History of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ by Daniel Berger

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History of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ

by Daniel Berger

CHAPTER II

THE HOME, FRONTIER, AND FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY AND ITS WORK

I. THE HOME AND FRONTIER FIELD

^p.424 The United Brethren Church, as we have seen in these pages, had its origin in the latter half of the eighteenth century in a series of revival meetings conducted by Otterbein, Boehm, and others who became associated with them in their work, the occasion being the low state of spirituality which prevailed particularly in the churches with which they were connected. Their preaching was plain, spiritual, and practical, and they dwelt with great emphasis on the sinfulness and lost condition of men, and the necessity for repentance, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a present Saviour, and a conscious witness of the Holy Spirit to their regeneration and acceptance with God. Hence the Church soon became widely known for its insistence on these doctrines, as well as for its frequent and powerful revivals. With such preaching, such revivals, and a converted and spiritual membership, it was natural that an earnest missionary spirit should soon spring up. Every newly-converted soul was anxious to bring other souls into the same blessed experience. Many of those whose hearts were drawn out in earnest sympathy for others, as they poured forth the story of their own joyful experience, soon developed into preachers. With little pretense of scholastic culture, but with hearts grasping the great essentials of salvation, they spoke first to their neighbors on the great subject of their eternal welfare, ^p.425 and then made visits to other places, sometimes at long distances, and rehearsed the same story. Thus they became true missionaries, sometimes sent out by councils of brethren, as were Barnabas and Saul at the first, but often going by their own motion, as Paul did subsequently on his great missionary journeys, or on some urgent call from a distant point, coming like the call from Macedonia to the great apostle, "Come over and help us." Journeys of hundreds of miles, and extending through weeks and even months, were thus made by these enthusiastic and devoted servants of God, whose only compensation was the souls they brought into the kingdom of Jesus.

But all this work, carried forward with such commendable zeal, and such immediate blessed results, was for many years without organization or system. The route which a preacher traveled over he might not follow up again for an interval of years, nor were others appointed to follow definitely in his track. The people who heard his word gladly, who gave their hearts to Christ, and often were gathered into small organized bands, or societies, might not see a minister again for long periods, or a minister of another denomination might come into the neighborhood, and gather them, with others, into another fold. These ministers in general were entirely unpaid in a pecuniary way, while the itinerant missionaries often gave but part of a year to the work.

This irregular and unsystematized method of doing missionary work was largely maintained up to the middle of the present century. The conferences indeed took the matter in hand, marked out mission fields within their bounds, or in regions adjacent to their territory, appointed home missionaries to these fields, and collected funds on the various charges for their partial support. And, in justice, it must be said that, with all the disadvantages ^p.426 under which they labored, they accomplished a magnificent work. The Church had extended its work far to the westward from the original territory which it occupied in its earlier years in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. The great States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, and portions of Michigan, were netted over with conferences and flourishing societies before the general Missionary Society of the Church was organized. But the experience of the fathers of the first half of the century, the grave difficulties and disadvantages under which they carried forward their work, taught them the need of some form of effective organization, some centralized agency through which the work could be more efficiently directed, and through whose appeal to the Church a larger liberality could be awakened, or through which wise and definite direction could be given to the liberality which had already been quickened for ready response to the Lord's call. It was a great step forward, therefore, when the Home, Frontier, and Foreign Missionary Society was organized by the General Conference of May, 1853. It should be noted here that previous to this, while the annual conferences, whose work was now conducted in the use of the English language, were pushing their work far beyond their own boundaries, the Germans were also actively engaged in missionary enterprises. They organized a number of congregations, chiefly among European Germans, in the cities of Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, and were vigorously prosecuting their work. While thus engaged they received a limited support from the conferences, but most of them performed their labor at heavy personal sacrifice. When the General Conference of 1853 assembled, this work was in a healthy and growing condition, and was properly recognized and organized as the Ohio German Conference.

^p.427 The Sandusky Conference, which was begun in 1829 by ministers from the Muskingum Conference, had grown to large proportions by the time of the meeting of the General Conference of 1853. A noble body of ministers, earnest, progressive, looking well to the future of the Church, were at work in this conference. They had succeeded in building a conference which, in numbers, intelligence, enterprise, and wealth, stood among the foremost in the Church. Among this band of ministers was the Rev. J. C. Bright, a man whose heart God touched with the fire of a true missionary spirit. Under his inspiration the conference took an active part in those measures which led up to the organization of the general Missionary Society. At the annual session of 1852 a committee, with Mr. Bright as its chairman, made in substance the following report on missions, the report being unanimously adopted by the conference:

1. That the time has fully come when the United Brethren Church should unite her whole strength in a missionary society, which shall include not only the home, but also the frontier and foreign, fields within the sphere of its labors.

2. That the Sandusky Conference organize itself into a branch missionary society, with the prayer that the General Conference may form a general society, of which each annual conference may be a branch.

3. That the payment of one dollar shall constitute a person a member of the society for one year, ten dollars a life member, and fifty dollars a life director.

4. That our brethren be entreated to exercise the most prayerful thought and careful inquiry into the wants of the nominally Christian, and especially the heathen, world, that their views may be enlarged in regard to the magnitude of the work devolving upon the Christian church, in fulfilling the commission given by our Saviour on the mount just before his ascension.

