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A Tour of the Missions: Observations and Conclusions

Chapter 2: A PERSONAL FOREWORD
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A retired seminary president records a circumnavigation visiting Christian mission stations across East and Southeast Asia, describing journeys in Japan, China, the Philippines, Singapore, Penang, and Burma. He blends travel narrative with on-site reports of temples, pagodas, and religious practices; accounts of churches, schools, and seminaries; encounters with missionaries and local congregations; and vivid scenes of public worship and funerary rites. Interspersed reflections assess missionary methods, educational and medical initiatives, cultural obstacles, and the moral and spiritual needs observed, and the volume closes with practical conclusions and appeals for continued support of mission work.

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Title: A Tour of the Missions: Observations and Conclusions

Author: Augustus Hopkins Strong

Release date: December 8, 2008 [eBook #27452]

Language: English

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A TOUR OF THE MISSIONS
Observations and Conclusions


A TOUR OF THE
MISSIONS

Observations and Conclusions

 

 

BY
AUGUSTUS HOPKINS STRONG, D.D., LL.D., Litt.D.
PRESIDENT EMERITUS OF THE ROCHESTER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

AUTHOR OF "SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY," "PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION," "CHRIST IN CREATION," "MISCELLANIES," "CHAPEL-TALKS," "LECTURES ON THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT," "THE GREAT POETS AND THEIR THEOLOGY," "AMERICAN POETS AND THEIR THEOLOGY"

 

 


 

 

PHILADELPHIA
THE GRIFFITH AND ROWLAND PRESS
BOSTON    CHICAGO    ST. LOUIS    NEW YORK
LOS ANGELES    TORONTO    WINNIPEG
MCMXVIII


 

Copyright, 1918, by
GUY C. LAMSON, Secretary


Published March, 1918

 


A PERSONAL FOREWORD

The forty years of my presidency and teaching in the Rochester Theological Seminary have been rewarded by the knowledge that more than a hundred of my pupils have become missionaries in heathen lands. For many years these former students have been urging me to visit them. Until recently seminary sessions and literary work have prevented acceptance of their invitations. When I laid down my official duties, two alternatives presented themselves: I could sit down and read through the new Encyclopædia Britannica, or I could go round the world. A friend suggested that I might combine these schemes. The publishers provide a felt-lined trunk to hold the encyclopædia: I could read it, and circumnavigate the globe at the same time. This proposition, however, had an air of cumbrousness. I concluded to take my wife as my encyclopædia instead of the books, and this seemed the more rational since she had, seven or eight years before, made the same tour of the missions which I had in mind. To her therefore a large part of the information in the following pages is due, for in all my journey she was my guide, philosopher, and friend.

Our tour would not have covered so much ground nor have been so crowded with incidents of interest, if it had not been for the foresight and assistance of the Reverend Louis Agassiz Gould. He was a student in our seminary forty years ago, and after his graduation he became a missionary to China. Though his work abroad lasted only a decade, his interest in missions has never ceased, and he is an authority with regard to their history and their methods. I was fortunate in securing him as my courier, secretary, and typewriter, and his companionship enlivened our table intercourse and our social life. But he was bound that we should see all that there was to be seen. Without my knowledge he wrote ahead to all the missions which we were to visit, and the result was almost as if a delegation with brass band met us at every station. We were sight-seeing all day, and traveling in sleeping-cars all night. Though I had notified the public that I could preach no more sermons and make no more addresses, I was summoned before nearly every church, school, and college that we visited, and fifty or sixty extemporized talks were extorted from me, most of them interpreted to the audience by a pastor or teacher. My letters to home friends were often written on the platforms of railway stations while we were waiting for our trains, and after six months of these exhausting labors I still survived.

