4 1/2 years in the Italy mission

Front matter

Glass Tfi Vs '^^ i 7 6

Book 'S?"

4f years in the ITALY MISSION.

Contents

PAGE

Introduction by the Author, . . 5

The Call and Journey, . . . . 13 Learning the Language, ... 38

Introduction

Some one has written an account of his travels in Europe, entitled '' Sights and Insights." This book is devoted solely to insights. We have no concern with natural scenery, imposing architecture, and works of art. We leave these things to the writers of guidebooks. As an agent of the Methodist Episcopal Church we feel it our duty to make our report. How often the genial and eloquent Chaplain has told us that the way to get a good collection for the Missionary Society is to tell the people what has been done with the money already given. We agree with him perfectly. The contributors have a right to know all the facts. It is not just to tell them a few of the most encouraging facts and to conceal from them the failures. It is an ungracious task for those who stay at home to recount the defeats of those who go out to battle, but surely one who has suffered loss at the front may be permitted to point out the defective movements in the campaign and warn of ambuscades those who may renew the charge.

Bishop Thoburn has set us the good example of criticising some missionary methods hitherto in vogue, and has shown very clearly the wisdom of acknowledging defeat. He says :

' ' With regard to criticism . . . from whatever quarter, it is a mistake — a very serious mistake — for missionaries and their friends to resent such criticisms as hostile attacks directed against them and their work. No great public movement can afford to disapprove downright, straightforward and earnest criticism ; and even if it have a hostile element in it, it by no means follows that it must, in the nature of the case, be hurtful. It will have to be conceded that the miissionary reports for the past half century have not been written with that spirit of frankness and candor, and with that conscientious regard for strict accuracy which the supporters of the work have a right to expect. For instance, if it be asked where the failures that have occurred in the mission fields of the world during the last half century have been recorded, it is not easy to obtain an answer. Pick up a hundred missionary reports and read them over, one after another, and it will be very rarely indeed that any mention will be found of a failure ; and yet failures have been occurring all the time. In any great work they must occur, in the very nature of the case, and ought to be recorded with all fidelity and frankness. . . . It is not considered beneficial to the interests of the great societies at home to spread anything before the people which would discourage givers, or weaken the confidence or

Introduction 7

lessen the enthusiasm of the public. So long as this spirit is cultivated by the leaders of the movement, sharp ajid even hostile criticism may be more or less expected. It will never do, in the interest of any cause, however good, to call failure success, and to go on year after year affirming that the policy which may have been adopted is proving all that its friends had expected, while, as a matter of fact, it is proving the exact contrary.

' ' The time has fully come for the Church of Christ to rectify two mistakes which she has for some time been making in connection with this work. In the first place, she should resolutely and honestly look failure full in the face, and not for a moment shrink from it or pretend that she does not know that it exists when it is in plain sight before her. It is always wise to know the worst, and nothing is ever gained by concealing either from ourselves or others actual facts as they exist in connection with any work for which we are responsible. It will be said, no doubt, that there is no real failure in the mission field. Some good men affirm that it is impossible for us to say that any Christian Avork is, or ever has been, a failure ; and we will be told over again for the thousandth time that we have nothing to do with the results, that it is our duty to work on and let God choose his own time for rewarding the labors of his servants ; and that success may be so near at hand that what seems defeat to-day will change into victory to-morrow.

But all this kind of talk must be set aside as simply trifling with grave facts." ^

The Bishop could not have written more appropriately, if he had had the Italy Mission especially in view. We agree with him that the policy of concealment is a mistaken one. The failure to investigate thoroughly and to learn the real condition of a Mission is a still greater mistake. The refusal to listen to or to credit any one but the superintendent of a Mission is well-nigh willful blindness. If there has been failure it is far better to find it out and acknowledge it and change the policy. A change of administration is not enough. The hindrances to success may exist in the system far more than in the erroneous judgment of the administrator. A temporary lack of success may be passed over in silence, if more time be necessary to test a certain policy, or if the remedy has already been applied and better results may reasonably be expected in the future. But it is worse than folly to go on for more than twenty years, pursuing an erroneous policy and wasting missionary funds. Concealment of the true state of affairs in such a case is almost criminal, and often the only way to correct errors of policy and of administration is to let the public know them.

