copies of the gospels had been circulated from the Manchuria
side. The Methodist Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian
Board, both of America, entered the country in 1885, and were
soon joined by similar agencies from Canada and Australia.
The Anglican Church began work in 1890, the work was
thoroughly planned, the characteristics of the people were carefully
considered, and the successes and failures of other mission-fields
were studied as a guide to method. The medical work won
the favour of the government, and so wisely did the missionaries
act, that during all the turbulent changes since 1884 they escaped
entanglement in the political disturbances and yet held the
confidence of the people. The persistence and growth of Christianity
among the Koreans is largely due to the fact that Christianity
had not been superimposed on them as a foreign organization.
They had built their own churches and schools, adopted
their own forms of worship and phrased their own beliefs.
Korea vies with Uganda as a triumph of modern missionary
enterprise. In 1866 there were not more than 100 Christians;
official returns in 1910 show 178,686 Protestants, including
72,000 church members and probationers; and 72,290 Roman
Catholics. Theological colleges, normal training colleges and
higher and lower grade schools bear witness to an activity and
a success which are truly remarkable.
South-East Asia and the East Indies.—The work of Christian missions in this area has had the double advantage of freedom from political and social unrest, and of comparatively little overlapping, each country as a rule being taken over by a single society. In Burma the American Baptists, whose work began with Adoniram Judson in 1813, are conspicuous, and have had marked success among the Karens or peasant class, where the pioneer was George Dana Boardman (1827). The Karen Christian communities are strong numerically and have a good name for self-support. The Baptists have also stations in Arakan and Assam where they link up with the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists (1845). The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the Methodist Episcopal Church work in and around Rangoon. In Siam again the Americans, especially the Presbyterians, have been most prominent. Medical work made an impression on the people and won the favour of the government, which has always been cordial and has employed missionaries as court-tutors. Buddhism is at its best at Siam, and this and the enervating climate are responsible for the comparatively small direct success of Christian propaganda in Siam proper. In the Laos country to the north, however, much more has been done, and a healthy type of Christian community established. Native workers have done something to carry the Gospel into the French colonies of Tongking and Annam. Here the Roman missions are very extensive, and have over a million adherents, despite violent persecution before the French occupation.
The peninsula and archipelago known as Malaysia presents a remarkable mingling of races, languages and beliefs. Tatar, Mahommedan and Hindu invasions all preceded the Portuguese who brought Roman Catholicism, and the Dutch who brought Protestantism. This last resulted in a great number of nominal conversions, as baptism was the passport to government favour, and church membership was based on the learning of the Decalogue and the Lord’s Prayer, and on the saying of grace at mealtimes. In the Straits Settlement the foundations of modern missionary effort were laid by the London Missionary Society pioneers who were waiting to get into China; they were succeeded by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (1856), English Presbyterians (1875), Methodist Episcopalians (1884), who have a fine Anglo-Chinese College at Singapore, and the Church of England Zenana Society (1900).
In the Archipelago most of the work has naturally been in the hands of the Netherlands Missionary Society (1812) and other Dutch agencies, who at first were not encouraged by the colonial government, but have since done well, especially in the Minahassa district of Celebes (150,000 members) and among the Bataks of Sumatra (Rhenish Mission). In Celebes and the Moluccas the work is now under the Colonial State Church. In Java the government has favoured Mahommedans (there is active intercourse between the island and Mecca), but there are some 25,000 Christians and a training school and seminary at Depok near Batavia. In Dutch Borneo the Rhenish Society is slowly making headway among the Dyaks; in British Borneo the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (1848) and the Methodist Episcopalians occupy the field. The total number of Christians in British Malaysia and the Dutch East Indies is about 600,000 (including 57,000 Roman Catholics).
Western Asia and the Turkish Empire.[1]—The American Presbyterians and Congregationalists have the largest Protestant missions in these lands, working, however, mainly for the enlightenment and education of the Oriental Christians. With the same object, though on different lines, the archbishop of Canterbury’s Assyrian Mission seeks to influence the Nestorians. The Roman Catholics have extensive missions in these countries, directed at winning adherents to the unity of the Holy See from the Oriental Churches, which are regarded as schismatic and heretical. In this enterprise there has been great advance in Egypt among the Copts, and in 1899 the Pope signalized “the resurrection of the Church of Alexandria” by appointing a Patriarch for Egypt, Libya and Nubia. Farther east, on the borders of Turkey and Persia, the Roman and Russo-Greek Churches compete for the adhesion of the Nestorians, Chaldeans and Armenians. The Franciscans, Dominicans, Lazarists and Jesuits are engaged in all these works. Direct work among Mahommedans is done, though with small result, by the North Africa Mission (non-denominational) and the Church Missionary Society. The Egypt, Palestine and Persia missions of the latter society have been largely reinforced and extended since 1884, medical work and women’s work being especially prominent. Four cities in southern Persia are now occupied. Three missions just touch the border of Arabia, viz. the United Free Church of Scotland at Aden, founded by Ion Keith-Falconer (1856–1887) son of the 9th earl of Kintore and Arabic professor at Cambridge; an American Presbyterian Mission on the Persian Gulf; and the Church Missionary Society’s Mission at Bagdad. The American Robert College at Constantinople and the work of the Friends’ Missionary Association in Syria are honourable and successful enterprises. The chief difficulties have been (1) the antagonism of the officials of the Oriental churches, (2) the suspicion and hostility of Islam, (3) the jealousies, religious and political, connected with the Eastern Question.
Missions in Christian Lands.—Australia has been referred to already (see South Seas, above). In the Western Hemisphere we may distinguish the following: (1) Early Roman Missions began with the discovery of the continent and practically ceased in the middle of the 18th century. Conspicuous among their achievements was the conversion of Mexico, 200,000 converts being enrolled within six years after the capture of the capital (1521), and a million baptized by the Franciscans alone within thirty years. In South America the passive character of the population made them submissive alike to the Spanish government and the Roman faith. Their natural devotion and their susceptibility to pomp and ritual was a factor skilfully used by the priests, but hardly anything was done to strengthen their moral power. The influx of base European strata helped to reduce the whole continent south of Mexico in about a century to a level as low as that preceding the first mission. About 1600 the Franciscans and French Jesuits began their work in North America and among the Indians did a successful work marked by much heroism. They also enabled the Roman Church to keep its hold on the French colonists of Quebec and Montreal, and were pioneers in California. (2) Modern Missions in North America.—Missions among the Red Indian tribes in the North-West Territories of both the United States and Canada have long been carried on by several societies. The first workers were Thomas Mayhew, junior and John Eliot at Martha’s Vineyard (1643) and Roxbury (1646). Bishop Whipple of Minnesota was justly called the Apostle of the Indians, so far as the work of the American Episcopal Church was concerned. In the Canadian North-West the Church Missionary Society’s Missions have reached many tribes up to the shores of the Polar sea, and made some thousands of converts. Even the wandering Eskimos, thanks to the Moravians, are mainly Christians. The Anglican Church has nine dioceses in the province of Rupert’s Land. The Roman Catholic missionaries also are scattered over these immense territories, and have a large number of Indian adherents. Besides the Oblates many are Jesuits from French
Canada. The Russo-Greek Church has a mission in Alaska, dating- ↑ See J. Richter, A History of Protestant Missions in the Near East (1910).