These preliminary remarks are intended to prepare the reader for a final statement, namely, that the papers which follow were written with no thought of publication. They were simply a record of travel, set down each week, for the information of relatives and friends. I have been urged to give them a wider circulation by putting them into print. In doing this I have added some reflections which, for substance, were also written at intervals on my journey, and these, with sundry emendations and omissions, I have called my "Conclusions." I submit both "Observations" and "Conclusions" to the judgment of my readers, in hope that my "Tour of the Missions" may lead other and more competent observers to appreciate the wonderful attractions and the immeasurable needs of Oriental lands.

I cannot close this personal foreword without expressing to my former students and the many friends who so hospitably entertained us on our journey, my undying sense of their great kindness, and my hope that between the lines of my descriptions of what I saw they will discover my earnest desire to serve the cause of Christ and his truth, even though my impressions may at times result from my own short-sightedness and ignorance. Only what I have can I give.

Augustus H. Strong.

Rochester, August 3, 1917.


CONTENTS

I.A Week in Japan1-11
An ocean truly pacific brings us to a rainy Japan3
The novel and the picturesque mingle in our first views of Yokohama3
Visit to the palace of a Japanese millionaire4
A museum of Japanese art and a unique entertainment4
Our host, an orthodox Shinto and Buddhist5
Conference of missionaries and their native helpers5
The pastor of the Tokyo church invites us to his home5
Reception at the Women's College of Japan, and an address there5
A distinguished company of educators at dinner6
We give a dinner to Rochester men and their wives7
A good specimen of missionary hilarity and fellowship7
The temple of Kamakura and its great bronze Buddha7
The temple of Hachiman, the god of war8
Supplemented by the temple of Kwannon, the goddess of mercy8
Japan enriched by manufacture of munitions8
A native Christian church and pastor at Kanagawa9
Immorality, the curse of Japan, shows its need of Christianity10
Wonders of its Inland Sea, and great gifts of its people10
II.A Week-end in China13-22
Hongkong, wonderful for situation and for trade15
Swatow, and our arrival there15
Chinese customs, and English collection of them16
The mission compound of Swatow, one of our noblest16
Dr. William Ashmore, and his organizing work17
William Ashmore, his son, and his Bible translations17
A great Sunday service in a native New Testament church18
The far-reaching influence of this mission, manned by many Rochester graduates18
Our expedition to Chao-yang, to see the heart of China18
Triumphal entry into that city of three hundred thousand inhabitants19
Impressed by the vastness of its heathen population20
Mr. Groesbeck, the only minister to its needs21
An address to the students of his school21
A great procession conducts us to our steamer at Swatow21
Shall we be saved if we do not give the gospel to the heathen?22
III.Manila, Singapore, and Penang23-32
A Yellow Sea, and white garments25
American enterprise has transformed Manila25
Filipinos not yet ready for complete self-government26
Visit to Admiral Dewey's landing-place, and also to Fort McKinley26
The interdenominational theological seminary and its influence26
Printed and spoken English is superseding native dialects27
Singapore, one of the world's greatest ports of entry27
British propose to hold it, in spite of native unrest27
Heterogeneous population makes English the only language for its schools28
Germans stir up a conspiracy, but it is nipped in the bud28
British steamer to Penang, an old but safe method of conveyance28
Kuala Lumpur, the capital of the Malay Confederated States29
Penang furnishes us with a great Chinese funeral29
Its immense preparation and cost show worship of ancestors29
Mourners in white, with bands of hired wailers31
Glorification of man, but no confession of sin or recognition of Christ32
IV.Three Weeks in Burma33-46
Burma, the land of pagodas35
The Shwe Dagon of Rangoon is the greatest of these35
Its immense extent and splendor35
The religion of Burma is Buddhism, a religion of "merit," so called36
Pagoda-building in Burma, coeval with cathedral-building in Europe36
