"From The Day Of Pentecost, There Has Been Not One Great Spiritual Awakening In Any Land Which Has Not Begun In A Union Of Prayer, Tho Only Among Two Or Three; No Such Outward, Upward Movement Has Continued After Such Prayer Meetings Have Declined; And It Is In Exact Proportion To The Maintenance Of Such Joint And Believing Supplication And Intercession That The Word Of The Lord In Any Land Or Locality Has Had Free Course And Been Glorified."
In November, 1858, a little over fifty years ago, a notable call to united prayer in behalf of the world was issued by the Lodiana Mission, in India. This appeal made such an impression or. the Church at large that it led to the setting apart of the first week of January, of the following year, for that purpose; and, tho somewhat modified in observance by the adoption of a more general and comprehensive program, the annual "Week of Prayer" in January is still kept throughout Christendom, the subjects for each day being recommended by the Evangelical Alliance.
Of those who sent forth this call to prayer, only one or two survive; but it would be impossible to measure, or even gather up, the fruit of this seed-sowing of faith. The Hearer of Prayer, who inspired the invitation, has crowned it with blessing. It everywhere met a cordial response; it awoke the Church to new life and zeal; and so remarkable and worldwide have been the results of this prayer union, that since this new concert of supplication began to be observed, not one nation has remained untouched in its religious life and history; the whole face of the world has been changed, if not its heart. A half-century ago, China and Manchuria, Japan and Korea, Turkey and Arabia, and even the vast continent of Africa, were sleeping—hermit nations, locked in the cell of long seclusion and exclusion. Central Asia was comparatively unexplored, as was Central Africa. In many lands, Satan's long occupation was undisputed and his empire unmolested. Papal countries were as intolerant as pagan; Italy and
Spain imprisoned a man for daring to sell a Bible, or preach the Gospel. France was practically infidel, and Germany permeated with rationalism; and, over a large part of the mission field, the doors were shut and locked by a more or less rigid exclusion and caste system. Now the changes, on every side, are so remarkable and so radical that, to one who should suddenly come out of this middle period of the last century, or wake from another Rip Van Winkle sleep, the world would be unrecognizable. He who holds the keys of the two-leaved gates has been unlocking them, opening up all lands to the Messenger of the Cross. Even in the Eternal City, where, a half-century ago, a visitor had to leave his Bible outside the walls, there are Protestant chapels by the score, and a free circulation of the Scriptures.
It is a curious coincidence, full of deep significance, that, in 1747, about one hundred and ten years previous, Jonathan Edwards had sent out his famous Call to Prayer, to which can be traced all that marvelous spiritual awakening which marked the whole latter half of the eighteenth century, and gave rise to the modern missionary revival. And it will greatly encourage every devout praying soul to cast a glance over the equally marvelous results of the Lodiana call. We reprint in full the original document:
An invitation to prayer, addressed to the Church of Christ throughout the world; being an extract from the minutes of the twenty-third annual meeting of the Lodiana Mission:
Whereas our spirits have been greatly refreshed by what we have heard of the Lord's dealings with His people in America, therefore,
Resolved, First, that we hereby publicly acknowledge the debt of gratitude we owe to Him, and our obligations to live more than ever, not unto ourselves, but unto Him who died for us.
And in view of our own spiritual necessities, and of the wants of the perishing millions about us, and in the hope of obtaining similar blessings for this land.
Resolved, Second, that we will do our best to get union meetings for prayer for the outpouring of the Spirit, established at our respective stations, and also at other stations wherever we may find two or three willing to meet together in the name of Christ.
And, further, being convinced from the signs of the times that God has still large blessings in store for His people, and for our ruined race, and that He now seems to be ready and waiting to bestow them as soon as asked, therefore
Resolved, Third, that we appoint the second week in January, 1860, beginning with Monday the 8th, as a time of special prayer that God would now pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, so that all the ends of the earth might see His salvation; that on the first day, that is, on Monday, the 8th, be a holy convocation for solemn fasting, humiliation and prayer, and that on the last day—that is, Sabbath, the 14th—be a holy convocation for thanksgiving and praise; that the intervening time be spent in private and social exercises of prayer and praise as the circumstances of each community may dictate; that all God's people, of every name and nation, of every continent and island, be cordially and earnestly invited to unite with us in a similar observance of that time; and that from the receipt of this invitation, onward, all be requested in their secret, family and public devotions, habitually to entreat the Lord to pour out upon all His people so much of the spirit of grace and supplication as to prepare them for such an observance of the time designated as may meet with His approval and secure His blessing.—Lodiana, November 29th, 1858.
