ONE of our out school teachers here in Nyasaland writes: "When our school opened, we had one hundred and seventy-five; but now we have two hundred and ninety-one names on the roll book. And still more are coming. Last Sabbath, we had three hundred and ninety-three in our Sabbath school." A later report from the same teacher says that the school now numbers nearly four hundred.
A few hundred miles away, the people are in the same state of heathenism as were their forefathers, and know nothing of the Saviour. During a recent visit to these heathen communities, I saw numerous miniature huts in the villages, each containing a beer pot and a food basket. In many cases, these huts were made simply by setting a forked pole in the ground, on the top of which was a neatly made grass roof. In the fork of the pole, the beer pot and the food were placed, intended for the spirits of the family's dead friends.
We now have in British Central Africa two hundred and fifty church members, forty out schools, and about seventy teachers and assistants. At the main station and in the out schools, we have about two thousand students.
Blantyre.
Just Beyond
By T. E. Bowen
Awaiting
Men & Money
Larger Unentered Fields
JESUS said, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, . . . 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."
Some of the larger unentered fields to hear the good news of Jesus' return are Siam, Greenland, Madagascar, Tibet (although literature has gone in), African Sudan, Arabia, and Afghanistan.
These fields silently beckon us on. In the countries already entered, there are sections also loudly calling for additional laborers. Some of these appeals for help are given below.
Northern Japan
By F. H. De Vinney
F. H. DE VINNEY
HOKKAIDO, the northern main island of Japan, has a population of about two million. With its vast plains and wooded hills, its climate and other features, it reminds one of the United States.
Until the last half of the twelfth century, it was inhabited exclusively by the Ainus, the aborigines of Japan, when a few of the people of the Yamato race went there to live. Many eminent Japanese scholars hold that the Ainus are related to the Eskimos, whom they much resemble.
The Ainus have never been reached by Christianity to any extent; and though many still remain in little villages scattered through the island, they are sunk in ignorance and heathen superstition. Since 1870, the Japanese government has encouraged migration from the other main islands of Japan; and now Hokkaido has several cities with more than one hundred thousand inhabitants. It is said, by those best acquainted with conditions, to be more open to the influences of the gospel than any other part of the country.
PIONEERING AMONG INCA INDIANS IN PERU
How our missionaries cross rivers in grass boats.
We expect that workers will enter this unworked territory this year. Not only to the Japanese, but to the Ainus, must be given the good news of a soon coming Saviour.
AINU FAMILY OF NORTH JAPAN AT WORK They are of the aboriginal tribe of Japan, to whom the gospel of Christ's soon coming is to go.
We are also looking to the south, to the island of Formosa, which is a possession of Japan, and must be worked from here.
Beckoning Us On
By J. S. James
J. S. JAMES
The unentered, unwarned fields stand as a defiant challenge to every believer in Christ. Their ever swelling call for help is the basis of a mighty inspiration to the onward marching ranks of God's victorious people.
In South India, a glorious beginning has been made; but large fields lie yet unentered before us, and many openings call loudly for the establishment of other beacons of light. The great nation of Telugus, numbering over twenty millions, have only just begun to hear the good news; and there is the great native state of Mysore, with ten millions who speak the Kanarese language. Nearly all are Hindus, and many are followers of the false prophet. Other great unworked sections in India beckon us on.
OUR CHAPEL IN LIAOYANG, MANCHURIA, AND THE YOUNG MAN IN CHARGE OF IT
We must have true missionaries — not one or two only, but many — to locate among these people, to learn their languages, develop a message-filled literature, establish dispensaries, and conduct schools. These fields all call to you for help in men and means. How long before the call shall be answered?
Lucknow, India.
Fifty Needed for China
By B. L. Anderson
YOU ask me to write on the question, "What lies just beyond, waiting only men and means?" When I look out upon the whitening fields near and far, words fail me to express the need of laborers. Fifty qualified workers entering the field to-morrow would be only a beginning; and when a year has rolled by, the situation would call for a hundred additional laborers.
South China.
"Come Over and Help Us"
By Bernhard Petersen
BERNHARD PETERSEN
"WILL you come? We are waiting. If you can only send us a man to teach us the true doctrine, we will support him, and will build a church here."
This is the call that has come to us within the last month, from one of the northern provinces of Manchuria, just beyond the place where, only a year ago, we established our headquarters. How sad it makes our hearts that we are forced to tell these poor souls they must wait a little longer! But how can we continue keeping back the bread of life from hungering souls who are longing for a preparation to meet the Saviour?
About three months ago, we answered another call from that region by sending a Chinese worker; but one worker is like a drop of water in the ocean. I visited the place at that time, and had a good opportunity to get a glimpse of that extensive territory. There is village upon village, with a number of larger cities, with their millions of people who have never heard of the Saviour. These two provinces have an area of 300,000 square miles.
As I neared the city of Harbin, I could, as it were, look over the very border of Manchuria into another vast country that lies at our very door, which has not as yet been entered—Mongolia. The Mongolians are continually passing over the border into Manchuria to trade, and one often finds them several hundred miles inland. Mongolians graze their herds on the grass-covered steppes in one Manchurian province. We long for the time when we shall see the gospel of the kingdom carried to these many millions who still sit in darkness.
Mukden.
Publishing in Korea
By B. R. Owen
B. R. OWEN
IN Korea, it has been found that the publishing work has been the most important factor in aiding the spread of the gospel. Our first equipment was a Washington hand press and a few cases of type, in a room 10 x 12 feet. Now the publishing house has a valuation of $6,600, and is keeping an energetic force of twenty-five colporteurs in the field distributing the printed page. Besides the issuing of a dozen subscription books and a large list of live tracts and pamphlets, a twenty-eight-page magazine is published monthly, and for the past two years it has had an average circulation of five thousand copies each month.
Colporteurs on House Boat. Missionary Colporteurs in Brazil
158
During the past year, the sale of literature has shown a gain of $235 over the previous year; and this means much in this field, where the majority of the people are extremely poor, and a large part of the population cannot read or write.
Seoul.
Gospel Literature Distribution
THE denomination publishing this periodical has thirty-eight publishing houses and branches. It is publishing gospel literature in eighty-eight languages. This literature is distributed by some 2,060 colporteurs. Last year, the literature sales approximated $2,200,000. Nearly $24,000,000 worth of gospel literature has been distributed since 1850.
Mission Offices and Publishing House, Seoul, Korea
Accomplished by One Paper
By H. A. Oberg
H. A. OBERG
SEED sown through one copy of our paper four years ago by the sixty-nine-year-old sister, Ne To Sin, shown in the picture, has borne fruit to the extent of fourteen baptized persons, who in 1915 were organized into a church,—Soo Chang Ne,—the Sabbath school membership of which is thirty-seven. During the past year, they have doubled the size of the church building.
The young man, Kim Chai Bong, at the side of Ne To Sin, was the person in whom this particular seed first took root. He picked up a copy of the paper in a hotel, became interested, and sent a letter for more literature. As a result, this fine company, of which he is elder, has been organized. He also acts as field agent for distributing literature in the central district. This month's report from him shows fourteen workers under his supervision, scattering thousands of pages of the same magazine, one copy of which has yielded such a bountiful harvest.
Seoul, Korea.
A Colporteur and an Elder in One of Our Korean Churches
Colporteurs in India, V. E. Peugh, J. W. Knight, C. Stafford
Sowing Seed in Szechuan, China
By Merritt C. Warren
ON this page is the picture of two faithful colporteurs who have just returned from a thousand-mile circuit through the central part of the province. They walked from here to the capital, and returned by taking boats from place to place down the Min and Yangtze rivers. During the four months they were on this trip, they secured 1,145 yearly subscriptions to the Mandarin Signs of the Times, in addition to selling single copies of the paper and booklets. In this way, over 14,000 gospel-filled papers have been placed in the west ahead of us. It is the plan to follow up this seed sowing with strong evangelistic efforts.
Chungking.
Chinese Colporteur Ready for His Journey
Fording Icelandic Rivers
By O. J. Olsen
O. J. OLSEN
Our native colporteurs have done and are doing a good work in taking the printed page to their countrymen.
You would perhaps gasp for breath if you could see one of them trying to cross a river four or five feet deep of ice-cold water from a glacier, with a bundle of books on his back weighing from fifty to one hundred pounds.
