What It Means to the Home Land—The Hour Has Struck
By ARTHUR G. DANIELLS
President General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists
THE cause of foreign missions is steadily winning its way to the front. It is gaining the confidence and approval of practical educators, business men, and representative men sent by governments to foreign lands to look after state interests. It is securing a large place in the hearts of Christian men and women in the home churches. It is coming to be regarded as a movement of first importance in the world. In a little volume just off the press, the writer says of this missionary movement:
"There is no question before the world to-day which involves such large forces, such multitudes of people, and with such tremendous issues. There is nothing greater to which a man may relate his life." And he adds that it is "the one purpose around which a man may build all the facts of his life, and to which he may cling and let everything else go when he is hard pressed."
The foreign missions enterprise has now come to be a world movement. In 1910, the Edinburgh Missionary Conference reported that there were 944 missionary organizations carrying on this work. These organizations are supporting 25,000 American and European missionaries in the mission fields of the world. They are also maintaining and directing about 125,000 native workers. This makes an army of 150,000 gospel workers giving their lives to the proclamation of that gospel which Jesus declared would be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations.
務本半夜學校全體師生攝影
And these gospel messengers have truly gone into all the world. In the Western Hemisphere, they are proclaiming the name of Christ and His message of salvation all the way from Greenland, Lapland, and Alaska, in North America, to Cape Horn, the most southern point of South America. There is not a place in these western continents to which these heralds of the cross have not gone. The unfilled gaps between the stations are there because the mission funds provided in the home land are as yet inadequate to support the laborers required to fill them. This condition will not long prevail. The missionary map of Europe, Asia, and Africa shows the
same wide distribution of the missionary forces over these great continents. But few important sections remain unentered, and these are countries whose rulers and people refuse to allow the gospel to be proclaimed within their borders. They are Tibet, Afghanistan, and a few places in the dark Mohammedan sections of northern Africa.
The growth, the power, and the achievements of the cause of foreign missions during the last century are truly marvelous. A century ago, there were only about one hundred missionaries at work in non-Christian lands. These were confined to a very few places. In fact, the most of the heathen world was closed against them. Now all but a very few lands are wide open to Christian missionaries. As one writer has said, "God has been shaping and preparing the nations in the interests of a world-wide gospel."
When Christian missionaries began this work in heathen lands, there were few if any institutions maintained for the betterment and relief of the masses. Education such as there was in a few countries was impractical, and could be obtained by only a few of the most favored. There were no hospitals for the sick, no asylums for the insane, no homes for the blind and the deaf and dumb, and no stations for lepers. During the last century, all these helpful, uplifting institutions have been established in the lands entered by the heralds of the cross. Thousands of educated, skilled, sympathetic men and women are rendering the greatest service, in these institutions, to millions of people in great need. This Christian service is breaking down prejudice, and bringing about marvelous changes in the condition and attitude of the people of these lands.
The results of this century of toil and sacrifice are great beyond estimation. Millions of men and women who had been groping in the darkness and superstition of heathenism have been brought into the light of the gospel. They have accepted Christ as their Saviour. And all those who have accepted Him have been lifted to a higher life. They have had a revelation610of the character and results of sin, and also a revelation of Christ as the Saviour from sin. This revelation has wrought in them a marvelous transformation of life. It has banished superstition, savagery, and cannibalism from different classes of people in various groups of islands, and from large sections of country in all the continents of the world. The most thorough investigation shows that the gospel of Christ lifts all classes of people who receive it, to a new life. It Christianizes them, and that makes them a truly civilized people.
