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MISSION See also:FIELDS]
Islands. The See also:partition of the See also:continent among the various See also:European nations has been on the whole favourable to mission See also:work. The nature of the task and of the results may be best approached by considering the different divisions—See also:North, See also:South, See also:East, See also:West and Central See also:Africa.
North Africa, along the Mediterranean from See also:Morocco to See also:Egypt, is distinctly See also:Mahommedan. To these regions came St See also: That country has its own crude See also:form of Christianity, and is much the same today as when See also:Peter Heiling in the 17th See also:century endeavoured to propagate a purer faith. A mission undertaken by the Church Missionary Society in 1839 was closed by See also:French Jesuit intrigue in 1838.
South Africa.—The Moravians, represented by See also:George See also:Schmidt, who arrived at Cape See also:Town in See also:July 1737, were the first to undertake mission work in South Africa. Schmidt won the confidence of the See also:Hottentots, but the Dutch authorities stopped his work. In 1798 See also: The Glasgow Society's work was ultimately taken over by the See also:Free Church of See also:Scotland, whose See also:great achievement is the See also:Lovedale See also:Institute, combining See also:industrial and mission work. The Germans and Scandinavians have also been ardent workers in South Africa, and the Dutch Reformed Church has not entirely neglected the natives. One Dutch society gives its See also:attention to the See also:northern See also:part of the See also:Transvaal. The See also:chief difficulties in the way of evangelization have been (1) the hostility of natives races aroused by European annexations, (2) the introduction of European vices, (3) the See also:movement known as Ethiopianism. The See also:British Wesleyans refused to confer full rights on See also:negro pastors, who then appealed to the See also:African Methodist Episcopal Church, a product of American evangelization. One of them, J. M. Dwane, was made See also:Vicar-Bishop, and a large and powerful See also:independent negro church organized. Dwane afterwards approached the Anglicans, and in 1900 that church formed the " Ethiopian See also:Order," ordaining Dwane a See also:deacon and making him Provincial of the Order. Each bishop now deals with the Ethiopians in his own See also:diocese. The South African governments foresaw dangerous developments in the Ethiopian movement, and steps were taken to restrain its growth. Ethiopianism, if ecclesiastical in its origin, gained strength from racial See also:base. The task of averting the racial bitterness so dominant in the United States of America is a most formidable one. There593
are in South Africa several vicariates and prefectures of the Roman Church, the See also:principal missions being French, those of the See also:Congregation of the See also:Holy See also:Ghost and the Oblates of See also:Mary.
West Africa was first visited by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 1752. Its agent, T. See also:Thompson, trained See also: Central Africa.—The upper Congo region opened up by Living-See also: Near this lake the Scottish churches are also doing See also:noble work. Besides Uganda the Church Missionary Society is responsible for Mombasa. The London Mission is See also:meeting with success at the south end of Lake See also:Tanganyika in North-east See also:Rhodesia. The English United Methodists and some See also:Swedish societies have begun work among the Gallas. German Missionary agencies have also come in with German colonization. In East Africa, as in the West, Christian missionaries fear most the aggressive Moslem propaganda.
