RESULTS OF MISSION WORK.
By W. C. Townsend
[By Rev. W. C. Townsend in Gospel in All Lands.] ONE result of past mission work has been the awakening of heathen nations, and advancing the processes of civilization. When the Gospel of Jesus enters the darkened nations, many of the bad and cruel customs disappear; the civilizing process begins. The examples of Christian homes and Christian lives are a powerful factor in the redemption of men. A vast amount of geographical knowledge has come from missionary effort. Knowledge of races and languages has been added to the world's history. Compilation of grammars and dictionaries, and interpretation of unknown tongues have rapidly followed the entrance of missionaries, while the Bible has been translated into the various languages, and a large amount of information obtained regarding foreign peoples. The case of the Hawaiians is well known, where the whole nation was civilized, and at least nominally Christianized, within the space of forty years. The commercial advantages which follow mission work have been great, and they are still increasing. About one hundred years ago Captain Cook was murdered by the savages in the Sandwich Islands. Now Honolulu is a most important commercial port, with a heavy trade. Sir Thomas Foxwell Buxton said that the trade at Lagos, West Africa, of $5,000,000 or more each year, is mostly due to the industry of the natives at Sierra Leone, who have been trained under missionary auspices. When Lord Lawrence was governor-general of India, he said, “Missionaries have done more than ‘all other agencies combined to benefit India.” Lord Napier said, “Missionaries go hand in hand with the government in raising the ‘intellectual standard of the Indian ‘people, and in forming for the service of the state a body of public ‘servants of intellectual and moral ‘worth.” The scientific value of mission labor is also of great importance. Dr. David Livingstone will ever be remembered for both his scientific and evangelistic work in Africa. He died on his knees, doubtless praying for the redemption of that great continent. Henry M. Stanley, while not a missionary, was yet enabled successfully to prosecute his researches and explorations because of the previous knowledge obtained through Livingstone. Japan, Burma, Ceylon, Madagascar, Australia, India, and Malaysia are feeling the tremendous throb of life-giving power and civilization from missionary effort. Mission work has also alleviated human suffering and its flow of agony. Dr. Reid says, “The advancement ‘of Christianity has extinguished the ‘fires of the suttee; babes are no ‘longer thrown to the crocodiles of ‘the Ganges. The crime of female ‘infanticide is becoming understood. ‘The horrors of female servitude are ‘passing away. The poison test for ‘criminals disappears as Christianity ‘advances.” Mission effort has also developed a spirit of heroism and consecration which has never been surpassed, Jesus said, “The field is the world.” And John Wesley said after Him, “The world is my ‘parish.’ The heroism of William Carey yet stimulates to noble endeavor. The picture given us of Dr. John G. Paton's heroism in the New Hebrides, the South Sea Islands, is most touching. With his own hands he dug the grave for his wife and child, and buried them; then he resumed his missionary labors till whole islands of people found Christ as a personal Saviour. The heroism of native converts is equal to that of the missionaries. The story of the martyrs of Uganda and of Ling Ching Ting thrills all hearts. The greatest result of all is in the actual conversion of men to a personal faith in Jesus. There are now more than one million communicants in Protestant mission fields, with over three million adherents.