It should be observed here that the Home, Frontier, and Foreign Missionary Society is intended to be, as it also is, the aggregate missionary working force of the whole Church, ^p.428 each annual conference being an integral part or branch of the parent society. The reader is referred to the constitution of the society, found in the Church Discipline, for an explicit statement of the plans and methods by which its work is carried forward. This constitution, which, it is understood, was originally drawn by the hand of Mr. Bright, was subjected to but very slight alteration from the time of its adoption by the General Conference of 1853 until the conference of 1881, a period of twenty-eight years. And if the reader has followed closely the form of the Sandusky Conference resolutions he will not wonder that when the General Conference came to elect its first corresponding secretary the choice fell upon John C. Bright. He was a man of marked abilities, of great zeal, and thoroughly qualified for the duties of the position, then new to the Church, and he soon infused into the hearts of hundreds of ministers and laymen the spirit which so strongly actuated his own heart in this department of work. Rev. John Kemp was elected the first general treasurer of the society. The following were then elected to constitute, with the secretary and treasurer, a board of management: Bishop J. J. Glossbrenner, senior bishop, president; Bishops Henry Kumler, Jun., David Edwards, and Lewis Davis, vice-presidents; Revs. William Longstreet, Daniel Shuck, and D. B. Crouse, and Messrs. T. N. Sowers and John Dodds. Thus organized, the Board of Missions was now ready to begin active and aggressive work.

At this time, in 1853, there were in the Church fourteen annual conferences, namely, the Pennsylvania, East Pennsylvania, Virginia, Allegheny, Scioto, Miami, Muskingum, Sandusky, Illinois, Wabash, Indiana, White River, St. Joseph, and Iowa. The church membership scarcely aggregated a full fifty thousand. Of ministers ^p.429 there were about four hundred in the itinerant ranks and about three hundred local. Four conferences, however, as we have seen, were organized by the General Conference of 1853, namely, the Ohio German, the Michigan, the Auglaize, and the Des Moines, the latter by separation from the Iowa. The ministers and membership in these new conferences were included in the statistical estimates just given.

About this time the Church entered upon a new period of activity. The educational spirit, as elsewhere seen in these pages, was asserting itself in the founding of colleges, and the missionary spirit was reaching out into new fields, and many new outposts of the Church were being established. At the very time when the General Conference of 1853 was in session, a colony of United Brethren from Indiana had entered upon its long and wearisome journey to Oregon. This new territory had then but recently been opened to immigration, and these pioneers started for this distant land of promise not only to seek homes for themselves and their families, but also to establish in that new country the Church which they loved. The colonists were under the leadership of Revs. T. J. Connor and J. Kenoyer, men who gave themselves a cheerful offering for this service. The route overland, most of the way through territories where the faces of white men were then but seldom seen, was attended with much difficulty and hardship. But the journey over the hot and dreary plains and through the dangerous mountain passes was at last accomplished, and the courageous pioneers in due time laid the foundations for the Oregon Conference, and the beginnings of the work in the extreme northwestern section of the United States. The ministers immediately began preaching to their neighbors, and made visits for this purpose to neighboring districts as ^p.430 often as their straitened circumstances would permit. The divine blessing rested upon their work, regular appointments were established and classes formed, the ministerial force was enlarged, and two years later, in 1855, the Oregon Conference was organized. In the absence of any regular bishop, Mr. Connor presided as bishop pro tempore. By this time they had formed societies in Yam Hill, Polk, Marion, Benton, Linn, Lane, and Umpqua counties, and had made frequent prospecting tours to regions beyond.

We have seen elsewhere in these pages¹ that as early as 1825 Rev. Jacob Erb, afterward Bishop Erb, made a visit to Canada. This was in company with J. Christian Smith, the two visiting and preaching at various points, including also northwestern New York. This prospecting tour was undertaken on their own responsibility. Two years later, in 1827, Mr. Erb was appointed to travel a mission, in the same regions, called the "New York Mission." He was then a young man, having joined the conference just four years previously. But he undertook the work with true zeal, traveling often long distances on foot. The Master, who said, "Lo, I am with you alway," put his blessing upon the labors of the young missionary, and many converts were numbered among those who heard his words. The conference of which Mr. Erb was a member was the original conference of the Church, no division of the work having yet been made in the East. Occasional subsequent visits were made by Mr. Erb to this field, but the work received no regular attention until 1853, and many of those whom he had gathered together found their way into other communions. In the year 1853 Bishop Erb visited Canada again, and was soon afterward followed by Israel Sloane, of the Scioto Conference, who was sent by the Missionary Board. Mr. ^p.431 Sloane's work proved very successful, and three years later had so far grown that Bishop Glossbrenner organized the Canada, now Ontario, Conference, with six itinerant ministers, and something over one hundred and fifty members.

The impulse given to the missionary work by the organization of the society in 1853 was felt in many directions, among them that of southwestern Missouri. This region was visited by Bishop Henry Kumler, Jun., and Rev. Josiah Terrell in that year. They preached the word in many localities, and organized a number of societies, forming what was then known as the Southwest District. In 1854 the work had so far grown that Bishop Edwards organized it into a mission conference. Annual sessions were held until 1859, when the excesses of border ruffianism had become so formidable that the work was permitted to decline, and no further sessions were held until after the close of the War. The strong antislavery principles of the Church made it perilous for our ministers and people in that part of Missouri when the determination to carry slavery into Kansas had become, among the pro-slavery classes, a violent and murderous frenzy.

