The Topeka state journal., 1909-03-27
The New War Correspondence.
Terse Comments for March %, "Great
Missionary Books, Home and For
eign." Isa. So: 6-12.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.)

d
The spirit of the times is increas-
ingly favorable to international peace,
but the sense of obligation to wage
war upon all the forces that make
for human hurt is growing by leaps
and bounds. The great conflicts of our
time are between science and disease,
between a new spirit of altruism and
unforward social conditions, between
truth and error in all departments of
human life. So the new war cores
pondent of the better day that is
dawning is he who chronicles the vic
tories of light over darkness, good
over evil, progress over reaction, bro
therliness over selfishness. 1t is not a
too violent stretching of the figure
to say that the wealth of missionary
literature which our day is producing
is the modern war correspondence. 1t
records the victories OF the forces of
the kingdom of heaven over the op-
posite legiops of evil.
A good book must mirror real life:
"goody-goody' book is such be-
cause it treats of unrealities.
1t is perhaps not a matter of COM
mon knowledge that the first modern
books given to any of the war-Chris-
tlan nations are almost invariably
written by missionaries. These are, in
sense, the greatest missionary books,
even though the missionary's support
ers cannot read them and do not US
ually know about them. The gram
mars and dictionaries in China, Japan,
and India were first produced by mis-
sionaries. The earliest, unless upon
modern science, were from the same
pens. 1t is no exaggeration to say
that it was the missionary who first
unlocked the treasures of modern
knowledge in the non-Christian world.
1t should be remembered, in connec-
ton with any consideration of mis-
& n a T~U 10 nfI7r Iof f17n
of most savage people have been re-
duced to writing by the pioneer Gospel
messengers. One day I met at the
train friend from Africa. AS I took
his travelling bag, he Remarked: ct
have in that bag all that exists in
writing of the language of two million
people," Yet that man was only thir-
ty years old. What a mans work he
had wrought-to liberate to a nation
all the treasures of written speechi
Missionary books are complex. con-
tanning as they do biography, history,
exploration, adventure and religion.
The best missionary books are bio
graphical. They are the record of
great lives. The world is richer in
Inspiration and idealism, as well as in
knowledge, because of the men like
Livingstone and, Mackay Carey and
and Whitman, Morrison and Hudson
Taylor Not all the great missfonar-
les are dead either. There are a host
OF men and women, many of whom 1
have met personally on their fields
whose lives are as beautiful and no
BILE and romantic as many that have
been chronicled in books.
Contemporary missionary literature
should deal more fully with the per
sonality of these representatives of
Christianity in the mission field Why
should we wait until they are dead
before letting the world share the
power of their personality?
Stanley's Through Darkest Africa"
written many years ago. still ranks as
a great book, of permanent value. Il
is not designed primarily as a mis-
sionary work, yet its picture of Liv-
ingstone's character Is profoundly i'm
presslve. For there in the heart of
Africa. the life of the missionary made
a Christian of the traveller and jour
nalist.
While an immense amount of mis-
sionary literature has been poured
forth by the publishing houses of late
years, there are several departments
of this field as yet comparatively un-
occupied. One Is good missionary fic-