One's estimate of results depends upon one's ideal of what constitutes success. There are those who are contentedly unsuccessful, whose idea of success is,

1 Methodist Review of 1891, pp. 869, 877.

Introduction 9

as a facetious writer has said, " to find a vacant cliair and to sit down in it," who in fact never realize that they are accomplishing nothing. Others think themselves and are thought to be successful, if a good deal of noise and bustle with the rattle of machinery be heard. Others are contented if statistics can be so tabulated as to make success apparent to those w^ho cannot look back of the reports. Others have achieved success, if they have gotten themselves well spoken of in the newspapers frequently, notwithstanding the suspicious state of any enterprise that needs to be puffed so often. Others live on the expectations of the future, and with some cheerfulness pursue a fruitless policy in hope that something good may eventually come out of it. All such ideas of success need to be corrected. It is far better to open our eyes to the present state of things, and to inquire the reason why our efforts have thus far been almost in vain. Perhaps we shall hear a voice saying, "Cast your nets on the right side of the ship."

In order to succeed in any enterprise not only must means and agents be employed such as will lead to the desired results, but the end in view itself must be wise and good. It is necessary first of all to determine carefully the end sought. Can any one tell us what we are working for in Italy ? Is it the salvation of individual souls ? Is it the conversion of Catholics to Protestantism one by one? Is it the reform of the Roman Catholic Church? Is it the dissemination of gospel light, the moral and religious education of the people, leading to disruption from Catholicism and the establishment of an independent Italian Protestant Church? Is it the building up of one out of half a dozen rival evangelical denominations, or is it to restore primitive Christianity? It may be replied that all these ends are in view. Then we inquire, which is the ultimate end, and are all the other subordinate ends really contributary to that? After these questions have been answered, then it will be time to ask whether the means and agents have been well selected and wisely used to accomplish our purpose.

Apparent success is sometimes real defeat. Especially is this true in the Mission field if quantity be sought rather than quality. A shrewd use of money will multiply the number of churches and adherents that do not long adhere. All the time the Mission may be growing weaker and weaker in all that constitutes a life-giving, victorious church. What Dr. Josiah Strong has said of the churches at home may also be true of some of our Missions abroad : —

" Our churches are growing, our missionary operations extending, our benefactions swelling, and we congratulate ourselves upon our progress ; but we have only to continue making the same kind of progress long enough, and our destruction is sure."

As this book is intended to be a discussion of some missionary methods, we have thought it best to

Introduction 11

use the inductive method and to base our conclusions upon facts ascertained. Experience is a reliable though soinetimes expensive teacher. Hence the narrative form of the discussion. It is to be feared that a priori reasonings have prevailed too much in the founding and conduct of Missions. It is easy for the generals who are "five thousand miles in the rear" to prescribe what ought to be and must be done. It is barely possible that they are not sufficiently informed of the real state of the campaign. It is of course quite improper to state in public print all the facts that the authorities need to knoAV. They would be disgraceful to all concerned. It is hoped that the facts herein set forth, as well as the arguments founded upon them, may be of some service in leading to the correction of existino^ evils.

FOUR AND ONE-HALF YEARS IN THE ITALY MISSION

Chapter I The Call Axd Journey

" Well, we have a call to the mission field, but it is not to Mexico."

''Where, then?"

''To Italy."

" We are ofoino^."

Such was the salutation and response on a Deceniber evening in 1887 on entering home after having spent the afternoon at a missionary convention. My wife had read the letter received from the Bishop, and hence the announcement. We were not wholly unprepared for the call, since the Missionary Secretary had informed us a few^ days before, that our appointment to a foreign Mission w^as under consideration of the authorities and had asked, " Hoav would you like to go to Mexico ? "

"Have not given the matter any consideration," was the reply.

" Well, think of it, and let me know^"

It needed little thought, for we were ready to go to Mexico or anywhere else. Indeed this was included in the original consecration to the ministry. During the ten years spent in the ministry in Maine the entire Mission field had been a constant study, and it was a delight to collect and present to the people facts and statistics to show how the kingdom of God was getting on in the world. Every piece of good news and encouraging note from foreign fields was hailed as a signal of victory. All was taken for face value. We had not yet learned to read between the lines. Standing on the heights of faith and missionary intelligence we cauo^ht the foreo^leams of the advancino^ millennial day. It was no irksome task to take the missionary collection, going from house to house and from person to person and soliciting something to help save the world from superstition and sin. Geography became a fascinating study. Weeks were spent in making a wall-map of Africa, on which was traced every new discovery from Livingstone to Stanley, and in imagination the whole Dark Continent was cut up by railroads and dotted with schools and churches. Then fancy, impelled by desire and faith, flew over India, China, and Japan, and saw the speedy conquest of their millions for Christ. The names of missionaries in these and other lands were catalogued in our list of heroes, and on the frontier circuits of Maine we often felt as though we were hanging around the convalescent camp, nursing weak believers, while our nobler brothers were fighting in the van. Once, however, the thought did strike us with some force that possibly not all missionary work was confined to foreign lands. It was the day we arrived at our first $300 circuit and found a letter saying that English residents in Chili had pledged $2,400 per annum for the support of a missionary and wife to teach and preach. The greatness of the financial inducement took the glory all out of that call, and the question arose whether it Avere not a temptation of the devil rather than a providential indication of the divine will. Does it not demand more of consecration, self-denial, and the missionary spirit to stay at home than to go? We concluded that it does, and therefore refused the call.

