The Invasion of Canada—Arnold’s March through the Maine Woods—Its Hardships—The Siege of Quebec—Its Failure—Canada Saved to England.
LATER in the year 1775 both the leaders in the expedition against Ticonderoga were concerned in another expedition, one for the conquest of Canada. Congress had learned that the British in Canada intended to march southward, and attack points in northern New York. To prevent this action General Montgomery was sent, by way of Lake Champlain, to carry the war into Canada, and, if possible, to take it from its British holders.
Meanwhile Arnold and Allen had made an expedition from Ticonderoga, with the purpose of seizing the town of St. John’s, at the head of Lake Champlain. They failed in this, and returned to their stronghold. On September 25 Ethan Allen made a rash attack on Montreal with far too few men for its capture. He was taken himself, and taken in chains to England, where he was held prisoner till 1778. There the Green Mountain champion attracted much attention as a new specimen of mankind.
While Allen was engaged against Montreal, Arnold was on his way to Canada by another route. He had been sent by Washington with a force of 1,200 men to reinforce Montgomery, and aid him in the capture of Quebec. The route he was to follow was northward through the unbroken wilderness of Maine, and the journey proved one of such hardship and courage in struggling against the obstacles of primeval nature that it is well worth describing. No greater example of the successful overcoming of difficulties has ever been seen in this country.
On September 20, Arnold and his men entered the Kennebec River, and began their journey in boats up that rapid stream. But oars were inadequate against the swift current, and, for the greater part of the way, progress could be made only by the men dragging the boats up the stream, often wading in water up to their waists. The frontier settlements were passed early in October, and the adventurers plunged into the wilderness, an almost trackless forest bordering the river, along which they slowly made their way. The stream grew more difficult as they advanced. It shallowed, and rapids and falls broke its course. Around these the boats had to be carried, over rough ground or through morasses, with infinite labor.
At length the ridge between the Kennebec and the Dead Rivers was reached. The route now lay up the latter, and a party was sent out to trace the shortest passage through the intervening wilderness. The ridge was thickly covered with forest trees, embracing several varieties of evergreens, and through those the boats had to be carried. Part of the way was occupied by a mossy and bushy swamp, in whose surface of wet turf the men often sank to their knees.
The Dead River reached, with immense toil and trouble, its course was followed for eighty-three miles. The winter of that northern latitude was now at hand. The mountain tops had been snow clad since September, and the climate became daily more cold and bleak. On October 27 the watershed of the streams that flowed north to the St. Lawrence was reached, and had to be crossed with wearying toil, that the boats might be launched on those new waters. The suffering of the men had now become great, and daily grew more severe. Some of them walked barefoot for days. Their clothes were torn by thorns till they were half naked. At night their only beds were branches of evergreens, their only covering similar branches. For days and nights together they were drenched with cold rains. The streams they had to cross were often swollen into torrents. Provisions failed. So great became their need that they were forced to eat even the dogs that had followed them through the forest. Many died from cold and exhaustion. Some invalids had to be left behind, with soldiers to watch and feed them till dead, and then to hasten on to the camp.
During the expedition the boats were hauled up streams for 180 miles, and carried through 40 miles of woodland and swamp, a work of vast labor in that unbroken wilderness. Still they pushed on, tho starving and disheartened. The spirit of Arnold was unconquerable, and his courage animated his men to superhuman exertions. Embarking on the Chaudiere, they met with a severe loss. Three of the boats laden with stores and ammunition, which they had brought this far with such suffering and hardship, were overturned, and their precious contents lost. On November 2 the expedition met a number of French Canadians, with two horses and five oxen. The sight, as may be naturally supposed, set the exhausted men nearly frantic with delight. They were coming into a land of plenty again. On the 4th they saw the first house on which their eyes had rested for thirty-one days.
While Arnold and his resolute band had thus been struggling through the forest, Montgomery had made himself master of St. John’s and Montreal, and was preparing to march against Quebec. Arnold soon reached the vicinity of that rock-seated stronghold, and in the early morning of November 14, landed at Wolf’s Cove, and led his men to the plains of Abraham by the same cliff path which General Wolf had traversed years before.
