The Missionary Review of the World — October 1897

LISTENING TO A PASSION PLAY OF THE SHIAH MOSLEMS DURING THE MUHARRAM OH TIME OF MOUHNIN(i'

M,SSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD: VOL. Xx. No. D.-Old &rie8.-00TOBER-YoL. X. No. D.-NMI' &riel.

GLIMPSES O}~ LIFE ON A PERSIAN HIGHWAY. t BY ROBERT E. SPEER.

There are two prevailing modes of travel in Persia, on foot and astride. The former is not popular. It is amazing to see what endurance the apparently indolent Persian, who will move when he must, and will work on the same terms, possesses, and with what untiring, unresting zeal he will work in some occupations, such as that of chavadar, which bring small remuneration, involve great risks, are full of hardships and can force no man to choose them. The chavadar is the Persian freight-car conductor. He owns a number of horses, and carries freight of all sorts, human and inanimate, to any part of Persia or even into Turkey. But no Persian will walk when he can ride, even tho to ride he must heap himself above a load borne by a patient, staggering donkey, one of those animals which make a mute, almost heart-breaking. appeal for a belief in the immortality of brutes. " Anything to do my work, to keep my feet off the ground," is the motto of the Persian traveling. Those who ride go astride, women and all. The camel drivers oft~n ride with both feet on one side, and when Dr. Vanneman accompanied the Shah's harem from Tabriz to Teheran, much of his work was to patch up camel drivers, who had fallen off in their sleep. The donkey riders sometimes ride with both legs dangling on one side within a few inches of the ground. All this is ultra laziness, however. The trowsered women r.ide alone, or sit behind the men. The side-saddle of one of the ladies of onr party was a sonrce of constant amazement in the country and villages. "Why she has no legs," cried the people on one side. " Yes, she has," cried those on the other, "they are both on this side of her." And so she rode along, a Frangee monstrosity.

Not all Persians go a-traveling, but all do, who can. .The four vit~l elements of Islam are the prayers, the fasting, the sacred. fifth • ThII periodical adopts the Orthography of the following Rule. recommended.by the jo.lnt aetioIl of the American Philological Msociatlon and the Philological Society of England :-Change d or ed lInal to , when 80 pronounced. except when the e affects. pn!CedlDg IOUUd.-PulILrBmrBI. .

t A letter from Kangaver, Persfa, January 25. 1897.

GLIMPSES OF LIFE ON A PERSIAN mGHWAT

of the income, and the pilgrimages. A more consistent religion of works, as the matter has turned out in practice, could scarcely be invented, so on pilgrimages go all who can. There are many reasoqs for a Persian's remaining a settled part of one community, and for his children's standing in his place after him, but the traveling instinct has been cultivated by centuries of Islamic influence, and the highways are full of life and movement, fuller than such a thin population would justify, were it not for the religious obligation that drives thousands to waste in this way what has been painfully earned and is direfully needed at home. The travelers bound lor the. religious shrines, Kerbela, Meshed, Kum, converge into the great roads running thither, and the student of the people's life sees it unbared here.

Down one of these great highways from Tabriz to Ramadan, we traveled last October. Next to Teheran, Tabriz is the largest and most important city in Persia. It is the distributing point to northwestern and much of western Persia of the importations from Europe, especially Russia, which though commercially lethargic, would fain control the trade from the north. Russian oil, candles, and sugar pour down from the north and practically monopolize the north-western Persia markets at least. From the south great caravans bring rugs, tobacco, dates, honey, etc., and show the traveler the name of Bagdad in good Roman letters on the bales, if they have come from afar. Of all these caravans on this highway Tabriz is the point of departure or destination.

A Persian highway is not a manufactured road. It owes nothing to the hand of man. His foot treads it, if he is so mean as to walk, but he spends on it neither an effort nor a copper coin, and the functions of national and local government in the country do not include the construction or maintenance of either bridges or roads. Accordingly there are, in one sense, almost no roads. The highways, untoucht by wheels, save when some Khan or civilized traveler makes the painful attempt, or on Teheran-Kasv'in or Teheran-Kum roads, are simply a congeries of paths, diminishing to one in a constricted place, and increasing to a hundred or more on a broad plain, where a caravan of donkeys will move along abreast, like a regiment of dumb Sancho Panzas. No one digs a ditch. No one drains a bog. No one removes a stone. The road was unsurveyed, ungraded, and is uncared for save by a kind Providence, who makes his rain and frost, and snow and wind to come alike npon the Telford road and upon the Persian track.

The roads of Azerbijan, the north-western province of Persia, of which Tabriz is the capital, are infested by three kinds of thieves; the regular robbers, who have pluck to attack travelers, the authorized guards, who are often ex-robbers, or robbers who have lost theit pluck, and been appointed guards, so as to have legal authority to extort a small fee from a larger number, and the vampire customshouse rascals. Azerbijan is a fertile, populous country, and there are customs-houses on all its important roadll. Baggage or freight is not examined, but a small fee is levied. Some one finds a road much used -they are all found now in Azerbijan-and offers the governor so much for the privilege of establishing a customs-house. This helps to line the governor's purse, and so fulfil the purpose for which he is governor and paid for his office, and it fastens the leeches upon the roads to bleed a little each passer-by who has baggage or goods. No service is rendered in return, either by the leech or the government. The traveler must be-or pay for-his own police, and make his own roads, or be satisfied with the uncorrupted face of nature. The people do not love the customs-houses. Their ruins are to be found on many highways. Soldiers returning home, or marching by, love to demolish the impositions, and not infrequently their exactions become so great that some angry popular demonstration forces the government to interpose a. check. Near Taswich we passed a great building in ruins, thanks to the momentary flare of a sense of power and justice in a crowd of ragged, discharged soldiers, who, having served a government which takes and never gives, returning home without pay, took vengeance on the legalized throttlers of travel and trade. On the Tabriz highway, which runs into Persian Kurdistan, below Mianduab, there are no customs-houses. The government does not call all these establishments for the destruction of prosperity" customs-houses." When complaints are made, it will say, "Oh, that is not a customs-house; the man simply has a right to collect a small sum for each box or bale carried by." For that right some government official received his p6sklcas7t, or bribe.

The dread of the Evil Eye is heavy upon the Persian. He shudders at the evil which a complimentary word about his child will bring. Be puts the bone of an animal, a horse or a donkey, in the wall of a new house. A skull, or a jaw-bone, or a leg is over the door-way of many a village gate, or stable, vineyard, or house. In one wall I saw the whole skeleton of a donkey, buried in this public and ghastly way that the Evil Eye might not affect the garden within. Among the ignorant the cold, still eye of the camera lens is a terrifying thing. At Khokhurt, before its silent gaze, a group of children clung together, and then fied in shivering terror lest the glittering brass ring in the black box were the Evil Eye. The camera is often a safer defence than fire-arms. A crowd of naked, savage beggars fell upon us once ready for supplication or theft, as might be most expedient. The whole crowd fied in fear, running like deer across the desert, cry,ing, "Oh, he's killing us, he's killing us," when the clear, steady camera eye was pointed at them.

Bartimreus sits by the wayside, blind and begging, as he did when Jesus saw him and gave him vision. Often his home is in a pile of stones and he will rise as the sound of the horses' steps comes near and walk out into the road lifting up his sightless eyes and asking in Allah's name. But the lepers are most pitiable of all. Many cities and towns have each its little group of these representatives of uncleanness and sin. They sit at the gate or by the side of the road or against the wall of a bridge, wrapped about, desolate, only awaiting deliverance. Near Tabriz there is a little settlement at the foot of "Leper Hill." The lepers do not cry out complaints. Many of them do not ask with words, but the poor hand is stretcht out. for alms and the marred and wreckt visage, the ruin of a human face is lifted up with the piteous cry," 0 Oreator God! 0 Oreator God I" The appeal is to Him, the Oreator God, with whom is mercy and from whom is all deliverance. That leper cry sounds the depths of all power and peace, "0 Oreator God! "

Another denizen of the highway who arouses feelings not of pity and sympathy, but of intense loathing and disgust, is the dervish. No one who has not been in the East, where holiness is synonymous with asceticism, can understand the full force of the motives, which led Jesus to lay himself open to the epithets, "a gluttonous man and a wine bibber." It was absolutely necessary that he should make it plain that asceticism is not holiness. But Jesus' ideals do not prevail here, and the ascetic is the holy man. E,ery man who aspires to religious repu- tation or influence must present at least the external appearance of an ascetic life. The beerun or public apartment of the mollahs must be bare and unadorned, rich and effeminate as their anderun or inner apartment may be, and the supposed ascetic life of the dervish secures for him the greatest reverence on the part of the religious. The more • ascetic he is, the more ascetic he appears to be, the greater his reputation for holiness. As a result the dervish is the most blasphemous and loath- some thing I have seen in this land. He is the denial of God in more points than the open sinners. He is the personification of that which God detests. He is so unclean as to be foul and diseased. He does not work. He has no divine virility. " Quit you like men" are meaning- less words to him. His ambition is to attain to the utter uselessness of the life of a dog, who is a filth breeder, not even a scavenger. He whines and cringes and holding a faith which proclaims the Ohristian abject and unclean, sneaks at the Christian's heel and begs from the unclean hand! I have never seen anything to which it seemed more just and fitting that the Son of God, who loved cleanness and worked till his friends said he was beside himself, should say, "I will spue thee out of my mouth."

Apart from the representatives of human need and suffering on one hand and of putrid religiosity on the other, the highways have their multitude of beggars, traveling or coming out from village and town to beg from the pilgrims. With some begging is a supplement- ary means of increasing their income, with others it is a profession. A physical deformity is an aid but it is not indispensable, while a vigor- ous frame and full ability to earn an honest living are no impediments. The pilgrims have money. All their earnings many of them carry with them. They are going to Kerbela to accumulate merit, and all the merit that can be accumulated on the way by deeds of charity- whether the charity is a curse and a sin matters not-is so much gain. In the midst of these beggars and remembering that Jesus lived in just the same conditions, it is easy to understand the perplexity of those who stumble at Jesus' words, "From him that taketh away thy cloak withhold not thy coat also. Give to everyone that asketh thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again!'

The pilgrim caravans are of all sorts. Some are collections of poor laborers trndging on foot in a crowd. Now and then a man of sufficient standing to have "retainers," curious sycophantic parasites fostered by the peculiar conditions here, rides along, followed by his satellites. Often a man with his harem is passed. The women ride in the main in kajavas or cage-like boxes, covered with red and green cloth, and balanced one on either side of a strong, sure-footed mule or horse. It is hard for the horse and it is hard for the women who ride cramped up and roughly joggled. Many of the pilgrims on the Tabriz- Ramadan highway are from Russia. The territory taken from Persia by Russia two generations ago remains Persian in its customs and religions, and multitudes of poor and rich take the long journey (at least thirty-six days continuous travel by caravan time) to Kerbela. We saw these caravans going gaily and well equipt, and other caravans which had once been like them, returning drearily, foot-sore, and weary, ragged and plundered. ]'or the pilgrims are pillaged by every one. They have not been accustomed to have money or to travel, and at every stopping-place they are imposed upon and defrauded. About the shrines a great crowd of harpies hovers, mollahs and adventurers, and the poor pilgrims come away at last with one of the great obligations imposed by their religion met, and with much merit laid up on high, but with money gone, new vices learned, new fanaticism developt for the defense of new superstitions. The sight of one returning pilgrimage of Russian peasants I shall never forget, as begrimed and exhausted it toiled up a steep and rocky mountain. Two horses were left and were ridden by the women. One man led an old blind man by a rope, the rabble crept along in rags. " That is the way they come back," said one of the Persian servants with us. The sophisticated come back differently, but as Mecca spreads the cholera over the whole area from which its pilgrimage is fed, so Kerbela and Meshed especially spread poverty, vice, and superstition over Persia.

The pilgrims on this highway are all traveling to Kerbela, two days' journey south-west of Bagdad, where Hassan, the son of Ali, who was Mohammed's uncle, and married his daughter Fatima, was killed. Ali is the great prophet of Shiah Mohammedanism, and the Shiahs hold that both temporal and spiritual power should have descended in the hands of his posterity. Hassan and Hosein, his two sons, Shiahs regard as its martyrs, and celebrate their deaths each year in the month of Moharrem. Kerbela, accordingly, is its great shrine. Tho in Turkish and so Sunni territory, it is the center of the Shiah faith. Its great theological center is here. Here its dead desire to be buried. Hither its disciples come on their arduous pilgrimages, bearing the bones of the dead in long, suggestive boxes tied on the caravan horses, and distinguishable at once.

The pilgrimage is not productive of humility. On approaching a village the travelers will set up a long wail to let the people know they are passing through, and the simple people will run out to kiss their hands and ask for their blessing, or a little share in the great merit the pilgrimage earns. Coming out of the city of Khoi one fine morning, we saw the long, broad road filled with people bidding a large party of holy pilgrims farewell. Returning, laden with sanctity, the pilgrims have yet greater blessings to bestow. A company of welldrest Russian Moslems past us yesterday, the women clad in men's clothes, even to the Russian boots, and riding astride, and at each village the hands of this company were kist repeatedly. Raymond Lull's words are suggested at every turn: " We see the pilgrims traveling away into distant lands to seek Thee, while Thou art so near that every man, if he would, might find Thee in his own house and chamber. . . The pilgrims are so deceived by false men whom they meet in taverns and churches, that many of them, when they return home, show themselves to be far worse than they were when they set out on their pilgrimage." Men who have visited one of the Shiah shrines are called thereafter, as a title of honor, by the name of the shrine, "Meshedi," "Kerbelai," while those who have made the great pilgrimage to Mecca are called" Hadji," or "pilgrim."

One day, on the Tabriz road, near Ticon-tappeh, we met a large mollah, well clad, riding a fine horse, who greeted us cordially, and said in reply to our greeting that he was going to Kerbela for the seventh time. We askt why the arduous pilgrimages were undertaken. "They bring great holiness," he replied. We observed respectfully that he must be a very holy man, to which he assented with a deprecating nod of the head. "What good will the pilgrimage do," we inquired, "if the heart be wrong within?" "That is true," he said, " it would do no good," and he quoted a Persian ode about the two shrines, Medina-Mecca without, and the heart within, and the futility of visiting the former unless the latter be made holy and sweet. We askt him of the cost of the pilgrimages. He admitted that they drained the country of money, that they took the life-time savings of many and squandered them, that the money wasted would suffice to make good roads, drain the bogs, irrigate the desert plains, care for the diseased and the poor. " Our religion," he added, "provides for all these things, too." "Yes," rejoined Mr. Coan, of Oroomiah, who was with us, "it may provide for them, but where are they? Our book says a tree is to be judged by its fruits. Your religion produces unhappy homes, bad roads, poverty, waste, desert, swamps, and desolation. If it does not produce, it tolerates all these, with no attempt at all at remedy. Have you ever heard of the fruits of a pure Christianity? They are happy homes, commerce, and close social relations of peace, and progress among nations, comfort, thrift, prosperity and love." "Yes, Sahib," replied the moHah, "it is a great subject." The open mind was as absent as the open heart.

Other Mussulmans have two replies to this argument, however. Some say that the Christians being the devil's children, and the devil being the god of this world, he gives his children all present and carnal comforts, while the Moslem looks for his reward in the world to come. But this is the complete abandonment of the teachings of Mohammed and the practice of Moslems from his day until now. Mohammed had no more consuming conviction than that there is one God, the living and true, and that He is the world's sovereign. With him there had been no atheistic abdication of the sovereignty in favor of the evil one. And as for carnal comforts, the prospect and promise of them have been the life-power of Islam. Others meet the appeal to the fruits of religion by saying, "These are the dark ages of Islam. There was a time when Mussulmans held the learning of the world, and carried light everywhere, but now the reaction has come, and the light of Islam is shaded for a time, just as in the Dark Ages of Christianity the light of Christianity was obscured. Oompare the fruits of Islam in its luminous days with the fruits of the contemporary Christianity." To this there are obvious replies, but they do not always convince a man who knows just enough to know nothing of lucid reasoning or historic verity.

The Persian dislikes to grow gray. He is especially averse to a white beard. The shaved head saves him from gray hair. Accordingly when a man of long, lustrous black beard finds it turning silver, he suddenly appears with it dyed a glorious red with the dye of the blood plant, which is also used to color the finger nails and hands, with a stain that resembles the stain of nicotine or of the juice of walnut husks, tho it is less temporary than the latter. One of the most common and unfailingly ludicrous sights of the highway is an old red-bearded man, clad in rags, riding a small donkey, and keeping the little beast on a trot by working his half-naked legs, ending in great ark·like shoes, .in and out like two pu~p-handles. The feet do not touch the donkey at all, but the swinging motion is understood, and so long as it is kept up the swinging red-bearded patriarch and the wee, patient beast skip along merrily.

Bread and cheese are the staple articles of food on the highway or at home. The cheese is white and sour. The brel!.d is often delicious, if made of clean flour and well baked. It is almost invariably eaten damp, however, so that it may be easily bent and serve as spoon and fork. Pocket-knife or none is the rule as to knives•. Sometimes there are wooden spoons. As a rule all dip into a common dish, as our Lord and His disciples did in the Upper Room. The bread is thin and baked in the north in long, oblong" loaves," two feet or less in length and half as broad, and the thickness of extra heavy, coarse wrapping paper. In the south these sheets are round. There are other kinds of bread baked as cakes, or on hot pebbles, each of which leaves its indentation, but this is the common bread baked inurn-like, upright earthen jars, submerged in the ground, similar in name I}.D.d character,.and like to the ovens used by the Jews in Old Testament times (Lev. ii.4; 1 Kings xvii. 2; Isa. xliv. 15).

At Khokhurt, journeying south, the appearance of the houses sud- denly changes. Only flat roofs, used in the summer· as .the sleeping places of the village folk, were seen before. Here the roofs are all domed. There is no wood for use as rafters, so each roof is made up of one, two, three, or more domes, each with a small hole at the top, serving as the only entrance of light and air, save the door. In Bag- dad and other southern cities the spaces between the domes are filled up, making the roofs level and the houses warm in the cold and cool in the warm weather.· In the villages the domes remain, resembli:n,g a great community of gray ant hills. The single room of such a house gives no impression of the number of occupants. From subterranean caverns, through narrow and low-roofed passage ways, sheep; horses, cows, oxen emerge, and in the early morning march past the bed of the traveler, who has come in belated and been given shelter for the night.

As the traveler through Poland is surprised to see so few churches in the villages· through which the railroad runs, so the absence of mosques iii the villages of Persia is a constant surprise. To be sure, a Shiah mosque, which is never adorned with minarets, is not so con- spicuous .as the Sunni mos·que, but in most of the villages through which we past ,there seemed· to be no prayer-house, nor was the voice of the muezzin heard, calling the faithful to prayer; but Islam is evident 'in· the coarse conduct and words which greet European women, iIi the fidelity· of some bellevers to the hours of morning and .evening prayer wherever they may be, and in the general prevalence everywhere of that demoralization of life, that decay of fiber and sinew which one would expect in a country where Islam, on the con-

U ANYTHING TO KEEP MY FEET OFF THE GROUND

2. THREE HOLY MEN (DERVISBES) OF PERSIA. 3. MOBLEM WOMEN DRESSED FOR THE STREET.

GLIKP8ES O~ LIn ON A PERSIAN IDGHWAY

tention of its most intelligent defenders, and in spite of the blazing Christian light about it, is in its" Dark Ages."

One sees no drunkenness on the highways. Much may be justly said regarding the absurd plea that Itllam precluded the use of intoxicants, but the highway people are sober and its life a cheery, social, mutually helpful life. One cbavadar helps another out of a bog or a drift. If one man lies to you about the road or distance, another may possibly tell you the truth. While the majority follow the command given to the seventy, and salute no man by the way, many give a cheerfnl greeting and wish God's blessing even on the life and journey of an infidel. One Persian was able to go so far as "Bon jour. monsieur," but he answered the reply in his native tongue. The wealthier Persians, who have traveled at all, usually know French, but the native speech or speeches-Persian, Turkish, Armenian, Syriac, Hebrew, Kurdish-are the languages of the road.

']'he Persian fields and hills are absolutely devoid of trees, save where they grow by the water courses or in the semi-tropical districts. I could count on one hand, I think, the isolated trees seen on the highway to Ramadan. In the fall all is sere and brown, and the great flocks of sheep and goats dri ven out from some village or from some camp of the black huts of Kedar, crop over what the civilized eye sees only as a waste lacking any green herb or nutritious thing. Children of foreigners, born in Persia, look with surprise and amusement at the little, worthless tails of the sheep at home. They have been used to seeing sheep whose tails hang down behind as heavy and large often as a ham. The tail is wholly fat, and in a good sheep gives enough_ fat for the cooking of the mutton, and in Persia meat is served swimming in grease. Sometimes, tho seldom, the tail grows so heavy that, as in Palestine, a little cart must be attacht behind on which the sheep can carry around its tail. What a mighty moral is hidden here! Goats are cheaper than chickens for food. We bought one at Khaswayam for .fifty cents. A man came into the yard, and before our door killed it with his pocket-knife. Without other implements he cleaned it. A man stole its head and feet while the servant was not looking. The dogs came in and lickt up the blood and cleared off all traces of the butcher. An old woman came and prayed for the skin. The butcher brought the goat in on a tray. In a quarter of an hour our fifty cents was served before our eyes into a tray ?f fresh goat meat, and there was no evidence of the process of transformation.

One of the missionaries at home from Persia on furlough, was once' reported in a local paper's account of an address to have said that an unveiled woman was never seen in Persia. The local reporter knew no better, and he printed his ignorance. The missionary had seen more women's faces unveiled than veiled. In the cities and fanatical places the women of well-to-do homes are veiled upon the streets, but

ION KEITH-FALCONER, PIONEER IN ARABIA

the poorer women of the cities, and the great multitudes of village women, while occasionally drawing their head-coverings over their mouths, go about with open face. But this emancipation is no evidence of liberty. We stopt one night at the village of Tikontappeh, on the southern border of Persian Kurdistan. It. was a new town, built up in what here would be an enterprizing way. As we got ready our beds for the night, the woman of the house looked on with interest, and admired especially a coverlet made by Mrs. Coan, which led her to ask whether both the ladies of our party were my wives. We told her that our religion was different from hers; and askt whether her home was a happy one, whether her religion made her life sweet and desirable to her. "My husband is about to take another wife, Sahibs," she said; "0, Sahibs, our life is hell!" It is not hell with all, and many do not know that it is hell, because they.have grown up into a stolid endurance of its repression and its littleness.

The day before reaching Hamadan, the interYening ridges slip away and the snow clad peaks of the Elvend Mountains, which overlook Hamadan, and the wide, fertile plain, where Ecbatana lay of old, rise up cool, white and, in the warm weather, inviting and promising. But they are many miles away. The Persian highway gives the traveler many a far away vision. Above all others, there is one of a far away glory, before which the radiance of the Elvend peaks under the sunlight pales and dies away, when Persia even shall be full of the great glory, not of snow peak, fertile valley and quiet village, but of the Lord; and, after all, it is not very far away.

ION KEITH-FALCONER, PIONEER IN ARABIA.

BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.

History, biography and philosophy teach by examples; they reduae precept to practice, and sometimes present the Book of Life in an illustrated and illuminated edition.

This heroic young man represented the flower of British civilization; and the lesson of his life is that the best is not too good for God's work, and the length of life is to be measured by service.

Oliver Wendell Holmes quaintly said that the training of the child begins a hundred years before its birth. Character has its heredity; it transmits its aptitudes. Something depends on blood as well as breeding; and Keith-Falconer might well have been proud of his noble lineage, which he could trace back through eight centuries. In 1010, when Malcolm II. was King of Scotland, Robert Keith, his remote ancestor, by valor and prowess in battle with Danish invaders, won the title of Hereditary Great Marischal of Scotland; and what he did for the Scottish crown, his descendant, long after, did for the crown and covenant of the King of kings-as a standard-bearer on the battlefield where Moslem and Christian powers contend, he won a higher honor and title as a Knight of the. Cross.

When, a little over forty years since, Ion Keith-Falconer was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, there began an eventful era, when more new doors were suddenly thrown open for missionary labor than in any previous decade of years since Christ gave his last command. Born in 1856, and dying in 1887, his life-story covers only about thirty years. Yet, in a higher sense these thirty years span eternity, for they wrought out God's eternal purpose, and left a lasting legacy of blessing to the young men of all generations, the true wealth and worth of which only eternity can compute.

His life may be viewed from four points: his boyhood, his college life, his home work, and his pioneer enterprise on the shores of the Red Sea. He was markt, as a boy, by four conspicuous qualities: manliness, magnanimity, piety, and unselfishness-rare traits in a lad. He loved outdoor sports and excelled in athletics, and grew to be six feet and three inches tall, and well formed, always conspicuous among his fellows. At twenty, President of the London Bicycle Club, and at twenty-two the champion racer of Britain, four years later he was the first to go on his wheel from Land's End to John O'Groat's Housevery nearly one thousand miles; and he accomplisht that feat in thirteen days-an average of nearly eighty miles a day.

If his stalwart manhood won applause, much more his sterling worth. He had inward strength and symmetry, and was too strong and brave in soul to be overcome of his own lusts, or enticed. He loved truth and had no patience with shams or frauds; and reminds one of the statue, which represents Veracity standing with open face, the mask of dissimulation lying at its feet, cleft with the sword of Sincerity. The Bible was the one book he loved; from the dawn of his intelligence he was its faithful and loyal student, and sought by obedience to get new knowleuge of its true spirit and meaning. .

Better than all were his unselfish piety and charity. To impart is the highest blessedness, tho few learn the bliss of giving, if at all, until late in life. Yet as a lad he showed deep sympathy with sorrow and suffering, and is remembered for his simple ministries to those who needed help. He went about, a boy of seven, reading and explaining the Bible in the cottages of poor peasants; and on one occasion having spent his pocket money for some baker's choice cakes, he bestowed them all, untasted, upon a hungry boy. The child thus forecast the man who gave his short life to teaching the ignorant, and himself became one of God's barley loaves to feed dying souls!

In college life, Keith-Falioner was an example of a fine quality of brains as well as brawn. He mastered "short-hand," and rivaled Pitman himself, and wrote the article, "Shorthand," in the Encyclopcedia Britannica. He had the genius of industry, and like William Carey, could plod. Conscientious in his curriculum, he applied himself to hard tasks, and overcame pbsiacles, until he rose to an enviable rank and won honors and prizes which the indolenhnd indifferent never secure, mastering not only the regular studies, but theology, Hebrew, and the Semitic languages, and the Tonic sol-fa system of music.

The missionary spirit burned in him, even in college days, tho the atmosphere of a university is not always stimulating to aggressive and evangelistic piety. He who at Harrow School, not yet fourteen years old, was, by the testimony of the masters, "energetic, manly, and vigorous," altho" neither a prig nor a Pharisee," was, during his career at Oambridge, which began in 1874, not only fearless in the avowal of his faith, but was moved by that passion for souls which compels unselfish utterance and effort. In temperance and mission work he both used and tested his powers and adaptations for a wider field of service. He led a band of students who, in an old theater, carried ou ragged school work and similar Gospel evangelism. Together they gave or· raised about eight thousand dollars to purchase the building, and there began a wide-reaching service, whose harvest is not yet wholly gathered and garnered.

A field in London next drew him. When yet but a lad of fifteen he had met F. N. Oharrington, then twenty-one, who was visiting at the house of his father, the Earl of Kintore. Between these two, notwithstanding six years' difference in age, an intimate friendship at once sprang up, which bore that blessed fruit of fellowship in holy work. Mr. Oharrington, now known as the founder and leader of the Tower Hamlets Mission in the East End of London, had, two years before, consecrated his life, at the cost of surrendering a princely fortune as a brewer, to uplifting and redeeming the East End drunkards and outcasts. When, late at night, he watched wretched wives and mothers anxiously waiting for their husbands outside the drinkshops over which waS the name of "Oharrington, Head & 00.", he felt a noble impulse to break off the yoke of the drink traffic; and, resiguing the eldest son's share in the business, accepted a smaller portion, which he laid on the altar of humanity, resolved that what was largely coined out of human woe, should be dedicated to human weal, in raising the very classes that the beershop had dragged down. Charrington began his work in a hayloft, was crowded into a larger hall, and then into a big tent; until an Assembly Hall was opened-now twenty years ago-where two thousand people were gathered night a.fter night fQr nine years.

Keith-Falconer's name is so inseparable from the work of Charrington, that it is no digression to give that noble enterprise ample mention. The two young men, moved by a similar impulse, were knit together, like David and Jonathan. During his Cambridge days Keith-Falconer often went to LondOll' to watch his friend's work, and give it help. He shared the opposition. and persecution that made Charrington its target, and the "mobbing" which rewarded .unselfish service to the slaves of drink, going with him to the police office, when he was arrested on false charges, as one that was turning the world upside down. Like Charrington, also, he had his reward in seeing drunkards reformed, gangs of thieves broken up, public houses deserted and for sale at half their cost, and homes redeemed from rum and crime.

During the fearful winter of 1879 the feeding of hungry multitudes occupied the attention of Charrington and his helpers, and led ultimately to the erection of that new hall which, with its buildings, cost $200,000, and is a perpetual benediction to the neighborhood. There, for over ten years, untold blessing has been imparted to thousands and even millions. In that grand audience room on Mile End Road five thousand people may gather under the sound of one voice; there, every night, a Gospel service is held; the days of mob violence are over; Mr. Charrington finds stalwart defenders in the poor victims whose yoke he has been the means of breaking, and the whole East End is being redeemed from its social curse.

In all this work Keith-Falconer has a share, as in its eternal reward. He, as honorary secretary, issued the necessary appeals, himself becoming a beggar for funds, and a donor to the extent of $10,000. As a college student he would hurry off to the metropolis for a week at a time, lend hand and voice as needed, visit the poor, teach the word, aid in administrative details, and then hurry back to his studies. His biographer, Mr. Sinker, says: "I could not but be struck with the similar expression on the faces of the two men. It was one in which joy and keen resolve alid humble thankfulness were strangely blended. One great work for God which Keith-Falconer had striven hard to further, he was allowed to see in its full completeness, carried on by men working there with heartiest and purest zeal. Not while anyof the present generation of workers survive will the name of Keith-Falconer fade out of loving remembrauce in the great building in Mile End Road."

All this work he did as a layman, who seldom spoke in public, but had learned the secret of "having a talk with a man "-and with one at a time-as Jesus talkt with Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman. While on a bicycle tour with a friend in Slltherlandshire, in 1884, he wrote to his wife, " We had a talk with the boatman on the Kyle, who said he had been praying and searching for years, but couldn't find Him." This form- of evangelistic and missionary work, getting in touch with an individual soul, and finding the key that unlocks the heart-a personal, private conversation about the most important matters-courts no publicity and escapes observation, but does not fail of recognition in God's Book of Remembrance, written for those who" think upon His name" and" speak often one to another."

The closing period of his life is forever linkt with Arabia. After he past his last examination at Cambridge, in 1880, Keith-Falconer gave himself to the study of the Arabic, including the Koran. He got from books what preparatory knowledge of that tongue he could, and then went to the Nile, and resided for some months with the missionary, Dr. D. W. Hogg, to acquire the colloquial language, learn the temper of the Arabic mind, and study the Moslem faith. Then in university halls for three years longer he carried on his research, translating the Kalilah and Dimnalt,* and meanwhile filling the post of Hebrew Lecturer at Clare College and of Theological Examiner.

This young man, not yet thirty, was married to a charming woman, Miss Bevan. In the midst of the finest classical surroundings, everything was calculated to root him at Cambridge, where before him lay a futuro of almost unlimited possibilities. He might have grown in such a soil until, like the palm, he overtopt others, and blossomed into a surpassing fruitfulness as well as a scholarly symmetry. Fame had her goal and laurel wreath in sight, but a holier calling and a higher crown absorbed him. He left all else to carry the Gospel message to distant Aden.

The life of Dr. John Wilson, of Bombay, had opened his eyes to the possibilities of a missionary career, and about the same time General Haig had called attention to neglected Arabia, and to the strategic importance of this particular point of approach and occupation. Aden as a military position controls tho Red Sea, and in a mercantile and nautical point of view sustains a relation to Asia and Africa similar to that of Gibraltar to Europe and Africa. In the year of Victoria's coronation-l838-the Sultan ceded the peninsula to England, and Aden was made a free port. It is but five hundred miles from Mecca and six hundred and fifty from Medina. Thousands from all parts of Arabia, entering the British territory every year, must see how the peaco, order, freedom, and good government, there prevalent, contrast with the tyranny and anarchy elsewhere found.

Keith-Falconer had an interview with General Haig, and in the autumn of 1885 went to Aden to prospect. On his way he began inducting his wife into the mysteries of Arabic, and quaintly wrote: "Arabic grammars should be strongly bound, because learners are so often found to dash them frantically on the ground."

• These were the so-called" Fables of Bldpai," or Pilpsl, an Indian Brahman and gyninoSOo phlst, of great antiquity. &arcely any book but the Bible has been translated into so many tongues, and its history is a part of the history of human development. Bidpsi has been . called chief of the philosophers of India. He determined to fix on Sheikh-Othman as his station, leaving. Aden to the Ohurch Missiouary Society. He explored the neighbQrhood, and thus proved to the inhabitants that not all Europeans are " clever people who get drunk and have no religion to speak of."

In the spring of 1886 he and his wife were again in England, and, on Easter Day, in the Assembly Hall at Mile End, he delivered, on " Temptation," the most striking address of his life. Did it reflect his inward struggle with the parting of the ways before him-nobility, wealth, distinction, on the one hand; seclusion, self-denial, obscurity on the other? Before the General Assembly of the Free Ohurch of Scotland, he gave, on Mohammedan missions, an address equally impressive in its way, which reveals his purpose and conception of the possibilities of service in Arabia. He said that he had been again and again urged to go to Arabia and set up a school, and that one day a Mohammedan wrote in a mysterious fashion: "If you want the people to walk in your way, then set up schools." The man was a Hadjee, returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he had been stript of all his money. Being offered a copy of John's gospel, he would not accept it; and, being further questioned, acknowledged that he liked the historical parts, but other parts made him fearful. He pointed to the talk between Christ and the woman at Jacob's well, "If thou knewest the gift of God," etc., and said" That verse makes my heart tremble, lest I be made to follow in the way of the Messiah."

'.rhis young Semitic scholar of Cambridge, already the greatest living orientalist, laid out a great w,ork at Sheik-Othman. He would have a school, a medical mission, and a depot for distributing the Holy Scriptures. He would study medicine himself and secure a Christian physician as coworker. He would work under the Board of the Scottish Ohurch, but pay all costs of the mission himself.

Just at this point, and greatly to his surprise, he was made Pro· fessor of Arabic at Oambridge. The position was partly honorary, its active teaching depending mostly on an associate; and it was accepted, with no divided purpose, for his mind was set on Arabia, but because his Cambridge work would augment his power to turn public attention to its needs. After a course of three lectures on "The Pilgrimage to Mecca," he again left at once for Aden, with his wife, and colleague, Dr. Stewart Oowen.

Thus in November, 1886, he laid the foundation for his mission premises and work. His character made such impression on the Moslem mind, that, within a few months, but few who came in touch with this Christlike man were willing to admit that they were followers of Mohammed, but were wont to say," There are no Moslems here!" The Gospel in Arabic found both purchasers and readers in those who ha:d read in this man the living epistle of God.

But the Aden fever proved a fatal foe. Both Keith-Falconer and 736 [October ION XlIlITH-J'ALCCNER. PIONEER IN ,ABAlIIA.

his wife were stricken in February, 1887, and fresh attacks rapidly weakened his stalwart constitution until, on May 11, he sank into quiet slumber and could no more be awaked. His biographer writes: "It was indeed the end. Quietly he past away. God's finger touched him and he slept. Slept? nay, rather awakened, not in the close, heated room where he had so long lain helpless-the weary nurse, overcome with heat and watching, slumbering near-the young wife, widowed ere she knew her loss, lying in an adjoining room, her- self broken down with illness as well as anxiety-the loyal doctor, resting after his two nights' vigil-not on theBe do Ion Keith-Fal- coner's eyes open. He is in the presence of his Lord; the life which is the life indeed has begun."

After five months of labor in his chosen field his body was lovingly laid to rest in the cemetery at Aden by British officers and soldiers- fitting burial for a soldier of Christ, who, with armor on and courage undaunted, fell with face to the foe. The martyr of Aden had entered God's Eden. And so Great Britain made her first offering- a costly sacrifice-to Arabia's evangelization. '

No doubt some will exclaim, '" To what purpose is this waste I'

for this flask of costly ointment, broken and poured out amid Arabia's arid sands, might have been kept in the classic halls of Cambridge, and even yet be breathing its perfume where scholars tread and heroes are made." To all such cavils of unbelief there is one reply, and it is all-sufficient, for it is God's answer: "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter."

The Free Church, whose missionary he was, declares: "The faIl- ing asleep, iu the first months of fervent service, of the Hon. Ion Keith-Falconer, in the extreme Asian outpost in South Arabia, gives solemn urgency to his last appeal to the cultured, the wealthy, and the unselfish, whom that devoted volunteer for Christ represented when he addrest them in these words: '" While vast continents are shrouded in almost utter darkness, and hundreds of millions suffer the horrors of heathenism or Islam, the burden of proof lies upon you to show that the circumstances in whic"h God has placed you were meant by Him to hep you out of the foreign mission field.'''

God makes no mistakes, and we are "immortal till our work is done," if we are fully in His plan. We may not penetrate the arcana of His secret purposes to learn the final issue, but, as Dr. J. W.

Dulles used to say, our disappointments are, rightly read, "His appointments." The short career of Keith-Falconer teaches a lesson -never more impressively taur,1,t-that nothing is too good to be given to God ou the altar of r ssions. His death sent an electric shock through the British kingdom and the wider Church of Christ.

But his distinction and accomplishments made it impossible for his

10K XEITH-lI'ALCOKBIt, PIOliBBlt Ili AlUlIU

life's lesson to remain unread. His fame gave a trumpet voice to his words and made his life vocal with witness. Admiration and love drew others to follgw in the steps of a heroism so divinely self-oblivious. The Church askt for one volunteer to step into the breach, and thirteen of the graduating class of the New College at once responded; but the response did not end then or there. In the very year of Keith- Falconer's death Robert P. Wilder and John N. Forman were going about among the colleges and theological schools of the United States and Canada, secnring from the best educated young men, volunteers for the foreign field. And now, during the ten years that have past since this martyr spirit of Aden went up to God, ten thousand lives of young men and women in Britain and America have been ofiered to God, quicken~d by this example of consecration. The Henry Martyn Memorial Hall at Canbridge, the: Hannington Memorial Hall at Oxford, and many other monuments of dead and living mission heroes enforce the testimony of the Cambridge orientalist. lIe, being dead, yet speaketh, and no voice of the last half century is heard more widely by the young men of the Church of Christ.

He sought to " call attention to Arabia;" and has done it in a way and to an extent that he never imagined. The workman fell, but the work goes on. Under Rev. W. R. W. Gardner and Dr. Young new currents of influence are flowing into and through Aden. In· 1888 a large number of Abyssinian children carried into Arabia from ruined homes and massacred families, for enslavement, were rescued by a British man-of-war and put into school in this mission for Christian training, to be sent back to Abyssinia as missionaries. Christian teachers, evangelists, and physicians have since gone to take up the work Keith-Falconer laid down. And, on both sides of the Red Sea, in Africa and Asia, the mission which he begun is likely to be the seed of other enterprises, looking to the evangelization of both conti- nents. The mission to Arabia has not come to its grave because its founder sleeps in the cemetery at Aden. On these southern shores of Arabia is a Church of England edifice, largely built from collections made in the mail steamers that ply across those waters. The Scots Church, partly paid for by money raised by the children of the Free Church of Scotland, is now building under an Arab contractor and workmen, some of whom are Jews. And so, curiously enough, Christians, Arabs, and Jews unite to erect Christ's houses of prayer in the land of Ishmael! Dr. George Smith, who recently visited Aden, testifies to the prosperityand hopefulness of the congregation there worshiping in connection with the Scots Church, and says that in the pioneering stage of the Arab mission it snpplies the spiritual life and enthusiasm of common worship and evangelical efiort. Dr. Young acts as military chaplain for the British infantry and artillery located at Aden, and he and

ION lUilITlI-lI'ALCOmm, PIONBEl IN AIUliIA

hill colleague undertake not only to furnish two sermons a week, but as medical missionariea to meet the demands of Arab and Somali, Jew and Paraee; thus, while nourishing piety in British resi- dents, reaching out to the varioua foreign populationil that need Gospel effort.

The British camp and the native town of Aden lie in the crater of an extinct volcano. What a typical place in which to plant God's tree of knowledge and of life! And the Bible is planted there. On a busy corner of the main street stands the British and Foreign Bible Society's depot, with Mr. and Mrs. Lethaby as its devoted workGra; and near by is the reating place of the body of Keith-Falconer. In the middle of a row of graves of British officers and men, each with Ito single cross above it, may be aeen the tomb of the first missionary that Scotland gave to Arabia.

Dr. Smith aaya of him: " He died at thirty, one yea.r younger than Henry Martyn, and was followed by the aged bishop, Valpy French, on the eastern shore at Muscat. A massive block of white Egyptian m~rble covers the grave, while there rises at its head an exquisitely pure slab, with an inscription, under a coronet which might well represent the martyr's crown. 'Ihere Dr. Cowen, who was then his medical colleague, and several officers and men of her British majesty's Ninety-eighth Regiment, as the sun set, laid all that was mortal of the young Scottish noble, scholar, and self-consecrated missionary of the Free Church of Scotland. The sacred spot is the first missionary milestone into Arabia.

"As the Keith-Falconer Mission, bearing its founder's name and generally supported by his family, this first modern mission to the Arab may be said to have begun anew in the year 1889. First of all, Principal Mackichan, when on his return to Bombay, after furlough, carefully inspected the Sheikh-Othman headquarters, and, with the local medical authorities, reported in favor of continuing and extending the plans of its founder. The mission is now, as a result of past experience, conducted by two fully qualified men, one of whom is married, who are working in most brotherly harmony, preaching the Gospel in Arabic as well as healing the sick. Its Arabic and English school is taught by Alexander Aabud, a married member of the Syrian Evangelical Church, from the Lebanon, but trained in the American mission in Egypt.

"All pver this neighborhood the medical mission founded by Keith-Falconer ill makin~ for it!!elf a name, and its doctors are received or visited at theIr dispensary, as the messengers of God. European and native alike, nat.ives from India and Africa, as well as the Arab camel driver!! and !!ubjects of the Sultan of Lahej-himself and hi!! family patient!! of the mission-turn to the missionaries with ~ratitude and hope, and will do them any service. Nowhere has the mfluence of medical mission!! in this early stage, of course preparatory, been !!o remarkable 81! in this Yemen corner of Arabia during the past !!even years." …

• Letter to the Free Ohurch oJ lYcotland M01-.thly, by George Smith, LL.D. In this man – one of the finest, brightest, and noblest young men of the century, some special traits shone which provoke to emulation.

First, his simplicity. The childlike. character, refined of what is merely childish, is the divine ideal of human perfection. We must not outgrow the simple artlessness, humility, docility of childhood, but rather grow backward toward it perpetually. The ideal child is inseparable in our minds from faith, love, truth, and trust; and these are the cardinal virtues of Christian character. To learn to doubt, to hate, to lie, to suspect, is to learn the devil's lessons, and any approach to these is just so much progress in Satan's school. This pioneer to Arabia never lost his simple childlikeness. His manhood was not an outgrowing of his boyhood, in all that makes a child beautiful and attractive. He never put on airs of any sort, but hated all hollow pretense and empty professions. His was that high art of artlessness; in his most careful work he did not lose naturalness, and in his most studied performances there was no affectation. He acted out himself, a genuine, honest, sincere man, who concealed nothing and had nothing to conceal.

Second, his eccentricHy. This word has a new meaning by his interpretation of it. He was wont to say that a true disciple must not fear to be called "eccentric." "Eccentric," said he, "means {out of center,' and you will be out of center with the world if you are in centllr with Christ." He dared to be one of God's" peculiar people, zealous of good works." While we are content to live on the low level of the average" professor of religion" we shall exhibit no peculiarity, for there is no peculiarity about a dead level. But if, like a mountain rising from a plain, we dare to aspire to higher and better things, to get nearer to God, to live in a loftier altitude and atmosphere, we shall, like the mountain, be singular and exceptional; we can not escape observation, and may not escape hostile criticism. Blessed is the man who, like Caleb and Joshua, ventures to stand comparatively alone in testimony to God; for it is such as these who go over into the inheritance of peculiar privileges and rewards.

Third, his unselfishness. Few of us appreciate the deformity and enormity of the sin of simply beiug absorbed in our own things. One may be a monster of repulsiveness in God's eyes through qualities that exhibit little outward hatefulness and ugliness to the common eye. Greed, lust, ambition, pride, envy and jealousy, malice and uncharity, may not be forbidden in man's decalogue, but they eat away the core of character like the worm in the apple's heart. Balzac, in one of his stories, revives the old myth of the magic skin which enabled the wearer to get his wish, but with every new gratification of selfish desire shrank and held him in closer embrace, until it squeezed the breath of life out of him. And the myth is an open mystery, to be seen in daily life. Every time that we seek something for. our-

ION ltltlTl[-PALCOl'fElt. PlonKa Ilf· AlLllSU

selves only, without regard to God's glory or man's good, our very success is defeat; we may get what we want, but we shrink in capacity for the highest joy and the noblest life.

l!~ourth, his concentraUon. Paul writes to the Philippians, "This one thing I do." In the original it is far more terse and dense with meaning. He uses two little Greek words, the shortest in the language (EY 8E), "But one!" an exclamation that no words can interpret. All his energies were directed toward and converged in one. Our lives are a waste because they lack unity of aim and effort. We seek too many things to attain anything great or achieve anything grand. Our energies are divided, scattered, dissipated. We follow impulse, which is variable and unsteady, while principle is constant, like the pole . star. We are too much controlled by opinions which change with the hour, instead of by convictions which, being intelligently formed, hold us, like the girdle of truth in the Ohristian armor, instead of our merely holding them. It is possible for a man or woman to gain almost any goal, if the whole energy be concentrated. How immense the importance, then, of getting a right purpose to command the soul, and then making everything else bend and bow before it!

God speaks to the young men and women of our day as in trumpet tones: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear! " An example, like that set before us in this life story, is one of God's voices. In Keith- Falconer the Holy Ghost saith, "Stop and consider!" What way is your life stream running? Are you living for yourself or for God and for man? Every man is his brother's keeper, and it is fitting that the first one who questioned this was Oain, his brother's mur- derer! Everyone is either his brother's keeper or slayer, for every life is saving or destroying other lives. We lift men up or we drag them down; there is no escape from responsibility.

No man liveth unto himself and no man dieth unto himself. Life is bound up in a bundle with all other life. We are none of us inde- pendent of the others, and we can not escape the necessity of influen- cing them for good or evil. Eternity alone can measure the capacity for such influence, for eternity alone can give the vision and the revelation of what life covers in the reach and range of its mighty forces. It is a solemn and august thought that, to-day, each one of us is projecting lines of influence into the unending hereafter. The life span is infinite. So lookt upon, this short career of thirty years did not end at Aden ten years ago. The building whose basis was thus laid is rising unseen and silently, and its spires will yet pierce the clouds. A seed was planted on the shores of the Red Sea whose branches will yet shake like Lebanon, and wave in beauty and fertility when the everlasting mountains are no more. The career of Keith-Falconer is still going on, but the cloud which is between hides its onward, upward path.

POLITICS AND lU8SIONS IN PERSIA

Once more we turn to that grave at Aden and read its simple inscription: TO THE DEAR MEMORY OF THE HON. ION KEITH-FALCONER, THIRD SON OF THE EARL AND COUNTESS OF KINTORE, WHO ENTERED INTO REST AT SHEIKH-OTHMAN, MAY 11, 1887, AGED 30 YEARS.

"If any man serve me, let him follow me; and, where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor."

POLITICS AND MISSIONS IN PERSIA.

BY REV. S. G. WILSON, TABRIZ, PERSIA.

Muzaffir-id-Din Shah has now occupied the throne of the Kajars about a year. During this time the condition of the country and its sovereign has been far from satisfactory. The Shah is the victim of a chronic disease, and his tenure of the scepter is destined to be short. Several times it has been announced that he had the intention to go to Europe for medical treatment. Rumors of his death have been circul~ted. At one time the bazaars in Teheran were closed, business suspended, and riots imminent, owing to such rumors. Only the appearance of the Shah in public quieted popular apprehension. Not ouly illness, but fear of assassination, seems to keep the Shah in retirement.

Shortly after his accession, the Shah removed the prime minister who had served his father for so many years, and had shown great energy in holding the turbulent elements in check until His Majesty reooht his capital. The Sadr-Azam retired in disgrace to Kum, and the cabinet was reorganized, many of the old ministers retaining their portfolios. After a few months another reorganization was effected, the Amin-i-Doulah being recalled from the governorship of Azerbijan and made grand vizier. He is an enlighteneq ma.n, a great admirer / of European civilization, the patron of the Ferry Hospital in Teheran, and friendly to missionaries.

There has been a noticeable increase in Russian influence during the year. A consulate has been establisht at Ispahan. A wagon-road from the Caspian to Kasvin, leading to Teheran, is being constructed by Russian capital. The boundary between Moghan-and Ardebil has been pusht forward. A governor of Ardebil is said to have been induced, by a bribe of 50,000 rubles, to report to the government that a certain territory in question was of no value, and that Russia's desire for it might as well be gratified. Afterwards the inhabitants of twelve villages came to the Shah to protest against being expatriated in so summary a way. When the Shah learned the truth, the governor was divorced from the Shah's daughter, his property confiscated, and he was banisht on a pilgrimage to Kerbela.

Russia naturally desires to reap advantage from the disturbed condition of the country. Indeed, the vice-consul, who was at Tabriz during the bread-riots, is reported to have been censured for not having scored some points when the rioters fled to the consnlate for protection, and profest a desire to become subjects of the Czar. In Meshed;the consul showed a better knowledge of his duty, and made the local disturbance a pretext for calling in a band of Cossacks to guard the consulate. But the greatest show of Russian power has been at Tabriz. A servant of the Russian consulate was reported to have insulted a Mohammedan woman, the wife of a prominent mollah. A crowd quickly gathered to punish him. He took refuge at the consulate, and the mob turned to plundering Armenian houses. Four houses were looted, and many men robbed and beaten on the streets, before the government got control of the mob.' Then demands were made on the consul that the man be given up for punishment. The consul maintained his innocence, and refused to give him over to certain death. Popular excitement rose high. The mob threatened to return to looting the Armenian quarters, and even to attack the consulate. Armenians, to the number of 700, fled to the Russian and French consulates, and remained there for three weeks; the rest of them were confined to their houses; their schools, 8S well 8S those of the mission, were closed. It was uncertain what 8 day might bring forth. The consul told the government plainly that if order W8S not kept, he would call for the Cossacks in 48 hours. They came to the border at JuUa to be in readiness. The government took alarm, and made strenuous efforts to control the populace. Guards of soldiers were placed in the Armenian quarters. The mollahs exhorted their followers to be quiet, saying that otherwise the Russians would conquer the country, take off their turbans, and prohibit their call to prayer. So the Persians were cowed, and restrained their fanatical and plundering passions. The Shah's government, at the demand of the Czar, paid indemnity to the plundered, arrested and imprisoned the ringleaders of the riot, and gave a written promise of security for the Christian popUlation. The results wer.e a great increase of the already predominant power of Russia, and an improved position for Nestorians and Armenians, and greater security for all foreigners.

The Jews, too, have been passing through trials. Shortly after the above event, a renegade, Jewin Urumia, accused his brethren of having sacrificed a Mohammedan child at the Passover. A mob quickly gath. ered, and were about to take summary vengeance on the defenseless Jews, when the government, fearing further disturbance would give. Russia a coveted opportunity, exerted unusual energy, and restrained the crowd before they had injured anyone. In Teheran, moreover, It. mollaq gave a decree that the Jews should wear a distinctive dress, and have a badge of red on their coats, that they could be recognized, and Mohammedans not be contaminated by contact with them. The Jews appealed to the Shah, who answered them favorably. Still the populace was determined to attack them, and the Shah had a silver badge, of the value of a franc, struck off, to be hung about the neck of each Jew. In Ramadan, too, the Jew8 were in "reat danger during Maharren.

These riotoUl!! demonstration! against Christian! r.nd Jew! are, in part, the result of the bigotry excited among the Persians by the events in Turkey, for though Shiah Mohammedans, they show It. fellow feeling for their Sunni brethren, which was not anticipated, and glory in the victories over the Greeks a! those of Islam over Christianity. They had come to feel that there was no protection for Christians, and they could be plundered with impunity. Only the fear of Russia excited the government to a prudent activity, and prevented a. repeti. tion of the scene enacted in Turkey. This serie! of riots shows what the condition of life is in Persia at preeent.