About the same time the Missionary Board began to direct its operations also into Kansas, that fertile country lying west of Missouri, into which, in 1854, emigration was beginning to pour its tide of new settlers. The country had then just been opened up for occupancy, and its inviting fields presented a strong attraction to people who were seeking for new homes in the West. The settlers were mostly from the free States of the North, and their purpose was to build up a strong, free commonwealth to add to the great sisterhood of States. Others were from the South, and were equally determined that Kansas should become a slave State. At that period there ^p.432 was on the part of the supporters of slavery throughout the South an intense determination to press the institution into every possible available foot of territory. The famous fugitive-slave law, whose passage by Congress they had secured, and which for a series of years dishonored our national statutes, degraded every citizen of the North to the position of a slave-catcher, if his service should be called for, with fines and imprisonment if he declined to obey. In national politics the extension of slavery into new Territories, or its restriction to the States in which it then existed, and its final complete abolition, was the subject of incessant and bitter contention. It was the agitation of these questions which led to the great War of the Rebellion and the overthrow of the institution. But before this colossal conflict was fully precipitated there was for some years a preliminary border war between the settlers from the Northern States and those from the South, the latter being supported by armed raiders from Missouri, who sought by intimidation and frequent assassination to force slavery into this then new Territory.

It was under these circumstances that the Rev. W. A. Cardwell, of the White River Conference, Indiana, appeared as the first missionary of the United Brethren Church, establishing his home near Lecompton. Here also the first class was formed and the first church built. He was soon reinforced by the arrival of other missionaries sent out by the board. These were Samuel S. Snyder, of the Allegheny Conference, who settled near Lawrence; not long after, J. S. Gingerich, also of the Allegheny, and next Josiah Terrell, of the White River Conference. In 1855, Mr. Bright, referring to the troubles which prevailed, wrote: "The political sky in Kansas is cloudy at present, but freedom must in the end prevail. If Kansas should ^p.433 ever be a slave State, we ought not to abandon it. The gospel of Christ is light, and wherever the dark cloud of slavery is spread, there the light should be diffused. Through sore troubles and persecutions our brethren continue to prosecute their work, frequently mobbed, waylaid, shot at, threatened, troubled on every side, but not in despair." Bravely they held their ground, their work enlarging in their hands. In October, 1857, Bishop Edwards, by previous appointment, visited them, and on the 30th of the month organized the Kansas Conference. Other helpers had by this time joined, and the names of nine itinerants were enrolled, and nearly two hundred lay members were reported.

The work under the care of the Missionary Board in southwestern Missouri was for a time suspended, on account of the perils attending its prosecution, but that in the northwestern part of the State was pushed forward with added vigor, by ministers from the Des Moines Conference, Iowa. The General Conference of 1857 accordingly instructed Bishop Edwards to organize a conference in that part of the State, and he held the initial session of the Missouri Conference in the fall of 1858. Three hundred and fifty-eight members were reported, and the names of nine ministers enrolled. A second session was held in the spring of 1859, when the number of members had increased to eight hundred and nine. It was the beginning of a good work, which has increased in solidity ever since.

In Wisconsin the Rev. G. G. Nickey and others had begun work, and had succeeded in organizing a number of congregations. Regular quarterly conferences were held, and a vigorous and hopeful church life was springing up. The work having been brought to the attention of the General Conference of 1857, that body directed Bishop ^p.434 Lewis Davis to organize it into a mission conference, and that the Missionary Board make proper provisions for its further prosecution. The Wisconsin Conference was accordingly organized in 1858, with twenty-one preachers and five hundred and fifty-four members.

The General Conference of 1857 also extended special recognition to the Kentucky Conference, which had been organized in 1850, by directing that it be placed under the care of the Missionary Board, and at the same time also the board took under its care the Parkersburg Conference, the General Conference having separated its territory from the Virginia Conference. Parkersburg was organized as a separate conference in 1857. And to these is yet to be added the Minnesota Conference, organized by Bishop Davis in the fall of 1857.

It will thus be seen that in the first four years following the organization of the Home, Frontier, and Foreign Missionary Society not less than nine annual conferences were added, or ready to be added, to the Church, namely, the Oregon, Canada, Southern Missouri, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Parkersburg, and Kentucky. All these were recognized as mission conferences, and received support in greater or less degree from the funds of the society.

II. THE MISSION IN AFRICA.

The mission work thus far spoken of was limited to the United States and Territories and the Dominion of Canada. Previous to the organization of the general Missionary Board, in 1853, no work in any foreign country was undertaken by the Church. A most important forward step was therefore soon to be taken whereby the Church was to be placed in line with other churches in the work of giving the gospel of Jesus to the heathen world. The first annual meeting of the Board of ^p.435 Missions was therefore to be an initial assembling in more than one sense. The meeting was held on June 1, 1854, at Westerville, Ohio. The members of the board, new to the responsibility which the General Conference had laid upon them, assembled with anxious prayer for divine direction during their session. And never since the day when at Antioch the Spirit said to the church, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them," was the leading of the Spirit more manifestly present than when the unanimous impulse was awakened in the hearts of these men, and the resolution fixed upon, to begin somewhere among the heathen the work of a Christian mission. It was a very brief resolution in which, after full deliberation, they gave expression to this high purpose:

Resolved, That we send one or more missionaries to Africa as soon as possible.

