éditorial Rotes. - Yale University

Vol. X iV . no. S.
t im Series.
.
R
.
C b e
a r o e s t
éditorial
f t m m . 1903.
.
.
F i e l d .
Rotes.
The lengthy letter of the English correspondent “ C. L.” of the
Madras Mail on the finances of the C. M. S. has led
IRissionarp
to much correspondence in that journal. The views
finances.
of “ C. L.” are typical of the attitude taken by many
well-meaning Englishmen who are not too careful to
follow out their line of thought to its logical conclusion. The C. M. S.
is taken to task for its improvidence; the large deficit of last year has
had the result, not of a call to retrenchment, but of a summons to greater
and costlier effort. We do not think that Missionary Societies have
merited the tone of upbraiding and gloomy vaticination in which “ C. L .”
indulges. We are not aware that one of them has yefc turned bankrupt
or
defrauded a single debtor. One does not conclude from an
occasional deficit in the National Budget that the British Empire is
going to ruin and has become insolvent. The wonder should be that
with only voluntary sources of income, year by year, the vast burden
of the Foreign Missionary enterprise is borne by the Home Churches.
The thought which arises in the mind is that which was put into words
by the Saturday Review in noticing the anniversary of the C. M. S. A
volume of generosity, so great and so constant, is proof of the existence
of something more than fanaticism,—of steadfast and reasoned convict­
ion in the Christian Church, of a faith which is not dependent on the
accidents of immediate success.
We are convinced that Christian Great Britain and America have not
yet reached the limit of their ability to partake in this world-wide work.
The need is of a completer realisation of the universal duty and privilege
of the Christian to make known the Gospel of Christ.
282
E D IT O R IA L N O TE S.
At the same time we are in .sympathy with the writer’s protest
against the misrepresentation of the inhabitants of
Cbc In fe rio r
this country. His testimonies to the modesty of its
“ Beatften.”
women, to the fidelity of its servants do not Barry
one very'ifar and we might add much to them. We
are happy to think that it is becoming more rare for the missionary to,
paint the life of liidia in unrelieved black : there is a thankful recogni­
tion of what is good and a desire to see and to portray it. But what
perplexes one is to know what “ C. L .” would have the Christian/
Church do. Does he believe that the Hindu is so good that the - religa
ion of Christ cannot make him any better? Does he believe that the
basis of Missions is the superiority of the missionary and his fellowcountrymen in all respects to the race to whom he is sent ? We do
believe, and so also must every Christian to whom his religion is a living
reality, that the Hindu is not what he ought to be and what he will be,
when he has accepted Christ: and if in ourselyes or our nation we re­
cognise any peculiar excellence, it can only be in such a way as to
abolish all thought and desire of self-gratulation and of self-aggrandise­
ment. The remembrance that what we have we owe to God through
Christ saves the missionary enterprise from becoming an invasion of
arrogance and the missionary from the blame of self-conscious superior­
ity. We miss in “ C. L .’s ” letter the note which rings out so clear
and strong in the simple confession of Sir Andrew Fraser, uttered at
the.recent missionary meeting at Simla : —
“ I am a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ; I am glad not only to be
called ft Christian, but seek in every fibre of my being to be one. I rejoiee in
these agencies for enabling us to live a Christian life in this land, where there
are so many temptations and difficulties. I have strong sympathy as a private
individual with Missions, because of the great value I attach to that which I
have received from the Christian religion. I know a good deal of the tenets of
Hinduism which it has been my privilege to study ; I know something of the
strong points of Muhammadanism, which I have learned from reading and
conversation, but I have never found in these anything to equal that of the
religion of the Lord Jesus Christ, who ‘ loved me and gave himself for me ’ and
‘ whom not having seen I love,’ in whom though now I see him not, ‘ yet be­
l i e v i n g , I rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.’
And having got this
freely, I think we should freely give. It seems to me to be instinctive of the
Christian Church to go in for foreign Missions, to carry throughout the world
the light and the glory of God, which we have received freely.
The Gospel was given that it might be carried into all the world. There
is nothing that England can give to India, notwithstanding the many blessings
she has given, to compare with the Gospel of Christ. Therefore I have the
s t r o n g e s t sympathy with our Indian Missions.”
Love Godwards and manwards is the inspiration of true Missions,
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E D IT O R IA L N OTE S.
283
Another subject of controversy raised in the samé newspaper has
been the employment of non-Christian teachers in
CI)Cftoti=CI)ristian Mission Schools. “ Non -con formist ” brings forward
Ceacbers.
this issue in a letter in which the self-denial of the
missionary is called in question. We are altogether
of the opinion of the great Livingstone that the man who speaks of the
sacrifices of the missionary calling is the least worthy of it. We hope
that no missionary will be so ill-advised as to enumerate his sacrifices,
in a ‘Pauline’ or any other sense. But to come to the Hindu teachers—;
a review of the Report of the Wesleyan Mission in the Mysore State,
published in our June issue, seems to have attracted considerable attent­
ion. The writer there called attention to the fact that some schools
were supported by the Mission in which there were no Christian
teachers at all.
The explanation of such institutions is to be found in the past history
of the Mission. It must be remembered that in the Mysore, as elsewhere,
not until after the Educational Despatch of 1854 was there a State De­
partment of Public Instruction. The first schools, Kanarese and English,
fér boys and for girls, were founded by the missionaries; and on them
lay the duty of insisting on the necessity and value of education for
many years before the Government put its hand to the work. Thus it
came about that schools, merely as schools, and Education, as such,
were felt to be a form of missionary enterprise that the time most
urgently demanded. At the same time the attempt was made to give
in each school some form of instruction in elementary Christian truth.
At that stage there was no alternative to the employment of Hindu
teachers. Christians did not exist. It was believed and said that the
Word in itself was bound to do good and to exercise the power and influ­
ence that was .inherent in it. Truth is its own witness. Now, however;
it must be admitted by every missionary that the times are changed. The
great extension of the State system has taken off the shoulders of the
Missionary Societies the burden of popular education : our Mission
colleges and schools should exist to supply what the State cannot give—a
definitely Christian element. Thus, it will be said, there is no longer
any necessity for us in the interests of education to maintain schools in
which we cannot make satisfactory arrangements for Christian in­
struction. To allow Hindu teachers indefinitely to teach the Christian
Scriptures or Catechism is to ignore the truth that in religious teaching
it is “ the personality identified with the subject,” which above all else is
powerful and attractive. A Hindu teaching Christianity is a living
object lesson in that divorce between creed and conduct which is the
284
E D IT O R IA L N OTES.
curse of the religious life of India. Either he is a man who takes pay
to say what he does not believe or he is one who has not the courage to
do what he believes to be true. In either case he is an example of what
we wish our scholars most of all to avoid.
We shall be slow to blame the saintly and devoted men who have
founded such schools : the conditions have changed since their day
and time has shown that the expectations formed by them are not likely
to be realised. Two courses are open in dealing with these schools: one
is to drop the Christian teaching altogether, until Christian teachers can
be supplied. This may often be the wisest and justest course. A
school once established cannot be closed at once without inflicting hard­
ship and injustice on staff and public alike : and moreover even a
purely secular school under Mission management is helpful to the miss­
ionary and the evangelist. It furnishes them with an introduction to
the people of the town or village. A missionary is justified in continu­
ing such a school, if he sees the chance within a reasonable time of
supplying it with an adequate Christian staff. The other alternative,
where no such prospect exists, is to close the school or to hand Ttf over
to some other educational authority.
Each case has to be considered on its merits, and blame cannot be
fastened on any Mission without an intimate knowledge of the local
conditions. It is possible that there are still exceptional circumstances
which make it necessary for Missions to support and manage schools,
even without specific Christian instruction. In places where the pre­
judice against the education of girls is strong or where local authorities
are indifferent, or even opposed to, the education of the lower classes,
we hold that it is sometimes the sacred duty of a Mission to stand by
the cause of education. Such work may be mere philanthropy, but it
is such philanthropy as may win the commendation of the Lord of the
Judgment Day.
♦
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Original
THE
CHURCH
AND
Articles.
THE
KINGDOM.
BY THE REV. B . ' LUCAS.
N the sphere of politics there are two contrasted ideas which have
had considerable influence in the history of nations. For one of
the ideas a name has been adopted, Imperialism, which has been much
heard of in recent years. For the contrasted idea, which may perhaps
be best expressed as Nationalism, a variety of terms has been used,
according to the particular phase of Imperialism which has provoked
opposition. In the degradation which practical and party politics
usually inflicts on ideals, Imperialism often stands for nothing moi’e
than self-aggrandisement and blatant self-assertion, while Nationalism
is frequently but another name for sordid selfishness and icy indiffer­
ence to the claims of others. It is not, however, with the actual but
with the ideal that we are here concerned, and above the din and dust
of party strife, the two contrasted ideas may seem to be not opposites,
but two aspects of a higher unity. Imperialism with a ready ear for
the past history, and a keen eye for the present position of the nation,
believes in the nation’s mission to the world, and considers the fulfil­
ment of that mission as of paramount importance. Realising that the
Empire is greater than the Nation, that the Nation has developed pari
passu with the extension of the Empire, it believes that national pros­
perity is bound up with the expansion of the Empire, and the conserv­
ation of Imperial interests. It is easy to see how these ideas can be
quickly degraded, under the influence of party spirit, into a noisy Jingo­
ism, and a callous indifference to purely national interests. National­
ism, on the other hand, grown slightly deaf to the history of the past,
and afflicted with shortness of sight as to the needs of its extended
empire, has an extremely sensitive ear for sounds near at hand, and a
quick vision for that which is immediately under its eye. It believes,
therefore, that the true mission of the Nation is to develop to the full
its own individual type of life, and that intensive cultivation of national
affairs is of more importance than expansion of territory and extension
of influence. It is equally easy to see, how in the sphere of mere party
politics, these ideas may be degraded into the meanest selfishness and
the coldest disregard of the nation’s wider responsibilities.
I
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TH E CHURCH AND TH E KINGDOM .
However much the ideals may have been degraded, it is of import­
ance to remember that both ideals are true, and that they are potent
forces in the world’s history. Imperialism recognises that nations like^
individuals, are not isolated units, but related parts of one whole.
Their individuality which separates them from their neighbours, consti­
tutes a claim which their neighbours have upon them, for a share in
that rich inheritance of humanity, which is made up of the individual
characteristics which each nation develops. It recognises that its own
individuality is the nation’s contribution to the general stock, and it
resolves that its conti'ibution shall be to the utmost limit of its ability.
The just pride which it has in its own peculiar talent, is accompanied
with an adequate sense of responsibility for the use of that talent. It
soon ceases, therefore, to be satisfied with the mere private prosperity of
the nation, and fixes thought and attention upon the welfare and
advancement of the empire. In the attainment of this larger aim, it is
ready to cheerfully sacrifice national gain in the interests of imperial
well-being. At the same time a true imperialism recognises, that this
high conception of its mission can only be realised, so long as its own
national life is adequately nourished and vigorously developed.
Similarly, the ideal of Nationalism must be regarded as sustained
by equally weighty considerations. The nationalism recognises that
nations are not mere parts of an inorganic whole, but members of a
living organism, whose corporate welfare depends upon the proper
development and adequate performance of the various functions of the
several, members of which it is composed. It insists, therefore, upon
due attention being given to the development of its own individuality,
to the proper nourishment of its own frame. It believes that if its
peculiar function in the larger organism is that of an eye or a hand, it
can only discharge the larger responsibility, so long as its life as a
member is duly nourished and its health carefully preserved. Its real­
isation of being a member of a larger organism, is accompanied with a
just pride and concern for being as perfect a member as possible. At
the same time it realises that in the vigorous life of the body as a whole,
is found the health and soundness of the individual member.
