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diff --git a/30026-0.txt b/30026-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4c9b7c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/30026-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1109 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30026 *** + +MISSIONARY ANNALS. +(A SERIES.) + + + + +A STORY OF ONE SHORT LIFE, 1783 to 1818. + + +BY +ELISABETH G. STRYKER. + + + + +CHICAGO: +WOMAN'S PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE NORTHWEST, +Room 48, McCormick Block. + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1888, +BY WOMAN'S PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF MISSIONS OF THE NORTHWEST. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + PAGE + I. ANCESTRY--BIRTH--BOYHOOD--CONVERSION . . . . . . . . . . 7 + + II. COLLEGE--THE HAYSTACK--EFFORTS TO SPREAD THE INTEREST + IN FOREIGN MISSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 + + III. OBOOKIAH IN HAWAII--IN AMERICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 + + IV. THE SANDWICH ISLANDS WITH AND WITHOUT THE GOSPEL . . . . 20 + + V. MILLS AT ANDOVER--THE AMERICAN BOARD . . . . . . . . . . 22 + + VI. AN APOSTOLIC JOURNEY IN THE UNITED STATES . . . . . . . 25 + + VII. MILLS' SECOND TOUR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 + +VIII. THE AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY--THE UNITED FOREIGN + MISSIONARY SOCIETY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 + + IX. THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY--MILLS, AS ITS AGENT, + VISITS AFRICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 + + X. THE LAST JOURNEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 + + + + +As I write, I have in my mind a row of intelligent boyish faces. +Manly souls look through bright eyes. My heart responds to the beats +of affection beneath jacket and cut-away. + +I see also a row of girlish faces, in which Christian and womanly +graces are dawning. I feel the warmth of pure young hearts beginning +to swell with generous desires. + +These are my real friends. Beyond them I see rows and rows of boys +and girls whose sympathies and interest I would gladly claim. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Those among us interested in the young people, the boys and girls of +our Churches, somewhat realize the lack of material wherewith to +stimulate and nourish these young workers. The apiarist studies the +nature of the insect which must yield him its sweets, and discovers +that "the nature of the cell and the food affects the difference" in +the bees. We have long watched our boys and girls, and either we do +not care what they yield, or we are dull not to notice that what +surrounds them and enters into their minds, is surely deciding their +natures. White clover honey can only be made from white clover +blossoms. What they read and what they may be induced to read +concerns us as mission workers. Individual tastes make many by-paths +in the field of literature, but the girls all enjoy the windings of +romance, and the boys delight in the highway of adventure. "But," +they say or think, "Missions, their history and progress are so +stupid, they have no decent heroes and heroines. We like Robinson +Crusoe, and Little Women, and the Arabian Nights!" But do we not know +that the stories of the lives of some of our missionaries, well told, +may stand side by side, upon the book-shelves and in the hearts of +our young people, with the pages of De Foe and Louise Alcott? Many a +boy and girl, charmed by the life and fortune of some unreal, and +oftentimes unworthy, hero, has attempted to make copy in his or her +own life. Missionary lives are not lacking in the spirit, adventure +and romance which are so fascinating. With these ideals in their +minds, may we not expect followers of the Judsons, the Moffats, the +Fiskes and the Rankins? + +The writer, who has humbly undertaken to re-tell an old tale, is +neither a De Foe nor an Alcott. She finds she can borrow neither of +their pens. Her own, conscious of its inexperience, finds its only +relief in the fact that the story is its own strength. + + + + +SAMUEL J. MILLS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ANCESTRY--BIRTH--BOYHOOD--CONVERSION. + + +Our country is quietly enjoying the benefits of a great activity. +Foreign Missions are still feeling a noble impulse, and the origin of +this force was, under God, in the heart and brain of Samuel J. Mills. + +It is a name known to us, but a history almost forgotten. Only upon +the shelves of some antiquarian, or in the undisturbed library of +some old homestead can a volume be found bearing the title "Mills' +Memoirs." Take it down, blow the dust from the leaves yellow with +sixty-seven years, and you will find the narrative related in the +stately, old-time style, and somewhat laudatory and expansive. + +He had no son, as Adoniram Judson had, gladly to record the details +of his busy life. The writer was Dr. Gardiner Spring, who laments +having failed in the attempt to obtain what appeared to him to be +important information. We are thankful to him for gathering even +these rare fragments. + +From a sketch of Salmon Giddings, the Damon Memorial, a letter from a +relative of Mills, and the life of Henry Obookiah have come a few +incidents and facts, but mainly in the record of Dr. Spring have we +found our Story of One Short Life. Such hid treasure should find the +light, even though quarried by unskillful hands. + +Biographies are apt to seem discouraging, in the beginning; the +attention being riveted upon the supposed hero, meets with a shock in +finding it has been following the history of his great-grandfather. +The scattered energies are then directed upon the grandfather, only +to meet with a second delay. Again recovering, and following the +father's fortunes, the son, the subject of the work, is at last +introduced. + +The great-grandfather of our hero must be brought in just long enough +to answer one question. He was once asked, "How did you educate four +sons at Yale College, and give each a profession?" His reply was, +"Almighty God did it, with the help of my wife." The grandfather (of +our hero) was drowned while some of his children were still young. +His widow, committing their babes to the God of the fatherless, +especially offered for His service, a son named Samuel John. He +became a minister, and for many years was settled in Torringford, +Connecticut. He was eminent for his ability and character. Mrs. Stowe +said of him--"He was one ingrain New Englander. Of all the marvels +that astonished my childhood, there is none I remember to this day +with so much interest as Father Mills." This was the name by which he +was extensively known. His wife was a woman exemplary and devout. + +Being assured that the three preceding generations were +commandment-keeping, we shall see