Review and Herald, Harvest Ingathering Number

Review and Herald

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C.

The Missionary Movement of 1913

The above map of the world, with dotted lines extending from the United States, Europe, and Australia to the great mission fields,—China, India, Africa, South America, and the islands of the sea,—is designed to show the movement of outgoing missionaries for last year only. One hundred and fifty-seven volunteers, not counting the children, were sent on to waiting fields during 1913. Each line in most cases represents a man and his wife, and as nearly as possible starts from that portion of the States or Europe where they resided, ending in their chosen field. It was found impossible to give the names on this small map. Truly a splendid movement of recruits missionward for one twelve months.

The Gift of Lives in Missionary Service

By Arthur Grosvenor Daniells

THE supreme purpose of the foreign missions movement now being carried forward by the Christian churches is to evangelize all the non-Christian world. This is the highest, the truest, and the most enduring service men can render to their fellow men. Sin is the cause of all the unspeakable sorrows of the human race. The Son of God came into the world to break this reign of sin, to set men free, and eventually to bring to an end all suffering and sorrow. The gospel is the revelation of that great truth; for it is “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Rom. 1:16. This is the hope, and the only hope, of sinners. It is the grandest message that can be borne to the ears and hearts of those wandering in the valley of the shadow of death. And this is the message being proclaimed by missionaries who have gone to heathen lands.

The great world-wide, thoroughly organized foreign missions movement in behalf of non-Christian peoples has been in operation a little more than a century. The results are known the world over. Millions have accepted Christ as their Saviour. Marvelous transformations have been wrought. Savagery and cannibalism have been banished from populous island groups and from other vast areas, while in every continent the blessed light has been let in among millions in darkness, dispelling superstition, and reforming lives, and lifting whole peoples to a higher plane.

But the results of this great evangelizing movement represent but one side of the undertaking. On the other side are the missionaries, their toil, self-sacrifice, and those who give the means required to support this work. The combined annual reports from the various mission boards and societies show that there are at the present time about twenty-five thousand European missionaries making Christ known in heathen lands. These are being assisted by six thousand ordained native evangelists and over one hundred thousand other native workers. To maintain this splendid work the churches in the homelands contribute thirty million dollars annually. The native Christians each year raise between seven and ten million dollars to push this work along in behalf of their own people. The toil and sacrifice, the separations and the sorrows, of this movement for a single year are too great either to trace or to express. Every year death reaps its cruel harvest. Filling the gaps breaks hundreds of family circles, and causes the repetition of hard labor to master the languages and make necessary adjustments all around. To hold the ground already occupied and to enter the doors everywhere thrown open to the missionary forces require constant and earnest efforts on the part of all believers in foreign missions.

LISTENING TO THE PREACHING OF THE WORD, CHANGSHA, HUNAN, CHINA.

And the work of raising funds can never cease. The years pass quickly and consume the annual appropriations. There can be no let-up in giving. The movement is on in full force. The missionaries are at the front with their wives and children. The schools, printing houses, and dispensaries are all operating. This great work cannot stop. To continue means the full expenditure of present appropriations, and that calls for continued giving on as large a scale as the church has ever contributed to the cause of foreign missions.

And why should not a work so helpful, so uplifting, and so transforming, continue and steadily enlarge? If any endeavor in the world is worth while, this is. If money is of value for any purpose, it is of special value in this movement. The unnumbered blessings the gospel has brought to us in the homeland, the new life and hope it has brought to millions in heathen lands, and the great needs of the

multimillions who are still without it,—all these appeal to us to go on recruiting and giving for foreign missions. And this is the mission of this Harvest Ingathering number of the REVIEW.

A. G. DANIELLS, President General Conference.

ARGENTINE MISSIONARY COLLEGE, SOUTH AMERICA.

A Sign of the End

The world-wide missionary movement of our generation is a sign of the approaching end. “And this gospel of the kingdom,” said Christ, “shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Matt. 24:14. The world-wide missionary awakening has come in this generation in which prophecy is so rapidly fulfilling.