Scarcely more than a dozen words were sufficient, but, like that divine utterance at the beginning, "Let there be light!" they were laden with a great meaning, and were the first dawning of that blessed illumination which now shines with so bright a radiance in those lands to which the missionaries were sent. The question as to the country in which the Church should begin a mission was fully canvassed, and Africa was chosen as being the most deeply sunk in the darkness of heathenism and the most neglected by the Christian world.

Among those whose hearts God had touched with the missionary impulse in advance of this meeting of the board was the Rev. William J. Shuey, of the Miami Conference, then a young man in the earlier years of his ministry, an able preacher and full of spiritual fervor, a man whose name was destined to become familiar to the Church through a long series of years in connection with another ^p.436 of her most important departments of work. He was chosen by the board to become the first missionary of the Church to Africa. He was charged with the special duty of selecting and locating a mission, rather than that of remaining as a permanent laborer in the field. The board instructed its executive committee to choose other missionaries to accompany Mr. Shuey in the work. Not long afterward the committee appointed Rev. D. C. Kumler, M.D., and Rev. D. K. Flickinger, both of the Miami Conference, as Mr. Shuey's associates. Just forty-two years ago, in the month of January, 1855, these first foreign missionaries of the Church set sail from New York in a small vessel for their distant destination. After a voyage of thirty-four days, on February 26 they arrived at Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa.

The missionaries remained a few days at Freetown for rest and observation. They soon found that they were indeed in a heathen land, though civilization and Christianization had here begun' to do their work. They found abundant work here waiting to be done, but not wishing to build on another's foundation, or to reap where others had sown, they determined to seek a field where the gospel of Jesus had never been heard of, to bring light where men sat in the utter darkness of heathenism. In order to acquaint themselves with the general situation, so as to be able to select wisely, they then started on a voyage southward along the coast for Good Hope Station, on Sherbro Island, about one hundred and twenty miles from Freetown. At this point the American Missionary Association (Congregational) had been for some years operating a mission. They were here received with the utmost cordiality and kindness, and the counsels of the missionaries stationed here further proved of great value to them. From this point they made numerous expeditions, both ^p.437 along the coast and up some of the rivers, with the view of finding a site that should offer the greatest advantages as a starting-point for a mission, and in time a headquarters from which to work a larger field. They felt that the choice of location must not be made hastily, since so much depended on the wisdom and care with which it should be made. Among the many places visited was Mokelli, a town situated on the Jong River, about sixty miles from the coast, and having a population of about five or six hundred. Contiguous to it were other towns, making within a small circuit a population of two thousand or more. The climate and healthfulness, with all other conditions, seemed to mark this as the most favorable spot they had found, and, taking all things into account, they decided to locate the mission at this place, and commence work as soon as possible. The next step to take was to secure land for a building and other uses of a mission, and for this purpose it was important to get a written title duly signed by the headman, or chief, of the tribe. The chief, or king, was seen, and the terms of a bargain were agreed upon, and a properly executed title was promised. But African chiefs are proverbially slow in a matter of this kind, and before all the proceedings were concluded the missionaries left for Freetown. It was understood, however, that Mr. Flickinger would return to Mokelli to complete the negotiations. The matter of the location being, as was believed, settled, Mr. Shuey felt that he had accomplished the service with which he was charged, and Dr. Kumler having become a victim to the dreaded African fever, it was deemed advisable that they two should return to America, leaving Mr. Flickinger to prosecute further the work for which the way had been so far prepared.

After their departure Mr. Flickinger returned to Good ^p.438 Hope Station, where, soon after, in the month of July, he was attacked by the African fever, and greatly disabled for a long period. After partial recovery he preached often to the native congregation at Good Hope, and also made frequent tours to various outlying points, preaching to the natives the gospel of Christ, and also acquainting himself more perfectly with the aspects of different places. And now the tardiness of the wily Mokelli chief in signing a deed of conveyance proved that a serious mistake had been made. Mr. Flickinger, learning subsequently that a considerable portion of the year the river Jong was not navigable, and that access to the town from the coast was difficult and necessarily dangerous, and having made a visit to Shaingay and noted the advantages which it presented, determined upon a change of location for the mission. The wisdom of this determination has since become very manifest, since Shaingay presents, with convenience of access, as healthful a position as may be found anywhere along the coast. After much delay, indeed not until after Mr. Flickinger's return to America, and his second visit to Africa, was a title to this situation secured. This point has since become the entrance way to all our missionary operations in Africa—the Antioch of the Church in reaching the heathen fields beyond.

On his second trip, entered upon early in January, 1857, Mr. Flickinger was accompanied by William Barton Witt, M.D., of Cincinnati, and Rev. J. K. Billheimer, a young man of the Virginia Conference. Dr. Witt was an able and consecrated physician, and Mr. Billheimer was a man of fervent spirit, who gave himself without reserve to the work. The appointment of these men gave great satisfaction to the Church at home. Dr. Witt's stay in Africa was unavoidably abridged, his return to America after a year and a half of service being necessitated by broken ^p.439 health in consequence of repeated attacks of the fateful African fever. Mr. Billheimer remained to give first two years and afterward several additional years of devoted labor to the work. Mr. Flickinger soon returned to America, and was elected by the General Conference of May, 1857, to the office of corresponding secretary of the Missionary Society, Mr. Bright's health having so far failed as to make further service for him impossible.

