32 MISSIONARY WORK-WHO IS TO DO IT? Oh, thus with Jesus by thy side, What are this earth's low griefs to thee? Free in the soul's unfettered flight! Where all is pure-where all is bright- [MARCH, [Episcopal Recorder. MISSIONARY WORK-WHO IS TO DO IT?* SOME twenty years ago there was a very humble lad in a shop in this city [Dublin]: but he had learned the value of his own soul, and, in doing so, learned the value of the souls of others. Every Sunday morning he was to be seen running from one door to another in Mountjoy-square, to get out some servants whom he had induced to attend an adult class in Rutland-lane. Johnny Morgan went by the name of Perpetual Motion, and he deserved it: he never stopped till, like a shepherd's dog, he had collected all the stray sheep, and brought them to the shepherd's feet. But the Missionary spirit once astir, it went on with perpetual motion too; and at length Johnny Morgan went out to New Zealand as a catechist; after some time was ordained to be a Missionary; and has been signally owned and blessed of God in that once-benighted land. Missionary work: who is to do it? This question, in some form or other, reached the shop-boy. "I am to do it," was his prompt reply; and he did it, where he was, and how he could; and then the question came in another form, and with reference to a wider and more distant sphere, and again the Spirit of God prompted him to say, "I am to do it ;" and he did it in the place whither he was sent, and with all the energy of a devoted heart. All we ask of you is to imitate John Morgan, by giving back to the same question the same reply-"I am to do it; to do it now, where I am, and as my God enables me; to do it wheresoever and whensoever His grace and providence may call me; to do it heartily, earnestly, humbly, in love, in faith, in prayer. Only have the will, the readiness to do it: the place, the time, the way, will be chosen for you by God. AAAAAAA A MISSIONARY'S FIRST ARRIVAL IN CHINA. THE REV. W. Welton, who has been long labouring alone at the important city of Fuh-chau, on the Chinese coast, was cheered, in June last, by the arrival of two Missionaries, the Rev. F. M'Caw, accompanied by Mrs. M'Caw, and the Rev. M. Fearnley. There is much that is interesting and instructive in marking the first sensations of a Missionary on reaching the heathen land which is henceforward to be his field of labour, and the manner in which his mind is affected by the novel sights which present themselves. It is not * A Lecture by the Rev. W. Pakenham Walsh. 1856.] A MISSIONARY'S FIRST ARRIVAL IN CHINA. 33 always that we have the opportunity of observing these. The first communications of Missionaries are generally brief and hurried; and by the time that we receive more lengthened communications, they have become, to a certain extent, accustomed to the change, and write as if we were as familiar with what is passing around them as themselves. We lose much in this way of what is graphic. Would that we could describe Mission fields as if we were actually in the midst of them. Mr. Fearnley's journal is full and descriptive, and will help us to realize to our perception Fuh-chau and its teeming population. June 17, 1855-Arrived this day at the city of Fuh-chau, the scene of our future labours. Our passage up the river was pleasant, Mr. Welton having kindly come down almost to its mouth to meet us, and filling up the moments that could be spared from the contemplation of the scenery by notices of the country and its people, and his own labours among them. Of course all appears wild and fantastic to us-must necessarily, from its intense novelty. Landed suddenly among immense crowds of a strange people, with every article of dress, every instrument of use, every word of speech, new to us, or known only from the hasty glance of a few days at Hong Kong, we can do little more than wonder, and wonder most of all how we shall ever be fitted for residence and usefulness among a people, and in a country, so different from our own. This is our feeling when brought right up to the city, and having the human swarms that people it presented to our view; but up the river, and when lying within its mouth, we scarcely had room in our hearts for other feelings than joy, admiration, and ecstasy, at the glorious beauty that lay on every side around us. One spoke of tedium, and wished the breeze, then light and baffling, might gather and grow fair; but, for my part, I could, if higher objects had not urged me onwards, have gazed for days on those dark frowing mountains, their stately forms, and varied hues-hues varied, but all rich, deep, massy; now green, from full, thickwoven foliage, now blood-red, from baring of the granite, and now gleaming silver in slender lines, from the rain-born rivulets. And we came, perhaps, in a time to see the brightest of the beauty. Three days of incessant rain had preceded our entrance of the river, and the heaven was dark with a magnificent storm of thunder the very afternoon we anchored. The abundant rain that had moistened these hills, and the dark clouds that still hung over them, I imagine added to their effect at that time. The only drawback was the intense heat, almost beyond the power of our northern frames. We passed up the river, through what still could only be characterized by me as a wilderness of beauty-albeit less majestic than what we had left behind-and crept up gradually, among boats, and junks, and crowded human beings, to the houses, the great bridge, and a brother Missionary's