It will be seen that the two ideals, as thus expressed, while still
capable of being contrasted, are not capable of being opposed. They
are but two ways of looking at the same thing, but two methods of
accomplishing the same object. To be truly imperialist, you must be
intensely nationalist; to be truly nationalist you must be really
imperialist. The nation that sacrifices its imperialism in the interests
TH E CHURCH AND TH E KINGDOM .
28?
of its nationalism, soon ceases to have any nationalism in which to be
interested. Similarly, the nation that sacrifices its nationalism in the
pursuit of imperialism, soon has no imperialism which it can any longer
pursue. Empires are born through the union of the imperial and nation­
al ideals, and the success of the offspring is dependent upon the vigor­
ous life of each of the parents. Political leaders would do well to
remember that the true statesman is both imperialist and nationalist,
and that it is neither necessary in the interests of imperialism to
belittle national concerns, nor in the interests of nationalism to be
indifferent to imperial matters.
If we turn from the political to the religious sphere, we shall find
that there is a similar contrast between the same two ideals, and unfor­
tunately frequently, a similar opposition between the conceptions of
those ideals. Corresponding to the Empire of the political, we have
the Kingdom of the religious sphere ; answering to the Nation of the
one, we have the Church of the other. Where the ideal of the Kingdom
sways the mind and directs the activity, you have the imperialism of
Christianity; where the idea of the Church predominates, you have an
Ecclesiasticism, which answers to the nationalism of politics. Sectarian
strife, like political partizanship, has usually degraded the. ideal, and
the imperialism of Christianity has been travestied by. the narrowest
proselytism, while its nationalism has been caricatured by the grossest
sectarianism. Even where the two ideals have been simultaneously,
recognised, it has not infrequently happened that the one has been.
opposed to the other, to the detriment of each. The imperialism of
Christianity may be so misrepresented as to be little better than the
Jingoism of the political sphere, and its nationalism may be so travesti­
ed as to be little better than the narrowest Little-Englandism. In spite,
however, of the degradation which the two ideals have suffered, they are
potent influences in the history of Christianity. The Church and the
Kingdom are contrasted, but not opposed ideas. The interests of the
Kingdom are intimately bound up with the prosperity of the Church.
The welfare of the Church is indissolubly connected with the extension
of the Kingdom. “ WThat God hath joined together, let not man put
asunder.” A Church which sacrifices in the interests of its own spirit­
ual life, the extension of the Kingdom, soon has no spiritual life in
which it can be interested. A Church which neglects its own spiritual
life in its efforts for the extension of the Kingdom, soon has no part nor
lot in the.Kingdom it seeks to extend. A Church may be so occupied with
the: individualism of the Gospel, as to be oblivious of the socialism upon
288
TH E CHURCH AND T H E KIN GD OM .
which it equally insists. It may be so taken up with the socialism of the
Gospel, as to be indifferent to that individualism which is its very life.
In the Gospels it is the ideal of the Kingdom which occupies the
position of prominence, while that of the Church is completely in the
background, the former expression being used no.less than 112 times,
while the latter is used only twice. In the Acts and the Epistles, on
the other hand, this is almost exactly reversed, as we might expect, and
the Church occupies the prominent, while the Kingdom occupies the
less conspicuous position. The two terms have often been regarded as
synonymous, the Church of the Acts and the Epistles being considered
as the fulfilment of the Kingdom of the Gospels. There are undoubt­
edly points of agreement between the two, but it is a mistake to regard
them as synonymous. The true meaning of the two terms will best be
found by carefully examining the passage where they both occur to­
gether. This is the celebrated answer of our Lord to Peter’s confession
of faith, found in Matt. XVI. 18. The occasion would seem to have
been directly after the conviction on the part of Christ that the Jewish
nation, as represented by its leaders, had definitely rejected Him. He
turns to his disciples to ask what the common people, as distinct from
their leaders, really thought of Him. The leaders, He was convinced,
were blind leaders, and He wishes to know whether the people they led
were equally blind. From the various answers reported by the discip­
les, it is evident that the people though not as blind as their leaders(
had no adequate conception of His person nor of His mission. To them
He was a prophet but nothing more, a Teacher of truth but not the
Incarnate Truth. Neither amongst the leaders of the nation nor
amongst the people of the nation, had He discovered that definite con­
ception which He needed. Would He find it amongst the elect few
whom He had himself chosen out of the nation ? It was the crisis in
His ministry, and He awaits the answer with anxious interest. Simon,
to whom He had promised the name Peter, on his first introduction,
answers the question addressed to all, “ Thou art the Messiah, the Son
of the Living God.” Here, at last, was the recognition He sought, and
realising the peculiar appropriateness of the name He had originally
promised Simon, He a n s w e r s “ Blessed art thou, Simon, son of
John; such a perception of the reality has not come to thee as thy
name has come to thee, through the earthly father, but by direct revel­
ation, even from my Father, who is in Heaven. I say now, not as I
once said, thou shalt be called Peter, but thou art in very deed Peter
{Petros), and on this rock (petrci) of thy confession, which has earned
thee thy name, I will build my Church (ekktesia) and the gates of
TH E
CHURCH AND TH E KINGDOM .
289
Hades shall not prevail against it. Moreover, I give unto thee the keys
of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whomsoever thou shalt bind on earth,
he shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth,
that shall be loosed in heaven.”
The best commentary on this text is the context. To suppose that
.on this occasion, Christ, like a High Priest, was looking out for a locum
ten,ens, or even as a King, for a viceroy to act for Him in His absence,
is to utterly misconceive the whole scene, and equally to misunderstand
# ie words and metaphors employed. Christ as the Messiah, who had
come to His own ehosen people,was seeking not a successor but a subject
who recognised Him. He was seeking to discover whether beneath
His incognito, any of His people had as yet recognised Him as the long
expected Messianic King, who would fulfil the prophetic vision of a
universal kingdom and a world-wide empire. Simon’s confession was
the first act of fealty to the unknown king, and therefore, the beginning
of the unseen kingdom. His was the first knee to bend in allegiance,
and that allegiance was based not on the perception of Christ as an
earthly monarch, but as the Son of the Living God. Rejected by the
seed of Abraham, in Simon, Christ saw a second Abraham, whose
children, born not of flesh and blood, but of the Spirit, should form the
true Israel of God, in whom and through whom all the nations of the
earth should be blessed. In Simon’s confession of faith, Christ saw a
similar belief in Himself, the Son, to that which Abraham had exhibit­
ed in God, the Father, and He recognised a similar basis for a new
nation. Christ saw in these facts that the Kingdom of heaven was no
longer merely at hand, it had come. The Jewish nation, as a nation,
had rejected Him; He had come to His own, and His own received
Him not. In the rejection of their King, they had destroyed the very
ground for their existence as a nation, and had thereby forfeited the
rich inheritance which was their peculiar possession. Not through
them, but through another nation, not of race but of belief, would that
promise be fulfilled of a universal kingdom which should be a blessing
to all nations. In Peter, therefore, Christ recognises a second Abraham,
the founder of a new people of God ; in Peter’s faith, He recognises a
second faith, the foundation of a mightier nation. On that foundationrock of belief in Himself, He would build His own congregation,
(ekklesia) and the gates of Hades, the power of death that is, which
were so soon to open to receive Himself, would have no power against
the ekklesia He left behind.
The word ekklesia, here translated Church, is the Greek equivalent
of the iiebrew word, Kahal, used in the Old Testament as the special
23
290
TH E CH URCH AND T H E KIN G D O M .
name for the Jewish nation, and is translated in our English version,
* congregation or ‘ assembly.’ The connection is obvious and pregnant
with maaning. Christ’s ekklesia is the new congregation of believers
in Himself, which takes the place in the divine economy vacated by
the congregation of the children of Israel, the new nation through whom
all nations are to be blessed. The divine purpose will still be fulfilled,
though the chosen workers are unequal to the task. God’s method
abides the same, though He has to choose other instruments. All
nations shall be blessed, and the blessing shall come through a peculiar
people. The rejection of the Messiah by the Jew is followed by the
rejection of the Jew by the Messiah. Hosea’s prophecy is fulfilled :—
“ I will call that my people, which was not my people ; and her beloved,
which was not beloved. And it shall be that in the place where it was
said unto them, Ye are not my people, there shall they be called sons
of the living God.” It is of supreme importance that this national
aspect of the Church should be clearly perceived, in order that its relat­
ion to the Kingdom may be distinctly understood. The Church of
Christ’s conception possesses as its very essence the quality of nation­
ality. Its members have a common birth, for they have been born
again of the same Spirit. They acknowledge a common and only King,
the Christ who has redeemed them. They worship the same God, the
Universal Father. By birth, by polity, and by religion, therefore, they
constitute a common nation, and by those same characteristics they are
separate from all other nations of the earth. The Church, therefore,
according to Christ’s conception, can never be a national organisation,
for it is already an organised nation, separate and distinct from all
other nations. It is not racial but spiritual, not political but religious.
Its members are not, as such, subjects of any earthly King, nor is their
conduct, as members, amenable to any earthly tribunal. Founded upon
the acceptance of the Messiah, whom the old congregation of Israel has
rejected, the Church, or new congregation of the spiritual Israel, inher­
its the promises, and becomes pledged to the establishment of the Mess­
ianic kingdom. It was the recognition of the Messiah on the part of
Simon, the Jew, which transforms him into Peter, the Christian. It is
his faith in Christ as the Son of the Living God, which is the foundat­
ion rock of the new congregation.
With this conception of the Church in our minds, the reference in
the further words of Christ, to the keys of the Kingdom, is seen to
possess a natural connection and an obvious meaning. In Isaiah,
Chapter 22, the key of the house of David is represented as being taken
TH E CHURCH AND T H E KIN GDOM .
291
away from the unworthy steward, Shebna and given to his successor
Eliakim. As this is the only passage in the Old Testament in which the
symbol of the key is used, it must obviously be connected with the
symbol Christ here uses. The Jewish nation was the steward, to whom
were committed the oracles of God, to whom were entrusted the prom­
ises of the Messiah, and to whom was committed the fulfilment of the
Messianic kingdom. When the Messiah, however, actually appears, the
chosen steward not only fails to recognise Him, but definitely rejects
Him. That rejection terminates his stewardship, and the symbol of
his office must be taken away from him, and given to one more worthy
of the office. To whom can it be more worthily given than to the one
who has recognised the King and bent the knee in allegiance? To Simon
therefore, the first subject, the representative of the new congregation,
Christ gives the keys of His Kingdom, the symbol of authority, because
it is the instrument of work. The keys are to open, to unlock, for the
Kingdom is as yet shut, its treasuries are as yet locked. The new Israel
of whom Peter is the progenitor, is to enter into province after province
of that all-embracing empire, to open gate after gate of its immense
possessions, that the whole world may enjoy the blessedness of its
dominion. Unlike the old assembly which marched into the land of
promise to possess it for themselves, the new nation is to open the
Kingdom of heaven to all believers.
Having thus given the symbol of authority and work, the keys,
Christ next gives the promise of ratifying the work which His people
shall do. In opening up the Kingdom of Heaven, they would establish
new ties and dissolve old bonds. As they entered more and more fully
into possession of the Kingdom, they would find that every department
of life was indissolubly connected with their allegiance to their King.
Arbitrary distinctions would disappear, unseen relationships would
come to light, as they found that the whole of life was sanctified
through their consecration to their King. Similarly, old bonds which
had separated man from man, and fettered the soul in its relation to
God, would be unloosed, as the Church entered more fully into the
mind and will of Christ. In thus under the guidance of His Spirit,
forming new ties and dissolving old bonds, they would be doing a work
which the King himself would ratify. The ties which they really formed
on earth would not be temporal but eternal, because connected with
that relationship to the King which is unaffected by either time or
place. The bonds which they really loosed on earth, would be bonds
which enslaved man to man, and bound the soul in a hopeless captivity,
and being once really loosed on earth, would be loosed for all time. The
292
T H E CH U RCH AND TH E KIN GD OM .
keys are the symbol of the high office of the Church, because they are
the instrument which designates her important work. The pledge of thé
King’s ratification of her work is given, because the power to do the
work is conferred. Her authority is proved, when her power is mani­
fested. The unlocking of the King’s treasures is the surest evidence
that she holds the King’s keys. The neglect of the work she was em­
powered to do, and the assumption of an authority which she never
received, have had the most injurious effect upon the development of
her own national life, and the extension of her imperial sway.
