Mission schools in India of the American board of commissioners for foreign missions, with sketches of the missions among the North American Indians, the Sandwich Islands, the Armenians of Turkey, and the Nestorians of Persia

Front matter

ifl^f t&oftytyfo *=M...

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

,1,11, j

Preface

When I went to India, fifteen years ago, I had no distinct views in regard to the different agencies employed in the missionary work. When I looked down for the first time from the Highlands near the village of Tas, upon the broad and fertile plain of Ahmednuggur dotted with beautiful villages, the morning sun glancing gloriously from the white domes of their numerous temples thronged with idolatrous worshippers, the one passion and purpose of my soul was to win as many of them as possible to Christ. I knew nothing of " mission policy," but our blessed commission.

A joyful welcome awaited us from our elder brethren, and the next day they committed to me the care of the mission seminary at Ahmednuggur. They soon added to my duties the city free schools, and subsequently the free schools in the villages. This system of schools had been devised and prosecuted for many years, and I can claim no credit or responsibility in regard to its origin or adoption. I engaged in such duties as were committed to me. I watched the working and results of these schools with increasing interest and much care. I observed their special power for good, in accomplishing the salvation of souls. I became convinced of the wisdom of my brethren who had devised and adopted them. Hence, when in 1854, I saw their views wrested or disallowed^ and these schools suppressed, I grieved for their loss.

The question involved in the use of these schools is vital to the success of our missionary work. My love for this work has led me to prepare this volume, with the earnest hope that by helping to right views, it may contribute to our success, and the more speedy triumph of the Gospel in India and every •lark land.

Yi PREFACE,

This work is not designed to be controversial, but historical. I have spoken freely of our able Deputation to India, and the changes they effected, but only so far as necessary to be true to the facts of history. Should any reader, by a bare possibility, think I have said too much of the Deputation, let him bear in mind that he knows not how inucb I have left unsaid. Let him also compare this with the larger volume which the Deputation published, embodying and enforcing their views and the changes they effected in India.

This volume does not so much represent my own views as it does the views of my brethren in the foreign field, and of the officers of the American Board. Its chief aim is to gather up the most important facts, incidents, and results in the history of our mission schools. In doing this it sometimes brings to view the discouraging details and patient, persevering toil involved in this work of missions, but it also brings to view the rich and abundant blessing which God has bestowed upon such toil. Many pages will be found to develop the results of our schools, in scenes and events as precious and glorious as those of the day of Pentecost.

In my efforts to let facts and the views of others rest on their authority rather than mine, and at the same time avoid cumbering my page with references and foot-notes, I have used frequent quotations. These may have interfered somewhat with a forcible style, but if so, it is hoped the ready authority they carry will furnish ample compensation.

Discrepancies and errors in dates may exist ; but so far as a most laborious and patient examination of manuscript and printed reports and letters from the missions, and of the organs of the Board, could avail, all errors have been guarded against with scrupulous care.

On the 20th of last December, I was about to engage an immediate passage to India. Delayed a few months by an event beyond our control, I have sought in this volume to make it accrue to the benefit of the cause we love and to which we have devoted our lives. Impatient of further delay, we now hasten back to our adopted home and field of labor in the dark kingdom of Kolapoor. R. G. Wilder.

New - York, March 4th, 1861.

CON TENTS.