The statement of contributions to foreign missions presented at the last conference of North American Protestant missionary societies indicated $16,000,000 given for missions in 1913. With what the societies of Europe are doing it means that $26,000,000 is being devoted annually to foreign missions. The ten societies in North America having the largest missionary income are as follows:— Presbyterian North ..... $1,800,000 Methodist Episcopal ..... 1,500,000 Baptist ................. 1,100,000 Congregationalist ........ 1,048,000 Woman’s Methodist ..... 837,000 Protestant Episcopal ..... 823,000 Methodist South ..... 790,000 Presbyterian South ..... 637,000 Southern Baptist ....... 580,000 Seventh-day Adventist ... 444,000

The Light of the World

By I. H. EVANS

JESUS declared, “I am the light of the world.” John wrote of Christ, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” Again, we read of the Saviour that he is “the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”

To Christ we owe all we have above the most benighted heathen. All that Christian lands possess in knowledge, civilization, and progress, they owe to the influence of Christianity. Christ has been the light of nations in proportion as the people of those nations receive him as the Son of God.

We who live in Christian lands, enjoying the daily blessings of civil and religious liberty, sometimes forget how many of the people of earth do not know Christ. We are complacent when we view the work already accomplished, and forget that at the present time two out of every three of the inhabitants of this earth are still in heathenism, knowing not God nor his Son Jesus Christ. Two out of three of all mankind are dying in sin, without a ray of light to penetrate the darkness that enwraps their souls. In their blindness they bow down to idols made by man; they worship nature in her various forms; they pray and offer sacrifices to the spirit world; but the true God they know not, and of his Son Jesus Christ they have never heard.

The truth of Christ’s words, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me,” has been demonstrated in nearly every land today. In Africa, in Asia, among nearly all heathen peoples, there are those who have been drawn to Jesus when he has been lifted up before them, and in their lives has been reflected the image of the Son of God.

Wonderful indeed is the transformation which faith in Jesus effects in the hearts of poor heathen. Sins are confessed, wrongs made right, evil habits overcome, and the believer becomes a “new man in Christ Jesus.” The home, in its atmosphere and complexion, becomes changed when Christ is taken into hearts which sin has so long darkened. The family altar is established; at mealtimes grace is said; women are respected; instead of fear, hope dwells in the heart. No longer is the wrath of evil

spirits feared, but the true God is worshiped, and Jesus Christ becomes all and in all.

It is our privilege to send the heralds of the cross of Christ to these darkened lands. To the church comes the cry, “Send us help.” Men are dying in the darkness of sin and ignorance, waiting for the word of life. Will not the reader be one of many to share in sending the gospel to these benighted millions?

I. H. EVANS, President North American Division.

The European Division

By L. R. Conradi

IN the work of carrying the gospel message of Christ’s soon coming to “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,” the European Division desires to stand shoulder to shoulder with our North American brethren.

Our own home field is “truly great;” and that the harvest is indeed “plenteous” may be seen from the fact that our report for last year shows an ingathering of 6,000 additional members as the result of the Lord’s blessing upon the efforts of the 700 gospel workers engaged in this division.

MISSIONARY TRAINING SCHOOL, SKOPJE, SERBIA

That the field is ripe for the harvest is proved by the urgent calls for workers that come to us from all parts,—from Siberia, and Russian Manchuria, and Turkestan, and Central Asia, and all parts of Africa, the greater part of the Dark Continent being assigned to our division conference.

“But the laborers are few.” This we realize continually. Yet something has been done to increase their numbers. In 1902 we had in Europe only 250 gospel workers; today the number has nearly tripled. Our missionary training schools in Watford (England), Gland (Switzerland), Skodsborg (Denmark), Nyhyttan (Sweden), and Friedensau (Germany), are filled with young people whose eyes are upon the regions beyond. The Friedensau school occupies a specially unique position, as it is our main training center to supply

missionaries for a population of 350,000,000. Instead of the 200 student volunteers for the fields now enrolled in Friedensau, this school should have many more.

When we review the Macedonian calls from all parts—including modern Macedonia itself—we see in the 400 students now in our European missionary training schools but a faint answer. “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.”

L. R. CONRADI, President European Division. Hamburg.

The Harvest Ingathering Campaign of Last Year—1913

By W. T. KNOX

A Word From the Treasurer

WE are pleased to report to the many friends of foreign missions who last year assisted us in our efforts by contributing to this work through our numerous solicitors engaged in the Harvest Ingathering campaign, that in that effort there were circulated 606,000 copies of the special REVIEW, most of which were used in North America. Those receiving them contributed to the amount of $56,283.99, which has been duly received by the foreign mission treasurer, and the entire amount has been faithfully devoted to the work in foreign lands.

