When the unnumbered host around the throne acclaim the worthiness of the Lamb, they sing, “Thou art worthy ... because Thou hast been slain, and hast redeemed to God, by Thy blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Rev. 5:99And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; (Revelation 5:9) JND). “Every tribe, and tongue” cover the smallest distinct divisions of the human race. Men of every tribe and tongue will be among the host of the redeemed. This lends a vivid interest to the intense and worldwide activity of the Holy Spirit in the period we are now considering. Mankind had spread to the remotest corners of the earth and had multiplied as never before in history. Yet, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, millions had never heard of the Saviour. That the Scripture might be fulfilled, the Word must reach the farthest and darkest corners of the earth, and men of every tongue must hear it. But, as the Apostle says, “How shall they hear without one who preaches? And how shall they preach unless they have been sent?” (Rom. 10:14-1514How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! (Romans 10:14‑15) JND).
There was doubtless a worldwide spread of the gospel in apostolic times, and it is not surprising that with the great recovery of truth at the close of the dispensation, when the light of the Lord’s coming was shining into many hearts, many should be filled with the desire to carry the good news to the heathen masses, sunk in darkness and superstition.
It is impossible in the space available to give anything like an adequate account of the way the gospel message was carried all over the earth in the nineteenth century. The field indeed is so vast and the story so full that volumes would be needed to do it justice. It must be a stony heart that is not moved and thrilled by the account of those who toiled and suffered sickness and hunger and thirst and who persevered in spite of many discouragements, even laying down their lives, some dying cruel deaths, to carry the message of salvation to their benighted fellows in far-off lands. No Christian can fail to rejoice in the account of darkened savages delivered out of Satan’s thrall into the kingdom of God or be unmoved at the suffering of the many latter-day martyrs who, having owned the claims of Christ, had to seal their testimony with their lives. No one can tell how many thousands have died martyr deaths in the last hundred years, but the number is very considerable.
Russia
In the last thirty years of the nineteenth century, Russia was visited by gospel blessing. One of the principal instruments God used was Lord Radstock, who worked among the Russian nobility with marked and enduring results. In 1866 Lord Radstock had been preaching in Weston-super-Mare, and after the address he put his hand on the shoulder of one of the listeners, a well-educated German of forty-three, as he was leaving the hall, and said to him, “My man, God has a message through me for you tonight.” In the anteroom, Lord Radstock prayed for him and with him. The result was a decided conversion. “I went in,” said Baedeker, “a proud, German infidel and came out a humble, believing disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.” His wife’s conversion followed soon after.
Baedeker was a delicate man in constant fear of heart failure. The Lord, who had healed his soul, now strengthened his body to serve him in a most remarkable way. He began at once to spread the glad tidings. In 1874 he went on a visit to Germany, serving first as interpreter for a well-known evangelist and then as an evangelist himself. In 1877, with his wife and daughter, he spent three years in Russia, working mainly among German-speaking people.
Although religious liberty did not exist in Russia in those days (liberty of conscience was granted in 1905), God opened many doors, and this erstwhile invalid spent years preaching all over Russia. For eighteen years he was given freedom of access to every prison in the Czar’s dominions. Of this extraordinary privilege he made the fullest use, visiting hundreds of prisons, preaching to the convicts, talking to them in their cells, and leaving New Testaments with them. It is impossible in this short notice to do justice to a labor covering thirty years, in which he made many visits to that vast land and more than once crossed the great wastes of Siberia from end to end, taking the gospel to rich and poor and visiting every prison in his route.
“From the banks of the Rhine, in the neighborhood of which he was born, to the last desperate penal settlement of Saghalien, beyond the Gulf of Tartary in farthest Asia, and from the princely homes of devout nobles in Stockholm to the rough and bare settlements of Stundist exiles in the Caucasus at the foot of Mount Ararat roved this apostle of two continents. Up and down Europe, away over Siberia, to and fro, by rail and by boat, by droshky or tarantas, along interminable roads and tracks, by sledge across the wide snows of the steppes and along the course of frozen rivers, hither and thither this extraordinary man journeyed, preaching the gospel.”
And the motive? Not for love of adventure nor to explore nor for fame, for he wrote no book of his travels. The motive was the same as impelled the Apostle Paul in his long and arduous journeys in the first century to carry the gospel of God’s love to perishing sinners. For this no risk was too great and no journey too arduous. In a letter written in 1889 he says, “The prisons at Tomsk are simply horrible beyond description or imagination. ... It is a sight to make one’s heart bleed to see little children fondly embracing their father, who is heavily chained, and mothers who have three or four children with them, all looking sickly from exposure and privation. The atmosphere with such a number of people is simply poison. ... But the horror of horrors is the sick house which we visited yesterday. ... There were in the wards all kinds of illness placed together: typhus, smallpox, diarrhea and consumption, besides lighter complaints and chronic evils.”
