History of the William Taylor Self-Supporting Missions in South America

THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES s UUr BISHOP WILLIAM TAYLOR History of the William Taylor Self-Supporting Missions in South America By GOODSIL F. ARMS it Board of Mission* t Church Extension of the r.tfhec^t LIBRARYChurch, 150 FH /L.VUE, MVV YORK THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN NEW YORK CINCINNATI Copyright, 1921, by GOODSIL F. ARMS Printed in the United States ot America CONTENTS CHAPTER FACB FOREWORD 7 PREFACE 9 I. THE MACEDONIAN CALL 1 1 II. THE BEGINNINGS OF WILLIAM TAYLOR'S WORK 21 III. ESTABLISHING MISSION STATIONS 33 IV. MOVING FORWARD 47 V. EVENTS OF 1881-1883 70 VI. THE TRANSIT AND BUILDING FUND SOCIETY REPLACES WILLIAM TAYLOR 92 Vll. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MISSION FROM FOUR CENTERS 118 VIII. EVANGELISTIC WORK IN SPANISH 140 IX. THE PRINTING PRESS 171 X. PROPERTIES 174 XL ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION 188 XII. RESULTS TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF SELF- SUPPORT 209 XIII. THE TRANSFER 213 XIV. SELF-SUPPORT THE PLAN 225 XV. FOUR QUADRENNIUMS OF PROGRESS UNDER THE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 237 ILLUSTRATIONS WILLIAM TAYLOR Frontispiece FACING PAGE CATHEDRAL AND PLAZA, LIMA, PERU 18 MR. THOMAS S. UREN 30 REV. WILLIAM STANDEN 30 MRS. ADELAIDE W. LAFETRA 40 REV. IRA H. LAFETRA 40 REV. GOODSIL F. ARMS 52 MRS. IDA TAGGARD ARMS 64 SANTIAGO COLLEGE 76 WESLEYAN ACADEMY 87 COQUIMBO CHURCH AND PARSONAGE 87 MR. ANDERSON FOWLER 95 VIEW OF ONE OF THE Patios OF CONCEPCION COLLEGE 106 FRONT VIEW OF THE FIRST BUILDING ERECTED FOR CONCEPCION COLLEGE 106 THE VEGETABLE MAN 121 DOROTHY M. RICHARD 134 MRS. J. L. REEDER 134 INDIAN POTTERY 147 MRS. LELIA WATERHOUSP; WILSON 147 REV. JOSfj TORREGROSA AND HlS TWO SONS 165 Two METHODISTS IN THE MOUNTAINS 177 ARAUCANIAN INDIAN WOMEN SPINNING AND WEAV- ING 177 METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, CONCEPCION 193 SENOR GALLISTE 223 MR. J. L. REEDER 223 GRADUATES, CLASS OF 1914, CONCEPCION COLLEGE.. 244 FOREWORD WILLIAM TAYLOR has never received the full measure of recognition that was his due. That wonder-working man, whose evangelistic tours left literally trails of fire in Australia, in South Africa, and in India, undertook also to carry the gospel to South America. Leaving New York with but little money and no knowledge of the Spanish language, he achieved the amazing record of traversing the Isthmus of Panama, and then, sailing down the west coast, he left behind him a series of schools wholly self-supporting. These schools, through varied experiences, have since come to be the centers of evangelistic influences and are to-day the strategic points of Methodist work all along the west coast of South America. Among those whom William Taylor sent in those early days was G. F. Arms, who, after many years of conspic- uous service, now writes with loving appreciation the story of this unusually stirring episode of a missionary endeavor of Methodism. W. F. OLDHAM. PREFACE THE Rev. Ira H. LaFetra, D.D., purposed to write a history of the William Taylor Self-Supporting Mis- sions on the west coast of South America. Arriving with the first party sent out and being superintendent of the mission for more than twenty years, he knew the workers and all the work well. He had preserved the correspon- dence with the different missionaries during all those first years, and also articles which were published in the mission field and in the States, together with the Annual Reports and other documents published by the Transit and Building Fund Society. When Secretary S. Earl Taylor made a visit of inspec- tion of the Methodist Episcopal missions in South Amer- ica, after talking with me about the origin of different mission stations, owing to my long connection with the mission, he asked him to write a history of it. Several others at different times had asked the same. On account of ill health Dr. LaFetra was not able to write the history as he had purposed, and passed all his accumulated material over to me. This history has been written little by little at odd times and in the midst of the pressing duties of a missionary's life. The reader is assured that the record contained in the pages of this book is historically correct. It differs somewhat from the history of other missions in that it is the record of the planting and growth of a self-supporting mission. G. F. A. CHAPTER I THE MACEDONIAN CALL THE CALL TO SOUTH AMERICA A MAN stood at night and cried, "Come over into Mac- edonia and help us." That was the voice of Europe's unsaved millions, and oncoming millions, in darkness and great need calling for the light that leads to salvation. The vision of Macedonia was the call of Paul to Europe. The vision of South America's great need was