The desolation in which many pagodas stand shows God's judgment on Buddhism36
Burma is consecrated by the work of Adoniram Judson, and his sufferings37
Our visit to Aungbinle, and prayer on the site of Judson's prison37
Met and entertained by missionaries, our former pupils37
Fruitful Burma and its Buddhism attracts famine-stricken India with its Hinduism38
Baptist missions in Burma antedate and excel both Romanist and Anglican40
Far outstripping these in the number and influence of converts40
The work of our collegiate and other schools is most encouraging41
The Baptist College at Rangoon and the theological seminaries at Insein42
The lieutenant governor invites us to meet Lord Chelmsford, viceroy of India, at afternoon-tea44
A royal reception, with great conglomerate of races44
A demonstration of loyalty to the British Crown45
The dinner of our Rochester men at the house of Rev. Mr. Singiser, including representatives of the Mission Press and the Baptist College45
Our final reception at Dr. D. W. A. Smith's, on Mrs. Smith's birthday46
V.Mandalay and Gauhati47-56
Mandalay, in Burma, the type of Buddhism; Gauhati, in Assam, the type of Hinduism49
Visits to Maulmain and Bassein, in Burma, preceded both these49
King Thebaw's palace, at Mandalay, a fortress built wholly of wood50
The Hill of Mandalay and its pagoda, four pagodas in one50
We ascend eight hundred steps by taking extemporized sedan-chairs51
Four successive platforms and four images of Buddha51
Waxwork figures at the top depict the vanity of life52
The Kuthodaw in the plain below seen from this height52
Four hundred and fifty pagodas in one, each with its Buddha and his law engraved on stone52
The descent from Mandalay Hill more hazardous than the ascent53
Buddhism compared with the religion of Christ53
Gauhati, the capital of Assam, has also its temple on a hill54
This temple illustrates Hinduism as Mandalay illustrates Buddhism54
Its immoral cult claims to have an immoral origin in the wife of the god Siva54
Its priestesses a source of corruption to the British college and the whole country55
Vain attempts to interpret Hindu myth and worship symbolically55
The need of Christian teaching as to sin and atonement56
VI.Calcutta, Darjeeling, and Benares57-64
Calcutta, the largest city of India, so named from Kali, goddess-wife of Siva, the Destroyer59
The temple of Kali, its priestesses and its worship, an infamous illustration of Hinduism59
The temple of the Jains represents Hinduism somewhat reformed60
The real glory of Calcutta is its relation to modern missions60
The work of William Carey, and his college and tomb at Serampore60
Our ride northward to Darjeeling, and our view of the Himalayas61
A temple of Tibetan Buddhists on our mount of observation61
Benares, the Mecca and Jerusalem of the Hindus62
A hotbed of superstition and devotion62
Its Golden Temple, its bathing ghats and burning ghats on the sacred Ganges62
Our voyage of inspection in the early morning63
Thousands bathing and drinking in the same muddy stream63
Smallpox and plague in western lands traced back to this putrid river64
Some of the temples have toppled over, being built on sand instead of rock64
VII.Lucknow, Agra, and Delhi65-76
On Mohammedan ground, and the scene of the great mutiny67
Elements of truth in the Moslem faith make missions more difficult67
The defense of Lucknow, one of, the most heroic and thrilling in history67
The only flag in the British Empire that never comes down at night68
English missions and education are guaranties of permanent British rule in India69
The Isabella Thoburn College, under Methodist control69
We see the "mango trick" under favorable circumstances70
Agra, and the Taj Mahal, a wonder of the world, seen both at sunrise and at sunset70
The Pearl Mosque and the Jasmine Tower, surrounded and protected by the Fort71
A flowering out of art, like that of cathedral-building in England72
Moslem architects "designed like Titans, and finished like jewelers"72
Delhi, the capital of India before the reign of Akbar72
The British respect ancient tradition by transferring their central government from Calcutta to Delhi 73
The progress of India under British rule in the last fifty years73
Indian unrest due in part to English mistakes in educational policy74
The Friday prayer service in the great mosque of Delhi75
VIII. Jaipur, Mt. Abu, and Ahmedabad77-87
The native states of India distinguished from the presidencies and the provinces79