See also:Madagascar 1 is one of the most interesting mission fields. Work was begun by the London Mission in 1819, and the work of See also:civilization and evangelization went steadily forward till 1835, when a See also:period of repression and severe persecution set in, which lasted till 1861. When the work was recommenced it was found that the native Christians had multiplied and See also:developed during the harsh treatment of the 25 years. In 1869 the idols were publicly destroyed and the See also:island declared Christian by royal See also:proclamation. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (1864), the See also:Norwegian Missionary Society (1866), and the Friends' See also:Foreign Missionary Association joined in the work, the prosperity of which received a severe check by the French See also:annexation in 1896. The French authorities were hostile to the English missionaries, and even the handing over of part of the See also: See also:Laws were first enacted against private See also:schools, then against elementary schools, and in 1906—1907 See also:measures were passed which practically closed all mission schools. See also:Family prayers were forbidden if any outside the immediate family were See also:present, and 'religious services at the graveside were prohibited. Missionary work in the island has thus passed through a peculiarly trying experience, but happier conditions are now likely to prevail. In See also:Mauritius and the See also:Seychelles the Church Missionary Society and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel are at work, especially among the coolies on the See also:sugar plantations. The outstanding problem of African missions at least north of the See also:Equator (south there is the Ethiopian question) is not the degradation of the See also:black races, nor the demoralizing influences of See also:heathen Christians, nor even the slave dealer, though all these obstacles are present and powerful. The all-decisive conflict is that between Christianity and Islam, and the Christian agencies must show much more co-operation if they are to be successful. The lines of missionary work have been, generally speaking, See also:simple gospel See also:preaching followed by See also:education and industrial work. So rare were the See also:ordinary comforts, and even necessities of life, that the latter had to take a prominent See also:place from the beginning: the missionary had to be See also:farmer, See also:carpenter, brickmaker, tailor, printer, See also:house and church builder, not only for himself but for his converts. The work of See also:Bible See also:translation has been particularly See also:long and difficult; for the innumerable peoples who did not speak some form of Arabic the See also:languages had first to be reduced to See also:writing, and many Christian terms had to be coined. See also:India: —The earliest missionaries to India, with the possible exception of See also:Pantaenus of Alexandria (c. A.D. 18o), were the See also:Nestorians from See also:Persia. The See also:record of their work is told else-where (see See also:NESTORIUS and NESTORIANS). The See also:Jesuits came in the 16th century, but were more successful quantitatively than qualitatively; in the 18th century the Danish coast mission on the coast of See also:Tranquebar made the first See also:Protestant advance, Bartholomaus, Ziegenbalg (1683–1719), Plutschau and Christian See also:Friedrich Schwartz (1926–1998) being its great names. Up to this See also:time the chief results were that (1) Christianity had gained a footing, (2) it had continued the monotheistic modification of See also:Indian thought begun by Mahommedanism, and (3) the futility of sporadic and fanatical proselytism had been shown. A new era began with the arrival of See also: See also:Rice in A Primer of See also:Modern Missions, ed. R. Lovett (London, 1896) ; J. See also:Richter, A See also:History of Missions in India (1908) ; The Church Missionary See also:Review (July 1908); Contemporary Review (May 1908 and See also:June 1910).east coast, established a mission in See also:Orissa in 182I which soon See also:bore See also:fruit; the Wesleyans were in See also:Ceylon, See also:Mysore and the Kaveri valley, the London Missionary Society at the great military centres See also:Madras, See also:Bangalore and See also:Bellary, agents of the American Board at See also:Ahmednagar and other parts of the Mahratta country around Bombay. The headquarters of See also:Hinduism, the See also:Ganges valley, was occupied by the Baptists, the Church Missionary Society and the London Missionary Society, these entering.See also:Benares in 1816, 1818 and 182o respectively. See also: Besides these matters which concerned Hinduism there was the problem of converting sixty million Mahommedans. The chief methods adopted have been the following: (I) See also:vernacular preaching in the large towns and on itineraries through the rural districts, a work in which native evangelists guided by Europeans and Americans played a large part. (2) Medical missions, which have done much to break down barriers of See also:prejudice, especially in See also:Kashmir under Dr Elmslie of the Church Missionary Society, and in See also:Rajputana at See