Nothing could be clearer than the distinction between the Kingdom
and the Church, which this passage brings to light. The Church i&
evidently the visible agency, by which the realisation of the ideal rela­
tionship between man and God, and man and man, which is sketched in
the Kingdom of Heaven of Christ’s teaching, is to be effected. The King­
dom of Heaven is the ideal empire of prophetic vision,the ideal of human­
ity in its divine and human relationships, which Christ outlined in His
Sermon on the Mount, and illustrated in His wonderful parables. The
Church is the congregation of those who acknowledge Him as King, and
join together to realise amongst themselves and in the world, the ideal
of their Sovereign. To identify the two is to mistake the actual for the
ideal, the part and partial for the whole and perfect. The Kingdom i&
the world-wide empire of vision, the Church is the limited nation of
sight. There are whole provinces of the Kingdom of Heaven which the
Church has not yet opened, into the possession of which it has not yet
entered. There are ties which have yet to be formed, and bonds which
have yet to be unloosed, ere human society can be recognised as the
realisation of the Kingdom of Heaven of Christ’s teaching. The poor have
not yet inherited the Kingdom which Christ declared to be their own
possession. There are mourners who have not yet been comforted,
and the meek cannot yet be said to have inherited the earth. The hun­
ger and thirst after righteousness of the human heart can hardly be
said to have yet been satisfied, nor can it yet be said that the merciful
obtain mercy. The pure in heart often find it still too difficult to see
God, and the peacemakers receive much less honourable names than
that of sons of God. The confusion between the ideal and the actual
has been as injurious to the well-being of the Church, as it has been
detrimental to the extension of the Kingdom. The identification of the
Church with the Kingdom has led to the lowering of the ideals of the
Kingdom to the level of the actuals of the Church. The Church has
lost the vision of the Empire in the complacent contemplation of her
TH E CH URCH AND T H E K IN G D O M .
293
own ease and comfort. For centuries the prosecution of her imperial
mission was neglected, for the enjoyment of ease and luxury. Her moral
vigor declined, and her intellectual activity stagnated. The Reformation
and revivals which have reinvigorated her national life, have always
been followed by an increase in her imperial activity.
The conception of the Church as a nation with an imperial mission,
brings into right focus those divisions and varied organisations of the
Church which have marked its development. Allegiance to Christ is
the sole bond which unites His subjects into one nation. The Church
was founded by Christ himself on Simon’s simple confession of faith
and allegiance, and that confession, it may be well to remember, was
expressed in his own words. There was a tinge of Judaism in Simen’s
creed, just because it was his own, and he was a Jew, but it was
accepted by Christ as adequate for the foundation of His Church. If
Christ could see in such a confession of faith a basis for an invincible
Church, it must be evident that the elaborate creeds and confessions of
later times, however useful they may have been, are not essential for
the Church’s unity. Where there are many men, there may be one
heart, though there are sure to be many minds. It is the heart and not
the head which binds people into a common nation, and it is loyalty to
Christ, and not loyalty to a creed which unites men in a truly catholic
church. A common allegiance to Christ, and not a common subscript­
ion to a single creed, is, or ought to be, the basis of the unity of the
Christian Church.
In the same way, varied organisation does not destroy the unity of
the Church, any more than local self-government destroys the unity of
the nation. Legislative Councils, Provincial Boards, and Municipalities
are not schism, though they are distinctly sections in the body politic.
Just as local needs require local knowledge and a special organisation
for dealing with them, so environment and the variety of human tem­
perament, require a corresponding organisation in the body ecclesiastic.
Sectarianism is not schism, unless it denies the unity of the Catholic
Church by impugning the loyalty of any of its fellow subjects. The true
schism which calls forth Christ’s rebuke, is that exclusive spirit which
the disciples exhibited when they forbade those who were doing a good
work, because, as they ingenously expressed it, “ they followed not us.”
It would be well if all the successors of the apostles would remember,
that spiritual power is the true evidence of spiritual authority, and
would as readily and cordially admit, as their Master, that he that is
not against Him is on His side.
294
T H E CH U B C H A N D T H E K IN GD OM .
The federation of the Free Churches of England, which is such a
pleasing and hopeful feature of recent times, is in truest harmony with
this conception of the Church as a nation. In this movement, not only
the right but the advantage of denominationalism is fully and cheerfully
recognised. There is not the slightest attempt to ignore or belittle the
differences which distinguish but do not divide the Church. At the
same time, the emphasis is put on that common allegiance to Christ
which unites the Church which He has founded. The Free Churches
recognise that while the Church has varied interests which can be best
attended to by the organisations which they have called into existence,
she has national and imperial interests which are the concern of all.
The recent Madras Missionary Conference was far more catholic in
constitution and imperial in character than even the Free Church Coun­
cil of England. It embraced representatives of denominations which
have not yet found it possible or deemed it advisable to unite together
at home, but who to the surprise of some and the joy of all, have found
it both possible and profitable to have fellowship with one another, and
consult together in the interests of the Kingdom they are all pledged to
extend.
The conception of the Church as a nation does not however exhaust
the full meaning of the term. It is a nation with an imperial mission.
The Kingdom of Heaven is Christ’s ideal for humanity, while the Church
is the human organisation for the realisation of that ideal. The King­
dom is the promised land, which the Church, the new congregation of
Israel, has to take possession of. It has been called into existence for
this purpose, and its destiny is bound up with the fulfilment of that
purpose. It has inherited the promises of the old congregation on con­
dition that it accomplishes the mission of being a blessing to all nations,
of which its predecessor was found unworthy. Its imperialism there­
fore is not something which it may or may not pursue, it is the very
ground of its existence. Its responsibility cannot be discharged by
granting a charter to any company, or a subsidy to any society. The
extension of the Kingdom is bound up with the expansion of its own
life. The full extent of territory in the Kingdom, and the wealth of its
treasures cannot be enjoyed by an elect few, for they are the possession
of the race. The Church must bring in to the Kingdom of which it
possesses the keys, those who are without, or it can never open the
the gates of its fairest provinces. The extent to which the Church
enters into'possession of the Kingdom, has ever been and ever must be
limited by the extent to which it has brought in those who were with*
T H E CH U R C H A N D T H E K IN GD OM .
295
out. The depth of its national life is exactly proportioned to the extent
of its imperial activity. The Kingdom has not been fully occupied so
long as the Canaanite still dwells in the land. Increase of population
means increased capacity for possession. The admission of fresh minds
into the Church, means the opening up of new treasures in the Kingdom.
The exclusiveness of the Jew effectually prevented the nation ful­
filling its mission of being a blessing to all nations. In reading his
divine commission he put so much emphasis on his national election, as
to be incapable of rightly accentuating his imperial mission. His con­
ception of his own blessedness amongst the nations in the possession of
the knowledge of God, prevented his realisation of the richer blessed­
ness foretold in the dissemination of that knowledge amongst the
nations. He had no gospel with which to go to the nations, he had
only a law to which the foreigner must come and submit. Hence the
salvation of the world excited in his breast no enthusiasm, though he
would compass sea and land to make one proselyte. Pilled with pride
in his election, he was oblivious of the purpose for which he had been
elected. Dead to his own need of salvation, the gospel had no charm
for him, its proclamation aroused no enthusiasm in him. Even the
early Church failed for a time to rise above the mere conception of
proselytism to that of evangelisation. It was in danger of becoming a
national Church, instead of being a spiritual nation. It needed the
genius of Paul to interpret the non-racial character of the nation, and
the imperial aspect of its mission. The destruction of Jewish exclus­
iveness within the Church enriched the national life of the Church, as
much as it enlarged its imperial activity. History has shown that the
Church has been most dominated by the world, during those periods
when it has been least solicitous for the world’s salvation. It has been
richest when it has been most liberal, its own life has been deepest
when its activities have been widest, its intellect has been keenest when
its heart has been broadest.
The action and reaction of national and imperial ideals deserve
most careful attention. No nation which is not deeply convinced of
the truth and value of the ideals it represents, can ever become con­
scious of an imperial mission. If it does not believe in itself, if it has
no faith in the ideals which have made it what it is, it can have no
energy in extending the sphere of their operation. It must be intensely
national or it cannot be enthusiastically imperial. The decline of im­
perialism is invariably accompanied, and generally preceded by the de­
cay of nationalism. The loss of faith in itself, is the sure forerunner of
the loss of power of exciting faith in itself in the mind of others. Similarly»
296
T H E CH U R C H A N D TH E KIN G D O M .
a Church which is not deeply convinced of the truth and value of the faith
upon which she is founded, can never be conscious of a divine mission
to the world. A church which is not dogmatic, in the best sense of that
word, can never be missionary. A revival of the Church’s faith is
invariably^ followed by an increased missionary activity, while the decay
of faith is the sure herald of a decline in missionary enthusiasm. It is
well to remember this in our estimate of some of the criticisms which
are so plentifully offered on the conduct of missionary operations. If
the Church has no deep convictions of her own to implant, she has no
mission to uproot the convictions of others. They had better be left to
alter and modify them as they think best. If she has no faith in the
ideals of the religious life which are peculiarly her own, she had better
leave the ideals of others severely alone. People who have no deep
religious convictions in which they believe, to whom one ideal of life is
as good as another, are as incompetent to be eritics as they are incapable
of being missionaries. The cosmopolitan is hardly the man to be tbe
adviser of the statesman in national and imperial affairs. While nation­
alism does not consist in imposing upon other and distant peoples, the
political forms and organisations which have grown with the nation’s
growth and developed with the nation’s needs,it does mean the introduct­
ion into the whole empire of those political rights and liberties which
have made the nation what it is, and given the nation its imperial
mission. Similarly, the dogmatism here insisted upon does not mean
the imposition of the theology and creed and confession of faith of the
Church that is, upon the Church that is to be, but it does mean the in­
corporation in her religious life, of the faith and ideals of the religious
life of Christ’s conception.
A nation, however, to be successful in its imperial mission, must
realise that the empire is bigger than the nation, and that with the
widening of its political horizon, there must inevitably come a
broadening of its national ideas. Its political constitution, which
was adequate for the nation as a nation may be inadequate for
the empire. Even its conceptions of rights and liberties may
need to be modified and enlarged, to embrace the aspirations and
satisfy the just demands of its more numerous and more varied
peoples. In the same way, the Church has ever to remember
that the Kingdom is wider than the Church, and that its own interpretat­
ion has not exhausted the riches of Christ’s teaching, nor its own
vision penetrated to the confines of its vast possessions. If the Jew
•was chosen to prepare the way of the King, the Greek would seem to
T H E TE IiU G U C H RISTIAN W E E K L Y N E W S P A P E R , R A V I.
297
have been chosen to announce the coming of His Kingdom. If one
race was elected to receive the conception of a universal kingdom, the
incapacity of a single race to interpret the nature of that kingdom,
would seem to point to a wider election for this larger purpose. It
needed a keener vision than that of the Jewish shepherds, to see in the
manger at Bethlehem a greater king than that of the Jews, and a
greater Redeemer than the Saviour of Israel. The wise men from the
East had their gifts to offer and their thoughts about the child to impart
before the full meaning of the event had been expressed. What was
true of the king is true of the kingdom. The nations of the earth have
yet to bring their wealth of intellectual acumen, and spiritual insight to
interpret the true nature of the Kingdom of Heaven of Christ’s concept­
ion. Their wise men have yet to behold the vision of the Kingdom, and
to make known the things concerning it, which have been revealed to
them. As yet, they have but seen its star in the East.