PAGE

Chapter I. Theory Of Mission Schools

Origin and Object of the American Board, 19

Schools and Oral Preaching one in Aim, 20

Difficulty of communicating Christian Truth to Heathen Minds, 21

Views of Dr. Anderson on this point, 22

Necessity of Schools from the Character of Heathenism, 23

Schools necessary to procure a Stated Audience, 27

Value of Curiosity in securing Hearers, 27

Self-interest the only Controlling Motive, 28

Available by Furnishing Employment, Medicine, Alms, 23

Education appeals to the Worthiest Motives and Better Classes, 29

Schools remove Ignorance and lay Stable Foundations, 30

Schools conciliate the People, 31

Practice of European Missionaries, 34

Views of the Rev. David Green, late Secretary of the Board, 35

Chapter II. Different Kinds Of Mission Schools

Testimony of the Rev. D. 0. Allen, D.D., 36

Schools for Heathen Youth, 38

Employment of Native Christian Teachers, 44

Vernacular and English Schools, 46

Experience of European Missionaries, 48

Experience of American Missionaries, 49

Commendation of all these Schools by the Officers of the Board, 51

Chapter III. Character And Results Of Mission Schools In Our Bombay Mission

Origin of the American Mission in Bombay, 53

Gordon Hall's Appeal to the Governor, 53

Oral Preaching Unsatisfactory, \ 55

Necessary Resort to Schools, 56

Gordon Hall's Estimate of the Schools, 58

Testimony of Hall's Biographer, 60

Practice of the Missionaries, 61

Moral Courage of Babajee, 63

Conversion of Three Heathen Teachers, 65

Death of Gungah and Babajee, » 67

Vlll CONTENTS.

PAGE

Estimate of the Schools by the Board and Missionaries, 68

Opposition of the Hindus to the Schools, 71

Approved by the Board, 72

Facts and Conversions in the History of the Schools, 73

Influence of the Schools in changing Public Sentiment, 78

Statistics of Mission Schools in India, in 1851, . 82

Disastrous Change, 82

Chapter IV. History Of Our Bombay Mission Schools Continued

Bombay High-School and the Late Deputation, 84

Cause of the Deputation to India, 85

United Testimony of all the Missionaries, 86

Rev. R. W. Hume's Plea for Schools, 86

Rev. S. B. Fairbank's Plea for Schools, 92

Rev. George Bowen's Plea for Schools, 98

Rev. Henry Ballantine's Plea for Schools, 101

Rev. A Hazen's and L. Bissell's Plea for Schools, 103

Rev. Messrs. Burgess and Wood's Plea for Schools, 104

Rev. S. B. Munger's Plea for Schools, 105

Result of these Pleadings in Boston, 106

Second Series of Pleadings by all the Missionaries, 107-119

Commencement and Success of Bombay High-School, 119

Result of these Second Pleadings in Boston, 120

How did the Deputation effect their Object, 121

Absolute Authority of the Deputation, 122

General Meeting at Ahmednuggur, 123

Dr. Anderson's Opening Address, 124

Manner in which Action was secured, 126

Report on the Bombay Institution, .' 127

Report committed to Another Chairman and changed, 129

How was the Report accepted, 129

Votes for the Employment of "Heathen Teachers," 131

Suppression of the Bombay Institution, 132

Results from Schools in this Mission, 133

Results from Schools in the Scotch Free Church Mission, 135

Appeal from the Deputation to the Prudential Committee, 136

Tabular View of the Schools, 152-3

Summary of Results, . 154

Tabular View of the Missionaries of the Bombay Mission, 155-6

Chapter V. Character And Results Of Schools In The Ahmednuggur Mission

Origin of the Mission, 159

Prominence given to Schools with Heathen Teachers, 160

English Schools, 162

Mission Seminary, 1 63

Estimate of the Schools by the Missionaries, by the Board, by Europeans, 168-73

Do Heathen Teachers counteract Christian Instruction ? 174

The School-Girl and Lord's Prayer, 175

Pupils throw away Idols, 176

Conversion of Pupils. Ramkore and her Mother, 177

Influence of Schools on Adults, . , • 18C

GONTENTS. IX

PACK

Unwise to limit efforts to the Low Castes, 184

Value of the School at Ncwase, 187

Conversion of "Heathen Teachers'" — Hurripunt, RamkrisliKapunt, etc.,. 194

Schools opposed by the Heathen, 206

Converts from the Seminary — Rama, Yyenkutrao and others, 207

Change of Policy, disparaging the Schools, 220

Unhappy Results of breaking up the Schools, 225

Letter from the Mission Secretary to Dr. Anderson, 228

Ordination of Native Pastors, . . . . '. 238

Why were the Schools abandoned ? 2 40

Tabular View of the Missionaries, 242

Chapter VI

SCHOOLS OF THE SATARA AND KOLAPOOR MISSIONS. SATARA.

Schools secure ready access to the people, 245

Religious Interest in the Schools, 246

The Schools Disbanded, 247

Tabular view of the Schools and Missionaries, 250

KOLAPOOR.