But the garrison of Quebec had learned a lesson from the defeat of Montcalm. They refused to leave their walls, and as Arnold was much too weak to take them by assault, he was forced to withdraw. On the 5th of December Montgomery appeared, and the two commanders joined forces. So great had been their losses that they had now in all less than a thousand effective men. Behind the walls lay twice this number, while the city was defended with over 200 cannon. For three weeks they tried the effect of siege, and then determined if possible to take the city by storm.
On the last day of the year the desperate effort was made. The snow was falling thickly, and great blocks of ice bordered the stream. Onward the soldiers pressed and stumbled, until at length a blockhouse appeared through the blinding flakes. Montgomery rushed boldly to its assault, but at the first fire from the walls he fell dead. His men, disheartened, fled. Arnold, in the meantime, had assailed the city on the other side. He fought his way onward bravely till disabled by a severe wound. While he was being borne to the rear, Morgan, his successor, pressed on. But the whole force within9the city was now massed against him, and, overwhelmed by the great odds, and at length unable either to advance or retreat, he was forced to surrender to the foe.
Thus ended in disaster an expedition which, if successful, might have made Canada part of the great American republic. The remnant of the army blockaded the city till spring. But British reinforcements came with the opening of the spring, and they were forced to retreat, leaving Canada an English colony.
MOTHER'S HAIR PRESERVATIVE.
By J. F. Cowan
“Been to the store, Jim?”
“Yes.”
“What y’ got tied up?”
“You go along and ’tend to your own business. I ain’t agoing to tell.”
“Well, it looks like a bottle, anyway. If you don’t tell, I’ll go and put the boys onto the bottle of ale.”
“Well, then, you’ll tell them a lie, for it ain’t ale.”
“Well, then, I guess it’s soda water.”
“No, it ain’t soda water.”
“Then it’s mineral water.”
“No, it ain’t that.”
“Then I guess it’s cod-liver oil.”
“No, there ain’t no one to our house got consumption.”
“Then I give it up.”
“Well, then, I’ll tell you. It’s a bottle of Hair Preservative to keep mother’s hair from turning gray and falling out. I know I wouldn’t want mine to fall out and leave me baldheaded.”
“O, ho!” called out the other boy. “What’s making her get gray? I’ve heard that worry does it. Worrying over your badness, I’ll bet.”
“Huh! better take that to yourself.”
Then the boys separated and went their ways.
But the boy who first spoke did take the first words of the other to himself. He couldn’t help thinking to himself, as he went down the street, what he had remarked about worry making gray hair, and wondering if some of these days he should have to be lugging home a bottle from the drug store, containing hair preservative, to keep his mother’s hair from growing gray.
“If I do,” he said to himself, with a shrug of his shoulder, “I don’t want that Jim Ashton to catch me at it, for just as like as not he’d up and say, ‘I told you so; worrying over your badness.’”
Then he walked a little farther, in a meditative10sort of way, cutting the head off a daisy with his stick here, and jabbing it into the ground after a tumblebug, who was scrambling to get out of his way there, but thinking neither of the daisy nor the tumblebug.
Finally he stopped, and squared his back against the fence.
“I wonder,” he quizzed himself, “if it is worry that makes people’s hair grow gray? for if it is, I know how to keep mother’s from getting so, that’s better than anything in the drug store.”
He went home determined to keep his word.
And he did. He slipped around into the wood-shed, and split a whole armful of the nicest kindling, finished it up by shaving off a handful of long, feathery shavings, and this he tucked in one end of the wood box, which he quickly filled with seasoned wood. Then he called his mother’s attention to it.
“O, I’m so glad! I was just going to worry about your forgetting it, as you usually do, and father finding it out after he came home; but now I’ll have that off my mind.”
Then the boy slipped around behind the wood-shed door, and grinned and chuckled, and rubbed his hands together, as tho he were enjoying something hugely. “Ha, ha!” he said to himself. “First dose of Mother’s Hair Preservative. Shake up well and apply frequently!” And then he went off to find his sister Susan.
