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The HARVEST FIELD The HARVEST FIELD FEBRUARY, 189 7. ORIGINAL ARTICLES. MISSIONARY EXPECTANCY OF SUCCESS.* HE consideration of such a subject as this is apt to be greatly influenced by the mood of the person at the time of writing or speaking. In his church there has been a series of genuine conversions. His soul is on fire, and he expects to see India converted in a day. Another has had no adult baptisms for a year or two. He is depressed, and complains, “ The soil is hard ; the good seed of the kingdom cannot possibly grow here.” A third has troubles in his church. There have been quarrels, caste feeling, debt, falsehood, impurity of speech and life. He is ready to say that no one has been soundly converted, and is tempted to give up in despair. Or he has many inquirers, but as he probes them, he finds they all come with more or less mixed motives, and he is tempted to say in his haste, “ There is no sincerity in the land.” There are times when we are constrained to pour out Jeremiads because of the character of the people and of the apparent slowness of the work. There are other times when incidents of a striking and hopeful nature come crowd­ * A paper read before the Madras Missionary Conference in November. m i s s io n a k y Ex p e c t a n c y of* s u c c e s s . ing one upon the heels of another, and we are ready to say with John, “ The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.” I take it for granted that we all believe the Kingdom of God is to be established in India, and that Christ must reign here. We believe this because of the divine origin of that Kingdom, and because of the power there is in the Faith of Jesus. But I take it that our object to-night is not to discuss that aspect of the question : it admits of no dis­ cussion, save between those who believe that truth will ultimately prevail and those who hold that the gospel will be preached only as a witness to the nations without any great turning of the people to Christ. The discussion of this point is, I take it, not the one for us to-night; for it could lead to no profitable conversation. The one theory takes away one of the chief sources of inspiration to Christian service, and makes the work of preaching the gospel a duty we owe as obedient followers of our Master but with no hope of ultimate success to sustain us. The other theory unfolds to us such a scene of magnitude and grandeur— the complete triumph of Jesus Christ—that every devout follower of Jesus will be fascinated and stimulated by it, and urged to do his best. I do not intend to discuss this question. My aim is a simpler, a humbler one. I will leave the region of theory and come to the realm of fact. I wish to look at the Kingdom of God in India from its human, its business side, if the phrase may be allowed. I want to trace the evolution of that Kingdom in India, as it unfolds itself visibly, as it appears unto men, and from it find warrant for the future. There is a kingdom that cometh not with observation. With that I shall deal but incidentally. My purpose has to do with the Church of Christ as orga­ nised, with the Christian community as a fact in the life of India, with Christian ideal and thought as manifest in the conduct of the people of this land. The present has been evolved from the past, and we can trace the finger of God in the results that have been achieved. The future must come out of the present, and by a careful study of the past and knowledge of the present, we can form some estimate of that future. I do not wish to be misunderstood. I do not for a moment hold that there may not be extraordinary effusions of the Spirit of God which cannot be measured according to our feeble calculations, and which will set all our estimates at nought. There may be, there will be, these divine manifestations. “ The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and ftfuther it goeth; ” so is the work of the Spirit in the nations of the MISSIONARY EXPECTANCY OP SUCCESS. earth. These I do not attempt to estimate, though I strongly believe in them. I want, if possible, to gather together the main facts of Christianity as they appear to any observer—Christian-or non-Christian —and from these facts to form an estimate for the future. To do this accurately, we must have an adequate knowledge of the present and know how it has been evolved from the past. We must accurately estimate the forces at work to-day for and against the kingdom of G od; and then we shall be in a position to determine what grounds there are for expectancy of success in India. For my purpose I shall confine myself to the Protestant Church ; for the simple reason that I know so little of the Eoman Church. That church has been long at work in India ; it has gathered in a large num­ ber of converts ; but from my lack of knowledge it is difficult for me to estimate its true position. It may be a growing or a declining power; it matters little for my purpose to-night. I shall also leave out of my calculations the Syrian and Armenian Churches in India ; for they have both practically ceased to be missionary. These churches form an in­ teresting study, but they will not help us in the discussion of to-night’s subject. The history of Protestantism in India begins practically with the commencement of the present century. A great deal had been done previously in South India by the Danish missionaries ; but it was not till the beginning of the present century that the Christians of Protest­ ant countries really awoke to the needs of India. Since then there has been a steady increase in the interest taken in the spread of the gospel in India, which received a mighty stimulus from the Indian mutiny, and has continued in an increasing ratio to the present day. It is not easy to estimate the number of Protestant Christians at the beginning of the century. The Danish Mission had been at work nearly a century amidst wars and disturbances of many kinds. It had gathered to­ gether many converts; but at the beginning of the century it is doubtful if there were 5,000 native Christians in India ; for the wars and commo­ tions of the last century frequently scattered the Christian communities that had been gathered together. During the first half of this century little or nothing was done to obtain an estimate of the results of mission work in India. But from 1851 onwards careful attempts have been made to get accurate returns of workers, Christians, and scholars. The progress can be therefore clearly marked. A few figures only will be given. They refer to India alone. Burma and Ceylon , are excluded. The Christians in 1851 44 " MISSIONARY EXPECTANCY OF SUCCESS. amounted in round numbers to 91,100 ; in 1861 to 1381,700 ; in 1871 to 224,300; in 1B81 to 417,400 ; in 1890 to 559,700. By the end of the century there will be at least 750,000 ; they are not far short of that number now. I do not for a moment wish to indicate that all these are truly members of Christ’s mystical body; but these figures indicate facts which have weight with a certain class of persons ; the only facts that have any weight with them. A century of Christian toil has pro­ duced a Christian community of three-fourths of a million. At this rate of progress mathematicians, if they feel inclined, can draw conclusions as to when the whole of India will be Christian. I do not intend to do so. Nevertheless the great fact of so large a community must have its due weight given to it. The pupils in schools were very few at the beginning of the century. In 1851 there were 64,000 pupils, excluding Sunday-school children ; in 1861, 76,000; in 1871, 122,400; in 1881, 187,700; in 1890, 279,700. By the end of the century there will be more than 300,000 children under Christian instruction. This fact is no small factor in the solution of the problem that lies in the future. Including Sunday-school child­ ren there must be now close on half a million of children more or less under Christian influences. The army of Christian workers must be numbered. At the begin­ ning of the century the number of missionaries could probably be counted on the fingers of both hands. In 1851 the foreign and Eura­ sian male workers numbered 339 ; in 1861, 479 ; in 1871, 488 ; in 1881, 658 ; in 1890, 975. To-day there are more than 1,000 foreign and Eurasian preachers proclaiming the gospel in India. Of late years the increase of this class of workers has been great. But the greatest advance has been in native preachers.
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