Description, 251

Opposition overcome by Schools, 252

Mrs. Wilder's Account of the City, Temples, and Schools, 253

Converts and Inquirers — Govind Apa Chowhan, 257

,,ehools abandoned by the Deputation, 260

Schools reauthorized by the Prudential Committee, 261

Outbreak of the Sepoy Mutiny, 263

The Mission abandoned, 266

Appeal from the Prudential Committee to the Board, 267

Reestablishment of the Mission, 2*72

Chapter VII. Schools Op The Ceylon Mission

Description. Origin of the Mission, 283

Chief interest centres in the Schools, 285

First Revival in the Schools, 285

Second Revival in the Schools, 286

Origin of the Batticotta and Oodooville Seminaries, 287

Third Revival in the Schools, 288

Fourth Revival in the Schools, 290

Fifth and Sixth Revivals in the Schools, 293

Seventh and Eighth Revivals in the Schools, 294

Ninth Revival in the Schools, 298

Conversion of Magee, 298

Conversion in a Free School 299

Lamentations on account of Retrenchment, 303

Father Spaulding's Lament for the Schools suppressed, 309

Grief of the Board at the loss of the Schools, 310

Efforts to retrieve the Loss of the Schools, 314

Tenth Revival in the Schools, 317

Converting Influence of the Schools, 318

Success of the Schools in training Native Helpers, 320

X CONTENTS,

PAGH

The Native Church gathered from the Schools, 323

The Old Heathen Teacher, 325

Eleventh Revival in the Schools, 329

Testimony of Rev. Dr. Poor, 330

The Schools suppressed, 337

Chapter VIII

SCHOOLS OF THE MADURA AND MADRAS MISSIONS. MADURA.

Importance of Schools, 340

The little Girl who would not break the Sabbath, . 346

The Praying Girl and her Father, 348

Special Value of the Boarding-Schools, 1 349

Schools secure " Village Congregations" 352

A Revival in the Seminary, 354

Change of Policy and Retrenchment, 355

MADRAS.

Chief hopes centre in the Schools, 361

MISSION TO THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.

Origin of the Mission, 394

Kings, Chiefs, and People learn to read, 395

Value of the Schools, 401

Chapter XII. Mission To The Nestorians Of Persia

Schools are the first Effective Agency, 403

Patriarchs and Priests oppose the Schools, 406

Secretary and Committee approve of Heathen Teachers, 406

Revival in the Schools, 408

Third Revival in the Schools, 411

Fourth and Fifth Revivals in the Schools, 412

Sixth Revival in the Schools, 413

Seventh and Eighth Revivals in the Schools, 414

Introduction

Modern Missions have become a fact and a power in the world. Their results, for the last fifty years, put to shame alike the timid faith of the Church and the scornful predictions of the infidel opposer. A recent vigorous writer in India, with the fruits of Protestant Missions around him there, and looking only at their temporal results, very justly remarks : " We are tired of listening to nonsense about the small results of missionary work, the enormous revenue expended, the inadequate return secured. In the midst of the mighty events now passing over Asia, though every throne is rocking, and every dynasty crumbling into dust, though the Tartar lords are ceasing from the face of the earth, and the great struggle of the North and the South seems rapidly approaching, there is no event more wonderful than the progress of the mission power. Within one poor half-century the unregarded effort of a few fanatics, with a ' visionary cobbler' at their head, has become the strongest of social levers. If a third of the human race are now hi internecine struggle among themselves, it is because a missionary instructed a poor Chinese lad sick in his hospital."

This last remark refers to the internal conflict then waging in China, the end of which is not yet.

Our writer might have added, if the degraded islanders of the ocean have been raised from their ignorance and pollution and blessed with a written language, and with all the arts and sciences of civilized life, it is the result of missions. If the vast regions of Central Africa are being opened up to the light of science and civilization, it is because missionary zeal impels the explorer.

