The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1903-12-18


of Oriental Research; she founded and
endowed in the same University a
lectureship on comparative religion;
and finally she endowed in the same
University a lectureship to which she
gave the name of her pastor, who
subsequently became the President of
Oberlin College, the late and lamented
DR.. John Henry Barrows.
1t was the intention of the lecture
ship that once in three years person
should be chosen, either from America
OF from Europe, by the Trustees of
the Chicago University to go as their
ambassador to the far East and there
to meet on equal terms the university
circles of the Orient, and to set be-
fore them in a respectful and fraternal
spirit the import Of the great leading
conceptions of our holy and divine
faith The first incumbent Of the
lectureship was Doctor Barrows the
late President of Oberlin: the second
was Doctor Fairbairn, of Mansfield
College, Oxford. and had the privi-
lege O. following Doctor Fairbairn in
the succession of lecturers. The fourth
has not, SO far as ! know yet been
publicly announced.
Accompanied by my family, that is
to say by my wife and three of our
children and their tutor, | went to
Europe in the spring of 1902, and after
some months spent in completing my
preparation in the University of Ok
ford, | sailed for Ceylon in the au-
tumn a year ago. And although the
statement has little to do with the
subject in hand, it was source of no
ordinary delight to me to be able to
open up to myself and to my children
the nobleneSs and breadth Of the great
world of human life. Children seven
teen. fifteen and twelve, all of whom
were carried around the world with
absolutely not day of illness and
unto whom there came, believe a
vision of human life in its relation to
God and in its relation to the various
portions of the world, and sympathy
with human life, and respect for the
total religious experiences of the world.
which | believe will have it's good
effect and will enhance their value to
society. And let me say just here,
that | do not knnw any better way in
which parents can prepare their chill
dren for large usefulness in the world
before them than by opening to them,
as they have opportunity, the wide
ness of the world and the manifold
interests of human life.
My first objective point was Ceylon.
The lectures began there: then pro
ceeded to India, and was there be-
tween three and four months, travel
ing in all eight thousand miles in the
Indian Empire, and delivering ad.
dresses to multitudes in all the great
university cities, in Calcutta, ALA.
habad, Barel and Madras, and in part
in other cities, and then passing on
through the Malay peninsula tc
Singapore, brief visit to China
and then glorious experience in uni
versity life in Japan, where | had the
privilege of visiting all the great seats
Of learning.
| Now a word more as to the exper
fences where | lectured in university
circles. The audiences | am told
averaged a thousand in number, q
thousand gentlemen, all of them mer
of cultivation, students, professors
civil officers and bankers. In India ir
such circles, the English language il
spoken with a precision and elegance
not often heard in Anglo-Saxon com
munities. | have frequently saiC
since returned, that if | wished tC
speak in complimentary terms o.
anyone in this country, should do Sc
by saying he spoke English like al
Indian. Under those circumstance:
you can see how easy it is to address
an Indian audience. On the othel
hand in Japan where the English
language is generally less understood
it became necessary to employ az
interpreter. But ! had the great
good fortune in having as my inter
prefer one of my own students who
had been student in the seminary
and who is now professor of philos
ophy in Kioto, and who had leave oil
absence from his faculty to accompany
me through Japan during my stay ii
the Japanese Empire. l spoke ninety
times in India and sixty times il
Japan, and in addition to those public
utterances, had the daily privilege
of being in intimate personal fellow
ship of an unrestricted and unguardeC
type with the leaders of the non
christian faiths, Hinduism, Budd
hism and Mohammedanism; and
wish to say that if there be any
value in the impressions that desire
to recall it grows out of the conditions
in which ! was privileged to approach
the East. What man learns of the
real life and thought of the East de
pends very largely upon the conditions
in which he approaches the East
For example, the tourist travelling
rapidly with guide-book in hand, the
public hotel his place of abode, learns
absolutely little of the magnitude Of
the real life and thought of the people.
So civil servant, we will say of the
British Government, or a department
officer from our own country, often
receives very artificial reception.
Everyone he meets is on his guard
knowing that the man with whom he
speaks stands in some way connected
with government relations. SO a
denominational missionary, as he
goes to the East, while his opportunity