After an absence of about nine months Mr. Billheimer was again on the field, now to complete the mission building, the erection of which he had previously begun. Rev. J. A. Williams, a native convert from Freetown, in whose charge he had left the mission during his return to America, assisted him greatly in this work. And now, the house being ready for use, with two rooms for living and a larger room for chapel and school uses, Mr. Billheimer entered again upon the work with new inspiration and hope. A few years later another visit to America became imperative for the recuperation of broken health. When he started a third time for his chosen field, in October, 1862, he took with him a companion and sharer in his toils, having married Miss Amanda L. Hanby, a daughter of Ex-Bishop Hanby. Mrs. Billheimer possessed recognized fitness for missionary work, and was duly appointed to the work by the Missionary Board.

Meanwhile, the work had begun to bear fruit among the native heathen. With the erection of the mission-house interested audiences were gathered into its chapel. Among these some listened with appreciation to the gospel message. Among the early converts was Lucy, a daughter of Chief Caulker. The king, though he had given a title for the ground on which the mission-house was erected, was utterly out of sympathy with the objects of the mission, and indeed did all he could to hinder its work. He and his ^p.440 wife bitterly opposed Lucy in becoming a Christian. She, however, was resolute in her purpose, and remained faithful to the religion she espoused. Some years later, in 1871, the king himself laid down his opposition, and died an avowed and sincere Christian.

In 1860 the Board of Missions sought again to strengthen the hands of Mr. Billheimer by sending out the Rev. C. 0. Wilson. He arrived at Freetown in November. He remained only a few months, when he was stricken down with the fever while on a business trip to Freetown. On his partial recovery his physician insisted upon his immediate return to America as the only hope of preserving his life. He obeyed the order, and reluctantly returned. Then, lest complaint be made of the useless expenditure of money by the board, he paid out of his own purse all the expenses incurred.

Mr. Billheimer's third visit to Africa was not to continue for more than about a year and a half. After toiling hopefully for a while both he and his wife were disabled by the fever, which has destroyed the lives of so many missionaries, but of which so few of those sent out by the United Brethren Church have died. After a long period of utter prostration there seemed to be nothing left to do except to return to America, Mr. Billheimer, especially, feeling that his work in Africa was done. They arrived at home in May, 1864.

Other laborers, as time passed, were raised up. Among these were Rev. 0. Hadley, of the St. Joseph Conference, and his wife. They set sail for Africa in October, 1866. After two and a half years of faithful service they returned home in the spring of 1869. Mr. Hadley was in delicate health before going to the mission, and died soon after their return, at their home near Lafayette, Indiana.

Fourteen years had now passed since the first ^p.441 missionaries sent out by the board had landed in Africa. They were years of interest, of anxiety, of high hopes, and much disappointment. A number of missionaries had been sent out, followed by the earnest prayers of the Church, and now in the spring of 1869 not one of the number was left on the field, the mission being again committed to that faithful native Christian minister, Rev. J. A. Williams. At this time many in the Church despaired of the final success of the mission, and some in high places began to entertain the thought of leaving it to other hands. It was in May of that year that the General Conference assembled at Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and it is to be recorded that, as expressing the loss of hope for the mission, a resolution was actually introduced in that body proposing its discontinuance. The resolution was anxiously discussed, and, to the honor of the conference be it said, it was voted down almost unanimously.

But now a brighter day was at hand. The Lord honored the faith which triumphed in the day of darkness. In the city of Dayton, Ohio, in the Third United Brethren Church (colored), was a humble layman, intelligent, possessing sound judgment, a sincere Christian, a porter in a carpet store, Mr. Joseph Gomer, of pure African descent. The Lord placed the seal of his Spirit upon this man, and called him, with his excellent wife, to this work among their kinsmen after the flesh. They responded to the call, were duly consecrated to the service, and after the preparation of a suitable outfit they started for the great work to which God so manifestly called them. They sailed from New York in December, 1870. Their advent to the mission marked the beginning of a new era. Mr. and Mrs. Gomer soon found the way to the hearts of the people. The work began to enlarge under their hands. Preaching places multiplied, and native helpers arose from ^p.442 among the converts. A long period of service lay before them, and before Mr. Gomer's death converts were numbered by thousands, and an organized annual conference of preachers was holding its yearly sessions. Mr. Gomer made his last visit to America in 1889, attending the General Conference at York, Pennsylvania. He returned to Africa, dying on the field in September, 1892, at the age of about sixty-five years. Mr. Gomer acquired wide influence among the native African tribes, frequently acting as umpire in their differences, and sometimes even settling wars between opposing chiefs. Mrs. Gomer died in December, 1896, at Dayton, Ohio.

In the year 1883 a proposition from the American Missionary Association to transfer to the care of our board the Avery and Good Hope mission stations for five years was received and considered by our board. The proposition included the annual payment of five thousand dollars to our board for the service to be rendered. It also carried with it the pledge of ten thousand dollars, given by a generous friend in England, to be expended in the building or purchase of a small steamer for the use of our mission in Africa. The proposition was accepted by our board, and for the period named these stations were operated by our board. The steamer also was built and sent to Africa. The latter proved rather a costly experiment. In the absence of skilled engineers and mechanics, to run the boat or make repairs when needed, the boat was used at great disadvantage, and after a while abandoned as a mission boat. On January 1, 1889, the annuity ceased, but the Avery and Good Hope stations have been left under the care of our board.