“See, here, Sue,” he called to her confidentially, “you ain’t going to dilly-dally and poke around about those dishes this evening, are you, and make mother come out to the kitchen half a dozen times, and ask you when you are going to get done?”
“What business is that of yours?” Susan answered a little sharply.
“Because if you are,” he said, “I’m just agoing to”—
“Just agoing to do what, I’d like to know?” Susan demanded, with a little more asperity in her tone.
“Why,” said Tom, with the utmost good nature, “I’m just going to come out and help you myself.”
“You help wash the dishes? I’d like to see you!”
“Well, see if I don’t then.”
If Susan was a little slower than usual that evening, it must have been just to test her brother’s threat. And, sure enough, he did come, and helped her through so good-naturedly and so cleverly that she was surprised more than a little.
“Tom,” she said, “what kind of a joke is this you are playing on me?”
“The joke ain’t on you,” said Tom, “it’s on mother.”
“Mother!” repeated Susan.
“Yes,” said Tom; “it’s another dose of Mother’s Hair Preservative. She doesn’t know anything about it.”
“Mother’s Hair Preservative!” again exclaimed Susan. “What in the world is the boy talking about?”
Then Tom let her into the secret of the thing. Susan looked very thoughtful for a moment.
“Well, I declare!” she said at last. “Who would have thought of such a thing as that?”
“But it’s a great deal better than the drug-store kind, isn’t it?” Tom demanded.
“Yes,” said Susan thoughtfully.
“Then,” said Tom, “let’s give her another dose this evening. Shake up well, and use often—that’s the direction.”
Then Tom and Susan had a brief consultation together in low tones, and the result was that pretty soon they started into the sitting-room, where father and mother were, together with a couple of sleepy-eyed youngsters, whose bedtime was evidently not far away.
“Hello, Dickey!” said Tom to the elder of the two. “Want to see my new knife?”
“Yes!” said Dickey, opening his eyes wide for an instant.
“Come along with me and Susan, then,” said Tom.
And Dickey was ready in a moment.
“And Susan will bring little Mary along to see it, too,” said the elder sister coaxingly, drawing the little one to her, and picking her up. And the four left the room.
The mother turned her eyes from her work to see what was going on; but as she could read no sign of mischief in their faces, she let them go without a word.
In ten or fifteen minutes Tom and Susan both slipped into the room again; and before mother had time to start and exclaim: “What in the world have you done with the children? They’ll catch their death of colds out there alone,” Susan slipped up and whispered something into mother’s ear.
The mother gave her a quick, pleased look, and then settled down to her work again with a sigh of relief, as tho she had just escaped something she rather dreaded.
Then Susan sidled over to where Tom was by the fire, and nudged him, and pointed to mother, and Tom grinned, and rubbed his hands, and chuckled, and whispered something like this to Susan:—
“The third dose since I came from school this evening! Shake well and use often. Ha, ha! Mother’s Hair Preservative! I guess I’ll apply for a patent.”
“H-sh-sh-sh!” said Susan; “she’ll hear you. I believe I’ll slip out into the kitchen and set the buckwheat batter for breakfast, and then tell her about it when I come back.”
“Good!” said Tom. “Dose number four! Shake well and use often. And I believe I’ll get down my geography and learn my lesson for to-morrow before mother begins to wonder if I won’t miss and get poor marks in my class. Heigh-ho! Never thought of that! Dose number five! Shake well and use often—Mother’s Hair Preservative! Great scheme! Read our testimonials; manufactured at home; Tom and Susan proprietors; not on sale at all drug stores.”
“Capital!” he said to himself. “Dose number six! Shake well and use often—Mother’s Hair Preservative; manufactured by Susan and Tom.” And he went at his study as tho no geography lesson had ever been half so pleasant to learn as that one.
But when Susan came back from fixing the buckwheat batter, and whispered in mother’s ear again, they both saw the pleased and gratified look which came quickly; the geography lesson had to be interrupted by another little consultation and some more chuckles upon the part of Tom. They were very well pleased with the success of their scheme.
