Baptist Missionary Society

Women’s Missionary Work in India and China

Cover: Glimpses of Women's Missionary Work in India and China.

Written shortly after the Jubilee of the Baptist Missionary Society (1867-1917), this book aims to provide a series of snapshots of the work done by female Baptist missionaries. It is illustrated by six photographic plates from India and China.

My thanks to Redcliffe College for providing a copy of this public domain title for digitisation.

George Hawker [1857-1932], Open the Window Eastward. Glimpses of Women’s Missionary Work in India and China. London: The Carey Press, [1917]. Hbk. pp.170. [Click to visit the download page for this title]

  • Preface
  1. Pioneers
  2. Zenana Echoes
  3. Zenana Schools
  4. Women’s Influence
  5. Village Itineration
  6. Boat-Tours in the Beels
  7. “Going-a-Plaguing”
  8. Famine Relief Work
  9. “Doctor Sahiba”
  10. An Industrial Settlement (Salamatpur)
  11. Education: Dehli, Entally and Ballygunge
  12. India: Review and Outlook
  13. Country Work in Shantung
  14. Bessie Campbell and Her Biographer
  15. Certain Women and their Stories
  16. In the Days of the Second Revolution
  17. The New Opportunity

Chapter 2: Zenana Echoes

When our missionary sisters entered the grudgingly opened doors of the zenanas, they were constrained, more markedly in some districts than in others, to make haste slowly. In a speech delivered in London in 1881, when the Mission was just fourteen years old, the Rev. R. F. Guyton described the evolution of zenana work proper in the city of Delhi, the scene of his own memorable labours. At first our sisters could attempt little more than the establishing of friendly relations by means of conversation on general topics. Later they were able to give lessons in reading, writing and secular subjects. Then they taught lace-work and other, feminine employments, which provided new interests and relieved the monotony of seclusion; and finally, when confidence had been secured and minds opened, they were able to introduce the Scriptures and urge the claims of Christ.

Mr. Guyton was of opinion that this policy of patience was entirely justified, and that more precipitate evangelism would have resulted in exclusion. Since that time zenana doors have been opening ever more swiftly and widely, and if the missionary staff were immensely increased, the members of it and their native assistants would find more than enough to do of actual gospel work.

In reading this address of Mr. Guyton’s, and relating it to other records, one is driven to reflect upon the appalling amount of inane and trivial talk which must have afflicted our women missionaries, taxing their patience to the point of exhaustion, in those early days, and, indeed, all the way along. Of course small talk is not peculiar to any race or to either sex, and if the conversation of the world were stenographed for a single day, and the, volume of it appraised by some commissioned angel of adequate endurance, it is gravely doubtful whether the talk of women would be adjudged to be vainer or more wearisome than that of men. That men think lightly of women’s matters is irrelevant. The angel critic, superior to masculine limitations and unbiased by masculine conceit, would weigh with equal scales….

Pages19-20.

Centenary of the Baptist Missionary Society 1792-1892

John Brown Myers [1844/45-1915], editor, The Centenary Volume of the Baptist Missionary Society 1792-1892, 2nd edn.This is a detailed summary of the first hundred years of the Baptist Missionary Society with over 35 illustrations. These are included in greyscale to preserve their quality, which makes the download larger than usual. My thanks to Redcliffe College library for providing a copy of the book for digitisation. This volume is in the public domain.

John Brown Myers [1844/45-1915], editor, The Centenary Volume of the Baptist Missionary Society 1792-1892, 2nd edn. London: The Baptist Missionary Society, 1892. Hbk. pp.344. [Click to download complete book in PDF]

Contents

  • Holding the Ropes by Rev William John Henderson
  • India and Ceylon by Rev Samuel Vincent
  • China by Rev Ricahrd Glover
  • Africa by Rev Edward Medley
  • West Indies by Rev David Jonathan
  • East Europe by Rev William Landels
  • The Orissa Mission by Rev John Clifford
  • Bible Translation by Edward Bean Underhill
  • Appendix

Preface

The Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society publish this Volume on the hundredth anniversary of the existence of the Mission, with the prayerful hope that the perusal of these pages may excite fervent gratitude for past manifestations of Divine favour, and may lead to larger consecration, in view of the world-wide opportunities and urgent claims of the present day. If the century just closing furnishes, in the review of it, abundant occasion for encouragement, what will not the second century of modern missions, upon which we are now entering, witness, provided the Christian Church be faithful, expectant, and zealous l May every reader be prompted to inquire : “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?”

Whilst the occasion and scope of this publication do not permit the writers to make more than passing references to the work of kindred institutions, the Committee are not unmindful of the labours connected with other missions… [Continue reading]

Baptist Mission to the Congo

John Brown Myers [1844/45-1915], Congo For Christ. The Story of the Congo MissionJohn Myers brings up to date the story of the work of the Baptist Mission to the Congo, building on the account of Joseph Tritton using official BMS records. My thanks to Redcliffe College for providing me with a copy of this book to scan. This title is in the public domain.

John Brown Myers [1844/45-1915], Congo For Christ. The Story of the Congo Mission, new edn. London: S.W. Partridge & Co., [1905]. Hbk. pp.190. [Click to download complete book in PDF]

Contents

  • Preface
  • Preface to the Third Edition
  1. The Country, People, Language and Climate
  2. How the Congo Mission Began
  3. Early Difficulties Overcome
  4. Ingathering of the First-Fruits
  5. The Work Amongst the Congo Boys and Girls
  6. Literary Labours
  7. The Services of the Mission to Civilisation and Philanthropy
  8. The Native Christian Churches
  9. The Native Christian Churches (Continued)
  10. The Evangelistic Efforts of the Native Christian Churches
  11. The Death Roll and How to Regards it
  12. The Future of the Congo Mission
  13. Other Missions in the Congo
  14. Changes and Progress in the Lower Congo
  15. Developments on the Upper Congo River

Preface

Numerous inquiries have been made for’ a concise history of the Congo Mission, brought up to date: With the view of meeting this demand the present volume has been written. The late esteemed Treasurer of the Baptist Missionary Society, Mr. Joseph Tritton, published “The Rise and Progress of the Congo Mission” in 1885, which. publication has for some time been out of print, and during the last ten years the Missions has greatly developed. Considerable information is also to be found in the Memoir of Thomas J. Camber; appearing in this. Series, but that work· is necessarily restricted by its biographical character. [Continue reading]