In 1883 Revs. J. M. Lesher and W. S. Sage and their wives were added by the board to the missionary force in Africa. These appointments were made partly on account of the increased responsibility of the board by having ^p.443 accepted the proposition of the American Board to supply the stations just spoken of. They reached Shaingay on the 6th of October of that year, and rendered valuable service to the mission during their stay of nearly three years. A portion of this time marked a very rapid advance in gaining converts from heathenism. In 1885 the church membership of the mission numbered 1,526. In 1886 this number had increased to 2,629.

Among the most useful servants of the mission work was Tom Tucker, one of the first converts under Mr. Billheimer, reclaimed from heathenism at the same time with Lucy Caulker. He became not only efficient in business matters, but also a useful preacher. Finally, while he was serving as pastor of one of the stations, the Master's call came, and this good man went to his reward. Among his last words were these: "I am ready to die and go to reign with my Saviour. I feel that God is with me all the time." His death occurred September 13, 1885.

In the year 1886 the results of the mission work were partially summed up in the corresponding secretary's annual report to the board at its meeting in May. There were nine native preachers, four of whom had received regular ordination. Added to these were fifty-three lay workers, making a total native force of sixty-two. Two hundred and fifty-seven towns were on the list of the places statedly visited. The natives paid for the year then closed two hundred and forty-six dollars for the support of the work. The lay membership, we have just seen, was 2,629.

Other workers have given various periods of service to the mission in Africa. Among the most efficient of these is Rev. L. 0. Burtner, who was appointed superintendent of the mission in May, 1892. His wife, a daughter of Dr. E. Light, chaplain of the National Soldiers' Home ^p.444 at Dayton, Ohio, was appointed to the mission with him. Mr. Burtner saw early the importance of teaching the native converts self-reliance and self-dependence, and resolved that as far as lay in his power he would enforce this as a duty. The general policy hitherto had been to supply to too great an extent the needs of the mission by help from America. He found it a slow and difficult task to enforce this principle, remarking in his latest report to the board:

"It was apparent to me from the beginning of my oversight of the missions that a change of policy was necessary in order to secure greater progress. The rule was that those employed on the mission depended on it for almost everything. I at once sought to instill the idea of self-support in missions, and directed my efforts at first along the line of church erection. It required one year for the people to be assured that I would not build and keep in repair their native chapels. It took another year for them to learn that they could do it themselves, and a third year to go to work and do it. Last year we witnessed the completion of four native chapels, and this year one of stone foundation, hard-wood frame, and iron roof is being built, and will be ready by January next. We also require the people at all out-stations to clothe and feed their children and supply them with school-books. In short, our present policy is not to do anything for the people which they can and ought to do for themselves. Self-reliance greatly increases their desire and capacity to do for themselves."

Better words than these could not be spoken in regard to the policy which ought to be pursued. Perhaps the most serious fault of earlier administrations of the work in Africa was that of doing too much for the converts in material things, instead of teaching them how to do for themselves, and insisting upon it that they must do it.

^p.445 At the present time the membership under the care of the general Board of Missions, together with that of the missions of the Woman's Missionary Association, as included in the African conference, is about six thousand souls, with seventeen itinerant preachers. In the missions of the parent board there are seven schools, ranging in attendance of pupils from twenty to one hundred and fifty, or about four hundred pupils in all. In this the Rufus Clark and Wife Training School is not included. The superintendency of the missions is at this time intrusted to Rev. J. R. King, Mr. Burtner and his wife having returned to America to recruit failing health.

The Training School.

Among the most useful aids for the prosecution of the mission work in Africa is the Rufus Clark and Wife Theological Training School, established at Shaingay, through the munificence of Mr. and Mrs. Rufus Clark, of Denver, Colorado. There had long been a serious need for a school of a higher grade for the training of native preachers and teachers. In a limited way this work was undertaken in America. But it was plainly impracticable, on account of expense, as well as for other reasons, to bring to this country for suitable education a sufficient number of men to meet the requirements of the work. The gift of the sum of five thousand dollars by Mr. and Mrs. Clark, in 1886, was most opportune. A building of stone, sixty-six feet in length by thirty-one in width, and two stories high, was in due time erected, and the school was opened on February 21, 1887, with eight students, three of whom were in the department of theology. Five years later sixteen students were enrolled in the training department, with a large contingent in the common branches of study. It is a fact of special ^p.446 interest that a large part of the stone used in this building, including the corner-stone, came from the old abandoned slave pens of John Newton, on Plantain Island, three miles distant. Mr. Newton, it will be remembered, was once a noted slave-trader, and after his conversion became a distinguished minister of the gospel. All the stone for the building was generously donated by Chief Neal Caulker, an ardent friend of the mission. The first principal of the school was Rev. D. F. Wilberforce, M.D., a native-born African, who was educated in Dayton, Ohio, by the Board of Missions. Mr. Wilberforce having resigned in 1893, Rev. A. T. Howard was made principal in 1894. An excellent school at Bonthe, under the care of the board, numbers about one hundred and twenty-five pupils.

A Home of Rest.