During the past. year thousands of refugeee from Turkey have past into Persia. Not only have Armeniane from the villages along the border fled hither, but thousands of Nestorians abandoned their lands, their homes, their all to the Kurde, and took refuge in Urumia. The dangers to which they were exposed was tragically illustrated in the murder of the Nestorian Bishop of Ulumia, Mar Gabriel, three priests, and two deacons of the old church and their attendants. They were proceeding to the Metropolitan of Nochea. A party of Kurds, by command of a sheikh, murdered this band of harmless clergy, muti· lated their bodies, cutting their ears and noses, and ripping them up. Their bodiee were then dragged more than" mile and thrown over the Persian border, where they were found after ten days by a search· ing party. Much hM been done to relieve these del!titute refugees in Urumia., more than $10,000 having come from England and America for th.t purpose. Many were furnisht with passports to emigrate to Russia. Clothing and food have been distributed in Salmas, and now Pastor Fisher and wife, with the Misses Pollock, have come from Germany to establish an orphanage and perhaps a colony for the refugees. One scheme of ait! was to purchase cattle in Persia for the plundered villagers in Turkey. For this purpose the Rev. Mr. Allen, of Van, came to Persia, and purchased several thousand head of cattle. Diffi- culties were, however, put in the way of exporting them. It was found to be against Persian law to export cattle and grain. The price of meat was also raised by the extra demand, and the people of Khoi became clamorous against the exportation. Their opposition took the form of an extensively signed petition against Deacon Werda, the preacher at Khoi, who had negotiated for the cattle. He was accused of preaching the Gospel to Mohammedans, and baptizing converts, and his expulsion was demanded. The petition was ready to be sent to the Amir-i-Uizam, the governor-general, when Dr. Cochran waif fortunately called to Khoi, to attend a patient, and was able to procure the destruction of the document. The feeling against the export of cattle was so strong that the plan was abandoned. At present some anxiety is felt regarding the bands of Armenian revolntionists who are gathering in Salmos with the intention of attacking Kurdish vil- lages across the border. It is feared that they may provoke reprisals and lead to further massacres, without accomplishing any good. The Armenian bishop has endeavored to dissuade them from the enter- prise.

A reccnt event of importance to mission work in Persia has been, the visit of Secretary Robert E. Speer. It was the first visit ever made by an official of the board to the Persia Mission in the sixty years of its existence. Now that a Secretary has once ventured to take this ride of 1,500 miles over the rough mountains of Persia, and escapeiJ so successfully from an attack of typhoid, we hope he may quickly find courage to come again, and be followed by a rapid succession of official representatives. Mr. Speer's visit was a spiritual blessing to many of the missionaries.

Retrenchment has been the order of the past year, and greater cur- tailment is ordered for the present year. With this there has been ,.unusual spiritual activity. In 'fabriz there has been a markt friend- liness on the part of the Armenians, and an unprecedented readiness to hear the truth. In connection with the Memorial Boys' School a series of evangelistic services were held for three months after the week of prayer, which were attended as never before, and were the means of removing many prejudices and made a strong impression for evangelical truth. Hearts that had resisted all appeals during many years were brought to a decision to serve Christ. In Urumia a gracious blessing has been experienced in a number of the churches. The winter campaign, conducted largely by Mr. Coan, was one of the most remarkable in the history of the station. Large congregations of revived church members and inquiring siuners attended the services. The churches would not hold the numbers who desired to be present. The attendance of Old Nestorians and Catholics was specially large. Many of the refugees, too, received a blessing and the interest extended to the Armenian villagers as never before. Five hundred accessions were expected as the result of the campaign.

Quickly following this evidence of God's blessing came not only an order for an unparalleled retrenchment in the work, but another event which clouds the prospect for the future evangelization of the Nestorians. Prieste from the Russian Church arrived in Urumia in May. They had been invited by the Nestorians in an extensively signed petition to the Czar. The motive of the signers was to obtain political and civil protection. The insecurity of life and property in these parts has well nigh led the Christian population to despair. They felt sure of protection if they could come under the regis of the Czar. Hence the same people who some years ago invited the mission of the Archbishop of Canterbury now turn to the Orthodox Synod. The coming of the Russian mission was anticipated with intense interest. As one exprest it, the Nestorians had their horses saddled for months in anticipation of their advent. The missionaries arrived in 'fabriz under guard of a band of Cossacks, just after the Tabriz riots. When they arrived near Urumia, Nestorians and some Armenians, in all to the number of 8,000, came out to meet and welcome them. 1.'hey strewed their garments in the way, kist their hands, and even the dust of their shoes, prostratiug themselves before them and greeting them as "Our Saviors." Their reception was a grand ovation. They quickly followed up their triumphal entry by special visits to villages. At the edge of the village they would plant the standards-the holy Eikons-aud hold religious services. The people flockt to the services and all who desired were invited to partake of the Eucharist, after which their names were enrolled as members of the Orthodox Russian Church. Some whole villages have been thus enrolled. Among the leaders in this headlong rush to ;forsake Nestorians and the Syrian Fathers are Bishop Mol' Yohannan and Yoseph Arsenious, who has traveled extensively in America. These with the zeal of new converts are persuading and cajoling all they can to join the Russians. The movement is chiefly confined to Old Nestorians, who seem about to be swept out of existence, as far as Persia is concerned. Oh, degenerate sons of steadfast sires, who suffered exile and loss of all rather than call Mary the Mother of God, and you now run in hot haste to bow down to her image and pray to her as mediator. Not a few even of the converts of the Catholic and Protestant mis- sions are borne along by the flood, and the missionaries stand amazed. at the power of political and worldly motives to uproot conscientious convictions. Th~ mission is interpreted by the Persians to mean that the Russians are about to make a movement to occupy Persia.

The results affect most peculiarly the Anglican Mission (Ritualistic), whioh was establisht at the request of the Nestorians, and whose aim has been to bring the Nestorian Ohurch to acknowledge the first six councils. Now, after years of self-denying effort, they see their hosts flying to the refuge of Orthodoxy, but under the Russian banner. As their object to make the Ohurqh orthodox, is thus accomplisht in a way they could never have anticipated, they can rejoice even in tribulations. They will probably "fold their tents like the Arabs and silently steal away." Indeed, most of them are already taking vacations. That clergy who have subscribed to the XXXIX Articles, should be better satisfied to see their flock go to the Russian Ohurch than to the Evangelical Ohurch, must excite amazement.

As for the Protestant community, we yet confidently hope that the great majority of its adherents will stand firm and receive the blessing of those who endure temptation and come forth purified. When the chaff is blown away, the pure wheat will be all the more worthy to be garnered with care. .But it is a question whether it will be possible to do missionary work among the Russianized community, for should any repent at leisure, they will leave their new confession at their peril, and make themselves liable to temporal penalties, means of inflicting which will be found, tho they do not reside in the dominions of the Ozar.

The Ohurch mission at Ispahan shows aggressiveness and progress and at the same time is compast with difficulties and persecutions. The force of missionaries has been much enlarged, dispensary and hospital work increast, and a new station establisht at Kerman, and Bishop Stuart, the first English bishop in Persia, has been active in visiting the cities of southern and central Persia. As a natural result of this aggressiveness, opposition has increast, especially directed against the school of fifty Persian boys and the medical work for women. In January a mob collected in Jalfa, and drew off to prison three Persian pupils, one of whom had been baptized, and the other two were sons of a convert. Other converts were beaten, some were tortured and fined for sending their sons to the school. During the mob the colporteur, Benjamin Badal, who had been so efficient in distributing the Bible, was severely beaten. At the same time a stone, thrown at him by a Mohammedan, struck another Mohammedan and slightly injured him. Benjamin was charged with throwing the stone. Seventeen days afterwards the man died or was killed, and his death was laid at the door of Benjamin. A mob assembled to murder him. He fled to the protection of the Prince Governor, where he Wall kept from the mob; but, to appease them, he was chained and placed in the stocks. He afterwards fled the country. In the last of February the Mujtehid, Agha Najifi, ordered tha.t women should not attend the dispensary, aud that hospital in-patients should leave, and that a woman who was supposed to have become a Christian, should be thrown down a well and have stones heapt upon her. One mob against the hospital was dispersed by the British vice-consul. Subsequently a definite plan was made to attack the hospital, but a fall of snow of a foot and a half, the heaviest snow known since the mission was establisht, blocked the streets and deterred the mob. These persecutions continued through the spring, and, as usual, will give the work a back-set for a considerable time.

In January a document was sent by the Persian Foreign Office to all the legations which (omitting titles and abbreviations) reads as follows: SUOHAN, 16, 1314,. Year of the Monkey.

To tM Legation of tM United States, etc., etc.

According to the will of his high majesty, the glorious and mighty, the holy and illustrious king of kings (may his government and reign be forever), and according to his enlightened mind, it is determined in regard to all kinds of books whether heavenly, sacred, religious, or otherwise, that when foreign subjects wish to bring them to the countries of Iran to buy and sell, their purchase and sale shall be conditioned on the permission of the Department of Arts and Science of the High Government. Again, the transfer of such books from one city to another shall only be done after obtaining a permit from the department in which the names and number of the books must be stated. Otherwise they will be seized and detained, and the man who carries them sball be answerable to the courts. After thirty·three days this order will go into execution.

United States Minister, Mr. Alex. McDonald, protested against this order, and was informed that "the trouble had grown out of the free distribution of religious books by English missionaries in southern Persia; that the mollahs were much excited, and serious trouble was feared, for which the government could not be responsible. This step had been taken to quiet them and to preserve peace." After wards the government sent a modified order "that books of science, literature, and history, and such like, for instruction and learning, are free and, after obtaining a permit from the Department of Arts and Science, will in no way be interfered with. Religio!ls and heavenly books, even such as are necessary for the believers of such religions, shall also be by permission; but all books that are brought in for the propagation of foreign religions, and are giveu without charge to }{ussulmen, are prohibited. This prohibition is strict, so that if they come to hand, they shall be seized and destroyed. The government will not be answerable for their value."

Since the order was issued, nothing further has developt, tho Bibles ha.ve been imported and transported from one city to another. We trust nothing further may be heard of the order.

lD:SSION WORlt nt A.lAlIIA

THE DIFFICULTIES AND ENCOURAGEMENTS OF MIS- SION WORK IN ARABIA.

BY REV. S. Y. ZWEMER, F. R. G. S., BAHREIN, ARABIA.

When a large building is not yet in process of construction, and the foundations only are being laid, the p1an of the architect can best be seen from the model, and not amid the digging and stone-breaking and loose material. How much more is this true when the Great Architect is laying the foundations for His spiritual temple in Eastern Arabia? Even now, ten years after the death of Ion Keith Falconer at Aden, the foundations of mission work are only beginning to be laid in the peninsula, and there is so much rubbish about (the desolations of former generations), that it is hard for those who are at a distance to see much progress from year to year in the superstructure.

While other mission-fields can speak of harvest time, and give statistics of churches, schools and baptisms, Arabia, like most Moslem lands, is yet in the midst of early sowing, and the figures we can give all refer to the seed-tim~ of the written or spoken word.

But of difficulties and encouragements in this work it is easy to write, for there are enough of both to dishearten the boldest and to encourage the weakest. And lest our writing prove a stumblingblock to those who already have little faith in work for Mohammedans generally (altho that work has been signally blest within the last decade), we speak first of the difficulties; difficulties which, tho formidable, persistent and arduous, are not worthy to be compared with the glorious encouragements we meet in this same field of work.

Among the difficulties, those that occur first to the mind are: 1. Moslem Prej1tdice.-Some three years ago I received a letter from the Rev. W. A. Essery, honorary secretary of the Bible Lands Mission Aid Society, in which he wrote: "A word as to the task your mission attempts. It is to me the hardest in the whole mission field. To conquer Mohammedanism is to capture Satan's throne, and I think it involves the greatest conflict Christianity has ever known. In attacking Arabia, you aim at the citadel of supreme error occupied by the last enemy that shnll bow to the kingship of Christ." This is true; and yet the difficulty of work among Moslems has been emphasized more than sufficiently in proportion to the efforts made by the Church 10r their evange};zation. That the Mohammedan world is harder to reach, humanly speaking, than the heathen world, no one denies. But that the work for Moslems is a hopeless task, the recent history of missions in Sumatra, the Punjaub, Algiers, and Egypt emphatically disproves. Professor Lansing, of New Brunswick, one of the founders of the Arabian Mission, wrote in 1890: "If the smallness of the

KI88ION WOll': IN ,UUlSIA

number of converts from Islam to Christianity be pointed out, thil!l argues not so much the unapproachability of Moslems as the indifference and inactivity of Christians. The doctrine of fatalism, commonly accredited to Islam, is not one-half so fatalistic in its spirit and operation as that which for thirteen centuries has been practically held by the Christian Church as to the hope of bringing the hosts of Islam into the following of Jesus Christ." This also is true. But Moslem prejudice and Ishmaelitic intolerance are real, and must be faced. Our colporteurs meet this difficulty on their travels along the coast and up the river country. In some places, especially by the Shiah sect, bread and shelter are refused them, and religion discredits the justly famous hospitality of the Arab. Sometimes Bibles and other books that have been sold to villagers are collected by a fanatic mullah and consigned to the flames or the oblivion of an upper shelf in his house. A Wahabee from inner Oman, infuriated because he was worsted in argument at our Muscat Bible depot, attempted to give the colporteur a beating. At Amara, on the Tigris, the attempt was made to wear out our patience and good-feeling by repeated insult and annoyance. Books were stolen, torn, burned; dead vermin cast into our quarters, and the rabble hooted us in the street, until God gave us the victory and peace. At Bahrein a petition, signed by many of the merchants, w,as sent to the Kadi, asking permission to murder the missionary, but nothing came of it. Nearly everywhere in Arabia the prejudice against certain aspects of Christian doctrine are so strong, that without previous explanation, it would be unwise and unsafe to use the words Son of God, death oj Christ, Trim:ty, etc" in a coffee-shop.

2. (Jlimate.-A second difficulty to mission work in Arabia, at present, is climate. At present, we write, because those who have studied the geography of the peninsula know that in the mountain ranges of Oman and Yemen, as well as in some of the Nejd-lands, a healthful, bracing climate is the rule. Now, alas, while all work is still confined to the coast, we have perhaps one of the most trying climates in the world. The intense heat of summer (often 110 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade) is aggravated by the humidity of the atmosphere, and the dust raised by every wind. Nor are there rains or clouds to temper the excessive heat. In the winter, from December to March, the winds are often cold and cutting, and altho the temperature is then more suited to Europeans (35 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit) it appears to be the less healthy season. The so-called Gulf-fever of the remittant type is very dangerous and convalescence is only possible sometimes by leaving the Gulf. Cholera and smallpox are not uncommon. Ophthalmia is rife. Prickly heat, in aggravated form, boils, and all the insect plagues of Egypt are a cause of suffering in their season.

3. Iso1atio1l.-"The work is great and large, and we are separated

HII!!SION WORX IN AIU.BlA

upon the wall, one far from another." There are only two missions at work in Arabia proper. The Keith-Falconer Mission at Aden (Sheikh Othman) is fifteen hundred miles from Muscat, our southern- most station. Muscat is six hundred and thirty-five miles from Bahrein, and the latter three hundred and sixty-seven miles from Busrah, as ships travel. The Scotch Mission has two missionaries, one of whom is married. At Muscat, whose" hinterland" has a population of more than 500,000, there is only one missionary. In the whole penins1lia, with a population of ten millions, there are at present eight missionaries, not including the C. M. S. Mission at Bagdad. All the vantage points hitherto occupied on the coast are painfully, shamefully undermanned, and the whole of the interior is without any missionary. This isolation, this loneliness, is often a discouragement, and therefore a real difficulty. Hope of reinforcements so often deferred makes the heart sick. It is not good for man that he should be alone. "The Lord sent them tUJO and two before his face into every city and place whither He Himself would come."

Of yet other difficulties it would be easy to write. The Arabic language, so rich in its vocabulary, grammatical intricacies, impossible gutturals, extensive literature and dialects-this language is a difficulty. In Turkish Arabia we meet with the Turkish system of misrule and oppression, which often adds difficulty to the work.

But we will turn to the brighter side of the picture, and note encouragements: 1. Political Ohanges.-This last of the nations and hindmost in the march of civilization is beginning to awaken to nineteenth-century life. When Phillips Brooks was on his eastern travels, he wrote to his children, " Last Tuesday we past Aden, and stopt there about six hours. I went on shore and took a drive through the town and up into the country. If you had been with me you would have seen the solemn-looking camels stalking along with solemn-looking Arabs on their backs, looking as if they had been riding on and on that way ever since the days of Abraham. I think I met Isaac and Jacob on two skinny camels, just outside the gates of Aden. I askt them how Esau was, but Jacob lookt mad and wouldn't answer, and hurried the old man on, so that I had no talk with them; but I feel quit~ sure it was they, for they lookt just like the pictures in the Bible."

And the greater part of Arabia is still wholly patriarchal. But Isaac and Jacob would be perplexed had they seen Aden harbor with its warships and commerce from every land, with electric lights and hotels and forts. Since this oriental Gibraltar became English territory, in 1839, rapid political changes have taken place in t;,,, p"u~u­ !mla, which have all tended to open doors for the Kingdom. Here again the hand of God is evident in history. To-day less than onefifth of the area of Arabia is under Turkish rule; and tha.t one-fifth

1!07.] KIllION WOHl!: IN ARAllIA

is gra8pt, not held, by the Sublime Porte, for it ill in continual rebellion.

The British protectorate at Aden has grown until it now embraces a tract two hundred miles long by forty broad, with a popUlation of 130,000. All the tribes on the coast from Aden to Muscat are subsidized by annual payments. Muscat became practically a British protectorate last year at the conclusion of the tribal war of the Sultan of Oman. The island of Bahrein became English some years ago, and the Union Jack flies over this center of the Gulf pearl-fisheries. English consulates or agencies exist at Jiddah, Hodeidah, Makallah, Muscat, Sharkeh, Bahrein, Busrah, and Bagdad. The slave-trade is interfered with. Cables and commerce stretch from Suez, around the peninsula, to Busrah. The postage of the Persian Gulf is Indian, not Turkish, and the rupee is forcing the piastre out of the market, since ninety-eight per cent. of the imports and exports are in English snips. English and American merchants are developing the resources of the country. Last year 150,000 tons of dates were exported from Busrah alone, and date-culture is a growing industry.

The interior of Arabia, always independent of Tnrkey, comes in contact more with Christian and occidental civilization, than with Ottoman. The Arab youth on the coast begins to read English, and looks towa.rd Bombay rather than Mecca. There has long been talk and now there is a proposition for a railway to India from Port Said, eastward along the thirtieth parallel to Busrah, to cost £12,000,000. (See the London Times, May 7th, 1897.) All this commercial activity and these political changes are full of encouragement to the missionary. There is a stirring among the dead bones.

2. Growing FriendUness of the Arabs.-This is in part occasioned by the contrast, now so plainly evident, between English and Ottoman rule, a contrast acknowledged by eVen the dullest fisherman of the Persian Gulf. And this friendliness extends to the missionary. Where on our first arrival we met with rebuff or prohibition to preach, we ndw find opened doors and hospitality. The village judge at Bahrein, once our bitter enemy, now rents us the building used for our Bible-shop. Where formerly the missionary was avoided, his house is now often a rendezvous for all sorts and conditions of men. To this result our dispensary work has naturally largely contributed. Controversial books (mentioned in a whisper in some parts of the Moslem world) are read, purchased, and in some cases have been eagerly sought for by inquiring minds. At Mnscat open-air preaching is now entirely possible, and at Sheikh Othman there is a small Moslem boys' school, where the Bible is taught. Arabian fanaticism has been exaggerated. Where it exists it is dne to ignorance and not to ill-will.

3. Increased Demand for the Word of God.-This is a great encouragement; "for as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven and retnrneth not thither, but watereth the eartL and maketh it bring forth and bud . . • so shall my Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth; it shall not return unto Me void."

The increase of the sale of Scriptures in the eastern part of Arabia (not to mention that in the Red Sea litoral, of which I have no statis- tics at hand) has been ·encouraging. This table shows it at a glance: I I I _I __ __~1892 __ ~~ 1894 ~_5 l~~ Less than 500 825 1760 2313 2805 Of these sales eighty-seven per cent. were to Moslems, the remainder to Jews, Sabeans, and Eastern Ohristians. From each of our three stations as a center, and from the northernmost limit of the Busrah vilayet for more than a thousand miles along the coast of Arabia to Ras-el-Had, our colporteurs offer God's Word to ull who will receive it, and speak with all who will hear. They are the real pioneer evangelists, and their work breaks down prejudice and opens the way for work of all kinds in .the future. It is especially hopeful that the sale of compZete Bibles and Testaments is on the increase where earlier sales of smaller portions have prepared the way. Besides the Scriptures, 947 religious and educational books were also sold last year. The letter of the Oman Arab, reproduced in the picture, is another illustration, how even in out-of-the-way corners they seek to possess themselves of the book of the Christians. In Oman the ship of the desert was in the service of the king once and again to carry boxes of Bibles over the mountain passes to the distant villages.

4. Strengthened Stakes.-Not only have the cords of our missiontent been lengthened since last you heard from Arabia in these pages, but our stakes have been strengthencd also. This is encouraging. The Scotch Mission in Yemen has received reenforcement, and has a more vigorous poHey than heretofore. Their hospital and dispensary at Sheikh Othman exert influence far inland, and receive patients from every part of Yemen. This work is even a better memorial to Ion Keith Falconer, than the pretty chapel built to his memory at Steamer Point. On a good site, behind the post-office, the building is used on Sundays and in the week for services in behalf of the soldiers and sailors of Aden. The children of the Scotch Free Ohurch supplied the means to build it.

At Muscat a rescued..slave school was opened last year, and now eighteen boys are receiving industrial training. The building formerly rented has been purchased, and, after some improvements, will be a suitable mission-house in this trying tropical climate. It is built of undrest stone, plastered over, and with the usual flat roof, and has a small garden surrounding it, outside the city walls of Muscat. With all its simplicity and smallness, it is the first" House of God" in all Oman. and will be a house of rest to those who seek Ohrist there.

C1IUKClI AND ST.A.Tl!I IN BUSI!I.A

From Bnsrah, as a center, the Bible work has extended until now branch-depots have been opened at Amara, on the Tigris and Nasariyeh on the Euphrates, at the latter place under specially auspicious circumstances. At our Busrah dispensary, under charge of Dr. H. R. L. Worrall, 4,345 cases were treated last year, of whom 2,670 were Moslems. The waiting-room of the dispensary is a daily pulpit, where we enjoy every freedom to preach Christ.

5. First .Fruits.-This is the crowning encouragement. During the year past we have had the joy of witnessing the ascent of at least two souls out of darkness into the light of life. A Turkish soldier first heard the word of the Gospel at Amara in the midst of all the fanatical disturbance there when our work was begun. By reading the Bible, and in conversation with the missionaries, he has come to accept Christ, and walks in the fellowship of the Spirit. His escape from all interference seems inexplicable, except it be that his position as petty officer in the army protects him. He has askt for baptism, but is first to receive more instruction.

'l'he other Moslem, of whom we know that he believed in Christ, was a llliddle-aged Persian, conversant with Arabic and a seal-engraver' by profession. He came to the Busrah dispensary suffering from consumption, and was a frequent visitor. Reading a copy of Luke's Gospel, he was deeply convicted of sin, and when we prayed with him in the house he wept like a child. A day or two later he found peace, and kept repeating the name of Christ. His disease was too far advanced to promise cure, and so he left Busrah to try and reach his family at Shiraz. We have not heard from him since. We accompanied him to the ship, and knelt between decks to commend him to God. Doubtless he fell asleep in Jesus ere he completed his long journey. But we shall see his face again when the harvest is gathered in, and full sheaves from Arabia, as well as first fruits, fill the garner of God on the great day.

CHURCH AND STATE IN RUSSIA.-L * BY VLADIMIR SOLOVIEF.

In the time of St. Vladimir (972-1010), by changing its national idolatry for a universal faith for which there is "neither Greek nor Jew," Russia freed itself from its heathenish isolation and exclusiveness, and acknowledging itself part of the one humanity, accepted its • One of RU88Ia's foremost living philosophers, BOn of the great hiMorlan1 and ~ melI~ qf ~1l~ ~1}.IH!~1 QhW<?h, 4~i,,11l tralsl~ted br Mrs, A, S, H.o….4!, true position and fulfilled its universal-historical fate. But the adoption of Christianity, if it is the real thing, does not ouly imply the performance 'of pious ceremonies, or the verbal confession of certain accepted dogmas. This adoption of Christianity laid on the converted people practical duties also; to reform their lives according to the principles of the true religion, and to direct their actions by its char- acter and spirit. Kiefian Russia * really marcht on this path, but naturally the first steps could neither be firm nor steady. In the life of the people remained much of barbarism and paganism, but there were also to be seen clear traces of the new spiritual principle. The moral disposition evinced by those converted under Vladimir, as in their care for the poor and unfortunate; their benevolent conduct towards their European neighbors, their horror of barbarous tortures was really Christian. These were the feelings aud opinions which a hundred years later were set forth in the "instructions" of Vladimir Monomachus. This disposition was nothing extraordinary or accidental; though not everyone lived so well as Vladimir, everyone thought as he. The quarrels of the dukes were lookt upon by the people as bad and sinful, they never agreed with them. As Kiefian Russia was placed between Byzantium and Western Europe, it easily accepted in addition to the truly universal principles of the Christian oivilization, the immaterial and passing forms. Western feudalism and the despotic centralization of the half-Asiatic Byzantium, were exceedingly strange to Russian life. In Kiefian Russia the obstacles to the formation of a Christian c~mmunity were less than in any other country; but these good external conditions were not sufficient to secure the fulfilment of this task. Being right in the way of the Asiatic hordes, which never ceased to press on the Christian world, Kiefian Russia had first of all to struggle for its own existence. This struggle had but little success, as the organization of the State was very weak. The young nation was in danger of perishing by violence before having developt its spiritual power, and it became an urgent necessity to create a strong state. The happy realization of this vital question was not achieved by Kiefian Russia, but it was the triumph of the Moscoyite Empire.t Giving themselves up to this national political task, the Russian people in the Moscovite epoch easily took the needed power (the strong state) as the aim of their political life; on this followed consequently a lowered and darkened religious and moral ideal. Most of the sins of the Moscovite Empire were accidentally committed; they depended upon outward historical circumstances. The Russian people in the far northeastern corner of Europe were in the thirteenth century physically isolated from the Christian world, and they concentrated all their forces on the ungrateful task of 0< Russia WI It then was, a dukedom centered at Klet. t Datlnl( trom the time when Moscow succeeded Klef as the capital, when Empire began.

OllURCH AND IIT…TB IN KUIlIlIA

!lolidifying the State, which brought about also a spiritual isolation, and the development of national pride and egotism. The linking of Kiefian Russia with other Christian nations, besides securing their cultural influence, had the advantage of obliging our people to feel themselves part of the European concert, and of holding up, tho at the beginning very feebly-some feeling of uuiversal solidarity. Opposed to this beneficial reaction, connection with the barbarous Mongolian hordes humiliated and opprest the Moscovite State. The iufluence of that connection was twofold, and a doubly bad one. From one side, subjection to a lower race, and permanent commingling with it, had a deadening effect on the Russians, especially as they were entirely cut off from Europe. It lowered both their spiritual and their political standards. On the other hand, it developt in the Moscovite Russians a national self-consciousness and pride, since they, tho lowered, retained the superiority of a Christian and historical nation. The permanent cousciousness of superiority in comparison with the Mongols was not abated by international relations in the other direction. With the Russian people, it was as with a man whose sole intercourse is with p{lrsons of a lower spiritual standard, through which he gets too high an opiniou of his own importance and value.

The national pride of the Moscovite Empire increased, especially in the first half of the fifteenth century; first, because through the burden of the Mongolian yoke, the feeling of their inward superiority over the Mohammedans was combined with a consciousness of outward power, and secondly, because their deliverance from the Tatars, and the final defeat of Byzantium, under the Turks, happened at the same time. .As payment for the Moscovite assistance, traveling Greek monks gave to Moscow the title of a third Rome, with the claim of an absolute importance in the Christian world. In ,this, our national self-consciousness found something like an ideal justification. In the Moscovite epoch, the Greeks, being independent and possessing a relatively high civilization, had a beneficial influence over the Russians. This influence imposed upon the young nation a historical discipline, by forcing it to acknowledge the spiritual supremacy of another nation, and to honor the foreigners for their ideal superiority. The erroneous extremes of Byzantinism were not dangerous, as they were counterbalanced by the reaction of the West. Matters acquired another aspect in the Moscovite epoch. The Greeks were no longer representatives of a spiritual enlightenment, or of a great Christian empire, or of a high civilization, but they were slaves of the infidels, beggars: and flatterers.

Thanks to these qualities, they could but strengthen the national self-consciousness of the Moscovite people. Thus through the spiritual isolation of the Moscovite Empire, Byzantian ideas were readily accepted by the people. Iu the power of theso historical conditions a spiritual and social organization which can not be called a truly Christian one, took its rise in the Moscovite Empire. Tho this organization had a religious ground, all its religion was reduced to "orthodoxy" in ceremonial worship, which laid upon no one any moral duties. It happened that this formal religiousness was united with benevolence and piousness, as well as with the utmost wickedness. St. Sergius was God-fearing and "orthodox," but as God-fearing and firm in faith was Tzar Ivan IV.-the Terrible. "Even devils believe," says the Apostle. According to Byzantian notions, nothing more than such a faith was expected from the majority of Christian people. The few who were not satisfied with this were obliged to leave, society, to go into the deserts or to become fools. The highest ideal of holiness, represented by hermits or fools, was essentially ascetic, and therefore could not raise the social morality to a higher level. The average life lay between those of such holy warriors as Sergius and Nil, and of God-fearing monsters like I van IV. The notion of an ideal perfection of the individual was retained in the national consciousness, but the principal conditions for real perfection, for moral progress, active, religion, the ideal of a common truth, was entirely absent. In the Moscovite Empire, as before in Byzantium, the religious and moral principles were entirely excluded from the sphere of political or social life. In this sphere, instead of the universal Christian ideal, something altogether opposite appeared. To the national empire was restored the absolute nature which was taken from it by Christianity. In consequence of the extreme separation of the Moscovite Empire from the civilized world, the former reaction against Christian universalism showed itself in its full power. Our forefathers believed themselves to be the only one Ohristian nation and empirej all others they called non-Christian, being unconscious that by this they deprived themselves of the essential unity of Christianity. The Byzantian Greeks, thanks to whom the national self-satisfaction was ingrafted in Moscow, became themselves its victims. With all their might they magnified the pretensions of the Moscovite Empire as sole defender and protector of the true faith, and the God-fearing land; tho then the question arose, could the Greeks, having lost the supremacy of Christian empire, and having become the slaves of infidels, guard the purity of doctrine and the fullness of faith? The answer to this question waR unfavorable for the Greeks; it decided that Russia was the only Christian and God-fearing country!

(To be continued.)

1897.J HAS lSLAM BEEN A RELIGION OF PROGRESS t 18 IT NOW?

HAS ISLAM BEEN A RELIGION OF PROGRESS? IS IT NOW?

BY BEV. F. F. ELLINWOOD, D.D., LL.D.

A high authority on the doctrines and philosophy of Islam is Rel'. Edward Sell, Fellow of the University of Madras, etc., etc. Some years ago he puhlisht the Faith of Islam. * There is now a second and improved edition, the result of fifteen years of additional study of Islam in its own Arabic sources. Mr. Sell is a missionary to the Mohammedans in Madras, and while faithful to his commission he has shown so much of tact as well as intellectual ability as to win for himself the confidence of all classes of the community, EuroI)eanS, Hindus, and even Mohammedans. His scholarship, his insight into the social and religious questions of India, and his fairness in discussing them are generally recognized. In these times when on the one hand so many apologists are lauding the benevolent and enlightened spirit of Islam, and on the other hand, the worst atrocities known' to history since the seventh century, are being perpetrated in the Turkish Empire, any new light which can be thrown upon this most potent and formidable of the world's man-made religions should be welcomed.

"I rest my case entirely," says Mr. Sell, "upon Mussulman authorities themselves; still more, I have ascertained from living witnesses that the principles I have tried to show 8S existing in Islam, are really at work now and are as potent as at any previous period."

The author contends that the more recent Fetvas delivered by the Ulema in Constantinople, show how firmly a Moslem state is bound in the fetters of an unchangeable law, and that the present practice of Orthodox Moslems, all the world over, is a constant carrying out of precepts given in the Koran and the Sunnat centuries ago.

There has been no change if indeed change is possible. The author explains how it is that travelers and casual observers, like Canon Taylor and Hopkinson Smith, gain the roseate impressions which they proclaim. They take individual exceptions as exponents of the character of whole communities. "In India," says Mr. Sell, " there are a number of enlightened Mohammedans, ornaments to native society, social servants of the state, men who show a laudable zeal in all social reforms so far as is consistent with orthodoxy. Theil nUinber is far too few, and they do not in many cases representorthodox Islam. These exceptio,nal individuals have felt the wave of west. em influence, modern science, social progress, and their highest virtues exist in spite of, and not as a result of Islam."

• TM Faith 01r.la….. J!y the ReT. 'Edward Sell, B. D., M. R. A. S. Pellow of the UniTereity of Madru: London, KelrAD Paul, Trench, Trubner &; Co. Second edition, revised and eniarced. From other sources we find evidence that intelligent Meslems in ' India have become aware that their cast-iron system has retarded the progress of Mohammedans, even as compared with their Hindu neighbors.

lIr. Sell's book is especially valuable for the light which it throws upon the period following the first bloody sweep of Mohammedan conquest. The history of Mohammed himself, his struggles to gain a footing by persuasion, his later militaryachierements, his private charseter so far as it is revealed, the production of the Koran with its civil and religious teachings, all these are well-known, and the remarkable military achievements of Omar, Omru, Othman, and others are also familiar to most readers. But at a later date, and especially during the Kalifates of the Abbassides of Bagdad, and the Omyades in Spain, endless discussions upon the interpretation of the Koran and the Sunnat, or traditional sayings of Mohammed, were rife, and new phases of Islam appeared which are not so well understood. There was also at Bagdad in the east, and at Oordova in the west, a revival of interest in Greek philosophy, which contrasted strangely with the antecedent history and the well-known spirit of Islam.

The apologists of Mohammedanism have made so much of the advanced learning of Bagdad and of Spain, and have so exaggerated the debt which the Ohristianity of the dark ages owed to the intellectuallight borrowed from Islam, that the discriminations which Mr. Sell has pointed out, will be highly valued. The truth is that philosophy and science were always exotic in even those Moslem nations which tolerated them at all.

" There never was any Arabian science strictly speaking," says G. H. Lewes,.in his History of Philosophy. "In the first place, all the philosophy and science of the Mohammedans was Greek, Jewish, and Persian. It really designates a reaction against Islam which arose in the distant parts of the Empire."

Ernest Renan, in an address delivered before the Oollege of France, uttered the same sentiments as follows: "Arabian science and Arabian philosophy are often alluded to, and in fact during one or two centuries in the Middle Ages, the Arabs were our teachers, but it was only until we were acquainted with the Greek originals. When closely examined, moreover, this Arabian science has nothing Arabian in it. Its foundation is purely Greek; amongst its originators there. is not a single pure Shemite; they were all Spaniards and Persians who wrote in Arabic."

Mr. Sell quotes even from a Moslem author (Musinir Mulk), the following frank confession: "It must always be borne in mind that in spite of the enormous progress made by the Mohammedans in the early centuries of their power, learning has never been popular among them as a nation, and science only flourisht when there happened to be a willing man to protect it." Such protectors were found in the Abbas- side rulers, AI Mammun and Harun Al Rachid of Bagdad, and" that great free thinker the Mogul Akbar of India." The philosophy of Aristotle had been translated into Syliac and Persian before the Mohammedan conquest, and under the protection and encouragement of the Abbassides, it was translated from these languages into Arabic by Nestorian physicians residing at their courts. The most eminent of these was Housin Ibn Ishak. Through the influence of these translations the study of philosophy spread rapidly in the ninth and tenth centuries. Books on grammar, rhetoric, medicine, logic, etc., etc., were multiplied only to be condemned a century or two later. The only true Arabic philosopher whose name has been transmitted was Al Kendi, born at Bosrah, on the Persian Gulf, A. D. 870; and he wa;; a rationalist.

A careful study of the list of eminent Mohammedan philosophers will show that they were not Arabs, and that they were not. Orthodox Moslems. Farabi, who lived in the tenth century, and was educated at Bagdad, denied not only the inspirations of the Koran, but all objective revelation of any kind. '

Avicenna, born near Bokhara, 980 A. D., was regarded with disfavor as a heretic. Ibn Badjah (Avempace), born near Saragossa, toward the end of the eleventh century, was violently persecuted by Orthodox lIIoslems. Al Gazzali, born in Khorassan, A. D.I059, was a famous scholastic; but becoming at length sceptical with regard to both religion and philosophy, he ended by embracing Sufiisn'l.

Averhoes, the last of the Moslem philosophers of note, was born at Cordova, A. D. 1126. He vas the most profound of all Mohammedan scholars, and a great admirer and exponnder of Aristotle. He was condemned as an arch-heretic by the Moslem doctors and by the Moorish King Al Mansur, and was banisht first to Lucena and finally to Morocco, where he died in 1198.

Philosophic inquiry had already been effectually supprest in the East, and now it thus received its death blow from the Moslems of Spain. Experience had shown that liberal studies of any kind transcended the narrowness of the Koran, and were at eternal warfare with the whole spirit of Islam. Since the twelfth century, intellectual progre!ls has rested under the most uncompromising ban in all Mohammedan countries.

It is an interesting fact, however, that what Spain lost iu suppressing the teachings of Averhoes, the Christian nations of Europe gained. It was from the schools of Cordova, that France, Italy, and England received the Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy, which the bigotry of the Eastern Church and the fury of the Moslem conquests had conspired to withhold from Christendom. Just as philosophy was about to go into fin'a. banishment from all Mohammedan countries, the Benedictine and Dominican scholastics, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Albertulil Magnus, and others welcomed it. And in spite of all the intellectual vagaries of these men, the Ohristianity of Europe received substantial benefit. It began to shake off the repression of four cen- turies of ecclesiastical tyranny and to show its real spirit. Islam recoiling from the light which its institutions could no longer endure, showed also its true spirit; the two changed places.

ETen Hinduism has shown greater progress than Islam. Within the last five years a Mohammedan newspaper in Oalcutta has striven to arouse the Moslem population of India to the fact, that in all the higher official appointments, Hindus far outnumber the Mohammedans in·proportion to their respective populations. This is a hard confes- sion for the conquering Islamic race; and the writer did not hesitate to charge the responsibility upon the neglect of Mohammedan society to keep pace with the movement of the times. On the other hand, Moslem papers of the extreme conservative stamp maintain that the fundamental principles and the essential spirit of Islam can not change. For example, Mr. Sell quotes certain criticisms of a Moslem paper in Oairo, of February, 1896, upon the sp!leches made by two Moslem speakers, at the dedication of a new Mosque in London, with reference to the adaptation of Islam to European ideas. Says the Egyptian editor, "I do not know what meaning they (the two speakers) attach to the phrase, but 1 do know that no adaptation or alteration of Islam will be accepted by any Moslem people. Islam as a religion, as a guide to man m life, in hIS duties to God and men, is divine and perfect. To say that it needs adaptation, is to say that it is neither divine nor pedect, and no Moslem can or will admit either assnmption. Islam as it is, is pedect, and is as wondl'dully adapted to the needs of man in England, or in the Arctic regions, as it is to the Bedouins of the African desert; and the fact that it is so, is one of the striking pToofs of its Divine origin." (Splendid instance iu which one gratuitous assertion may serve as proof positive for another!) Altho Greck philosophy had been !!upprest in all Mohammedan countries by the close of the twelfth century, yet various heresies and !!chisms haTe continued to arise through all the centuries, down to the present time. But everywhere the Mohammedan sects are alike in their repression of all that the world calls progress. The Shias of Persia, who maintain that the descendants of Ali, the cousin and sonin-law of Mohammed, are the only lawful imams, have developt various sects, known as Sufis, Karmathians, Fatimites, Ismailians (including the order of the Assassins), Babis, and Wahhabis. The one thing which these sects shared in common, was an element of Persian mysticism, tinged with Indian pantheism, which reacted against the hard and fast objectivism of Koranic authority, and at the same time weakened the moral sense and the feeling of personal responsibilit.y. With Sufis and Babis, the idea that the one only self lives and acta within us, led to ecstasies and fanatical fancies and fioul'isht most in quiet ascetic life. It was comparatively harmless, but it was destitute of any power.to regenerate S?Clety, or any elemen~ of prolZresil. With the Karmathlans, the AsS8SS111S, and the Wahhabis, on the contrary, the exemption which it offered from moral responsibility, gave free rein to those savage instincts which had prompted wars of extermina- tion in all ages of Mohammedan history. "If," they reasoned, "there is but the One Supreme Self, then practically, so far as human life and conduct are concerned, all distinction between good and evil disappears, and each man's passion or ambition is his only law." Such were the ethics of the Karmathians, a sect which arose in Mesopotamia toward the close of the ninth century, but finally found its home in Egypt, where it establisht the Fatimite dynasty. The Karmathians represented a combination of Islam, Persian Magism, and Ohristianity. Their leader even claimed to be an apostle of Jesus. But the spirit of the sect was an intensification of Islamic fanaticism and intolerance, tho chiefly visited on Islam itself. Mecca was attackt and conquered 920 A. D., the Kaaba was plundered and the sacred black stone was carried off to be ransomed, twenty-two years later, for fifty thousand ducats. 'rhe Karmathian or Fatimite power was broken alter a century and a half (909-11'71), but it was still represented for more than a century longer, by a form of religious fanaticism, which embodied its worst elements and became the terror of all the East. This was the order of the Assassins. Mr. Sell gives us only a glimpse of the early history of its founder, Hassan bin Sabbah, who was born in 1035. Professor Harvey Porter, D.D., of the Syrian Protestant Oollege at Beirut, in an interesting article publisht in the Bibliotkeca Sacra, of January, 1895, presents a much fuller account of the order-its long continued atrocities and its well merited fate. About the middle of the eleventh century, three schoolmates in a city of Khorassan, entered into an agreement, that whichever of the three should first rise to fortune should aid the others. One of the three, Nizumu'l Mulk, on becoming grand vizier of Alp Arslan, and later of Malik Shah, secured to the second, Om'r Khyyam, author of the famous Ruba'iyat, a liberal pension that he might give himself to his favorite literary pursuits. To the third, Hassan bin Sabbah, he offered the governorship of a province, with which, however, he was not satisfied. At the famous Fatimite University in Oairo was taught the extreme Shia pantheism of Babek, who had proclaimed the moral indifference of all actions, and the perfect freedom of men to give free course to their passions. These diabolical doctrines, strengthened by the Karmathian disloyalty to Islam as taught at Baghdad, opened the way for more than one strange sect. El Hakem, the sixth of the Fatimlte Kaliphs, encouraged by the Shia mystics, EI Dorazy and EI Hamsoh, founded the sect of the Druzes, who still exist in Syria, and who revere the name of El Hakem, as an incarnation of the Supreme Being. Aud to this day they observe the fatal ethics of Babek toward all mankind, except the members of their own order. None but Druzes have any rights which they are bound to respect. Hassan bin Sabbah had imbibed these reckless atheistic principles in Oairo, and when he founded the order of the Assassins in the year 1088, he cast aside all moral obligation toward God or man. And yet for effect he posed as a saint. He preacht a crusade, not only against the Abba.ssides of .Baghdad, but against all rulers .:Llld all government and social order. By m3!l.:J.S of the assassins' dagger he aimed to bring the nations tohis feet. He establisht himself in a remote fortress in the mountains, south of the Oaspian Sea, from which he sent forth his secret emissaries and which he never left during the thirty-seven years of hi. power. Upon the common ranks of his ordt'r, he enjoined a strict adherence to the Koran, and the traditions of orthodox Islam, but a select and limited number were initiated into his esoteric doctrines, which rejected all re.elation and all moral restraint. The only recognized law in the universe was his command. His ambition did not project a visible kingdom upholding armies, but a reign of terror in which by secret and murderous emissaries, hE; might control all king- doms. .K0 errand of death was too dangerous to be undertaken by his minions; no distance was too great for his avenging arm to reach. Among his victims was Nizam ul Mulk, his early friend and benefactor, and Nizam's master, Malik Shah, died probably through poison from the same source. These murders were continued for more than a century and a half. In 1102, the Governor of Hums fell a victim, and in 1119 the Governor of Aleppo and his son. In Persia large numbers who held various official positions, shared the same fate. Others were compelled by terror to advance the tyrant's interests.

At a later day, branches of the order extended into Syria and elsewhere. Some of Hassan's own kindred fell by llis order. At length " the old man ofthe mounta.ins," as he had long been called, died inl1is fortress, at the age of ninety, but a line of successors followed and the work of death w.as.con!inued. Thrice was the life of th~ great Saladin attempted, and It IS saId, that he finally made terms WIth the Assussins. Two Kaliphs, one a Fatimite ruler of Egypt, the other a Kaliph of Baghdad, were numbered among the scores and hundreds of distinguisht victims.

The Mohammedan rulers of the East seemed powerless, either single handed or in alliance. There was no visible army to be met upon the field. They were dealing with a treacherous unseen foe, like the pestilence which wasteth at noonday. Members of the order were lurking in their courts and were frequently found among their trusted servants. It is one of the many strange overrulings of Divine Providence that when the whole Mohammedan world was paralyzed and helpless before this extreme development of its own teachmgs, the reign of terror which had ruled Persia and all Western Asia for a hundred and seventy years, was finally broken by the sweeping invasion of the heathen Mongol Hulagu Khan. By him the order was entirely crippled in the East, tho it survived for many years in Syria. Among the Nusairi of Northern Syria, who also call themselves Ismailians, is still a small but wf'ak and harmless remnant. And the history of these strange Nusairi of Northern Syria, or that of the Druzes of the Lebanon, may equally well answer the question whether this type of Islam has aided the world's progress.

The Wahhabis of Arabia and India constitute another prominent and influential sect. It is comparatively modern, having existed only about one hundred and fifty yeurs. Most of its career has lain in this nineteenth century, and yet so far from giving any progressive impulse to the Mohammedan cult, it has proved the most reactionary element in the history of Islam. Mohammed ibn Abdul Wahhab, from whom the sect takes its name, was a native of Nej'd in Arabia. He was alarmed at the lUDt; which had crept into the worship of profest Moslems, and even 0 devout pilgrims. He thought he discoyered in tlle prac- tical worship of the sacred tombs of Mohammed and Ali a veritable idolatry. And the pilgrims worshipt relics as truly and disgracefully as the early Christian idolaters whom the prophet had condemned to death. Winning to his support· a powerful chief,whose son married his daughter, Wahhab establisht at Ryadh the Wahhabi dynasty A. D. 1742. The sword wus now iurned against lax and idolatrous Moslems as they had used it against the infidels. Never was Mohammedan warfare more remorseless. " As soon as you seize a place" said the allied chief Mohammed Ibn Sa'ud to his soldiers, "put the males to the sword; plunder and pillage at your pleasure, but spare the women and do not strike at their modesty." According to Burkhart, the Wahhabi chief on the day of battle would give to his men each a passport to heaven, or more strictly an order on the treasurer of paradise. "Plunder if you succeed, and paradise if you fall. Female captives in the one case, celestial houris in the other." This has been the religious (?) motto of conquest in Arabia from the seventh century to the nineteenth. And with half savage men of an unquestioning and fanatical faith, it has always been a spur to reckless daring and an element of success. It was no new device of Wahhab, except that he employed it against men of his own faith. It is all in the Koran. It wail so nnderstood and acted upon some months since by the army of the Sultan in Armenia, and if a different procedure was since observed in Thessaly and in Crete, it war; only out of regard to the full gaze of adjacent nations, and a wholesome dread of the indignation of mankind., Wahhabism had by the end of the last century extended over Oentral and Eastern Arabia. In 1803 the ruling Wahhabi chief made an armed pilgrimage to Mecca. Both Mecca and Medina fell into his hands, and a perfect wreck was made of all ihat seemed inconsistent with the high Wahhabi standards. Seven years later another chief, succeeding to his father's scepter, plundered the tomb of the prophet, and distributed its jewels and relics among his soldiers. This aroused the faithful of the West. The armies of Turkey and Egypt joined in a crusade for the rescue of the" Holy Sepulchre" of Islam, and after nine years of undisputed sway, the Wahhabis were driven out of Mecca, and the sacrilegious young chief was taken to Oonstantinople and beheaded (A. D. 1818).

In 1827, Seyed Ahmad, a Wahhabi of India, having gained many followers, ordered a jehs,d (war of extermination) against the Sikhs. But five years later the Wahhabis were attackt by the Sikh, Sher Singh, and Seyed Ahmad was slain.

Wahhabism has ceast to figure as a political power of any consequence, even in Arabia, but its :principles are still maintained and have a large following. Palgrave gIves interesting accounts of its strict requirements and its tyrannical espionage and censorship over all social, domestic, and even personal life. There is no other place on the earth where liberty of thought is so absolutely extinct, as in the Arabian province of Nej'd, and especially at Ryadh, the capital.

Mr. Sell, while reco~nizing the progressive spirit of such native Mohammedan authors lU India, as -:Maulavi Cheragh Ali and Seyed Amir Ali, whom he calls "Modern Mutazilas," after the old free thinkers of Baghdad, quotes even them in support of the statement that Orthodox Islam-islam is as moveless now as in the middle ages. The old Mutazilas were supprest and it is only the protection of British power that renders liberal Mohammedanism possible in India. and Egypt.

LOctober

II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.

mUTED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GlU.CEY, D.D.

Hymn of Sukkat or Patricius, (St. China. The" Higher Classes" in Patriok). China as shown by Mr.·Walker's article following this, are not an aristocracy of Patrlcius 80 witnessed for Christ one Easter blood, but of brains; they are only the morn, that the tlre·worshipers would have ruling class in the government and put him to death. They "liailed him before these are recruited from every part of King Leugeire, at Taral:i, the center of Druid- the social order of the Empire. Specifiism. He mused and prayed, and tbe follow- cally these" Higher Classes" which it ing are a ~rt of the verses he wrote on the is aimed to reach are named in the reoccasion.' Every miSSionary everywhere in port of the Society for the Diffusion of ~rll among heathen m~ht adopt the prayer. Christian and General Knowledge for lJ. T. G.] 1891, as follows: The Chief Civil llan- darins of the rank of Mayor and up- "May Christ, I pray, wards, estimated to number 2,289 ; the Protect me to-day Chief Military Mandarins of the rank of Captain and upwards would be 1,987; Against poison and fire, the Educational Mandarins of the rank Against drowning and 'wounding; of Inspectors of Counties and upwards, That so, in His grace aboundin&" 1,760; Professors of Colleges about 2,000; Leading Expectant Mandarins I may earn the preacher's hIre. who reside in each of the provincial capitals and who resemble members of "Christ, as a light, Parliament at home, as they are ad- Illumine and guide me. visers to the provincial government, and assist it in various other ways, about Christ, as a shield, o'ershadow and 2,000: Five per cent. of the Literati, cover me. (1) when examined for the degree of Literary Doctor at Pekin, (2) when ex- Christ be under me. Christ be over amined for the degree of Master of Arts me. (KIl-jen) in each of the twenty pro- vinces, (3) when examined for the de- Christ be beside me gree of Bachelor of Arts (Siu-tsai) in On left hand and right. the 253 prefectures and sub-prefectures. Christ be before me, behind me, about The last three classes combined are variously estimated from half a million me, to a million, say 600,000, and five per Christ this day be within and without cent. of these would make 30,000. Ten per cent. of tho ladies and children of me. the selected families of Mandarins and Literati, say 4,000. All these specified "Christ, the lowly and meek, and thus estimated would make in round Christ, the All-Powerful, be numbers 44,000 whom it is proposed to reach. In the heart of each to whom I speak, In the mouth of each who speaks to During the past period of Protestant missionary work, it has been considered me. useless to attempt to reach these cl&S8e8. In all who draw near me, They are the governing classes in a Or see me, or hear me. highly organized political structure, systematically opposed to all intercourao "At Tarah to-day. in this awful hour, I call on the Holy Trinity.

Glory to Him who reigneth in power, The God of the elements-Father, and Son, And Paraclete Spirit-which Three are the One, The ever-existing Divin~ty.

" Salvation dwells with the Lord, With Christ the Omnipotent word, From generation to generation- Grant Uj, 0 Lord, thy grace and sal- vation."

The Higher Olasses in Ohins..

J. T. G.

We devote the International Depart- ment thi. month to the consideration of 'he comparatively recent movement, specially designed directly and indirectly, to reach the hi~her classes in

INTlIlN.A.TION.A.L DEP.A.lTlDIN'l'

with foreigners 118 perilous to the na- it years ago, the higher classes could be tional peace, prosperity, and perpetuity. reacht if proper methods were pursued.