India is the great land of idolaters, and in regard to India, more frequently than elsewhere, have the missionaries been reproached for their want of -success. Such cavillers are well met by the statements and interrogatories of this writer. " Is it nothiDg," he continues, "that one entire race, shortly to people an entire province, eagerly embraces Christianity, maintains its own pastors, builds its own churches, and when called upon to suffer for the cause, dies calmly with Christ upon its lips ? Those who know the Karens, know that they have done all this: Is it nothing that at this very moment in the jungles of Chota Nagpore, among a race wTild as our painted forefathers, three thousand men have declared their eagerness to be baptized ; that Government with another wild race to tame, and that race recently in rebellion, can find no civilizers so efficient as Christian Missionaries ? Is it nothing that among one of the worst and most degraded populations of Asia, the Pariahs of Lower India, 100,000 men have embraced the faith, and do, so far as the human eye can see, live according to it ? It has been evident for years, to all men with eyes, that the old fabric of Hinduism is breaking up. In the Arctic Seas, before the ice cracks, a low steady murmur is heard, never ceasing, springing no one can tell whence, yet always, in the midst of the vague terror it suggests, announcing the approaching deliverance. The ice has not cracked, but the murmur which precedes it is on the air. Who believes in Hinduism ? Some few Europeans, the Court of Directors, the British Parliament, but certainly not the Hindus. Sutti and widow celibacy are abolished. Polygamy is doomed, and what Hindu, knowing all this, raises a hand ? There is no heart left in the creed, and though it may exist for generations, as the corpse of Roman Paganism did, its downfall is assured."

This utterance was penned in India by an experienced and observant mind shortly before the outbreak of the terrible Sepoy rebellion of 1857. Does not the fact of that rebellion show that he misapprehended in some measure the spirit of the Hindus? I think not. On the contrary, the result of that rebellion clearly proves that Hinduism has no elements which can stand before true science and Christianity ; and that in its general import, this prophetic utterance is finding a rapid fill Ailment.

With reference to the agency in effecting this mightychange, our author continues : " This has been accomplished by missionaries, and is not the greatest of their achievements. For years their influence and that of the class which supports them, has been permeating Indian society. That society is consequently utterly changed. The tone of the official world has utterly changed. Is this nothing to have achieved ? "We have not spoken of souls saved, for we are not writing for religious men who know these things without our guidance. We address those who will look only at the social aspect of the question, and we ask them whether the result does not justify the cost ?"

Now, in properly estimating the results of modern missions, we may not, with this writer, limit our vision to the civil and social benefits accruing from them. These, in comparison with the spiritual results, are as time to eternity, earth to heaven. Worldly philanthropists may well rejoice in the civil and social changes effected by missions. These changes are every where such as to challenge their admiration and merit their cordial cooperation in the work. But the crowning glory of missions is, that they are God's appointed agency for saving immortal souls — for despoiling Satan's kingdom and reestablishing the kingdom of Christ. And when we attempt to estimate these higher and spiritual results, we are constrained to feel that the triumphs of the Gospel in the achievements of modern missions eclipse all that is recorded of Apostolic times.

In confirmation of this view it is sufficient to mention the more than 40,000 converts gathered into the Christian Church within the last thirty years from the degraded idolaters of the Sandwich Islands, or the wonderful reformation now progressing among the Armenians of Turkey and the Nestorians of Persia, or the 50,000 converts won to Christ by the labors of our Wesleyan brethren on the Fejee Islands, or the 25,000 converts gathered into the mission churches, which like so many glorious lights begirt the dark continent of Africa, or the 30,000 or 40,000 natives of India who have broken the adamantine chains of Hindu idolatry and caste, and now gather with us in humble faith and love around the table of the Lord.

It is well to bear on our minds and in our hearts these triumphs of the cross in our own times. They serve to quicken our faith in the purpose and promise of God, and to fill our souls with adoring gratitude to Him through whose word and spirit all has been achieved. " Not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name be all the glory."

But it is not enough to raise peans of thanksgiving for triumphs already achieved. Before "the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ," far greater victories must be won. While we rejoice over the 30,000 native communicants who have been gathered into the Church of Christ in India, we must remember that some 200,000,000 of idolaters still remain in that land fast bound in the cruel bondage of heathenism — that the true light which has risen upon Western Asia and a few of Ocean's Islands, while gilding the mountain tops with divine radiance, serves at the same time to reveal more clearly the dark regions of heathenism which still cover the slopes and fill up the valleys of islands and continents over three fourths of our habitable globe. So that the true soldier of the cross must regard the brightest triumphs of the past and present only as a faint earnest of greater conquests yet to be achieved. The success of missions hitherto should only nerve the arm of the Church with new faith and courage for more vigorous campaigns, and lead her to consecrate every energy to this work intrusted to her by divine commission, till the last dark corner of earth glow with gospel light, and the heathen be wholly given to Christ as his rightful inheritance.