The long ocean voyage to the home land for missionaries requiring temporary cessation from labor has been a serious obstacle to taking needed rest in time. This difficulty is happily in process of removal. Two years ago Bishop Hott, on returning from an episcopal visit to Africa, urged the importance of providing for the missionaries a home of rest on the mountain range overlooking Freetown and the Atlantic Ocean. It was proposed to build a house costing from twenty-two hundred to twenty-five hundred dollars. The proposition at once met with favor, and the general board and the woman's board uniting in the enterprise, the raising of funds was soon accomplished. The building is now nearing completion, the stone for its construction being obtained on the mountain. Mount Leicester is sufficiently elevated to be above the malarial range, and the atmosphere is thoroughly healthful and stimulating. The beauty and healthfulness of the spot has attracted the attention of other mission boards, and several ^p.447 such homes are already erected there. The work is under the superintendence of J. R. King of the general board, and L. A. McGrew of the woman's board. The advantages of having such a home near at hand, to which the fever-stricken and worn laborers may retire for a while for rest and recuperation, are manifest, and this place will doubtless prove to our missionaries a blessing of inestimable value.

III. THE MISSION IN GERMANY.

In the spring of 1869, when so many despaired of the future of the mission work in Africa, and even the General Conference entertained for discussion a proposition to abandon the field, a new light suddenly shone forth. The eclipse of faith was ended, and, instead of abandoning the work among the benighted heathen, a proposition was made, before the new board then chosen, to organize a mission in Germany. The German delegates to the General Conference were especially earnest in urging that missionaries be sent to the Fatherland, who should bring to its people the living spirit of a true evangelicism. The proposition was favorably entertained, and Rev. C. Bischoff, of Zanesville, Ohio, was appointed the first United Brethren missionary to Germany. Mr. Bischoff made early preparations for a departure for his field. He began work, and during the first year of his service he gathered about one hundred members into his fold. This mission has been productive of most gratifying results.

IV. THE MISSION IN JAPAN.

The latest work undertaken by the Board of Missions is the founding of a mission in Japan. At the meeting of the board in May, 1895, the question of establishing a mission in some new foreign field was under consideration. China and Japan were proposed as offering inviting fields. ^p.448 Upon voting, the result was practically unanimous for Japan. While the question was thus considered and decided, the Lord was providentially preparing the workmen who should be the first to enter the new field. One of these was George K. Irie, who had been for several years in America, and was then pursuing post-graduate studies at Lebanon Valley College. Mr. Irie is a native-born Japanese, possessing superior intelligence, a winning address, and fine social standing in Japan. His grade upon examination at the close of the college year entitled him to the degree of doctor of philosophy, which was awarded him. At the session of the Miami Conference in Dayton, in September following, 1895, he was, upon due examination in Christian doctrine, admitted to membership, and licensed to preach the gospel of Christ. Dr. Irie was appointed by the board to the charge of opening a mission in Japan. With Dr. Irie during his stay in Dayton was Mr. U. Yonayama, also a converted Japanese, and a young man of large promise. He was authorized to assist in the work of the proposed mission. These young men left America full of faith in the gospel of Jesus as the means of salvation to their people. Upon reaching their native land the Lord soon placed before them an open door. They found many willing to hear their message, and the work has proceeded most encouragingly.

But the Lord also soon raised up others to join them in their work. Among these may be mentioned Rev. S. Doi, now actively at work in Tokio; Rev. M. Okamoto, for a short time pastor of the First United Brethren Church in Tokio; and five or more others, of whom some are student preachers—young men in the schools, but beginning to preach the gospel of Christ. Mr. Okamoto had an interesting American history. The well-known missionary journal, The Gospel in All Lands, says of him that several ^p.449 years ago he was converted in the little Japanese mission in Oakland, California. He was then in training for a business career, but the Spirit of God called him to another sphere. In a few months he was found preaching the gospel in Victoria, British Columbia. Here he learned that at Port Simpson, six hundred miles to the north, on the borders of Alaska, there was a colony of Japanese for whom nobody cared. He took shipping at the opening of winter for this point, preached to them the gospel of Christ, and won scores to the Christian faith. Returning, he resumed his work at Victoria, preaching also at Union, Fraser River, and Vancouver, forming at each place a mission church. He toiled through these years in great privation, being without a salary, and receiving only occasional means of support. Pulmonary trouble drove him south to a milder climate, and later, his life being despaired of, friends in San Francisco sent him back to Japan. For a time his health improved, and he was able to do hard work. Dr. Irie, who knew him in America, in conjunction with his fellow-laborers appointed him pastor of the First Church in Tokio. After a short period of faithful service his health declined again, and on the 30th of November, 1896, he passed on to receive his crown.

The first missionaries appointed by our board to Japan arrived in that country on November 10, 1895. A little time was required to arrange for the work, and they date the real beginning with the opening of 1896. Their success has been quite remarkable. The following from a letter from Dr. Irie to Dr. Bell, the missionary secretary, under date of October 13, 1896, reporting the plans and appointments for further work, has much the appearance of a familiar stationing-committee's report:

Tokio.—The First Church, M. Okamoto; Asakusa, K. Okada; Homjo, supplied by S. Tashiro; Kalida, supplied by A. Nakagawa

^p.450 Shigaken.—Kusatsu and Moriyama, S. Doi; Hachiman, Minakuchi, and Otsu (capital of Shigaken), to be opened as soon as money is provided.

Shizuokaken.—Shizuoka and Hamamatsu, two men will be appointed as soon as possible.

