The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1899-12-26
GE0. STULL'SW WORK
The Montana chaplain Estab-
lished the First Protestant
Mission at Manila.
CHURCH in A THEATER
At First. but Now There Is a Regu-
lar Methodist Churcll-All
Done by Mr.. Stull.

teGrs, etabllshed Inc first Protestant
mission in the Philippines. Chaplain
Stull saw in Manila and the islands
generally a wibe field for useful work,
and lost 10 Time in entering upon II.
Upon his return to Montana with tho
regiment, he FASTENED to Washington,
u o., where in November he attended
the meeting Of the missionary society
OF the Methodist church in behalf Of his
mission il far away Manila. He had
no trouble il securing recognition from
the Methodist authorities for the mis-
sion he had sstr blished, and the full
amount SUGGESTED by him was approp-
rated for building it up and increasing
it's sphere of usefulness missionary
has already been sent to Manila from
Singapore BY ttse~Eociety to take charge
Of the work and others are to follow.
The Presbyterian. Christian, Baptist
and Episcopal churches all have mis-
sionaries now at Manila, and each
church is preparing to establish mis-
sions and to actively engage in mission
airy work.
"The field is large and inviting
enough for all of the churches" said
Chaplain Stull to The Independent.
"No one can fully realize the great
need for mission work there until he
visits the islands and %acquaints him
self with conditions there. Then he
will be appalled, at the magnitude of
the task, but for all that it is for the
missionaries to get work under way.
1.-The prevailing religion of thu
islands is the Catholic religion, and
perhaps always will be, but there are
many, many thousands who cannot or,
at least, who will not, be reached
through the Catholic church, and it is
to these in particular that our mission
aries must turn. The Catholics Of the
islands were, so far as my observ alton
went, consistent and faithful to their
religion, and it is needless to- say that
church has been a power for good there.
1t is not the design Of the protestant
missions to enoroach upon the field al
ready occupied by Catholicism in the
Philippines, for, ms I have said, the ter
ritory is broad enough to invite all
Christian denominations. "When I
first arrived at Manila I was handicap
ped by a lack Of knowledge Of Spanish,
and it was sometime before I realized
the conditions there, aud that a protes-
tant mission would be in Ii position to
do much good. In common with many
officers and men Of the regiment |
sought to learn AS much of the Ian
guage as was possible and at the same
time attend to the duties OF my posi-
ton, and while I never became fluent
in speaking the language, I learned to
understand conversation fairly we'll.
1.-The mission grew from services
conducted by me last January in the
Filipino theater in Manila. The serv.
ices were held from 8 80 to 1920 a. IN.
At the latter hour, the actors would
come to rehearse the plays given at
afternoon performances. became more
than ever convinced that better facili-
ties for worship should be provided,
and with the assistance Of the Ameri.
can and English oonsu!s and a couple
Of lawyers sought for a place where
young men might congregate-soldisrs
us we'll as natives to spend some Of
their idle hours in the city. l raised
5000 for this purpose and selected and
secured a large building. I secured
81, 900 more and fitted out the build
ing, renting enough of it to pay for the
rooms used by our institute We had
two rooms for schools, a big reading
room and writing room, and free baths.
It was open to natives and soldiers. and
many availed themselves of the privil.
eyes it offered. All that it had to offer
was free. N.
''The natives were particularly anx.
ious for gospel service and each Sunday
afternoon | had a native congregation
of from sixty to 100 persons. I would
preach III English. and a native who
understood English would repeat my
words to the people. You see, l was
not proficient enough in Spanish to at
tempt speaking in that tongue. There
was music aud short addresses upol, Il
subject or another at these meetings..
A great many of the natives wanted a
church, and several months after the
institute was established n church was
organized We used the reading room
Of the institute Sunday afternoons from
4 O'Clock until 5. Later a regular
Methodist society vas organized. At
the last report I hoard from there the
society had aighty-nine members. all Of
whom will be regularly taken into the
Methodist church. :
Sowing to my duties i'll the regiment
at that period, l was unable to spend a
great deal Of time at the mission. just
before the regiment sailed for home l
raised So 900 in pledges for the work.
/ had no time to collect the money, but
I believe that all Of it will be, If it has
not already been. available for the new
church. I left d native minister in
charge of the mission, He was not
ordained a Mellndist minister, as no
one in Manila had authority to do that.
but he was a conscientious man,