By a rapid glance over this past half-century, we may get a comprehensive view of those colossal changes which led Mr. Gladstone to remark that, within a single decade of years, there had been more progress in some directions than during all the ages preceding. This progress it is impossible to realize, or even recognize, until some leading events are marshaled in line, and seen in their mutual connection, succession, relation. Attempts have been made to frame a chronological table of the main developments in the missionary field, in order to get a view of the links in this chain of events (Compare "Missionary Annals of the Nineteenth Century," D. L. Leonard). But so many items deserve record that any such attempt must be, at best, only a partial success. One table we have consulted does not even mention this Lodiana appeal, which belongs in the forefront of such modern events, and it is not unlikely that in our present attempt at a comprehensive survey, we may overlook what some may see as prominent peaks in the historic horizon. But even a hasty look over this broad landscape of the half-century must impress one with the amazing answers to the prayer implied and suggested in this circular-letter of fifty years ago. At least two hundred and fifty of the most memorable advances of the missionary host, and of the nations whose evangelization has been undertaken, belong to the five decades since the Lodiana letter was published to the world. For example, the very year of the appeal, 1858, was memorable for the downfall of the East India Company, so long a practical barrier to missions; for the laying of the first ocean cable, that living ligature between transatlantic members of the world's organism; it had been a year of religious revival, so extensive as to prepare the way for a new missionary advance, and to impart new impetus to the work of organization and occupation; memorable also for the going forth of that apostle to the New Hebrides, John G. Paton. The Lord had begun to answer even before His people called, according to His promise (Isa. 65:24).
Progress Round the World
From the beginning of this new concert of prayer in 1859, the progress all around the world was at a more rapid and regular pace.
1. For example, in the direction of exploration. That was the year when Livingstone discovered Lake Nyassa, and, in the next, Speke and Grant reached Victoria Nyanza from the Nile. Between 1864 and 1867 Rohlfs had crossed the Sahara to Lake Chad, and between 1866 and 1873 Livingstone, the missionary general and statesman, had come to "the end of the geographical feat" which, as he foresaw, would be "the beginning of the true missionary crusade." In 1875, Cameron crossed Africa, and Stanley pressing on to Uganda, met King Mtesa, and issued his famous appeal in the London Daily Telegraph; and, in 1877, he reached the mouth of the Kongo, after crossing the continent. Since then the work of exploration has gone on till we are becoming familiar with inland Africa and China, Japan and Korea, Arabia and even Tibet, and now, at last, even the land of eternal ice has been penetrated and the North Pole discovered!
2. There has been, since 1859, rapid progress in missionary organization. The Methodist New Connection, Universities Mission to Central Africa, Netherlands Dutch Reformed, Reformed Presbyterian, Utrecht, and Finland societies were formed that very year; from i860 to 1862, the Christian Reformed, Woman's Union, Strict Baptist, Southern Presbyterian; and, in 1865, the Canada Baptist, Paris Missionary Society, and, above all, the China Inland Mission. Then followed the English Baptist Women in 1867, the American Congregationalist Women in 1868, the Lutheran General Council in 1869, the Primitive Methodists and Presbyterian Women's Board (U. S. A.) in 1870; the United Original Secession Church, and Episcopal Women's, and Baptist Women's Boards (U. S. A.) in 1871; the East London Institute, 1872; the Irish Presbyterian Women's, and Free Baptist Women's, in 1873; tne SwissFrench Churches', the Mission to Lepers, African Methodist Women's, and Friends' Syrian Mission, in 1874; in 1875, the Women's Board of Disciples, Reformed Dutch Women's, United Brethren's Women's, Associate Reformed Synod's Women's, and Disciples'; and Cumberland Presbyterian and Breklum Societies in 1876. Six more women's societies fell into the ranks from 1877 to 1880, including the Church of England Zenana Mission; and, in 1881, the Christian Endeavor Society began its marvelous career, branching out and taking new root like a gigantic banyantree, until it has now overspread the whole earth. From 1881 to 1885, twelve more societies were formed; and 1886 is memorable for another of the greatest movements of modern times, that of the Student Volunteers.
To follow these remarkable steps and stages of advance, year by year, would require a volume. It must suffice to record the amazing fact that, within a half-century after that Lodiana letter, we trace the formation of at least eighty-five missionary organizations, large and small, some of which now stand out as mountain peaks in the historic landscape.