A sense of unworthiness and of a lack of spiritual qualifications always prevented our becoming a candidate for missionary honors. Common grace would do for plodders in the home field, but gratia specialissima was needed for those who face the dangers and privations, the isolation and lonesomeness, the idolatry and superstition, the ignorance and vice of foreign lands. Who is sufiicient for these things? It was enough for ordinary laborers in the Lord's vineyard to work and pray, collect money, and help awaken missionary enthusiasm. Surely the home work ought not to be abandoned, and it was doubtless our duty to bear the cross patiently and stay at home. So we reasoned, and succeeded in contenting ourselves in inglorious freedom from battle-scars.

But when the call came like lightning out of a clear sky, we seemed at once to recognize a graciously providential preparation in the previous years of enthusiastic study. The heart was ready for the response. We can not say that we were insensible to the honor conferred. The Apostles rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the cause of Christ, and it may be that the honor of separation from home and friends was esteemed as quite equivalent to that received from the infliction of stripes. Certainly it was a discipline not less severe. Some fancy that missionaries have great privileges of travel, of acquiring stores of knowledge, of learning new languages, etc., and these privileges are not to be despised, but such attractions fade and shrink into small proportions after a few months of separation from old friends and religious associations. The greater the privation and loss, the greater the honor. We remember distinctly to have said in our last sermon before departure that no greater honor could be conferred upon any one than to be called to the foreign mission field, i That person who said that he would rather found a mission than a kingdom was right, and we sometimes wish he had the privilege of attempting it.

We cite a portion of the Bishop's letter :

" Dear Brother : Would you like to go to Italy as a missionary ? I have been for a long time seeking a suitable man to re- enforce our work there ; and you have been so recominencled to me by a sufficient number of competent judges who know you well that I am now ready to appoint you if you will consent to go.

"This appointment is one of the most critically important in any of our mission fields anywhere. We have bat two Americans in the Italy Conference. We greatly need another at once :

"1. To give the Church the benefit of one more intelligent judgment as to plans and methods of work in evangelization among Roman Catholics.

"2. To carry over some more genuine Methodist evangelical leaven.

"3. To aid in establishino^ a theoloo^ical school.

"4. To stand in any possible gap which may be produced by the death or sickness of either of the American brethren now there, or by any other cause.

' ' We must begin to train up native ministers as soon as possible. What relation you would have to that work, I cannot now say. Doubtless it would be best for brethren who know the lano^uao-e to beo^in the Avork ; but you have been selected because of your supposed competency to aid in it after acquiring the language. Your first duty would probably be to learn the language, meanwhile informing yourself about the situation, and perhaps assisting in the supervision of the Mission as Presiding Elder of one out of two or three Districts, and in the business affairs of the Mission. These matters of detail could easily be arranged.

" Of course I need not dwell at all on the opportunity of personal development and varied usefulness which a residence in Italy would open to you. I am informed that you have given considerable study to the missionary Avork and are deeply interested in it.

" Please let me hear from you soon. Take a few days for prayer and consultation, if you wish, and then let me know how the matter strikes you.

" May God guide you to a right decision. " Yours very truly.

To this we replied that no time was needed for consideration, having reflected upon it ten years or more; that while a call to Mexico, India, or China would have received an affirmative reply, still the Italy Mission presented some special attractions. The privilege was asked of completing the Conference year in the pastorate, but this was denied, since the needs of the Mission were pressing. So in a few weeks we said, as we supposed and as in so many cases it proved to be, a last farewell to brief and to life-long friends and set out for a new land and a new life.

