1892.]

must talk with her. But his talk with her was rather the other way, for he believes in his heart that she is right. One brother from Al Kaimeh, five miles away, the solitary Protestant there, was present, full of faith and zeal.

I spent five days at Amar, delightful days they were, or rather nights, for nights were the time for their gatherings. The brethren come together every evening, and not merely when a missionary is with them. They sing their plaintive native tunes, pray, hear the Bible and an exposition, discuss the subject raised, and talk with one another. The Elder said to me, "O, how happy we are. Every day we thank God that we have come to know Him." Often times they spend the whole night and go home by day. light. Fifty or more attend the evening gatherings, some of them of the Greek church, who are anxiously considering the great question of breaking away from those superstitions and customs in which they no longer believe. Eight applied for admission to the church, of whom one was received.

One day at Amar, I lost a pocket knife and told our preacher saying it must have dropped

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upon the street; he said: "Never fear, it will be found and brought to you, for there is not a man or child in Amar who would steal." And so it turned out. It was brought to me the next day. Government officers say that Amar is the the most remarkable village they know of, for here no one attempts to deceive or defraud them. Vegetables and fruits grow at a distance from the the village untouched by any save the owner. large part of the town has already become Protestant and the rest is thoroughly leavened with Protestant doctrine. How great the contrast presented by another village, wholly Greek, where I saw the priest with a whip in his hand, with which he was accustomed to enforce obedience, on the plea that the people could be moved by no other argument!

Α

We receive more and more petitions for new schools which we are forced to decline, not altogether for lack of funds nor for fear of interference, but chiefly for lack of men to teach and preach. There is no other one thing for which we pray so earnestly as that the Lord would send forth laborers into His harvest."

Rev. D. G. Collins of Cheung Mai in Siam sends a translation of a letter containing Christian greetings and biographical incidents from Rev. Nan Tah one of the native preachers among the Laos tribes whose work of itinerant evangelism is being especially blessed. His parish for his preaching tours is about one hundred miles long extending north and south of Cheung Mai. At a recent meeting of the Laos Presbytery he was regularly set apart for this special service. The Mission writes of him that "it is a great pleasure to report that he has been faithful in obeying the commands of Presbytery, and that during tours of greater or less duration he has been permitted to baptize many adults and children. The value of his services is above computation."

The following personal incident narrated in the letter gives a graphic and artless picture of the way God calls a soul out of darkness

and ignorance to the light and privilege of his service:

"Even while yet in the temple my faith was put in the religion of the divine Jesus for I first heard of this religious while I was in the pristhood. On asking my On asking my Buddhist teacher what else there was for me to learn, he replied that there was nothing more that they could teach me. About that time I heard that the religion of Jesus had come, and knowing that it was strange, I came to inquire about it of Teacher McGilvary. He gave me a book and on reading it I knew that I had now found the true God. I then came and spent three years studying with Teacher McGilvary, but had not yet received baptism when the late chief sought to kill me, for I was one of his dependents. On being told this I fled alone and did not first beg to be baptized because my faith was yet weak. My wife who was not very well, I left on the

rice farm about an hour's walk from my home. Proceeding alone I fled three days through the forests not meeting a human being, having no knife, no weapon of defence and nothing to eat. After three days I arrived at a small village where I procured food.

"I then went to Chieng Hai, Chieng Toon, the Shan country, the Karen country and Burmah. I remained roaming in other countries for ten years. At the end of that time on hearing of the death of the chief who sought to kill me, I returned home and sought the teacher and learned from him until I was ready to receive baptism, and indeed to this time.

"A daughter who was born during my absence now has a husband and child. "I beg that you will pray for me."

MIRZA BAGIR.

REV. T. L. POTTER, TEHERAN, PERSIA. There recently died at Teheran, Persia, of influenza, a remarkable individual, Mirza Bâgir, (known among Europeans by the name of Baker) whom some of the missionaries in India, Syria and Egypt may remember, and who is said to have enjoyed the friendship of Canon Taylor, Max Muller, Dr. Pfander, the late Bishop French, and other distinguished men.