house, who received us so cordially, and spoke words so much like the kind ones we had left at home, and put before us so much of furniture and food like England, that I could scarcely understand how I could be in Fuh-chau. He was an American; but all disciples are of one commonwealth and kingdom. June 19-This day our luggage is up, through the kindness and by the help of one of the mercantile houses here, and we begin to look about for nooks and corners to bestow our goods and settle ourselves 34 A MISSIONARY'S FIRST ARRIVAL IN CHINA. [MARCH, most expeditiously in our new abode; but it will take some time before I, at least, can feel myself in a routine of work, and pursue my day's course of labour without haste and somewhat of distraction. In the first place, the climate-the overpowering heat, which, though not inca-⚫ pacitating for work, especially for stirring work, such as the arrangement of rooms and disposition of luggage, but rather rendering us drowsy over books and the study-table, yet levies an after-tax upon us for any extra exertion, in the shape of increased languor and weariness, and, I may add, in a most incredible disposition to sleep. Whatever Í might have done at home, here a deprivation of sleep for a few nights, I believe, would quite upset me. Secondly, I may mention the language: that, I may say, at least doubles our labour in every thing we have to do. We cannot ask for any thing to be brought to us. If we desire the attendant's help at all, and do not entirely procure the article ourselves, we must at least walk right up to it and touch it, and say, "Bring this." If we wish, any one of us, to speak to our English companion, and that companion is not in the room with us, we have no means but to proceed to the room or place where he is. A message of any length is utterly impossible, and our commonest communications with our native attendants-for of course we endeavour to exchange speech with them-take such an excessive time, that all business is magnified, mole-hills become mountains, and the day is gone before we have well done what we hoped would be the beginning of its achievements. June 25-We found, by Mr. Welton's care and the consul's kindness, divine service in English established in one of the consulate buildings, and yesterday, being Sunday, we were there. Little like Sunday was the scene that met our eyes on our journey down from the city to the riverside, some three miles; and we ourselves, perhaps, with our three large, lumbering chairs, and six clamorous coolies, added to the streets an unSunday-like appearance. But chairs, on Sunday or on other days during the hot season, are indispensable. The street was all bustle: every one about his own particular business, as on the former days that we had passed through them. Carriers of all kinds, male and female, from the country, with fruit, and wood, and charcoal; tailors at their silent board, or sounding only with the noise of words; blacksmiths at the ringing anvil; and gold-beaters scarcely less loud; and huge charcoal fires for their multifarious viands-all busy, all in full life and energy. Truly the Lord desires His sabbath to be kept. One argument, at any rate, is immediately apparent from the very street for bringing the gospel hither. It was pleasant, both physically and morally, after passing through so many lengths of this turmoil and excitement, to turn into the cool and quiet of the consular establishment. The escape from the heat of the streets was refreshing to the body, and no less to the mind: the calm, quiet, sacred air that reigned around over the clean, graceful flags that formed the desk-drapery, and the exactly-arranged seats, and all this set off and heightened by the din and clamour immediately without. Truly, Christians ought to be more Christians in a heathen land, when they contrast what seemed but cheap privileges at home with the destitution of all holy service that characterizes so many lands not their home. Sept. 20-I went this day, in company with Mr. Welton's colporteur and my house-boy, to the Kong-Jeng, the examination-hall for the SiuTsai, graduates of the first degree, seeking the degree of Kü-Jin. As 1856.] 35 A MISSIONARY'S FIRST ARRIVAL IN CHINA. we neared the neighbourhood of the Kong-Jeng we met chair after chair of the Siu-Tsai, each with his bambu book-basket between his knees, or rather "food and fuel basket," for such I believe had been its contents when its owner entered with it into the hall. Three days, I am told, these students stop, taking rice and charcoal, and receiving, day by day, water. There, in their cells, of which, my teacher tells me, there are 10,000 in the whole building, they sit, write, eat, and sleep, nor come out till the third day, when their arduous toil for that time is ended, and they have given in the produce of their brain. For that time, I say, for thrice they go in, and thrice they come out, renewing their food, and fuel, and dress, and possibly, in some measure, by a brief converse with the outer world, their jaded intellects. On the last day, eighty-five out of the entire number, perhaps 6000, are unconscious Kü-Jin. It is evident, therefore, how severe must be the struggle. For three years the Siu-Tsai accumulate, for to none but them is it open. At the time of examination, some 6000 or 7000, from two provinces with a population of perhaps 20,000,000, come up to the city of Fuh-chau, and of them are made eighty-five Kü-Jin. In some of our vocabularies B.A. is given as equivalent to Siu-Tsai, and