The Church of Christ’s conception, then, is a spiritual nation with
a divinely imperial mission. To it have been committed the keys of the
Kingdom of Christ that she may open that kingdom to all believers. She
has to translate the ideal of her Master into the real. She must bind into
a real brotherhood the whole family of man, to bring all men into the
glorious liberty of the children of God. Here is a national and imperial
programme capable of appealing to her highest aspirations, and of
enlisting her enthusiastic devotion. That she may prove worthy of her
high calling, and equal to her great task, should be the earnest prayer
of all her members.
THE TELUGU CHRISTIAN W EEKLY NEWSPAPER, RAVI.
BY THE REV. H. P. LAFLAMME.
HE Ravi is entering upon the third year of its existence. That it
has endured under the difficult circumstances of its early days
speaks volumes for its vitality. It has nothing to boast of in the way
of great successes, and little to be ashamed of in the way of failure, and
nothing to regret but the excesses of youth; and those time soon remedies.
Gne of these excessss was in ambition. Judging from the splendid
record of its older contemporary, the Vrittanta Patrike of Mysore,
which, with a constituency of only five millions speaking the language
in which it was published, and which had attained to a circulation of
between four and five thousand, the Ravi, with a Telugu speaking
T
298
T H E T E L U G U C H R IS T IA N W E E K L Y N E W S P A P E R , R A V I.
population of about eighteen millions, had hoped in a few years to
attain to self-support on a circulation of two thousand five hundred.
At the end of three years the issue is seven hundred weekly. This isretained with great difficulty. We had hoped that when the paper wasonce introduced, its unrivalled cheapness, only Rs. 1-14-0 a year, includ­
ing postage, and its excellence as a model home paper, would certainly
secure its retention in the hearts of the people. Not so. Places in
which, owing to the activity of friends, the circulation had risen to forty,,
fell away and to-day there are not more than a few names left. Only
constant vigilance will retain what energy has won.
Then too we had looked for a much heartier appreciation of the
value of the paper on the part of the large body of missionaries who had
led us by repeated resolutions in their very largest conferences tolaunch the enterprise. There are over 225 missionaries in the Telugu:
field. Correspondence, personal visitation, the sending of an agent to
many of their fields, have failed to secure anything like a deep and hearty
interest in the work of the paper. Outside of the Mission in which the
Editor comes in continual contact with the missionaries, there are not
ten who have taken a lively and pushful care for the Ravi. The paper
has not beenjassumed as their paper and that definite concern manifested!
which will alone make it a success.
Then too we had a reasonable hope that our own staff of subordin­
ates, the printers and our sub-editors, of whom we have had three in
the course of the paper’s existence, would have done much to push the
circulation, but the results have been very disappointing. These men
will do anything that is set before them, but to get a move on and
around to see what is going on and to secure a part of it for the paper
from which they have drawn their daily bread, has been away beyond
their capacity.
Then too the times have been bad and from those fields from which
most was expected and promised, the extensive area of the AmericanBaptist Mission, the least has come and that because they have been
under famine all the time.
Competition too has been an important factor in our lack of success..
There are seven other Telugu papers in the field. One of these is just
becoming a tri-weekly, another is a semi-weekly, four others are
weeklies and one a bi-weekly or fortnightly. Three of these have come
into the field since the advent of the Ravi and four that were in exist­
ence have been snuffed out. Each failure injures the general confidence
of the public in the newspaper enterprise. Besides these, two English
T H E T E L U G U C H R ISTIA N W E E K L Y N E W S P A P E R , R A V I.
299»
papers edited by natives have sprung into being and two others have
passed away. These compete very severely with us and have no doubthurt the circulation.
Under all these adverse circumstances and because the Editor,,
who is one of the busiest missionaries in South India, could not give
the time to the Bavi that it demanded, the deficit against the paper, at
the beginning of the year, had risen to the rather discouraging sum of
Rs. 1,300. Then rigid economies were applied. The sub-editor whohad been drawing Rs. 25 a month was discharged and the work dis­
tributed in such a way as to be no charge on the funds of the paper.
A cheaper quality of paper was used, more advertisements were secured
and the town delivery was re-arranged. In the last six months the
receipts including donations from friends to the amount of Rs. 300 have
exceeded the expenditure by Rs. 125, so that we are not going beyond
our reasonable income and with the grant from the Board of the Mission
of which the Editor is a member, the deficit has been reduced by about
Rs. 300 and now stands at Rs. 1,037. Five rupees each from our Telugu
missionaries would relieve this strain upon the mind of the manage­
ment.
I have never felt so strongly the tremendous importance of tha
newspaper as since entering upon this work myself. The result has
been that my field is being salted with good papers. Besides tha
circulation of the Bavi, fully a quarter of whose subscribers are local,.
we sell 165 copies of the Christian Literature Society’s monthly paper,,
the Satya Duta, at a pie each, and our Book-room is the largest subscrib­
er for Progress, of any in all South India, taking 65 copies in all. In.
addition to these we get twenty other English and twenty other Telugu
monthly papers and twenty five Telugu weeklies. Each helps the
other and all work together for the coming of the Kingdom of the Son
of God’s love.
Just one personal word of explanation by way of encouraging other
busy men to lend a hand. I am sure some have felt that only a man
of ample leisure could possibly undertake a weekly newspaper and are
perhaps excusing themselves with the thought that the man who takes
this up can run it without any special help from those who are too busy
to give it any time at all. The Editor wishes that were so, but it is
far from being the case. He therefore craves the kindly interest of hi&
fellows in this undertaking that is for all Missions alike as it is for all
the Telugu people.
CONVERTS’
H O M E S. *
BY M ISS BASSOE.
I
T is generally acknowledged by missionaries, that for the reception
and instruction of caste women who become Christians, Converts5
Homes are needed. We all know the difficulties that beset the path
of a caste Hindu, who has found grace to believe and to confess Christ
in baptism ; the giving up of family ties, the severance of old friend'ships, in many cases the loss of property, all this is hard to bear. But
in the case of a woman all these difficulties are intensified by the fact
iihat it is practically impossible for a Hindu woman to stand alone, and
unless Christian friends are willing to open a home to her, she cannot
leave her own friends and family.
It has been said that Hindu women, even when convinced of the
-truth of Christianity and longing to confess Christ openly, should
rather remain in their homes and witness for Christ there. Undoubt­
edly there are cases where this would seem right, when baptism would
involve leaving husband and children, and under such circumstances
we may surely believe that God will not allow the good seed to be
choked. But in the great majority of cases, the probability is that the
deadening influence of the surroundings will prove too strong
for the weak and wavering faith of new converts, and unless they re­
ceive baptism and join the Christian community, they will backslide
:after a time. There are thousands of widows and perhaps as many of
a scarcely less unhappy class, the deserted wives, to whom no family
■ties make it an imperative duty to remain with their people, and if they
desire to serve the Lord, their safest course is to break entirely with
Hinduism.
For these women converts some provision must be made, either by
the missionaries or by Indian Christian friends. The converts are not
allowed by their relatives to remain in their homes after breaking their
-caste, they are as a rule quite unable to earn their own living, and even
if they are independent with regard to money, they cannot live alone.
Our experience has been that Indian private families are exceedingly
reluctant to receive any woman convert that is not a near relative. To
receive the converts into the missionaries’ families would as a rule be
inadvisable; no doubt the personal influence of the missionaries would
Jbe valuable, but the converts would acquire expensive habits that would,
* A paper read at the Kodaikanal Conference, May, 1903.
CONVERTS*
HOM ES.
301
unfit them for their career. At any rate this would only be possible or desirable in exceptional cases. A well-ordered Home, with properprovision for Christian training and instruction, seems to be the best:
way of solving the difficulty.
Such a Home should serve a double purpose ; it would receive
inquirers, test their sincerity and prepare them for baptism, and it.
should also give the converts a training that will fit them for some
sphere of usefulness.
Not a few missionaries are doubtful about receiving inquirers, i.e
women who express a desire to become Christians, but are not ready
for baptism. There are certainly risks about i t ; the woman may prove
insincere and unworthy, and it may be difficult to send her away after
she has broken her caste. But surely it is better to run this risk than
to take the responsibility of turning away some one who may be a
seeker after truth, or some poor creature that may have had few chances
of hearing about Christ, but who still has a feeling that Christianity can.
do for her soul what Hinduism cannot; or some weary one, who simply
seeks to escape from a life of temptation, who knows that in the Christ­
ian Home she is safe. By receiving such inquirers we may sometimes
lay up for ourselves sorrow and disappointment, but in many more
cases we reap the rich reward of seeing at least happy and sincere
Christian women, instead of the timid and doubting inquirers. Let me
give a few instances.
Eight years ago a young widow came to us, begging to be taken
in. She looked the picture of utter and hopeless misery, dull and
uncouth, and all that she knew about Christianity was that it was good
and that the Christian ladies were merciful. We took her in, she be­
came an earnest Christian, though never a clever and educated one, and
she is now the happy and respected wife of a catechist. Another widow
begged for admittance, and although her past was very discreditable
we would not refuse her the one chance. She is now a trusted and
valuable hospital worker, a sincere Christian, striving to tell her Gospel
to her patients. A third young widow, a Brahmin, was brought to us
by her relatives, who no doubt wished to preserve her from the many
dangers that a young widow is exposed to. She knew nothing of
Christianity, as she had lived in a country village, where there was no
possibility of any instruction. We could not refuse to take her, and
she is still with us, a sweet and gentle girl, a true Christian and a real
help in the Home. We have had several women who proved insincere
and unworthy, but on the whole, we have had reason to be satisfied
with the inquirers that we have received. I do not mean to say that a
302
C O N V E R TS’ H OM ES.
Home should receive everybody and anybody that might apply for ad­
mittance. Possible motives should be considered and enquiries should
.he made. But I think we should not refuse to admit a woman solely
on account of ignorance ; if she is fully aware of the : consequences of
-breaking caste, and if she is prepared to work hard in the Home;,
she may surely be received. Nor should every inquirer with a stain on
Jher character be relegated to a Rescue Home ; there are thousands of
unhappy Hindu women more sinned against than sinning, who cannot
be called depraved and wicked, whose right place is in a Converts’
Horn«, not in a Refuge. The other class for whom the Home is needed
.are the bond fide converts, women who have had careful instruction in
•their own homes, and who come with a deliberate resolve to serve
Christ. In the case of such women there is no hesitation about admit­
tance, and they naturally need far less testing and instruction before
-baptism.
The aim of the Home should be to develop the Christian character
of the inmates, to train them into Christian habits, and to give them an
education that will enable them to earn their own living. This is no
light task. That every effort must be made to give the women an
-intelligent knowledge of Christianity and to stimulate their spiritual
■life, goes without saying. The Bible teaching must take precedence of
-all other studies and occupations. And perhaps as important as the
actual teaching is the Christian influence that should be brought to bear
on the converts, the examples of holy living, the love, patience and
sympathy that can help them to overcome the thoughts and habits of
their heathen life. It is often very hard for grown-up women to sub­
mit to the rules of a Home, and to acquire habits of industry, order and
neatness.
In many cases the converts will have had little or no education
before entering the Home, and good teachers must be provided, who
can bring their pupils on quickly, as grown-up women have no time to
lose. It is most necessary to educate at least the younger ones as far
as possible, both for the sake of their own mental and spiritual benefit,
.and for the sake of their future. From the Converts’ Home we may
hope to draw good and faithful Biblewomen and teachers, and we want
them as well equipped as possible. Moreover, their chance of making
a suitable marriage depends very much on their education. • But not a
few converts prove unable to acquire much learning, certainly not
enough to make their living by it, and for such women some sort of
industrial work must be provided. This is not easy, for the women
C O N V E R TS’ H O M ES.
