Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/665

 FOREIGN MISSIONS 647 among them, but this revival has been promoted mainly by the preaching of native evangelists, and, though marked with some extravagances, thousands are thought to be truly converted. American Baptist missionaries are meeting with like encouragement among the Telugus in the east. In 10 years the converts have in- creased from 23 to 6,418. The church at On- gole had two members in 1866, and 2,357 in 1873. Like success has been realized by European missionaries among the Kols and Santals, aboriginal tribes W. and N. "W. of Calcutta, 10,000 adherents having been gained among the former since 1845, and 220 added to the churches among the latter in 1872. American Presbyterians are occupying Myn- pooree, Futtehghur, Saharunpoor, and Allah- abad, principal cities to the northwest, along the valley of the Ganges. American Methodists are in Bareilly, Lucknow, and Moradabad, of the same region; and European missionaries are in almost every part of the land. Naryan Sheshadri, the Brahman whose visit to England and America excited great interest in 1873, is establishing and superintending a chain of mis- sionary operations through several cities and villages 300 miles N. E. of Bombay. Other Brahmans are preaching the gospel, and learned pundits are attacking the popular idolatry. Nearly 500 Protestant missionaries are -now laboring in India (Ceylon included), with 400 principal stations and 2,000 out stations, aided by 240 native preachers, with 60,000 members of Christian churches, and 140,000 pupils in Christian schools. The whole Bible, or parts of it, and other books have been translated into 30 of the different languages of the coun- try. And the above numbers by no means represent the entire change wrought there by missions. The increase in conversions in the last ten years is 50 per cent, greater than it was in the previous ten, and many of the churches are self-supporting, the native con- verts paying already $100,000 a year for the maintenance of their own Christian institu- tions, while other thousands have renounced idolatry and caste, who have not yet accepted Christianity. One marked indication of this is in the rise of the society called the Brahmo Somaj, of which Chunder Sen, an educated Hindoo, is the acknowledged leader. Its mem- bers discard the entire Hindoo mythology, be- lieve in one God, Creator of heaven and earth, and accept the morality of the Bible, but not the doctrines of the Trinity, atonement, &c. They are regarded as deists ;" and yet Chunder Sen is reported as saying : " The spirit of Christianity has pervaded the whole of Indian society, and we breathe, think, feel, and move in a Christian atmosphere. Native society is being roused, enlightened, and reformed under the influence of Christian education." English missionaries are at work among the aborigines of Australia and in the island of Mauritius. In the latter the church missionary society has 1,118 communicants, and the society for the propagation of the gospel 594. Little or nothing has been attempted by Protestant mis- sionaries among the people of Afghanistan, Beloochistan, or Arabia. Protestant mission- aries from America entered Persia in 1834. Their work has been confined almost exclu- sively to the Nestorians, an ancient Christian sect, chiefly in the N. W. part of the empire ; the city of Oroomiah, with its 25,000 inhabi- tants, being the chief seat of their operations. Among the Nestorians of Persia, who number about 150,000, 7 missionaries of the American Presbyterian church are laboring, with 54 native pastors and preachers, 17 churches, 767 com- municants, 70 schools, and 1,124 scholars. The cities of Tabriz and Teheran have more recent- ly been occupied, and more direct efforts are to be made to reach the Mohammedans, some of whom have already embraced the Christian faith. The Nestorians had the Scriptures, but in an unknown tongue. The missionaries have translated the Bible into the modern Syriac, the language of the people. Constantinople has been the principal centre of operations for the 40,000,000 of the Turkish empire, especially for the work of the press. Able men have devoted much time to the translation of the Scriptures and other books into the languages of the empire. Religious papers are also pub- lished in that city and widely scattered through the empire. Nothing could be done at first among the Mohammedans, it being death to any Mussulman to change his religion ; but that law has been abrogated, and religious liberty secured to all classes, by imperial firman, although perse- cution has not altogether ceased. But the labors of the missionaries have been devoted chiefly to the Armenians, Greeks, and other Christian sects, with a view to reaching the Mohammedans in the end. For this purpose 50 missionaries of the American board are now occupying most of the principal cities of the empire, not only preaching the gospel, but establishing schools, training up teachers and preachers, translating and printing books for schools and for gen- eral reading, gathering converts into native churches, and ordaining native pastors over them. The Protestant churches now number over 4,000 members, and the Protestant adhe- rents over 23,000, making one of the recognized sects or communities of the empire, with its civil head residing at the capital and guarding its interests. A great demand for education has been created by these missionary operations. Previously female education was a thing al- most entirely unknown; now female semina- ries and primary schools for girls are found in many parts of the empire, and thousands of women can read and are teaching others. Schools and academies for boys are multiplied, and colleges have become a necessity. One has been for years in successful operation at Con- stantinople, endowed chiefly by the liberality of Christopher R. Robert, a merchant of New York, whose name it bears. It has 250 students of 13 different nationalities. Another is just