This is the largest amount of contributions ever received from this source, and has been greatly appreciated, both by the General Conference officers and by those in charge of the fields benefited. It is with sincere gratitude for this assistance that this report is made. Eternity only can reveal the results in the many souls that have been won by means of the gifts that entered into this sum. W. T. KNOX, Treasurer Mission Board.

MISSIONARY VOLUNTEERS AT THE FRIEDENSAU (GERMANY) TRAINING SCHOOL

The Asiatic Division Mission

By R. C. PORTER

Two new schools for the training of missionary workers have been opened in this division during the last year, and this brings promise of yet further increase in our staff, now numbering 345 workers.

Reports show a gathering of souls all up and down our fields. A report just in from Central China shows 232 baptized converts, most of whom came directly out of heathen darkness.

Besides the books and tracts circulated, our colporteurs are selling and securing subscriptions for 55,000 copies monthly of our Chinese paper, a large circulation for a religious periodical in China. Recently a Chinese priest handed me his former credentials authorizing him to minister at heathen altars. He also turned over his household gods to our workers, saying that now that he had found Christ he had no further need of them. These are the things that gladden our hearts.

Six new mission fields have been opened by this division during the last year. Other unentered fields are making pitiful appeals to us for missionaries. We are forced to delay from lack of funds. Your contributions to missions is your command to our loyal workers at the front to advance. Shall they have long to wait for further marching orders?

R. C. PORTER, President Asiatic Division.

Missionary Hymn

By Rev. Henry Burton

THERE’S a light upon the mountains, and the day is at the spring, When our eyes shall see the beauty and the glory of the King; Weary was our heart with waiting, and the night watch seemed so long, But his triumph day is breaking, and we hail it with a song. In the fading of the starlight we can see the coming morn; And the lights of men are paling in the splendors of the dawn; For the eastern skies are glowing as with light of hidden fire, And the hearts of men are stirring with a throb of deep desire.

There’s a hush of expectation, and a quiet in the air, And the breath of God is moving in the fervent breath of prayer; For the suffering, dying Jesus is the Christ upon the throne, And the travail of our spirit is the travail of his own. He is breaking down the barriers, he is casting up the way; He is calling for his angels to build up the gates of day; But his angels here are human, not the shining hosts above, For the drumbeats of his army are the heartbeats of our love.

Hark! we hear a distant music, and it comes with fuller swell; ’Tis the triumph song of Jesus, of our King, Immanuel! Zion, go ye forth to meet him! And, my soul, be swift to bring All thy sweetest and thy dearest for the triumph of our King!

— Rev. Henry Burton, D. D., in the Bombay Guardian.

The Growth of Christianity in Asia

IN China the blood of the martyrs has been truly the seed of the church. More converts have been gathered in the ten years since the Boxer uprising than in all the ninety years of previous Christian effort. Of the eleven million Koreans, 300,000 are already Christians.

The “Flavor” in the Word

By J. J. Westrup

I NEVER saw the Lord’s blessing so plainly as I have this year, though we have continually been amid trial by robbers. All the trials are more than compensated for by such testimonies as I heard last Sabbath. Three well-educated teachers testified almost the same in new appreciation of the power of God in the blessed Word. As they put it, they never knew there was “so much flavor” in the Word. Others rejoiced in the clear fulfillment of prophecy and the signs that Jesus will soon return to take us to glory.

North of the Yellow River about forty have recently accepted full salvation, and eighteen of them are in our Hunan training school, studying to engage in the work. It was inspiring to hear them pray with tears for relatives and friends.

An evangelist was lately working in a place where he could get no water except in a heathen temple. As he went for it, he found himself in the hands of a band of robbers.

“Who are you?” they demanded.

He told them.

“Are you from the church in Chowkiakow?” they asked.

“Yes,” he replied.

“O,” they said, “that is a good church; they do good and help people!”

They gave him water, and he went on his way rejoicing that the work being done had given the station a good name even among the robbers.

We have closed our Honan workers’ institute, about one hundred having been in attendance. The Lord greatly blessed, and these brethren long to get out into the work for others. Nineteen persons were baptized at the close of the institute. These candidates had an intelligent knowledge of the truth of God, and I am confident that I shall meet them in the kingdom. J. J. WESTRUP.

Honan.