PASTOR AND MRS. J. S. YATES, IN CHARGE OF OUR MISSION AT PADANG
A Mighty Task Given This Generation
It is the conviction of all men who give the conditions now existing in the mission fields of the world careful study, that a mighty providence has been shaping affairs in these lands for a great spiritual reformation. Dr. John R. Mott, who has recently returned from an extended visit to the principal mission fields of the world, says: "God seems to have done a hundred years' work within the last five years. . . . There never has been a time when simultaneously, in so many non-Christian lands, the facts of need and opportunity presented such a remarkable appeal to Christendom as now. . . . From the point of view of the Christian church, the present moment is incomparably the most critical and urgent it has ever known. . . . To delay, by even a half decade, facing the situation and acting upon it comprehensively, would be the most serious mistake which the Christian leaders in this generation could make."
Then he asks this significant question: "Why is it that at the very time the Christian forces have more to do than ever at the home base, they are also confronted with an immeasurably greater opportunity abroad than that which has faced any preceding generation?"
Appointed for Triumph
The answer is plain. This is the generation appointed by the Lord for the triumphs of the gospel throughout the world. This is the generation of which the Saviour spoke when He said, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Matt. 24:14. This is God's appointed time for the finishing of His work in the earth. And the present world-wide proclamation of the gospel is a sign of the end, a token that the glorious reign of our Lord and Master is soon to be ushered in. But the results of this great evangelizing movement represent only one side of the undertaking. On the other side are the missionaries, and the means required to support the work. The toil and the sacrifice, the separations and the sorrows, involved in this movement for a single year even, are too far-reaching and great either to trace or to express. Every year, death reaps its cruel harvest. Filling the gaps (Continued on page 32)611## World-Wide Movement
(Continued from page 2)
breaks hundreds of family circles, and causes the repetition of hard labor to master the languages and make the necessary adjustments all around. To hold the ground already occupied, and to enter the doors everywhere thrown open to the missionary forces, requires constant and earnest efforts on the part of all believers in foreign missions.
MARATHI BELIEVERS BAPTIZED INTO THE NEW LIFE
On in Full Force
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, with their wives and children, are at the front. The schools, the printing houses, and the dispensaries are all operating. This great work cannot stop. To maintain the work now in hand will require the full expenditure of present appropriations. The new demands can only be met by increasing the gifts. That calls for continued giving, and on a larger scale than the church has ever contributed to the cause of foreign missions.
A Summons—A Trumpet Call
But what has been accomplished is a summons, a trumpet call, to the whole Christian church, to make a supreme effort in behalf of all the non-Christian peoples of the world.
"The evangelization of the world in this generation" is now the appropriate and universal watchword of missionary leaders. The time has come for this work to be done; and the providences of God have so shaped the affairs of the world, and so provided the resources of men and of means in the church, as to make this great achievement altogether possible, and it will be performed.
The Hour Has Come
To accomplish this, more workers, larger contributions, and a larger measure of the Holy Spirit's power for efficient service are needed. The church has the money to give, and the workers to send. The Holy Spirit has already been given to the church, and awaits demand and reception.
The remarkable condition we are now facing is the fulfillment of both prophecy and promise made by our Lord to His church. The hour has come when all the world must hear the gospel of a crucified and risen Christ.
To participate in such a work is the greatest privilege that comes to any one on earth. All who are faithful in doing their part will share in the glorious triumph that will follow. The reward is eternal, and is of such incalculable value that no one can afford to come short of it.
OUR society issues 134 periodicals from thirty-eight publishing houses and branches scattered throughout the world. During the year 1914, $2,109,834.60 worth of publications were sold by our earnest colporteurs.
THE matter for this excellent double number of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES is furnished by the secretaries of our Mission Board, and it affords a splendid glimpse of the activities of our world-wide work.
As the result of the efforts in behalf of missions last year with the Harvest Ingathering SIGNS, friends assisted to the amount of $78,333.25. Because of these gifts, many missionaries are to-day at work in destitute heathen lands who otherwise must have remained at home. These gifts are greatly appreciated.
AN African boy illustrates the vanity of riches as follows: "How many saw the fog in the garden yesterday morning? How many saw it after the sun was up a little? Where will our riches be when Jesus comes? — They will all vanish like the fog before the sun."