also:Jaipur under Dr See also:Valentine of the United Presbyterians. (3) Orphanages, in which the Roman Catholics led the way and have maintained their See also:lead. (4) Vernacular schools, a See also:good example of which is seen in the American Board's Madura Mission. (5) English education, in which the missionary societies have amply supplemented the efforts of the See also:government, outstanding examples being the Madras Christian See also:College (Free Church of Scotland), so long connected with the name of Dr William See also:Miller, the General See also:Assembly of Scotland's Institution at Calcutta, founded by Duff, See also: The great changes that have been wrought in India, politically, commercially, intellectually and religiously, by the combined See also:action of the British government and the Christian missions, are evidenced among other tokens by the growth of such societies as the Arya Samaj and the Brahmo Samaj. • Orthodox Hindus, especially those whose social status and very livelihood are imperilled by the revolution, have shown their alarm either by open opposition, subjecting converts to every sort of caste See also:coercion, or by methods of See also:defence, e.g. See also:Hindu tract societies and See also:young men's associations, which are modelled on Christian organizations. A See also:counter reformation can also be traced which attempts to revive Hinduism by purging it of its grossness and allegorizing its fables and legends. A new Islam is also a See also:factor of the situation. Comparatively few converts have been made from Mahommedanism to Christianity, and these have been chiefly among the learned. But there is a wide prevalence of free-thinking, especially among the younger and educated classes of the community. The See also:special difficulties of mission work in India may be thus summarized. (i) Racial antipathy. (2) The speculative rather than experimental and See also:practical nature of the Hindu consciousness—See also:historical proofs make no appeal to him. (3) The lack of initiative: in a See also:land where the See also:joint family system is everywhere and all powerful, See also:individualism and will-See also:power are at a See also:discount. (4) The See also:ignorance and conservatism of the See also:women. (5) An inadequate sense of See also:sin. (6) The introduction of European forms of See also:materialism and See also:anti-Christian See also:philosophy. Perhaps, too, the methods adopted by missionaries have not always been the wisest, and they have some-times failed to remember the method of their See also:Master, who came" not to destroy, but to fulfil." In spite, however, of all the difficulties, permanent and increasing results have been achieved along all the lines indicated above, The establishment of a strong native church is far from being the only fruit of the enterprise, but it is a fruit that can be gauged by See also:statistics, and these are sufficiently striking. In a necessarily inadequate See also:sketch it is impossible to give more than the barest mention to one or two other features of modern missionary achievement in India, e.g. the development of industrial schools, the establishment of a South India United Church, in which the Congregationalist agencies (London Missionary Society and American Board) and the Presbyterians have joined forces, and the endeavour to See also:train an efficient and educated native See also:ministry, which is being promoted especially at Serampur, where an old Danish degree-granting See also:charter has been revived in what should become a Christian university, and at Bangalore, where Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Wesleyans collaborate to See also:staff and maintain a united theological college. The government See also:census for India and See also:Burma (1901) gives a Christian See also:population of 2,923,241 (native Christians 2,664,313) out of a See also:total population of 294,361,056, or about 3%. The inclusion of Portuguese and French possessions would add about 350,000 to the Christian total. Though the number does not seem relatively high, it is significant when compared with that of former censuses—in 1872, 1,517,997; in 1881, 1,862,525 (increase 22.7%); in 1891, 2,284,380 (increase 22.6%); in 1901, 2,923,241 (increase of 28%). The Increase of 28 % between 1891 and 1901 has often been compared with the fact that the total population of India only registered an increase of 21% in that See also:decade. In the words of The See also:Pioneer, " this is a hard fact which cannot be explained away " and " the most remarkable feature of the returns." The increase was shared by every province and state in India. In 1910 there were 4614 missionaries (including wives), representing 122 societies, 1272 Indian ministers, and 34,095 other native workers, including teachers and Bible-women. The growth of the Protestant Native Christian community between 1851 and 1910 is shown in the following table: The Protestant community in India in 1910 was over a million strong, well distributed among the chief provinces, a fine spiritual force, easily first in female education, and rapidly growing in See also:wealth, position and See also:influence. A See also:recent See also:report of the