But, by what agencies is the Church to prosecute this warfare? With what means is she to bring the truth of God to bear on pagan minds and hearts ?

In reply to these inquiries, it would seem to be sufficient to point to the agencies she has hitherto employed. Had past agencies proved ineffective, we might properly discard them and seek for new appliances. But such is not the case. Past missionary efforts have been crowned with success which stirs the deepest gratitude of every sanctified heart.

And how has this success been achieved ? " Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." The word and Spirit of God have achieved it all, and these are our only reliance for the future. And here we might rest the case, assured that no dissenting voice would be heard among the entire band of Christian laborers.

But, doubtless, there have been human agents, and these have applied various instrumentalities. Oral preaching, schools, the press, itineracies, medicine, and other agencies have been pressed into the service for evangelizing the nations. In all this we might rejoice, leaving Paul to plant and Apollos to water, each according to his own judgment and ability, still rendering all honor to God who alone giveth the increase. But with this, the agents and laborers of some of our missionary societies have not been content. Claiming to be convinced of the superior efficacy of one or more of those agencies, they not only discard the others themselves, but insist that their brethren shall discard them also. "Were they willing to make their convictions a rule for themselves only, all might continue to labor harmoniously, having God's glory and the salvation of souls for their object, though seeking tocompass this object by different agencies for making known and applying God's truth.

But with this these well-meaning agents have not been content. They have opposed their convictions to those of their brethren equally conscientious, faithful and laborious. They have sought to enact regulations which should restrict these brethren to the particular agencies which they approve.

ISTow here is a serious evil — one which opposes a new hindrance, and unless speedily overcome can not fail to retard the progress of this blessed work. This evil has recently developed itself in the proceedings of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. This Board is the oldest and most successful of any supported by our American churches. Her missionaries are found on the Sandwich Islands, in Micronesia, along the coast of China, on Ceylon, that

" Fairest isle of the ocean, Brightest gem of the sea,"

in Southern and Western India, among the Nestorians of Persia, the Syrians of Mesopotamia, the Arabs of Lebanon, the Armenians of Turkey, the dwellers of classic Greece, and at different points skirting the dark continent of Africa.

-16 -INTKQPUCTIOX.

. For fifty years this Board has conducted missions with a measure of success which has brought new glory to God on earth, and won a good degree of honor to our American Zion. Oral preaching, the press, schools, and itineracies have been generally employed in all her missions. In the use of these appliances, the agents of the Board at home and abroad seem till recently to have been entirely unanimous. Each year the success attending these agencies has developed new cause of praise to God, and frequent formal votes of the Board, commending the wisdom of her missionaries in devising and applying these agencies. In perusing the published records of the Board, it is most gratifying to observe the mutual confidence between the agents at home and abroad, the unanimity and zeal wTith which these agencies have been applied, and the blessed results which have followed in their train.

But, unhappily, this pleasure was not to be enjoyed without interruption. The published records of the Board, for 185 G, develop a painful feeling of distrust and dissatisfaction with one of the agencies hitherto so unanimously and successfully employed in our missions. The value of some of the schools, which had been in use from the origin of our missions, is explicitly called in question in these records. A Deputation had been previously sent to our India missions, and in their published Report to the Board, at the special meeting held at Albany, March 4, 1856, we find, in their instructions from the Prudential Committee, the following paragraphs giving utterance to this distrust and dissatisfaction, namely :

" At present, it is the strong persuasion of the Prudential Committee that no school can properly be sustained by the funds of the Board, in which the vernacular language is not the grand medium of instruction." . .

" It is time to inquire more earnestly as to the place which schools ought to hold in the system of missionary efforts among the heathen. And the Deputation is instructed to procure an answer, as far as possible, to the inquiry, whether, in general, missionary schools should not be restricted to converts and stated attendants on preaching, and their children."

The results of this distrust, and the consequent doings of the Deputation, are somewhat known. Mission seminaries were disbanded; common schools with "heathen teachers" were interdicted. In one mission more than five hundred children and youth, who were daily enjoying faithful instruction in the saving truths of the Gospel, were " turned out into the great and terrible wilderness of the heathen world," by order of the Deputation.