how the Lord showed mercy unto the +fourth. Almighty God and a true mother secure for many a man's sons, +not only education, but large efficiency and honor. + +The seventh child, born April 21st, 1783, in this Torringford home, +was a son, named after his father, Samuel John. The child grew to be +a mighty instrument in God's hand, which He in His wisdom selected, +knowing the fineness of the material with which he dealt. That we too +may know something of the tempering of the steel, we are permitted a +reverent glance into that pious mother's bosom. Before the birthday +came she continually dedicated the little life beneath her heart to +the God who is pleased to accept such gifts. During all his childhood +he received the most careful Christian training. Nourished in such a +home-garden, and shined on by such mother-light, we cannot wonder +that the child grew toward the Sun, and that the roots of religious +character struck deep and spread wide. + +When but a little child he showed an unusual concern of conscience. +At fifteen the town in which he lived was greatly aroused and +revived. His friends and acquaintances received the blessing, and he +was deeply interested, but the revival passed, leaving him with a +bitter, rebellious feeling in his heart. + +About this time, one fine cold winter morning, a merry sleigh load +drove from his father's house. He, with his brothers, sisters and +cousins, about eighteen in all, went to spend a few days with his +uncle in West Hartford. Samuel had recently come into the possession +of a fine farm. He was gay and ambitious. His companions fearing his +good fortune might make him feel a "little too high minded," sought +to tease him. The evening before their return, after eating nuts and +apples, they agreed to have a little singing. They struck up "Hark, +from the Tombs a Doleful Sound," to the tune, Bangor. They sang it +slowly and solemnly, now and then casting at him glances from their +mischievous eyes. He sat a silent listener, while their song, sung in +fun, made an earnest impression of which he could not rid himself. + +Soon after his farm was sold, and at eighteen he determined to go to +Litchfield and study in the Academy. As he was leaving home, his +mother's anxious heart could not let him go without enquiring for his +soul's health. Other mothers know the pain she suffered, when he told +her "for two years I have been sorry God ever made me." She replied +to him as her wise heart prompted her, and sent him on his way. She +went where all mothers of boys must so often go, to her knees, alone +with God. + +He had not gone far on his journey when he met a Friend. It was the +Good Shepherd, whom that mother's urgent prayer had sent searching +for the wanderer. It was as if he had met Christ in his path. He +looked up at the great trees and down at the blossoms, and in +everything saw God. He became so impressed with the perfections of +the Holy One he had so long resisted, that he lost sight of himself. +He sat down in the woods to wonder and to pray. It was not until some +time after that he realized any change in himself, and not until he +returned from Litchfield did his father perceive it. His conversion +was thorough. Not only was he turned about,--his face God-ward +instead of self-ward,--but he was impelled toward "those sitting in +darkness." In his childhood, from his mother's lips, he often heard +stories from the lives of Brainerd, Eliot, and other missionaries. He +heard her prayers for them and their great undertakings. Once he +heard her say, "I have consecrated this child to the service of God +as a missionary." Now it was his joy to follow those noble examples, +and to fulfill his part in the plans of God and his mother for him. +His parents approved of his determination, though the thought of +separation tore their hearts. His mother said to him, "I cannot bear +to part from you, my son." When he reminded her of her vow, she burst +into tears, and never after made complaint. To his father he said +that he could "not conceive of any course of life in which to pass +the rest of his days, that would prove so pleasant, as to go and +communicate the gospel of salvation to the poor heathen." + +This desire to spread the Gospel grew to be a sublime purpose, and +from it he never wavered. He set about his plannings, with this +supreme end in view. Thanking God for his own salvation, he laid his +life in God's hand, imploring Him to use it for those who had as yet +no knowledge of that mercy. The Lord took him from the plough, as he +did Elisha. He left the field for the college. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +COLLEGE--THE HAYSTACK--EFFORTS TO SPREAD THE INTEREST IN FOREIGN +MISSIONS. + + +He entered Williams College in the spring of 1806. During his first +visit home in June, he connected himself with his father's church. A +college course means to some young men four years of frolic, or +worse. To others it is an opportunity to cram knowledge, that shall +by-and-by astound the round world and they that dwell therein. To +one, at least, it was the time for choosing "smooth stones" for his +combat with the giant adversary, whom he was brave enough to meet +alone, if need be, "in the name of the Lord of Hosts." + +As a scholar he was not brilliant, but as a Christian he was "a +bright and shining light." To serve God was the highest aim of his +life. First of all, he served Him upon his knees. He used to pray +often and earnestly, alone and with others. He pursued his studies +for the after use he might make of them, not for his own +accomplishment. As he visited his friends in their rooms, and walked +with them through the groves, the subject dearest to his heart was +oftenest the theme of his conversation. To one friend he said: +"Though you and I are very little beings, we must not rest satisfied +till we have made our influence extend to the remotest corner of this +ruined world." + +His life was so consistent, his disposition so sweet, his manners so +winning that every one was his friend. Those who had been unfaithful +to their vows were reproved, and those opposed to religion were +induced to follow his example. During his first year there was a +revival, which seemed to come in answer to his earnest prayers. Many +of his comrades became Christians, and so earnestly that they laid +aside or sanctified their old ambitions, and prepared to spread +through the earth the fire kindled by this devoted youth. + +A mission band of boys were examined as to their knowledge of Samuel +Mills. "Where was he born?" asked the leader. "Under a haystack!" +replied a small boy. Had the question been, Where was the American +Board of Foreign Missions born? the answer would not have been so far +from the way. Its baptismal naming came some years later, but under a +stack of hay in a meadow, near Williams College, it was born, nursed +and prayed over. + +About fourteen years earlier foreign missionary organization had +begun across the Atlantic. On this side, the attention of Christians +had been occupied with their new homes and the needs of the destitute +near at hand. There were societies of domestic missions; but no +scheme to touch hands God-blessed with hands idol-cursed, had ever +been devised before the Lord of both put it into the heart of Mills. +"God called him out of the midst of the bush." The bush was this +haystack, but the place became "holy ground." The Lord said: "I have +surely seen the affliction of my people, and have heard their cry." +"Come now, therefore, and I will send thee." + +This commission filled his soul. He gathered a few of his friends in +a grove, to tell them his convictions and his hopes. What was his +surprise and joy to find that the "Angel of the Lord" had appeared to +them also. A sudden thunder storm came upon them here, but his +retreat, his place of safety, was near by. He led them under the +haystack, and there they talked together, and with God. And there +they continued to meet through two seasons, and finally formed +themselves into the first Foreign Missionary Society of this +continent. Its object was "to effect in the persons of its members a +mission to the heathen." + +From the spot where the haystack once stood, now rises a marble +shaft, bearing aloft a globe, underneath which is inscribed: + + "THE FIELD IS THE WORLD." + + "The Birthplace of American Foreign Missions, 1806." + + SAMUEL J. MILLS, + JAMES RICHARDS, + FRANCIS L. ROBBINS, + HARVEY LOOMIS, + BYRAM GREEN. + +At every commencement, the college president leads to this monument a +procession of alumni, students, and guests. Prayer is offered that +the spirit of missions may still prevail at Williams, and that the +traditions of the past may be maintained. + +In these years public opinion was decidedly opposed to the enterprise +of these young men. Even good men thought their zeal extravagant and +expected it soon to subside. In order to arouse sympathy and a right +sentiment, they devised various means. They discussed their projects +with Christian people. They distributed missionary sermons. A list +was made of the names of distinguished ministers, to whom these young +men made frequent visits, urging their suit. Among them, the first to +take fire, was Dr. Worcester. With one of them, Dr. Griffin, Mills +asked to be permitted to study theology. Said the Doctor: "I had +always refused such applications, but from the love I bore to him, I +agreed to criticise one sermon a week. After that exercise he would +commonly sit and draw letters very moderately and cautiously from his +pocket, reading passages to me on some benevolent project. At length +I perceived that _studying divinity_ with me had been quite a +secondary object, that his chief object was to get me engaged to +execute his plans. As soon as I discovered that, I told him to bring +out his letters and all his plans, without reserve." + +Mills became convinced that they could not expect help from the +Churches unless the number was increased of young men ready to devote +their lives to this cause. He and his friends then separated for the +purpose of establishing societies in other colleges. Mills went to +Yale, hoping there to find kindred spirits. This was not the case, +but God had sent him for another purpose, and that to know Obookiah, +a heathen boy from the Sandwich Islands. This acquaintance greatly +increased his zeal. + +Sometimes a little seed, wafted by the wind, is borne far from its +mother plant to take root in a foreign soil: but its fruit may be +returned whence it came. This little lonely heathen child, blown by +seemingly cruel and adverse winds, was tossed upon our Christian +shores by the good hand of God. The ship which brought him touched +other and idolatrous lands, but he was not to put his feet down till +they could be planted in the right place. + +That his life touched Mills' life, both being quickened, is perhaps +reason enough for giving here a portion of Obookiah's history and +that of his native land, if there were not another reason, and that +the opportunity, here afforded, of following a stream of influence to +its sea. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +OBOOKIAH IN HAWAII--IN AMERICA. + + +Henry Obookiah was born in Hawaii, about the year 1792. When about +twelve years old, two parties contending for dominion, disturbed the +peace of the island. He alone survived the persecution of his family. +He was captured and carried home by the man who killed his parents, +but finally made his way to an uncle. Though he was well treated, he +suffered from loneliness. He said of himself, "When I was at play +with other children, after we had made an end of playing, they return +to their parents: but I was returned into tears, for I have no home, +neither father nor mother. Poor boy am I." + +He determined to go to some other country, and forget his sorrow. The +captain of an American vessel showed him kindness, and consented to +take him on board. He brought him to America, and took him to his own +home in New Haven. Henry was a clumsy, stupid-looking boy at this +time, his appearance not revealing the undeveloped depths of his +nature. He made the acquaintance of some of the students at Yale +College, and of the Rev. E. W. Dwight. These friends becoming +interested in his welfare, offered to teach him. He accepted their +aid with avidity, and made wonderful progress, at the same time +becoming more and more lovable and attractive. + +A fun-loving disposition soon showed itself. He had great difficulty +in pronouncing the letter _r_, giving it the sound of _l_. Every day +his teacher tried to help him, saying, "try, Obookiah, it is _very +easy_." This seemed to amuse the boy greatly, though as yet he could +not express himself in English. Some time after, when he could speak +more readily, he was describing to his teacher some of the customs of +his native land. Clasping his hands together, and adjusting his +thumbs, he formed a cup which he raised to his lips to show how his +countrymen drank from a spring. His instructor tried to do the same, +but before he could reach his mouth with his hands the cup would be +inverted so that the contents, had there been any, would have been +spilled. Obookiah laughed heartily and said, "_try_, Mr. +Dwight, it is _very easy_!" + +One day he mimicked the gait of some of his friends so cleverly, that +there was no mistaking whom he intended to personate. His teacher +then mocked his own awkward style, when he exclaimed several times: +"me walk so?" Being assured that it was true, he rolled upon the +floor until his mirth exhausted his strength. + +After being instructed about the true God, idol worship seemed to him +ridiculous. He said, "Hawaii gods! They _wood_,--_burn_. Me go home, +put 'em in a fire, burn 'em up. They no _see_, no _hear_, _no_ +anything." Then added, "We make _them_. Our God," looking up, "He +make us." + +After Mr. Mills arrived in New Haven he became a friend of Mr. +Dwight's, and being often in his room, occasionally heard this boy +recite. He became greatly attached to him, and began to cherish a +plan for his future. He wanted to see Obookiah a Christian, educated, +and then a missionary to his native land. + +One evening Mr. Mills had not been long in Mr. Dwight's room, when +Obookiah came in with a very gloomy face. He said he had no place to +live; Mr. ---- didn't want him any more, and Miss ---- had threatened +to take away his new clothes. Mr. Mills told him he would take him to +his own home, and that he had clothes enough for both. This cheered +the poor, disconsolate fellow, who soon went with Mr. Mills to +Torringford, and was placed under the "care of those whose +benevolence was without a bond or check, or a limit to confine it." +Here he spent a part of the year 1810, and was treated wisely and +affectionately. Mrs. Mills taught him the Catechism, and her son +Jeremiah assisted him in his studies. At different times, and +frequently, their house was his home. + +He became gentle and refined in his manner, a Bible-loving, earnest, +prayerful Christian. His friends who had been so careful in the +training of his mind and heart, had not neglected his hands. He was +taught much that was useful and practical, particularly in farming. +He surprised all by the quickness and eagerness with which he +learned. He was both inquisitive and acquisitive to a remarkable +degree. He persisted in knowing and getting, that he might impart +what he had gained to his own countrymen. To return to them for their +enlightenment, was his consuming desire. + +He visited many families, and many of the churches of New England, +always creating a deep interest in his mission. Many people who had +affirmed that the heathen could never be reclaimed from their low +estate, were forced to change their opinions after seeing and knowing +Obookiah, and were inspired to pray and give for his and other +unevangelized races. + +The presence of Obookiah in this country, as well as of other heathen +youth, together with the desire to educate some of our own Indians, +led to the formation of the Foreign Mission School, at Cornwall, +Mass. This school was under the care of the American Board ten years. +Its pupils were from many different nations. In 1826 it was +discontinued, for by this time the missions were able to educate the +young at their several stations. + +Obookiah was pursuing his studies here, when, in the beginning of the +year 1818, he was stricken with typhus fever, and suffered several +weeks. On the 17th of February, 1818, he shook hands with all his +companions present, and with perfect composure addressed to them the +parting salutation of his native language, "Alloah ò e"--"my love be +with you." + +Mrs. Stone, in whose house he died, and who cared for him with +Christian kindness during his sickness, said, "This had been one of +the happiest and most profitable periods of her life; that she had +been more than rewarded for her cares and watchings by day and night, +in being permitted to witness his excellent example, and to hear his +godly conversation." + +Almost immediately after his death, missionaries, inspired by his +life, hastened to accomplish his cherished purpose, the establishment +of a mission in the Sandwich Islands. Mills was far from home, but +returning at the time, not knowing Obookiah had died, he said to a +friend, "If it please God that I may arrive safely, I think that I +shall take Obookiah and go to the Sandwich Islands and there I will +end my life." + +From that day to this, missionaries and missions, schools, churches +and Christians have multiplied, till all those islands name the name +of Christ. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE SANDWICH ISLES WITH AND WITHOUT THE GOSPEL. + + "Surely the isles shall wait for me." + + +The missionaries found upon these islands naked savages, without +books, education, or courts of justice. The people were slaves, +governed arbitrarily by chiefs. It was a nation of debauchees, +thieves and drunkards. There were no marriage laws. Two-thirds of the +children born were destroyed. If an infant was ailing or troublesome, +the mother scooped a hole in the ground, covered the child with earth +and trampled out its life. The aged and infirm were taken to the brow +of a precipice and pushed over. The sick were removed to such a +distance that their groans could not annoy, and left to die. The +insane were stoned to death. + +God opened the way for the missionaries by a revolution which did +away with idolatry, but did nothing for the uplifting of society. +Some of the noblest specimens of our American manhood have devoted +their lives to these desolate, far-away creatures. The mention of one +will suffice as a sample of the salt that purified those bitter and +filthy waters. + +When he stepped on shore at Hilo, in 1832, it was to stay till his +work was finished--and he lived beyond the three score and ten. Such +a life is a rebuke to the restlessness of many modern workers. For +forty-two years he labored patiently in pressing himself and what he +knew upon Hawaiian youth--nearly a thousand in all--many of whom are +now pastors, leading lawyers, men of affairs, missionaries to +Micronesia, and the men who stand for righteousness in the native +churches. Great events and advances in science were exciting his +native land, but he worked on, struggling for things unseen and +eternal. Amid uninspiring surroundings, and performing many menial +duties, he led a high spiritual and intellectual life, not seeking +honor, but service--thereby gaining honor, and the "rest that +remaineth." + +As for the results of such consecration, wisdom and work, the facts +are a marvel in history. Any prophecy in regard to them would have +been thought a wild dream. These islanders have taken their place +among the Christian nations. Marriage is considered honorable, the +family established, as well as schools, churches and a government, +whose constitution ordains that "no law shall be enacted at variance +with the word of the Lord Jehovah, or with the general spirit of His +word." + +In proportion to the population, there are more readers than in +Boston. The proportion of true Christians is as great as anywhere in +Christendom. They are decently clad, their homes are comfortable, +even sometimes going so far as to possess a melodeon and a +sewing-machine! They have progressed in agriculture, commerce, the +industries, literature and the arts. It is a regenerated nation. + +The American Board has erased this mission from its list and +transferred all responsibility to the Hawaiian Evangelical +Association. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +MILLS AT ANDOVER--THE AMERICAN BOARD. + + +From Yale College, Mills went to Andover to study theology. Soon +after entering, his dear mother died. His grief was passionate. He +mourned for the loss of her face, her voice, her prayers, but not as +one "without hope." + +At Andover he met some of his former friends, and found new ones +whose hearts the Lord had stirred--Newell, Judson, Nott, Hall, Mills! +Names to shout at the sleeping saints of this our day! Lives to +uphold to the view of our self-pleasing generation! These men +organized a second missionary society, similar to the one at +Williams. They met to pray and plan. Their prayers were answered and +their plans resulted in the formation of the American Board of +Commissioners for Foreign Missions. + +If the objections made to their plans were here rehearsed, the +arguments would sound very familiar; they are the same, in spite of +their repeated death-blows, that array themselves against the plan of +missions to-day. The assailants of this cause are not students of +history. There is no such thing as opposition, or even indifference, +to Christian missions, unless there is ignorance behind it. + +These young men succeeded in gaining the sympathy and alliance of +some of the prominent pastors, and the professors in the seminary. To +the annual meeting of the General Association of Massachusetts, at +Bradford, June 27, 1810, they presented the following paper: + + The undersigned, members of the Divinity College, respectfully + request the attention of their Reverend Fathers, convened in the + General Association at Bradford, to the following statement and + inquiries: + + They beg leave to state, that their minds have been long impressed + with the duty and importance of personally attempting a mission to + the heathen; that the impressions on their minds have induced a + serious, and they trust a prayerful, consideration of the subject + in its various attitudes, particularly in relation to the probable + success and the difficulties attending such an attempt; and that + after examining all the information which they can obtain, they + consider themselves as devoted to this work for life, whenever God + in his providence shall open the way. + + They now offer the following inquiries, on which they solicit the + opinion and advice of the association. Whether, with their present + views and feelings, they ought to renounce the object of missions, + as visionary and impracticable; if not, whether they ought to + direct their attention to the Eastern or Western world? Whether + they may expect patronage and support from a missionary society in + this country, or must commit themselves to the direction of a + European society; and what preparatory measures they ought to take + previous to actual engagement? + + The undersigned, feeling their youth and inexperience, look up to + their fathers in the church and respectfully solicit their advice, + direction and prayers. + + ADONIRAM JUDSON JR. + SAMUEL NOTT JR. + SAMUEL J. MILLS. + SAMUEL NEWELL. + +The names of Rice and Richards were struck off "for fear of alarming +the Association with too large a number." + +This paper was referred to a special committee, who indorsed the +sentiment and submitted a plan to the association, which was carried +into effect by the appointment of a Board of Commissioners for +Foreign Missions. + +After much exertion and inquiry at home, Judson was sent to England +to learn if help could be expected from the London Missionary +Society. He found that society willing to take the young men under +its care and support, but not ready to assist the new Board. + +The American society soon received aid within its own boundaries, +which was a far better beginning than to be dependent upon outside +resources. Mrs. Mary Norris, the wife of one of the founders of +Andover Seminary, bequeathed thirty thousand dollars to the Board. +God's Spirit generally revived the churches, opening the eyes and +hearts of His people, their purses as well, though not many of the +latter were well filled in those days. + +God only has a full record of the anxious courage and faith which was +exercised by the supporters, managers, and appointees of the Board +during those first struggling years. Under the care of this board +Mills and his friends placed themselves, and by it most of them were +sent out in the year 1812. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +AN APOSTOLIC JOURNEY IN THE UNITED STATES. + + +From the first throb of his Christian life, the heart of Mills beat +like a soldier's. He called out the recruits, captained the forces, +and died in service--a hero! In his student days he had a compelling +influence upon his classmates, and even then showed signs of +generalship in his faculty of organizing. The establishment of the +Foreign Mission School was largely consequent upon his suggestions; +in the formation of the American Board he was one of the foremost +personal instruments. + +Studies finished, his heart firm in his lofty purpose, highborn +schemes began their struggling claim for his attention. The world +with all its lands stretching their help-beckoning fingers, was +persuading him. Over the home land, his and ours, he turned his +penetrating glance. He saw occasion for vast concern, and here was +his first response. To go first, opening the way for others through +the tangled wilderness, was his design, his master-plot. That "divine +ferment" at Williams College worked the good of home, as well as of +foreign, missions. + +Having chosen a companion-spy, the Rev. John Schermerhorn, soon after +his graduation in 1812, he went to view a goodly land, which he +desired to have the people of God go up and possess. This tour was +undertaken under the patronage of the Connecticut and Massachusetts +Home Missionary Societies. Heretofore these societies had prayed and +wept over young missionaries sent to the uncivilized wilds of Western +New York! The plan of Mills and Schermerhorn was to travel through +the wide territory lying between the great lakes and the Gulf of +Mexico, to learn the moral condition of the inhabitants, and scatter +what good they might. + +The map of this region, as published in Morse's school atlas of 1823, +is curiously different from the maps of the present day. The state +and territorial lines have been altered, those green, pink, and +yellow blanks have become densely freckled and wrinkled, by the dots +of cities and towns, and by the complicated tracery of railroads. + +These travelers did not telegraph their intended arrival, nor sleep +and dine their way to their journey's end, on the "Flyer," and then +rest in some palatial hotel at last. Each mounted his horse, taking +with them by way of baggage all that was necessary for the +trip,--tent, provisions, clothing and Bibles. They plodded through +miry swamps, they climbed up and down almost perpendicular ledges, +and cut their way through canebrakes with a hatchet. When