The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-29


words. Here is the new and tremen-
dous and transforming ideal which
Christ erected for the new order OF
society which he called the Kingdom
bless them that curse you, do good to
them that hate you, and pray for
them which despitefully use you and
prosecute you.''
AS if that amazing standard were
not enough, he went on, BE We there
fore perfect, even as your Father in
heaven is perfect That leaves no
room for self satisfied Christians.
The Romance of Missions.
Terse Comments for January 80, "The
Most Stirring Events of Foreign
Missionary History" Acts 14:S-22.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
A young American man stood in
his home in a Chinese city. He had
refused to leave the little company
of his imperiled yellow friends. Now
a mob of natives, yelling, gesticulat-
ing, frenzied, bloodthirsty, has sur
rounded the house. They cry for his
life. They bring brands and amid
roars of execration set fire to the
and he has a rifle He raises it,
takes aim, then shakes his head and
puts it down. He cannot kill those
for whom he had come to give mis-
lllc- Ii lity Ndl4L Ills 4l1S l1iGy Cdll
have it. He throws down the rifle.
and waits with folded arms. Thus
a chariot of fire bore to a martyrs
crown one of the recent missionaries
in China.
about the danger and heroism of mis-
sionary life. 1t is assumed that every
missionary is in deadly peril, and ever
undergoing deprivations. This con-
eeption does not square with the facts.
Most missionaries are safe and COM
Portable. Yet when this has been said
it must be admitted that many live
constantly as near neighbors to dan
ger. When L was setting out few
years ago, IN a somewhat risky trip
up into the interior of China, my mis-
sionary hosts making the parting in
quiries concerning bedding, fuel, cook
ing utensils, etc, odded quite as a mat
ter Of fact, and in the same tone of
voice, Now remember that the Chi
nese cannot swim; and that if you can
thrash, or make ridiculous, the leader
of a mob, you will have STAYED off
the immediate danger" It would re-
quire a book to narFate the matter
of-fact stories of narrow escapes and
stirring escapades through which
missionaries have met on their fields
have passed through. In some coun-
tries there is still the spice of possible
trouble to flavor all missionary work.
Stirring events are not always the
ones that make the most stir. The
quiet humdrum constructive service
counts for most in missions, as in
everything else.
The quiet, matter of fact and con-
ventional manner in which the young
newspaper man, Henry NJ. Stanley,
stepped up to a lonely old man in the
heart of Africa and said, raising his
fxvf,, T holt 10
supremely dramatic episode in the
annals of missions. Stanley's feat in
penetrating into the Dark Continent
is now history, and Livingstone's body
now reposes in Westminster Abbey.
Missionary and scientific zeal and he
roism on the part of Livingstone were
matched by journalistic enterprise and
| resourcefulness on the part of Stanley
That experience made Stanley a firm
believer in missions, and caused him
to carry to civilization the plea for
missionaries 20 Uganda which quickly
opened that land to the gospel.
Amos r. Wells has grouped several
! we'll known incidents from missionary
| biography as follows:
1T was stirring event in India
when, on July 3, 1873, after careful
| examination. 2,222 Telugu believers
were baptized in a single day, And
| this was in a mission that had been
so discouraging - the Lone Star
mission-that the church at home had
often been on the point of abandoning
it.
A terrible event in Burman missions
was the Imprisonment of Judson dur
| ing a war between England and Bur-
| ma He spent seventeen months in
horrible confinement, his heroic Wife
ministering to him.
1.-The most stirring event i'll Chinese
missions was the Boxer massacres of
1899 and 1890, in which 1sS Protest
ant missionaries and their children
were slain, and about 80 Catholic
missionaries, with 5000 native Prot
estants and about 10000 native Cath
olics. The stanchness of Chinese Chris
| tianity was proved beyond all possi-
! bility of future doubt.
| 1.-The Armenian massacres furnish
| the most striking scenes in the mis-
ming in August, 1904, they ragged for
two years. More than 10000 Armen-
! ian Christians were killed in the most
| cruel manner.
John G. Paton's life on the island
| of Tanna in the New Hebrides was
a succession of thrilling scenes, Gull
| minating in his miraculous escape to
/ the island of AniwR. On Aniwa per-
haps the most exciting scene was the
| sinking of the we'll and the coming
up of water from below. which
seemed a miracle to the natives and
won him great power over them.
1.-THE killing of Bishop Harrington
by the natives of Uganda is one of the
| most terrible scene in the missionary
history of Africa. This was in 1885,
1 lust a sthe bishop was approaching his
/ field of work; and since then that
region has become one of the strong
| est Christian centers in all Africa
A tremendous truth about the mis-
sionary enterprise is its extempora-
/ neousnesS. Its glorious past is being
| eclipsed by 4 more glorious present.
There are movements in mission