Page images
PDF
EPUB

while we are so comfortable here, in this our old, sweet home, there are not the crowds of eager natives about us that we have had of late. Here, there are few who desire our teachings. The mass of this tribe are still, with their chiefs, turning their backs upon us and all good.

"We are glad to feel that our temporary removal to another place was not in vain. We lingered there longer than we intended, and when we left we could not help feeling that even our selfish Ponapeans may yet be changed into loving and lovable Christians. They have done more for us, and done it more cheerfully, than I had even hoped to see on Ponape. On our last Sabbath there, we held communion services in the new church. All the exercises were solemn, and the meetings fully attended. The meeting-house was well filled. It will seat some five hundred, and will soon need to be enlarged."

Mr. Sturges notices the kind assistance of the people in his removals, with his family; so that they had spent "more than five months in the harvest-field, removing to it, and returning, with such household goods as were needed, with no expense." He states that the heathen party, where he had been, were still unfriendly; that the king, after "signing the treaty," went on arming and fortifying; and that one of the houses of worship had been fired upon as the people were dispersing from wor

ship. He thought, however, that the conflict of parties would end without war, though "the heathen seem desperate; the fact that they are so few and weak only rendering them more so."

LETTER FROM MR. DOANE, August 19, 1867.

MR. DOANE, also of Ponape, writes mainly in respect to his experience in building a house for himself, "on the northern, or windward side of the isl and;" an experience quite the reverse of that of Mr. Sturges, on the eastern part, bringing to view not generous kindness, but the covetousness and indolence of native character. He found not only that they were not ready to aid him freely, from love to him or to the Master, but that even those who professed to be Christians were not satisfied with what was, for them, good compensation, and would not adhere to bargains fairly made; but would stop work at the most urgent point perhaps, demanding more pay; so that, from first to last, the building of the house" up-hill work—trying, saddening." He felt constrained to testify: "It may be truly said of this people, that they are a covetous people. They seem to have no conscience or but little as to asking all they can get for what they have to sell, or for what they do, whether it is worth it or not. But we labor in hope of better days and a better people."

[ocr errors]

was

MISCELLANIES.

PRUSSIAN MISSIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA.

MR. SAMUEL JESSUP, of the Syria mission, wrote in December last, that he had been recently "surprised by a visit from a tall, portly, gray-haired Prussian clergyman," who "proved to be Rev. Dr. Wangeman, Director of Prussian missions," [Berlin Missionary Society,] "a very warm-hearted man, who gave us a rich feast of missionary intelligence." Some of the facts stated by him, which Mr. Jes

sup reports, will be read with great inter

est.

"There are a dozen or more missions, or circles of stations, in visiting which Dr. Wangeman traveled two thousand miles by land. Commencing in south-western Africa, and coming on around through Cape Colony and Orange River Free State, visiting Natal, and calling on our American missionaries in Zulu Land, of whom he spoke in highest terms.

A Wealthy and Liberal Native. " In the Orange Free States, the Prussian missionaries have a station which they call Bethany, where they now have a town of 910 freedmen and their families, many of them being old Hottentots. When the town became of some importance, the people chose Adam Opperman, a freedman of devoted piety and clear head, to be their magistrate." He accepted the office, but ere long became the owner of a large tract of land, a hundred miles from Bethany, to which he removed. Here "the Lord blessed him more and more in his substance, and better than all, made him the instrument of converting his heathen father and one of his brothers.

"He soon built a neat chapel, as he could not longer go to Bethany to hear preaching, and now, four hundred hearers gather there whenever the preacher visits them. But Adam Opperman says, 'I must have a missionary of my own, as we none of us know how to preach. God has blessed me with substance, and I cannot do less than give enough of it for the support of one who will preach to me and to my people, and to all the heathen around.' He has built the church, and now he has pledged as follows: 'I will build a suitable house for the missionary. I will give a large garden spot; fields for grain, as much as a man can walk around in four hours; and two thousand acres of pasture land. Above this, I will pay the full salary usually paid by the Society, and give the missionary full right to the water - privileges in the summer.' Dr. Wangeman says the Society have just sent a missionary there, in order to complete their part of the agreement. This man, with all his getting, seems to have gotten understanding. The Lord blessed him, he is thankful for it, and wishes to show it.

A Persecuting King. "In another region, north and west of Orange Free States, is a country under a barbarous heathen king, Sikkakoony. After the missionaries entered his realm, had been preaching for some time there, and had made a number of converts, he became alarmed, and began a fearful persecu

tion, more than three years ago, which continues until the present time. He ordered every Christian to be killed, wherever he might be found; and even made it the duty of his subjects to kill them. This brought out very many gems of faith and trust. Blind Joseph, a middle-aged man, was a most devout Christian, expecting daily to be sacrificed. One day his father, still a heathen, but intellectually convinced of the truth, came running to him, saying: 'My son, my son, you will kill me; for the people say I am believing and praying, and so the king will kill me; and all this because you believe and pray.' Joseph replied: Well, father, if the people say you believe and pray, why don't you believe and pray; so that when the king comes to kill us we will both be happy forever.'