IN THE CHINESE REPUBLIC

By K. H. WOOD.

Fighting a Different Battle

DONG FOH LING is a young man of China with an interesting experience. At the time of his conversion he was a professional prize fighter. Just over a year ago he came to Shanghai, where his name was advertised on placards, with a challenge to fight any one who wished to meet him. He recently said, “Then I would rather fight than eat.” But he has heard the gospel message, and his conversion has taken all the spirit of the prize fighter out of his heart, and he is glad to be numbered with the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus. Now he is fighting the battles of the Lord.

A year ago he could neither read nor write. Now he can read nearly all the Bible, and is always glad of an opportunity to give a reason for the hope that has transformed the once heathen pugilist into an earnest Christian believer.

K. H. WOOD.

Shanghai.

The Test of Faith

By Mrs. R. F. Cottrell.

“THAT ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.” This is a blessed word in these lands of heathen hopelessness.

In a small city of Hunan where we have an outstation, a young married woman had been groping her way from heathenism into Christianity. Mrs. Li, our Bible woman, had been teaching her to read the Gospels, that she might more perfectly understand the way of life. For some time she had been looking forward with joy to the time when the “foreign pastor” would come to their town, so that she might follow her Lord in baptism.

But now her one child, a little son, fell ill. The mother, in her new-found trust in our Heavenly Father, prayed for the little one’s restoration, and her prayer was answered. This greatly increased her faith.

At last the long-expected day came when the foreign pastor visited the city, and it was announced that the next morning opportunity would be given for those who were prepared, to take part in the baptismal rite. But this mother’s little one was again violently ill; so she brought him to the mission for special prayer, trusting that it would please God to raise him as before. However, the child died that same night.

Here came the great test for the mother and relatives. Ordinarily, the mother would have given herself up to loud mourning and wailing, refusing to be comforted for days. Many times, we have seen Chinese women throw themselves down, tearing themselves away from the friends who were trying to support and comfort them in their grief, wailing in a most distressing manner. What would the religion of Jesus Christ do for this poor woman who had all her days been surrounded by heathenism and its customs? Would her experience stand the test?

The child was buried before nine o’clock the next morning, and this sad young mother soon after presented herself silently among the candidates for baptism. The test had been a severe one, but Jesus had been sufficient, and had comforted her heart. Her calm, peaceful demeanor as she entered the baptismal waters was regarded by all her friends as a miracle of the Lord’s grace, and testified more loudly than could many sermons to the peace and comfort found in Christ, and to the power of his grace, even amid heathen surroundings, to transform the life.

MRS. R. F. COTTRELL.

Hunan.

Mandarin School for Evangelists

By A. C. SELMON, M. D.

THE illustration shows a few of the students in our Mandarin School for Evangelists, dedicated this year at our Shanghai headquarters. We have sixty-one in attendance being trained for gospel service. The majority of them have already been in the work as evangelists or colporteurs. Some will not have opportunity to continue their school work beyond the present year. The demands from the fields are so urgent that we must do our best to train these young people in the shortest possible time, so that they may enter the ripening harvest fields. There are mission schools to be taught and evangelistic work to be done. If we had two hundred in the school, there would be places for them all in the field.

One young man and his wife are here from Manchuria. He is full of enthusiasm, and will make a most efficient helper for the brethren who are to open our work in Manchuria this autumn. These young people manifest a good spirit in every way, and they have a strong purpose in their hearts to join in carrying this advent message to all China. This is some of the fruitage that encourages our hearts here, and we know it will encourage those who are sacrificing in the homelands to sustain the work.

A. C. SELMON, M. D. Shanghai.

What the Blind Woman Saw

THE following comes from South China:—

“We baptized a blind woman who was sixty-two years of age. As she stood for about twenty minutes answering the questions we asked her as to why she wanted to be a Christian, God's Spirit came in and melted hearts. Tears dampened every eye, I think, before she sat down. Any one of God's servants would have been proud to bury her with her Lord in baptism. Not one question did she fail to answer, and intelligently, too.

“She said she could not see us, and had never seen the Bible, could not read a word of it even if she had her eyesight, but was happy that she could see as far into the kingdom by the eyes of faith as any one of us. She said that some day she would be able to see Jesus, and that when he gave her eyes to see she wanted him to be the first one upon whom they should look, then next she wanted to see the man who had spent so many hours in teaching her the way to heaven.