For thousands of years the Chinese have The importance of this branch of work esteemed themselves superior to every lies not in that these classes are more other people, and this entire body of worthy in the sight of God, but no mandarins, gentry, and educated classes nation can be saved unlesa all classes has been ignorant and prejudiced ate saved, whether high or low; and against innovations of any kind in any there should be concurrent effort to department of the social or political reach all as rapidly as possible. This order. The genius of the Chinese gov- "Society for the Diffusion of Christian ernment is paternal, and the people are and General Knowledge" publishes accustomed to pay deference to their two monthly magazines, the" Review rulers in a very uncommon degree. of the Times," edited by Rev. Young What the rulers disapprove is sure to J. Allen, D.D., and the" Missionary be treated at least with suspicion and Review," edited by Rev. E. T. Wil- distrust. Thus these " Higher Classes" liams. These periodicals make free have not been accessible to missionary use of the MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE effort, but the lower classes, the" com- WORLD, which is furnisht them gratuit- mon people," whom Lincoln is quoted ously by us to help on this good work.

as saying, God must love "because he The society named publishes also had made so many of them," have quite a large number of works, the heard the missionary and forty thou- tiLles filling fourteen pages, treating of sand or more of them are enrolled as religion and missions, biography of Christian communicants with possibly great reformers who became converts double that number as "adherents." to Christianity, and historical and scien- The purpose to reach these " Higher tific treatises. One of these publica- Classes" has, however, never be enab- tions has been placed in the hands of sent from the missionary heart. As every civil mandarin throughout the early as 1877 the China Missionary Empire of the rank of county mayor Conference entertained the project of and upwards. Special efforts are put producing a literature specially adapt- . forth to circulate these pUblications at ed to reach these literary classes. the triennial examinations. 'fhey have Little was done, however, but, in 1887, met with favor at the hands of some of Dr _Williamson started the movement the prominent Chinese, one vice- which resulted in the organization of roy sending a donation of a thousand the "Society for the Diffusion of Chris- taels. The Educational Aseociation of tian and General Knowledge Among China has fur some years, specially since the Chinese," supported by the Book 1890, sought to aid in the production of and Tract Society of Scotland. The suitable text-books for schools. These immediate aim was to provide books of are not only designed for mission comparatively high order for the most schools, but to promote the general intelligent classes in China, and books educational interests of China. They illustrated with chromos for families. recognize that this is no small task In 1891, Rev. Timothy Richard was amongst an ancient people with tradi- askt to become its secretary, and the tional respect for the learning it pos- English Baptist Mission, of which he sesses and a well-organized system of , was a member, generously voted to schools. The task is to introduce new continue his support in this new rela- method.s into their present linguistic tion. This met with special sympathy studies, lind to create a demand for of missionaries who were successful on mathematical and scientific knowledge.

other lines among the masses of the 'l'his society says China has as yet pro- people, who had hope, and some faith, duced no statesman or philanthropist ~hat. as Bishop Schereschewsky exprest interested in or equal to the needed reform; it must come from foreigners. only plan yet rati1led by the Chinese They hope that the changing conditions Government, and in a vast empire, im- DOW being forced on the nation may mobile, self-satisfied, and proud, it. is a develop such native talent to aid in this great triumph that even a beginning reform. Tpey have issued valuable should have included so much. works, covering almost the whole field of mathematics, natural science, mental That the failure of China in the conand moral philosophy, and other de- flict with Japan has put the nation into partments of western learning, until an attitude of inquiry as to .. how it there is no reason why a Chinese pupil happened, " is abundantly evidenced may not be given a general education, throughout the empire. To a degree, through the medium of his own lan- perhaps never known before, China is guage, equivalent to a college educa- willing to take a seat on the schooltion in Europe or America. No mis- forms of western nations. The higher sionary body in the world, it is said, classes, as defined at the beginning of can point to a more complete list of this writing, are accessible by indirect books which it has prepared for the methods as never before since the Taipeople among whom it labors. ping rebellion. Western nations, wisely or unwisely, supported .the dynasty On the same general line of friendli- then; they should not throwaway this ness and interest in reform among new opportunity to help the whole Chinese, Rev. Gilbert Reid has been nation to a higher civilization, and laboring for the past six years, pre- place her in the way of Christian reforeminently influencing the upper classes mation. through friendly, social intercourse, winning their confidence and coopera- On Dr. Martin's return to China, tion. He is warmly commended by Li whither he was invited to resume the Hung Chang, who, as senior guardian duties of president of the Imperial of the heir apparent; classical reader to Tungw~n College, he halted at Shang. his majesty, the emperor; senior grand hai and delivered an address before the secretary of state; minister of the missionary association at that city, a foreign office and earl of the first rank, copy of which he kindly furnisht us besides being viceroy of the province of for pUblication in this periodical. Other Chihli, exercises an infiuence second to matters have obliged us to layover the that of no man in the empire. General copy till now, but it will have aptitude Li acknowledges the difficulties of the in the present discussion of this departsituation because of the "suspicion, ment, and the more so, as Dr. Martin, prejudice, and self.sufficiency," which, since his return, has taken an active he says, are peculiar traits of educated part in the "forward movement" for Chinese, especially noticeable in their reaching the higher classes, assuming estimation of other countries-perhaps the direction of Rev. Gilbert Reid's because of the isolation of China from project in his absence, and otherwise western influence for many centuries. being urgent in the special efforts now Mr. Reid has obtained official sanction being made for the reform and inde. for the establishment of a hall or insti- pendenee of the Chinese Government, tute, on an international basis, to and the cultivation of friendliness beadvance the general enlightenment and tween Christians and the upper infiuenprosperity of the country, and to tial classes of Chinese, together with increase religious toleration as well as the promotion of western ch·ilization to teach truth. This institute, as pro- in' China. For forty-five years Dr. posed, includes an auditorium, a mu- Martin has been a resident in China; seum, a library, reception rooms, and over thirty years he was in government class rooms. Mr. Reid's scheme is not employ as president of the Imperial all that he desires it to be, but it is the College, Pekin; "learned not only in western scholarship, but, to a remarkable degree, in the Chinese books, hold.a high office in some region re- literature, history, language, thought, mote from home; and he will notbe and characteristics; highly respected as actually in office, but must await his an adviser and friend by Prince Kung turn or use money. If poor, he must and other' distinguisht officials," his meanwhile support himself the best he influence must necessarily be greatly can, perhaps do unworthy work for helpful along these indirect and direct his supmiors, or even let his wife sell Unes for conciliating the literati. He her charms to them. There ar~ also is a trusted friend of China, and will military examinations and degrees cor· throw himself zealously into any pro- responding to the lite>:-ary, but inferior gressive measures for China's good. to them in honor.

These litemti with the military and Conversion ofthe Upper ffiaBBesin Ohins.. the wealthy,constitute the upper classes.

But when a family once attains power REV. J. E. WALKER, FOOCHOW, CHINA. and wealth, it often perpetuates them; When missionaries began work in for fuere are short cuts for the rich and China, it was thrown up to them for strong; and wealthy and influential rel- several years that they were making no atives can advance a student both by converts; and when this ceast to be legitimate and illegitimate means.

true, it was urged against them 'that Hence leading families are apt to mo- their converts were all from the lower nopolize the honors with the usual classes, which tho not wholly true was increment of pride IUld self-importance.

largely so. But then, who and what Such are the upper classes in China.

are these upper classes? One might imagine them to be more In China, mnk and power are not accessible than like classes in other hereditary. The descendants of a very lands, and perhaps they are relatively distinguisht statesman may be ennobled so, but not as compared with the lower by special edict for aUmited number of classes of their own ~ce. What are generations, and the head man of the the obstacles in the way of reaching descendants of Confucius inherits a them? Superior intelligence? No.

title in perpetuity. But, in general, Better morals ? No. Pride and apathy rank and authority have to be acquired; are two main obstacles. The Chinese and the son of a laborer may attain are rather deficient in religious senti· high rank through success at the Utero ment and conscience; while as we go ary e:raminations. The successful' upward, there is an increasing addiction scholars at the prefectural examinations to sloth, gluttony, and sexual excesses.

receive the degree of "Cultivated Tal· The people with all their industry and ents," become privileged characters, frugality do not love these virtues, but and begin to lord it over their fellow· regard ease and abundance as the envied men. Next success at the provincial lot of a favored few. A Chinese girl examination wins the degree of " Pro- once said to the restless child of a mis· moted Men," which carries with it more sionary, " Why don't you just sit down lofty privileges and eligibility to the and do nothing, I think it's real nice? h office of county magistrate. Success in And a earpenter when told that a for· the imperial examinations at Pekin, se· eign mechanic's tools would cost a cures quite high distinction. At all hundred dollars, exclaimed, "If I had these examinations only certain fixt a hundred dollars would I be a carpen- numbers can pass; and of course it is ter? No, I would open a storeI " One much more honorable to stand at the thing which makes opium smoking so head of the list than at the foot. The fascinating is its pleasumble sloth.

man who stands first at the Imperial The Chinese distinguish four classes examinations wins thereby quite high of society, viz., scholars, farmers, arti· rank. But he will, perhaps, be sent to sans, traders. The scholar is especially

IK'I'JlJUU.TIONAL DEPABTlDIJ{T

distinct from the other three, a very characters on which they wish to state genteel person of weak physique with their money, paying so much for each Anger-nails half an inch long, to show pair thus markt. The lottery is illegal; that he does nothing rough enough to but if. the police interfere, they And endanger such fragile growths. Closely only leaves of a good book which limited as to what occupations he may apparently some idle pupil has been follow, he yet regards himself as one to daubing with red ink:. whom the world owes both special honor and afiluence. His legal priv- Missionaries hire literary men to be ileges are perverted into the privilege their teachers; and then teachers And to do as he will with any thing or any us ignorant of what they regard as the body in his power. He studies the essentials of scholarship. It would take ancient sages, not to cultivate virtue us several years of hard study to bebut to gain rank, power, wealth, and come even passably good Chinese thus becomes habituated to a sordid use scholars; and unless one is specially of high sentiments. It is truly said gifted with a remarkable memory and that .. there is some honesty among the skillful fingers, he can not hope to common people; but the literati and equal his Chinese teacher. So, as a the officials who are derived from them rule, we hire Chinese scholars at a few are the biggest rascals." They have dollars a month to do our literary work; been educated into the pride and hypoc- and few attempt to equal them on their risy of the Pharisee, yet withal are own ground. This further pu1fs up usually Sadducees; holding that death their pride. is extinction. A Chinese preacher said to a scholar who ,interrupted him, "I Finally, the literati haTe the upper am not talking to you; you have no hand under the present order of things. soul, you know you have not. I am and wish no change. They look upon talking to you common folks; you have the missionaries as their natural enesouls, you know you have." mies. Some years ago the United States consul at Foochow askt the' governor The literati owe their honors to a why it was that the literati were so system of education which is blind to hostile to the missionaries? He repUed: anything outside of itself. Its difficulty, ,, The scholar is accustomed to regard which confers distinction on the suc- the common people almost as his beasts cessful student, makes him seem half of burden and receive from them prodivine in the eyes of the masses; and found reverence; but as soon as they this is heightened by teaching all become Christians, they cease to respect classes to regard .. lettered paper" him. " This is in a measure true. To as something sacred. It is a sin even the enslaved mind that fears images of to light a fire with it; and the scholar wood and clay, the literary man is an at every stroke of his pen is producing awesome personage, but there is little something which the whole nation about him to command the respect of must reverence. Yet this is no barrier the disciple of Christ, who learns to fear to the use of "lettered paper" for bad God and work righteousness. Hence purposes. When a scholar is operating the missionary will sometimes reply to a lottery, he takes a page from some the charge that he has no converts from classic, and writes the characters by the upper classes, "No, the Chinese pairs on slips of paper, which he puts literary man is hard to convert, and not in his pocket. Then he takes out one worth much lifter he is converted." slip at random, and puts it in a box Yet we do make converts from this which Is then sealed up in a bag, and class, some of whom become very valuthe bag hung in the top of a tree. Then able helpers. all hands receive copies of the page, Shaowu, which has been my Aeld of aJld ~r~ Oil it the pair or pairs Qf labor, was half depopulated at the time Qf the Taipin~ rebellion, ret th~

INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT

number of gr.lduates was not decreast. ing of Peter's vision in Acts, 80 weak- Hence they are rather too common to ened his faith in it, that one day Mrs.

win markt distinction. Almost every B. easily induced him to eat meat.

family has its graduate, and there is less After he had been with us about four of pride and exclusiveness. When we years he profest to embrace Christianity began work there the literati laughed and was received into the church. But at the idea of "foreign spooks" coming we were disappointed in him. He to teach them. But now we have showed no inclination or ability as a several efficient workers from their preacher; while vague rumors troubled number. I will briefly outline the us as to his life and talk outside. He history of one such converted man with was still a Taoist at heart, and profest the degree of "Cultivated Talents." conversion to Christianity merely to Chang Sien-sen, Senior Chang, when please us. His real conversion came an orphan boy had been apprenticed to three years or more after he joined the learn a trade; but an uncle, perceiving church. As he afterward described it that he had talent, sent him to school; to us: we had set him to teach a boy's and while still quite young, he took his school, and every evening he would sit degree. In order to eke out his earn- down to look over the Scripture to be ings he If.arned the art of selecting taught the next day; and, as he read, lucky sites for graves, etc. He was a it was just as if some one stood at his man of genial temper, and more than side and would now and then give his average religious susceptibilities, but sleeve a twitch and say, "Now is not not over scrupulous as to truthfulness. that good? " He became genuinely He stood in high repute as a medium converted, and when a suitable occa- with the "divining pen." When no sion offered, he publicly confest his one else could make it work he could. past hypocrisy. He is now an eloquent If he could see a sensible answer to the preacher, skillful and sometimes severe question put to the god or spirit, he in handling proud disputers, but plain would make the pen write it; otherwise spoken and yet gentle in addressing an he would make the pen produce illegi- average audience. He owes it largely ble marks. But his mind was not at to him and a friend of his who was be- rest; and he plunged into the specula- fore him in the Gospel that we have a tions of the Taoists, and also joined a number of the literati among our vegetarian sect. Not finding satisfac- Shaowu Christians.

tion in this, he tried a stricter sect, and The defeat of China in her late war at last joined the sect of "The Former with Japan was preeminently the defeat Heaven," which is an eclectic combi- of the upper classes; and there is noth- nation of Confucianism, Taoism, and ing before her but defeat, until there is Buddhism, and aims to restore the a decided improvement among these Former Heaven, i. e. the Golden Age. same upper classes. If they really can Its members abstain from animal food not be reacht, woe be to China. But and practice celibacy, but live at home the task of reaching them, though hard, and follow secular pursuits. For over is not hopeless.

two years Senior Chang spent most of his earnings on this sect; and all this Western Science as Auxiliary to the time he never touched his wife; but Spread of the GospeL neither did he properly feed and clothe BY DR. W. A. P. MARTIN, her. Pr68ident Emeritus of the Imperial Soon after we opened work at Tungwen Oollege, Peking, Ohina.

Shaowu, he was employed by Rev. J. Among those interested in the en- B. Blakely as his personal teacher. He lightenment of these Eastern nations had not found satisfaction in all his there are two extreme views. Some vegetarianism, and the incidental read- there are who hold that the native raligions are good enough for the people, of my subject, missionaries are so far and that all they require for their up- from being agreed that they need to lifting is the intellectual culture and compare views, in order to attain that material civilization of the West. unity of action which is indispensable Others hold that with intellectual cul- to strength. ture and material civilization, we, as missionaries, have nothing to do-that In advocating a vastly extended use our business is with the heart alone, of education in sciences and arts, I re- that to implant there the hope of eter- pudiate the idea that education must nalUfe is the object we should pursue, in all cases precede the Gospel, or that exclusive of all side issues. Christianity is not in itself the most effective of all instruments for enlighten- With the latter I find myself in ing the human mind. "The man," fullest sympathy so far as feeling is said Tse Hsia, "who has learned what concerned. But when it comes to the he owes to his parents and brothers at question a8 to the mode of procedure, I home, and what he owes to his supemaintain that in order to win the world riors and fellow-Bubjects, tho you may to Christ, a vast variety of subsidiary call him unlearned, is, I say, an edu- .influences must go along with the cated man." If this is true of the Gospel. The commerce of Christian social and political ethics taught by nations in seeking new fields for its the Chinese sages, how much higher enormous expansion opens wider and and broader the education imparted by wider areas to the heralds of the Cross, the Gospel, even in its simplest form ! and where our governments extend protection to their merchants, they, In its ethics, faith in God imparts also, throw their shields over the work vitality to the human conscience, and of their missionaries. the conception of God implies that of the unity of the universe. The lofty Is it not meet that the political power .generalization which the philosopher and commercial predominance which 'slowly arrives at by a translation of spring from Christianity should co- the laws of nature the Christian conoperate in extending its blessings to all vert reaches at a bound through the the nations of the earth? open door of faith. The Gospel comes to him, moreover, associated with All things are overruled of God for something of history and geographythe furtherance of his spiritual king- lifting his mind above the limits of the dom; we have but to look back through "four seas" by revealing the unity the long ages of the past to see how the and fraternity of the human race, stars in their courses have fought wakes up the dormant imagination and against the powers of darkness. But sheds a glory over this common-place the question is not what agencies may existence by introducing us to an un- God employ, for it is His prerogative seen world, of boundless extent and to employ all agencies great and small unspeakable grandeur. -according to that power by which he is able to subdue all things to Himself. What but the simple Gospel was it The thing for us to ascertain is what that elevated the tinker of Bedford to auxiliary agencies we, as missionaries, a place alongside of Milton and Dante? may properly employ for the conver- The immortal pilgrim, while commandsion of men to the faith of Christ. In- ing the homage of such an erudite critic strumentalities many and varied as the as Lord Macaulay, shows no trace of gifts of the Spirit enumerated in the learning beyond the literature of the epistle to the Corinthians have, as a Old and New Testaments, accompanied matter of fact, been employed in all by a rich religious experience. Yet ages. In regard to many of them there was its. author by no means an ignoris no difference of opinion. But in re- ant or unlearned man-tho like Shakgard to those specified in the wording speare, he knew little Latin and less Greek. No! The man who with a ally when I was about to leave for the soul kindled into adoring love takes in United States, he handed me a paper the doctrines of the New Testament is implying that he was ready to become not uneducated, however humble his a Christian, provided he was not re- social condition. quired to renounce the worship of his ancestors. He won the coveted degree, I once heard Pastor Fisch of Paris but I have not since heard from him. relate how he had taken the learned but sceptical J ouffroy de St. Hilaire to But why refer to my own experience talk with a devout cobbler on tlle when we have on record the world- knotty questions raised in the epistle to renowned instance of Matteo Ricci? At the Romans. The professor was amazed a time when tlle interior of the Empire at the exhibition of a wisdom not de- was sealed against foreigners and rived from the schools, and went away against the Gospel the learned Italian with a strongedaith, saying to himself: made his way by the help of sciencc to "Out of the mouth of babes and suck- Nanking and then to Peking, where lings, Thou hast ordained strength." he and his successors were installed as Christianity then, where it is not mere- professors of astronomy-securing for ly preacht but taught, occupies in my their religion the favor of the Emperor, opinion, the very forefront among all and the adhesion of multitudes of the the varied appliances for enlightening people. But for their mathematics the popular mind. Let the Chinese those early missionaries might never embrace it and it alone will do more have penetrated beyond the confines of than anything else to place them on an the province of Kuangtung. intellectual level with the people of Europe. It was a Bible in thc hands Vastly greater are the demands for of a blood·stained mutineer, that trans· science at the present day. The Emformed the little colony of Pitcairn in- peror, like Kang Hi, makes himself to a Christian commonwealth; whose the patron of science, and he has done virtues and intelligence were the aston- what Kang Hi never ventured to do, ishment of the world. What the Bible introduced a scientific element into the did for that Island it might do even un- competitions for the civil service. The aided for the people of China; if they scholars of the Empire are awake as were first brought to accept It. But never before to the defects of their extraneous aids are often required to antiquated style of education. It was open tlle way for it. D'Aubigne tells not new arms, or numbers, but the UB the Waldensian pedlars in the,South new education tllat enabled the Japanof France made use of their attractive ese to gain the victory of thc recent wares to draw attention to the New war. This the Chinese are beginning Testament, which they drew from the to perceive, and in every direction we bottom of their baskets and offered as hear of fresh openings for the teachtheir choicest treasure. Not many ing of Western languages and science. years ago, a Szechuan scholar who had come to Peking to compete for the This state of feeling is well exhibited third degree, presented himself at my in a preface to a new translation of a house with a letter of introduction from work on Political Economy, from the a high mandarin. His object was to pen of a mandarin. .. Of what use," ask questions on physical seience; and he asks, .. are the metaphysical subtlehe repeated his visits many times, in ties of Buddhism? Buddha's native the course of which I gave him reo land has been three times conquered ligious books and talked to him on re- by foreigners-first by thc Afghans, ligious subjects. As the weeks went next by the Mongols, and lastly abon he had fewer questions to ask on sorbed by England. In China the science, and more about religion. Fin- higher principles of government have been handed down from the sages of antiquity, but such common matter as the production and distribution of audience and desired to know the wealth are not among them. Doubt- source of the wealth and power of her less their treatises on these subjects, Empire, she pointed to the Bible, and (he says with perceptible irony) per- placed in his hands a copy of the sacred ished in the flames of the Book Burner. volume. So the missionary should not The consequence is that a vast and fail to lead his learned inquirers to the magnificent empire has been left to run true source of that prosperity, which down into poverty and weakness until distinguishes Christian from non-Chris- it has become helpless in the presence tian nations. In this he is the more of its foreign foes. The people of the likely to meet with success if he is able West, when they know a thing, always in some degree to satisfy their thirst for put it in practice. They have courage secular knowledge by oral teaching, by to advance in the path of progress. But books, or by object lessons, in the form if we Chinese read their books as we of machinery and scientific apparatus.

read the liturgies of Buddha and dis- Let it not be imagined that I am ex- cuss their principles as we discuss the horting missionaries to enter on a new abstractions of metaphysics; what good policy. These three things have aU is to be lookt forY" been resorted to as aids to awaken at- What this writer feels and confesses tention and to impress the mind from is felt, if not confest, by hundreds of the very dawn of Protestant missions.

thousands of the literati of this land. Away back in the "forties" Dr. 8. R.

For us, I should say the present is a Brown, then in charge of the Morrison golden opportunity-were it not that school in Hongkong, prepared a little the word golden contains a suggestion book on political economy, in Chinese.

of harvest-whereas all that we dis- Who can tell the extent of the salutary cover is the breaking up of a hitherto infiuences proceeding from that now for- frozen soil. It is not harvest but seed gotten publication? One of his PUpilS time, the period of the year-the sea- was Tong King-sing, who organized the son-which decides whether the coming China Merchants' Steamship Company crop is to consist of grain or of tares. and opened the tlrst coal mine, which When Mencius was askt by the was workt with foreign machinery.

Prince of Liang, what he had brought Another was Dr. Yung Wing, who to enrich his kingdom, he replied, after having created an era in the edu- .. Humanity and justice; nothing cational progress of this country still more." In fact, there was nothing lives to aid in shaping the new enter- more that he was competent to teach. prises of the present day.

When the Christian missionary is greet- In the "fifties" Dr. Hobson com- ed with the same question he might menced the publication of a series of give the same reply – righteousness little books on natural philosophy, and humanity-and something more. chemistry, and medicine. Some of U Yes," he might say, .. I bring with these were the very tlrst to revcal to me all the forces necessary for the re- the Chinese the existence of those generation of the individual and the world·transforming sciences and to renovation of the State. " point them to something better in med- It is a great thing to have haughty ical practice than the quackery of their scholars like the writer just quoted, native doctors.

pocket their pride and sit as learners at Mr. Alex. Wylie about the same the feet of men of the West. They time while printing Bibles by the mU· begin of course with the externals of lion, found time to translate a complete modern civilization; but it is the mis- course of modern mathematics, and a sionary's own fault if they stop there. text book of modern astronomy.

It is related of Queen Victoria that Prior to the publication of these works, when a Maori chieftain was received in which mark an epoch in the history of China, the Chinese possest no mathe- 2. That a series of science primers matics beyond the first six books of might be prepared under the auspices Euclid, and no astronomy beyond that of some Tract Society with the special of the middle ages, when our little aim of imparting some knowledge of planet was believed to be the center of science to general readers. Science the Universe. might wing the arrow, but religion should be its point. Think you, that the Chinese, who emerging from the old school, has S. That each mission should be prolearned to place the sun on the Cen- vided with a museum, illustrating the tral Throne, will not be better prepared arts and sciences of the West. than before to accept Jesus Christ as the Sun of Righteousness? 4. That those missionaries who have a taste for such things be supplied I shall not follow out the history of with scientific toys of an inexpensive the educational and scientific work be- kind such as the magic lantern, graphgun by those three immortals. ophone or phonograph, optical, electric and steam apparatus. Suffice it to say that they were followed by an army of workers in the Finally that lectures on scientific field of education, and by a period of subjects for the general public be deorganized effort in the production of livered in chapels or schools, illustrated scientific text- books. To these earlier by objects, and always made to have and later workers whose names I can· a bearing on religion. not begin to enumerate are due nearly all the text books of modern sciences, By these means, as it seems to me, to be found In the Chinese language. the educated classes may be reacht and How these works are appreciated by by God's blessing be brought to the the more advanced thinkers among the knowledge of Christ and his great Sal- Chinese you may judge by a single in- vation. stance. Some years ago, a Chinese lit· erary man who afterwards became a Huber put a dozen bumble bees high official published an essay, in under a bell-glass, with a comb of some which he compared the benefits of commerce and Christian missions. Re- ten silken cocoons, so unequal in height ferring to the various sciences intro- that they would not stand steadily. To duced by missionaries from the arrival remedy this two or three bees got on of the Jesuits three centuries ago down the comb, stretched themselves over its to the recent period of renewed mis- edge, and with heads downward, fixt sionary activity, he declared that China owes more to missions than to their forefeet on the table on which the commerce. comb rested, and so with their hind feet kept the comb from falling. When Before I take my seat, I wish to sug- they were weary others took their gest four things that I deem of great places. In this constrained posture, importance, tho it is probable that most fresh bees at intervals relieving their of you have already taken them into comrades, and each taking its turn, consideration. they supported the comb for nearly three days, till they could get ready wax 1. That constant efforts should be made to supply the Chinese with more enough to build pillars with it. And and better text-books, adapted to the the first pillars having got displaced, demands of the new education-now the bees in the same manner rebuilt being called for in all the provinces of the supports. What an example and the empire-and that religion while it lesson to us, as the duty and privi1e~e should not be injudiciously lugged of coming to each other's support m in ought not to be excluded from emergencies I What a lesson for the them. friends of missions, in these days when the great organizations are at risk of tumbling into financial distress if not ruin, of giving up ourselves to the joint effort of holding up the cause until safer supports may be prepared for it to rest upon, and that we should all work together that the burden may not fall wt haeysB, eaen4thboeu unequally. Go to slug- gard! consider her wise ,

FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY

I1I.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.

The Turkish Empire,* Persia,t Russian Empire,t Arabia,§ Mohammedanism,' Oriental Ohurches.

BY DELAVAN L. PIERSON.

CONDITIONS IN Tt.'RKEY. success. But the difficulties have been by no means settled, and it is well un- Armenia is having a comparative derstood that the Turks are not yet rest from the sword of the "unspeak- satisfied with the results ~of their past able Turk," but persecution has by no work, and still are bent upon the exmeans ceased, nor have the effects of pulsion of the missionaries and thE> the "year of shame" past away. An extermination of all non-Moslem suboccasional report of some massacre jects. or outrage comes to our ears, and there is untold suffering and distress, the knowl- The American Board has now about edge of which never reaches us. The 175 missionaries in Armenia, with some missionaries still stand nobly by their 800 native helpers; over 125 churches posts, and carryon the work of caring containing over 12,000 members. The for the needy, sheltering the orphan adherents number about 80,000. and teaching those who still seek Chris· tian instruction in the missionary 'OF HINTS ON THE STUDY ISLAH. schools and colleges. Blessed spiritual awakenings have followed the The Student Volunteer (British) gives persecutions in Harpoot, Aintab, Oorfa, and elsewhere-even Turks the following helpful suggestions as to being deeply imprest in some in- the study of Mohammedanism: stances. Schools are filling up, farmers are again going to their work with I. Some explanations of Mohammore confidence of reaping their crops, and general quiet is restored, except on med's success. the Persian frontier. The time is ripe for new advances in missionary work, (1). Mohammed's personality and his with more encouraging prospects of use of truths gained from Jews, Christ- .. See pp. 50, 51, 57 (January); 610 (August). NEW BooKS: "Letters from Armenia," ians and Hanifs. (2). Use of the Harris; "The Sultan and His Subjects," Davey. sword. (8). Paradise promist to dying RECENT ARTICLES: " Armenia and the forward movement," CO'fItemporary Review warriors. (4). Appeal to the passions (January); "The Armenian Church," New of men. World (March); "Turkish Reform," Cosmopolitan (March). II. Christian and Mohammedan doc- t See pp. 422, 463 (June); 506 (July); 721. 740 (present issue). trine of Divine sovereignty. ~ See pp. 754 (present issue). NEW BOOKS: "Russia Incarnate," Wab- (1). Mohammed's conception imper. zewski; "The Empire of the Tsar." RECENT ARTICLES: "Life in Russia." Frank feet, yet better than that of his con- Leslie's Monthly (February); "Prisons of Siberia." Blackwood (April); "Russia as it temporaries. (2). Both doctrines is," Conte'''porary Review (May). § See pp. 730, 748 (present issue). contrasted-Christian provision for fel· , See pp. 39 (January); 375 (May); 422 (June); 506 (July) ; 757 (present Issue). lowship and progress; progress of NEW BoOKS: "Islam," E. M. Wherry; .. Faith of Islam," EdWard Sell. Mohammedanism not well founded nor continuous; submission and fate '118. submission and faith; results seen in the history of both systems.

III. Doctrine of the Trinity and the two faiths.

(1). Mohammed's relatively superior apprehension of God, but only of God's umty and sovereignty. (2). Christian- ity's view of the Divine Man. (8). The Koran's inconsistency concerning Di- vine attributes, without our idea of Son and Spirit. .

IV. Mohammedan and Christian view of man.

(1). Results of Mohammed's view of man-Man a slave; Womanhood de- based; Home life a failure; Society without woman's elevating influence, and she a slave and plaything; yet Mohammed improved the condition of women in his day. (2). The Moslem's This is a specimen of Russian religious- defense-Polygamy in the Old Testa- ness.

ment; Social evils in Christian lands; Some years ago, when the compulsory Intemperance of Christian nations. conversion in mass of Protestant peas- V. How TO COMJllEND CHRISTIANITY ants in Livonia to the church of Russia TO MOSLEMS: was in process, a Greek Catholic superior pope exprest his surprise that (1.) Act along lines of least resist- Protestants were opposed to this change ance-Old and New Testament Script- of base. There was no ground for this ures ; Brotherhood due to this common opposition, he thought; for had not heritage; Superiol' character of our Luther at one time been the court.

Scriptures. (2). Christendom's atti- preacher of Queen Catharine of Russia?

tude should be changed and the Church This is a specimen of theological train- do her duty. ing in Russia.

THE PRESENT PROBLlllM OF ISLAM. At Warsaw the Emperor Nicholas I. Unfavorab~ feature8 .- was taking part in a religious ser- (1). Union between the temporal and vice in which, according to custom, spiritual power. (2). Divorce between the worshiper was to kiss the hand of morality and religion. (3). Ishmaelitic the officiating priest. The latter, in intolerance. (4). Destruction of the his confllsion at the presence of the family through polygamy and concu- visible head of the state church, failed binage. (5). The degradation of wom- to offer his hand. Thereupon the Eman. (6). Gross immorality. (7). Un- peror cried out: "Give me your hand, truthfulness. (8). Misrepresentation of you dog; I want to kiss it." This is a the person and teachings of Christ. characteristic trait in Russian church (9). Aggressive spirit in Islam. The life.

Wahabees. The religiousness of the Russian II. Tlte favorable features .- Church is an odd combination of ele- (1). Belief in the Unity of God. (2). ments. In it are remnants of the oldest times of Christianity, a certain barbar- Reverence for the Old and New Testa- iim nai1J6te, a lifeless formality from ment. (3). Reverence for Christ as the times of Byzantine sterility, and a prophet. (4). Respect for Christians wilderness of confused ideas. The and Jews as the 'people of the book.' Russian will not pass by a beggar with- (5). Hatred of idolatry. (6). Rever- out having either given him alms or ence for law. (7). Abstinence from in- having excused himself for not aoing toxicants. (8). Doctrine of absolute so. The duty of charity has found an surrender. (9). Growing infiuence of entrance into his very marrow and Christian nations in Mohammedan bones. Yet this same man will go to countries. (10). Islam completely en- his house, cross himself in front of the circled by Anglo-Saxon Christian pol- ikon, or saint's image, hang a piece of itical and civil power. (11). Moham- cloth before it. so that his patron saint medan belief in the purity of the Clll not see what he is doing, and then Protestant faith. (12). Confidence in enter upon a carousal that would dismissionaries. (13). Civilization must supplant Islam. (14). The superior grace a beast. Again, this typical facilities in the hands of Christians. Russian will on another day go to his (15). The Bible translated into the Ara- church, strike the fioor fifty times with his forehead, and two hundred times bic language. repeat the words: "0 Lord, have mercy on me ; " and then depart and as a wit- Piotures of the Russian Religion. ness take a false oath before the courts because his friend the day before had A strange and oppressive picture of secured his promise to do so for a drink religious life in Russia comes to us of 'IJOska, and considers himself satis- from a Leipsic paper, Oltristliche Welt, factorily justified when he tells the whose picture is drawn largely from judge that "even God Himself will Russian sources. It is condenst in the accept a bribe," meaning by this his Literary Digest as follows: accepting wax candles and paternosters for certain sins. The man himself is In a Russian court in Odessa some not conscious of his self-contradiction, years ago there was a trial between two and it would be useless to try to demonpeasants, one of whom had bodily mal- strate this to him. His conduct is treated the other. The injured party typical of the religiousness of the aver- had claimed that Almighty God was age peasant in Russia.

superior to St. Nicholas. The other The whole genius and character of resented this and abused his neighbor. ,Russian life, is steeped in passivity. It is characterized by a flight to escape the outcome of that most unfortunate struggle for existence, a fatalistic stand- struggle. The evangelical work, under point, which accepts everything, the leadership of Dr. M. D. Kalopowhether the result of one's own doings thakes, of Athens, has, ever since its or not, with the words, "It is God's inception, been suffering under the will. " Neither in Roman Catholicism false charge of being hostile to Greece nor in Protestantism have we a basis as a nation. So close is the union befrom which we can thoroughly under- tween the orthodox church and the stand the soul of the Russian people. state, that anything aiming at reform It can be understood onlv from its in the one was interpreted as disloyalty origin, precedents, and historical de- to the other. This feeling has been velopment. The curse which, from strong enough to cut off the little conthe time that Russia was Christianized gregations of the evangelical churches down to our own day and generation, in Athens, V010, and elsewhere, from has rested upon the Russian Church, is all social relations with their fellow its moral sterility; the fact that its countrymen, thus making progress a religion has no regenerative and pro- very difficult matter. But the part ductive power. which the evangelicals were able to play in the recent campaign has soft- The inability of the Orthodox Church ened the hearts of their opponents and spiritually to regenerate the people has restored confidence in their loyalty and been characteristic of it from the be- patriotism. For several weeks Dr. ginning. And DOW since Russia puts Kalopothakes traveled from point to forth the claim of representing a cer- point, along the army outposts, distain type of culture and civilization, it tributing to the eager soldiers and is well to take note of this historical officers Bibles or portions of the Scripand present fact. A prominent Russian tures, and comforting them with kind official some time ago spoke of himself words and deeds. His son, too, a as an "orthodox atheist." and this was journalist of no mean reputation, went no less a person than Prince Tscher- to the front repeatedly to secure accukassy. The possibility of such a posi- rate news for the European press, and, tion is deeply suggestive. sharing the hardships of Greek camp life, endeared himself to the heart of "Russia is not yet overrun with evan- many a soldier, while the name he gelists. There is room for the grand gained of being the most reliable old Gospel in all parts of the big empire. reporter on the frontier was a just If persecuted in one city, God's ser- tribute to his energies. Dr. Kalopovants would flee to another, witnessing thakes' daughter first spent, some as tlley go. Sowing precious seed they time in training hospital nurses at would find open doors and open hearts Athens, and then went to the front and throughout the vast dominions of Rus- was tireless in her care for the wounded, sia. It is yet virgin soil, and the various the sick, and the dying. Such proofs one-sided and superficial opinions of of loyalty could not but bear fruit; and Nihilists, Tolstoyists, Dukobortzis, and words of gratitude and praise have such like, are 8 proof that there are taken the place of slander and envy. searchers for the way of salvation who "Now we know," say the old church need to be told the old, old story of Greeks, "that our estimate' of you Jesus and His love. evangelicals was wrong; you are more patriotic than our own leaders." One I. Our brethren, the Stundists, are still soldier, who lay for some time in a persecuted and banisht. There is no hospital at the front, wrote to an change, nor is there any hope of a Athens newspaper: "While lying change as long as the present ruling wounded in the hospital, I have seen powers aim to hold church and state the king and queen, princes and foreign in one inseparable body. A Russian nobles, reporters and philanthropists; subject dissenting from the orthodox and the evangeUcal workers have Church is considered an alien; loses his right of citizenship, and is often banisht cheered us b'l their visits; there is only to remote parts of the empire." one class 0 men I have never seen darken the door, and that is our own The Evangelical Ohurch in Greece. priesthood. Those who should be our comforters and counsellors at all times CHARLES T. RIGGS, B.A. have completely deserted us in our last extremity. The only true spiritual Sad as is the condition of Greece, after the war, there is cause for joy in one friends we have are the evangelicals."

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.

Northfield and Missions. -vention was that thllre might be a prac- tical outcome of the interest awakened, At the Northfield Conference this and that the Convention might be prac- year, the missionary interest on Thurs- tically in close touch with some specific day and Friday, August 12th and 13th, missionaries on the field. It was pro- rose unusually high. Dr. Harry posed to appoint a committee, with Mr. Guinness was in the chair and a num- Moody as chairman, to whom the ber of most earnest and thrilling ad- boards might refer the case of any dedresses were delivered. The blessed serving candidate whom they desired teaching of the London brethren, Rev. to send forth but were unable to sup- G. Campbell Morgan and Rev. G. H. C. port. It was thought moreover that, McGregor, which has never been sur- instead of dilliinishing the ordinary past on the Northfield platform, for gifts to the boards, it would tend to spirit.ual power, had led up to the point stimulate giving by availing ourselves where there was eminent fitness in of the quickened spiritual life due to missionary appeal, and the seed fell the helpful teaching always received at into a prepared soil. these conventions.

On Friday afternoon Dr. Mabie in- Mr. Moody felt constrained to oppose vited all missionaries present, and II. the measure, not because it was in confew others, to hold a garden party at flict with the boards, as the proposal his .. chltlet .. for conference and prayer expressly made them the channels of on the present emergency in missions; disbursement, but because he felt quite and the outcome of the meeting was a unequal to any new responsibilities, deep conviction that the time was ripe and because of difficulties that must for the starting of a fund, at Northfield, attend the administration of any such to aid young men who were approved fund. The proposal was accordingly by the boards, but whom the boards withdrawn and a modified resolution had not sufficient money to send forth presented in its place which had Mr. to the field. This conviction was deep- Moody's sanction. ened by the thought that it was at Mt. Hermon, just across the river, that in Some of the friends thought, and 1886, it pleased God to set in motion the they are many, that had Mr. Moody student volunteer enterprise, and that it simply declined to act in the matter, was at the Northfield Convention fol- but allowed the measure to go forward, lowing in the same year that the call throwing all responsibility for it on the for a world's convention on missions Convention, and practically adjusting was issued, which was realized two the whole matter so as to make it tribuyears later in the great Exeter Hall tary to the establisht agencies for con- Convention in London, in 1888. ducting missions, it might have been a blessing to the Convention and a Everything in the evening meeting great stimulus to consecrated giving. of Friday seemed to lead up to the pro- Within a half hour, $2,500 had been posal which was made by the editor of subscribed and some of it with pledges the REVIEW, that the Convention of annual payments for five and ten should start a fund for the purpose of years, which is a sufficient forecast of helping the boards to send out volun- the possible ultimate results. teers, whom the ordinary appropriations would not enable them to send forth, But our friend Mr. Moody was 80 but whom they approved as worthy seriously in doubt as to the expediency and suitable. of the measure, and so apprehensive that the spirit prompting it might be The reason for creating such a fund misunderstood, that it was abandoned in connection with the Northfield Con- in its original form, and donors were advised to turn their offerings into the natural and doubly.blest. And if such church channels directly and without opportunity is allowed to pass, there is a positive loss, not only of money, but any intermediate Northfield committee. of stimulus to higher standards of stewardship. While we would not Theabove simple statement will show encourage the idea that impulsive giv- ing is the truest sort of giving, Mr. how ab8Qlutely witlwut joundation was Finney used to say that aroused feeling is the winding up of the windlass, and such a version of the matter as has that action on the spot is the rachet that holds the windlass from unwind- been floating through the press. We ing. Yearby yearat Northfield, we feel that an offering, made under the influ- quote from the New York Obserur: ence of awakened spiritual life, would seal the impressions made, and help "Mr. D. L. Moody's common sense to fasten holy resolve and fix the soul and good judgment were manifested in God. And that was all the thought last week in his decision not to estab- and purpose of the mover and sup- lish an emergency fund to send out porters of this proposal for an emer- missionaries who can not go abroad gency fund. It is very certain that the through the regular missionary boards brethren who so advised "meant well," of the denominations for lack of funds. and equally certain that they did not Mr. Moody determines that money propose to displace the present mission- raised at Northfield for foreign mis- ary boards by "creating new ones with sions shall go to the boards already no particular moorings." Such state- establisht. The brethren who advised ments should not be carelessly made, Mr. Moody differently meant well, but as they do harm and injustice to such so did Peter when he askt the Lord if men as Dr. Mabie, himself one of the he and James and John should not most consecrated of all our missionary make three tabernacles on the Mount of secretaries. not to speak of the Editor Transfiguration. It is better to of this REVIEW, who has all his life strengthen the present efficient mission- advocated and aided the establisht ary organizations thlln to create new agencies of the Church, and two of ones with no particular moorings. whose daughters, with a son-in-law, These might soon drift into the control are on the mission field in connection of irresponsible persons and fail of with the Presbyterian boards. their original purpose." The Ohristian Missionary Alliance. So far is this paragraph from the In the September issue of this REtruth that it misapprehends the posi- VIEW, at the editor's request, Dr. Wil- son gave our readers a brief account of tion in toto. That the purpose was in the nearly a quarter of million dollars subscribed-in one day, Aug. 9, 1896, no wise to divert money from the some $101,500 being obtained, and $122,000 on Oct. 11 following-for the Boards into "irresponsible" channels, Alliance purposes. We were especially interested in what Dr. Wilson says in is sufficiently obvious from the fact that paper about the economy oj expen- diture in the administration of these that the Editor of this REVIEW made funds, that, except about $2,000 for the propo8al and Dr. Mabie 8econded it! rent, printing, etc., the whole of the money pledged goes straight to the Our purpose was distinctly to give the boards additional help. This is an ex- ample of how, without any intentiop.

to misrepresent, the public press may give a totally wrong impression.

The Keswick Convention in England, feeling the need of some annual offer- ing to give practical force to increast devotion to Christ, instituted a Keswick Mission Fund, and now there are in the fleld some fifteen missionaries, supported by the money subscribed at these gatherings. Every year the cul- mination of the meetings is found in this missionary offering. There is no doubt that, when hearts are deeply moved by the truths of the Word and the presence of God, an offering to God for mission work seelllS both field; and that, from one misssonaryon men; but to receive and disburse large the field eight years since, the number sums of money in benevolent and now exceeds three hundred, the income mission work without stated and ample having correspondingly increast from accounts rendered of the way in which ,5,000 in 1888 to $140,000 in 1896. this money is used, is to establish a These facts need to be pondered precedent dangerous in the extreme, prayerfully and conscientiously. We under cover of which gigantic public frauds may be perpetrated. have no official reports of this year's Rev. A. B. Simpson, about seventeen' meetings at Old Orchard as yet; but years ago, came out from existing the daily press, which the Alliance church organizations, and establisht a organ credits with both "kind and a people's tabernacle, about which has truthful " accounts, may be trusted for grown up a large and useful work. the main facts. It appears that on About midway in the intervening Aug. 8th were raised $71,000 for foreign .missions, some thirty thousand less period he was led out Into the estab· than last year, indeed, but a very large lishing of a missionary organization,· sum nevertheless, and indicating a very which has grown with almost unex- high flood-mark of enthusiasm. Also ampled rapidity. What was at first some fifty young people responded to simply a modest enterprise, seeking to the call for volunteers. Mr. Simpson link his work in New York city with affirmed that, almost without excep- foreign lands, has developt into a world· tion, the pledges of 1896 have been re- wide scheme, which may yet have a deemod-another very remarkable sign thousand missionaries in the field and a in its way. million of money a year for their sup- In the Boston Herald it is stated that port. But thus far we never have seen "W. H. McLaughlin, of North Scar· boro, has sent to the Portland papers one financial report of the money refor publication an open letter, in which he asks Rev. Dr. Simpson to render an ceived and of the manner of its diIJbur86· account of the disbursements of the ment. When, at times, the attention $100,000 raised at Old Orchard last year for the cause of missions." The of our friend, Mr. Simpson, has been letteraskt that such account be rendered before the taking up of the offerings called to this deficiency of annual statethis year. The writer of that letter justifies his demand on the ground that ments, his reply-the only one so far "from apostolic days the solicitors of money in the name of the Church have of which we have knowledge-was the been expected to render an account of their stewardship; and that the present following, which, to do him the amplest practice in some quarters, of making no public statement of the disbursement of justice, we now reprint verbatim from funds is an innovation that should be checkt." the editorial colulIlllS of the Alliance Whether the writer of this challenge organ. He says: be friend or foe, it is well to hearken to " Our attention has recently been called to an old falsehood circulated his suggestion, as both sensible and in several years ago from an unfriendly source to the effect that the accounts accord with the highest principles of of the International Missionary Alli- ance are loosely kept and thst the Treas· ethics. It is no imputation upon the urer's Annual Reports have not been properly audited. This old story has honesty or integrity of any man to recently been repeated in a most unfair manner and we feel it propcr therefore claim that he should render to the pub- to meet it promptly by the following certificate from the Auditors of the lic an account of money given by them accounts for the past two years and from an expert accountant whose stateand received by him in trust for certain ment is added: benevolent purposes. He may be not NEW YORK, February 27th, 1897. We hereby certify that we have careonly conscientious and capable and fully examined the accounts and the Treasurer's Annual Reports of the Inhonest, but the most self-sacrificing of ternational Missionary Alliance with all the necessary vouchers appertaining pIe and having their books examined to the business of the society in the annually by professional accountants, past two years of 1895 and 1896, and and they do well, for there can be no we find that in every respect they are reason why any secresy should be obaccurately and carefully kept. served in religious or benevolent work.

S. E. FURRY, Where such an annual exhib!t is E. G. SELCHOW, made, it closes the mouths of enemies and stills the doubts of friends. In- Audit0'l"8. deed, so convinced are we of the valne of this course, that we are of the opin- NEW YORK, February 27th, 1897. ion that no organization which does As a professsional bookkeeper I de- not adopt it has any right to appeal for sire to say that I have examined with public help. minute care the accounts and books of the International Missionary Alliance A clear financial statement, which and the Treasurer's Report for the past can be understood by ordinary people, two years, and I find that the books are such as Bishop Stevens makes annually kept in a most careful manner and by of the operations in the Special Juristhe most approved method of double diction of the South, is what is always entry and will compare favorably with needed, and should be always lookt the accounts of any good commercial for. We believe it is one of the reahouse. sons which has inspired our Church with entire confidence in that mission S. E. FURRY." work, and we believe that the example of Bishop Stevens should be followed So far, so good-but does this at all by all who depend upon outside help."

meet the conditions? The auditors do If to any it may seem that the Editor unequivocally testify to the fact that of this REVIEW is moved by any spirit the accounts are" accurately and care- of hypercriticism, let such look for a fully kept," of which no one who knows moment at the whole question both of these gentlemen have any doubt. But ethical obligation and of rational ex- they give us no conception of the pediency.

amounts of money represented as re- Suppose the Editor himself to be ceived and disbursed, nor of the actual made by his readers the receiver of channels in which they have found hundreds of thousands of dollars, to be their distribution. by him, and according to his best judg- At this very time, other paragraphs ment, used in connection with needy appear in other papers, evidently aimed Christian enterprises at home Jlnd at the correction of the same great abroad. And to make the case still defect as that which, as candid review- more emphatic, let us suppose that he ers, having in trust the education of has no restrictions laid on him as to the the public conscience, we feel bound io exact direction in which these monies insist ought at once to be remedied. are to be spent. Let us suppose on the We quote again, from The Episcopal one hand that no report is made to the :&corder: public, beyond the statement of two "A gentleman, in whose judgment well-known business men that his books we have the utmost confidence, writes to us concerning the importance of are perfectly kept and balanced; and, on missionaries making clear financial statements for the information of their the other hand, that every individual friends and others. Especially is this caution important for those who are gift is acknowledged by a number also acting independently and not under the direction of a board, which re- attached to the receipt sent to the conceives, acknowledges and pays out all funds.' tributor, and that, at least once a year, General Booth has shown his good a full publisht account is rendered, so sense in doing this with the large sums entrusted to him, and by this precau- that every giver may trace his gift to tion he has utterly foiled the attacks made upon his management of the its desired use, and that the public may financial affairs of the Salvation Army. We notice that some of the large Mis- know the sum total of all money resionary Boards are following his exam- ceived, and the exact purposes to which it is applied-can anyone question which is the immeasurably better and more proper way to administer tian village of freed slaves and other public funds? It will be observed that natives, who shall be taught in farming all money thus sent to this REVIEW and industrial arts; a village from for benevolent use is in these columns which the evils of slavery, polygamy, publicly acknowledged and accounted witchcraft, and vicious foreigners shall for. be excluded. The Roman Catholics and European planters have already lir. George Mllller and Mr. Hudson proved the feasibility of conducting Taylor are examples of men whose such a settlement on a self-supporting honesty is too indisputable to be ques- basis. This enterprise will be carried tioned. And yet each of these men forward on business principles, amI only publicly accounts for every farthing consecrated men and women will have entrusted to them for God's cause. a hand in it. Mr. Chatelain is well Every man and woman who sends to acquainted with the country and the either of them an offering, may know people where the colony is to be estab- exactly how much money is by them lisht, and has long studied the ques- received in any given year and just how tion of the physical, mental, and spirit- much goes to any particular purpose. ual emancipation of the fifty million We are not imputing to our brother slaves of the Dark Continent. Funds Simpson or his co-workers, any lack of are sadly :q.eeded to carry forward the honesty, self-denial, or any other high enterprize. Three hundred dollars will quality. But we do most earnestly plead send out and support a worker for one that no man who accepts a trusteeship year; fifty dollars will constitute a for benevolent funds shall set an share in the equipment of the station example that can be quoted by others and twelve dollars a year will support, who are simply using a too easily per- an adopted slave. All contributors will suaded public to carry on fraud. be kept informed of the progress of the work, and those supporting boys There is a very simple method, and or girls will be put in communication only one, for supplying all proper con- with them. Send contributions to Hon. ditions: Let every man or woman who Thomas L. James, United Charities is expending money for others, see Building, New York. that for every gift a receipt shall be sent promptly to the giver, and that The Tibetan Pioneer MiMion, under every such amount be in some recog- the leadership of Miss Annie Taylor, nizable form publicly acknowledged, has entered Tibet, and is located at so that the whole transaction of receiv- Gatong, across the border from Sikkim. ing and disbursing shall be open to the Here Miss Taylor has opened a shop public eye. This both increases con- and medical dispensary, by which she fidence in the administration, and puts is enabled to come into contact with a check on any dishonest, careless, or many Tibetans and Chinese. The fraudulent use of consecrated money. prejudice of the people is breaking down and many have become most The Pltil-African League, of which friendly. About one thousand copies Mr. Heli Chatelain is the able and con- of the Gospel in Tibetan have been dis- 'secrated Secretary and Manager, has tributed, besides many in Chinese. By for its object, the overthrow of the slave- means of traders, etc., these have been trade in Africa, and the establishment scattered far and wide throughout the of a Christian colony for the indus- country. Prayer is earnestly askt that trial, intellectual, and spiritual educa- the doors of this closed land may be tion of the natives on the table land opened wider to receivll the heralds of East of Bugola in South Central Africa. the Cross who are waiting on the Mr. Chatelain with four others expects threshold. to start for the field immediately, there to estll.blish a model unsectarlan Chris- The news which has been dropping At a meeting in Shanghai, under the in about the late earthquake in India, shows that the visitation was much auspices of the British and Foreign more serious than at first imagined. An entire railroad has disappeared, and Bible Society, it was stated that last it is reckoned that damage has been done over a wide area which it will year some 540,000 books were printed; take two years to repair. Between 4,000 and 6,000 natives were killed in 366,000 books were put into circulation, Assam. of which 358,000 were sold and 8,000 Mr. Booth-Tucker, commander of the Salvation Army, wants to raise given away. The books w.ere nearly $500,000 with which to establish what he calls a "Poor Man's Paradise," on always sold at a price to pay for the lands to be bought in Arizona or else· where on the line of the Santa Fe Rail- paper, and it is an indication of the road. His plan is to divide these lands into ten-acre lots, build houses upon remarkable progress of Christianity them, and remove to them faJpilies of the very poor from New York. that last year no fewer than 11,000 The indifference with which the were New Testaments in excellent Christian Church regarded foreign missions in the first quarter of this century binding. Some 210 colporteurs were was most astonishing. According to Mr. F. W. Hewes, during the decade at work, ~ving either part or the whole ending 1820, the contributions to foreign of their time, and they were very effecmissions were four-tenths of a cent tive means for the evangelization of the for every inhabitant of this country. people. Since then, excepting in times of financial disaster and during the Civil War, "And now the Rev. W. H. Noyes, there has been a steady increase, until who was sent to Japan a few years ago in the ten years ending with 1890, the by the American Board of Missions, at contributions amounted to twenty-two the demand of the 'liberal' party, has and two-tenths cents per head of total left the mission and returned to Amerpopulation. 1ca. He has become rationalized out of his old-time convictions. It is .. pity In 1870 William Rankin, Esq., now he could not have seen the end from the venerable ex-Treasurer of the Board the beginning." The sending out of of Foreign Missions, in referring to the this man who openly declared his befirst contribution under the new move- lief in a post-humorous "probation," ment of the Presbyterian women in our was in our judgment the most serious beloved Church wrote: "There rolled mistake our friends of the A. B. C. F. M. into the treasury a little cake of barley ever made, and the like of which we bread labeled 'Woman's Work for pray may never be repeated. Women' $7,000." What marvellous progress in these seven and twenty As one of the saddest events of 1897 years! The little barley cake has in- will be remembered, the death by creast more than forty fold, the figure drowning, in the wreck of the Aden, last year aggregated not far from June 9th, of Florence Mary Lloyd, $303,000. dearly beloved daughter of T. H. and E. Lloyd, of Leicester, England. She had been four and a half years a mis- sionary of tIle C. E. Z. M. S. in the Fuh-Kien province, China. She perisht off the Island of Boeotra, at the age of thirty years. We quote from a Leicester paper, Y. M. O. A. Echoes: She had ever been a devoted Chris- tian, and in 1892 testified the strength of her devotion, courage, and determi- nation by proceeding to far away China in the interests of her beloved Master. Letters have been received from her from time to time, bearing evidence of the assiduous way in which she was going about her Father's busi- ness, and was expected home for a rest. No human mind can account for the sudden removal from this earth of one who was so much beloved, and who had laborcd so carnestly in good works.