Director of Public Instruction for the Madre§ See also:Presidency says: " I have frequently called attention to the educational progress of the native Christian community. There can be no question, if the community pursues with steadiness the present policy of its teachers, that in the course of a See also:generation it will have secured a preponderating position in all the great professions." What India wants (as See also:Nobili 300 years ago saw, and attempted, though by fatal methods of deceit, to See also:supply) is a Christianity not foreign but native, not dissociated from the religious life of the land but its fulfilment. Though there are many Christians in India to-day, the Hindu still looks askance at Christianity, not because it is a See also:religion but because it is foreign. " India is waiting for her own divinely appointed apostle, who, whether Brahmin or non-Brahmin,shall connect Christianity with India's religious past, and present it as the true Vedanta or completion of the Veda and thus make it capable of appealing to the Hindu religious nature." It only remains to be said that the work of the missionaries individually and collectively has over and over again received the warmest recognition and praise from the highest officials of the Indian government. See also:China.'—The earliest Christian missionaries to China, as to India, were the Nestorian (q.v.). Their work and that of the Roman Church, begun as the result of Marco See also:Polo's travels about 1290, faded away under the persecution of the Ming See also:dynasty which came to power about 1350. The next See also:attempt was that of the French Jesuits, following on the visit and See also:death of See also:Xavier. They established themselves at See also:Canton in 1582, and on the See also:accession of the Manchu dynasty (1644) advanced rapidly. In 1685 there were three dioceses, See also:Peking, See also:Nanking and See also:Macao, with a See also:hundred churches. The Orthodox Eastern Church gained r footing in Peking in the same See also:year, and established a college o. See also:Greek priests. See also:Friction between Jesuits and See also:Dominicans lec' to the proscription of Christianity by the See also:emperor in 1724; missionaries and converts being banished. The See also:story of modern missions in China begins with Robert See also:Morrison (q.v.) of the London Missionary Society, who reached Canton in 1807, and not being allowed to reside in China entered the service of the East India Company. In 1813 he was joined by a colleague, William Milne, and in 1814 baptized his first convert. In 1829 came representatives of the American Board, in 1836 Peter See also:Parker began his medical mission, and on the opening of the Treaty Ports the old edicts were withdrawn, and other societies crowded in to a field more than ample. After the See also:war of 1856 a measure of See also:official See also:toleration was obtained, and the task of evangelizing the country was fairly begun. Though the missionaries were chiefly concentrated in the treaty ports they gradually pushed inland, and here the names of W. C. See also:Burns, a Scottish evangelist, J. See also:Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission, and James Gilmour, the apostle of See also:Mongolia, are pre-eminent. But for more than See also:half a century China seemed the most hopeless of mission fields. The upper classes were especially anti-foreign, and the whole nation vaunted its superiority to the See also:rest of See also:man- kind. In 1857 there were only about 400 baptized Protestant Christians in the whole of China. Even after the removal of the edicts the old prejudices remained, and the missionaries were regarded as See also:political emissaries, the forerunners of military aggression. Native Christians were stigmatized as traitors, " followers of the foreign devils." In 1870 there was a great out- break concentrating in the massacres at See also:Hankow and See also:Tientsin; in 189r at Hunan and in 1895 at Ku See also:Cheng there were other attacks which were only pre- liminary to the Boxer uprising of 1899-1900, when 135 missionaries, besides 52 See also:children and perhaps 16,000 native Christians, whose heroism will always be memorable, perished, often after horrible tortures. There is little
doubt that this See also:savage outburst was
directed not against religious teaching
as such, but against the introduction of
customs and ideas which tended to weaken
the old power of the mandarins over the
See also:people. These leaders skilfully seized upon every See also:breach of tradition to inflame popular See also:passion, attacking
especially the medical work as a pretext for See also:mutilation, the schools as hotbeds of See also:vice, and the orphanages as furnishing material for See also:witchcraft. Out of the agony, however, a new China was See also:born. The growing power of See also:Japan, seen in her See also:wars with China and See also:Russia, and the See also:impotence of the Boxers against the European See also:allies, made all classes in China realize their See also:comparative impotence, and the central government began a See also:series of reforms, reorganizing the military, educational, fiscal and political systems on Western lines. Educational reforms became especially insistent, and modern methods and studies supplanted
