based personal character of the Persian mullahs. It calls attention to the fact that they have had no proper education for their religious responsibilities, and that they grossly misuse their power for unworthy purposes.1

The Mohammedan shrines of Persia, especially that of Imam Riza of Meshed, are notorious for immorality. "The shrine of Imam Riza," writes a recent visitor, "is the great centre round which everything in Meshed swings, but under cover of its protection or service the grossest forms of sin prevail, while traffic in women for the convenience of pilgrims is a business so closely connected with the shrine as to be inseparable from it. A thousand men are employed in its service. It

1 A single paragraph from "The Tarikh-I-Jadid" will suffice:

"So heedless are they [the Persian people] that they do not perceive that most of these divines originally spring from the rustic population or the scum of the towns. They enter our cities and colleges with a smock and a staff, and feet full of sores encased in coarse socks and canvas shoes. There, by the alms and votive offerings of the people, by begging from this one and that one, by prayers and fastings paid for at the rate of two tumans a year, by reading through the whole Kuran for a kran, and by fees obtained for the performance of devotions, they manage to live in extreme wretchedness and poverty. After reading a few books, learning Arabic, filling their minds with all manner of doubts, hesitations, and vain scruples, and developing their obsolete superstitions and prejudices, they leave college, take their seats in the chair of the Law and the Imamate, and forthwith become the absolute arbiters and lawgivers of the nation, the controllers of all men's lands and possessions, the owners of horses, mules, gold, and silver. They then think themselves entitled to set their feet on the necks of all mankind, to lord it over the noble, to maintain troops of horses and retinues of servants, to claim to be the vicegerents of the Imam, to receive his tithes, and to make atonements for wrongs. They account themselves the most noble amongst all creatures, and the most perfect, the generality of men as 'like cattle,' and the common folk as even more astray.' They become dead men's heirs, consumers of endowments, and collectors of tithes and 'thirds,' and usurp the station of the One, the Dominant,' ' to whom belongeth dominion.'

'Most people, however, have not sufficient sense to perceive from what sources all these luxuries, powers, shops, villages, lands, aqueducts, possessions, and moneys which the clergy possess are derived. Have they skill in working mines? No. Do they traffic in the merchandise of India, China, America, or Europe? No. Do they traverse land and sea, or cultivate fields which lie waste? No. Have they amassed their wealth by the discovery of new arts? No. This luxury and opulence result, as all, wise or simple, may plainly see, from the plunder of rich and poor, from payments for legal decisions, written or pronounced, from the profits of writing, 'I decree this,' or saying, 'I am witness to this,' and ' It is thus and thus,' and from the hire obtained for the use of their honourable seals. Such being the case, what folly it is to take as guides men so notoriously evil and hypocritical, to follow their opinions, to be governed by their decisions, to cringe to them, flatter them, beseech their favour, and reckon them, forsooth, as the repositories of learning!”— Browne, "The Tarikh-I-Jadid; or, The New History of the Bab," pp. 184, 185. See also ibid., pp. 77, 189.

has an annual income estimated by different authorities to be equal to £12,000 in money and 3000 tons in wheat as a minimum, up to £72,000 and 12,000 tons as a maximum, amount. Instead of being

a 'house of prayer' it is literally a 'den of thieves.""

It is not necessary to dwell upon this theme in connection with the religious leadership of Africa and the South Sea Islands, where the guardians of the spiritual welfare of the people seem to be examples of ignorance and pride, and the masters of every art and device of superstition. They have apparently entered into partnership with the demons they claim to control, to exert a malign influence over human hearts.

In South America, Central America, and Mexico the religious guides of the people cannot be said to exemplify the morality which Christianity requires. On the contrary, there is much that is gross and lamentable in their lives. In Brazil, Peru, and Chile, and, in fact, pretty gener- America, and Mexico. ally throughout Central and South America, the

Religious guides in South America, Central

immorality of the clergy is notorious and undisguised.1 This statement is not based simply upon the testimony of Protestant missionaries. In 1867 there was published in Paris the report of Abbé Emanuel Domenech, Chaplain of the French Expeditionary Force who represented Napoleon III. at the time of the failure of the French intervention which ended in the death of Maximilian. This Roman Catholic prelate was charged with a special mission to ascertain the true moral and religious condition of the clergy and Church of Rome in Mexico. He

1 "Romanism in Europe and in the United States is manifestly far in advance of anything ever beheld here. There we see something good in that Church. Here the good has been reduced to such a minimum that one scarcely ever beholds anything but weakness and wickedness. There the priests, as a rule, keep up the appearance of Christian perfection, preserving their characters, as much as possible, blameless and above reproach. Here it is nothing for them to be openly immoral.”— See article entitled "Peru as a Mission Field," in The Gospel in all Lands, January, 1896, p. 9.

"The character of the religious teachers of any people is a fair index to the general moral condition of the masses who receive their instructions. The priesthood of Mexico has a few names that are untarnished in their reputation for virtue, but in the vast majority there is not as great an 'odor of sanctity,' outside of the pulpit, as would befit the ministers of Christ. Many are so notoriously drunken, profane, and lecherous that they are positive scandal to a society that is itself thoroughly honeycombed by vice and impurity. These men are never expelled from the ministry for their outrageous lives, but are simply changed from one parish to another when their vices or crimes become unbearable."-See article on "The Religious and Moral Condition of Mexico," by the Rev. Samuel P. Craver, in The Gospel in all Lands, March, 1894, p. 100.