Our enthusiasm was somewhat chilled at the office of the Missionary Society in New York. The General Secretaries were away. The person in charge did not seem to know or care to communicate anything special concerning Italy or best route of getting there. The existence of a Manual of Instructions to Missionaries was first revealed to us by its accidental

The Call and Jourxey 19

discovery in the library of one of the missionaries in Italy. As for salary nothing was ever said about it in correspondence or at the office. It was fixed by the estimating committee in Italy after our arrival, at about twice the amount which our ideas of missionary life had led us to expect. We were assured that a generous salary was necessary for comfortable support. That depends of course upon the style of living adopted. This is true, however, that an American missionary in Italy needs more money to live comfortably than would be required to live in the same manner in an American city of the same size. Foreigners are generally over-charged for everything they buy, and their ignorance of the language and customs of the people makes economy very difficult. To require American missionaries to live on the same salaries as native preachers would be a great inequality from simply a financial point of view. Their expenses are necessarily much greater. To ask a man who is worth or is receiving $1,000 at home to serve for $500 in a foreign field can only be justified on the ground that the Missionary Society is poor, or that he should manifest the spirit of self-sacrifice to the natives. There are many ways of showing this, but the native preachers generally fail to recognize the self-denial of the missionary so long as his stipend is greater than theirs.

A word may here be said about traveling expenses. The entire bill for transportation of household furniture and books, custom-house expenses, railway and steamer fares, hotel expenses, etc., of three persons from Maine to Rome was $475. When we afterward learned that over $900 were charged to the Missionary Society for traveling expenses of a single man from Europe to take charge of a church of immigrants in America, we concluded that our traveling expenses were not exhorbitant. We had raised money by hard work for Missions and so felt conscientiously bound to economize in every way possible ; he had constantly received money from the Society and never exerted himself to raise any. As corporations have no souls he felt at liberty to spend all he pleased, i.e.^ all he could get. But how he succeeded in making his traveling expenses more than $900, has always been a mystery. He had doubtless studied economy in the same school with that Italian preacher who for moving expenses of himself and books from Perugia to Melfi, a distance of about 250 miles, sent in to the treasurer of the Mission an estimate of $500. By close figuring he afterward cut it down to half that sum, but when only $40 were offered, he indignantly withdrew from the ministry, after, however, having dallied in correspondence and drawn his full pay for two months. We may have occasion to speak of him again.

We sailed from New York to Liverpool February 11, 1888. We will not weary the reader by a description of the disagreeable features of the passage. How green and beautiful appeared the shores of Ireland.

In London new inspiration Avas gained by listening to some of the living prophets and visiting the tombs of the dead. To walk through the aisles of Westminster and around City Road Chapel, to call to memory the lives of the good and great, to look upon the spot where Christian heroes had suffered martyrdom, to visit shrines rendered sacred by age and historical and religious associations, were privileges blessed in their influence.

Paris detained us only for a day of needed rest. An all night's ride brought us to Geneva, where we had our first coveted glimpse of the Italian Mission. Here we had a church of forty or fifty members, gathered and organized under the auspices of the Scotch Presbyterians. A young student in the Theological School of the Swiss Free Church, of Waldensian family, and maintained largely by funds received from the Educational Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, had served as pastor, and after his graduation the church concluded to call itself Methodist on condition that this pastor remain and the Missionary Society pay his salary of $720 and all current expenses, minus such contributions as they might choose to give. They continued for some time to worship in the Swiss National Church built by Italian refugees from Venice, in the sixteenth century. The forms of worship were all Presbyterian, even to the wearing of the ministerial gown in the pulpit. Nobody knelt in prayer. There was an audience on Sunday of about thirty. In the afternoon Ave visited our German Mission in a little hall on the hill. Here everybody sang and knelt in prayer. The preacher talked from the heart and then called on one of the older members to lead in prayer. The spirit and conduct of the meeting was thoroughly Methodist and in striking contrast with the Italian service. Giving a church or a congregation a new name does not change its character. It might be interesting to note that one year later this pastor was transferred to America at his own request. When the time of departing came, he found that he preferred to remain in Geneva. So he persuaded his churcli to abandon Methodism, and sent a telegram to the Presiding Elder, withdrawing from the ministry and saying that the church at Geneva would make itself independent. The Presiding Elder and Bishop hastened to the scene and persuaded the church to remain in the fold of Methodism. The pastor begged that his attempted secession sholild not be made known, withdrew his withdrawal, and Avent to America, where report says that he is doing good service in an Italian Methodist church.