And it is my opinion that “Mother’s Hair Preservative, manufactured by Susan and Tom,” is going to be the most brilliant success of anything in its line that has ever been invented. It ought to become a very popular remedy.—Rev. J. F. Cowan, in Sunday School Times.
CALIFORNIA STATE SABBATH ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE AND MASS-MEETING.
By H.
(From our own correspondent.)
The conference met January 20, at 3 P.M., in the First Baptist Church, Sacramento.
Judge Mayo occupied the chair, and Dr. M. C. Briggs, of San Jose, explained the plan of the State Association to be the obtaining of a law that would compel all to rest one day in seven, and to make this day the same in all parts of the State.
There was a general agreement on the part of all that there was no hope of anything being gained through the Committees on Public Morals either of the Assembly or Senate.
Dr. Cantine went so far as to say that he had discovered that the Committee on Public Morals in the Assembly was appointed for the express purpose of seeing that no laws were enacted that would be offensive to the gamblers, thugs, and other bad elements of San Francisco.
Assemblyman Melick was present and gave advice in regard to the best method of presenting the bill in the Assembly. He stated that there was no hope of getting it in through the Committee on Public Morals. He thought it might be worked through the Committee on Judiciary. He stated that Judge Waymire was chairman of this committee, and it was made up of good Christian men, and would doubtless report favorably on a Sunday bill.
The opinion prevailed among the pastors present that they could have little influence with the members of the Legislature, but it was generally agreed that it would be better to get live, earnest laymen to carry into effect the plans laid by the ministers. Mr. Melick seconded this plan and said that if they had some good earnest laymen they could have much more influence than the ministers.
At this point the majority wanted to place the bill in the hands of Mr. Melick for presentation, but he objected to fathering the bill for fear his name would bring prejudice against the bill right on the start. If they would get some one else to present the bill he would take the responsibility of seeing that it was brought through and not smothered in the committee. He advised farther that they get their laymen to work at once, personally, with the members, to get them pledged to the issue. The only hope of getting it passed was to get it in soon and rush it through.
A Committee on Resolutions was appointed and the meeting adjourned.
There were about thirty men and women present.
The Mass-meeting.
In the evening there were between three hundred and fifty and four hundred present. The audience would average at least five women to one man.
When the meeting had been formally opened, the Committee on Resolutions reported as follows:—
“Resolved by the California State Sabbath Association in convention assembled, in Sacramento City, Jan. 20, 1897. That we respectfully request the California Legislature now assembled to reenact the Sunday law repealed in 1883 and known as sections 299, 300, 301 of the Penal Code of California, with the proviso that section 301 shall be amended so that the provisions of the section shall apply to persons keeping open barber shops, bath-houses and hair-dressing saloons after 12 o'clock noon on Sunday.”
Dr. Ketchum, of Berkeley, was called and read a long and somewhat prosy paper on the “Relation of True Patriotism to Religion.”
He endeavored to show that a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people” could not exist without a Sunday law. He said that man demanded one day in seven to rest and God commanded it. Man must have one day in which he will remember that God reigns in the United States. While this is a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people,” there is a higher power than the people. “True patriotism demands the observance of one day in seven,” and before the doctor finished he said no man could be a true patriot and not observe the fourth commandment. It could be demonstrated that if a man broke the fourth he transgressed at least five of the remaining nine. The law of God formed one complete and perfect arch, of which the fourth was the keystone. They must all stand or fall together. The Legislature has no right to tell a man what he shall do on the Sabbath, but it has a perfect right to tell him what he shall not do. He stated that the safety of the people rested in their obedience to supreme law. All these principles were set forth in his paper and much more. He closed with a short eulogy on beautiful California and a bitter lamentation that she was cursed and blighted by sabbath desecration.
Mr. Ketchum was followed by Dr. Cantine. After in a humorous way censuring Dr. K. for not speaking to the resolution, he stated that he had been trying to think ever since he came to Sacramento what he came for. He did not know unless it was because he lived neighbor to Dr. Briggs and he told him he had to come. He pleased his hearers with an incidental reference to the “Expectoration Ordinance” and a pleasant but rather sarcastic recital of his experiences while visiting the Legislature. With reference to the resolution he said he was in favor of it.