303
who are not bright enough or persevering enough to acquire an ordinary
education, often prove unable to learn anything else properly.
Caste should be entirely banished from the Home, on no account
should any semblance of it be allowed, and the missionary should do
her best to root out every caste prejudice. As a rule the Homes are
only intended for caste converts, the non-3aste women not being obliged
to leave their families on becoming Christians. So the question of
defilement might not often arise, but the missionary would do well to
provide opportunities of meeting other Christians of caste or non-caste
origin, and of joining them at meals, so that no sort of exclusiveness
may be kept up.
The inmates of a Home are likely to differ a good deal in their
tastes and previous habits, and it is sometimes difficult enough to keep
the peace between them. Probably the best and easiest way of arrang­
ing for their living is to give them each an allowance and leave them to
-cater for themselves. Much quarrelling is obviated by letting them
manage their own affairs as far as possible. In our Home for some
years we supplied cooked food to all alike, but found it unsatisfactory,
and in time began to give each woman an allowance for food and clothes.
It has been objected to this arrangement that it is likely to foster
caste feeling. We have found no such effect from it. Our converts
mix freely with Christians of non-caste origin, and there has never been
the slightest difficulty about caste. Moreover, several of our converts
have willingly married men of Pariah origin, and a stronger proof of
freedom from caste prejudice they can scarcely give. But from all
accounts, caste feeling is far stronger among Tamil Christians than here
among our Telugu people, and very likely in the Tamil country
it would be better to give no allowances and to make all the con­
verts eat together. Such an allowance should bs fixed as low as
possible, only just sufficient to provide real necessaries. Very likely
some women may be deterred from entering the Home, if they find that
they will have no luxuries whatever, but this is no disadvantage ; on
the contrary it is well to keep people away who are not prepared to
endure a little hardness. It is so very difficult to judge of the sincerity
of a convert or an inquirer, and their real motives may be very different
from what we imagine. But if a woman is willing to put up with very
simple food, and especially if she is ready to obey rules and to do what­
ever work she is put to in the Home, we may be pretty certain that she
really wishes to become a Christian.
The steady, regular work in a Home, whether study or domestic
-duties, is a great trial to many women. They are accustomed to do
304
converts’
h om es.
very much as they like in their own homes, and no doubt the restraint
necessary in a place where many people have to live peaceably together
is very irksome to them. They miss the liberty and the many opport­
unities of gossip with the neighbours, and of course they do not realizethat the restraint is for their good. We think that it is most unadvisable to allow much communication with outsiders, even with friends
and relatives, and we think that too much care cannot be exercised in
guarding the women. The moral weakness sometimes shown, even by
apparently reliable and earnest converts, is astonishing, and so long asthey are under our care we must give them the best protection we can.
The women are generally very happy in the Home, but now and then
there are times of great restlessness, when the old heathen life seem to
to rise up before them and draw them with terrible force. At such times
the missionary will have to do her utmost to help them, by prayer and
counsel, and by providing change and variety. We had a convert in
our Home who repeatedly had such attacks of terrible temptation. She
would implore us not to let her go even if she begged for leave ; then
when the idol processions at night passed our compound with shouts
and music, she was wild to get away, and we had to keep her back by
force; afterwards she thanked us with tears.
Of course, every woman must be free to leave the Home, but she
should be made to consider well before doing so, and she should not be
admitted again. If she wishes to return, she ma5r be sent to another
Home.
How long should the converts remain in the Home ? It is imposs­
ible to fix any time ; it must depend on the character and education of
each woman. Only one point must always be kept in view, that the
stay in the Home is only temporary, and each woman must in time
pass out and make room for others. Some converts show a maturity
of character that emboldens the missionary to send them out after a
comparatively short stay. Others need years of training. Very often
younger women must spend years in the Home for the sake of their
education.
What future should we desire for our converts ? In the case of
young women I would unhesitatingly say, “ marriage.” x\nd to get her
converts well and happily married is no small anxiety to the missionary
in charge of a Home. However, not a few converts for one reason or
another cannot be married, and for such there are various spheres of
work. Some make teachers, others will make useful hospital workers,
others again must support themselves by needle work,etc. Whatever their
305-
L IT E K A T U B E .
work, our hope is that their training in the Home may have helped
them to become good, useful and earnest Christian women.
In conclusion, let me point out what seem to me to be the most
necessary qualifications for the superintendent of a Converts’ Home.
In order to be able to deal with the different dispositions and charactersshe must have patience and tact, joined to common sense and quickness
of resource, to meet any unexpected emergency If possible, she should
be qualified to undertake some of the teaching, as well as superintend
the industrial work. Above all, she needs a heart filled with the con­
straining love of Christ, a love that will teach her to win the hearts of
the converts under her care and to guide their steps into the way of
truth.
£ i t e r a t u r e.
Sri SavJcaracharya. I. His L ife and Times, by C. N. K r i s h n a s a m i
I I . H is Philosophy, by P a n d i t S i t a n a t h T a t t v a b h u s h a n .
P p . 134.
G. A. Natesan and Co., Madras. Price Ee. 1.
The preface of this latest book on the famous Indian philosopher quotes
an estimate of Sankara by Sister Nivedita, which might almost scare one away,
who does not come to the book to adore but to study. Sankara is there declared
to combine in one “ the devotion of Francis of Assisi, the intellect of Abelard,,
the virile force and freedom of Martin Luther, and the political efficiency of
Ignatius Loyola.” But this is not typical of the tone of the book. The little
book is written by two men who admire the great Indian philosopher, but the
fumes of adoring incense are nowhere in it so dense as to obscure the object of
their study in the manner which the above words might lead one to think. Both
writers are treating this subject not merely with admiration but also with some
attempts at criticism ; and the result is a book which, to all who do not know
much more of Sankara than his name, will be a good help to gain some under­
standing of a thinker with whom no one can afford to be unacquainted, who
wishes to understand the Indian mind. The book cannot frighten or tire any
A i y a r , M .A ., L .T .
one by its length ; the language is as lucid as the subject allows ; and both the
writers are men who evidently know something of the force of other lines of
thought beside those of Sankara.
The first part of the book (pp. 1— 89), treating of Sankara’ s Life and Times,
i s written by Mr. Krishnasami Aiyar, m . a . , l . t ., an Assistant in the Native
College, Coimbatore. H e admits that “ few of the facts of his (i.e. Sankara’ s)'
life can be narrated with certainty, not even the time and the place of his birth.”
Drawing his material mainly from the Sanharavijaya (Triumphs of Sankara),
he tells briefly the life of the philosopher, adding such critical comments as he
finds necessary. The canons and criteria which are employed in deciding
24
'306
L IT E B A T U R E .
questions of criticism are perhaps not in all cases sufficiently clear. On the
other hand, one cannot help feeling that the author’s critical treatment of his
material, leaves one in great uncertainty as to how much of historical reality
there is in any of the details of the story of Sankara’s life. Some general idea
o f the outline of its events we may perhaps be able to form ; but every concrete
trait, by which the picture might get life, is made uncertain.
Some hold that Sankara was born towards the end of the sixth century.
Others place him two hundred years later. Mr. Krishnasami Aiyar accepts the
latter view as the one that seems to him more likely to be correct. According
to him, then, Sankara was born in a Nambudri family in South Malabar in 788
A.D. As a boy he was remarkably intelligent, finished his Vedic studies very
■early, and then soon after became a Sannyasin. After finishing his course of
instruction and discipline under his Guru Govindan Bhagavatpada, he went to
Benares where he taught and wrote his philosophical works. From there he
started out on his triumphant tour through India as a teacher. He went
through North India and the Deccan to Sringeri, later on up the East Coast to
Puri, and finally visited both Assam and Kashmir, shortly before he died in
848. Mr. Krishnasami Aiyar says Sankara died in his 38th y ea r: it is difficult
to understand how he harmonises this statement with what he says of the
years of his birth and death. According to the writer of the second part of the
book,* Sankara was born 799 A.D., and died at the age of 32 in the year 830.
In describing Sankara’s life work, our author gives us a brief sketch of the
historical background against which it should be seen. Buddhism had been
successfully striving to overcome the externalism of sacrifices and penances,
and had largely established its own philosophy of sensationalism. A reaction
o f revived Hinduism had begun to set in, learning much from Buddhism, but
emphasising, as its own religious contribution, the doctrine of BhaJcti. Sank­
ara’ s object, as he found himself am ilst such conditions, was “ to give a com­
mon bsisis to the most prevalent forms of the Yedic faith and to reconcile all
these to a cardinal co-ordinating idea.” This was what he was aiming at in his
writings, chiefly among which are his commentaries on the TJpanishads, the
Vedanta Sutras and the Bhagavadgita,. On his extensive tours he worked
with great success for the propagation of his philosophical tenets as well as for
the putting down of the abominations associated with the Saktas and the
Bhairavas. And to secure the continuation and permanence of his work he
established mutts in different parts of the country, four of which have continued
in existence all these centuries, those in Sringeri, Puri, Dwaraka (Guzarat) and
Badari (Kashmir).
Sankara’ s methods in propagating his views and dealing with his opponents,
Mr. Krishnasami Aiyar thinks, formed an important element of the secret of
his success. He would first let his opponents state and explain their doctrines
and practices. Then he would make it plain how far he could go with them.
And finally, he would come to the points of difference, showing that the views
* Sitanath Tattvabhushan: The Vedanta and its Relation to Modern
Thought, Vol. I., (Calcutta, 1901), pp. 115, 123.
L IT E R A T U R E .
307
from which he differed were not based on sufficient scriptural authority. It
was by the force of tact and argument he succeeded in making so many converts.
“ How different from the method which is being pursued by our Padri friends
and people of their likeness.” “ It never occurred to him to talk as the advo­
cates of some militant faiths have done, to claim all wisdom for himself and
locate all folly in his opponents, crediting them with nothing but folly.” There
is no need for any discussion on this point. If anybody is pursuing a method
of the kind the writer here indicates by way of contrast, all intelligent people
will say he is wrong. If facts do not justify the writer’s general statement, all
intelligent people must say that the writer is wrong.
One point of weakness Mr. Krishnasami Aiyar thinks there is in Sankara’ s
philosophy, viewed as religious teaching. It is the place given in his' system
to Jnana (knowledge), as compared with Karma (work) and BhaJcti (devotion).
Thereby Sankara places his philosophy beyond the reach of the large majority
of men ; and in the case of the few who are left, there is a danger that religion
becomes a matter of the head more than of the heart.
But the writer’ s last thought, as he reviews Sankara’ s work, is not of the
possible element of weakness and danger but of the great abiding influence for
good which has been the result of that work. Toleration is the glorious monu­
ment of Sankara’ s influence in India, we are assured. There can be no question
that Sankara’ s philosophy logically tends to produce an attitude of mind which,
on its negative side, resembles toleration ; all grounds for intolerance are removed
to a consistent Advaitin. But is Mrs. Besant not right in saying, as she has
somewhere said, that Hinduism is very liberal in the realm of thought but verjstrict in the sphere of con du ct'? This is not what we understand by genuine
toleration ; nay worse than that, it is a distinction between the inward and
outward sides of morality, which is at least as much to be dreaded as intoler­
ance. And that distinction has perhaps also some logical connection with
Sankara’s philosophy. There is no desire on the part of the present writer to
institute any comparison between Europe and India in regard to this subject of
toleration ; of comparisons of that kind wre have had far too much. But surely,
India in this matter has as much reason as Europe to press on towards the
ideal rather than congratulate itself on its attainment, so long as there is room
for Mr. Malabari’ s remark, that caste is a far more powerful institution for
persecution than was ever the Spanish Inquisition.