Their self-government a reward of loyalty in the mutiny79
The rajas influenced by Western thought79
Jaipur, the capital of a native state, called "The Pink City"80
"A rose-red city, half as old as Time"81
The maharaja's town-palace and astronomical observatory81
A visit to Amber, the original metropolis, and his summer residence81
An elephant ride up the hill while hanging over the precipice82
The road to Mt. Abu, a wonderful piece of engineering84
We reach Dilwarra, the greatest temple of the Jains84
Their reformed Buddhism recognizes Buddha as only one of many incarnations85
The temple is almost a miracle of art, and illustrates the genius of the East85
Ahmedabad, a uniquely prosperous manufacturing and commercial city86
Factories needed by India more than farms86
Missions need employment for converts, to save them from famine86
IX.Bombay, Kedgaon, and Madras89-99
Bombay, second in population in the Indian Empire91
Hindus outnumber Moslems and Parsees91
The Caves of Elephanta, excavated in honor of Siva, god of reproduction as well as of destruction91
His temple a cathedral, hewn inside of a mountain92
The lingam, or phallus, gigantic, carved out of stone, in the innermost shrine93
Its worship a deification of man's baser instincts93
The Towers of Silence represent Parseeism93
The dead are exposed in them to be devoured by vultures93
Construction of the towers and details of the process93
Compared with Christian burial in hope of resurrection94
Kedgaon, a happy contrast and relief94
The center of the work of Pundita Ramabai94
The story of her life a romantic and thrilling one94
The pitiable condition of child-widows in India touches her heart95
In time of famine she furnishes a refuge for two thousand four hundred of them95
The wonders of her plant, in schools, hospital, printing office, factory, and farm96
A great scholar of the Brahman caste, she is recognized as the most influential woman in India96
Madras, the third largest Indian city, gives us our first tropical heat97
A center of mission work for the Telugus and their tribal conversion97
New Year's Day reception at Lord Pentland's, the governor of the Madras Presidency98
Followed by a reception from the Rochester men, my former pupils99
X.The Telugu Mission101-113
Madras, next to Calcutta and Bombay in thrift and importance103
Baptists have done most for the Telugus, as Congregationalists most for the Tamils103
Statistics of our mission are most encouraging103
Self-government, self-support, self-propagation, require time104
Conference at the house of Doctor Ferguson brings together men from four separate fields104
The theological seminary at Ramapatnam, in charge of Doctor Heinrichs105
Our reception by teachers and students, and value of their work105
Ongole and the work of Doctor Baker, the successor of Doctor Clough107
Laying the corner-stone of gateway to the new hospital107
Country tour into the heart of Telugu-land, and open-air preaching to the natives107
Vellumpilly, where 2,222 were baptized, and Sunset Hill, where Doctor Jewett prayed109
Kavali, and the work of Mr. Bawden for a hereditary criminal class110
Industrial education side by side with moral and religious110
Nellore, our first permanent station in South India111
Its high school, under Rev. L. C. Smith; its hospital, and its nurses' training-school112
Mr. Rutherford, successor to Dr. David Downie, and Mr. Smith—all of them Rochester men112
XI.The Dravidian Temples115-124
The Dravidians are the aborigines of India117
The Aryan conquerors appropriated their gods, and Siva married Kali117
Massiveness and vastness characterize their temples, but also Oriental imagination and invention118
The temple at Tanjore, with its court eight hundred by four hundred feet118
Its multitude of chapels, each with its image in stone of the lingam, or phallus119
Its central image of a bull, the favorite animal of Siva119
Its tower, or gopura, is the grandest in India119
Its sculptures of gods and goddesses wonderfully realistic119
Its appurtenances tawdry, childish, and immoral120
Yet Tanjore was the home, and is the tomb, of Schwartz, the first English missionary to India120
The raja's library of Oriental manuscripts121
Madura, the center of Dravidian worship, one hundred miles farther south121
Temple built about two great shrines for the god Siva and his wife Minakshi121
Five great pyramidal towers and a court eight hundred and thirty by seven hundred and thirty feet121
