Missionary alliance 1888.pdf - DSpace

80 INTER-SEMINARY MISSIONARY ALLIANCE.new religion. The flame kindled by that brok en shrine of paganismspread rapidly, and many kings and chiefs among the tribes bowed tothe yoke of Christly service. In 1815, the death-blow to idolatry inthe whole group was given when flaming temples everywhere heraldedthe cunversion of thousands. From the Georgian islands, the westerngroups of Hervey, Samoa, Tokelan, and Ellice were sought and WOD,though not without years of service and an experience of sacrificesbeyond all description. At present only on the Ellicean islands areany heathen to be found." Pamare, Queen of Tahiti and Moorea, died at seventy years ofage," the author of 07'isis of Missions tells us. "At her birth the missionarieshad juSt come to the South Sea islands.Nat one converthad been made. At her death, more than 300 islands were evangelized.The progress of J ahn Williams, the apostle of Polynesia was onerapid career of conquest, Under his touch of transf~rmation ,churches were built among savage tribes, schools gathered up thousandsof children, courts of justice were organized, hnvs were framedand executed by a hitherto lawless people, and trial by jury adoptedwhere a. universal vengeance had reigned supreme, Within one yearafter he landed at Raraton,ga, the whole nervey group, numbering7 ~OOO pe~sons, had thrown away its idols and wa.s busy erecting a.church SIX ~uDdr~d feet long, He turned to the Samoa.n group andsoon ~wept .ltS entire population of 60,000 into Christian schools. This?ea.u~lful pIoneer spirit among so many of these H jewels of the deep IIIS saId to ,have reached unaided more than 300,000 heathen in three~roup~ of.lsland~ alone. He represented the very energy of the GospelItself ~n hiS subhme patience and unquenched zeal. In 1821 he landedat an Island and left two native Christians among the nOlsy . savagesthat t~ronged the shore. Eighteen months after, he touched at thesame Island, and was'surrounded by thousands fromwhoseI'IpS resoud~d e d the ~ry,' Good is the /(lord of the L01'd!" After a life of increIble , herOIsm he entered suddenly upon a rna r t yr ' s rewar d amongthe canmbals of Erromango.With W~lliams ~riginated the idea of evangelizing the islandsthrough tramed natlves,-" a truly divine method" D C tII and blessed beyond his utmost dreams lJ Whe 'th says r' fWU~I'l' , , n e news 0 I ­lams death reached Samoa the natives wept together in multitudes.So great has been the change since his precious life was laid downthat recently, . when a monument to his m emory was b egun, the first 'stone was lald by a. son of the man Who s 1 ew h' 1m, an d another sonstood by to witness the touching act of expiat"IIOn." n the Samoan group, at present, 7,000 out of a population of..,7,000 are members of the church and there are 3000 d'd fb· T ' I canlatesofaptlsID..wo. 1hundred native preachers are atwor,kAsking formoney IS entue y unknown , so ea.gerly do th e peop I' e give to the Gos-•WIIAT OF TllE SEED THAT HAS FALLEN? 81pel. Indeed, hundreds of the natives in Polynesia sacrifice theirlives to carry the Gospel among the islands. Sixty from one church inthe Hervey group have been killed while acting as missionaries.To continue the surve.y, specially: The Wesleyans maintain aflourishing mission on the Tonga islands where there were, in 1879,126 cl:.urches, 8,300 communicants, 122 schools with 5.000 scholars, and27,000 attendants on worship.Away to the northeast, in Polynesia proper, the American BOOlrdhas created an independect Christian nation out of the race of savageswhich it found in 1820. A poor Hawaiian waif had drifted to Americanshores and was found weeping on the steps of Yale college. Anoble teacher gave him lessons and taught him faith; but when readyto return to his degraded countrymen, he died. The story of hispathetic hopes went abroad and touched the hearts of thousands. Themission to Hawaii was born of that sympathy. The ship which borethe seventeen missionaries, among whom were three other Hawaiianyouths, arrived to find the hand of Providence before them,. A royaledict suspending all worship, had broken the sway of the Idols, andthe islands were waiting for another la.w. In 1824, the king's motherwas baptized, and four years later there were 2,500 inquirers at one·time, Seventeen hundred were baptized in a single day. In tenyears, 27,000 additions to the churches had been made. One pastoralone ha£ baptized 12,000 persons. Just thirty-three years from thelanding of the brig ~Phaddeu8, another vessel beari~g sev~n nati~e Hawaiianssailed out of Honolulu to bear the Gospelmto MicroneSIa, Itwas the sign of that new civilization that had raised them up into asense of world responsibility.Seventy years ago human sacrifices and infant immola.~io~ ~erepracticed as religiOUS rites among a peoplH now thoroughly Chtlstl~n,for in 1863 the Anwrican Board turned over the wo~k to the natl.ve"Hawaiian Evangelical Association." They have m~lD~ained that Independence,with occasional aid from American Ch r~stl!J.ns,In 1886 tthere were 5,387 members, who raised $28,142 for theIr work. Amongthe Hawaiian islands there are 22,000 Chinese. They havp not beenneglected by the people among whom they have found an as.ylum.• Two strong ehurches have been organized, a~on~ them. There ,IS alsoa Chinese Young Men's Christian AsSOCIation III Hono~uluJ With anelegant building for its use. The Haw.aiians h~ve con~nb~ted ne~rlya million of dollars for their work SlOce then orgamzatlOn. Smce1849 ninety-five bave been ordained ministers and not less thanseve~ty-:five have become missionaries in other parts of the world, Theyhave also evangelized the neighboring .Marquesas group, where thereare many cODverts. .... .In Micronesia, the history of Hawan 18 beI~g repe~ted: Smce1852 when Messrs. Snow, Gulick and Sturges, WIth their Wives and,