they had +creeks to cross they swam their horses. At night they camped, often +in the rain and sometimes without food. More than once they were +serenaded by Indian war-whoops and the howling wolves. Stopping at +town or settlement they were made cordially at home in hut and cabin. +In some places they perceived bright prospects, the germs of future +cities, and were often urgently besought to stay and preach the +gospel permanently. + +They found everywhere the Sabbath profaned, only a few good people in +any one place, and Bibles rare possessions. In some places the people +were longing for the Gospel. In all the leading towns they formed +Bible societies, and everywhere preached and distributed Bibles, +which were gladly received. + +From Nashville they went down the Cumberland and Mississippi with +General Jackson and fifteen hundred volunteers. In New Orleans they +gained the consent of Bishop DeBury to distribute the Scriptures in +French to the French Romanists, who made up three-fourths of the +population of the state. They found no Protestant church in the city. +They here organized a Bible society, and remained several weeks to +preach and to hold prayer-meetings. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +MILLS' SECOND TOUR. + + +In the year 1814 Mr. Mills having obtained the assistance of some of +the eastern Bible societies, and having chosen as companion the Rev. +Daniel Smith, started on another tour through the South and West. +They went laden with Bibles and the prayers of Christian friends. +They went through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. +In all these states they found the people "exceedingly destitute of +religious privileges," and a "lamentable want of Bibles and +missionaries." They found "American families who never saw a Bible, +or heard of Jesus Christ." There was only one minister to ten +thousand people if equally placed; but there were districts +containing from twenty to fifty thousand "without a preacher." These +men were light-bringers to this "valley of the shadow of death," as +Mills called it. They found English soldiers, French Romanists, +colored slaves, our own dear countrymen, greedy for the bread of +life. + +They traveled more than six thousand miles; they passed through a +variety of climates; they endured "perils in the city, perils of the +wilderness, perils on the rivers and on the sea," that they might +cast that bread upon the waters which you and I are finding after +many days. + +Mills arrived for the second time in New Orleans, soon after the +celebrated battle of January 8, 1815, and cheered many hearts by his +coming. He visited the soldiers in prison, the sick and wounded in +the hospitals; kneeling on the bare floor where they lay, he prayed +and talked with them, sang for them, and gave them Bibles; he +preached in camp. The Philadelphia society had given him a quantity +of French Bibles. The people were clamorous for them. They thronged +the distributor's door, and remained even after the notice had been +given that no more could be had until the following day. They came +sometimes from great distances. In one week a thousand copies were +given away. In one instance a Romish priest assisted in this work. +The bishop acknowledged the deplorable state of the people, and +preferred their having the Protestant version to none at all. + +When these adventurers in Christ's kingdom visited St. Louis, they +found it a place of two thousand inhabitants,--"a tumble-down French +village,--built mainly of wooden slabs and poles set vertically, and +well daubed with mortar mixed with straw, though there were many log +houses." In a school-room they delivered the first Presbyterian or +Congregational sermons ever preached on the west side of the +Mississippi. They were gratefully received, and had crowded +audiences. The people would gladly have supported either one could he +have stayed. + +But the immediate duty of these explorers for souls was to return to +the churches which had sent them out, to report what they had +discovered, and to beg that men be sent to these waste places which +were waiting to be made to blossom. All New England was roused to +effort by their appeal, and the next year ten or twelve men responded +to the summons. + +In 1848 the word "gold" was whispered in California and heard all +over the world. The gold-hunters pressed forward from every corner of +the earth. It was not thought a hard thing to turn one's back on +home, friends and country, for the sake of gold, though that +glittering promise was, to most of those who searched, like the bag +at the end of the rainbow, and all the riches of this world "make +themselves wings." "The promises of God are sure," and the riches +which He bestows are everlasting; and yet to the call, gold and +glory, young men answer by the thousand, while to the cry, Christ and +a crown, they respond by the dozen! "Choose ye this day whom ye will +serve." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY--THE UNITED FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY. + + +During these two missionary journeys the heart of our apostle was +swelling with the woes of the sin-bound, and his brain contriving for +their release. Upon his return he settled in New York state, and +spent two busy years in working out his purposes. While waiting for +their maturity he was most of the time in the large cities, +particularly New York. Here he spent what might have been leisure, in +visiting the poor in the neglected districts. He also wrote many +letters; and in the churches, and everywhere, and upon everybody, +urged attention to the world's great needs, and their great duties. +As the result of this planning, waiting and working, he was permitted +to see formed the American Bible Society, and the United Foreign +Missionary Society. On the subject of city evangelization, he +advanced ideas which we at this striving time might well study. + +The entire destitution of religious privileges which Mills had +witnessed in the West and South, and the great desire of the people +for the word of God, with their inability to supply themselves, made +him eager for the formation of a National Bible Society, which should +be large enough and strong enough to supply such great want. He had +some hope of having the matter brought out at the general assembly of +the Presbyterian church; but it was thought best to have it come +about through the existing Bible societies, rather than have it bear +the features of any denomination. + +The matter was kept constantly before influential people by this +indefatigable man, and at last on the 8th of May, 1816, delegates +from the different Bible societies of the United States convened in +New York city, and resolved unanimously "to establish, without delay, +a General Bible Institution, for the circulation of the Holy +Scriptures, without note or comment." Before closing