He thought it would be a hard matter to work the present Legislature. He did not advise his audience to follow the two ways that these official men can be worked, that is, he did not say that they should use either way in obtaining the passage of this bill, but said that there were two ways in which these lawmakers could be worked, and one was to come up behind the man you want to use and slip a little boodle into his hand; another way was to make him realize that it was best for his future good.
The plea all the way was made in behalf of the laboring man, but the laboring men of Sacramento were conspicuous by their absence, altho the meeting had been thoroughly advertised in the papers and by means of handbills.
Dr. Cantine is afraid that the laboring men will object to it, because they are not educated to the great value of this rest. They are not willing to take six days' wages for six days' work when they can get seven days' wages for seven days' work.
He closed his remarks by calling for a rising vote. There were a few who did not vote, but almost the entire congregation voted for the resolution, only three voting against it.
There was a general interest manifest, but no particular enthusiasm.
The meeting adjourned after taking a collection to defray the expenses of the visiting clergymen.
A special effort was put forth all the evening to give the people to understand that it was purely a civil law that the association is laboring for, simply the prohibitory feature of the fourth commandment. Dr. Cantine said it was a question in his mind whether the Lord had any reference whatever to the religious nature of the Sabbath in the law. Still the speakers all plead for it on a religious basis. H.
Gospel and Government.
A “latter-day saint” writer in the Independent, in writing up the progress of that people for the year, says that “the principal event of 1896 was the transition of Utah from a territorial to a state government.” What we would like to know is, What has this to do with the progress or work of a church which regards “the Gospel of Jesus Christ” as an absolute panacea for all the “ills of mankind”? What has that Gospel to do with territorial or state government? Why should the change from one to the other affect a Gospel church?
AN ANSWERED PRAYER.
By Marianne Farningham
O GIVE me a message of quiet,
I asked in my morning prayer;
For the turbulent spirit within me
Is more than my heart can bear!
Around there are strife and discord,
And the storms that do not cease,
And the whirl of the world is on me.
Thou only canst give me peace.
I opened the dear old Bible
And looked at a page of psalms,
Till the wintry sea of my trouble
Was soothed by its summer calms.
For the words that have helped so many,
And that ages have made more dear,
Were strong in their power to comfort,
And they brought me my word of cheer.
Like music of solemn singing
Their words came down to me:
"The Lord is slow to anger,
And of mercy great is He.
Each generation praiseth
His works of long renown,
The Lord upholdeth all that fall,
And raiseth the bowed down."
I found that when He gives quiet
No other can trouble make;
Pardon and peace and safety
Lie in the path I take.
So, stronger to carry the burden,
I met my day of care,
For my heart was lightened and joyous
With the peace of an answered prayer.
—Marianne Farningham.
HOUSEKEEPER VS. HOME-MAKER.
MONEY can buy a housekeeper, says Mrs. H. W. Beecher, in the Thrice-a-Week World, but love alone can insure a home-maker. A good boarding-house or a hotel may supply every comfort that a housekeeper can give, but a good wife and mother will insure a home. Unite the housekeeper and the home-maker, make the twain one, and that union will provide such a refuge from all outside troubles as can be found nowhere else, and just such a refuge as God designed home to be.
If our daughters are, from their earliest years, led step by step through all the branches of domestic economy, beginning at the first and simplest, in accordance with their age, they will, year by year, find real pleasure in such duties, and in the progress they can not but see that they are making. And when they reach matured age, they are the ones who will make happy homes. This thought should be almost an inspiration to mothers who watch over and pray for guidance as they try to lead their daughters correctly from infancy to womanhood.
It will not take many lessons in such small duties as you can teach a little girl to do easily before she will be fully equal to trying to go a step higher. Be sure, however, after the lesson has been repeated, that it is perfectly learned. Accept no work that is only half done, or carelessly done. That would be injustice to the child. But by all means be a patient, cheerful, smiling instructor.