In the second part of the book (pp. 91—184), Pandit Sitanath Tattvabhushan,
of Calcutta, writes of Sankara’s philosophy. It is not indicated in the book that
this part is a reprint of two articles in the Indian Review for March and April
this year. The writer, who is a disciple of Ram Mohun Roy, had written
several books on Theism before he discovered (as he says in the preface to his
“ Hindu Theism,” published 1898) that the Theism, which he thought he had
learnt from Ram Mohun Roy, was in all essentials identical with Hindu Theism
as taught in the Upanishads. He is now an enthusiastic advocate of the
Vedanta and an ardent admirer of Sankara’s philosophy. Still one feels, both
L IT E R A T U R E .
308
in his interpretations and criticisms thereof, that he writes as one whose mind
h a s been largely influenced by other modes of thought.
He first gives a very brief statement, based on Sankara’s three great com ­
mentaries, of the leading ideas of this “ absolute idealism.” The Vedanta, also
the advaitic form of it, is, as the Pandit says elsewhere,* in the first place “ a
theology based on a meditative insight into the relation of all things to their
common source, God,” and in the second place “ a system of spiritual culture
arising out of this relation.” The theoretical side of Sankara’ s system is sum­
med up in the following four points. (1) The knowledge of self is the basis of all
knowledge, and such self-knowledge is not gained through arguments and proofs
but is direct and intuitive. (2) Objects only exist in relation to a self, as
objects of knowledge to a knowing self. (3) In knowing the world we know
nothing but the self. The essence of the self is knowledge ; every object ispervaded by knowledge, therefore no object can be distinct from the self but is
ideally comprehended in it. (4) Real knowledge is not the result of impressions
produced by external objects on our senses, but is a permanent property of the
self. The bare statement of these propositions will probably not be sufficient
to convince any critical student of their truth. And Mr. Tattvabhushan’s ex­
positions do not supply one with any definite and reliable criterion of truth to
try them by. Unless the rarefied air of formalistic scholasticism, which you
are inhaling in all these pages, makes you forget the facts of experience and their
weight, you will not be able to ascribe to all these abstract pre-suppositions the
value that is required.
The spiritual culture, which is to be the practical result of that philosophy,,
is a tta in e d through the four-fold discipline, (1) discrimination of things perman­
ent and transitory; (2) non-attachment to rewards of actions, earthly or
heavenly ; (3) Sannyasa as a method of inward and outward training ; (4) desire
for liberation. The treatment of this part of the subject is so extremely brief
that it does not give one a fair idea of Sankara’ s teaching. One point, however,,
is made clear, that Sankara regards only the ascetic life as compatible with the
highest knowledge, though in his commentary on the Bbagavadgita he speaks
approvingly of the nisKkama karma yoga.
Mr. Tattvabhushan criticises Sankara on several points for lack of clearness
a n d c o n s is te n c y .
T h e relation of karma to jnana just referred to, is one such
point. The meaning and value of bhakti is another. His views of special
i n c a r n a t i o n (e.g. Krishna in Bhagavadgita) are declared to be vague and indef­
inite The same charge is brought against his conception of the jivanmukta.
W hat exactly are the ideas he would have us form of one who, while living here­
on earth, attains the liberating knowledge ?
Mr. T a t t v a b h u s h a n ’ s strongest criticism of Sankara’ s philosophy we meet,
however, in the
referred t o a b o v e , “ The Vedanta and its Relation to
The criticism there is directed against the point which is
bv all critical students considered t h e weakest in Sankara’s system, h i s d o c t r i n e
book
M o d e r n T h o u g h t .”
* “ The Vedanta and its Relation to Modern Thought,” Vol. I., p. 5.
L IT E R A T U R E .
309!
o f Maya. “ Can we say we have understood Sankara’s Isvara, who is at once
unreal from the highest standpoint, and the Giver of that state of freedom
which is above all illusion, all tinge of unreality ? And we have seen that we
do not understand the Maya-shakti which Isvara, on the one hand, wields, and
on which, on the other hand, he is dependent” (p. 137). If the Absolute
Being, which is unaffected by a.vidya, is alone real while all else is only appear­
ance, there is no real individual to whom avidya may belong. But, “ there can
be no delusion when there is no one to be deluded. There can be no appear­
ance when there is none to distinguish between it and reality” (p. 141). He
maintains, “ that the distinction of Brahman and Isvara, a personal and an
impersonal God, was foreign to the TJpanishads, and that the unreality of the
world as a series of changes, was an idea inconsistent with the descriptions of
creation given in those writings ” (p. 145). “ Monism is interested not in deny­
ing the reality of such a world, but in showing its relativity to and dependence
on the Infinite and Absolute ” (p. 144).
Nevertheless, it is Mr. Tattvabhushan’s opinion, “ that, of all ancient sys­
tems, that of Sankaracharya will be found to be the most congenial and the
most easy of acceptance to the modern Indian mind.” The defects pointed
out in Sankara’s system are declared to be due to the inevitable difficulties of
the problem of existence. No one will think of denying that there are great
inherent difficulties in the question of conceiving an infinite absolute Being and
the relation of such a Being to finite, relative, changing forms of existence.
Nor will a Christian, at any rate, contradict the statement that there is in the
world something which tends to blind and deceive men. So far we can under­
stand what led Sankara to formulate the doctrine of maya. W e may sympa­
thise with him in what he stands charged with by Mr. Tattvabhushan; but
■such sympathy does not clear him of the charges. Mr. Tattvabhushan himself,
however, comes to his rescue. Not only is there a delusive and deceptive force
in the world ; “ the illusion is not due to any fault of his (the created being),
but is the necessary result of the conditions of his being. It must therefore be
ascribed to God himself, the Author of his being.” But does not this keep us
in the same self-contradictions which Mr. Tattvabhushan has already exposed ?
His final reply is :— “ If the principle of non-contradiction were applicable to.
the sphere of thought we are moving in,— which, I think, it is not,— the pro­
position in question, namely that the Infinite is one with the finite, or becomes
finite, would have to be pronounced self-contradictory” (“ The Yedanta &c.”
p. 167).
Here the bridge is broken off com pletely; not only is human experience
with its criteria disregarded, but the fundamental laws of man’s mind are
declared to be out of place in these questions. One is reminded of the remarks
o f the late G. J. Romanes. As he looked back upon an earlier stage of his life,
when he had been trying by his proofs and arguments to demolish all Theism
with its belief in a personal God, he writes * :—“ I now perceive two well-nigh
* “ Thoughts on Religion,” Sixth Edition, p. 1C1.
3io
TH E T E A R ’ S REP.ORTS.
fatal oversights which I then committed. The first was undue confidence in
merely syllogistic conclusions, even when derived from sound premises, in
regions of such high abstraction. The second was, in not being sufficiently
careful in examining the foundations of my criticism, i.e. the validity of its
premises.” Are not these two oversights equally fatal, -whether they occur on
the positive or on the negative side of philosophy ?
L.
Zbe
¡Dear's
P.
L arsen.
IReports*
This Eeport is issued in an attractive form aud contains a number of good
half-tone pictures together with two clear maps which enCondon m is s io n , able the reader to trace the various locations of the Mission
B a n g a lo re a n d
in Bangalore during the past 80 years and also the extent
C b tk b a lla p u ra .
of country which is now occupied by it. The Eeport is
prefaced by a history of the Mission from its foundation in
1820 down to the present time. It is history well told and lucidly summarised ;
but it would be a depressing tale, were it not accompanied by the remembrance'
that while the London Mission in the Mysore State has either waned or not
grown, other Missions on either side of it have largely extended their operations.
It is a record in which change of plans and abandonment of work figure
too prominently to allow the enthusiast for Missions to indulge in the
sentiment of satisfaction. These are a feature of all missionary w ork; the
missionary who never made a mistake, never accomplished anything, and he
who never revised an opinion never profited by experience. Among such m is­
takes, natural to the first stage of work in a strange land among a strange
people, we may place the attempt to create a Christian village by collecting a
number of Hindu artisans into a settlement and paying them to allow their
children to attend school. It was an error soon discovered and rectified. But
the gradual weakening of the Tamil Mission in Bangalore and the frequent
closings and re-openings pf the Students’ Seminary are failures of a more seri­
ous order. At the presept time the Mission would seem to be almost weaker
in effective Kanarese missionaries than it was 50 years ago.
T h e M y s o r e M i s s i o n C o l l e g e . —A pathetic interest attaches to the magni­
ficent project of two early missionaries, Laidler and Massie, who sent hcjme to
the Directors of the Society in 1826 the prospectus of an institution to be called
“ The Mysore Mission College.” This reads like one of Carey’ s visions. I t
was proposed to have a staff of five English professors, beside Sanskrit pandits
and teachers for the principal vernaculars of India. The College was to be
associated with a Press and a system of scholarships was to be provided by
which the classes would be kept full of deserving pupils. The costliness of the
scheme frightened the Directors and the chief apparent result was the recall of
the missionaries. Yet their ideas were not wholly unfruitful. Their essay
TH E YEA,R’ S REPO RTS.
311
came into the hands of the youthful Duff and impressed him deeply with the
possibilities of Christian education in India.
The way towards the realisation of the vision lies in and through co-oper­
ation., One wonders how long Missions will continue the wasteful and ineffici­
ent policy of educating a handful of theological and normal students in this
corner of the field under the charge of a single missionary who struggles t o .
compass a vast curriculum and another handful yonder under another individual
similarly embarrassed. The work of the London Mission in the Tamil apd
Telugu area is so extensive that surely the day cannot be far distant, when they
will concentrate their training department in one strong well-equipped and
central institution. Then our missionary ancestors may sleep more quiet in
their graves. If this Report teaches one lesson more than another, it seems to
us to impress on the missionary student the necessity of having a strong staff
in any given language area. Work carried on by units is liable to constant
interruption and break-down, even when it can command the services of veter­
ans like Colin Campbell and Benjamin Eice.
T h e M a r k s o f P r o g r e s s . — We would not have it supposed that this R e­
port shows no progress in any direction. Its most discouraging features are in
the training, evangelistic and pastoral departments. In its work among the
Hindus educated in English, carried on for so many years and so well bjT Mr.
Slater, in its strong High School and its excellent Girls’ boarding-school— which
we are glad to see has now added a Fourth Form to its standards—the Mission
has institutions which have been well maintained and are progressive. There
are life-stories too which are full of good cheer. The venerable Josiah was a
link with a remote past. Of him it is written :—
“ In February, Josiah, the oldest member of the Church, was called to his
rest at the age of 82. His memory extended back to the time when Brah­
man widows were burnt on the pyre with their husbands, and he himself
had witnessed a sati in the bed of the Sampangi Tank at Bangalore. His.
parents were Roman Catholics, but his mother left the Roman Catholics
when he was a child, and placed him in Mr. William Campbell’s Boarding
School. Afterwards he was for a great many years an evangelist of the
Mission, labouring chiefly at Mysore and Anekal. He had been of much
assistance in literary work, having translated the Religious Tract Society’s
Paragraph New Testament into Kanarese, besides smaller books and num­
erous tracts and hand-bills. Even after his sight had become very feeble,
and although for a time he became blind, he continued to take great inter­
est in this work, and to write earnest appeals to his countrymen to accepts
Christ. He was a devout and exemplary man, held in respect by a ll; and
even when bowed with the infirmities of age, he was seldom absent from
his place in Church. May God raise up many more as faithful! ”
From the Bible-women’s Reports we may take the following :—
“ This is about a Brahman woman who knows pretty well how to read and
t, write. She bought from me copies of Spiritual Meditations, and of the
New Testament, and I gave her some Tracts and Hand-bills. She always
reads the Bible and prays. On a certain day while there were five or six
women sitting and talking with her, I happened to go to that house. As
soon as this woman saw me, she came running to the door, and took me
where they were all sitting. Then I asked this woman to read a chapter
312
TH E Y E A R ’ S R E PO R TS .
from the Bible, which she readily did. After this the women who .were
seated there made the following remark to her, ‘ you have learned how to,
read, so you keep yourself always engaged in reading Christian books, and
you have given up your own religious worship. You behave in every way
like the Christians. One day or other we are afraid you will become a
Christian.’ Then this woman quoted this verse from the Bible— 4What
doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul,' and
she very nicely explained it to them. Then she added, ‘ Had it not been
for my sons and my husband I would have long ago acknowledged Christ
as my Saviour publicly, but in my heart I sincerely believe on Him as my
only Saviour.’ ”
$$$$$$
W e believe that Attingal was made an independent Mission station in the
year 1898 in connection with the Centenary advance of the
£ 0t1d 0n m is s io n , L. M. s. The missionary in charge naturally institutes a
Jltt in g a l.
comparison with the condition of the church in the Centen­
ary year, 1895. Then the congregations were 10 in number,
now they are 15 ; the adherents, baptized, and church members respectively
were then 540, 137, and 60, now they are 1.046, 407, 120. In the same period
ih e amount raised by the subscriptions of the congregations has risen from
Rs. 67 to Rs. 360.