3. The new missionary occupation next claims notice. New countries were entered and stations planted. For example, in 1859, Japan was entered by the Episcopalians, Reformed Dutch and Presbyterians; Brazil by the Presbyterians, and China by the Methodist New Connection. In i860, the Baptists also began work in the Sunrise Kingdom, and, in 1861, the Swedish and United Methodist Free Churches in East Africa. In 1862, the Universities Mission began in Zanzibar, the Rhenish Society in Sumatra, and Mary Whately in Egypt. Within three years more, four more societies had been planted in China, India and Madagascar, and in 1867 the Laos Mission of the American Presbyterians began; 1869, which completed the first decaede, was a great year of advance—the American Board and Church Missionary Society in Japan, the Canada Presbyterians in Trinidad, the Irish Presbyterians in Manchuria, and Clara Swain in India. From 1870 to 1872 ten more new occupations took place, prominent among them the Canada Presbyterian advance upon Formosa, Gilmour's upon Mongolia, and McAll's daring mission in Belleville.
Again, brevity compels a resort to a summary. During the half-century no less than seventy-five new missions have been started, counting only those on a larger scale, as when new countries have been entered, like Japan and Korea; or large districts, like Uganda, or populous centers like Cairo and Paris. How important some of these movements were, not mentioned in detail, is evident from the fact that among them were the founding of the Blantyre Mission by the Church of Scotland, Coillard's work on the Upper Zambesi, and the Presbyterian entrance into Korea by the magic key of medical missions.
4. In the providential administration of affairs may we not trace another sign following prayer. The Hearer of Prayer is the governor of nations and the ruler of history. The notable events of this half-century now under review have some of them been revolutionary, and not only affected the destiny of nations but the history of missions.
The remarkable career of Garibaldi (1860-67) la'd the corner-stone of Free Italy and broke down the exclusive walls of the Vatican. The War for the American Union (186165) knocked the fetters from four million slaves; the emancipation of the Russian serfs in 1861 inaugurated a new era in the Empire of the North; the cessation of persecution in Madagascar, the same year, closed the record of twenty-five years of blood and fire, horror and terror, and prepared for the wholesale destruction of idols eight years later. Brazil, in 1871, witnessed the end of slavery; and Stanley's discovery and recovery of the great hero of Blantyre, which led to his own conversion and opened a new era in African missions. In 1872, the arrival of the Japanese embassy in Washington proved another critical and pivotal event in the history not only of Japan but of the whole Orient, if not the whole world; and that same year was marked by the organization of the first native church in Japan, as the year following was by the removal of the "Edict Board."
The Kongo Free State was constituted by the conference of sixteen nations in 1885; nine years later, the Chinese-Japanese War was waged, which opened the door to reform in the Middle Kingdom. In 1896, the first rails were spiked for the Uganda Railway, Africa's new bond of union and artery of life; in 1898, the Spanish-American War, with its incalculable outcome of possible good; the same year the capture of Khartum by the British, the completion of the Kongo Railway, and the Uganda rebellion opened the way to new civil liberty and gospel victory; and, the year later, the British South African War, the completion of the Nile Railway to Khartum, etc.
Some events of this half-century have been referred to as revolutionary. Who is sagacious enough to forecast the results of the Burlingame Treaty with China in 1868, the political upheaval in Japan, and the opening of the Suez highway to the Orient that year; of the completion of the Union Pacific Railway, in 1869; the FrancoPrussian War in 1870; the arbitration of the Alabama dispute in 1872, as of the Venezuela claims in 1899; of the establishment of the British Protectorate over the Fiji group in 1874, over Cyprus in 1878, and over Egypt in 1882. In 1889, republican government began in Brazil; in 1890, the first Parliament met in Japan; in 1898, the Hawaiian Islands raised the Starspangled Banner; in 1902, the Hague Tribunal was established; the Laymen's missionary movement began in 1906; the Chinese Opium Edict dates from 1907; the deposition of Sultan Abdul Hamid and of the Persian Shah, from 1909. And these are only a part of the events that stud the firmament of this half-century like constellations of stars, some of them of the first magnitude.