1 See A. H. See also: See also:Rate of Rate of Proportion Unordained Number. Increase. Number. Increase. of the Ordained. preachers. Community. % % 1851 91,092 — 14,661 — 16•o 21 1861 138,731 52'3 24,976 70'3 18•o 97 1266 1871 224,258 61.6 52,816 111.4 23.5 225 1985 188i 417,372 86.1 113,325 114.5 27.1 461 2488 1890 559,661 34.0 182,722 61.2 32.6 797 3491 1900 854,867 52.8 301,699 65.1 35'3 — — 1910 1,472,448 72.2 522,743 73'3 — 1,272 the immemorial Confucian type. Students went in great See also:numbers to Japan, See also:Europe and America, and the old contempt and hostility toward things Western gave place to respect and friendliness. Early in the igth century the missionaries had not been able to do much by way of education, but the new openings were seized with such power as was possible, and while in 1876 there were 289 mission schools with 4909 pupils, in 1910 there were 3129 schools with 79,823 scholars. More significant still is the way in which the foremost Chinese officials have turned to missionaries like See also:Timothy See also:Richard and See also:Griffith John for assistance in guiding the new impulse. The universities of See also:Oxford and See also:Cambridge, under the See also:inspiration of See also:Lord William See also:Cecil, were interesting themselves in 1910 in a See also:scheme for establishing a Christian university in China. One of Morrison's contemporaries hoped that after a century of mission work there might possibly be 2000 Christians in China. That number was reached in 1865, and in 1910 there was a Protestant community of 214,546 church members and baptized Christians. These numbers are more than See also:double what they were in 1900. In addition there are more than as many adherents.' The excellence of the converts, upon the whole, is testified to by travellers who really know the See also:case; particularly by Mrs Bishop, who speaks of the " raw material " out of which they are made as "the best stuff in See also:Asia." The total number of Protestant missionaries (including wives) in China in 1910 was 4175, one to about 'too sq. m., or to more than 1oo,000 Chinese. There are over 12,000 Chinese evangelists, Bible-women, teachers, &c. The Roman Catholic returns give 902,478 members and 390,617 catechumens. The work is carried on by eleven societies or religious orders with over 40 bishops and woo European priests, mostly French. A large feature of the work is the See also:baptism of children. An important concession was obtained in 1899 by the French See also:minister at Peking, with a view to the more effective See also:protection of the Roman missions. The bishops were declared " equal in See also:rank to the viceroys and See also:governors," and the priests " to the prefects of the first and second class "; and their influence and authority were to correspond. The Anglican bishops agreed to decline these See also:secular See also:powers, as also did the heads of other Protestant missions. It is alleged by some that the exercise of the powers gained by the Roman See also:hierarchy was one cause of the Boxer outbreaks. Certainly their native adherents had their full See also:share of persecution and See also:massacre. The Anglican Church is not so strong in China as in some other fields; the American Episcopalians were first in the field in 1835, followed by the Church Missionary Society (in 1844), which has had stirring success in Fu-Kien, and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 1874. There are five dioceses, and in 1897 an episcopal See also:conference was held in See also:Shanghai. Since the See also:Japanese War the Scottish and Irish Presbyterians have made wonderful progress in See also:Manchuria ; native evangelists do an increasing share of the work, and there is hardly any town or village without Christians. The London Mission has always been conspicuous for the contribution made by its agents to linguistic and See also:literary knowledge, the name of James See also:Legge being an outstanding example; it is now, in co-operation with other societies, earnestly taking up the new educational and medical openings. One of the most interesting features of missionary work in China is the See also:comity that prevails among the workers of different societies and agencies. Thus in 1907 at the See also:Centenary Conference in Shanghai, when many topics were discussed centring in the question of the native Chinese Church, a general See also:declaration of faith and purpose was adopted, which, after setting out the things held in See also:common, proceeded, " We frankly recognize that we differ as to methods of See also:administration and of church government; that some among us differ from others as to the administration of baptism; and that there are some See also:differences as to the statement of the See also:doctrine of See also:predestination, or the See also:election of See also:grace. But we unite in holding that these exceptions do not invalidate the assertion of our real unity in our common See also:witness to the Gospel of the Grace of See also:God." The conference reported, " We have quite as much See also:reason to be encouraged by the See also:net result of the progress of Christianity in China during the 19th century as the early Christians had with the progress of the Gospel in the Roman See also:Empire during the first century." Japan and See also:Korea.