“I am tired of this prating and ignorant talk by would-be cultured people who know nothing of the real results of missionary work. They find no fault with actresses or sea-captains or Bohemians who choose exile for gain or pleasure, but they are always ready to cry out against the folly of one who goes to teach men the alphabet, and tell women that they are something more than beasts of burden or mere child-bearing animals.
“I am constantly meeting people who talk as if Buddhism contained all that is of value in Christianity, and who actually scoff at any attempt to disturb what they call the picturesque, simple faith of their carvers of ivory bric-à-brac.
“I revere Buddha. I do not ignore the fact that in all ages God has not left himself without a witness, and that many seers and prophets have led the nations toward the light. But I prefer the sunlight to the twilight, and what vision of truth has come to me I would pass along to others. Especially do I long to help the women. Sometimes their degradation and helplessness appeals so powerfully to my imagination that I feel that I must give my money and my time without stint, until selfish, indifferent Christendom is forced to remember what is the true condition of two thirds of the world.”
I was trembling all over with nervous excitement, and, as usual, was so absorbed in what I was saying as to quite forget to wonder what these five people, so much older and wiser and more experienced than I, must think of my sitting there and talking to them in this fashion. I am dreadfully afraid it must have seemed conceited or audacious or something of the sort. However, they knew nothing about me or my ideas, and as it was quite necessary that they should understand my position before they could give me any counsel, I proceeded to make it known.
“I am not content,” I said, “with most methods that have been used. Sectarianism, bigotry, and ignorance have often perverted the best results. The good souls who fear to send a preacher, no matter how devoted, unless he preach exactly their ‘ism,’ seem to me to be retarding by many years the consummation so devoutly to be wished. The most Christlike men whom I know could not be sent out as missionaries by the American Board. I believe there are hundreds of ardent young souls who would be led to offer themselves for work in foreign lands if the restrictions of creed did not stand in the way.
“Do not misunderstand me. I do not condemn creeds. Doubtless every one who thinks must have some kind of a creed, however short it be. But in the making of bequests, in endowments which are to help affect the thought of future generations, it seems to me difficult to avoid ultimate lawsuits, temptation to mental dishonesty, and infinite harm, unless the founder works on the broadest principles and sees the work begun in his lifetime.
“I have written my will this week and have devoted a very large sum of money for the establishment of a fund, the amount of which I shall not at present name, to be used as follows:—
“For the management and expenditure of this fund I have chosen five trustees. These shall fill vacancies in their number as they occur from death, resignation, incapacity, or whatever cause. One member, at least, shall always be a woman, and as many as three Christian denominations shall always be represented among the five trustees.
“The fund shall be called the ‘Christian Missionary Fund,’ and the work shall be, so far as the trustees are concerned, entirely unsectarian, though always distinctly Christian and Protestant.
“The fund shall be devoted to the following purposes: