A MANUAL OF THE FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 7/ JOHN C.'LOWRIE. NEW YORK: WILLIAM RANKIN, Jk., 23 CENTRE STREET. 1868 THIRD EDITION. 0. JENKIN9, PRINTER AND STE P.EOTY PER, 20 NORTH WILLIAM STREET. ^oPERjy PRIHCEI \ REC. NOV 1881 u THEOLOGICAL CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. Page The Missionary Work widely extended — Some ask, “ To what purpose is this waste?” — In reply, consider — i. The Ori- gin of the Missionary Cause — ii. The Commandment of our Lord — iii. The Example of the Primitive Church — iv. The Benevolent Nature of the Christian Religion — v. The Spiritual Condition of Men without the Gospel — vi. The The Events of Providence in our Day — vii. The Seal of the Holy Spirit — viii. The Certainty of final Success . 7 THE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS. Example of the early Christians — The Work of Missions the Work of the Church — The best kind of Missionary Organi- zation — The Board, a Standing Committee of the General Assembly — Executive Duties and Arrangements — Ap- pointment and Support of Missionaries—Financial Matters — Mission House, Library, and Museum .... 17 MISSIONS AMONG THE INDIAN TRIBES. The Indians of our day, two classes — Weas — Iowas and Sacs — Chippewas and Ottawas — The good Influence of the Mis- sion — Creeks — Boarding - school System — Choctaws — (iii) : IV CONTENTS. Page Omahas and Otoes — Kickapoos — Seminoles — Chickasaws — The to happy Results which these Missions tend . 34 MISSIONS IN WESTERN AFRICA. Brief Survey of Africa — Western Africa — Population — Con- dition of the Natives — Causes changing this Condition the armed Sierra Liberia Squadrons ; Leone ; ; Commerce ; above all, the Gospel — Climate — Missions in Liberia — Mission on Corisco 56 MISSIONS IN NORTH INDIA. General Account of India and the Hindus — Religion Trans- ; migration Caste Character of Hinduism — Political Rela- ; ; tions — Causes overturning Idolatry — Sketch of the Mis- sions — Preaching, statedly, on Journeys, and at Melas — The Press — Schools — Happy Deaths of Converts . 79 MISSION IN SIAM. Brief Description of the Country and People — Government — Buddhist Religion — Account of the Mission Singular Exi- ; in its Affairs Change Work in Progress — gency ; Happy ; Mission to the Laos — The King of Siam .... 110 MISSIONS IN CHINA. The largest Field of modern Missions — The Country, Popula- tion, and Civilization of China — Three Religious Systems, Confucianism, Taouism, and Buddhism — The door long closed now open — Sketch of the Missions ; Printing on CONTENTS. v Page of aged Idolater — Mission metallic Types ; Conversion an to the Chinese in California — Large Emigration of Chinese may be expected 119 MISSION IN JAPAN. Sketch of the Japanese Islands and People — Mission com- menced 143 MISSIONS IN ROMAN CATHOLIC COUNTRIES. The Province of the Board includes Missions among Romanists — Method of Proceeding in Europe — Missions in South America — U. S. of Colombia and Brazil . , 147 MISSION TO THE JEWS. The Jews, foreigners everywhere — Peculiar Qualifications re- quired by Missionaries — Sketch of the Mission — The Jews, when converted, Missionaries in every Land . 152 List of Missionaries 157 List of Members of the Executive Committee . 166 List of Executive Officers 167 List of Sermons Preached 168 A General Statement of Receipts 171 Memoirs of Missionaries 173 VI . CONTEXTS. APPENDIX. I. — UNEVANGELIZED COUNTRIES. Pogo Countries and Tribes yet unenlightened by the Gospel — In- dian Tribes — Spanish American States — West Indies — Africa — Asia — Islands of the Sea — Romanists and Greeks —Summary View of the Religions of Mankind . 331 II. — ST ATISTICS OF PROTESTANT MISSIONS. Light dawning — Object of this Paper Difficulty of obtaining ; uniform and exact Returns; Authorities cited — Statistics of Indian Missions — Missions in the West Indies — Span- ish America — Africa : North and East, Madagascar, and Mauritius — South — Western — Asia : Western — India and Ceylon — Burmah and Siam — China — Islands in the China Seas and the Pacific — Summary View — Protestant . Missionaries, classified according to the leading Denomina- tions .... 341 INTRODUCTION. rnHE work of Christian Missions has become one of the marked features of the age. The larger bodies of Christians, and many of the smaller, have their mis- sionary stations in various parts of the world. Large sums of money are expended for the support of mis- sionaries, the establishment of schools, and the printing of the Holy Scriptures. Hundreds of men of superior education, and their wives, women of cultivated minds and refined manners, have gone to live among the Indians of our western forests, the Negroes and the Hottentots of Africa, the Hindus and the Chinese, the Feejeeans and others in the islands of the sea ; —they and their families are found living far from their early homes, in unfriendly climes, amongst rude and debased tribes, and patiently laboring year after year to instruct the ignorant, and to bring the depraved and degraded people around them under the influence of the Christian religion. This stands out to public view. Some observers see all this without sympathy, and some venture even to condemn the conduct of these mis- sionaries and their supporters at home. “ To what pur- pose is this waste ? Why should the labors of so many superior men and women be lost to their friends and their own people ?” In reply, some of the grounds on which the Church is —— 8 MANUAL OP MISSIONS. led to support the cause of missions may be very briefly stated, and they will appear if we consider, I. The Origin of the Missionary Cause. This we ascribe to nothing lower nor later than the eternal love and purpose of God. The world perishing in its sin against himself was before the mind of God from eter- nity. Every human being, sinful, lost, and hopeless, like the apostate angels, was known unto God from the be- ginning. All the dreadful darkness, wickedness, and wretchedness that should abound amongst fallen men, which if unrestrained would make the earth to be but the vestibule of hell itself,—all these God foresaw be- fore the world was made. The wickedness of men makes it necessary that judgments should fall upon the earth, yet still the purpose of God towards our fallen world was from eternity full of grace. And from the divine counsels proceeds the only salvation of lost sin- ners. To accomplish this, God “ spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.” “ For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” “ Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” The invitation is now sent forth among the Heathen, Mohammedans, Jews, and all others, “Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” He that believeth shall be saved he that believeth not ; is condemned already. The Church has been estab- lished among men, and her ministers and members have received the means of grace for their own salvation, and as trustees for those who are destitute. Freely INTRODUCTION. 9 they have received freely they must give. Their ; agency in this work is contemplated in the divine pur- pose. Angels might have been employed as missiona- ries, but this was not the will of God. His purpose to save his people was to be fulfilled by the agency of re- deemed sinners. This was the origin of the missionary work. It is not of human devising. It is not of this world. It is not of time. It is of God, from everlasting. Its prog- ress among men is by the grace and power of God. And hence its final issue is a matter of certainty, and its triumph shall be to the glory of God, in this world and in everlasting ages. II. The Commandment of our Lord.—“ Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”—Matt, xxviii. 18-20 Mark xvi. 15 ; ; Luke xxiv. 47. The permanent obligation of this commandment is clearly shown by its own nature. While any nation or even any human being is unacquainted with the Gospel, this law remains in full force. The promise accompa- nying it also shows its permanent authority. The prom- ise of the Saviour’s presence is inseparable from the commandment. How, then, can the Church, or the ministers of the Gospel, expect the fulfillment of this most precious promise of our Lord, while neglecting the duty with which it is connected ? 10 MANUAL OF MISSIONS. To show how lamentably this commandment has been hitherto neglected by the Church—“ Let us imagine that instead of the world, a single country had been pointed out by our Lord as the field of action. And since we are most familiar with our own land, let us just suppose that the particular country specified was the United States :* and that instead of the command to go forth and preach the Gospel to every creature, the order had been to go through all the parts of this coun- try and preach the Gospel to every inhabitant. I find that on a scale which would make the population of the United States represent that of the world, the popula- tion of the city of New York might be taken as a suffi- ciently accurate representation of our own country. “In order, then, to have a just picture of the present state of the world, only conceive that all who had re- ceived the above commission, somehow or other, had contrived to gather themselves together within the lim- its of this single city.