WHILE soliciting funds among friends for mission advance into all the world, Seventh-day Adventists are endeavoring to do their part in bearing the burden of giving the gospel in all the world. Counting only the members in North America, on an average each member gave last year $10.20 for missions; this in addition to their tithe paid for work in the home field.
SINCE 1912, the Sabbath schools of the society represented by this paper have set apart the thirteenth or last Sabbath in each quarter to offer gifts to some specific object in foreign lands. As a result of these sixteen one-day mission efforts, a total of $261,887.82 has been realized for missions. The largest amount given by the schools in any one year was given last year, $88,380.34. The largest gift on any thirteenth Sabbath was donated for Manchuria and East and West China at Christmas time last year, $24,523.69.
Orient Marching Forward
By Ross C. Porter
Eight Hundred Million People — How They Are Being Reached
ROSS C. PORTER
President Asiatic Division Conference
THE Asiatic Division of the world field embraces China, Manchuria, Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Australasia, the East Indies, Ceylon, India, and Burma.
This large territory has between eight and nine hundred millions of people. As the present population of the world is between seventeen and eighteen hundred millions, this division contains more than half the entire population of the world. And of this vast population, by far the greater portion are heathen. In the Far East, we are therefore confronted by the greatest of mission problems.
Regardless of Flood, Fire, and War
In spite of disasters by flood, fire, famine, and war, the past year has been one of the most prosperous, in missionary advance, in the history of our work.
By the aid of the American consul, the Manchurian Mission purchased land, and located their permanent headquarters at Mukden. Numerous calls have come from far and near for missions to be established in interior places. In Mukden there is a company of believers, and the sale of literature is creating many openings throughout that field.
Korea Always at the Front
For Korea, always at the front in mission interest, 1915 was the banner year. They report the largest number of baptized converts, and the most extensive circulation of literature, in their history.
The mission territory in Japan has been reorganized, and all parts of the field have been placed under closer foreign supervision. The Japanese converts have taken a greater interest in the raising of funds and the circulation of literature. This has resulted in a more general awakening, with numerous calls for advance into unoccupied fields.
China's Forward Swing
The advance in China has been very marked. The number of mission and training schools opened, the location of new missions, the purchase of land for the erection of mission stations and training schools, the circulation of literature, and the large increase of baptized converts, are the practical demonstration of the great forward movement that is now on in China.
The acting superintendent of central China, after describing the great interest that has been awakened at a newly opened station, says, "This is far above any opening that we have ever met in this part of China."
East, West, and South China all report the most encouraging results the past year of any since the opening of our work in China. The rank and file of the Chinese people are very favorable toward missions, and very responsive to gospel appeals.
Surpassing All Records
The Malay peninsula, the East Indies, the Philippines, and the great Australasian group of island territory, embrace all shades of mission experience, from the civilized and foreignized native to the savage head-hunter. Yet in these fields, among all classes, the progress of the gospel has surpassed all previous records. Tent meetings and other public efforts have yielded results equal to similar efforts in the more enlightened home land. Substantial printing plants and schools have been established, mission homes have been built, and an unusually large number of converts baptized.
In Burma and India, the work is making most marvelous progress. Never were these people so impressible with gospel truth as now. Whole villages have come forward offering themselves for baptism.
Investment Brings Joy
The great need of the hour is men and means to equip and support properly the work in these fields which are now yielding such remarkable returns for labor611bestowed. No investment of money and no employment of talent can bring more joy or insure so large a reward as sharing the labor and expense of carrying the closing message of the gospel to these needy heathen people. Persons who are situated so that they cannot go themselves, may share in the work by furnishing money with which to employ native evangelists and colporteurs to represent them in the field. Many are giving substantial aid in this way.
