The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1911-09-05
MALAY MISSIONS
ARE DESCRIBED
w. G.. Shellabear Writes
Most Interestingly
WILL BE IN MARION SOON
They Will Exhibit Some In.
teresting Curios
The Home of John Balm viii be the
Scene OF a Gathering on September
sevcnth--WRcn the Missionary sit.
uation In Foreign Lands VIII BE
Discussed and Explained i'uiIy.

uation In Foreign Lands VIII BE
Discussed and Explained iulIy.
The following interesting letter has
been received from Rev. w. G. Shell
labear, who has been employed in Mis-
sionary work in the Malay Archipel-
ago, by local mission workers.
Rev. Shellabear and wife will be at
the home of John Balm, September
and will exhibit many curios while
explaining the work they have been
doing.
The letter follows:
On tho great trade route Of the
Orient. Malaysia lies midway between
India and China, and the tecming
population Of those two countries
are continually overlooking into the
Malay! Peninsula and the great Ma
lay islands Borneo and Sumatra,
providing the labor necessary for the.
development of the immense areas
of unexplored jungle lands which are
gradually being opened up by British
and Dutch enterprise. Java, the
third great island OF the Eastern
Archipelago. has sufficient popula-
tion for It's own needs, and supplies
tens of thousands of Immigrants for
the other islands. The entire group
of Islands together with the Malay
Peninsula have population of forty
millions. speaking more than one
hundred different languages and
dialects; and they cover an area equal
to that of the United States.
mi a.,
field, about which but little is known
in this country, as compared with the
other great oriental lands, was the
scene of the earliest attempts to
evangelize the savage tribes of the
orient Three hundred years ago the
chaplains of the Dutch East India
Company began their efforts to con-
vert the natives and translated the
first gospel into the Malay language.
on the island of Celebes there is now.
Christian community of over 2O0,-
900 who speak the Malay language;
these are the descendants of the peo-
pie converted through the work of
the East India Company's chap
lains in those early days. on the
west coast of Sumatra there has been
n great mass movement in the last
forty years among n savage people
called Battas, as the result of the
work of the German Rhenish Mis-
sion in that region, where the Chris
tlans now number over 10000, many
of whom have been converted from
Mohammedanism. In Java the re-
suits of the work of the Dutch mis-
sionaries have not been so great
numerically owning to the adverse
influences of Islam, but the native
Christians number about $4,000.
The Methodist Epicopal mission has
confined It's efforts to the British set
Elements % hit lnaMlae OH FISH RSRR
Elements on the Malay Peninsula,
where very remarkable success has
been achieved in educational work,
both boys and girls being under In
struction. Native churches have been
established at many points on the
Peninsula and the gospels preached
in the English. Malay and Tamil Ian
guages, and in four different dilects
of Chinese. The diversity OF Language
es spoken in this cosmopolitan COM
munity of course greatly adds to the
difficulty of the work Within the last
ten years the work of the Methodist
misslo nhas spread to the surround
ing islnads. and there are now two
mission stations I'm Borneo, two in
Sumatra, and a group of stations In
West Java. ENCOURAGING progress is
being made at all these points. AT
the last annual conference, member
shrip of over 5000 was reported. 1893
adults having been gaptised during
the year.