He was a native of Shiraz, but had lived some time in India and England. In the former country he accepted Christianity, received baptism, and was about to be ordained to the Christian ministry, but by a deeper study of the Koran was led, as he claimed, to renounce Christianity and returned to Islam; and thus he became a jealous advocate and an independent missionary of Mohammedanism. It was not, however, the traditional Islam which he held but rather a rationalistic development of it, which though based upon the Koran, used great freedom in the interpretation of the book. Thus in Chap. CVIII. v. 1, it is said: "Verily we have given thee Al Kaut

[July,

Mirza

har." This "Kauthar" is generally understood to mean a river in Paradise of that name, and equivalent to the Christian expression, "the river of the water of life." Bâgir, however, reverting to the etymological signification of the word, abundance, made it refer to people and translated the verse: "Verily we have given thee the great multitude, "then he triumphantly added: "See how wonderfully this prophecy has been fulfilled! Was there any probability at that time (for this is one of the earlier Mekkan suras) that such would be the result? Behold here a clear and strong argument for the truth and divine authority of the Koran!"

The linguistic attainments of the man were remarkable. He would quote the Old Testament in Hebrew, the New Testament in Greek, and the Koran in Arabic, and was wonderfully fluent in English as well as his native Persian. His valuable assistance in the preparation of Wollaston's smaller English-Persian Dictionary is gratefully acknowledged in the preface, and it is said of him: "Not only was he familar with the Arabic and Turkish languages, which supply so many of the words in modern use in Persia, but possessed a truly remarkable critical knowledge of his own tongue."

He devised a composite religion which he termed" Islamo-Christianity, "taking certain elements from Judaism, and some from Christianity, but still founded upon Islam. He admitted the inspiration of the Old Testament and claimed it for the Koran, but denied that of the New Testament. He denied also the divinity and the atonement of Christ, and seemed to be familar with the whole range of rationlistic and infidel objections to Christianity and the New Testament Scriptures. He claimed that the Gospel given to Jesus, as mentioned in the Koran, was the good news in the prophecy of Isaiah, which he interpreted in his

1892.]

own way. Thus he would take the 53rd Chap., and without a book or note before him correcting the English translation to make it agree more closely with the Hebrew according to his idea, would explain it as referring to Mohammed.

Mirza Bâgir published in England certain English tracts setting forth his peculiar views; in one of which he describes a revelation granted to Mohammed. He speaks of it as a "Triune Universum "(man's body, soul, and spirit) and insinuates that it is the original of the "complex doctrine of the Platonic philosophy-subsequently manufactured by Greek divines and latterly converted by Roman Pontiffs into what is called the Crusaders' Trinity."

This remarkable man supported himself by giving lessons in Persian to foreigners and sought pupils in Arabic and Hebrew whom he instructed without charge and to whom he endeavored to impart his peculiar interpretations of the Koran and the Old Testament. His influence was beginning to be felt here in rationalistic opposition to Christianity, and doubtless the seed he had thus industriously sown will continue to bear such fruit. It is said that he held fast "his own" religion without wavering, to the end. It seems strange that so gifted a man should have been permitted to come thus in contact with our holy faith, and as it were to taste the good word of God, only to reject and oppose.

A LINE OF BATTLE FOR MISSIONS. The following paragraph which we take from The Church of Scotland Mission Record" refers to the British army and navy. There are many men of fervent piety and consecration in the military and naval service of Great Britian. They come in contact with missionaries in all parts of the world,

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and there are many instances of friendship and co-operation in good works where the opportunity presents itself. There is no reason why loyalty to an earthly sovereign and devotion to the honor and the material interests of an earthly kingdom should not be a training in the higher duties of loyalty to a heavenly Lord and devotion to the spiritual interests of a heavenly kingdom. All praise to him who serves well in both spheres of duty, and wins the honors which earth and heaven unite in giving to the loyal and the true. The paragraph is as follows:

"We have pleasure in noticing, as another proof of the practical interest in missions which is spreading in all directions, the Army and Navy Missionary Union. Its objects are to stimulate missionary zeal in the army and navy; to collect funds for the furtherance of missionary effort in the foreign field on evangelical and Protestant lines, such funds to be applied without reference to denominational distinction; and to send out missionaries when the funds admit. All laymen who have served or are serving in the army or navy, of every grade and rank, with their families, are invited to unite in this special effort for the furtherance of foreign missionary enterprise; and clergy who have served as laymen, and chaplains of all denominations, are entitled to become honorary members on application. One of the ways in which the Union is to carry out its aim is by circulating the publications of missionary societies, and personal service is earnestly invited from those who are on foreign service and could give help as medical men, as ordained or as lay evangelists, or Scripture readers, or school teachers. The Union is not to be regarded as a new missionary society. It will only send missionaries into the field in connection with existing agencies, and it does not desire that a single sixpence should be transferred from existing missions, but rather to give additional help as far as its resources permit. The honorary secretaries are Major H. Pelham Burn, Rifle Brigade, and Commander Sulivan, R. N."

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Dr. Briggs, of Lakawn, writes:

In my work I have met with a great deal of encouragement. I endeavor to have every patient who comes to me spoken to personally and the gospel presented to him. I am helped in this a great deal by my assistant, who is a thorough Christian, and by my teacher who is a splendid evangelist and Christian helper. I have been led to establish a clinic over in the market of the new city. I hold this clinic three afternoons each week; this has introduced me to a large number that otherwise I would not have met; and as God has been blessing my efforts very - manifestly in some very serious cases, it has helped to break down a great deal of superstition and given me an entrance into the homes and hearts of the people.

Churches and individuals sending contributions to the Treasurer of the Foreign Board, for the Russian or Siam Famine Relief Funds, must not expect to have the same credited to them on the books of the Board, as gifts for foreign missions. The Famine Relief Fund in both cases is a special fund opened because of the urgent necessity of help, created by the lack of food in Russia and Siam and does not fall in the strict sphere of the Board's work. This note has been rendered necessary by a few slight misunderstandings which it is trusted this plain statement will render unlikely of recurrence.

Letters.

THE DAKOTA INDIANS.

MISS JENNIE B. DICKSON, Pine Ridge Agency, S. D: This is a hard, stony field. What will bring the Indians of this Reserve to realize that they are poor, wretched creatures, needing the Saviour we tell them of? They have been so petted and spoiled by sentimental people who think they know Indians, until it is very hard for them not to feel their own importance, and to think that they are the people

on.

[July,

We know that the Word of the Lord will prevail, or it would be very hard sometimes to hold I believe thoroughly, in individual work, which has not received, I think, the attention it deserves among the Dakotas. An Indian is very religious, as were the Athenians of old, and the writings of persons who come for a short stay, would lead us to believe that an Indian accepts without doubt, and with the simplicity of a child, the teachings of the Gospel, while we who live among them know such is not always the case. An Indian is usually fond of praying and talking, but often there is very little spirituality in his religious life, and he may be untouched by the grace of God in his heart. So you may judge of the joy it gives us to find some who are really trying sincerely to serve the Lord At the older stations, many are children of our Father; but here as yet there are very few who are following after the Lord, but it is a great pleasure to watch their development, even if it is slow, Our interests and prayers seem now to be centered in a young man who, I think, is seeking the Light. He told me that it seemed as if there were two strings tied to his heart, one was pulling him this way, and one was pulling him the other. I feel sure that we shall soon see him enter the Kingdom. The young man that I am training for helper, is doing nicely. I think a native helper raised up on the field, can do more good than one from a distance. There is quite a good bit of jealousy among the different bands of the Sioux, and it might surprise you to know of this or that prejudice, and I think sometimes their name, Dakota (Allied), is something of a misnomer.