M.A. to Kü-Jin, but this is not correct: not one M.A. in fifty, as it seems to me, could fairly rank with a Kü-Jin. Now if these poor people thus highly prize their small deficient literature, and seek its honours through such a narrow path, ought we not, even with additional anxiety, seek to give them the book of books, that they may become truly learned, and read of the honour that cometh from God only? Thus they appeared, each in his chair, and each with his basket; and many, I noticed, held volumes of books in their hands, given them, probably, on their exit from the hall; for no book, I am told, is allowed to enter those walls. And, if I understood my teacher aright the other day, Christians are not the only persons who seek these opportunities of influencing the mind of the future instructors and rulers of the country. Buddhist books are given on this occasion, I think, and those of other idolatrous sects. This seems again to urge us on. Poor fellows! I pitied them as they passed: they have toiled hard, I thought, and attained but little. How differently privileged are they who have the Bible, that fountain of all highest literature, and great corrector thereof! I could not help feeling a fellow joy and sorrow with them in their studies, albeit heathen. I also have been a student; I also have turned the leaf, and grasped the pen, and gathered to the public hall for test and trial; and as our glances met for a moment, when the two chairs. passed, I almost fancied that there was in their eyes a look of recognition, and that they knew that the stranger also was a book-man. On the ground where I alighted from my chair, i. e. at the entrance of the long and spacious avenue leading to the Jeng, were crowds of countless men and boys, but not many Siu Tsai; and by the time that the colporteur had brought the books, and had taken up a station to his mind, which was not very expeditiously, the outcoming Siu Tsai had well nigh ceased. However, there seemed to be still one or two trickling out at long intervals, like drops among the huge crowd. So, snatching four or five copies of the New Testament from the hands of the colporteur, who was not quick enough for my impatience, I walked into the middle of the roadway, and presented two or three copies, not, 36 ROMANISM AT MACAO. [MARCH, I am afraid, to Siu Tsai; for when the books were seen by the crowd they were so eagerly requested, and even, by some, so rudely attempted to be torn from under my arm, that, not seeing a bambu basket quickly approach, I gave away those copies to such of the crowd as seemed to have most of a literary appearance. Returning still with two volumes to the colporteur, I obtained a further supply of some ten, and these, in the course of the next ten minutes, with great difficulty resisting the violence of those who would have snatched them from me, I distributed, as before, among those to appearance acquainted with letters. Thus our newly-arrived Missionaries have commenced their work. Already is it mingled with trial. Our first despatches from them. communicate the removal of one from the little group. M'Caw has gone to sleep in Jesus. Her end was peace. ROMANISM AT MACAO. Mrs. IN Macao, that "holy city," as it is called, the religion of the Church of Rome is found in nearly the same condition as that of Christendom before the time of Luther, a mere travesty of Christianity. In one sense, however, the Macaense are extremely religious: like Chinese Buddhists, they impart to rites and ceremonies a scenic and dramatic effect, so as to blend amusement and devotion, by the same means ministering to two of the great wants of our nature. What with festivals, masses, and processions, with accompanying meretricious arts, the priesthood manage to afford constant diversion for all classes; yet, notwithstanding all this, secular entertainments are much in vogue. To mention one of these, which has the merit of combining the pleasurable excitement of a game of chance with such religious suggestions as priests are wont to give to the credulous. The game is called "glory," or "going to glory." It is played on a board about two feet square, on which is drawn a narrow convolvular road, terminating in the centre of the square, where is a representation of paradise, Mary being the chief figure. Figures, from one to eighty, are placed in different parts of the road, commencing externally. Throws of dice place the players or pilgrims at greater or less distances towards the highest number-at glory. There are also various stages pictured on the route-a pit, into which an unlucky cast of the die may pitch you: a crab, on which if you stumble, you must go back and start afresh on the journey: a steamer (this is an innovation), which puts one far on his way, despite various snags which clog the path, the chief of which is purgatory, into which, if, in accordance with the game, you happen to fall, you must remain, or pay a forfeit. The only inextricable place on the route is the place of torment, which, like purgatory, is embellished with pictures appropriate to the game. There, if plunged by the dice, one must remain, while others, with various vicissitudes, pass him on the way to "gloria," where Mary sits to welcome those first in. It often happens, that, when at the very margin of this cynosure, your next throw is too rich in dots, by which you are thrown beyond the mark, enabling some laggard to come in before the next throw.* Dr. Macgowan, in the "Missionary Magazine" (see ante), Nov. 1855, pp. 450, 451. |