the call of the Master to William Taylor. Mr. Taylor had recently returned from those marvelous missionary cam- paigns in Australia and India. Many souls had been saved. Indifferent and sleepy church members had been awakened. Committees had been formed. Associations had been organized which had provided places of wor- ship and support for ministers, and well-organized churches had been established. With the strong impression upon him of what God had wrought, he had a vision of South America, a vision of its vision great need ; the of a continent our sister continent lying in darkness, neglected, separated from all other lands by great oceans, but joined to North America by the Divine Hand that placed the oceans and formed the lands. And this neglected continent is joined to our land by similar conditions of birth and development of national life. Both Americas were occupied by Indian races. Both were discovered and colonized by people from Europe. Both secured their independence from Euro- II 12 HISTORY OF THE WILLIAM TAYLOR pean monarchies and organized themselves into republics. Their commercial and industrial conditions in many respects have been similar. But the republic to the north with the open Bible, with the pure light of God's Word, free to examine and free in conscience, has grown strong and has stepped to the forefront of the most advanced Christian civilization, while the republics to the south, with a closed Bible, and without equal opportunities of education and freedom of thought, have made little progress. They have been like plants overshadowed, shut away from the sunlight. THE CONTINENT AS TAYLOR SAW IT The vision showed to Taylor a sister continent vast in territorial extent and transcendently rich in natural re- sources; a continent populated by about forty millions of people, for whom less missionary work was being done than for any other of the peoples of the earth. This neglect has been justified by many on the ground that the people of South America have the Roman Catholic religion, and therefore there is not the same need for missionary work for them. Whether the reason given is well founded may be better determined by studying the condition of the people divided into the different classes into which they naturally separate. The Rev. George P. Howard, superintendent of the Buenos Ayres Central District, Methodist Episcopal Church, has resided nearly all his life in South America. He says : "There is a common belief in the United States that South America is both a Latin and a Roman Cath- olic continent. The continent as a whole is not Latin, neither is it Roman Catholic. We have in South America a population of forty millions. Of these, according to the two best authorities, twenty-one millions are pure MISSIONS IN SOUTH AMERICA 13 Indians and semicivilized natives. These are unreached by priest or Protestant missionary. Seven millions of 'Indies bravos' are still in their savage state. The re- maining nineteen millions are composed of those indifferent to religion and baptized Roman Catholics. The proportion of so-called Catholics, even in the civilized edges of South America, is less than the proportion of edu- cated unbelievers, who boast that they have no use for Christianity, having thrown off all allegiance to this faith when they abandoned Rome." There is one other class not mentioned by Mr. Howard. It is that of foreign emigrants from Protestant countries. This class is comparatively small in numbers, but very important because it has the commercial and industrial interests of South America so largely in its hands. It is confined chiefly to the cities, especially the seaports, and to the mining districts. The question arises, Was the Roman Catholic Church meeting the religious needs of these different classes? What was that church doing? What was being done by Protestants? The seven millions of savage Indians are divided into many tribes and languages, and, in general, they are far separated from each other. For these noth- ing was being done except by some very small missions, like that among the Tierra del Fuegians, a tribe limited to a few thousands and separated from all others by dis- tribal that tance, relationship, and language ; so separated missionary work done among them would in no way aid in evangelizing the other Indian races. Besides these uncivilized Indians there are fourteen millions more whom Mr. Howard classes as "pure Indians and semicivilized natives." He adds, "These are unreached by priest or Protestant missionary." Had Wil- liam Taylor been able to visit every part of South Amer- 14 ica, he would not have found in the whole field one single missionary belonging to any one of the great missionary societies of Europe or America working to evangelize these savage or semicivilized Indians.

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