their sessions a +constitution was adopted, managers elected, and an address issued to +the people of the United States, informing them of the project, and +inviting their sympathy and coöperation in this benevolent scheme. + +This was a great day to Mills, and those who saw him, sitting apart, +watching with intense eagerness the deliberations of the convention, +long remembered his delighted face. But how must the resources and +usefulness of this society have exceeded even his fond hopes! + +As its first depository, it shared the office room of its agent. From +time to time it was forced to move to larger quarters, until the year +1853, when it located permanently, in its well-known building, The +Bible House, on Astor Place, New York city. This edifice is of brick, +six stories high, and occupies a solid block. In its first year, the +society received $37,779, and issued 6,410 volumes; in its seventieth +year (1886) its receipts were $523,910, and it issued 1,437,440 +volumes. In the Bible House, the working force--manufacturing and +executive--numbers about 250. The auxiliaries which directly and +indirectly center in this society, number about 7,000. + +From this great tree and its many branches, the leaves have been sent +for the healing of nations. There are now but few countries where +there are any impediments to the free circulation of the Scriptures. +In our own land the society has afforded relief to its feeble +auxiliaries, has supplied destitute Sabbath-schools, has endeavored +to place the Bible in the common schools, to distribute it among +soldiers and seamen, to furnish hotels, steamboats, railroads, and +humane and criminal institutions. By it, the Bible has been +circulated among immigrants, the destitute poor, the freedmen, the +Chinese, and (in the Douay version) among Romanists. At four +different periods the society has made exploration among the states +and territories, to search and supply the destitute. Proportionately +the number of families without the word of God is much smaller now +than when the society was organized, notwithstanding the enormous +growths in population. + +The society has attempted to send the Bible to all the inhabitants of +the earth, accessible to its agents. It has established depots in +almost every place where the American churches have missions. It +circulates the Scriptures in more than eighty different languages and +dialects. In 1856, in compliance with a special request, and by means +of a special gift, the Society's Imperial Quarto English Bible, bound +with extraordinary care, enclosed in a rosewood case, and accompanied +by a courteous letter, was sent to each of the reigning monarchs and +other chief magistrates of the world. + +Before the art of printing, the Bible was the most expensive book in +the world. So late as the American Revolution, in its cheapest +edition a volume could not be purchased for less than two dollars. +This society now furnishes a copy of the entire book for twenty-five +cents. It has made the Bible the cheapest book in the world. + +Mills, anxious to see every wheel set in motion for the advancement +of Christ's kingdom, was restless because of the inaction of the +Presbyterian church in the cause of Foreign Missions; again by his +personal influence upon prominent men, another plan was matured. A +committee was appointed by the General Assembly to confer with +committees from the Dutch and Scotch churches, and a new society was +formed, called the United Foreign Missionary Society. After a few +years of efficient service this society was merged with the American +Board, yielding to it its name and affairs. + +While so busy with these schemes just referred to, Mr. Mills was +collecting all possible information in regard to South America. He +desired to have the way opened for a mission in that country, and was +willing to go himself to make the needed investigations. But it was +seven years later when the American Board sent the first men to that +field. + +In spite of these great enterprises, which must have been so +absorbing of time and energy, this busy man found opportunity and +strength to search out the squalid back streets of New York, and to +go from house to house of its wretched inhabitants, giving sympathy, +speaking words of Christian love and instruction, and where they +would receive them leaving the word of God and good books. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY--MILLS, AS ITS AGENT, VISITS +AFRICA. + + +Abraham Lincoln, when a young man, made a journey into the South. Of +all the impressions which those new scenes made upon him, the one +deepest and strongest was that of slavery. It filled him with +loathing, but kindled a zeal which never slumbered, until it cost his +priceless life. + +It was such a spark which became a fire in the breast of Mills. What +he saw and what he heard, during those southern tours, made him a +willing martyr for the sake of Africa's sons and daughters. Their +degradation made him ready to endure all things if only he could +pierce the black cloud overshading them. His first effort resulted in +a school, called the African School, for training young colored men +to teach and preach to their own race. He then lent essential aid in +the formation of the American Colonization Society. + +This society was composed of noble-minded men whose pitying attention +was fastened upon the bondage, afflictions and heathenism of their +black brothers, in this so called free land. + +Their aim was to furnish a refuge, in their own country, for those +who were emancipated here, and it was their hope that such a scheme +would do much toward the abolition of slavery. + +Their first effort was the collection of information: first, in +regard to the condition of the slave here, that they might enlist +general sympathy in their work. In a letter written by Mr. Mills +about this matter, he said: "State facts. Facts will always produce +an effect, at least on pious minds. You can easily possess yourself +of facts, the bare recital of which will make the heart bleed." From +the extensive observations he had made in the South, and by having +the subject so long in his mind, he was very ready to "state facts," +and did so in every time and place. The information needed, in the +second place, by the society was in regard to a suitable location for +the colony, and the methods which would be required to obtain it. Mr. +Mills was made their agent. + +He chose as a colleague, to share his responsibility, the Rev. Mr. +Burgess. After some months of preparation they left America, planning +to visit England first for information and assistance and then +Africa, for the accomplishment of their errand. + +His father says of the "good-bye" which he bade him, at the time, +that "he enjoyed peculiar peace of mind, committing himself entirely +to the guidance and protection of the Almighty." He, who had endured +so many