Before she' departed for the mission field, Miss F. M. Lloyd had done else, and sold for $40,000. This he much good work in Leicester. When spent in stock speculation, and finally she reacht adult age she became ex- died in an insane asylum." With all it ceedingly active in Christian service. was a fascination to get something to Her father being president of the spend, and in the getting and the spend- Y.:M. C. A., a good deal of her energy ing they bartered body, intellect, charwas naturally devoted to work in con- acter, and soul; and before what might nection with that institution. When have been their allotted time, they went she departed for China, the members of into eternity, bankrupt. the Y. M. C. A. felt they were losing a devoted friend, and presented her We have received, through Miss with Eadie's Biblical Encllalopredia, etc. Clara B. Hatch, $61 for the widows of • India under the care of Pandita Rama- Before proceeding to China, she spent bai, from the Boydton Institute Mistwelve months at a training institution sionary Society, of Boydton, Va. We at Stoke Newington, anu then joined rejoice to have our readers lend a hand the Fuh-Kien Mission of the Church of in this important and worthy work for England Zenana Missionary Society. the Master. She was stationed at Seingin, in the Hing Hwa district.

The following from The Paaijie may The following letter is from one of act as a deterrent to some infected with the Editor's most cherisht friends, the beloved young man who presided over the Klondike gold craze: In his' 'Story the Liverpool Conference of student of the Mine," Mr. C. H. Shinn says the volunteers in 1896. The letter is a site of what in later years has been private one, yet we venture to print it known as the "Big Bonanza" was for the sake of the thousands of young once in the undisputed possession of men who feel the keenest interest in all four men. Two were the original dis- that concerns Donald Fraser. coverers of tJ'J.e mine, and the other two were admitted as partners because EKWENDENI, Angoniland, ther had a prior claim to a spring West Nyasa, Brit. Cent. Africa, WhIch furnisht the only available water to wash the gold. At first the pans of 17th May, '97. surface dirt yielded on an average from Dear DR. PIERSON :-The hill air $40 to $50 apiece. Underneath was of Aogoniland is very bracing. I have the great quartz lode which during one had wonderful freedom from fever. later period of five years, yielded $105,- Indeed, tho I am now six months in 000,000. :Mr. Shinn says of one of the Central Africa, I have not had one four, what has been true of thousands hour's sickness. This is an answer to of others grasping for money: "Com- the many prayers that follow me. stock was wildly avaricious when For months past I have been silent, mining, and as wildly extravagant with unable to speak or understand. God his gold when obtained. He bought has been compelling rest that He may whatever took his fancy, and gave it do His work in me, before He begins away the next minute. His only pleas- to do it thlrough me. But now I have ure seemed to be in the spending of begun in a limited fashion. Yet surely money, and the most of his comrades never has missionary had a more were very much like him in this partic- thrilling introduction to active work. ular." Penrod, who held the title to We have seen the clouds break in this the spring, "sold his claim in the mine land during the past four months, and for $8,500 toward the close of the year, the Lord is pouring out a great rain. and soon spent all his money." Com- First there was the six-weeks'visit to stock, the bombastic boss of the camp, the out-stations when I could do little "two months after the ledge was but administer the sign, and 239 w,ere struck, sold all his interest for ,11,000. baptized. A fortnight afterwards I He loat every dollar he had, wandered started out again to talk in simple fashoff on lonely prospecting tours in Ne- ion with those who desired to make vada and the Rockies, and finally com- profession of faith, and in little more mitted suicide in :Montana." " :Mc- than two weeks I had spoken person- Laughlin (one of the original discover- ally with nearly 500 who came to see ers) sold for $3,500, and a few years me. later was cooking for a gang of men These things compel one to pray, and for forty dollars a month. He died a pauper, and was buried at public to hope. The vision of the coming expense." O'Riley, the other discov- Lord, and the sound of His footsteps erer, "hung on longer than anyone seem 91earer in this time of dawning.

Yours very warmly, DONALD FRASER.

GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE

V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.

EDITED BY REV. D. L. LEONARD, D.D., OBERLIN, omo.

Extracts and Translations From Foreign our educated people are full of such Periodicals. contradictions.-EvangelueheJj M~na Magazine (quoted in the Chronillle). BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, -" Both the classes I have spoken MASS. about are fond of talking about the Fatherhood of God and the brother- INDIA. hood of men, and assure us that they believe in it as firmly as we Christians -Thousa.nds a.nd thousa.nds in India do. But the sa.me people go almost out now regard Christ as the greatest and of their minds when a conversion to most perfect man that ever lived, but Christianity takes place. Lately, when they continue heathen. They adapt a certain Brahman was converted, they the Gospel to their natural way of excited the mob, and lay in wait for thinking, and in life and character they weeks to murder both him and the remain unchanged. They will not missionary. The intolerance of the make any sacrifice for this ideal Christ, Liberals in India is often not a hair they will give up no heathen custom, better than the dark fanaticism of the however bad, still less will they sacri- orthodox Hindu. All parties are fice money or life. It is remarkable united in this, we will not have this how these people, who often appear so Jesus of Nazareth to reign over us, and hopeful, can not break loose from he who chooses Jesus for his Savior heathendom. They often lead a strange- and Lord does .not deserve to exist. A ly double life. There is a complete Hindu may be an atheist, a. drunkard, cleavage between the education which or a rascal; his friends may be sorry they have received at school and the for it, but it does not separate him from home life, where old tradition reigns. them; but if he becomes a Christian, a There are many who suffer under this gulf opens between them which never double life, others who hardly feel it, can be bridged over. As long as we and never attempt to fit their two points accomplish nothing, they speak of us of view into each other. The same as that noble army of missionaries, man will in the forenoon, in the midst whose courage, self-renunciation, and , of some enlightened companions, de- irresistible power is unique in the ,clare that superstition is the curse of world's history; but if one of them be- India, and that an end must be made of comes converted, then we are 'miserable it; and in the afternoon he will creep proselytizers, narrow-minded Philis- seventy times round a temple, dripping tines.' And to what low abuse the with perspiration, and muttering the polite Hindu can then descend. When names of the gods, in order to get rid a Brahman woman was baptized last of a cold in the chest. Or a man who year in Talacheri, her highly educated is in the middle of a university exami- brother came from Madras and rated nation, and does not know what to sa.y the missionary's wife as one of the on a certain subject, writes several seducers of his sister. When he was pages full of the name of Rama, and answered that no one had seduced his hopes that that will preserve him from sister, but that she had sought and being pluckt 1 A man in a similar po- found peace for her soul in Christ, he sition once wrote to me that he appealed cried in rage: 'Her soul indeed 1 I never to my good heart as a missionary, and observed that she had a soull she is if I would give him the highest num- only a beast!' "-ibid. ber of marks, he would daily worship me as his family god. The lives of

EXTRACTS AND TlUNSLATIONS

-" A remarkable man, named David, We see plainly a long survival of has arisen in Southern India, where so Gnosticism in the statement given to many unusual phenomena spring up. Mr. Schlesch by a Mohammedan, that He goes about preaching the Gospel, before the foundation of the world God and thousands flock around him. India created Mohammed and set him at his has never seen such crowds surrounding side in the form of a brilliant light. a preacher of the Gospel, and especially Mohammed then had manifested hima colored preacher; we hear of 8,000 or self many times on earth, before he was even 10.000 people being present. And finally born as a man. It was by the he has found out that what is essential concurrence of Mohammed in this is that a new spirit should. first of all. luminous form that the earlier prophets come over our native churches, in order spoke, and the Holy Ghost, mentioned that thousands of witnesses should arise in the Acts, is also one of his earlier for their Savior, instead of one. He manifestations. This representation, has recently gone through most of the of course, has not the least foundation great towns of India, and everywhere in the Koran, nor, apparently, in the his message has been with power. •Is authentic Bunna, or Tradition. Yet as there nothing unsound in the move- Mohammed, from sheer ignorance, has ment?' I hear many anxiously ask. fused Judaism and Christianity more We do not trouble ourselves greatly or less with Gnosticism, so the later thereat. We know by experience at Islam has from its doctrinal exigencies, home that, when God sends a blessing, volatilized Mohammed himself into a people spin out discussion about how sort of Gnostic dean. This tendency much per cent. of It is sound and how seems to prevail especially in the Permuch unsound, till all has gone happily man Bhilsm, which is deeply imbued to sleep again, and the question of with the pantheizing tendencies of the soundness often first of all." Aryan race.

-Our native brother Visuvasam, at a HERlIANNSBURG MISSION. late meeting of our mission, exprest his belief that as Paul had declared The present writer recalls, with some that blindness had in part happened to pride, that in 1853, when in Union Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles Seminary, New York, he met with an should come in, so it might be said that account of the launching of the missionblindness had in part happened to the ary ship Candace, by Ludwig Harms, caste people. until the fulness of the and translated it for his fellow-students, Pariahs should have been gathered in. who were not less profoundly inter- To this I was impelled to remark, that ested in it than he. Thirty-four years on the other hand it must be assumed have past, and that modest beginning that the Sudras were the wheel on has broadened out into results beyond which the Hindu community could be all that he and his fellow-students exmoved, and that therefore it behooved pected. In the January number of the us to set our shoulder to the wheel. Allgemeine Mi88WIUJ Zeitschrf/t is a full Missionary Schlesch, in Damk NiB- account of the present state of this siam Blad. mission, by Director Haccius, from which we extract a few facts. These two views, tho antithetical, do not seem to be necessarily opposed. Five years ago the native Christians of the missions numbered 14,799. At It is well known that Mohammed the end of 1896 they numbered 32,015. was very ignorant of both Judaism This increase of 17,216 in five years and Christianity, and that the little implies an average yearly growth of that he did know was largely derived 3,443. This remarkable growth, as from Apocryphal, or even from Herr Haccius, with good warrant, says, Gnostic and Manichean distortions. has been abundantly shown to be no

GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE

hothouse forcing. It has been sober, have heard that one of the most emi- regular and well advised, above all, nent Congregational ministers and . as respects the instructions required teachers of the United States-we for admission to baptism. Indeed, the ought rather to say the most eminent- Hermannsburg brothers have been once spent a Sunday at Hermannsburg charged with excessive cautiousness in during the lifetime of Louis Harms. this respect. If they have erred at all, At the morning service he was not a it has been on the safe side. They little dismayed at the energy with have a true German and Lutheran dis- which Harms attackt both the doctrinal like of shallowness in religious knowl- and the political opinions to which the edge. The abundant blessing which visitor was devoted, namely Calvinism they have received seems to imply that and Democracy. After ilie second ser- their carefulness has not diepleased the vice, however, he had a private inter- Lord of the harvest. The three mis· view with Pastor Harms, and came sions now occupied are the Zulu. the away from it feeling, as he said, that Bechuana in Africa, and the Telugu he had been conversing with an angel in South India. . of God. No wonder that such a bless- ing follows the work begun by such a The Zulu Mission has 3,170 members, man I 2,357 being communicants. The breth- ren are greatly helped, instead of being, MISCELLANEOUS. as so often in similar relations, thwarted and baffied by the neighboring Euro- -The words, directed from the island pean colonists. These are godly Ger- of Malas to the still inaccessible China: man peasants from our Saxon kinsmen "0 Rock I Rock I when wilt thou of the northern plain of Germany. open ?" commonly ascribed to St. This, it will be remembered, is the Francis Xavier, are not his, tho they original Saxony,. not the middle Ger- fully express his spirit and yearnings. man kingdom, which has, in some way They are actually, it appears, the words (we believe through an early acceptance of his successor, Alexander Valignani, of Saxon dukes), attracted the name visitor General of the Jesuit missions to itself. Of these German colonists in China and Japan. See IJamk Mia- Director Haccius says: "We can not siom-Blad for March, 1896.

forbear acknowledging. with thankful- -The Oalwer MiaBiomblatt relates an . ness, that most of these communities, amusing story. given by a missionary.

by their Christian life, by their living He was at home, and with a friend interest in the services and their love stopped to dinner with a wealthy, for their church, and by the strict childless farmer-pair, who had been morality of their conduct, give a good present at the previous missionary example to the young native congrega- meeting, and seemed much interested tions and to the heathen. How refresh- in it. The missionary's friend informed ing a picture in contrast with the matter him that this couple had formerly been of offense and the scandalous example active and liberal Christians, but had which in other regions is given by of late years seemed wholly taken up colonists; nay, by colonial officials, in money-making. However, they re- who have thereby injured the Chris- ceived the two gentlemen with great tian name and raised the greatest hin- cordiality, took their admonition as to drances to Christian Missions I " the danger of woxldliness in excellent The Bechuana Mission has now 26,- part, and inquired eagerly after addi- 979 members, having more than tional missionary news. At last, when doubled in five years. The number of the farmer chanced to be out of the communicants is 17,100. room, his wife slipped a gold piece into Of the Telugu members there are their hands, whispering: "Take this, 1,866, 1,515 being communicants. We but don't let my husband know, he is so

ENGLISH NOTES

close." When they took leave, the full, altho they are frequently enabled husband went with them a way, and to minister to the spiritual needs while on parting, put a gold piece in their healing the bodies of their many pahands, saying: II Don't let my wife tients. know of this, she is so close." Let us hope that when they found each other There have been one hundred and out they resolved to keep on crucifying fourteen baptisms in connection with the Mammon. C. I. M. since last Christmas, and many probationers are waiting to obey the -It seems, from the MisMim8blatt, that command and follow the example of the first money which Bishop Whipple, the Lord Jesus. after his consecration, received for his Indian missions, in Minnesota and Bapti8t MiBsioMlrll 8ocietll.-Many Dakota, came from negro converts in of the B. M. S. stations in India, north Africa. It is given as "300 marks," of Madras, have been severely affected by the recent earthquake. Telegrams i.' e., about '72. pour in from these stations, and infor- mation by letters is anxiously awaited. English Note& The plight of thousands of the poorer Europeans and Eurasians is pitiable, BY REV. JAMES DOUGLAS, M.A. and many are perishing through ex- posure to the monsoon which is just The China Inland MiBBion has com- beginning. pleted thirty-one years of service among China's millions, and now at the com- The district south of Agra suffers mencement of a new year of loving still most acutely because of the conactivity desires to thank God for His tinued famine. It is estimated that in manifold blessings, and to trust Him Agra alone 2,000 people are daily being for direction in the future. Loving relieved by the Baptist missionaries. kindness has been manifest all along It is important that the suffering peothe line, andfaith is the watchword for ple be helped to help themselves, and the future. A generation has past away to this end different work has been since the "Lammermuir" sailed with organized and divided among the the first missionary band to China, and people. during this time the promises of God have been proved again und again, no A most destructive fire at Russell room left for doubt or disbelief. Kondah has completely destroyed the mission bungalow at that station. In Mr. T. James, writes from Lu-Chau: ten minutes the fire had spread from .. We have many indications that the end to end, and in less than an hour Lord is about to give us a great bless- the whole building and its belongings ing. Just lately five new probationers were reduced to a condition of ashes; were received, and they all seem sincere not a trace of them remained. Some and earnest in their affection for the very valuable manuscripts of Mr. Wil- Lord Jesus. Of the fourteen baptized kinson's, in the Kondh language, were here since we opened in 1890, eight are destroyed. A very heavy loss, as there still with us, four are with the Lord are no other copies existing. and two left by transfer to Ch'ung- K'ing. Weare still a feeble people, -The Anuual meeting of the Women', mostly old and illiterate. Our prayer Missionary .488ociation in connection is that God may raise up some from with the Presbyterian Church of Engamong the young and intelligent. land was held recently in Sunderland. Help us by prayer in all our manifold The Rev. W. L. Mackenzie presided, need." and the church was filled with a sym- pathetic audience. This association has Medical work is very-much blessed completed its eighteenth year, and full and used in China. The doctors en- of hope and faith is beginning another gaged in it find their hands quite

GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE

year. The labors in China have been ter from the native Governor-General and are being abundantly blest, and was read, ordering the chapel to be the Lord of the living harvest is show- .. opened for worship according to the ing the field laborers how to work for faith of the Independent Protestants in His own glory. Miss Lecky, from connection with the London Mi8sionary Amoy, writes, stating the encourage- Society," the evangelist who read the ment arising from work in the schools letter said, ., I wish you all to join for girls and women. with me in saying' Long live France.' .. To this there was an immediate and In 1889 there was only one school in hearty response, and the people simulthis district-now, in 1897, there are taneously gave their acclamation in three, and about three hundred pupils their own language. It was· perfectly are at the present time being taught in spontaneous and illustrates how the those schools. Malagasy appreciates that simple act of justice on the part of the French Gov- There is never any lack of pupils, the ernment. girls are eager to come into the schools, and the influence is good and becoming A largely attended valedictory meet· widespread. At Chang-poo atone are ing was held on May 25th, at Union two hundred, who have past through Chapel, Islington, to bid farewell to the schools during the last five years. twelve missionaries, six of whom were returning to their respective spheres The Jubilee Mi8sionary Meeting8 of and the remaining six going out for the the PI'68byterian Olturch of England have 1I.rst time. recently been celebrated. Fifty years ago there were only six native Christ- 2he lVorth-~rican Mission.-Mr. ians in the great empire of China-now Reid of Tripoli writes encouragingly of there are 5,000 communicants in the the son of a Sheikh, who is a -teacher small part workt in by tllis mission. amongst the Moslems, who has been coming for some time to him, and who The young people of the various so- now privately professes faith in Christ cieties of Cluistian Endeavor and Sun- and asks prayer that he may have more day-schools have taken up the work in faith. He is entirely dependent on his Formosa, and purpose by God's help to father, who is a prominent Mohammeraise the workers and annual income dan; it is therefore extremely di1ficult needed. for him to make a public stand.

The mission in Wu-ring-fu is like an Mr. J. Edwards and Mr. Mott ate oasis in the desert-all around is dark- continuing the mIssIOnary journey, ness, heathenism, infanticide, crime, preaching the Gospel between Casasuperstition of the grossest kind and blanca and Tangier. The felt need in there this little band of worshipers of this part is very great, and the scarcity the true God are leading lives which of workers is sadly evident. The medwould not do discredit to English icinal part of Mr. Edwards' work opens Christians. a way for him, which would otherwise be a closed door; and from sunrise to Tl18 London Mi88ionary 80ciety.-The sunset preaching and practicing are besituation with regard to the society's ing carried on in full swing. The chapels in 1!Iadagascar scems in some habit of drinking among the Jews of aspects to have distinctly improved. this part is very common, many being Some chapels in the Betsileo province, quite intoxicated early in the morning, that had been claimed by the Jesuit so that by evening the greater number mi.ssi.onaries, have already been restored of Jews are under the influence of to the Protestants. strong drink. To reach these people, the missionaries must work early in In the Monthly Record for July is an interesting account of the reopening of a place of worship which had been taken from the people. When the letthe morning. This has been found ben- penses of 5 persons to go as substitutes; eficial and helpful. but Mr. Champion felt that the Lord called him. When this generoua. old The dry weather which has con- man· found that he could not turn his tinued throughout the months of grandson from his purpose, he paid all spring in Morocco is causing much his expenses while in Africa, and gave suffering amongst the poor. The crops money to the work besides. are failing and there is nothing left over from last year. The news, how- -The Earl of Shaftesbury was a ever, bas just come to hand, that splen- man of high ideals. He wrote in his did rains are falling this week, and it Is diary: "0 God, bless our land to Thy hoped that most of the crops will be service, and make every ship an ark of saved." Noah to bear the Church of Christ and the tidings of salvation over all the THE KINGDOM. waters of the ocean." "Every ship" on "all the waters;" not each carry- -Miss Helen Culver, when she form- ing a converted sailor or two, but each ally handed over to the University of a church of Christ. The Church is mis- Chicago her gift of four biological lab- sions, as a cause contains the reason of oratories, costing $325,000, and an en- its effect. A true Christian has the dowment fund of $700,000, said: missionary spirit by necessary conse- " This is the happiest moment of my quence, and true Christianity abhors life. I believe this money could not the sentiment that sailors are "too bad have been utilized to a nobler purpose to be noticed." Its true motto Is, than to devote it to that science whose "Every sailor for Christ and every object Is to assuage the sufferings of ship a church."-Sailor's Magazine. humanity and to make life endurable and enjoyable here on earth." -In the Dublin Re'Diew, Mr. E. H. Parker, who has served as a consul in -A story is told that when George China, Korea, Burma, etc., approves Selwyn accepted the Bishopric of New the method of medical missions as Zealand, a great ecclesiastical potentate mitigating the contempt exprest for exprest his surprise that one living Europeans. Were he askt, " What under the shadow of Windsor, and shall we missionaries do to save the with every prospect of the highest Eng· souls of the Chinese ?" his reply would lish promotion, was willing to go out be, "Fill your pockets with quinine, to a distant colony. "Perhaps," was stomach-pumps, and eye-ointments." the reply, -Julian Hawthorne, sent to India as "' He hears a voice you can not hear, special correspondent of the Oosmopoli- Which will not let him stay; tan Magazine, says this of the mission- aries there: "They are the only per- He sees a Hand you can not see, sons who know what Is actually going Which beckons him away.''' on in that land of misery, for they go about quietly everywhere, see every- "AllI" said he to whom the words thing, can not be deceived or put off were spoken, I II suppose that is it." the scent by the native subordinates. How infinitely blest above the puerile It was my great good fortune to be elevations of earthly preferment are thrown with the missionaries from the they who are accounted worthy to hear start, and I was able to compare their this Voice, and to see those beckoning methods and knowledge with those of Hands I the government people. "

-One of the pioneer missionaries of -One of the fruits of Li Hung the American Board to the Zulus, was Chang's visit to this country Is an order the Rev. George Champion. His decision to go to Africa came like a thunderbolt upon his grandfather, who offered him all his wealth if he would give it up, or he would pay the exfor 10,000 tons of steel rails for China's converts are added to the mission railroads. This 1irst shipment has been churches e'DM"1lllllllr, and more than 60,- made from the Carnegie Steel Com- 000 missionaries, native and foreign, pany's mill at Braddock, Pa. Japan are engaged in heralding the Glad Tid- has sent an order to the same company ings.

for 5,000 tons of •• T " rails, for light -Two-thirds of all the letters which railroading and horse cars. pass through the postoffices of the -What will Mr. Lummis say for world are written by and sent to peohimself, when he reads this arraign- ple who speak English.

ment in Life and Light from the pen of WOMAN'S WORK. Mrs. Gertrude C. Eaton, missionary in the city named: "We who have lived -A woman, a dog, and a walnut tree, The more they're beaten, the better here for 1ifteen years, who have seen they be.-IndianPr01lerb. such great changes in so short a time, marvel that a man of Mr. Lummis's -Folded within the fragrant bud of keen observation of material things the Crusade movement of 1873-4 was could have deliberately shut his eyes a many-petaled rose, whose gradual to the share that Christian in1iuences effiorescence has revealed a flower of have had in this • Awakening of a wondrous complexity and detail, of Nation.' That he could have become such beauty and perfection as to make so familiar with the streets of Chihua- it the marvel of the closing century's hua, aud yet have ignored completely reform organizations. To persuade the stately church that crowns the men not to drink and not to sell was brow of the hill on the principal street the one method and purpose of the leading,to the Alameda, which he must Crusade Praying Bands; but they sOon have past many times on Sunday learnt that the vice of intemperance Is afternoons, and where he might have correlated with all other vices !.nd seen, any Sunday morning, a company miseries, and that it is deeply rooted in of 125 Mexicans, of all ages, engaged all social, political, and even religious in studying the word of God. We thought and life. The inevitable wonder that in his minute study of the sequence was the II do-everything pol- excellent public schools of our cit.y, he icy" of the Woman's Christian Tem- should not have inquired even for the perance Union, which aims to reach only 2 Christian schools in the place; and cut off every source of supply of that he should not have informed him- the alcoholic habit, and to extend a self and his readers that the 1irst school helping, healing hand to its helpless in the city to introduce modern desks, victims. Of about 50 departments of maps, text-books, and English, now in work which compose the petals of this demand in all the schools, was the mIs- rose of reform, and which are repre- sion school, known as the Oolegio Ohi- sented in the policy of the parent so- huakueme, and that at least four or 1ive ciety, the National W. C. T. 'U. of the schools in the State, where no schools United States, the World's W. C. T.

for girls existed, have been started, and U. has adopted 31. These are grouped carried on by girls educated in the in the general classes: Organization, same school." Evangelistic, Prevention, Educational, -In 1825, or about seventy years Social and Legal.

ago, there were iii connection with for- -An interesting letter about Pundita eign mission churches about 60,000 Ramabai's famine people, publisht in persons, ineluding all then known to The Outlook, mentions that older in- be converts from heathenism. In the mates of her Home in Poona volun- closing years of the century we are teered to mother the little new-comers.

able to count that more than 65,000 "One scrawny mite was adopted by a lassie of fourteen who had herself in -At the recent Christian Alliance infancy been cast out to die. When th& Convention at Old Orchard Beach cash other girls twitted her on the' monkey gifts for missions were received, face' of her portege~, she calmly re- amounting to $71,000, and about 50 plied: 'To adopt a nice and pretty young men and women volunteered for child is good, but to take an ugly one foreign mission service. is love.'" EUROPE. -The Canadian Church Missionary Society have sent Miss Louy Thomas Great Britain.-The Encyclical of to assist Mr. Sadleir in work among the the late Lambeth Conference points out Araucanlan Indians in South America. that-" The Book of Common Prayer Miss Thomas, who has been trained in contains very few prayers for missionary the Deaconess' Home, sailed for Eng- work. It hardly sceIDS to have been land in July and went from there to present to the minds of our great au- Chile. She will be the first South thorities and leaders in compiling that American Missionary supported entirely book that the matter should be in the by the Canadian Episcopal Church. thoughts of every one who calls him- self a Christiau, and that no ordinary UNITED STATES. service should be considered complete, which did not plead among other -The Baptist Missionary Union has things for the spread of the Gospel. 97 stations in heathen lands, and 1,026 Weare beginning, tho only beginning, out·stations; 165 missionaries, all but" to see what the Lord would have us with wives, 102 single women, 24 do. He is opening the whole world to physicians; 283 ordained native preach- our easy access, and as he opens the ers and 822 unordained, with 590 other way, he is opening our eyes to see it, native helpers; 99,564 chqrch mem- and to see his beckoning hand." bers, of whom 5,174 were baptized last year; 1,235 schools with 28,997 pupils. -Great Britain has raised by popu- lar SUbscription $10,000,000 for the re- -The African Methodist Episcopal lief of the starving in India. Such a Church has work in Haiti, Sierra fact is food for Christian optimism. Leone and Liberia, and is represented by 25 ~inisters, 30 teachers, and about -Within a stone's throw of White- 500 church members. chapel, surrounded by some of the very worst slums, stands the largest -The General Missionary Board of school in the world. It is presided the Episcopal Church supports a bishop over by a peer of the realm, tord in China, Japan, Africa, and Haiti, Rothschild, who is regarded with love whose combined staffs number 87 and admiration by every pupil. This clergymen, 8 physicians, besides lay- school educates 3,500 children, belong. readers, catechists, teachers, and Bible- ing mostly to the poorest foreign Jews, readers, to the number of 409. There and has a staff of a hundred teachers. are 973 scholars in boarding-schools It is' well-known that this is Lord and 8,625 in day.schools. The num- Rothschild's pet institution, and that ber of patients treated last year in were it not for his munificent support, the hospitals and dispensaries was the school would be unable to meet its 28,579; 4,600 were under daily in- vast expenditure. Free breakfasts are struction in schools, nearly 1,000 of given every morning to all children whom are in boarding-schools; and who wish to take them, no questions there were held during the year a total being askt. Again, he presents every of 23,174 services of public worship boy with a suit of clothes and a pair of and preaching of the Word of God. boots, and every girl with a dress, and The baptisms numbered 782, and the a pair of boots in the month of April, confirmations 851. near the Jewish Pa!lsover. A second his harness. A well;deserved tribute pair of boots is offered in the month of is paid to his high-toned character, his October to every child wbose boots are great business aptitude, and his largenot likely to last during the approach- hearted catholicity. ing winter. A very popular feature in the school is the savings-bank depart- -The Contineni:.-For Jll&ny years ment, instituted by the kindly presi- Pastor Fritz Fliedner, son of the famdent. In order to encourage habits of ous Kaiserswerth reviver of the order thrift, an interest of ten per cent. per of deaconesses, has been the leading annum is allowed on all savings. missionary of .Protestantism in Spain. Among his successful operations has -The Church Missionary Society been the establishment of a Protestant has medical missions in Egypt and College in Madrid, costing $50,000, East Equatorial Africa, Palestine and which is now under roof and rapidly Persia, Bengal and the Punjab, South approaching completion. This success and Mid-China and British Columbia, hIlS aroused the opposition of the with a total of 1,005 beds, 7,741 in- clericals, and the bishops of Vitoria, patients last year, and 500,874 visits of Santander, Leon and Valencia, together out-patients. with the archbishop of Burgos; have united in a strong appeal to the Govern- -The Twenty-second Annual Re- ment, demanding that this insult to the port of the Mission to Lepers iu Iudia religion of the State.be stopt, and that and the East mentions that more than the noble sacrifices of the people for 200 of the inmates of the di1fllrent leper the preservation of the integrity of the asylums have profest their faith in State be rewarded by such protection Jesus Christ and have been baptized. to their religious rights. At latest There are now over 1000 professing reports the Government has ignored Christians in the various asylums. this appeal.-lndepend6nt. There are about 900 adults and children in the: homes, and about 1,700 in -The" German Students' Union for institutions which the mission aids. Foreign Missions" conventld at Halle, The field of its operations embraces some days in April. Rev. Dr. War- India, Burmah, Ceylon, China, and neck, the newly-elected professor of Japan. The work is steadily increas- the science of missions in the university ing, and a steady income of £6,000 is of Halle, delivered an inapiring address needed to carry it on. on the question, .. Why ought foreign missions to be specially attractive to :'-The Annual Report of the National students? " Missionaries from India, Bible Society of Scotland has been Africa and Greenland were also present issued-a record of excellent service and gave the students interesting talks rendered to the cause of Bible circula- on foreign mission subjects. tion. It tells of 705,610 Bibles, Testaments, or portions, distlibuted by more -The Rhenish (Barmen) Mission than 500 colporteurs and agents in takes rank with the greatest of German 80 different countries of the globe. The organizations, having an income of income – for 1896 was £81,070, an nearly 500,000 marks ($125,000), 80 staadvance of more than £2,000 upon last tions and 168 out stations in South year. The most notable incident of the Africa, the East Indies (Sumatra, report is the retirement of the Rev. W. Borneo, New Guinea), and China; 109 H. Goold, from the secretaryship, missionaries (not including wives), and which he had occupied with distin- 18 UDJll&rried women, 18 ordained naguished ability and acceptance for 86 tives; 10,982 pupils in the schools, years. It is sad now to have to notice 27,464 communicants and 64,817 native his death, so soon after he had put off Christians (adherents). Last year 781 were confirmed. -Even from Russia good news re- can society has accorded during the lating to the Kingdom comes oc.casion- last sixteen years. This help has enally. Thus a friend of the society abled the Russian Bible Society to exnamed, writes from St. Petersburg: tend considerably its sphere of action. " For many years past the British and The propagation of the Scriptures: in Foreign Bible Society, by generous Asiatic Russia was the ardent deBire of activity and earnest prayer, has done a the Russian Bible Society, but the large work in the circulation of the want of means prevented its accom- Scriptures in Russia. The Gospels plishment. Now this has been atand Psalms would not be found in the tained. The colporteurs of the Rushands of the people everywhere as they sian Bible Society have borne the hardare to-day, if it were not for the untir- ships and perils of long journeys ing zeal of this Society. There is a through desert and forest, traveling Russian Bible Society which also through Siberia on horseback or in maintains a very successful work in river boats, across its steppes and along the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, its mighty rivers, visiting not only the but by far the larger share of the labor towns, but also the settlements, gold has from various causes fallen on the diggings, and convict prisons. In this British Society, which every year cir- manner 171,000 copies of the Scriptures culates many thousands of copies of the were distributed in Asiatic RusRia on Gospels throughout the Empire. Con the subsidy of the American Bible Sosidering this, the friends of the Society ciety in the course of sixteen years. will be encouraged by the following The Russian society has sold at a very statement made by an independent in- low price or gratuitously distributed quirer on the subject of religion in Bibles (to the amount of about $1,000 Russia, and lately publisht by him. annually) on the account of the subsidy 'The New Testament is probably in of the American Bible Society. In greater demand there than in any other this manner over 500,000 copies of the part of Europe, except the Protestant Scriptures were sold at reduced prices countries. The Gospels are undoubted- and given away in the period above ly the book dearest to the Russian. It mentioned, in both Asiatic and Eurois to be found in the workingman's pean Russia. room as well as in the peasant's cabin. Those who can read, read it to those ASIA. who can not read for themselves. Every new step gained by popular instruction Islam.-Rev. S. M. Zwemer, misbrings new readers. All that the peo- sionary in Arabia, supplies these cheerple have in the way of religious and ing facts in relation to work among moral training they get there. The Mohammedans :-Dr. Wherry says in influence of the book on the Russian his book on Islam: "In India many soul is not to be denied; in spite of hundreds of the followers of Islam ignorance and superstition the faith of have publicly abjured that faith and the people deserves the name of •evan- been received into the church." Dr. gelical,' if to be that it is enough to be Martyn Clark, of Amsitsar, writes: nourished upon the very marrow of "I should say quite one-half of the the Gospels.' " converts from among the higher classes in the Punjab are from amongst Mos- -The American Bible Society, which lems. Half of the Church Missionary has aided the St. Petersburg Society Society's native clergy are ex-Moslems. for the Propagation of the Holy Scrip- Exact numbers I cannot give you, but tures in Russia, has received a special I believe our next census will be startreport, expressing its high appreciation ling. Never was there such a spirit of of the generous help which the Ameri- inquiry, shakin~ of the dry bones and raging of Satan as nowadays." Rev. St. Clair Tisdall, of Persia, writes: .. Con- flowing by a crowd of English-speakversions from among Moslems are not ing Mohammedans. In North Africa, few. In the Punjab they may be num- a remarkable movement is in progress bered by hundreds, taken from almost amo~g Mohammedans and very many every position in life. In Turkey, a con- have accepted Christ, but I am pled~ gregation was gathered by Dr. Koene, to secresy concerning the particulars. but man after man vanisht-murdered for his faith, no doubt-and was never -The orphanages which have been heard of more. I have myself been established in Turkey seem to be fairly privileged to baptize Moslems of sev- provided for, at least for the present. eral different races; one an Afghan, Many friends from the continent of several Persians, one Turk and not a Europe have contributed liberally for few natives of India." In the C. M. S. the founding of these institutions at Intelligencer, we read of some Moslem different points. Mr. Hubbard, of converts in Persia imprisoned for con- Sivas, writes that in that city there are fessing Christ, and of a company of 5 orphanages, besides 2 at Gurun, con- Moslem women who read the Gospel by taining in all 280 orphans. of whom 230 night for fear of detection. At Bag- are supported by the Swiss committee, dad, there are converted Moslems in at the head of which is Professor Godet the Turkish army reserve, and at of NeucMtel. These Swiss friends Busrah, there is one awaiting baptism. expressly stipulated that the orphan- In Egypt, there have been scores of ages should be under the control of the baptisms, and last year a student at Al American missionaries. – Mia8ionary Azhar University and also a Bey's son Herald. confest Christ. Kamil Abd El Messia, who preacht Christ in Arabia, was a India.-We together, in England and Syrian Moslem convert. I know of others like him whose names, because America, 100,000,000 strong, with the they are stillliTing, it would be unsafe to mention." From Palestine we just same origin, the same history, the same hear that" the mother of the keeper of the Great Mosque at Jerusalem, lis- tongue, the same literature, the same tened to the Gospel attentively and rrpeatedly on hcr dying bed;" and faith, and therefore the same Christother women of the city have also believed. At Delhi, one in the royal commanded duty and 88sured hope, family, a Mohammedan Eurasian lady, was baptized last year. The Imam'of are set over the 300,000,000 of India in the village mosque at Batala and 2 learned Moslems of Bannu'werepublic- the providence of God. ' 1y baptized in the spring of 1896. Rev. Ihsan mlah, a converted Mohamme- -Several of the recent Indian papers dan, held revival services at Peshawur mention the matter of baptism as the last year and baptized 3 Mohammedans. chief test of an inquirer's sincerity. Rev. A_ E. Ball, of Kerachi, baptized The organ of one of the new sects, 2 Mohammedans, brothers, from the which aim at whitewashing the abomi- Khairpur state the same year. At nations of Hinduism, says: "The Bombay, 3 Mohammedan inquirers preachers of the Roman Catholic creed were awaiting baptism last autumn. have now adopted a more liberal line Rev. M. S. Goldsmith baptized 3 Mos- of policy in their conversion work. lems at Hydrabad in 1896, and the 'We have nothing to do with your special services held in that district last caste,' 88y they to the non Christians ; 'we only want to take care of your year were said to be attended to over- soul.' We commend this mode of con- version; and we hope the other Chris- tian sects in the country will follow in the footsteps of the Roman Catholics, and give up the baptidng affair. That sprin~ling of water does more injury to a Hindu than anything else. As long as 110 Hindu does not get himself sprinkled over with •holy water" so answer. Instead, he threw down his long, whatever his beliefs, there is basket and shovel, and away he went every hope of his effecting his escape for the jungle as hard as he could go. from the clutches of the Christians; He was afraid of the white face. Then but when he has once been baptized, they are exceedingly superstitious. I and has eaten with them, his reclama- thought we knew something about suption to the ancestral faith becomes a erstition in England. I have heard comparatively more difficult matter." something about thirteen at table, and spilling salt, but I never knew what sup- -Rev. C. B. Ward, for nearly twenty erstition was until I got to the jungles years a missionary, says: "One of the of Bankura. These people are full Of first things that we see when a famine l!uperstition. Their very religion itself strikes India Is the heartlessness with is nothing but superstition. They have which the heathen forsake their own no idea of a beneficent God. Their children. Some forsake them, thinking only idea of the Omnipotent Father is that If found deserted, it will be this. "Sir, what if that Almighty One thought that they are parentless, and should eat me ? .. That is what a man they will be cared for out of pity by actually said. Of spirits who may some one. Other parents give their work them harm they have any numchildren away, and still others sell ber.-Rev. G. W. OLVER. them for trifies to get something to eat with. One of the saddest sights of the -At Tanjore, in South India, where famine is the hordes of these starving the great missionary Schwartz lies children on the roads, in bazaars, in buried, the Leipzig Society has a large famine camps, and elsewhere. Since congregation worshipping in a fine the missionary came to India, thousands church, and a number of fiourishing of such have found a rescue from death educational institutions. The .. Bible and heathenism at such a time. Not Union of Young Lutherans" is much many of them ever find a hand of like a Y. M. C. A., or a Luther League charity among their own countrymen. of men only. Once every month all It is a dismal comment on the religion the teachers and evangelists of the disof some of the gentlemen who spoke so trict gather at the station to report to loudly over in Chicago a few years ago, the missionary and to be instructed in but facts are grim things. I doubt if it the Word. They are required to decan be shown that in all the famines of vote much time to mental improve- India for the last century, the Hindus, ment. All the teachers are expected . Mohammedans, or other religionists of also to improve their health by taking this land have ever succored 2,000 gymnastic exercise every evening. orphans, but up to date in the present famine that number has been received -The Indian Witnes8 in laudatory into orphanages, and are now being fed terms sets forth the advantages of and cared for by missionaries. I doubt the Wellesley Girls' High School at not before this year shall end, there Naini Tal, the Darjeeling School, the will be need that 10,000 be taken and High School at Cawnpore and Rancared for by missionaries or be left to goon, Burma. Such a resume gladdens die or grow up to worse if by chance patrons at home. they live." -The Lutheran Mission (General -It is ditlicult to get hold of a Synod) at Guntur, has recently opened Santal, because he iS6xceedinglytimid. a hospital at a cost of nearly $20,000 The first time I was travelling along for building and appointments. Of one of the jungle roads I called to a this sum Hindu and Mohammedan man who was tilling his field, and friends contributed $2,500. askt him the way, but did not get an -The whole of North India from the upper Ganges to A.ssa~ was rudely right, mister, you won't disturb me in shaken by the recent earthquake, said the least; you talk away and I'll stay to be the worst of the century. Tho outside here." For a while all was various missions suffered greatly the well tUl another stranger appeared who Welsh Mission in the Khasi Hills seems evidently had not breakfasted to his to have been most damaged. For it is satisfaction, for he at once proceeded stated that .. Every building belonging to purchase, and called aloud to !1 to the mission is in~ ruins and all the friend within the chapel to join him in churches built by the native Christians, eating fried cakes. This settled the many of which were large and built of business, for cakes and their owner stone with corrugated iron roof, are in were at once ordered off the premises. the same condition. The same is true The sermon is 8gain under way when of the station in Sylhet. The cost of an ominous scratching and the smell of erecting the buildings which have been sulphur from one of the back corners levelled was not much if anything gives warning of an intended smoke. under two lakhs of rupees. Besides all That too is nipped in the bud-the inthis scores of pukkha houses belonging tention-and again the sermon proto the native Christians have shared the ceeds. A little later another man same fate. There is hardly a stone comes in who recently lost his mother left upon a stone in the whole of the by death and so at once he proceeds to Khasi and Naintia Hills district, every prostrate himself before the preacher. building, both private and public, -Presbyterian Rec<ml. being in ruins. It would be difficult te exaggerate the extent of the damage -A campaign has been begun by done. It is marvellous that the mor· the Christians against the educated tality is so small. But as far as build- classes of China-a battle not with the Ings are concerned the mission is just sword, but with 25 letters. It Is well where it was when it began operations known what !l. difficult task it is to fifty.six years ago." learn to read and write even a small part of the 40,000 Chinese characters. Cbina.-In the Celestial Empire The various missions in China have there are medical missionaries as fol- long striven to Introduce the Roman lows: There are 100 male and 50 fe- alphabet, but these letters are awkward male physicians, 150 male native medi- to the Chinese, who are accustomed to cal students and 30 female students, 71 write with a paint brush and Indian hospitals treating many thousands of ink, and those who have learned writpatients, and the physicians attending ing in our Christian schools do not tind yet other thousands at their homes; it easy to get firm paper, pens, and ink. 'and 111 dispensaries, in which over Lately Mr. Wong, the pastor of the 223,000 patients are treated. About self-supporting Chinese church in Hong $70,000 was spent in medical work Kong, a brother of our ordained helper last year. Wong, has invented a new alphabet which, like the Chinese signs, can be -Last Sabbath's service had more written on Chinese paper with paint than the ordinary number of interrup- brush and Indian ink. Many of the most tions at Chang-te.Fu. The preacher distinguisht Chinese Christians build had scarcely announced his text when great hopes on the introduction of this before the open door appeared a fried character. They think the people will cake pedlar, evidently desirous during soon find out that they can learn it in a a lull in business of hearing what was very short time, they will no longer being said. He was promptly askt to need the old complicated signs, and go elsewhere to conduct his business the Confucian schools wbere these are where he would not disturb the meet- taught will become deserted. Tbus ing. He coolly replied," That's all the influence of the half-educated were New Testaments in excellent heathen teachers will fall away, the binding. Some 210 colporteurs were worship of Confucius will dwindle, and at work, giving either a part or the the study of his writings will be left to whole of their time, and they made the learned. School books and Christ- very effective means for the evangeliian tracts are to be immediately printed zation of the people. in the new character and circulated among the people.-Berichtt! der -The Basle Society will shortly RMiniahen MiBBiona Ge8eZlBchaft. celebrate the jubilee of its fifty years' work in China. The fouuder of its -Dr. O. L. Kilborn writes from Chinese mission, Herr Lechler, in spite Chen-tu: "Following a good Chinese of his seventy-three years of age, is custom, we have during this hot weath- still in the mission field and comparaer placed at our compound gate a tively vigorous, along with his wife. large crock. It takes two large pails The mission was preserved in the midst of tea to fill it, and it is usually filled of serious dangers during the troubles twice in the day. The passing poor resulting from the Chinese war, withman, laborer, or carrier, toiling under out the loss of any life, tho the mission his heavy load, stops to refresh himself station of Moilim was plundered by the with a drink ~f tea. And, while rebels. drinking, he often reads the Christian tracts pasted on the wall immediately AFRICA. before him." According to his diary, Brother Nye -The Quarterll(M888age (Episcopal), of the Congo Balolo Mission has a says: We have received from Mr. and varied experience. He is at Lulanga, Mrs. Felix R. Brunot, two devoted busy at brick-making, carpentry. friends of missions, the sum of $13,000, blacksmithing, housebuilding, etc., tor the purpose of building and endow- etc.• and realizes the "need of paing a Home for Lepers in connection tience." For example, a rubber with the medical work of our mission steamer stays the night at the landing, in China. The Home is to be estab- and the Belgian officer is entertained in llsht at Ngan-king, on the Yang-tse the mission house, and is apparently river, about midway between Shanghai interested in the worship and service of and Hankow. Dr. Edward M. Merrins praise, at which he is present. The 25 is already stationed at Ngan-king_ soldiers who accompany him are This generous gift is made with the allowed· to sleep in the brick-making devout wish .. that the blessing of our shed; but in the morning, after they Heavenly Father may rest upon the have gone, it is discovered that they Home that shall be erected for our suf- overturned the board upon which the fering fellow-creatures. " tiles he is drying were put preparatory to burning as an experiment, and all are -The British and Foreign Bible smashed save two I He says they had Society distributes throughout the been having a Bible reading that morn- Chinese-Empire the Bible in classical ing about the possibilities of a life un· Mandarin, 10 colloquial, Kalmuck, distracted by outward circumstances, Mongolian and Tibetan languages. and here was a test I Oh, theSe broken Last year some 540,000 books were tiles I "I did feel annoyed about it printed; 366,000 books were put into after all the trouble I had taken. It is circulation, of which 358,000 were sold, hard at these times to smile and feel and 8,000 given away. The books are happy_" Certainly; and much harder nearly always sold at a price to pay for on the Kongo, amid the nerve·strain of the paper, and it was an indication of fever and climate, than it would be at the remarkable progress of Christianity home. An attempt to vary our diet by that last year no fewer than 11,000 fish is equally unsuccessful. "I only caught one," writes Mr. Nye: "the forward as fit and proper persons to be fish were too artful for me and received as full members of the church, would keep sneaking the bait, and I who cannot read a verse of the New could not feel the bite, so I gave it up Testament, and are often otherwise as a bad'job." utterly unworthy. Whilst money is pretty easily earned, and comparatively -An English Weslayan missionary plentiful, and often squandered on the writes: We have in Johannesburg a merest trifles, the support of the relignative church that will seat 1,000 ion which they are so eager ,to profess people, and on a Sunday, as we enterthe is a thing which they are very slow building, it will be full. There will to take in as a Christian duty. Anothonly be about 30 women there, the rest er most unsatisfactory thing among will be young men,and half of them will professing Christians is the utter indifbe men who have come there to learn- ference which exists with regard to the heathen men, unbaptized men. The education of their children.-O. M. S. service has to be conducted in three languages-Dutch, Susutu, and Zulu. Ohronicle. We begin with a hymn in the Zulu language, follow with a prayer in Su· -English Friends are opening an sutu. and then the Lord's Prayer in Zulu industrial mission on the island of and Susutu. First, the congregation Pemba, off the east coast of Africa. join in Susutu. Then we have a hymn This mission is under the care of their in the Susutu language, and after that Meeting for Sufferings, and Theodore the lessons are read-1irst of all in Burtt and Herbert Armitage have the Dutch, then in Susutu, and then in the management of it. This mission is for Zulu. Then we have another hymn in the benefit of the 140,000 slaves living the Zulu language. Let us take a there who have recently been set free. service when a Zulu man is preaching. Twenty thousand dollars is the esti- We have him in the centre. He mate for the Initial expenditures of the speaks, and on the right of him is a work, of which $15,000 have, been conman who speaks Susutu, and on the tributed. This is a new field, but one left of hiIp. a man who speaks Dutch. of much promise. As he speaks in the Zulu, sentence by sentence, it is taken over-1irst of all -Rev. H. Bleicken, of the Leipsic by the man speaking S~sutu, and then Society, on his long journey from the by the man speaking Dutch, and thus coast of East Africa to the region of through three tongues the Word is snow-capt Kilima Njaro, and while delivered to the people. sleeping in his tent on the banks of the Pangani river, was suddenly awak- -Self-denial in any shape or form is ened by the furious barking of his dog. a very rare quality among the Bechu- Rising quickly, he saw a huge body anas. The grati1ication of the appe- turn away from the tent and plunge tites and passions of their animal into the river. A crocodile had innature is, alas, all too prominent every- tended to make his acquaintance. The where. Great as is the value they set evening before, while resting in the upon a profession of religion, and upon door of his tent, he was watcht by a being full members of the church, the leopard hiding in the grass near by. low estimate which they have of the The beast was suddenly ronsed and importance of such a profession, and of slunk away. the qualification demanded by it, is most painful to contemplate. Deacons -R. J. D. McAlister has lately reand other prominent members of our turned from Uganda and writes: Bicychurches have no hesitation Of shame cles are seen every day in the streets, in bringing young men and women and one of the missionaries has ridden all the way from the coast to Mengo on a pneumatic-tyre machine. This is certainly a remarkable trip, as he per- the Church of Rome have adopted the formed the entire journey in about version and have publisht an edition of three weeks. The matter of communi· the Gospel of Matthew, with some cations is one of the highest importance slight ,modifications, for use among and rapid strides are being made in their own catechumens and converts, this direction. The railway has now with numerous woodcuts and a' few advanced some 60 or 70 miles into the notes. The text of the Gospel occu-. interior, and on my way down I was pies 107 pages of the volume, and is enabled to travel in a comfortable 1irst- substantially that pUblisht by Dr. Hiram class carriage to Mombasa, along an Bingham in his edition of 1880. Of excellent line at a speed of 20 miles an the changes which have been made, hour. The line is being built on a some are due to a different system of thoroughly permanent basis, and excel- transliterating foreign words, a few to lent stations are being constructed. the adoption of a different textual There are 2 trains daily, each consisting reading, and many are of no account. of first and third-class carriages, and at "Father Edwlrd," the responsible lIombasa, which is the terminus, the editor, appears to be a careful scholar station consists of a series of fine stone familiar with lhe original Greek, and buildings with a large acreage of Jines earnestly desirous of supplying the and goods yards. The trains are Gilbert Islanders with the means of acalready being used by caravans, and quiring a knowledge of the Gospel. It the distance to Uganda is being re- is reported that 5,000 copies of this duced daily. Until the line gets within volume has been taken to the islands, a short distance of the Lake, the cost together with 3,000 copies of a book of of transport is too heavy to allow of Bible stories based upon a life of any great agncultural development, Christ, and other elementary works. but meantime the experiment of coffee- His adoption of Dr. Bingham's transplanting is proceeding satisfactorily. lation is an unlooked-for testimony to Another grcat development in the Pro- the fidelity of the version which the tectorate is the completion of a splendid Bible Society is now supplying, and wagon-road, right from the coast to which is not limited to a single Gospel, Uganda. This is now in full working or- but embraces the entire Scriptures of der, and before I left bullock-wagons had the Old and New Testament.-Bible arrived on the Lake shore. This will Society Record. not shorten the journey, but it permits of the transport of heavy material, -The newspapers announce a conmachinery, etc. Captain Sclater is tribution to the Mansion House Indian now preparing to take up by bullock- Famine Fund of £844 from Fiji. Let wagon from Mombasa a new screw- the fact be noted, and its significance steamer of 70 tons, for service on the be taken to heart. Sixty years ago, at Lake. the time of Her Majesty's accession to the throne, the entire Fiji group was ISLANDS OF THE SEA. inhabited by pagan cannibals. Its heathen darkness was unbroken by any Te Evagkerio Are Tapu. The Gospel ray of Christian religion or civilization. of St. Matthew in the language of Two Wesleyan missionaries, who had the Gilbert Islands. Printed at the already labored for some years in the Pontifical Press in Freiburg, Ger- Friendly Islands, had landed on the many, with the imprimatur of the island of Lakemba a few months pre- Archbishop, 1895. viously, and were the first messengers of the Gospel to the Fijian people. It is the unexpected that happens. The Missionary Report of the follow- The American Bible Society having ing year (1838) speaks of "that distant undertaken fo publish the Bible in the language spoken on the Gilbert Islands in the central Pacific, the authorities of part of the world, which, on account of small. It is true we stm meet with the peculiarly ferocious character of its opposition. The heir to the chiefinhabitants, is as yet but little known taincy came one day into one of our to Europeans. Before the sailor and schools, and said with an arrogant and the merchant will dare to frequent spiteful look, 'I hate to see these those" now inhospitable shores, the mis- Christians teaching anything.' This is sionary must prosecute his labor of natural, for this fine young prince love amidst privations and hardships; cares for nothing but brandy and evil and when he shall have' succeedcd in ways. Yet God's Pentecost will come ~aming and humanizing the people, to this region some day, and I see signs Fiji may then become what the once of it already."-Norslc MiBBionatitknde. savage New Zealand has already been made by a course of missionary labor -The Honolulu Friend publishes a and suffering-a place of safe resort." letter from Henry Nanpei showing a change of policy on the part of the -The natives of the island of Papua Spanish Government relative to ~ur have no concern about gold, silver, and missionary work on the island of Ponbimetalism. They have the single rum ape. Last October the Morning Star standard. The basis of barter and ex- entered one of the harbors and the change in arrack (Java rum), one-half missionaries on board were allowed to gallon of which is reckoned equal to land for the first time since 1890. one day's work at fishing or rattan cut- Crowds of their old friends met Mrs. ting. No money is used. When the Logan and Miss Foss at the wharf. native Papuan receives his rum salary, '( You cannot imagine," writes the nahe and his family drop all other occu- tive evangelist, " how delighted our poor pations, and devote every energy to its people were to shake hands with and consumption. The resulting stupefac- be embraced by those good people tion lasts for days, but, on recovery, whom they never expected to see again the family cheerfully proceeds by per- on Ponape." Captain Garland and his severing industry to acquire more rum. associates paid a visit to the governor, Of course, in a country where there is who has shown such kind consideration 100,000 gallons of rum to every mis- for the Christians on the island, and sionary, civilization makes slow pro- they were received and entertained gress. with the utmost courtesy. The gover- nor visited the Morning Star in com- -The Sultan of Johore has made a pany with Henry Nanpei and brought grant to Rev. J. A. B. Cook, one of ashore three cases of New Testaments the Presbyterian Church of England's in the Ponape language. It is a nota.- missionaries at Singapore, of a plot of ble fact that many of these books were land 300 acres in extent, for the purchased by Spanish officers. purpose of a Christian Chinese settlement. The grant is for 999 years. -The MiBsionary Herald has seldom given a more remarkable story than that -In spite of the troublous times in told by Mr. Price in his journal of the Madagascar, the Norwegian Missionary tour made in November last through Society is able to report progress from the Mortiock group. Here are separits West Coast Mission. "We have ate islands, with no resident missionary had a fruitful year and great peace," upon them, where gross heathenism writes missionary Fagereng from Tul- has been dominant, but the Spirit of lear. "The people have been more God has wrought upon the hearts of well-disposed. Many new places have these islanders and transformed the sobeen occupied during the year and sup- cial life of many of these little complied with schools. The church at- munities. No less than 5011 were retendance has been good, and the ceived into the churches of the islands church at the station has often been too during this tour, while the reception of others wail postponed til! after further testing.

The Missionary Review of the World — September 1891

THE YEAR 1890 IN JAPAN

MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.

VOL. XIV. No.9.-OldSeries.–SEPTEMBER.–VoL.IV. No.9.-NewSeries.

THE YEAR 1890 IN JAPAN.

BY REV. PROFESSOR GEORGE WM. KNOX, D. D., TOKYO, JAPAN.

The foreca!l.t of 1889 was fulfilled in 1890. The year was full of difficnlty, and in empire and Church the cheerful confidence of the past gave way to uneasy anticipations and fears.

THE SUFFERING PEOPLE.

A short harvest in 1889 sent the price of rice up so high that thousands could not buy it. The multitude who ever Jive near the starvation liue became wholly dependent. Had benefactions not been large and constant they would have died from the lack of food. In the spring and summer the suffering was at its height, the abundant harvests of the autumn first giving permanent relief. During the summer cholera carried off tens of thousands, and late in the autumn the influenza paid a second and virulent visit that was fatal to very many.

Business suffered in sympathy with the general distress. The poverty of the people interfered with the usual course of trade; and a number of circumstances, which need not be repeated here, combined to render business unprofitable; failures were very many. But for the most part the distress, both physical and financial, was endured in silence. These Orientals have not yet learned our Western fashion of loud wailing over the misfortunes which they accept as a part of nature. Does our thought of the Heavenly Father, in whose hands are the issues of life, render us less patient than these who know no such all-loving guide and God?

THE STRUGGLING POLITICIANS.

Politics occupied a new place of importance in the popular esteem. The struggles which had been obscure and underground came out into the light of day as the elections for the first members of the Diet drew near. But no great issue divided the nation, and the contests were between factions and individuals. No faction or individual obtained a decisive majority of the whole number of members, though the" Liberals" constitute the largest group. When the Diet met in the autumn, only one thing was settled beyond doubt-the Lower House of the Diet was not friendly to the present Ministry or to the system which that Ministry represents. It was clear that a struggle for power. involving fundamental constitutional questions, would ensue. The leaders on both sides deprecated such a struggle, but they have proved unable to prevent it. The weeks passed have been tempestuous. The Diet has won some victories on minor points; but the most Radical section has forced the fighting on the budget, demanding such reductions that the Ministry declares itself wholly unable to comply. The Moderates seek only such economy in administration as may reasonably he agreed to. The Radicals want the fundamental political problem solved at once j the Moderates seek a compromise that shall permit a gradual and peaceful emergence from the difficulties that everyone admits. There is no party which advocates the Government outright, or def4ilnds the present system. As in so many other questions, all are progressive, the dispute being as to the pace. And all well-wishers to Japan must Jeilire the defeat of the Radicals, since their victory will result in the sharpest crisis the empire has k~wn in years. Unfortunately they control the Lower House by a decisive majority.

THE MEDDLING YOUTH.

The oddest feature, and the most inexplicable, of the situation, is the fashion in which young men of no apparent claim to influence or position constitute themselves the guardians of the empire's honor. As in years past such men have assassinated ministers of State, so now they band themselves together that they may coerce the Diet. Their influence is Radical, and they have repeatedly attacked members not of their way of thinking, and their threats of vengeance are constant. Some of them have been banished from the city; but the strangest element in the situation is the comparative immunity from punishment which they enjoy. Some influence seems to protect them, and accordingly reports are not wanting that they are in the pay of various influential personages. Until Japan learns in private and in public, in the family, the school, and the State, to discipline and restrain the youth who now grow rank, we cannot expect a peaceful and orderly development.

THE FOREIGN TREATIES.

The parliamentary struggle has diverted attention somewhat from the question of treaty revision, but indications in plenty show that the subject is not out of mind. And t-he popular demand rises with each delay. The foreign powers missed their opportunity when, years ago, Count Inoue was ready to grant all that reasonable men had any right or wish to demand. But the foreign powers could not agree among themselves or with him. Now popular sentiment must be taken into Rerious account. No minister would dare make a treaty which public sentiment disapproved. His life would not be safe for an hour. And public sentiment is not more reasonable in Japan than elsewhere. Since in the past the representatives of the powers have been unable to agree with the most reasonable and fair-minded Japanese ministers of State, there is small chance that now they will listen to the people. In the past Japan has been in the right j but it is a question whether the popular demands do not put it in the wrong. This much is sure-so long as the treaties are unrevised, so long will the anti-foreign agitation continue, so long will it be impossible that foreigners in any calling shall regain their former position. At the same time every new demand makes foreign compliance more difficult, so difficult, indeed, that revision would seem to be indefinitely postponed.

THE YEAR'S MISSIONARY WORK.

All of the facts related above have affected injuriously the work of foreign missionaries. The hard times have reduced gifts to the Church and hindered its extension. The political struggles have diverted the public mind, the meddlesome young men have given some of their attention to missionaries and to foreigners, and the question of treaty revision has so affected society in general that even the Church has participated to some extent in the anti-foreign spirit. The table of statistics just published shows the effect of these and other causes. The entire net gain of the whole Protestant body in Japan for the year is 1199, a gain smaller than single missions have repeatedly reported in the past. The table is not wholly trustworthy, it is true, 111 spite of every endeavor to make it 80 j but I do not know that the errors are greater than in other years. The Methodist Episcopal Church reports a decrease of 198 in the total membership, and the Congregationalists a loss of 169. The latter is in spite of the facts that they report 1615 baptisms for the same period. It can be accounted for only on the supposition that the reports for the two years have been made up from different data. The Church of Christ (Presbyterian) I·eports 1280 baptisms and a net increase of 517, the losses being through disaffection caused by the Plymouth Brethren, and, to a much larger extent, the revision of congregational rolls. The Nippon Sei Kokwai (Episcopalian) shows the largest net gain, 578 j but the figures are only approximate, and appear not to allow for the losses so noticeable in the other reports. The Canadian Methodists are the only others who show a gain of more than one hundred.

The contributions show a gratifying increase, the total being, en 69,3.24.95, a gain of 15,821.22. (The en is equivalent to the silver dollar.) Most of this increase is to be credited to the Congregational churches, though the Methodists and Episcopalians also report an increase.

Most of the other columns show a decrease, and some hardly show the full extent of the losses. Especially has the year been full of discouragement to those engaged in the higher schools. The mission schools were never so well prepared for large and successful work, and were never before so little esteemed. Some of the boarding-schools have lost half their pupils, and the losses continue. A strong national feeling is asserting itself. It insists upon a training that shall be more distinctively Japanese in management, methous, and subjects. It strongly objects to institutions that seem to subject Rtudents to the control of foreigners. The change of sentiment on this subject within the past two years amounts to a revolution. It is to be hoped that a reaction will before long restore the schools to their old position. Shonld such prove not to be the case· the question of the discontinuance of some of the schools must be seriously faced.

THE MISSIONS AND THE MISSIONARIES.

One mISSlOn has been added during the year-the Universalist. The Unitarian Mission also gives its report. The entire missionary force is 577, including the wives. This is an increase of 50 men and women. The force is distributed in 29 societies.

I would again venture the opinion that our prescnt missionary methods are in the extreme wasteful of money and life. Rightly distributed and massed, one half the present force could accomplish all, and more than is now done. Instead of so much earnest appeal for men and money I propose a year of appeal for the better use of the forces we have. UntiI something is done to combine the Protestant forces the waste must continue. Is confederation in the great work of evangelizing the world still impossible ¥ Can we expect thinking men to continue and increase their gifts if the half goes to waste 1 Doubtless the case is not so pressing in other lands; but, for the things I see and know, my language is none too strong.

Nor can I fail to say that the time is not auspicious for an increase of missionaries, apart from the great waste resulting from divergent plans and aims. It is not impossible that in certain parts of the field the missionary adds little to the effectiveness of the work. The complaint is heard, e.g., that schools have too many missionarws in their faculties, and the popular demand for addresses and sermons from foreigners has greatly fallen off. The way iR not so open, nor the invitation so pressing, as a few years ago. It may be only a passing wave of sentiment, but while it lasts we may well give the precedence to calls from other fields, as they, in the past, have given way to us.

And yet the time is by no means past for foreign missionaries in Japan. In some parts of the empire, in the interior provinces and in the south and west, they can still repeat the triumphs of the days gone by. They are still welcomed, and their leadership is ardently desired. They can still, even in Tokyo, find work of the last importance in educating a Japanese ministry, and in the preparation of a theological literature. And wherever there are earnest, spiritually minded men, their influence must be felt. But beyond all this the missionary organization is still necessary. The Church and the work would suffer were it withdrawn. The missionaries supply the unmoved framework, the inner form little influenced by superficial change, that is essential to the strength and permanence of the Church as an organism. Premature withdrawal would subject it to a strain we may well wish for a while postponed. Such function may be far from the ideal entertained by the missionary of his own position; it is certainly less imposing than the missionary position in most lands; but if thus service is rendered to the Master, we shall be content.

TIm THEOLOGICAL UNREST.

Japan participates in all the movements of our age. No wall or tariff shnts the empire out from frecst communication with the world, and the ideas which agitate thinking rilen find ready entrance here. For years the leaders of the Japanese Church have followed with intense interest the course of theological thought. They read freely both sides. Papers, reviews, and books are in dcmand in proportion as they reflect the current intellectual life. Not the wisdom of ourfathers, but such as our age can furnish, they desire. Coufucianism has satisfied their longings for an ironbound conservatism. They are proportionatcly eager for progressive thought. Disposition and public sentiment combine to urge in one direction, and there is no opposing power that shall attempt to hold them back. If the intelligent, influential young men are to be orthodox Christians, it will be because orthodoxy makes the strongest appeal to mind and heart. The newest and extreme thought is not left to the printed page, it has its living representatives. The German Evangelic Mission is led by men of solid learning and strong ethical and spiritual powers. They are naturalists in their exposition of the Bible, denying all miraculous elements. '1'hey reject the Divinity of Christ, His miracles and His resurrection. Yet, with what seems to an American a peculiarly German inconsistency, they declare that their one desire is that Christ may be accepted by the Japanese, and in walk and conversation they breathe the spirit of the Master. They give in lectures and printed articles a wide circulation to the advanced views of the German schools, ancl their words are eagerly read and heard by the young men of our churches. The Universalists and the Unitarians, from different points of view, are in sympathy with the Germans, and the three bodies form one party of considerable strength and influence. Some of the ordained ministers of other bodies have returned from the United States more or less in sympathy with the cruder forms of the new theology.

This condition of things fills some of the conservatives with alarm. But I deprecate the views they insert in American periodicals. Weare not in a panic at all. We welcome and rejoice in this full and free and fair discussion. When did the truth ever ask more than a fair field and no favor ~ It is a strange novelty that we who profess to hold the truth should seek to hide timidly behind traditional defences. If the truth cannot protect itself-but who would thus doubt His power who is the Truth ~ If some of our opinions cannot stand, is not the truth better than our opinions, howefer venerable 1 For our part, we do not fear the result. We do not for a moment doubt the final triumph, nor can we believe that the Church has been mistaken all along in accepting Christ as Son of God, and the Bible as supreme in doctrine and life.

THE SYNOD OF THE NIPPON KIRISUTO KYOKWAI.

The most significant event of the year in matters ecclesiastical was the meeting of the Synod of the Nippon Kirisuto Kyokwai (the Japanese Church of Christ, with which are connected the Presbyterian and RflfOimed mis- sions). This Church has long been considering the revision of its constitu. tion. In 1877, when the present organization was effected, the Church yielded to the earnest desire of the missionaries, and adopted unabridi!ed and unamended a Form of Government, Book of Discipline, and Confession of Faith, imported from the United States. The Confessions-there were two of them-had not even been translated, but were adopted purely on faith. They were adoptcd, but thcy have never been the true Confessions of the Church's faith. Years ago a committee was appointed for their revision, but its labors were interrupted by the negotiations for union with the Congregationalists. After those negotiations were broken off a nf>W committee on revision was given df'fi~ite instrnctions. The committee rcported in the early summer and Synod met iu December to discuss the report.

Synod was a thoroughly representative body, most of the leading men being present. Foreigners were in a small minority, and from the start the Japanese took the lead. The result is their work, and this it is which renders the meeting so significant. We have a fair test of the true faith and spirit of the Church, and not a mere reflection of foreign missionary sentiment.

The Japanese Christians think for themselves, that is the most evident comment. They are almost morbidly avcrse to leading-strings-especially now are they eager to show their intellectual independence. Any attempt to coerce them will result in disaster. At the Rame time they will listen to advice and reason.

The Church is soundly evangelical. It stauds firmly by the great essentials of the faith. It is not infected with Unitarian or Rationalistic virus. No one expressed himself as other than in entire sympathy with the truth once delivered to the saints.

But the Church inRists that there shall be widest liberty in non-e8sentials. It is eager to reje,ct the systems of theologians. It would embrace all who truly accept our Lord and Saviour. In its brief creed it desired to embody these two aims, and to show itself thoroughly evangelical and yet so free that none may be excludEd who do not deny the faith. It would have no imported Confession. It asserted at onpe its indifference to thc strifes and shibb(lleths of Westem lands, and its desire to hear testimony against the errors that threaten in Japan. Whatever may be onr opinion as to the snccess of the endea'or, or as to the sufficiency of the Confession as finally adopted, there is no doubt about the sincere purpose of the Church. Nor need there be question that this purpose in the main was right.

The Church has a strong missionary spirit. The debate on the Confession was dominated by the desire to make it an effective missionary document. The Christians never forget their position in the midst of a non- Christian people, nor their duty as witnesses for Christ, however much their labors fall short of their admitted obligations.

The Church accepts gladly the Presbyterian polity as a form of organization, but it rejects all exclusive claims even for its own forms, and occupies theoretically no position that may hinder union with other bodies. A strong desire for the organic union of Christians of every name was manifest throughout, though there is no immediate prospect that such desires may be realized.

TIlE HOPEFUL OUTLOOK.

It is not to be denied that the year has left a feeling of uncertainty and fear in the minds of many. Some ev{;n look forward to indescribable dis-" aster; but a calm review of all the facts warrants us in saying that the out- look is full of hope.

Even with so strong an anti-foreign spirit as the last year has shown, our Japanese Christians have held their own. Thirteen were elected to the Diet. One of them was chosen President of the Diet, and a second, permanent Chairman of the Committee of the Whole. These two posts were most keenly sought, and their occupants are very prominent and important in the public's thought. Christianity has further shown its wide influence by the long-continued agitation against licensed prostitution, an agitation that has enlisted a large share of popular approval and sympathy. It is no small triumph that Christianity so soon manifests itself as a moral force in the national life, and that it is so secure in its place that its profession is no hindrance to high political advancement.

The fact that the Church contains so many men of prominence, so many men second to none in their wide influence, is high encouragement, although, as a natural consequence, the foreign missionary is thereby remanded to a somewhat secondary place. As the Church thus reckons judges, professors, members of the Diet, prominent journalists, and high officials among its active members, we cannot expect the same position we should occupy in lands where the converts are for the most part from the lower walks of life. But we must be narrow indeed if this success becomes a source of discouragement. Let us thank God and take courage.

Though the year has been a trying one to forcigners, still has the Church remained remarkably friendly. There have been sharp criticisms of lIlen and methods, it is true; but we should hesitate to demand submissive silence from our friends. And it is not to be forgotten that the prevalent hostility to foreign institutions of every kind, and the association of the Church with missionaries in the popular mind, has been the cause of denial;

OR. GRIFFIS ON JAPAN

that the Church and foreigners are identical-a denial that has sometimes been more emphatic than agreeable in expression.

The theological nnrest, too, gives rise to hope. One minister joined the Unitarians, bnt he carried no one with him, and there is no disposition to follow his example. Already there are signs that the Radical flood has Ilassed its height and begnn to recede. We shall hear less of it in the years to come. It is not to be overlooked that the Unitarian Mission has a new leader of a spirit very different from the former " ambassador, " whose hostility to orthodoxy and to other missions is rep~aced by friendli- ness and a desire for such co-operation as is practicable. . The Plymonth Brethren, too, have about exhausted their capabilities for mischief, and almost cease from troubling the congregations. Some of the keenest of the Japanese ministers feel that the tide now sets with us.

There is no falling off in the numbers of young men who press into the Christian ministry. And for the theological department of the Meiji • Gakuin I may say that our junior class is not only the largest but the best that has entered the school. There is no better test of the true condition of the Church.

The difficulties have culminated in Tokyo. In the provinces the state of things has been by no means so trying. In a letter just received, a mis- sionary of much experience and sound judgment writes: "The condition of affairs in Central and Western Japan was never more promising. Con- verts are not gained so rapidly, perhaps, as in some years gone by, but the churches were never in so good condition before." That testimony can be duplicated by many witnesses in widely separated fields. And even in Tokyo onr most intelligent pastors say they find no widespread opposition to Christianity, nor any cause for real discouragement.

Surely God has done great things for Japan, and His Church may trust Him for the days to come. lIe does not leave us without evidence of His presence and blessing. Through His grace the Church shall go forward, that it may be Hi~ witness and the preacher of His Gospel to all the inhab- itants of the land.

MEIJI GAKUIN, TOKYO, February 12, 1891.

DR. GRIFFIS ON JAPAN.

BY THE EDITOR-iN-CHIEF.

Dr. Griffis has recently published an article on the Constitution of Japan which deserves wider circulation. He refers to the meeting of the Imperiltl Diet, which entered upon the work of sharing with the Mikado the government of the forty millions of Japanese, and remarks that on July 1st, 1890, the national election took place and proved to be quiet and decorous. The privilege of voting for members of the House of Representatives was restricted to certain taxpayers, so that the electorate probably did not number more than one million yoters. Bya decree dated July 10th, the administration of the two houses was organized by the appointment of a Chief Secretary, ten assistants, two probationers, and twenty subordinatcs for each branch of the Diet, and the proccedings were opened by the emperor in person.

Mutsuhito, the one hundred and twenty-third Mikado, was born, by a strange coincidence, on the very day that Commodore M. C. Perry stood on the deck of the Mississippi ready to sail for Japan. 'Vonderful changes have taken place within these thirty-nine years, and Dr. Griffis asks what grounds have we for believing in the solidity and permanence of representative political institutions in such a nation.

The story of the Japanese begins with the foundation of the empire, B. c. 660, which is in many other respects a very marked era in the annals of the human race. Their actual hIstory begins very nearly a thousand years after. The dual system of government, under the Mikado at one end of the empire and the Tycoon at the other, lasted until 1868, when the Tycoon gave way to the Mikado. Japan has always suffered from having no external foe or force to compel national cohesion, and society was split up into eight or more grades from gods to pariahs, and the country itself into three hundred feudal clans. Historical research and the fear of subjection by foreign nations begat that new thing in Japan, public opinion, and to save the unity of Japan from divisions such a& were seen in India, the dual system of government fell at the dictation of public opinion. The American Naval Expedition of 1853 simply brought the crisis. The Tycoon, hitherto despotic, felt compelled to ask the opinion of the clans as to wtat should be the answer to Commodore Perry, and the first informal Parliament was summoned.

The events from 1853 to 1890 simply record the march of public opmlOn. Dualism first went. down and feudalism followed. Provision was made for a permanent national parliament, and the leaders of the revolution constrained the Mikado, then but sixteen years old, to swear that he would call a deliberate assembly and submit to it affairs of State. This charter oath of five articles forms the basis of the new Japan. The way was accordingly prepared for the complete separation of the executive, legislative, and judicial functions, and in 1878 provision was made for the education of the people in their new political duties.

After much popular agitation in behalf of a national parliament, on October 12th, 1880, the Mikado signed the decree promising to limit the imperial prerogative, and call a parliament to meet in 1890. The constitutions of various other governments were carefully examined, and on February 11th, 1889, on the anniversary of the ascent of the throne, B.C. 660, by the first Mikado, Jimmu Tenno, this grand document was published, the magna charta of Japanese liberties.

The constitution consists of Rcven chapters with seventy-six articles, which treat of the Emperor, his subjects, the Diet, mini8ters of State, the Privy Council, etc. The upper house, or House of Peers, is a mixed body. Members of the Imperial family, princes, and marquises sit for lif",. Counts, viscounts, and barons are elected for seven years. Certain men notable for ability and learning have a life term. There is also a provision for commoners to be elected to this house, which thus involves representation from the three estates of the realm.

The constitution approaches closely the model of Germany and Great Britain. Most important are the thirty-two articles of Chapter II., which grant and define the rights and duties of the subjects. Hitherto the masses had politically been ciphers, bound to obey, pay taxes, and hold their tongues. Now the status of every subject is fixed by law, and by law his rights are guarded. Modern Japanese law is based Oil the code of France. The judiciary conllists of local courts, district courts, court of appeal, and a supreme court, and judges are appointed for life..

Western nations look with intensest interest to the unfolding of Japan's future.

JAPAN AND THli: BIBLE.

Twenty years ago the people of Japan had never seen any part of the Scriptures in their own tongue, and placards prohibiting Christianity were displayed on the corners of the streets.

In 1872, aided by a grant from the American Bible Society, Dr. Hepburn's version of Mark and John wall printed in Yokohama, and a committee was formed for translating the Bible.

' The. first edition of the New Testament appeared in 1880, and the entire Bible in 1888. From 1874 until now the American Bible Society has circulated in Japan more than 550,000 volumes of the Scriptures; and there are now more than 250 churches with over 30,000 members.

In view of the many agencies employed, it is gratifying to have so competent an observer as Dr. Hepburn ascribe one half of all the results of Christian missions in Japan to the work of the Bible societies.

Similar work is being done in connection wi.th the labors of American mi2sionaries in various parts of the world, and a secretary of one of our largest missionary boards has recently said : "I know of no single agency which can for a moment begin to compare with that of the Bible Society in giving permanency to Ollr missionary work in every field. I find myself depending upon its work more and more as I come to appreciate more fully what its volume is and what its significance is."

Of the publication of the complete Bible in Japanese, Dr. Griffis further says: "An able English editor declared that the publication of the Bible in Japanese was 'like building a railway through the national intellect.' This was perhaps the proper metaphor to employ in this industrial age, when civilization moves on rails and wires. To ono not hlind to the !esthetics, or deaf to the harmonies, of a noble work of letters, the human mastery over difficulties suggests rather the slow building of a glorious cathedral. The Bible in Japanese as we have it to-day-despite our thrills of joy and pride that it is mainly the work of American missionaries-is not a finished product. It is, however, so substantially near the ideal that it must be the basis of all future enterprise. Even its very shortcomings, felt most keenly by the master·builders of this stately edifice of language, point in the direction of final triumph.

" When in Tokio on the 3d of February, 1888, the veteran translator, Dr. J. C. Hepburn, suiting the action to the word, took the Old Testament in one hand and the New Testament in the other, and reverently laying them down-a complete Bible-sa~d : 'In the name of the whole body of Protestant missionaries in Japan, and of the whole Church of Christ in America and England, I make it a loving present to the Japanese nation,' the audience, made up of Christians from three continents, was deeply moved at the simple and touching ceremony. It was less like capping the obelisk at Washington with its polished aluminum finial than it was setting the headstone upon a glorious cathedral. In that completed work of pen and type, as in the splendors of some saintly minster, were embodied the hopes and aspirations of a nation awakening to new life, the prayers and sufferings of martyrs slain for Christ's sake, the toil and tears, the patience and hope of noble missionaries, the triumph of success after many failures. Of one of the first translators who delved for the foundations, laid the first courses of the edifice, and even saw its fair walls arise, it may be said with truth that he rests from his labors, but his works do follow him. The labor is over; the work remains. As I hold in my hand the comely duodecimo volume, which moves the scale at twenty·one ounces avoirdupois, I think of the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory which it suggests.

" In the presence of the mountain of to-day it is well to remember the plain. Before our shoutings of' grace, grace unto it,' and praises richly deserved to consecrated workmen, let us look back at the toils of the masterbuilder!!.

" There is a pathos, and there are streaks of humor, in the evolution of this, the fittest expres~ion of the Word in Japanese, which is sure to be a survival of the first order. The naturalists who follow Darwin or Wallace may not be able, owing to ' the imperfection of the geological record '-or otherwise-to furnish at call the 'transitional forms ;' but in the processional movement toward a perfect Bible, even our slender Japanese library holds some interesting and grotesque 'missing links.' True, we have searched the story of Roman Christianity in Japan from 1539 to 1637, and find no translated Scriptp.re; nor does Mr. Satow in his' Jesuit Mission Press in Japan,' though he has ransacked all Japan and the libraries of Papal Europe. Have we not, however, the amazing and amusing first attempts of Dr. Bettleheim in Loo Chooan 1 Do we not possess that wonderful translation of Matthew, by an immersionist, in which we read of 'John the Soaker, preaching the Gospel of sqaking unto salvation;' , Whoever believeth and is soaked shall be saved,' etc.? It is 'soak,' , soaker,' '!loaking,' 'soaked,' to the end of the book, when hitashi, meaning to steep, macerate, moi&ten, is used to translate tho C; reek variants of a certain much·discussed word. VVould that we had what we know existed, the versions of ' the books of Genesis and Matthew, and the Gospel and Epistles of John,' made in China by Dr. S. Wells Williams, and the work of Dr. Gutzlaff; hath of whom learned the language from castaway Japanese sailors. It would touch heart and imagination deeply to look upon the translations made from the Dutch Bible by native interpreters for themselves or others! It was for reading these that men, groping after God, seeking Christ when there were none to lead them, suffered imprisonment, torture, aud bloody death. How thrilling also are the stories of the power of the Bible in Chinese, bought from junk-captains or Chinese tradcrs at Nagasaki, over such men as the father of l'tev. J. T. 1se, who started the first- Japanese students to the United States, and Joseph Ne~sima, of whom we all know! Mr. 1se's father was assassinated in Kioto in 1869, because he was a Bible student, and was suspected of being a Christian, as he indeed potentially was. In 1888, his son, pastor of a Christian church in Tokio, the new capital of the new nation, made the principal Japanese address at the completion of the Bible in his own and his father's tongue.

"The writer, in 1870, saw the chips in the workshop, the dust and debris of foundation laying. lIo hoard the groaning of the missionaries concerning the difficulties and hardships, the gloom of the situation, the refractory and unspiritual nature of tho vernacular, etc. Yot already Dr. Hepburn had made a beginning, and tho writer, on disappearing from civilization into the interior, in February, ] 871, took with him to Fukui a manuscript copy of the four Gospels, of which he made good use, in a Bible class which he began in h.is house, with some of the students. Stopping for a day at the sunny home of onr veteran, Rev. Dr. D. C. Greene, he found him already expert in nirely discriminating Japanese equivalents for the crystal-clear terms in the Greek New Testament. It afterward be· came Dr. Greene's pleasure to translate four of the New Testament books, to do years of work in revision, and with Rev. Dr. L. H. Gulick to superintend the printing, and to read all the proofs of the entire Japanese Bible.

" It was not till 1872 that a convention of missionaries formed definite plans for translating the New Testament. After several years of labor, in which Dr. Hepburn and Rev. Messrs. S. R. Brown and D. C. Greene were the chief, though by no means the only workers, the Scriptures of the New Covenant were issued, and at once widely read by the Japanese. Far more than is the custom in American churches, the Japanese bring their Bibles to church with them, and follow the minister in his reading.

"From the first the native brethren, with characteristic and laudable ambition, desired to take part in the work of rendering the word of God into their mother tongne, despite their lack of acquaintance with the original texts. Six years of training, however, and daily intellectual and spiritual contact with the missionaries during the prpparation of the New Testament, gave to several elect native scholars a wonderful grasp of the general subject, as well as mastery of the problems of translation. The men of God from America and Great Blitain enjoyed the reciprocal and inestimable benefit of these native scholals, such as Rev. Messrs. T. Matsuyama, Uyemura, and Ibuka, and of the brilliant and versatile man of letters, Takaha~hi Goro. From the very first day until the last, Mr. T. Matsuyama wrought with fervor and untiring patience, and· it is the testimony of a missionary of nearly twenty years' experience in Japan that' the influence of this native scholar is seen in almost every sentence of the translation.' Mr. T. Matsuyama, who is now pastor of the Hei-an Church in Kioto, is one of the most learned and painstaking students of the old Japanese literature. His acknowledged excellence as a scholar not only shows what kind of material and personnel the missionaries have been enabled in God's providence to utilize, but makes both ridiculous and contemptible some recent criticisms, spoken even in Tremont Temple, upon the work of our missionaries in Japan.

"Plans for translating the Old Testament were not made until 18'76, nor perfected until 1882. Portions were printed at intervals between 1882 and 188'7 ; but the difficulties were great, and the failur~s were many. Delay in this case proved neither dangerous nor fatal, but eminently advantageous; for it secured uniformity of style. In this one respect, the Japanese Bible excels even the English, and can safely be ranked among the most successful missionary translations of the world. Pmctically the same men, with many assistants, performed the whole work from Genesis to Revelation. In the gracious providence of God, Drs. Hepburn and Verbeck, Rev. F. K. Fyson, T. Matsuyama, Takahashi Goro, Rev. D. C. Greene, and Rev. David Thompson, were spared to see the completion of the work. The Rev. S. R. Brown was unable to witness on earth the crown of his hopes, for he died in 1880. The translation, first in separate portions, and then in its complete form, was printed at the expense of the American, the British and Foreign, and the Scotch Bible Societies, all of which had also made generous contributions for the snonort of the translators, and the expenscll incident to their work.

"The style of the version is as loyally close to pure Japanese as the form of the book language will allow. Indeed, it is the very simplest form of the book language. In it special prominence is given to the pure native element, as against the Chinese-Japanese so fashionable during the last half century or more. It is the style best adapted to liturgical use, and its fitness is generally recognized. Indeed, in his grammar of the written language, Professor Basil Hall Chamberlain, of the Imperial University of Tokio, and perhaps the highest living authority in Japanese literature, quotes from this version in illustration of points in Japanese idiom, thus acknowledging it in some sense as an authority as to idiomatic usage. The gem of the Old Testament work, as all acknowledge, is Dr. Verbeck's rendering of the Psalms. To this labor of love-one of the most scholarly pieces of work in the Japanese language-he devoted much time during a

BUDDillSM: AND CHRISTIANITY

period of seven years in .constant association with natives who were acute, learned, and devout.

" It is not too much to hopc thlt this version of the Bible may do for the Japanese mother-tongue what the English Bible has done for our own noble language and literature. Competent native observers declare that it has already exerted a noticeable effect upon the development of Japanese literature. How comforting and full of reward it must be to the translators, who have toilcd long on certain passages, to hear them quoted by the eloquent native preachers in impassioned discourse that sways the lives and eternal destinies of thousands !

" In briefly outlining the history of this noble monument of scholarship and consecration, the writer trusts that his brethren, Thompson, Davidllon, :Maclay, Cochran, Piper, '''right, Waddell, Goble, Knecker, Shaw, Blanchet, and others, who have borne a noble share in the grand work of giving the Bible to this nation of nearly forty million souls, will forgive the shortcomings of this article, limited as it is in space. In due time, the Japanese Christians, becoming masters of the Semitic and Greek tongues, will erect on the foundations laid by the missionaries a still more stately edifice of sacred scholarship to enshrine that word of God which liveth and abideth forever. Yet the writer is presumptuous enough to hazard the prophecy that even future generations of native Bible translators will no more be able to ignore Hepburn, Verbeck, and Matsuyama than were the English revisers of 1611 or 1881-85 able to forget Tyndale.-Congregationalist.

BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY.

BY REV. E. SNODGRASS, TOKYO, JAPAN.

The Buddhists of Japan, especially the well-informed Buddhists, are by no means ignorant of the scientific references in the Bible ; and, more than this, they were not ignorant of Sir Edwin Arnold's attitude toward Christianity, the deadly antagonist of their withering faith. This being well known on both sides, it was not surprising that Sir Edwin, in his addre~ses in Japan, should say that man is made" not of clay or dust, as is ignorantly said, but of carbon, lime, etc." And, moreover, it was not surprIsing that Sir Edwin experienced the unpleas~nt necessity of having to refuse "numerous influential invitations to address the Buddhists of Japan." Dr. Ellinwood's reference to the fact that Christian phrases and conceptions were read into Buddhism by the author of "The Light of Asia" is parallel to the fact of the same author's attempt to harmonize Buddhism with modern science in a lecture which he delivered here before the Japanese Educational Society the third Sunday in December, 1889. "The Sun Goddess is tempted from her cave by Ii mirror. This is more scientific and less mythical than the legend of a Hebrew chieftain commanding the snn to stand till he could finish a bloody battle. The now to us incognizable sounds, colors, and distances are the Maya of Buddhism. Darwinian evolution is the lJharma and Karma. " 'With these revelations before us, why has it not occurred to some one to start the cry 10at modern science is plagiarized Buddhism 1 But what is the worth of such an unfounded claim that Christianity has borrowed from Buddhism 1 Nothing. I, for one, feel grateful to Dr. Ellinwood for the excellent store of facts given in his article in the February REVIEW. I wish to simply emphasize some of them.

1. The very I!tarting-points of the two religions are antagonistic, and hence oppose the idea that the superior could have copied from the inferior. Ask an educated Japanese to-day, " Has Buddhism a god f' The answer comes, "None other than the man himself." Buddhism is now thoroughly atheistic, though it may not always have been so. The most reliable history we have of Buddha sets him forth as a reformer. His early teachers were two Brahman ascetics. At first Buddhism may have held an idea of a supreme being, a Brahma j for in the oldest writings it is often mentioned that the supreme Brahma influenced Buddha. This may have been the foundation for the divinity which was afterward bestowed upon Buddha.

In regard, again, to a supreme being, Dr. Oldenberg* reasons that the Indian Brahman worked out a supreme being from the inner consciousness -the ego, the Atman. Separating the Atman from the individual, a new being is found which converges back into Brahma, the one and supreme being. Mr. Collinsf would reverse the above and say that the Hindu had gradually dropped the supreme from his faith, and in Buddhism the Atman, the ego, the human mind, is the only god j and this the remaining vestige " of a once purer faith and a truer worship. "

2. An argument often used here by Japanese evangelists is that Buddha worked no miracles. This is another vital difference iuimical to the life of Buddhism.

3. The most serious obstacle probably in the way of the theory of Christianity copying from Buddhism is the date of the Buddhist scriptures. According to the Ceylon books (Buddhism still survives in Ceylon), Gautama Buddha was born 623 B. c. It is not certain that he was not born later. Job probably lived 1500 years before Buddha. Moses lived 1000 before Buddha. Daniel was contemporary with Buddha. This was the time of the captivity, when the Jews were scattered throughout the East, probablyeyen as far as to China j we know that Jews were in China, but at so early a date that we know not when.

As far as we know, Buddha wrote nothing. The claim for the earliest written Buddhist scriptures is about the beginning of the Christian era, or later. Before this date we have all the Old Testament books. We must not forget how the great Babylonian and Syrian kingdoms intellectually • Oldenberg, Buddha, p. 23, et. seq. t Buddhism in Relation to Christianity. linked Judea with the East. We remember some time ago the bronze gates of Shalmaneser the Second were discovered at Balawat. The date is when Jonah visited Nineveh. Upon this monument are shown Jewish sacrifices. It is claimed by some that the Jews in great numbers after the seventy years' captivity emigrated toward the East. I do not know how much truth is in such a claim j but the fact of the Jews being early in China would lend some weight. We cannot close our eyes to the fact that Jewish influence went into the East.

4. What is the state of the claim that Buddhism came West? It is easier rather to prove that Christianity extended East early enough to influence the composers of the Buddhist scriptures. There is no historical evidence that Buddhism came West before the third century A. D. Clement of Alexandria speaks of some who follow Boutha. He derived his information probably from his teacher, Pantamus j and the latter gained his information from Megasthenes, who in India wrote his Indica about 300 B.C. Between Clement and Megasthenes there is no reliable evidence that Buddhism exerted any influence westward.

5. But what abont Christian influence eastward? Cosmas Indicopleutes found Christians in Ceylon in the sixth century. There are still probably 250,000 Christians on the coast of Malabar. Near Madras is an ancient cross with Pahiavi inscription. It belongs probably to not later than the seventh century. There are other inscriptions. The most reasonable explanation of these inscriptions is the early connection between the Indian Christians and Edessa. One of those Pahlavi inscriptions reads: " Who believes in the Messiah, and God above, and in the Holy Ghost, is redeemed through the grace of Him who bore the cross." Pantamns found a Hebrew Gospel of Matthew in India in the second century. A bishop, " Metropolitan of Persia and the Great Indi," was at the council of Nicrea in 325 A.D.

6. Whether or not at first it was the genius of Buddhism to borrow, it is certainly its genius now in Japan. Externally it is becoming a parasite of Christianity. Besides adopting other Christian methods of propagation, it is plagiarizing Christian names. For instance, instead of using the word temple as the designation for their religious houses, they say church now. On the road from Tokyo to Yokohama was a temple to which was attached a school for children. Recently the temple and school were burned. The man who kept the school made an ingenious appeal to foreigners here for help for the poor school which was attached to the church. No doubt many subscribed, thinking that the church was a Christian house of worship. The story of the god Krishna is manifestly taken from Christianity.

7. It is said that asceticism came from Buddhism, and through the Essenes ; that John the Baptist was a half Buddhist j that he was a Gnostic, which has the same meaning as Buddhist. * " Bunsen's Angel-Messiah. Asceticism was practised in the time of Job, 1500 years before Buddha j and the doctrines of the Essenes connect them more with Greece and Persia than with India. The real marks of Buddhism, the Karma, are not found in the Essenic doctrine.

S. What are the false parallels resorted to to establish claims of Bud- dhistic priority ~ That Buddha was born of a virgin j that there is a close con- nection between Maya, the name of his mother, and Mary j that Buddha's birth was attended by miracles j that he taught the doctrine of " vicarious suffering j" that Buddha was born on December 25th; that prophecies were made of the coming Messiah. These and many other claims are made for which no reliable proof can bc produced, as that he was miraculously conceived, presented in the temple, tempted by Mitra.

9. From the earliest Buddhist writings we learn a simple story of his life. He was the son of Suddhodana, a king residing at Kapilabatthu. He married, but at twenty-nine years of age left his home and became an ascetic, with two Brahmans as his teachers. Dissatisfied here, he went to Uruvela, near Patna, where he spent seven years in discipline and study. It is said that he det.ermined to be a " follower of the Buddhas [sages] of bygone ages." In this we find nothing very remarkable.

But when we turn to what are true parallels, we find something remarkable. The Hindu temple is on the same plan as the Jewish temple-two rooms, an inner and outer one j priests, altars, sacrifices, propitiations, oblations, sacred feasts, sacrificial fire, etc. Whence came all these things 1 Mr. Collins claims that they came from the divine revelation of God made to man long before the dispersion. They are vestiges of the true and primitive revelation to man, carried both into the East and vVest. The Western worship was reformed by Moses.

Again, when we look into the two moral codes we find much similarity, which confirms a primitive revelation. The ten prel!epts of Buddhism are remarkable. The reader can note for himself their similarity to the Ten Commandments. The last six are uttered against the prevailing sins of * Buddha's day. It is discouraging to reflect that these rules have been so utterly abandoned by Buddhists in Japan to-day. Buddhism teaches that freedom from suffering comes by righteousness.

This presupposes a deliverer j and this idea must have come from some primitive revelation. But in emphasizing the precept the revelator has been forgotten. This revelator was surely the one true God. While Buddhism is now atheistic, and the doctrine of the Nirvana annihilation, in the be- • 1. The taking of life. 2. Stealing. 3. Adnltery and sexual interconrse. 4. Lying. 5. The nse of intoxicating drinks. 6. The eating of food after midday. 7. The attendance npon dancing, singing, music, and masks. B. The adorning of the hody with flowers, and the use of perfnmes and ungnents. 9. The nse of high or honorable seats or couches.

10. The receiving of gold or silver. ginning this was not so. A dialogue in a passage of the earliest writings represents the present doctrine of annihilation as unorthodox. Sariputta says: "Thus then, friend Yamah, even here in this world the Perfect One is not to be apprehended by thee in truth. Hast thou, therefore, a right to speak, saying, ' I understand the doctrine taught by the Exalted One to he this: that a monk who is free from sin, when his body dissolves is subject to annihilation; that he passes away; that he does not exist beyond death'~" Yamaka replies: "Such, indeed, was hitherto, friend Sariputta, the heretical view which I ignorantly entertained. But now, when I hear the venerable Sariputta expound the doctrine, the heretical view has lost its hold of me, alJd I have learned the doctrine. "

'Vhen the past course of all religions shall have been traced, the investigator will probably arrive at the primitive av.d divine revelation recorded in the Book of God.

BUDDHISM AND ROMANISM.

BY REV. GEORGE L. MASON.

The author of the chart, the" Twin Monuments," which appeared in the June issue, did not seek its publication in this REVIEW, and d028 not know how a copy of it came into the hands of Dr. Sherwood ; but he now begs to add a word of explanation.

A cartoon teaches only in broad outline. It deals with gpneral truths rat.her than details. It depicts a system or a tendency rather than individuals. The picture in question judges no man, but describes systems. That it is fairly accurate and just the following considerations may show.

By Buddhism is meant not the teaching of Gautama or the early Buddhists, but the developed form of doctrine and worship as it now exists practically in eastern Asia, and especially as seen in Thibet, at least since the fourteenth century. Its resemblance to the papal system has been noted by Nevius, Gilmour, Du Boge, and other Protestant missionary authors; and with such candor by the Roman Catholic traveller, Abbe Hue, that his book was placed on the" Index" of writings to be expurgated, as is stated by Max Muller in his "Chips." Professor Monier Williams, who has finely drawn the contrasts between Buddhism and Christianity, says, "Koeppen, Rhys Davids, and other writers have well shown thnt the Buddhism of Thibet, with its pope-like grand Lilmas, its cardinals and abbots, monks and mendicant friars, nuns and novices, canonized saints and angelic hosts, temples and costly shrines, monasteries and mummeries, images and pictures, altars and relics, robes and mitres, rosaries and consecrated water, litanies and chants, processions and pilgrimages, confessions and penances, bell-ringing and incense, is, in everything except doctrine, almost a counterpart of the Romish system." The most of thes() features exist in China proper, as well as in Thibet i and to the list might be added self-torture, vigils, compulsory fasts, charms to prevent accident, wayside shrines, dependence on State endowment, alleged miracles, indulgences, prayers to the dead, and worship in a dead language.

Further, is there not some resemblance in doctrine also, at least in its practical working 1 1. Theology. By this is meant here the teaching as to the objects of worship. In books the Roman Catholic Chinese are taught the truth concerning the Creator; but this teaching is invariably joined with many commands to worship men, so that man practically holds the place of God, as in Buddhism. Perhaps the most popular god in China is Kwan-yin, a female form of Buddha, often represented as a fair woman holding a child. Certainly the most devout worship of the native Catholics is given to Mary. That this is idolatrous has been clearly shown by Dr. Blodget in the Chinese Recorder. The cult of Joseph, "patron saint of China," is growing. The natives are taught to bow to the images and pray to the spirits of deceased Jesuit missionaries. Even the living 1ishops assume the title " A god (or spirit) by imperial decree."

It is not true that God alone is worshipped and all the rest only reverenced ; for the distinction between latreia, hyperdoulia, and doulia, which Catholics like to insist on, is very rarely made in their Chinese books, one word being commonly used for all degrees of worship.

2. 'Phe .Doctrine of Redemption. Sin against God, requiring His forgiveness, of course is not known to Buddhism. But the necllssary misery of life may be more or less, according to one's evil or good deeds. Here comes in the value of merit, stored up on one's own account or transferred to another's credit on payment of money. The rich often hire women to recite rosaries and monks to say masses, the merit of which accrues to those who pay the money, or to the deceased whom they designate. This is the precise principle of papal masses for the dead.

In theory both religions emphasize asceticism, especially celibacy, as the path of highest virtue. Destroy desire, reduce life to its lowest terms. In practice the "religious" of each are very comfortable livers. The monks may even be drunkards, or opium smokers, or dissolute, and still retain good standing. Immorality does not involve excommunication, but only removal to some other field.

3. Eschatology. The Buddhist heaven is a later addition to the popular belief. But the interest of the people centres far more in the dreadful physical pains of hell, which are represented by images in the temples; and most of all in the state of the departed souls who are awaiting re-birth in the endless round of transmigration. Chinese Buddhist monks get immense sums for masses for the relief of these souls, just as the Catholic priests everywhere become very rich by the pretended release of souls from purgatory. Indulgences reduce the pains of the good Catholic, according to the amount of money paid. And millions of Buddhists toil up to famous moun. tain shrines and buy of the monks stamped cellificates wl,ich have a cash value of thousands of dollars when presented at the bank-in purgatory.

4. Doctrine of the Clturclt. No higher authority can be named than T. W. Rhys Davids, who says, in the Encyclopcedia Britannica: "In Thibet especially the development in doctrine was followed by a development in ecclesiastical government which runs so remarkably parallel with the development of the Romish hierarchy as to awaken an interest which could scarcely otherwise be found in the senseless and fatal corruptions which have oVE'rwhelmed the ancient Bnddhist beliefs." In China the ecclesiastical resE'mblance is l~ss than in Thibet. The Buddhist monks, with vows of celibacy and poverty, though lIot of obedience, are more like the begging friars than like the regular Catholic pliests. Yet in each case superhuman sanctity and merit nre supposed to reside in the person, robes, and office, and espeCially in the ceremonies performed; and such belief is enforced by pious frauds and lying wonders. In both Romanism and Buddhism, not the whole company of believers, but the clergy alone are the Church, holding all property and privileges, and so recognized by civil law.

5. The Doctrine of Public Worship. The ritual resemblances have been sufficiently indicated in the sentence quoted above from Sir Monier Williams.

6. Ethical Teaching. Here there is both likeness and contrast. Both systems condemn murder, stealing, lying, adultery, covetousness; but Buddhism is without any authorized system of casuistry by which, when desired, these offences may be regarded as very light and venial faults or eveu as virtues. That this is true of Romanism, and that a lax Jesuit morality has during the present century repeatedly received the highest official approval of the Catholic Church, no one will dispute who has studied in the impartial Encyclopcedia B1·itannica the articles" Probabilism" and "Liguori." One example is enough to quote here-the four sentences which any priest may suggest to an unfaithful wife, with any or all of which she may deceive her husband, without harming her own conscience. Buddhist ethics are defective; but Roman Catholic ethics, a strange mixture of truth and error, can hardly be described in terms too severe.

With these resemblances in doctrine, do papal and pagan systems tend to produce the same practical results 1 Again let Rhys Davids answer, "That the resemblance is not in externals only is shown by the present state of Thibet-the oppression of all thought, the idleness and corruption of the monks, the despotism of the government, and the poverty and beggary of the people." Buddhism in temperate Mongolia or torrid Siam, and Romanism in Canada or Mexico, in Ireland or Ecuador, are fairly judged by their fruits. Widely varying environments of race and climate do not prevent a marked sameness in moral re.'Ults. It would have been quite as pertinent to picture an Italian wedged under the column of Romanism as an Irishman.

EDUCATION AND EVANGELISM

I might give from various parts of China ana .Tapan such testimony as this in a letter from an experienced English missionary, " It is well known that the Roman Catholic people are not a whit better than outsiders. Some smoke opium, many gamble; they are not a bit better in morals than the heathen. Their Sabbath consists of mass soon after daybreak, after which they work as on other days. The priests arc ever ready to assist in lawsuits; in this and in financial aid lies the secret of what success they have."

The apparent ruling motive with the leaders of each system is love of gain. "No money, no worship" is as true in Buddhism as " no money, no sacraments" is in Romanism. The revenue of great estates does not satisfy. By systematic begging, by sale of masses, and by taxation or through political influence vast sums arc got from the public, and no account is given of how they arc spent.

In conclusion, no friend of missions can afford to neglect the study of this chapter in comparative religion. One of the best-known American missionaries, with a very successful experience of thirty years in China, said to me last year. in substance, "During the next fifty years our struggle will be not so much with Asiatic idolatry as with Romanism. "

EDUCATION AND EVANGELISM.

THE FREE CHURCH MISSIONS IN INDIA.

BY REV. CHARLES C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.

It is known how predominently Scottish Presbyterianism in India, especially as represented by the Free Church of Scotland, has devoted itself to education, particularly to the higher education. It would be impossible that Presbyterianism could neglect this and, above all, that Scottish Preshyterianism could. That remarkable intellectual strength of the North British race, which before the Reformation led the French nobility to en· deavor always to secure Scottish tutors for their sons if they could, makes it impossihle that it should ever content itself with missions that are not deeply interwoven with knowledge of the world as it is-in other words, with the higher education. This was first brought more distinctly to our knowledge in this country when Dr. Duff made his great "iisit to us in 1853. Those of us who have had the privilege of being helped onward all our lives in our interest for missions by his wonderful eloquence can never have had any douht that the deepest and most central interest for the evangelization of India glowed ill the mind of the man who, with a far-sighted regard to the future, was content for awhile to forego the repute of large immediate fluccesses in order that in Christian education he might lay" the foundations of many generations. "

To this policy of a firm and large prosecution of the higher education, the Free Church of Scotland declares itsclf immovably resolved to adhere, as providentially determined for it from the beginning, as hallowed by the memories of Duff and his a!lsociates, as crowned with many noble results, and as peculiarly agreeable to the Scottish genius. And of the many eminent gentlemen, clergymen and laymen, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Congregationalists and others, who have been consulted whether by the Established or by the Free Church, the great majority, as already shown in the REVIEW, heartily concur with the judgment of the Scottish churches themselves.

Nevertheless, the question has lately been moved in the Free Church at home, whether this prol'identially designated work of the higher education may not have been pursued with a disproportionate zeal, and whether the evangelistic side of missions, towards which the educational work ought always to tend, and from which it ought to be reinforced, may not have been unduly depressed. Accordingly, the Free Church of Scotland has sent out to India the Rev. Professor Lindsay, D.D., and the Rev. J. Fairley Daly, B.D., as a deputation to examine thoroughly every branch of the missions of the Chnrch in India, and to report accordingly. We wish to note the general results of their investigation.

The deputies begin with a cordial testimony to the work. "They have seen mission work growing and spreading out in every direction, a native church taking visible extent and increasing, devoting itself in some cases to hearty evangelistic work, and they have rejoiced to observe the beginnings of self-support. E"erywhere they have seen their missionaries enjoying the respect and confidence of the people among whom they are laboring, and their unselfish and devoted work appreciated by the most eminent and thoughtful members of the European and native official class." They say also: "Our mission work has vastly iucreased within the last forty years, and on one side has necessarily come in contact with the educational policy of the Indian Government. Our missionaries in the old days were accustomed to combine the evangelistic and the educational sides of our mission in a manner not possible now, owing to the pressure of the Government University and upper school systems, which has compelled them to concentrate their attention on the educational side, and to give an amount of time and strength to prepare their students for examinations which was not required in the earlier days. In former times one man could attend equally well to both sides of the work, but this is impossible now. We need one set of men to take the educational, and another to take the evangelistic side. " The Church years ago perceived this, and "during Colonel Young's Convenership much was done to increase the evangelistic side of the mission, and two resolutions of Committee attest the fact that the committee have had it in mind to cnrl, the educational Ride until the evangelistic bas been bronght into line with it." The deputation declares its sugge~­ tions to be mainly in the line of this already determined policy of the Church. The deputation says: "We have been greatly impressed with the vast- ness of the missionary enterprise of our church in India, with the high po- sition almost universally accorded to our missionaries among their brethren of other missions, and with their devotion to the work given them to do by the Church." The Free Church, indeed, has in India not one miflsion, but four mission~, scattered over an area of 543,000 square miles~ and among a population of 12;,000,000. In Bengal, its centre, Calcutta, has a population of 872,000, commanding a population of 70,000,000, and a region of 193,000 square miles, almost as large as France. The South India Mission is centred in Madras, with 406,000 inhabitants, commanding a district of 141,000 square miles, with a population of 31,000,000. In the west the mission is centered in the twin capitals of Bombay and Poona, having a population respectively of 774,000 and 129,000, and commanding a region of 124,000 square miles, more than all Great Britain and Ireland, and a population of 16,500,000.' The Central India Mission, of Nagpur, and two outlying missions in Hyderabad and the Derar, make out the whole.

But this "astness of operation, while stimulating the imagination and increasing interest at home, has made it impossible to combine the work of the four: missions. There has been no esprit de corps. Help' given to one has done nothing for the others. They are in exact contrast to the concentrated and wonderfully successful work of the American Presby"' terian Mission of Lodiana, to say nothing of the Methodist Episcopal Mission around Bareilly, or the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Mission on the Khasi hills. The early Scottish missionaries, being bitterly opposed by· the authorities, were glad to find lodgments where they could. Later missionaries, since the tide of feeling has turned, have been at leisure to choose their strategic points in view of effectiveness and concentration. The deputies, however, after fuJI reflection, by no means advise withdrawal from any of the present centres. But they earnestly advise that new centres bo not opened, but men and money be given for the consolidation and development of the work at the centres already occupied.

The deputation regards the Free Church work as wisely cootred, like that of most of the missions, in great cities, but it finds less laudable that, beyond all others, it has been concentrated on them. Village and district work has not been neglected, but it has been too much subordinated, and wherever retrenchment was necessary it has usually been the country work that has suffered. The deputation expresses admiration of the self-denial which has led to the preference of the much harder work among" the large restless masses" of the great cities, but expresses a decided doubt whether this has always been guided by wisdom. At Bhandara, in Santalia, and at Chingleput (near Madras) the combination of country and city work has given a peculiar heartiness to the missions, which earnestly commends it to the forces at all the great city centres.

India, the deputation remark, is a mere geographical expression, co"- ering a perfect chaos of races, languages, creeds, social conditions, and degrees of civilization. No generalizations, therefore, can be ventured on without the most careful delimitation of meaning and application. And these varieties may be again included, though very inexactly, in three or four great categories. vVe must first set aside 50,000,000 Mohammedans, and six or seven millions of nondescript sects. Caste Hinduism, numbering perhaps 125,000,000, rests on a ba!;is of depressed castes, estimated at from forty to sixty millions. These again are surrounded by a ring of aboriginal tribes, which have no relation whatever to Hinduism. Of these, such as the Ghonds, the Santals, the Khasis, there are probably more than twenty millions. The Free Church l1as mainly worked within caste Hinduism. Those missions which have secured large numbers of converts have mainly labored among the depressed castes and the aboriginal tribes. These more numerous converts, a matter of great rejoicing in themselves, have as yet had little influence on Hindu society at large. Caste Hinduism has yielded few converts, but these few commonly men of great influence.

The main difference between high caste and deprflssed caste, or out-caste Hinduism is not so much religious as social. Hinduism, though having a curious pantheism as a common basis, has developed into the most widely divergent and, indeed, largely antagonistic variety of creeds. But the true castes put the caste above the family. The depressed castes put the family above the caste. Therefore, let a high-caste man be converted, and he is simply thrown out, and the wall closes up smooth behind him. But if an out-caste is brought in, he often brings in his family, and from that conversions not infrequently go on extending far out into the whole kindred community. Dr. Sheshadri's success in the Deccan, remark the deputies, is largely owing to this use which he knows how to make of the family as an indirect agency for propagating the Gospel. But within true Hinduism also, the deputies observe, family feeling (which in India is always intrinsically strong) 80emB to be asserting itself with growing strength against caste influences, and seems likely to become, as in thc lower strata, an important missionary agency.

As to the great qnestion of education versus direct evangelism, the deputies acknowledge that this problem, like all Indian problems, is exceedingly intricate. But they lay their general impressions before the Foreign Missions Committee.

Education, remarks the deputation, as a missionary agency may be regarded as a mcans chiefly of edification or chiefly of conversion-that is, it may chiefly be directed upon the successive generations of a Chris· tianized community, or upon the children of parents who are still heathen. The Scottish work has mainly occupied itself with the latter, and has too much neglected the former. It has done better by tIle daughters of Christians than by their sons. " It is certain tllat our Church, with all its educational work, does not use education as a means of upbuilding and consolidating our native Christian community in a way that many other missions do, an<l has undoubtedly mffered in eonsequel'ce." " To begin with, we must lay it down as a principle that the one ab- sorhing aim in all real mission work is to bring onr fellow-men to know Jesus Christ to be their Saviour, and to profess their faith in Him in bap- tism. . . . Therefore, in discussing the mission value of educational mis- sions, we must put aside all arguments drawn from the spread of humanitarian and civilizing idea~. These are welcome accompaniments, but, after all, the question is, Is all this educational work calculated to draw men to faith in .Tesus as their Saviour, and to a profession of that faith in baptism r'

As to this, the deputation remarks, the higher education must be given an important place among missionary agencies, if caste Hinduism is to be made an object of missionary effort. It is too much to say that only through this can high-caste or true-caste Hinduism (the Hinduism of Brahmans, Vaisyas, and Sudras) be wrought ul:>0n. But that great missionary authority, Bishop Caldwell, admits that, while few converts have come from caste Hinduism, these few have come from educational missions. And in the higher schools of the Free Church the overwhelming majority of the students (at Madras 83 per cent) are from high-caste Hinduism, although of late, especially in Bombay, there is an increasing proportion of Mohammedans.

Preparation is important in all missions, but supremely important among easte Hindus. The one unpardonable sin in Hinduism is that a man should act for himself. The caste is everything, the individual nothing, except within the caste. But for this very reason, when the leavening forces of Christian missions, one of the most potent of which is the higher education, have reached a certain point of advancement, the very disposition of castes to go or stay as a whole, is likely, as it now works against conversions, at some point in the future to work the other way. And although the deputies do nut say so, we suppose that what would be true of a whole caste might be sooner true of any large local section of a caste. Indeed, we judge that many, even of the true castes, are locally circumscribed.

Caste Hinduism is, in fact, seriously alarmed. The disintegrating infiuences of general British infiuence are great. But these are, above all, concentrated and brought to a determinate issue by missionary agencies, above all by Christian colleges, high schools, and zenana missions. That caste Hinduism feels itself gradually being undermined is generally allowed. It is comparatively indifferent as t.o whether the depressed castes and the aboriginal tribes are Christianized or not. But the manner in which it is bracing itself up now againRt Christian effort, founding Hindu high schoolR, denouncing zenana missions, forming Hindu tract societies of a singular virulence, and (like Julian befofll it) endeavoring to meet the Church at this point and that by heathen counterparts of herself, shows the seriousness of its alarm. This is not groundless, for it is common enough for caste Hindus to be found canvassing the possibilities of a general move- !TIent from Hinduism over to Christianity. The converts made by the high schools, though few, are precious. In themselves they are no more precious than other Rouls.. But they have far-reaching influence. "One of our educational converts," say the dep- uties, "has converted twelve hundred Mang j another has organized a splendid system of girls' schools at Mhdras, and has been able, by quiet, continuous work, to provide Christian schoolmistresses for every class; a third is a Jeading pleader in Calcutta, and the foremost Christian orator in Bengal-perhaps in India."

Nevertheless, direct conversions are no longer, as in the days of Dr. Duff, a frequent result of the higher education. Why!

(l) Formerly the only alternatives were gross Hinduism, with all its crudities and abominations, or Christianity. Rut there are now all manner of half-way houses, such as Brahmo Somaj. Prarthana Somaj, Arya Somaj, attempts to graft Christian morals on a Hindu stem. The same commixture of Christianity with all forms of heathenism and heathen philosophy, which in thc Roman Empire so long made head against the simple acceptance of the Gospel, is witnessed now in India. Hinduism is endeavoring, by all manner of concessions and accommodations and self-transmutations, to stave off the hour of the inevitable acknowledgment, "Thou hast conquered, 0 Galilean 1" And, as Principal Miller suggests, it may be with the Hindus, as to Hinduism, "a necessary part of the divine training that they shonld discover its futilities for themselves." Meanwhile, conversions from caste Hinduism are largely at a stay.

(2) The development of the government system of education makes necessary such a development in educational missions as, indeed, leaH'S unimpaired the attention to Bible study which, unless it be in Calcutta, is pursued thoroughly, and with genuine interest, by the non-Christian pupils, but largely takes away fro:o the educational missionaries their old times of leisure for quiet personal talks with the students.

(3) If the government standard is not to be maintained in the missionary schools, the government subventions would collapse in proportion to the resulting shrinkage in the number of pupils-a reduction of means that cannot be confronted without ample deliberation as to all that it involves.

" If our educational agency is to produce its full results it must be supplemented by an evangelistic agency working side by side, and in visible connection with it. Weare afraid that we must confess that our Church has not thoroughly faced this evangelistic work, and it must be prepared to face it and go through with it before the full fruits of her educational work can be gathered in." The deputies insist that every college centre ought to be also an evangelistic centre, and that although there should be an evangelistic missionary, who should act as a superintendent, having subordinate to him a whole force of vernacular workers, of various degrees of cultivation, yet neither side of the work can dispense with the presence in the evangelistic branch of it, in greater or less measure, of the educational missionaries. While fully maintaining the permanent importance of the high school., and colleges of the Church, the deputies declare: " We have no hesitation in saying that our Church is spending an amount upon the higher education which is out of all proportion to its present resources." In Calcutta they think that the college of the Established Church of Scotland ought to suffice for both, and that the cost of four of the high schools ought to be trans- ferred to the evangelistic side. How many high schools there are we are not quite sure, as the accounts of the four missions are given with tru~ British exhaustivtlness and confusedness, but we believe we have hunted out ten. This would be a reduction, indeed, in the second grade of in- ~truction. Poona has ceased to be an educational mission, and they recommend that it be kept up as an evangelistic mission, especially as its excellent climate makes it a good foothold from which to resume the long-abandoned work on the Konkan, or table-land abutting on the eastern wall of the "Vestern Ghauts.

The deputation is also dccidedly of opinion that the Church has far too many non-Christian teachers in her schools. The public service i~ much more remunerative-gives assured position, good social prestige, and a retiring pension. Bnt the deputies remark that those missions which arfl careful to provide boarding-schools for Christian boys as well as girls, are much less embarrassed to find Christian teachers.

They lament also that the educational missionaries, absorbed as they are in their English teaching, have no time to master the vernaculars, and therefore are at arm's length from all except the educated natives of European culture. Instead of gidng, like the American Board, two years to learn a native language, the Free Church seems to give no time at all. And Indian languages, say the missionaries, are not to be mastered by the way.

The deputies have also had occasion to consider the question of cheap miSSIOns. They designate as the type of such the China Inland Mission, where remuneration is small, but the European are twice as numerous as the native workers. On the other hand, in the Church of Scotland Mission at Darjeeling or Kalimpong, the missionary is paid a comparatively high salary, but is at the head of twenty or thirty evangelists. He thus " co,'ers a larger extent of ground, does more thorough work, and gets into closer connection with the people than a number of Europeans, who have no staff of native evangelists, can possibly do. He and his native evangelists cost the Church at home a great deal less money and do a great deal better work than a number of Europeans paid at a much lower rate could do." They therefore do not advise a reduction of salaries, nor a depression of the powerful evangelizing influence of the Christian family by tho employment of many unmarried men. At the same time, they admonish Scottish Christians of means, that in India there is a glorious opportunity for them to serve Christ at their own charges. They wish to know why women should volunteer in this way and men not.

They think, now that the government is doing so much for the WEldica,l, relief of the people that medical missions ought only to be maintained where they are distinctly needed, in the remoter districts, and that they should be made distinctly and effectively evangelistic, or given up as not within the range of the Church's work:.

The Madras Mission is much the most effective of the four educational missions of the Free Church, and its Christian college is pre-eminent in India, and at the same time the evangelistic work is much the best developed there. Yet there also the Scotchmen know but little of the Tamil.

The Santalia Mission is entirely different, being among an aboriginal tribe, and not differing particularly from other evangelistic missions of this kind.

This report has been submitted to tho judgment of the missionaries themselves, who have oriticised it with great pungenoy. They differ from it, however, rather in relative emphasis than in substance. They think that the deputies have kept the opponents of the educational work too much in view, and have been needlessly, and somewhat humiliatingly, deprecatory in their tone over against them. They think that they have made it appear too much as if the fornI of the Scottish work was determined by early obstacles to other forms of work, whereas it was laid out from the beginning with full consciousness of a providential call, and has been (however restricted here and there by obstacles) steadily followed up ever since in the same consciousness, having been largely normative for other missions. They think, moreover, that government pressure has much less to do with the rise of the educational standard than the healthy pressure of a growing public demand.

The missionaries themselves dosire, and have long urged, a large extension of evangelistio work. But they hold it agreeable to the providential vocation of the Free Church that this should be mainly not.in regions where caste Hinduism is weak, but in those where it is strong, and where, oonsequently, the number of conversions, even under the most faithful and immediate evangelistio effort, is likely for a long time to come to be comparatively small. In other words, they hold that while some missions have been well guided to work along the lines of least resistance, the Soottish missions have been speoifically called to work along lines of greater resistance. And undoubtedly the Soottish character shows at its best in continuous stress of effort against formidable difficulties.

The Rev. A. Andrew, of the valuable evangelistic station Chingleput, Madras Presidency, which the deputies have peouliarly commended, bears witness to the report as of exceedingly great value, but decidedly disagrees with it in one point-namely, in its apparent assnmption that the higher education only can reach oaste Hinduism. He points out that Bishop Caldwell does not say that the few caste converts have been the fruit of the higher schoo);., hut have been the fruit of mission schools. The higher education can reach bnt a fraction of the higher oaste~, and primary educa- "tion is an indispensable adjunct of evangelization among all the castes /lnr!

A PLEA FOR MEDICAL MISSIONS

ttibes. "In our Chingleput Mission we preach to thousands of Brahmans and other high castes as regularly and faithfully as to the low castes, and await the outpouring of God's Spirit on our labors. The testimony we give to the power of Christian truth in our rural mission is just as valuable as that given in mission colleges. The American Arcot Mission and other rural missions conduct the work, so far as I know, on the same lines." Mr. Andrew, therefore, thinks that the indefinitely large development of evangelistic work in the country districts (a work which has been starved in the past) is the next forward step lying before the Free Church of Scotland.

The Santal missionaries make one mihl criticism-namely, that the conversion of the aLorigines and of the out-castes is by no means so ineffective on caste Hinduism as the deputies seem to think. And, indeed, it is hard to see how the proudest castes could very long resist the influence of fifty or sixty millions of the humbler classes, if these were regenerated and elevated by Christianity. Hindu religion and Hindu language have both been influenced through and through by the aborigines when in a lower grade, and why not when they begin to ascend ~ But, after all abatements of criticism, it is evident that the general judgment, in India and in Scotland, is expressed by A. H. L. Fraser, Esq., of the Bengal Civil Servicc, who declares his" respect and admiration for the great pains, thc unwearying labor, the candid investigation that must have combined to produce, after so short a pcriod, so elear and generally accurate a view of the subject-matter of that report."

The Foreign Missions Committee of the Free Church of Scotland, having maturely weighed both the report and the criticisms passed upon it, has taken action substantially in agreement with its recommendations, and, in particular, has decided" still to limit to the present amount the resources spent on the educational institutions, and to devote to the evangelistic side whatever increase lllay be received and any saving that lDay be e:ffected with educational work, without detriment to its efficiency."

In other words, the Future is still to be kept steadily in view, but the Present ig no longer to be so much overlooked as in the past.

A PLEA FOR MEDICAL MISSIONS.

BY CLARENCE THWING, M.D.

The work of missionary physicians in foreign lands has been growing very rapidly of late. Introduced about fifty years ago as an adjunct to the preaching of the Gospel, it has by steady strides come to be in Ulany places the most successful pioneer work of missiuns. At the present time there are about three hundred medical missionaries, while twenty-eight years ago there were less than a score, and ten years later not more than forty * in all lands. Nearly every well-equipped mission now has one or more physicians constantly engaged in medical work; and not a few ordained clergymen have also a medical education and give a part of their time to attending the sick and digpensing medicines, particularly in their travels from one station to another.

The reasons for the rapid development of this branch of missionary enterprise and its present recognition as a prime factor in mission work are few but forcible. Iu accounting for thc success already attained by medical missions, we shall necessarily state the reasons for a still greater enlargement of the work and for the more hearty support of this very important department of onr Christian propaganda.

First, we IIave in the Scripture'S a divine warrant for medical as well as spiritual work in evangelistic operations. This is found in the example of both our Lord and His disciples. Jesus, the" Great Physician," cared for the body as well as the soul. Many instances are recorded of His healing the sick and arresting disease. His ministry'was spent in " preaching the Gm;pel and healing all manner of sickness" (Matt. 4 : 23). Moreover, He commissioned Hi,; twelve disciples and" other serenty also" both to "preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick" (Luke 9 : 1, 2, e ; 10 : 1, 8, 9). Thus the three orders of the first Christian ministry were aU engaged in a medical mission. In the third order, corresponding somewhat to our lay evangelists, the medical work was given the precedence, although joined with preaching (Luke 10 : 9), just as in the labors of the missionary physicians of to-day.

If anything further than the example of our Saviour were needed to show the divine sanction of healing as well as preaching by missionaries, we have, with the final command of Christ-" Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature"-the prophecy and promise of witnessing signs, among which is this: "They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover" (Mark 16 : 15-18).

Since, then, the wisdom and providence of God thougilt it well, for the glory of His name and the spread of His kingdom, that the preaching of spiritual truth should be accompanied by a ministry of physical benefits and the relief of bodily needli, should we not also unite these ministrations ~ The history of missions shows that where such union of effort exists we have far greater snceess than any achieved by preaching alone.

Second, the instincts of humanity and Christian fraternity move us to send the benefits of medical science with those of the Christian religion to our brethren in foreign lands. The science of medicine has made such advances in Western nations during the last century that we do not realize that in many of the most thickly populated Eastern countries there is almost no medical science, and those who profess to practise the art of healing are ignorant of the very principles of medicine, and are often mountebanks * Vide" Dr. Christlieb ell :MedIcal Missions~' in MISSIO~ARY REVIEW, August, 188l. and conjurers. The methods of treating injuries and disease are often barbarous in the extreme; and when sickness is not allowed to take its course by neglect, the suffering is sadly aggravated by careless or improper attentions, if not by positive cruelty. The reports frequently sent to us by those in mission fields concerning the destitution, ignorance, and suffering of thousands who are without proper medical treatment and often with no treatment at ali, should touch our hearts and lead to greater generosity (even to the point of sacrifice, which is seldom reached) in the matter of sending the help and helpers, the medicines and men that we can so easily spare in our own enlightened larrd.

It is well, in tbis connection, to recall the story of the" Good Samaritan," and our Lord's commendation of his neighborly and humane action in giving medical aid to the stranger of a different country and religious belief, whom he found in distress. The precept following this parable is one we should apply to ourselves: "Go, and do thou likewise" (Lukc 10 : 37). The Scriptures also teach us that ministry of whatever kind to our needy fellows is regarded in God's sight as service rendered directly to Him: "Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me" (Matt. 25 : 40). But if we had not this promised recognition of our Lord, the promptings of humanity and natural sympathy ought to impel u~ to offer to the sick and suffering, wherever found, a balm and cordial for the body as well as the soul.

The unselfishness and true friendliness shown in giving such succor and relief appeal most forcibly to the hearts of many whom we could not otherwise reach. They respond to our humanity when not to our piety. By exhibiting in a practical, helpful way our brotherly feeling for them, we secure an answering affection and respect which efforts at proselyting alone would never meet. Convinced of the generous regard of brother men, they are prepared to know and love the" friend that sticketh closer than a brother. "

Third, as an evidence of Christianity and an example of Christian beneficence, medical missions deserve a foremost place in our scheme of evangelization, and should be undertaken in all lands where suffering or diseased bodies are found with unsaved or misguided souls. Our religion should be shown to be a practical one-not simply a matter of faith, but also of good works. VV-e need to teach not only the doctrines of truth, but also the virtues of holiness. It must be explained that belief in a divine Saviour and acceptance of personal salvation are not all of Christianity ; that our religion is not for individual benefit alone; but that" faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone," and that" by works is faith made perfect" (James 2 : 17, 22). This is a lesson we have not well learned ourselves, and we cannot properly 'teach it unless our example is in harmony with our precept. There is no better way of teaching to the heathen the Christian charity that "seeketh not her own" than by practising it, and we cannot bettcr instruct them in Christian b~neficence than by a living exhibition of it. No morc convincing proof of the divine origin and truth of our rehgion can be given to unbelievers than the benevolent instituticn·; which it has established everywhere. The actual demonstration of whllt Christianity seeks to do and does for the temporal and material welfare of mankind is a potent argument in favor of its introduction. What benefit will be more readily sought than relief from bodily pain? AnJ what more welcome than freedom from exhausting disease ~ A tree that will bear such fruit will find grateful soil for its transplanting.

Experience has proved the efficacy of medical work in the spread of missions. It has placed thousands of people who were (or might otherwise have been) enemies of the missionaries under obligations to them which are long remembered, and whieh are often the motives for friendly assistance and the saving of life and property in times of peril. Many instances might be given to illustrate the friendly feelings awakened and antagonisms conquered by the quiet, generous, self-sacrificing labors of medical missionaries, but ~pace will not permit them to be quoted here.

Fourth, as the direct pioneer of the Gospel aud one of the most efficient aids to the Christian preacher, the medical missionary deserves our earnest sympathy and support. The efforts for bodily relief are undertaken as preparatory for and subsidiary to the higher work of saving the soul. A service to the physical man having been rendered, the spiritual wants are described and the source of divine help pointed out. The specific for spiritual maladies is prescribed with the remedies for physical ills. Patients are taught that their eternal interests are greater than the temporal, and they are directed to the" Great Physician," who will cleanse them from the leprosy of sin, open their eyes to the knowledge of the truth, save them from the pains of future punishment, and redeem their souls from eternal death. While failure may attend the most intelligent and faithful efforts of the human helper, and bodily ailments may be incurable by medical science, yet the assurance is given that, " He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him" (Reb. 7 : 25), and "The Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither Ris ear heavy, that it cannot hear" (Isa. 59 : 1). Many thousands every year CQme to the mission hospitals and dispensaries, and many ~ore are treated by the medical missionary in his country tours, who would not in any other way be brought in contact with Christian teachers, and to all alike are presented the story of the cross and message of salvation. The time and labors given for physical relief are well spent, though they be in some cases futile in recovering bodily health, provided they are the means of bringing darkened minds into the light of truth and of securing the gift of eternal life to souls which would otherwise be lost.

Admitting the value and duty of medical missions, there remains the question, Row may the cause be advanced and its usefulness multiplied 1 First-to answer briefly-by larger financial support for the work already undertaken and in operation. Second, by increasing the circulation of missionary intelligence, and awakening further interest in the subject. Third, by more frequent and earnest prayer, both individual and united. Fourth, by educating Christian young men and women to recognize the claims of the work upon them and the opportunity and privilege of engaging in it. Fifth, by giving a thorough training, both medical and spiritual, theoretical and practical, to those who offer themselves for service and those who intend to do so but arc yet employed in preparatory study. * There are not wanting many encouragements in the prosecution of medical missions, and the outlook is a hopeful one ; but there is room for all to help. The present is a time of particular nflcessity ; the fields are" white already to harvest," and" the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few j pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers" (Luke 10 : 2). The difficulty now is not so much to find consecrated laborers as to secure the means to " send forth" those who are ready to go. Let us all have a part in answering our own prayers.

In closing, it is fitting to repeat the words of a veteran missionary physician, Dr. J. G. Kerr, of Canton, China, who writes: "Itis no doubt a source of gratification to all missionaries-it is certainly so to us, who are among the older medical missionaries-to see the churches at home awaking to the great importance of medical missions, not only as a means of relieving suffering and saving human life, but of aiding in the evangelization of heathen lands, and we hail the addition of so many noble young men and women to this department of mission work as evidence that Christianity, with its blessings, is being offered to those nations which hitherto have not enjoyed them, in the manner best calculated to secure their acceptance "

We gladly welcome from that Prince of Missionary Biographers, George Smith, LL.D., of Edinburgh, Scotland, the following paper on " The Free Church of Scotland's Twenty-Seven Medical Missionaries-Men and Women." – [EnIToR. ] DR. DAVID H. P.A'fERSON'S EARLY WORK IN MADRAS.

Dr. Smith says: More than a generation ago, or in the year 1856, the Free Church of Scotland unitcd with the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society in sending out to Madras Dr. D. H. Patcrson, F.R.C.S.E. From the Medical Mission House, he was enabled, during sixteen years of incessant toil, to spread the rays of Gospel light and healing all around. He tended the souls and bodies of some 43,000 poor natives every year. He sent forth twelve educated nativcs, from all missions, to be medical missionaries in their own districts. His wife and he won an entrance into * This latter work has been undertaken iu a limited way by the International Medical Missionary Society of New York, of which Dr. George D. Dowkontt is the Superintendent. By means of a Training Institution (at 118 E. 45th Street) and several city mission dispensaries, students are educate1 in practical evangelical work as well as equipped with m~dical experience before going to tbe field. The society is doing a good work; it is carried on faithfully and economically, and deserves hearty support. native households from which all but the physician was excluded. He died of abundant labors in 1871. Himself son of Dr. Chalmers's" Missionary of Kilmany," he has given his eldest son, Dr. Alexander Paterson, to the Church's medical work in the Keith-Falconer Mission III South Arabia. Dr. D. H. Paterson was succeeded by Dr. William Elder, and he, for a time, by one of the native medical missionaries, Rev. T. K. Itty. The Free Church of Scotland purchased all the buildings, added to them, and made the mission its own. Now it has come to be worked by the first woman medical missionary sent out by the Ladies' Society, Dr. Matilda Macphail. She is likely to be joined by Dr. Janet Hunter, of the same Society; that, the two helping each other in the missionary work, the mission may go on in full strength, notwithstanding occasional sickness and furlough. This Tamil Medical Mission has borne rich spiritual fruit in the two native congregations of Rayapooram, the busy railway suburb which is its centre, one Tamil and one Eurasian.

DR. DUFF'S EARLIER WORK IN BENGAL. WORK IN CHINA.

The founding of this cnterprise in 1855 was not the first attempt of our missionaries to use the Lord's method of healing as a door into His kingdom. Twenty years before that, in 1834, Dr. Alexander Duff induced government to give his ablest students-Brahmans, till conTersion-the full medical training which has ever since sent a large nnmber of our best native Christians into the Indian Medical Service as army and civil surgeons and medical professors. The story of the first efforts to get Brahmans t6 dissect the human body, as told in our first missionary's" Life," reads like a romance (vol. i., chap. 8). That was the beginning of medical missions in India, just fifty-five years ago. Here, in this as in all missionary methods, Dr. Carey had been first-his colleague, Dr. Thomas, having in 1790, when surgeon in an East Iudiaman, begun to heal the sick as well as to preach to the sinful Bengalees. But that was long a solitary case. In 1740 the Moravians had sent five medical men to Persia, but unsuccessfully. In 1798 Dr. Vanderkemp, a physician, was a missionary in South Africa. With their more free medical system the Americans of the United States took up the policy, but by 1849 there were only twelve medical missionaries in all the non-Christian world, chiefly in China and Syria. Now there are four hundred, and every year sees an addition to the number. China, however, has the distinction of being the earliest scene of medical mission work, steadily developed. Dr. T. R. Colledge, when in Macao as an East India Company's surgeon, in 1827 began those Christ like labors among the poor, and especially the blind, which Chinnery has immortalized in a famous picture. The Rev. Dr. P. Parker, who had done medical mission work in Singapore in 1831), and in Canton, was the first to give an impetus to the whole· Evangelical Church in this matter, when his visit to Edinburgh resulted in the godly and skilled physicianA there establishing its MedicalMissionary Society. Now, besides that valuable agency, under Rev. J. Lowe, F.RC.S.E., for training medical missionaries side by side with the university and medical schools, there are three other training institutions-Dr. J. L. Maxwell's, 104 Petherton Road, London, N.; Dr. G. D. Dowkontt's, 118 East Forty-fifth Street, New York; and Rev. Dr. Valentine's, Agra.

WOMEN BECOME QUALIFIED MEDICAL MISSIONARIES.

This third step was the greatest. Long opposed by the teaching and licensing bodies in the United Kingdom, Christian women, yearning to relieve the misery, spiritual and bodily, of the millions of their sisters in the East, by teaching them of Christ the Healer, were dtiven to America or Switzerland for training. Of the women missionaries sent out by America, no nobler has lived and died for the women and children of India than Mary Seelye, M.D. She worked alone in the vast population of Calcutta, and the gigantic work killed her in the midst of her success. The same fate befell other solitary and unaided workers-establishing the lesson that it is more true of womeu than of men, and more true of medical than of other missionaries, that they must go forth at least two and two.

In the year 1860 Mrs. George Smith began to reside in the famous Bengal town of Serampore. Soon the jealously-guarded homes (zenanas) of the best Hindu families were open to her, and, aided by the municipality and the Baptist missionaries, she opened girls' schools for the poorer families. What she took up as a work of Christian vernacular education, sad experience led her to develop into a medical mission also to women, so far as that was possible without a fully qualified co-worker. What she witnessed, and often in vain tried to relieve, can be told only to women, but our Ladies' Society published these sentences from her pen on her return to Scotland : " The women of Great Britain would stare if they saw what we have seen. A woman of gentle birth kept apart with her new-born infant for a whole month, in a small chamber, with only a grating for a window, and , laid on a damp floor-a small fire in one corner, and no chimney !

,"A lady doctor, who was alone in her mission, felt it almost impossible to attend native women at the birth of their children, from the repulsive practices which prevail. . •. A son was born in a zenana to which I had access, and as it was a first-born, one would suppose that as much honor as possible: would be done the poor mother, who was only fourteen years of age. But she was kept apart in the damp little room, laid on the floor, and she and her babe were looked at only through the grating. Even her husband dare not touch her, nor his son j anyone so touching them would at once become impure.

" Need the people of this country wonder at the importunity of those who know that these thingl!! are-at their anxiety that teachers should be sent out to clear the minds of our poor Eastern sisters from the misti of prejudice and heathenism 1"

The writer gave up her little leisure to plead for the 127,000,000 of women in India that they might have Christian physicians of their own sex. She, bfling dead, yet speaketh. Great has been the progress since 1860, and even since 1876 when these words first appeared. In a paper on" Women's Work in the Mission Field,." read at the London Missionary Conference in 1888, Miss A. Marston, M.D., of the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission, made the following statement: "Of the sixty female practitioners on the English medical register, ten have given themselves to the work of foreign missions." That is only the beginning. Already the number is increased, and soon will be doubled.

THE QUEEN-EMPRESS AND THE MARCHIONESS OF DUFFERIN'S ASSOCIATION.

Because there were none to attend a Hindu woman in sickness save immoral native quacks, the Maharani of Panna, still the great diamondbearing state of Ceutral India, contracted a long and painful disease. An Englishwoman, a medical missionary, was the means of curing her, and when going home on, furlough took a ilhort letter from this Hindu feudatory queen to the Queen-Empress Victoria, petitioning Her Majesty to provide a remedy. Dr. Murdoch thus tells the story: "The letter was put into a small gold locket, which the lady was to wear round her neck till she gave it into the hands of the queen. An interview was granted, and the tender heart of Her Majesty was touched_ She sent a kind reply to the Maharani, and Lord Dufferin could say at a public meeting in Calcutta, ' In endeavoring to launch a scheme for the improvement of the medical treatment of the women of India, we are fulfilling the special injunction of Her Majesty the Queen. Lady Dufferin's first work was a careful survey of the field and consideration of plans. In August 1885 an association was formed to promote the following objects: 1. Medical tuition. 2. Medical relief. 3. The supply of trained female nurses. "

Lady Aitchison, after whom the Women's Hospital in Lahore is named, and others, took up the scheme in' each of the Provinces of India. The Marchioness of Lansdowne is now at its head. All classes of the natives have subscribed a sum, which is invested to the equivalent of £55,000.

"Five lady doctors and a nurse have been obtained from England. About two hundred young women are being educated in the medical colleges of India, a number of them maintained by the branches of the Association. There are twelve female hospitals and fifteen dispensaries more or less aided. Classes have been formed for the training of female nurses.

" One rule of the Association has been qtxestioned by some. Religious neutrality is to be observed by its agents. It was felt that the work: wa, of such magnitude that it could be carried out effectually only by the cooperation of native princes. Municipalitiq,s include Hindus and Muhammadans. Government officers would also feel unwilling to connect themselves with a missionary agency. One result is that large donations havc been made by non-Christians. The Hindu high priest of Tripati, a large temple near Madras, has offered two scholarships for hospital assistants, two gold medals, two scholarships for female nurses, beside other help.

" Indirectly, Christian Missions are benefited. Indian women, at present, trust mainly to charms and other superstitious ceremonies for the cure of disease. Successful treatment by medicine alone will help to dissipate such belief.

" The Christian Vernacular Education Society is co-operating as far as possible in the work which Lady Dufferin 80 zealously commenced. Its , Ranitary Primer,' with a few omissions, has been adopted by the Association as the most suitahle for diffusing an elementary knowledge of t.he laws of health. The Society has also published simple treatises on Childbirth, the Health of Children, and Sanitary Reform, which are having an encouraging circulation. "

RAPID EXTENSION OF MEDICAL MISSIONS BY THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.

The necessity is the greater that the Church of Christ, as such, should do its duty. In 1855 we began with Dr. David H. Paterson at Madras; in 1891 we find that the one medical missionary has increased to twentyseven. Our medically qualified mi8sionaries are: Rev. William M. Alexander, B.Sc., M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Bombay, India; Rey. William Carslaw, M.D., Glasgow, Syria; Rev. J. Kerr Cross, M.B., GM., Gla8gow, Livingstonia, Central·Africa; Rev. James Dalzell, B.D., M.B., C.M., Natal, South Africa; Rev. J. A. Dyf'r, L.Re.p., and S. Edinburgh, Santalia, India; W. A. Elmslie, M. B., C. M., AlJerdeen,

PAUL THE MISSIONARY

Living8tonia, Central Africa; Wiliiam Gunn, LR. C.P., and S. .n:dinburgh, Futuna, New Hebrides; Rev. R. Eannington, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Constantinople ; l~ev. George Hem'y, M.A., M.B., C.M., Aberdeen, Livingstonia, Central Africa; J. B. Henderson, M.B., C.M., Madras, India; Rev. R. Laws, M.A., M.D., Aherdeen, F.R.G.S., Livingstonia, Central Africa; Adolf Lippner, M.D., Buda-Pest, Europe; Alexander Paterson, M.B., C.M., Edinburgh, Keith-Falconer Mission, South Arabia; Rev. Alexander Robertson, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Nagpoor, Central India; Rev. J. Sandilands, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Bandhara, Central India; Rev. J. Stewart, M.D., C.M., Glasgow, F.R.G.S., Lovedale, Souih Africa; D. W. Torrance, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Tiberias, Palestine j W. Walker, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Conjevaram, South India.

WOMEN.

Janet Hunter, M.D., Brussels, L.R.C.P. and S., Glasgow, to be appointed to Madras; Matilda Macphail, L.R.C. P. and S., Glasgow, Madras, South India; Agnes E. Henderson, M.D.

StUdying for Full Qualification.

Ladv from India, in Edinburgh and Leith; two other ladies.

NATIVES OF INDIA.

Not yet Qualified in British Sense.

Lazarus Abraham, Tanna, India: Rev. T. K. Itty, Madras, India j J. Nanji Kotak, L.M. and S., of Grant College, Bombay, India; T. Khisti, Bombay, India; James M. Macphail, M.A., Glasgow, Santalia, India; Dugald Revie, Glasgow, probably Livingstonia, Central Africa; A. G. Mowat, M.B., C.M., Glasgow j Dr. Fotheringham, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Livingstonia; Rev. G. Steele, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Livingstonia.

The Church has enjoyed the services of the late Dr. Robson in Calcutta, of Dr. Young in Bombay, of Dr. Cowen in South Arabia, of Dr. Weir in South Africa, of Miss Waterston, M.D., in Central and South Africa, and others. It has gladly sent not a few of its best sons to the missions of the Church Missionary Society, like the lamented Elmslie in Kashmir, and John Smith, Lake Nyanza; of the Presbyterian Church of England in China; of the United Presbyterian Church in Manchuria, and of the London Missionary Society in several lands.

For every living, and therefore missionary church, rejoices to remember that the Lord Jesus Christ, in proof of His power to utter the sweetest words ever heard by man, Thy sins be forgiven thee, ~dded, Arise and walle.

PAUL THE MISSIONARY.

BY REV. JOHN ROSS, MOOKDEN, MANCHURIA.

It is a cause for thankfulness that the church atmosphere is resounding with theories as to the best modes of evangelizing the world, for this indicates on the part. of the Church of Christ an acknowledged sense of responsibility. But it seems to me strange that in the world-wide proclamation of some popular theones, the missionary chapters of the New Testament appeal as if expurgated from the Bibles of many who have at heart the in- terests of the kingdom. -Where the influence and lives of the workers ana the spiritual well being of untold multitudes are at stake, it is surely a paramount duty to investigate, ~o understand and, as far as practicable aud wise, to imitate the example of those who initiated the work of evangelizingthe world. It is my desire in this paper to briefly examine, for the consideration of all earnest Christian people, the missionary career of the Apostle Paul. This task is the less difficult because the history of his career, as far as it was under the guidance of his own free will and judgment, is contained in nine chapters of the Acts, beginning with the 18th and concluding in the 21st.

Persecution drove from Jerusalem many Christians, who fled as far as Phenice in the north and Cyprus in the south. Preaching where they went, many of them made a favorable impression not upon Jews only, but upon Gentiles also. Some believers were originally from Antioch, and on their compulsory return spoke to Jew and Gentile of the way of life. The wonderful results stupefied the Church which had remained in Jerusalem, and Barnabas, as a well-tried Hellenist, was sent to examine and report. Learning what kind of men they were who became believers, and what sort of men opposed the movement, he went to Tarsus to find out and bring with him, as best adapted for the work, his former friend Saul, who was apparently living in retirement. How long the two men preached in Antioch we know not, but the time was long enough to prove their incomparable superiority to all the other preachers. This pre-eminence was the reason why they were selected (Acts 13) as the first Apostles to go to the " regions beyond."

Through Seleucia and Cyprus, where the Gospel had been already proclaimed, they simply passed on, and called a halt only when they got to Antioch, in Pisidia. Long and plainly did Paul speak in this place, reasoning with the people and fully expounding to them the truth. So great was the concourse of people to hear him on the following Sabbath that envious Jews drove him out of the city.

Driven from Antioch, the preachers made their way to Iconium, where they remained a considerable time preaching and explaining, till they were compelled to abandon the city. At Lystra they created a great sensation, which ended in Paul being left for dead from stoning by the enraged citizens. Having recovered, he retraced his steps, strengthening the hearts and more fully enlightening·the understanding of the believers.

After the question of circumcision, which threatened to create a rupture in the church, was settled in a common-sense manner by mutual concession, Paul and Barnabas separated over a dispute regarding a third colleague. Each took the man of his own choice, and Paul went through Syria, passing, as formerly, through the places where the Gospel had been preached, by the way strengthening and instruct.ing the believers, so that these ~ight be the better able to push forward the work in their own neighbor- hood. He rested only when he crossed over into Europe and arrived in Philippi, whither the Gospel had not yet penetrated. There he sought out those anxious to lead a better life, and continued his public preaching till serious maltreatment threatened his life.

From Thessalonica the animosity of the Jews compelled him to a speedy Hight. The people in Berea were more liberal and ready to listen to Paul's arguments. But jealous orthodoxy pursued and drove him away. Thence he went to Athens, where he encountered the Greek philosophers, whose contemptuous treatment sent him on to Cormth, where he remained for a lengthened period. A tumult there made him again a wanderer. Passing through Ephesus at that time, he returned to it and baptized twelve believ. ers. For three months he continned arguing from tho Scriptures that Jesns was the· Messiah, till orthodoxy closed the synagogue ngainst him. But a school was thrown open to him, where he daily discour"iJd for so long a time that all the people in the city knew somewhat of the doctrine and its preachers. After a brief absence, though anxious to go to Jerusalem and Rome, he went back to Ephesus, where a great uproar terminated his stay. Still eager to ilIlpart some further instruction, Ilnd because from his urgency, to depart for .Terusalem he was unable to go in person, he sent for the elders to confer with them at the port of Miletns. In this last discourse he informed them that he had declared to them the" whole counsel of God," which in modern language means that he had passed them through a theological course.

After his hurried journey to Jerusalem, he was no longer a free agent, but went where his soldier-keepers led him. Though his subsequent history is, therefore, a magnificent example of enthusiastic preaching ~f the Gospel in the most trying circumstances, it does not, beyond his epistles, show us the principles of action and the methods of work which his unfettered will would have suggested. "Ve have enough, however, in this summary to learn (1) the kind of agent, (2) the form of itineracy, and (3) the style of preaching which were considered the best, and which turned out the most successful in Apostolic times.

1. The agent was the man already proved to be the best in the Church -the best spiritually, intellectually, lind educationally. This" best" man did not go of his own accord. He was called to the work and" sent" by the Church. Now, the work of preaching the Gospel in China is more difficult than any the Apostle Panl had to undertake. He had learned Hebrew at his mother's knee. In the celebrated Rchools of Tarsus, with their famous stoics, he hau become familiar with Greek thought, literature, and language. And he whose father was a Roman citizen, and who lived in a Roman settlement, could not well have been ignorant of Latin. Whatever, therefore, the meaning of the gift of tongues, it did not signify in Paul's case the miraculous possession of a llitherto unknown· Janguage ; for from Arabia in the east to Rome in the west Paul did not preach in any place where some one of these three languages was not well and generally understood. He did not require to spend weary months in learning a new language before communicating Christian truth to a strange people, though his reception at Athens proved his Greek pronunciation not unimpeachable. He was not compelled to wade through a ponderous and foreign literature, nor patiently to wait to learn the manners and opinions of a people in order to ascertain their special mental and spiritual views. His early education and his knowledge of those languages enabled him at once to address an audience as if they had been old acquaintances. Let the Church learn the lesson proclaimed by this trumpet voice. God demands your best, as He did of the Jews. The beast with a flaw was not to be offered on the altar. The man with a blemish was not to become a priest.

2. The itineracy of Paul differed toto cwlo from the itineracy now recommended by many good people. Paul" itinerated" through all the places where the Gospel was known. But in places where the Gospel had not been preached he remained for days, weeks, months, and even years, till he was driven away by attempts on his life. To impart a knowledge of what Paul considered essential truth required not a few lessons, but the preaching and teaching of years. The lesson from this characteristic of Paul should be seriously pondered both by missionaries and all interested in mission work, and especially in China, which presents a field far more difficult than any in which Paul labored. A racing over the ground and a few addresses in a place which is then abandoned, is a mere waste of men, of labor, and of time. You must" teach" the people to " know," or your labor is in vain. Captain Bobadil's plan will convert China after it has destroyed the nrmies of France. Itineracy in a Christian country, where even unbelievers are theoretically well acquainted with Christian truth, is one thing; in China, where its elements are unknown, quite a different thing.

3. Paul had no particular form of sermon. He had no tricks of speech or manner, no craving for popularity. He first of all learned the mental and spiritual condition of his hearers, and adapted what he had to say to their knowledge and wants.· This is what he signified when he wrote of " taking people by guile." It is unnecessary to dwell upon the versatility of his mind, as shown in the manner in which he addressed his varied audiences, whether Jews or Greeks, soldiers or philosophers, an angry mob or a proud king. But in all we have evidence of remarkable human wisdom fired by the enthusiasm begotten of the Spirit of God. He reasoned, declaimed, recited historical facts, quoted from authors, and adopted every plan to further the end in view. His logical powers were employed in argument, his whole soul poured forth in appeal. He combined the art of the rhetorician with the reasoning of the logician. Thus he was able to make himself" all things to all men j" whence his unexampled success.

As to the matter of his discourses, he was not content with merely proclaiming that Jesus was the Saviour. He explained the terms he employed.

18911 THE RECENT AUDIENCE WITH THE EMPEROR OF CHINA

He spoke of the nature of sin and of holiness. He declared man's duty to man and his relationship to God, what man should be and do in this life, and what he may hope to possess in the life to come.

The success of Paul was not in the least degree dependent on the few cases of healing recorded of him; his miracles brought him into trouble. Nor yet was it by the plan of planting schools and colleges. But it was by the earnest, continuous, intelligent, and intelligible preaching of the sound system of truth embraced in Christ's Gospel. And if the facts of the modern mission field were properly understood, the lesson would be learned that, however excellent are subsidiary aids for levelling down the thick wall of prejudice which raises its proud head high against the Gospel in China, nothing can possibly gain that people for Christ but the plan of Paul. How can they believe if they do not understand? How can they understand if they do not hear intelligently? How can they hear intelligently if the preacher is without understanding? And how can they have preachers of understanding if the chUl'ches fail to send them? "I speak as to wise men i judge ye."

THE RECENT AUDIENCE WITH THE EMPEROR OF CHINA.

BY BOUDINOT C. ATTERBURY, M.D., PEKING, CHINA.

A most interesting episode took place in connection with the foreign relations of China on March 5th, this year. It was the interview granted by the" Son of Heaven" to the foreign ministers living in Peking, and repre· senting their various countries. For years past this question of the right personally to present credentials to the Emperor has been the subject of great discussion between the legations and the foreign office. In 1874 Tung Chih, the uncle of the present ruler, after much pressure was brought to bear, granted an audience. Since then, however, the questIOn, although agitated, has never been seriously insisted upon until the present young ruler him8elf took control of the government. Unexpectedly to many, three months ago an Imperial edict was issued stating that the Emperor was willing to receIve the ministers and charges d'affaires. No matter what may have been the reasons for this step on the part of the Chinese Government-reasons perhaps chiefly political, in order to cultivate more close relations with other governments one thing is certain, that the express wish of the Emperor himself was also It powerful factor in bringing about the wished-for event. Those living outside of China can scarcely realize how many were the preliminaries which had to be arranged before the interview could take place. Long conferences were held between the legations and the Chinese ministers. On the one side were a set of men anxious to sUl'round their ruler with all the ceremonies which they consider to be his due as the representative of heaven upon earth j on the other hand were the foreigners, willing to accord any etiquette customary at a European court, but determined not to do anything implying in any sense that their countries were in vassalage to China. The principal difficulties were the right' of separate audience and the place of meeting. Mutual concessions smoothed over these points, the former being granted by the Chinese, and the foreigners waiving their preferences in the latter. The place agreed upon was the" Hall of Shining Purple," where the usual receptions are accorded to the tributary States, sucb as Mongolia and Corea, with the understanding that on future occasions another place within the palace grounds must be prepared. The ministers with their suites started about 10 A.M. All the foreigners, thirty-one in number, sat in green sedan chairs, each carried by four men. Passing through the" Gate of Flowing Prosperity," they arrived at the point where the officials of the foreign office stood ready to receive. Descending from their chairs they entered, through long lines of soldiers, a temple, where some time was 8pent in chatting and eating various delicacies. Then the entire party advanced to the HaH of Audience. It is a picturesque building, with yellow tiles and painted in many colors. Three flights of steps lead up to a terrace in front of the hall doors. The central set are reserved for his Majesty; others use those on the sides. On the terrace were four tents comfOltably furnished with stoves and carpets. When the summons into the Imperial presence came, each minister, with accompanying interpreter, was conducted by two officials to a point where two columns, the" Dragon PilIars," marked a distance of about six feet from the raised platform on which the Emperor was sitting. First the German Minister was received; then follow('d the representatives of America, England, Japan, Italy, and the Netherlands. The large room presented an imposing spectacle, being lined with military officers. Back of the Emperor, who was sitting cross-legged on the dais raised about three feet, were some dark stone tablets carved with Manchu and Chinese inscriptions. In front was a small table, and at the side a naked sword on a stand. On the way to the" Dragon Pillars" each minister made the obeisance given at any court to the Sovereign. He then read an address which was rendered into Chinese by the interpreter and handed to Prince Chung, who, on his knees, translated it into Manchu. The Emperor responded in turn. The minister than advanced to the platform with his letter of credence, which was received by Prince Chung, who, with a low bow, laid it on the table. According to custom, the Prince should have knelt when presenting the letter. This, however, the foreigners would not allow, since, for the moment he represented them, thus kneeling would imply a concession of inferiority. Afterward a general reception was beld, and the entire company, with their secretaries, were presented. The German Minister, as doyen of the corps diplomatique, read an address; the Emperor replied in Manchu, which was turned into Chinese by Prince Chung, the head of the Foreign Office. A grand banquet the following ,jay ended the audience. Of course, the Emperor was the central figure.

ENCOURAGEMENTS IN THE WORK OF' MISSIONS

He has an intelligent face and large dark eyes. lIe looks even younger than he is-eighteen years old. His physique is not strong, but his bearing is manly and self-posse!sed. His dress was a purple robe embroidered with gold dragons. He wore a large official felt hat, on the top of which was a plain red button. All hope that the outcome of this interview will be a still greatcr desire on the part of the Chinese to break down the isolation with which they have snrrounded themselves.

ENCOlTRAGEMENTS IN THE WORK OF MISSIONS.

BY REV. A. A. PFANSTIEHL, ST. JOSEPH, MO.

One of the questions that is asked in regard to the work of foreign missions is, Does it pay? It has been figured out by those who look upon this work from a political-economy point of view that it costs about $1000 to make a single convert in heathendom, and that at the present rate of progress it will take two hundred thousand years to convert the world! In view of this they ask, Is it worth while to spend so many millions of dollars, to expend so much valuable energy-for it is admitted that the missionaries are among our most energetic Christian workers; were they not so, they would never go into the arduous work in foreign fields-when, after all, so comparatively little is accomplished? But look at this a moment. This calculation would perhaps be legitimate and correct were each convert a dead one; but as it is, he is a living influence, he has in him leavening power, so that he sets work of conversion in motion in remarkable ratio. Max Miiller well says: "An intellectual harvest must not be calculated by adding simply grain to grain, but by counting each grain as a living seed, that will bring forth fruit a hundred an(l a thousand-fold." Therefore, however comparatively little seems to be done in the vast fields of heathendom, yet when we take this work, representing hundreds of thousands of adult converts who, together with their families, form Christian communities scattered over nearly every portion of the heathen world, it represents a power that is incalculable, a power in itself capable of marvel- lous work for God, without help from abroad. * But now add to this power the additional force given to it with increasing intensity every year by the Christian world at large, will it take two hundred thousand years to evangelize the world 1 Missionary efforts and * As a matter of fact, to prove this take these figures of but one mission field: Burmah gave in 1880 to the Baptist Union $31,616.14, while Massachusetts gave the same year but little more-viz., $41,312.72, and New York gave only $38,469.78. "Japan," it is said, " is alive, energetic, eager-a nation with a destiny; and a Church of Christ in Japau would be throughout all EMtern Asia an ally that would be invaluable." And this is what Max Miiller says about India: "If we think of the future of India and of the influence which that country has always exercised on the EMt, the movement of religious reform which is now going on appe(lrs to my mind the most momentous in this momentous century." expenditures do pay! and there is nothing discouraging in the calculation, even though it be that it takes $1000 to make a single convert in heathen- dom. On the contrary, there is every encouragement possible to continue the work and make it more and more agressive. 'Tis this that I desire to press briefly from 1. What has been done in the past, and 2. What it is the declared purpose of God to do in the spread of Christ's kingdom.

Considering the extent, the power, the influence of Christianity to-day, and then looking back 1800 years, when it began with a mere handful of people, working against opposition that came from principalities and powers, the strong forces of Rome, the prejudice, the enmity of the carnal mind, and the deadly hatred of the Jews, have we occasion to be discouraged~ ay, must we not greatly be encouraged when the kingdom of Christ has now grown to be in the ascendancy 1 But look especially at the mission work of the last one hundred years! What giant strides have been made during these years! And these are but the first slow steppings of the Church, that will, if indications for the future mean anything, continue to advance rapidly. For 'tis but a short time since the vast openings for work have been presented to the Church-openings that were closed to the Christian world until these latter years-commercial openings, and facilities for work afforded by discoveries of religious books of the heathen, enabling missionaries to work intelligently among the people. " We have now be- fore us the canonical books of Buddhism j the Zend Avesta of Zoroaster is no longer a sealed book j and the hymns of the Rig Veda have revealed a state of religion anterior to the first beginnings of that mythology which in Homer and Hesiod stand before us as mouldering ruin. The soil of Mesopotamia has given back the very images once worshipped by the most powerful of the Semitic tribes, and the cuneiform inscriptions of Babylon and Nineveh have disclosed the very prayers addressed to Baal or Misroch. "

Hence, by the providence of God, we are led into the very citadel of the power of those whom we desire to win, and we know intelligently how to lay the siege. Discouragement ~ Nay, nay, for this advantage has already been so helpful that victory is in sight, if the Christian church will only vigorously press the siege for the next few years! '

But another encouragement. Max Muller, a few years ago, wrote about the dying and death of what he calls the nondescript heathen religions.

These, such as Zoroastrianism, etc., that he puts down as 8.7 per cent of the number of the population of the world, have ceased to struggle, and all we need do is to apply the strong battery of God's" truth as it is in Jesus"

to them, and they will live ancw with redeemed, everlasting life. Brahman- ism, too, one of the two living Aryan religions, is existing in a living death, and " for gaining an idea of the issue of the great religious struggle of the future, that religion, too, is dead aud gone." And Buddhism-what about it 1 Many of the readers may remember a significant paper that was sent, in 1887, to the Presbyterian churches of the Unitcd States, signed by all the Presbyterian ministers in Japan-31 in number-wherein we find this language: "Buddhism is condemned already. That is the common position assumed by the press. And what the press encourages the government allows. . . . The tone of Buddhism is a tone of defeat; Christianity is confident of victory." And this is confirmed by the quotation from one of the tracts published in India, given in the March, 1891, number of this REVIEW, which says, in order to call the heathen religionists to vigorous action against the progress of Christianity: "Missionaries have cast their nets over our children by teaching them in their schools, and they have already made thousands of Christians, and are continuing to do so. . . . Do you not know that the number of Christians is increasing, and the number of Hindu religionists decreasing cvery day?" The enemy himself here is the judge.

This much encouragement from the past. Now what, from a consideration of what we know, is the purpose of Almighty God in regard to the leaven of Christianity introduced in the world? It is His purpose that the .. whole lump" SHALL be leavened. And can anything thwart that purpose 1 Chri~tian churches and individuals need not lend their help with II discouraged feeling; they need not with a shrug of the shoulder look at this work of evangelizing the world.

To this appeal of Mr. Pfanstiehl, the editor cannot forbear to add that the only real discouragement in the work of missions is the slowness and sluggishness of the church to fall into line with the command and the lead- ership of our Royal Captain. Open doors stand before us on every side.

In the most difficult of all mission fields, India, the most abundant harvests since Pentecost have been reaped and continue to be reaped in the Tin- nevelly and Telugu districts. The church has numerical force and finan- cial resource sufficient without a doubt to bear the Gospelmess:tge to every soul before the century ends. The only real lack is the lack of the spirit of mis.~ions. In the Apocalypse there is a significant succession in the messages to the churches of Philadelphia and Laodicea. To Philadelphia the key-note is encouragement-" Behold, I have set before thee an open door." To Laodicea, which immediately follows, the key-note is warning-" Because thou art lukewarm . • • I will spew thee out of my month." Both these messages may be applied to the Church of our day. We are Philadelphians for opportunity and Laodiceans for lukewarmness. And if the church of this generation does not arouse herself to new consecration and enter God's open doors, it is to be feared that He will cast away such II faithless church, and out of its remnant construct a more loyal people.

Bishop H. T. Bachman, of the Moravian Church. is at present engaged in an official visitation of the Moravian Alaskan missions. He will have to travel from the Kuskokwim to Meshagak, some 200 miles, overland in pioneer !ltyle. It was two summers ago that the wife of Bishop Bachman went to Alaska to nurse the sick missionary's wife, Mrs. Kilbuck.

EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS

EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.

BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.

-The Rev. J. Johnstone Irving, in the Voice from Ituly, says, what anyone moderately familiar with Roman Catholic affairs knows to be perfectly true: " Within the unity of the Roman Church there are divisions and differences as numerous and embittered as those found in Protestantism." It is, therefore, quite to the point when he adds: "I am not prepared to admit that a house divided against itself is in a more satisfactory condition than a number of neighboring houses whose social relationships are not all that might be desired." Indeed, as the clergy are so inordinately powerful among the Roman Catholics, theological acrimony is more apt with them to verge toward malignity than in Protestantism, which, comparatively speaking, is a religion of the laity. Unhappily, among the Roman Catholics the only class that has perhaps even more influence than the clergy-namely, the lay zealots, seem to be the most uncharitable of all toward their fellow-Catholics whom they suspect of liberalism.

-The Ohristian says, most appreciatinglyand justly: "The Friend of Missions, published in England, and the Friends' Missionary Advocate of America, are full of interesting information of Friends' work in India, China, Japan, Madagascar, Syria, Palestine, Constantinople, Mexico, Philippopolis, Alaska, and among the North American Indians, thus indicating that the spirit of ' early days' has returned to the Society of Friends. As a basis and incentive to foreign work home missions are growing and increasing in nearly or quite all the yearly meetings in the world. The needs of men socially, morally, and spiritually are pressing the hearts of Friends, and under the Divine impulse lives and money are being surrendered to the service of humanity and the glory of Him' who is the Head of all things' to His people. The Friends have a great and increasing place to fill, and are needed among the churches and in the world. Happily they are in some measure realizing their responsibility, and trying to obey Him who has given them their name if they keep His commandments: Their mission is that of living and teaching spiritual and vital Christianity as 3 commonwealth of believers. . .. Among them there is no ' layman.' "

-Notwithstanding the revival of a very vexatious law in restriction of church building in the kingdom of Travancore, in southwestern India, the Chronicle for April bears witness to the cordiality of the Maharajah, and remarks that miRsionaries have probably more freedom there than they would have in British India.

-The Moslems must be hard pushed to find their prophet foretold in the Gospels. One in India assured Mr. Greaves triumphantly that he had found Mohammed's advent clea.rly announced by our Lord. Being asked where, he produced John 14 : 30, "The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me." Mr. Greaves quietly remarked that he had no objection to the application.

-Missionary Gehring, of the Leipsic Society, remarks, apropos of an unexpected though brief attack of lIeasickness, that it did him the' good of ridding him of the disagreeable advances of the American ap<J!!tate, Colonel Olcott, " who in India makes it his business to flatter the heathen by disgusting eulogies on their reli~don. " This may not be very urbane, but the free expression of moral disgust toward "the enemies of the crOSH of Christ," whether their name is Olcott, Ingergoll, Bradlaugh, or BeS1lnt, is sometimes better than the smirking complaisance with which contemporary Christianity is somewhat too deeply infected.

-Here is part of a hymn addressed by hundreds of thousands to the cruel goddess Kali, in deprecation of a law which simply protects the persons of child-wives until they are twelve years old. We remember Kali, with her pendant necklace of skulls, and her blood-dripping tongue thrust out to her waist. Such a hymn wcll becomes her. "In great distress at thy door we have come, mother, source of all good. Horrified, that is why we raise this cry, 0 mother! queen of the universe. What to say ~ We are about to be undone, mother, by the word of some outcastes. Intending to do an act of kindness, the government is destroying our religion. Our hearts shudder through fear," etc.

-NachTichten aus dem Morgenlande, speaking of the needs of the Protestants of Bethlehem for church and school, says, "If the wise men from the East brought aforetime to Bethlehem the most precious gifts of their native land, would that the wise men from the vVest would also lay down there their art and their gifts of beauty at the feet of the infant Christ!" If Protestantism will not take its place and see to it that it finds a worthy representation in Palestine, by the side of the splendid outlays of the Roman Catholic and of the Russian Church, it mnst accept the consequences.

-It is known that the London missionarie3 in Madagascar have labored principally among the ruling and central race of the Hovas and the neighboring tribe of the Betsileos. The Norwegian missionaries, it appears, are also actively at work among Betsimarakas of the southeast, and the fierce Sakalavas of the west.

-The atrocions massacre of men, women, and children by a Hova governor in Madagascar (followed, it appears, by his own ex.eeution) has, remarks the Ohronicle, left a sad blot on the good name of the Christian queen. The general horror aroused by this act of her deputy, it is to be hoped, will recall her government from that retrogression into the old barbarons ways of which there have been signs lately. Her husband, tlw prime-minister, knew the governor to be an unworthy character, yet allowed favoritism to carry the day in his appointment.

-Mr. Barnett, of Jaffa. writing in Service/or the King, says: "It is very significant that while from various causes the Jews lire beginning to awaken to the fact that their future destiny is bound up with this land, the 'l'urks and Arabs seem to be nnder a presentiment that their time here is short. I am told by several friends who have great experience in this country that some of the natives are very negligent in the cultivation of their fields and gardens, and the reason they give when asked is, ' What's the good, the Jews will soon have it.' "

-Mr. Van Tassel, who devotes himself to the evangelization of the Bedouins, shows that, as with most remote tribes, accnrate knowledge not only monilies, but often almost revolutionizes previous ideas. He says, "The Bedouin Arabs are usually given a very unenvi.able character, and are looked upon as being most desperate men, thieves, murderers, and almost everything else that is bad; but that is almost entirely wrong. The Arab seldom takes life, unless it is in battle or eelf-defence. There is a standing law in the desert that in case a man is killed his death must be avenged by the members of his tribe. It is not necessary that the murderer himself be put to death, but anyone of his tribe who may happen to fall into their hands. Owing to this custom they are very careful about the shedding of blood.

" There are, of course, some thieves found in the desert, but not all the Arabs are such by.any means, and those who are so are despised by the others, and well puuished when caught."

Mr. Van Tassel remarks that the Bedouins, at least those of the north, have a very slight tincture indeed of Mohammedanism. Their feelings of natural religion are strong, and they are exceedingly fond of having the Scriptures of either Testament read to them. Of course, in the Oriental allusions of the Bible they are perfectly at home.

The North Arabia Mission is a branch of the North African Mission.

– " The missionary work of a church is both fruit and measure of its inner spiritual life. "-De Heidenbode (Rotterdam).

-The Free Church of Scotland Monthly. referring to Cardinal Lavigerie's far-reaching missionary plans, remarks, "Whatever may be said about the Papacy, it is showing at present a i'pirit of enterprise which we cannot but admire. The zeal it is manifesting ought to act as a stimulus to our Protestant sO<.:ieties to devise larger and, if we may say so, more adventurous schemes for the conversion of the nations."

-The Ghu1·ch Missionary lntelligencer for April, 1891, very justly refers to the American Board as " one of the best-managed societies in the world," and supports by its high authority its own preference of special contributions for objects designated by the Society, rather than for the somewhat narrowing and capricious designation of special objects by individual donors.

-The printing of the whole Bible in the language of the Sunda Islands (Dutch Ea"t Indies) is now complete, as appears by the Or.qaan of the Netherlands Missionary Society. Between 300 and 400 person~ have been engaged upon it.

– " The business instinct is indispensablj"l for the conduct of a missionary society; but it is not sufficient, it is even injurious, if it is not founded in piety and joined with a real zeal for the cause of the Gospel." -Journal des Mislions.

THE UNITED KINGDOM.

-The English Baptist Missionary Society, whose cen enary occurs in 1892, intends to endeavor to raise a Special Centenary Fund of £100,000, and to seek also to increase the annual income of the society to £100,000.

-The Ohurch Missionary Gleaner for April says: "The approaclling census again suggests a comparison of past and present. When the last eensus was taken in 1881, the society was working under a resolution, solemnly arrived at on account of financial pressure, to send out only five new missionaries each year for three years; but we were rejoicing that special gifts had enabled the committee to send out twenty instead of five. It is a fact like this which we have gleaned from the report of that year that makes one realize just a little of what God has done for us in the past ten years. Three times twenty is not considered a large number now. "

-This is a most racy bit from a tract, Do Not Say, published by the Church Missionary Society. The author is the Rev. J. Heywood Horsburgh, C. M. S. missionary in mid-China: "Imagine our sending to the heathen just one man more than we could spare, so that for one parish we could not find a rector! 'Vhat an outcry there would be! Why, even those who take the most thorough interest in foreign missions would be afraid we were' really going a little too far.' Yes, though that clergyman had left but five hundred, nominal Christians already (many of them true Christians?, and gone to a parish of a thousand thousand, all heathen, and. he the on y worker aILong them all, it would still be thought a dreadful thing for this English parish to be without a clergyman, albeit there were a dozen other churches half empty in that very place, and perhaps an excellent chapel on the other side of the road. When shall we wake up and understand that' taking an interest in foreign missions' really ought to mean something more than giving the heathen a few fragments, after spreading a most bountiful table for ourselves ?"

-The Reaper says that the flaw in Mr. Stead's sanguine and well-meant endeavors to bring about a social revolution has been pointed out very clearly by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Salford : "It seems to me we differ because we begin from different ends. You begin with the creature and his miseries and wants. We begin with the Creator and His plan or system of redemption and salvation." There is no use in trying to conciliate the Christian view of benevolence with the anti-Christian. The two may coincide materially in a thousand points, but their formative principles are irreconcilably antagonistic.

-The Christian says that Dr. Marshall Lang recently startled the Glasgow Established Presbytery by quoting the remark of a local historian, that" the public houslils in the' second city in the empire' were beating the churches," and that "one public house in a populous locality was capable of undoing the work of ten churches."

– " Let us not think less of what Christ has done on the cross by His death, but let us think more of His resurrection and what He is doing now. "-Rev. EDWARD BALMFORD, in The Christian.

– " Foreign missionary is an unfortunate term. To the Lord Jesus up there in heaven there is no home mission and no foreign mission. He sees at once on both sides of the wall of China, and to Him it is all one field and one work; and slowly we are beginning to see through His eyes and to find out that work at home and work abroad are not, so to speak, two things, but one; that this we ought to do, and not to leave the other undone; ano. that what we call foreign mission work is not a thing to be done by and by, when we get a lot of other things done, but that it ought to be going on all the time."-J. CAMPBELL WHITE, Esq., Convener of the Livingstonia Mission Committee.

-Medical Missions at Home and Abroad (cited in the Free Church Monthly) shows that of 13~ medical missionaries holding British degrees or diplomas, the Free Church of Scotland has 24; the Church Missionary Society, 21 ; the London Missionary Society and the English Presbyterian Church, 13 each j the United Presbyterian Church, 11. There are 13 ladies.

The largest proportion among all the missionaries belonO's to the English Presbyterian Church. 0 . • -Medical Missions at Home and Abroad, rejoicing in the great victory won in the House of Commons over the defenders of the opium traffic, says: "A few days ago an Indian general said, in my hearing, that the opium traffic is a heritage from Warren Hastings. He was right; and I would add that there is nothing in our Anglo-Indian history in which the strong, determined, but godless spirit of that remarkable man has seemed so to persist and to be incarnated as in the long, sad story of our opium traffic with China."

-The Accounts of the Schemes and the Lists of Collections, Contributions, and Legacies of the Church of Scotland for the year ending December 31st, 1890, as prepared by the auditor, are given in the May Record. The total income shows an increase of £18,812 14s. 9d., or 12t per cent over the previous year,. being in all £170,282 5s. 5d. Legacies alone are increased by £6643 16s. 5d. Foreign missions show an increase of £3049 15$. 2d. ; home missions of £2475 19s. 10d. ; the Small Livings Fund of £3316 6s. 9d.

-Arrangements have been made for the fusion of the two English Baptist missionary societies. The common management ill to be conducted according to the plan of the larger society-that of the Particular Baptists. It appears, then, that Calvinism and Arminianisffi are recognized in England as having ceased to be a dividing force among the Baptists. The qUElstion of strict or open communion has long been an open one in both the Baptist bodies. "The Particular Baptist Missionary Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen" was formed in 1792, and " The General Baptist Missionary Society" in 1816. The Orissa Mission, Bengal, in which our own Free Baptist brethren concur, will doubtless continue to be supplied with General Baptist missionaries.

-The Special Centenary Fund of £100,000 which it is proposed to raise will be devoted to seven objects, the first being the extinctit,n of the debt, the seventh the construction of a new Upper Congo steamer, estimated at £5000.

-It seems strange, but Northern Bengal, where Dr. Carey first preached the Gospel, has to-day no missionary provision (at least no Protestant missionary provision) for its 9,000,000 inhabitants.

-The debt of £10,561 88. lId. incurred by the English Baptist Missionary Society during the year is owing to a falling off in legacies. General contributions have been £42,257 28. over against £42,072 188. 7d. for last year.

-The Ch"istian states that many of the working classes in England have'lately joined the Society of Friends.

-,-" There are 400 workers in the Irish Home Mission connected with the Society of Friends, and Sunday-school work is progressing in their hands."- The Ohristian. .

1891]. INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT

II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.

EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. 1. T. GRACEY, D.D.

The Low Pressure Belt of Morality as Marked by the Marriage Law in India. [J. T. G.l It is very difficult for persons living sion among tolerably decent people and remote from India to realize the condi. even among low and lustful classes.

tion of society which has grown up there These memorialists specially empha- in the course of oenturies through un- size that all this is covered by the sanc- challenged customs in Ule matter of mar- tity of British law in the Indian Empire, riage. Even those long resident in the which permits marriage to be consum.

midst of the social order know but little mated in childhood, and even covers about it. The introduction of Western homicide in the marital relation, which physicians, especially of lady doctors, to under other circumstances would be practise in the homes of the people, has criminally punished. They say, " The resulted in the disclosure of a state of system panders to sensuality, lowers things at which even much of heathen the standard of health and morals, de- sentiment revolts. There lies before us grades the race, and tends to perpetuate the Memorial to His Excellency, the itself and all its attendant evils to all Viceroy and Governor-General of India, future generations."

presented by sundry lady physicians, They, with thousands of others, peti- which enumerates instances of cruelty tioned the great British vice-regal au- and. unnatural crimes occurring to their thority and his counsellors in the Ind- notice in the order of their own profes- ian Government to advance the age of sional duties, which, though couched in consent to fourteen years. And yet, professional phraseology, we cannot de- with all these facts before them, the scribe, much less translate into the limit of twelve years was all that this vernacular of ordinary literature. When great government felt it dare ordain. It young girls of seven, eight, and ten years is not our intent now to show that they of age are visited by physicians who ought to or could have gone further.

find their bodies crushed out of shape, Too many factors enter into this case to their flesh hanging in shreds, or now reach a summary conclusion. It is not crippled and crawling to the hospital for that we write. Our purpose is on hands and knees unable to stand rather to call attention to the debasing erect, others partially paralyzed, others influence of the heathen religions, which dying after days of agony, all because showed itself in the tremendous resist- of premature admission to the marital ance developed by the very fact that relation, sanctioned by the laws as well child-marriage was to be called in ques- as the customs, and largely by the sen- tion by the government at all, and the timent of the land, one can read a com- threatened outbreak of violence because mentary on " the habitations of cruelty" the council and viceroy did enact that quite beyond any strain his indignation twelve years should be the legal mini- will bear. Mrs. Nancy Monelle Man. mum of marriageable age. A corre- sell, M.A., M.D., and her associate spondent some while since thus de- lady doctors deserve unstinted com- scribed for us a specimen of this popu- mendation for the moral courage, which lar resistance : led them to the distasteful task of mak- "On Sunday, March 15th, a mass.meeting known to the Indian Government, ing of over 80,000 Hindus was held at that which they could testify to, as in- Kali Ghat-one of the Calcutta suburbs stances of such debasement as makes –to pray to the Goddess Kali and seone desire to find refuge in some theory cure her aid against the pending Bill of demoniacal possession, as a cover for raising the marriageable age of Indian lustful cruelty which passes comprehen- girls from 10 to 12 years. Two hundred native priests had been engaged for the occasion, and were observed preaching so that all unea.siness may cease, Her furiously in various directions among name is Nectar. Drink it, and your the crowds. Processions were formed hearts shall be cool, all your grief shall and marched up to Kali's shrine, shout. cease, desires be fulfilled, and all dan. ing as they went along, 'Hari bole!' ger averted. That is why we all, with 'Save us, Kali, from all interference hands uplifted say, save us, oh! kindly with our religion! ' Some of the more mother. Keep us at thy feet, oh! fanatical had come up from Calcutta on mother of the universe. Who else is their hands and knees; others had there but thee to protect that priceless measured the entire distance by pros. treasure, our national religion, which trating themselves continuously and we are about to lose by the King's mancrawling on their stomachs. A strong date. Help us, oh ! goddess, and for thy body of police kept order; there was help we are taking thy name to.dllY. much subdued excitement. One fanatic To ruin us the cruel law is about to he placed his head on the altar at which passed_ Stop this, oh ! mother, and let many hundreds of lambs and goats had us be happy, who are rich in religion, been sacrificed to Kali, and demanded by singing thy name. When Srimunto the officiating priest to sever his head, was in danger, thou didst take him up as 'he would die for his country.' in thy lap. Thou didst give protection The priest declined, and the man, ris· to Kalkatu at thy feet, source of all good. ing up, was heard to say that the' law We are thy children too; why shall we unfortunately prevented his setting suffer then, oh ! mother Kali P" them all a good example.' While the bulk of the crowd was composed of We are not presenting all this ail news. ignorant persons, there were lots of lawyers, pleaders, merchants, bankers, lt will,not be such to a great number of schoolmasters, and other heads of the people. Poor India !" our readers, yet to others it will be more We had from several sources accounts or less so. We present it as a conten.

of the 80ngs composed for and sung on tion. We want to thrust home the the occasion by theatrical companies. whole facts on that not insignifica;:;t The Statesman gave a rough translation company of excellent people who can see no difference between ., our heathen of one of these, as follows: at home" and the heathen society of a .. FOR THE PROTECTION OF RELIGION. great people; a patient, ingenious, in. .. Sankirtan of Kali at Kalighat. dustrious, intellectual, and in many reo .. In great distresR at thy door we have come, mother, source of all good. spects not an unlovely people, who have Horrified, that is why we raise this cry, oh ! mother, queen of the universe. been systematically debased and im- What to say? We are about to be undone, mother, by the words of some out- bruted through the most sacred avenues castes. Intending to do an act of kind. ness, the Government is destroying our to the human soul; and who, we may even religion. Our hearts shudder through fear. Oh! goddess, save us from this believe, are sincere when they say, that great danger into which we have fallen. We, sons of Hindu families, who have the removal of child-marriage will result hitherto forgotten thee, are now crying to thee for help, as your children, and in a more debasing condition of society pray take us up in thy lap. Protect the modesty of our domestic maidens, thou than has been depicted, or rather hintwho savest people from shame. Kings make laws to make their subjects happy, ed at by the petitioners above quoted, but this law will oppress the poor and helpless. Make this clear to Govern. and by thousands of others who know ment, and say, , Don't make this law.' FOl"give us, oh ! goddess. Make Govern- of similar brutality and bestial outrage ment to understand a.nd to put an eml to all this confusion and disOl·der." under cover of marriage rights. Take " • Sankirtan' sung by the Burra Bazar them at their own rating, and what Sadharan Rori SaMa. must be the sentiment. what are the re- .. Let U8 all to-day sing hymns to g()odess Kali. Let U8 sing in her name, straints on society of the religions they cling to, if there is a worse state, .. a lower depth" imaginable, in conse- quence of shifting the protection of law for girl wifehood from ton to twelve years? It is an open confession that reo ligion, as they understand it has fur- nished no moral restraint against lust, against debauchery, against lechery and .cruelty. And the worst of it all is that those who know them best do not esti- beginning with Alexander III., the Czar mate the moral power of their so-called of Russia, and so on down to Bulgaria religions any higher than they do them- and Greece, to obtain at an early date selves. an international, conference "to con· sider the condition of the Israelites and It is in our heart to make another their claim to Palestine as their ancient plea, and that for sympathy and more home," etc. [J. T. G.] prayer for those sensitive and saintly souls who have to go down into such a Dr. Hamlin said: "The Christian moral maelstrom for years, to try to re- benevolence of this petition is beyond lieve this moral (or rather immoral) con- criticism. The sufferings of the Jews in dition, and, if pity can go farther, then Russia and other parts of Europe defor those parents who for the love of mand the sympathy as they excite the their Divine Lord have to try to rear horror and detestation of all Christians their children in the midst of such un- the world over. But it would be well measured and unmitigated miasma of for the petitiollers to consider the folimmorality. And yet why our cry for lowing points: pity? They seek none of it. All they are asking 01. the Christians of the "1. Have not the Jews forfeited all homeland is help to stay there and to do rightful claim to Palestine? They were the Christly work they have undertaken given over to the Romans because they -and in which they are succeeding– were rebels against Jehovah and His even if it be only to lie down as these anointed. noble lady-doctors at the foot of the throne of power, and cry for relief for " 2. The right of property has limitathe heathen even against themselves; or tions of time and circumstances. After to create a sentiment, as all missionaries eighteen centuries of dispossession and have been aiding to do, which will en- foreign residence no claim can be alable the political powers who care to do lowed in earthly courts. so, to protect young maidens from brutal marital relations till they are at least "3. The people that now inhabit Paltwelve (!) years of age. estine are the rightful owners of the soil. Their ancestors had held it for many Dr, Cyrus Hamlin on Restoring Pales- centuries before the Mayflower cast its tine to the Jews. anchor on 'the wild New England shore.' What would the President pro· The symposium at the Annual Meet- pose to Europe to do with them? They ing of the International Missionary are Arabs, Turks, Greeks, Armenians, Union on the several points of special Syrians, and of some ten or twel ve interest in the Jewish discussions of the other nationalities. Destroy them? times, which was conducted by Dr. Drive them out? Whither? Kellogg, of Toronto, Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, and Mr. William E. Blackstone, Super- "4. The Jews are not agriculturists. intendent of the Chicago Hebrew Mis- They generally hate the employment, sion, was one of great interest and abil- and the colonies established there have ity. We had hoped to be able to give a still to be aided. synopsis of the subject by each speaker prepared by themselves. We are fortu- " 5. The Jews have shown no general nate in having the points of Dr. Ham- desire to return to Palestine. The few lin's paper thus kindly furnished by who have gone have been induced to go him for our use. by offer of aid.

The paper was occasioned by a peti- " There is a small number who fancy tion numerously signed to " The Presi- that Jerusalem is to be rebuilt, the tem. dent and Mr. Blaine" to use their influ- pIe restored, the altar of sacrifice rekin. ence with the governments of Europe, dIed, the Jewish state exalted above all nations, and its enemies destroyed. But this is to be done by Almighty power, and the President and Mr. Blaine would cut a small figure by their interference. "6. • The Sacred Places' and other Government provoke such a humiliation possessions of the Oriental and Latin before all Europe? The explanations churches will be an awkward thing to which would be made would go for nothmanage in the 'return.' They would ing. The worst construction possible be an offence to the Jew; but for a Jew would be put upon every fact. So long to touch them would fire tJ:.e heart of the as our Government, especially our Sen_ Latin and the Greek churches to a white ate and House of Representatives, are heat. under the control of saloons and saloon- iets, so long as alcohol is king, we had "7. But, above all, the petitioners better not champion any cause of humanwould plunge the President right into ity in Europe. the middle of the Oriental Question. This was expanded to considerable " The one insuperable obstacle to any length, and the impossibility of our in- general return of the Jews to Palestine terference made very clear. is the Jews themselves. An awful cloud is over the land. 'His blood be upon ., 8. Is it probable that Europe would us and upon our children.' It must be be pleased with such a movement on the purified of Christianity before the Israelpart of our Government? 'rhe powers ite can look upon it but with abhorhave generally accepted the Monroe Doc- rence. As mendicants, as 'assisted trine. But that forbids our appearing emigranti '-always a worthless set-or in their affairs just as much as it ex- escaping from the inhumanity and savcludes them from ours. agery of Russia, a few tens of thousands may return. But they will be a sorry ,. 9. As precedents sanctioning the lot, and will ' suck the milk of the genreturn of the Jews to Palestine under tiles' for a living. European dictation, the example of Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, etc., under " , When the veil shall be taken away,' the dictation of the Berlin Congress, is and they shall become the glad and renot well taken. By the Berlin Congress joicing disciples of Jesus of Nazareth, autonomy was conferred to a greater or their own Messiah, and when they shall less extent upon those peoples in their see in Him the glorious fulfilment of ancestral homes. No man was deprived all their prophecies, there may spring of an acre of land. If Moslems wished up in many hearts a new love for Jeruto emigrate, as many foolishly did, they salem. Their flowing thither at their were allowed their own time and way of own expense would be a spontaneous doing it. In the • return' one people is and natural immigration that would acto be driven out and another brought in. commodate itself to circumstances. If It would be a very bloody and expensive only two or three millions should return affair all round, and the driven out and in this way they would soon possess the the brought in would alike perish. land, and there would be no question of oppression or of protection. Then all "10. Is our country specially fitted nations would hail their return, and the by her history for this proposed media- Church of Christ would see in it the tion? The outrages that have been dawn of the millennial day." committed in the United States upon the colored people in the Southern States, The Need of Speoial Preparation for Forand upon the Indians and the Chinese, eign Servioe. the murders, the expulsions from their native soil. the destruction of property, REV. A.. P. HAPPER, D.D., CANTON, CHINA. the slaughter of men, women, and children, the fiendish mobs, the rapes, the The General Missionary Conference thefts by Government agents, the' Cen- of China. in May, 1890, sent forth the tury of Dishonor' would all be brought call for 1000 missionaries for China up against us, and would make the persecution of the Jews in Russia appear in comparison a slight affair. Should our within five years. Within ten months he was a layman and an engineer, had after the issue of that appeal 127 mis- no special preparation to be a missionsionaries had arrived in China for one ary; and as he was so successful and mission, working in China, and 50 have uSPful as a missionary, it is supposed he arrived for all other societies. The is a proof that no special preparation is statement has been made in the news- necessary in order to be useful. The papers that when this appeal was pub- facts, on the contrary, in regard to Mr. lished in Australia, hundreds of young Mackay, are just the opposite of what is people offered themselves for this ser- supposed in regard to him. He had vice. The statement is also published very special preparation and experience in that the number of names given in to Christian work before he went abroad, the secretaries of the volunteer move- which led those who were acquainted ment in America is over 6000 ; and that with him to give the very highest testimore than 300 of those who had given monials of his preparation and qualifica. in their names have gone to foreign tion to be a missionary to teach and lands. preach the Gospel, in addition to being a capable engineer. Mr. Mackay had All the friends of missions will rejoice been brought up in his father's house, in these evidences of an extendinj:( in- who is an eminent Presbyterian ministerest in the cause of missions to hea- ter in Scotland, with special care and then lands among the young members under his own instruction. He had the of Christian churches in the home lands. best advantages of education in mathe- matics, the classics, and applied sci- But while rejoicing in this extending ences in the high schools and universiinterest in missions to the non-Christian ties of Scotland. He engaged in Chrislands, and in the increasing numbers of tian work in the original ragged schools those who are offering to go, I wish to of Rev. Dr. Guthrie and the Sabbathdirect attention to the great importance school of Rev. Dr. Horatius Bonar, in of thorough preparation for the work by Edinburgh. These educational and rethose who are sent abroad as missiona- ligious advantages were enlarged and ries. There is great danger that in the extended by a two years' residence and warmth of Christian sympathy for the practice in Germany, where he acquired perishing, and on account of the consid. a knowledge of the German language. eration that the people in heathen lands When he was appointed to go to Africa are ignorant, many will think that no he improved every hour of his time be_ special preparation is needed by those tween the time of his appointment and who go to teach them. It is evident his departure in getting some knowledge that many think that personal piety of different practical arts from compeand love to the Saviour and to the soulll tent professors and teachers, as those of of men are the only essential requisites for photography, printing cotton, and glass those who go as missionaries. This is manufacture, and the details of teacha very great mistake, and it is one which ing and training teachers. So that the will bring great injury to the cause of pre-eminent success and usefulness of Christian missions unless measures are Mr. :Mackay during the fourteen years taken to prevent its being carried into of his labors in Africa. which led Mr. practice. H. M. Stanley to speak of him as second to Livingstone, were the proper result I would call attention to the words of and outcome of the thorough and manithe lamented Mackay of Uganda, in his fold preparation which he had made last appeal for twenty men to come to during his youth and early manhood. Africa. His words are these: "You When, therefore, he speaks to the " sons sons of England, here is a field for your of England" and asks them" to bring energies. Bring with you your highest their highest education and greatest taleducation and your gre.atest talents; you will find scope for the exercise of them all. ' , Many suppose that Mr. Mackay, because ents, and assures them "they would widely ramified service as was necessary find scope for the exercise of them all, he in the details of government over such was only asserting what he knew to be numerous population, we must inquh-e a fact in his own experience. He only how these able and qualified men were asks for what all experience has proved obtained. They did not come by haphazt,o be necessary to success-viz., com- ard. The East India Company were petent natural gifts, with the necessary wise in their generation in some things. acquired knowledge and training. He The covenanted civil servants were aphimself is one of the most illustrious pointed under the system of open comexamples of the truth of this statement. petition. Thus the picked youth of the land are selected. The company estab- As the missionary work enlarges and lished a special college for their instrucexpands, the necessity that properly tion. Their college at Haileybury, in qualified men be serlt forth is more and Hertfordshire, had the ablest professors more emphasized. It should be spe- in the country in their several departcially urged upon all concerned in send- ments. The 'names of Henry Melvill, ing forth missionaries that they also James A. Jeremie, Richard Jones, Wilhave special care as to the quality of liam Empson, H. H. Wilson, Monier those they send forth. A few able and Williams, and Major J. W. J. Ouseley are well_qualified men will, with God's found among those of the professors. blessing, accomplish more than treble Selected young men from Rugby, Eton, the number of feeble and insufficiently and other distinguished schools and the qualified men. In confirmation of this, universities went there for two years' let all study the apostolic history. Paul, special instruction in the languages, the apostle of the gentiles, was a man of laws, customs, administration, etc., of great talents; he had the advantage of India, by these specially qualified teachthe best education at the celebrated ers. Is it any matter of wonder or suruniversity at Tarsus, and of the best prise that with such means such able Jewish masters in Jerusalem. He has and competent men were provided for left his impress on Christianity greater every department of the service, and in than that of the whole of the other numbers adequate to the needs of the apostles. two hundred millions of people? Is it strange that such men as Lord John There are two results of human efforts Lawrence, Sir Henry Lawrence, Sir Wiland labors that are marvels in their sev- liam Muir, Lieutenant-Governor James eral ways. One of them is the estab- Thomason, Edward Thornton, Sir Roblishment of the British rule in India, ert Montgomery, Donald Macleod, and the administration of the govern- George Edmonstone, Sir Bartle Frere, ment over such a numerous population and many others, literally too numerous to with such success. The other is the mention, were raised up to meet every German war against France in 1870. emergency, and to illustrate the energy But their wonderful results have not and efficiency of the Anglo-Saxon race? come by chance nor without the use of The training, the capability of the the appropriate means. As we study men, and the opportunity have produced the history of the establishment of Brit- such an administration of the Governish rule in India, the names of many dis- ment as has not been seen before in the tinguished names come in review be- history of the world. fore us. In the review of these names the conviction is forced upon us that the Europe was astonished at the results leaders in the successive decades of of the German War of 1870. But when this work were the picked men of the the facts are known, those results were public life of Great Britain. But if we the natural and sure results of the antewould fully understand how it was that cedent training of the officers of the Gerthere were a sufficient number of young man army. These officers had been men for every department of such a trained in the work to be done. Every Tarsus, after his conversion, was told strategic point in the French territory by Ananias of Damascus that " he was had been examined and marked out; a chosen vessel to bear the name of every difficulty and impediment had Jesus among the gentiles,' , he wpnt into been made known; the nature and char- Arabia to commune with the Lord; and acter of the country to be marched over it was three years before he entered fully had been mapped out; so that the lead- upon his glorious ministry. These ers of the invading armies knew what three years were the time of the special they had to do, what difficulties they preparation of the great apostle of the would meet, and, were trained to carry gentiles, though he, previous to his call, out the campaign as they had been in- had the benefit of the instruction in the structed ; and the proper and expected Roman university at Tarsus, and of the results all followed in their natural order. most learned Jewish teachers in Jeru- These results, however, were greatly to salem. How different is the course purthe astonishment of those who knew not sued in these latter days in sending of the thorough preparation which ,had forth many to the laborious and rebeen made by the German officers. sponsible duties of the Christian mis- sionary without any preparation or In the history of the world no such training! wonderful enterprise has been planned as that which has been committed to With the diffusion of Western knowlthe Christian Church-i.e., to convert edge and science, and of the agnostic this world to Christ, to extend this and infidel views of Western sceptics glorious Gospel of the blessed God till among the peoples of India, China, and the kingdoms of this world have become Japan, the importance and necessity of the kingdoms of the Lord and His the missionaries being more thoroughly Christ. prepared are strongly increased. They have now to meet not only the difficul- For its accomplishment it presupposes ties and hindrances of the native idolathe Divine aid of the great Captain of tries and errors, but also, in many cases, our salvation. When He gave the com- the objections and scoffs of Western inmission" to preach the Gospel to every fidels and atheists. Those who go forth creature," He prefaced it with the so readily without any really careful glorious assurance" all power is given preparation show how imperfect is their unto Me in heaven and in earth; go ye, conception of the work to be done, and therefore, and teach all nations, baptiz- give evidence of their own want of ing them in the name of the Father, and qualification and preparation to perof the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; and form it. lo! I am with you alway unto the end of the world." But the presence and It becomes the missionary societies power of our gracious Lord does not do and the committees having in charge the away with the necessity of providing examination and reception of candiand using the necessary and appropriate dates for missionary appointment to be instrumentality. The Saviour Himself especially careful in the reception of all spent three years in instructing His applicants, and to seek those of high apostles before He sent them forth on and suitable qualification and adequate their high mission. When the disciples preparation for the great and laborious filled the place of Judas, who had fallen calling. from that ministry, they placed in nomination two of "these men who A Word About the Student Volunteers. have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among usu_ In the minds of a great many people so careful were they to secure one who there is a marked incongruity between was thoroughly instructed and prepared the statement of the Student Volunteer for the solemn vocation. When Saul of Movement that some six thousand per- sons are enrolled by themselves as pledged from foreign service, and the to us all the more important that they unmet demand of so many societies for gat thoroughly prepared, because from men and women. All oC the societies them must come so much that certainly are not without candidates enough to cannot be looked for from the large supply their needs, but some say they number of persons who are nowencourare in vain calling for missionaries. aged to enter foreign service with very meagre intellectual furnishing. We do Several things ought to be borne in not enter upon the discussion to what mind. For instance, a great proportion extent unlettered and inexperienced, of this volunteer corps are not yet and. perhaps, even, untried persons through their collegiate and seminary should be encouraged to go abroad. studies. Certainly there is little dis· There is some difference of opinion on position on the part of experienced ad· that subject. There may be uses for a ministrators of missions to rush men greater number of men than mill be and women into the field with partial found ready trained or than the institupreparation, if they can remain to com· tions can furnish. Of that we are not plete their studies. Dr. Happer raises writing. But facts patent justify us in a note of warning on this sllbject in the raising the question as to tho pressure article we now present from his pen. that should be put on these in the He is entitled to speak on this subject. schools to hurry into the service. The He was of the original first company of Scandinavians have been rallied of late Presbyterian missionaries sent to China, both in Norway and Sweden and in and that was as long ago as 1844. It America by an earnest and probably WaB ten years from the time he formed well· meaning brother, to offer for the the purpose, God willing, to be a mis. foreign service. Some fifty or more sionary till he went abroad. During his have been recruited from Brooklyn, New college course his reading was connect· York, lind Chicago, and over a hundred ed with his purpose, and all his plans fmm Scandinavians in various quarters were subordinated to it. And yet, firm· of the world have gone to China alone, ly holding his purpose, he taught four and mainly are connected with a single years after graduation, then spent four mission- the churches at their startingyears in professional studies-medicirie place, we are informed, pledging them and theology-for the work, and in the fifty cents a day for their support, all of study of the history, geography, phi. course being unmarried. We are not losophy, and other features of China; prepared to say whether there is here a and medicine, teaching, and preaching movement which demands special guidhave been the lines on which he has ance by those experienced in missions, done such grand work these forty.seven but we do think that this emphasizes the years in that great empire. We could need of thorough preparation on the furnish instances enough to fill many part of the recruits which are to come page·s to show the great work accom- from these volunteer stUdents, and that plished by men and women who have the churches should not demand that developed a sturdy purpose through great numbers of them hasten away just similar years of steady subordination of now, but should rather advise their cauall aims to the one work of preparation tious preparation for wise leadership for a great life service. It is from this than press them too speedily into the corps of trained men and women repre- great responsibilities which await them. sented by the student volunteers that We say all this in the face of the fact we are to look for persistent patient that China calls for 1000 missionaries in leaders. Hence we suggest that too five years, and that they are not forthmuch pressure be not put on these coming in proportionate numbers. It pledged persons in our schools of learn- is true that some 175 have gone to China ing to hllsten unduly to the great fields since the appeal was iBllued, but of these which call so loudly for them. It seems 125 have gone to the Inlanu Mission, way to advertise so indiscriminately the leaving only about 50 among all the fact that 6000 persons are" waiting to other societies; and that would scarce· be sent," and much else of like phrase ly more than keep up the numerical that is not in accordance with the standard as it was. But let us not be facts. The great bulk of them are not disappointed if many of these student ret>dy to go ; but the fact that God has volunteers never go abroad. We are moved to create 80 missionary interest in quite confident that a very large propor- the hearts and minds of so many young tion of those enrolled by the excellent persons among those pursning their brethren who have charge of this stu- studies deserves very thoughtful and dent movement will never reach the prayerful consideration and devout field. They are not in position to form thanksgiving as well, while the" pledge"

a final judgment now in their school- should be made the" outward sign of days, and there has been no concurrent an inward grace" rather than an oath, judgment solicited from any boards or which it is not.-J. T. G.

churches as to the adaptation of these persons severally. Then they may be Men Needed in North Ohina. adapted to work which may not at the time when they offer themselves need Rev. C. A. Stanley writes to us from reinforcement, or the speciu.l church to Tientsin, North China: which they belong may not want men, "Our annual meeting has recently and they may not care to leave their de- been held here. At all our seven sta- nominational relations even if some tions there has been progress. Over other board would be willing to take 200 have been added to our churches those not of their own part of the fold. It during the last mission year in full will thus happen that a number of those membership. But our working force, honestly intending to be faithful to their both foreign and native, is not equal to pledge may not find the way open to the work in hand; and on all sides them. Then some of them will be there are doors of opportunity wide adapted to the demands of their own open, into which it is impossible for us societies at a time when the funds of to enter. There are several scores of the societies will not enable them to vlllages around Tientsin, in very few of send them. There are many good and which the Gospel has ever been able persons found in the churches be- preached, which, through the distribu- sides those just out of school, and some tion of relief to the sufferers from last volunteers may not be called by the so- year's flood during the winter, are cieties because such other persons are peculiarly prepared to listen to the at their command equally or better pre- Gospel message. Raving been appoint.

pared or more suitable. Thus from a ed to direct this distribution, and the great variety of causes there may be a work having been mainly done by mis.

great disparity between the total num- sionaries, it has associated itself in the ber of volunteers and the part who reach minds of the people with missionary the field. Thus not all the demand for operations. Thus they are ready to reo foreign service will be met from these ceive us and listen to our message.

ranks. Let this grand impulse of the Books were left in these villages when young people have time to find its provi. relief was given, and were there labor.

dential meaning and method. We see ers, native or foreign, to go and work many points at which these very capa- amc.ng them in the Master's name, I ble and devout young people of the Stu- have no doubt but that many would be dent Movement need wise guidance; brought to a knowledge of the truth. I but there is also need for wise conduct hope to be able, with my small force of on the part of the churches in relation workers, to do something in the fall and to them. It is, perhaps, not the best winter; but triple the force at my command would scarcely reach this imme- reache'! you of the riots of Wuhu and {liate need, not to speak of what is and Nanking. The animosity of the rioters would open beyond from this. Relief seemed to be directed chiefly against the was given in about 70 viJIages to about Roman Catholics. Demand was made 70,000 persons-not the entire popula- for the release of the children of the Lion by any means-the most distant Roman Catholic orphanage. At Wuhu one being some 12 miles. The city and all foreigners fled for their lives, and suburbs contain 600,000 souls. Similar their buildings were looted and prop- opportunities are present at all our sta- erty stolen or destroyed. At Nanking tions and with all the missionary socie- the Methodist property was looted and ties laboring in North China. And now destroyed, as well as that belonging to and again a devoted laborer is called to the Roman Catholics. No lives were his reward, largely because of overwork, lost. There seems to be general un- because the churches have not met the easiness all up the Yangtsi River. I demand, and he has had to attempt more judge the excitement to be largely politi- than he could do, and succumbed to the cal, aimed against the authorities and strain. The L. M. S. has just lost such rulers, and intended to make them un- a man in Mr. Gilmour, down from Mon- popular and to secure their removal. golia to attend tb e annual meeting of his It seems to have been instigated by society held here. He was sick twel ve some' secret society' men and literati, days, and had not physical strength to which abound in great numbers in the rally when the crisis came. And there Yangtsi Valley. They would like to stir is no one on the ground who can take up a rebellion if possible. Several of up his work, even at the expense of the rioters have been beheaded, and the some other phwe and work. This is local authorities have already begun to not a lone case-they are many." rebuild the premises, and will make restitution for damage done. We have The Riots in Ohina. no fear of trouble here; and yet I do not know that any place in China was We have long known that the great regarded as more secure for foreigners Chinese Empire had a dispensation of than Nanking. It was a great surprise " politics," as well as occidental nations, to have this outbreak there." and not unlike our own. They have the " ins" and the" outs,' , and it has been But it will go hard with the anti·forplain for a few years past that the eIgn party if they cannot find a better " outs" would make all the capital pos- way to manage their internal politics sible against the administration on their than by the murder of such missionaries conduct toward foreigners. The pres- as Mr. Argent, a lay missionary of the ent " Government," as they would say Joyful News Mission, for whose death in Europe-that is, the present prime there is no doubt the" secret societies" minister and his party-are strongly in are responsible. Those societies are not favor of advancement along Western good instruments for anti-administra- tion politicians in China, as they are as little controllable by the Celestial em· peror as the Mafia are by King Hum- bert. But the martyrdom of missiona- ries will only the more show the Church the way to the thorough evangelization of that great people.-J. T. G.

lines; but there are eminent and able statesmen who lead the anti-foreign feel- -We received some suggestions from ing. They may stir up the people even India some while since which indicated to a gigantic rebellion against General that Pundita Ramabai was restricted Li and his party. From private but very responsible sources our advices con- in even the mild religious teaching she firm the general statements as to the thought wise to introduce into the outbreaks in China. One correspondent school at Poona by representatives of writes from Foochow under date of June the American administrators of the 9th: funds raised for her use. We hope there is no ground for this thought. "You will have heard before this Ramabai knows how far to go to keep faith with the people of her own nation in the matter of religious neutrality; and nobody supposed that she would school, it is not fair to ask them to do receive any direction from American more now while it is so hard for them to management in simple and fundamental carryon the schools under their own religious matters. If she finds her way control. to have prayers or the reading of the Bible in her school, and can carry it -Miss Adaline D. M. H. Kelsey, with her Hindu constituency, surely no M.D., of Yokohama, writes to us as fol- Christian (?) hand would obstruct her. lows: If such should be the case, her American society would soon have no funds "It has been thought that the need to administer, and her executive com· of missionary physicians is not so urgent mittee would become executors of the in Japan as it is in other non-Christian school. Weare glad to see that the lands. This opinion is so widespread Harvest Field, the Wesleyan missionary it would be well to have it understood magazine for India, one of the ablest of in what respect the statement is true, our exchanges, .gives in a late issue the and in what other respect it is not true. chief place to some interesting articles on the wives and widows of India, in- " There is a medical department concluding a visit to Pundita Ramabai's nected with the Imperial University Home at Poona by the Rev. D. A. in Tokyo where advanced medical in. Rees ; and the history of the widow re- struction is given; an M.D. qualified to marriage movement in Bombay. With make a diagnosis and write a medical regard to the results of Pundita Rama- prescription can be found in every large bai's work we just quote one paragraph from the story of the interview. On city of the empire. being asked, "Are you satisfied with " It is also a fact that the Imperial the results so far?"' the Pundita replied, " I should have rejoiced to see larger University and normal schools of Japan results, but considering the difficulties, send out highly educated men and wom· I feel I have much cause for thankful- en capable to teach. Why, then, do we ness. Take that one fact-out of these send missionaries there to erect costly thirty widows I have the assurance from buildings and organize schools toleducate their own lips thai, their coming here has the children? Is it because we want to 8aved nearly TWENTY of them from SUICIDE, give them a secular education? If that STARVATION, OR A LIFE OF SHAME. This is our chief object, many givers to the fact alone is an abundant reward for all cause have been decei ved. But that has our toil and expense."-J. T. G. not been our avowed object. Our real aim and chief desire has been to get hold -Miss Susan A. Searle says of the of the people to influence and lead them American Board Girls' Boarding School to Christ by exemplifying His love to at Kobe, Japan: them in our own lives of self-denying labors of love for them. And do we send " During the last year and a half there physicians merely to heal the sick? Is have been urgent calls from the Japan- not the higher objQct the real answer ese themselves for such lengthening and here also? If there is not so much broadening of the courses of study in medical work to be done as in China and the school as shall make it, in fact, a India, more time and strength can be college. Having come at a time when given to the higher work of teaching the Japanese were especially impatient Christ's love and mission to souls that of anything like foreign control in are starving for the Bread of Life. To church or school matters. the request do this work the M.D. must of necessity seemed significant of their confidence be a real missionary as well as a physi. in the management of the Board. To ciano There is plenty of this combined accede to this request, and at the same work to do in Japan. 'fhe number of time carry out long-cherished plans for Christians among the Japanese physi. the school, it is necessary to have, for cians is so small that, in an extensive buildings and other equipments, a much acquaintance with them throughout the larger sum of money than the annual empire, only four are known to be appropriation from the Board. The Christians. Two of the four are women, Japanese Christians are supporting educated in mission schools, and studied nobly several Christian schools, which are becoming to a greater extent every mAdicine in America. These two are year feeders of the Kobe school. They doing a good work for their countryare already heavily burdened; and women in making greater revelations to though in past years they have given them than they themselves can at. pres. generously toward buildings for the ent know. There is such a difference between working for money or fame and working for love.

"There are two Japanese girls now in this country fitting themselves to return as Christian healers. More are needed,"

'EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS

III.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.

The Student's Summer School a.t North· all about $5000 and upward raised for field. Bishop Thoburn's missions in two years.

The sixth of these remarkable gather. The movement was quite spontaneous ings has been held. They began in and, of course, quite free from all con- June. 1886, at Mount Hermon, and this, siderations of denominationalism. Not which was held from June 27th to July a few have found fault because for two 8th, was regarded by many as exceeding successive years the missions of the in interest as well as numbers any Methodist Church in India have had so preceding convention. About five liberal a support, while the boards of the hundred students were enrolled. Mr. Baptist, Congregational, and Presby- Moody, of course, presided, as he is the terian churches are struggling to keep main attraction, and daily services were out of debt. But the simple fact is, held, at whioh Bible studies were con- there was little or no thought of the fact ducted and addresses of various sorts that Bishop Thoburn is a Methodist occupied attention. The main purpose bishop. His plan struck the conference of these conferences is known to be the as apostolic and feasible and as accom- consecration of these young men to lives plishing more for the money than any of higher service. The controlling other that has been proposed, and the thought in Mr. Moody's mindwas a bap- response was very hearty and im- tism of the Holy Spirit. Much time was pulsively generous: perhaps it erred ( given to missionary meetings. "Round on the side of catholicity and generos· Top" has already come to be, like the ity. There may be a doubt whether it " Hay Stack" at Williamstown, connect. is expedient in a conference composed ed inseparably with missionary consecra· of all evangelical denominations to take, tion. Here, at twilight every evening, especially for two successive years, an the young men meet to consider the offering so large as this for the mission question of individual obligation to the work of anyone church. It is liable to world·wide field. Here the call for new be misunder,;tood and to occasion hos- volunteers was daily sounded, and the tile criticism. Bishop Thoburn's meth- claims of a dying world were weighed. ods have not the entire support even of We doubt not thatfrom that sacred spot his own Methodist brethren. No little many young men will date the begin- doubt has been expressed in our own ning of a new era in their lives. hearing as to the thoroughness and per- The missionary fires burned brightly manence of the work, and the expediency in more than one general meeting. Last of hiring such laborers, even at so low year Bishop J. M. Thoburn, of India, a cost. But the action taken was in told of his work and of the plan he is both years a simple outburst of genuine pursuing of employing native evange- missionary enthusiasm, and there was a lists, at an average cost of $30 a year, to noble impetuosity and liberality about proclaim among their fellow-country- it, peculiar to young men. It is not men the good tidings. The scheme im. open to the same criticism as a deliber- pressed the audience as so simple, eco- ate and previously planned course of nomical, and sensible that on the spot, action.

by Mr. Moody's enthusiastic leadership, This gathering was representative.

the pledges were made for support of It contained young men from all quar.

100 such evangelists. This year a re- ters. Not only were Great Britain, port was, made of the work done by Canada, the United States, represented, these hundred workers during the year, but China, Japan, Australia, Persia, and at once enough more was pledged Scandinavia, Germany, France, etc.

to support seventy-five such evangelists Indeed, it may be doubted whether for the current year. This will mnke in 'in any similar IIssembly so many various peoples and tongues have ever been "Our Oonntry." represented by Christian disciples. A new edition of Dr. Josiah Strong'8 They were like the Pentecostal assembly remarkable book is issued by our very " from every nation under he_en, " and enterprising friends, the Baker & Taylor every man might hear "in his own Co., 742 Broadway, New York. The tongue tho wonderful works of God." new edition, revised so as to embrace Too great care cannot be taken by the latest information of the census of those who have these gatherings in 1890, is greatly increased in value; and charge as to those who, on such a plat- the little book, already the most helpful form, present the truth. We feel con- contribution to home mission litera- strained emphatically to dissent from ture ever given to the American public, some teaching which we have heard, or has doubled its practical worth as a book known to be allowed, in such gatherings. of reference.

There is a special tendency in these Of this work of Dr. Strong we can days to depreciate the importance of say nothing too laudatory. It is muUum sound doctrine. Christianity is em- in parvo. But fifteen chapters long, con- phasized as a life, and often the doctrinal tained in 267 pages duodecimo, and side is treated as of little consequence. about 100,000 words, there is an amount H has been free. uently said that if one of information and inspiration which accepts Christ as his personal Saviour many ordinary volumes would not BUp- it matters little what he believes or ply. The words are picked and packed; doubts; that the creed is of small the illustrations are forcible and sim- moment if the heart is anchored to pie; the statements are lucid and Christ. Such teaching is perilous, es- vivid; the argument is terse and telling.

pecially before young men. Paul says, It is plain that the book is the product of 0' Hold fast the form of sound words with all time previous. It took many years faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." to prepare the hand and brain of its dis- There is no power in error to develop a tinguished author to give such a prod- beautiful life, and if there is any beauty uct to the public. And all this can in the life of a sceptic it is in spite of be had for 30 cents in paper and 60 his error, and in consequence of the cents in cloth! It has made a sensa- truth, mixed with error. Christianity is tion like" Uncle 'fum's Cabin."

both doctrine and deportment, belief and life. It is quite too fashionable in these Dr. George Smith, the missionary days to apologize for loose notions of biographer, who is also Foreign Secre- inspiration, atonement, the divinity of tary of the Missionary Board of the Christ, the work of the Spirit, and a Free Church of Scotland, writes from future state of reward and punishment, Edinburgh, June 3d, 1891 : on the ground that if one is sincere it My DEAR DR. PIERSON: Should I live matters little what he believes We to write Henry Martin, an even more protest in the name of all that is good important life has got to be writtenthat the highest Christian life, and es- that of Charles Grant, who inspired pecially the largest service in saving Wilberforce and Carey, and was himself souls, is inseparably connected with led to Christ by Schwartz. His grand- doctrinal soundness. A missionary son, the present Sir Charles Grant, has must believe the truth if he is to be an the necessary papers, which are in beaueffective and successful worker for God. tiful order, for myoid friend, John We regal'd the growing laxity in doc. Marshman, had them, and died before trine, and especially the prevailing dis- he could write the book. Meanwhile, position to tolerate all forms of unsound to test the matter, I will have, in an opinion, as tending to undermine the early number of Good Words, a con- whole structure of missions, both at densed sketch of the greatest Scotsman, home and abroad. next to Duff, who ever went to lorlia. Use my name as you kindly propose, respondents the lady workers in Madrid (Mrs. Fenn), San Sebastian, Puerto Sta if it will be of any service, on your list lIIaria, Figueras, Seville (Mrs. Barosso), Pradijon and Santander, to whom their of editorial correspondents. members may apply.

Do not overtax your strength. I From Manoh, SaJijah, Sierra Leone, W. Africa, April 27th, 1891, we have the began life in India at twenty, and have following: worked hard-sometimes too hard in I have to thank you for the MISSION- ARY REVIEW, which is so free from a Bengal, so as to suffer. But work just up party spirit, so full of fervor that we who are out in the mission field cannot to the limit of strength is as healthy and but feel how little we are doing to what we ought. May the Great Head of the delightful as work even a little beyond Church enable us faithfully to battle with the heathenism of the pagan and strength is perilous, and bad economy, the easily satisfied conscience of the converts, who seem to have grasped the and truly sinful. Gladstone is a noble truth of their redemption and justifica- tion, but seem to forget they have daily example of a hard worker just up to the to overcome and grow in grace. We who have had the blessed Gospel in our limit, who has feared God and done His country for generations cannot possibly tell what these poor children have to service as no other statesman in history overcome.

has done it, I think. He is a friend of I am the only foreign representative of the Episcopal Church here. Our missions, as I know from personal in. mission is situated at the most northern point of the republic of Liberia. Our tercourse with him. My book on " A work is entirely among the heathen. The Board appropriates support for 125 Modern Apostle" has just gone to a sec- children, 85 of whom are under my es- pecial care. There are two student ond edition. Yours truly, teachers to assist. I am hoping to wel- come a teacher from Sierra Leone soon• G. SMITH. Many of our girls are growing into wom- anhood, and it is a cause for devout God may move some generous souls to thankfulness that we have been able to respond to this appeal; but the editor keep them so long under the sound of owes it to himself to say that no funds the Gospel. Twenty-eight of them are have been yet entrusted to his care for regular communicants. Of course all any such purposes: their own mending, making, washing, ironing, and domestic work is done by DEAR DR. PIERSON: Confident of your them. The little boys work in the coffee interest and sympathy in the work of farm of an afternoon, as also do the the Student Volunteer Movement for senior department or elder boys, who Foreign Missions, I am writing you to are under the superintendence of Mr. say that we are in financial straits. To Jones. He also is a son of a convert, be more definite, we are in immediate and will be ordained next Christmas. and pressing need of $1500 for current He is very ambitious to establish workexpenses. shops, where they can be taught differ· I have been thinking that you might be inclined to turn over to our use some of the funds entrusted to your care for •, foreign missionary" purposes.

Whether or not you are led to send money, I venture to ask you to join with me in prayer that the Lord will send the money for His own work. I ask you because I know you believe in prayer, and because it is laid upon my heart distinctly that I shall see this money in view.

Yours very heartily, MAX WOOD MOORHEAD, Chairman Finance Committee. June 23d, 1891.

Rev. J. E. B. Meakin desires us to add to the statistics of the work in Spain that the London Y. M. C. A. has for corent trades -it is so necessary to train we had lengthened conversations on the their muscles as well as intellect out great subject of missions.

here. He published, many years ago, a In 1858 I was under the auspices of " Missiunary Atlas," accompanied with the C. M. S., London, and remained in most valuable explanations and histori- Sierra Leone for seventeen years. cal notices. As all the letter-press was The ages of the children vary from in Danish, the circulation of the work two to eighteen years. Our little ones was necessarily limited. He hoped an give us much pleasure, but we need edition might be published in English, more help. So much has to be left un· but, for reasons mentioned by the dean, done for lack of strength and time. the idea was not carried out.

M. It. BRIERLEY. Dr. Grundemann is another most dili.

gent and laborious student of mission From Forsyth, Georgia, Mr. J. C. history. He also published an atlas of Davidson writes: great value, which, in the rapid advance "Your statistician gave' the M. E. of missions, is now necessarily some- Church, Soutb, an incorrect report what out of date.

under the head of ' Foreign Missionary It is high time that we had a work Societies,' page 476, in June number of carefully representing the mission field REVIEW. as it now is. The two gentlemen I have "I send you the statistics of that named are ready to unite in preparing church's missions : it if they can be freed from pecuniary "Missionaries: Total maleH, 142; responsibility in connection with the wives of missionaries, 39 ; totalfemales, large undertaking.

30 ; total, 211. (From Woman's Mission In my conversations with Dean Vahl it Advocate, June, 1891.) Native laborers, was quite understood that the work 262 ; other helpers, 17; members, 14,. should be in English. Both Dr. Grun- 702 ; probationers, 291 ; total, 14,993; demann and he are acquainted with that churches, 184. language.

" These figures I take from the report You will see that the dean hopes that of the Board of Missions, 1891." the missionary societies may patronize These letters, from Dr. Murray Mitch. the undertaking. I trust that the pub. ell and Dean Vahl, are of great interest. lication of his letter may bring this im- Dean Vahl's "Atlas" is the best we portant matter under the notice of the have ever seen. societies in America and Europe, and of the public generally. It will be lament- EDINBURGH, May 22, 1891. able if, when two men so admirably DEAR FRIEND : The letter I enclose is qualified for the work as Dean Vahl and from Dean (Provost) Vahl, of N. Ulster, Dr. Grundemann are prepared to under- Denmark. take it, their proposal should not meet I doubt whether any living man is with a hearty response.

better acquainted with the history and If the missionary societies should not bibliography of missions than my much- see their way to help as Dean Vahl pro- esteemed friend, Dean Yah!. Every. poses, is there no large.minded, large- thing he has written regarding missions hearted friend or friends of missions -and he has written mueh-is brimful who will render the needful aid in this of accurate and interesting information. important undertaking?

After attending the late Evangelical I hope you can kindly insert Dean Alliance Congress at Florence, to the Vahl's letter in the MIsSIONARY REVIEW, work of which he made a very valuable and so draw attention to the subject.

contribution, in which he compared the I remain, dear Dr. Pierson, Protestant missions of 1845 and 1890, Ever very faithfully yours, he dE-all paid me a visit in Nice ; and J. MURRAY MITCHELL. Dean Vahl's letter follows: to.do people, and such a book would April 18, 1891. be too dear for them.

DEAR DR. MURRAY MITCHELL: 1. AA It could be done almost in the same you know, we have sometimes spoken way in which, a year ago, we started a with one another as to getting my missionary review in I::lcandinavia. If " Missionary Atlas" translated and pub- twenty of the great missionary societies lished in English. You have asked me in Great Britain and America would give to explain myself more explicitly about £50 each toward the publication of such this matter. As you know, the Re- a work, we should havo £1000 (and, if ligious Tract Society of London had necessary, perhaps twenty smaller socie. thought thereabout, and an agreement ties would give £25 each) ; thus, I think, was made; but the matter dropped, and a very large part of the expenses could I do not like to press it forward. Some of be paid. I think it would take three or the secretaries of the missionary socie- four years of our time to make the work ties have said that all that was in my book as complete as it ought to be. But a was quite correct, but they wished that complete budget of the expenses can I had dwelt more on the work of their on a later day be produced. I find that special societies. Had I done that, the Dr. Grundemann is willing to work on book would have been twice or thrice as such a plan. large, for all other societies must have been treated in the same way. Perhaps every society could open a subscription at net price, whereby it There have also been negotiations might be possible for numbers of them about a German edition, but they have come to nothing. The book has been to get the atlas at a reduced rate. You praised by German critics like Dr. War- may use what you will of this letter, neck, Dr. Grundemann, and Rev. G. and I should be glad if this plan were Kurze, as the most complete book on settled in one'way or another. this subject found in any literature. Yours very sincerely. 2. You know that Dr. Grundemann about twenty years ago published a (Signed) J. VAHL. " Missionary Atlas," the best ever published. Now it is a little out of date, and This REVIEW would gladly assume one a new edition should be brought out. subscription of £50 sterling ($250) to But it has been impossible to find a pub- insure the succes~ of Dean Vahl's plan. lisher. Some will say there is no need of Who will join us? Let the parties resuch an atlas, as the different societies sponding send names and amounts to can each publish an atlas of its own. the editor.-A, T. P. Quite true; but it would be only, or mostly, of their own missions; to buy One of our correspondents sends the them all would be very expensive; and following" unillersal prayer of all who besides, the outlook of the whole world read aright the signs of the times" : would be wanting. (TUNE, America.) Some time ago Dr. Grundemann wrote to me, proposing that we should " God save our fellow.men, work together; he would draw the Save them from every sinmaps, and I should give the letter-press Make them thine own. in the same way as I have done it in From heaven, Thy dwelling-place, my own .. Missionary Atlas." Such a Look on our helpless race. thing would be of very great importance Save them through Jesus' gracB, for students of mission· history. But Thou Holy One. how can it be done? No publisher in Germany would care to undertake it, " 0, Thou impartial Friend, nor, perhaps, any in England or Ameri- On Thee their hopes dependca. I fear it would not pay. The stu· Thou bidd'st them come. dents of missions are generally not well- May thousands turn to Thee, Thy true disciples be, And ever dwell with Thee In Thy blest home.

" Bless all who own Thy Word, O'Thou, our only Lord, , Thy will be done.' Bid all o~r strifes to cease, Let Christian love increase, Give us Thine own sweet peace Oh, make us one. "

Yours faithfully, W. K. AZBILL, Special Agent F. C. M.S. ,Indianapolis, May27th,1891.

THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS

IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.

BY J. T. GRACEY, D.D.

JAPAN. oppressive and offensive ever since their adoption in 1858. The mihtary commander of the Japan- ese forces, when he saw the walls of the One of these exempts foreigners from fort crumbling beneath him, under the being amenable in Japanese courts. fire of Commodore Perry's guns, while Whatever offence a man from the West he paced to and fro, swore by all the may commit, he cannot be brought be- gods of Japan that he would find out fore a Japanese tribunal. He is only how it was done. The whole nation amenable in the consular courts of his presently thereafter resolved to find out own nation in Japan. The Japanese how Europe and America did everything recognized that this discriminated else. A people, whose written history against their equality among nations; reaches back in uninterrupted tale to but the foreigner urged against them the time of Nebuchadnezzar, was revolu- that they acknowledged standards of tionized in government, in commerce, offence, and "cruel and unusual punin its army and navy, in material and ishments" to which foreigners must not social science, in its very dress and be subjected. They said they must wait manners in a few months; and witbin until the Japanese civilization became a third of a century they underwent modernized in these particulars. Japan maze changes than they bad previously now comes forward to say that she has done since the time of Crcesus. The met the conditions and adjusted her result was a New Japan. Newspapers, jurisprudence and procedures so that a postal and telegraph system extending there is no longer any reason for this from end to end of the empire, and al- humiliating discrimination against her. most everything elsE! that entered into She demands the revision of this part of tbe externals of Western civilization the treaty. Many foreigners in the were adopted. great cities of Japan, however, still lire not willing to be subjected to Japanese The Christian missionary was ad- authority, and stoutly oppose this remitted as a part of this new regime. vision, and the result naturally is an The foreign schoolmaster, too, was in anti-foreign feeling among the Japandemand. Foreign literature was im- ese. ported until it flooded tbe land. But now-and suddenly in the estimation of A much more practical question than SOIDe people-aU this iii reversing. We, this of political dignity, however, is anhowever, can scarcely see it that way. other feature of the old treaty, which It rather seems to us that Japan is pro- dictates the amount of revenue that gressing straight along the same path Japan shall receive from imposts on she entered thirty-five years ago. She foreign importations. The Westernnacan recognize the standard of political tions set their own rate of customs for self-respect of the West as well as she Japanese goods entering their councan Western forms of dress ; and she tries, and then obliged Japan to take has never adopted any ideal of political what they chose to give her for their eJwellence that would lessen her inde- own products taken into her ports. And pendenue and equality among the na- this was fixed at the uniform rate of five tions. per cent. This was destructive of her national dignity in a still greater de- She was humiliated by the Western gree, and pushed her to the very verge powers and made to accept a treaty of bankruptcy. Our view is that in reagainst particulars of which she all the sisting these unjust obstructions Japan while most vigorously protested. 'l'wo did not start on any reactionary path. special features of the treaty have been way. She only still further demanded Church of Japan came to feel they must to be allowed to do as Western nations have something simpler, and concluddo. This agitation and resistance to ed that they knew how to state their Japanese demands only called the more faith for their own people much better attention to the fact that Western na· than the missionaries had done; anci tions hold to national pride and inde. hence the intensity of their resistance pendence, and developed a high spirit to any foreign aid in drawing up the of patriotism. Japan must do the preamble to the Apostles' Creed. '1'h6 same, they argue. She must love her preamble was, however, orthodox own and respect her national habits throughout; and in this respect does and life. This may be called reaction, great credit to the apprehension of the but is it not relll progress? Imitation Japanese Church of the fundamental is peculiarly active among primitive teachings of their missionaries. Some peoples. Asiatics from the Bosphorus very able missionaries think that the to the Yellow Sea are expert imitators. di"position to independent church ac- But Japan discovers that the strength tion has elements of good in it. They of the West is in its power to originate say it will shift the burden of responsiand appropriate without imitating. She bilityon to the Japanese native leaders, will do that way too. She will have and they will strengthen under it. everything now original. This may be There are some perils, doubtless. Some only a new phase of Japanese imitation, of the Japanese think they do not need and may not prove her strength. It has any more missionaries from abroad. exhibited some ridiculous instances. They feel the Japanese to be capable to One of the most curious was in the sixth develop and lead their own churches; meeting of the synod of the Japanese· but they, perhaps, never needed able Presbyterian Church, when they thought missionary guidance more than now. they must adopt an original creed ob. They have not measured the forces that jecting to all those of the other nations. are arrayed against them. Darwinism The committee nearly gave up in despair flourishes in Japan. Japanese flock to when the Apostle's Creed was objected Germany as well as to the divinity to as foreign. Finally one of their own schools of America. French Romanists, number went to his honse and drew Greek Catholics from Russia, Unitaup a creed, which being presented and rians, Universalists, infidels, and heterobjected to as foreign also, assured them odox forms of the Christian teaching of that np to a half hoUl' before its pres- every shade are present among them_ entation no foreigner had so much as They never needed the earnest prayers seen or known of it, and it was then and wise counsel, as well as financial only that they adopted it as a preamble resources of the West, more than they do at this hour. But they will have to the Apostles' Creed. It is true there strong leaders, or none, from afar.

wa!! other reason for this particular nov. IOREA. elty. The Prcsbyterians of Japan had combined that they might present fewer For four hundred years Korea was divisions of the Protestant Church to isolated from the rest of the world, exconfuse the Japanese mind. They cept as hostilities· now and again broke agreed in 1877 to the organization of the monotony. It is a small country the United Church of Christ in Japan about double the size of Ohio, with a out of the Presbyterians of America population variously estimated, but (North), the Reformed, and the United which we may put down at 12,000,000. Presbyterians of Scotland. They recog- It has a coast line of 1800 miles, though nized the symbols of the Westminster the tongue of land is only about 400 Confession of Faith. the Canons of thfl miles long; numbers among its mineral Synod of Dort, the Heidelberg and the products coal, iron, lead, tin, silver, and Shorter Catechisms, and the infant gold. It pays tribute to China and fields for trading purposes. On the Japan, but beyond that is not controlled seaboard modern missionary influences by them. Its' existing records reach flowed to Korea from Japan. The back for 3.0.0.0 years. Its trustworthy Methodists and Presbyterians began history begins about A.D. 2.0.0. In 1876 missionary work in Seoul in 1884. A the present progressive king entered great int erest was felt in this movement, into treaty relations with Japan, open- because this " hermit nation" was one ing to them three Korean ports. In of the only two countries that remained 1882 the United States made a treaty positively shut from missionary influ- with Korea, and in 1883 first sent a min· ences. Now all doors are open except ister to its court. The land is owned into Thibet. Korea may prove to open by the people, and held for them by the a pathway for Christian forces into king, and rented to the people, which Manchuria. takes the place of all other taxes. The capital, Seoul, contains about 35.0.0 MEDICAL MISSIJNS. hou~es and a population of from 15.0,.0.0.0 or 2.0.0,.0.0.0. In religion Korea has fol- Outside of Christian countries nearly lowed China and Japan from an original all disease is esteemed to be of supernature worship to the adoption of Bud- natural origin. The belief. in diseasedhism, Confucianism, and Romanism. spirits is found from the Eskimo to the Of late years there has exhibited a strong Patagonian; in Oentral, Western, East. tendency to emphasize the primitive ern, and Southern Africa; in Borneo, Australia, the Indian Archipelago, nature-worship. * among the Malagasy, and if! well· nigh world. wide, and has existed through Christianity was introduced into uncounted centuries. The treatment of Korea through some Jesuit books from disease is in consonance with the theory Peking in 1777. The first Korean con- of its origin. Even where the rude vert was baptized in 1783. The new medical notions of Greece, Egypt, and faith spread rapidly; but here, as else- Arabia have migrated, there is ever where, Jesuit political intrigue led to found the superstitious treatment of revolt against them, and sixty years of disease. Medicine and religion go topersecution followed, in which thou- gether in the thought of the non·Chrissands of Korean converts died within tian man. He is quite ready to receive this century with the names of Jesus them together from the Christian misand Mary on their lips. Other thou- sionary! "The recovery from disease sands apostatized; but some estimate is the kindliest exhibition of Divine that there are still thousands of secret power; and the Christian medical misdisciples of Christ in the land. sionary occupies a lofty vantage ground in his work." A missionary of the Netherlands Society reached Korea in 1832 and reo The results of medical missions mained one month, distributing tracts abundantly sustain these statements of and religious books. The missionaries what might be expected of them. Of of the Preshyterian Church of Ireland, the twenty stations in the region of the living in China on the borders of Korea, English Presbyterian Hospital at Swaexerted the first of the more modern tow, China, seven or eight are said to Protestant influences in Korea through owe their origin to hospital patients. Koreans that came over to their mission In the hospital of the London Mission- ary Society at Amoy it is said twelve to • Rev. J. Ross some while since gave It list in fourteen thousand towns are yearly the Chinese Recorder of over twenty gods which represented. Intelligent natives from are popnlarly worshipped in Korea; gods of the all parts of China going to Canton visit road, gods of the monntains, who protect from the hospital and dispensary there, it is tigers; gods of the rain and of war, gods of the said, as one of the great sights of the kitchen, the Virgin Mary, and Ancestral Tablets are enumerated. city. Twenty thousand patipnts a yEar, harm should befall either houses or peo· pie. SODle of whom have come hundreds of .. And so it came to pass, So grateful miles to it, are treated at this hospital, was Abdullah for services rendered by the doctor that he contrived to restrain and hundreds of them have been led by the ferocity of his men for the whole seven weeks during which the siege it to give up idol worship. All these lasted and firing was kept up. Not a missionary, not one of the five hundred institutions illustrate the power of native Christians who took refuge with medical missions to lessen the anti.for. the missionaries, was touched. Their goods and their cattle, too, were in eign feeling, to diminish the power of safety in the mission buildings. Even the five Christian villages outside the superstition, and to exhibit the un- town were, for Dr. Cochrane's sake, left unmolested. This is all the more reo selfish character of the Christian reo markable when we consider the natural disposition of the Kurd, the fanatic fnry ligion. Medical missions have opened to which he is roused by his religion-=- eminently a religion of the sword-and the way into many countries where the annoyance felt by Abdullah at the long reHistllnce of the Persians. prejudice otherwise shut out all Chris· tianity. It was so in Jeypore, India, ., I found that wherever I went in Koordistan Dr. Cochrane's fame and and in Korea. name had 8pread everywhere. I was asked aftpr his health and whether I The story is the same in every land had seen him," etc.

whither the medical mis,;ionary goes as There is a small pamphlet published to the effects in winning the people. by the Missionary Echo Publishing Dr. Scranton, of the Methodist Mission Company, Toronto, Canada, to be had of Seoul, Korea, says: by mail for six cents, entitled" Medical "Our patients, as well as stUdents, Missions: Facts and Testimonies to their come to us from all parts of the realm. The 'patients many times come with Value and Success," compiled by W. J. more faith in a cure than our diplomas will warrant us in promising or at· Wanless, M.D., which is brimful of tempting. We have thus far been per. mitted to influence hundreds of Koreans most interesting statements about medi. toward a belief and reliance in what foreigners can do and teach. and have cal missions at Canton, Amoy, Swatow, reliAved much suffering. Sometimes our simplest operations are not much Bangchow, Tientsin, Hankow, Fot. short of miracles in their eyes, and our renown and welcome are increasing shan, Chefoo, Pang.Chuang, Foochow, daily. One of Ollr first steps is to make the country glad we came, and make Hainan, and other parts of China; in them put reliance in what we can teach. This is fast being accomplished in all Mongolia, Formosa, Korea, Siam, Ara. departments … bia, Persia, Syria, Africa, Madagascar, Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop, author of •, Unbeaten Tracks in ,Japan" and other and other countries.

volumes about her wide wanderings over Rev. J. H. Corbett, of Shantung.

the world, in addressing an English China, says there would be a mighty audience recently, said she was an en· upheaval in China if into every district thusiast on the subject of medical mis. of the empire a Christian physician and sions. She told the well·known instance a trained preacher were sent two and of the effects of Dr. Cochrane's medical two. .. Missionaries who have some work in Persia. An English exchange knowledge of medicine may do good,"

thus reports the story as she told it, saysJ. Hudson Taylor, ., and win golden and testified to it : opinions while on journeys," But Dr.

,. On one occasion the chief of the Edward Chester well says, "The medi- Kurds-Sheik Abdullah–sent for Dr. Cochrane, and told him that he was cal work in missions is nothing save as about to make war upon the town, but that if he would indicate the exact posi. it helps to show to the heathen that the tion of the mission buildings, and warn the missionaries to keep within their Divine Christ is the centre, the soul, shelter, he would guarantee that no the life of Christianity, and that we are His disciples and followers."

America has not failed to see the value of medical'm:ssions for women by duly proof of their discipleship in holy livqualified women doctors. There are ing and moral reform, rather than in said to be 109 medical missionaries in formulating theories or musing specula. China, of whom 38 are women; and of tion. Already the earnest efforts to these women physicians 36 are from secure sexual purity, Christian mar- AmeriCl~. Medical missions have been riage, sound Bible instruction, purificabegun in all but four of the provinces of tion of the home, temperanoe, and hon- China. The work of American medical oring the Lord's Day, show the lines of lady physicians in India has been the activity and victory. Without undermeans of leading to a national move- valuing science or philosophy, our bement for sending women physicians to lief is that the American missionary to that country. We refer to the Lady Japan or the native preacher needs, first Dufferin Movement. This had its in- of all, to be a consecrated Christian and spiration in the medical mission work a minister of the pure Gospel of Jesus of the American lady doctors. But of Christ. the manifold and direct and indirect favorable results to evangelization from -It is cheering to report that the mismedical missions we cannot even fur- sionary societies are not yet so much ther hint. No department of mission- embarrassed by the uncertain monetary ary service will probably require greater condition as was at one time feared. expansion in the near future, nor yield Since the adjournment of Congress the more satisfactory results, provided the price of silver has been falling, and it is professional work be not allowed to ab- not now greatly in excess of what it was sorb the evangelistic accompaniment. last year at this time. So the oost of exchange is not likely to be so heavy the -Dr. William Ellis Griffis quotes and last six months of 1891 as it was the writes in the Presbyterian Review of To- first six months. ronto as follows: The prudential committee of the "Basil Hall Chamberlain, in his American Board, in view of the ad- 'Things Japanese.' says: 'Our … proph- vance of nearly $70,000 in this year's ecy is that the Christians of Japan will be contributions, has gladdened the hearts occupied with questions of morals and of the workers abroad by making practice-the temperance question, for $15,000 additional appropriatIOns to instance, and Sunday observance-· fields whence there has been an urgent rather than with subtle doctrinal theo- call for help. Six times this sum <'ould ries, the Japanese mind being too essen- easily be disposed of in extra gifts to tially unspeculative for the fine distinc- missions which have been terribly tion of the theologians to have any scrimped. charm for it, much less for it to seek to split new hairs for itself. The failure of -The Presbyterians of Canada did Buddhist metaphysical abstractions to better for home missions than for foreign take any hold of the national sympa- missions in the year recently closed, thies is a finger-post in history point- giving to the former $111,988, and to ing to what may be expected in the the latter $87,185. The great advance, future.' they say, has been made by the Women's Foreign Society. Beginning 14 years "This testimony, by a veteran and ago, they have brought up their income expert, will be concurred ie, I think, by from nothing to $34,629, and are every those who know the Japanese best. A year advancing in the vigor and success few of the Japanese 'will seek after wis- of their efforts. dom ' of the Greek sort. The majority of the forty millions need the Gospel, -The American Bible Society holds while of the 30,820 enrolled Protestant in trust the sum of $373,796.56. The Churoh Blembers the majority will give income is to be used for general benevo- lent and missionary purposes.

GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE

V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.

Organized Missionary Work and Statistics. Edited by Rev. D. L. Leonard. Bellevue, O.

-How lavishly money is expended to India. The Bible Society has six auxgratify the lusts of the flesh! "The iliaries. From the Calcutta centre alone, annual beer product of the world is the circulation in 1890 was over 100,000 about 17,700,000,000 quarts, of which copies, and this was 27,000 less than the United States produces 3,200,000,- those issued, by the latest return, from 000." Madras. Lahore follows with about 47,000. Bombay reports some 40,000 -At a horse race, held in the vicinity for 1889, and Bangalore, 14,000. of New York City, the" book-makers" received the snug sum of $180,000. And -According to Russian sources, the lo! the Baptist Missionary Union closed total population of Russia is 103,912,- the year with a debt of $61,593, the 642. Of these, 75,541,644 are adherents Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions of the Orthodox Church. Of the others with a debt of $90,102, the English Bap- 11,000,000 are Pascolnites or "Sectatist Society with a debt of $52,500, the rians" -i.e., Stundites, etc. ; 7,6106,796 English Wesleyan Missionary Society are Roman Catholics; 5,104,200 are with a debt of $96,885, and the British Protestants (nearly all Lutherans); and Foreign Bible Society now has a 2,620,000 are Jews; and 2,000,000 are debt of nearly $100,000. Mohammedans and heathens.

-Why all this "waste" upon mis- -The principal missionary work in sions? is often the cry, though the savor Palestine is done by the English Church long since became decidedly ancient Missionary Society, which has a Euroand fishlike. But, if waste it were, how pean force conllisting of 9 ordained, 3 trifling by the side of the waste of war! lay, and 7 female missionaries. The According to the estimates of French native clergy number 8, with a total of 72 and German statisticians, 2,250,000 men lay helpers. The stations are Jerusalem, have perished in the wars of the last 30 Jaffa, Gaza, Nablous, Nazareth, and one years, while the money cost has been east of the Jordan. The number of bap- $13,000,000,000. The Crimean War cost tized is 1428, of whom 455 are com- nmnicants. A little over 2000 pupils of $2,000,000,000; the War the Rebel- are in the schools. The Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews lion, $5,100,000,000 to the North and also has stations at Jerusalem, Jaffa, half as much more to the South, etc. The and Safed, with a force of 4 ordained $12,000,000 a year expended for the con- missionaries and several assistants, version of the heathen is paltry by com- about 20 of whom are Christian Israelparison, but a bagatelle. Or, if set be- ites. side the amount that annually goes for liquors and tobacco! Not one tenth as -According to tables very carefully much has been given during the cen- compiled by Professor Dr. V. Juratury to Christianize the Zulus as was scheck, and corrected by Lic. Dr. G. paid to conquer them in the single cam· Dalman, the Jewish population of the paign of 1879-80. The expedition of globe is 7,404,250, divided among the Commodore Wilkes to the Pacific called continents as follows: Europe, 6,301,- for as great an outlay as the evangeliza- 550; Africa, 507,500; Asia, 294,000; tion of the Hawaiian Islands from 1819 and America, 285,200. Unfortunately until to-day. for them, more than half (3,236,000) re- side in European Russia, 1,005,000 in -There is nothing more significant Austria, 641000 in Hungary, 579,000 in than the steady and increasing diffusion of the Scriptures among the people of Germany, 400,000 in Roumania, 200,000 average of nearly $2 per member. The each in AbYRsinia and Morocco; but report speaks hopefully of the condition 195,000 in Turkey in Asia (Palestine in- of the evangelical work in Italy. cluded), and 230,000 in the United Statl"S. -According to the Annuario J!Jvan. gelico for 1891. the total number of Prot- -The National Bible Society of Scot- estant pastors, evangelists, and teachers land in 1890 soM outside of the empire engaged in Gospel work in Italy is 553. 36,796 Bibles, 108,115 testaments, and The Protestant churches and preaching 282,758 portions; in the colonies, 17,054 places in all number 479. The majority Bibles, 10,188 testaments, and 3f)34 por- of these are found in the larger cities, tions; at home, 118,919 Bibles, 70,919 Bologna having 6, Florenco 14, Genoa testaments, and 24,734 portions. Total, 12, Livorno 7, Messina 4, Milan 8, 172,769 Bibles, 189,222 testaments, and Naples 12, Palermo 5, Pisa 4, Rome 20, 311,026 portions. Total sales and gifts, San Remo 7, Turin 8, Venice 7. These 673,017. Total income, £35,5211s. 10d. Protestants are distributed among quite a number of denominations. The Wal- -The International Medical Mission· densians number 13,691 in the historic ary Socie•.y, whose work is to educate valleys, and 4428 in the so-called" Mis- physicians for the foreign field, has sionary Districts;" the .. ChristilID celebrated its tenth anniversary. The Church" (dei Prabelli) do not give exact income for last year was $9,976.50, statistics, but they number only a few and the number of students under its thousand. The Free Church reports a care was 52, of whom 9 were women, membership of 2350; the Wesleyan and they came from 7 denominations and Methodists of 1336; the EpiRcopal 17 countries. The United States led Methodists of 763 ; the Baptists of 885 ; with 19 students, alid Canada followed the" Catholic Church of Italy" (found- . with 7, and England 5, etc. The Bap- ed in 1886) has 119 communicants. In tists had 14 students; the Presbyterians, addition to these a number of inde- 13 ; Congregationalists, 8 ; Methodists, pendent but 8maller bodies are laboring 7, etc. for the evangelization of Italy.

-The British m:issionary societies, -The Board of Foreign Missions Qf according to Medical MUlsions at Home the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Gen- and Abroad, have 139 physicians engaged eral Synod, in its biennial report, shows in missionary work, 13 of whom are receipts for the two years $97,544 ; ex- ladies. Of the whole number, the Free penses, $100,128, though a balance on Church of Scotland has 34 ; the Church hand of $15,101 prevented any actual Missionary Society, 21; the London Mis- deficit appearing at the close of the cur- sionary Society and the English Presby- rent year. The Sunday-schools report. terian Church have each 13; the United ed collections of $6075, besides con- Presbyterians, 11, and 25 societies have tributing $5070 for the support of stu_ less than 10 each. dents and workers in foreign fields, making thus a total of $12,145 from the -From the twentieth report of the young people. The Woman's Society Evangelical Church of Italy, formerly contributed $17,363 out of the $42,268 called the Free Italian Church, it ap- collected for all purposes. Four new pears that it has 29 churches and 24 missionaries have been appointed, three stations, besides 61 places which are to India and one to Africa. In the visited regularly. Connected with these India Mission at Guntur there are 371 churches are 2350 communicants. Be- congregations, 7952 communicants,. 3103 sides 13 ministers, thllre are 16 evange- clIDdidates for baptism, 233 Sundaylists and 36 elders. The gifts of these schools with 9094 scholars, 220 schools churches for all objects amounted to with 310 teachers and 4960 students. 16.326 francs, which amounts to an The contributions by the native Church the Free Church for evangelization out,- were $2635. side of the United Kingdom £113,813, against £52,030 ten years ago. The -Of, say, 650,000 Caffres in Cape Col- number of missionaries emplo!'ed in ony, about one fourth have been bap- India. Arabia, Syria, Africa, and the tized. In Zululand, of 50,000, about New Hebrides was 165, including 35 2000 are Christians. In Pondoland (still sent out by the Ladies' Society, and 33 independent) out of 150,000 at least 3000 missionaries' wives; and the total of are Christians. Christian workers was about 800. The number of nati-ve communicants was -Japan is said to have 191,168 Shinto 6895. The additions to the Church temples, with 14,489 priests; and 72,039 were 696 adults and 731 children, and Buddhist temples, with 56,266 priests, there were 1788 catechumens. There or a grand (that is, lamentable) total of were 6 colleges and 307 schools, with a 263,207 buildings for the worship of total membership of 27,951 youth of false gods, and 70,755 men to lead and both sexes. inspire.

-Official reports from the Vatican -The Paris mission in Basutoland show that in the pontificate of I,eo XIII., has 6933 communicants, 3055 catechunow in the fourteenth year, the Roman mens, and 6502 scholars in the schools. Catholic Church has made substantial The number of adult baptisms in 1890 progress, The new positions created in were 626. the hierarchy are the following: the Patriarchate of India, 12 archbishoprics, -The Presbyterian Church of Jamaica 65 bishoprics, 43 apostolic delegations, has 1 synod, 4 presbyteries, 8814 comvicarates, and prefectures. Then 10 municants, 8000 in Sunday-schools, and bishoprics have been made archbish- 6213 in day schools. Two missions are oprics. The total number of dignitaries sustained in Africa, and one Zenana in the hierarchy are the following: 8 mission. Latin patriarchs and 5 of the Oriental Rite; 783 Latin Archbishops and arch- -In the Basel Mission upon the Afribishops and 52 of the Oriental Rite; can Gold Coast are 10 stations and 70 308 Titulary Bishops, 23 bishops nullius' out-stations, 35 missionaries, more than dilEceseos. The greatest progress of the 9000 adherents, and about 3000 pupils Church is reported from North America in the schools. The Wesleyan Gold and England. Coast Mission has about 6000 communi. cants and about 19,000 adherents. -The annual report of the Free Church of Scotland's Foreign Missions -The Presbyterian Church of Engshows a total revenue from all sources land has in its missions in China and of £94,385. Of this £16,394 were collec- India 19 ordained missionaries, 10 meditions, £5364 were donations, £8179 lega- cal missionaries, 8 native pastors supcies, £9351 from the Ladies' Society, ported by their people, 108 native £1853 juvenile offerings, £17,610 college preachers, and 41 theological students. and school fees, £13,588 grants in aid The Chinese communicants number from the Indian Government, and the 3716. The expenditures last year were greater part of the remainder was made £19,275 15s. 6d. up of special gifts to particular missions, interest, etc. The Livingstonia -The Methodist Protestant Church Mission received thus £7095. Other reports $13,322.73 as the total of receipts mission committees of the Church raised for missions last year. Of this sum £8991 for the Jews, £6872 for conti- $5788 came from ehurch collections, and nental work, £3247 for colonial work, $5798 was gathered on children's day. making the total missionary revenue of A new school building has been erected at Nagoya, Japan, and an additional missionary is soon to be sent -to Yoko- hama. -The North China Mission of the Syria, $58,824; 8iam and Laos, $55,- Methodist Episcopal Church was estab- 406; Africa, $35,040 ;.Korea, $16,117; lished by 2 missionaries in 1869, but is and Guatemala, $10,658. now represented by 15 missionaries and 58 native helpers. It contains 18 homes Monthly Bulletin. and 29 places of worship, 28 schools, with 569 pupils, together with Peking Africa.-The Bible has now been University, with an atten<1ance of over translated into sixty.six of the languages 200, as well as 4 hospitals and 8 dis- and dialects of Africa. pAnsaries. 'l'he churches have 1299 members and probationers. -Dr. Cross, of the Free Church of Scotland MisBions on Lake Nyassa, Af· -The Cumberland Presbyterian rica, has up)n the roll of his school the Church sustains missions in Japan and names of 300 children rescued from M:exico, with 3 stations and 3 out-sta- slavery. tions. 18 missionaries, of whom 6 are ordained, 2 native pastors, and 17 other na- -The King of the Belgians has hontive helpers. The 11 churches contain 632 ored one of the Baptist missionaries on members. The additions last year were the Congo with a decoration. This gen- 63. In the 4 schools 298 receive instruc- tleman, the Rev. George Grenfell, is not tion. The income for foreign missions only a preacher, but an explorer of was $22,260, and of this $10,169 came note. Great interest attaches to his from woman's societies. Native con- discovery of the Mobangi, which he has tributions for all purposes amounted to proved probably to be the Congo's great. $1812. est tributary.

-The Baptist Missionary Union re- -Bishop Tucker, the successor of ports $492,275 as the total receipts for Bishops Hannington and Parker, reach- 1890, aUlI of this the woman's societies ed Uganda in December last, and since gathered $127,690. The 68 principal then the situation has brightened very stations and 1322 out – stations are much. He found the bitterness which manned by 364 ordt.ined missionaries, existed between the Roman Catholic of whom 232 are natives. In addition, and Protestant parties was not based 216 women from America are employed, upon religious, but ~pon political differand 626 unordained native preachers. ences. The French priests have been The total of laborers is 1645. Of the jealous of the British East Africa Com- 681 churches, with 76,603 members, 481 pany, and the strife on the Nyanza was are self-supporting. The baptisms last between French and English as really year were 8708. In 1038 schools 20,107 as in Europe. These feelings the bishop are taught. Total native contributions, was able considerably to pacify. His $51,038.12. own joy was full in the Christian aspect in Uganda. The day after his arrival he -The Board of Foreign Missions of preached to fully one thousand men and the Presbyterian Church (North) re- women. ceived last year $942,691. Of this sum the churches, as such, contributed $346,- -The Rev. W. G. Lawes, one of the 780, and the woman's boards and the pioneer missionaries in New Guinea, has Sabbath-schools $374,258-a fact curi- translated the New Testament into ten ous only, or truly alarming? That mill- languages of the savage islands; the last ion almost was divided as follows, one, in the Motu language, being in the among the 13 fields with 23 principal publisher'S hands. missions: China, $164,986; India, $161,046 ; South America (Brazil, Chili, -The Wesleyan Missionary Society and Colombia), $104,827 ; Japan, $fl7,- has decided to begin a mission at once ~48 ; Mexico, $89,644 ; Persia, $83,662 ; in British Zambesi, South Central Af- rica. The country is a high plateau, fertile and well watered, rich in min· has been accepted. The Wesleyans have erals, and healthy for Europeans. many converts in South Africa, who have gone northward as colonists and A native Christian in Uganda will miners, and this fact gives them an adwork three months for a copy of the New vantage in efforts for the evangelization Testament in Swahili. Only a limited of the natives. Mr. Rhodes has p~om_ edition has been published. iset! to the Wesloyan Society a subsidy of 2500 fran os annually." One whole tribe of Zulus, in Southeast Africa, is likely to be exterminated by China.-·The Executive Oommittee of the ravages of rum furnished by the Foreign Missions of the SoutherD. Pres. white men. byterian Church has appointed Rev. J. M. Sykes and wife, of Meridian, The government of the Congo Free Miss., and Miss Ruth Swain, Alexan- State has granted a large concession to a dria, Va., nissionaries to China. They commercial comp.1ny covering nearly all will sail thig autumn for their work. of the southeastern part of its territory. This will probably lead to the opening -Over one hundred new Protestant of the country sooner than if it were left missionaries have reaohed China and to the government to effect. The com· begun work there since the Shanghai pany is called" The Company of Ka· Missionary Conference in May, 1890. tanga." -The arrival recently at the Boston -Bishop Taylor says "that when a City Missionary Society of 1000 copies Kafir dies the body is placed in a sit· of the Bible and 520 tracts in Chinese ting posture near the grave and left there from the native Christians in Hong for two or three days, that all who wish Kong, designed for their countrymen may come and give to him messages for now in Boston. shows that the foreign their friends who have departed to the lands are waking up to the needs of happy land; thus showing that even the Amerioa and its alien populations. Kafirs, whose very name, given to them by the Mohammedans, signifies infidels, -At the end of Maroh 12 applicants believe in the immortality of the soul. for baptism were accepted in Peking, 8 But of a Saviour they know nothing." of whom were from the village of San Does not the duty of the Ohristian Ho, where there were 70 inquirers, in- Church to disciple all nations become cluding 20 women. more important each day? -At the great Missionary Conference -The foreign population of the Congo in Shanghai, in May, 1890, one committee Free State is now over 800,of whom about of twelve persons was designated to se· half are Belgians, the remainder being cure a translation of the Bible in simple English, Italians, Portuguese, Dutch, but chaste Wenli ; another, to secure a Swedes, Danes, and French. Of the 72 translation in the higher classic style, English and 35 Swedes, as enumerated in and a third of ten persons, to secure an December, 1890, the greater part-over improved version of the Old and New 80 in all-are missionaries. The open· Testaments in Mandarin. ing in March of the Congo Railroad from Matadi to the Leopold Ravine is an -A band of 35 men and women for earnest of the great work that will soon the China Inland Mission recently be completed, and which will rendermiR. reaohed Shanghai. An additional 10 or sionary advance much easier and safer. 15 are expeoted, so that the whole band will be 45 or 50. To the Scandinavian -Says the Missignary Herald: "Mr. churches of the United States belongs Oecil Rhodes, the Prime Minister of the honor of having sent them as their Oape Oolony and leader of the British representatives, and to the China Inland South Africa Company, has invited the Mission the privilege of receiving them English Wesleyans to commence a miR- as its associates in the name of the Lord. sion in Mashonaland, and the invitation Half of this band are men and half are and Hungarian divinity students. A women. The majority are Swedish by new' financially independent German birth, though a few came originally from Reformed church in Buda-Peeth has Norway. mainly resulted from Scottish labors.

-The insurreotions against the Catho· The leading Hungarian pastors express a lic and Protestant missions in China are warm sense of this catholic co-operation: attributed to fanatical Buddhist priests. To stir up the people, they aUege that lndia.-Thecensus of Ipdiawas taken the Chinese childrQn are maimed by the in one night between February 26th and Christians, and that their eyes are torn 27th. Th'clre were more than a million of enumerators.

out for the purpose of making medicine -Before Christianity entered India, to bewitch the Chinese. lepers were treated with shocking in- F!ii.-The latest report concerning the humanity. Many of them were buried religious condition of this group of alive. The English rulers have put a islands covers the year 1889. The total stop t:> this custom, and for fourteeI4 area of the group is about the same as years there has been a special Christian that of the State of Massachusetts. mission to the 135,000 lepers in India.

There is a European popUlation of about -A correspondent of the Harvest Field 2000, while the natives, inoluding other thinks the Salvation Army workers in Polynesians and Indian emigrants, India have fallen into the snare of number 123,000. Of this native popu- .. premature reporting." Last year it lation 103,775 worship in the churches was stated that at Paij, a Gujarat village, of the Wesleyan Mission, while 10,302 hundreds had joined the Army. They attend Roman Catholic churches. The have now" in hundreds" left the Army.

Wesleyan Mission has 10 European mis'- He suggests that it would be wiser to sionaries and 72 native ministers, 49 wait a year to see how converts stand catechists, 1838 local preachers, and before rushing into print concerning 1095 teachers; these laboring in connec- them.

tion with 909 churches and 414 other -Dr. Sara C. Seward, a niece of the preaohing places. In the sohools of the late Secretary Seward, who fOT several Wesleyan Mission are 40,667 children. years has been a medical missionary The Roman Catholic Mission has 18 among the women of India, died recent- European ministers with 148 native ly at Allahabad. teachers and 76 native churches and chapels. Aside from the 18 Roman -In Jhansi, where mission work has Catholic priests there are three lay Eu- been carried on since 1886, the first ropeans and 14 female Europeans. It is Christian church is now being built. It interesting to notice that the total value will contain a reading-room for the eduof exports from Fiji for the year 1889 cated natives, and English books will be amounted to $1,821,000, while the im- provided.

ports were $945,000. Is there anyone -Pnndita Ramabai held the second who believes that there would be such a anniversary of her" Sharada Sadhau," record of prosperity for these islands or widow's home, recently. Mrs. Rahad it not been for the preaching. of the nade, the amiable and intelligent wife Gospel therein? of a cultured native gentleman of Poona, Hungarian Jews. – The Buda – Pesth a member of the Legislative Council, Mission among the Hungarian Jews had presided with grace and dignity; and an important incidental result in knit- another well-educated lady with remark- ting various closer ties of brotherhood able self.possession moved an address of with the Hungarian churches. Scottish thanks. This assuredly indicates prog- liberality has provided bursaries at the ress in the conservative city of Poona, New College, EditlQnrgh, for Bohemian a Iltronghold of Brahmanism. The Pundita a·elivered a long and eloquent ltaly.-There o.re in Florence two Walextemporo address with her wonted deosian churches, one Free Italian energy. She reports her work to be church, two Baptist churches, and one prospering. Plymouth Brethren church, all of which, except the Baptists, ha.ve good houses -It i~ said that every week there are of worship of their own. 'rhe Waldenprinted in the Bengali language in Cal- sia.n Theological School, with three procutta, and circulated, 10,000 sermonettes fessors and a dozen students, is there; written by Bishop Thoburn. If the and the Methodist School, soon to be funds are furnished, it is proposed to transferred to Rome, is there at present. print them in five different languages Of the Protesto.nt day schools the oldest every week. and largest is that of the German Dea- conesses, with more than a hundred -Dr. Pentecost writes: " An aston- pupils, all girls. Besides these instituhlhing feature of the National Indian tions there are the Domenge Institute, Congress was that there were lady dele· for boys, the Mackenzie Institute, for gates present; and on the last day one the training of lay workers, two evanlady, a native of high caste, appeared gelical orphan asylums, a medIcal mis. on the platform unveiled, and delivered sion, a soup kitchen, and six churches an address extemporaneously in pure for foreign Protestant residents. English. This is an innovation so marked that it will do much toward Japan.-Foreign missionaries resident shaking the foundation of the hateful in Japan are now granted passports to and terrible Zenana of India. Once the reside outside of foreign concessions, on women are set free in India, then away the ground that they are" employed in go the iron fetters of caste, and the church work"-a concession which has whole empire will be freed from super- hitherto been given only to teachers. stition." Coming at this time, it indicates a spe- cial appreciation on the part of the Jap- -The report of the M. E. Conferences anese Government of the beneficial in. in Northern India for the past church fiuence of the missionaries. year is cheering. There have been added to the churches 980 full members and -The Rev. Dr. William E. Griffis, 2935 probationers. There were 1256 writing on the outlook in Japan, asks adult baptisms. The number of schol- the question: "Does Japan want phiars in the Sunday-school hail increased losophy or the Gospel? Missionaries over 3000, making the present number capable of filling chairs of psychology 28,400. The mission is embarrassed by at Harvard, or consecrated Christians its very success, for the large ingather- and ministers of the pure Gospel?" ing requires an addition to the native And he answers unhesitatingly, "The pastorate, while funds do not increase latter." He says a few of the Japanese proportionately. will " seek after wisdom" of the Greek sort, but that the majority of the 40,- –Figures that are almost startling are 000,000 crave the Gospel, while the given in connection with the Telugu majority of the 30,000 Protestant church- Mission (Baptist) in India. The bap- members will give the best proof of tisms reported in five months of the last their discipleship in holy living and missionary year were over 5000. The moral reform rather than in formulating work is still progressing. theories or nursing speculation.

-The native Christians of Ko.limpong -The recent annual meeting of the are themselves undertaking a" foreign' , Congregational churches in Japan mission to Bhutan, within their country. marked a real advance toward unity. It is to be supported by the prayers and An earnest spirit pervaded the gathermoney of the Christians within the ing, and the theological tone was more Guild Mission District. conservative and harmonious than had patients were treated the last year, and been expected in some quarters. A religious services are beld regularly on statement of belief was formulatecl as a the Sabbath, with an attendance of up- basis of faith for consideration next ward of two hundred. One of the ladies year. A large share of the debt of $600 of the Presbyterian Mission has a week- on the Home Missionary Society was ly sewing class at her house, where raised by a spontaneous and enthusiastic women of all ranks and conditions come, outburst of benevolence among the dele- and, while engaged in needle-work, the gates themselves. A theatre meeting, Gospel story is read to them and ex- with 2000 people in attendance, was one plained. Another lady of the same mis- of the features of the season. sion has a class in the city away from her home. The hospital, in charge of a -One evidence of the reaction against Methodist lady, is the centre of a very foreigners in Japan is the fact that the interesting and efficient Christian work. empress and members of the aristocracy Sometimes women come, not because have given up the wearing of the west· they are sick, but because they want to ern style of dress for women, and the hear about' the new doctrine. ' " native historical costumes are again to be worn exclusively. -Korea presents a striking illustra. tion of the irresistible advance of the Arrangements have been made for kingdom of Christ. One of the most the preparation of a commentary on remarkable works of grace known in the New Testament in Japanese. Bish- modern missions is that among the op Bickersteth, of the Church of Eng. Koreans. Without having heard or land, is to be tho general editor. seen a missionary, thousands of people have heard of Christ and turned to the -All that Japanese law requires a service of God. These converts are the man to do in order to put away his wife fruit of the circulation of copies of the is to have her name erased from the offi- New Testament by the Rev. John Ross, cial register of his family. and have it late missionary of the Presbyterian re-entered on the register of her family. Church of Scotltmd in Manchuria. Strong efforts are being made to aUlend this easy plan of divorce. New Guinea.-At a recent meeting of native Christians at Port Moresby, the K07·ea.-Writing to the independent, collection taken for the missionary cause Mr. Appenzellos says: "It is less than consisted of $37 c!lsh, 320 spears, 65 seven years since the first Protestant shell armlets, 92 bows !lnd 180 arrows, missionary came to Seoul or to Korea. besides shields, drums, shell necklaces, Both the Methodist and Presbyterian feathers, and other ornaments. Most of missions have had lady missionaries in the people have no money. Korea from the beginning. Mrs. ·M. F. Scranton has the honor of being the frst Persia.-From Oroomiah comes the one to open direct work foJ," the women following good news: .. The villages of Korea. More than once have I heard are being revived little by little. In her say that the women think so little one, 58 persons have professed converand their ideas are very narrow. But sion, m!lny of them heads of families. the work of educating them was begun, In other villages 50, !lnd in others a less then medical work, and finally direct number have come to repentance. evangelical work. Results are not to be looked for before the seed has had time -Pastor Joseph, of Gulpashan, which to take root. Yet there are a few things is one of the self-supporting churches, that cheer us even while breaking the writes the following cheering news: fallow ground. Korea has two girls' .. The winter past, as you are aware, schools, with an attendance of about has had its share of difficulties. One 40; one hospital, where nearly 2400 great diffieulty W!ilI in, fegard to our church building; a fine of three hun- invaluable in the acquisition and proper dred tomans ($450) had to be paid by use of the Turkish language.

us. Another was a sad division made by Y. M. O. A.-Twenty. five years have 80me of the members that for a time. was seen a ma.rvellous growth in Young a great evil. Notwithstanding these, Men's Christian Associations. Then God's blessings have been abundant. they were only beginning to secure a Special meetings were attended with recognized standing, but now they have power from on high. Over 60 are can· gotten a hold in all our leading cities, didates, and at the next communion and exert an international influence nearly all of these will unite with the through their various organizations. In church." 1886 there was only one building erected Scandinavia.-The Swedish Mission- for association purposes; now there are ary Society is actively at work among 231, which have a money value of $1,946,- the Laplanders. The society has an 085. In different lands the entire prop· orphanage at Ange, and 6 mission erty owned by this Christian agenoy schools in other parts of Lapland, amounts to $11,907,381. Besides, the where 173 children have received in- contributions for its current expenses of struction. In spite of a grant of 2000 looal work foot up annually $1,841,966. crowns from the king, the expenses for These figures show progress, and indithe past year were 1500 ?rowns in exceSli cate a vitality and permanenoe for this of the receipts. form of Christian aotivity whioh augurs well for its future. -" The Norwegian Lutheran China Mission" is the name of a societyorgan- General.-Dr. Woloott Calkins, in his ized a year ago at Bergen, with John sermon before·the Amerioan Missionary Brantzaeg as president. During the Sooiety, on the responsibility of busiyear 5431 crowns have been collected. ness men, gave some striking figures. Brantzaeg, his two brothers, H. Seyf- The wealth of the oountry he found to be farth, and S. Samuelson will go to China over $62,500,000,000 distributed among as missionaries. The establishment of 13,000,000 families, of whom 11,500,000 a mission house at Shanghai is under, families are those of wage-earners. consideration. There are 135,000 families whioh have an average wealth of $186,000. Seventy- Syria.-The girls' school in Tripoli five per oeut of our business men are has 35 house pupils and 115 day scholars. members or adherents of Protestant -An association has been established churohes. Of the 68 riohest men in the in London to send colonies of poor Jews country only 4 are Roman Catholic. to Palestine. So many are going to .Teru- There are probably 400 Christian famisalem that it is one of the most rapidly lies in this country with an annual ingrowing cities in the world. come, over and above expenses, averag· ing $500,000 apieoe ; and 8000 Christian Turkey.-The work of evangelization families with an average income, above in Turkey will be greafy facilitated by expenses, of $25,000 each, and 100,000 the Turkish dictionary just published Christian families with an average in- under the editorship of the Rev. H. O. come of $10,000 above expenses. A Dwight, who has spent several years in great share of the $1,400,000,000 added a careful revision of the work previously yearly to the capital of the country be- done by Sir James Redhouse of Lon- longs to Christian business men. The don. Drs. Riggs and Pettibone and a gospel for rioh Christian men is not so former grand vizier have also scrutinized much that we need their money as that the proofs. It is a fine piece of literary they need to get rid of it, if they would work, there being no less than 2224 not have their wealth drive them into pages in the volume, and it will prove insanity or provE) a curse.