One of the old chiefs has just been in to see me, to ask if I knew when they were to receive pay for their losses of last winter. I told him I did not know, but because of the many false claims that had been made, they were compelled to defer payment. The old man told me there is a good deal of bad talk among the Rosebuds or Brulis who were allowed to remain here instead of being sent to their home, as they should have been. Things may go on this way for years, or may be brought to a crisis sooner than any of us think. The sooner the crisis comes, in my opin

ion, the better it will be for these people. Is that a hard saying? I believe it is the truth. But people who live far away, will hardly agree with us. Pray for us that we may be faithful in season and out of season, and that these people in the darkness of heathenism, may soon see a great Light arise, and that the Lord may have all the glory.

ISLAND OF HAINAN.

A JOURNEY TO NODOA.

MR. CARL S. JEREMIASSEN, Nodoa:-Mr. Gilman's family and I started for Nodoa first by boat for five days, or rather six-the last day being Sabbath, we stayed in the boats till Monday morning. We had beautiful weather while in the boats. Having sent a man overland beforehand to arrange about chairs and ox cartsthe latter for our heavy luggage and furniture for the Nodoa House, also the printing press, etc. everything was ready waiting for us in the morning. So, after landing the things and leav. ing a man to see after getting them on the carts, we, after some considerable scolding and grumbling, got started, and I felt quite relieved. Unfortunately, the wind had changed round during Sunday night, and a cold, northerly wind, with rain, began just about the time of our starting; still it was not very heavy, at least not heavy enough for us to consent to stop another day. I was thankful, after starting, that I had good strong legs to walk on, so that I did not need to be caged up in one of those miserable Hainan chairs. I felt for poor Mrs. Gilman with the children, as it is bad enough for one person alone, but must be exceedingly trying for a lady with a heavy, lively baby constantly jumping about in her lap from one side to the other. I am sure only a woman's love and patience could endure it; as for myself, I am satisfied I could never have stood it. And the poor beasts of burden!" I can't help but pity them. Poor men, what a horrible way of conveyance! But what can be done when people are unable to walk? I can simply say with the Chinese, “Vo-da-oa,” "There is no way out of it." We made, considering the circumstances, very fair progress

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the first day (14 miles), and rested overnight in Faifong, which is a market-place of sixty or seventy families.

A HAINAN "GRAND CENTRAL."

It cheered my heart, and I am sure it would have cheered yours could you have had a quiet peep in at us and seen everybody in good hu- · mor, trying to make the best of the situation. It was not the "Grand Central Hotel," but I think that there were more happy hearts here, notwithstanding doorless houses and leaking roofs, than in that grand hotel that evening. We got possession of the two rear houses of the inn. The first house of the two was occupied by the Gilman family and the Chinese woman. That house was minus front doors, which we soon fixed up by hanging up a mat, which, besides keeping out the cold, damp wind, also added to our privacy. We were all pretty tired and were glad to get to rest, the children keeping in wonderfully good spirits even to the last, when we all passed off into dreamland. We rose next morning praising God for all his mercies, and after taking an early breakfast, we started off. There was some grumbling and dissension among our men about staying; but as the rain was less than the day before, now only being a kind of “Scotch mist," and then there is no saying how long it would be ere clearing up, when northerly wind sets in this time of the year; this is well known to everybody here. So we managed to persuade the men to go, promising that we would stay over night at "Notia" market, which is about 12 miles from Faifong. This would leave us an easy day's journey (17 or 18 miles) to Nodoa. Getting on the way, we found the roads very slippery; but before long it cleared up a little and everybody was glad we had come on Reaching Notia about 3 P. M., we got a fairly good inn-but what a crowd of visitors! No foreign lady had ever been there and the people were naturally anxious to get a peep at Mrs. Gilman and the children, but were good natured and pleasant. Next morning we had a beautiful day for our last stage and we all enjoyed it very much, the children were happy and playing on the green grass whenever we stopped, and when arriving