Fruits of Toil in the London Missionary Society Part 1

Fruits of Toil in the London Missionary Society.

by Various.

"Sow in the morn thy seed, At eve hold not thine hand; To doubt and fear give thou no heed, Broad-cast it o'er the land.

"Beside all waters sow; The highway furrows stock; Drop it where thorns and thistles grow; Scatter it on the rock.

"Thou canst not toil in vain; Cold, heat, and moist and dry, Shall foster and mature the grain For garners in the sky."

Fruits of Toil IN THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

When our fathers established this Society they were met by a formidable array of difficulties of which we know nothing. Gathered in fellowship when the infidel principles of the French Revolution were doing deadly work, and soon involved in the national struggle of the great war, they found little to encourage them in the outward aspects of their position. Christian men were few; Christian churches were small and scattered; money was scarce; Christian benevolence was little understood. The wide world of Christian effort opened to us was almost wholly closed against them. They could enter the South Seas; though their islands were almost unknown. But the West Indies were close shut. "If you preach to the slaves," said the Governor of Demerara to a missionary, "I cannot let you stay here." They were excluded from South Africa and from India. China was sealed, and remained so for forty years. Pa.s.sages were expensive; voyages were full of discomfort; letters were few. They knew little of the manners and systems of heathen nations; they knew less of their literature; they knew nothing of their languages. Dictionaries, literature, buildings, converts, everything had to be produced.

Their fields of labour were unprepared. Their message and their aims were little understood.

In all these elements of usefulness we occupy at this hour a position of usefulness, in marked contrast to that of our predecessors. With a mighty advance in practical freedom, in intelligence and education, in social comfort, in material resources, the entire religious life of England has secured a solidity, an elevation, and a general influence of the most marvellous kind. In the number and wealth of our churches, in the character and position of the ministry, the Society ought to find supporters immeasurably in advance of the few but earnest friends of seventy years ago. Our missions have made indescribable progress. Our agencies continue to grow more complete.

Churches have been gathered; the members of which are no longer novices in Christian truth and Christian life. The time has come for a native ministry; and a larger number appear on our lists than ever before. And last, but not least, the full and faithful preaching of the gospel, for which our missionary brethren have ever been distinguished, and the employment of Christian education, have made a marked impression upon heathenism; have broken its prestige, have silenced its objections, and have prepared the way for future victories, more triumphant in their grandeur than anything the Society has yet seen.

But this advanced and n.o.ble position, which is the proof of success in the past, and the guarantee and instrument of larger results in days to come, is precisely that attainment and possession of our Society, which the friends of the Society appear least to appreciate.

It seems to be thought that now, as ever, missionaries just preach to the heathen and give away books; they teach a few boys and girls; win a few souls; and send a few teachers into the districts around.

All that is true. But the high and solid work beyond it--all that superior influence which the Society and its missionaries are exercising, in Christianizing communities, in sanctifying all the great elements of their public and social life, in destroying the very roots of their heathenism, and in preparing the way for enlightened, disciplined, independent churches, sound in faith and full of life--all this has been little understood. Had it been duly realised, it is incredible that the ministers and churches which sustain the Society should quietly continue to give for its maintenance the same narrow income which they gave to it thirty years ago.

I.--RECENT DIFFICULTIES.

The result of this irrepressible growth, fostered by the kind providence and loving care of the Master for whom the service has been done, was for the Directors, in their management of the Society's affairs, embarra.s.sment, difficulty, and debt. That embarra.s.sment commenced with the year 1866, when the accounts were closed with a balance of 7450 pounds against the Society, which was paid from the legacy fund reserved for such a contingency. During the entire year the Directors had the difficulty in view, and adopted a series of measures to meet it. Special Meetings were held with the London ministers and officers of churches, to lay before them the growing needs of our Foreign Missions. Papers were published by the Home Secretary, showing the growth of those missions, with the increased claims they present for agency and help; and urging that an addition of at least 10,000 pounds a year is needed to the Society's permanent income. In the autumn Auxiliary meetings the missionary Deputations were urged specially to make the facts known.

In February a solemn and impressive meeting for prayer was held by a hundred and twenty of the London ministers and Directors.