The "Golden Lily Tank," and "The Hall of a Thousand Pillars"122
Dark alcoves and a festival night, the acme of Hindu religion122
The palace of Tirumala and his Teppa Kulam tank, one thousand feet on each side123
The noblest sight of Madura is its American Congregational Mission123
Under Dr. J. X. Miller, its schools and seminaries are revolutionizing southern India124
XII.Two Weeks in Ceylon125-135
Ceylon not a part of India, but a Crown Colony of Britain127
Colombo, a European city, and English the best means of communication127
Buddhism, crowded out of India, made its way southward127
A sacred tooth of Buddha is preserved at Kandy127
Wesleyan Methodist College and English Baptist College at Colombo128
The Ananda College, a theosophical institution, unfavorable to Christianity128
A refuge in Nurwara Eliya, six thousand two hundred feet above the sea129
Switzerland without its ruggedness, and terraces of tea-plants lining the approaches thither129
Forests of rubber make a sea of verdure130
The Missionary Rest-house at Kandy131
The famous Buddhist temple, and its evening worship131
Its library the only sign of intelligence131
Church of the English Baptists welcomes us132
The botanical gardens, wonderful for their variety of products132
Anurajahpura and its ruined pagoda, a solid conical mass of brick133
One thousand six hundred pillars of stone, the foundations of an ancient monastery133
Cremation of a Buddhist priest, and our reception by the high priest of the remaining temple134
XIII.Java and Buddhism137-146
Java, the jewel of the Dutch Crown, has thirty-five millions of people139
The "culture system" makes it immensely productive139
Mistakes of Holland in matters of government and education140
A back-bone of volcanic mountains furnishes unsurpassed railway views140
Endless fields of rice and sugar-cane on hillside and plain141
A passionate people reveal themselves in their music, their shadow-dances, their use of the Malay dagger 141
The new policy of the Dutch government shown in the botanical gardens142
More scientific and practical than those of Ceylon, they minister to all the world142
Doctor Lovink, Dutch minister of agriculture, conducts us143
The temple of Boro Budor, restored after ruin, the greatest wonder of Java143
Five times as great as any English cathedral143
Sculptures in alto-relievo that would stretch three miles144
A picture-gallery of the life of Buddha144
Buddhism has no personal or living God, and no atonement for sin145
Boro Budor, slowly disintegrating, has no power to combat either Mohammedanism or Christianity145
XIV.The Renaissance in India147-161
This essay, a summary of the book of Professor Andrews, formerly of Delhi, now associated with Sir Rabindranath Tagore 149
But with additions and conclusions of my own149
The Renaissance in Europe needed a Reformation to supplement it, and a similar renaissance in India requires a similar reformation 150
History of religious systems in India begins with the Rig-Veda, and is followed by the Upanishads152
Hindu incarnations are not permanent, and the Trimurti is not the Christian Trinity153
The Krishna of the Puranas is a model of the worst forms of vice154
Deification of God's works fixes the distinctions of caste, and the degradation of woman154
Christianity is needed to unite the Hindu and the Moslem155
Signs of an approaching reformation in the weakening of class barriers and the spiritual interpretation of the old religions156
The Brahmo-Somaj and the Arya-Samaj aim to bring Hinduism back to the standards of the Vedas 158
The Aligarh Movement among the Mohammedans, and the Aligarh College in Delhi158
Swami Vivekananda, and his denial that men are sinners159
The Theosophical Society and Mrs. Besant, a hindrance to missions160
Justice Renade, in his social reform movement, sees in Christianity the one faith which can unite all races and all religions in India 160
In Christ alone India's renaissance can become a complete reformation161
XV.Missions and Scripture163-178
Some critics deny Jesus' authorship of the "Great Commission"165
We must examine "the historical method," so called165
As often employed, it is inductive but not deductive, horizontal but not vertical166
Deduction from God's existence normally insures acceptance of Christ168
Deduction from Christ's existence normally insures acceptance of Scripture169