“About four hundred persons saw her buried in her watery grave. As she came up from the water, she stopped to tell the people why she had decided to go into the back street, into the little room, to worship with the few Christians, instead of with the multitude as she had always done before. There are six persons in that company who are over sixty years of age, and their hearts have been weaned from idol-worship, and they are happy in the message which we love.”

Among the Hakkas

By S. A. Nagel

The work among the Hakka-speaking people of the Canton province continues to grow. Just now Brother J. P. Anderson is away visiting stations in the north, and planning to start one new station. This time I must send a word regarding the medical missionary work which we all have to do. It is remarkable what comes to us even though we are not medical missionaries. It is surprising, also, what one can do with our rational methods of treatment and a few simple remedies. I sometimes wonder why these poor people do not all die. They will not send for the foreigner until they are very nearly dead. Sometimes in my lack of knowledge I feel like running away, but their great need appeals to me.

S. A. NAGEL.

Wai Chow.

Their First Prayer

By W. F. HILLS

I SHALL never forget the impressive scene as a new company of sixty-five believers gathered to join in their first prayer to the living God. Only one man in this company had ever before attempted to pray to God.

Pastor Ang read a few scriptures, giving examples of prayer and showing that the Lord in heaven hears the prayers of his children on earth. As these newly won souls folded their hands and bowed before God, I was sure that music filled heaven because of this wonderful victory. When they thanked God for the Bible, for Jesus, and for the coming of the workers who had given them the message of salvation, our hearts were filled with praise to God that we were granted a place in his harvest field.

One sentence which they wanted to have a place in their prayer was this: “God, give us a teacher who can teach our boys the right way.” This sentence of their first prayer rings in my ears. They really believe that the true God will answer that petition, and I believe he will, too. They say that the God who created all things can surely supply them with a teacher.

They have turned out the old idols which filled their temple, and have cast every one out of their homes. Now they simply kneel at the foot of the cross and tell the Lord that they are willing to follow him as he leads the way. They raised seventy-five dollars that day as a fund for the teacher when he comes. The building where they formerly worshiped their idols is now turned into a neat chapel, furnished and seated at their own expense.

Swatow, China. W. F. HILLS.

Szechuan, by the Tibetan Border

By F. A. ALLUM.

WE have at last reached Szechuan, one of the westernmost provinces in China. A chapel has been rented in this city, and tomorrow we shall hold our first Sabbath meeting. Brother M. C. Warren is with me. We left our wives in Shanghai, where they will remain until we are settled in this new field. We spent thirty-nine days on a house boat coming up the Yang-tze-kiang, staying a few days on the house boat even after reaching Chung-king, for there are no foreign inns in the place.

We are glad to be here. Since our work is now opened in Szechuan, it will not be a difficult thing to plant a station in Tibet, as the main road into Tibet lies through this province. Then, too, many of the people of Tibet speak the Mandarin language. Thus we can almost say that this last gospel message is at the door of Tibet.

Since we are 1,500 miles from Shanghai, we deem it essential that a missionary doctor be located in this province at an early date. I hope the Mission Board in Washington will keep this matter in mind, and that next year a doctor may be supplied to this field. We thank God for his protecting care that has brought us and our goods safely through dangerous rapids and robber-infested regions. Pray for us.

F. A. ALLUM.

Chung-king, China.

With the Mission Dispensaries

By F. A. Stahl

Inca Indian Mission, Lake Titicaca, Peru

Here is a picture of a common scene round our dispensary door as the Indians flock in for treatment. Then, too, the calls for help come ever more urgently from remote places. I was called to visit one sick person over the mountains where the way was so difficult that the Indian guides had to take my feet and place them in the niches of the rocks in order that I might get down the precipice. But God is blessing. In this morning's group, of which I send you the picture, we found the following cases:—

A woman with a broken collar bone, a man with neglected broken ribs, one with an ulcerated throat, another with an ulcerated leg, a case of pleurisy, and one of hemorrhage of the lungs, two persons with aching teeth, a case of stomach trouble, and two persons with fever, besides many others with minor ailments. And this is not an unusual scene. They come to us from great distances, sometimes traveling eighty miles or more. We do all in our power to help them, and we see to it that no one leaves the mission without an inspiration to live a better life.

F. A. STAHL.

Plataria, Peru.

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