But these measures did not at once remove the difficulty. In numerous instances old friends of the Society, and churches which have ever been its chief supporters, not only expressed hearty sympathy with these efforts, but increased their contributions and rendered substantial help. Various consultations ensued, and a Special Committee was requested, to indicate the course which, in their calm judgment, the Directors ought to take, to meet the difficulties of their position.

Their Report pointed out various defects in the Society's system of account, and in the audit of details in the expenditure which is incurred abroad. It noted especially that since--on the system till then in force--the initiative in that expenditure had been placed to a large extent in the hands of the missionaries themselves, the Board did not possess sufficient and effective control over its growth and its specific application. And it recommended that, as in some other Societies, a system of annual appropriations should be adopted, by which the available income of each year might be made to sustain existing schemes of usefulness, without bringing the Society into debt. Further, the Committee recommended that, as the expenditure had greatly increased in recent years, on the one hand, in consultation with the missionaries, that expenditure should be carefully revised; and, on the other, all available efforts should be made to increase the Society's income. After full and earnest consideration of this truly valuable Report, the Board adopted the following RESOLUTIONS, which gave special satisfaction to the Delegates and country Directors, and met with the marked approval of all the Society's friends:--

"1. THAT, this Board approve the proceedings of the Special Finance Committee, in securing the services of a competent Accountant to examine the system on which the SOCIETY'S ACCOUNTS are kept, with a view to the introduction of all practicable improvements; and in instructing their own Accountant to give the details of the princ.i.p.al Stations, and show the items on which the outlay has taken place.

"2. THAT, with a view to secure a more complete control over the Society's funds, an ANNUAL ESTIMATE be desired in advance from every Station and Treasurer abroad, as well as from the Home Secretary, of all the expenses antic.i.p.ated for the coming year; that the Board may sanction, for that year only, such amount as its probable income may enable it to meet; and THAT all payments be strictly forbidden unless that definite sanction has been first accorded.

"3. THAT the ACCOUNTS be kept, at home and abroad, on a COMMON SYSTEM; and that each of the Foreign Committees in the Mission House be requested to appoint a small AUDIT BOARD, whose duty it shall be to audit the accounts of the Stations under its charge, and to see that the expenditure is strictly confined to the sums which the Board have sanctioned.

"4. THAT all the efforts already carried on for some time to increase the knowledge, the interest, the contributions, and the prayers of the Society's friends throughout the country, be continued, and, where practicable, increased.

"5. THAT the Board regard with the most serious concern the rapid increase in the expenditure of the various Missions; and, desiring to see that expenditure not only placed under firm control, but applied in all respects in the wisest way, they instruct all their Committees most carefully to REVISE THE ENTIRE EXPENDITURE under their superintendence, and, in accordance with the Resolution pa.s.sed on May 6th, specially to keep in view a judicious reduction of that expenditure in the case of prosperous churches in districts largely Christianized."

II.--REVISION OF THE MISSIONS ABROAD.

In considering the state of the Society's finances, the Special Committee recommended, in strong terms, not only that some reduction should be made in the expenditure, but that the character of that expenditure should be carefully examined. They recommended that the Board should take full advantage of the opportunity furnished by the present crisis, for placing the entire system of payments in their Foreign Missions upon the soundest footing, and for determining the principles by which those payments shall be regulated. The Directors accepted these suggestions, and since then the three Foreign Committees, into which the London Board is divided, have devoted much attention to the system of their Foreign Missions.

In the case of each of the Missions examined, they carefully laid down the principles applicable to the condition of the Native churches; the forms of missionary labour among the heathen; the number and work of the Society's missionaries; the number and labours of Native agents engaged in purely mission work; and the state of education. The present scale and details of expenditure were examined; and then, to every element of the system an APPROPRIATION for the year was made of that amount of money which, in the judgment of the Directors, the Society could justly spare from the funds which they have at their command. A Schedule of these allowances in every group of Missions was next drawn out, exhibiting the sums available for the expenditure of the year, and was forwarded to the Mission concerned. And finally, a special DESPATCH which accompanied the Warrants, was written to the members of every Mission, in order to explain in the fullest manner the views of the Directors respecting that Mission, and the form which, in their judgment, the aid of the Society should for the future a.s.sume. Again, while the Society enjoys the services of a large number of able, conscientious, and spiritual men, as devoted as ever their predecessors were to missionary work, it was seen to be essential to their fullest efficiency, that they should be brought into closer union with each other abroad, and with the system of the Society at home; that the personal comfort of the mission families should be more fully secured under the changed circ.u.mstances of modern days; and that the experience of each field of labour should be so wrought into the general system as to prove a helper to all the rest.

