Just waiting for us to save them!
Elder
Price and Elder Cunningham encounter an African
heathen before they even leave Salt Lake City ! [Scene from
The Book of Mormon, playing at the Eugene
O’Neill theatre in New York .]
Our daughter and
son-in-law gave Marty and me tickets to see The Book of Mormon in New York , and we saw it
the other day.
Young people who’ve grown up watching South Park and
similar shows don’t even blink when they get hit with the F-word over a hundred
times in a night of entertainment, but some youngsters look with apprehension
when their parents venture into that environment.
At
my age (78) and after 34 years in the United States Navy, I’ve pretty much
heard all the foul words. However, males
of my generation still cling to this idea that we should protect young ears,
and those of ladies, from this language.
Well,
after a few minutes watching the antics of this legion of bright-eyed, white
shirt-clad young Mormons striking out to bring Christian and Mormon teaching to
the heathen of central Africa , you forget
about the “explicit language” and enjoy a wonderfully entertaining and funny
musical.
The
creators of South
Park don’t really skewer
the Mormon religion. Instead, they make
a lot of fun of idealistic people who launch themselves to the dark side of the
Earth to bring the message, any message, to people there.
That’s
the idea: Fresh young faces handing out the Book of Mormon to people in the
jungle of Northern Uganda . These lads are so filled with “missionary
zeal” that they quickly join in singing a catchy Ugandan song, then find that
they have blasphemed big time.
They
soon discover these Ugandans have larger problems, with murderous war lords,
poverty, hunger, AIDS, and female circumcision.
One
rather colorful Ugandan confides to them that he has “maggots in my scrotum”.
Elder
Cunningham, played by Josh Gad, is the typical schlemiel. A momma’s boy, this fat and friendless nerd
admits he hasn’t really read the Book
of Mormon that he has been sent to share with the natives.
However,
the smart and superior young Elder Price finds out he’s not so smart about spreading
the gospel, and the nerd comes out on top.
Cunningham does what all the other missionaries haven’t been able to
do--- he starts saving souls.
It’s
a jolly, happy musical with plenty of catchy tunes, and the nerd is the winner!
All this talk about
missionaries reminds me that we Americans have been doing this stuff for a long
time.
Oh, to
have been a Missionary in the good old days! Imagine boarding a ship in Salem Harbor ,
right here in Massachusetts . You took your whole family,
and trunks and trunks of books, clothes, pots, pans, and all the food you would
need for a few years.
Your voyage would take you to ports in
the Caribees, and then down the coast of South America to Cape Horn . If you were lucky enough to make it
around the Horn, after several months you would make it across the South
Pacific Ocean and make landfall near the Straits of Malacca, then into the Indian Ocean until you arrived at Hindoostan, which would
be your home for the next several years.
Or, perhaps you might have landed in
Cathay, which we now call China .
Missionaries that nations and
churches have sent all over the world have done a world of good, in bringing
medical care, and better health practices, and teaching people better ways to
farm, and to protect themselves from disease, and in many ways missionaries
have carried a message of hope and faith that has truly improved the lives of
people the world over!
Many, however, have sallied
forth without knowing anything about the country in which they would serve, and
once there, would not take the time to learn, to listen, and to acquire the
local language.
When you read some of the
missionary magazines from the nineteenth century, you can see for yourself that
some of our missionary work was based on ignorance, and quite heavy-handed.
As long as America has been a country, we
have been so sure of ourselves that we wanted everyone else in the world to
join us.
After all, how can they live without joining us in our religious
faith? I mean, it’s only
right that we lead them into the light.
Never mind that they have been
Hindoos, Buddhists or Mohametans or even tree-worshippers --- for many
centuries!
Well, we really didn’t want those
yellow and brown people to come over here, mind you --- but we felt that we needed to make good
Christians of them. While
we went to great efforts to give them the wealth of our knowledge and
experience, our immigration laws severely limited their coming to live here.