Some of the most degraded criminals were won for Christ. On the other hand, there were those condemned to a felon’s cell for the Lord’s sake, and to such he would bring a message of solace and comfort.
In 1891 a severe persecution began, and many Russian Christians were imprisoned and cruelly treated. Some belonged to the non-conformists known as Stundists — a particular object of hatred; others were Baptists. Many of these he was able to relieve on the way into exile. God prolonged the life of His devoted servant to eighty-three years. He was active till the last few days, during which he frequently said, “I am going in to see the King in His beauty.”
Apart from the Orthodox Russian Church, which is marked, like its Roman counterpart, with much formalism and idolatry, there was, so to speak, in Russia a hidden seed, the result of earlier sowings. In 1918, this latent life seemed to spring up and bear fruit, for there was a great awakening. The Spirit of God was working in many hearts, and it has been said that in the early years of the Revolution period the conversions ran into millions. Companies of Christians were formed, meeting on simple, New Testament lines. A new hymnbook was prepared for their use. Then came persecution, and many were scattered abroad, sowing the seed as they went. There are indications that in spite of the anti-God measures of the Soviet, the blessing still continues.
India
Christianity was introduced into India in the early years of the Christian era, and a Syrian Christian Church has existed since the early centuries, but it has long since lost its evangelical light. Roman Catholicism was introduced in the Middle Ages. The first Protestant missions were due to Pietist influences in the eighteenth century when Ziegenbalg and Plutschau went from Halle University, under the auspices of the King of Denmark. Carey, the cobbler who became a great linguist, is well-known as the pioneer of later efforts to evangelize India. The East India Company prevented such work for many years, and the godless lives of the early English traders were a great handicap. But the way was opened in due course, and gradually the gospel penetrated. Henry Martyn (1781-1821) translated the New Testament into Hindustani. Ringeltaube began work in 1806 at Travancore, and it is said that eleven thousand were converted by 1835. Rhenius began work in Tinnevelly in 1820, and by 1835 had baptized twelve thousand persons living in 261 villages. Schwartz, a much respected, saintly man, had already labored in the same parts. By 1851, it was reckoned that there were ninety thousand Christians in India.
At the time of the Indian Mutiny in 1857, many Indian Christians were massacred. On the capture of Delhi, every one of the thirty-six missionaries was murdered, and fifteen leading Indian Christians were put to death. The missionaries were soon replaced by others, and the native Christians continued the work in the schools. Ghokel Parshad, a native schoolmaster at Farrukhabad, connected with one of the missions, was offered his life and liberty and that of his family if he would renounce his faith. “What is my life,” he said, “that I should deny my Saviour? I have never done that since the day I first believed on Him, and I never will.”
In 1859 a remarkable conversion took place. Pagolu Venkayya, leader of a band of violent men, forty-seven years of age, heard from a companion of a missionary who had spoken of one God and said that idols could help no one. He was impressed, and from that time forward he began to pray, “O great God, who art Thou? Where art Thou? Show Thyself to me.” A Christian tract came into his hands which spoke of God as the Saviour of the world. He thereupon prayed, “O great God, the Saviour, show Thyself to me.” For three years he prayed thus. Then in 1859 he came in contact with a missionary who preached the gospel to him. He listened and eagerly received the truth. He became himself a preacher to his fellow-countrymen, and it is said that when he died in 1891, believers, who, at the time of his conversion, numbered about two hundred in those parts, had increased to ten thousand.
The following gives an impression of the position about the year 1915.
“India is becoming Christian at a rate unprecedented in the history of the world, but to realize what this means one needs to go out to India and to walk through the districts where the Christian faith is being taught and to note the changes which are taking place. A visitor will not need to ask as he enters any particular village whether its inhabitants are Christians. A glance at their faces or even at the faces of their children will show whether the spirit of fear, engendered by the debased form of Hinduism which is professed in the average Hindu village, has been exorcised and whether Christian hope and freedom have taken its place. He may find many who call themselves Christians but whose lives are unworthy of their profession, but the proportion will not be as large as he will have been prepared to discover if he is acquainted with the history of Europe during the centuries which succeeded its nominal conversion to Christianity, nor will the superficial Christianity of a few greatly lessen the impression which will be produced upon him as he comes to understand the marvelous transformation which is taking place in the experience alike of individuals and communities.”
This was an enthusiastic and, perhaps, over-optimistic impression, for today the vast bulk of India’s millions are still heathen. Now that India has achieved her independence, the trends are still less favorable.
As at all times, we must remember that the wheat and tares are growing together till the final harvest. Missionaries themselves are not all earnest evangelists. Some have civilization rather than conversion before them. Not a few in recent years are modernists. Much of the work may be superficial in character, but when every allowance has been made, the fact remains that in the last 150 years a great number in that vast sub-continent have passed from death unto life and are numbered among those who form the true Church. The translation and printing of the Scriptures in the various languages of India is, in itself, a work which cannot fail to bear fruit.
Quite recently we have heard of a movement among Indian Christians who have left denominational systems and are trying to follow the pattern of New Testament days. This movement seems to be in the hands of native Christians.
For what it is worth, we may add that the estimated number of professing Christians in India at a recent date was ten million, half of whom were Roman Catholics. This is not a large percentage of the immense population of India, but when it is remembered that only ten percent of the population of this country attend a place of worship, the actual number of true believers in heathen India might be as great in the aggregate as in Christian England.
China
We have already observed that the Nestorians took the gospel to China in the sixth century, but the results were not permanent. Roman Catholic missionaries entered the country in later times. But the spread of the gospel in China was the fruit of the great revival in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Robert Morrison (b. 1782) of Morpeth landed in China in 1807 and became an interpreter to the East India Company. He labored at Canton, but his work was largely literary. In 1813 he published the whole New Testament in a colloquial dialect. Before his death in 1834, he had translated almost the whole Bible into Chinese. There was little evidence of results, for in twenty-five years only ten persons were baptized.
In 1842 the treaty ports of Canton, Amoy, Ningpo, Foochow and Shanghai were opened to foreigners. Up to 1850, however, in spite of dozens of missions, only one hundred Chinese Christians were known. Yet the evangelists labored on, in spite of discouragement. The Church Missionary Society began work in Foochow in 1850, but after ten years there were no results and no prospects of any.
It is not possible here to give an account of the many who have labored and suffered in that land in the last 150 years, but some details of one devoted servant will be better than a mere list of many names.
In 1853 James Hudson Taylor went to China, then a comparative youth, twenty-one years of age. It is impossible to read the life of Hudson Taylor without recognizing that he was called by God to serve in China. Before he was born, his pious parents, acting on the scripture, “Sanctify unto Me all the firstborn” (Ex. 13:22Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine. (Exodus 13:2)), had solemnly dedicated their expected offspring to the Lord. God’s work early appeared in his young soul, but his definite conversion took place in his teens. Contact with the world made him feel his weakness, and he went through the experience described in the seventh chapter of Romans: “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:2424O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24)). On his knees, he promised God that if He would deliver him, he would renounce all earthly prospects and be utterly at His disposal. God took him at his word. He afterwards wrote:
“Never shall I forget the feeling that came over me then. Words can never describe it. I felt I was in the presence of God, entering into covenant with the Almighty. I felt as though I wished to withdraw my promise, but I could not. Something seemed to say, ‘ Your prayer is answered; your conditions are accepted,’ and from that time the conviction never left me that I was called to China.”
He was seventeen. From that time forward this was the great object of his life.
Thenceforward, his life was marked by devotion to the Lord and much self-denial, and his faith was sorely tested in many ways. In 1854 he landed in Shanghai, after a voyage in which the little ship was twice nearly wrecked. His path was beset by many obstacles. He was the sole representative in China of the China Evangelization Society, and, young and inexperienced as he was, he had to face baffling difficulties and many privations. In all this he learned to lean on God alone and to walk by faith, for the slender allowance granted him by the Society was pitifully inadequate. The terrible Taiping rebellion had just broken out, and he was in constant danger, being often under fire.
Under these trying conditions, he studied the difficult Chinese tongue. Up to this time, the preaching of the gospel had been largely confined to the treaty ports, but Hudson Taylor wished to reach the interior, where the gospel had never been heard. He soon had the opportunity of accompanying one of the young missionaries of the London Missionary Society named Edkins. In a native houseboat, they sailed along the waterways near Shanghai and had wonderful opportunities for preaching the gospel in city after city. They were well received. The appearance of foreigners was a novelty in those days and, in itself, was enough to draw vast crowds together. Beside preaching, they distributed many Chinese New Testaments and tracts. Many such journeys did the young evangelist make, sometimes with another missionary named Burdon, not without unpleasant and even dangerous incidents.
He decided, in order to facilitate his dealings with the people, to adopt Chinese dress, even to the wearing of a pigtail. Now he became one of them, dressing, living and eating like those around. This greatly facilitated his work. His medical knowledge was the means, of course, of opening many a door.
While faithful men were thus devoting their lives to the evangelization of China, the European powers were protecting the hateful opium traffic and forcing the Chinese authorities to keep the door open to its importation. This tended to enhance the opposition to foreigners. In some parts, the missionaries went at the risk of their lives, for there were districts where lawlessness so prevailed that they were liable at any time to be seized and held to ransom.
