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U THE PRESBYTERI/
Missionary
TESTIMONIES TO MISSIONS The
work of giving the Gospel to all people "to the
? f a I- il. " -- '1 '
uiK.1 niuai pai is ui iiit' earm, IS II1C supreme WOTK Ot
the Church. Nothing else approaches it in magnitude
or importance. Yet the Church has been accused of
playing at Missions; and there is certainly an appearance
of truth in the accusation.
Some members in our churches are opposed to missions,
and many more are indifferent to this cause.
One reason of this is that people are not informed as
to what has been accomplished in missionary work;
and another reason is that many are misled by false
reports put in circulation by people who were ignorant
of that whereof they affirmed, or else willfully put false
statements in circulation. It is my purpose in this article
to present some testimonies from competent witnesses
to show that missions are not a failure, but a
grand success.
Tl,<. -
j n\_ loumviiig icMiinuiiy is, 10 inc, very impressive.
It is from "The Misisonary Review of the World,"
January, 1888, and was furnished by Rev. Jacob Chamberlain,
M. D.. of Madanapelle, India. After speaking
of the opening of a free reading room in that city in
which lectures 011 the Bible were given, he says:
"From the beginning the room was always crowded
on these occasions by intelligent heathen. At the close
of one of these Bible lectures by Dr. Chamberlain, a
Brahmin?one of the best educated in the place, not
a convert?arose and asked permission to say a few
words. In a neat address he urged upon his fellowcitizens
the importance of availing themselves of the
advantages offered for their intellectual and moral advancement,
and in conclusion gave the following remarkable
testimnnv tn the Phrictian Qrrintnrpc
? ?
"'Behold that mango tree on yonder roadside! Its
fruit is approaching to ripeness. Bears it that fruit
for itself or its own profit? From the moment the first
ripe fruits turn their yellow sides toward the morning
sun until the last mango is pelted off, it is assailed
with showers of sticks and stones from boys and men,
and every passer-by, until it stands bereft of leaves,
with branches knocked off, bleeding from many a
broken twig; and piles of stones underneath, and clubs
and sticks lodged in its boughs, are the only trophies
of its joyous crop of fruit. Is it discouraged? Does it
cease to bear fruit? Does it say, "If I am barren no
one will pelt me, and 1 shall live in peace";' Not at
all. The next season the budding leaves, the beauteous
flowers, the tender fruit, again appear. Again it is
pelted and broken, and wounded, but goes on bearing,
and children's children pelt its branches and enjoy its
fruit.
" 'That is a type of these missionaries. I have watched
them well, and have seen what they are. What do
they come to this country for? What tempts them to
leave their parents, friends and country, and come to
this, to them an unhealthy climate? Is it for gain or
for profit that they come? Some of us country clerks
in government offices receive more salary than they.
lN OF THE SOUTH. February 10, 1909.
Is it for an easy life? See how they work, and then
tell me. No; they seek, like the mango tree, to bear
fruit for the benefit of others; and this, too, though
tri?nto/l nflf l-> /trv?tt.?.-?t/tl-. ? ? 1 ?* r *' *
..mi wmuimiciv ctuu aouse ironi tnose tney are
benefiting.
" 'Now look at this missionary! He came here a few
years ago, leaving all, and seeking only our good. He
was met with cold looks and suspicious glances, and
was shunned, avoided and maligned. He sought to
talk with us of what he told us was the matter of most
importance in heaven or earth, and we would not listen.
But he was not discouraged. He started a dispensary,
and we said, "Let the Pariahs take his medicine,
we won't"; but in the times of our sickness and
distress and fear, we had to go to him, and he heard us.
We complained if he walked through our Brahmin
streets; but ere long, when our wives and daughters
were in sickness and anguish, we went and begged him
to come, even into our inner apartments; and he came,
and our wives and daughters now smile udoii us in
health. Has he made any money by it? Even the cost
of the medicine has not been returned to him.
" 'And now, in spite of our opposition, he has bought
this site, and built this beautiful room, and furnished it
with the choicest of lore in many languages, and put
in it newspapers and periodicals which were inaccessible
to us before, but which help us now to keep up with
the world around us, and understand passing events;
and he has placed here tables to write on, and chairs
to sit on, and lamps for us to read and write by in the
evening; and what does lie get for all this? Does he
malep mnnpir *?? ? 1! ""
...wvj mis i icc rcauing-room r vvny, we
don't even pay for the lamp-oil consumed by night as
we read.
" 'Now, what is it makes him do all this for us? It is
his Bible. I have looked into it a good deal at one
time and another, in different languages I chanced to
know. It is just the same in all languages. The Bible
?there is nothing to compare with it in all our sacred
books for goodness and purity and holiness and love,
and for motives of action.
" 'Where did the English-speaking people get all their
intelligence, and energy, and cleverness, and power?
It is their Bible that gives it to them. And now they
bring it to us and say, "This is what raised us; take it
and raise yourselves." They do not force it upon us,
as the Mohammedans did with their Koran, but they
bring it in. love, and translate it into our languages,
and lay it before us, and say, "Look at me; read it; examine
it, and see if it is not good." Of one thing I am
convinced: do what we will, oppose it as we may, it is
the Christians' Bible that will, sooner or later, work
the regeneration of this land.'"
The most unique feature of the recent Federal Council
was the fact that the papers to be presented to that
body by men eminent in the several lines discussed
were not fully presented in the conference. All were
prepared beforehand, printed in a pamphlet, and each
writer presented his special conclusions or recommen
dation and was allowed ten minutes in which to do this.