When I have seen their faith, and their way of taking hold of the work, I have thanked God for sending me to work with them in Iceland. With the assistance of such courageous helpers, we shall be able to carry the message of the soon coming Saviour to the inhabitants of Iceland.
Among the Gold Mines in South India
By E. E. Morrow
E. E. MORROW
ABOUT forty miles from the city of Bangalore, in southern India, is a mining district known as the Kolar gold fields. The country is rocky and desolate; but large plants have been erected, and many mines sunk far into the earth, where thousands of natives are employed in digging for the precious gold.
Last year, one of our colporteurs, a young Tamil man, visited the district with English and Tamil literature. An interest was created, resulting in several written requests for me to visit a small company there and study the word of God with them. So I arranged to meet with them whenever possible, and we had many profitable Bible studies together. Several determined to follow the Lord Jesus, and walk in all the commandments of God. Such souls are more precious than the fine gold of Ophir, mentioned in Isa. 13: 12. This encouraged us to still greater efforts in circulating gospel literature, as we know that God watches over it, and that it will not return to Him void.
Coimbatore, India.
Educated India Takes Note
By F. O. Raymond
FOR the past six years, as I have traveled over the length and breadth of India, up and down its great rivers, and across its broad plains, carrying the printed gospel message to Hindu, Mohammedan, Buddhist, and Parsi, as well as to the European and the Anglo-Indian, I have often been surprised at the manifest working of God's Spirit upon hearts, and the wonderful opportunity afforded to give the message of the hour just now quickly.
Here are more than three hundred million souls within reach of the missionary. To aid him, the railway system of thirty-three thousand miles, steamboats on thousands of miles of navigable rivers, and cheap, efficient postal and telegraph systems are at his service in every district.
Already millions read the daily paper, and India every year turns out probably more college graduates than does the United Kingdom.
Educated India is taking note of world events, and is asking their meaning. Earnest, unselfish, Spirit-filled men are needed to give her millions the answer as to "what these things mean."
After Many Days
By W. C. Hankins
SEVEN years ago, we sent some of our colporteurs to the island of Formosa, to take subscriptions for our monthly magazine published in the Chinese language at Shanghai. The young men also took with them a supply of other literature, including some tracts.
One of the tracts fell into the hands of a certain man named Lee. He did not himself see the colporteur, but found the tract lying on the table of a friend, who was willing for him to have it.
Mission Publishing House, Shanghai, China
On reading the tract, Mr. Lee became thoroughly convinced that it contained the truth; and for several years, he hoped that he might see some of our workers. Last fall, he came to Amoy on his way home from Peking, and one day, on the street in Kulangsu, met a friend who was going to call on one of our colporteurs. The friend invited him to go along. During the visit, the colporteur mentioned that he had just returned from a missionary trip to Formosa. Mr. Lee at once asked if he had a certain tract, and was delighted on being informed that he had. He asked for Bible studies.
As the colporteur was planning to leave in a few days, he brought Mr. Lee to me, and we studied the Bible together every afternoon for several weeks. He accepted its truths with joy, and said he would like to be baptized. He wants to return to Formosa and preach the gospel to others.
May God grant that that tract, and other literature scattered throughout the island of Formosa, may be the means, in God's hands, of giving the truth to many others in the island "Beautiful."
China
Szechuan Colporteurs with Their Road Equipment
A Company of Inquirers in Kolar Gold Fields, South India
The Christian's Bible Foretells Future Events
By V. E. Peugh
A FEW days ago, I was visiting each house in the Hindu section of the city of Madras. At one house, I met a young man, an educated Hindu, and began to show him our Tamil journal. He soon noticed that it was a Christian paper, and exclaimed, "But you know, sir, I am a Hindu, and take no interest in Christian magazines."
"Well, I am sorry," I said; "but I wonder if you are aware that the Bible has given a very definite description of the rise, development, and fall of all the great nations of the world many years before they came into existence. Moreover, the Scriptures foretell the very days in which we are now living."
"Why," said the young Hindu, "I had no idea that such things were spoken of in the Christian's Bible. No one has ever told me about these things before. Hereafter I shall read the Bible for myself, and learn what it says."