“I have long sought the truth, as did my father before me, but without finding it. I have traveled far and near but have never searched it out. In Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, I have found no rest, but I do find rest in what we have heard tonight. Henceforward I am a believer in Jesus.” This man was head of a Buddhist society, and on leaving them he gave a powerful testimony to those he had previously led.
He said one day to Hudson Taylor, “How long have you had the glad tidings in England?” Several hundred years was the reply.
“Is it possible,” he answered, “that you have known about Jesus so long and only now have come to tell us? My father sought the truth for more than twenty years and died without finding it. Oh, why did you not come sooner?”
Needless to say, such a man became himself a powerful witness. He was one of the firstfruits of a great harvest.
After three years, Hudson Taylor resigned from the Society which had sent him out, because he found he was being supported on borrowed money. He determined, thenceforward, to be dependent on God alone. When, ten years later, he began the China Inland Mission, one of its rules was that its workers received no fixed salaries and were not authorized to solicit funds on its behalf.
In 1860 a serious breakdown in health compelled Hudson Taylor to return to England, and it was not till 1866 that he returned, accompanied, this time, by fifteen others.
Many others, associated with various missionary bodies, joined in the work. In the early part of the twentieth century, there were over five thousand European missionaries in China, and two million copies of portions of the Bible in various Chinese dialects had been distributed by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Chinese converts were also spreading the truth among their own countrymen.
A remarkable instance of the work of the Holy Spirit in China in the latter part of the nineteenth century is the case of Hsi, once a proud Confucian scholar but a helpless slave to the opium habit. He came under the influence of a devoted missionary named Hill. Deeming it wiser in this case to let the Word of God do its own work, Hill placed the Bible in Hsi’s way. Hsi began to read, became deeply interested, came under conviction and was soundly converted. In answer to earnest prayer, he was enabled, after an intense struggle, to get free from the awful slavery of opium. This was almost unheard of in those days and was a powerful testimony to those who knew him. He soon became an effective evangelist among his own people. Seeing all around him the degrading and life-destroying effects of opium, he was led to establish “refuges” to which victims could come and undergo treatment, which was always accompanied by prayer. Many such refuges were established and thousands were freed from the power of the drug and saved in soul as well as body.
Hsi’s own life was a wonderful example and his preaching and influence led to the blessing of many for hundreds of miles around. In 1896, after seventeen years of fruitful labors for Christ, the Lord took him to be with Himself. The account of his life is deeply interesting and very instructive.
In 1900 came a great trial. The Boxer movement was an attempt to expel all foreigners from China and to extirpate Christianity. Chinese Christians were, in many cases, offered their lives if they would recant, but despite cruel tortures, the greater part remained faithful unto death. Many, among the missionaries and their families, had to give up their lives. Yet, after this trial, there was a great and rapid increase in the number of Christians in China. Those who remained were strengthened, added to and encouraged.
As everywhere, the wheat was mixed with tares. Among the missionaries themselves were men with modernist views. Educational and humanitarian work had a more prominent place with some than the gospel. Roman Catholicism had also made much headway. The greater part of nominal Christians in China are Roman Catholics, and they represented the largest proportion of those who were put to death by the Boxers.
In 1937 the Sino-Japanese war broke out. Most of the foreign missionaries had to quit the country. It was a time of trial for Chinese Christians, but they maintained their witness and, when the trial was over, seemed to have been strengthened rather than otherwise. Many met together on lines more consistent with the teaching of the New Testament, and a considerable number of little companies of believers meeting in scriptural simplicity grew up during the 1930s.
Since then, Communism has swept China, and the missionaries have been expelled. Many Chinese Christians have suffered torture and death, and every effort is being made, as in other Communist countries, to inculcate atheistic and materialistic ideas among the masses.
Manchuria
It is said that in Manchuria more than in most places, Christianity has spread by the efforts of believers to influence their friends and neighbors. Many years ago, a Manchurian was converted in one of the many missionary hospitals which had been established. For many years, this man served the Lord as a faithful witness and it is recorded that he was the means of bringing two thousand of his fellow-countrymen to Christ.
Turkestan
A remarkable work took place in this far-off land in the earlier years of the twentieth century. A Moslem named ’Ali Akhond listened to a Swedish missionary read those wonderful words, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep My saying, he shall never see death” (John 8:5151Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. (John 8:51)). Greatly interested, he obtained a gospel and read it. Twice the book was taken from him by zealous co-religionists. Each time he got another. In the end, he was truly converted. He became a gifted evangelist. About two hundred converted Moslems were gathered in the town of Kashgar.
Civil war broke out in the country. The missionaries were expelled. In 1939 a leader got into power who was under the influence of the Soviets and held their anti-God views. The poor Christians suffered bitter persecution, many of them being put to death, some of whom were youths and girls.