]STow the schools thus interdicted were such as had been in use from the origin of our missions ; and the blessing of God has rested largely upon them, as the published records of the Board abundantly show. The Secretaries and Prudential Committee have repeatedly joined with the missionaries in sorrow and lamentations and appeals to the churches, in behalf of just such schools when disbanded for want of funds. (See Annual Report for 1838, pp. 41-43, and Heralds and Reports, passim.)

With all deference, then, to the judgment of the Deputation, and the present officers of the American Board, we must be allowed to inquire, should not the propriety of supporting such schools have been investigated and settled at a much earlier date ? If they were not worthy of support in 1856, how came they to be worthy of support in 1850, or during the forty years previous to that date ? Will it be said that such schools may have been proper at the origin of missions, and not so after years of progress ? That agencies may and should be modified and adapted to the progress of the work, in a given mission is readily conceded. But there were new missions in 1856, as well as in 1840 or 1820; and if these schools were proper in new missions and old ones too, previous to 1856, how came they to be unworthy of support in the new and unbroken regions of Hinduism subsequent to that particular date ?

These inquiries are propounded as well deserving the caudid consideration of the officers and patrons of the American Board. Has there been a grave mistake in the conduct of our missions through all the past history of the Board ? Have the funds of the churches been misapplied for the support of schools not worthy of patronage ? If the views and doings of our late Deputation were correct, how can we avoid the inference that, for more than forty years, the funds of the Board, so far as used for the support of the different kinds of schools interdicted by the Deputation, have been misapplied?

Nor is it possible to stop here, If the home and foreign agents of the Board have made so great a mistake for more than forty years, what guarantee can the churches have that they are right now ? May not the funds of the Board still be misapplied in many other ways at the present time ? Nay, may not this very act, suppressing the schools in question, prove to be the greatest error hitherto committed ?

These inquiries deserve the prayerful consideration of all who love the cause of missions, and the American Board. We leave them here, and turn to review the agencies in which all have been so happily united, and which have been so richly blessed of God.

In approving and sustaining the various mission schools of the Board, her home and foreign agents have been wonderfully harmonious up to a recent date. Is it not probable that to their harmonious views and action are to be traced, under God, the blessed results of these schools?

It is believed that if the true theory and practice of the officers and missionaries of the Board, in regard to these schools, and the blessed results which have attended them, were thoroughly understood by the Christian public, no place for controversy would remain. That instead of enactments interdicting any of these schools, and consequent division and strife, all would unite in thanksgiving and praise to God for the signal blessing he has bestowed upon this imperfect agency for making known Christ and him crucified to the perishing heathen.

It is the design of the following pages to develop the educational theory and practice of the American Board — the character AND RESULTS OF HER VARIOUS MISSION SCHOOLS. May

He whose glory among the nations is the great object of the American Board and all her agents, enable us to present the principles, facts, and results connected with this department of mission labor, so that our humble effort may meet with His acceptance and prove serviceable in the great and blessed work of evangelizing the heathen.

Chapter I. Theory Of Mission Schools

Origin and Object of the American Board.

The origin of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions dates from trie memorable Association at Bradford, Mass., June 27th, 1810. The large hearts and broad views of its founders are conspicuous in the incipient measures adopted, and in nothing more so than in the comprehensive declaration of their purpose in organizing the Board. Their first formal resolution on the subject stands recorded in the following language, namely : " Yoted, that there be instituted by this general Association, a Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, for the purpose of devising ways and means, and adopting and prosecuting measures, for promoting the spread of the Gospel in heathen lands."

No attempt was made to limit their proposed efforts to any particular agencies, and none were interdicted. A wide margin was left for all the wisdom and experience that might accrue in the progress of the work.

At a later period, when the " Laws and Eegulations of the Board " were more definitely determined, we find their object enunciated in the following terms, namely : " The object of the Board is, to propagate the Gospel among unevangelized nations and communities, by means of preach' ers, catechisis, schoolmasters, and the press." Here schools are distinctly recognized as one of the prominent agencies of the Board for propagating the Gospel ; and experience has abundantly shown the wise forethought and consideration of the venerable founders of the Board in this respect. They gave no special prominence to one agency over another, but left all to be employed in such proportion as the experience and judgment of their missionaries should determine to be most effective in accomplishing the great work to be achieved.