—The Christian faith was brought to Japan by Portuguese traders in 1542, followed by Xavier in 1549. See Contemporary Review (Feb. 1908), " Report on Christian Missions in China," by Mr F. W. See also:Fox, See also:Professor Macalister and See also:Sir Alex. See also:Simpson. This great missionary was well received by the daimios (feudal lords), and though he remained only 21 years, with the help of a Japanese whom he had converted at Malacca he organized many congregations. In 1581 there were 200 churches and 150,000 Christians; ten years later the converts numbered 600,000, in 1594 a million and a half. Then came a time of repression and persecution under Iyeyasu, whose second See also:edict in 1614 condemned every foreigner to death, forbade the entry of foreigners and the return of Japanese who had See also:left the islands, and extinguished Christianity by See also:fire and See also:sword. The reopening of the country came in 1859, largely through American pressure, and in May of that year two agents of the Protestant Episcopal Church began work at See also:Nagasaki. They were followed by others from the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches, and by their great intellectual ability, See also:patience and tact these pioneers (S. R. See also: In 1869 the American Board (Congregational) sent its first See also:band; in 187o Verbeck was called on to organize a scheme for See also:national education. In 1872 the first Japanese church was formed; in 1875 Joseph Neesima, who had been converted by a See also:Russian missionary and then educated in America, founded a Christian Japanese College, the Doshisha, in the sacred See also:city of Kyoto. Meanwhile the Christian See also:calendar had been adopted and the old anti-Christian edicts removed. By 1889 there were 30,000 Protestant communicants. It was at this time that the nation, conscious of its new life, began to be restive under the supercilious attitude of foreign nations, and the feeling of irritation was shared by the native Christian communities. It showed itself in a See also:desire to throw off the governance of the missionaries, in a See also:criticism of Protestant See also:creeds as not adapted to Japanese needs, and in a slackened growth numerically and intensively. After a period of stress and uncertainty, due very largely to the variety of denominational creed and polity, matters assumed an easier See also:condition, the missionaries recognizing the national characteristics and aiming at guidance rather than See also:control. The war with China in 1894 marked a new See also:chapter and initiated a time of intense national activity; education and work for women went forward rapidly. Missionaries went through the island as.never before, and their evangelistic work was built upon by Japanese ministers. In the war with Russia Japanese Christianity found a new opportunity; on the battlefield, in the See also:camp, at See also:home, Christian men were pre-eminent. In 1902 there were 50,000 church members; in 1910, 67,043; the total Protestant community in 1910 was about 1oo,000, and had an influence out of all proportion to its numbers; the Roman Church was estimated at 79,000, and the Orthodox Eastern Church (Russian) at 30,000. No sketch, however brief, can omit a reference to the Anglican bishop of South See also:Tokyo, See also:Edward See also:Bickersteth (1850-1897), who from his See also:appointment in 1886 guided the joint movement of English and American Episcopalians which issued in the Nippon Sei Kokwai or Holy Catholic Church of Japan, a national church with its own laws and its own missions in See also:Formosa. In See also:April 1907 the Conference of the World's Student Christian Federation (700 students from 25 different countries) met in Tokyo, and received a notable welcome from the national leaders in administration, education and religion. In Korea, the " See also:Hermit Nation," or as the Koreans prefer to say, " The Land of the See also:Morning See also:Calm," Christianity was introduced at the end of the 18th century by some members of the Korean See also:legation at See also:Pekin who had met Roman Catholic missionaries. It took See also:root and spread in spite of opposition until 1864, when an anti-foreign outbreak exterminated it. The See also:door was re-opened by the See also:treaties of 1882-1886, and even before that copies of the gospels had been circulated from the Manchuria See also:side. The Methodist Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian Board, both of America, entered the country in 1885, and were soon joined by similar agencies from Canada and See also:Australia. The Anglican Church began work in 189o, the work was thoroughly planned, the characteristics of the people were care-fully considered, and the successes and failures of other mission-fields were studied as a See also:guide to method. The medical work won the favour of'the government, and so wisely did the missionaries See also:act, that during all the turbulent changes 'since 1884 they escaped