Korea
The evangelization of Korea is a remarkable story. In 1855 there was not one known Christian in the land. Between then and the end of the century, Christianity made slow progress. In the first decade of the twentieth century, there was a wave of blessing. The whole land was moved. Prayer and the reading of the Word were widespread. As in New Testament days, the work of God took root among the people. There was no ordained, paid ministry, and the work was not dependent on foreign financial aid. When Korea came under Japanese control, there was severe persecution, and some suffered martyrdom. The Christians of Korea have been marked by self-denial and self-sacrifice. The sorrows that have overtaken this land during the recent war are well-known. The Communist domination of North Korea meant further trials for the much-tried and faithful believers of that country.
Burma
Adoniram Judson began work in Rangoon in 1813. After seven years, there were only ten converts. In 1828 one of the Karens was converted, who became a preacher among his own people. Judson devoted the remainder of his life to translating the Bible into Burmese. He died in 1850. There is a remarkable story of a Buddhist hermit, who, without any Christian contact, came to the belief that Buddhism was false and that there was a true God who could be thought of as Father. Later, he met a missionary, was converted and after some time was baptized in 1911. Thousands were influenced by him, and some were baptized. He continued to live as a hermit.
Mongolia
Attempts have been made to evangelize this barren region. The power of the Llamas is so great that most are hindered in making a confession. James Gilmour labored there for twenty-one years till 1891, without result. Other evangelical persons have since continued to preach the gospel there, in spite of these difficulties.
Tibet
Tibet is another insular land into which it has been difficult to introduce the gospel. A translation of the Bible into that tongue has, after being fifty years in preparation, only recently been completed. It has recently been reported that gospel broadcasts in the Tibetan tongue have aroused much interest in that benighted land.
Japan
Japan was not open to foreigners till 1859, when they were allowed by treaty to live in certain ports. American missionaries took advantage of the open door. The first English missionary was George Ensor. A Japanese professed a feigned interest with the object of murdering him. Ensor told him of the love of Christ and he was converted, and later he suffered imprisonment for his faith. He preached Christ to his fellow-prisoners, and seventy of them began to study the Bible. Many went to Ensor by night like Nicodemus. In spite of opposition and persecution, the Word made progress. The government changed its attitude in 1873, and many of the upper classes were reached. By the end of the nineteenth century, there were many thousands of baptized Christians, and in the following ten years the numbers still further increased. A number of native Christian Churches have grown up in Japan. Christians, however, form a small minority of the population, and only a small percentage of the population has been reached with the gospel. A proud, ambitious race, the impact of Western ideas and learning has had the effect of producing widespread agnosticism. The humiliating defeat of Japan in the last world war and its occupation by America has, of course, opened the door to the gospel and the dissemination of the Bible. It remains to be seen whether extensive and enduring results will accrue.
Formosa
In the early years of the century, there were already many professing Christians in this large island. Since it became the headquarters of the Chinese nationalists and came under American protection, the spread of Christianity has been encouraged.
Taking Asia as a whole, it seems barren soil for the gospel, compared with Europe, but if we think of the state of Europe in the long, dark centuries before the Reformation, we may get a better comparison. It is only a century and a half since the gospel light dawned on those lands steeped in pagan darkness. Millions of souls have, however, been secured in those 150 years, and these are surely as precious to the Saviour as the souls of Europeans.
Africa
It is almost impossible to present, in the space available, an adequate summary of gospel work in Africa. That vast continent is larger than the combined area of Europe, the United States, India and China together. One hundred years ago, its races were sunk in the most appalling darkness and moral degradation. Many, however, have been won and transformed by the gospel. Millions today are professing Christians, of whom many are truly born again. The penetration of the gospel was slow and beset by immense difficulties, and its progress cost many lives. Britain and other powers have suppressed many of the barbarous customs of the native races, but, on the other hand, contact with Europeans has proved a hindrance rather than a help to the spread of the gospel, for the African tends to take on the worst features of European life.
The story of the evangelization of Africa begins with the Moravian, George Schmidt, who in 1737 began to work among the Hottentots in South Africa. But after six years of work, he was forced by the Dutch settlers to leave the country, though not without some fruit. In time, others took up the work. In 1817 Robert Moffat began his service of fifty-three years in that land. He worked in Bechuanaland. His wife was his devoted helper. For eight years they toiled and prayed, and at last a little company of African Christians was gathered out. He translated the Scriptures, beginning with the Gospels, until finally they had the whole Bible in their native tongue.
Livingstone followed Moffat. He became more of an explorer than an evangelist, but his life made a fragrant and lasting impression on the Africans he came into contact with. His belief was that if the African continent were opened up to commerce and civilization, Christianity would follow.
In 1844 J. L. Krapf went to Mombasa. He lost his wife and child there, but he was undeterred. He was quite prepared to sacrifice his life in the cause of the gospel. He lived to see the work established in Uganda.