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

'Martin, the king's gun-smith, became a faithful and fearless believer, and being a most important man to him he was spared for a long time, and thus exerted a great influence for the gospel. At length the king gave orders that Martin must die, and sent soldiers several times to kill him; but they always failed to do so, as every one about the king either loved or respected Martin. One day the king fully determined to put an end to his life, and sent for him to go out on a hunting excursion with him and a company of soldiers. Martin's friends told him of the king's purpose; but he said, 'The Lord will take care of me; I will obey the king.' When they were out in the hunting-grounds, the king sent Martin off to one side, ordering his soldiers to fire at him; but they all fired blanks. He then tried again, with individual soldiers, calling them one by one. Each had an excuse, either Out of powder,' or 'Out of shot,' or 'No flint,' or, as one said, 'I must get Martin to mend the lock'; so no one was found to shoot him. The king could not do it, nor could his higher officers, as it would disgrace them, Martin being of the common people. While all this was going on, Martin had fallen on his knees and was praying. At length he came boldly up to the king and said, Why will no one kill me?' At this the king became very much troubled,

[ocr errors]

and said he was afraid of Martin's great magician, to whom he (Martin) had been talking,' (when he was praying.)

"At another time, Sikkakoony gathered twelve small companies of soldiers, in order to kill a large number of converts who were gathered in the edge of a piece of woods. Martin was of the number, and the king hoped, this time, either to have him killed or to make him recant. The soldiers were ordered to kill the Christians by beating them with sticks, which they had brought from the woods. The Christians said to the heathen: "You use your weapons against us, and we will use ours against you; so they all fell down on their knees, and were left to pray for some time. At length the soldiers dragged six of them out, away from the rest, and beat them until their sticks were all used up, and they left all the six (one a very old man) for dead, and went to the woods to get new sticks. As they delayed a little, all the Christians fled and escaped. After this, in the night, the six who were beaten recovered enough to crawl away and hide themselves, until they could get out of the realm, except one, the oldest one, to whom Martin went boldly and carried him off for burial, but found him still alive. In a few days, he too was able to reach a place of safety, by creeping, for two days and a night, on his hands and knees.

"Among the converts are two brothers of the king, also his wife, whom he loved very much, it is said. He has many concubines, but only one whom he calls his wife. He tried every way to make her deny her religion, and at length said she, too, must die. He built a room in which he fastened her, forbidding any one to go near her on pain of death. After a day or two he went and called, to see if she were dying; and getting no response he opened the door to find her—not dead, but gone. Some one had dug a hole for her from the outside. He sent in every direction for her, but she, after many narrow escapes, reached the house of a missionary, out of the king's realm, where she is both safe and happy, rejoicing in Christ. She left everything for his sake, and says she is now happier, a thousand times, than when with her former king. The mission

[blocks in formation]

aries live on the borders of this kingdom, having been driven out by the king; but his people are rapidly learning the truth. The blood of the martyrs is proving fruitful seed. He has killed very many, but has not yet been able to kill Martin. Many of the people, who have escaped, on being asked - 'Did you not feel tempted, just for a moment, to deny Christ?' invariably say 'We never knew that Christ could be denied by a believer. It would be a hundred-fold easier to die than to deny the Lord.""

SOUND DOCTRINE AT HARPOOT.

MR. BARNUM, of Harpoot, in a letter dated December 27, 1867, makes the following statements respecting views held, and preached, by the native pastor at that place, with reference to the self-support of mission churches:

66

Yesterday was the annual Thanksgiving of the Protestants in Turkey. It was the anniversary of the grant of the Imperial Firman, which constituted them a separate and independent community, and thus secured their freedom. The day is observed here in a manner not dissimilar to an American Thanksgiving. The pastor of the church here preached an excellent sermon, upon the special claim which God has upon the gratitude of the Protestants in this country, especially for giving them the Bible in their own tongue. In the midst of his remarks he referred to a class of persons-not here, that he was aware of, but in other places-who complain that the missionaries do not secure to the people all the blessings of civilization in their full development, a high grade of education, perfection in agriculture, the arts and sciences, and the comforts of refined society. He said: 'It is not possible to import these things from without. The missionaries have given us the fountain, the source of all these, in the Word of God. These things we are to seek for ourselves, from this fountain. They must grow up within us, must be developed. It is childishness to expect them in any other way. External force applied is not strength. That only is strength

which inheres in the thing itself. You can do more real good to yourselves in one year than all the missionaries can do for you in fifty years. The Evangelical Union, by true harmony of spirit and of effort, can do more in one year to secure genuine, permanent progress in this part of the country, than all the Americans, with all the wealth and talent of America, can do in fifty years. For the development must be from within, and the result of personal endeavor. The tree must have root; it must be the source of its own strength.'

I

"This is not a new utterance for him. have often heard him express the conviction, that aid from abroad is injurious when there is the possibility of getting on without it. He is strong in the conviction that no church should receive aid from abroad. As soon as there is Christianity enough to warrant the organization of a church, there ought to be strength enough, especially with the practice of self-denial, on the part of both pastor and people, to be wholly independent of foreign aid. If aid must be sought, he would have it sought from neighboring churches. The people will not lean as hard upon one another as upon a distant, unseen, and practically, to them, an impersonal power. They will develop strength by trying to stand alone. This pastor is the brother-in-law of pastor Thomas, who has gone to raise money for the building of a church in Diarbekir !”