SEWING LESSONS.
I very clearly remember how a certain little girl was taught to sew. The first lessons were commenced when she was but little over two years old. Threading the needle was the first step, and, seated on her mother's knee, it was, as people often say, “as good as a play” to see the little one try to hold the needle properly and pass the thread through the eye. Both mother and child laughed at the mistakes, and made the little one's efforts so like play that she had no thought of being impatient. When at last the needle was threaded, she was so elated that she wanted to try again. But the mother judiciously sent her out to play for a while, and then the next effort was more easily accomplished.
Then came taking the first stitch. A little square of pink and white calico was basted together, and, again seated in her mother's lap, she was taught to take up just as many threads of the white as of the pink, and sew them together. There were only a few stitches at one sitting, but they must be perfect or taken out. So it was several days before the one little square was finished. The second was more quickly made, and, courage growing with success, the little girl undertook to make the whole of a doll's bedspread. Every stitch had to be perfect. The doll's spread grew into a bedspread for her own use before she was four years old, and under it her own children have often slumbered.
When the spread was finished the little girl became ambitious to make her father a shirt, “all my own self.” The shirt, every stitch the work of her own hands, and well made, was a Christmas gift to her father a short time before she was five years old.
SOMETHING CURIOUS HAPPENED.
A boy only ten years old lay down under a tree to rest. His feet were bruised and sore, his clothes were in rags, his face was pinched with hunger and old-looking. He fell asleep with his bare feet upon the curbstone, while his old hat fell from his head and rolled to the sidewalk. An old man with a saw on his arm crossed the street to rest beneath the same tree. He glanced at the boy, and read the story of his life. He, too, knew what it was to shiver and be hungry. He took from his pocket a piece of bread and meat, the dinner he had meant to eat if he had found work, and laid it beside the lad. Then he walked quietly away.
Some persons had seen him do this, and their hearts were touched by it. A man walked across the street and left a half dollar beside the poor man's bread. A woman came and brought a hat in place of the old one. A child came with a pair of shoes, and a boy brought a coat and vest. Others stopped and dropped dimes and quarters beside the first silver piece. Something curious had happened. The kindness of the poor old man had unlocked the hearts of a score of people.
The boy awoke. He saw the bread, the money, and the people waiting to see what he would do. Why, he sat down and sobbed like a grieved child, for he had just found out that some one loved him. What can you do to show some poor suffering one that you love him?—Selected.
Go and Turn Something Up
By D. L. Moody
DON'T wait for something to turn up, but go and turn up something.—D. L. Moody.
Entering a Room Politely
NEVER enter a room filled with people without a slight bow to the general company when first entering.
FIREWORKS AND “CHRISTIANITY.”
By Francisco Cortis
Religion in United States of Colombia.
This is Sunday morning, but its quiet is disturbed by the explosion of noise-producing fireworks. For several days there has been a grand celebration in progress in honor of the Virgin, and there has existed an almost continuous ringing of church bells, and the firing off of various kinds of explosives. To-day, December 13, 1896, was to have been a big day with its procession, but the rain did not permit its full realization. However, a part of the procession was carried out according to the usual custom, and illustrates the idea that the originators of Sunday sacredness have for the day, and also how the day is to be kept.
We might say in this connection, that Sunday is used chiefly for pleasure, and, outside of the early morning church services, the day is passed in visiting among acquaintances, going to the country on excursions, engaging in other pastimes, such as playing billiards, cards, cock-fighting, drinking, and attending the theater and ball. If it chances to happen that there is to be a bull-fight, it is on Sunday, because the largest crowd can be gathered on that day. In reference to buying and selling, there is little attention paid to the day outside of some of the larger mercantile houses. And as to the people, the religious leaders are little better than the common people about the way they keep Sunday.
But this is a digression from our subject, and now to return to it. As we were passing from one part of the city to the other on the above-mentioned Sunday, we noticed a stream of people going towards a church called San Francisco, and as we crossed this street, we saw, upon looking toward the church, quite a number of people assembled. On making inquiry we were told that the devil was going to be blown up, or something that was intended to represent his destruction, by the Holy Virgin.