entanglement in the political disturbances and yet held the confidence of the people. The persistence and growth of Christianity among the Koreans is largely due to the fact that Christianity had not been superimposed on them as a foreign organization. They had built their own churches and schools, adopted their own forms of See also:worship and phrased their own beliefs. Korea vies with Uganda as a See also:triumph of modern missionary enterprise. In 1866 there were not more than See also:loo Christians; official returns in 1910 show 178,686 Protestants, including 72,000 church members and probationers; and 72,290 Roman Catholics. Theological colleges, normal training colleges and higher and See also:lower grade schools See also:bear witness to an activity and a success which are truly remarkable. South-East Asia and the East Indies.—The work of Christian missions in this area has had the double See also:advantage of freedom from political and social unrest, and of comparatively little overlapping, each country as a See also:rule being taken over by a single society. In Burma the American Baptists, whose work began with Adoniram See also:Judson in 1813, are conspicuous, and have had marked success among the Karens or See also:peasant class, where the pioneer was George See also:Dana See also:Boardman (1827). The See also:Karen Christian communities are strong numerically and have a good name for self-support. The Baptists have also stations in See also:Arakan and See also:Assam where they See also:link up with the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists (1845). The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the Methodist Episcopal Church work in and around See also:Rangoon. In See also:Siam again the Americans, especially the Presbyterians, have been most prominent. Medical work made an impression on the people and won the favour of the government, which has always been cordial and has employed missionaries as See also:court-tutors. See also:Buddhism is at its best at Siam, and this and the enervating See also:climate are responsible for the comparatively small See also:direct success of Christian propaganda in Siam proper. In the See also:Laos country to the north, however, much more has been done, and a healthy type of Christian community established. Native workers have done something to carry the Gospel into the French colonies of See also:Tongking and See also:Annam. Here the Roman missions are very extensive, and have over a million adherents, despite violent persecution before the French occupation. The See also:peninsula and See also:archipelago known as Malaysia presents a remarkable mingling of races, languages and beliefs. Tatar, Mahommedan and Hindu invasions all preceded the Portuguese who brought Roman Catholicism, and the Dutch who brought Protestantism. This last resulted in a great number of nominal conversions, as baptism was the See also:passport to government favour, and church membership was based on the learning of the See also:Decalogue and the Lord's See also:Prayer, and on the saying of grace at mealtimes. In the Straits See also:Settlement the See also:foundations of modern missionary effort were laid by the London Missionary Society pioneers who were waiting to get into China; they were succeeded by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (1856), English Presbyterians (1875), Methodist Episcopalians (1884), who have a fine Anglo-Chinese College at See also:Singapore, and the Church of See also:England Zenana Society (1900). In the Archipelago most of the work has naturally been in the hands of the See also:Netherlands Missionary Society (1812) and other Dutch agencies, who at first were not encouraged by the colonial government, but have since done well, especially in the Minahassa See also:district of See also:Celebes (150,000 members) and among the Bataks of See also:Sumatra (Rhenish Mission). In Celebes and the See also:Moluccas the work is now under the Colonial State Church. In See also:Java the government has favoured Mahommedans (there isactive intercourse between the island and See also:Mecca), but there are some 25,000 Christians and a training school and See also:seminary at Depok near See also:Batavia. In Dutch See also:Borneo the Rhenish Society is slowly making headway among the See also:Dyaks; in British Borneo the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (1848) and the Methodist Episcopalians occupy the field. The total number of Christians in British Malaysia and the Dutch East Indies is about 600,000 (including 57,000 Roman Catholics). Western Asia and the See also:Turkish Empire 1—The American Presbyterians and Congregationalists have the largest Protestant missions in these lands, working, however, mainly for the enlightenment and education of the See also:Oriental Christians. With the same See also:object, though on different lines, the See also:archbishop of Canter, See also:bury's See also:Assyrian Mission seeks to influence the Nestorians. The Roman Catholics have extensive missions in these countries, directed at winning adherents to the unity of the Holy See from the Oriental Churches, which are regarded as schismatic and heretical. In this enterprise there has been great advance in Egypt among the Copts, and in 1899 the See also:Pope signalized " the resurrection of the Church 'of Alexandria " by appointing a See also:Patriarch for Egypt, See also:Libya and See also:Nubia. Farther east, on the See also:borders of See also:Turkey and Persia, the Roman and Russo-Greek Churches compete for the See also:adhesion of the Nestorians, Chaldeans and Armenians. The See also:Franciscans, Dominicans, Lazarists and Jesuits are engaged in all these See also:works. Direct work among Mahommedans is done, though with small result, by the North Africa Mission (non-denominational) and the Church Missionary Society. The Egypt, See also:Palestine and Persia missions of the latter society have been largely reinforced and extended since 1884, medical work and women's work being especially prominent, Four cities in southern Persia are now occupied. Three missions just touch the border of See also:Arabia, viz. the United Free Church of Scotland at See also:Aden, founded by See also:Ion See also:Keith-See also:Falconer (1856-1887) son of the 9th See also:earl of See also:Kintore and Arabic professor at Cambridge; an American Presbyterian Mission on the See also:Persian Gulf; and the Church Missionary Society's Mission at See also:Bagdad. The American Robert College at See also:Constantinople and the work of the Friends' Missionary Association in See also:Syria are See also:honourable and successful enterprises. The chief difficulties have been (1) the antagonism of the officials of the Oriental churches, (2) the suspicion and hostility of Islam, (3) the jealousies, religious and political, connected with the Eastern Question. Missions in Christian Lands.—Australia has been referred to already (see South Seas, above). In the Western Hemisphere we may distinguish the following: (1) Early Roman Missions began with the See also:discovery of the continent and practically ceased in the See also:middle of the 18th century. Conspicuous among their achievements was the See also:conversion of See also:Mexico, 200,000 converts being enrolled within six years after the See also:capture of the See also:capital (1521), and a million baptized by the Franciscans alone within thirty years. In South America the passive character of the population made them submissive alike to the See also:Spanish government and the Roman faith. Their natural devotion and their susceptibility to pomp and See also:ritual was a factor skilfully used by the priests, but hardly anything was done to strengthen their moral power. The influx of base European strata helped to reduce the whole continent south of Mexico in about a century to a level as low as that preceding the first mission. About 1600 the Franciscans and French Jesuits began their work in North America and among the See also:Indians did a successful work marked by much heroism. They also enabled the Roman Church to keep its hold on the French colonists of See also:Quebec and See also:Montreal, and were pioneers in See also:California. (2) Modern Missions in North America.—Missions among the Red Indian tribes in the North-West Territories of both the United States and Canada have long been carried on by several societies. The first workers were See also: Richter, A History of Protestant Missions in the Near East
(1910).
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from the time when it was Russian territory, and various American societies are also represented. The total number of Indians in British North America is 99,000, of whom about 27,000 are still See also:pagan, and the rest are about equally divided between the Protestant and Roman Catholic Missions. (3) Central and South America.-Protestant missions to Indians here have been very limited. Von Weltz did something in Dutch See also:Guiana (c. 1670), and the Moravians among the Arrawak Indians of Surinam (1738-18o8). Since 1847 they have worked on the See also:Mosquito coast of Central America. American Missions are at work in Mexico and adjacent countries. In the West India Islands the negro population has been reached by most of the larger British societies. The South American Missionary Society, founded by the See also:ill-fated See also:Captain See also:Allen See also:Gardiner, has much extended its work among the Indians of the interior of what has been well called " the Neglected Continent "; it has been specially successful among the See also:Araucanians of See also:Chile and the Paraguayan See also:Chaco. Their work among the Fuegians See also:drew a warm See also:tribute from See also: The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel has an important mission in British Guiana. But there are numerous heathen tribes never yet reached. The Roman Church, which is dominant throughout the continent, has been engaged in serious struggles with the anti-religious tendencies of the Republican governments, and L'Annee de l'Eglise makes no mention of missions among the Indians. In fact the Pope in 1897 was obliged to send a severe rebuke to the See also:clergy for their lack of consistency and zeal. Protestant societies have done much to bring the Bible to the knowledge of the nominally Roman Catholic population. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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