In 1876 T. J. Comber, only twenty-four years of age, went to the Congo. He labored hard for ten years, but before he was taken, he saw the firstfruits of the harvest gathered in. In 1886 over a thousand pagans were converted.
In the latter part of the nineteenth century, a son of one of the chiefs in the Congo did all he could to oppose the gospel. Then, suddenly, he was soundly converted and became an earnest preacher of the gospel he had opposed. Going to a town which was a stronghold of paganism, he began the attack. For months there were no results. Then one man was saved. Others were added. A company of three hundred was gathered, and from among these some went to preach in other towns. They called this man Paul, and when he went to be with Christ in 1902, there were hundreds as the fruit of his personal evangelism, and their testimony was spreading.
There is also the remarkable case of King Khama of Bechuanaland, a converted chieftain, under whose influence and wise rule a whole savage tribe became a peace-loving, agricultural people, many of whom were truly converted. The transformation in the territory he ruled over is said to have been wonderful.
Uganda
The story of the introduction of the gospel into Uganda is very interesting. In 1875 the explorer Stanley tried to influence the native king and wrote a letter to the Daily Telegraph, urging that missionaries be sent out, as there was a great harvest in sight. The bearer of the letter was murdered, but his leg bones were found with his high boots, and in one Stanley’s letter was found. It was duly published. The Church Missionary Society sent out a party of eight. Within two years, two had been murdered, two had died of disease, and two had been invalided home. Of the remaining two, Alexander Mackay seems to have been the more active. By 1884 there were thirty-eight converts. In the following year, a new king came to the throne. He determined to exterminate the Christians. Six were martyred. Their arms were cut off and they were burned over a slow fire. They died, it is said, singing, “Daily, daily, sing the praises.”
Shortly after the above events, James Hannington, on his way to take up the post of Bishop of Uganda, was murdered. The King seized forty-six more and ordered them to be burned. While the persecution was in progress, Mackay wrote to the sufferers the following words of encouragement:
“We, your friends and teachers, write to you to send you words of cheer and comfort, which we have taken from the Epistle of Peter the Apostle of Christ. Our beloved brothers, do not deny our Lord Jesus, and He will not deny you in that day when He shall come in glory. Remember the words of our Saviour, how He told His disciples not to fear men who are able only to kill the body. ... Do not cease to pray exceedingly, to pray for our brethren who are in affliction and for those who do not know God. May God give you His Spirit and His blessings. May He deliver you out of all your afflictions. May He give you entrance to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
In 1894 Uganda became a British Protectorate. By 1910 the number who professed Christianity had grown to seventy thousand.
Madagascar
One of the most terrible persecutions of recent times was that which befell the converted natives of Madagascar. The gospel was taken there in 1820. The reigning king was favorable, but after eight years he died and was succeeded by a queen who was hostile. In 1835 she ordered her soldiers to seize every Christian they could find and bury them alive. In 1849 eighteen were sentenced to death and two thousand were condemned to be flogged or sold into slavery. The persecution continued for twenty-six years. In 1835, when the persecutions began, there were less than two thousand Christians, yet during the twenty-six years of persecution over ten thousand persons were punished as Christians and two hundred were put to death. When it was over, Christians were four times as numerous as when the persecution began. Many exiled ones returned and some reappeared from the depths of the forests in which they had hidden themselves; many bore the marks of their ill-treatment and privations. It was a time of joyful reunion.
During those years, they had not the support of European teachers, but large numbers had learned to read the New Testament, and doubtless their faith had been kept alive and nourished by the Word of God. In later years, crowds of professors were added whose faith proved vain. When the French took over the island in 1883, most of these fell away.
East Africa
In the early 1930s, there was a remarkable revival which began with a few Africans who read their Bibles, determined to obey its teaching. This movement spread to many parts of Central and East Africa. It is these “revival Christians” who stood firm when the Mau Mau rising faced with death all those who refused to take the Mau Mau oath.
The West Indies
Christianity in some form had been introduced into the West Indies as early as the days of Columbus.
Jamaica came under British rule in Cromwell’s time. Christian men accompanied the army. There is a record of a little company of Christians in those days meeting in simplicity, presided over by a man named Spere. At the end of the seventeenth century, many Huguenots fled to the island. Towards the middle of the eighteenth century, several Moravian missionaries went to Jamaica and labored among the Negroes. Later came Methodist and Baptist missionaries. In the early nineteenth century, William Knibb labored abundantly and fruitfully, and on his visits to England he did much to stir up the public conscience against slavery, which was abolished in British Dominions in 1838. Beside the various Protestant denominations, companies of Brethren were formed in fellowship with those in Britain and elsewhere. In 1861 there was a remarkable gospel revival similar to those which occurred about the same period in America and the British Isles.