The result of the system to the Society's finances has been economy, compactness, and strength. While in several cases the personal income of the missionaries has been increased, yet, by limiting the amount of the Native agency to be employed in evangelistic work; by reducing the help hitherto granted to the Native Christians for their incidental expenditure; and by enforcing economy in all minor matters at home as well as abroad; the Board have been able to bring down the total expenditure of the Society to a point much nearer the range of the Society's ordinary income than it has for several years past. They have provided, however, only for the necessities of their present operations. They need a larger income still, if the friends of the Society would wish them to undertake that extension of their Missions into new fields which the world needs, for which the missionaries earnestly plead, and which they themselves are most anxious to secure. The effect of the system on certain of the Native churches has been a most healthy one. As hoped for, it is beginning to stimulate them to manliness, and to a more earnest consecration, not only of their means, but of their personal service to the Saviour's work.

III.--THE SOCIETY'S PRESENT OPERATIONS.

The revision now described has furnished materials for exhibiting, in a more complete form than usual, the present agencies of the Society, and some of the results with which its labours have been blessed. In a few of the older Missions of the Society, the duty of instructing the heathen has been almost complete; the population are nominally Christian, and in most of these communities there is a strong nucleus of spiritual life in a valuable body of Church members.

This is the case in Polynesia, in the West Indies, and in many stations in South Africa. Around many strong churches in Madagascar, in India, and in China, the sphere of heathenism is still very large.

Several stations in those Missions--well planted for the influence required of them--may now be occupied by the Native minister instead of the English missionary. The number of chief stations in all the Missions is 130.

The NATIVE CHURCHES of the Society are 150 in number. They contain 35,400 members: in a community of nominal Christians, young and old, amounting to 191,700 persons. Of these, nearly 13,000 are in Polynesia; nearly 5,000 in the West Indies; over 5,000 in South Africa; and 3,400 in India. The converts under the Society's care speak altogether twenty-six languages.

The general scope of the Society's efforts, so far as figures can show it, is set forth in the following Table:--

GENERAL SUMMARY.

+----------------+--------+---------+---------+--------+---------+ English Native Native Church Native MISSIONS. Mission- Ordained Preach- Mem- Adher- aries. Pastors. ers. bers. ents. +----------------+--------+---------+---------+--------+---------+ 1. CHINA 21 4 40 1265 2367 2. NORTH INDIA 18 6 20 284 1374 3. SOUTH INDIA 22 11 65 882 3408 4. TRAVANCORE 8 11 190 2228 32,362 (MADAGASCAR 12 20 532 7066 37,112 5.( AND (MAURITIUS 1 ... ... ... ... 6. SOUTH AFRICA 33 1 30 5866 31,197 7. WEST INDIES 13 2 14 4972 14,240 8. POLYNESIA 28 26 249 12,924 69,738 +----------------+--------+---------+---------+--------+---------+ TOTALS 156 81 1140 35,487 191,798 +----------------+--------+---------+---------+--------+---------+

+----------------+-----------------------------------------------+ SCHOOLS. +-----------------------+-----------------------+ BOYS. GIRLS. +-----+------+----------+-----+------+----------+ MISSIONS. Sch- Schol- Fees. Sch- Schol- Fees. 00ls. ars. pnd. s. d. ools. ars. pnd. s. d. +----------------+-----+------+----------+-----+------+----------+ 1. CHINA 16 354 0 13 6 7 103 26 0 0 2. NORTH INDIA 15 2076 1036 3 1 16 375 12 10 0 3. SOUTH INDIA 47 2858 706 2 10 31 1494 9 2 8 4. TRAVANCORE 180 6646 ... ... 30 1595 ... ... Boys and Girls. (MADAGASCAR 28 1735 9 7 6 ... ... ... ... 5.( AND (MAURITIUS ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 6. SOUTH AFRICA 39 1332 32 10 11 25 1473 19 2 0 7. WEST INDIES 35 2040 317 0 10 35 1691 269 11 1 8. POLYNESIA 229 6715 ... ... 212 6695 ... ... +----------------+-----+------+----------+-----+------+----------+ TOTALS 589 23,756 2101 18 8 356 13,426 336 5 9 +----------------+-----+------+----------+-----+------+----------+