Of course we could not leave Geneva without seeing the house where John Calvin lived and the church where he preached. Here, then, was born the system called by the terrible name of Calvinism, that we have learned to shudder at from infancy. We stood also over his grave, marked with a very small stone with simply the initials J. C. The stone is amply large and attractive to commemorate the theologian, but does not do justice to the strength and greatness of the reformer. His influence upon large bodies of Protestants will live on long after his defunct predestinarianism shall have been buried out of sight. The Roman Catholics as well as the Unitarians cannot forget that he had a part in the burning of Servetus, and when persecutions and inquisitions are mentioned^ still parade that disgraceful piece of history as a counter-argument ao^ainst Protestantism in o-eneral. It is sometimes said, and we have heard it recently from an eminent speaker wdio ought to know better, - that the Roman Catholics would burn the Protestants at the stake now if they had the power. We think not, not because they have more religion now than they had then — they had lots of it then, such as it w^as — but because Christian civilization has mightily advanced, and its mitigating force is felt in every part of Christendom. Thank God, the instruments of torture Avill never again be used in defence of any form of Christianity.

The journey from Geneva to Milan was exceedingly uncomfortable. Through ignorance of the language we switched off on the Avrong track at Culoz, had to return, wait several hours, and take a slow train. The cars were very insuthciently heated, and the cold was intensely felt. We intended to spend the night at Turin and visit our church there, but did not arrive till five o'clock in the mornino: and so went right on to Milan. We were all sick with colds and used up through the weariness of thirty hours' travel and lack of sleep. At Milan we were entertained by the Presiding Elder of the Northern District, whose thoughtful invitation to visit him on our way to Rome reached us before sailing from New York. How pleasant to sit and talk before the open iire ! The Italy Mission was the constant theme. Every preacher and every station was photographed, of course, from his point of view, and necessarily we could but see things as he saw them. The view was not captivating, and we were both fully convinced that there must be a radical revolution in men and methods. Eor our part we have never seen any reason for changing that opinion. Indeed, the experience of the years since has constantly emphasized it. It is easier, however, to criticise the administration of another than to see the same faults in one's own. A few years' experience as superintendent of the Mission might lead us to think that the present condition of things is almost ideal.

After two days we moved on toward Rome, the seat of the Annual Conference to be held the following week. We spent a night at Bologna and heard a sermon against suicide by our preacher in charge. An audience of fifty or so had been collected by means of handbill advertisements of his theme. Our property at Bologna consists of a church, a shop, and five apartments, one of which is used as a parsonage, and the rest are rented. The inconie, together with the €ontributions of the cono^reoation, ouo-ht to be snfficient to pay all expenses of the church, including pastor's salary, but instead the annual estimates have asked from the Missionary Society the pastor's salary in full and a large share of the current expenses. Until 1891 no account was made in the annual estimates of the income from these rents. These and other rents were used as an incidental fund.

The preacher in charge at Bologna was an ex-priest, Doctor in Philosophy and in Canon and Civil Law. Of the merits of his sermon we could not judge. About a month later we attended a so-called prayer-meeting in this church. The preacher opened with an invocation, the phraseology of which was taken from the Mass, a thing quite customary in many churches in Italy. Then he announced a hymn which was sung very slowly and dolefully. Then he read a portion of Scriptilre, with brief exposition, and offered prayer. Then he expounded another portion of Scripture and prayed again. Another hymn. Then he expounded and prayed the third time. Another hymn and the benediction. No one but the preacher had opportunity to say a word. Perhaps experience had tauo^ht him that no one in his cono^reo^ation had anything to say in a prayer-meeting. The audience endured all this patiently. They call anything a good meeting which calls together a respectable number of hearers. As for class-meeting, the thing was entirely unknown. They had a Sunday-school, and this was the way it came about, as we learned from a member of the church and from a subsequent pastor. To attract the children a prize was offered every Sunday ; it might be a pair of shoes or stockings, a cap, a handkerchief, some fruit or confectionery. As a prize for every scholar would be rather too expensive, a species of lottery was instituted, and the fortunate, or unfortunate, one got the prize. A year later the successor of this pastor discontinued the practice, and immediately the children began to inquire : ' ' Are we not to have our prizes ? " ' ' Perhaps at Christmas time, but not every Sunday," was the reply. " Then we won't come to Sunday-school," they said, and the following Sunday not one of the forty children appeared. There has been no Sunday-school in the Methodist Episcopal Church at Bologna from that day to this.