The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-10-05

working force, or in The means at the dis
posal of the Board. This long stand. still
was due to various causes, amo which
may be mentioned The reaction from the
special effort of 1886 and 1897; the impoyer-
,slment OF many of the larger givers in the
cues, VINO had suffered most deeply from
financial reyerses; the withdrawal of Presby-
terians in the Southern States. and of some
Of the constituents of the Board at the
North, because Of the anii-slayery sgitation
the DIVISION Of the Presbyterian Church into
TWO branches. In 1888, and the formal recog-
milton by the Old School body of another
foreign missionary Board and the increasing
demands of home missionary work, in view
of foreign immigrants and the advance of
population into rev regions to the west
ward. Amid SO many distracting and I'M
favorable influences it was much for the
Board to have held its own.
It was low tide for two years more. with
little change in the situation, only a small
increase in the number of missionaries, till
The entire number amounted to 402, i'll
Guiding l63 ordained missionaries, eight
more than are now ON the rolls of the Board.
by the most rigid economy, and an expen-
dlture of only $257, 600 in 1852. though $780,
oO0, were urgently needed, the Board was
reported out of debt, with $685. in the treas
ury,--- IN part the result of special efforts
lnaugurated at the annual meeting of the
Board in this city.
V. 5000.
During this decade ewo new missions
ere instituted; one in Micronesia, to give
scope to missionary effort lin the Sandwich
islands; and the ether, the Arcot mission,
to enlarge work among the Tamil speaking
people OF India. This mission, however,
with the Annoy mission in China, was trans
ferred to the Board of the Reformed Church
in 1857, when that body ceased to work
through the American Board. The with
drawal of sixteen missionaries and the trans
fer of an average current expenditure of about
$4,000 year made but little difference in
the field or in the expenses of the Board.
Seven churches, with nearly three hundred
membres were transferred. BY the giving
up OF the Annoy mission the American
Board lost It's vantage ground in China as
compared with other missionary societies.
No mission had greater promise, and none
has been more fruitful or made more sub
stantial progress, than this The fact that
last May seven churches in the Annoy mis-
slor called pastors, with the pledge of their
support, is one of the most encouraging
signs attending missionary operations in the
Chinese Empire. The mission to the Jews,
which had been begun in 1882 by Mr.
RNAUeAASA3 oAL1NG I1CNu dS the 'Vele1dDle
DIR Schaufiier,'' was formally discontinued
in 1856, and the missionaries transferred to
the Armenian missions. Other societies
were ready to prosecute labor among the
Jews, and there seemed to be no probable
lack OF effort in their behalf. Missions
among the Choetaw and Cherokee Indians
discontinued in 1859 and in 1860, partly
in view of peculiar difficulties attending
work among them, and partly, too, because
those tribes had become SO far Christianized
and civilized as to be no longer proper OBJ
jects of foreign missionary effort in view of
the ella ms Ct other portions of the unevan-
gelized world. For the same reason there
was withdrawal in part of expenditure in
the Sandwich Islands, and formal recog-
milton of the Hawaiian kingdom as Chris
tan nation. "a
Steady and persistent efforts in India and
Ceylon were bringing in returns, but there
was nothing of special moment to record III
those fields, save the action of the deputation
in 1855, in recalling the attention of the
missionaries to preaching in the native
languages rather than education as the
appointed means of saving men. In Africa,
there was no small sacrifice of life and money,
but as yet with no marked success.
But in Western Asia great advance had
been made, and by the year 1860 the work had
nearly reached its present limits. Eleven
powerful revivals among the HISTORIANS had
set the seal of divine blessing on the labors
of Perkins, Stoddard, Miss Fisk, and others.
Living churches of Christ had been gathered
at Mosul and Diarbekir on the Tigris, at Sidon,
Beirut, Abeih, and other places in the Syrian
mission, and at various central points in Asia
Minor, and work was beginning among the
Bulgarians.
The number of missionaries, men and
women, was nineteen less in 1860 than in
1850, but the loss had been made up by an
increase in the number of native preachers
and helpers. The average contributions to the
treasury had increased by nearly 800, 900.
The Board had pushed its operations to the
extreme limits of its means. and sometimes,
following what seemed TO be the manifest lead .
ings OF Providence, had gone beyond them.
The increase III contributions did not keep
pace with the growing work ; still less did the
offers of service. 1t was becoming evident
that mere reliance must be placed on native
agents and on the efforts Of native Christians
to sustain their own institutions. The towns
and cities occupied in different parts of the
world had doubled during the decade, from
l34 to 269); the numbe1 of places in charge
of missionaries had increased from l06 to l19,
and those IN charge of native pastors and
preachers from Is to 100. The lesson could
not be mistaken. Its conclusions were en-
bodied in an Outline of Mission Policy from
the pen of Mr.. Treat, and formally adopted by
the Prudential Committee in 1856, and reported
to the Board. 1t was the result of the logic OF
eyents,-a study of missionary development
under the leedings of divine Providence.
The subsequent conduct of the missions of
the Board has been based largely oR the
principles set forth IN this outline, though in
dividual missionaries differ in the degree and
thoroughness with which they observe them
1t was not that the methods formerly fol-
lowed were wrong in the peculiar circum-
stances amid which missions had been begun
but, in the changed conditions of the work as
the result of progress, of experience, and a
wider observation, the time had come for a
revision Of methods. The few hundreds and
thousands accessible at first had given place
to the millions. Christianity had gained a
prestige and influence that secured for it
attention as never before. Indeed, the time
was near when barriers TO missionary opera
lions in all parts of the globe were to be
removed, and the due preparation must be
made. The population accessible to the
Board in 1860 was not less than ten millions,
90 or sixty thousand to each ordained mis-
sionary, and about twenty-six thousand to
each man and woman in this country engaged
IN the foreign work.
The half century Of the Board closed hope
fully, The debt of 100000, reported in 1859,
was removed in grateful recognition of the
divine blessing, and just in time, before the
strain and trial incident to the great civil war
The little group of eight who composed the
first missionary company were represented by
1857 men and women that had been distrib-
uted through twenty six different missions in
all portions Of the globe. One hundred and
sixty-two churches in which 5000 members
had been enrolled, an average of over 1000
year, attested the presence and blessing o.
the Holy Spirit. Thousands and tens OF
thousands Of children had been gathered into
schools. Fifty millions of pages. in ovel
forty different languages, were annually issued
from the press, including the Scriptures entire
or in portions. There was good reason fol
observing the jubilee of 1860.
VI. lS6e.70.
The decade from 1860 to 1870 was one Of
steady enlargement of existing missions, witt
butlittle other change. The number of towns
and cities occupied increased from 269 in 1866
to 632 in 1870. As the number of missionaries
had fallen off from 376 to 354, and of or.
dsined missionaries from l66 to l43, the en-.
largement of operations was due to the in