Mr. Osborne says that the district in which the Mission works is in large
part covered by forest, and religiously too it resembles the jungle in which the
smijLll assemblies of Christians are as clearings. These are mostly a poor and
illiterate people and the efforts of the missionary and his staff are in no small,,
measure directed to their education in religious and secular knowledge. W her­
ever possible, day and night schools, of the primary standard, are maintained,
and teachers from among the converts are being trained to carry them on. It
is elementary and up-hill work, the poverty of the people being one of the
greatest obstacles to success. The higher classes, as elsewhere, do not look
with much favour on the attempts that are being made to elevate their serfs.
Yet in spite of all, great progress seems to have been made and the Christians
are moving on to a higher level of moral and religious life.
W e quote one or two significant passages :—
u During one of our itinerating visits to this place, some of the Puliyars came
to us and we preached Christ to them. They heard us gladly and said,
* the Sudras, Eluvars, and other caste men, are frightening us by saying if
we become Christians, you will transport our children in ships to distant
places for slaves. But we know their words are false. Oh ! will you not
give us a school, and educate our children. Our master and caste people
may object, but we will not be afraid of them, for we want to receive all
the benefits of your religion.’ ”
“ The Church here was burnt down during the year by a jungle fire, and’the
people were waiting for the Mission to erect a new one. When we told
them there were no funds, they gave practical effect to their Christian faith
by their uniting together, and building one with their own hands nt a cost
of Rs. 25. One man did the carpentry - cutting, shaping, and fixing the
pillars and roof work, while the others, all helping together, did the build­
ing. They are all poor people and the Church building was indeed a sacri­
fice of- love.” •
TH E Y E A R ’ S R E PO R TS.
313
I n d u s t r i a l S a l v a t i o n . —It is no wonder that under such conditions, the
missionary feels that Industrial training is necessary for the salvation of the
people. He writes : —
“ During the year we have made a humble beginning, by starting a class for
carpentry, a very useful trade, and easy to work and capitalize. First-class
workmen are in increasing demand, and exceedingly difficult to get. We
■ have seven boys in the school, and have appointed a qualified teacher from
a Mission Industrial School in the American Mission. We began with a
capital of Es. 200, the proceeds from Mrs. Osborne’s Embroidery work.
The Government have recognized the school and teacher and are giving 75
per cent, of the cost of tools, salary, building, and the furniture. We arc
blending .the commercial with the educational, so that what we turn out
helps to meet the cost.
•i‘ Hinuu officials and gentlemen have placed orders with us. Government also
has gladly promised to place work in our hands, as soon as we are in a
position to take it up. This is a development that appeals to us, and in it
we feel that we can hope to equip our youths for useful work, and so not
to depend upon the Mission for employment, irrespective of their fitness.
We are not using a single penny of our ordinary Mission funds for this
work, for we believe that, with the liberal assistance of Government, and
by our own productive work, this should be easily self-supporting.”
$???$$
This is always an inspiring Eeport to read. The year 1902 was not marked
by any sudden and great developments : indeed the work
Condotl m is s io n , was somewhat cramped by the smallness of the staff owing
C u dd a pa l).
to the absence of some missionaries on furlough and other
causes. The adult baptisms of the year amounted to 159
and the total Christian community is now estimated at 16,864 of whom 7,613
are unbaptised adherents. There are 1,150 communicants. Of a movement
Christwards it is written :—
■“ The end of the year has witnessed a movement which has come, it must be
admitted, as something of a surprise, even to us. If it be true, as is so
often said, that the pariah movement is entirely self-regarding and non­
religious, all for the sake of rice, how are we to explain that during these
latter famine years, when the poor people’ s need was direst, the movement
ceased almost entirely to spread, whereas now when the dark days are
gone and the horizon has cleared, we are being importuned for teachers in
six widely separated parts of our district. We are arranging to put teach­
ers in at least seven new villages. Such a desire is too wide-spread to be
mere coincidence. That there is in all such mass movements a great deal
that is merely of the earth and very frankly earthy no one would seek to
deny, but that it is of God, and a movement of His Spirit, we cannot but
believe, and of this confidence, the present position is surely a proof.”
C a s t e P r e j u d i c e s . — It is only to be expected that in a oommunity recruit•ed largely from the Telugu Mai as, converts from the higher castes are slow in
laying aside their caste prejudices. One of the Indian pastors says :—
“ One of our difficulties is that many of our caste Christians do not fully give
up their castê prejudices, but during tiie year I had good opportunity to
break down caste prejudice and fear among Talari Christians in one of our
village called Bommayapalle, .who were always against the other low caste
Christians. W e celebrated the marriage of one of our converts, and then
a large number-of Christians with their heathen friends and relations
14
C ORRESPON DEN CE.
• joined the marriage festival and ate different sorts of food prepared for th e
occasion, and thereby a hindrance among the caste people was lessened;
tu a great extent, and now there are signs that the others are willing to
embrace Christianity. Soon after this event there two Talari families,
containing eight members, received baptism openly.”
D o o r s o p e n e d b y t h e D o c t o r .— W e are glad to note that a Convention
was held during the year for the “ enthusing ” of teachers; also that a batch of'
fourteen young teachers trained at Gooty was received which is only the fore-..
runner of similar batches. During the scarcity of last year the Mission was
entrusted with funds by Government for famine relief, and it was also the
means of culling the attention of Government to the real distress which existed
among the people. We may take the opportunity of commending to the noticeof possible customers one form of industrial enterprise which was started tohelp the Christian weavers :
“ There is in Jammalamadugu a trade in block printed cloths, of convention­
al native designs,—flowers, animals, etc. W e had these printed in sizes
suitable for curtains, bed-spreads, table cloths, cushions, etc., on our famine
woven cloths, and found such a ready sale for these that we are consideringthe attempt to establish this as a small industrial work.”
But we intended in this paragraph to speak of the Medical work which isso prominent a feature of the Mission. Here are two stories which illustratethe value of this department.
“ Some months ago I was called to see a woman in the house of one of the
wealthiest and most influential men of a village five miles distant from
Jammalamadugu. The patient was seen five times and made a good recovery. Since that time her house, which had been previously closed to
us, has been open to the visits of our lady missionaries and a service is
held there each week which is largely attended by the patient’s friendsAs many as ninety women gathered at the meeting one week, and there
are signs that some are being deeply impressed by the teaching of the love
of God and the true way of salvation.
“ About six months ago we made a change in our out-patient prescription
forms, printing at the head of them a very brief outline of the Christian
faith, in the hope that some would read it and be led to Christ by its
means. We have recently heard of one family that have sought guidance
and teaching, stating that the reading of the statement on the prescription
form first turned their minds to the religion they had known of before but- •
had not cared about.”
Correspondence.
S. I. M. A. ELECTION OF SECRETARY.
To
the
E d it o r
of
the
“ Harvest F ield."
S ir ,
As the counting of the votes for Secretary of the S, I. M. A. was assignee^
to me, I have the pleasure to announce that the present Secretary, Bev. W . I Chamberlain, Ph.D., has been re-elected by a handsome rpajority.
J. S. C h a n d l e r .
Current
mission
Peu>s
THE BASEL INDUSTRIAL MISSIONS.
In conncction with the prospectus of the Scottish Mission Industries
Company Ltd., a pamphlet is issued which contains an article by Dr. R obson ,.
the moderator of the Free Church and an old Indian missionary, on the history
of the Basel Industrial Missions. W e reproduce a part of it here : —
“ As a contribution towards a fuller understanding of this important propos­
al, and at the request of a few interested friends, I offer a short account of a
company which has achieved remarkable commercial success in accomplishing',
an immense auxiliary service to the missionary enterprise. I refer to the
“ Missions-Handlungs-Gesellschaft ” in Basel.
In the present prosperous company, we have the result of a growth o f
nearly sixty years. The seed was planted in a series of mistakes and failures ;
but when once it took root and sprouted, the subsequent growth was secured
by careful attention to experience, by business sagacity and enterprise, and by
fidelity to the missionary aim. The first attempts to organise agricultural and
other industries, which might provide a livelihood for the converts, were made'
by the missionaries of the Basel Missionary Society on their own responsibility
in the forties; and these attempts came to grief for reasons which may beeasily guessed. The first successful attempt was the starting of a printingpress in 1851 in Mangalore, which was followed in course of time by a book­
binding establishment and a book-shop. In the same year, there was sent out
to Mangalore a skilful master-weaver named Haller, who did much to procure
for the Basel Mission textiles the superior excellence which came at length—
for it was a long time before this industry became profitable—to be recognized
and imitated in the Indian market. Haller was the discoverer of the fast khaki
colour, which he obtained from the rind of the Semecarpus anarcadium, and
to which he gave the Oanarese name of khaki. The police in Mangalore werethe first to be clad in khaki cloth. When Lord Roberts was Commander-inchief in India, he incidentally visited the Basel weaving factories on the coast,
and this visit led to the introduction of the khaki uniform into the army. In;
1852 a carpentry establishment was begun in Calicut, and in subsequent yearstile-making, weaving, and other industries were introduced and successfully
carried forward in other stations.
How was this success obtained ? The first important step was taken in'
1852, after the return of the Secretary, Herr Josenhaus, from a visit of inspect­
ion to India. He brought home the conviction that industrial undertakings
must form a part of their Mission work, that they must be placed in the handsof a competent commission, and that the work in this department must be*
carried on by lay missionaries equipped with technical training and skill.
.316
C U ßK E N T MISSION N E W S .
Already in 1846, when the missionaries were feeling the need of some in■dustrial provision for their converts, the Basel Missionary Society had appointed
an Industrial Commission ; but it had remained little more than a committee
•charged with certain items of business. Now it became an important factor in
the enterprise. It was regarded as a department of the Basel Missionary
Society, but with a separate treasury. One of the most eminent citizens of
Basel, Herr Carl Sarasin, accepted the presidency of it. There may be quoted
here two sentences, published in 1854, which.have been often repeated since,
as declaring the principles on which this movement has been based down to the
present tim e:—“ The object of the operations intended by the Industrial Com­
mission is twofold : first, to lessen, and, if possible, remove the social difficult­
ies which the caste system in India puts in the way of our missionaries while
founding Christian congregations. The second object may be called a mission
work in itself : evangelization, not by preaching or direct promulgation of the
gospel, but by the power of example ; by Christianity in its practical, every-day
life. It is evangelization by practical illustration of Christian diligence, discret­
ion, and integrity.” In the conduct of operations in India the Commission
proceeded upon the principle, which had been already introduced, of sending
out a skilled European craftsman to start each new industry, and to superin­
tend each central factory. The experience of over fifty years has made European
supervision and technical knowledge to be regarded as essential to success.