Space forbids us to extend the account of the progress of Christianity in the West Indies. Barbados, however, was also evangelized and a very high proportion of the inhabitants are Christians.
South America
In Latin America, where the non-native population is mainly of Spanish and Portuguese origin, Roman Catholicism is dominant, having been introduced in the sixteenth century. Evangelical light in South America is largely the fruit of the circulation of the Bible by colporteurs. In scores of places where copies of the Scriptures were left, not only were individuals converted, but friends and neighbors came together to read the Word, and from these simple Bible readings Christian companies sprang up spontaneously. We give one illustration of this.
“In what is called the Coffee Mountain area of Brazil, there is today a well-organized and active church. It traces its origin to a few Bibles sold by an illiterate Negro who passed that way some thirty years ago. He could not read, but his heart had been set on fire by the message of the Bible, and he devoted himself to bearing his witness and selling the book to any who would buy. His testimony was so moving that several of the farmers bought copies, and as time went by they began to talk to one another about what they read. This led to their meeting occasionally to read the Bible together and to discuss it, which in turn led to the holding of Sunday services. All this took place without any contact with any outside person or group.”
This company of 150 persons some years later became linked with one of the Protestant Churches.
New Zealand
Although discovered in the seventeenth century, New Zealand had not been settled by the British at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It was inhabited by the Maoris, then fierce cannibals, always at war among themselves. Some of the first Europeans to set foot on those shores were killed and eaten. Yet before any white men settled there, many of these bloodthirsty savages were reached by the gospel and had washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.
Samuel Marsden was the first to take the glad tidings to them. Of pious Wesleyan parentage, he was converted through the zealous Charles Simeon, who influenced many Cambridge students in those days. When the penal settlement was established at Port Jackson (Sydney) in Australia, Marsden was sent, at the instigation of Wilberforce, as a chaplain to the convicts, and through his services some of these were converted. While there, he became interested in the Maoris. A providential incident opened the door into their country. A native chief, beguiled into leaving his native land and becoming a friendless, penniless outcast, Marsden took him under his protection and restored him to his people. The way was now open to the gospel. Many received it gladly. For a number of years, he spread the gospel among these benighted people, and there was great blessing. In 1835, when he was over seventy years of age, Marsden paid his last visit to the land of the Maoris. Many of the old chiefs received him with joy, and thousands gathered from all parts to hear him preach. A wonderful transformation had been effected in many.
Marsden had learned by experience that the gospel, and the gospel alone, could change men’s hearts. Others who followed him were not so clear on this, and a widespread work of “Christianization” went on. It seemed that the Maori nation was converted to Christianity. But the work was tested. War broke out in 1860 between the natives and the settlers. It lasted ten years. Many Maoris, who had professed Christianity, relapsed to paganism and their old cannibal rites. A false prophet rose up among them who proclaimed a religious war, called the Hau-Hau rebellion, from the bark-like war cry of the rebels. Missions and churches were attacked, and some of the Lord’s servants died martyr deaths. Among them was a devoted German missionary named Carl Volkner, whom they hanged. His dying words were, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:3434Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. (Luke 23:34)). The apostasy of the Maoris was as rapid and extensive as their conversion. This episode is an awful example of the futility of a merely external conversion. But the wheat remained, for the real work of God must abide. The remnants of the Maori race were subdued and lived peacefully under British rule.
South Sea Islands
When the account of Captain Cook’s voyages in the South Seas reached England at the end of the eighteenth century, it aroused a great desire among Christians that the gospel should be taken to the savage tribes that inhabited those numerous islands. One who was greatly moved in this way was Lady Huntingdon, and among her last prayers were those for the evangelization of the natives of those parts. Money was collected and an expedition went out, landing in 1797 in Tahiti. The chief, Pomare, was favorably disposed from the first and gospel work began.
In 1817, John Williams, a young man of twenty-one, converted only three years before, went out to the Society Islands, where he earnestly preached the gospel, and many were truly converted among the savages. When he visited the island of Raratonga, he found that a rumor of the gospel had already preceded him. A native woman returning from Tahiti had brought news of the “God of heaven and His Son Jesus Christ.” The chief of the island was impressed and built an altar to the “Unknown God.” When Williams and his companions arrived, he found the inhabitants ready to hear the glad tidings, of which the rumor had already reached them.
Though ignorant of shipbuilding, Williams managed to construct, with the help of the natives, a boat of eighty tons, and in this he visited other islands, including Tonga.
After spending some time in Britain, Williams, with his wife, eldest son and sixteen other missionaries, set out again for the South Seas. This time he visited the New Hebrides. In 1839 he reached Erromanga, which was inhabited by particularly ferocious natives, and, shortly after his arrival, he and his companions were cruelly done to death and their bodies were eaten. It appeared afterwards to be an act of revenge for the cruel treatment they had received at the hands of certain foreigners who, entering the island for sandalwood, had plundered and killed a number of the natives.