Our missionaries have taken Bibles and
trinkets to win the hearts and minds of the rest of the world. We were so terribly sure that if we
could turn them into good Christians, they would stop killing each other, and
marrying multiple wives, and putting widows on the funeral pyre to be burned
alive with their dead husbands. If
we could make everyone in the world into good, God-fearing, teetotaler
Christians, the world would be so much safer!
American
Baptist Magazine, May 1820
If you read a few of the books,
magazines and papers that religious groups published, you may get the
impression that our missionaries went forth to Siam and Hindoostan, Persia,
Cathay and Africa--- and to the Indian tribes all over America and Canada ---
without knowing much about these people, and with very little respect for their
religious faith or culture. Americans
sitting at home here read with eagerness about the adventures in these far-off
places.
I invite you to read a little about
the problems of building a missionary college in Serampour , India early in the nineteenth century.
Read about missionaries among the
Indian tribes right in North America, and read a translation of a letter of
King Otaheite of the Society Islands (Tahiti), telling about a comet that has
struck his people.
Serampore
College in India, founded 1818.
American Baptist Magazine and Missionary
Intelligencer, May 1820, Vol. 2 No. 9 Boston , MA :
Baptist Missionary Society of Massachusetts . Memoir of
Rev. Henry Jessey. Review of sermon delivered at the ordination of Rev. Stephen
Chapin by Jeremiah Chaplin, Professor of Divinity in the Maine Literary and
Theological Institution, at North Yarmouth . Extract
of letter from Missionary College , Serampore by W. Ward. [Note:
Ward was among founders of this College in India in 1818. It still exists in 2008.]
College is open to all denominations of Christians, and to as many heathen
scholars as choose to avail themselves of its exercises and lectures. Letter
from Pomare, King of Otaheite,Society Islands .
Report on efforts to Christianize American Indians of the Oneida and Stockbridge; letter signed with
marks by Oneida Indians asking to embrace Christianity.34
pp. 15 x 24 cm. Paper periodical, edges frayed, page corners curled, poor.
(6399) $36.00. Religious/Missionary
American Baptist Magazine and Missionary
Intelligencer, September 1820, Vol. 2 No. 11 Boston , MA :
Baptist Missionary Society of Massachusetts .
Frontispiece engraving of Rev'd James Manning Winchell, A.M. late pastor of the First Baptist Church in Boston . Memoir of the
death of Mrs. Tamma Winchell, Rev. Winchell's widow. Tribute on death of Rev.
Edward W. Wheelock, who, dying of consumption, left Rangoon for Calcutta , and died at
sea. Letter from Mrs. Colman on the Burman Mission, mournfully relates last
days of Rev. Wheelock. In letter to her sister she chides her for not answering
for "nine long
months" and goes on to
tell her about revival of Buddhism in Burma , and
building of pagodas. 32
pp. 15 x 24 cm. Paper periodical, edges frayed, page corners curled, poor.
(6400) $36.00. Religious/Missionary
American Messenger, June 1856; "Behold I
bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." Luke
2:10. Vol. 14. No. 6 New York , NY : The
American Tract Society. Americans eagerly awaited this monthly religious paper.
National news, religious commentary. Missionary news. Report on desperate
condition of women of China, by Rev. John C. Lord of Ningpo: They are slaves. Story about a dog who
saved a store from burning in Troy , NY .
War in Europe is ended, Treaty signed in Paris March
30 by Great
Britain , Russia , Austria , Sardinia , Turkey , France , Prussia . 4 pp.
38 x 56 cm. Newspaper, spinefold
torn 24 cm, good. (5361)
$20.00. Religious/History
American Messenger, July 1856; "Behold I
bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." Luke
2:10. Vol. 14. No. 7 New York , NY : The
American Tract Society. Americans eagerly awaited this monthly religious paper.
National news, religious commentary. Missionary
news. Colporteurs* among the Cherokees. Work of Grace among the Karens of
Burmah. The Chinese Language and Dialects. Agent of American Bible Society in Turkey sees declining interest in
Mohammedanism and increased interest in the Christian religion among Moslems. 4 pp. 38 x 56 cm.