Scripture is the voice and revelation of the eternal Christ169
The exclusively inductive process is not truly historical170
Both Paul and Peter gained their theology by deduction171
Since experience of sin and of Christ is knowledge, it is material for science173
The eternal Christ guarantees to us the unity of Scripture174
Also the sufficiency of Scripture175
Also the authority of Scripture176
The "historical method," as ordinarily employed, proceeds and ends without Christ177
It therefore treats Scripture as a man-made book, and denies its unity, sufficiency, and authority177
It sees in the Bible not an organism, pulsating with divine life, but only a congeries of earth-born fragments 177
XVI.Scripture and Missions179-198
The "historical method" finds in Psalm 110 only human authorship181
And contradicts Christ himself by denying the reference in the psalm to him182
A document can have more than one author, shown in art as well as literature183
Predictions of Christ in the Old Testament convinced unbelieving Jews184
The "historical method" finds no prediction of Christ in Isaiah, and so contradicts John184
Effect of this method upon the interpretation of the New Testament185
It gives us no assurance of Christ's deity, and ignores Old Testament proofs that he is Prophet, Priest, and King 185
Value of the "historical method" when not exclusively
inductive
186
Effect of this method, as often employed, upon systematic theology187
If Scripture has no unity, no systematic theology is possible187
Unitarian acknowledgment that its schools have no theology at all189
Effect of this method upon our theological seminaries to send out disseminators of doubts189
Effect of this method upon the churches of our denomination to destroy all reason for their existence191
Effect of this method upon missions to supersede evangelism by education and to lose all dynamic both abroad and at home 193
This method was "made in Germany," and must be opposed as we oppose arbitrary force in government195
The remedy is a spiritual coming of Christ in the hearts of his people197
XVII.The Theology of Missions199-212
Is man's religious nature only a capacity for religion?201
The will is never passive, the candle is always burning201
Moslem and Hindu alike show both good and bad elements in their worship201
Here and there are seekers after God, and such are saved through Christ, though they have not yet heard his name202
First chapter of Romans gives us the best philosophy of heathenism203
Heathenism, the result of an abnormal and downward evolution204
The eternal Christ conducts an evolution of the wheat, side by side with Satan's evolution of the tares204
All the good in heathen systems is the work of Christ, and we may utilize their grains of truth205
Illustrated in Hindu incarnations and Moslem faith in God's unity and personality205
Christ alone is our Peace, and he alone can unite the warring elements of humanity206
A moral as well as a doctrinal theology is needed in heathendom208
But external reforms without regeneration can never bring in the kingdom of God209
The history of missions proves that heart must precede intellect, motive must accompany example210
The love of Christ who died for us is the only constraining power210
Only his deity and atonement furnish the dynamic of missions211
XVIII.Missions and Missionaries213-223
Missionary work results in a healthy growth of the worker215
The successful missionary must be an all-round man215
He secures a training beyond that of any university course216
That training is spiritual as well as intellectual216
It tends to make him doctrinally sound as to Christ's deity and atonement217
Or convinces him that he has no proper place on a mission field218
A valuable lesson for our societies and churches at home218
New Testament polity, as well as doctrine, is tested by missions219
Our mission churches are becoming models of self-support, self-government, and self-propagation219
The physical environment of the missionary needs to be cared for219
The large house, many servants, and an automobile, are great and almost necessary helps220
All these can be obtained cheaply, and should be provided220
Other denominations furnish better equipment than ours220
Yet the days of missionary hardship are well-nigh past221
Missionary trials are mainly social and spiritual; and there are enough of these221
But faithful work, in spite of hope deferred, will be rewarded at last222