One of the fruits of the evangelical revival in the late fifties of the nineteenth century was the conversion of James Chalmers. Two years after his conversion, he met Dr. Turner, who had spent forty years in the South Sea Islands, and was stirred by the account he gave of the Lord’s work in those lands. He thereupon offered himself to the Lord to work among the cannibals of the South Seas. In 1866 he and his wife sailed for those parts. They were wrecked on Savage Island, and, with all their possessions gone, they were picked up by a pirate and landed in Raratonga. Cannibalism had already disappeared from the island as a result of earlier evangelization, but things had retrograded badly. Many who were mere professors had come under the influence of drink. With Chalmers’ labors, a work of revival began, and much blessing resulted. He left the island after ten years’ devoted service and went to New Guinea. Here he found himself among cannibals, and he was even invited to a cannibal feast. The gospel made progress there. A few were truly converted, but many were changed only outwardly, for the gospel has an enlightening effect on the human mind and conscience, even where the heart has not yielded to the claims of the Lord.
When the first preachers arrived at Port Moresby, the chief, until then a ferocious savage, listened to the Word and was truly converted. He died in faith at an advanced age in 1886. His son opposed the work for years, but he, too, was at last converted, and instead of the savage ruler who inspired terror among his people, he became a calm and peaceful Christian. Such is the subduing power of divine grace.
For thirty-five years, Chalmers worked among the South Sea Islanders. Six times he had been shipwrecked, and many times he had faced death at the hands of the savages. In 1901 he made his last voyage with his helper Tomkins. He was seeking to reach tribes who had never been preached to before. They landed on an unknown island in the Papuan Gulf and were never seen again alive.
It was learned afterwards that they had been killed and eaten by the cannibals. Thus Chalmers sealed with his blood the years of devoted service in the evangelization of the South Sea Islanders.
Tierra Del Fuego
The effect of the gospel on the degraded inhabitants of this dark land has a peculiar interest. When Darwin made his famous voyage in the Beagle in 1831, he became acquainted with the natives of Tierra del Fuego and expressed the opinion that they were probably the lowest specimens of the human race and that any attempt to take the gospel to them was futile. Many years afterwards, when he had seen the effects of the gospel upon them, he wrote, “The success of the Tierra del Fuego mission is most wonderful and shames me, as I always prophesied utter failure.”
The pioneer in this work was Captain Allen Gardiner, who had previously visited Patagonia. He made his first visit to Fuego in 1848. Conditions were such that they could not establish themselves ashore and had to work from the ship as a base. After returning to England, he made another voyage at the end of 1850. This time he was accompanied by Richard Williams (a converted skeptic), John Maidment, a carpenter named Erwin and three Cornish fishermen. The attempt ended in disaster. Having reached Picton Island, they disembarked, but the threatening attitude of the natives compelled them to seek the refuge of their launches. One of these was wrecked on the rocky coast, and they were once again ashore. A vessel sent with provisions was wrecked. The little party perished from exposure and starvation, and their remains were found on the rocky shore. Gardiner’s last entry in his diary read, “Great and marvelous are the loving-kindnesses of my gracious God unto me. He has preserved me hitherto, although without bodily food, yet without any feeling of hunger or thirst.” He had earlier written farewell letters, full of faith and resignation, to his wife and daughter and commended his loved ones to the care of God.
Within a year, a ship named the Allen Gardiner sailed from Bristol with a band of earnest workers on board to make another attempt to carry the Word of God to the heathen of Tierra del Fuego.
It was some years before any success was achieved with the Fuegans. A party which landed in 1860 was murdered. Finally, in 1868, a station was established, and four years later a small party of natives was baptized. From then on the work proceeded, and it was proved that there are no races so degraded or benighted as to be beyond the reach of the gospel.
New Hebrides
In 1858 J. G. Paton started work in the New Hebrides at Tanna, and afterwards he moved to Aniwa, which was completely evangelized in his lifetime. In 1906 he claimed twenty thousand converts. He said that they never baptized a person until they had given real evidence of consecration to the Lord Jesus.
This account of the spread of the gospel all over the world since the beginning of the nineteenth century is brief and incomplete, but it will show that God has been working in every land at the close as at the beginning of the Christian dispensation. One feature is unprecedented: The Bible has been translated and circulated in all the major languages of the world and parts of it in hundreds of other languages.
Vast changes are now taking place in the world. Muhammadanism is spreading among the heathen, while Communism has engulfed great sections of the human race. The great period of missionary activity seems to be closing, but the gospel will continue to be sounded abroad until the Saviour’s voice is heard calling the redeemed to Himself.