Every few minutes the bells would ring, and a few sky-rockets were fired. This continued until a little after 2 P.M., when a great shout was heard, and almost immediately we saw ascending a rope that extended to the ground on the opposite side of the street, an object, which may have been twenty or thirty feet in length, and looked like the body of a fish, but we were told that it was a serpent, and that it was going to be blown up by fireworks that were concealed within it, and was intended to represent the Virgin Mary destroying the serpent. As this serpent was drawn up, and had almost reached the church, or rather was about to enter the belfry, the Virgin appeared on the scene below, and as she passed under the line upon which the serpent was ascending, the fuse was fired, and at once the destruction commenced. The serpent was made to advance and retire, as tho there was a terrible struggle in progress, until suddenly there came a terrific explosion, and the serpent swung limp and lifeless. At this point arose a louder shout than the first, and the bells gave forth their sounds, accompanied with the explosion of numerous kinds of noise in combination, until the air was heavy with the odor of burnt powder.
In all of these gatherings the soldiers take part, and parade through the streets, their bands giving entertainment for the people.
On these occasions sometimes it is a young woman who represents the Virgin, and at others, it is a life-size image. Both are arrayed in the style of oriental monarchs.
Now, what is the object of all this display? We are told that it is to teach by an object lesson the religion of Jesus Christ. But we notice that there are many who regard it as foolishness, and they are learning to look upon it with contempt and disgust. They, in their hearts, long for something that they do not now possess, but do not know where to look for that which they desire. They have been taught that these things are the only religion there is in the world, and even tho their better sense teaches them that there is nothing in these forms, they are in the dark as to where to look for better.
Now, what is the responsibility that rests upon those who are holding the light of God’s truth in their possession, and not sending it to these who are sitting in the darkness? Will God hold them guiltless? or will he not demand of them in the judgment the blood of these people? Reader, are you trying to send God’s message of salvation to those who are thus groping in the darkness of ages of superstitions and false teachings?
You may ask, Will they listen to truth if they have the opportunity? I can only speak of my own experience among them, which has extended over the greater part of two years, and, if I am permitted to judge from it, I must conclude that they are not only willing to listen to what may be said on the subject of religion, but are eager to hear it.
You may ask, Will they obey when they hear? That is not our business. That part belongs to them and God. Our part is to give them the opportunity of hearing, and do what we can to have them obey, but the obeying is theirs, and not our work. But we are not to judge them by the standard of our ideas of what constitutes religion. This would not be right, as can be readily seen from what I have said in the first part of this article.
They think they are Christians now, and to tell them that they are not, is to offend, rather than bring them to the light and truth which you have for them. You must, by a well-ordered life, show them what constitutes a Christian. I say they are ready to listen, but how can they listen if there is no one to tell them? You, my dear reader, have enjoyed, and now enjoy, privileges which have always been denied to these people; therefore it is you who have the power of saying whether they shall remain in ignorance of what the word of God says or not. How are you going to answer the question?
Will they treat those who go among them to teach them new ideas with kindness and consideration? I can again reply from experience, that I have received the best of treatment from all classes, and have learned to love them as my own. Their hearts are just as large, and hold the same feeling of kindness towards those who will manifest, in their actions and manner of life, an interest for their welfare, as any people in the world.
A man who is considerate of the feelings of his fellow-men, and is willing to grant that others have rights as well as himself, we think will find a warm welcome in the hearts of the greater part of the people at large. It is equally true that there exist some classes who would oppose any movement that is calculated to give more liberty to the masses, because it would reduce their own power. This class would make war on any movement that has for its object the liberation of the people from the yokes they have imposed upon them, and would naturally use their influence to prejudice the minds of all they could against the work and worker. But the worker must expect to meet opposition and overcome it. Are you willing to do your part, my dear reader?
FRANCISCO CORTIS.
A REVISED PARLIAMENT OF RELIGIONS.