Mission Offerings Grow
By W. T. Knox
Big Increase in Past Decade
W. T. KNOXTreasurer General Conference
IN order that those in whose hands this missionary periodical is placed may know more fully what is being accomplished in missionary effort by the denomination represented by this journal, and the growth of its foreign mission offerings in North America, the accompanying diagram is given, which shows at a glance the amount received by the General Conference treasurer during a period of ten years, and the amount contributed per capita for the membership in North America.
Beginning with the year 1906, the total offerings amounted to $149,260.51, or at the rate per capita of $2.56. The diagram shows a rapid and steady yearly increase until the close of 1915, during which year $692,477.71 was received, which was at the rate of $10.20 per capita for all members in the United States and Canada, or a total for the ten years of $3,946,051.27. These donations to missions are in addition to the tithe paid by our members for the support of the work in the home field. This growth in offerings is indicative of a corresponding expansion of the work in all fields, but especially in heathen and non-Christian lands.
The plans formulated by the Mission Board for the present year involve appropriations as follows:
Asiatic Division, including China, Manchuria, Korea, Japan, the Philippine Islands, Malaysia, and India
$387,600
South America
63,500
South Africa
54,200
West Indies
18,500
Latin America
27,500
Isolated fields
10,000
Special appropriations
35,000
Sustentation for aged workers
12,000
Operating and departmental expense
70,000
Total
$678,300
Other Countries
The work in Europe, Asia Minor, northern, eastern, and western Africa, is financed by our European Division Conference, while the South Sea Islands are cared for by the Australasian Union. The appropriations covering these fields are not included in the above figures.
In our Harvest Ingathering Campaign for 1915, over 800,000 copies of the special number of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES were circulated, mostly in the United States and Canada, although some were called for in the most distant lands. In receiving these periodicals, the friends of foreign missions contributed $78,333.25 to assist in this good work. For 1916, we have set the mark at $100,000. The kindness and liberality of friends in the past campaigns has been greatly appreciated, and their coöperation this year will be gladly welcomed.
KOREAN TRAINING SCHOOL INSTRUCTORS
Men and Means Respond
By Irwin H. Evans
What Do the Home Fields Say?
IRWIN H. EVANS
President North American Division Conference
NOTHING lies nearer the hearts of God's children than the advancement of His work in all parts of the earth. While it is our duty to preach the gospel to all men, still the fact remains that of late years the unentered heathen fields have mightily appealed to the church of Christ; and as the people of God have become informed concerning conditions and the needs of the millions in heathen lands, they have responded proportionately both in means and in workers to enter these darkened portions of the earth.
1915 was our banner year in raising funds for mission work, to say nothing of what was raised for the work in the home land. The North American Division Conference contributed $692,477.71 for foreign mission work. While this is not a great sum, it is considerable when we take into account that there were only about 72,000 people who gave this amount. Of course, other divisions of territory responded with greater or lesser sums; but North America itself contributed the above sum for foreign mission work during 1915.
GENERAL MEETING IN SOUTH CHINA
Giving Sons, Daughters, and Friends
1916 must not fall behind, but go beyond anything we have hitherto done. Liberality has been manifested not only in the money offered, but in the giving of sons and daughters and friends to carry the gospel to the benighted millions in heathen lands. The General Conference made a call on us for 1916 to furnish them with one hundred families, in addition to their already large corps of workers. This means a heavy tax on the North American Division Conference. Every training school has been drafted for all that were available, and the needs are still unsupplied.
An Added Responsibility
We cannot shut our eyes to the demands for workers in these great fields. God has always made His people willing in the day of His power; and as the funds are coming in with which to support the work, there will be a heavy demand upon well trained, consecrated workers to go to the needy fields. It will never do for us to look about and declare that we have needs that must be met before we can help the foreign fields.
China, India, and dark Africa must appeal to us strongly in the calls they have made for men. The situation in Europe adds to our responsibility. The awful war that has been raging has decimated the ranks of the workers in Europe, so that the European field is calling loudly for help. The whole situation demands that every young person available be drafted into the service of his Master for the finishing of the work.