CHINESE AT THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.

MR. COAN, writing from Hilo, in January last, says: "We have, in Hilo, five stores owned and kept by Chinamen. These owners and keepers are all pleasant, polite, and honorable men in their commercial and social relations. We also have several active and intelligent Chinamen as owners and managers of sugarplantations; and some who have made a competence, and are now living easy lives among us. These have married (most of them) native wives, and are rearing up large families of children. Nearly all of these children come into our schools and Sabbath-schools, and attend our Sabbath

services. Some of them are married, and have children of their own, so that the third generation is growing up around us. All these the Papists made strenuous efforts to secure, and with some success at first; but for two or three years past, they have nearly all come over on the Protestant side. Most of them speak English well, and all adopt foreign manners and dress. Besides these, we have from 100 to 200 Coolies on our Hilo plantations. These are ignorant, and much inclined to turbulence and vice. We are doing what we can to civilize and Christianize them all; but it is a slow and difficult work. Chinamen are increasing all over these islands, and they are forming an element in our population so large and important as to awaken much prayerful solicitude on our part."

[blocks in formation]

I

"I confess to you that, four years ago, I believed, as many Unitarians believed, that foreign missions were useless and absurd; or, at least, were only useful to teach people how to open their purses. thought that missionaries were a fanatical, narrow-minded set of men, who could get no parishes or societies at home, and went off to foreign lands because they seemed to have no other work. But a residence of a year and a half on the Hawaiian islands was enough and more than enough to undeceive me. I found there a band of missionaries who, in about forty years, have raised a whole people from the lowest depths of barbarism to a civilized condition that we might be proud of in New England. I had heard so many stories of the

deceit, hypocrisy, and tyranny that these missionaries practiced upon the unsophisticated natives, that I really believed them. I did not know then, as I do now, from what sources those stories came. Since then I have been in the houses, and have lived in the families of most all the thirty missionaries who, with their predecessors, have effected this great work, and can bear my testimony, and I do it gladly, and will do it anywhere, that I have never met a purer, more devoted, and truer band of men than these same foreign missionaries, sent out by the American Board. Of course I need not refer to the work they have done there. It is the grandest example of foreign mission work that the world has ever seen, perhaps, and might be the text for very many sermons; but I think it is familiar to you all."

INTERESTING DISCUSSION AT MADURA.

MR. TRACY, of the Madura mission, now in this country, has sent to the Missionary House extracts from letters received by him, confirming his views, previously presented, as to an increased interest in the subject of Christianity among the educated young men of India. He first gives the following, from a letter from "Barnes, one of the seminary teachers," at Pasumalie: "Among several items of news here which I should like to mention, I have time only to tell you of a new feature of religion, now making its appearance in Madura. Ponnusami Devan, Manager of Ramnad, who now resides in Mr. L's bungalow, some time ago sent for us teachers, and very kindly and hospitably allowed us to dine with him. He brought up several discussions between us and his Brahmin pundits; paid a visit to Pasumalie, where we had a debate in the seminary hall; and recently took a prominent part at a public meeting, presided over by Judge Thomas, in which the divinity of our Lord was closely attacked.

"The Manager thinks highly of Christianity, and would accept Christ as the

holiest of Guru's that ever appeared in the world, notwithstanding his bitter opposition to his divine claims. By an arrangement of the judge, the discussion is to be hereafter carried on in writing, and the answers to the first series of questions I have finished this evening. The Manager has a great dislike to idolatry, and publicly declares his adhesion to the Brahmaism of Bengal.

"Persons of his description are increasing in the country, and our time is come already to contend, not with idolatry and its adjuncts, as we have heretofore done, but with Atheism, Deism, Unitarianism, Universalism, and what not. Kindly pray for us, that we may stand the heat of battle, and acquit ourselves like good soldiers of Christ."

Mr. Chandler also wrote, respecting the same matters: "There has been of late, in Madura, a very unusual state of things. Ponnusami Devan, the Manager of the Ramnad Zemindary, has been very friendly, and invited the Christians to a discussion of the claims of Christianity. .. Barnes, as always, was chief speaker for the Christians. The last public discussion was on the divinity of Christ, at the zillah school-house. All the educated natives of Madura were present, and I dare say Barnes never spoke of Christ to so large and intelligent an audience before. He did well, though several very unfair questions, on the decrees of God, etc., were sprung upon him. Others may write of this, and I will only add, that there is a very marked excitement through the town on this subject. Many are getting and reading the Bible. Ponnusami has said openly, to Judge Thomas and me, that he now accepts ninety-five per cent. of Christianity; and before more than fifty of the Brahmins and office-holders he said, — Prove to me that Christ was divine, and I will be a Christian.””

Mr. Tracy says of the man thus referred to: "Ponnusami is practically the head of the great Zemindary of Ramnad, and in wealth and influence is not equalled, probably, by any other native gentleman of the District."

« PreviousContinue »