By Daniel S. Gifford
We have learned with a sense of sadness and anxiety, says Rev. Daniel S. Gifford, of Seoul, Korea, writing to the Missionary Review, that a second Parliament of Religions is being projected, to meet in 1900, in connection with the World's Fair, in the city of Paris. I use the editorial “we,” because I believe there are others who share my sentiments. We believe that the projectors of the Parliament of Religions of 1893 were Christian men of a high order, and that their motives are not to be impugned. And yet in planning for a second similar gathering it does seem as tho experience ought to teach them certain lessons.
While from a great many points of view the Parliament of Religions of 1893 was undoubtedly most interesting and wonderful, from the view-point of the interests of the foreign mission cause, we believe it was an unfortunate mistake.
What we principally object to is the manner in which the non-Christian religions were presented. The picturesque, fascinating orators who championed their cause, unmindful of accuracy in statement, presented a roseate view of their religions, which, like Sir Edwin Arnold's “Light of Asia,” was very good poetry, but not true to the facts.
No opportunity being given to correct these impressions, or to answer the attacks that were made upon our missionaries, we believe that the net result of the Parliament was to discredit the work of foreign missions in the minds of a large part of the reading public, who have never taken the pains to inform themselves upon the life and religions of oriental lands; for if these non-Christian religions are as fair as they were painted, missionary work in such lands must be gratuitous.
Who can tell to what extent this imparted impression was responsible for the virulence of the attacks made by a large part of the secular press of England and America against foreign missions last summer, upon the occasion of the cowardly missionary massacre in China.
Nor has the impression conveyed to the English-reading public in heathen lands been any more fortunate; for Rev. Robert P. Wilder, of Student Volunteer fame, has stated in a little book that he has published, entitled “Christian Service among Educated Bengalese,” describing the especial work he has been doing among the educated young men of India, that the influence of the Parliament of Religions has been one of the forms of opposition with which he has had to contend; and he mentions cases of young men in an inquiring frame of mind who had been hardened thereby. On page 40 he tells in the following words of an interesting inquirer:—
But still he wavered. In a most solemn interview with him, he told me that his agony of mind had been so great that one night he called out in his sleep to God for help. A student heard his cry, and learned in subsequent conversation that H. was drawn to Christianity. In order to divert his thoughts from Christianity and make him satisfied with Hinduism, this so-called friend handed him a copy of the “World's Parliament of Religions.” “This,” said H., “was God's answer to my cry for help.” He continued: “I see that the leading men in Europe and America point out truths in Hinduism, and praise our religion. Why should I leave it?” This young man, having grown up a Hindu, and having heard of Hinduism from Hindus, had no special admiration for it. But the expurgated Hinduism of Max Müller and the sugar-coated Hinduism of the Parliament of Religions attracted him. In hundreds of personal interviews with educated Bengalese I have not found one helped by the Parliament of Religions. I have found some who have been distinctly hindered by it.
On page 52 he speaks of some of the hindrances12which keep educated young Hindus from becoming Christians:—
When Hinduism is left behind, many paths open before the Babu. Theosophy, agnosticism, atheism, and all forms of skepticism open out before him. All these cults come from the west. Before the Babu accepts Christianity he faces Renan, and Rousseau, and Voltaire, and, it may be, Ingersoll, and, worse than these, he is confronted by new Hinduism. What a temptation to turn back from inquiry to one's ancestral faith, which receives praise from Max Müller, and which is lauded at the World's Parliament of Religions! . . . . Why be baptized and cut off from all that heart holds dear? Why be baptized and risk the loss of life or reason by being drugged? If the Holy Spirit were not in Christianity, this religion would make no headway among the educated classes.
Such is the testimony of the young man so well known in all the colleges and theological seminaries of America.
WORK FOR THE MASTER.
By Harry Armstrong
Work, for fast the day is closing
Fields so white already stand;
Can we live in self-reposing
And not lend a helping hand?
No; while yet the dew of heaven
Gently falleth from above,
Let our time be daily given,
Freely sowing seeds of love.
Then when closed the work of sowing,
And the reaping time is o’er,
At the feet of Jesus bowing
We can lay our golden store.