+----------------+----------------+ LOCAL CONTRIBUTIONS, MISSIONS. &c. pound. s. d. +----------------+----------------+ 1. CHINA 374 1 4 2. NORTH INDIA 1435 14 9 pound. s. d.

3. SOUTH INDIA 1793 13 6 *From English Friends 4,200 0 0 4. TRAVANCORE 1220 0 0 From Native Converts 11,647 2 3 (MADAGASCAR 479 17 7 ------------ 5.( AND 15,847 2 3 (MAURITIUS ... ... Fees--Boys 6. SOUTH AFRICA 2125 3 10 2,101 18 8 Fees--Girls 7. WEST INDIES 4730 16 8 336 5 9 ------------ 8. POLYNESIA 3687 14 7 2,438 4 5 +----------------+----------------+ ------------ TOTALS 15,847 2 3* 18,285 6 8 +----------------+----------------+

IV.--THE SOCIETY'S MISSIONARIES.

But Statistical Tables cannot show the real character of the Society's work, or the breadth of influence which that work has attained. The hundred and fifty-six English missionaries of the Society in foreign lands const.i.tute the central force and stimulus of a wider agency, numbering twelve hundred persons, gathered among people once heathen, now Christian; an agency adopting the same aims, ruled by the same Christian spirit, and fulfilling the same Divine command. This body of true and devoted men were never rendering to the Society a n.o.bler service than at the present time; and were never more worthy of our highest esteem. It is, therefore, with indignation and regret that Christian men have seen the recent attacks made on the whole missionary body, and the contemptuous terms in which their labours have been described. Looking away from all that is temporary and special, and contemplating that which springs from their ordinary duties, the Directors would never forget what a n.o.ble position missionaries occupy, and how truly great, from its very nature, their work is. They have gone forth from home and country as amba.s.sadors of G.o.d, to preach His message of forgiveness; to bring the Saviour in His human life to those who have never understood Him; to save the perishing, and bind them as with golden chains to the feet of G.o.d. They are battling with error, and breaking up the iron systems of priestcraft, inhumanity, and wrong, which have enslaved men for ages, and have shut off from them the light and love of their Heavenly Father. They are staying the progress of crime; they lay the hand of law on the slaveholder; they appeal to the drunkard; they clear out the dens of vice; and to the hopeless and despairing they open up long vistas of light and gladness, which terminate only in Heaven. Everywhere they are preaching with power. Their Divine message is quickening the dead conscience of nations: it is converting the wicked, and saving souls from death; it is lifting women from the dust; it is purifying family life; it is putting trade under rules of honesty, and teaching humanity where cruelty was the universal rule. Its principles are going down to the very roots of national life; it is subst.i.tuting law for force; and is moulding young communities for a higher life in all their people, a closer union to their fellow-men, because they are gaining a holier and truer union with G.o.d.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MR. VIVIAN'S HOUSE, RAIATEA.]

They are doing this among great varieties of place and people; amid many forms of outer life; amid many grades of human comfort and human resources. Some labour among the most glorious manifestations of creative might; others upon scorched and barren plains; others in the busy life of cities; others in lonely isles. In labours abundant, in perils oft, by example, by preaching, by prayers, everywhere they seek to approve themselves unto G.o.d, and serve their generation according to His will. Politicians may lecture them: men of science may undervalue them. Time-serving editors may pour on them their scorn; they may be called enthusiasts, or be socially despised; but steadfast in duty, unmoved by reproach or praise, they will reply: "Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to G.o.d; or whether we be sober, it is for your cause." Our "meat is to do the will of Him that sent us, and to finish His work."