The only exception to this experience is in the case of the carpentry establish­
ment at Calicut, which is in the hands of a very able native Christian, Amos
by name, and independent of the Mission. Another step, without which sue*
cess would not have been obtained, was the placing of the commercial side of
the industrial undertakings under one competent manager. Herr G. Pfleiderer
was sent out for this purpose in 1854. The purchase of raw material, the sale
of the products, the adapting of the manufactures to the market, etc., were in
his hand. This arrangement naturally led to the wholesale procuring of articles
required in the different workshops and mission stations, and so a limited mer­
cantile trade was developed alongside of the strictly industrial operations. Its
present proportion may be gathered from the statistics given at the close of
this article.
It is necessary now to glance at another mission field, and at another organ­
ization connected with the Basel Mission. That other field is the Gold Coast
in West Africa. We have seen how in India a limited mercantile trade grew
up and attached itself to the industrial development. In Africa, on the other
hand, there was a development of such trading, independently of the industrial
undertakings, which in Africa were more transitory and limited. In 1854 it
was found necessary to send a merchant, H. L. Bottmann, to Christiansborg to
act as business and forwarding agent to the different mission stations. This
led quite undesignedly to the establishment of a store, the selling of goods to
other Europeans and natives, and the purchasing of native produce in exchange.
But it soon became apparent that this development was assuming a form which
placed it outside of the function of a missionary society, and accordingly, in
CU RREN T M ISSION N EW S.
317
1859, a Joint-Stock Company was formed to take over this business and develop it, so as to meet the growing demand. Reference has been made to Haller’s
discovery of the khaki dye ; it may also be noted that Rottmann was the first
to discover the commercial value of palm kernels, previously treated as refuse,
but which have since become such an important West African export. The new
Company managed the business admirably, and extended it greatly. Gradually
a reserve fund, a transport insurance fund, and a fire-insurance fund were built
up. At first the profits were scanty, and the Company gave the half of them
to the Mission. But in 1881 an amendment in the constitution provided that
the shareholders should receive five per cent, upon their invested capital, and
that all the balance of profits should go to the Mission. This commercial
undertaking has been made the subject of a great deal of adverse comment,particularly on the' part of some connected with West Africa trade. It has been
misrepresented as if it were simply the case of a missionary society engaging
in commerce. It is to be observed, however, that not a penny of missionary
contributions goes to subsidise this undertaking. For more than forty years it
has been conducted by a joint-stock company on regular commercial principles.
But what makes it obnoxious to some who would exploit the West African
market for their own interests alone, is that this Company has proved that a
lucrative trade can be carried on in W est Africa on Christian principles without
touching rum, guns, or powder, importing only useful commodities, and giving
to the natives a fair equivalent for their produce. It is not the exclusion of
such trade that is wanted in West Africa, but the extension pf it.
A reference should be made to the industrial undertakings on the Gold
Coast. The occasion for these was not, as in India, any need for supplying a
means of livelihood to converts, but the utter lack of any industrial culture at
all, and the necessity for industrial work in the founding of mission stations and
in meeting the requirements of an extending missionary organization. In 1857
the first European craftsmen were sent out, and others later. A great variety
of industries were pursued for a time. Some of them bore good fruit in the
way of stimulus and example to the natives ; but all that now survives of these
efforts in Connection with t-he Company are two flourishing joinery and black­
smith institutions, the one at Christiansborg, on the Gold Coast, the other at
the Cameroons, a field which the Basel Mission has more recently occupied.
These institutions appear, however, to have more of a training than of a com ­
mercial character. In the Gold Coast there has been a progressive industrial
development among the natives without any further interposition on the part
of the Company.
This brief retrospect, it is hoped, will shed some explanatory light upon the
present operations and methods of the Basel Company. In 1882 the Industrial
Commission, having charge of the Indian industries, and the Commercial Com­
pany, whose main concern was the trade in Africa, were united, the latter,
without change of name, incorporating the former with itself. This was the
more easy, as the members of the two executives were mostly the same, and
were members also of the executive of the Missionary Society. It is to this
-318
C U R R EN T MISSION N E W S .
/
jinited association—the “ Missions-Handlungs-Geselhchaft ’’— that the re­
mainder of this article refers.
' a
The present executive consists of six directors, two of whom are chosen By
ithe Missionary Society, while the home officials are two managers and a techni­
cal assistant.
The European employees of the Company are forty-seven in number! Of
the twenty-two connected with West Africa, only three have to do with indust­
ries ; all the others with trade. Of the twenty-five connected with India, only
six have to do with trade, and one of these only in part. Ten are engaged in
the brick and tile industry, six in weaving, two in tailoring, and one in smithwork. These men are all selected for missionary as well as industrial or mer­
cantile qualifications. They have to undergo a probationary training in the
mission-house at Basel for a period varying, according to circumstances, from
three months to a year, without any pecuniary allowance, but having board,
lodging, and lectures free. They are all required to learn English. Their
appointment requires the approval of the committee of the Missionary Society,
QiS well as of the directors of the Company ; and from the date of their appoint­
ment they are dealt with in all respects after the same manner as the ordained
missionaries of the Society, they being regarded as equally missionaries and
required to act as such. In business matters they are subject to the Commiss­
ion of the Company, but in regard to other work and for their own conduct they
are responsible to the Committee of the Society. Without being bound to
service for life, they are expected to look upon the work as their life-calling.
With regard to the operations abroad, it is only necessary to give some
details of the work in India. Beside trade-shops at Calicut, Mangalore, and
Merkara, and a blacksmith shop at Mangalore, weaving industries are carried
,on at Calicut and Cannanore ; and brick and tile works are carried on at Calicut
and Codacal, in two places at Mangalore, and at TJdipi and Palghat. Tlie total
¡number of natives employed in Africa is only 378—namely, 63 in industries
and' 315 in trade. But in India 2,462 are employed, only 41 of these in trade,
¿the rest in industries ; and of the total number no fewer than 2,126 are church
members. All these receive the full market value of their work, but nothing
more. If many earn more than they could have done at their former occupat­
ions, this is not in itself an objection ; while it is to be remembered that by
¿becoming Christians they have lost the advantage of participation in the com ­
m on good of the community to which they belonged. It may be added here
-that the Basel Mission has altogether in its Indian field over 15,000 baptized
Christians, and over 9,503 pupils of both sexes in its admirable schools.
It only remains to notice the financial results. The capital of the Comipany, it should be premised, consists of 300 shares of ¿£100 each, fully paid up ;
.120 of these are held inalienably by the Missionary Society. Of the financial
results for some years past, last year’ s accounts supply a fair sample. The
profits in the foreign field, after deducting all local outlays and the maintenance
.of the European staff, are, in round numbers, as follow s:—African mercantile
department, £ 9,476; Indian mercantile department, JE729 ; African industrial
C U RREN T MISSION N E W S .
319
•department, J6180 ; Indian industrial department, ¿£4,620. To these sums have
t o be a d d e d the profits made at Basel, including profits on. fire and transport
insurance funds and interests, amounting in all to .£12,116—a total profit
incopie of .£27,120.. Against this are charged all travelling expenses of agents
t o a n d from the field, outfits and furlough maintenances of agents, payments
to the Invalids’ and Widows’ Fund and the Children’s Education Fund, the
Jiome administration expenses, and sums written off for depreciation, with the
jnet result that, after paying a dividend of 5 per cent, upon the capital, there
was a surplus of i l l , 576 handed over to the Missionary Society for missionary
purposes. This sum, however, is somewhat larger than the average for past
j'ears.
In offering this brief sketch of the Basel Company, we have only alluded
incidentally to some of the questions which have arisen in connection with its
^operations, and which have been keenly discussed even within the Basel Miss­
ionary Society itself. Of the propriety, success, and manifold benefits of its
methods and operations in the foreign field there can hardly be but one opinion,
But in this country, at least, there would be serious objection to so intimate an
administrative and financial alliance as subsists between the Basel Missionary
'Society and the Industrial Company.”
g l e a n in g s
from th e
f ie l d .
Two New Magazines.—We have to acknowledge the receipt of two new
magazines. One of these is “ The Kanarese Bookman," a quarterly magazine
devoted to the interests of Kanarese Christian Literature. It will be the organ
of the newly constituted Kanarese Literature Committee ; and'the first number
is composed partly of the advertisements of the publications of the Christian
P u b l i s h i n g Societies and partly of information about the sales of books and
t r a c t s a n d reviews of new issues.
The other is “ The Monthly R eporter” of
the Panjab Bible and Religious Book Society. This is similarly intended to
keep its readers supplied with up-to-date information about the publications of
the Society. One wonders how long Panjab Societies will be content with the
poor paper and grimy printing in which several of their publications appear.
They are issued by the “ Artistic Printing Works,” save the mark !
The Sorrow of a Social Reformer.—Sneers have frequently been direct­
ed against the men who after advocating certain reforms with frequency and
fervour, themselves fail to carry out their principles into practice. One such
instance was furnished by the late Mr. A. Subba Rao, but he appears to have
repented of his mistake with a sincerity that changes condemnation into com ­
passion. His biographer writes of him in the Social Reformer : “ U n d e r pressure of his relatives whom he had so tenderly supported, he
married his young daughter at an age when she should not hare been married.
H is intense family affection carried the day, but it was a fatal victory. After
320
C U R R E N T MISSION N E W S .
that Subba Eao was never himself. His soul was sorely vexed and he felt that
life was not worth.living. ‘ I was not at all put out by your letter/ he wrote.
‘ I did not press my friends to attend the marriage, because I was feeling all
along that the marriage was a mistake. I was forced to it. I do not know if
ever it will be possible for me to ‘ do the thing and let them howl.’ ’ As time
passed, he must have realised how fatally he had injured his position by the
concession. His letters assume a tone of increasing bitterness of self-reproacht
till the anguish of the soul becomes almost unbearable. ‘ I should gladly spend
a few days with you. But the fates have set limitations on our desires. I
shall therefore content myself with living with you in spirit. Life has lost its
old charm for me. My ambitions (not pelf or position) have not been realized,
and I feel no energy to do anything that will justify my existence. My leaving
Madras has proved a death-blow to my higher self.’
Again ‘ I feel I cannot go one step in advance so long as I cling to my
family. If I completely estrange myself from it, I can have my way. Have I
the heart. . . . ? I have not, I must, then, die a beast; there is no other go.’
The Late M rs. H old sw orth .—The news of the death of Mrs. -Holdsworth,.the wife of the Rev. W. W . Holdsworth, m . a ., formerly of the Wesleyan
Mission, Mysore, would have brought great grief to her many friends in India,
had it not been illumined by the memory of her noble life and its beautiful close.
A lovely and highly gifted woman, there seemed to be few for whom this life
could hold so much and there have been few who in the manner of their dying
have revealed so plainly the certainty of the life to come. Mrs. Holdsworth
came to Mysore as a bride in December, 1889, and there, until the beginning
o f 1901, with an ever increasing attachment to India and its women, she worked
at her husband’s side. The funeral service of “ Praise and Trust ” was held in
the Wesleyan Church at Chislehurst, the address being given by the Rev. Henry
Haigh. W e cannot do better than quote the words which were spoken so truly
of h e r :—
j
“ It was no easy thing for one whose life, though it had achieved much,
was yet young in promise and capacity, and whose heart stillthrobbed with
great andblessed purposes, to see her day decline before it was half done. But
there came a time when she said,
‘ I am not eager, strong and bold— all that is p a st;
I am willing not to do, at last, at last,
My half day’s work is done, and this is all my part,
I give unto my patient God my patient heart.’
She would have lived, and living, worked with a fulness of sympathy and
largeness of power not given to many. But, if God willed that she should go to
Him in the zenith of her strength, she willed it too. Not in sullen resignation,
not in reluctant obedience, but in perfect acquiescence she left the life >whieh
was so dear to her here, and passed to life more abundant.”
,
Printed at the Wesleyan Mission Press, Mysore.—1903.