The conventions and conferences of this period merit separate consideration—great gatherings for philanthropic and missionary ends. Decennial conferences in India began at Allahabad in 1872, and continued at Calcutta and Bombay; the Missionary Conference in Shanghai in 1890; the Student Volunteer rallies since that natal year, 1886; the World's Missionary Conferences at Liverpool, in i860; London in 1888; New York in 1900; the Peace Conferences" at The Hague, 1899 and 1902; the Y. M. C. A. World Conventions, since 1854; the great assemblies of the Y. P. S. C. E.; of the Evangelical Alliance, the World's Sunday-school delegations, the Laymen's movement; and, beside all these, the annual conventions for Bible Study and the Spiritual Life at Mildmay and Keswick in England, and at Northfield and Winona in America; and the anniversaries of great societies, and centenary celebrations, such as Carey's in 1892, and others now so frequent.
5. The developments in the line of education during the half-century are another sign following united prayer. How significant, for instance, the opening of Robert College at the Golden Horn, in 1863; of the American Girls' College at Scutari, in 1872; the Kobe Girls' College in 1873, and the famous Doshisha University of Neesima the next year; the invention of the Moon system for the blind in 1840, and the Murray alphabet for the blind in 1879; the work of Dr. Laws, at Livingstonia, Verbeck in Japan, Drs. Duff and Martin and many others in India and China; Dr. Post and his fellows in Syria. The name of these great teachers in the mission field is legion, and some of them, less conspicuous, like Miss Fiske in Persia, Miss Agnew in Ceylon, Miss Pierson in Japan, have left an impress for good that will never be lost, and helped create a native force of teachers and preachers.
6. Especially significant, also, are the multiplied translations of the Word of God since the Lodiana Call to Prayer. Very notable among the existing five hundred translations are the completed Arabic translation in 1865, and the Japanese Bible in 1888, not to refer to the great achievements of such as Pilkington in Uganda, Richards in Banza Manteke, Lindley among the Zulus, and those who, in the Islands of the Sea and elsewhere, have not only given the Word of God to whole tribes and peoples, but in God's book laid the basis of all their literature!
7. What shall be said of great moral and spiritual transformations! The revivals of this period have been specially marked. The appeal of the Lodiana brethren was born in a revival era, just begun, which continued for years; the awakening in Madagascar succeeding the persecution that ended in 1871, the moral miracle in the Telugu Mission in 1877-78, when 10,000 were baptized in eleven months; the awakening in Japan in 1872 and onward; in Uganda in 1893, and in our day in Korea. These are only a few handfuls out of a great harvest. The whole half-century has been one of unprecedented and multiplied spiritual quickenings, so numerous and so pervasive that we hesitate to attempt either an enumeration or a selection. We may, however, mention some twenty, particularly conspicuous as the immediate fruits of prayer, since the Lodiana circular-letter was issued: The great blessing bestowed on William Duncan's work among the Tshimshean Indians in his Metlakahtla, from 1859 onward; the great revival of 1859 and i860, especially in Britain and America; the arousing of the university students of Britain under Moody and others, which led to the "China Band"; the awakening in North Tinnevelly in i860; in Egypt and the Nile Valley, from 1863-70; in China, specially Hankow. 186388; in the Euphrates district, 186467, under C. H. Wheeler, etc.; in Aniwa under J. G. Paton, 1867-69; in Southern Tinnevelly, 1871-81; in Japan, 1872-75; in Paris and other French cities under McAll, 187280; in the Telugu country, 1877-78; in Formosa, 1877-85, under G. L. Mackay; in Banza Manteke, under Richards, 1883-90; in Uganda, 1893-98; in Korea, before our eyes.
An Awakening in India
We give one instance, less familiar, perhaps, than many others. The spiritual awakening in 1896, in connection with the United Presbyterian Mission in the Punjab, was a signal answer to prayer and deserves a record as one of the most remarkable waves of spiritual power that ever swept over India.
Three years before the annual meeting of the mission, it was agreed to observe every Sabbath evening as a season of special prayer for a new effusion of the Spirit's power,and both the native brethren in the field and church at home were appealed to, to join in these times of supplication. So prominent has been the prayer element throughout that there has never been a doubt that the blessings that followed were linked inseparably with such earnest and united entreaty.
The work began early in the year 1896, and so remarkable was the power attending it, even from the first, that some feared it would prove only spasmodic; but it continued and rather deepened and broadened. The first marked manifestation of this power was at the meeting of the Sialkot Presbytery, at Pasrur, March 24, while in conference on "our work and its needs," making that conference memorable beyond any other in the history of the mission. The whole story is so interesting that it can not be abridged and we must refer the reader to the narrative of Rev. D. S. Lyte, one of the most remarkable we have ever read. ["Far North in India," pages 242-250.]
One example of prayer in the opening of closed doors might be cited, as an encouragement to praying souls. When as yet Japan was a hermit nation, and the Christianity that was brought thither by the representatives of the Papacy had been practically extirpated by persecution—when for two centuries and a half the edict boards against Christianity had been raised everywhere throughout the Sunrise Kingdom, and all Europeans were driven away from the Island Empire save as Dutch merchants had a foothold at a trading port on the little island of Deshima—William Ropes, of Boston, about March, 1828, a Christian merchant residing in Brookline, had invited a few friends to meet once a month at his house to join in prayer for a world's evangelization. When at the first meeting the question arose to what object the contribution which had been taken should be devoted, Mr. Ropes, drawing attention to a basket of Japanese workmanship that chanced to be on the table in the room where this little "monthly concert" was held, suggested that the evangelization of that closed land might be the object for which their gifts should be made. The suggestion was adopted; and tho soon after Mr. Ropes left Brookline, a "ladies' sewing society" had grown up in connection with this little meeting and continued, from time to time, to send money for this prospective "mission in Japan" to the American Board—in all more than $600.
When, forty years later, the Board found the open door to Japan and sent forth Rev. D. C. Greene, the new mission was credited with over four thousand dollars as the sum of these contributions, with interest accrued. And another remarkable link between these prayers and the open door in Japan is seen in the fact that Mr. Greene, this first missionary, was the son of a minister who, forty years before, had been one of the little company present at the first meeting held in Mr. Ropes' house in Brookline. [ "A History of Christianity in Japan," Vol. II, page 73, by Dr. Carey.]
Looking back over the half-century and noting all these developments—• the grand work of missionary exploration in the opening up of not only new districts and territories, but whole continents; the multiplication of missionary organizations until the whole church has formed into line, and all the reserves have been called forth into action, men, women, and even the young; when we note the missionary occupation of new fields, in a constantly aggressive forward campaign, the advance in Christian education; then turn to the conspicuous events of the half-century, so many of which are historically turning-points, radical and revolutionary; the conferences at home and abroad that have brought disciples into closer bonds of mutual sympathy and cooperation, and prepared the way for every form of human betterment; when, to all these, we add the translations of the Word of God, evangelistic activities and extensive and multiplied spiritual quickenings, which characterize this last fifty years, we can not but exclaim, "Surely, God answers prayer." There are still signs following united supplication.
A Challenge
We risk successful challenge from any quarter of the statement now deliberately made after a half-century of the study of modern missions:
From The Day Of Pentecost, There Has Been Not One Great Spiritual Awakening In Any Land Which Has Not Begun In A Union Of Prayer, Tho Only Among Two Or Three; No Such Outward, Upward Movement Has Continued After Such PrayerMeetings Have Declined; And It Is In Exact Proportion To The Maintenance Of Such Joint And Believing Supplication And Intercession That The Word Of The Lord In Any Land Or Locality Has Had Free Course And Been Glorified.
This being so, the duty and privilege of all who yearn for a world's speedy evangelization is transparently clear. Beside and beyond all other forms of activity, however useful and helpful, such as the informing of disciples, the supplying of men and means, the appeal for a higher consecration of person and property, one supreme need confronts us—the demand for united, intelligent, believing prayer. Here is the greater than Archimedes' lever to move the world. The pivot and fulcrum are supplied, "the point outside" for which he longed to rest the lever—the promise of an unchanging God. The power is supplied wherewith to move the lever—nothing less than omnipotence itself. The proof is at hand that God is the living, all-powerful worker, in the moral miracles already wrought. Strange, indeed, that the Church of God should need any further incentive to united supplication. Here is at once the easiest and the hardest way to success—easiest because it is by absolute dependence upon God, content to have His strength perfected in our weakness; and for that very reason hardest, because there is nothing to which we are so prone as to trust in ourselves, and nothing to which we are so averse as to hang in absolute helplessness upon God's power and grace. We like to act, but we do not like to ask; it humors our pride to do something that looks big; but it is only when pride bows in humility, and the "I" of self-confidence is inflected into the "me" of simple dependence (Galatians 2: 20) that in any work for God the highest achievement is possible.
The work of missions is preeminently "our Father's business." It must be transacted under our Father's constant guidance, by His help, His strength, and so for His glory. And nothing will bring us and help us in the right attitude like the habit of believing prayer, which is the one sure sign that we are "workers together with God."
A. T. Pierson, Missionary Review of the World, Vol. 33:1, January 1910, pp. 7-14