Newspaper, biopredation in
horizontal fold, fair. (5362) $20.00. Religious/History
*Colporteurs were peddlars or distributors of
religious booklets and tracts.
American Messenger, August 1856; "Behold I
bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." Luke
2:10. Vol. 14. No. 8 New York , NY : The
American Tract Society. Americans eagerly awaited this monthly religious paper.
National news, religious commentary. Missionary
news. Letter from a Slave--Thanks for the
American Messenger! Report of Mexicans in Metamoras (sic) who are willing to
read. Progress in the North-west, among Romanists who have renounced Popery and
then united with Protestant churches. 4 pp.
38 x 56 cm. Newspaper, very good. (5363) $20.00. Religious/History
American Messenger, September, 1856;
"Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all
people." Luke 2:10. Vol. 14. No. 9 New York , NY : The
American Tract Society. Americans eagerly awaited this monthly religious paper.
National news, religious commentary. Missionary news. Story
about lumbermen on the head waters of the Kennebec River in Maine ,
one who swore that God Almighty is not quick enough to kill me with a tree. The
next day, while felling their first tree, a small branch was thrown with
fatal aim, as by the hand
of the Almighty, and killed him. Story of brutal Indian swinging festivals
honoring Shiva near Calcutta . 4 pp. 38 x 56 cm.
Newspaper, top edge ragged.
very good. (5364) $20.00. Religious/History
American Messenger, April 1857; "Behold I
bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." Luke
2:10. Vol. 15. No. 4 New York , NY : The
American Tract Society. Americans eagerly awaited this monthly religious paper.
National news, religious commentary. Missionary
news. Florence Nightingale, her upbringing, and her service in the recent war
in the Crimea .
The Rev. Dr. Eli Smith died Jan. 11 in Beyrout ,Syria ,
aged 55. His work was in translating, preparing and issuing a Bible in Arabic. 4
pp. 38 x 56 cm. Newspaper, very
good. (5365) $20.00. Religious/History
American Messenger, June 1858; "Behold I
bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." Luke
2:10. Vol. 16. No. 6 New York , NY :
The American Tract Society. 4 pp. 38 x 56 cm. Americans eagerly awaited this
monthly religious paper. National news, religious commentary. Missionary news. Bishop
McIlvaine's Address at 33rd anniversary of the Society. Position on "anti-slavery".Minnesota was admitted into the confederacy of
the United States May 12, making the number of states in
the Union 32. Russia to adopt the new style of calendar, so
that by 1912 their calendar will coincide with the Gregorian.
The children's missionary vessel,"Morning Star" since arriving at the Sandwich islands in 1857 has made two important
cruises. Newspaper, very good. (5372) $20.00. Religious/Hist
Boston Investigator, The; Devoted to the
development and promotion of universal mental liberty. Boston , Massachusetts ,
June 2, 1869 Seaver,
Horace, Editor 1869 Boston, MA:
Josiah P. Mendum. Unique newspaper, now in its 39th year, dedicated to
Rationalism, fighting bigotry and superstition. Originally founded by the noted
atheist Abner Kneeland, J.P. Mendum carried on the cause of fighting religion
and religiosity. Editorial on benefits and advantages of Atheism. "Why should we not applaud the
heroism of Atheistical martyrs... who were burnt by their Christian enemies?" Paganism: "It would be difficult to
prove that Paganism contained a greater mass of absurdities, follies,
immoralities, madness, and fanaticism than modern Christianity." Report of circulation of the
Gospel and the Holy Bible in Spain . Upwards of 5,000,000
tracts have been given away, and on Good Friday the Puerta del Sol resembled a
vast reading room. Report
of Indian fight. Seven companies of the Fifth Cavalry, led by General Carr,
while moving from Kansas toward Fort McPherson, struck a camp of about 500
Cheyennes, and a big fight ensued, in which the Indians were badly defeated.
The YMCA of Milwaukee has decided to leave its reading rooms open on Sunday,
and Lake
Michigan has not
risen its banks and inundated the town. 8 pp. 36 x 42 cm.
Newspaper, tiny holes in intersection of folds; letter "c" pencil on about five articles. Good.
(7402) $49.00. Religious/Atheism
Christian Register, The, Boston and Chicago , Saturday, April 4, 1874 Boston , MA :
Christian Register Association. Writing in this newspaper is as tart and alert,
educated with a good sense of humor, that one can observe even after all these
years. "A
Sunday among the Szekler Unitarians" by Robert S. Morison
reports of visit to religious community in Almas on
Homorod, Transylvania .
Nearly everyone in these villages is Unitarian...visit to funeral of old
woman. "A Burman
Dandy" description of a
man who thinks himself the most worthy to be admired of any dandy in all of Burmah. "An Answer to
'T.H.’ on Darwinism" gives
erudite argument to earlier statements. Editorial
reports decision of the Brooklyn Trinitarian Congregational Council which
justifies and approves the course of the churches of Rev. Dr. Storrs and
Budington, and favors the continuance of fellowship with Plymouth Church , with stipulations. Letter from Michigan reports the Festival of the
Annunciation in Ann Arbor , one of the most solemn and joyous
festivals of the Catholic Church. Writer compares celebration to one in Nazareth , Palestine ,
with little Syrian children, 20 years ago. 4 pp. 54 x 70 cm. Newspaper, small holes in folds, fair. (7721)
$20.00. Religious/Unitarian
Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, Volume I;
bound volume of numbers 1-12, from July 1800 to June 1801; First Edition Cogswell, James, D.D.
Editor et al 1801
Hartford, CT: Hudson and Goodwin, Printers. Evangelical magazine by Missionary
Society of Connecticut to support of missions in the new American settlements
and among the heathen. News from London Missionary society about missionary
work in the South Seas . Misfortunes of the Otaheitean
Mission. News about
Missionary work among the Indians. Letter to Indian Tribes bordering on Lake Erie .
Report of unusual religious appearances by Rev. Samuel J. Mills of Torringford , Connecticut . Memoirs of Mrs. Sarah Storrs,
consort of Rev. Richard Salter Storrs . Address to backsliding Christians.
Confession of the Freethinker John James Rosseau. History of the Moravians, or
Unitas Fratrum. Thoughts on the future glory of the Jewish nation. Character
and experiences of Mrs. Nancy Bishop. Death of Clarissa. Revival of Religion in
New-Hartford. 237
pp. 12 x 21 cm. Calf on board, corners bumped, worn, spine cracked and
shriveled. Pp. 155-156
missing bottom part of page; pp. 157-158 torn and poorly repaired. Bookplate on
front pastedown from "First
Social Library in Newbury port". Overall
poor condition. (4843) $68.00. Religious
Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, Volume III;
bound volume of numbers 1-12, from July 1802 to June 1803; Williams, Nathan, D.D.
Editor et al 1803 Hartford, CT: Hudson and Goodwin, Printers. Evangelical magazine by
Missionary Society of Connecticut to support of missions in the new American
settlements and among the heathen. Report on attempts to Christianize the
Indians; Thomas Mayhew among the Indians on Martha's Vineyard , continued from Vol. II. On the Revival of Religion in
Yale-College, New Haven . On the Comfort of the Holy Ghost.
Reflections on God's Feeding his ancient church with Manna. Revival in
Middlebury. Thoughts on the Angel of the Lord. Memoirs of Miss Deborah Thomas.
Extract of a Letter from Rev. David Bacon, Missionary to the Indians, dated
Machilimakinak, July 2, 1802. Ottawas and Chippeways. Account of Japhet
Hannit as teacher of the first Indian church on Martha's Vineyard . Life and dying exercises of Mrs.
B-----, who died July, 1802 in one of the towns of the state ofMassachusetts in the 30th year of her age.484 pp. w/
index 12 x 21 cm. Calf on board, worn, pencil notations on front inside pastedown.
Good. (4844) $74.00.
Religious
Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, The; Vol. IV,
Consisting of 12 numbers, to be published monthly, from July 1803 to June 1804 Williams, Nathan,
D.D.; Smalley, John, D.D.; Day, Jeremiah, D.D.; Trumbull, Benjamin, D.D.;
Parsons, Elijah, D.D., et al, Editors 1804. Hartford , CT :
Hudson & Goodwin Bound volume of twelve issues of Evangelical
Magazine. "Attempts
to Christianize the Indians in
New-England & c."continued from the previous year. Mention of attempts by Romish priests,
which are opposed to actions of Protestant priests, include "teaching them the Pater
Noster and rubbing a few beads, then baptising them." In November 1803 issue
is description of Religious exercises in the Indian Congregations, from a
letter from Dr. Increase Mather in 1687. Before he died, Rev. Mr. Atwater of Westfield wrote an Advice for his only son,
William. That advice is published in the October 1803 issue. Report of Revival of Religion in Lebanon , New York ,
in 1799. "Reflections
of a Youth once dissolute, brought to serious consideration" published in April 1804
issue. 484 pp. 12.4 x 21.5
cm. Whole calf on board, edges lightly worn, text block slightly fanned;
contemporary signature of Elijah Loomis written three times on front endpapers,
with "Cost 11/". Text block tight, slight
foxing. Good copy. (5260)
$66.00. Religious/Missionary
Journal of Missions "The Field is the
World" Boston ,
September, 1855 Boston , MA:
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Summary of Intelligence: North American Indians.
Choctaws, 121 have professed their faith as Christians. Cherokees: Four have
joined the church, and the cause of temperance wears "a somewhat brightening
aspect." Ojibwas. Not so
good, little interest in education for their children. But we have noted a
marked change for the better in temperance. We have not seen a drunk Indian for
two years. Report from Ceylon : Cholera
has abated, but still prevails at Tillipally. Small-pox is prevalent. "Has anything been done by the Mission to Syria in 25 Years?" Report by G.B.W. from Beyroot
notes that work has been attempted and steadily persevered in. Reports from
Hindustan, Burmah , China and Siam . Facts
about the Island of Bonabe ,
or Ascension by one of the Micronesian Missionaries. 4 pp. 38 x 55 cm.
Newspaper, paper very durable, with small stains, good. (7142) $26.00.
Religious/Missionary
Missionary Herald, The; Vol. XXXV No. 10,
October, 1839 Boston , MA:
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
Journal of Mr. Thomson at Beyroot; gets in trouble handing out tracts. Visit
from Arab and long, circular conversation aimed at getting a Bible.
Recommendation of Antioch as a field for missionary labor.
Mahrattas. Letter from Ahmednuggur. Journal from Mr. Riggs, missionary among
the Sioux Indians at LakeTravers. "the Sioux love dog-meat as
well as white people do pork." 32 pp.
16 x 24 cm. Paper periodical, name of "Miss
Sally Howe" inscribed on
cover wrap, very good. (6097) $28.00. Religious/Missionary.
Missionary Herald, The; Vol. XXXV No. 11, November, 1839 1839 Boston, MA
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions 48 pp. 16 x 24 cm.
Report from Syria and the Holy Land, discouraging and daunting task; The Druzes
continue to throng our dwellings until
they are persecuted by the Maronites. Work
in Beyroot. Letter from Broosa (probably Bursa , Turkey )
among the Armenians and Greeks, burning of missionary books in public bonfire.
Report from Borneo of a sea voyage to the mouth of the
Sambas river. Six precise and strict Mohammedans, "apparently honest and sincere
followers of the false prophet and his delusions." Paper periodical, name of
"Miss Sally Howe" inscribed on cover wrap, very good. (6095) $28.00.
Religious/Missionary [p.
417: The
Dyaks of this village (in Borneo ) still continue the barbarous practice of cutting
off heads, and boast of bringing in two or three fresh ones every year. In the verandah where we have our
lodgings, there are 15 or
20, and some suspended immediately over the place assigned us to sleep."]
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