Thus does this work in that far-off land beyond the seas open, under the blessing of God, with the most cheering promise. Dr. Bell about a year ago made a kind of episcopal visit to the mission, and found everything full of encouragement. He was received everywhere with open doors and open hearts, and returned full of faith and hope for the future of the mission so auspiciously begun.

V. CHANGE IN ORGANIZATION.

The General Conference of 1893 made a very important change in the form of organization of the Missionary Board, by which each annual conference is permitted to choose a member in addition to those elected by the General Conference, such members possessing equal privileges in the board with those elected by the higher body.

A most excellent monthly periodical, the Search Light, is published by the Missionary Society, edited by its executive officers, Drs. Bell and McKee.

VI. SUMMARY.

Eleven conferences are at the present time classed as mission conferences, and receive aid from the board. Aid is also given directly to individual mission churches in cities in twenty-three other conferences. To this are to be added two conferences in the foreign field, in Africa and Germany, and the work in Japan.

The total amount of money collected and expended by the Missionary Board since its organization, in 1853, according to the latest figures available at this writing, is $3,636,319.19. Of this amount there has been expended for the mission in ^p.451 Africa, $281,181.04; in Germany, $64,181.14; in Japan, $4,530.80. In addition, the board has received as sacred or permanent fund $92,048.36. In the same period there have been collected for the home and frontier fields, and expended by the annual conferences within their own conference districts, sums estimated to reach an aggregate of $1,363,680.81, making the grand total of moneys collected for the missionary work since 1853 $5,000,000. This does not include the further amounts raised through the agency of the Woman's Missionary Association.

VII. GENERAL OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY.

We have already seen that Rev. J. C. Bright was practically the founder of the Home, Frontier, and Foreign Missionary Society of the United Brethren Church, and also its first corresponding secretary. After four years of most devoted service he was compelled, on account of failing health, to relinquish the work he so greatly loved. He lived until 1866, never regaining his former strength, when he was called to his eternal reward.

In 1857 the General Conference elected as his successor Rev. Daniel K. Flickinger, who had returned a few months before from his second missionary trip to Africa. This election changed the course of Mr. Flickinger's life, while it did not remove him from connection with the missionary work. The reader has already seen a more extended account of him.

The General Conference of 1885 elected the Rev. Z. Warner, of the Parkersburg Conference, to the office of missionary secretary. Dr. Warner had been an active and successful itinerant all his life. He was an able preacher, an accomplished lecturer, and a facile writer, but found it difficult to adapt himself to the details and drudgery of office life. In September, 1887, he resigned ^p.452 his office, and a few weeks later accepted the pastoral care of a church in Gibbon, Nebraska, performing also duty as a teacher in the United Brethren academy located there. His labor here was destined to be brief. In January following he was stricken down with pneumonia, and in a few days after his generous spirit passed into the presence of his Master. His departure brought profound sorrow to the hearts of thousands who had admired and loved him.

On the resignation of Dr. Warner, Rev. William McKee, the treasurer of the society since 1885 and for the term from 1869 to 1873, was chosen by the executive committee of the Missionary Board as acting corresponding secretary until the next assembling of the General Conference. One year later, in September, 1888, Rev. B. F. Booth, of the East Ohio Conference, was elected by the executive committee to be assistant corresponding secretary. In May, 1889, the General Conference elected Dr. Booth to the office of corresponding secretary. He performed the duties of the office with devout zeal and distinguished ability until March 9, 1893, when the Lord whom he served called him to his eternal reward. Dr. Booth was born in Holmes County, Ohio, on July 4, 1839. He was converted in 1858, became a member of the Muskingum (East Ohio) Conference in 1864, and was ordained by Bishop Edwards in 1866. He served efficiently as pastor and presiding elder until 1888, when he was called to the service of the Missionary Board. He was connected with various church boards, and enjoyed in high degree the confidence and regard of his brethren.

The General Conference of 1893 elected as corresponding secretary the present able and energetic incumbent, Rev. William M. Bell. Dr. Bell was born in Whitley County, Indiana, on November 12, 1860. He was licensed as a ^p.453 minister and became a member of the St. Joseph Conference in 1879, and was ordained in 1882. He became an active and successful pastor, gave attention to the Sunday-school work, especially to the normal training of teachers, and was for four years president of the Indiana State Sunday-School Association. Dr. Bell's work is characterized by well-directed zeal and rapidity of execution, and he is an earnest and inspiring preacher. The General Conference selected wisely when he was chosen to this important office.

Rev. William McKee, the treasurer of the society, was first elected to this office in 1869, remaining in its service until 1873. He was again elected in 1885, and has continued to the present. Dr. McKee was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, on February 20, 1831. He was converted in 1852, became a member of the Auglaize Conference in 1856, and was ordained to the ministry in 1858. Since 1868 he has been a member of the Miami Conference. He served successfully as pastor until called into the general service. In the office of missionary treasurer his work is characterized by carefulness and accuracy, and his long service as treasurer, amounting now to sixteen years, has proved in an eminent degree satisfactory to the Church. As a preacher he is clear, concise, and able, and always heard with profit.

The treasurers of the Missionary Society have been Revs. John Kemp, William McKee, J. W. Hott, and J. K. Billheimer.

The headquarters of this society, as of all the general departments of the Church, are at Dayton, Ohio.

¹P. 273; see also Lawrence's History, Vol. II., pp. 226, 227.



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