hardships for Christ's sake, knew in whom he trusted. + +After about two weeks' sailing, they encountered a fearful storm and +had need of all their faith. The wind blew furiously for thirty-six +hours. The captain ordered the masts cut away and the decks cleared. +He remained on deck, calmly giving orders, until they were driven +almost upon a ledge of rocks. Despairing of any safety in the ship, +he abandoned her, taking his children with him in a small boat. Some +of those left on board the ship, in their agony of peril, were in the +cabin, beseeching the mercy of Him who rules the violent sea. Others +were on deck, where Mr. Burgess, praying aloud, commended their souls +to God. + +All unexpectedly, a counter current bore them into deeper water, past +the rocks. All exclaimed, "It is the work of God!" A gloomy night +they spent tossing on the sea, but in the morning quiet came. The +mate assumed control, and by using what crippled forces they could +command, they found their way to a harbor of France. + +From there they proceeded to London. They were cordially received by +a number of distinguished men and officials. Among them Mr. +Wilberforce and Mr. Zachary Macauly, the former governor of Sierra +Leone, who introduced them to the Duke of Gloucester. They met +everywhere with Christian sympathy, and the kindest offers of +service. Having obtained letters to the governors of colonies in +Africa, they left England for the west coast, February 3, 1818. + +This voyage was a pleasant one, and brought them in about thirty days +to the mouth of the Gambia. They anchored near the village of St. +Mary's, and went to inspect this and other settlements. They made the +acquaintance of the governors and the Europeans, everywhere gathering +useful and pertinent facts. + +They proceeded south, visiting towns and villages, and calling upon +the kings and head men. On these occasions they were received in the +"palaver house," by the chiefs arranged in true African style, +regardless of taste. One was described as wearing "a silver-laced +coat, a superb three-cornered hat, blue-bafta trousers, considerably +the worse for wear, and no stockings or shoes." The insignia of +royalty were a silver-headed cane in one hand, a horse-tail in the +other. Before the palaver could go on, the hosts must receive +presents, and as their guests had oftenest been slave traders, rum +and tobacco had become essentials. + +By means of interpreters they made known their friendly feelings, and +that they had come from America. "That wise and good men had agreed +to help the black people who wished to come to this country; that the +design was a good one, and would promote the best interests of the +black people both in America and Africa; that if they would sell or +give tracts of their unimproved lands, the people who came would +introduce more knowledge of the arts and agriculture, would buy such +things as they had to sell, and would sell to them such things as +they wanted;" that the children were to be educated; that they had +come as messengers of peace and good tidings, bringing no weapons in +their hands--that they did not desire war. + +They found that African kings knew the art of being slothful in +business. They seemed to have no idea of dispatch, but would talk for +hours without coming to the point. In general their reception was +cordial, and, in some instances, more than that. Land was offered +them in five different places. Their greatest obstacle was the +unsavory reputation of the white men who had preceded them,--the +slave-traders and merchants,--men who had been gross, violent and +rapacious. One of the natives who saw Mr. Mills and Mr. Burgess in +prayer, said he "never knew before that white men prayed!" + +They found that the natives would not be unwilling to give up their +superstitions, and were gratified at the prospect of education for +their children; that they would be glad to have God's word, and the +pure religion it teaches. One old man with white hair and beard, +wished for this good time to come at once; he wanted to know more +about God's book before he died. + +The observations and inquiries which had been so conscientiously made +by the agents, enabled them to report to their society that the +project was both practicable and expedient. After due consideration +of the instructions and recommendations of experienced foreigners, +and the details of exploration, which this report furnished them, the +society thought it most wise to proceed with the undertaking. + +After seeking needed individual and governmental aid, and perfecting +so far as possible the organization, the first colony was sent to +Africa in 1820. They endured the discouraging vicissitudes which are +generally incident to new settlements, and in a few years success +seemed certain. + +In 1847 LIBERIA became an established free republic. The constitution +is modeled upon our own. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE LAST JOURNEY--BRIG "SUCCESS," FRIDAY, MAY 22, 1818. + + +"We have taken an affectionate leave of the clergymen, the civil +officers, and the colonists of Sierra Leone. We are embarked for the +United States, by way of England; and the continent of Africa recedes +from our view." + +This is the last entry in Mills' journal. Three months had been spent +in Africa; months of unsparing toil, under a scorching sun, amid +depressing pagan scenes. But the undertaking had been reasonably +successful, and tired bodies had been upheld by grateful hearts. + +On shipboard once more, with faces turned homeward, opportunity came +for fatigue to assert itself. The strength of Mills, never great at +the best, began to fail. A deep spirituality, which had possessed him +through all the journey, grew stronger and stronger. And as they were +wafted, day by day, nearer home, it became evident that his spirit, +too, was nearing its desired haven. Fever burned his body; but at +last eternal health claimed his soul. Under a glowing sunset, he was +buried, to wait until the sea surrenders its dead. + +The one great desire of his life, "to sit in some quiet corner and +teach the perishing," was unfulfilled; but God through him had sent, +and yet sends, many teachers to many far corners. + +Thirty-five years, only, of mortal life was allotted him in which to +accomplish so much; yet it was time enough,--not because of his +uncommon gifts, but because he knew the secret of well doing. He did +not attempt to be the origin--the source, but gloried in being the +channel through which God poured His great thoughts. No time was lost +by obstructions; the dredge that kept the channel free was +prayer--private, social, public, constant prayer, not for himself, +but for God's glory. + + + + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Story of One Short Life, 1783 to 1818, by +Elisabeth G. Stryker + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30026 *** |