Our hearts have been greatly cheered by the hearty response of the people to the call for means, and by their willingness to give their lives for service in the regions beyond. There is scarcely a man who does not hold himself in readiness for foreign service, if, in the exigencies of the work, the cause of God can be served better by his going to a heathen land than by his remaining in the home land.
The Base of Supplies
North America must ever remain the base of supplies, both of men and of means, for foreign work; and we must not allow our faith to become so narrow that we shall feel there is nothing more we can do. We must enlarge on every hand, increase our offerings to foreign fields, and withhold not our sons and daughters.
We hope the ingathering for missions this year will be the best in our experience, with the sole purpose of extending the kingdom of God in the earth.
Among China's Millions
A Tribe of Kings
By R. F. Cottrell
R. F. COTTRELL
FIVE years ago, a tract entitled "The Illuminated Pathway" was purchased at a market town in southern Hunan, by a Confucianist named Wang—written and translated "King." He took the tract to his mountain home, where he read it carefully; and being impressed with the message it contained, he wrote to our nearest out station, asking for more literature, and also inviting the evangelist in charge to visit him at his home.
Ten Thousand of Them
The evangelist accepted the invitation; and later it was the privilege of Mrs. Cottrell and me, while on one of our itinerating trips, to be entertained by Mr. Wang and his family. We were the first foreigners who had ever crossed that mountain range. On arriving, and being introduced to a number of his friends by the name of Wang, we inquired of our host, "How many people are there here by this name?"
"Oh," was the answer, "there are over six hundred in our family, but in the entire Wang clan there are nearly ten thousand."
They Occupied a Mountain
For a number of hundred years this clan has lived, and occupied a considerable tract of land on the top of this mountain range. They build their own houses of brick made by themselves; they make all their furniture of timber that grows upon their own property; their land produces all the grains and vegetables for their sustenance; and they weave their own cloth from hemp grown by themselves. Thus if shut off from the rest of the world, they could practically provide for all their necessities.
Deliverance Brought to Them
But left to themselves, they were destitute of any power or method of deliverance from sin. We held meetings with them, unfolding to their minds the wonderful plan of salvation. We advised them to prepare a school building for the education of their children and youth, and also to erect a chapel for religious services, promising them that the mission would help them by sending a school-teacher, and occasionally an evangelist. The buildings were provided, largely by their own efforts, and a mission school is now conducted.
It has been our privilege, from time to time, to see a number of these people follow their Lord in baptism; and at the time of Brother Wang's last visit to Hankau, he reported that fully two thirds—or about four hundred—of his large family had forsaken their idols and were groping their way toward the "illuminated pathway." He also said that the good tidings were spreading to other villages and towns in the vicinity of his home, and he earnestly requested that we send them more help.
This is only one of the many calls in central China which are thrust insistently upon us. To a large extent, it rests with the church in the home land to decide how and when these calls shall be answered.
A Chinaman's Endurance for Christ
By Chau Wan Heung
CHAU WAN HEUNG
I WAS in darkness, and was taught to worship idols, until I was fifteen years old. My father accepted Christ while in America, and returned home and began to teach his relatives and friends about Jesus. They became very angry, and tied my father's hands and feet and beat him to make him say he would give up Christ. After a while, we moved where I could go to a Christian school. Later I was baptized.
During vacation, I visited my relatives, and tried to tell them of Jesus. But they were very much displeased. I was not allowed to read the Bible; and if they found me kneeling in prayer, they would kick me and make me get up. My brother would hit the table with his fist, and say he would kill me if I did not give up that foolishness. And when I would walk outside, they would make fun of me, and throw stones. When, at mealtime, I would bow my head to ask a silent blessing, they would hit me, or throw some soup or cold water on my head.
SHIPPING ON THE HAN RIVER, HANKAU The hill in the distance was the site of much fighting during the revolution of 1911.
Pray for me that I may be faithful, and that when Jesus comes, we may meet together around the throne of God.