Cf. also The Missionary Review of the World, March, 1895, pp. 198-202.

made a tour of personal observation, and published his report after his return to France, giving it the title of "Mexico as It Is: The Truth Respecting the Climate, its Inhabitants, and its Government." The document is a scathing arraignment of the Church and its clergy. We have here to do simply with what he had to say with reference to the priesthood, although the entire report is a weighty indictment against Romanism as it appears in Mexico.1 The Abbé has said in plain words all that we have hinted at in this paragraph. Coming from such a source, the testimony, under the circumstances, is convincing, and is so explicit that it requires no confirmation from Protestant writings. It is quoted by Mr. Butler from a volume entitled "Mexico and the United States," by Gorham D. Abbot.2

1 For further information upon the contents of the report consult Butler, "Mexico in Transition,” pp. 27–34, and The Missionary Review of the World, March, 1896, p. 177, article by Mr. Robert E. Speer, on Mexico: Her Needs and Our Duty."

2 The Abbé writes as follows:

"I say that Mexico is not a Catholic country: (1) Because a majority of the native population are semi-idolaters. (2) Because the majority of the Mexicans carry ignorance of religion to such a point that they have no other worship than that of form. It is materialism without a doubt. They do not know what it is to worship God in spirit and in truth, according to the Gospel. . . . If the pope should abolish all simoniacal livings, and excommunicate all the priests having concubines, the Mexican clergy would be reduced to a very small affair. Nevertheless, there are some worthy men among them, whose conduct as priests is irreproachable. . . . In all Spanish America there are found among the priests the veriest wretches-knaves deserving the gallows-men who make an infamous traffic of religion. Mexico has her share of these wretches. . . .

"The clergy carry their love of the family to that of paternity. In my travels in the interior of Mexico, many pastors have refused me hospitality in order to prevent my seeing their nieces and cousins and their children. It is difficult to determine the character of these connections. Priests who are recognized as fathers of families are by no means rare. The people consider it natural enough, and do not rail at the conduct of their pastors, excepting when they are not contented with one wife. . . . I remember that, one of these prelates passing through a village near the episcopal city, the priest said to him, 'Sire, have the goodness to bless my children and their mother.' The good bishop blessed them. There was a chamberful. Another did better still. He baptized the child of one of his priests. Can a clergy of such character make saints? I doubt. Nevertheless, they must not be taken for heretics. . . .

"They make merchandise of the sacraments, and make money by every religious ceremony, without thinking that they are guilty of simony and expose themselves to the censures of the Church. If Roman justice had its course in Mexico, one half of the Mexican clergy would be excommunicated. . . . The well-instructed priests, disinterested and animated by a truly apostolical spirit, holy souls whose religious sentiments are of good character, constitute an insignificant minority."-Quoted in Butler, "Mexico in Transition," pp. 32, 33.

Is it not evident, from this hasty and imperfect sketch of the moral status of the religious leaders of the non-Christian, and also of some sections of the Christian, world, that we have here a sadly suggestive brief as to the desperate needs of social reconstruction from the top to the bottom?

And now this long and dreary, yet needful, review of the evils of heathen society may be closed. Something more than a mere enumeration of its characteristic defects seemed necessary, for the sake of comprehensive and concise information, as well as to give emphasis to the call for Christian reconstruction. It was desirable that the treatment should be sufficiently in detail, and that it should be based upon authentic testimony. I have endeavored to substantiate facts, and have in most instances indicated authorities. Many more might have

been given for almost every important statement made. I have written 7

nothing which I do not believe to be true, upon satisfactory evidence. In connection with certain aspects of the subject I have not been able to print some incidents and details which have been given me in the freedom of private correspondence. In others, information too direct and authentic to doubt was not, however, suitable for publication. If the picture is considered by some to be overdrawn, I can only reply that it has been my endeavor rather to photograph facts than to portray them in striking colors, and that I have been guided by fidelity to the truth within the limitations of propriety more than by a desire not to disturb the reader's sensibilities. It will be our privilege in the remaining pages to turn to brighter and more attractive phases of our theme, which the dark background of the present lecture will serve to bring out into vivid and cheering relief. We shall realize, perhaps all the more gratefully, what Christianity means to human society, and what an object-lesson of hope and inspiration has been given to mankind in the victorious life of Christ :

"Who brings the fading flower of poor Humanity

To perfect blossoming and sweetest fruit."

LITERATURE AND AUTHORITIES FOR LECTURE II

The subjects referred to in the preceding lecture are so many and varied that the author cannot hope in a brief bibliography to do more than suggest to students some sources of his own information, and indicate where further and fuller investigation of special countries or topics may be made. With a few exceptions only recent books are noted. Missionary volumes referred to in Lecture II., will be found, in most instances, in the bibliography of Lecture I.

I. SOCIETY BEFORE THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY

II. SOCIETY IN THE EARLY CHRISTIAN AND MEDIEVAL

PERIOD