe the air of ill-ventilated dwelling-houses, lung infections are more frequent than in midsummer, when ventilation is enforced by the horrors of stagnant heat. But the coincidence of frosts and catarrhs has decided the bias of the popular hypothesis, and in sixteen different European languages the word cold has become a synonym of an infection which the absolutely conclusive evidence of physiological facts proves to be a result of vitiated warm indoor air, and tobe curable by cold outdoor air. In other words, the best remedy has been mistaken for the cause, and as a consequence catarrhs are considerably more frequent than all the other disorders of the human organism taken together.—Felix Oswald,North American Review.
(2072)
In October, when the first night-frosts expurgate the atmosphere of our Southern swamps, ague and yellow fever subside with a suddenness which would certainly have suggested the idea of curing climatic diseases by artificial refrigeration, if cold had not somehow become the hygienic bugbear of the Caucasian race. Gout, rheumatism, indigestion, toothaches and all sorts of pulmonary disorders are ascribed to the influence of a low temperature, with persistent disregard of the fact that the outdoor laborers of the highest latitudes are the halest representatives of our species. “Catching cold” is the stereotyped explanation for the consequences of our manifold sins against the health laws of nature; but the secret of the delusion can be traced to the curious mistakes which logicians used to sum up under the head of “post hoc ergo propter hoc” fallacy—the tendency of the human mind to mistake an incidental concomitance for a causal connection. Woodpeckers pick insects from the trunks of dead trees, and the logic of concomitance infers that the decay of the tree has been caused by the visits of the birds, which in our Southern States are known as “sap-suckers.” Young frogs emerge from their hiding-places when a long drought is broken by a brisk rain, and the coincidence of the two phenomena has not failed to evolve the theory of a frog-shower.—Felix Oswald,North American Review.
In October, when the first night-frosts expurgate the atmosphere of our Southern swamps, ague and yellow fever subside with a suddenness which would certainly have suggested the idea of curing climatic diseases by artificial refrigeration, if cold had not somehow become the hygienic bugbear of the Caucasian race. Gout, rheumatism, indigestion, toothaches and all sorts of pulmonary disorders are ascribed to the influence of a low temperature, with persistent disregard of the fact that the outdoor laborers of the highest latitudes are the halest representatives of our species. “Catching cold” is the stereotyped explanation for the consequences of our manifold sins against the health laws of nature; but the secret of the delusion can be traced to the curious mistakes which logicians used to sum up under the head of “post hoc ergo propter hoc” fallacy—the tendency of the human mind to mistake an incidental concomitance for a causal connection. Woodpeckers pick insects from the trunks of dead trees, and the logic of concomitance infers that the decay of the tree has been caused by the visits of the birds, which in our Southern States are known as “sap-suckers.” Young frogs emerge from their hiding-places when a long drought is broken by a brisk rain, and the coincidence of the two phenomena has not failed to evolve the theory of a frog-shower.—Felix Oswald,North American Review.
(2073)
Mistakes of Missionaries—SeeMissionaries’ Mistakes.
MISUSE OF TALENT
The life of Swift is a living tragedy. He had the power of gaining wealth, like the hero of the Jew of Malta; yet he used it scornfully, and in sad irony left what remained to him of a large property to found a hospital for lunatics. By hard work he won enormous literary power, and used it to satirize our common humanity. He wrested political power from the hands of the Tories, and used it to insult the very men who had helped him, and who held his fate in their hands. By his dominant personality he exercised a curious power over women, and used it brutally to make them feel their inferiority. Being loved supremely by two good women, he brought sorrow and death to both, and endless misery to himself. So his power brought always tragedy in its wake.—William J. Long, “English Literature.”
The life of Swift is a living tragedy. He had the power of gaining wealth, like the hero of the Jew of Malta; yet he used it scornfully, and in sad irony left what remained to him of a large property to found a hospital for lunatics. By hard work he won enormous literary power, and used it to satirize our common humanity. He wrested political power from the hands of the Tories, and used it to insult the very men who had helped him, and who held his fate in their hands. By his dominant personality he exercised a curious power over women, and used it brutally to make them feel their inferiority. Being loved supremely by two good women, he brought sorrow and death to both, and endless misery to himself. So his power brought always tragedy in its wake.—William J. Long, “English Literature.”
(2074)
Mnemonics, An Exercise in—SeeMemory.
Mobility—SeeMovement Unceasing.
Model, The Mouth as a—SeeNature as a Model.
MODELS
At the University of Glasgow stands a statue of James Watt; and by his side is the original model of a steam-engine, the identical engine, indeed, on which Watt exercised his inventive genius and the pattern substantially of every steam-engine in the world.
At the University of Glasgow stands a statue of James Watt; and by his side is the original model of a steam-engine, the identical engine, indeed, on which Watt exercised his inventive genius and the pattern substantially of every steam-engine in the world.
There is just as truly a model for every man in the world. (Text.)
(2075)
Models in Nature—SeeInsect, a Model.
Moderation in Diet—SeeDiet and Endurance.
MODERN LIFE
Except his own immortal poem and a few suggestions of the art and architecture of his time, there is nothing on this continent that Homer, resurrected and transported here, would recognize as belonging to the world in which he lived. The steamships, railways, telegraphs, telephones, electric motors, printing-machines, factories, and, indeed, all that we use, all that we enjoy, on land or sea, in peace or war, in our homes, in our places of business, on our farms, in our mines, or wherever we toil or rest—all, all is new, all belongs to the new world. The inventions of recent years have so changed the world that the man of thirty is older than Methuselah—older in that he has seen more, experienced more than the oldest of all the ancients.—Inventive Age.
Except his own immortal poem and a few suggestions of the art and architecture of his time, there is nothing on this continent that Homer, resurrected and transported here, would recognize as belonging to the world in which he lived. The steamships, railways, telegraphs, telephones, electric motors, printing-machines, factories, and, indeed, all that we use, all that we enjoy, on land or sea, in peace or war, in our homes, in our places of business, on our farms, in our mines, or wherever we toil or rest—all, all is new, all belongs to the new world. The inventions of recent years have so changed the world that the man of thirty is older than Methuselah—older in that he has seen more, experienced more than the oldest of all the ancients.—Inventive Age.
(2076)
MODERNITY
Many a moral failure has resulted from not keeping up with God’s moral progress, just as this mechanic failedthrough not keeping up with the new inventions: